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Post by Tosh on May 21, 2007 15:05:29 GMT -5
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The Dreamers (2004) - Taking place amid the Anarchist riots of Paris in 1968. This is a tale of bohemian lifestyles, a love of cinema and kinky sexuality. There are actually two films here, and which one captures your interest will be purely personal. On the one hand, “The Dreamers” is a languorous exploration of the connections among sex, politics and class. Isabelle and Theo, the children of a famous, wealthy poet, are wasting their lives away as they indulge their senses while talking about the state of a world with which they never interact. There’s a revolution going on outside and riots in the streets, but the twins choose instead to pontificate about Marxism between Bordeaux soaked bubble baths. Bertolucci’s other film is an ode to the altar of cinema. Theo and Isabelle introduce the film-savvy Matthew to their favourite game, in which they re-enact scenes from films by iconic directors like Godard, Browning and Truffaut. Sexual humiliation is the punishment for a wrong guess. The voluptuous sensuality of the characters is echoed by the film’s unashamedly greedy cinematography. Bertolucci’s love letter to cinema and sex is truly a gorgeous offering of both.
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Post by Tosh on May 23, 2007 12:04:42 GMT -5
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Chasing Amy (1997) - Although he sometimes explores his themes with more earnestness than clarity, Kevin Smith gives CHASING AMY both a wicked sense of humour and a genuine sensitivity about the complications of sexual politics. It's a rude blast of gleeful provocation, a farce about emotional pain, a drama about sexual slapstick and you know it's gonna be hip, clever, and outrageous when he's at work....
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Post by Tosh on May 23, 2007 14:42:06 GMT -5
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Silence Of The Lambs (1991) - For all the unbridled savagery on display, what is shrewd, significant and finally hopeful about Silence of the Lambs is the way it proves that a movie can be mercilessly scary and mercifully humane at the same time. Although Director Jonathon Demme does reveal the results of the killer's violence, he for the most part refrains from showing the acts themselves; the film could never be accused of pandering to voyeuristic impulses. Understandably, much has been made of Hopkins' hypnotic portrayal of Hannibal Lecter, but the laurels must go to Ted Levine's character, admirably devoid of camp overstatement, and to Jodie Foster, who evokes a vulnerable but pragmatic intelligence bent on achieving independence through sheer strength of will.
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Post by Tosh on May 25, 2007 11:12:01 GMT -5
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Pretty In Pink (1986) - John Hughes has made several psychologically rich and sociologically poignant films about young people, including Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. This time around, his talents are manifest in the screenplay for Pretty in Pink. The story makes some interesting points about peer pressure resulting from class-consciousness in certain high schools. How to handle the barriers set up between groups of kids poses a test of character and courage. The film's ending seems out of sync with what has preceded it and consequently does not work on an emotional level. I understand that the dreaded "test audience" in the US wanted her to end up with the "cute" guy, so the original end where she ended up with the true social outcast "Duckie" was re shot. Pretty in Pink addresses idiosyncrasies and prejudices and for me is a great piece of nostalgia (being 16 again?!!??) with a cool retro soundtrack (Psychedelic Furs etc).
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Post by Tosh on May 25, 2007 11:19:01 GMT -5
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Fight Club (1999) - Fight Club is anti-society and anti-capitalist. But it is not pro-violence. It is perhaps inevitable that literalists will take the depiction of violence and destruction as an endorsement. However, Fight Club is better characterized as an indictment of how our society creates the preconditions for the type of violence depicted in the film. Despite an ambiguous finale, Fight Club has by the end rejected violence as a way of expressing dissatisfaction with the world. Fight Club is not a glorification of violence. It is a deconstruction. In evaluating Fight Club's alleged irresponsibility, Edward Norton himself may have put it best: "Art has always reflected society. Art doesn't invent violence. It doesn't inspire violence. This movie examines violence and the roots of frustration that are causing people to reach out for such radical solutions. And that's exactly the sort of discussion we should be having about our culture. Because a culture that doesn't examine its violence is a culture in denial, which is much more dangerous." Easily one of the most memorable films you will ever see and it's ending is more powerful second time around as it's thematic strength and purpose can be lost during the initial viewing.
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Post by Tosh on May 25, 2007 11:55:22 GMT -5
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Short Cuts (1993) - A triumphant rendition of Raymond Carver's vision of life on the edge of chaos. The interwoven stories articulate a virus of self-absorbtion that’s overtaken family-lives, romances and friendships. While Short Cuts may be no more in the end to some, than a blizzard of human frailty, it’s an exceptionally well-acted (the cast as a whole won a special Golden Globe) and crisply written one, that impresses not just with the sheer weight of its actorly pedigree and length, but the wide, expressive range of emotions and lives that it puts on display.
Check out the awesome cast for yourself - Andie MacDowell, Bruce Davison, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Matthew Modine, Anne Archer, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Lili Taylor, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robbins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Lyle Lovett, Buck Henry, Huey Lewis
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Post by Tosh on May 25, 2007 12:02:13 GMT -5
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The Piano (1993) - As peculiar and haunting as any film I've seen. Technically it's a period love story but with strange metaphysical inclinations, Jane Campion's THE PIANO garnered lavish--though not unanimous--critical acclaim and a raft of awards. This is a film of mysterious beauty and subtle passion, set in a past so alien it might as well be another galaxy and peopled with characters so odd it's hard to believe they're not real. Ada (Holly Hunter), a 19th-century Scottish woman of formidable and eccentric intelligence who hasn't spoken since childhood, is sent with her gravely beautiful daughter Flora (Anna Paquin)--conceived out of wedlock and her mother's intermediary with the speaking world--to the wilds of New Zealand to marry Stewart (Sam Neill), a farmer whose spirit has been deformed by hardship and displaced decorum. Though speechless, Ada is a gifted pianist who plays with an intensity that simultaneously enthralls and frightens the average listener. Stewart refuses to have her piano hauled to his isolated farm, but Baines (Harvey Keitel), an uneducated Englishman gone native, buys the instrument and arranges for Ada to give him piano lessons in his hut. Their increasingly erotic liaison eventually transforms the lives of all concerned. Jane Campion searches out the detail that makes the image, and the image that tells the story more eloquently than words ever could. Her film is a compelling examination of the wondrously strange ways in which people treat one another, the poetically eccentric accommodations they make to life's incomprehensible cruelty and flashes of brilliant wonder.
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Post by Tosh on May 25, 2007 14:29:41 GMT -5
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The Deer Hunter (1978) - The Vietnam War wrought havoc on millions of lives in a way that we may never understand. The war was the personal calamity of the generation called upon to fight it. In the jungles of that ravaged country, they were the ones who faced the terrible choices. And in the end, many Americans returned home knowing they could never be the same again. Of all the films dealing with the impact of the war on American culture and conscience, The Deer Hunter is definitely the most affecting and compelling. The three-hour drama that unfolds before our eyes makes no case for or against the war. Instead it focuses on the ways in which three close friends were shaped, shattered, and transformed by their experiences in Vietnam. The story's lasting impression is on our emotions. It asks us to feel its textures, ambivalences, and pains with our hearts rather than with our heads. Michael Cimino's epic, winner of the Best Picture Academy Award in 1979, is a cinematic triumph and a powerful celebration of the dignity of ordinary individuals in peace and war. Robert De Niro's performance is an intense tour de force, and Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep put in fine character portraits. All three performances were nominated for Oscars. John Savage, John Cazale, George Dzundza are also notable. Vilmos Zsigmond's highly creative cinematography took home another Academy Award. This movie treats its characters with respect. Hence, the themes of friendship, love, loss, terror, and pain ring true. Most of the magic moments in The Deer Hunter come when there is a merciful end to words. It has been said that the heart is only half a prophet. Michael Cimino has proven just the opposite to be true — the heart, when it makes the most of its silences, is a prophet complete.
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Post by Tosh on May 25, 2007 14:38:48 GMT -5
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Code Unknown (2001) - An intellectually stimulating and emotionally provocative piece of European cinema. Hatred is difficult to discuss. The mind resists it. The subject is amorphous, disorderly, malignant. The reason the subject is hard to discuss is that hate is simultaneously a mystery and a moron. It seems either too profound to understand or too shallow and stupid to bear much analysis." Nonetheless, the worldwide epidemic of hate crimes, violence against strangers and outsiders, and ethnic anger is something that cannot be ignored or taken lightly. Michael Haneke is an Austrian writer and director who has a special interest in the anonymity, conflicts, loneliness, and disorder of city life. In this compelling and patience-testing film set in Paris, a group of people try to cope with the exigencies of modern life where predators and victims of hate abound. Code Unknown demands close attention and a good deal of work on behalf of the audience. However, the end result is undeniably different and unfalteringly rewarding.
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Post by Tosh on May 25, 2007 14:48:20 GMT -5
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Easy Rider (1969) - Some films captivate the zeitgeist of the imagination so completely that they become instant cult favorites. But few such films prove potent enough to retain the favour of audiences in perpetuity. So the fact that, 35 years after the film’s release, audiences around the world are still captivated by the raw vision of Easy Rider is no small accomplishment. Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper) are the quintessential hippie bikers. Cruising across America with a gas tank full of dope, these two dropouts are living the dream of freedom and rugged individuality. Easy Rider serves as an astonishingly honest perspective on the counterculture movement that it represents. Though Fonda and Hopper are decidedly of the ’60s experience, their portrayal of that experience is refreshingly free of the exuberantly over-romanticized tone that characterizes so many other films from this era. Communes of shroomed-out hippies are presented more or less without comment or criticism. For every idyllic moment of peacenik dialogue, there’s a clip of some dysfunctional stoner making an ass of himself. Easy Rider is driven by a compellingly intelligent script and strong acting including a very young Jack Nicholson! Whether you’re a filthy old hippy looking to recapture the glory of your delirious youth or a generation-Y pop punk who wants to know where it all began, Easy Rider is about as clear a window on the ’60s cultural milieu as you’re ever likely to find.
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Post by Tosh on May 26, 2007 7:45:55 GMT -5
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As Good As It Gets (1997) - As Melvin Udall, this is Jack Nicholson at his best, the kind of role that makes him a star. He gets to bear his teeth, take control of a room, and be devilishly cuddly at the same time. He deliciously delivers the most unconventionally rude dialogue in years. Watching the films characters warily circle one another, trying to decide if the chance to form closer attachments is worth the risk of pain, it's impossible not to be struck again and again by Brooks' nonpareil ability to create humour out of catastrophe. While his obsessive characters invariably worry, as Melvin asks at one point, "What if this is as good as it gets?" it's good to know their creator, maybe even against his better judgement, believes in the existence of something more. All the film's messages are worth taking to heart. Don't judge people too quickly. Never write anyone off. Even the weirdest and most irritating people are full of surprises. Everyone is capable of love!
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Post by Tosh on May 26, 2007 8:34:23 GMT -5
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Arlington Road (1999) - With the Oklahoma City and World Trade bombings still hovering in the back of the world's consciousness, this gripping political thriller directed by Mark Pellington and written by Ehren Kruger provocatively poses some serious questions about the dangers of both domestic terrorism and the paranoia of citizens who see giant conspiracies afoot everywhere. Although the two main characters come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, they share a scary propensity for seeing the world as clearly divided between good guys and bad guys. The tie that binds them together is a refusal to acknowledge their human imperfections. The shadow still falls across the American landscape — even in sunny suburbs where tormented souls blame an enemy for all the injustices and miseries in the country. You have to admire "Arlington Road" for having the courage to veer off from the glossy, predictable Hollywood route.
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Post by Tosh on May 26, 2007 13:11:09 GMT -5
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City Of God (2003) - An inventive, intelligent and viscerally compelling film set amidst the youth gangs of Rio de Janeiro. It is a tremendous, skilfully composed film that impresses with its artistry while smacking you in the solar plexus with its message. This is a work of life: a brilliant gangster saga, an absorbing view of a culture, a truthful capturing of the way you see your neighbourhood and your buddies change for better and worse through teenage years, and a stylistic achievement that refuses to release its grip. One of the most remarkable things that the arts can do is to take alien worlds unknown to us by experience, shown only sketchily by the media and not only communicate them to us, but tangibly and forcefully relate them to things we all go through. Directed by Fernando Meirelles this is a testament to the pointlessness of violence, the horror of poverty and the complicity of those with power in allowing both to grow.
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Post by Tosh on May 26, 2007 13:15:46 GMT -5
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L.A Confidential (1997) - A dark, dangerous and intoxicating tale of big trouble in paradise, smartly done with the blackest possible humour and names like Kevin Spacey, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito, it's conspicuously contemporary both in its attitudes and its willingness to bend the rules of the game absolutely as far as they will go. The intricate plot is so nihilistic and cold around the heart, its nominal heroes so amoral, so willing to sell out anyone and everyone, that the film is as initially unnerving as it is finally irresistible. Director Curtis Hanson's elegant film is faithful to Ellroy's multi-layered and labyrinthine book, requiring some concentration to keep up with the subtle plot twists and coded dialogue. Every performance is a gem, from Kevin Spacey's arch louche to Kim Basinger's soulful but sassy turn as a call-girl who looks like Veronica Lake. Such themes of police autonomy and the cult of celebrity have never been more relevant in today's troubled times.
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Post by Tosh on May 26, 2007 13:32:07 GMT -5
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L'Arche Du Desert (1997) - A tale of race, modern passion and ancient biblical myths, Mohamed Chouikh’s L’Arche Du Désert (translated as Desert’s Ark) is a violent exploration of inter-racial love and destructive enmity. It Balances human drama with an exploration of war, nationalism and intolerance, without a hint of contrivance or any loss of impact. The result is brutal, poetic and demands intense concentration – but rewards the effort, successfully exploring its pacifist themes.
Naked (1993) - This is a painful movie to watch. But it is also exhilarating, as all good movies are, because we are watching the director and actors venturing beyond any conventional idea of what a modern movie can be about. Here there is no plot, no characters to identify with, no hope. But there is care: The filmmakers care enough about these people to observe them very closely, to note how they look and sound and what they feel. Mike Leigh has said in an interview that while his earlier films might have embodied a socialist view of the world, this one edges over into Anarchy. It suggests a world in which the operating systems have become distant from the character inhabiting this film. The world is indifferent to them, and they to it. To some degree, they don't even know what's hit them. David Thewlis has a glimmer. His response is not hope or a plan. It is harsh, sardonic laughter. Destruction is his only response. Overall, it's Blackly funny and corrosively sad.
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