No.300 : W. (2008)

W. at the IMDb

For our 300th’ post I thought we’d get back to basics with the most ‘W’ film you can get : ‘W.’.

This Oliver Stone bio-pic of the 43rd President of the United States was well observed and entertaining, but I doubt anyone watching it comes out knowing the protagonist any better.

The film employs a non-linear narrative with key moments in Bush’s life shown in flashback, with the year involved captioned to keep you right. We open in the White House as Bush and his cabinet of familiar faces discuss his ‘Axis of Evil’ speech. It’s 2002 and he’s plotting how to topple Saddam Hussein, and finish the job his father started in Gulf War One.

He railroads any objectors and finishes the meeting with a quick prayer. We are then transported back to 1966 with the young George applying to join a frat house. He does well in the company of the beery rabble rousers and we soon see him in jail following a football match fight whilst he’s at Yale. His dad, GB Senior, bails him out but he’s disappointed in him and it’s clear that his brother Jeb is the preferred offspring.

George stumbles through a variety of jobs, none of which he stays at for long. He has a drinking issue and is a disappointment to his Dad, James Cromwell, who is probably distracted with that troublesome pig. We jump back and forth with a present day Dick Cheney trying to get George to sign off on Guantanamo Bay torture with the bold George reminding him that ‘I’m the President’.

The path to the White House is however long with George losing his first bid for congress in 1977, but meeting his wife Laura (Elizabeth Banks) along the way. Fast forward to 1986 when George has a heart attack, gets sober and finds God. He also secures his Dad’s presidency when he runs a dirty tricks campaign for him against Dukakis. We then see George Jnr. as a baseball club owner before Desert Storm in 1991 and his Dad’s loss to Clinton in 1992.

He eventually becomes Texas Governor in 1994 and has a message from God that he should run for President in 1999. We know that he gets the big job but what will his legacy be and will he finally please his old man?

I’d seen this film near to its release but it was a lot better the second time around with the benefit of history and hindsight. Firstly the cast was great with Josh Brolin excelling as the flawed George. At the time Bush was a figure of fun but they did well to focus on the man rather than on the comedians’ take. Clearly you don’t get to lead the free world by being an idiot, but they did temper this by pushing the legacy aspect with his Dad offering no end of help.

Bush’s advisers were all familiar faces with Richard Dreyfuss as Cheney and Toby Jones as Karl Rove doing good work. Thandie Newton was less convincing as Condolezza Rice, with her performance looking more like a caricature.

Obviously a lot of what was said was behind closed doors and had to be speculated, but it seemed a balanced approach with only a couple of scenes inserted to make George look stupid, such as his hospital visit to injured troops where he handed out t-shirts to the maimed.

It was strange that the pivotal moment of his presidency, the 9/11 attacks, didn’t get more focus but it may have been too raw at the time of the 2008 production. Maybe they thought the fallout and legacy of Bush Senior was the story and to be fair it did make for an interesting narrative.

Overall I think this was a worthwhile and interesting bio-pic that did well to show the man rather than offer a commentary on his actions. Like the man the film had its flaws, but overall it was interesting and entertaining.

Best Bit : Oval Office Discussions  ‘W’ Rating 19/23

No.283 : Winter’s Bone (2010)

Winter's Bone at the IMDb

The title here refers to being tenacious, like a dog trying to get at a (frozen) bone in the ground. Our heroine, Ree, certainly displays tenaciousness and you will too, if you manage to sit through this grim but enjoyable offering.

Jennifer Lawrence plays the 17 year old Ree, who is the eldest of three siblings. Mum is a basket case and Dad hasn’t been seen for a while, as he is being pursued by the cops for cooking meth. Ree has to live off the land - mainly squirrels - and the kindness of neighbours as they are saving up to have a pot to piss in.

A bad day gets worse when the cops show up to advise that Dad is due in court in a week and if he doesn’t show the family will lose the house which he has put up as a bond. Ree sets out to find the errant parent and what follows is a big game of hide and seek as she asks round the neighbourhood for her dope fiend Dad.

Everyone is poor but offers a drink or a doobie, but also a warning to stay well away. The code of silence is strong and to talk to the cops would be a death sentence. Ree’s uncle Teardrop says he thinks his brother's dead and tries to put Ree off by taking her to the site of a meth house explosion saying that’s where he died. Ree isn’t convinced and knows that if Dad is dead, proof will be needed to satisfy the bail bondsman.

She heads off to the local kingpin of crime but gets a solid kicking from the womenfolk for her trouble, and is only saved by the intervention of Teardrop who promises to be responsible for her actions. Running out of options Ree looks to enlist in the army for the $40k incentive and to tries and place her siblings with her neighbours.

But wait! A chink of light is offered that may get her out of her predicament. Unfortunately it’s a grim and nasty chink of light but we’ll take what we can get. Will Ree manage to save the homestead and escape from her grim reality?

This was a horrid slice of life from modern day Missouri. The film is shot  vérité style with a dull palette and genuine backwater types filling out the cast. The grinding poverty was well realised with some dead squirrels the equivalent of the big shop.

Lawrence does well in the lead but is a bit pretty despite her unflattering wardrobe. Her Southern drawl is a somewhat distracting but she’s not shy in getting her hands dirty or of taking on some questionable tasks.

The air of menace in every character was good and you got the sense that life was cheap. Even the police with their old cruisers and their complicit actions weren’t immune from the general malaise on show, and I liked that the grimmest possible conclusion was eked out for the ‘where’s Dad’ mystery reveal.

The ending does offer a smidgen of hope for the future, but you get the sense that that will soon be overtaken with some new desperate situation. Not an uplifting tale but an interesting and engaging one.

Best Bit : ‘Pass the chainsaw’ 19/23

No.282 : Whistle Down the Wind (1961)

Whistle Down the Wind at the IMDb

Black and white English drama now as we enter the exciting worlds of kittens and people who may, or are most likely not, be Jesus Chirst. The caption card for the film reads ‘This is a Beaver Film’ - flagrant false advertising if you ask me.

We open with the henpecked Dad off ‘Fawlty Towers’ carrying a sack whilst being tailed by three young children. He chucks the sack in a pond, but this is recovered by the kids who find three kittens inside. The kids all live with their widowed Dad ( ’M’ of the James Bonds - must be deep cover) and their aunt on a farm with the attempted kitten drowner being their labourer.

The kids can’t keep the kittens and receive a few rejections including one from a Salvation Army lady who tells them that Jesus will look after them. As he isn’t immediately available the children hide the kittens in a box in the barn.

Later that night the oldest girl, Kathy (Hayley Mills) returns to feed them only to discover a bearded man in the barn who exclaims ‘Jesus Christ’ before keeling over. Taking this as an introduction rather than an expression of surprise, Kathy is convinced that their guest is the second coming and soon returns with her sister and her Dad’s best bottle of port and some bread. You know, Jesus food.

Over the course or three days the three children run errands for Jesus such as getting him some cake and fetching his gun from a railway tunnel. Meanwhile the police have a manhunt on for a murderer - could these plot threads be related?

Despite a vow of silence the kids soon blab after some encouragement from the school bully. Soon a dozen or so disciplines show up and are read to by Jesus from the holy text of ‘Shirley‘ magazine. Cracks start to show however when ‘Jesus’ lets a kitten die and the police dragnet is closing in. Will we get a massacre or is the kitten the extent of the deaths on show?

This was a nice film about innocence and about how gullible children are. That’s not fair actually, the man on the run, played by Alan Bates, never claimed to be Jesus, the kids just assumed he was. Beards must be rare in Barnsley.

The kids were all excellent and a great selection of urchins and cherubs was offered. Alan Barnes was great as the five year old Charles and it’s a pity he only made one other film. Hayley Mills does most of the work as the oldest daughter and she seemed a bit old to be so naive. I guess she just wanted to believe.

There was mild menace as the cops closed in, but I think it was good that the murderer was softened by the children rather than have him murder some in a desperate bid for freedom. No small sacrifice given this was the time of capital punishment.

The credits list Bates’ character as ‘The Man’ but the cops call him ‘Blakey’ I 'ate you credits writer!

In the end it transpired, as you’d probably have guessed, that Bates’ wasn’t Christ, he was just a naughty boy.

This was an enjoyable film which, although slight on plot, had some great performances and cracking locations.

Best Bit : ‘Get me my Jesus gun. And some fags’.  19/23

No.280 : War Horse (2011)

War Horse at the IMDb

It’s not often we get a tent pole release on the W movie blog but I had the Blu-Ray of this sitting on the shelf for ages, so let’s have a look.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, I would normally have looked this up before but the wife saw it at the cinema and had such a tearful experience that she didn’t want to watch it again. Still that’s what man caves and lock downs are for.

The film opens with a horse being born. Can’t fault them for missing bits out. The horse is sold to a pissed up Peter Mullan at market who has no business buying a thoroughbred at market, apart from noising up his landlord, David Thewlis. Thewlis is made out to be a bit of a dick for wanting his rent off the permanently pissed Mullan, but you can hardly blame him. Mullan’s son Albert takes charge of the horse which he calls Joey.

Joey manages to plough a rocky field against all odds giving the locals their best entertainment in years. ‘Love Island’ was still a madman’s dream. Despite its great work with plough, Mullen sells the nag to Loki when his turnip crop fails. Loki is the nicest man in the army who needs horses for the recently started first world war. He promises to keep in touch with Albert but that plan fizzles out when his and Dr Strange’s battle plan turns out to be a load of dated bollocks.

Joey then falls into the hands of the Hun but luckily it’s the nice Germans that we rarely see on film. After a short period of ownership the German owners get shot as deserters and the horse takes up boarding with an old French man and his granddaughter. After a two minute ride the horse gets captured again by the Germans and is tasked with pulling artillery. With its luck it must have done a dump on a leprechaun.

Meanwhile Albert has enlisted in the army and has a date at the Somme. Can the man and horse be reunited to live happily ever after?

This is a quality film with some cracking sequences and star names popping up at every turn. The scenes on the Somme were fantastic, especially when Joey loses a fight with some barbed wire. Once again the Germans turn out to be nice and that’s the pervading feel of the film. Everyone is decent really - surprised that they managed to start a war!

The horse itself doesn’t have much in the way of character but it’s used as a cipher to show the various theatres of war and the consequences of it. There was plenty of gruesome deaths and the trenches were well realised. The various vignettes showing the horse’s different owners were a good device for speeding the plot along and to keep us engaged. I don’t think I was ever that taken with the horse, which looked largely disinterested throughout, but the human interest angles were well done and it would be a man of stone who wouldn’t shed a tear at the sepia toned, sunset finale.

It is a bit long at 140 minutes but there is a lot packed in and practically every British character actor you can think of - I liked Eddie Marsan’s tough as nails but nice really sergeant and Davos Seaworth’s kill ‘em no cure ‘em doctor.

Overall this is an impressive and emotional ride on an old nag that they couldn’t put down.

Best Bit : The Major put in £10 - sob!  ‘W’ Rating 19/23

No.270 : Why Him? (2016)

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No.266 : Wake Wood (2009)

Wake Wood at the IMDb

Lord ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish stars in this creepy horror from 2009 - the first release from the Hammer Studios brand in over 30 years.

The film opens with flashbacks of a young Irish couple’s life with their young daughter. One day she feeds her ham sandwich to an Alsatian and gets bitten to death for her troubles - shouldn’t have forgotten the mustard I guess.

The distraught couple move to the town of Wakewood (Not clear why it’s one word and the title is two - annoying!) with him working as a vet and her at a chemist shop.

One night their car breaks down and they head towards the home of local worthy Arthur who knows a mechanic - Arthur or ‘Barry off ‘Auf Wiedersein Pet’ as he’s better known, is having a few friends over. Only for a satanic mass! Young Mum Louise gets a good look at the strange goings on which look like a man being born out of a large husk. Probably not got broadband out in the sticks and they have to make their own entertainment.

Barry soon shows up at the couple’s house and, apropos of nothing, offers to resurrect their daughter. He has more clauses than a timeshare contract though, the most onerous being that the girl can only return for 3 days and the couple must stay in Wakewood for ever. Rather than call him a nutter they readily agree. Seeing as they have gone this far they also agree to dig up their dead daughter for some of her hair and desecrate the corpse of a man who recently got trampled by a bull. All in a day’s work in rural Ireland.

After a grim and pretty full on ritual the girl is returned to them and all is good for about 20 minutes. Soon they realise that something isn’t right about the little girl - maybe something to do with all those murders she’s committing? The couple soon realise that this unholy deal wasn’t perhaps the best idea, but what price must be paid to put things right?

I really liked this film. It had a creepy, unsettling vibe throughout with even the scene setting moments, such as Baelish doing his veterinary work, being overly graphic and visceral. There were a few clichés to dance around such as the whole town being part of a coven and some very specific rules about what can and cannot be done - 'don’t go beyond the wind turbines’ can't be in the ancient scrolls surely?!

The last half hour goes a bit bat shit crazy and it isn’t explained where the power behind all the events come from or who laid down the rules. I guess it’s the usual lesson in ‘don’t mess with the supernatural’. The story was similar to the excellent Strontium Dog story ‘The Moses Quest’ albeit with a bit more blood letting.

The study in grief of the young bereft parents was well handled and you could almost give them a bye for getting involved once you’ve seen the pain they were in. Barry did well to avoid an Irish accent and just went for ‘stuffy English laird of the manor’ instead. The main couple were excellent with the right balance struck between overly emotional and buying our sympathy.

The violence ratcheted up towards the end and as it was being carried out by a ten year old girl it was mostly done in quick edits - they must have told the young actress it was a video about kittens or something.

I think it’s a film that will stay with you and, despite being far fetched and a bit too gruesome to feel real, it was good disturbing fun and is well worth a look.

Best Bit - Man suffers from a lot of bull ‘W’ Rating 19/23

No.251 : Wer (2013)

Wer at the IMDb

I went into this film knowing nothing about it which turned out to be a good choice as there were plenty of surprises and wrong foots to keep me entertained. In retrospect the title is a bit of a clue but if you want to avoid spoilers read this after you’ve seen the film and we can compare notes.

The opening of the film isn’t too promising as it looks like it’s going to be another of those crappy found footage offerings. We see a young family of three enjoying a camp out in the French countryside. Happily two of them are grabbed by an unseen menace meaning we get to the film proper with the shaky camcorder consigned to the bin.

The narrative is driven along by the usual cavalcade of rolling news clips and we learn that a French local has been arrested for the crime. This hairy brute of a man seems a fair choice as he’s most hirsute  and doesn’t say much. The case however attracts the attention of an American lady lawyer who looks to defend the suspect and get to the bottom of the killings which now number three as Mom didn’t make it.

She butts heads with the French detective in charge of the case and conducts her own investigations which suggest that the authorities may have a vested interest in chasing the suspect off his land which is a prime location for a proposed nuclear waste dump, that the locals seem strangely keen on.

Things look good for the suspect when tests show he may have a crippling disease that would preclude him from any late night murdering and dismembering frenzies. He also looks to be off the hook when a fragging great grizzly bear is found in the countryside despite them being extinct in Europe for a century. The strobe test goes ahead however to determine if our man has the rare disease - huge mistake. He breaks his bounds and kills a load of people before escaping.

The lady lawyer, who is now starting to doubt her early protestations of our man’s innocence, resolves to try and track him down. Meanwhile her assistant has a worrying wound that’s growing by the day…

I really liked this film and am surprised that it isn’t better known. It’s largely shot in a manner similar to ‘Rec’ with a lot a steady cam work and running about in an almost drama documentary style. The pace is relentless and I like how it flipped from a straightforward detective story to a full on monster picture about half way through.

The violence was extreme with jaws pulled off and body parts scattered with abandon throughout. Some of the dialogue was subtitled which was fine for me but I know some people dislike it. I think the French setting was appropriate however with legends and ‘the old ways’ seeming more believable - unlike the bear which seemed totally out of place and was left unexplained.

There were a few too many cheap scares or my liking with all sorts of stuff jumping out like birds, bats and even a pig to give you an unearned jump.

They danced about the werewolf legend for almost all the film with diseases and reactions to the moon being full used in place of calling a wolfman a wolfman. This was OK and added to the film’s modern take on an aged and clichéd genre.

If you like a lot of gruesome violence and dislike the French this could well be the film for you as the body count must be in the dozens. I liked its reinvention of the genre and its fast paced and inventive script. Definitely one to look out for.

Best Bit : Jaw Dropping!
‘W’ Rating 19/23

No.249 : We Are Still Here (2015)

We Are Still Here at the IMDb

It’s winter 1979 and a middle age couple are heading towards their new Massachusetts home. We learn that they have recently lost their only son and the house, that they have bought cheaply, represents a new start. We know from the off that the house is a bit creepy and very beige, but the early signs of trouble are the usual false starts like a ball bouncing down the stairs and a broken photo frame.

They are soon greeted by a pair of neighbours with the man, Dave, strangely saying the house has not had fresh souls for 30 years while his wife presses a note into the woman’s hand telling her to get out of the house - she was unaware that her curtains were that bad.

They get around to unpacking and doing up the house but the sense of unease continues until an electrician, brought in to investigate a over hot basement, gets fried for his trouble. The suggested terror motif is quickly dispatched as he is confronted and Cajun cooked by some smoky figures with bright eyes. The couple aren’t put off - possibly because they got out of paying the electrician’s bill - but invite over a couple of relatives and their son and his girlfriend to visit.

The couple who are written off as ‘hippies’ have experience of the supernatural and the hope is that they can cleanse the house of the evil spirits and presumably the Kentucky fried electrician in the basement. The two couples head off to the local restaurant where they are made about as welcome as a turd in a swimming pool by the locals who know the secrets of the house, I'll be bound! Meanwhile the son and his girlfriend let themselves into the empty house and pay for pilfering the Scotch by being carved up by the evil house dwellers. This pair are effectively fodder as the monsters tidy up after themselves and these atrocities are left unknown to our heroes who assume they’ve just been stood up. Nice that the monsters were keen to keep their security deposit intact!

The hippy couple start their efforts to clear the house of the unwelcome visitors but they are about as effective as a fart against a tornado. Whilst the man hippy is eating his sock and poking himself in the eye the townsfolk decide to take matters into their own hands - if our heroes escape the evil in the house will descend on the town, so they head over to help the cinder people - huge mistake. Who will survive? And why didn’t they just burn the house down years ago rather than let it kill a bunch of folk every 30 years?

I liked this haunted house horror despite it’s threadbare plot and OTT violence. The 1970’s setting was well realised with the leads sporting no end of stylish turtle necks and double knits. The actors did a decent job as looking shocked a lot and no one was scared of getting their hands dirty, as more claret was spilled than in a winery explosion.

The premise was a bit weak with the burned bodies of a wronged family showing up every 30 years in need of a fresh family to feast on. There was no reason offered for this timescale or what they were after - nourishment? revenge? A straight to DVD horror? Who knows?

The twin baddies of the monsters and the compliant townsfolk were well done, although it was more for laughs at the end when the locals showed up to help and ended up as the main course themselves. The crackling and smoking family of basement dwellers were well done and exuded some real menace.

The ending was pretty satisfying and I liked the end credits sequence that featured a lot of local newspapers recounting the horrors that had occurred over the life of the house.

I don’t think this film was particularly scary but there were plenty of gruesome kills and a nice air of unease throughout. Definitely one to check out.

Best Bit : ‘We’ll help…aaarrrrghh!’
‘W’ rating 19/23

No.186 : Wish You Were Here (2012)

Wish You Were Here at IMDb

Not to be confused with the 1987 Emily Lloyd film (see No.117)  this ‘Wish You Were Here’ is a 2012 mystery drama with a non-linear narrative and a lot to like. The lack of a question mark in the title makes it sound more of a plaintive plea than an invitation, and as the film develops you can see that was totally the intent.

We open with a high energy holiday being enjoyed by four friends in Cambodia. There is a rocking soundtrack as they party on the beach and eat insects without a care in the world, but the cares are in the post, don’t you worry. As the credits sequence ends the bright lights and rave music are replaced with a haunted man walking through a sodden field as the sun comes up. Something has happened and what follows is the story of the night before. A bit like ‘The Hangover’ with less slapstick.

The four friends are Dave, a kind of tubby Russell Crowe who looks constantly drunk, his wife Alice and her sister Steph and Steph’s new boyfriend, Jeremy. The four head off on the bender as Alice is six months pregnant and it’s their last chance to party before their brood expands to three. We quickly learn that only three of the friends returned home, with Jeremy’s ticket going unused.

At first it looks like a straight forward missing person case but as we learn more about the past through flashbacks we know that secrets and lies abound. The family is wrenched apart when Dave admits to having sex with Steph and the police’s interest in Jeremy’s business interests mean his fate is looking bad. As the customs dog sniffs its way through the warehouse will his disappearance be down to a business deal gone bad or to something a bit closer to home?

Meanwhile Dave has spotted a sinister car tracking his movements and his wife is taking on an unhealthy taste for wine as her baby's arrival dawns. Let’s hope she remembers to buckle up!

I really enjoyed this Aussie slice of life as heavy drinking and infidelity spell all manor of trouble for our hapless bunch. Don’t get me wrong, there’s not a laugh to be had, but their headlong lunges towards oblivion leave you with your fingers over your eyes in places.

The narrative is all over the shop as we are slowly drip fed snippets of information in flashback which serve to dismiss our theories as soon as they develop. The outcome in a Glittering bar wasn’t expected but it put all the pieces neatly and satisfyingly in place.

The cast were uniformly good but for the most part it was a two man show with Dave and Alice shining as their marriage crumbled as the secrets of the holiday were exposed. The editing was excellent and there was never any confusion over where we were in the story with the Cambodia scenes that bit brighter and, helpfully, always containing Cambodian characters.

The police detection angle and the scene with the missing Jeremy’s parents were mostly padding but the sense of doom was well handled as Dave’s infidelity was as big a blow as the other stuff that threatened to engulf them all. I’m being deliberately vague as the unfolding story is really worth your investment. All in all this was an excellent and unsettling 90 minutes and well worth your time.

Best Bit “Tonight’s Special Offer Is…
‘W’ Score 19/23

No. 102 : Waltz With Bashir (2008)

Waltz With Bashir at the IMDb

The great 100 ‘W’s list was so sadly neglected that I actually watched a ‘W’ film the other night without making the connection. How the mighty have fallen! In retrospect the fall from grace can be traced to the start of the quality TV schedule and as most of my shows are about to go on their summer hiatuses you can be assured of some reinvigorated ‘W’ action.

The rebirth begins in somewhat downbeat fashion with ‘Waltz With Bashir’ which I had been aware of but was slow to track down due to the grim subject matter and the basic animation seen in the trailers. Of course prejudging is never a good thing and I was pleasantly surprised with the film, which was nominated for the Best Foreign Picture Oscar (lost).

Waltz With Bashir is a drama documentary which sees a middle age man try to make sense of some lucid dreams and to patch up some holes in his memory relating to his time as a teenage soldier in the Israeli army. Although animated almost all the way through the film uses real people and their experiences, with their interviews shown in animated form with their names and positions captioned in both Hebrew and English.

The dreams our man suffers from lead back to his service in Lebanon which took place during the 1982 conflict. He slowly recalls being attacked and being the only survivor of his squad, managing to escape only after swimming out to sea and then back to his own lines. As he delves deeper he realises that he may have been involved in a massacre of hundreds of civilians and wonders if the horrors have been erased from his memory to preserve is sanity.

The film successfully treads the thin line between entertaining and preaching and despite some harrowing sequences there are some fun bits too, not least a hardcore porno featuring a well endowed plumber with a ‘big tool’. The soundtrack is great too with pop hits from the period by the likes of P.I.L and O.M.D. sitting snugly with some evocative classical music.

Despite my reservations I did enjoy the animation which defies it’s basic appearance with some clever 360 degree turns and snappy direction, especially during the titular sequence.

Although it’s not a film that you could say you enjoyed it is thought provoking and affecting. I wasn’t aware of this incident prior to seeing the film and it’s certainly brave of an Israeli film maker to focus on an event that doesn’t show his country men in their best light.

This is a film well worth looking up and if you think animation isn’t the best medium for analysing the evil that men do, a small section of news footage from the time is included at the end to show that the real horrors are far worse than anyone could imagine, let alone draw.

Best Bit : Plumber Comes To Visit
'W' Rating : 19/23

No.94 : Warriors (1999)

IMDb Link : Warriors at the IMDb


No, it’s not ‘The Warriors’, the ‘The’ disallows that one. This is an 1992 film concerning the United Nations peace keeping operation during the civil war in Bosnia. Doesn’t sound as much fun as gang battles with the Baseball Furies? , well maybe not but it is still well worth looking up.
The film opens with a group of working class lads enjoying the football and a night on the town. Elsewhere a couple of better spoken men, who are clearly the officers, are getting on with arranging weddings and the like. A spanner is however thrown into their collective works when they are recalled to duty and sent on peace keeping duties in Bosnia, under the flag of the United Nations.

They are briefed on their role and rules of engagement which include not getting involved in the fighting and being able to help only civilians who have been injured by the conflict. These are quickly called in to question when our men are prevented from stopping a village being torched or helping people who will be hurt, but aren’t hurt just yet.

The tentative agreement that allows them access to the country is always under threat and the men are forced to surrender rescued civilians to the kill squads lest the warlords get upset. The men who are chirpy at first soon get numbed by the horrors of war and the impotent situation in which they find themselves. When one of their number is killed by a sniper some seek revenge, other solace in the arms of women who aren’t their fiancées.

The horror continue apace with people crucified and butchered like cattle. As the mens’ tour of duty ends they have to confront what they have experienced and try to forge normal lives at home. With nerves shredded, relationships betrayed and fallen comrades all in the mix can life ever return to normal?


This film was originally made for TV but has been converted into a single film with a hefty near 3 hour run time. It may seem a big ask to watch 3 hours of atrocities but like ‘Welcome to Sarajevo’ (See No.14) I found it really absorbing and really terrifying. The barbarism of the people was shocking and it was as if no lessons were learned at all from World War 2. The events are seemingly all brought from first hand accounts and it’s easy to see how they could affect the soldiers in the manners shown.

Although a TV production the film does have good values and a stellar cast that includes Mr Fantastic himself Ioan Gruffudd and the ginger one out of ‘Band of Brothers’. As the war was pretty recent at the time of filming the locations, including the torched villages, are real and the uniforms and equipment all seemed authentic to me.

The drama wrought from characters who we have seen slowly develop is excellent and it was interesting to see how the differing ranks and social classes reacted to the same event. I’m not sure there was much of a message beyond ‘war is hell’ but I don’t think the film ever intended to preach. With events as horrific and unimaginable as those shown here you don’t need much dramatic licence to keep the viewer engrossed. It was probably be fair to call the film a drama documentary and hopefully it’ll help stop genocides from ever happening again. Until the next one, if history teaches us anything.

Best Bit : Manchester United fan denied lift by Scousers

‘W’ Rating : 19/23

No.57 : Wonder Boys (2000)

Wonder Boys at the IMDb

Michael Douglas plays an ageing English professor who enjoyed success with his first novel but is seven years late with the next, which is a bloated 2000+ pages and counting. His publisher, Robert Downey Jnr is in town supposedly for a literary festival but in fact to badger his writer into producing his book. Douglas has other fish to fry however, as his married girlfriend ,Frances McDormand, is pregnant and his most promising student, Tobey Maguire is troubled.

The literary festival hammers home how his career has stalled with prolific writer Rip Torn holding court. He does however see great potential in Maguire, the same he had when he was a wonder boy himself. In a bid to inspire him Douglas shows his student his lover’s husband’s prize possession - the jacket Marilyn Monroe was married in, which is then stolen. Add to this the shooting of a blind guard dog and you get a right old caper.

Douglas knows Maguire has the jacket but when looking for it he finds the lad’s novel which may be the next big thing. Gay Downey Jnr seduces the boy and signs him up but can they keep him out of jail and can the experiences of the weekend reignite the jaded Douglas?

This film is based on the book by ‘The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay’ author Michael Chabon and will be a real treat to any writer, aspiring or otherwise. Douglas’ waffling and unfocused new book is brought into sharp focus against Maguire who can bash out classics over a weekend.

The situations they get into never seem that contrived or farcical but they are funny and at times excruciating. Douglas is great as the slightly foppish scarf wearing professor. Maguire also shines as the slightly mental student although his intensity and unpredictability would stop me having him over for tea. Downey Jnr. Is OK as the fast talking publisher as is Katie Holmes as a student with the hots for Douglas.

The film has a predictable path, albeit one filled with pot holes and diversions. It’s all about our old friend redemption which is never a bad thing. When Douglas’ massive manuscript is piled into a car we know where it’s going, and that it’s going to be for the best. The ending is no surprise as Douglas is doing the narration from the start, but given the journey we don’t grudge him his outcome.

I really enjoyed ‘Wonder Boys’ which is a sharp, dialogue heavy essay into what it takes to be both a writer and a survivor. Douglas can be annoying as the precious Professor but he carries the film throughout and it has to be his best showing since ‘Wall Street’.

Best Bit : Look after my book - uh-oh

‘W’ Score 19/23

No.29 : WarGames (1983)

War Games at the IMDb

A youthful Matthew Broderick stars in this 1983 film, that sees a teenage hacker nearly kick start world war 3. When this was made the Cold War was at its height and the scenario depicted wasn’t as far fetched then as it may seem now.

The story follows teenage computer wiz, David, who accidentally breaks into a government computer when seeking some secret video games from a nearby company. After starting a game called ‘Thermonuclear War’ he forgets about it until the news reports a NORAD security breach. Things deteriorate fast when the computer insists on playing the game for real, mistaking David for its presumed dead creator. The Feds are soon on the scene taking David into custody, while the clock counts ever closer to doomsday.



The usual array of stuffed shirts try to address matters but of course only our man can help avert disaster with the help of his limber school chum Jennifer (Ally Sheedy) and the reclusive master programmer, whose demise has been somewhat exaggerated.

I hadn’t seen WarGames since a cinema trip more than 20 years ago, and I was surprised to see how well it stood up. A lot of it has stayed in my memory and I could even remember the password to the school’s computer (pencil) - more brain cells unnecessarily filled! Obviously the technology is a bit dated, as our man impresses his girl friend with his big floppy, but apart from that the story still seems quite plausible with the techno babble kept to a minimum. The pace is maintained throughout using a classic ticking clock approach and although the pay off is a bit preachy, it’s still a ride worth taking.

The cast is excellent apart from the red neck General who must have found his rank in a cereal box and Dr Falken whose whole range appears to be looking enigmatic. I especially liked nerdy Malvin who managed to be both rude and insensitive to order and the lovely Ally who despite playing a school girl was 21 when this was made, so it’s OK to ogle her yoga outfit!

Some of the tech was a bit ropey, such as hot wiring a call box with a ring pull, but overall it was one of the few childhood favourites that has held up to further scrutiny.

The film has spawned a straight to DVD sequel ‘The Dead code’ and we may have a look at that later if nothing else more promising shows up.

Best Bit : The visit to the Nerds‘ lair - ”You’re doing it now”

‘W’ Score 19/23

No.25 : Wag the Dog (1997)

Wag the Dog at the IMDb

‘Wag the Dog’ is a 1997 political satire that boasts a host of stars including Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman and Woody Harrelson.

The film opens eleven days before a presidential election and there’s trouble at the White House ; the President has been caught with his pants down. Before the story breaks spin doctor DeNiro hires Hollywood producer Hoffman to invent a war which will keep the scandal off the front pages. This task is successfully completed with the US’s phoney war against Albania helping the incumbent’s ratings no end.

Unfortunately William C Macy’s CIA agent hasn’t picked his new boss yet and details of the fiction are leaked to the opposition candidate. When he declares the war over the stakes are raised and a hero has to be found to save the day. He comes in the shape of Woody’s ‘Old Shoe’ - but have our guys bet on a lame horse?

With the election imminent the lost hero of the Albania conflict has to be showcased but the plane is going down and Woody’s record starts with ‘raped a nun’ and there’s an ‘and’ after that…

This film is a rare beast - a political satire that manages to be both witty and funny without hammering home some obvious message. The fictitious war and media spin seem so credible, even more so given recent events. The President who is never seen is portrayed almost as a puppet, happy to spew out any old story his agents give him.

The highlight of the film for me were the ‘Old Shoe’ scenes where packs of willing celebrities are happy to endorse and sing for a totally invented hero who has a less than distinguished past. I was slightly let down with the blacker than black finale, and I found it less than credible that Hoffman’s character would act with such, albeit self serving, integrity. That said in a film where the message is ‘image is everything’ maybe it wasn’t so far fetched.

Fast moving and without an ounce of fat on the plot or dialogue ‘Wag the Dog’ sets the benchmark for all political satires in the modern age. Just a pity Bill Clinton came along and made it look like a documentary!

Best Bit : Woody’s mental turn
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W’ Rating 19/23