12 - The Apartment - 4 stars
A very high ranking for a much loved film that is a lot darker than I was expecting. Not many romantic comedies these days have an attempted suicide as a main plot point!
Jack Lemmon is perfect as the employee climbing the corporate ladder by letting his bosses use his apartment as a love den for their extra-marital affairs.
He faces an age-old dilemma when the girl of his dreams becomes involved with his boss. Does he keep the job or go for the girl?
He has a nice warm chemistry with a youthful, demure Shirley Maclaine who is the object of his affection, and their banter is brought to life with crackling dialogue from one of Hollywood's greatest writers Billy Wilder:
"Ya know, you see a girl a couple of times a week, just for laughs, and right away they think you're gonna divorce your wife. Now I ask you, is that fair?"
"No, sir, it's very unfair... Especially to your wife."
Bazinga!
37 - A Clockwork Orange - 3 stars
Just like Alex getting his Ludovico technique treatment, I found some of this hard to take in and accept.
I'm not sure what it was exactly, whether it was the dominating visual style or Malcolm McDowell's lead performance, I couldn't figure if he was playing it straight or not.
I don't want to bad mouth the film, because this is not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. It is very well made as one would expect from Kubrick, but I think it is the type of film that is easier to digest and appreciate on second viewing.
Controversial when it was released, it has grown to become much more relevant over the years and I'm sure that there are some in society who believe that the measures used against Alex would be a welcome deterent to violence for the young knife crime hoodies of today.
Days remaining - 43 Films remaining - 44
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