Steven Spielberg directs these three good movies with care and effort. All of them are good, it is just that one wasn't quite as sugar coated as the other two.
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK- good film starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Denholm Elliot and John Ryhs Davies and directexd by Steven Spielberg. Good film, good action, that's all I ever wanted. You do not want to over do a film which is what some directors do.
TEMPLE OF DOOM- best of the three. Loads of action. Children are dissapearing from India, and Indy must save these children. Starring Harrison Ford and Kate Capshaw.
LAST CRUSADE- very good movie. Good action. Shame River Phoenix died because he could have earned so much more money. Starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliot, John Ryhs Davies and River Phoenix.
Hey, have you heard Indy 4 is coming out next May. Starring Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBouef, John Hurt, Karen Allen and Ray Winstone. I'm sure this will be as good as all the others.
GOOD MOVIES
8/10
This was not as good as I expected it to be. The first two movies were better because Andrew Adamson directed, and in this one, Andrew has gone out. Starring Mike Myres, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett, Justin Timberlake, Julie Andrews and a tiny bit of John Cleese gives you, SHREK THE THIRD.
King Harold (John Cleese)dies. Shrek (Mike Myres) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) are next in line for the throne. Shrek, however does not want to be king. Only one person can replace Harold, which is Artie Pendragon (Justin Timberlake). Shrek, Donkey (Eddie Murphy)and Puss (Antonio Banderas) go and look for Artie to bring him to the throne. However this is an oppurtuinity for Charming (Rupert Everett) to become King. Can Shrek save the day?
4/10
In retrospect, Robert Altman was the perfect director to tackle Popeye's translation to the big screen, although it probably didn't seem that way when this loony, off-the-wall musical first came out. But Altman -- aided by a completely spot-on cast -- has perfectly captured the loose, casual, slightly silly tone of the early Popeye comic strips. Robin Williams was a perfect choice for Popeye, the sailor with the massive arms, loose-legged gait, and mumbled speech. And Shelley Duvall is even more perfect as his gangly love, Olive Oyl. If the movie needed carrying, Duvall could've handled it all by herself; her constant mugging and sharp tongue are consistently fun to watch. But Altman's Popeye offers plenty of other pleasures, too. The ragged musical numbers, all performed by the untrained actors themselves, are great fun. Williams, in a role he was born for, lets loose with a near-constant stream of mumbled non-sequitors and one-liners. This is the rare children's movie which will doubtless prove equally fascinating to adults -- who will probably pick up on a number of double entendres and satiriacl elements that go right over the heads of the kiddies. This is a total riot, funny and wild and out of control, with powerhouse performances driving one of the kookiest movies of all time.
Jean-Luc Godard is well-known for his string of classic 1960s features like Breathless and Band of Outsiders, which have proved incredibly influential and enduring art house classics. Unfortunately, fewer people seem to realize that Godard has continued to produce high-quality work, always at the absolute vanguard of cinema. These 4 short films are all relatively recent, dating from 1992 to 2001, and they are perhaps the best examples of Godard's "essay" style. These films are all constructed from a mix of film clips, documentary footage, and still photos. The soundtracks are equally complex, using voiceover and classical music to communicate Godard's ideas about cinema, history, war, and art. "On the Origin of the 21st Century" is the masterpiece here, a 20-minute examination of 20th Century history that counts back to 1900, using iconic images along the way to represent pivotal years. Godard's commentary discusses, in lovely poetic language, how this history informs the present. "Je vous salue, Sarajevo" is a short examination of a single still image which depicts soldiers kicking a refugee lying in the street. The voiceover condemns Europe for standing by and allowing such atrocities to happen; the sense of outrage is mirrored as the photo is pored over in detail. "The Old Place" and "Liberty & Fatherland" are less overtly political than the other two pieces, being concerned more directly with art, creativity, and expression. All four films capture a very important element of Godard's subversive cinema of ideas. This is an absolutely essential DVD, and one of my most prized possessions. All 4 films look (and sound) as beautiful as they should, and the DVD is packaged inside a great book which provides interesting essays and translations of all 4 film's texts in English, French, and German.
This is, as most critics agree, second-tier Hitchcock -- not quite up there in the stratosphere with Rear Window or Psycho. But second-tier Hitch can often top the first-tier of anyone else, and this is a fine, exciting film just on its own. Here, Hitchcock rewrites his classic "wrong man" scenario into the context of WW2 espionage, as an airplane factory worker is mistaken for a saboteur with German sympathies. The hero then flees across the country, tracking the scant clues he has to find the real villain. In the process, he uncovers a complex network of spies and saboteurs, stretching up even into high society. This is classic Hitch, a pure suspense picture with some incredibly taut set pieces, like the climactic chase up the Statute of Liberty and a tense showdown in the midst of a crowded society ball. There are a few heavy-handed propagandistic moments, as you could expect since this film was made at the height of WW2, but otherwise this a fun joyride of a chase film, among Hitch's many "lesser" greats. The Universal DVD, as with all their Hitch releases, has a pristine B&W image and an interesting short documentary on the film's production.
This is one of those films that has deserved a 'special edition' for a long time.Having first seen it as a student many years ago it is one I have always wanted to add to my collection.Unfortunately the quality of audio has not been good on the vhs release and subsequent dvd releases.When this 2 disc collection was released I hoped the remastered soundtrack would have improved the mono soundtrack.Alas this is not the case .What you have is a beautiful clear print of the film with the same shrill tinny soundtrack which pretty well renders it unwatchable unless of course you can tolerate nails scraping on a blackboard.The extras are okay but if you got this free in a Sunday rag recently don't bother purchasing it because the sound quality is atrocious.
Believe it or not, but its' almost been a decade since Mike Hodge's low key London based noir missed our screens; for 'Croupier', much like 'Four Weddings And A Funeral', was met with widespread indifference by British critics upon its release: playing on a handful of screens 'Croupier' was soon shelved and promptly relegated to the doldrums of Dutch TV (a cruel twist of fate that would scupper its chances for Oscar glory). Amazingly, it was picked up in America and found an audience, thanks in no small part to the director's reputation with fans: Hodges being the man behind innovative 60s thriller 'Get Carter' and 80s camp, cult classic 'Flash Gordon'. Having done better than expected abroad, it wasn't long before 'Croupier' was re-evaluated and re-released to rave reviews at home. Typical. The film itself is a small scale affair; Clive Owen is struggling novelist Jack Manfred, forced to write populist, football themed tripe, Jack, stuck-in-a-rut and uninspired, decides to put his writing career on hold and starts work as a croupier in some non-descript, rundown city casino. Reinvigorated, he begins writing again; emulating certain character traits of the fictional hero in his latest novel 'I, Croupier': Jack becomes a 007-esque chancer (not the first time Owen's played one of those) cheating on his girlfriend (the underrated Gina McKee) and exerting a previously non-existent droit de seigneur over a snobbish colleague (Kate Hardie), his boss and unruly customers. Jack soon becomes involved with high rolling, debt ridden gambler Jani (Alex Kingston, doing a passable South African accent) and gets caught up in the planning of a complex heist. Film noir fans will appreciate Owen's cynical voiceover and over-the-roulette wheel machinations, and though the robbery subplot is misjudged and seems to have been tacked on for commercial reasons, 'Croupier' works as a well acted, slow burn character study. An entertaining and atmospheric picture, which looks at the malleable nature of identity within the framework of an ever shifting paradigm of modernity. A safe bet.
Spider Man 3 has finally been released. And is it good? No. Tobey Maguire should stop being Spidey. People expect Spidey after Spidey. Soon after a while, it will get so bad that people will never ever want to see this again. I hope it happens in 4. It is too long and too depressing. Mwa Mwa Mwa! Forget about this movie when it's released.
Saw this in the US wonderfully film, even if some of the gags are a bit obvious. Some really good new talent on show bet that Steve Rathman goes a long way.....
Can't wait for Van Wilder 3.33
There is a theme all through this film,the theme is paradox.From the often brutal treatment of the conscripts during basic training to the allocation of duties and the enmeshment in conflict.
Though filmed in the docklands area of London before the development of the area,the setting is valid as a tapestry for the violence.
The scene of the film is poignant as the soldiers sing a childrens song whilst marching through the hell of the Tet offensive of 68.
Kubrick at his best yet again.
Whilst filming a low budget slasher movie in Russia, three Americans find themselves trapped in a real life horror. Billy the mute stage make up artist is plunged into one nightmare situation after another, who can she trust, how fast can she run and how can she reach out for help. Billy finds herself locked in the film studio after shutdown, but she"s not alone, a porno is being filmed that quickly deteriorates into a snuff movie. After a long game of cat and mouse with the killers she is reunited with her sister and the police are contacted. The killers bluff that they too are making a slasher flick and all that passed was fake, the police confiscate the film reel and view it, unbeknownst to all but the killers it"s the earlier American film. After an irate phone call from the police belittling them all for wasting police time all settles down, until the killers and the police come after Billy. The late great Sir Alec Guinness cameos as the head of the Russian mafia who wants to witness billy`s death.
More medical musings, acerbic witticisms and wry one-liners as cynical, anti-social genius Dr. Greg House (High Laurie) returns for duty in Season 3 of Bryan Singer & David Shore's consistently well written TV drama. After the somewhat melodramatic assassination attempt on House at the end of Season 2, its good to see the writers get down to brass tacks and dish out a number of fiendishly complex medical conundrums for our heroes to solve. On hand, as always, are the good doctor's put upon staff (Omar Epps, Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison), best, and perhaps only, friend Dr Wilson (the ever excellent Robert Sean Leonard) and his hassled hard-case of a supervisor; Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein on fine form again). But the show, as its title suggests, is all about House and Hugh Laurie, an actor best known for playing upper class English twits, continues to surprise audiences with his fantastic portrayal of the Vikaden addicted M.D. with a chip on his shoulder. Who'd have guessed that Laurie's jobbing in films like 'Maybe Baby' and playing second fiddle to a talking CG dormouse would spur the advent such an awesome, latter-day revelation as House?
A lot happens in Season 3; some of the most memorable episode cases include the fate of allying research pioneer Dr Ezra Powell, the disturbing truth behind a young-couple-in-love's simultaneous sickness, the mysterious affliction of a seemingly happy karate student, an off-the-cuff bone marrow transplant, House forced to interact with an STD victim (features an excellent performance by Katheryn Winnick as the patient) some hilarious banter between House, Wilson and Cuddy and a series thread featuring an increasingly serious tête-à-tête between House and a cop played with menacing subtlety by David Morse. An excellent programme, as fresh and relevant today as 'E.R.' was in the 90s, and amongst the glut of TV medical dramas 'House' easily outranks 'Bones', outsmarts 'MI' and makes 'Grey's Anatomy' look like the saccharine fluff it is; brace yourself for the unexpected ending, who knows where it'll go from here, or in the words of the great man himself: "Like I always say, there's no "I" in team. There's a "me" though, if you jumble it up."
An allegory but also a good tale. Can't say that I was convinced she was in her own world, but there you go. Good little story with the usual twist at the end.
I'm a big fan of Harlen Coben's books, and Tell No One was the first one I came across. My boss at the time suggested I read it, so naturally I was a bit reluctant, but upon starting it I simply couldn't put it down. I'd heard rumours that a film was in the works for years but never actually thought it was going to happen, then by chance saw an advert for it on the tube and went as soon as it openend. I had my reservations before I went, as although I love international movies, the books are very firmly set in New Jersey, but having seen the movie they simply couldn't have done a better job. It's got all the beauty and great acting of an art house movie, with the plot and pacing of a big budget thriller. The ending is different to the book, so even fans of that should be kept guessing. One of the best crime movies I've ever seen!
It's always a challenge for a filmmaker to respond to a public tragedy without seeming exploitative, but Gus Van Sant manages just that in "Elephant," his film about a Columbine-like school attack. Van Sant's film follows a handful of students as they go about their days in interlocking patterns, crossing each others' paths but never quite coming together. He does this with an innovative time-jumping structure and the smooth tracking movement of his camera. The camera follows a student or a group of students through a scene, often lingering somewhere behind their heads as they walk through the halls. Then the film jumps back in time a few minutes to follow another student who had passed through the shot in the previous scene. In this way, the film establishes a sense of the environment and of the lives moving through the school. The eventual killers are treated just like the other students, emphasizing that they emerge from this environment, that their actions and everyday behaviors are part of it too. Van Sant rejects and even mocks conventional media explanations -- violent video games, rock music, homosexuality -- and advances the idea that such violent acts are both utterly ordinary and utterly unknowable. There is a real gap, the film seems to be saying, between the horrible reality of violence and the psychological or sociological explanations which are so often used to explain it. This is an amazing, deep, and powerful film, affecting and beautiful even as it tackles complex issues and ideas on a level otherwise unseen in mainstream American film. Van Sant's current streak of genius continues unabated.
This year definetly could have seen better. Oh yes it could. Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Naomie Harris, Stellan Skarsgard, Chow Yun Fat, Jack Davenport and Kevin R McNally and directed by Gore Verbinski gives you a fun, action packed 'Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds End' . In this film, you see less of James Norrington(Jack Davenport) and see more of Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander).
Jack Sparrow is trapped in Davy Jones locker and must be saved. Will, Elizabeth, Barbossa, Pintel, Ragetti, Gibbs and the crew look to find Jack Sparrow by sailing to the edge of the world. They must face the cunning Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun Fat). James Norrington brings the heart of Davy Jones to Lord Beckett who is now controling the heart. Come and sail to the edge of the world for the fun!!!
I still think Dead Mans Chest is the best, but 7/10!!!
"Gerry" was the first of several films to return director Gus Van Sant to the good graces of serious film fans after several years of mainstream Hollywood filmmaking had dimmed the memory of early masterpieces like "Drugstore Cowboy." This film represents the new Van Sant: minimalist dialogue, graceful camera movements across long takes, and a real appreciation for quiet rhythms. The plot can be summed up in a sentence: two friends, both named Gerry, get lost in the desert and wander aimlessly as they get closer to death. The two Gerrys (Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) say very little to each other, only mumbling inanities in true slacker style, and most of the film consists of long shots of them simply walking in silence through desert landscapes. Van Sant introduces a subtle surrealism too, cueing the viewer in to the fact that this story should be taken metaphorically rather than literally. For one thing, the situations these two find themselves in are faintly ridiculous; at one point, Affleck finds himself trapped atop a high rock with no clear idea how he got himself up there or how he'll get down. And throughout the film, the landscape is constantly changing without warning, a product of the fact that Van Sant shot the film in several very different desert terrains throughout the world. These Gerrys are lost in a kind of Ur-desert, a symbolic wasteland that stands in for the emptiness of the society they represent. They are disconnected from each other and from anyone else, and the film's longest conversation is about a video game. But apart from its symbolic content, "Gerry" is simply a beautiful and hypnotic film, with its constant shots of wide-open landscapes and the steady rhythm of walking. It's very easy to get lost in the blank expanses of this film, pondering its ideas and the beauty of its imagery, and that's why Van Sant's accomplishment is so impressive. From seemingly little material, he's crafted a beautiful and thought-provoking film.
In many ways, Jacques Tati's epic masterpiece "Playtime" is an unlikely candidate for best comedy ever -- but it's a title that no one who's seen the film could deny. The film is nearly dialogue-less for much of its length, and there is no plot to speak of. In the first half, Tati emphasizes the dehumanization of urban living, as his hero Monsieur Hulot (played by Tati himself) wanders around a cold and impersonal city, stumbling into the strange dilemmas that result from a mechanized existence. The humor is similarly cold and distant here, as Hulot appears as just one tiny ant amidst an entire teeming anthill of rapidly shuffling life. But the film opens up in its second half, which represents Tati's solution to the coldness of modern urbanity. Here, in the hour-long restaurant scene that fills the film's second half, the chaos and warmth of humanity begins to break down the hard lines of urban architecture. This scene is set in a recently opened restaurant which seemed to have been constructed with little regard for its eventual use by human beings -- its layout is awkward, its bar puts constant barriers in front of the bartender, its chairs either fall apart or leaves marks on the occupants' backs. This is an urban space that seems designed to leave human eventualities completely out of the picture. But once the restaurant opens for business, it becomes apparent that urban construction is no much for the sheer human determination to have fun, and the restaurant explodes with life and vibrancy. As the party builds towards a frantic pace, the restaurant begins literally falling apart around the revellers, in an utter masterpiece of comic destruction. Accompanied by the constant bop of a jazz band, until they give up amidst the chaos, this scene surges and seethes with life crammed into every corner of it. Mini-narratives play out everywhere as characters slide in and out of the frame and the camera goes searching around the room for people to follow. It's a glorious mess on screen, but Tati keeps it firmly under his control, and always rioutously funny. It's one of the most brilliant scenes ever filmed, and one wishes it could just keep going forever. But eventually it ends, the last partiers spill out into quiet morning streets, and the film ends with a carousel of cars suggesting the cycle of urbanization and re-humanization that was just observed in microcosm. Truly remarakable.
In a long and much-praised career, Martin Scorsese has become synonymous with a handful of his established masterpieces: Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Casino. But he's also had quite a few less-known films that are nevertheless masterpieces in their own right. The King of Comedy is one such film, anchored by a powerhouse Robert DeNiro performance and a story that skewers the show-biz industry and the fakeness of celebrity. DeNiro plays Rupert Pupkin, a wannabe comedian who's obsessed with Jerry Lewis (who plays himself). Pupkin spends his nights in his room on a replica of the Lewis show's set, recording his own material into a tape recorder. But when it comes to trying to get noticed, he's utterly without luck -- Lewis ignores and delays him. Finally, the frustrated Pupkin plots to kidnap Lewis with the help of a crazed stalker (Sarah Bernhardt) in order to force Lewis to give him a slot on TV. The film submerges the audience into Pupkin's crazed mind, to the extent that the hilarious finale, which finally allows the audience an objective look at Pupkin from outside, comes as a complete and satisfying shock. This is a brilliant film, both darkly funny and disturbing, constantly teetering on the edge of total insanity. It's time to expand the canon of Scorsese's accepted masterpieces, and this is definitely the place to start.
Martin Scorsese's epic ode to the gangsters who once controlled Las Vegas is a powerful, operatic examination of greed, the lust for power, and the dehumanization of commercialism. Scorsese populates his Vegas with an all-star cast of Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone, all of whom provide stellar performances as their morals and humanity degenerate amidst the glitz and false glamour of the Vegas neon. Every surface in the film seems to gleam and shine, and Stone's marriage to DeNiro is predicated on gold and financial security rather than love. It's a world where the maniacal violence perpetrated by Pesci is only part of the inhuman mechanisms necessary to keep this mecca of greed in business. And the ending, which details the replacement of mobster rule with big business and increasingly sophisticated commercialism, drives home the point that the violence wasn't even necessary to the con. This film is often grouped incorrectly with Scorsese's other "gangster" flicks, but its true focus is actually commercialism and the glamorous facades of manipulative capitalism. The characters in "Casino" are barely even human; they live for money and the accumulation of power, and put everything else second. It's a stunning film, where every gleaming inch of film is in the service of this message, and even the occasional bursts of humor and glimpses into a less artificial past point up the essential hollowness of these characters' present. Any Scorsese fan needs to see this, the pinnacle of his 90s films.
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