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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573,704 | 4,532,636 | 1,125,849 | 8 | Great Film Only Slightly Marred by Hokey Ending | In " The Wrestler , " Mickey Rourke finds himself matched with the perfect role at the perfect moment in his career , and gives a performance that makes you wonder why he waited this long to show the world how good an actor he can be . Rourke plays Randy the Ram Robinson ( real name Robin , but don't call him that ) , ... |
574,478 | 4,532,636 | 22,958 | 8 | Joan Crawford Steals the Show | Movies like " Grand Hotel " were to the 30's what disaster movies were to the 70's : all-star , fluffy escapist entertainment unabashedly aiming for box office success . But " Grand Hotel " shouldn't be dismissed for those reasons . It is fluffy to be sure , but it also happens to be wildly entertaining , so I guess yo... |
574,233 | 4,532,636 | 443,680 | 8 | Pitt the Major Flaw in This Otherwise Strange and Beautiful Western | 2007 is shaping up to be the year of the Western revival . There's not much need of a plot summary for " The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford , " because it's all right there in the title . And there's not much plot to summarize anyway . This is a movie more interested in character than plot and m... |
573,582 | 4,532,636 | 82,474 | 8 | The Muppets Take Big Ben | Anglophile that I am , I love " The Great Muppet Caper , " and think I might like it even more than the original " Muppet Movie . " The gang find themselves foiling the plot of a group of crack diamond thieves led by Charles Grodin , and it's a hoot to watch the slick , professional thieves ' preparations and actions j... |
573,628 | 4,532,636 | 74,937 | 8 | One of the Best Casts Ever Assembled for a Movie | This very funny murder mystery spoof is a hoot , and the kind of movie you want to own so that you can pop it in whenever you're in the mood for something lighthearted and reliable . A mad genius millionaire ( played by Truman Capote , of all people ) gathers the world's five best detectives to his spooky house over a ... |
573,791 | 4,532,636 | 107,943 | 8 | Testing the Boundaries of Propriety with Merchant / Ivory | Very well done Merchant / Ivory adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel . People remember Anthony Hopkins for playing Hannibal Lecter , but it's performances like the one he gives here that prove how masterful an actor he can be . He plays an English butler who prides himself on his absolute servility and adherence to t... |
573,419 | 4,532,636 | 22,913 | 8 | Don't Be Fooled | Don't let people convince you that " Freaks " is a horror movie , because it isn't . It's actually a quite sad and sympathetic look at the way abnormalities were treated in the early part of the 20th century , and has direct parallels to the obsession with physical perfection causing eating disorders today . Tod Browni... |
573,683 | 4,532,636 | 44,829 | 8 | A Goofball Charmer of a Movie | This film is a blast . It's completely unmemorable , but in this case , that's a compliment , because it's unmemorable for really good reasons . It's just silliness , without any big themes or points to ponder , and it's airy and breezy and goofy , like watching an utterly insubstantial but extremely well made sitcom .... |
574,212 | 4,532,636 | 9,887 | 8 | A Zany Harold Lloyd Short | In this Harold Lloyd comedy short , Lloyd plays one of many suitors wooing a rich girl with a very busy father . In order to win her hand , they have to get her father's permission first - - if they can even get an appointment to see him , that is . This funny film is chock-full of physical pratfalls and sight gags . L... |
574,112 | 4,532,636 | 311,648 | 8 | Took Me By Surprise | This film blew me out of the water . I was expecting an amiable , slight comedy , serving more than anything else as a launching pad for Katie Holmes's career into the Hollywood big time . But instead , this movie is a substantive and very moving story about a young girl who desperately wants to make a nice Thanksgivin... |
573,448 | 4,532,636 | 84,707 | 8 | Soap Opera with Superb Acting | A high-brow soap opera , but an awfully good one . Meryl Streep delivers an absolutely heartbreaking performance as Sophie , a woman who was forced to make a terrible choice during WWII that haunts her for the rest of her life . The choice is so horrific it can't even be comprehended ; therefore , it's a bit tacky that... |
574,456 | 4,532,636 | 39,973 | 8 | Forgotten Thriller Is a Lot of Fun | A nifty little thriller that has lawyer Edmond O'Brien hired as bodyguard for business tycoon Vincent Price . Of course it doesn't take a detective to figure out that someone is setting someone else up , nor does it take a college diploma to figure out who those someones might be . Still , the cast ( which also include... |
573,601 | 4,532,636 | 356,721 | 8 | An Existential Comedy ? Yep . | David O . Russell belongs with the recent new generation of film directors who are bringing a hipper , edgier sensibility to modern movies . I'm thinking of Paul Thomas Anderson , Wes Anderson , Darren Aronofsky and Alexander Payne , to name a few . His films are at least as good as many of the films by this group , bu... |
574,369 | 4,532,636 | 55,505 | 8 | Unpredictable Plot Twists Highlight This Mystery Thriller | Though it's listed here at IMDb as " Taste of Fear , " the version I saw was titled " Scream of Fear . " Either way , it's a generic title for what is actually a rather stylish little mystery thriller . Susan Strasberg plays a wheelchair-bound accident victim who comes to stay with her father and his new wife at their ... |
573,839 | 4,532,636 | 756,729 | 8 | Molly Shannon Surprises in a Small But Very Strong Film | Anyone who's ever felt an activist instinct - - even a mild one - - should be able to relate to " Year of the Dog . " Molly Shannon , in an impressive display of dramatic acting ability , gives a fearlessly unflattering performance as Peggy , a woman whose life unravels when her beloved dog dies . Socially , Peggy is i... |
573,648 | 4,532,636 | 20,827 | 8 | Boys Will Be Boys But Girls Get Divorced | Undaunted by the new technology of sound , Norma Shearer acts up a storm in this pre-code " women's film " about a society woman whose husband goes philandering , and decides to retaliate by doing some philandering of her own . The philandering husband is played by Chester Morris , while Robert Montgomery plays his bes... |
574,268 | 4,532,636 | 379,786 | 8 | A Sleeper Hit | Serenity is one of those movies that flies in under the radar , quietly plays out its theatrical run , and then slowly but surely builds a solid base of fans and praise until sheer curiosity compels you to see it . I think it's based on something I'm not familiar with : a t . v . show or comic book series or somethin... |
573,725 | 4,532,636 | 40,427 | 8 | Memorable Direction Distinguishes This Standard B Flick | Alfred Werker is credited with directing this cross between a docu-drama police procedural and a crime thriller noir , but annals have it that Anthony Mann was the film's true director . Whatever the case , the direction is one of the most distinguished things about this movie , which looks spectacular and has all sort... |
573,823 | 4,532,636 | 78,902 | 8 | 1979's Answer to " Little Miss Sunshine " | One of those " little films that could , " " Breaking Away " is a competitive cycling version of " Little Miss Sunshine " : a group of lovable underdogs go up against the rich privileged kids and you want to see them win with all your heart . It's low key and unambitious , but breezy and utterly enjoyable . A bunch of ... |
573,554 | 4,532,636 | 408,236 | 8 | Swing Your Razor Wide , Sweeney | Sweeney Todd , Tim Burton's big-screen adaptation of the classic Stephen Sondheim musical , was faced with the nearly impossible task of meeting the expectations of both Burton and Sondheim fans alike . So if it falls a little short , I'm willing to forgive and forget . I think Burton made probably the best film that... |
573,817 | 4,532,636 | 78,872 | 8 | A Movie About a Kid Made for Adults | Chalk this up as one of those movies I had no clue I would enjoy so much . This boy / horse story has all the ingredients of a syrupy Disney sugarfest , but it's nothing like that . It's about a boy , but it deals with very adult emotions . The scene I remember the most comes when the little boy is begging with his mom... |
573,521 | 4,532,636 | 90,605 | 8 | James Cameron's Powerhouse Sequel to " Alien " | Say what you will about James Cameron's attempts at more " serious " film-making ( " Titanic " ? Ha ! ) , the man does know how to put together an action movie . He takes a completely different approach to this second film in the " Alien " series than Ridley Scott did to the first - - whereas Scott's film was slow , cr... |
574,135 | 4,532,636 | 42,593 | 8 | An Unpredictable Pseudo-Noir | In a Lonely Place is widely considered to be one of the best of the film noir genre , but I can't quite bring myself to give it noir status . It certainly has the ambiguity , sense of paranoia and seedy underworld setting of the standard noir , but it's also lacking in a few crucial elements that in my opinion give a... |
574,379 | 4,532,636 | 381,849 | 8 | This Wild West Belongs to Christian Bale and Russell Crowe | I went into " 3 : 10 to Yuma " with fairly low expectations , given James Mangold's track record as a mediocre director and the fact that I'm not necessarily a fan of westerns . How pleasantly surprised I was , then , to find that this particular western is slick and supremely entertaining . " 3 : 10 to Yuma " has all ... |
574,078 | 4,532,636 | 317,705 | 8 | Pixar Does It Again | The Pixar team continues its winning streak with this sharp , snappy , surprisingly adult animated adventure film about a family of former superheroes who cannot fit into " normal " society no matter how hard they try . I'm actually surprised that kids stayed with this film long enough to enjoy the fast-paced non-stop ... |
573,379 | 4,532,636 | 465,551 | 8 | Could Be Called Beauty and the Beast | Notes on a Scandal is like " Fatal Attraction " as produced by the BBC . It's wildly entertaining , tremendously acted , and deliciously tawdry . But it's also pretty smart , so this is one guilty pleasure you can enjoy without feeling too guilty about it . The scandal that gives the film its title - - a young and pr... |
574,303 | 4,532,636 | 465,538 | 8 | Good , But Not the Rousing One Against Many Film You Might Expect | The anti - " Erin Brockovich . " It's George Clooney's turn to take on corporate bigwigs who are determined to give cancer to all the decent folk living out in America's heartlands . He plays Michael Clayton , fixer for a big time law firm acting as a defendant in a class action law suit leveled at the cancer-causing c... |
573,736 | 4,532,636 | 67,328 | 8 | Whiling Away the Hours in Abilene , Texas | Peter Bogdanovich created a sombre and quietly devastating film from Larry McMurtry's coming-of-age soap opera about a bunch of teenagers stagnating in a Texas backwater in the years following WWII . Sam Bottoms and Jeff Bridges play best friends who wind up duking it out over the small town's resident spoiled and bore... |
573,402 | 4,532,636 | 443,453 | 8 | A Hilarious ( and Much Needed ) Assault on Decency | Sacha Baron Cohen comes to America in the guise of Borat Sagdiyev and wreaks his own brand of Kazakhi havoc in this very very funny film . In our age of uber-political correctness , " Borat " comes sweeping through like a brisk and refreshing wind , completely bounding over every cultural taboo we've erected around our... |
573,878 | 4,532,636 | 51,383 | 8 | Worth Remembering for Great Rosalind Russell Performance | Rosalind Russell tears through this film like a force of nature , giving one of the best and most underrated performances of the 1950s . The film revels in all of the excesses that make much of cinema from this time period seem so tacky now , but somehow the excess here works . Garish production design plastered across... |
574,293 | 4,532,636 | 96,463 | 8 | Career Women with Big Ideas and Even Bigger Hair | A pure fantasy served up by Mike Nichols , but a vastly entertaining one . Melanie Griffith is the secretary with massive hair who pretends to be a corporate business woman when her boss is layed up with a broken leg . The catch is , she finds out she's pretty good at it , and things get complicated when she ends up sp... |
574,496 | 4,532,636 | 101,921 | 8 | Girl Power in the Deep South | A heartwarming female bonding movie that has all the elements of a good ol ' Southern yarn . It was a good thing that Kathy Bates made this movie so soon after " Misery . " She had made such an impression as a psycho in the earlier film that she might have had trouble getting herself out from under the mantle of Annie ... |
574,034 | 4,532,636 | 49,223 | 8 | Where the Wild Things Are | This sombre sci-fi film can't help but look dated , and it's full of the usual cheesy 1950s sci-fi trappings , but one can't deny the influence it clearly had on the genre , and one can see the thumbprint of this film on any number of subsequent science fiction offerings . A very young Leslie Nielsen plays the leader o... |
574,287 | 4,532,636 | 96,438 | 8 | Dazzling Special Effects in Toon Town | A dazzling mixture of live action and animation is this film's selling point , but it helps that it's anchored by a smart script that tips its hat to the detective noirs of the 1940s and by good performances from both its human actors ( Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd ) and its voice performers ( Kathleen Turner is e... |
573,501 | 4,532,636 | 101,889 | 8 | Whimsical and Lovable | A warm and touching drama from visionary director Terry Gilliam , with just the right amount of magical whimsy to make it unique without being cloying . Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams give wonderful performances as a shock-jock radio DJ and the homeless vagrant with whom he strikes up a friendship . Williams , allowed... |
573,415 | 4,532,636 | 82,766 | 8 | Words Can't Do Justice | It seems almost pointless for me to add any comments here , since everyone else who's posted has done such a great job of summarizing this film's merits , but I can't resist . How do you rate a movie like this ? On the one hand , it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen : completely lacking in coherence , shameful a... |
574,141 | 4,532,636 | 59,742 | 8 | Springtime for Hitler Ain't the Only Show with Singing Nazis | The Sound of Music is easy to ridicule . It's sappy , corny and sentimental to the extreme . It hopelessly simplifies horrible world events , and makes it seem like all anyone needed to do to escape the iron fist of Hitler's regime was to schlep over some hills on a bright , sunny morning and say " hello " to Switzer... |
573,332 | 4,532,636 | 38,499 | 8 | So Bad I Didn't Want It to End | If you can suspend disbelief long enough to swallow Jennifer Jones - - in spray-on tan and flamenco outfits - - as a half-breed Indian girl , then you're on your way to enjoying this quite bad but embarrassingly entertaining howler . Jones goes to live with her distant relatives after her father is hanged for shooting ... |
573,387 | 4,532,636 | 105,695 | 8 | The Film That Brought Eastwood Hollywood Street Cred | After years of being relegated to the world of pulp genre films , Clint Eastwood established himself as a major Hollywood filmmaker with this throwback to John Ford , an honor he continues to enjoy to this day . I haven't seen " Unforgiven " since it originally appeared in 1992 , and to be honest I was probably too you... |
574,064 | 4,532,636 | 99,703 | 8 | Huston and Bening Put the Femme in Fatale | A devilish , twisted modern day noir with style to spare . Director Stephen Frears handles the morbid material expertly - - it walks a razor thin line between dark comedy and " too disturbing to enjoy . " John Cusack plays the con-man at the film's center , torn between the affections of his mother and his lover . Anje... |
574,449 | 4,532,636 | 42,276 | 8 | Charming and Sweet | In Oscar lore , Judy Holliday is known as the actress who stole the Academy Award , undeservedly , one might add , right out from under either Bette Davis's ( " All About Eve " ) or Gloria Swanson's ( Sunset Boulevard " ) nose ( depending on which report you hear ) . Well , there's no doubt that Holliday's win was an u... |
573,577 | 4,532,636 | 460,989 | 8 | A Naturalistic Account of the IR | This fascinating film about the Irish Republican Army in 1920s Ireland has an improvisatory feel about it . Not many scenes in the movie feel scripted . There are many scenes showing groups of men and women arguing , debating and fighting , but it all feels natural , and like the way these kinds of moments would play o... |
573,374 | 4,532,636 | 63,518 | 8 | Probably the Best Version of Shakespeare's Tragedy We're Ever to Get | This filmed version of one of Shakespeare's most famous tragedies is likely to be about as good a version as will ever be produced . Director Franco Zeffirelli had warmed up the year before with the Burton / Taylor version of " The Taming of the Shrew , " but here he nicely transitions from the frantic comedy of the fo... |
573,751 | 4,532,636 | 34,583 | 8 | It Took Me a While to come Around . . . . | Ah , " Casablanca . " Is there a line from the film that hasn't become a cliché ? That's not a criticism of the movie . If anything it's the reverse . What greater compliment to a film screenplay can a film audience make than so completely absorbing every word of it into its common cultural consciousness ? It took me a... |
573,369 | 4,532,636 | 381,061 | 8 | A Bloody Good Show , Mr . Craig | The charm of James Bond films have mostly eluded me over the course of my 31 years . In fact , I've only seen one other as far as I can recall ( " Octopussy " - - and by the way , how did that movie ever get released with THAT title ? ) and I remember virtually nothing about it . I don't think I'm missing much . From t... |
574,333 | 4,532,636 | 92,699 | 8 | James L . Brooks Does " Network " | A smart and funny adult comedy about a network news station and the lives of those who make it run . William Hurt is the newly-hired golden boy who looks great on screen but doesn't have a lot going on upstairs . Albert Brooks is the sharp reporter who doesn't have the looks to make it as an anchor . And Holly Hunter ,... |
573,622 | 4,532,636 | 315,983 | 8 | Makes a Much Better Movie Than Book | It rarely happens , but in transferring " House of Sand and Fog " from the page to the screen , the film makers have improved the material . If you want to know what I thought about the book , I've written a review at Amazon . In a nutshell , I thought the book was absolutely dreadful and nearly unredeemable . It made ... |
574,222 | 4,532,636 | 23,427 | 8 | Accent Man Paul Muni Goes Italian | Not to be outdone by Jimmy Cagney and Edward G . Robinson , that hammiest of hammy 30s actors , Paul Muni , tossed his hat into the gangster ring to play Tony " Scarface " Camonte , polishing off a nice little trilogy of gangster movies from the early 1930s that includes " The Public Enemy " and " Little Caesar . " The... |
573,594 | 4,532,636 | 1,013,753 | 8 | Good But Not Great | Gus Van Sant's rock-solid account of the rise of San Francisco politician Harvey Milk and his efforts to bring awareness to gay-rights issues is supremely capable and engaging , but there was something about the whole thing that just felt a bit uninspired to me . I knew absolutely nothing about Milk's story before seei... |
573,951 | 4,532,636 | 49,966 | 8 | Pure Camp or High Art ? Or Both ? | This gloriously turgid melodrama represents Douglas Sirk at his most high strung . It eschews the soft wistfulness of " All That Heaven Allows " and the weepy sentimentality of " Imitation of Life " and instead goes for feverish angst and overheated tension . And of course , it's all captured in vibrant Technicolor . T... |
573,391 | 4,532,636 | 40,525 | 8 | Into the Funhouse with Orson Welles | Rita Hayworth gets the same treatment given to Barbara Stanwyck in " Double Indemnity " ( 1944 ) in this audacious noir entry from Orson Welles . Fitted out with platinum blonde hair and a heart chiseled from a block of ice , Hayworth is the femme fatale and Welles the object of her malice . The plot is nearly impossib... |
574,249 | 4,532,636 | 299,117 | 9 | A Sleeper Romance | I wouldn't have thought from previews that " Roger Dodger " would have an ounce of romance in it , but it does . The scene between Elizabeth Berkeley , Jennifer Beals ( both very good by the way - - who would have thought ? ) and Roger's nephew is incredibly sweet and touching , but without being overly sentimental or ... |
573,937 | 4,532,636 | 427,327 | 9 | Oh What a Beautiful Morning in Baltimore | At last , someone has made a good modern movie musical ! Though ironically , " Hairspray " is good precisely because it's old fashioned . This film , based on the hit Broadway musical that was in turn based on the 1988 John Waters movie ( now we need a non-musical stage play based on the film musical . . . ) , reminded... |
574,526 | 4,532,636 | 65,054 | 9 | An Under-appreciated Screen Musical , One of My Favorites | Shirley MacLaine fills the formidable shoes first worn by Gwen Verdon , who created the role of Charity Hope Valentine in the stage musical on which this film is based , and makes the role her own . " Sweet Charity " is nearly a one-woman show , so the success of any version depends almost entirely on its leading lady ... |
574,237 | 4,532,636 | 52,561 | 9 | The Verdict Doesn't Matter in This Courtroom Thriller | Television shows like " CSI " exist today because books and films like " Anatomy of a Murder " existed first . " Murder " was somewhat different from courtroom thrillers that had come before it , because it focused almost exclusively on dissecting the forensic evidence ( much of it quite graphic and frank for its time ... |
573,504 | 4,532,636 | 102,926 | 9 | Join an Old Friend for Dinner | The FBI thriller to end all FBI thrillers . We can probably thank " The Silence of the Lambs " for the plethora of CSI shows bombarding our T . V . screens today , but don't hold that against it . This is one of those films that I never tire of seeing , and I can't come across it on cable without stopping whatever it i... |
574,331 | 4,532,636 | 93,209 | 9 | Growing Up with the Blitz | A delightful and imaginative film about a young English boy's perspective of the London blitz . Instead of focusing on the weariness , fear and anxiety that the war causes among the adults , this film depicts war-torn England as a source of fantasy and sensory delights for a child who's too young to fully understand it... |
573,324 | 4,532,636 | 32,551 | 9 | Not the Book , But Beautiful in Its Own Right | It's difficult on a first viewing of " The Grapes of Wrath " not to be somewhat disappointed with it . So much of Steinbeck's beautiful novel is left out of the film , and it's hard to see his story and characters wedged into the " gee whizz " style of film-making so prevalent at the time . But once you get beyond a co... |
573,991 | 4,532,636 | 47,849 | 9 | Spencer Tracy's One-Armed Man Comes Calling | A superb suspense thriller in the " High Noon " tradition , in which our hero must find a way out of his predicament before night falls and the bad guys come shooting . Our hero in this case is Spencer Tracy , a mysterious one-armed man who shows up in a tiny town ( more a collection of buildings than a town , really )... |
574,189 | 4,532,636 | 65,088 | 9 | A Grisly , Sickly Entertaining Film | A brutally bleak screen adaptation of the pulpy Horace McCoy novella , about a Depression-era dance marathon where down-and-outers drive themselves to the brink of exhaustion to win the cash prize . This film has become relevant again today in the age of reality T . V . , where people tune in to watch strangers be humi... |
574,129 | 4,532,636 | 266,543 | 9 | An Underwater Treasure | Finding Nemo finds the Pixar animation studio back in top form after their somewhat disappointing ( I thought ) " Monsters , Inc . " This group has always had a knack for finding source material that will give them full freedom in unleashing their animation imaginations ( the toy-chest world of " Toy Story , " the in... |
573,341 | 4,532,636 | 50,613 | 9 | Fierce and Poetic | With " Throne of Blood , " master director Akira Kurosawa gives us an extraordinary screen adaptation of " Macbeth , " set in feudal Japan . Kurosawa does what I wish more filmed Shakespeare adaptations did : use the original texts as source material but treat them in decidedly cinematic ways . I would rather watch a m... |
573,314 | 4,532,636 | 72,684 | 9 | Like Stepping Into a Classical Painting | I'm reading Thackeray's " Vanity Fair " even as I write this comment , and what strikes me about " Barry Lyndon " now that I've read something by the author who wrote it is how much the film recreates the experience of reading Thackeray . " Vanity Fair " is nearly 700 pages of nothing much happening , yet it's all fasc... |
573,621 | 4,532,636 | 301,199 | 9 | A Dirty , Pretty Little Movie | This is a slick , atmospheric gem of a film from the always-reliable director Stephen Frears . It's got one of those stories that might sound silly on paper - - - I won't say any more , because surprise is responsible for much of the fun in watching this . At various times , I was reminded of Jules Dassin's " Rififi , ... |
574,109 | 4,532,636 | 21,884 | 9 | A Deserved Classic | Frankenstein is really nothing like the Mary Shelley book on which it is based , but it instead takes the story and makes it something all its own . Gone are the philosophical and allegorical qualities of the novel , and in its place is a much simpler tale about man's responsibility to the things he creates and the d... |
574,494 | 4,532,636 | 103,064 | 9 | He's Baa-aack | The original " Terminator " movie had a low-budget look about it , but money was obviously not an issue with this blockbuster Hollywood sequel . This time around , Ahhnold is the good guy , sent back in time to protect the son of Linda Hamilton from another and more advanced terminator , ALSO sent back in time to kill ... |
573,474 | 4,532,636 | 28,333 | 9 | Everything " Top Hat " Isn't | If you've read my review of " Top Hat " you know that that was my introduction to Astaire and Rogers movies and that I was somewhat disappointed in it . Well " Swing Time " made me understand why everyone loves these movies . Everything I expected from " Top Hat " and didn't get was more than made up for by this sparkl... |
574,214 | 4,532,636 | 118,749 | 9 | Boogie Till You Drop | No one will ever accuse Paul Thomas Anderson of subtlety , and if any one word describes his approach to material , " excessive " will do the trick , but the boy sure can put together one hell of an entertaining movie . In a blast of disco and neon , " Boogie Nights " comes blazing from the screen in an orgy of dazzlin... |
574,030 | 4,532,636 | 340,377 | 9 | Off-Beat Movie About Eccentrics and Misfits | One of those small , quiet films about human behavior that utterly captivates through the strength of its writing and acting . It could have been too quaint for its own good , full of self-consciously eccentric characters , but it's not . Instead , it's warm and inviting , full of the kind of characters you wish you co... |
574,344 | 4,532,636 | 246,578 | 9 | Disturbing and Unsettling , But for Certain Tastes , Exquisite | Even if you don't like " Donnie Darko " ( and I'm sure there are many people who hate it , if they've ever even seen it ) , you're not likely to forget it quickly . This film lingers in the mind in a very unsettling way . It left me feeling creepy , and it's actually a fairly nihilistic film , but at the same time I wa... |
573,514 | 4,532,636 | 765,429 | 9 | Ridley Scott Knocks One Out of the Park | Director Ridley Scott has surprised me : he's finally made a movie I liked . Since the last one was " Alien " back in 1979 , I'd pretty much given up on him . " American Gangster " is a kinetic , dazzlingly entertaining crime film . It features two strong performances from Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe , but this... |
573,904 | 4,532,636 | 23,969 | 9 | A Great Time | I can't say I'm necessarily a huge Marx Brothers fan , but I also can't claim to be an expert on them , since I've only seen this and " A Night at the Opera . " Based on these two films , I've concluded that I like the IDEA of a Marx Brothers movie more than I like the movies themselves . Groucho is such a cultural ico... |
574,195 | 4,532,636 | 37,101 | 9 | Dick Powell Dances His Way Through the Role of Philip Marlowe | Dick Powell exchanges his dancing shoes for the film noir anti-hero's characteristic fedora in this fiendishly inventive 1944 entry based on the Raymond Chandler novel , " Farewell , My Lovely . " Many at the time questioned Powell's ability to pull off this tough-guy role , but he does just fine with it , thank you ve... |
574,052 | 4,532,636 | 112,697 | 9 | A Wonderfully Clueless Emma | Who would have thought that the best screen adaptation of Jane Austen's " Emma " would emerge from an updated parody set in a Beverly Hills high school and directed by Amy Heckerling ? But that's exactly what has happened with this film . Heckerling obviously gets that Austen's continuous appeal lies in the fact that h... |
574,351 | 4,532,636 | 808,417 | 9 | Wonderful Film Is Much More Than Just a " Cartoon " | Do not dismiss " Persepolis " as only being a cartoon . It's animated in the sense that it's not live action , but it's more serious minded and sophisticated than many a live action film out there . Marjane Satrapi wrote the source material on which this film is based , and she's its main character . It documents her t... |
573,414 | 4,532,636 | 374,900 | 9 | One of the Best of 2004 | Yes , for all the pomp and broo-hah-hah surrounding last year's " serious " films like " Million Dollar Baby , " " The Aviator , " " Ray " and " Finding Neverland , " this little quirky comedy made its way on to my personal 10 best list when none of the aforementioned films did . It's small , personal and definitely no... |
574,335 | 4,532,636 | 118,694 | 9 | In the Mood for a Truly Cinematic Film ? | It can be surprisingly difficult to find truly cinematic films - - that is , films that tell their stories in a way unique to the medium . Kar Wai Wong's " In the Mood for Love , " therefore , will come as a welcome surprise to cinephiles . I can imagine this story being told in another medium , but certainly not in th... |
574,487 | 4,532,636 | 90,037 | 9 | Wonderful Undiscovered Film About Sexual Maturity | A terrific lesser-known film that deserves a better rating than the one given it here at IMDb . Based on a short story by Joyce Carol Oates called " Where Are You Going , Where Have You Been ? " , " Smooth Talk " stars Laura Dern as a bored and restless adolescent who thinks she's more in control of her sexual allure ,... |
574,383 | 4,532,636 | 68,182 | 9 | A Highly Unusual and Disquieting Film | Director Werner Herzog has always been interested in telling stories about men with obsessions , especially if those obsessions lead to madness . So it's no surprise that he was engaged by this story about a group of Spanish conquistadors in 1560 trekking through the Peruvian jungle in search of El Dorado , legendary c... |
573,544 | 4,532,636 | 70,644 | 9 | Bergman's Version of a Cage Match | After " Wild Strawberries , " this is perhaps my favorite Bergman movie , though be warned : it will take the wind out of you , especially if you watch the full five-hour version in a condensed period of time , as I did . Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson create perhaps too realistic a version of marriage in this emotio... |
573,861 | 4,532,636 | 30,341 | 9 | Hitchcock at the Top of His Game | A superb Hitchcock thriller from his pre-Hollywood days . Margaret Lockwood plays Iris Henderson , on her way via train to London to marry a fiancée she's not all that crazy about . She meets a kind old lady named Mrs . Froy ( a name I will not ever forget because of the way in which Hitchcock introduces it to the audi... |
573,490 | 4,532,636 | 50,371 | 9 | This Ain't Your Grandmother's Andy Griffith | Whoa ! This steam roller of a movie may just leave you wondering why no one ever seems to talk about it or remember it all these years later . . . . Elia Kazan made one of those films that feels like it could have been made today with few changes . It's so relevant today that the movie was either ahead of its time or i... |
573,646 | 4,532,636 | 455,590 | 9 | A Hugely Exciting African-Set Thriller | With " The Last King of Scotland , " Kevin MacDonald has created a bracing , exciting and totally satisfying thriller . Forest Whitaker gives a titanic performance as Idi Amin , Ugandan dictator who rose to power in the 1970s . James McAvoy plays Nicholas Garrigan , a Scottish physician who travels to Uganda for the ad... |
573,608 | 4,532,636 | 780,536 | 9 | A Movie That Defies Description ( In a Good Way ) | Writer / director Martin McDonagh has fashioned a little gem of a crime thriller / black comedy with his film , " In Bruges . " It's quirky and eccentric , but in a way that comes naturally and doesn't feel remotely forced . And despite the running joke about Bruges being such a boring and dull place to be , the movie ... |
573,662 | 4,532,636 | 21,749 | 9 | Unashamedly Sentimental - - - Works for Me | I had the pleasure of seeing a screening of this film ( silent , though it came out well into the sound era ) with live music accompaniment by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra . As you can imagine , this added a tremendous amount to the overall effect of the movie , which I had seen once before on video . This is Chaplin... |
574,286 | 4,532,636 | 497,465 | 9 | Speaking Catalan with Woody Allen | Woody Allen's on a roll again . Three years ago he gave us " Match Point , " a nearly perfect thriller that was unlike anything he'd done before , and last year he directed the under-appreciated " Cassandra's Dream . " With " Vicky Cristina Barcelona , " he's proved that this new artistic reawakening is more than a pas... |
573,806 | 4,532,636 | 83,907 | 9 | These Demons from Beyond Scared the Pants Off of Me | SCARY AS HELL ! ! ! ! This is one of the rare horror films that knows how to make gore frightening . But it's not just the blood and guts that terrifies here . it's Sam Raimi's accomplished direction and his fearless ability to make the movie so damn WEIRD that makes it such a good entry in the horror canon . A bunch o... |
573,714 | 4,532,636 | 66,319 | 9 | Poorly Received David Lean Film Looks Terrific with Age | Poorly received at the time of its release , perhaps " Ryan's Daughter " is one of those movies to whom time has been kind , because I just saw it for the first time and thought it was remarkable . It's based on Flaubert's " Madame Bovary , " but it really only borrows the barest of outlines from that novel . In its de... |
573,779 | 4,532,636 | 418,773 | 9 | Family Dysfunction in Small-Town America | Junebug gets the atmosphere of small-town America just right . It's a place where practicality is a virtue and one's church is the center of one's social world . There's an inherent distrust in anything " urban , " partly the result of judgemental small-mindedness and partly the result of a defensive insecurity . But... |
573,957 | 4,532,636 | 35,015 | 9 | A Magnificent " Magnificent Ambersons " | RKO tried its damnedest to butcher Orson Welles ' haunting , fantastic follow-up to " Citizen Kane , " but they only partially succeeded . The movie does fall just short of greatness for me , but that's not Welles ' fault . One can see that if the film he intended to make had actually been preserved , it would rival " ... |
574,510 | 4,532,636 | 110,877 | 9 | Lovely Little Film About the Power of Words | A sweet , gentle film about a quiet postman who discovers the power of poetry in winning the heart of his true love . Massimo Troisi gives a warm , wonderful performance as said postman , while Phillipe Noiret plays the poet Pablo Neruda . The setting , a sleepy Italian village , gives the film a cozy atmosphere , and ... |
573,469 | 4,532,636 | 28,505 | 9 | Sexy and Mature | Myrna Loy was never lovelier than she is in this surprisingly sophisticated and mature 1936 film . Though billed as a screwball comedy , the movie has much more than screwball comedy on its mind . Loy plays wife to Clark Gable , a successful business exec who spends much of his time at the office with his irreplaceable... |
573,914 | 4,532,636 | 70,334 | 9 | Are You Stoned , Mr . Marlowe ? | That most expert of genre benders - - Robert Altman - - takes aim at the noir detective film in this delightfully creative and witty adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel . Altman - - not to mention Elliott Gould , who delivers a wonderfully whacked-out performance as Chandler staple Philip Marlowe - - gives us a he... |
574,270 | 4,532,636 | 30,241 | 9 | A Holiday Worth Taking | Holiday belongs right up there with " The Philadelphia Story " and " Bringing Up Baby " as one of the best movies to team Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant . Watching it today , it's nearly impossible to understand why audiences stayed away from this and " Baby " back in 1938 . These movies have instant classics writt... |
574,210 | 4,532,636 | 14,945 | 9 | Harold Gets the Girl ( Of Course ) | I did not enjoy " Girl Shy " quite as much as Harold Lloyd's most famous feature length film , " Safety Last ! " , but I still had a good time with it . Lloyd plays a hapless tailor's assistant who stutters terribly whenever around women ( watching Lloyd stutter in silence , by the way , is hilarious ) . To make up for... |
574,267 | 4,532,636 | 415,978 | 9 | Loneliness in the Digital Age | It's wonderful when any work of art seems to be speaking personally to you as you experience it , but really , how often does that happen ? Well , it did happen for me with this movie - - I finished it and it stayed with me for a long time - - I felt like I'd just had a conversation with the writer and director , Miran... |
574,326 | 4,532,636 | 68,361 | 9 | A Salvador Dali Painting Come to Life | This playful and surrealist film from Luis Bunuel is a gem from 1970s foreign language cinema . A group of well-to-dos gather for a dinner that never quite seems to take place , since each time they sit down to dine , some sort of bizarre , dreamlike occurrence prevents them from doing so . The film is difficult to des... |
574,147 | 4,532,636 | 47,878 | 9 | A Brutal and Twisted Noir | Cornel Wilde plays a police detective obsessed with bringing down crime lord Mr . Brown ( Richard Conte ) , while hoping at the same time to win the affections of Conte's girl , Jean Wallace , in this tremendously atmospheric noir from 1955 . The noir genre wouldn't last much longer ( many contend that 1958's " Touch o... |
574,219 | 4,532,636 | 1,032,846 | 9 | Another Chipper Valentine to Romania | On the evidence of this and " The Death of Mr . Lazarescu , " Romanian filmmakers are trying to convince the world that Romania is the most depressing place ever , and they're very close to succeeding . College student Otilia ventures off into the dark Romanian night to help her friend , Gabita , get an illegal abortio... |
573,909 | 4,532,636 | 72,274 | 9 | Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall as Lovers on the Lam | They Live by Night , the 1948 screen adaptation of the Edward Anderson novel " Thieves Like Us , " and other films that have obviously been inspired by it , like " Gun Crazy " ( 1949 ) and " Bonnie and Clyde " ( 1967 ) , have all been so good that it makes you wonder if yet another version of the same story is necess... |
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