Maniac's Reviews

Band of Outsiders



I give it:

Jean-Luc Godard hits the crime genre once again after his success with his film Breathless. Seemingly reinventing the crime genre every time he films it. And Band of Outsiders has to be my personal favorite of all the films I've seen him make so far.
And I believe this movie was based off the novel, "Fool's Gold".

Quentin Tarantino later named his production company after this film.
The french name of this film is Bande A Part, Tarantino just changed the name around a little bit to A Band Apart.
There is also a resemblance to Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in this movie. Such as the dance scene with Uma Thurman and John Travolta came out of this film.



In this film two would-be criminals, (Arthur and Franz) are searching for a way to make a big score. When Franz meets a beautiful girl named Odile from his english class, she later informs him that her aunt keeps a large amount of cash kept hidden away in her dresser at her house, and that the room with all this money is always unlocked. When Franz informs Arthur about the situation the two men quickly devise a plan to steal the loot for Odile's aunt's house. And make her an accomplice in crime.

Arthur and Franz, all the while forming this plan to steal the aunt's money, are almost at competition to see who will be the man who ends up dating Odile. So a romantic subplot forms, between Odile and Arthur most of all. Which makes the film seem both more entertaining but at the same time sad because it shows this naive and, for the most part, innocent young woman who just falls in love with the wrong guys. She continues to try and please Arthur as a girlfriend. But it seems the only thing Arthur is interested in has nothing to really do with her, but rather his interest is in her money.

The two men quickly convince Odile to see how much cash her aunt has. And when Odile gets to her house she sneaks into her aunt's room and searches the dresser, which happends to be full of money. But while investigating the dresser, and her aunt calls to her so she quickly puts the money away. But she accidently forgets to put anouther a sweater that was covering the money. So when her aunt investigates the room. She knows somethings out of place.
So when the day comes that the Arthur and Franz decide to rob the place. The locks have already been changed and they have no way to get into the room with all the cash. And so there plans seem to fail one after anouther to get the money. Eventually it their plans become a little more serious when Odile's aunt arrives on the scene of one of their failed robberies.



Anyone who is interested in foriegn films or for that matter crime films will definitely enjoy this movie. And as I've said many times before, if your a fan of Tarantino I would recommend you check out Jean-Luc Godard. Especially with Godard's Breathless and Band of Outsiders both films you can see heavily influenced Tarantino's earlier work of Reservior Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Godard directed this film wonderfully and the scenery around this film is something to take notice of. The acting is well done of course and it's one of those films I just found myself falling in love with at the very beginning.

French films seem to deal with romance better than we do here in America. In America, we think of romance in a film to be some sort of chick-flick ideal:
Sensitive guy meets a nice girl, but they have problems being in a relationship and eventually come up with a sissy way to help solve their problems together.

That's not how the french deal with romance in films. Rather they deal with it in a more interesting fasion. For example in this movie:
Naive girl falls in love with a criminal who manipulates her love for him just to get her aunt's money.

See the difference?

This film gets better everytime you watch it as well. Which is anouther reason why I like subtitled foreign films. The first time you watch it you get a basic just for the film. The second or third time around to watching it you get the film even more, plus the fact this time around you can take in the visual artistry of the film.

Some parts in this movie I thought where a bit lame but regardless i was still enjoying myself very much so. Godard is the director's director, and he's shown both the audience and the hardcore movie goers that his films are experiments of both greatness and error made to study from.



4/5 Stars.

__________________
"I don't think there's anything to be afraid of. Failure brings great rewards -- in the life of an artist."---Quentin Tarantino

Witness for the Prosecution(1957)



I give it:

This movie was adapted by Billy Wilder from the play by Agatha Christie. It was directed by Billy Wilder. This film was also nominated for six Academy Awards in 1957, but couldn't beat David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai.

This film was nominated for:

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Charles Laughton
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Elsa Lanchester
Best Director: Billy Wilder
Best Film Editing
Best Picture
and Best Sound.

Despite the fact it didn't win at the Academy it's still worth a look and it's held it's place at number 165 of the top 250 films of all time on the Internet Movie Database.



Sir Wilfrid Robarts is a well-known master criminal barrister who has entered old age and is under treatment for severe health issues. After having been in a coma, Wilfrid is released from the hospital and becomes under the care of his nurse Miss Plimsoll. He, now having been under extensive care for his health issues, is told he wont be able to be a barrister anymore. He hardly takes this sitting down, and doesn't take his health issues or his nurse seriously.
The minute he arrives back at his office, an old friend Mr. Mayhew, drops by. Asking Wilfrid to take the case of a Leonard Stephen Vole, who is facing the charge of murder against a widowed woman. Miss Plimsoll protests, but the more she protests the more Wilfrid is interested and eventually decides to take Vole's case.

Vole stays strong to his innocence. He states to Wilfred he met the widowed woman while looking for gifts for his wife. He helps the widow pick out a hat and the two quickly become friends. But the night she was murdered he states he wasn't there at the time, he was walking home and got there to be with his wife. His story passes, but they accuse him anyway because he got 80,000 dallors from her will, so the cops lock him up until he can be seen in court.

Later on in the day Wilfrid meets the wife of Mr. Vole, Chistine Vole. Wilfrid thinks at first she might be of some help to the case. But it seems she is cynical and doesn't want to help her husband. After some questioning and never giving a straight answer. Wilfrid decides not to use her in the case against Vole.

On trial they bring in several witnesses and they all seem to crimble under the questioning of barrister Wilfrid Robarts. Until they bring in a suprise witness, Christine "Helm" Vole. Who seems to be at odds with her husband, and will do her best to bring him down. The question is, why?



Now I enjoyed myself all the way through this movie. Some things where predictable, which was some what of a disappointment. But overall it had my predictions only half-way fulfilled, so that was a plus. Things didn't catch me off guard, but it was something to be admired regardless.

This movie was real wholesome family entertainment. And I would recommend it. The acting was brilliant and even though they where in a courtroom for half of the movie, they really made the courtroom come alive to speak an incredible story. Billy Wilder did a great set up of shots. (I especially like the fact he used Wilfrid's glasses to reflect peircing light onto the witnesses faces.)

A director who was really at his prime when he directed this film. The next film he would later write and direct was the comedy classic, Some Like it Hot. Which would later be hailed as the greatest comedy of all time.

This truely is a classic movie. I really enjoyed this film, it made me laugh and pulled me in the minute it started.



5/5 Stars.

Are your reviews written off-the-cuff? Or do you sit for long periods of time to think your way through it?

Originally my reviews where just off-the-cuff. And now some of my newer style reviews is more thought out and I spend an hour or so doing just one single review. Because I spend my time researching the background history of the movie. Then I think out a process on which to explain the flick, without giving anything away. Then I write my own commentary on it.

But I can easily copy and paste them onto here because all my reviews come from anouther website which I attend to more often which is www.innutech.com

I write all my reviews there first, (which is a website with all my local buddies I actually hang out with.), then all those come from their to here.

You guys are movie movie literate than my buddies, that's why I post them here.

Damn. I wish I had a third thumb.

__________________
"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

The Thing(1982)



I give it:

A moster movie that seemingly stands the test of time. This film is another gem created by the master of modern horror, John Carpenter. This film was a remake, however, of the Howard Hawks 1951 film The Thing From Another World. This movie was made four years after Carpenter's huge success with Halloween in 1978. Kurt Russell stars in this film as well. He and Carpenter had success with both of their last film together Escape from New York in 1981 just one year before this films release in 1982.



An American research station in the Antarctica get a suprise visit when some seemingly burnt-out Norwegians try and shoot a sledge dog that runs right into the middle of the American research camp. They continue to try and shoot the dog regardless of whoever is in their way. Eventually shooting and injuring an man in the process. Finally in self defense the Americans shoot back at the Norwegians and kill them. Leaving the dog unharmed after the whole ordeal.

The American research team wonders if the Norwegians had suffered from cabin fever and maybe have lost their minds. When they decide to investigate the situation. When they begin to investigate the Norwegian camp, it's an icy tomb but they soon find out that the Norwegians discovered an alien ship of some sort. And somehow they dig up something unwelcome with it.

Meanwhile the sledge dog they found earlier is asked to be locked up with the other dogs. But it begins to morph and mutate into a grotesque creature. When the other dogs in the kennel are frantically barking for help the rest of the team finds the horrid creature and burn it. They eventually discover that the monster they are up against can infect whoever is in contact with it and the team of men find themselves at odds with each other, not knowing who the real monster is.



A breath of fresh air for a monster movie. This horror/science fiction thiller delivers. Normally, a movie like this is 100% dependant on great acting. Which this had no doubt.

The actors in this film, like Kurt Russell, really made this film what it was. A film like this could have been ruined the minute someone didn't take the script seriously. They took their lines with utmost seriousness. And they in doing so pulled off a fright masterpeice. I also hand credit to John Carpenter for directing this peice of work.



4.5/5 Stars. If your looking for a monster movie thriller, this is a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Longest Day



I give it:

A magnificant war movie for its time. Directed into three different parts, of the Allies and the Nazis, by three different directors. Ken Annakin directed the British exterior episodes. Andrew Marton directed the American exterior episodes. Finally the German episodes was directed by Bernhard Wicki. The film also features an all-star cast including: Henry Fonda, Robert Wagner, Richard Beymer, Richard Burton, Sean Connery and John Wayne.

The film won Academy Awards including:

Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Best Effects, Special Effects

And the movie was nominated for:

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White,
Best Film Editing
and Best Picture.

But it lost Best Picture that year to the movie Tom Jones.



On June 6, 1944, the Allies are preparing the invasion of France to mark an end to the Nazi power over Europe. This movie is a re-creation of the historical events that took place hour-by-hour. The film shows the French resistance to the Nazis while the allied American and British army struggle to try and enter France.

The first attack on French soil is at night when the Allies send paratroopers to take ahold of the enemy bridge which the allies will use later after the invasion at Normandie. As the allies begin the attack at night, the movie goes into the flaws of the German army as they shrug off the allied attacks. They put off the attack all together, and even say we wouldn't dare attack the Normandie beaches in the horrible weather we where having on that particular day. It isn't until morning when they have an unwelcome discovery that the allies are right at the Normandie shores and bombing the enemy right out of their strongholds.



A great film for a war epic. But my only complaint about this film was the lack of substance it had to it. I'm proud we won the war, and this movie goes into great detail of the hardships we had to face. But still I think their should have been more character dialogue.

An epic, no doubt, but it was sometimes a frenzy of characters who tried to explain their side of the story but sort of get cut off in the middle of their ordeal and then explain the rest of their story at the end.

I enjoyed myself for the most part of the film. Although I thought at the same time there should have been some parts of the film shortened and some parts explained a bit better. The film seems to go into three stories and then chops those three stories into thirds and tells each 1/9 of the movie peice by peice. It gets a bit agitating, for me at least.

But if you can look past this, it's a great movie. The cast is wonderful and it's beautifully shot.



4/5 Stars.

Thanks for the reviews, of 2 movies, that I also like.

__________________
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Good job.

The Village



I give it:

Well this is M. Night Shyamalan's sixth movie that he directed and unfortunately it's not him at his best. Critics are calling this latest release to be as bad as his beginning film Wide Awake. I'm a M. Night Shyamalan fan and I can definitely say that in this latest film, he had good intentions. But it's almost like the man is stuck in making movies that have a constant twist that come straight from "The Twilight Zone". M. Night Shyamalan still has great talent. But in this film it's not his direction that's the problem, it's the screenplay itself that causes upset. M. Night Shyamalan, in my opinion, hasn't reached his pinnacle yet as a director/screenwriter. He's definitely got undeniable talent. As a director/screenwriter I think he is just warming up, I suspect this film is just a product of his warm up period.



A group of people live in a village that is surrounded by a large forrest that is controlled by "the people they dare not speak of". The people from the woods demand that the villagers are never in the presents of anything that is red. It is a forbidden color and anything that is red must be buried in the ground. If the villagers ever venture outside the village into the woods or they carry the forbidden color, the people will be tormented at night from the woodland creatures.

One man in the town, Lucius, is a brave man who does not fear the woods. He keeps requesting from the village elders to go beyond the woods and reach the nearest town outside the forest. The village elders keep denying his requests. The think it will endanger their people.

Later on we meet up with an old friend of Lucius, she's a blind woman named Ivy. She has a very odd friend as well named Noah, who seems to be the crazy man of the village. He wants to be the boyfriend of Ivy but it seems that Lucius and Ivy are destined to be with one another. The two are pronounced to get married and Noah out of jealousy stabs Lucius.

Lucius will surely die without medical help from the town outside the village woods. So Ivy request from the elders that she goes into the woods and that she go into the town outside the forbidden forest to get medical help. The end result is something a bit unexpected.



This film unfortunately is a big let down. I mean this was in a sense M. Night Shyamalan's way of providing insight into the world we live in. And he trys his best to makes sure we leave the theatre thinking about how we act as a society in general.

The point he is trying to make is a good one in my eyes, but the fact of the matter is it's the script in general that's the problem. And the actors needed to give me something more than just an old english dialogue in order to make me feel more intouch with their reality. The actors just talked the script. There was no innovative way of portaying their charactors. The film felt like it went on like this thoughout.

Another thing this film brought on, to me anyway, was small doses of confusion. I am the audience and I think of the audience as all somewhat jugglers in a sense. Whenever a basic person, place, thing or idea is pitched out into the plot. The audience then has to juggle those things in their head until they come to a close sometime during the movie. This film left me some unanswered questions. "Why was red the 'forbidden' color? What was Lucius's color to Ivy? What was it's significance?" It made me wonder if I missed something during a dialogue between very dry-old english actors. Or maybe it was Shyamalan trying to make me think what the significance it all was when I left the theatre. Either way it left with with total confusion in these moments. I never got closer, it was a major let down.

Although this movie had three pivotal points that I was at the edge of my seat and thrilled. This film still offered me more times I was at odds with the story than involved with it.



Again not Shyamalan's best work and I advise you to steer clear. If you prefer some of his more 'True to Thrill' work i will suggest you go to the video store and rent The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, or Signs. Until his next work, (which hopefully will be better), this one just doesn't make the cut.

2.5/5 Stars.

A La Mode



I give it:

Supposively a french romantic comedy, but it just turns out to be an all out mess of plots that have been overdone several times throughout cinema history. The film is a mix between Oliver Twist and every single romantic comedy you can possibly think of. But it's really not even a romantic comedy in a sense. There are about only four or five scenes where the main character is truely involved with girlfriend. There is very little originality in this film. It's unfortunate because the film was beautifully shot. All thanks to the films director and cinematographer. But like The Village, it's not the the screen shots that are the problem it's the whole script itself that made this film go so awry.

--------------------

The film is about a boy named Fausto Barbarico who loses his parents in a bicycle accident. The boy then finds himself in an orphanage where the other orphans bully him. So he takes revenge against the kids and the orphanage owner puts him in a new room where a kid named Raymond greets Fausto. The two quickly hit it off and become friends.

Fausto then looks for a job, he finds himself apprenticing at a local tailor. He gradually over time becomes a great tailor and has a gift for sewing. Then one day, for whatever reason, Raymond and Fausto decide to send love letters to every girl in town. Fausto then finds a girl he likes and ends up falling in love with her then having sex with her. All the while this fake relationship is going on, Fausto becomes the most famous tailor in town for his wacky suits that he makes and they eventually become famous works of clothing/art. And we soon forget about his relationship with his girlfriend until the very end.

--------------------

As I said before, the scenery in the movie was great. It was without question, beautifully shot. But again no matter how good looking, nothing can make this story appealing. It's just got all the wrong ideas. For the most part they aren't even original ideas, so I guess I'm giving too much credit in that department.

Another thing I found uncomfortable was it was almost like they tried to make a two to three hour movie in ninety minutes. It was just one scene after another of a main plot ideas. They never once let these main plot ideas to play themselves out. The movie was just one big summary of ideas. And for the most part the plot they where pitching out was a bunch of useless jibberish anyway, so bottom line is the movie was a condensed form of cinematic garbage.

2/5 Stars. This film fails to live up to any expectations.

Taxi Driver



I give it:

In 1976, Taxi Driver took the movie world by storm. It gave Martin Scorsese his big break as a director. It also gave Robert De Niro his big break as a leading actor. Even though he was noted for his wonderful work in The Godfather 2, which he won an oscar for Best Supporting Role as Vito Corleone. This movie set him apart as a true leading actor. Even though he may not have won at the oscars that year, due to the film Rocky that came on scene and stole the show at the 1976 oscars, his role as Travis Bickle would become an infamous name in pop culture movie history. Some critics have argued Taxi Driver is perhaps the first film to address--however indirectly--the impact of the Vietnam War on soldiers who fought in the conflict.
Bernard Herrmann, who is noted for his work with Alfred Hitchcock (especially Psycho), scored Taxi Driver. The soundtrack was the last he completed before his death.

Taxi Driver, however, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976.

It was #47 on the American Film Institute's list of top 100 Movies.
And
#22 on the American Film Institute's list of top 100 Thrills.

It was also nominated for four oscars that year including Best Picture.



The story is about a man named Travis Bickle, he is an alienated, sexually repressed man who also suffers from insomnia.
Travis figures that since he can't sleep nights, and during those late night hours he spends time driving around, he might as well get paid for it. So he interviews to take a job of a taxi driver. The interview doesn't go so well at first because Tarvis is not well educated, but when Travis mentions that he was a former marine off on honorary discharge the boss immediately takes Travis in because he himself was a marine to.

Then we soon enter the world of Travis Bickle, (by narrative), he explains what he sees at nights. He is horrified by what he considers a moral decay around him. He loaths the creatures that come out at night. The pimps, the whores, the junkies and every animal inbetween. And he just wishes for the day that someone will wipe all the scum off the streets of New York. All the while he surrounds himself in this reality; By taking people into filthier parts of town, picking up the night prowlers in his cab, and most of all Travis participates in watching pornographic movies.

Travis tries his best to try to become a moral person, just like everyone else. And he tries to find a significant other but he's so socially inept it's hard for him to, but he tries. He finally meets a girl named Betsy he likes who works at a political office supporting a senator named Palantine. He goes in a proposes to take her on a date. But things don't go out as planned and the date goes horribly wrong when Travis tries to take her to a dirty movie because that's all he knows about. Betsy doesn't want to see him again and Travis becomes more alienated.

It isn't until a 12 year old whore gets in his cab that Travis's life takes a sudden turn. She begs him to driver her away at that moment until her pimp grabs her and forcefully takes her out of Travis's taxi and pays Travis to forget about the whole incident. But Travis instead of forgetting about the whole incident he decides to become a one man vigilante. Travis starts working out more, he buys a couple of guns illegally that he doesn't have a permit for. And slowly but surely becomes more and more socially disturbed. But he feels he doing the right thing, so he decides to stand up against what he perceives to be a "moral decay".



Without a doubt in my mind, I think this is one of the greatest movies of all time. It is not only historically significant for the time it was back in the 70's. But the films message still applies to this day. I also found myself relating to the main character, Travis, for much of the movie. I'm not sure if it will have the same effect on others, but i can definately say people will relate this movie to the society we live in.

Wonderfully scripted work. The film was written by Paul Schrader, who seemed to capture the essence of being alienated in a time where so much is changing. He also did a wonderful job of letting us have Travis be our films narrative. Throughout the film we are constantly getting comments from Travis's journal. You really step into the mind of Travis and see what he sees.

Martin Scorsese still delivers blockbuster direction in this film. He doesn't waist a shot that doesn't have some sort of significance to the movie. We are seeing what Travis is seeing, which is society in ruin, due to Martin Scorsese's direction. The outcome of this is a disturbing and powerful mind bender. Without a doubt Martin Scorsese is the most daring director, I think, in cinema history.

Robert De Niro plays Travis so well, he became that character easily. I like De Niro's older works such as this film and Godfather 2 because he was actually acting during this period. His later works, 1995-present, I found quite boring and uninteresting because Robert De Niro is just playing himself all the time. Other surprize actors in this film that also gave award-winning preformances was Harvey Keitel who played the pimp and Jodie Foster who played the 12-year-old hooker. Even Martin Scorsese's cameo in the movie was just breath taking.



5/5 Stars. A well-rounded movie that is entertaining, powerful and significant.

nice review of Taxi Driver i like that movie just as much as you. i never ew the pimp was played by harviey Kietel(SP??). who would have that Mr. White would have been pimpin 12 year old girls

__________________
"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theater admission and the babysitter were worth it."
- Alfred Hitchcock

i liked Taxi Driver, Village i didnt enjoy so much, i didnt see the other movies nice review manica!