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1. Amelie
2. Fargo
3. Rear Window
Reviews
Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
Such a letdown
I have been looking forward to this movie because I am a big fan of Audrey Tautou and I thought it was going to be a kick hearing her English. When I found out that she was going to play a Turkish woman, I thought allright, anything is possible. The casting of her in this film was just one of its many problems. The story starts out very compelling. I was taken in by the underworld Frears has made. The acting is fantastic especially by the male lead and Audrey Tautou is a wonderful actress, but as aforementioned, I had a hard time excepting her as Turkish with her French accent popping up here and there. The supporting cast of characters are great creations, but the director never lets you get to know them too well, I imagine the main two characters never got to know them all that well either as they were just trying to survive. Then all of the sudden I was sitting there and realized that I was quite bored. The story had come to an abrupt halt, the new secrets that were being revealed were done so in a lazy manner, and the reaction to these secrets was just as laid back. There is a happy ending, but I have to ask this question about the last lines in the film. How did she learn English? For people who have seen the film, doesn't that seem a little odd? Anyway, I gave this movie a six because the first half was so great and then it just kind of died. A half assed effort from the writer/director.
Resident Evil (2002)
My stupid roommate!
My old roommate use to watch this film all the time and laugh when people died. He was really flaming and annoying though. He use to watch the Golden Girls three hours a day! Therefore, I hate this movie with a deep dark passion! I give it a 2. Oh also, its based on a HORRIBLE video game! Go see a good movie like Fargo or something!
Owning Mahowny (2003)
Lacking
A wonderfully acted movie (Did anyone else think that Mini Driver was Tracy Ullmann)?, taken down by its ending. I thought the story developed very well, and it was based on real events which always makes something more interesting. I'm surprised more people haven't seen this film. Its worth the price of admission, but yeah, it probably won't go down as one of the best films ever. Its 4.8 vote average is pretty harsh. Also, you must stay for the end of the credits. That's all I gotta say.
L'auberge espagnole (2002)
Stunning
Visually that is, the film looks very good. The plot line is all right, but it has some problems. Overall a very good coming of age story. Some interesting things to say about human beings, the EU, and Western Europe itself. A must-see, but if your an Audrey Tautou fan, don't expect too much of her. I know I was somewhat disappointed.
Nirgendwo in Afrika (2001)
Symbols!
What a great use of symbols! This is filmmaking at its best. The writer/director was able to cover multiple lives in this film. At first you think to yourself: "How will this film end?!". I ended up saying "WOW! What a perfect ending to a near perfect film!". I look forward to the release of this German gem on DVD.
Bruce Almighty (2003)
A nice little film
I went into this movie not expecting a whole lot. A movie about a guy who becomes God and is played by Jim Carrey... and then I saw the previews. Again, I expected the worst. Jim Carrey is an amazing actor though, so I gave it a shot.
I am very glad I did. Carrey does a wonderful job and an overlooked performance by the Daily Show's Stephen Colbert. It's cliche, but this movie will make you laugh and could make you cry. The film even turns out to be a great date movie due to the fairly strong realtionship issues in the plot.
For the religious people who want to boycott the movie. Your missing out on one of the best mainstream films about faith and God in a long time. The writers really knew their stuff and there are some humorous little bible references thrown in there. In the end, the religious concept made me feel stronger about my faith as opposed to thinking "Wouldn't it be cool to be God?"
That being said, this movie is PG-13 for a reason. Its not a movie to take the kids too. I think they used their max on the f word before a movie becomes R and there is some strong sexual references in the show. For the mature audience though, this is a great flick to see with a group of guys, a mixed group, or just an intimate night with your date. Not too intimate though as the movie theaters will probably be packed with people wanting to see this movie. I give it 7 out of 10 on IMDB's scale.
Signs (2002)
I thought M Night was suppose to be a good film maker...
I was dragged to this film over the summer and I have regretted the move ever since. I don't watch many Hollywood films and this just confirmed my belief that 99% of those films are not worth handing $7.50-$10.00 dollars over for. Ah the plot holes, where to begin, there are so many. Now I'm going to get attacked and people are going to say, "But your missing the point if you overanalyze the plot, listen to the message!" No, actually, if you like this film you are missing the point of fine film making. Great films do not contain such horrible plots as what follows.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
1. M Night Shamlyan's character should be in jail. He killed a woman just six months ago with his car. Maybe under some obscure loophole he gets out of jail time, but at the very least his driver's license should get taken away for more then six months. Then the humor of this is that in every scene he is seen driving.
2. The aliens creating super spaceships, but lacking in any type of protection or weaponing what so ever.
3. Said super spaceships hiding themselves during the day, but happily turning on their lights so that they CAN be seen when humans normally would not be able to see them.
4. The fact that the signs in the cornfield of the main family in the movie fail to cause any type of stir. Yes yes, Gibson yells to no one imparticular that he isn't going to report the Signs, but the problem is that he already has and that many people know about them: the police officer, the troublemaking brothers that the police officer said she talked to, and I'm assuming her superiors, who would have loved to report something big to the government.
5. Gibson's character's failure to do anything that aligns with human instinct. I'm going to head to where more people are as opposed to try and take on the aliens that I know are going to come on my farm land.
6. Then again Gibson's character does know that the aliens for some reason can not break through wooden structures and have nothing to help them break anything! Yeah, that's not a plot hole!
7. The aliens' failure to realize that water hurts them. The aliens had done many scouting attempts according to the movie. Not once, not ONCE in all of their years had they encountered rain?
Okay, there are more plot holes, but those are the big ones folks. See, good movies do not have these plot holes. Sure you can have a good message, but that doesn't give you the artistic right to have a crappy plot. A bad plot takes away from the movie of course, if you like this movie, you obviously have been watching way too many Hollywood films. Please, if you like this movie, check out the following films: Amelie, The Red Violin, O Brother Where Art Thou, Life is Beautiful, and Sex and Lucia. Those films are truly beautiful and might just change your life forever.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Cinema gold!
I saw this movie at the Chicago International Film Festival and I loved it! I waited in line for two hours and it was worth the wait. The film is written VERY well and Sandler's character is one of the best character's ever written. P.T. Anderson has created a masterpiece character study while still making a great story. Kudos to him and I can't wait for more. Isn't Emily Watson just so sexy?
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
I expect more
The Coen brothers kind of let me down here. The movie was better then a lot of other films I have seen, but on the standard that the Coens have lifted themselves too, this is pretty low. For those of you famliar with the Coen films, someone is trying to make "a little extra money" and instead, a bunch of s*** happens. I kind of got the message the first time guys. Fargo was wonderful, The Man Who Wasn't There is just plain good. While worth seeing, The Man Who Wasn't There won't impress. The Man Who Wasn't There gets a 7.
The Five Senses (1999)
I just don't understand why people like this film
I got this film after reading the back of the cover. It sounded wonderful: An exploration of the five senses through the lives of five people that interconnect. After watching the movie, I wondered where the movie that the box described went. I didn't learn anything about anything. The only good thing that has come from this film is the quote "I'm tense because your making me tense." Its been awhile since I saw the film, but I do rememeber that this film does not live up to its expecatations at all. If you've only seen Hollywood movies, then you might think that this is art, but otherwise, your in for a dud.
Fargo (1996)
WOW
This film was wonderful. I love films where it hits you in one scene. I thought that the movie was allright until the end in the cop car. Then it was like WHAM, 7 people died because this one guy wanted to make some more money even though it looked like he lives better then at least 80% of the people in the world. There has never been a time when "There's more to life then a little money" meant so much. I love the Coen Brothers. I've seen Big Lewboski, O Brother Where Art Thou, and Barton Fink already and I just rented Fargo along with The Man Who Wasn't There. I can't wait to watch the latter. The Coen brothers are pure genius.
The Master of Disguise (2002)
This is a kids movie
First and foremost people have to understand that Dana Carvey made this movie for his kids and for them alone pretty much. I saw him on David Letterman and he explained that one day his kids found a bunch of his SNL, magazine, Wayne's World stuff, etc. in their basement and were like "Dad, why didn't you tell us you were famous?" Then he realized that he has never done anything that he would really want his kids to watch at their age (I think they are like 5 and 7), so he made this movie. So to the other reviewers who don't think this is a kids a movie, not only it is so, but its a Dana Carvey's kids movie. Its a couple of laughs, but probably not worth the $7 to see it in theatres. I took my 10 year old brother to see it and he loved it. Jennifer Epositzo is hot too, we need her in more films!
Donnie Darko (2001)
This movie is basically a waste
This movie came highly recommended to me and now I'm questioning their judgement of movies. Maybe I have spoiled myself by watching great films such as Waking Life, Barton Fink, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Legend of 1900, Amelie, Illuminata, The Red Violin, etc. Those movies all had the three important aspects going for them: a good story, a good ending, and a good purpose.
Donnie Darko comes out at you with a character that is mentally disturbed. For those of you not familiar with characters that are a little strange, Donnie Darko's character might seem like a breakthrough to you. You people have been watching too many "Oscar caliber films"! Donnie Darko is not a good story. It is a bunch of random events that leave little character building for anybody but Donnie and oddly enough, the bunny. If you think about it, you could have come up with a bunch of random events involving a mentally disturbed character and come up with a movie similar to Donnie Darko in about a week, tops. Stop and think about the different emotions that any character besides Donnie's showed if you have seen this film. If you haven't seen the film, just watch for any character change at all, this will probably entertain you through the boring parts, I guess I should just say the movie.
Donnie Darko has a horrible ending. Think about the ending for a second. I don't think Donnie does anything in the ending himself. Also, the ending should repeat over and over again with different endings given the story line we are given. Just think about it for a second. People who haven't seen it, get ready for a pretty bad ending. Donnie Darko has no purpose. Well, I guess maybe that's a lie, it does have a purpose. I've never been a big fan of movies that are out just to be weird and get people names in the business. Seriously, what else could have been the purpose? The whole moving point behind the movie is based on a premise that cannot exist. I won't say anything more because I don't want to spoil the film for people. Even though the film is bad, Donnie's actor turns in a wonderful job and the other characters do their best to the script's ability. Check this film out, but your not going to like it.
My Fair Lady (1964)
What a wonderful movie!
I'm not a big fan of the older musicals, but this musical and then this movie are very well done. You will notice that My Fair Lady is on the top 250 list and Sound of Music is not. My Fair Lady is just one good time filled with wonderful performances from all of its actors. Catch out this film even if you don't love musicals!