As the weeks drag on in the middle of a pandemic your time at home may start to vary as the Government slowly attempts to spark the economy. On the other side of the world in Hollywood production on TV Shows and Movies grinded to a halt months ago so not much is being released. I’ve found myself dipping into the past, taking another look at a few gems. Here are five movies you may have already seen but they are definitely worth a rewatch.
Roma
Alphonso Cuaron’s black and white masterpiece has been streaming on Netflix for over a year now. Set in Mexico City in the early 70’s it’s a slow burning tale of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) who is a live-in maid in an upper class household, she cooks, cleans and tucks the kiddos in at night. A series of events changes everything, all set amongst the country’s Political turmoil as a revolution rages around them. Apprantly Yalitza had never acted before which is incredible; her performance shows strength, empathy and dignity.
The French Connection
Based on a true story of two dirty New York City Detectives ‘Popeye’ (Gene Hackman) and ‘Buddy’ (Roy Scheider) who discover a heroin smuggler based in Marseille is trying to ship product to America, establishing ‘The French Connection’. Winning an Academy Award in 1971 for best picture, this is a crime classic directed by ‘The Exorcist’s’ William Friedkin; its gritty urban style shot with handheld cameras would pave the way for HBO’s ‘The Wire’ years later.
Escape from New York
John Carpenters 1981 Science fiction epic starring Kurt Russell as ‘Snake Plissken’ is an all-time cult classic. Set in the futuristic year of ‘1997’ Snake has 24 hours to break into the Prison that is Manhattan and rescue the President of the United States whose plane Air Force One has been hijacked by terrorists.
The Studio wanted Charles Bronson or Tommy Lee Jones as ‘Snake’ but Carpenter insisted on Kurt Russell, it turned him from a Disney actor into a worldwide star.
The Big Short
A group of money men in the months leading up to the 2008 GFC saw the debt obligation bubble in the housing market about to explode. As the banks laughed them off, they took an educated gamble and ended up making a killing. Michael (Christian Bale) is a numbers geek, who blasts heavy metal in the office and makes his investors extremely nervous; Jared (Ryan Gosling) is a smart arse banker who talks to the camera and Mark Baum (Steve Carell) an investment banker who whines the whole system is corrupt. It’s brilliant, dramatic and for such a serious subject, surprisingly funny.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
A cultural icon in the 80’s, Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) became the hero of every high school kid who wanted to stick it to the Headmaster and ditch school with his beautiful girlfriend and goofy best buddy. John Hughes already had a huge hit with ‘The Breakfast Club’, he wrote this screenplay in a week. It’s Hughes’ love letter to Chicago, it went on to make $70 million on a $6 million dollar budget, and its still funny to this day.
