Mean Streets - (Scorsese;1973;USA) - ****
A small-time hood in Little Italy struggles with religious guilt, as well as other things like being attracted to a black woman, dating an epileptic girl, and trying to help his loser friend with debts.
The best example of Scorsese's style. A visual masterpiece, with an equally excellent soundtrack, script, and direction. The acting is great, especially from Kietel and a young DeNiro. I also enjoyed Proval, Romanus, and Danova. Scorsese's fourth best film.
#8

Monsters ** (1st Time)
2005, Morgan, GB
Living with his single mother and older sister, a pre-pubescent boy lets his imagine run wild, and finally kills the neighbour's rabbit.
Unsettling, highly effective short with surreal episodes and strong reflection of family life through the eyes of a fatherless boy.

Kids ** (1st Time)
1995, Clark, US
24 hours in the life of New York youths, as they skip school, steal their parents' movements, have sex, alcohol and find they have HIV.
Controversial drama with a gritty feel and a camera which decides to, against the audience's wishes, linger on its youthful actors' naked bodies. Powerful in its relentlessness, though in the end it seems merely exploitative.

Mick

Today I got The Woodsman, The Hustler, Ray, and Ocean's Twelve.

I don't expect much of Ocean's Twelve. The three extended scenes on The Woodsman were very good pieces of dialogue that were unnecessarily cut.

DV - Put "The Hustler" on the top of the list! Its an awesome drama and character study and Paul Newman is in top form. You'll also get to see Jackie Gleason and Piper Laurie in superb performances.

Look for a small appearance by the Raging Bull, Jake LaMotta, as a bartender.

I went to see Oceans 12 at the cinema a while back - wasn't anywhere near as good as the first one was..there was a couple of funny bits but nothing to good!

I watched Volcano last night - its a good film I liked it

I actually was going to see it today sometime before The Grand Illusion at six. After this I'm gonna check out Scorsese's sequel The Color of Money whenever I find it. Is LaMotta the bartender for the whole movie?

"The Color of Money" is a good flick, but its nowhere near as good as "The Hustler".

LaMotta has one or two very short scenes.

You're not old enough to remember Jackie Gleason from his television years ("The Honeymooners" and "The Jackie Gleason Show") but he was a real comic actor. I'm always blown away by his portrayal here as a seriouis actor.

BTW - George C. Scott wasn't too shabby either.

SC, when you make that statement about being blown away when Gleason portrays a serious role, two of his roles come to the forefront of my mind :

Gigot : "A poignant comedy about a mute who befriends Nicole, the little daughter of a prostitute. Gleason shows his considerable talents as an actor without uttering a sound as he plays the bumbling, kind-hearted janitor, Gigot. Gleason wrote the original story and music for this film." His protrayal of a mute throughout that movie is just superb! He never utters one word in the movie, but yet he makes you feel exactly the way that he is feeling in many scenes. Especially the scene where he lets out the "scream!"



Soldier In The Rain : "Gleason and McQueen - tremendous together in one marvellous motion picture!"

One of Gleason's Comedic roles that I've always felt did NOT get the recognition it deserved was in "Papas Delicate Condition." Gleason is both Comedic and Seriously Sentimental in that role.


Don Cardi

DV - Here's a shot of LaMotta as the bartender (in the bus station):

DC - I've never seen "Gigot", but I agree about "Soldier in the Rain". Its quite a good (and underrated) movie that never seemed to have taken off with the public.

And while talking about Gleason's good movies lets not forget "Requiem for a Heavyweight". There were a few great performances in it - Anthony Quinn and Mickey Rooney, as well as Gleason, too. (Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay appeared as did some older champs like Jack Dempsey and Willie Pep).

IMHO A must see for the true Jackie Gleason fan!


Don Cardi

I know about Jackie Gleason. I even have his Dean Martin Roast on DVD.

I'm gonna begin The Hustler in a few minutes.

DV, as SC pointed out it is a great classic movie! One word of advice though, be careful with your thumbs when you are watching it!


Don Cardi

The Hustler - (Rossen;1961;USA) - ****
A pool player with a self-destructive attitude loses to a long-time champion, he gets a gambler for a manager to rise back up the ladder and win in a second match.
An excellent film and one of the best of the 60's. Paul Newman and George C. Scott are in top form in this film. Gleason and Laurie also have strong supporting performances. I'm glad it wasn't a head-on film just on the game, but on the character himself. The film follows his down and outs rather then the game. I also appreciate the dialogue in the film too. I really wanna see Cool Hand Luke now.

I just watched "Sleepless in Seattle" on tv. What a sweet movie

Heh heh heh..... Every bit as good as "The Hustler". Make sure you check out "Hud", too!

So many films to see, SC. I'm glad I have the wonder that is TCM.

The Grand Illusion - (Renoir;1937;France) - ****
In WW1, three French officers are captured by Germans. After failed escape attempts, they are sent to a castle-like prison. One befriends a German aristocrat commanding the prison while they still try to escape.
A very influential film and a masterpiece. My favorite performance in this film is Erich von Stroheim as the German officer. He is a great actor in both of the films I've seen him in, although I have yet to see his directorial talent. I have not seen The Great Escape, but from things I heard about it I can tell it was inspired by this, mainly the tunnel aspect. Any other Renoir recommendations? The only problem I had with the film were a few slow parts here and there although the cinematography, especially towards the end, well made up for it.

I watched The Usual Suspects on Friday with a friend of mine on our date. We went out to dinner first and we had only spent an hour and a half together, so I didn't want it to end so soon. I asked her if she had anything to do afterwards and she said no and we were talking about movies (and this one) over dinner. So I rented it at Blockbuster even though I own it (it was back at my friend's house an hour away from school) and we watched it. She asked a lot of questions during the movie (much like I do), but I was impressed that she got the ending right. She predicted it, sharp gal!

I had never seen the Clerks Animated Series before and since this was pretty much my Kevin Smith week, I decided to give it a shot. They only did 6 episodes and all but 1 or 2 of them were pretty stupid. I mean, I could somewhat deal with the shows not being able to curse, but the plot and story of them were just pretty dumb. The animation and the fact that the original actors did the voices was cool, but nothing much beyond that.

Ray - (Hackford;2004;USA) - ***1/2
The life of Ray Charles, showing his rise to music, haunting memories of his brother's death, and his heroin addiction.
Much like Zorba the Greek, the leading performance amplifies the film. With a simply good performance I would rate this ***, however Jamie Foxx's amazing performance makes me give this a higher rating. He gives the best performance of 2004, just ahead of Kevin Bacon. Hackford's direction isn't anything amazing, but it brings the film in a good direction. The supporting cast is good as well. And as for the music, I don't think I have to tell anyone it's excellent.
#79

On the Waterfront starring Marlon Brando. Since I was still in diapers when Brando portrayed Vito Corleone, I thought it would be cool to see one of the earlier movies that made Brando a star. Plus it was interesting to see him as a thin, young man in this movie. I liked the film, which also starred Karl Malden who, ironically, looked about the same as he did in any movie I remember him in.

If you haven't seen it, rent it. The movie only lasts about 1.5 hours, so it's worth your time.

An Evening With Kevin Smith was the last Kevin Smith DVD that I had to watch to officially finish my Kevin Smith week. This is such a great Q&A and I can't wait for the 2nd one to come out. If anyone is a Kevin Smith fan and hasn't seen this DVD, I highly suggest it!

The Woodsman - (Kassell;2004;USA) - ***1/2
A pedophile attempts to reenter society after twelve years in prison.
Kevin Bacon gives the best performance of his career, and the second best of the year just behind Jamie Foxx. The character development is very good as well as the direction by Kassell. The music is one of my favorite things, almost Memento-ish or Following-ish. A great character study, although a longer film could've given the film much more depth. The film could've done without Eve though.
#35

Heres my list, botches!

-Once Upon a Time in America
The rise and fall of a group of friends in the Jewish Mafia.

-Brother
A Tokyo Yakuza Member exiled from Japan, he moved to America and made his own Yakuza Family.

(And some others...)

Highlander it's ok movie if you like
sword play

Watched The Untouchables tonight. I didn't think I'd have time to watch it because I've got a presentation and paper due Friday, but I decided to just go ahead and watch it, and work on my school stuff later. One of De Palma's best IMO. I wish there was more De Niro/Capone in the film, but definitely a classic

The Newton Boys a true story of bank robbers .Better than i thought it would be,not a known film but worth a watch

watched Woonderland last night not a bad movie i had read about the woonderland murders before. I thought Val Killmers acting was pretty good. he reminded my of The Doors when he played the part of Jim Morrison but other then that the movie was ok.

I think I actually watched that in the theaters when it came out Not a terrible movie (I've seen worse), but a decent movie at best

I just finished having a movie weekend, and i watched The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buellers Day Off, and also Some Like It Hot.