agree on the plot comment in comparison to few dollars more and the GB&U, but Yojimbo handled that aspect better I thought.

I just think the style is better developed in the later movies and in my eyes, they are better for it. 

the GB&U soundtrack rules the Universe, so on that bases alone, even if the movie was a three hour shot of a field of grass growing it would still be in the top ten great movies of all time.
Fortunately, it has some excellent character acting (hence the title ;)) for the viewer who may be tone deaf and can't enjoy the music. 

but I also think the soundtracks to the other two dollars films are also pretty impressive, and a bit underratd. 

Planet of the Apes (1968) - charlton heston tries his best to derail the whole thing with an awful performance but Frank Shaffner's precise direction and the simple yet complex premise overcome his antics. The plotting requires more than a little suspension of disbelief but it's worth it because the script raises some interesting ideas, even if they're not explored as well as they could have been. The character of Dr Zaius is probably the most intriguing, the others feel a bit too one dimensional. There is some great imagery here, much more than just the famous end scene, and the score by Jerry Goldsmith is also pretty effective.

7.5/10



La Femme Infidele (1969) - I think this was remade recently as Unfaithful which I havent seen, but Claude Chabrol's original is a very stylishly made old fashioned suspense film in the vein of Hitchcock and Clouzot. The acting, writing, and direction are all first rate and the whole thing feels very economic without any dead space. There's actually nothing wrong with it but it does have a cold feel to it which keeps the viewer at somewhat of a distance.

7.5/10



Rocky - It isnt the movie that should have beaten out Taxi Driver, Network and All the President's Men but on its own it's still fairly impressive stuff. The first thing you notice is how well shot it is, it definitely has the right look for the setting of the movie. Next up on show is the impressive script, hard to believe it was written in 3 days by stallone, because most the major characters are excellently written. The acting is good too and the only thing that lets it down is the anticlimax fight at the end coupled with a very corny and badly executed final scene.

7.5/10 

Fistfull of Dollars

I should really rent those movies and watch them again. The only time I've seen them was when I was about 10 years old, and I don't really remember much about them except for Eastwood chomping on a cigar and shooting a revolver. Although I do remember being smitten by the music in For a Few Dollars More.

Drunk as you might expect, but these are my sober opinions nonetheless.

How was the party, metl? The raw beef at Musawa was... interesting. Afterwards we hit up a bar on Haight St, which turned out to be the second gay bar we went to last weekend. Incidentally, I'm forced to disagree with the notion that gay bars have cleaner bathrooms than other bars (at least the two I've been to). Anyway, it was cool meeting up with you, even though I didn't get into town until much later than expected. 

the party was a bunch of drunk thirty-somethings i didn't know (girlfriend's coworkers.) But they kept handing me drinks, which was my eventual undoing.

I like how my spelling is still perfect even when I can't string two thoughts together in a coherent sentence. 

The Lives of Others - well made, well acted, generally well written german film about the period in east germany's history when the stasi operated to ensure that citizens didn�t participate or operate in "subversive" fashion. Rather than trying to tackle the issue by displaying the impact on the general population, it focuses on 3 characters in particular (a popular writer, his actress fiancee and the stasi agent who keeps tabs on their affairs) to bring out the state of mind that was prevalent at the time.

First time writer/director Florian Donnersmarck does a commendable job in all departments but at times gives away his lack of experience with some contrived plotting and functional, but non-imaginative, cinematography. His strengths are obviously more towards storytelling than the visual side of things, but this is still quite an impressive debut.


7.5/10 

So I finally saw 300, and I was wondering if anyone else noticed this: when the kid is beating up the other kid at the beginning, it appears to be a shot-for-shot clone of the scene where Ed Norton beats up Jared Leto in Fight Club. Anyone? 

I think you watched Fight Club too many times Metl :) Not that thats a bad thing! 

The Motorcycle Diaries - As a portrait of the "why" behind the transition of Che Guevara from almost medical graduate to cuban revolutionary, it's fairly low level stuff. To be fair though, the movie does cover a period where it appears that Guevara himself hadnt worked that aspect out just yet, so its not something that could be readily communicated to an audience anyway. However, in the second half you can see the wheels turning, but its not an entirely convincing depiction.

As a road movie, it works a little better, mainly because the stunning backdrop allows ample oppurtunity for good photography. The acting is good, the direction is reasonable, and the script is decent even if it can never really escape the main pitfall of the road movie, the lack of a narrative and the feel of bunch of vignettes stuck together.

Still, I found it a good watch despite the issues although the effect on the small screen is probably not as effective.



7/10 

you might find this documentary of interest, much of it pulled from interviews with revolutionaires who knew him. No New Agey Hollywood sanitation that both old school Marxist and AntiCommunist find to be nauseating.

Che; Anatomia de un Mito

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3564213335176871572

Interestingly, I read that Redford was interested in producing Atlas Shrugged at one time. The man's brain cells must be in a constant state of war with one another. Fortunately, Randal Wallace, the BraveHeart screenwriter is on board to write it and Jolie will be playing Dagny Taggart. 

atlas fucked 

no I dont, but mabe I'll pick up some after my trip to south america later in the year. 

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) - extremely disappointed. James Dean is good, albeit heavily mannered, but the rest of this is severely dated, almost nonsensical and totally unconvincing.

Nicholas Ray tries his best with the material he has, but there is so much wrong with the script I dont know where to start. It's extremely heavy handed, contains a large number of caricatures, has some terribly hokey dialogue, and above all has such a simplified approach towards its themes that you wonder why they even tried to address them.

Ray has made some great films, but this is not one of them.

4.5/10 

I recently got into this series and I love it so much. The interesting english, the characters, the imaginative swear words. Very nice! I'm at S02E05 now. 

Curse of the Golden Flower - Zhang Yimou's return to the wuxia genre is thankfully a much better effort than House of Flying Daggers and on par with Hero.

Supposedly China's most expensive film ever, it is indeed very very opulent, every shot showing where the money went. Yimou matches the opulence with an operatic greek tragedy and extravagant action, something which will not be everyone's cup of tea, but I found it to work quite well.

What makes it work is Gong Li, doing what only great actors can do in taking a nothing role and turning it into the most important part of the movie. Her performance helps the complicated and highly convoluted plot fit in with the environment of the film.

Yimou paces and builds beautifully, but falters at the end with a climax that is just too long and drawn out. Even so, this is still quality entertainment.

7/10 

just fucking great, I grew up with that stuff. Did you ever see the pilot for the american version of the show? Man did that suck... Lister was just your standard wholesome american lead character, Rimmer didn't even seem that annoying, Holly was played by Daphne from Frasier.

But er, keep watching the good stuff, I love series 5, some amazing episodes there, 'Gunmen of the Apocalypse', and 'Back to Reality' are absolute classics... 

Zelig (1983) - I think woody allen's middle period from the late 70's to the late 80's resulted in some remarkable stuff. And this is another one of them. Spinal Tap is probably funnier, but Allen's attempt at the mockumentary genre is still nothing short of genius.

The mockumentary takes a look at the life and story of Leonard Zelig, a chameleon like man in the 1920-1930's who had the ability to change his appearance into that of the people surrounding him, and the reaction of the doctors, media and the general public to his ability.

Combining newsreel footage, fake "documentary" footage and present day "interviews" with real essayists and nobel prize winning writers, Allen's movie is a remarkable technical achievement. It is also brilliantly written, playing it straight all the way, even when the situations are anything but. There is more creativity and talent on display here than in all of Allen's films of the last 10-15 years.

8/10 

Blood Diamond - As is usual with Edward Zwick movies, this is too long and has an uncomfortable mix of message movie and action adventure, with the message part being very heavy handed and dodgily handled at best.

What it has going for it is that it works pretty well when it sticks to being a blockbuster action movie and also Leonardo Di Caprio's outstanding performance. Di Caprio probably has the best written character, albeit with a requisite redemptive character arc, and he singlehandedly gets the movie through all the dodgy bits. Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly do their best but are limited by their stock standard one dimensional charcaters.

Zwick seems most comfortable with the action scenes, which are well choreographed and shot, rather than with the effects and consequences of a civil war on an entire poprulation, but this is far from the disaster of The Last Samurai.

6.5/10 

to know what to do with African characters. I found myself comparing this treatment with the Mr Ecko story arc from last season in Lost because of its fresh and somewhat twisted approach to standard African themes, ie. warlords, gun/drug running, and an impotent(or vital depending on the viewpoint of the narrative) church. I was curious what you thought of this, Nitin, given your review of the middle episode of season 2 ranked them a bit lower than the rest you may have different take. 

was by far the most interesting and well written character in season 2. So I think we are in agreement over that :) 

...finally got around to viewing the Southpark WoW send up. What a hoot!

This was followed by a documentary I'd recorded on virtual gold mining... selling WoW gold for actual currency. Very interesting.

Then I stuffed up my night by watching Eragon. Shite! Even four vodka tonics under my belt couldn't save this poorly edited, atrociously acted, cliche ridden, two dimensional pile of... 

Bullitt (1968) - pretty good thriller/action film which is reasonably well written and directed and has Steve McQueen defining screen presence. It drags a bit, sometimes unnecssarily so, and none of the other characters are that interesting, but McQueen is magnetic and the action scenes, including the famous car chase, are good.

7/10


Doctor Zhivago (1965) - There's some frequent bad acting and bad dialogue, sometimes both within the same scene, but David Lean's storytelling skills and imperious direction along with Maurice Jarre's excellent score make up for the shortcomings on most occasions. The last 30 min or so don�t work for me as well as the rest of the movie but this is great stuff. Despite the long running time, it is very economical in its pacing and there's not much dead space. In a completely different league to most recent movies along similar lines.

8/10


In the Bedroom (2001) - generally well made and well written, and with phenomenal acting by all involved, this slow burn drama about the effect of a tragedy on a family is very interesting. There are flaws, the slow pacing is not a problem by itself but combined with the narrative stopping dead after a certain event in the film, it does become somewhat of an issue.

Todd Field displays an admirable restraint, never really letting this become the over the top melodrama that it could have become. But it's the perfromances that keep it going, tom wilkinson, sissy spacek, nick stahl and marisa tomei all putting in excellent work.

7/10


Last Year at Marienbad (1961) - Definitely a movie that many people will hate with a passion, Alain Resnais' out and out surrealist arthouse film is probably the most pretentious, indulgent, cold, distant and near incomprehensible thing I have ever seen. It makes David Lynch look like a straightforward storyteller. His previous movie, the great Hiroshima Mon Amour, displayed some of the same characterisitics and dealt with the same themes of memory but it was not as cold, distant or obscure and was much better for it.

The plot, if you can call it that as there is no temporal or spatial connection established between any of the scenes, revolves around the repetition of a series of events at a chateau between a man, a woman and another man. Anything more than that will be differently interpreted by everyone.

I have to say that despite all the negatives, I did find it fascinating to an extent mainly because Resnais's direction gives the impression that its made by someone who knows exactly what they are doing rather than by someone who is making it up as they go along. And I think I managed to piece enough of it together to get an idea of what he was going for.

6.5-7/10 

Eyes without a Face (1959) - classily made french film about a surgeon who abducts and operates on young women in order to try and restore the disfigured face of his daughter, who is forced to wear a mask in the meantime.

It doesnt go for the gore or exploitation angle, but is instead more of a gothic psychological thriller/drama with interesting characters, reasonably good acting and impressive direction.

There are some brilliant moments, especially when the daughter is on screen, but I did find that when the movie focuses on other things apart from the daughter, it isnt as involving.

7/10


The Man who shot Liberty Valance (1962) - one of the better films from John Ford that I have seen, although it still suffers from forced sentimentality and obtrusive and annoying comedy like his other movies.

James Stewart plays a senator in the american west who is known in history by the movie title and upon a revisit to the town where it all took place, he recounts his version of the story to a newspaper editor.

When it's not going along the comedy and sentimentality route, it is a pretty impressive western with James Stewart, John Wayne and Vera Miles all in top form.

6.5/10


Broadway Danny Rose (1984) - Not vintage Woody Allen, but it still has its moments thanks to Allen's skill as a writer.

He plays Danny Rose, a theatrical manager of some really bad acts who gets involved in all sorts of trouble when he goes on an errand for one of his more famous acts.

It starts off well enough, with Mia Farrow almost unrecognisable as a bimbo, but like some of his more recent output, the Allen schtick is a bit too overdone, overwhelming and annoying.

Still, worth a wach for some moments of sheer genius and hilarity.

6.5/10 

Can't really be bothered with a big review, but I was really shocked with how impressive it looked, especially for a british film (a high budget one at that)... it has a really classy style of scifi technology which reminded me of 2001, and the lighting and the general look and colour is really impressive.

I liked the way the scope is pretty narrow, they never really tell you anything about the characters before you see them in the few days in which the movie takes place.

Overall it holds your attention quite well for a while, but as Text_Fish said in his review earlier it all goes to shit quite unexplicably later on. It seems like the guys at Fox turned up and said NO NO NO we need a BAD GUY and some FIGHTING and space danger and MONSTERS and you better add it the next 20 minutes or I'm gonna throw my tequila in your face. But it's worth seeing anyway, more power to the british film industry.