Film 56 "Inglorious Basterds" IMDB No. 89

Bingo! How fun! But, I digress. Where were we?

2009 Quentin Tarantino
Tarantino's usual fare of telling different parts of the same overall story from different perspectives at different times reaching a crashendo finish.
When I was young I found it uncomfortable  watching German war films I couldn't understand how souless and unforgiving the Nazis were.
Set in WW2 occupied france we first meet Colonel Hans Landa a cold hearted Jew hunter, from the off he gave me the willies, he finds and kills a jewish family under the floorboards of a dairy farmhouse, except the young Shosanna Dreyfus escapes. We catch up with her as she becomes the owner of a small picture house in Paris and a meeting with a german soldier/actor results in him arranging an illustrious premier at her cinema with the promise of all the Nazi leaders attending.
News of this event reaches the 'Basterds', a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who likes scalping nazis, they don't take prisoners, if one has to survive he makes sure that they can be clearly identified as a nazi, that bit made me cringe.
I could write loads about this one, but you have to watch it, I'm not giving anymore away.
Thoroughly enjoyed (if that's the right word) it.
9/10

Film 55 "A Clockwork Orange" IMDB No. 55

Hey dad, there's a strange fella sittin' on the sofa munchy-wunching lomticks of toast.

 (not an official trailer)

1971 Stanley Kubrick
Set in a future England Alex is a youth that likes a bit of the 'ultra-violent' and merrily goes around duffing people up and having a bit of the old 'in out'. One day he gets caught and sent to prison charged with murder, he hears of a new therapy that will have him released in a short time rather than serving his full sentence. The therapy it turns out is not tested thoroughly and has adverse reactions.
Its a weird kind of jolly jaunt from Kubricks imagination, plenty to keep watching to the end.
It's apparently a classsic from it's time that was banned on release, it all looks a bit tame these days.
I like the way the narator talks.
7.5/10

Film 54 "Gran Turino" IMDB No. 95

Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone.

2008 Client Eastwood
Walt Kowalski is a recently widowed grumpy retired middle america ex-Korean retired vet. He used to work for Ford and built the '72 Gran Turino that sits in his garage. The neighbourhood he lives in has changed, once a modern suburbia for working class americans, now full of Hmong immigrants. Clint plays Walt perfectly, a racist old biggot that doesn't believe in god and harks for the old days.
Walt's neighbour has problems with local gang members and Walt takes him under his wing, eventually.
I won't give away the ending, but I enjoyed this film a lot.
8/10

Film 53 "Bicycle Thieves" IMDB No. 88

I mind my own business, I bother nobody, and what do I get? Trouble.

1948 Vittorio De Sica
Story of a young father in post war Italy, he gets a job hanging posters, but must have a bicycle. His bike is in the pawn brokers so they sell their bed sheets to get it back and he starts his job.
The bicylce gets stolen, a lot of the remaining film is Ricci attempting to retrieve the bicycle.
It's a classic and critically acclaimed, I found the music score really annoying, it is basically the same tune over and over at different tempos, you can't get away with that these days.
6/10

Film 52 "Black Swan" IMDB No. 51

He picked me, mommy! I'm the new swan queen!

2010 Darren Aronofsky
A story about a ballet dancer that doesn't eat anything and hallucinates all the time. It could be about something else but all I could think all the way through was "Eat Something!"
Don't make me watch it again.
4/10

Film 51 "12 Angry Men" IMDB No. 8

It's also possible for a lawyer to be just plain stupid, isn't it? I mean it's possible.

1957 Sidney Lumet
It's a classic. 12 members of a jury retired to consider the verdict, 11 say he's guilty, 1 says he's not.
The whole film is set in the room, as it was in the play. It looks like a foregone conclusion, a young hispanic american accused of murder, but Juror 8 doesn't think so and starts the conversations that expose their prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.
If you haven't seen it, like I hadn't, it's worth a watch. Terminator it aint.
7.5/10

Film 50 "Amadeus" IMDB No. 83

That was God laughing at me. Through that obscene giggle..

1984 Milos Forman
The story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as seen and told through flashbacks by Antonio Salieri.
Salieri had the power and politic as the court composer to Austrian Emperor, and he used this to keep Mozart down because of his jealousy of Mozarts genious.
Can't say I particularly looking forward to this one, but it's watchable, it hasn't been done in the Hollywood style which is a good thing.
On to the next film
7/10

Film 49 "Apocalypse Now" IMDB No. 36

Charlie don't surf

1979 Francis Ford Coppola
During the Vietnam war US Army Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is given a mission that doesn't exist, to take out a renegade Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who is believed to have gone mad but still in control of a loyal group of men. The film follows Willard from Siagon up the river into Cambodia.
Now this is a real war film, Coppola captures the soldiers perspective, with the aid of brilliant acting, perfectly. They don't know what they are doing there except doing as they are told, for the most part scared young men wanting to be home.
Loads of classic scenes that have gone down in film history, I love the start with 'The End' by The Doors as the music. It's a long film, the version I watched is 3 1/2 hours, but you you don't notice it.
I'm not a war film fan but this is a proper classic that should be higher on the list.
8/10

Film 48 "To Kill a Mockingbird" IMDB No. 56

Jem is up in a tree, he said he won't come down until you agree to play football with the Methodists.

1962 Robert Mulligan
Set in the 1930s depression in the southern states of America. A lawer, Atticus Finch takes the case of a black man accused of raping a white woman. You can guess what happens, I reckon most american law dramas of the 80s and 90s follow this format.
This is the classic original, brilliantly acted and directed.
7/10