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510,614 | 453,068 | 1,007,028 | 7 | funny , gooey , predictable , outrageous , gleeful , nostalgic , warm , romantic . . . did I say gooey ? | These are some words I would describe for Kevin Smith's latest film not quite from his ' Viewaskewniverse ' ( if that's really a word ) , only this time out of New Jersey and in Pittsburgh ( acually , the Dawn of the Dead cit Monroeville home of the Monroeville mall , an hockey of course ) . It is in all basic terms ab... |
510,931 | 453,068 | 120,863 | 7 | Great Example of a war picture | Thin Red Line is a great example of what a war film can be . Unlike 1998's Saving Private Ryan ( which I thought was the best film of 1998 ) , this film doesn't have a plot with a big beginning and ending ( even though that would be nice ) . It just chronicles a group of soldiers and their battle in the South Pacific ,... |
510,048 | 453,068 | 805,570 | 7 | Come on ride the train , come ride it . . . | Before you start asking - no , it's not porn , gay or otherwise , though those were the first words out of my mother's mouth when I told her I would be going to see this now cult-ish horror movie . This is another example of Lion's Gate acting nefarious with their distribution . They probably aren't as ' wtf'-like as F... |
509,332 | 453,068 | 913,958 | 7 | mostly a ' fly-on-the-wall ' approach to the former President . . . | . . . but despite some of Jonathan Demme's techniques to making Man from Plains , which are either interesting ( the skewed camera on the television screens , the title cards listed in big font above the locations in some scenes ) or off-putting ( the usage of music is overbearing ) , his movie should be called the pro... |
508,466 | 453,068 | 359,203 | 7 | tough call | A documentary like Easy Riders , Raging Bulls should be the kind of documentary I should like more . It is chock full of interviews and choice information about the time period ( 60's-70's ) in American cinema that changed everything , for a lot better and some for not . But there are a couple of problems that become i... |
509,037 | 453,068 | 75,376 | 7 | Hmm , Rosebud ! I'll get to the bottom of this yet ! Russ Meyer makes his films , when they're at their best or most brilliantly deranged , like the dream of some sexually charged sixteen year old who's seen his share of pornos and 70's era exploitation films . They're crazy visions of women with ( usually ) nothing l... | null |
509,596 | 453,068 | 66,601 | 7 | An Italian in California : a technical masterpiece with sub-par substance | There aren't too many times when I see a film and go , " huh , what ? " , but this was one of them . Maybe after seeing Zabriskie Point I felt much the same way Woody Allen felt after seeing 2001 - he only liked the film after seeing it three times over a two year period , realizing the filmmaker was ahead of him in wh... |
509,003 | 453,068 | 120,913 | 7 | Good animated entertainment ; not as good as I remember it | : : RE-EDIT : : I recall I wrote this line in a review for Titan AE back when it first came out : " I love films that add or have computer animation ( especially when the film itself is animated ) . . . Great stuff here to see . For any one , kid , animation lover , etc . " Comments like these should make me put a pape... |
508,366 | 453,068 | 48,182 | 7 | has the good old B-noir spirit of Fuller , with a couple of flaws | I had fun through most of House of Bamboo , Samuel Fuller's second widescreen , first filmed out-of-the-US picture , even as I knew at the end it wasn't too special . It's got some memorable scenes with the two male leads , the kind of seemingly hard-boiled actors that probably wouldn't shake much if you hit them with ... |
509,489 | 453,068 | 365,748 | 7 | slightly genre-confused , but still a good comedy / horror show | Shaun of the Dead has of the most ingenious British comedy of 2004 , or for that matter the past several years , and even has that appeal that romantic comedies only wish they could achieve in their timing and believable characters , however slacker-ish they are here . Then there's something interesting that goes on as... |
508,098 | 453,068 | 365,737 | 7 | gets better if you see it more than once ( the old saying , but it's true ) | I don't know if I'll ever think Syriana is a masterpiece or great film or worthy on a top 10 list or other . But it's something that sucks me in when it comes up on TV , and after seeing bits and pieces - following already seeing it twice in the theater - I have a grasp on it , firmly . It's a political drama / thrille... |
510,448 | 453,068 | 478,338 | 7 | captivating as a subject , so-so as documentary | I got introduced to Slavoj Zizek through his under-seen Lacan-style analysis of cinema called the Pervert's Guide to Cinema , and was immediately taken in by his very sharp mind , oddball sense of humor , and dead-on analysis of the nature of cinema and the Freudian psychology . This little documentary by first-time di... |
510,226 | 453,068 | 374,526 | 7 | I'll say it - it's a fan-boy movie , no more no less . as a short shot of guilty pleasure , not bad | I saw this online recently and it was not quite what I had expected . First off , the production quality is , if nothing else , rather , surprisingly top-notch . It obviously would have to go through a lot of arbitration and legal wrangling to legitimately be shown anywhere ( think of what Warner brothers and Fox would... |
509,670 | 453,068 | 421,073 | 7 | sometimes kind of ridiculous , but it holds the attention and stirs the pot a little | I didn't go into Street Kings expecting a masterpiece , and I didn't get one . What I did expect is what I got , more or less : a competently made corrupt cops drama that throws on some heap-loads of stereotypes ( not just racially or ethnically but just movie stereotypes , which may possibly be true to form them ) , a... |
509,119 | 453,068 | 59,903 | 7 | a Woody Allen scripted screwball sex comedy , and it works | This swinging ' 60s comedy of crazy manners was Woody Allen's first screenplay produced - with himself playing a role that he definitely wrote specifically for himself - and it shows how a writer can pour out all idea into one form and make it work , sort of . It's all over the place and not altogether successful , but... |
508,726 | 453,068 | 377,092 | 7 | has a satirical appeal that isn't razor sharp , but good enough ; Lohan's best starring role to date | Looking past all the media hoopla , maybe not as deserved at all as some people might think , to the star Lindsay Lohan , she does have enough talent past the sweet-natured personality and beautiful looks . And for her skills she is put to very good use in the film Mean Girls , not as vicious and confused as its 80's c... |
508,002 | 453,068 | 86,383 | 7 | lacking in some ways and stronger in others , it's a good - if mixed - Eastwood bag | It's a strange thing to see a film where some scenes work rather weakly ( if only in comparison to other films in its legacy ) , and others in a ' sub-plot ' or supporting story are surprisingly provocative and strong . Sudden Impact is one of those cases , where Clint Eastwood as star / producer / director shows when ... |
509,413 | 453,068 | 66,732 | 7 | this is quite something , and whatever it is the Mothers might be able to say what it is . . . | I need to watch this again . That's something of a compliment , I think . Maybe I shouldn't think regarding a movie - so called - like 200 Motels . It's the kind of picture where the term ' freewheeling rock & roll comedy ' would pop up as an example in the dictionary . As I recall there's nothing by way of plot to des... |
508,641 | 453,068 | 48,545 | 7 | not my favorite Nick Ray film by far , but it's worth viewing as a " essential " from the 50s | I put quotations around the words " essential " in that one line because , really , I'm not totally sure what essential means really when it comes to seeing films from that decade . The general consensus - on which one might dub a film like Rebel Without a Cause overrated - is that this film is THE film on teenage angs... |
509,160 | 453,068 | 421,239 | 7 | Hitchcockian in ( most of ) the ways that matter ; predictable , but entertaining | Wes Craven's had an interesting year in 2005 , among a handful of directors that are ( perhaps unintentionally ) having two films released in one year . And both films are homages , or at least linked somehow to another style of film-making . His Cursed , the flawed but satisfying B-werewolf movie was one , and his Red... |
508,014 | 453,068 | 94,963 | 7 | even the lesser of Harry's is substantial as B-action fare | The biggest liability for me with the Dead Pool is that there isn't , at least for me , the kind of balance between the savage wit / irony and the hard-boiled drama and action of the earlier films . There are some laughs of course , in particular with a young Jim Carrey as a rock star ( also , likely the only time you'... |
508,601 | 453,068 | 438,575 | 7 | amiable enough skewering of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict with fast food and singing | Strange that West Bank Story didn't live up completely to my expectations , but then again I only knew about the film - and anticipated it - from the five second clip shown during the Oscars ( right before it won ) , with a high crane shot showing a bunch of Israelis and Palestinians dancing in the street . It was some... |
508,724 | 453,068 | 430,922 | 7 | a bleepin ' funny movie . . . the kind that might make you say bleep a lot , or join LAIR | There's a joy to watching smart writing with totally tasteless dialog , and Role Models fulfills that joy even while staying fairly predictable with most recent comedies . Anybody familiar with the " Apatow formula " ( in quotes since there isn't really one unless you've not watched many comedies ever ) knows the shlub... |
509,048 | 453,068 | 82,357 | 7 | great on imagery , but some of the actual story is . . . lost on me | For sixteen minutes Czech animator and filmmaker Jan Svankmajer does his job well with getting a real terror and doom and gloom and deconstruction of the house of Usher , one of those quintessential spots of horror of Poe . In just watching the images go by and the stop-motion utilized in creative and unexpected ways i... |
509,110 | 453,068 | 491,587 | 7 | goes from being really stupid to some kind of brilliance . . . and then stupidity again | If you asked me what compelled R Kelly to make Trapped in the Closet , I wouldn't the foggiest clue . Maybe it was a call from Jesus , or some higher power that only comes to people whilst on the heaviest of psychotropics . But whatever it was , this is a work where you can never be completely sure whether or not Kelly... |
510,683 | 453,068 | 116,791 | 7 | HR Giger as creative consultant , hmm . . | Killer Condom is the kind of movie that goes below the belt of B-movie ( though above the Z-movies that Troma usually churns out like butter ) , and somehow through its German-made / set in New York ways it's actually watchable . Or , to put it another way , it's what the VH1 channel might dub as ' awesomely bad ' . Yo... |
508,541 | 453,068 | 425,061 | 7 | this works because of two things : Steve Carell , and Mel Brooks inspired zaniness , among some minor factors | Get Smart is fun stuff , and a lot of it can be credited to its star , Steve Carell . If you find this guy funny , you'll like the movie , it's about that close to simplicity . What's great about what he does in the role is that he doesn't so some retread of the original character on the old Get Smart TV show , but mak... |
509,026 | 453,068 | 1,205,489 | 7 | the memorable Golden Years of Walt Kowalski | Seeing Clint Eastwood now is like looking at a face weathered away on a mountain ridge . The crevices go so deep on his face that one has to put that right alongside the voice , which is now so growl-like ( indeed Eastwood's Walt Kowalski does growl in some scenes ) that he would be a dead-ringer to play Batman if Fran... |
509,092 | 453,068 | 48,605 | 7 | Not a top-shelf work of Wilder's , despite an iconic image and good dialog | Billy Wilder , as a Hollywood director , has done better than the Seven Year Itch , though I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon with this film on TV . Perhaps one goes into the film with a misconception that it will be squarely a Marilyn Monroe film . But aside from a couple of small , enlightened ... |
510,151 | 453,068 | 343,737 | 7 | has the makings of something greater , but it's too under-stated and secretive to really let a viewer in | I really wanted to love the Good Shepherd , but maybe like the main character of Edward Wilson it's a hard one to love even if one can admire / respect it in some ways . It's a film cluttered by being both too long and too short , where the pace feels plodding at times and with some unnecessary beats , and at the same ... |
509,007 | 453,068 | 82,186 | 7 | solid fantasy for kids and Greek-God buffs , OK for everyone else | If you notice the credits listing , the film is directed by Desmond Davis and written by Beverley Cross - both pretty competent at directing and writing duties respectively - but if mentioning Clash of the Titans to someone , it would be most likely recommendable as a Ray Harryhausen picture . While he was only co-prod... |
508,951 | 453,068 | 920,628 | 8 | the Making of Breathless , seen 33 years later by something of a " fan " | Hosted by French TV personality Claude Ventura , Chambre 12 , Hotel de Suede at first concerns the host / co-director staying at the same hotel and the same hotel room where Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg stayed at in one of those quintessential man / woman in hotel room scenes in movies in Breathless . Then it goe... |
508,819 | 453,068 | 44,000 | 8 | I think I may agree with the notion . . . | . . . that Federico Fellini , one of the most gifted and visually wild Italian directors of the 20th century , blossomed out until with his masterpiece 8 ( which , by the time he got to , as Martin Scorsese once said , " he was on Mars " ) . With his first solo effort , parting ways with Rossellini but not entirely fro... |
510,850 | 453,068 | 73,822 | 8 | an uncommonly heartwarming film from Ingmar Bergman , splendid music and footage | The Magic Flute is a special kind of movie that may work better for fans of Mozart , or work better for fans of Bergman . And in general if you like opera it might hit your ' wow ' button as being something different . Before getting to it , I was almost taken aback as I watched it , as I thought perhaps Bergman had pi... |
507,920 | 453,068 | 65,063 | 8 | Not one of Woody's best , but still . . . | Woody Allen has some misfires in this film and the documentary style might not always be perfect in this for a comedy ( then again , it is a Woody Allen finding his legs , with his short story and other writings being the most prominent kind of humor . But ( and a big but ) , there are various gags with Allen that are ... |
509,524 | 453,068 | 126,250 | 8 | rather sweet ; left me with a smile when I first saw it | One might call Cookie's Fortune a ' minor ' effort from Robert Altman , a filmmaker who once commented that each film " is all part of the same picture " , or rather one long movie with bits and pieces making up a career whole . But it has enough going for it through its very competent cast and interesting script to ke... |
507,931 | 453,068 | 95,715 | 8 | would be a masterwork of pure fantasy cinema except for a repetitive flaw ( and a minor complaint ) | Jan Svankmajer is certainly one of the most imaginative minds to ever touch stop-motion animation . He puts his mark with such a distinctive presence , with such a fever-dream aspect of nightmares of the child-like and bizarre , that he can certainly have the ' one-of-a-kind ' stamp on his lapel . Alice is an example o... |
507,956 | 453,068 | 316,654 | 8 | Better than the first - Sam Raimi proves his cool knack for balancing elements of action , drama and comedy | Spider-man 2 , at least , accomplishes one thing above all else - this time , when the Spidey flings himself through the air , it doesn't look as fake as it did in the first film . If anything , this time I did feel the exhilaration that the filmmakers intended . They , being the team at Edge FX , have taken the huge l... |
509,441 | 453,068 | 35,279 | 8 | American quasi-remake of the 39 Steps with a few twists , not least of which the Statue of Liberty | It goes without saying that Alfred Hitchcock repeats himself , and he wouldn't want it any other way . Like some great big old rock band that goes out on tour and lays the same songs with only minute variations in the set-list , Hitchcock's films carry so many similarities - not least of which the running " Wrong Man "... |
508,259 | 453,068 | 73,778 | 8 | Now I know why this is a Rolling Thunder re-release , , , | Switchblade Sisters , apart of the more or less dozen films in Tarantino's Rolling Thunder pictures collection ( re-released exploitation flicks and foreign films ) , was worth the watch for a past midnight time of viewing . It might even be Jack Hill's most entertaining movie ( though I haven't seen Coffy in a while )... |
509,784 | 453,068 | 118,548 | 8 | just slick enough , just well-acted enough , just with that hint of good vs bad that make it work well | There probably isn't anything too groundbreaking in Absolute Power , and maybe it's all the better for it . It's an above-average by-the-book thriller ( not by the numbers , there's sort of a difference I'd rather not prattle on here ) , and it's more than suitable that Clint Eastwood is director . He takes a handle of... |
507,984 | 453,068 | 361,243 | 8 | a little crazy and manic , but a very satisfying detour for SW fans , and animations fans probably too | Gene Tartakovsky's style with drawing characters had me a little apprehensive from the outset to watch the series he had directed ; the characters on the surface have the immediate appearance of not looking very rough-edged and more appropriate for a kids show . Upon finally giving in and watching the series , it becom... |
508,045 | 453,068 | 70,518 | 8 | a laconic , sometimes-great take on iconic Western figures | Sam Peckinpah really is not the full problem or liability with Pat Garret & Billy the Kid , though he's not totally innocent in what shortcomings come with the film . The story by Rudy Wurlizter provides a mix of extraordinary scenes and some all-too laid-back ones or scenes that don't feel like there is any real drama... |
508,016 | 453,068 | 73,768 | 8 | this awesomely bad sexploitation flick may have the ' Id ' down more than any other film of the 70s | Russ Meyer loves breasts , and he's a filmmaker , but it's mostly the breast thing . That doesn't mean that he's not good at what he does , which is making raucous comedies where there's a dumb , well-hung klutz ( Charles Pitts , in thankfully his only significant point in his career as Clint Ramsey ) , the dual role o... |
508,782 | 453,068 | 420,457 | 8 | Tanner Revisited , now with more meta-film stuff ! | Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau didn't quite hit it out of the park on Tanner on Tanner , but that's mostly in trying to compare it to the sprawling brilliance of the original Tanner 88 . Maybe part of that is because the ensemble nature ( as a given for almost any Altman production ) is broken down a little more and w... |
509,340 | 453,068 | 78,111 | 8 | the kind of film that probably couldn't be made today , at least in how Malle does it | I wouldn't say that Pretty Baby , directed by Louis Malle , has the overall audacity of the main art-house European-directed sexual trip of the 70s , Last Tango in Paris , but it comes close , very close . It's a scathing , unflinching look at the downtrodden women of a 1920s whorehouse in New Orleans . What's most sho... |
509,470 | 453,068 | 233,298 | 8 | the Return of the Joker - better than the ' Beyond ' series , almost as good as Phantasm ! | The first thing that stands out about Batman Beyond : The Return of the Joker is its structure . Unlike some of the other animated Batman movies ( SubZero , Mystery of the Matwoman ) , this one comes closer to the likes of Mask of the Phantasm to actually feeling , however in short running time , like a real feature-le... |
510,450 | 453,068 | 118,771 | 8 | It could happen to you , the tag-line reads : not quite , but it is a white-knuckled ride all the way | Jonathan Mostow , before he went on to helm the big-budget U-571 and the even bigger budgeted Terminator 3 , brought out this taut little thriller and cemented a reputation he's yet to really live up to ( though some would disagree about that ) . His film has that tag-line , but it's not entirely accurate , even though... |
509,044 | 453,068 | 66,214 | 8 | rock stars , gangsters , sex , drugs , suits , blood , psychedelia - all in a day's work | To say Performance is " dated " is about on the mark , if not understating it . It's a psychedelic trip into the two bellies of the underworld : organized crime ( not the Italian kind , more-so the rough Anglo-Saxon father of the likes in Guy Ritchie's movies ) and the swinging , rock ' n ' roll drug-addled bunch that ... |
508,153 | 453,068 | 409,459 | 8 | the super comic-book movie event exists - and it's very good , impressive , not a masterpiece or a failure | It was called the classic " unfilmable " line , but Alan Moore and David Gibbons ' Watchmen was film-able , and oddly enough after over 20 years of directors from Terry Gilliam to Darren Aronofsky to Paul Greengrass taking the possible helm the most commercial choice imaginable , Zack Snyder , made it film-able , and i... |
508,367 | 453,068 | 52,713 | 8 | has that crackling , off-key appeal of Fuller in his prime | If you can , and it would definitely be as rare a chance as I had recently , try and see Samuel Fuller's The Crimson Kimono on the big screen , preferably with a packed audience . True , some of the dialog and mannerisms of the characters end up forty-seven years later coming off as being too funny for its own good . B... |
507,851 | 453,068 | 95,489 | 8 | if you were born in the 80s , before The Lion King there was The Land Before Time | Like other 80s babies , so to speak , if you were born in that era before the Disney movies of the 90s - which did almost reach a mini-renaissance before plummeting towards the end of the decade - you first saw the animated films of Don Bluth more than Disney . This was one of them , and it is a film that , for a certa... |
508,432 | 453,068 | 91,187 | 8 | straightforward war pic and damn proud ( and good ) of it | For anyone thinking of checking out John Wayne's the Green Berets . . . don't . Instead , go to Heartbreak Ridge . You might ask if it will have the same kind of action , since one is Grenada ( where it took all of about a day or two , give or take a few minutes ) and the other is Vietnam ( which , you know the story )... |
508,038 | 453,068 | 213,536 | 8 | a brilliant , if all-too-brief , collaboration between Bakshi and Dr . Seuss | Who would've thought that one of the very best adaptations from book to screen - albeit small screen - in the Dr . Seuss realm would be by underground animated filmmaker Ralph Bakshi . By then , Bakshi had gone on from the more personal work of the 70s , trademarked with rough pencil and inking with wild color combos i... |
510,209 | 453,068 | 307,901 | 8 | does't work quite as well as one might hope , but a lot of it sticks with you , well after it's over | 25th Hour right in the title speaks to what could , or should , or would , be done in that time left or not really used in the day that a person finds beneficial , or revelatory . This 25th Hour may be shown in this film as in the end sequence , as Brian Cox describes to Edward Norton a dream-life , which becomes wrenc... |
508,147 | 453,068 | 929,425 | 8 | a story of real people in the mafia , with parts greater than the whole | In Gomorra we get several stories , or just paths followed with characters , set in Naples , Italy , and focused on the stranglehold of the mafia . Let's use that word again , mafia , since it is what it is there , and it's such a cold and desolate and grimy environment that it makes the Godfather look like a sunny day... |
508,251 | 453,068 | 186,566 | 8 | quite the wheezy little entertaining comedy / thriller | Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys is a good project . Not great , but hey ( as the character Eastwood plays says ) , " the clock is ticking , and I'm only getting older . " The characters are played so well , the few ( if any ) plot flaws are just forgotten . These characters are joined back together after a 40 year absen... |
509,494 | 453,068 | 112,688 | 8 | gritty , truthful crime drama that takes formula and makes it gripping and incendiary | I was glad to see on the special edition DVD of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing to see how he answered the question asked at Cannes as to why there weren't drugs portrayed in the film ; his answer , simply , was that there wasn't enough space dramatically , that it would be too much to fit drugs into a story already loa... |
510,968 | 453,068 | 167,190 | 8 | Guillermo Del-Toro's exciting , fun tribute to the flamboyantly cool powers of comic books | Hellboy is self-conscious , perhaps , but in the best ways possible . Actually , it's more due to writer / director Toro being very aware of what makes up the conventional bits to every sense character-wise to the world of a comic-book , but also what can be entertaining as well , than it is just to having it being a H... |
508,984 | 453,068 | 307,987 | 8 | It took two viewings to really get into it - and really laugh my head off | The first time I saw Terry Zwigoff's latest effort ( co-executive produced by the Coen brothers ) Bad Santa , I didn't know whether I was watching a comedy that had astonishingly funny and madcap moments , or if it was a really bad movie . At times the script felt like it was under the penmanship of demented cretins of... |
511,051 | 453,068 | 83,944 | 8 | cool , slick action-movie danger and excitement , if a wee bit preachy | Sylvester Stallone , when in the right context , can hold together an action film like it's nobody's business . First Blood , for the most part , is a terrific example of a man doing what a man does when put to his limitations - that is , when the man is a Green Beret with plenty of torturous , bullet-strewn skeletons ... |
508,311 | 453,068 | 122,689 | 8 | underrated and flawed , hard-rocking & blues-filled highlights , and sideshow acts | I can't totally understand why the Rolling Stones were embarrassed by their performance here in their TV special Rock & Roll Circus . Sure , everything else you've heard about the Who outshining them is not far from the truth ( it's definitely one of the Who's finest hours with Keith Moon ) . But they're no slackers he... |
509,192 | 453,068 | 400,525 | 8 | Harlold Ramis proves he can cook up a well-directed neo-noir . . | I didn't walk out of The Ice Harvest feeling like I had been illuminated to something in art that I hadn't seen before , like it was any sort of great film . But I did know that I saw a work by a typically above-the-belt genre director , Harold Ramis , and that it served its purpose well . I didn't quite know what I'd ... |
507,905 | 453,068 | 77,928 | 8 | as a story and emotional experience in and of itself , it's depressing , manipulative , and highly charged drama | I've never been to Turkey , or Istanbul , and I can hold no claims as to what it must be like for a person , American or otherwise , to endure time in one of their country's prisons . But the job of the filmmaker is not necessarily to get the facts down pat and present them as such . It's to present a story and make it... |
510,329 | 453,068 | 100,998 | 8 | not one of the best of the ' sensai's ' films , but it has many moments that are really magnificent | Dreams is not a really easy film to review , as it is an episodic bundle of various dreams from throughout Akira Kurosawa's life . So watching it is like going from one to another without a fully connecting thread . Thus , each one is like a perfectly contained short film where the director's awesome gifts of his paint... |
509,264 | 453,068 | 39,402 | 8 | down in Mexico | It's been written somewhere that the cruelest thing you can say to an artist is that his work is flawless . John Ford thought of the Fugitive as , despite not being a box-office success , a perfect film and one of his very favorites . It's perhaps more than prudent then to point out some of the criticisms one would hav... |
509,157 | 453,068 | 405,422 | 8 | a healthy reminder that sex jokes can be well crafted ; Carrell is genius | Something about the 40 Year Old Virgin and the other comedy hit of the summer , Wedding Crashers , is similar , but they are two different films in some respects . Both are romantic comedies that have that kind of over-the-top , crazy sensibility that keeps the teens and guys in their 20's along with the usual dating c... |
509,147 | 453,068 | 83,866 | 8 | Good Entertainment | I say for one of Steven Spielberg's most infamous picture , ET The Extra Terrestrial , there is some solid , everlastingly good entertainment here even if , dare I say , it doesn't hold up from childhood . I have some fond memories of seeing this film as a kid , as it does contain enough of the special effects , ( excu... |
510,207 | 453,068 | 373,074 | 8 | about as fun as it sounds , though know what you're getting if you're a " serious " martial arts movie fan | I was talking with a friend of mine , much more into martial arts movie than me , who didn't like Kung-Fu Hustle because of the way it went about showing the fights , and even for its goofy humor being too broad . While I could understand the latter part - everyone's got their own sense of humor ( unless if someone's g... |
510,770 | 453,068 | 70,302 | 8 | like the last good flicker from a lighter , this is a sporadically exceptional Lenny Bruce show | Seeing a complete performance from Lenny Bruce is like watching some Jazz musicians all in one form playing at the peak point at that same period in the 60s . Pretty soon all the fire that was keeping everything going would either fade away or get re-directed elsewhere . Lenny Bruce is part of the former , and this sho... |
509,904 | 453,068 | 61,101 | 8 | a fairly crazy jazz riff of a yakuza movie - watch it just to see what makes it riff | It must have been a delirious joy for Seijun Suzuki to direct Tokyo Drifter ( when the meddlesome but fair studio heads got in a tiff with him over the final cut ) ; it's a director's movie , and he shoots it and edits it like a jazz-man in a tiny club going one step further than John Coltrane . He's in love with image... |
509,223 | 453,068 | 451,094 | 8 | the kind of confusing film that you want to keep watching to figure out | Chan Wook Park's Lady Vengeance ( aka Sympathy for Lady Vengeance , the more apt title ) is the kind of revenge film that would be as satisfying for its intended audience - into raw , underground Asian films incidentally from the director of Oldboy - as it could be for the art-house crowd into films by challenging inte... |
510,126 | 453,068 | 21,576 | 8 | the sights ( no sounds ) of Nice ; a little aimless , but captivating | If you're not awake for it A Propos de Nice could be a little boring , or just a little tiresome . There's no real specific ' point ' to the visual , silent documentary that is Jean Vigo's first film , though what is and what isn't shown does strike some interest , along with some other miscellaneous images . It starts... |
509,113 | 453,068 | 43,614 | 8 | some of the best Dostoyevsky adapted to film . . . | For any adaptation of a Fyodor Dostoyevsky story to work , the filmmaker has got to know what he's in for with the source . Dostoyevsky writes like the sky is falling in every beat , but it's such a breathtaking sky that there needs to be some poetry in the midst of all the torpedoes falling down on consciousness . Get... |
509,937 | 453,068 | 66,434 | 8 | the director's cut is a vast improvement | When I first saw THX 1138 , it was in an obviously cropped-for-TV , scratchy tape print , and my enjoyment of the film was there but limited . Last year , writer / director George Lucas released the ' director's cut ' of his first indie-style science fiction film , and I have to say its a big improvement . Many have ar... |
509,302 | 453,068 | 299,458 | 8 | slice of love story Sundance fest style : strong pros , some cons , all David Gordon Green | All the Real Girls is a love story , but according to director David Gordon Green on the DVD he would almost not want to explain what it's about . The reason for this turns out to sound , perhaps , a little too high-minded or poetic , maybe just pretentious , as he expounds upon the way the sun hits the two and a half ... |
510,758 | 453,068 | 12,938 | 8 | it will be rare to do but , if you can , watch it with a live organ w / 35mm print | One of those nice stories to hear about : a film starring two of the most glamorous and true-blue STARS ( in caps ) of the 1920s was lost for the greater part of the last century and then discovered in a Dutch museum , and then restored for viewing on DVD and TCM . Viewing it any way you can is delightful , but really ... |
510,588 | 453,068 | 180,073 | 8 | a film that works as much as a piece of sly , wicked debauchery as a comment on freedom of expression and repression | Quills recalls to me - thanks to a friend's discussion on the matter after having seen both films - of another film about a writer on the brink of being sane or insane , in a world where creative output is encouraged only so far as seen prudent and thus censorship , punishment , and redemption is squashed especially wh... |
508,896 | 453,068 | 70,355 | 8 | I hate the damn system , but until someone comes along with changes that make sense , I'll stick with it . | I think this sentence , said at a pivotal point in Magnum Force , the second Dirty Harry picture , is one that should get more attention . It says something very basic about Inspector Harry Callahan , and in a sense about the society he's fighting / serving . He has no qualms about putting a bullet right between the ey... |
509,115 | 453,068 | 1,032,846 | 8 | at its best its a stark , haunting look at a complex issue without much sentimentality | The most recent Palm D'Or winner was , at first , a little perplexing to me , and had a feeling of it slightly throughout its near two-hour running time . It starts off looking like a movie about nothing ( and not the interesting awesome kind of nothing that is about something ) , with a woman going about some busy bus... |
510,384 | 453,068 | 478,090 | 8 | a must-see for Chong's fans , and maybe for others too . . . | . . . and those others , in essence , might be most people in America . As the subject of a / k / a Tommy Chong states himself in the film - after being incarcerated for nine months for selling bongs to one state - his arrest and conviction was meant as a symbol for what could be done to practically anybody . When the ... |
508,834 | 453,068 | 83,767 | 8 | in equal measure creepy ( hence the title ) and wickedly funny | A collaboration made in hell ! I kid , but really this is one of the best examples of what can come about , much as would happen a couple of decades later with Miller and Rodriguez , when two creative juggernauts in their respective main genres put their heads together , most notably with comic books . Both writer and ... |
510,291 | 453,068 | 112,913 | 8 | a messy movie , but not a mess , this is a film with an attention to its method of its unconventional style | Wong Kar Wai doesn't play by the rules , and those who respond positively to his films wouldn't want it any other way . While he's recently gone a little more measured and controlled with style ( relatively speaking ) with In the Mood for Love and 2046 , it's mostly in that he's now using things like dollies and steadi... |
508,138 | 453,068 | 100,935 | 8 | Wild at Heart has some memorable moments in this good Lynch movie | A filmmaker , in particular a surrealist like David Lynch , has to be kind of careful with the way he makes his films , so that all of the abstract images and set-pieces and little moments in the stranger-than-life stories he makes can bring some awe or amazement to the viewer . He has done this in the past wonderfully... |
508,431 | 453,068 | 112,907 | 8 | reality and acting on the dark side of inebriation | Richard Lewis is one of my all-time favorite comedians . Mel Brooks once called him the Franz Kafka of comedy , and it's not far from the truth . The guy crafts such agonizing and harrowing comedy out of neuroses and problems and just common familial and relationship and whatever dread that it's staggering to watch ( s... |
510,870 | 453,068 | 95,310 | 8 | it's sub-title : Family and Philosophy , almost tells all | This is the first film I've seen by Chantal Ackerman , and I'm mixed as to see more of her films . I see so much here , even as I have personal criticisms of certain things in her style . I wondered when the film would end at times ( not knowing the running time seeing it ) , and its shifting between rye , sly Jewish j... |
508,258 | 453,068 | 91,504 | 8 | If you can find it , and it isn't as bad as the copy I watched , it's . . . sorta courageous , and strange | Jean-Luc Godard and Woody Allen . Just by those two names you will know if this short interview-film , which has been seen by likely less than a hundred people since it was filmed almost twenty years ago , will be worth to see ( and 80's era Godard and Woody no less ) . Basically , you get Godard's madman sensibilities... |
511,025 | 453,068 | 1,049,400 | 8 | Kirby Dick takes another look at a facet of American life that's considered a ' no-no ' to talk about | Kirby Dick's attitude to material that's a ' no-no ' is to say " yes-yes ! " His previous film , a near masterpiece chronicling the hypocrisy of the MPAA on American film censorship since the inception of the NC-17 rating , served as an indictment while also having some fun . While a sense of fun only springs up on occ... |
510,178 | 453,068 | 167,904 | 8 | not the best concert video , but it's worth it for the die-hards | Probably the biggest disappointment about this DVD / video , the Doors on their tour of Europe in 1968 , is that it's not really a full concert like with the Hollywood Bowl video . It's more of a pastiche of different clips and appearances , and interview footage from Paul Kantner and Grace Slick from Jefferson Airplan... |
509,924 | 453,068 | 443,366 | 8 | after seeing only a few episodes , I can't wait to see them all ! | Nick Frost is in very fine form here , not nearly as sloth-like or just plain dumb ( though ingeniously so ) in Edgar Wright's comedies but still with a sense of the truly ridiculous in sublime style . His gags are obvious and repetitive ( which I loved , like when he's completely covered in the red protective gear and... |
509,852 | 453,068 | 373,280 | 8 | solid crime-show pilot that shows Lee can do something dramatic outside of NYC ( pre Miracle at St . Anna ) | Sucker Free City refers to San Francisco , where three interlocking stories take place with black , white and Chinese guys on the street . Some are gang-bangers ( black ) , or hard-bitten mafia ( Chinese ) , and the other ( white ) are more marginalized with some dabbling in some ' thug ' business . What's very strong ... |
508,291 | 453,068 | 757,061 | 8 | a tale of a prostitute and her , uh , ' sister , and also a daring allegory on heaven & hell ( more-so the latter ) | It's not exactly as surprising really that the Showtime network decided not to pick up director Takashi Miike's entry into the Masters of Horror , Imprint , but rather why they chose him in the first place . Didn't they think after seeing Ichi the Killer and Audition and Gozu , among probably a dozen others I can't thi... |
508,646 | 453,068 | 56,937 | 8 | at best it's intelligent and captivating and historically interesting film-making - at worst , it's dull exposition | It's one of the big " fiasco " stories of Hollywood lore : the most gargantuan budget spent on a single motion picture - 47 million ( the equivalent of about 260 million today ) - on an epic so huge in scale that it was nearly unthinkable , however true , that it started out as a modestly budgeted production that skyro... |
509,841 | 453,068 | 65,622 | 8 | the sly and slightly crazy satire of church and sex | Pier Paolo Pasolini has with the Decameron what is supposedly one of his " happiest " movies . This is not to say the film is always cheery - matter of fact a couple of the stories deep down are pretty dark and sad and cursed thanks to the repression of religion and mortal sins - but Pasolini's comedy here is sharp and... |
510,781 | 453,068 | 454,848 | 8 | goes a little long not knowing when to end , but it is a genuinely clever crowd pleaser | Inside Man has the appeal of a slick , cool , not-too-old used car . You know certain things will definitely be there , but you also are hoping some things might be surprising . Spike Lee isn't doing an incredible subversion of the heist picture , particularly the bank-heist picture , but he is putting his mark on it ,... |
508,323 | 453,068 | 87,469 | 8 | Spielberg / Lucas ' guide to sheer cliffhanging , shamefully entertaining adventure-lore | There's a part of me that wonders why I might have a rating as listed here as an for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , an 1980's blockbuster thrill-ride that many ' Jones ' fans list as their least favorite - at the least inferior to Raiders - in the series so far . But then I have to take into account that for a ... |
511,052 | 453,068 | 100,827 | 8 | delivers , up to a point , for both sets of fans ; it's Poe with a chaser of slightly modern twists | It's always tricky to evaluate a filmmaker when at work on a film that is in an in-between realm of short and feature . Actually , by technical ruling ( or what would be considered by most festivals ) , it is feature-length with each segment . But I found Two Evil Eyes an underrated effort , after reading many mixed re... |
510,185 | 453,068 | 69,995 | 8 | leaves you with an uneasy feeling watching it , and I mean that , strangely , as a compliment | Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Back takes the premise of parents coming to grips with the tragic and untimely death of their daughter like a paranoid thriller , but not in the sense that it always will keep you on the edge of your seat . On the contrary , there are stretches in the film where you wonder where it will be go... |
509,518 | 453,068 | 100,802 | 8 | one of the most enjoyable of the Arnold action vehicles | Total Recall has little , if any , by way of passing itself as being ' art ' . It is , but more in the sense of it being pop-art , of the director Paul Verhoven paying tribute in visuals to the story by Phillip K . Dick . And it's also one of the more exciting and quotable of those shameless examples of how to do an ac... |
509,879 | 453,068 | 109,474 | 8 | Jodorowsky as pleasant , pragmatic , spiritually dense and complex figure in this doc | Alejandro Jodorowsky would be the sort of filmmaker / artist / therapist I might want to have a talk with over a cup of coffee or something about a slew of things he's concerned with - cinema , family , theater , art - but it'd be hard for me to imagine what he would do if I were on a film set with him . He's impulsive... |
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