4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS (4 STARS)

Horrifying, haunting. The only words that come to mind are usually used in horror films. This Romanian indie film is SO bold, so gritty!

You have to check it out. I don't want to tell you anything. DO NOT READ THE BACK OF THE DVD CASE! The trailer my hint and something, but it does try to keep the plot a mystery. It's much better that way.

If you're 30 minutes into the picture and you don't get what's going on and you want to turn it off... just wait 5 more minutes... it definitely worth it.

You'll remember this one for the rest of your life.

HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY (3.5 STARS)

I got a lot of laughs out of this movie. I say the Harold and Kumar movies deserve the respect they deserve. This one is far better than the last for many reasons.

I'm gonna say it has far too much pot smoking and pointless language...it was a little distracting if you're not into that sort of thing. I like language for humor sake, but not language for cool pot smoker sake...ya know?

The political aspect of the whole thing is halarious. I loved every bit of it. It was just one scene after another. Every situation they end up in turns into a political point and i'm in agreement with, at least, the point to bring up it's obserdity, if not to just point a finger, or poke fun.

So many great scenes, most work. The ones that don't are like, refrences to an unknown joke, which is usually thrown into comedies like these to create a cult following.

The best comedy in the last month.

LOVE SONGS (3.5 STARS)

This is a very modern musical. Very much like a new French new wave style. The same director as Dans Paris, and the same lead actor (guy with big nose from dreamers). I actually like a lot of it.

It's very interesting right from the start when you're trying to figure out what's going on, who's with who, and the film plays games with you as to what actually is going on.... then it breaks out in song. Very sleek, hip, Frenchy music.

This director, like i said in the Dans Paris review is try many new things with every picture. All together they seems arrogant and pretentious, but, i'm the kinda guy that would make pretentious kind of movies if i could. He's just trying new things. He's making the movie he wants. I think the word pretentious is pretentious.

Very cool trailer


If you don't watch French films, DO NOT START WITH THIS ONE. But, if you've seen a million, and you just love French styles, French language, and the sights of Paris, then go for it.

100 MILLION YEARS B.C. (.0000001 STARS)

Technology has come SO far. Jurassic Park is an ancient history compared to the time traveling sensation 100 MILLION YEARS B.C. PHENOMENON!! Comes out this tuesday!!! Rent it while it's hot!!!

FUNNY GAMES 1997 (4 STARS)

I do think this is a superior film to the new remake by the same director. It's in Austrian, which adds maybe, to the style of it. Also i'd say the 2 bad guys are much more suiting for the story that's being told. The leader bad guy is much more annoying and you really do hate him as much as your supposed to. The new one, i found myself saying, "Man he's cool" far to much. And the other guy "tubby". He was a real creep in this one. He seemed way more threatening. He could do anything... he was a little more crazy. I didn't feel that at all with the new one.

When watching a bazzar movie like this for the second time scene for scene, shot for shot, word for word. It makes you think about how deliberate every second really is. And now watching the original trailer after seeing the film... every second in the trailer is extremely deliberate. Very interesting.

In my top 5 of the year... unless it came out last year, then, never mind.

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (5 STARS)

"Why don't they make movies like this anymore"? Is what i kept repeating to myself while watching a masterpiece. It's unapalogetic, and uncompromising. It's the real deal even though it's not. The language is rough, and the manor is rough. People are acting up a storm, and screaming. It's such a bold movie, and at the same time it's a heartfelt, and a heart breaker, and a nice little movie.

I must have seen a lot of this as a kid on TV because i recognized most of everything that happened but i can't ever remember seeing it. I can't believe i'd waited this long. Every small to large role in the movie are great.

This film may fall in line with the style of film i'm trying to classify. Gritty and real, hard edge nature. And of coarse, Jack Nicholson.

BEFORE SUNRISE (4 STARS)

I love these kinds of movies. It's the kind of fantasy that could happen to anyone at any moment. Well, single people at leased. You could be somewhere exotic and you meet someone who is really easy to talk to, and before you know it, you're having one of the greatest nights of your life. You realize after spending several hours with this person... you're gonna remember this day forever.

One night love stories are great. They rely on chemistry (whatever that really is), dialoge (something deep that the audience can relate to), and they need some sort of conflict (for this one....time and distance).

Delpy is so great....Hawke is such a duche.

Must see... this and sunset make for good double feature. Heck... go for a trilogy with 2 days in Paris.

BEFORE SUNSET (4 STARS)

This is the sequel to Before Sunrise. I forget, but i think it's 6 years later, maybe 10. More has changed than you'd think. But they are still the basically the same to people. Come together again. This time in her home town, Paris.

I really like this one. I'd say just as much as the first one. I watched them back to back. The ending really won me over. I thought the ending was a complete work of miracle compared to the standard of the 2 films. It sort of comes out of nowhere. It left me gasping with glee.

This film especially is a good movie to study dialoge writing. It was written by Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke who are the main characters. The film feels real most of the time, but you can tell it's heavily scripted...maybe not a single word is improvised.

Delpy wrote 2 days in Paris also, and i'd say she has improved greatly with that one... this however is still really good. They work really hard at upping the sexual tension to make up for the other major complication to the love story. Then the ending.... oh! What a great ending.

This isn't the trailer, this is part of the ending. Not nearly as good if you haven't yet seen it. So... don't watch this.

WALL-E (5 STARS)

What a film!!! Yes, the best pixar film to date. Yes, the best film of the year so far. It will more than likely find a nice seat in my top 5 films of the year.

People complain that there's no dialoge for the first 30 minutes. Well, i could have watched 4 hours of what takes place in that first 30 minutes. It was so captivating. The world he lived in. The amazing detail. And the heart, and personality of this little rusty box is SO GREAT TO WATCH! He watches Hello Dolly on a beta tape and mimics the dancing with a hub cap for a hat... it's just unbelievably cute!

nuf said. You have to see it in the theater... if you don't, i feel sorry for you.

FIVE EASY PIECES (4.5 STARS)

THIS WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT PEOPLE!!!! 1970, Jack Nicholson works in an oil field about in Texas or somthing. Him and his girl friend go bowling with his workin' buddy and his wife. They have a few beers at their trailer as they watch tv. She plays "STAND BY YOUR MAN" on the record player as she does her makeup while sitting in the sink to get closer to the mirror. I don't know if there's a word for movies like this. There should be, because that word would be the name of my favorite sub-genre.

Urban Cowboy, The Buddy Holly Story, Coal Miners Daughter, Hud, The Last Picture Show, Easy Rider, Thelma and Louis.

There's not a lot of them... but it's great that i'm still finding them.

Nicholson, like Travolta, fits that role quite well. But no one does it like Tommy Lee Jones.

I'd rather put up the first 10 minutes of this film because it's an amazing beginning. But the only thing on youtube is this one scene which is good but not the stuff dreams are made of.

PARANOID PARK (1 STAR)

Gus Van Zant's new film. Possibly the 3rd of a trilogy of films that simply follow a lead character around. First Elephant which i thought was pretty good, then Last Days which i really liked, and then this one... about a skater kid who gets mixed up in a murder that takes place by a skate park. I thought this was not very good at all. 80 minutes of mostly slow motion shots that had no meaning to the films plot. A lot of shots of skaters skating which could easily have been stock footage. And also a lot of repeated scenes, the second time with a different aspect to the meaning. Put together... makes a whole lot of nothing. I wouldn't call this a film. I would call this a 10 minute short, edited into a feature film.

2 Elliott Smith songs from Either/Or.

The cinematography was great, and i thought the main kid was perfect. Everyone else was escrusiatingly awkward. AHHHHH!!!! awkward. Everyone else!!! Awkward. How can a guy like Gus Van Zant make a movie like this, with these people in it. I think the problem was, they were just a little too young. That awkward stage where they don't know who they are, but they're trying to so hard to act like they do. But like i said the main kid is really cool.

The trailer pretty much lays it out there. Doesn't leave anything for a surprise, so if you ARE planning to see the movie, don't watch this trailer.



Don't bother.

WILD AT HEART (4.5 STARS)

One of Cage's best roles, absolutely Laura Dern's best role, and one of David Lynch's best films. The dialogue is far Superior in Wild At Heart than any other Lynch film, due mostly to Laura Dern being a genius, and Cage being Nicholas Cage. I love every minute of this movie. It's SO much fun.... and weird.
Sailor and Lola go on a road trip running from their past, soon to find many strangers along the way.

EIGHT MEN OUT (4 STARS)

John Sayles writes and directs a tense and cool drama about the 8 Chicago "Black" Sox. The eight men who were accused of throwing the 1919 world series. If you've never heard of this then i suggest coming out of the cave you're living in and watch FIELD OF DREAMS starring Kevin Costner.

The cast is jam packed with greatness. Very interest drama going on on several levels. Also very cool to see Chicago and Cincinati in 1919.

DRILLBIT TAYLOR (3.5.5 STARS)

This is actually a really funny movie. Written by Seth Rogan, produced by Jude Aptow. Owen Wilson at the top of his game. I caught several references to other Owen Wilson movies. "LOCK IT UP" (Wedding Crashers), the "What's the story with the chicken" scene from Cable Guy, the "which was difficult seeing how it's made out of one piece of wood" scenes from Meet the Parents. There were a lot of Heavy Weight stuff in there which was an early Aptow production. Aptow's wife as a teacher like in Freaks and Geeks. Drillbit Tayler's friends are hilarious. I laughed the whole way threw. It looks not good but it is very very funny. Hundreds of quotable lines.

The trailer sucks so i'm not posting it... but... "You! Get me some cereal!"

JOY DIVISION (2. 5 STARS)

This is not that great of a documentary. I've heard nothing but good things, but i thought there was very little i cared about the whole 2 hours. All you need to know about the band is in the movie Control. I don't think they are a good companion piece like everyone says they are, i think it's a redundant piece (of boring). The music videos and the live shows were cool... but that's the youtube is for.

HOOSIERS (5 STARS)

Hoosiers is on my list of movies i've seen over 50 times. Perfect film.

THE GIRL IN THE CAFE (4.5 STARS)

Written by Richard Curtis who wrote Love Actually and 4 weddings and a funeral. Starring Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald (Ms. Moss/No Country For Old Men).

What a great movie. I was giddy as a school girl threw the whole film. The British downplay, and dry slight jokes without a single smile cracked really really work in this film. It's a straight love story that starts out at a delicate and gradual pace. Add on top of that, issues dealing with extremely important things. It's a great movie.

Absolute most see. Great date movie. Kelly Macdonald is great, adorable. Bill Nighy is pitch perfect. Very believable and realistic. It sucks you right in. And you feel so good after seeing it.

SMALL TIME CROOKS (4 STARS)

Woody Allen, early 2000's. The first act is about a group of half wits who decide to tunnel into a bank. It's absolutely hilarious. Then it completely changes. The movie becomes a story about what would happen if these people did have the money they always dreamed of.

Woody Allen plays this role of a corky guy, quite different from the usual. Something about him is infectiously funny in this film.

This is the funniest part so maybe you shouldn't watch it.

RUSSIAN DOLLS (3.5 STARS)

Russian Dolls is the sequel to THE SPANISH APARTMENT which i liked alot. Starring all the same actors and actresses, including Audry Tatu and the star from Dans Paris Romain along with a bunch of other multicultural people. The plot of the first one is Xavier is in Barcelona for school and get an apartment with a bunch of other early 20 somethings from ALL over. UK, Germany, Spain, France. An American street musician shows up at some point. People do each other... then cheat on each other. It's pretty good, fun, and i like the European feel to it all.

This one is more about the same guy 5 years down the road, living in France, trying to make it as a writer. He bumps into the whole gang eventually and they all go to Russian for a wedding for the leased they would expect.

Not as good as the first. The lead is far more self indulgent and at the same time much more sweet. I think the acting is good and the sights are amazing. St. Petersburg and Moscow, London, Paris. It's great.

DANS PARIS (3.5 STARS)

Christophe Hondre directs an odd French snooty sort of movie. Very artsy, very hip. Very full of itself, very experimental. It's one big pity party.

However, i like movies like this because they try so many interesting things, and i can always sit and enjoy the new ideas and new kind of imagery an avant-garde film like this can bring.

I'll watch whatever this guy has to offer until it gets too offensively bad.

Which he actually has another film out right now (4 months apart) with one of the same actors.

ANNIE HALL (2ND TIME THIS YEAR) (5 STARS)

Watch one of my all time favorite films with a slight Woody Allen cynic. He loved it. It's always great to watch Annie Hall with someone who hasn't seen it. They all have different things they catch from this movie that they've never seen in anything else.

STRANGE WILDERNESS (2ND TIME) (3 STARS)

This is not NEARLY as good the second time. I laughed a lot the first but not at all the second. Everything just seems so stupid the second time.

RAMBO (3 STARS)

I would not say this is a good movie. This is a terrible movie. But all the killing and stuff is fun.