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HenryMiller01
Reviews
The Plumber (1979)
changes with every viewing
This is an excellent movie. On first viewing it appears simple, but upon subsequent viewings this movie takes on an interesting twist: was the woman right to do what she did, or was she overreacting? Great movie.
Gosford Park (2001)
good if you like confusing and slow movies
First of all I have to mention that I am not an Altman fan. I find his movies confusing, slow, boring, and basically unwatchable. I love film in general, but for some reason I can't seem to appreciate Altman's work. I found this movie, especially, like all his other movies: confusing, boring, slow, and not worth the time it took to watch the movie. That's just my opinion on it, and I'm sure people will disagree with me and call his films "works of art," but I'd rather spend my time watching a film where I can at least understand the dialogue.
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
A modern day George Melies
I saw this movie expecting to hate it. Even my girlfriend couldn't convince me to see it. To me it looked too artsy-fartsy. Finally, on a visit to my mom, my mom dragged me to it. What I saw blew me away. From start to finish this movie is complete cinematic genius. It is the type of movie that George Melies would have done had he travelled a hundred years into the future, candyflipped on acid and ecstasy, had all the money he wanted to work with, and had thrown in about fifty years worth of modern music and culture. Nicole Kidman was extremely hot in this, and I could relate easily to the story and characters. Some parts of the movie, at least for me, seemed a little too far over the top, but as a whole the movie was excellent. This movie is pure cinema. It would be impossible to recreate this movie in any other medium.
Ali Zaoua, prince de la rue (2000)
The most disturbing yet beautiful film ever
I recently saw this film at the Santa Barbara international film festival. I glanced over the brief summary, and the fact that it came from Morocco intrigued me. However, it started an hour after a movie I really wanted to see started. The movie I went to wasn't that great and I ended up sneaking out of that one and into Ali Zaoua. I'm now glad I did so because what I saw was one of the most brutally realistic and terrifying, yet beautiful and poetic, inspiring and redemptive movies I've ever seen.
This movie is not for the faint of heart. Since it takes place in the poverty of a third world country, in places where the homeless in America seem spoiled in comparison, this movie portrays the harsh realities these kids endure everyday to survive, whether from the world around them or each other, no matter what the cost. The actors seem casted right off the streets, bearing scars and other physical traces of the nightmares they live through. The fact that the characters are only small children forced to live lives that even an adult would have a difficult time with makes this movie even more powerful.
At times this movie seemed like a version of Lord of the Flies, but I can't go into that any more without potentially spoiling the movie (or Lord of the Flies for those who haven't seen the movie or read the book). All I will say, however, is that the movie doesn't center around what seems to be aspects from Lord of the Flies and has much more good points about it than bad ones, that the movie carries much further than these aspects.
I can't say enough about this movie. I've only seen it one time and now I can't seem to find it on video or DVD. I can only hope that it comes out on DVD and in widescreen format.