reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
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573,600 | 4,532,636 | 48,028 | 8 | Good vs . Evil in the American West | O . k . I know , I know . . . . books and films are two different art forms and little can be gained by comparing the telling of the same story in one vs . the other . I'm a firm advocate of that myself . However , let me just say that you cannot watch this film as a substitute of the Steinbeck novel ( though a film sh... |
573,463 | 4,532,636 | 23,590 | 8 | Hard-Core Pre-Code Film Is a Shocker | This pre-Code melodrama is terse and blunt , and it also happens to be one of the most shocking of the pre-Code films I've seen . Ann Dvorak , Joan Blondell and Bette Davis play three friends who meet ten years after having attended school together . Dvorak is a society woman who's itching for something more exciting t... |
574,215 | 4,532,636 | 11,144 | 8 | Harold Goes West | This charming Harold Lloyd comedy short finds city boy Harold being sent by stern parents to the wild west to work on his uncle's ranch . He never makes it to the ranch - - instead , he gets into all sorts of comedic hijinks in a frontier town , becomes the target of a killer mob of bullies , and wins the hand of a swe... |
574,329 | 4,532,636 | 93,565 | 8 | Howling at the Moon | A low-key and charming family comedy about a spinsterish widow ( Cher ) , who is torn between marrying her stuffy fiancé ( Danny Aiello ) and his animalistic brother ( Nicolas Cage ) . Cher proves herself to be an immensely warm and likable screen presence , and the film is mostly a star vehicle for her . But she gets ... |
573,828 | 4,532,636 | 72,417 | 8 | A Bruising Portrait of Mental Illness | Eeesh , what a tough movie to sit through . This two and a half hour movie left me sweaty , exhausted and hollowed out . In its own way it's an extremely well done film , but I don't know that it's an experience I want to repeat . Director John Cassavetes follows a few months in the life of a family whose mother and wi... |
574,118 | 4,532,636 | 56,592 | 8 | A Fine Screen Adaptation of a Beloved Book | To Kill a Mockinbird is one of those movies that is bound to fail on a first viewing , because it has to of course compete with the book on which it is based , which has captivated readers ever since it was written . But when you revisit the film after the initial " it's not as good as the book " reaction , you find ... |
573,479 | 4,532,636 | 373,074 | 8 | A Kung Fu Blast | Kung Fu Hustle is " Kill Bill " with a healthy dose of Looney Tunes thrown in for good measure . It's a rip off of about a hundred other films , but yet it never feels like a rip off . To Stephen Chow's credit , it feels totally original , and you find yourself as you're watching the movie eagerly waiting for the nex... |
573,480 | 4,532,636 | 17,750 | 8 | Before Bob Fosse , There Was This | I suspect that Mr . Rob Marshall watched this 1927 silent before making his recent screen adaptation of the smash-hit Broadway musical . The non-musical scenes in his version look an awful lot like this exceptional film . Phyllis Haver provides a marvelously witty and sexy characterization as Roxie Hart , that ultimate... |
574,431 | 4,532,636 | 70,290 | 8 | A Well Acted , Sober Film About Unpleasant Responsibilities | Don't let the fact that the DVD cover makes this movie look like gay porn keep you from seeing it . Director Hal Ashby made a string of unfussy but very , very good films throughout the 1970s , and " The Last Detail " is one them . The story doesn't sound like much : two Navy officers are assigned to escort a third to ... |
574,259 | 4,532,636 | 28,597 | 8 | Madcap Comedy with a Serious Undertone | The Awful Truth is a wonderful screwball comedy from that most fertile period of screwball comedies - - the 1930s . Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are a terrific match as a dueling husband and wife , each determined to prove to the other that he / she can live without him / her . Until they discover " the awful truth " :... |
573,799 | 4,532,636 | 405,336 | 8 | This Is How the World Ends . . . . . . Watching Reality T . V . | Another invigorating mindfck from Richard Kelly , the indie darling who made an auspicious debut with cult fave " Donnie Darko . " Like the previous film , I walked out of this one not necessarily understanding everything I had just seen , but feeling certain that I liked it , whatever it was . The film reminded me of ... |
573,545 | 4,532,636 | 299,478 | 8 | Revisiting " Scenes from a Marriage " | A sequel of sorts to his 1973 magnum opus " Scenes from a Marriage , " " Sarband " picks up in real time Ingmar Bergman's story of a fractured marriage and its aftermath . Marianne , beautifully played by Bergman's muse , Liv Ullmann , visits her ex-husband , Johan ( Erland Josephson ) , whom she hasn't seen in years ,... |
574,033 | 4,532,636 | 32,943 | 8 | Handsome and Fairly Faithful | I was expecting a film that only barely resembled the source material , but was surprised instead to find that this 1940 version of the Jane Austen tale is pretty faithful to the novel . Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier make an engaging Lizzie and Darcy . They're too old for the roles , but that turns out to be not as... |
573,906 | 4,532,636 | 439 | 8 | Film Editing Is Born | It's hard to assign " The Great Train Robbery " a rating , as it shouldn't really be watched as a film the way we watch films now . But from a historical perspective , it's fascinating , and is an excellent example of the use of film editing , an art form then in its infancy and now an award category recognized every y... |
574,255 | 4,532,636 | 39,190 | 8 | A Charmer | The Bishop's Wife is one of the better Christmas movies out there . I wouldn't place it as high as " Miracle on 34th Street , " but it's in that league , and certainly has a similar feel . Henry Koster does a fine job of giving the film a leisurely pace without letting it drag , and the performances are uniformly sol... |
573,426 | 4,532,636 | 83,745 | 8 | A Stunning Cast in an Overheated Play | Come Back to the 5 and Dime , Jimmy Dean , Jimmy Dean was the first in a string of 1980s stage to screen adaptations directed by Robert Altman . Virtually every movie Altman made during this decade was completely outside of the Hollywood studio system . They were tiny films on tiny budgets with small casts , sometime... |
574,347 | 4,532,636 | 200,465 | 8 | Solidly Entertaining and Atypical Heist Film | This slick , no-nonsense thriller had me on the edge of my seat . The film is based on a true story , but take that for whatever it's worth . I don't know anything about the bank robbery portrayed in this film , so can't answer for its accuracy . But it's one hell of an entertaining movie . If you're going into it beca... |
574,308 | 4,532,636 | 74,119 | 8 | A Thrilling Movie About How Fun It Is to Be a Journalist | All the President's Men was one of two big releases in 1976 that examined the power of the American media ( " Network " being the other ) . " Network " took a cerebral , arty approach to its subject and created a blistering satire . " All the President's Men " is a much more straightforward thriller , along the lines... |
574,334 | 4,532,636 | 795,493 | 8 | Woody Allen Has Found a New Muse | First with " Match Point " and now with " Cassandra's Dream , " Woody Allen has carved a new niche for himself as director of juicy little British thrillers , like something right out of Patricia Highsmith . " Cassandra's Dream " is not as good as " Match Point , " but that's not to say it isn't a good movie . It's qui... |
573,351 | 4,532,636 | 357,413 | 8 | Surprised at the Low Rating | I thought " Anchorman " was hilarious , so I was surprised at the low rating it received here . Well written , well acted , and well directed , this is a very funny adult comedy with some classic scenes and lines . I will not soon forget the " West Side Story " rumble between five rival news teams , that includes a man... |
574,235 | 4,532,636 | 478,134 | 8 | A Tough-Minded Film About the Terrible Toll of the Iraq War | It will be interesting once the current wretched Iraq war is a distant memory to go back and watch the movies about the war that came out while it was raging on . " In the Valley of Elah " joins a list of other films about the Iraqi conflict ( or conflicts in the Middle East , in general ) that have tanked at the box o... |
574,384 | 4,532,636 | 76,095 | 8 | A Winning Romantic Comedy from Neil Simon | 1977 was apparently the year for neurotic romantic comedies featuring people who look like real people , if " The Goodbye Girl " and " Annie Hall " are anything to go by . Woody Allen's film is obviously the superior of the two , but I have a soft spot for Neil Simon's comedy , and I like it quite a lot . Richard Dreyf... |
573,647 | 4,532,636 | 468,569 | 8 | Very Good , But Yikes , Let's Keep Things in Perspective | Whatever else it may be , " The Dark Knight , " Christopher Nolan's follow up to his " Batman Begins , " the film that resurrected the Batman franchise , is the most ambitious superhero film ever made . It's full of brooding ruminations about the inherent nature of humanity , obviously fueled by the troubled state of a... |
573,867 | 4,532,636 | 43,456 | 8 | A " B " Movie with " Ideas | The Day the Earth Stood Still is a nifty little science fiction film from 1951 , low-budget and starkly designed , that I'm sure was not meant to be anything major when released , but has since become to be considered one of the greatest of its genre . Directed with a spare , documentary-like style by Robert Wise ( w... |
573,614 | 4,532,636 | 98,067 | 8 | Excellent Ron Howard Film ( If Such a Thing Is Possible ) | Ron Howard has been directing such deadly bores for so long now that it's easy to forget he once showed promise . During the 1980s , he made his best films , because he wasn't trying to make them IMPORTANT . First came " Splash , " an utterly winning comedy that made a star out of Tom Hanks , and then " Parenthood , " ... |
573,682 | 4,532,636 | 45,152 | 8 | MGM Near the Top of Its Musical Game | The heaps of scholarly criticism heaped on " Singing ' in the Rain " have done it a disservice by giving it the ball and chain reputation of an IMPORTANT picture in cinema history . Let's not forget why " Singin ' in the Rain " was made , which was to provide a form of escapist entertainment , nor why it's still so lov... |
574,024 | 4,532,636 | 399,146 | 8 | A Haunting Film | Viggo Mortensen has been allowed to shed the silly , macho , grizzled locks and attitude he was forced to don for three long years in a row for the " Lord of the Rings " trilogy , and has finally been given the chance to play a real character , that of Tom Stall , steady-eddie dad and husband , who may or may not be hi... |
573,797 | 4,532,636 | 89,424 | 8 | This Weird Movie Will Catch You in Its Web | A bizarre , evocative film which seems strange even now - - I can't imagine what audiences made of it in 1985 . William Hurt and Raul Julia play cell mates , one gay , the other straight , rotting away in a Latin American prison under the iron thumb of a tyrannical dictatorship . At first , Julia's Latin machismo makes... |
574,337 | 4,532,636 | 62,622 | 8 | The Best Movie I Never Want to See Again | I used to think " 2001 : A Space Odyssey " was a Great Movie , but now I'm not so sure . Now that I've seen it a few times , I feel like I've gotten all there is to be gotten from it , and the thought of sitting down to watch it again triggers my brain to begin thinking of all the other things I could be doing with my ... |
574,318 | 4,532,636 | 449,088 | 8 | YO , HO , HO and a Mixed Bag of Fun | Midway through the third installment of Walt Disney's deliriously popular pirate franchise , a character says of Capt . Jack Sparrow ( played by Johnnny Depp in what now has to qualify as one of the weirdest characterizations in screen history ) , " Is he making this up as he goes along ? " Shiver me timbers , mateys ,... |
573,808 | 4,532,636 | 89,393 | 8 | More Obscure , But One of My Favorites | This is one of the lower-tier teen comedies from the 1980s , and it's not as well known as movies like " Sixteen Candles , " " Pretty in Pink " or other films about high-school angst , but it's one of my favorites . Terry Griffith , aspiring journalist , gets an early taste of sexism when an article she writes for an i... |
573,870 | 4,532,636 | 274,812 | 8 | I'd Like That Coffee with a Spanking , Please | Secretary is a deliciously off-beat dramedy about an emotionally disturbed young girl ( Maggie Gyllenhaal ) who gets a job as a you know what for an attorney with his own set of personal problems ( James Spader ) . Soon , she's doing more than typing for him , and he's helping her come out of her reclusive shell . Th... |
573,840 | 4,532,636 | 468,492 | 8 | A Mutant Movie About a Mutant Fish | The monster movie is reborn in this quick , witty and endlessly creative Korean film . An opening scene showing a worker in some military lab dumping bottle after bottle of old formaldehyde down the sink sets the stage for a mutant to come slithering out of the watery depths of Korea's main river , and it does just tha... |
573,701 | 4,532,636 | 923,600 | 8 | There's More Than One Use for a Shopping Bag | In " Baghead , " Matt , Chad , Katherine and Michelle are four Hollywood wannabes who go to a secluded cabin to write a screenplay . They get pretty much no work done , but spend plenty of time over petty practical jokes and obsessions with who likes who and who's screwing who . Things get weird when a strange figure w... |
573,300 | 4,532,636 | 470,705 | 8 | Sadly , a Movie That's Truly for Our Troubled Times | Bug is so strange and so rooted in stage origins that it could have gone very wrong as a movie , but it doesn't . While not without its flaws ( like a too abrupt ending ) , director William Friedkin and the small cast he assembled ensure that the movie works , and its enigmatic nature supplies an almost never-ending ... |
573,330 | 4,532,636 | 43,338 | 8 | Billy Wilder Stages a Circus | A very good and very cynical indictment of the media's thirst for a good story that nevertheless still left me wanting a little more . Perhaps it's just the fact that so many films between the time of this film's release and now have trodden the same ground that " Ace in the Hole " has a been-there-done-that quality to... |
574,413 | 4,532,636 | 98,206 | 8 | A Polar Bear Fell on Me | Meet Dalton , bad-ass bouncer in a redneck joint . He's got a past he's running away from , when he's not busy practicing Tai Chi in his back yard , humping women up against fireplaces and strutting around in pleated pants . And in case you think Dalton is too little to be a good bouncer , just wait until you see him r... |
574,504 | 4,532,636 | 74,486 | 8 | David Lynch's Bizarre Nightmare of Fatherhood | This phantasmagorical David Lynch film is nearly suffocating in its ability to immerse its audience in a domestic nightmare . It's a fascinating film , but not one I can say I necessarily enjoyed watching . All of Lynch's fever dream movies are open to interpretation , so I can only say what I took from this film perso... |
574,277 | 4,532,636 | 995,039 | 8 | Ricky Gervais Sees Dead People | A strong formula comedy that gets an extra jolt of originality from an improvisatory performance by Ricky Gervais . Gervais plays a Manhattan dentist with an over-sensitive gag reflex who hates people . When he accidentally dies for seven minutes during a routine medical procedure , he finds upon waking that he can see... |
573,477 | 4,532,636 | 126,886 | 8 | Flick for President ? | The Academy Award attention heaped on " Sideways " helped to make Alexander Payne a mainstream name among casual film goers , but many of us knew about his talent as a film maker long before . And his two more recent films - - " Sideways " and " About Schmidt " - - have been much gentler ( thought still terrific ) than... |
573,613 | 4,532,636 | 98,724 | 8 | Early Soderbergh Movie Anticipated the Indie Boom of the 90s | Steven Soderbergh has turned into one of the most schizophrenic directors alive , able to follow up gritty films like " Traffic " with glossy and frivolous Hollywood fare like the " Ocean's Eleven " series . " Sex , Lies and Videotape " is one of his early efforts before anyone really knew who he was , and it's an exce... |
574,190 | 4,532,636 | 64,665 | 8 | Ride ' Em , Cowboy | Oy vay . " Midnight Cowboy " is a serious contender in my book for most depressing film ever made . Every once in a while , there's a film that makes me wish I could go back and experience it the way audiences at the time of its release experienced it , and this movie is one of them . I'd venture to guess that American... |
573,814 | 4,532,636 | 89,560 | 8 | Even the Most Jaded Movie Goer Has to Choke Up at This One | Ugh , what a gut-wrenching movie this is . Peter Bogdanovich avoids the maudlin histrionics that could have marred this story about a young man suffering from a fatal disease that leaves him horribly deformed . Eric Stoltz is remarkable as the young man , Rocky Dennis , and it's entirely thanks to him , and to his char... |
573,389 | 4,532,636 | 104,454 | 8 | Respectful to Forster's Book But Not Inspired as a Film | Merchant / Ivory give E . M . Forster's novel the Masterpiece Theatre treatment , and the result is an accomplished and beautiful-looking film , if one that misses out on the psychological complexity of Forster's novel . Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter play two Bohemian sisters who find themselves embroiled in t... |
574,046 | 4,532,636 | 104,466 | 8 | Husbands and Wives and Foxes and Hedgehogs | When I was much younger and pretentious and just discovering Woody Allen movies , I thought the world of elite intellectuals in which his movies are so often set looked appealing and exciting , and I liked to think of myself as belonging to it some day . Now that I'm much older and have more life experience under my be... |
573,528 | 4,532,636 | 87,332 | 8 | Sigourney Weaver Fed My Childhood Fantasies | A special effects comedy extravaganza brought to you largely by members of " Saturday Night Live . " There are two things I remember most about this movie . One of them is Sigourney Weaver , who's smoking hot and is a far cry from the butch role she played in " Alien " and for which at the time she was probably most we... |
574,184 | 4,532,636 | 43,265 | 8 | Bogart and Hepburn ? An Unlikely Jungle Romance | Who would have thought that Humphrey Bogart , known for playing brooding tough guys ; Katharine Hepburn , known for playing strong-willed and ever-so-distant females ; and John Huston , a man's man director , could put together such a light-hearted , screwball comedy ? But that's exactly what happens with " The African... |
573,366 | 4,532,636 | 373,469 | 8 | A Great Vehicle for Robert Downey , Jr . | Robert Downey , Jr . gives a loose , hip and extremely likable performance in this loose , hip and extremely likable comedy thriller . Downey , Jr . may not be able to manage his personal life worth a damn , but he does manage to show unerring instincts in picking good movies , and he's frequently one of the best thing... |
574,475 | 4,532,636 | 22,286 | 8 | Cagney Commands the Streets of Chicago | Take him or leave him , one can't deny the tremendous screen presence of James Cagney . " The Public Enemy , " which launched Cagney into the Hollywood big time , doesn't so much tell one cohesive story as much as it offers a series of vignettes linked by Cagney's sheer star power . Cagney is Tom Powers , childhood hoo... |
573,497 | 4,532,636 | 758,784 | 8 | The Film May Be Gloomy , But It's Not Depressing | Movies about literary people too often sound like books rather than movies . The way characters talk doesn't jive with the way people actually sound in real life . Dialogue sounds scripted , phrases and speeches are too well put together . This is a trap " Starting Out in the Evening " doesn't avoid , but it's easy to ... |
573,347 | 4,532,636 | 53,172 | 8 | The First ( and Best ) Doris Day Sex Comedy | With " Pillow Talk , " Doris Day established a mini-genre of her own that would last well into the 1960s , the wholesome sex comedy . These films offered healthy doses of man-and-woman lust but couched them in bubble gum colored sets and silly complicated sitcom plots that made them palatable to the suburban housewife ... |
573,511 | 4,532,636 | 39,536 | 8 | Widmark Giggles His Way Through a Crime Thriller Classic | Victor Mature plays a hood who's picked up in an attempted jewelry heist and decides to play ball with the police by becoming an informant . Richard Widmark , in a famous performance as a giggling psychopath , is one of the crooks Mature rats out , and it's up to him to figure out how to get Widmark out of the picture ... |
573,691 | 4,532,636 | 17,925 | 8 | A Buster Keaton Classic | This delightful Buster Keaton comedy is probably his best known film . In " The General , " Keaton plays Johnnie Gray , engineer on the train that gives the film its name . Johnnie , as one of the title cards explains , has two loves : his train and his girl . When the Civil War comes to Marietta , GA , Johnnie does ev... |
574,114 | 4,532,636 | 367,089 | 8 | Moral of the Story : Divorce Is Tough | A friend of mine was hesitant to see this movie , because she'd heard that it pushes the agenda that divorce is never a good option for dealing with marital problems . I don't really know who told her this , and I hope this same reason isn't keeping others from seeing it . This isn't at all what I took away from the fi... |
574,093 | 4,532,636 | 1,068,649 | 8 | Kristin Scott Thomas Gives One of the Must-See Performances of 2008 | As I catch up on the movies released in 2008 that did NOT receive Academy Award nominations , I find myself more and more convinced that the Academy seriously botched things this year . How in the world did the Academy NOT nominate Kristin Scott Thomas for her riveting and heart-breaking performance in " I've Loved You... |
573,723 | 4,532,636 | 22,208 | 8 | Stanwyck Takes Care of Business | A tawdry and downright disturbing pre-code film that stars Barbara Stanwyck giving one hell of a ferocious performance . Stanwyck plays the titular night nurse , assigned to care for the two small children of a negligent and drunken floozy . The children's ' father is dead ; the family chauffeur , played by a hateful C... |
574,221 | 4,532,636 | 942,385 | 8 | Funniest Movie of 2008 ? | I always find movies and actors that are willing to lampoon themselves and their own business to be a breath of fresh air , and " Tropic Thunder " is nothing but Hollywood lampooning itself . If you've found this comment , you likely already know what this movie is about , so there's no need for a summary from me . I'l... |
574,134 | 4,532,636 | 57,163 | 8 | Angst in the Heartland | I don't know why anyone would want to live in Texas after the big-screen depictions of it as a place full of nothing but boredom and misery . Surely it can't be that bad . Well , " Hud " certainly makes it seem like it is . This bleak and depressing story shows Hud ( Paul Newman ) , only surviving son of a farm owner (... |
573,524 | 4,532,636 | 29,864 | 8 | Whether He's Sane or Insane , Edward G . Robinson Is Terrific | What a fun movie ! Edward G . Robinson plays a respected doctor who decides that the only way to truly understand criminal behavior for an academic study he is writing is to become a criminal himself . He joins a thieving ring run by Jo Keller ( Claire Trevor , looking hotsy-totsy ) and proceeds to both help the thieve... |
573,505 | 4,532,636 | 102,713 | 8 | You've Got to Hand It to Babs | Well-done soap opera with Southern Gothic undertones . Nick Nolte gives a marvelous performance - - the first one to establish him as a serious actor - - as a man in therapy because of a horrible and horrifying event that happened to his family when he was a boy . Barbra Streisand , who also directed , plays the therap... |
574,185 | 4,532,636 | 37,638 | 8 | One of the Blackest Films Noir I've Ever Seen | Detour has to be one of the most fatalistic films noir ever made . Laughably short ( at 67 minutes ) , this nightmare film chronicles one man's bad day carried out to epic proportions . Tom Neal plays Al Roberts , hitchhiking across the country to join his girlfriend in L . A . , who's set out to make a name for hers... |
573,362 | 4,532,636 | 58,536 | 8 | . . . . Or , the Tale of a Young Homosexual's Acceptance | O . k . I'm being a smart ass , but does anyone else see how you can read homosexual undertones into this story ? The " misfits " who don't fit in . The dad who's disappointed with his son for not being " manly " enough . The fear and suspicion of those who are " normal . " Oh , what has our jaded society done to these... |
573,325 | 4,532,636 | 31,762 | 8 | And You Thought FedEx Delivery Men Had It Rough | A very strange movie in its own way , " Only Angels Have Wings " is about a group of mail carriers living , working and carousing somewhere in South America . Supposedly it's very dangerous to fly mail back and forth from this particular frontier town , and the life expectancy of a flier isn't long . Therefore , when s... |
573,961 | 4,532,636 | 37,674 | 8 | Bold and Beautifully Designed | A truly remarkable yet also rather esoteric film about the creative life . I was able to admire it without ever really being drawn into its story . The production design is astounding , and probably the film's greatest selling point . The sets have a baroque , grandiose quality of the kind you see in opera sets - - whi... |
574,041 | 4,532,636 | 412,536 | 8 | Perfectly Captures the Tone of Evelyn Waugh's Novel | A lovely adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel that nicely captures Waugh's original tone of loss , regret and elegiac nostalgia . Matthew Goode plays Charles Ryder , a young Englishman who falls in with an aristocratic family and soon finds himself at the center of its swirling dysfunction . The film explores the role ... |
574,282 | 4,532,636 | 29,850 | 8 | Eisenstein's Stirring Propaganda Film | Alexander Nevsky marked director Sergei Eisenstein's return to film-making after a period of exile , and what he produced is a bald-faced propaganda film proclaiming Russia's superiority over Germany . There's very little plot : Russians unite to battle Germans ; Russia wins . The film is really an extended montage o... |
573,715 | 4,532,636 | 57,091 | 8 | A Fantastic Period Film from Luchino Visconti | Luchino Visconti's " The Leopard " is a ravishing costume drama about the waning days of Sicily's nobility in the 1860s during Italy's struggles to create a united state . Burt Lancaster , in a bit of unlikely casting ( since he couldn't speak Italian and had his entire part dubbed by an Italian actor ) represents the ... |
573,728 | 4,532,636 | 462,322 | 8 | Tarantino Has Done It Again ; Rodriguez , Not So Much | What " Grindhouse " proves more than anything is how much better a director Quentin Tarantino is than Robert Rodriguez . It's unfortunate for Rodriguez that his film and Tarantino's are being presented in a format that allows the audience to compare them side by side ; the comparison only highlights Rodriguez's flaws a... |
574,127 | 4,532,636 | 35,575 | 8 | Yankee Doodle Cagney | I didn't expect to like this movie at all , as I'm not much of a flag waver and from the isolated scenes I had seen from this film , that seemed to be all that took place in it . It's still pretty cornball in its approach to American patriotism and fervour , and with the American government currently bullying its way a... |
573,485 | 4,532,636 | 367,027 | 8 | For Once , Emotion Trumps Sex | A married sex therapist doles out relationship advice at work but privately spends her time in search of an orgasm , which she's never had . Two gay men find themselves drifting from one another and introduce a third man into their relationship in an attempt to bring some fulfillment back to their emotional connection ... |
574,085 | 4,532,636 | 58,576 | 8 | Another Stark Thriller from John Frankenheimer | John Frankenheimer ( who died not very long ago ) left us with a terrific repertoire of films , yet I don't hear his name mentioned often in discussions about influential American directors . " Seven Days in May " seems to be all but forgotten ; at least , I don't know anyone who's seen it or even heard of it . But it'... |
573,729 | 4,532,636 | 58,390 | 8 | Fuller Tops Himself | Samuel Fuller could make whacked-out movies like no other , and " The Naked Kiss " was his most whacked out of all . Constance Towers plays Kelly , a hooker who we see in the film's opening sequence shaved completely bald and beating up her pimp . She takes $75 dollars from him or , as she makes sure to point out to hi... |
573,417 | 4,532,636 | 299,977 | 8 | Visual Poetry | Hero is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous film that is truly worth seeing for its lush production design alone . Director Zhang Yimou brings a visual elegance to the kung-fu genre film , and a magical realist sensibility to the narrative itself , the results of which are a very violent film where the violence seems to have c... |
574,514 | 4,532,636 | 58,404 | 8 | A Night Worth Spending | A sultry and marvelously atmospheric screen adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play . Richard Burton plays a defrocked priest who holes up in an isolated Mexican hotel with a group of religious biddies for whom he is serving as tour guide . The group's leader , a strident harpy played by Grayson Hall , wants to repor... |
573,793 | 4,532,636 | 107,207 | 8 | Rousing Film About the Triumph of Justice | Following closely on the heels of another movie about the IRA , 1992's " The Crying Game , " came Jim Sheridan's effective and rousing " In the Name of the Father , " the true story of a group of men wrongly accused of participating in a series of IRA bombings . This film is fun to watch for its period detail and for t... |
573,550 | 4,532,636 | 80,388 | 8 | Lancaster's Last Great Role | Burt Lancaster gives an astonishing performance aching with melancholy in this lovely , quiet little film by Louis Malle . He plays a one-time gangster ( in his own mind at least quite a big shot ) who , like the city that gives the film its title , isn't what he used to be . Susan Sarandon , in an early-career perform... |
573,410 | 4,532,636 | 35,446 | 8 | Strange But Delightful | It's hard to recognize how utterly daring this film probably was at the time of its release . Charles Chaplin was put on a death list by Hitler for lampooning him in " The Great Dictator " in 1940 , and while Ernst Lubitsch's film isn't quite as scathing as Chaplin's , I still have to think that so openly mocking the G... |
574,192 | 4,532,636 | 497,116 | 8 | A Scary Wake Up Call for Those Still Napping | The only people who will watch " An Inconvenient Truth " will be those who need no convincing that global warming may just be the single most pressing issue affecting modern man - - yes , even more pressing than the war on terror . As much as jihadists would probably like to think otherwise , radical Islam just can't c... |
574,256 | 4,532,636 | 33,532 | 8 | The Devil Is No Match for an American Politician | This film could never work now , because Americans are far too cynical to accept a politician beating the Devil in a battle of morals . Now the politician would be in the Devil's hip pocket . " The Devil and Daniel Webster " is a creepy , effective little morality tale about a farmer who sells his soul to the devil in ... |
574,276 | 4,532,636 | 375,679 | 8 | An Important Film , Even If an Imperfect One | Crash has so many good things going for it , it's a shame that it's hampered by a clunky , obvious and over-earnest script . The movie is very Altmanesque in design , featuring a large ensemble cast and a plot that intricately weaves various plot lines together in surprising ways . Unlike Altman's best films , though... |
573,539 | 4,532,636 | 35,417 | 8 | One More Reason to Miss Jean Arthur | George Stevens had the ability to make truly memorable films out of lightweight material . " The Talk of the Town " and " The More the Merrier ( 1943 ) " were two early-40s projects that teamed Stevens up with the adorable Jean Arthur . Both would probably have been forgettable pseudo-comedies had Stevens not directed ... |
574,417 | 4,532,636 | 52,893 | 8 | A Poem | It's nearly impossible to talk about " Hiroshima , Mon Amour " in the same language I use to talk about other films . Even people used to international cinema may find themselves somewhat boggled by this visual tone poem . It's beautiful , and it leaves a distinct impression , but it does so in the way that a striking ... |
573,774 | 4,532,636 | 66,026 | 8 | The Definition of Organized Insanity | Once that now famous and haunting opening theme song , " Suicide Is Painless , " has finished playing , " MASH " bursts on to the screen in a blaze of sound and movement . It's a typical Altman film , and that's a huge compliment . It may not seem like anything special now , because his style has been so influential on... |
574,372 | 4,532,636 | 37,988 | 8 | A Little Slow , But Effectively Creepy | This screen adaptation of the Oscar Wilde novel has style and atmosphere to spare , but it's also a bit slow and ponderous . Hurd Hatfield is perfectly cast as Dorian Gray , an English dandy who's terrified of losing his youth and unwittingly enters into some sort of supernatural pact - - he will never change , while a... |
574,169 | 4,532,636 | 49,552 | 8 | Another Wonderfully Inventive Film from Jacques Tourneur | Jacques Tourneur used his vast reserves of creativity to turn small-budget films into fascinating movie-going experiences . If " Out of the Past " is one of the best films noir to be released in the 1940s , then " Nightfall " must be one of the best from the succeeding decade . Aldo Ray plays James Vanning , who , with... |
573,444 | 4,532,636 | 84,516 | 8 | JoBeth Williams Could Be My Mom Anytime | JoBeth Williams made one of the sexiest moms in history in this funhouse chiller from Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg . I was all of seven years old when this movie came out , and the image of her in panties and an over-sized t-shirt gave my young mind plenty of fantasy material . Ahem . . . . oh yeah , and there are ... |
574,310 | 4,532,636 | 372,183 | 8 | Bourne's Back in Business | Bourne is back . Jason Bourne , contentedly hiding out with his girl ( again played by Franka Potente ) , dives back into action when a hit-man comes calling . Turns out Bourne has been framed in the killing of two CIA operatives , and getting rid of him would mean the CIA would be left with no suspects . But of course... |
574,479 | 4,532,636 | 22,835 | 8 | Watch It for the Camera Work | What happened to movies in the late 30's and early 40's ? Why did they become so stale and stagey ? " Dr . Jekyll and Mr . Hyde " would be considered downright antique to many of today's casual filmgoers , but it feels so much more dynamic technically and thematically than many films that came out later in its decade .... |
574,457 | 4,532,636 | 498,380 | 8 | Admired It , But Wasn't Overwhelmed By It | Clint Eastwood's " Letters from Iwo Jima " is a sober , haunting film , filled with striking images that I thought as I was watching the movie would stick with me longer than they did . I found myself admiring the movie very much , but not feeling greatly passionate about it one way or the other . It didn't resonate wi... |
573,932 | 4,532,636 | 110,005 | 8 | Peter Jackson Before " Lord of the Rings " | Before he was known for the " Lord of the Rings " trilogy , Peter Jackson made this fascinating movie about two friends who submerge themselves in a fantasy world of their own creation with horrifying results . I know I'm in the minority , but I wish Jackson would go back to making movies like this . His love of specia... |
574,191 | 4,532,636 | 64,115 | 8 | Bosom Buddies | The ultimate " buddy " movie . Buddy movies were all over the place in 1969 in various guises - - this , " Midnight Cowboy , " " The Wild Bunch , " " Easy Rider . " " Butch Cassidy " is the lightest and most accessible of these - - for that reason , I don't think it's as interesting to look at now as these other movies... |
573,698 | 4,532,636 | 104,036 | 8 | Is That a Flashlight in Your Pocket ? . . . . | The Crying Game was quite a sensation back in 1992 , and all anybody could talk about in connection with the movie was its big twist . I knew about the twist in advance of seeing the film , so I was able to concentrate on the rest of the story , and it's quite a good one . Neil Jordan crafted a slick little IRA thril... |
574,021 | 4,532,636 | 379,725 | 8 | Highly Intelligent Look Into the Mind of an Artist | The recent onslaught of bland , paint-by-number Hollywood biopics may leave you completely disinterested in seeing " Capote , " the new film about eccentric author Truman Capote , directed by Bennett Miller and starring the chameleon Philip Seymour Hoffman . I hope you will reconsider if that is the case . " Capote " i... |
574,416 | 4,532,636 | 106,226 | 8 | Any Other Classics You'd Care to Adapt , Mr . Scorsese ? | Take THAT Merchant and Ivory ! THIS is the way to do a literary adaptation . Martin Scorsese , never one to fear boldness , tackles Edith Wharton's classic and revels in its sumptuous excess . The production and costume design alone are worth the price of admission , but Scorsese does Wharton's themes and characterizat... |
573,917 | 4,532,636 | 36,342 | 8 | When Hitchcock Comes to Middle America | It's been reported that the primary appeal of doing " Shadow of a Doubt " for Alfred Hitchcock was the idea of bringing a sense of menace to a small , every day American town . In that , this movie brilliantly succeeds . It doesn't join " Rear Window " or " Psycho " as one of my favorite Hitchcock films , but it has mu... |
574,502 | 4,532,636 | 81,398 | 8 | Excellent Film ? Yes . Scorsese's Masterpiece ? No . | I'm resistant to the many claims that " Raging Bull " is Scorsese's masterpiece . It's certainly excellent , but I think at least two of Scorsese's films on either side of this one - - " Taxi Driver " and " King of Comedy " - - are better . Robert De Niro is truly impressive as Jake LaMotta , but , as so often happens ... |
574,490 | 4,532,636 | 86,979 | 8 | Spooky and Stylish Early Coen Brothers | This early Coen brothers film shows what they can do when they're at the top of their game . This juicy noirish thriller has atmosphere and style to spare , with good performances from a handful of unconventional actors , notably Dan Hedaya , who makes a great bad guy , and Frances McDormand , who of course has gone on... |
574,176 | 4,532,636 | 37,932 | 8 | A Charming and Truly Suspenseful Little Gothic Thriller | Nina Foch delivers a surprisingly strong performance as the title character in this fun little Gothic nail-biter . She accepts a position as secretary to a London society dowager ( played imperiously by Dame May Witty ) and her creepy son ( the effete and bothersome George Macready ) . Before she knows it , she awakens... |
574,489 | 4,532,636 | 100,150 | 8 | The Coen Brothers Flirt with Gangsters | A terrific gangster film from the Coen brothers , set in the 1930s worlds of nightclubs and professional hit men . Gabriel Byrne is the lead in this one , and he gives a solid performance as a man who we're never quite sure we have figured out . But this film is more about style and atmosphere than it is about people a... |
573,522 | 4,532,636 | 87,003 | 8 | Did You Hear the One About Danny Rose ? . . . . | A pretty funny Woody Allen comedy , in which Allen himself plays Danny Rose , small-time talent agent who finds himself falling for the mistress ( Mia Farrow ) of one of his clients ( Nick Apollo Forte ) when he has to pretend to be the mistress's date at one of his client's shows ( it's a long story ) . Before long , ... |
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