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Lists
An error has ocurred. Please try againF**k (2005) – 824 Nil by Mouth (1997) – 428 Casino (1995) – 398 Alpha Dog (2007) – 367 Twin Town (1997) – 318 Summer of Sam (1999) – 315 Running Scared (2006) – 315 Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat (2002) – 311 Menace II Society (1993) – 300 Goodfellas (1990) – 300 Narc (2002) – 297 Harsh Times (2006) 296 Another Day in Paradise (1998) – 291 Made (2001) – 291 Dirty (2005) – 280 Jarhead (2005) – 278 Bully (2001) – 274 State Property 2 (2005) – 271 Reservoir Dogs (1992) – 269 Pulp Fiction (1994) – 265 The Big Lebowski (1998) – 260 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) – 248 Dead Presidents (1995) – 247 The Boondock Saints (1999) – 239 The Departed (2006) – 237 Empire (2002) – 236 True Romance (1993) – 234 State of Grace (1990) – 230 My Name Is Joe (1998) 230 Gridlock’d 1997 227 The Devil’s Rejects (2005) – 224 Eddie Murphy Raw (1987) – 223 Suicide Kings (1997) – 222 Black and White (1999) – 215 American History X (1998) – 214 The Original Kings of Comedy (2000) 213 Layer Cake (2005) 210 Scarface (1983) 207 Spun (2002) 203 A Bronx Tale (1993) 200 Foolish (1999) 200 8 Mile (2002) 200 DysFunktional Family 2003 200 I Got the Hook Up 1998 197 Born on the Fourth of July (1989) – 196 Overnight (2003) – 191 Magnolia (1999) – 190 Monster (2003) – 187 Hustle and Flow (2005) – 186 Get Rich or Die Tryin’ 2005 185 Formula 51 (2001) – 180 Flawless (1999) – 178 Superbad (2007) – 176
Reviews
Gladiator (2000)
Now We Are Free
An exhilarating, sweeping epic that begs to be seen on the largest possible screen. Although it lacks emotional depth and sweep , it still delivers the type of rousing, large-scale adventure that marked the best films of its kind - say, Spartacus. The heroism and the epic grandeur leave behind the flavour of cynicism. They epitomize the kind of high-profile bloodshed the masses now expect. The script is serviceable but not exactly inspired. Filled with brilliant filmmaking and outstanding performances, but it's neither profound nor philosophical to become am absolute masterpiece -- it's mournful, serious, beautiful and, finally, loud, obnoxious, but hardly the soaring tale of one man's struggle that it clearly envisioned to be.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
Frodo Baggins and the other members of the Fellowship continue on their sacred quest to destroy the One Ring
The second of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is two stories - one is that of Frodo and Sam making their painful way to Mordor with Gollum as a guide and that part is tedious to the extreme while Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are having a much more exciting time at the Battle of Helm's Deep. In true middle-volume form, the tone of this movie is quite dark. The Fellowship has been broken, and things seem to grow ever worse for its fragments as they pursue their separate quests, until the plot ends abrubtly with yet another turn for the worse. It may be typical of trilogies for the second volume to take the story ever-darker, but here the story gets more complex. This one has the war of Helm's Deep, and you know things are going to get worse before they get better.
Se7en (1995)
Please try to avoid pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth
Set chiefly in downtown Los Angeles, Se7en infused the city with a gloomy, rainy vibe by eliminating any identifiable landmarks, iin order to retain the city's anonymity. It's an intriguing, appalling, savvy, nasty, unsettling, dark, grisly, horrifying and intelligent thriller with a tantalizing, morbid atmosphere of unease. It's not the identity of the killer that gives it its kick -- it's the way director David Fincher raises mystery to the level of moral provocation. Watching Se7en is like cracking open a safe to find it crawling with eels . The overall style is chic, studied and murky. BTW According to Roman Catholic theology, the seven deadly sins are the seven behaviours or feelings that inspire further sin. They are typically ordered as: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
A big crazy guy gets himself a nuclear bomb
After a period of grief at the loss of his former sweetheart, Batman (Christian Bale) comes back to do battle with Bane (Tom Hardy), a former member of the League of Shadows. Bane gains the upper hand early on, but Batman avenges his earlier defeat as he overpowers his opponent and villain. There are moments in the entire movie that provoke kinda "This is awesome!" response. It confirms everything that Nolan had already done. And it's a shining example of why comic book movies should try to e nhance the original comics. Comic book characters are simple and naturally campy. Do not take them seriously, do have a brilliantly intelligent script that warrants not being taken seriously.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Number One - still the best entry
"The Lord of the Rings" is an exceptionally complicated story. There are countless locations, situations, and subtleties presented throughout this film series - yet it is easy to follow and a lot of fun. It is an example of fantasy done right. It has elaborate sets, an anthemic soundtrack, and realistic costumes. My favorite aspect is the production design. Love it or hate it, the 'Lord of the Rings' is quite unique amongst fantasia fiction. Few if any films can compete against such a thorough and self consistant universe. This is not mis-en-scène to be just another fantasy combo - the only reasonable comparisions are with Homer's epics and maybe even the Christian Bible. Tolkien has been often decried by the literary establsihment - despite his work being of a scale that an entire lifetime of effort was poured into. Tolkien's not easy to read but the films are certtainly most rewarding.
The Matrix (1999)
Either filmicly or mathematically, a Matrix is an actual array of functions and arranged numbers
Well, , it hasn't aged well. The once mind-bending sci fi has little to offer, after a quarter of a century the movie's once awesomely innovative style just looks like every other bad action scifi. The only good thing left is Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving.) The first half is interesting, the second half is just Hong Kong combat. The grades I would give it, in a discriminatory and critical way, would be the following: Concept: A. Story: D. Characters: D. Dialog: D. Pacing: B. Cinematography: C. Overall visual design: B. Acting: D. Music: D. Matrix was made in the turn of the century. It's only fitting then that the Sci-fi culture in the 21st century is both a friendly companion and a bold boundary pusher. Whether it takes us to the heights of outer space, alternate universes, or even just around the neighborhood, science fiction stories truly enrich our pop landscape.
Interstellar (2014)
The heartfelt family story at its core isn't strong enough to carry the film on its own
This is proper sci fi, very long but enjoyable with a few caveats. As realistic as ¨Gravity.¨ Special effects are incredible and some of them done the old fashioned way. Without CGI. But the sound is erratic - the bangs and crashes far too loud and the speech often hard to hear. I liked its scientifical basis despite whopper plot conveniences. I liked its portrayal of relativity. Nolan is the greatest director around, but this isn't his best moment. Sappy characters are a prominent flaw in such a story of love between a father and daughter. McConaughey was the main guilty party - he always mumbled and mum bled. Anne Hathaway also guilty but not so badly. The plot is neither clever nor surprising as it is supposed to be.
Breaking Bad (2008)
Overall design: A. Acting: A. Characters: A. Dialog: B. Pacing: B. Cinematography: B. Music: B.
Whenever I see comments about series that feature "gray" characters, like Breaking Bad, I realize that people have lost the ability to read layers... For them it must be A or B. One day they will realize that human beings do break bad, being complex, contradictory, making bad decisions, being enchanted by power, etc. An odd meth-cooking couple tries to get their business running. The pace is intense and fun. The overarching plot doesn't have much direction; the story is basically a series of mechanisms to get the characters to develop the way they want. Still, there are a lot of plot strands that seem to be building to something but are then just left behind in a few episodic seasons of the show.
Game of Thrones (2011)
Take a couple of tries to get into it, once you do there'll be no looking back
It is a long series, with convoluted plot lines. The plot structure is complete, the details are rich, and the creativity is endless. With the premise of maintaining Martin's original tone, the TV show is naturally more concise and its key points are more prominent. The characters are brilliant and wonderful. The series is not only magnificent in dramatic scenes, but also exquisite in photography, costumes, scenery, and art. The plot integrates a variety of elements and is coated with magic. However, it reflects the real world. It focuses on illusion, but focuses on the struggle for political power.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Characters: A. Special effects/design: A. Acting: A. Pacing: B. Dialog: B. Cinematography: C. Concept: D. Story: D. Music: D.
There are no villains, there isn't even really a storyline as such. Despite some low-key humour and the satirical approach to the whole plot, it's basically quite a sad story. The young life of an idiot who can run fast. A celebration of an ordinary person who is neither handsome nor intelligent, yet delivers beyond most people's wildest dreams. The ending is bittersweet, yet an upper. The interjection of Forrest Gump into actual historical video footage is technically superb. JFK, LBJ, Vietnam, Watergate, and other history unfold through the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75. Tom Hanks finely portrays the just-under-normal-intelligence hero. It's mostly entertaining, but it's so mostly dumb. It's a sort of aimless nostalgia-fest for baby boomers, bathed in disgustingly bad philosophy. Hard not to see it as saccharine allegory although affecting. The affecting relationship between Forrest and Jenny, the sometimes subtle humor, the clever placement of Forrest within so many monumental historic American events, the scenes on the park bench... It's very worth seeing.
Inception (2010)
Pro robber infiltrates the subconscious of his victims and steals information
The plot is so complex that any elucidation would be incapable of justifying its depth. The film deals with a futuristic world where the human mind can be intercepted through the invasion of dreams. Cobb is an expert in the art of extracting information (stealing valuable secrets) from the depths of the subconscious in a dreamlike state. His proficiency, however, is undermined by a turmoil that begins with the premature death of his wife. He is forced to live the life of a fugitive, far from his children. His only chance for redemption lies with a Japanese tycoon named Saitu, who wants him to perform an inception (insertion = planting information in someone's mind). To accomplish this unprecedented task, Cobb and his team must overcome a maze of unpredictable challenges, where any slight mistake can trap them in perpetual limbo.
A Primeira Tentação de Cristo (2019)
Just a case for the psychoanalysts' couches
Do psychopaths like the producers of this thing have an inflated sense of self-worth and superiority (including other psychopaths)?
The anwser to this is very simple: Yes. Maybe Messers Put, Porchat & Martins feel focused on their goals in theirroutine movie making. They see us spectators like people who are weak due to the emotions that rule over us. They feel like they can accomplish anything that they set their minds to. It is just life for them, movie pros. Unlike narcissists who need some kind of validation that they are great, they need not tell anyone what they already know. In a way psychopaths have many advantages over a normal person. Their lack of true emotions and ability to see any situation for what it is can help them along. In a sense, it is not an inflated sense of self that they have but it is more like stating facts that apply to them. They know that they are great, its just that simple.
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
From an author and work listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Perhaps I exected a pragmatic historical revisionist story of Christ's life and times. Truth be told, since childhood and cathechism I realized that Jesus and the apostles were not just mythical but actual historical personages as well. What Messers Kazantzakis and Scorsese give us instead is an overwrought anti-Biblical rendering of Jesus' rise and fall. Lots of fire and brimstone, angels, dreams, etc., etc. Empirically, speaking, the film is well-written, well-directed, rather creative, but I personally could not fully enjoy it. Jesus here is a prickly, unlikeable, unpredictable. The apostles aren't admirable at all - even though the authors are not trying to paint a negative picture -- I mean, Jesus Christ does perform actual miracles -- the whole thing is just wacky. My biggest complaint is the high-flung almost hysterical prose and dialogue. I am left feeling I should have just read the Gospels themselves. Which I did - since childhood and catrhechism. Maybe this is better for spectators with a rather theological bent.
C'è ancora domani (2023)
As of January 1946 there was still a post-WWII tomorrow
The narrative boils down to a joke. If the viewer knew where the letter to the protagonist came from, the joke would naturally lose all its fun. All males are portrayed as being by nature predatory, misogynistic and potentially feminicidal. The film defames the exploited lower classes. Instead of focusing on poverty and ignorance as legacies of class oppression, it argues that everything can be okay if remedied via wishful thinking. Another complaint: the pseudo-inventive sequences, inspired by the purest Bollywood spirit. The authoress must really bear hatred towards the maschi community. Wonder why? As the hubby-bully would put it:
¨Yes, that is quite a woman!!!!!
Sometimes she's hungry by my side
And I beat her hard
When I feel upset
She says: My darling, what should be done?
Delia doesn't have the slightest vanity
Delia's what THE real woman's all about
And please let's forget all about luxury and wealth!¨
Idi i smotri (1985)
I went and I saw
I love the slow-paced films of Antonioni, Ozu and Bresson, so I'm not impatient. I also love entertaining movies. Or shocking. Or thought-provoking. This is so tedious it feels like the director is calling the viewer's bluff. War atrocities are horrific and disgusting, but this attempt at shock is ridiculous when compared to the real atrocities of post-war Russians.. I'm indeed picking the Allied side to the war, and just focusing on the hypocrisy of the movie. There are many better shows about WWII. I'm standing out from the applauding crowd on this. Poor acting, poor direction, too slow, lacking content and with an obsession with reusing the same image over and over.
WALL·E (2008)
Too much fantasy for my taste
I have kinda distasteful suspicions for films that are cautionary tales revolving around technology, especially with modern films and modern technology. There are only a handful of them that could pull the subject off, I mean 2001 a space odyssey, the terminator, Avatar. It is not clear if the main theme of Wall-e is robo romance, or the message that all mankind must exercise more or else end up as inert vegetables. The voices of the robots are harsh and grating and the movie falls apart in the first half, one wonders what the heck is going on. Maybe OK for kids and young adults, but those over 31 will find it unrealistic, a mockery of science and a discredit to artificial intelligence.
Aliens (1986)
The final edit ended with what was already an almost unusable versio n
Any redeeming moments were few and those moments simply weren't enough for me to enjoy the film as a whole. The action is relentless and ultra violent. The original boasted a good deal more depth in its story and a level of claustrophobic suspense that really scared the aundience before the blood and gore fest even began. In many way ALIEN is more traditional science fiction, and thoughtfull, intelligent science fiction at that, but ALIENS is only a video game in which the main aim is for the main character to survive an orgy of killing going on all around her! There isn't the imagination of the original movie. It reuses the best bits of the original - those remembered most vividly. A pitiful pity...
C'era una volta il West (1968)
Kinda favorite Spaghetti. Scenery, sounds, and faces tell the story.
Frank aka Henry Fonda. Scene of McBein family murder. As camera surrounds the villain, when it discovers his face, spectators exclaimed , scandalized and astonished... "Oh, it's Henry Fonda "... Leone's world view is blisteringly stale. In the western movie canon, the two most epic endings are Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. They have two things in common: Sergio Leone and Enio Moricone. This is not a coincidence. OUATITW influenced Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, both more than any other filmmaker. And the peninsular Leone directed another "à la Hollywood" movie called Once Upon A Time In {Gangster} America. But unfortunately, the start of his 2nd trilogy feels dated, although characters like Frank are original to say the least.
Django Unchained (2012)
Blazing saddles unchained
I'm no addept at violence / blood / swearing. But the modern film industry indulges in being vicious, and (in ths case) mocking both slavery and racialism. It's Quentin Tarantino's modus operandi after all. What I didn't expect was it to be unfunny and, despite some funny scenes , deeply unpleasant. Of course you end up rooting for Django and for the bad guys to get their comeuppance. I think it could have been a bit shorter. Django Unchained should have just put the ending after the climactic gunfight. The bit in-between with Tarantino's cameo and what-not always felt superfluous. Not as fun as Kill Bill.
Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: A
Dialog: A
Pacing: B
Cinematography: A
Special effects/design: A
Acting: A
Music: A.
Whiplash (2014)
Loving music isn't sinking into masochistic depression
I did study music from twelve to fourteen - piano and solfeggio. I can avow for sure that it is impossible to achieve any outstanding results at all suffering the whipping methods shown in here. Lashes can only lead to disaster, frustration. A believable plot would have an aggression build-up on the main character preventing him from ever playing anything worth listening to again. If I were a promising young drummer at a cut-throat music conservatory where my dreams are mentored by a bullying instructor , the only possibility would be a simple resignation, either by quitting music or by quitting life.
Intouchables (2011)
I don't feel comfortable before sentimental exploitation
After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver. Sy and Cluzet give their parts more conviction than they deserve, but their energies can't revive a corpse this dead, this corny, this calculating , this condescending and this commercial, a kinda wishful drama about the friendship between a rich, white quadriplegic and a penurious black job-seeker. Scripters Toledano and Nakache delivered an offensve film. The moments when they are together fill us with inauthentic feeling-good sentiments. Not a must-see picture.
Mad Men (2007)
Have you seen the well-to-do Up and down Madison Avenue? On that famous thoroughfare with their noses in the air?
It's okay and easy to watch. "Mad Men" is a semi-romantic story, a type of personal drama (say, horror without the horror), but not straight romance like "Downton Abbey". Mad Men sells you a much more compromising idea of them (the Madison Avenue men), and it's easy to see that and point and shout, ¨You're No Good,¨ It is certainly a cynical show about cynical times. Personally I still think that advertising is the most cynical of professions and, as a product of capitalism, something that gives capitalism a bad name in itself. Propaganda is necessarily distortive, not exactly the place for a sense of the positive potential of people, you know.
On the Road (2012)
Why I boast of being conventional and boring
The whole "the older you get the more conservative you become" is trash like, the older I get the more leftist I become BUT it is true that the older you get the more seriously annoying Jack Kerouac becomes. I didn't enjoy watching "On The Road." I went to bed satisfied that for my whole life I've been thoroughly conventional and boring in comparison to the beatniks. I did read a history textbook called "American Imperialism,"in which a particular chapter about the 1950s era can be summarized as "Your parents were evil and boring, the beatniks were right, here's an Allen Ginsberg poem........¨
They Live (1988)
The outside versus the inside
John Carpenter's 1988 piece-of-feces 'They Live' has an extremely left-wing message, a black co-star, and a character that literally looks in the camera and says that the elites are causing racial tensions among the working class in order to explode it for their own gain. Somehow this is "forced." I pity a lot left-winged people who feel like they are literally living out John Carpenter's fantasies - especially ¨The Thing¨ and are consequently a bit tense... John Carpenter's theory of Right Wing and Left Wing Horror is that Right Wing is based on fear of the outside, and Left Wing Horror has the horror coming from within.
I frankly do not appreciate this critical lens, even if I don't think movies could fall neatly into it.
The Big Short (2015)
The big bet
I can understand why this movie is appealing, it explains how the stock market crashed and how many people lost their homes and jobs, so it is a significant film, but not for dummies like Yours Truly. A conversation with a fellow leftist just caused me to re-watch it. And I am lost again. Adam McKay also directed Dont Look Up (from the leftists in my timeline it appears that the consensus is, Dont Look Up is good and worth watching). The Big Short had to add a leftist slant to stay palatable. I agree that keeping the money to a few starves the system and then it collapses. But, why believe that the whole financial system was indeed compromised because of greed and right-wing governments? For a system to work correctly, you just need the outputs to match the inputs. I got the concept of the movie, I knew who was good and who was bad but I'm not from that world, I really don't understand the phrases and different methods of tricking the market to make billions. I was confused most of the time. From an entertainment point of view, it really didn't work for me. Disappointing, if watchable.
N. B. With such a cast, the box office takings were disappointing, and I'm sure that a lot of the money was made after getting nominated for a few Oscars. It won Best Writing category, but lost out to Spotlight (extraordinary) in the Best Movie category.