Nocturnal Issue III | Page 40

I love watching films. If I fail my A-Levels, it’s because I was watching and reading about films instead of revising. These are the best films I’ve seen so far this year; obviously a girl only has time to go to the cinema once a week – so films haven’t purposely been left out, I just haven’t had a chance to see them yet! (These are all pretty specific to my taste so if you disagree with any of it, I invite you to debate me, one on one.) Here goes:

1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Happy Feet director George Miller, resurrects his 70’s post-apocalyptic franchise with some of the most visceral and thrilling action you will see this decade. Instead of men fighting down dark corridors, we see women blazing through the desert

attempting to reclaim their humanity in a world where everyone is ‘Mad’. Technically amazing, this could have

been a silent film, and would have had the same kick in the throat impact. Not that the dialogue is bad, just Mad Max: Fury Road is the most action fuelled action film in recent memory, and makes Avengers: Age of Ultron look like Sunday morning children’s television. See this at the biggest, largest cinema you can find.

BEST FLICKS OF THE YEAR — REBA MARTIN

BEST FLICKS

OF THE YEAR

SO FAR

4. LOST RIVER

Set in a decaying town, Lost River follows the lives of a family trying to keep their home when all their neighbours have abandoned their sinking, decaying town. Lost River is visually beautiful and hypnotic, and the twisted violence we see on screen comes across even eerier and uncomfortable in contrast to the gorgeous cinematography in the other scenes. As a first film for Gosling, this wears its influences on its sleeve (as all first films do), but that came under heavy criticism (as if it’s a bad film to have more films like Blue Velvet(1986)?), though I think this only got those initially bad reviews’ because the critics were jealous that Ryan Gosling is not only a heart-throb, but that he is also a talented artistic director. Lost River is a dark, stylish underworld and I cant wait to see what else Goosy will do.

5. INHERENT VICE

The master (pun inteneded) Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film is a late 60’s trip with stoner private investigator, Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), as he tries to figure out some kind of mystery that his ex-old lady Shasta shows up asking for help with. It’s hard to explain what this films about, when the characters themselves don’t really know, and are too high to figure anything out. Inherent Vice presents the paranoid, psychedelic California of 1970 with a lucid insanity. If you weren’t high when you started watching this, you will feel like you are after. PTA is an amazing director, because his films are so long and fully packed, they are movies you can just watch again and again and not get bored with – Inherent Vice is no exception to that rule.

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"IF YOU WEREN'T HIGH WHEN YOU STARTED WATCHING THIS, YOU WILL FEEL LIKE YOU ARE AFTER"

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"INITIALLY BAD REVIEWS BECAUSE CRITICS WERE JEALOUS GOSLING IS NOT ONLY A HEART-THROB BUT A TALENTED ARTISTIC DIRECTOR"

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