Maniac's Reviews

Ok this thread is for me to be, "Mr. Critic".

I will most likely double post on this. Cause after I see a film, I'll write down here what I thought of the movie, so maybe you guys can check the film out and see it for yourself if it's good.

This gives me an excuse to go to the movie theatres more often too and check out the recent and old films and criticize them.

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Here's how the rating system works.


1 Star:Means the film Sucked Beyond Belief.


2 Stars:Means the film was Poor.



3 Stars:Means the film was Good.



4 Stars:Means the film was Very Good.



5 Stars:Means the film Owned.

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

Les Carabiniers



I give it:

This is the film that Jean Luc Godard made and he pissed off his own people for the first time, (but not the last time)...the French.

During the French New Wave many French artists where coming up with new ways to direct movies.

Many focased on telling the story without a "setting" but with a "character-forming-plot." With the main characters creating the story. Almost as in real life.

This film focased on how French policies and politics where bull****. And they where running their own people into the ground with false hopes and dreams for the lower class future. While the upper-class made all the wealth off them as they went to war.



On a side note. If any of you wondered where Quentin Tarantino gets his style from, it's from this man. I recommend you check Jean Luc Godard out. Because he was one of Quentins Idols. And you can see a resemblence in movies.

Pulp Fiction was a French New Wave Style movie. And the leader of that movement was Godard.

But anyway. I gave this film a 3/5 because some things could have been done better. But that's only because of the budget cuts on the movie. Everything in the film otherwise is unique.


We should watch this sometime if anyone is interested in foriegn films.

Nice job, man. Keep them coming! I'll probably see this one some time.

It's good to see someone else that also likes to review more obscure stuff.

Nice review. Keep up the good work can we expect more?

__________________
"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

Enter the Dragon



I give it:

This is the movie that got Bruce lee his big break.

It work out like this.

Some crazy herion dealing jap, (who has one hand and adds weapons to it.), is into Kung Fu tournoments and ****.

Bruce Lee is hired to find out what the deal is.

And Bruce Lee in the process kicks some serious ass.


I gave this film a 4/5 stars cause I think more could have been done to it, for the type of movie they where trying to make it could have been a little more suspenseful, like a hitchcock style added in there and then it would have been perfect.
But overall is still bad ass.

I would recommend it to any kung fu fan.

A Clockwork Orange



I give it:

This, (in my opinion), was Stanley Kubricks BEST movie by far that he had made.



When It was released it had an "X" rating labeled on it. And it was the first X rated film to have ever been nominated for an oscar.

It is a psychological, thought-driven film that goes into the darker realms of mankind.

It's not for everyones taste. Infact some may hate it.

It has a "retro-techno-futuristic but modern" vibe to it.



It shows how no matter what society does crime will always exist. And that society commits horrid crimes everyday. That no matter what we do we are all contributers to a darker world.

The film is a story of a criminal who loves nothing but violence, rape, and music. And it shows society's effort to stop him.

If you watching this film you MUST pay attention to it.

Stanley Kubrick is a "thinkers-director". And he want's you to think about the point he's making.



I give this movie a 5/5 for making me think and setting this movie up so well. Stanley Kubrick has never gone wrong.

The Deer Hunter



I give it:

Now this movie may have won alot of Oscars in 1978.

But if you want my honest opinion I think it was just a movie that was acceptable for only that time, because America was going through a period of feeling sorry for how they treated the American POW's and veitnam vets.

Now the film itself is a bit out dated from my prespective.

This film wants to show you the "horrors of war" and what a "life changing" thing it can be.

But that point comes across early in the film even after Robert De Niro gets back from veitnam.

I don't know. It doesn't do what i great film should which is stand the test of time.

Its good in the respects the acting was well done.

But if you want my honest opinion Robert De Niro always plays Robert De Niro. Sometimes that's a good thing sometimes that's a bad thing. The only true character I've seen him play was the handicap man in Awakenings.



Christopher Walken however does a great job in playing a man "who's seen too much" however. And I will give this movie that. And I believe this is the movie that gave him his big break.

See this film just to see it.

But I think you will agree with me that it is nothing special.

I gave it a 3/5 for all these reasons. Good cinematography. But the story was a little too dry for my taste.

Laugh, Clown, Laugh



I give it:

This is a film from the Silent Film Era.

And it stars Lon Chaney.
Now alot of people have forgotten about that actor. But I will say, he was the only one and true actor to have ever existed.

He usually played dark characters searching for love but never truely finding it.
He was known as the "Man of a thousand Faces" and he literally changed hollywood into what it is today. Without him there wouldn't have been costums, make-up or film designs in movies.



This movie revolves around a man who travels all of Europe entertaining everyone in the towns he visits and preforms as a clown.

When he meets a young girl who is abandoned and lost and doesn't know where to go.

He takes her in as his own child. But as she grows he falls in love with her. And she becomes apart of his entertainment show.



But when she falls in love with anouther man, there's no much more he can do except watch and fell hopeless and lost himself.



The acting in this film is some of the best I've ever seen.

It's hard to get ahold of this film but I own it. (The Lon Chaney Collection)

I recommend it, even though it's a silent film. If you can stand reading and watching I think anyone would enjoy it.

I gave it a 4/5 because it is the best film I've ever seen an actor play in. But also I was upset that it did have some minor plot holes. but nothing noticeable the first time you watch it.

Full Metal Jacket



I give it:

This is anouther Stanley Kubrick film.

But it's an odd movie in alot of senses.

It is a hit but at the same time a miss.

This movie has technically 2 parts to it.

The first part. (The one it's most remembered for.), Where the men of the U.S. Marines are in boot camp. And their Drill Sargent (Lee Ermey) yells and insults and drills them into fighting machines.



The second half. Where the Marine, (private Joker), goes to veitnam. And sees the actual war-life.

I can understand the point Stanley Kubrick was trying to make in this film. (Anouther Anti-war film) Where war is hell and changes human beings into killing machines.



It's a great movie, but the message behind this still needs improvement.
The transition from Boot Camp to Veitnam is way too quick.

Other then that it is an "Ultimate Guy Film" and it's still pretty cool to see Lee Ermey spout out insults like a pro.
The cinematography is great too. And Stanley Kubrick knows how to set up his shots.

For all these reasons I give it a 4/5 Stars.

Bowling for Columbine



I give it:

This is a documentary and anti-gun film made by Michael Moore.

Besides the fact I don't agree with Michael Moore's opinions. Because he is an ultra-libral, whiney, fat-ass...

....I am going to leave my personal views of him away from critisizing the movie.

I hate Michael Moore as a director. His shots are lazy, and a 15 year old with no film experiance can make a film like him.

There was a few scenes in the movie that I thought where entertaining. But aside from few bit of enjoyment which lasted only seconds in a 2 hour long movie. It wasn't much.



His own points wavered from time to time. And there wasn't one solid point he was trying to make. He'd blame one thing on one thing then blame that one thing on something else and he somehow said the KKK and the NRA where hand in hand with one anouther. Which is bull**** cause there is nothing to back that statement up. He doens't SHOW all of his beliefs. He just makes statements in hopes people will back him.



A well made documentry UNFOLDS like a story. This didn't do that at all. This documentry was nothing but a point trying to be made.
And going out all over the place and back again to make his point from minute 1.
"That guns are bad, and by not having them, it will solve America's problems...VOTE FOR ME!" bull****.

Because it had bad camera angles, because it didn't stay focased, because it didn't show proof, because it didn't unfold a developing story, I give it a 2/5 stars.

Scarface(1983)



I give it:

Brain De Palma does it again with him mastering anouther action/drama flick.
De Palma was originally having alot of trouble beginning his directing career because he went though a "Hitchcock" phase. But after Blow Out he was freed from that phase and was able to make his own style. And this was his masterpeice.

This was Oliver Stone's comeback on his cocaine addiction and he scriptwrote Scarface as his way to get back at the drug he was addicted to.

From the moment this film begins. You know you are about to be taken on a ride and witness one of the biggest badasses in movie history.



He's from Cuba, and he's out to make the American dream happen for him. But in a more brutal fashion.

It shows his ascent to becoming one of the biggest drug lords. Down to his brutal defeat.

All he cared about was money and power. And he disregarded all life surrounding him. Even his own.



The movie is perfect.
I've seen it about 20 times. And i know probably all the lines to it. But it's just one of those films where you root for the bad guy for once.

For the fact that this movie has a great plot, plus being action packed and it speaks alot of truth on alot of levels. I give it a 5/5 stars.

Midnight Express



I give it:

I strongly urge you people to see this movie.



This was the movie script that gave Oliver Stone his big break into the industry.

IN FACT! This movie made international travel go WAYYYY down. Because people where so scared to death of it after watching this movie, which happends to be based off of a true story.

It's the story of a man who tries to smuggle hash out of Turkey. The Turks arrest him after searching him before he boards the plane and he is then sent to a Turkish jail.



He is brutally beaten the first night. Every night becomes worse and worse. He is tried at a Turkish court and still held captive for longer periods of time then they said they would release him.

He tries to escape but someone rats him out and his sentence becomes worse and he literally goes through different layers of hell. Where people have become so hopeless they have lost there minds.



It's his struggle to survive, and one wouldn't suspect at all what happends next in a effort to escape from hell.

I gave it a 4/5, somethings got dry after awhile (like some unnessisary dialouge), But not much. It really left me wanting to see more of the movie even after it was over.

The Passion of the Christ



I give it:

Before this movie began, I was watching all the people holding there buckets of popcorn and candy. Which made me wonder,
"Would Jesus find it offensive if people where eating popcorn while watching the reenactment of his death?"

Well anyway. The movie focases on Jesus's last hours.

Now from beginning to end it's a pretty decent film.
Mel Gibson is a great director. And he gives you alot of pretty pictures to look at...

All of the dialogue is in Hebrew, which gives the film a even more realistic sense to it.

The movie starts off in the middle of anouther story, of jesus resisting temptation and telling his father (God) he's not looking forward to what's about to happen to him.

Jesus is betrayed and is taken to the head jewish preists and is then is brutally beaten...but his beatings have not even begun yet.

Now personally, as a jew, I didn't see what was so anti-semetic about the film. In the film it even showed that there where MANY jews, (even a few head preists), who wanted Jesus to be left alone.

The film is very good. But I think Mel Gibson wanted to make a point to it and make it relate to all people. But the fact is, that point really only applies to the people who believe in a Christian/Catholic faith.

I gave this film a 4/5, because it was a well thought out movie, and it was unique in the sense that Mel Gibson went out of his way to make it as realistic as possible. But the only reason it didn't make 5 stars it cannot be applied to all people. (Plus some may argue it is a bit to graphic.)

Nightstalker



I give it:

WHAT THE HELL HAS GONE WRONG AT SUNDANCE!?!?!?!? I can't believe this film won an award!

Before I go into this review lemme recap my complains about todays, "New Style" and "Fast stuff makes it good" movies.

Moulin Rouge is a prime example of what I'm talking about, and before i review that movie. Lemme go into what people are doing with films now a-days.

Directors are experimenting with new ways of filming. Now, they are making scenes shorter, with alot of cut shots, with SPFX added in.
It's enough to give one a seizure if you stare at it in the dark.

You have no idea what's going on, it doesn't give you enough time to process the plot. It's just all a bunch of flash but no bang.



Now onto my review.

Like I said before this film, (trying to base itself on the real life Nightstalker, Richard Rameriz.), turns out to be total **** from start to finish.

If they where trying to base it off the real story, don't expect it. Because everything in this film is false.
OR
If they wheren't trying to base it off the real story and just have Richard as the big bad guy and the movie to be made up. It was horrible.

Poorly written, it's all a bunch of one liners.
Poorly acted, not one word in this film made me believe they where facing a "monster"
Poorly directed, the camera can't stay focased half the time it's filming. It's like it has ADHD,Chris Fisher (the director) going all over the place and can't keep focased at the problem at hand.

Old "supsense" tricks tried to be pulled off and not one was done successfully.

Serious moments where laughable. There was nothing serious about them.
All the characters are fighting with one anouther and you don't know exactly who to root for. There is no one to connect with.

A real movie, UNFOLDS, like a story. This one you knew what was gonna happen from the very beginning. And there was no draw.

The bait they put out was bull****, and I'm not taking it.

For all these reasons I give it a 1/5 Stars.

Office Space



I give it:

This comedy made by Mike Judge, (the man who mad Bevis and Butt-head and King of the Hill.), is one of the most painfully true but funny movies.

I've seen this film many many times. But as much as I like it. It does have it's few downers.

The beginning of the film (The first 30-45 minutes or so. maybe less.) If some of the funniest **** I've seen.

Mike Judge created something really wonderful, because I've never worked in an Office, but somehow he makes you feel like you know exactly what he's talking about. You can have no office experience and still love the movie. Which is great.



In alot of senses he's just making you laugh at work life in general and how people act at work.

But there is one down side to the movie which i was alittle upset over.
Was as the film goes on (toward the middle/end), after awhile it doesn't become as funny as it was. You kinda got the joke by this point.

And unfortunately that's where alot of comedies go wrong.

(And if you ever noticed, comedies are MUCH sorter then most films and partially it has to do with the reason that they want you to end laughing all the way through the movie. They want to end before the joke gets old.)

As the movie gets slower to the end. It is a little disappointing. But the end does have a joke in itself. So your not totally let down.

I gave it a 3.5/5 Stars because it was a mix between 3 and 4 stars. The movie was very good for a comedy. But still it has it's minor let downs.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(1974)



I give it:

If your a fan for horror. This is THE movie to see.

Tobe Hopper Started a whole new horror genre with this movie, "Slasher" films.

Originally, before this movie came out, many people's preception on a horror film was a Hitchcock film. But after this film. People thought different. (Atleast filmmakers did.)

Originally the response to this movie was very bad. Actually the feminists got VERY upset with the movie and rallied against it.

But other then protests by them, not many people wanted to see it due to the fact the title of the movie sounded like your run-of-the-mill drive-in exploitation fare.

But years later, The movie became a Cult Classic. And was regarded as the film that Started the darker horror/slasher scene.



Onto my review.

The first time I saw this movie, I wasn't really impressed with it to be honest. I didn't understand what was taking place and why a man with mask made out of people's flesh was chasing people around with a chainsaw.

But if you can bare to watch it a second time. You will understand why.

From the moment this film begins to the moment it ends. The people who are the victims. Where marked.

The family that marked them was where part of meat processing in the Texas area. And as a sociopathic family they have a taste for people.

Leatherface,

Is a women in a man's body. And his attempts to "change" from a man to a women, he takes womens flesh and mask's it on his body. And serves up the rest of the body parts to his family.

This is one SICK movie. Some may not even be able to sit through it all. Because the movie taughts the audience and the characters on screen with violence and true horror.



I gave it a 3/5 stars for delivering such an awesome and grotesque film together. But it didn't gain 4 stars because it takes a few watches to grasp the entire concept.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(2003)



I give it:

When I saw this movie. I was pissed off as hell.

And it made me want to kill the stupid ****ers who tried to remake this movie.

They made Lee Ermey look like a pussy, they made leatherface like a pussy, and they made the whole "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie out to be some pink panty wearing joke.



Ok lemme get into why I hated this movie so much.

As a movie alone, it's a horrible horror movie. They used boring scare tactics of,
"Did you see something" and "Maybe it wasn't what you thought it was"
The only thing they play on you is the fact you paid money to see this peice of bull****.
The camera shots are darker. Maybe this will set a tone of a scarier film. Which is totally wrong.

The movie starts out with a couple of teenagers picking up a hitch hiker that takes a gun out of her cootch (SUPRISE!) then shoots herself with it.



Then it goes into a phase of "we stupid teenagers had pot on our van, but we can't leave to pot here. Oh man what's worse. Leaving a decaying girl in our car or smoking dope?"

I wasn't buying any of this acting for a minute.
Atleast the original TCM gave you a sense that these kids really had no idea what they where getting into.

Then they just willy-nilly walk into a persons house and search the place. And only to find a Chainsaw-blood thirsty maniac inside. (Big ****en suprise.)

Then after killing off all the friends turns out only the chicks left and she goes completely Rambo for some reason. And it only makes me hate the film even more.

I more bought into the fact that if someone went through something that horrorifying in one night they would go mad. But this film is far from that.

You never saw the monster who was chasing them (leatherface). You never really knew your enemy. It was all split-shots of him.

Anouther downer...no Leatherface Chainsaw dance!!! This movie supremely sucked.

I gave it a 1.5/5 Stars.

High Noon



I give it:

This is the film that won Gary Cooper his second oscar for playing the role of a lawman who's town gives up on him, but he doesn't want to give up on his town.

It's his wedding day and a couple of criminals who vow vengence on him and his town will strike at noon.

The town begs him to leave, and his wife threatens to leave him. But he's too involved with a town he made with his own hands and kept it clean. And he want's to make sure it stays that way.



It's just him alone in a show-down that has to be one of the most rememberable show-downs in western cinema.

The interesting thing about this film is that it revolves around a simple clock. As time gets closer to noon, the suspense build bigger and bigger until it's ultimate climax.

If you are a fan of westerns I would definately recommend this film. But's it's not the best western out there. And some things are a bit played out after awhile.

I gave this film a 4.5/5 Stars for keeping me interested all the way through the film and leaving me wanting more at the end. Although it didn't hit the 5 Stars because I thought some of the dialogue could have been more entertaining and delivered a bit better.

Amelie



I give it:

This is an odd, but very good French film. That got 5 Academy Award nominations in 2001. (Including best picture).

May not appeal to some, because it is a almost "Cartoonish" film. It's filled with vibrant colors. Camera angles that sometimes make a joke out of the situation (Which they are suppost to but some may not get the joke.)



Overall it's suppost to be a feel good film about a girl who's not very social, but she enjoys the smaller things in life. And she's naive on how to deal with people she surrounds herself with.

But as she grows up a little more, (and you see her grow on camera little by little, which i liked.), she feels she's ready to give love a shot. And being anti-social herself. The movie unfolds to tell the tale on how she overcomes that and she's more able to appreciate the bigger things in life, but never changes her charactor.



This film takes awhile to get into. Because your not use to what the director is portraying because it is very original. The film wants you to understand how small things effect people. It also wants you to understand that life is meaningful in all ways.

I gave this film a 4/5 Stars because somethings i think where a bit TOO artistic and played out, but overall it's a breath of fresh air to see something that's like a painting but tells a deeper story all the while making you enjoy what's on the surface.

The 400 Blows



I give it:

Despite all the rave this film gets and is said to be one of the best foreign films. I thought this movie was a little dry. It didn't give me something to sink my teeth into. It was good. But it wasn't great.



The good things about this film was that throughout the story being told, I could relate to alot of things about it. It deals with a artistic kid and he want's to be free and away from the world that treats him like a number. The path he takes developes and the more he walks on that road the world just seems at bigger odds with him. It shows his struggle just to live in the world when he feels so disconnected in it.



The bad thing about this film was that it just didn't really draw me in as much as i wanted to be. It was weird. The actors did a great job of acting, but it was hard for me to get into the story they were telling. I wish it wasn't that way but it was. Things just got played out after awhile. And it didn't thrill me as much as i wanted it to. It left me dissapointed that there wasn't much to it.

For all these reasons i give it a 3/5 Stars.