Unforgiven (1992) - #150

Empire top 301: #150
IMDb top 250: #101

Rating 9/10

Director: Clint Eastwood
Writers: David Webb Peoples
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Richard Harris, Saul Rubinek, Frances Fisher & Jaimz Woolvett

"You'd be William Munny out of Missouri. Killer of women and children."

Set in 1880 in Big Whiskey Wyoming, Clint Eastwood plays ageing killer William Munny an Old West gunslinger who comes out of retirement for one last job to kill two men who cut up a prostitute. Along with his old partner Ned Logan (Freeman) and a young man named the Schofield Kid they hunt down the two men accused with a view to killing them and getting the $1000 reward. Meanwhile, back in Big Whiskey the town Sheriff Little Bill requests all visitors submit their firearms to the sheriffs office on arrival and hopes to discourage any would-be-killers of entering his town to collect the reward. 

  
I really love Westerns and this is one of my favourites. So beautifully written by David Webb Peoples and it features some really exceptional performances from all involved. Clint does an amazing job of both directing and performing in the movie. He couldn't have made a more fitting tribute for Western great Sergio Leone.

Unforgiven is pretty brutal and tells the story of a man saved from his life of wickedness by his wife having to return to it for the sake of feeding his children. It shows the real dark side of the Wild West with unsavoury characters around every corner and plenty of violence throughout the story. 

Gene Hackman gives an Academy Award winning performance as Little Bill and whilst his actions in the film could be deemed as evil and excessive his intentions appear to be good. He has some great scenes with Richard Harris and Saul Rubinek and thoroughly deserved the Oscar for this. Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris are both great, as they always are but I want to mention Jaimz Woolvett as the Schofield Kid and Frances Fisher as Strawberry Alice as I think they give absolutely outstanding performances. I love their characters and think they're both played and written superbly. 

Unforgiven is a classic and definitely one of the best Westerns ever, it's so well made and has really stood the test of time. One to watch! 

Se7en (1995) - #37

Empire top 301: #37
IMDb top 250: #22

Rating 9/10

Director: David Fincher
Writers: Andrew Kevin Walker
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt & Gwyenth Paltrow

"You're no messiah. You're a movie of the week. You're a fucking t-shirt, at best."

I love this film. I love everything about it. It's a brilliantly written, filmed and acted piece of work! It's ingeniously clever but never too clever for it's own good making it hard to follow and it has one of the best, most depressing endings in any movie ever! 

  

David Fincher's direction is so gothic and gritty and the sets are so good you can almost smell the crime scenes! The movie is gruesome but never violent as you never actually see the killer murder anybody! There is one particularly gruesome scene involving a prostitute and a deadly sex toy that will stay with you for days afterwards, and you don't even see it happen. This is down to some fantastic writing and brilliant acting from all involved. 

The pairing of Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman is brilliant and both play their parts excellently,  especially Freeman. Gwyneth Paltrow offers solid supporting and does well with what little she has to do. 

I don't want to ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it so I shall say no more, except this is a brilliantly dark, chilling, thriller of a movie that I will never tire of watching!