RRA yours is a 9-star system essentially. You do have 9 different gradings!!

What can I say? You're right. It's much more comfy on the five star couch.

Yeah, half stars for me, add too many increments to the scale, and reduce the rating system to mathematical inconsistence.

Rushmore
Wes Anderson 1998 US (1st time)
A private school pupil more interested in extra-curricular activities than actual lessons falls in love with a new teacher, and finds himself competing for her affections with the father of two twins in his class.
Enjoyable comedy which takes pride in its own quirkiness; an acquired taste, with moments of effortless subtlety.

Finally got round to watching a favourite amongst many here:

White Heat
Raoul Walsh 1949 US (1st time)
A vicious gangster close to his mother finds himself on the run from the law after he escapes from prison.
Tense, gripping thriller in which Cagney makes the most out of everything; his over-the-top, thoroughly nasty performance somehow gets us on his side, and he seems to take relish in shooting those around him.

Michael Mann revisits.

The Insider - (Michael Mann;1999;USA)
A fired tobacco executive violates a confidentiality agreement by interviewing with 60 Minutes, but tobacco company Brown & Williamson pressure CBS and the executive.
Ultimately, this is a very important film overlooked. Above all it's about the ordinary working man being fucked by those with power, in this case Big Tobacco. There's no violence through the film, but it remains interesting through the entire ride. This is Pacino's best performance of the 90's. Russell Crowe is also great in it, more humane then his more recent dramas like Cinderella Man. Christopher Plummer is also one of the powerful presences in the film as Mike Wallace. Overall this is Michael Mann's masterpiece and best film. Everything is taut from the beautiful music to the cinematography, filled with a lot of blue/green/gray palettes. One of the best of the 1990’s. If it has something to say that's important, it's the tagline. Warning: Exposing the Truth May Be Hazardous.

Heat - (Michael Mann;1995;USA)
Two men on opposite sides of the law go head to head in L.A.
Mann's crime epic succeeds in being one of the best and most realistic crime films in the last few decades. The visuals are beautiful, along with the precise L.A. cinematography that makes the city stand out, unlike movies like To Live and Die in L.A. Pacino and DeNiro, to me don't appear to be trying to outact each other. Both turn in great performances in leading the film. The other characters are also very interesting, and it often feels like an Altmanesque crime film. The music is also wonderful from the two Moby tracks, to the other music used in the opening and heist scenes. The final frame of the film is truly a perfect ending to it.

Collateral - (Michael Mann;2004;USA)
One night in L.A. where a nihilistic assassin and a procrastinating taxi driver meet and completely change each other.
At first glance, the IMDB plot may scream "buddy comedy" but it's far from it. No scenes of fighting over a radio between rap and rock. Instead Mann brings us a Neo-Noir of great depth, lead by Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise in great performances. The music, visuals, dialogue, and action all come together brilliantly. Even the cat and mouse scene, which is an average rising action, is directed with noticeable precision that keeps you interested. Antonio Pinto's "Requiem" is also a beautiful score for the final scene. This is also Tom Cruise's best performance along with Magnolia.

Ali - (Michael Mann;2001;USA)
A biopic of Muhammad Ali, from his early boxing days and conversion to Islam to his infamous "Rumble in the Jungle" match.
Many moments of the boxing scenes are real punches, and that type of realism is evident in it. They are very well directed. This is also the only good performance from Will Smith I can think of. Spike Lee was angered at Mann because he thought only a black director could do it justice, and he was wrong. In fact, not only did Mann do it justice, but I felt the assassination of Malcolm X was more memorable here then in Malcolm X (I've seen the ending time and time again, but not the whole Spike Lee film). The visuals, camera movement, and music are naturally good. Jon Voight is also pretty good as Howard Cosell. This is also the second sign of talent from Jamie Foxx, after Any Given Sunday and before Collateral. Definitely better then Cinderella Man, though I'm not sure about Million Dollar Baby. The scene where Ali runs through the streets of Africa is excellent.

Thief - (Michael Mann;1981;USA)
A safecracker working for himself begins working for a mobster in an effort to work his way into a normal lifestyle.
Close to being great, but this time I felt that the dated 80's feel worked against it. It's a great script from Mann, and I would support him remaking it today had James Caan not been in it, considering he adds a very good presence. The robbery scenes have the realistic Mann touch, and the dialogue between Caan and Nelson is great. Truly a very good film, but the music works against it, except for Tangerine Dream's last two pieces of music. The ending is very good as well.

Good stuff DV, glad you agree with me that THE INSIDER is Mann's best film as a director.

Now really, you should try someday to check out and review Mann's MANHUNTER, LAST OF THE MOHICANS, and THE KEEP as well...not all these movies, but each contain some cool stuff that one would expect from an autuer like Mann.

Again, great reviews man!

Hopefully I'll see more within the near future. I can't wait for Miami Vice.

The Conversation - (Francis Ford Coppola;1974;USA)
A paranoid, anti-social surveillance expert fears his new recordings may result in a murder.
Coppola's sadly overlooked character study, which like his other films, is one of the best of all time. Gene Hackman has a very subtle performance unlike most of his other films. It's probably his best, followed by The French Connection. Every time I watch this film, that scene where Hackman sees what's happening through the glass with that shriek of music always makes me jump, sending chills down my spine. This turns out to be one of the great character studies with a gritty, paranoid feel, especially in the final scene. The musical score is also very subtle and fitting with the tone of the film.

Two films today; one I was cautious about and ended up blowing me away, the other one which I had high expectations for, and was let down by miserably.

The New World
Terrence Malick 2005 US (1st time; big screen)
The first English settlers in America find themselves at odds with the Natives, and are saved by the rival king's youngest daughter, who falls in love with Captain John Smith.
Thoroughly captivating stuff from a meticulous artist; exploring themes of love, nature and the contrast between two civilisations, one free and content at its own introversion, the other curious and explorative, and both primitive in their own way, it is a beautiful work from start to finish. A period piece which feels like it could have been made before Cinema existed or even some time in the future, and a reconstruction of historical myth more interesting as a fictional work, it is a remarkably complex and warmly compelling film.

Bad Timing
Nicolas Roeg 1980 UK (1st time)
A psychoanalyst is grilled by a policeman about the mysterious attempted suicide of an estranged divorcee.
Roeg's psychosexual melodrama is undone, surprisingly, by the director's own style: the usual back-and-forth editing obscures to the point of frustration, and while Don't Look Now maintained a kind of intimate interest in its characters, this despairing work is cold enough to render the whole thing uninteresting.

After a pretty busy, on the go weekend last weekend, I am vegging today. Just finished watching a movie called "Joy Ride". Don't know any of the stars, never heard of the move, and missed the beginning, but I liked it. It was far-fetched no doubt, but both enjoyable, tense & even fun to watch.

Two brothers on a road trip(and later a girlfriend) are being harrassed by a big rig truck driver who talks to them via CB radio, and calls them at the hotel room, threatens them, and later kidnaps another friend. He always seems to know exactly where they are. One of those "on the run" action type movies. Anyone hear of this movie? And, did they ever show this trucker's face in the beginning of the movie? Also, for those who have seen it, what "prank" was it these brothers played on this guy that got him so pissed off?

TIS

TIS, I found it to be a crappy movie I haven't seen since 2001, I think. If I remember correctly the guys pretended they were a hooker named "Candy Cane" and they asked the guy to come over to their motel room with pink champagne. They gave the room number of a guy they disliked. They heard some weird sounds and the next morning the man was found in a street minus a jaw.

Jarhead
Sam Mendes 2005 US (1st time; big screen)
A platoon of Marines struggle to avoid boredom during the First Gulf War.
An effective succession of non-events and anti-climaxes, it is marred by its own failure to avoid--or decision to acknowledge--war movie clichés; if the message is that these soldiers are just kids, why do they always have to be noisy retards? References to other like-minded war movies save it from being lost, but as Gyllenhal says at one point, "All wars are different; all wars are the same." A reference, perhaps, to the film itself.

The Wild Bunch - (Sam Peckinpah;1969;USA)
Shortly before WW1, after a failed score, a group of aging outlaws go to Mexico to find another way to make a final score while being pursued.
I had difficulty rating this. I'm gonna keep it at three stars until I see it again. I felt it was somewhat overlong, but still a very important western. It's a funeral of sorts, depicting the death of the west as most films depict. The degradation of honor to more mindless violence. The cast is great, especially Holden, whose presence is very strong. I think the ending was perfect for it as well, being somewhat optimistic. Ain't like it used to be, but it'll do. I'm interested in seeing Straw Dogs.

Harold and Kumar get the munchies. I think the US title is H&K go to White Castle.

The plot is relatively weak. H&K get the munchies, see an advert for White Castle and their burgers and set out to feed their hunger. Along the way they have their share of mishaps and obsticles.

I'm a fan of this film. There's an observational comedy theme to it. Everything you recognise about being stoned and can relate to instantly become funny. In an early scene in in Harold and Kumar's journey as they've left their flat a wee bit stoned, walking down the corridor they realise they've forgot their phone. They look back, the flat is in seeing distance and decide against going back for it: "We've come too far". It shouldn't be funny and in any other context it isn't. But here you're left thinking, and in best Homer Simpson impression, "It's funny because it's true".

Definitely a film for the stoners, they'll appreciate it more and pick up on things the sobers wont.

Yesterday I finally managed to watch "The Merchant of Venice". Definitely not the most entertaining in movies' history but Al's performance was great, even though I'm starting to worry about his growing tendency to roll his eyes like hell. Anyway my fav Shakespearean screen adaptation was and still is Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet".

Unfortunately I also watched "Starsky and Hutch". I hated it. It was like some barbarians entered Saint Peter's Basilica. The original S and H are something sacred for me. Sacrilege. It was an act of sacrilege!


Saturday, after a long while, I rewatched "The Diary of Anne Frank". Even though it was poignant and well acted, it seemed to me to be a little too watered down, especially when compared to other movie dealing with the Holocaust, e.g. Schindler's list or The Pianist, being the first ones that come to mind. No contest.

Just because his name ends in a vowel. No wonder you like Shakespeare too. :p

My favourite adaptation, though I've not seen many at all, is Branagh's Hamlet. The ferocity of that title performance...

I always enjoyed the stupid anti-drug commercial they were watching where the kid killed himself with a gun I think. Even Kumar cracks up, it gets me every time

Midnight Cowboy
John Schlesinger 1969 US (1st time)
A naïve Texan hustler arrives in New York, and befriends a sick, down-and-out Italian American from the Bronx.
One of those very much of its time, and now seems merely irrelevant. The two leading performances are contrasting and convincing in this mixture of sex, fever dreams and social alienation. Its finest moments are the Greyhound journeys which begin and end the film.

Mafia! (1998) **/5

Pretty funny spoof of The Godfather and other mob movies. Alot of times it had me cracking up. It's particularily enjoyable if you're a fan of the films being spoofed, you can catch even the little things being spoofed aswell.

"I'm not my father, Diane, just like you're not your father. If we were our fathers, what we did last night would only be legal in Arkansas."

"What's his name?"

"Diane. I named him after his mother."

Primal Fear - (Gregory Hoblit;1996;USA)
After a priest is brutally murdered, a lawyer decides to defend the teenager accused.
This is a decent drama, not because of it's direction, but the performances. Richard Gere and Laura Linney are pretty good in their roles, being the main support of the film. But it's Edward Norton that ends up stealing the show, in a meticulous performance. Otherwise there's not a lot else to jump for joy about. This turns out to be a pretty overrated film.

so why only two stars?

Actually, I've knocked down to one star since last night; one star from me means worth watching. Two stars means good; three a masterpiece; and four is rare--something very special. Schlesinger, a good director, here takes too much time trying to paint a gritty, harsh world, and sacrifices character, somewhat, in Rizzo. Voigt makes the film as the (almost dislikeable) naive Texan.

No stars for this though:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Terry Gilliam 1998 US (1st time)
A journalist and his attorney, both incredibly high on drugs, arrive in Las Vegas with orders to cover a sporting event.
Because his characters are constantly junked up and hallucinating, and because he is probably aware of the film's cult potential even before its release, Gilliam feels he can get away with anything; he does, if you can take two-hours of a dramatically mundane series of surreal sketches. To say it is a self-indulgent mess may be lazy, but no less valid.

I liked your review of Fear and Loathing Capo. I think this might be the first time I totally agree with you. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person on the planet who doesn't like this movie

I liked it only for the great performances from both Depp and Del Toro. I agree the story was really lacking though.

Capo and Irish agreeing on a movie review???? That’s like a banker and a homeless guy agreeing on stock tips, more odd than perplexing. This is of course the part where I must vehemently disagree with you chaps though. I find just the idea of calling Fear & Loathing “self-indulgent” to be entertaining. I mean really you found an account of Hunter S. Thompson’s life to be self-indulgent, well then I guess it was pretty close to the source material then. “Dramatically mundane” well I suppose that it isn’t a “seat of you pants” – “thrill a minute” thriller like Flightplan [insert jerking-off hand motion here] but I wouldn’t exactly call it mundane. I’ll give you the point on it being a bit cult-ish though it’s just that I happen to be inside that particular array of humanity.

Oh my God, I'm agreeing with the formerly known ignorantly by me as the local Michael Bay fan( )?!?! God, pigs must be flying somewhere.

No, I agree with suspect totally. FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS can be a very tough film to get through the first time, since even Terry Gilliam agreed that its just too much at times for its own good with the drugs and vomiting. However, once one can be granted tolerance to it, one can discover this as a pretty good picture that attempts to tell the crazy-ass nature of Thompson's cult novel on a cinematic level(nevermind that it took about more than 2 decades to finally find a way to make such a transition work) and keep up with his ramblings and hazed-reality. Great Oscar-esque caliber work from Depp as Thompson, and don't forget Del Toro either.

Anyone that digs the film, I recommend you all to go buy that great DVD from CRITERION. Its worth the fingers and limb that it will cost ya!

I don't usually like criticising works for self-indulgence either; there's nothing wrong with it (The Brown Bunny is a masterpiece). But the criticism isn't necessarily of its indulgence, but of it being a "mess". You could replace self-indulgent just as easily with "colourful". A colourful mess, of sorts. Depp's over-acting doesn't suit him one bit, and Del Toro steals the film's finest moments -- the elevator scene had me in stitches. Gilliam's loud, boisterous style works well with the Monty Python team in front of the camera, but it doesn't translate well to an American voice-over. Actually, my favorite scene with Depp was in the cafeteria, just before he's about to leave after Del Toro has scared the shit out of the waitress. But these moments of subtlety are few and far between. A relentless, exhausting film which, as with all cult films, runs the risk of selling itself before it is seen. Indeed, its preceding reputation will either enhance the film or repel viewers away.

Perhaps Thompson's book begged a cinematic treatment; it would have felt less strained if it was an animation.

I think it's a great film. I think Gilliam did a great job adapting the book, and it works very well as a comedy as well as Thompson's own view on the world in the early 70's. I personally loved it for the subtle moments all over the film, and I disagree on Depp's acting. I think it's safe to say if Depp's overacting, Thompson is overliving. Hell, just listening to him talk on the commentary or watching the videos of him is enough.

My favorite scene has to be the bathroom scene with the Hippie.

Whaaats the trooouuuuuble?

Two For the Money- Ug, shoot the editor please! Aside form the very choppy, amature editing, this move was boring and without any sort of direction, plot, acting, etc. It felt a lot like Devil's Advocate, only better(which isnt really a hard thing to do). Pacino needs to read the scripts before he signs onto some of these roles. If anyone needed a representation of modern day Hollywood, I would send this film thier way; in any other circumstances, I would stay away.

The African Queen #17 on the AFI Top 100 List ****

At the start of World War 1, Charlie Allnut is using his old steamer, The African Queen, to ferry supplies to villages in East Africa. When the Rev. Samual Sayer dies, Charlie agrees to take Sayers' sister, Rose, back to civilization. taking on the Germans at the same time.

I really wasn't sure what to expect from this movie but I was really surprised that I enjoyed it as much. I have always liked Katharine Hepburn but I think this solidified it for me. I also hadn't been that impressed with Humphrey Bogart in the past but he was very good as well. These 2 really worked well together and that's why this movie was so wonderful.

You Stupid Man * 1/2

A very lame and predictable comedy abouta man whose gorgeous girlfriend (played by Denise Richards) goes Hollywood and dumps him for a sitcom star. Plunged back into the dating world, he finally picks up the pieces with a pretty, warmhearted girl (played by Milla Jovovich).