Cinemaafficionado's Movie Portraits

[cinemaafficionado]

Since I've allready spent a bunch of time on this forum, I thought that it would only be fitting to start a thread of my own movie musings for the erudite members of this forum. As I am not often in the moment, my thoughts do ramble, but at least I can do my rambling in one place. I will not review movies in any particular order but will do so hopefully being under the influence of temporary clarity so that the reader can get a fair idea of what the movie is about and what some of my thoughts are pertaining to it. As grading can be a very subjective thing, I would like to make it as simple as possible or avoid it all together. The star system just doesn't work for me because there are overall too many elements to consider, and not every one weighs their stars the same. But, as all of you seem to have some kind of a grading system, I'll also play. I'll confine myself to 3 ratings:
Exceptional - Movies that I can watch more than once ( in itself failrly rare )
Enjoyable - Movies that I felt were worth seeing and that I can reccomend to others for their viewing pleasure
Regretable - Movies that I felt were a waste of my time nad money. In all fairness I have to admit that some of
those movies I didn't see in their entity, as usually the first 20 minutes or so would have
been enough to lose my interest. Thankfully, there aren't too many of those as I make it a
point to watch previews beforehand, however, there have been occasions in the past were
the preview was edited well and looked interesting but the movie itself turned out to be a
dud. So, for the most part what you can expect to see in these reviews will be movies
that I thought were enjoyable or exceptional.
I welcome all comments and opinions and am open to discussion, agreement and disagreement, so please feel free to voice yourselves.
As for me, I just hope that my experiences can further enrich yours.
So, without further a do I present my first movie review:



FIRE






There is no word in Hindu that corresponds to the English word " lesbian " . Deepa Mehta, who also scripted this equisite and thought provoking movie, drew the ire of the Hindus in India for directing a story of a taboo relationship between two Hindu in-laws in a Bombay family.
Pretty much rejected by their own husbands, the two main characters of this movie, Rada and Sitha, find each other to satisfy their dormant sexual desires. Every character in this engaging film is carefully developed and their interplay is honed like a fine swiss watch. The director makes us, the audience, participating spectators in a highly emotional and complex story about two women who, in the process of rebelling against custom and tradition, find freedom in discovering themselves.
One can not help but feel simpathy for them, as they are portrayed as victims of a religiously stifling, male chauvinistic culture.
In the process, one is also entertained and enlightened about taboo mores in modern Indian society.
This film is the third in Deepa Mehta's trilogy, that richly describes the prevailing social conditions in contemporary India.
The same as in her two other movies, Water and Earth, Mehta disects and questions Hindu customs and tradition and in doing so creates an unforgetable canvas that touches all our lives.
Mehta portrays a household that in essence is a microcosom of quircky personalities.
Rhada is the outwardly traditional, caring and doting wife, where as Sitha is the young and somewhat rebelious newly wed.
In the house, present is the 100 old grandmother who doesn't know whether she is coming or going and is constantly in the care of others. The one that spends most of the time with her is a reluctant and lecherous servant, who uses his alone time with her to watch adult movies and play with himself.
Rhada's husband is obssessed with religion and believes that sex is for procreation only and since Rhada can't bear children, then why bother.
Sitha's husband has a mistress and treats Sitha with bored indifference.
In the presence of these two negative male stereotypes, it's almost a fore gone conclusion that the two women will turn to each other for love.
In spite of comical touches created in akward circumstances, in India the subject matter is nothing to joke about. The Hindus take their riots seriously, which is exactly what happened after this movie first premiered.
As such, this Bombay gem is much more suited to the temperament of Western audiences, who will definitely enjoy the mixture of comic relief and the serious expression of human sexuality in a society that still doesn't have a handle on it.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Must say that I'm somewhat surprised, 87 views but O comments on this review. Has any one seen this or any of Deepa Mehta movies? If not, at least get me some feedback on the review. Is there some life for me in movie reviews?

[Yoda]

Sorry, haven't seen the film. It's a good review, though. :)

[thracian dawg]

I haven't seen Fire yet, but I've seen Sam & Me; Bollywood, Hollywood and one of my favorites is Water

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/Water_%282005_film%29_cover_art.jpg

[Nausicaä]

^ I adore Lisa Ray. Not seen Fire yet but did love I Can't Think Straight(also starring Lisa Ray), ignoring some dodgy acting in parts, it's a wonderful and uplifting film.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/I_Can%27t_Think_Straight_Poster.jpg

[cinemaafficionado]

La Bonne Anne

Just finished watching this and thought how very French.
The movie starts out as an elobarate jewelry heist but manages to turn into a love story along the way.
The main protagonist a man's man ( Lino Ventura ) meets a a woman ( Francoise Fabian ). She is the owner of an antique furniture store that happens to be right across from the jewelry store that the man and his accomplice plan on robbing.
She catches our hero's eye and at first he wants to use her as a means for timing his heist but he gets to know her and instantly falls in love,as does she, finding him desirable as he is different from her intelectual friends. She doesn't really know what he does for a living but finds out, as the heist goes wrong. And he winds up in prison.
This 1973 film kind of represents the era's sexual awakening and female imancipation as seen through the eyes of an old school guy.
The message seems to be: adapt or die alone.
Shall love overcome everything, remains for you to see, if you haven't allready.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

La Bonne Annee ( Happy New Year )

[cinemaafficionado]

Outcast

This one's for you, Nausicaa. The shadowy world of dark magic comes to life in this spooky but griity horror flick. Mary and Fergal are Irish nomads stalked by dadly hunters.
Along the way, Fergal falls for the exotic Petronalla.
The dark and suspensfull cinematagrophy alone makes this movie worth watching.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

This is something you also might enjoy Dead.

[cinemaafficionado]

Cold Fish

And just when I thought that Korean movies couldn't be more twisted, Shion Sono, the director of the Suicide Club and Noriko's Dinner Table, brings us a Japanese movie that Takeshi Miike would be proud of.
In Cold Fish, a meek and shy Tropical Fish Store owner lives a troubled life with his rebellious daughter and her young and pretty stepmother.
The daughter gets caught shoplifting and a seemingly kind friend of the store's owner agrees to help and take the daughter in as an employee of his, by strange coincidence, much bigger tropical fish store.
And so our main protagonist gets caught up and reeled into the lives of a serial killing couple and he becomes an unwilling accomplice to their blood bath. His chief tormentor is a skilled psychological manipulator, having quickly assessed our victim's weaknesses, and he becomes a tutor in terror. As our victim cringes and watches, his master shows him how to make chicken nuggets out of human flesh and emphasizes that it's important to seperate the flesh from the bones, so that the bones could more easily be fried and desposed of as ash.
This movie plays on the sado-masochistic elements present in the Japanese male-female psyche and demonstrates that there is a very fine line between the hunter and the hunted, when the hunted snaps.
Sometimes a victim is educated to the point where he becomes the victimizer and this becomes the case in this movie.
For those who enjoy gore, blood and guts, this is for you, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

EXCEPTIONAL

[planet news]

This movie borders on being a parody of movies like itself I think. Sono is a pretty hard guy to pin down in terms of his intentions, anyway. The 'interpretations' you gave are either sincere or just part of the joke. Every scene is easily hilarious if you get past the surface darkness. The ending lines are kind of the punchline. Lots of really neat moments in it though, and on the whole I enjoyed it immensely.

[cinemaafficionado]

Thanks, I see your point. Takeshi Miike's intentions are less veiled, like in Visitor Q. The shock effect rules.
It's funny what one sometimes thinks at moments while watching certain scenes in Cold Fish, where sexuality is flaunted.
I actualy thought for one moment there, I could have ended up minus some organs, but for the grace of God, having been rekless in my youth and envolved with an Asian psycho girl. I'm not one to fear much, but she gave me the willies and I had to part company or most probably end up in some oven, minus parts.

[cinemaafficionado]

The Samurai I Loved

The Samurai I Loved was adepted to the screen and directed by Mitsuo Kurosuchi in 2005 from a novel by Shuhei Fujisawa.
Maki ( Somegoro Ichikawa ) is the son of a Samurai that falls into disgrace for backing the wrong faction within his clan and is forced to commit hara-kiri.
Because Maki is one of the the best swordsman in the clan his family is not abolished but he is shuned by everyone except two close friends and a girl, Fuku (Yoshino Kimura) who is his neighbor and who falls in love with him after she gets bit by a snake and Maki sucks out the snake venom.
Unfortunately for their ill-fated love, Fuku is taken from the village by her father and delivered to Kyoto, where she becomes the favorite concubine of the ruler of Kyoto.
Years pass and Maki rises in his clan based on his own ability and dedication, when he receives word that Fuku's life is in danger.
This is a story of true but unfullfilled love.
It's also a testament to the strength of individual human spirit faced with
life's harsh cruelties of the society he dwells in.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

Mother Of Mine

Mother Of Mine takes place in World War II. Finland and Russia are fighting. A nine year old Finish boy's dad is killed and his mother sends him off to Sweden through a Swedish "Save the Finish Children" program that provided refuge for about 70,000 Finish chidren.
He finds himself on a Swedish farm with a Swedish couple. The man tries to be good to the boy, but the woman appears mean and treats him as if he is unwanted. The boy doesn't speak Swedish and the woman can't speak Finish and this at first is a great frustration.
The boy doesn't know it, but the woman had recently lost her own six year old girl in a drowning accident and she was actualy expecting a girl to come from the refugee group.
The boy misses his mother and looks forward to the letters that his mother writes to the woman that is keeping him.
Time passes and the boy goes to school and starts understanding the Swedish language.
In the mean time the boy's mother starts working for the Germans in Helsinki and falls in love with a German officer.
Back at the farm, the woman starts getting closer to the boy and begins to love him like her own lost child and he starts to feel at home.
Another letter arrives. In it, the boy's mother states that she has fallen in love with the German Officer and that he wants to take her back to Germany with him. She knows that Germany is losing the war and asks the farm lady if she can keep her boy, since a defeated post-war Germany would be terrible for him.
The farm woman is glad to hear this as she has grown so fond of the boy, she wants to keep him and raise him as her own. Their relationship has now cemented.
But then another letter comes. It appears the German has left the boy's mother and now she wants her son back.
The farm couple are very conflicted but they sadly accept that fact and send the boy back. He goes back but in his heart he loves the farm lady as she had become the mother that he never had close to him.
He is now unable to show any love or affection to the woman that is his biological mother as he fears that she will leave him again at any time.
Some fourty years later the boy receives a letter to go back to Sweden for the farm lady's funeral.
At her grave, he opens another letter, that he saved from long a go.
It was from his mother addressed to the farm lady. In it, the mother says
that she made a mistake and that she could never choose the German lover over her own son and that she wants him back to live his life with her in Helsinki.
After fourty years, the boy, now a grown man, finally understood that his
mother wanted him and he went back to Finland able to tell her that he understood and loved her.
In the tradition of Ingmar Bergman's films, this 2005 Swedish movie explores the human psyche, as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
It is a touching story of loss and redemption.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

The Fallen

Well, here's one war movie that I won't be reccomending.
Should probably reproach myself for not giving up within the first 15 minutes but it got the better of me, nevertheless, and I wanted to see how it enfolds.
I guess one could call this movie German propaganda, as it's told from their point of few.
The Italian soldiers ( their allies ) are portrayed as inept sad sacks.
The Americans are not much better. There is no real discipline and most of the guys appear to be a bunch of over-privelaged losers.
Of course, the Germans are heroic and discplined and portrayed as caring, starting from their Sigfried like Lieutenant, who sacrifices himself for his troops.
Yes , it's war and chaos but I don't think this movie was intended as a parody. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry but I must admit that I found myself admiring the type of soldier the German liutenant was.
There might have been some like him in the real war but I think that the majority of them were not as noble. After all, they were the invaders and wanted to conquer the whole word but wound up finding out that they bit off more than they can chew.

REGRETABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

Night At The Goden Eagle

After spending seven years in prison, Tommy, now a senior citizen, gets picked up by a close buddy named Vick, who takes him to crash at his place for the night, The Golden Eagle ,before heading off together with Tommy to Vegas, in the morniong. Or at least that's the plan.
The visuals are real and the Golden Eagle is just as deppresingly dumpy, seedy and dark, as it's intended to be.
The chracters around it are all desperate people down on their luck and obviously having seen better days.
Prior to entering this establishment, Tommy meets this willing young hooker. The man's been in prison for seven years and he's not gay.
He ignores his friends warnings, who goes off to collect his last pay check.
Unable to perform with the gilrl, Tommy is down on himself, when she starts baraging him and questioning his manhood. Tommy's old school Italian and that's one thing he can't take and things terribly spiral out of control.
This movie is one of those dark movies that realisticaly portray the sleazy environment and people that live there.
Long time a go I made myself a promise that should I ever sink so low to have to live in that kind of environment, I'll put a bullit in my head first.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

American Perfekt

Here's a quircky movie that's under the radar but has an excellent charactor actor cast: Robert Forster, Paul Sorvrino, Daviid Thewlis, Amanda Plummer and Fairuza Balk.
What makes tis movie interesting is that the characters are really not who they appear and the most gentlemanly and unassuming of them all hides a deadly secret.
From stranded motorists to psycho driverrs to serrial killers, to sheriffs with good gut instincts this ride is for those who enjoy the weird and wild.

[cinemaafficionado]

In The Land Of Blood And Honey

Angelina Jolie makes her directorial debut in this movie about the conflict in Bosnia that occured in 1992- 1995 in the former republic of Yugoslavia.
She also wrote the script for the movie.
This coflict is portrayed through the captor-captive relationship between a Serb Officer and a Muslim woman, painter.
If we were to disregard history and to just look at this movie in it's entity, Angelina would have us believe that the Serbs were monsters and that the war was very one-sided. The Serbs are portaryed as blood-thirtsy rapists that showed utter contempt and disregard for human life.
In the movie, The Serbs over-run the outskirts of Sarajevo, capture the Muslim civilians. Seperate the men from the women, shoot the men and keep the women as sex slaves. The main character of the movie is such a woman, who just happens to be lucky for knowing the Serb in command, prior to the war. He seperates her from the others and tries to protect her from the pilaging Serbs. Their relationship is a complex one. He does not rape this woman but the viewer is left in doubt as to why the woman remains with him, when even he tries to persuade her to escape to freedom. Is it just for preservation or does she have genuine feeling for him? He really doesn't like the war nor the killing and rape nor the position that fate his bestowed upon him. What compicates things is that the officer's father is the head huncho, the General of the Serb army who leaves no doubt that he hates Muslims and that they should all be eradicated. Although the Serb Officer clearly has feelings for this woman, his father condemns this relationship and puts the seeds of doubt into his son's brain as to him being able to trust the enemy. The father also arranges that a comrade of his son's rapes the woman. The son winds up killing the guy for that act. Until the last minutes of this movie the viewer is left wondering what the ultimate end of this realtionship is going to be.
In the end, Angelina leaves no doubt as to her interpretation of this war. And in this respect the movie is harrowing and gripping.
The real facts are that when the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina ceseded from Yugoslavia, the people that lived on that territory where one third Serbs, one third Croats and one third Muslims. It was the Muslims that wanted to create a new and seperate republic and war broke out among the different factions that lived there. Since Serbia was the biggest republic in the country of Yugoslavia, most of the soldiers in the Yugoslav army were Serb and they tried to prevent the cesssession of the republic of Bosnia but the war evolved into a religious war between the Bosnian Greek Orthodox Serbs and the Muslims and the Catholic Croats.
Although Serbia became the big scapegoat of this war, the atrocities against ethnic civilian populations were comitted by all sides, mostly by army irregular formations that were organized on that territory.
The US wound up bombing the capitol of Serbia and engaged Nato also to bomb the Serbs that were occuping the hills over Sarajevo.
Later it was found out that there were about 5, 000 Muhadjadin and Alkaida members that came from outside to aid the Muslim faction and that some of the atrocities that were attribiuted to the Serbs were actually staged by the Muslims to gain world support and intervention.
Madeleine Albreight didn't have a clue nor did Clinton as to what was going on over there.
Anyway, Angelina with this movie just reinforced the belief that the war was a one-sided genocide against the Muslims, even though at the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, after the fact,the Serbs were not the only ones tried as war criminals. Atrocities in Bosnia as well as Croatia, who also ceseded from the Yugoslav Federation, were comitted by all sides and the Serbs were certainly not the only villians.

[cinemaafficionado]

In The Land Of Blood And Honey

[cinemaafficionado]

Anyone knowledgeable about the region's conflicts care to make any comments about Angelina's interpretation in this movie?

[ollanik]

Angelina Jolie makes her directorial debut in this movie about the conflict in Bosnia that occured in 1992- 1995 in the former republic of Yugoslavia.
She also wrote the script for the movie.
This coflict is portrayed through the captor-captive relationship between a Serb Officer and a Muslim woman, painter.
If we were to disregard history and to just look at this movie in it's entity, Angelina would have us believe that the Serbs were monsters and that the war was very one-sided. The Serbs are portaryed as blood-thirtsy rapists that showed utter contempt and disregard for human life.
In the movie, The Serbs over-run the outskirts of Sarajevo, capture the Muslim civilians. Seperate the men from the women, shoot the men and keep the women as sex slaves. The main character of the movie is such a woman, who just happens to be lucky for knowing the Serb in command, prior to the war. He seperates her from the others and tries to protect her from the pilaging Serbs. Their relationship is a complex one. He does not rape this woman but the viewer is left in doubt as to why the woman remains with him, when even he tries to persuade her to escape to freedom. Is it just for preservation or does she have genuine feeling for him? He really doesn't like the war nor the killing and rape nor the position that fate his bestowed upon him. What compicates things is that the officer's father is the head huncho, the General of the Serb army who leaves no doubt that he hates Muslims and that they should all be eradicated. Although the Serb Officer clearly has feelings for this woman, his father condemns this relationship and puts the seeds of doubt into his son's brain as to him being able to trust the enemy. The father also arranges that a comrade of his son's rapes the woman. The son winds up killing the guy for that act. Until the last minutes of this movie the viewer is left wondering what the ultimate end of this realtionship is going to be.
In the end, Angelina leaves no doubt as to her interpretation of this war. And in this respect the movie is harrowing and gripping.
The real facts are that when the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina ceseded from Yugoslavia, the people that lived on that territory where one third Serbs, one third Croats and one third Muslims. It was the Muslims that wanted to create a new and seperate republic and war broke out among the different factions that lived there. Since Serbia was the biggest republic in the country of Yugoslavia, most of the soldiers in the Yugoslav army were Serb and they tried to prevent the cesssession of the republic of Bosnia but the war evolved into a religious war between the Bosnian Greek Orthodox Serbs and the Muslims and the Catholic Croats.
Although Serbia became the big scapegoat of this war, the atrocities against ethnic civilian populations were comitted by all sides, mostly by army irregular formations that were organized on that territory.
The US wound up bombing the capitol of Serbia and engaged Nato also to bomb the Serbs that were occuping the hills over Sarajevo.
Later it was found out that there were about 5, 000 Muhadjadin and Alkaida members that came from outside to aid the Muslim faction and that some of the atrocities that were attribiuted to the Serbs were actually staged by the Muslims to gain world support and intervention.
Madeleine Albreight didn't have a clue nor did Clinton as to what was going on over there.
Anyway, Angelina with this movie just reinforced the belief that the war was a one-sided genocide against the Muslims, even though at the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, after the fact,the Serbs were not the only ones tried as war criminals. Atrocities in Bosnia as well as Croatia, who also ceseded from the Yugoslav Federation, were comitted by all sides and the Serbs were certainly not the only villians.

Agree with everything.

[cinemaafficionado]

Miss Bala

In 1985 a liitle known DEA agent ny the name of Enrique Camarena suddenly became famous by getting abducted , tourtured and killed while on an under cover assigmnent in Mexico.
For some strange reason, some 26 years later an American DEA agent bearing the same name meets the same fate in this movie. A warning, a conicidence, makes one wonder.
The main protagonistof the movie is a girl by the name of Laura Guerrera, who in the process of viying for the Miss Baha California title becomes a witness to a mass killing in a night club. Luckily for her, the leader of the executioner drug gang takes a liking to her and she unwittingly becomes his captive.
He controls her like a puppet and gets her to accomplish tasks that his crime organization is trying to achieve.
Throughout this movie, we see, how much things have gone out of contol in Mexico because of the inter-connectvity between tha narco trafficantes, the police and the army.
The movie ends with a sober note, informing thatover 30, 000 people have died in Mexico in the last three years alone as a result of the ongoing war between the Mexican government and the drug lords that seem to have just as much, if not more, influence on the country.
No doubt, the beauty pageant is a small example of that influence, as Laura is voted the winner of the pageant, even though she is left speechless on the stage when asked the simplest of questions.

ENJOYABLE

[Powderfinger]

the drug lords control the country...they do, really they do! :mad:

[cinemaafficionado]

Any Mexicanos here and their take on this movie's portrayals on the goings on in Mexico. Is what happened to Miss Bala believable? Did it happen? Can it happen in the future? What do you think should be done to prevent it from happening again. How effecive is Calderon's war on the narco trafficantes? Is Mexico better off now than it was 4 years a go?

[cinemaafficionado]

The Yellow Sea

After the success and popularity of the Chaser, Korean director Hong Jin Na got support from a major Hollywood studio to do another Korean movie
This venture was the first for Korean cinema and it didn't dissapoint.
Yellow Sea (2011) is a hard-nosed thriller about a Korean guy in China down on his luck. His wife had left him and gone to South Korea, when he is offered to partake in a contract killing. His target is a prominent South Korean Professor and former champion judoka. THe killer's hirerer doesn't give him much more information than that and also requires hin to committ the murder in a very short amount of time. The killer accepts the contact as it also gives him the opportunity to go to South Korea and locate his wife.
When he gets there, things get messy. Other people are trying to hit the target, as well, and they succeed. The guy that hired him also goes to South Korea and gets into the fray but wants to kill his button man , too. Both of these individuals are hard as nails and as they battle each other and the competition, bodies are piling up. This movie is worth the price of admission just for the gritty fight scenes, never mind the plot that gets weirder by the minute.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Night At The Goden Eagle

After spending seven years in prison, Tommy, now a senior citizen, gets picked up by a close buddy named Vick, who takes him to crash at his place for the night, The Golden Eagle ,before heading off together with Tommy to Vegas, in the morniong. Or at least that's the plan.
The visuals are real and the Golden Eagle is just as deppresingly dumpy, seedy and dark, as it's intended to be.
The chracters around it are all desperate people down on their luck and obviously having seen better days.
Prior to entering this establishment, Tommy meets this willing young hooker. The man's been in prison for seven years and he's not gay.
He ignores his friends warnings, who goes off to collect his last pay check.
Unable to perform with the gilrl, Tommy is down on himself, when she starts baraging him and questioning his manhood. Tommy's old school Italian and that's one thing he can't take and things terribly spiral out of control.
This movie is one of those dark movies that realisticaly portray the sleazy environment and people that live there.
Long time a go I made myself a promise that should I ever sink so low to have to live in that kind of environment, I'll put a bullit in my head first.

ENJOYABLE
Night At The Golden Eagle

[cinemaafficionado]

the fallen

well, here's one war movie that i won't be reccomending.
Should probably reproach myself for not giving up within the first 15 minutes but it got the better of me, nevertheless, and i wanted to see how it enfolds.
I guess one could call this movie german propaganda, as it's told from their point of few.
The italian soldiers ( their allies ) are portrayed as inept sad sacks.
The americans are not much better. There is no real discipline and most of the guys appear to be a bunch of over-privelaged losers.
Of course, the germans are heroic and discplined and portrayed as caring, starting from their sigfried like lieutenant, who sacrifices himself for his troops.
Yes , it's war and chaos but i don't think this movie was intended as a parody. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry but i must admit that i found myself admiring the type of soldier the german liutenant was.
There might have been some like him in the real war but i think that the majority of them were not as noble. After all, they were the invaders and wanted to conquer the whole word but wound up finding out that they bit off more than they can chew.

regretable

[cinemaafficionado]

american perfekt

here's a quircky movie that's under the radar but has an excellent charactor actor cast: Robert forster, paul sorvrino, daviid thewlis, amanda plummer and fairuza balk.
What makes tis movie interesting is that the characters are really not who they appear and the most gentlemanly and unassuming of them all hides a deadly secret.
From stranded motorists to psycho driverrs to serrial killers, to sheriffs with good gut instincts this ride is for those who enjoy the weird and wild.
enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

I haven't seen Fire yet, but I've seen Sam & Me; Bollywood, Hollywood and one of my favorites is Water

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/Water_%282005_film%29_cover_art.jpg


Then for sure you should check out Earth.

[cinemaafficionado]

The War Of Arrows (2011)

If you are a fan of Korean movies, this is a must see.
Director Han Min Kim delivers a fast paced visual war of arrows, as a skilled archer Nam Yi sets out to rescue his sister Ja-In fro the Mongol invaders that captured her.
One man's fantastic skill defies all odds against a horde of almost equally trained adversaries. Once it begins, the action never wavers and pace and cinematography are jaw-dropping.
At the 2012 Asian Film Fesival, Hae Il Park ( Nam Yi ) was nominated for best actor and Han Min Kim was nominated for the Asia Action Award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Riot ( 1969)

This is the best prison movie to come out of the sixties. Dark, Grim and brutal, it's a story about a group of convicts that stage a riot and take over a prison. The action is non-stop and very realistic.
The main characters played by Jim Brown and Gene Hackman are convincingly brought to life as we witness the carnage that unfolds.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

The Challenge (1982)

Every now and then a movie comes along that reminds one of a segment of his life. Such is the case for me, when I first went to Japan and trained in a traditional Japanese Dojo.
Scott Glen is a down and out boxer hired to transport an ancient and valuable family heirloom sword to Japan, where he gets envoved in an ongoing feud over the sword between two brothers, one of which takes him under his wing and starts training him in traditional Japanese martial arts.
For a westerner this is an eye openning training experience and a realization what comittment to training truly means.
The amount of action and gore in this movie, especialy for that era is exceptional and I recommend it for those that realy enjoy the genre.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Z ( 1969 )

This movie is based on a true story, the real life assassination of a Greek doctor, whose 1963 murder led to the overthrow of the democratic government of Greece. The director, Costa Gavras, unflinchingly takes us into the heart of a military coup d' etat.
The mix of story line, cinematography and music score along with the edge-of -your-seat pace makes this a must see movie.
In 1970, it received 5 Oscar Nominations and won 2: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Film Editing - Francoise Bonnot.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Knuckle ( 2011 )

A documentary spanning 12 years into the Irish Traveler Clans bare knuckle fighting. They are all related by blood but because of old long standing disagreements and slights, they continue the tradition of bare knuckle fighting against each other. This is not boxing, it's basically street bralling, but there is a sense of fairness as it is monitored by non-partisan referees who are quick to jump in and save a partcipant from too much punishment at one time.
James Quinn MacDonagh is the Monarch of the Quinns and his followers worship him like a God. He has yet to be defeated. After each fight, he says, it's his last but new challenges keep keep him dishing out more punishment. In all likelyhood, his son will take it to the next generation but I feel, over his dead mom's body.
This is a brutal and realistic look into the secretive but very invardly loyal Irish clans, who, although united by blood, feel the need to keep spilling that same blood. There are no time limits or rest periods and the fight goes on essentialy until one man quits or is knocked senseless. So far there have been trips to the hospitol but no deaths. James was even shot to keep him from dominating the scene but he keeps trucking on. In his last fight he beat a good fighter that was ten years his junior. The fight lasted almost 4 hours.
James's brother tried to avenge a prior loss to a bemouth that outweighed him by some 60 pounds. That fight lasted 2 hours and was ruled a draw. About $90,000 was wagered on it.

EXCEPTIONAL

[JayDee]

I've not seen a single film you've mentioned so far!!! :eek: :D

So it's tough for me to comment and agree/disagree with your views. However it's given me a lot of films to investigate. So thanks for that. :up: Heard about Knuckle a while back and thought it sounded quite interesting.

[cinemaafficionado]

Dark Of The Sun ( The Mercenaries ) ( 1968 )

An overlooked war gem that was way ahead of it's time.
A band of mercenaries, led by the brave and righteous Captain Curry , marvelously portrayed by Rod Taylor , travel across a hostile and deadly Congo, trying to rescue $25 million worth of uncut diamonds.
All the while there is tension and riff within this group, especially between Ruffo ( Jim Brown ), who is loyal to Curry, and Henlein (Peter Carsten), who has his own plans for the diamonds.
Some of the action scenes in this movie are quite astonishing, for instance, when Curry and Ruffo have to fight their way out of a house over-run by Congo savages.
And , of course, there is the brutal and viscious one on one fight between Curry and Heinlen.
For war action entusiasts this is a must see movie.

EXCEPTIONAL

[genesis_pig]

I absolutely love Dark Of The Sun. It's one movie I could watch countless times.
Especially love the ending.

[cinemaafficionado]

Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977)

Lonelyness is a bitch.
This movie has sadly been overlooked and almost forgotten.
The subject is what many people can relate to.
Diane Keaton plays a teacher by day and a woman in search of love, by night. The duality of her personality is really not in conflict, as lonelyness is the bridge that connects the two.
Unfortunately for her, the night increasingly takes over as she cruises bars looking for more and more abusive men to quench her increasingly violent sexual encounters.
Finaly, the movie climaxes in the inevitable encounter.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Attack On Darfur (2009)

An extermely brutal and disturbingly realistic portrayal of ethnic cleansing in North Africa.
A group of white journalists get caught up in the carnage and bear personal witness to the sytematic extermination and rape of African villagers by marauding Arabs.
This movie is definitely not for the feint hearted.
Some of the scenes are so shocking that they will remain forever etched in most normal brains.
Director Uwe Boll paints a microcosmic genocidol portrait of war-torn Sudan.

[cinemaafficionado]

Attack On Darfur

[cinemaafficionado]

Cul-De-Sac

In 1966 when Roman Polanski wrote and directed this dark thriller, little did he know that three years later in a bizzare life imitating art, his wife Sharon Tate would be brutally murdered by the Charles Manson clan.
In the movie, two wounded criminals hole up in a secluded beach castle, owned by an old Englishman and his young French wife.
After one of the criminals dies, what ensues is a bizzare threesome with a shattering climax.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

Julia (2008)

What can I say about an uterly ubeliveably brilliant performance by Tilda Swanson?
This performnce is what " being in the moment " is.
Tilda is Julia, a reprehansable and abhorent drunk, who, in the process of kidnapping an 8 year old boy, manages to find her sole shred of humanity.
Shame on the Academy for overlooking this incredible performance.

EXCEPTIONAL

[Nausicaä]

Tilda Swinton is one of the most amazing actresses out there right now. The film as a whole was slightly disappointing for me, but her performance makes it all worth the look.

[cinemaafficionado]

Farewell My Lovely (1975)

This was a second adaptation of Raymond Chandler's novel.
A very stylish neo-noir, beautifully filmed and authenticaly directed by Dick Richards.
The cast is wonderfull and right on for the hard boiled atmosphere of the 40's detective fiction.
Robert Mitchum is private eye Philip Marlowe, accompanied by Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles ( nominated for Best Supporting Actress, 1976 Oscars ), Anthony Zerbe, Harry Dean Stanton and even Sylvester Stallone makes an appearance as Jonnie.

Exceptional

[cinemaafficionado]

Rampart

Woody Harrelson gives a performance of a life time in this gritty and unflincheable look into the life of a police officer of the notorious LA Rampart division. He is a guy that plays by his own rules as he meets out his version of justice. As he says " All the guys that caught my bullet were bad with the possible exception of some guy at the wrong end of Karma ".
Woody represents LA cops in their gory days but he is a dynnosaur and has to take the fall for his last misscariage of justice, if for no other reason than to take the heat off the rest of the Rampart Division which is in a big crises of it's own.
This movie realy portrays things as they are including his disfunctional family, who goes through much pain because of his actions.
As his daughters tell him:" Daddy you hurt us by what you do to others ".

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Tyrannosaur

A very disturbing movie about a very disturbed guy. Petter Mullan plays a self-destructive and homicidal drunk who just hates the world. As he is about to crumble into oblivion, he meets a woman, who on the surface is kindly and religious and she offers him shelter, which he cruely ridicules.
Little does he know that she has a dark secret of her own, tormented and abused by her sadist husband who not only beats her but totaly degrades her as ahuman being by pissing on her.
This meek amd helpful soul is pushed to the brink and she snaps, even more so than our drunk friend. He finds redemption in supporting her in her hour of need and changes his ways, thus proving that any one can be redeemed.
Very strong performances by both actors, Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman and aptly directed by Paddy Considine. If you can stomach the cruelty and hatred, a movie definitely worth seeing.

Exceptional

[cinemaafficionado]

Tyrannosaur

[Justin]

Gah, I need to see that one. Some nice reviews here, keep it up.

[cinemaafficionado]

Contraband

As good a thriller as Mark Walberg's been in. The pace is great from beginning to end, with an assortment of bad guys thrown in for good measure.
Chris Farraday ( Wallberg ) unretires, one last time, to protect his brodher in law and smuggle the goods ( counterfeit currency ) from Panama. Along the way he manages to bring in some cocaine and a Jason Pollack painting that's worth millions.
It 's a thrill a minute and unlike most Asian movies of the same genre, this one has an American ending - a happy one!

Exceptional

[Nausicaä]

^ There is the original film from Iceland if interested. Contraband is a remake.

[cinemaafficionado]

Cyclo

This 1995 film directed by Tran Anh Hung is arguably the best movie to come out of Vietnam. The colors and sounds of Hochi Minh City are richly portrayed as well as it's underbelly: the violence, flesh for hire, the atmosphere of poverty, dirt and decay.
Cyclo is an 18 year old driver of a bicycle taxi, who when his bicycle gets stolen, is forced to work for the Poet, a small time pimp, to work off his debt.
The Poet is also envolved in robberies, drug trafficking and homicides.
Although Cyclo is eager to join the gang, he is kept on the periphery, performing small errands but he eventualy graduates to smuggling dope and firebombing.
This is a visionary raw, brutal and bizarre look into former Saigon's mean streets.
Cinematographer Benoit Delhomme colorfully captures the underlying beauty of the city and the violence associated with it is portrayed in an almost poetic way, giving a very unique and lyrical feel to the movie.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Montenegro

What's a girl to do? An utterly bored Swedish housewife, on the verge of insanity, elopes for a few days with a bohemian Yugoslav couple that introduce her to the raw sensuality of Zanzi Bar and the man known as Montenegro.
Susan Anspach is at her best in this 1981 quircky black comedy directed by Dusan Makavejev.

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

The Grey

A movie about ultimate survival in the arctic after a disastrous airplane crash. A rough oil pipe line crew tries to deal with the freezing cold and their injuries but on top of that they also have to contend with a pack of vicious wolves that are picking them off one by one.
The self-appointed leader of the crew, played by Liam Neeson, is the perfect choice as his mision at the end of the world was to shoot down wolves and protect the oil workers. His rifle is gone so he has to improvise.
The story plot has a lot of gaps but the cinematogarphy and the pace of the movie keeps one riveted.
In disasters of this nature: water, food, shelter, ability to travel and be discovered are all paramount but they take second place to the ferocious wolves. Men here are at a disadvantage.
Liam Neeson, as Ottway, is very credible and puts in a stellar performance.
Considering his age, he very aptly portrays his character, burdened with all kinds of physical handicaps, which he overcomes effortlessly.
Joe Carnahan directs this movie quite well, letting nature take it's course.

ENJOYABLE

[cinemaafficionado]

I Saw The Devil

Korean director Ji-woon Kim of the Tale Of Two Sisters fame brings together Byung-hun Lee from the Good, The Bad and The Weird and Myin Sik-Choi from Old Boy, and creates a tale of revenge plus.
A secret agent's wife is brutaly murdered by a canibalistic serial killer and the agent exacts he's own vengeance by tracking the killer and playing cat and mouse with him, repeatedly hurting him nad depriving him of satisfaction.
The killer, however, has an uncanny sense of survival and finds a way to turn the tables, at least for a while.
This is a very fast paced movie with great action and cinematography, not to mention the macabre an bizarre story line, as only Koreans know how to make.

Exceptional

[cricket]

Great reviews! Rampart, Tyrannosaur, and I Saw the Devil are on my to see list.

I also enjoyed Contraband and thought The Grey was ok.

[cinemaafficionado]

For Greater Glory

Chronicles the Cristeros War in Mexico (1926 -1929) in which the then atheist president of Mexico ( played by Ruben Blades ) instigates an all out which hunt against the the Catholic church and it's followers.
The Mexican Catholic people organize a resistance, calling themselves Cristeros, under the leadership of best retired General, Enrique Gorostieta Velarde, himself an atheist that becomes a convert ( played by Andy Garcia ).
The story line is interesting but at times overly sentimental.
A few notable characters that stood out for me were Victoriano 'El Catorse' Ramirez ( the nickname stemming from the fact that he single handedly killed 14 Federales on one notable occassion ) and Lalo ( Adrian Alonzo ) , a boy with a lot of heart and great conviction.
And of course there is Andy Garcia who, like him or not, brings to life the passionate and uncompromising resistance General Velarde.

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

The Victim

Just watched this movie on Dvd tonight. I always liked Michael Biehn in action movies so when I saw his name I got this Dvd. Well, not only does he star in it but directs it as well.
Out of some 89 videos he participated in, this was the second movie he directed and at first I thought it was a sophmoric effort, what with the scenery being chewed up in the beginning and a sloppy standard immitation of a terrified girl running in the woods, but hold on. It eventualy develops some good dialogue and action for just a thriller/horror made for Dvd, with an interesting twist in the end.
Anyway, it begins with two cops taking two strippers on a picnic in the woods.
In the end, it was kind of cool how everybody associated with this production got a photo credit.
Michael made me change my mind about this movie. Check it out!

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

Thin Ice

I've been a Greg Kinnear fan ever since Talk Soup and he cemented it for me in As Good As It Gets.
In Thin Ice, Greg plays a sleazy insurance salesman that gets more than he bargained for when he attempts to swindle a retiree ( flawlessly portrayed by the ever consistent Alan Arkin )
The scenery is remeniscent of Fargo and the plot is like an imitation of a Cohen Brothers script so the surprise ending should come as no shock.

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

Sacrifice

In 2010, diretor Kaige Chen, best known for directing Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor And The Assassin and The Promise, masterfully directs an epic Cinese movie with a great story line.
A general who has seen his best days behind him is jealous of a younger one that is the husband of the Emperor's sister. She is pregnant and awaiting the birth of her child.
The general conceives a plan to kill the Emperor and place the blame on the general's rival. He then proceeds to kill off the rival's entire clan.
Caught in the carnage is a doctor tending to the younger general's wife.
As he deliver's her son, she makes him promise to save him.
The doctor's own wife just had a baby son. As soldiers are taking all the newly born babies, looking for the royal one, the doctor winds up making the ultimate sacrice, giving up his own baby and wife in order to protect the royal baby.
He makes an oath to take care of the baby as his own and bring him close to his father's killer and then exact deadly vengeance, when the boy has grown old enough.
The pace of this movie is riveting and the cinematography a treat.

EXCELLENT

[Sexy Celebrity]

I've been a Greg Kinnear fan ever since Talk Soup

Oh, yes. Those were the days.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l2tpJ3GqgTI/TNDIrwCfHrI/AAAAAAAAAFw/heu3L9crpH0/s1600/talk_soup-show.jpg

[Exist]

Many great reviews! Many films I didn't even know of or was hesitant about. Very helpful!

[Deadite]

:yup: I need to watch a bunch of these. Lots of interesting titles that might go unrecognized or get forgotten in the shuffle. I love getting recommendations on movies like these that aren't discussed much elsewhere.

Oh, and Cold Fish was great, CA. Thanks. Still need to watch Rainbow Eyes.

[cinemaafficionado]

Thanks Deadite and Exist. It makes it all worthwhile when shared and enjoyed.

[cinemaafficionado]

Detachment

We are all born alone and some of us will die alone. Through our brief journey in this sphere we will all carry a loneliness, somewhat diminished by significant others in our lives.
Detachment is a sad but wonderfull movie that brings out this point to the forefront.
The innocence that we are born with should be guided by caring parents and fostered by schools and institutions that also strive to make us be the best possible that we can be. Unfortunately, we live in a world that has lost sight of those goals.
In Detachmnet, Adrian Brody gives a remarkable performance as a caring substitute teacher, that tries to make the best of the little time he has to impact and positively influence the students around him.
Coming from a dysfunctional background himself, he has the necessary empathy to make a difference and when he sees a teenage prostitute on the street, his heart gives out with compassion and he tries to give her a fresh start .
Alas, the road to hell is paved with good intensions and one of his students, mistaking his kindness for somnething else and then dealing with the dissapointment with extreme prejudice - ends her own life.
The movie leaves us with a question and an answer: how much can we really do to change or save someone that is allready damaged and if can only save one life in the process, then we've achieved our goal.This is a vey insitefull movie into the school system: the teacher, student and parent interaction that can make all the difference in the world.
James Caan, Marcia Gay Harden and Lucy Liu all give excellent performances.
More than anything this movie sends a message that the feeling of isolation that permeates our lives does not have to keep going on.


EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Fightville

So you want to be a UFC stud? So you want to wreck someone's dreams under the neon lights? Not so easy, my man.
First you have to pay your dues in smaller, local venues and fight not for the glory and the money but because you were born to do it and maybe it's the only thing you ever did good and felt good about. The God like, spiritual , invincible, primal feeling as you step into the ring, mano a mano, and oblitirate the one standing opposite you, can not be described, unless you've been there.
So, Fightville, a documentary about the small show - USA MMA- out of Louisiana, tries it's best to show you the brutal reality of the MMA world.
It follows a a few fighters, promoter and trainer through their thing and reveals their combat and thinking processes as they engage in the small show.
One the prospects, Dustin " Te Diamond " Poirier, makes it to the UFC and fights at 145 pounds.
So you want to be an MMA fighter. Watch Fightville. You won't regret it.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Free Men (2011)

During WWII, France was paritioned into a Nazi collaborating territory (Petain) and German occupied territory.
It was in Marshall Petain's France that the hunt for the Jews was intensified, helped by the local French police.
Amidst this turmoil there were a score of Algerians that had immigrated to France in 1939. They worshiped in a Muslim Mosque from Morocco, that interestingly enough, was responsible for saving Jewish lives by making forged identification papers and helping hide the Jews in the mosque.
One young Algerian, that made his living selling goods on the black market got recruited by the the French police to spy on the mosque.
Over there he meets an extraordinary singer of Arab songs that just happens to be a Jew. The Muslims like him and protect him, irregardless.
The Algerian also takes a liking to him and falls for a girl that's in the French Ressistance movement. All that makes him convert and join the French Ressistance, himself.
This is a very well made Fench movie, directed by Ismael Ferroukhi.
Given the pesent tension between Israel and the Arab world, they could both certainly draw some friendly inspiration from this movie.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

In Darkness (2011)

During WWII Poland was especially hard hit by the war. First a part of it was occupied by the Russians and then all of it by the Germans, starting end of June 1941.
The population that suffered the most were the Jews. About 3, 000, 000 were killed in Poland alone.
The Poles themselves were Catholic and didn't particularly care for the Jews, which made it easier for the Germans, who organized numerous ghettos and concentration camps on that territoty.
One such ghetto was in the city of Lvov, who at the time the Nazis occupied it had about 160,000 Jews living there.
When the Soviets reoccupied the city in July of 1944, there were less then 300 Jews remaining alive.
In Darkness, focuses on a a dozen Jews, that hid out in the underground severs of Lvov for 14 months, starting from the liqudation of the Lvov ghetto to the Soviet entry in July of 1944.
Not all Poles were Jew haters as was the case of Leopold Socha, who as a black marketeer knew the sewers intimately and wound up hiding, protecting and supplying the dozen or so Jews that escaped the ghetto.
At first, it was strictly for the money ( although he did use most of it for their food ) but later, his human compassion kicked in when he realized that Jesus was a Jew.
This is a remarkable movie about the tenacity of the human spirit and the will to survive under any circumstances. It is also a movie about courage, hope and compassion.
In 2012, it was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Poland) at the Oscars.
This movie was directed by Agniezska Holland best known for her wonderfull movie Europa Europa (1990).

Excellent

[Deadite]

That sounds really good. Definitely gonna try to see it.

[Deadite]

Also Detachment. I really could watch Adrien Brody in just about anything. :yup:

[cinemaafficionado]

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

It's not over till it's over.
A bunch of British senior citizens wind up going to India to stay at what they think is a very affordable but exclusive retirement home.
When they get there, each in their own way, try to make adustments with the reality of the situation: a run down old hotel, surrounded by squalor and noise and run by an inept but idealistic and likeable young Indian man.
The positive among the bunch find light and color in their new beginning and the pessimist and negative find only the reasons for a quick return to the comfort and emptyness of what they know.
This movie sheds some light on the Indian cast system as it takes us on a journey of discovery as seen through the eyes of various characters.
Bill Nigthy shines as the thouroughly henpecked husband, Douglas, of the bitter and always critical, scolding Jean, viciousy portrayed by Penelope Wilton. Dames Judy Dench and Maggie Smith deliver their usual solid performances as do Tom Wilkinson and Ronald Pickup.
This is a delightful movie about hope and inspiration and the fact that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

Excellent

[earlsmoviepicks]

Good review on Detachment, I found that one very melancholy and interesting.

[cinemaafficionado]

Transit (2012 )

A rip-roaring, take-no-prisoner, chase through the Louisianna swamps.
As far as action goes, it's very well done and non stop and that's the way I like it.
The problem is the story line.
Nowadays anyone can be a super hero, as it turns out for a meek suburban family ( miraculously transformed into special ops ), who take on three cut throat desperadoes and a damsel, after they rob a bank and use them to transport the loot.
Never mind the plot holes, just relax and enjoy the well-shot action.

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

Act Of Valor

Not your Mission Impossible fantasy, the Navy Seals show you what it takes to execute a mission.
The planning, timing, resourses, the courage and conviction are all there to see, appreciate and discourage all those foolish enough to oppose us.

EXCELLENT

[cricket]

Transit (2012 )

A rip-roaring, take-no-prisoner, chase through the Louisianna swamps.
As far as action goes, it's very well done and non stop and that's the way I like it.
The problem is the story line.
Nowadays anyone can be a super hero, as it turns out for a meek suburban family ( miraculously transformed into special ops ), who take on three cut throat desperadoes and a damsel, after they rob a bank and use them to transport the loot.
Never mind the plot holes, just relax and enjoy the well-shot action.

Enjoyable

Noticed this title on cable a few days ago but passed it by because I never heard of it. Going to watch it this week after seeing it on your list.

[cinemaafficionado]

Bedevilled (2010 )

In 2004, Korean director Chul Soo Jang apprenticed as assistant director to Ki-Duk Kim ( who went on to make The Isle, " Spring, Summer Fall, Winter....And Spring", 3-Iron ) in the making of Samaritan Girl.
He learned well from his mentor and in 2010 directed his first feature Bedevilled, an instant success.
Part psychological drama, part horror story, the movie starts following the cold urban life of Hae-won, a bank employee in Seul.
Stressed out, she is forced to take a vacation and meet up with her childhood friend, Bok-nam, on a remote island.
The two women had remained in touch, mostly at Bok-nam's urging, and Hae-won finally used the opportunity to get some needed rest.
As the story unfolds, it is clear that Karma is at work here.
The two had parted after Bok-nam got gang raped by a bunch of boys, defending Hae-won.
Now, some twelve years later, Bok-nam and her daughter are living with a man and his brother and suffer inhumane cruelty.
Bok-nam is beaten daily by her husband and raped by her husband's brother. She is treated like a slave by the rest of the island people, who are mostly of her husband's clan, older females led by an all powerfull matriarch.
After years of unquestioned abuse, Bok-nam finally snaps when she finds out that her daughter is being molested by her husband.
Hae-won is there to witness the ensuing carnage.
This movie is masterfully directed, with plots and sub-plots, and with a typical Korean twisted and tragic ending.
It's a must see for horror enthusiasts.
I don't know why, but Koreans seldom take prisoners.

Excellent

[Deadite]

Act Of Valor

Not your Mission Impossible fantasy, the Navy Seals show you what it takes to execute a mission.
The planning, timing, resourses, the courage and conviction are all there to see, appreciate and discourage all those foolish enough to oppose us.

EXCELLENT

I thought this movie was great, even though it wasn't exactly subtle and the acting wasn't always the best. Really kickbutt military action movie.

[cinemaafficionado]

Haywire (2011)

Just watched Haywire and was surprised by the number of good actors in supporting roles.
Although the plot was somewhat convoluted, the action was good and I was impressed with Gina Carano's stunts and fight choreorgraphy.
She's really made a good transition from boxing to movies and if I was to guess who the next super female action heroine will be, she has my vote.

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

The Edge (2010)

In 1945, when Russian prisoners of war came back from Germay, they weren't treated too kindly by Stalin, who believed that they had collaborated with and been contaminated by their captors. He believed that they posed a threat to Soviet Russia, so he sent most of them to camps in Siberia.
This movie's story deals with one such camp asnd the unexpected things that happen with the arrival of a new train conductor, a war hero who got punished for wrecking his train.
He is a complex individual, still haunted by the war and in one of his trips away from camp he stumbles on a German girl that had managed to survive four years in tha Taiga all by herself.
The cinematography is excellent and the movie an acurate portrayel of an era. Very interesting to watch.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

Invisible Target (2007)

Right off the bat, the action in this Chinese movie jumps at you. Some really cool villians take the city by storm spectacularly robbing an armored truck in the midst of a busy daylight shopping cowd.
Unfortunately for them, the fiancee of a police detective is collaterall damage and what ensues is a riveting cat and mouse with some great action and fight choreography, when that detective teams up with another hard nosed one. Along the way, a likeable, earnest rookie joins them, as it appears that his brother, a long missing detective, is envolved in the robbery.
This is one of those Chinese flicks that is worth it's action in gold.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

Savages (2012 )

I remember when Oliver Stone made Natural Born Killers, Quentin Tarantino felt real bad and felt that he should have been the one to make that movie. Well Quentin, you are probably going to wish that you made Savages.
Call me crazy but this movie will go into my most remembered movie list.
I just saw it, so I have to give it some time.
The storyline, the cinematography, the action and most of the acting and directing all came together to make a very relevant portrait of today's drug wars.
Ben and John are young enterprenuers growing the best pot south of Afghanistan. They are best friends in love with the same woman who also is in love with both of them and they all live together in Laguna Beach in an almost idylic setting. Ben's a modern throwback to the hippies and John is a warrior, coming off two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan an bringing back the seeds to start their empire. They are high tech and have developed the best strain of marijuana and they have the computer experts to run their operation as well as the ex-military buddies to back it up.
Right out recent headlines, comes La Madrina ( played to the hilt by Selma Hayek) . She is in charge of The Baja Cartel and wants a piece of the action. Her underboss, beautifuly vicious Benicio Del Toro is very convincing as a sadistic psycopath. Thrown into the frey is a corrupt DEA agent that his has hands in both pies, sleasily portrayed by John Travolta.
What makes this movie excellent but not great is the casting of the three main characters. Beautiful savages but rookie actors. Had those rolles been given to some of our accomplshed younger actors, this movie could have rivaled Scarface and become a cult film.
Nevertheless, props to Oliver stone for his cohesive and wonderfull directing.
I love this movie and find it EXCELLENT.

[honeykid]

I think that's the first, truly positive review, of the film that I've read. :)

Still not seen it myself, but as it's Stone, it's something I'm sure I'll get around to. I seem to remember Mark Kermode saying it felt as if it was two films. A great exploitation flick, with Travolta, Hayek and del Toro and a far less interesting drama about small time drug dealers.

[Nausicaä]

^ I missed it at the cinema but after reading in here I've ordered it from America because it's not out here until February. I believe it's unrated from America too, so look forwards to it and know who to blame if it's rubbish. :p

[cinemaafficionado]

Yes, you can spank me, but I think you will like Savages. It just comes together very well, even though you have three novices alongside some really good actors.

[cinemaafficionado]

I think that's the first, truly positive review, of the film that I've read. :)

Still not seen it myself, but as it's Stone, it's something I'm sure I'll get around to. I seem to remember Mark Kermode saying it felt as if it was two films. A great exploitation flick, with Travolta, Hayek and del Toro and a far less interesting drama about small time drug dealers.

Not too "small time" drug dalers. Big and sophisticated enough to get the attention of the Baja Cartel.
See the movie and tell me how you experience it. I think you will definitly like it.

[cinemaafficionado]

84 Charlie Mopic

One of the forgotten gems of the VietNam war, this movie is about a tight knit special ops group on a search and destroy mission behing enemy lines being filmed by a Stars and Stripes crew.
This movie is as much about the psychology of men engaged in war as it is about the bonds that unite them.
It gets close and personal as they start taking casualties and every man exibits the personality traits that ties him to the group and also makes him unique.
War is hell.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

The Ogre (1996)

Volker Schlondorff's sublime WWII war epic is all that as it delivers an era that was etched as much in fantasy as it is in brutal reality.
John Malkovich shines as the gentle giant who witnesses astonishing events around him. As a wrongly accused Frenchman of a crime he didn't commit, he is sent to combat the invading Germans and becomes a prisoner of war.
Through blind luck and sircumstance he encounters FieldMarshall Herman Goering and is enabled as a servant at Kalteborn castle, an elite training camp for the Hitler Youth, where he evantualy becomes a recruiter ( the Ogre ) snatching young boys from the surrounding countryside and replenishing the camp with much needed fodder at the later stages of the war.
The boys are almost nostalgicaly portrayed in their purity and devotion to the Fatherland and Scholendorff is able to evoke a feeling of a whole generation wasted and lost and innocence totaly corrupted and misused.
Armin Mueller-Stalh gives a brief but unforgettable performance as Count Von Kaltenborn, who is aware of the wasted youth and Hitler's inevitable doom, and is one of those implicated in the assassination attempt on the Fuhrer.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

Wu Dang

A fantasy Kung-fu movie about a father and daughter search for a miracle cure in mistycal Wu Dang mountain.
This movie is entertaining for it's cinematography and kung-fu coreography.
If you are able to abstract realism, you will no doubt find this movie

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

The Bourne Legacy

I always felt that Mat Damon was miscast as Jason Bourne.
Although he portrays a different character (Aaron Cross ) in this sequel, Jeremy Renner would make a much better alternative. His hardness, and at the same time, vulnerability are for all to see.
Rachel Weisz is excellent and I enjoyed Stacy Keatch and Scott Glen cameos.
Even though the script is somewhat muddled and leaves one wondering at times " what the hell is going on? ", the cinematography is superb and the action sequences are great and for that alone I go against the critics and deem this movie:

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

The Paperboy (2012)

Man, Keith Urban most have his hands full. Nicole Kidman is one hot momma (especially in this movie). Worth watching for her hotness alone.
John Cuscak gives an uncharacteristically sleazy but fine performance, supported by Mathew McConehey (as a gay lawyer, of all things ) trying to free a death-row inmate. The principal cast is rounded off by Zac Efron, an idealist southern boy infatuated with a woman old enough to be his mom.

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

End Of Watch

The blue brotherhood is explored here, through the tight relationship between a Latino and an Anglo police patrolman that ride together.
They are certainly there for each other, as they navigate the gritty and violent South LA.
Jake Gyllenhaal gives a likeable and realistic performance and the realism is somewhat enhanced by a hand held camera, which at times got on my nerves just a tad. Other than that, I found this action flick to be riveting and:

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

Hara Kiri: Death Of A Samurai (2011)

I've been waiting for some time to see this re-make and now that I've seen it, I'm kind of dissapointed. But, then again, Takeshi Miike's movie making inconsistency really shows. Hard to believe that this is the same director who gave us 13 Assassins.
Hara Kiri's tempo is lacking and it just plods along.
The story centers around fake Samurai ritual suicide and one family's tragic envolvement in it.
Kobayashi's perfect black and white 1962 version makes this attempt look like someone going to film school and directing their first feature.

Dissapointing

[cricket]

Will be seeing End of Watch and The Paperboy soon. Thanks for the reviews!

[cinemaafficionado]

Will be seeing End of Watch and The Paperboy soon. Thanks for the reviews!

You are welcome. Enjoy the movies!

[cinemaafficionado]

Flight

The crash sequence in this movie was very realistic and riveting.
Denzel was his usual good self but the story line was uber unrealistic
and the whole premise of the movie self-serving and pretentiously moraly correct. It was like, really? Really? Without giving too much away, the ending just didn't make sense based on everything that went on before it.
See it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Dissapointing

[cinemaafficionado]

Sleepless Night (2011)

A French thriller about a couple of cops that decide to do a drug heist and things go bad when one of their sons gets kidnapped as a consequence.
The pace of this movie is intrepid and well worth the watch.

Enjoyable

[cinemaafficionado]

Silenced (2011)

Based on real events, this heart-wrenching Korean movie depicts abuse and sexual molestation of students by the faculty at a school for deaf children.
A newly hired teacher discovers the ugly truth and the resulting social injustice that follows leads to more tragedy.
It was hard to watch this starkly realistic portrayal of social depravity.
It's not hard to imagine how such a perversion of justice can lead to vigilantism.

[cinemaafficionado]

Punch Lady (2007)

I'm not much for dramedies, but since it's Korean, I gave it a look.
Think of it as a funny remake of Rocky with a twist.
The twist is that Rocky is a an abused housewife, with no martial arts experience, who challenges her husband, an MMA champion, to a fight, live in the ring, after he kills her former boyfriend in the ring.
Allready sounds absurd, right? Well, it is.
The director Hyo-Jin Kang liberaly mixes slapstick humor with real drama.
The problem is, he couldn't even make the very serious ultimate fight scene realistic enough.
I mean, what's the point?

Skipable

[cinemaafficionado]

The Missing (2003)

Ron Howard directs this atmospheric western.
The cinematography is great and creates this spooky feeling in the great New Mexico desert.
Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchet give notable performances as does Eric Schweig as the creepy villian.
The theme of the movie is a grandfather's search for his kidnapped grandaughter as he deals with indian witchcraft.

Excellent

[cricket]

Flight

The crash sequence in this movie was very realistic and riveting.
Denzel was his usual good self but the story line was uber unrealistic
and the whole premise of the movie self-serving and pretentiously moraly correct. It was like, really? Really? Without giving too much away, the ending just didn't make sense based on everything that went on before it.
See it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Dissapointing

I loved this movie; I didn't connect with it as much as I did with Leaving Las Vegas, but I did feel it. I'm an ex-drunk and I understood the ending. Sometimes when you have a serious problem, the only form of relief is giving in and coming clean. It usually happens suddenly at rock bottom.

[cinemaafficionado]

What Doesn't Kill You (2008)

On the gritty streets of South Boston, two pals work for a local crime boss and deal with the every day grind of that life.
Mark Ruffalo as Brian Reilly is a family man and as such gives a nuanced and excellent prformance caught up in choosing family over a life of crime.
His sidekick, tough and reckless Paulie Mcdugan, believably portrayed by Ethan Hawke, puts a great strain on their friendship. Above all, he wants to cut ties with his boss and encourages his friend to do the same, so that they can do their thing on their own. What stands in their way is Brian's wife Stacy, played to the hilt by Amanda Peet.
I loved this movie.

EXCELLENT

[cinemaafficionado]

This Must Be The Place (2011)

If it wasn't for Ozzie Osborne, I mean Johnny Depp, I mean Sean Penn doing Ozzie and Johnny, I think I probably would have dozed off.
Looking slightly better than Keith Richards, by gone rock star Cheyenne leaves his comfortable twenty year Ireland refuge, to travel America in search of his father's former SS tormentor in Auschwitz.
I hope this is not the place, because the only impression this torturously slow movie made on me was of wasted lives. Thank you but this artsy, fartsy tea is not for me, but I will say that Sean can do practicly anything and if you like his acting you may discover a bunch of veiled nuances.

Dwell at your own peril

[Nausicaä]

^ One of the best films released in 2011 for me, adore This Must Be The Place and didn't find it slow in anyway. Recommend it to those who haven't seen it.

[cinemaafficionado]

^ One of the best films released in 2011 for me, adore This Must Be The Place and didn't find it slow in anyway. Recommend it to those who haven't seen it.

Interesting perspective. Welcome to Caifornia. You would, no doubt, fit right in:p

[cinemaafficionado]

The Bay (2012)

One of the scarriest movies you'll ever see.
The event that Barry Levinson realistically depicts could be happening as we speak and there is not a damn thing that someone caught up in it could do about it, except die horribly.

Exceptional

[Nausicaä]

^ Found that to be mediocre, was disappointed.

[cinemaafficionado]

^ Found that to be mediocre, was disappointed.

Me thinks the big difference between you and I is that you dwell too much in fantasy. Reality is often scarrier than imagination.
I think once in a blue moon we've had consensus but fore the most part our bubbles float in different directions and that's perfectly fine with me.
As to others, I'm sure they know what floats their boat and making up their own mind I'm sure is not that much of a task.

[Nausicaä]

I is that you dwell too much in fantasy. Reality is often scarrier than imagination.



I don't. I've mentioned in other topics films that scare me and some of them are things that could happen in real life.

[cinemaafficionado]

Dangerous Liasons (2012)

The Chinese make their own version of the 1988 Stephen Frears movie.
This time it's an atmospheric 1930's Shanghai, worth watching for this alone.
A Chinese playboy Xie Yifan , played by Dong Gung-Jang, makes a bet with his former lover to seduce a chaste and widowed distant cousin. In the process, he winds up deflowering another 16 year old virgin, to additionally please his x-lover with whom he wants to reunite.
Ziyi Zhang gives an outstanding and heartfelt performance as the duped distant cousin, Du Fenyu.

Exceptional

[cinemaafficionado]

Rust And Bone (2012)

The same director that brought us The Prophet, Jacques Audiard, brings us this complex story of love and hope.
Alain Von Versch is at the lowest point at his life with his five year old son. He leaves his country Belgium for Antibes to seek refuge with his sister.
He gets a job as a bouncer in a night club, where he meets and saves Stephanie, a trainer of killer wales.
He evolves into a prize fighter on the undergoround circuit while she has a terrible accident at work, where an Orca bites off both of her legs.
They are both very flawed human beings but through their mutual desperation a strong bond is born that blossoms into love.
Ths is one of those sleepers that tugs at your heart while making you aware that in life there are many kinds of obstacles but that the human heart can overcome all of them.
A sad but truly inspiring movie.
Marion Cotillard and Mathias Schoenaerts give remarkable performances.
At the 2013 Golden Globes, this movie was nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Actress Drama - Marion Cotillard.

EXCEPTIONAL

[cinemaafficionado]

Killing Them Softly (2012)

I absolutely hated the directing of this film although I thought that James Gandolfini was terrific and Brad Pitt was believable as the main character
The problem with the movie was the forced wannabee gangster dialogue and the drawn out scenes of no real consequence. Had they given it to Guy Ritchie or Antoine Fuqua to direct, it could have been gangster fireworks!

Forgetable

[cinemaafficionado]

Chasing Mavericks (2012)

Based on the short but legendary life of surfer Jay Moriarty, this movie is about those who dare and push limits.
Inspirational for those who know what it is to overcome fear and live in the moment and touching for those that don't.

Exceptional

[Nausicaä]

Killing Them Softly (2012)

I absolutely hated the directing of this film although I thought that James Gandolfini was terrific and Brad Pitt was believable as the main character
The problem with the movie was the forced wannabee gangster dialogue and the drawn out scenes of no real consequence. Had they given it to Guy Ritchie or Antoine Fuqua to direct, it could have been gangster fireworks!

Forgetable



^ I'm having trouble getting through this film. I've got 50 minutes into it so far and nodded off, it's a bore of a film. So will try to pick it up again, so far very very disappointing film.

[mark f]

How can it be more boring than The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford? I mean, maybe it is - I'll watch it to find out; the earlier film is watchable, but it's as boringly drawn out as its title.

[Nausicaä]

^ I actually didn't find that film boring, really liked it and adored the cinematography.

[cricket]

Killing Them Softly (2012)

I absolutely hated the directing of this film although I thought that James Gandolfini was terrific and Brad Pitt was believable as the main character
The problem with the movie was the forced wannabee gangster dialogue and the drawn out scenes of no real consequence. Had they given it to Guy Ritchie or Antoine Fuqua to direct, it could have been gangster fireworks!

Forgetable

I almost got this last night; it's one I really want to see, but at the same time, expect to be disappointed.

[BlueLion]

Killing Them Softly is disappointing indeed. I had much higher expectations.

[cinemaafficionado]

The Last Tycoon (2012 )

You know that you are a real movie lover when you can sit through a movie listening to a language you don't understand and waching without sub-titles. I allready know this about myself, but it's sometimes an unexpected pleasure, as well. Such is the case of this wonderfull pre World War II Shanghai crime story, where Chow Yun-Fat does justice to the type of character he's been known for.
A country bumpkin comes to the big city ( an athmospheric and memorable era Shanghai ) and through sheer courage and cunning emerges as the city's top gangster.

EXCELLENT

[cinemaafficionado]

El Infierno (2010)

A very real and timely movie about prevailing Mexican drug wars as seen through the exploits of a meek and unassuming country guy who becomes a stone cold killer while embroiled in a small town Mexican drug trade.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

Back To 1942 (2012)

For those of us who sometimes take life for granted, we should be thankfull that we were not a Chinese living in China's Henan Province in 1942.
That year, the people there got squeezed by the great famine and the invading Japanese army. Three million died from starvation alone.
This brutaly honest movie let's us see the conditions of the time as seen through the eyes of a wealthy landlord who had everything only to lose at all as he flees for his life.
Becoming a refugee and becoming one with the poor multitudes, who used to serve him, he witnesses the demise of all his family.
The realism in this movie is quite extraordinary as we watch people eating wood as there is nothing else left to eat.
It's interesting that this movie did not get banned in China, as the role of Chang Kai Shek in all of this is left to the viewers interepretation. Some might even view it with a simpathetic slant.
This movie is based on real events and if they are as true as they appear to be, to me this man is the essence of evil.Tim Robbins and Adrian Brody had brief cameos but they certainly were not the stars of this movie.
If you are not a religious person, this movie might make you one.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

Baaghi (2009)

Set against the backdrop of Pakistan's split from India, this inspirational Indian movie is based on the real life story of Milkha Singh, 1960 - 400 meter world record holder.
Through sheer grit and determination an orphaned boy becomes one of India's most cherished runners.
The cinematography is exquisite as the story unfolds through flashbacks.

Exceptional

[cinemaafficionado]

Abandoned (2010)

Just watched this direct to video release featuring Brittany Murphy and Dean Cain. It was an interesting missing person case that takes place in a hospital.
I remember Brittany from 8 Mile and thought that she was a very gifted actress. It's sad that she died in Decmber of 2009 under somewhat mysterious circumstances ( she might have been poisoned ). She was only 32 when she died.

R.I.P. Brittany. You will be missed!

[Gabrielle947]

I loved her in Spun :) Have you seen it?

[cinemaafficionado]

Yes, I enjoyed Spun.

[cinemaafficionado]

A Single Shot (2013)

I was pleasantly surprised by this dark and atmospheric movie.
The backwoods of West Virginia give the viewer a sense of isolation and solitude. It is there where the movie begins with a hunter making a horrendous mistake and then it unraves with twists and turns that include a number of unsavory characters and some interesting women.
The story is well thought out and plays like a James Lee Burke novel.

Excellent

[cricket]

A Single Shot (2013)

I was pleasantly surprised by this dark and atmospheric movie.
The backwoods of West Virginia give the viewer a sense of isolation and solitude. It is there where the movie begins with a hunter making a horrendous mistake and then it unraves with twists and turns that include a number of unsavory characters and some interesting women.
The story is well thought out and plays like a James Lee Burke novel.

Excellent

Glad to see the positive review of this. I really like anything Sam Rockwell does and look forward to seeing it.

[cinemaafficionado]

Newsmakers (2011)

Just watched this Russian movie dubbed in Chinese. Impressive.
The openning of the movie was somewhat like the American TV movie: 45 Minutes, where a couple of bad guys engage in gunfight with the police.
In this movie, it's about five Russian criminals that are armed like special forces guys and they massacre a bunch of policemen.
The Chief of Moscow Police brings in the SWAT team and allows for reality media coverage during the carnage that ensues.
Just like in The Raid, the criminals are holed-up in a housing complex, where they join forces with two hit men and they fight off a SWAT army.
There is no Kung-fu but the realistic fire power is more than enough.

Exceptional

[Sexy Celebrity]

http://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=11841&stc=1&d=1385923257

Complimentary Marlon Brando Santa Claus avatar for the reviewer.

[Sexy Celebrity]

Also, boyfriend, you do not have to use the avatar if you don't want to. My God. You could just come right out and say it.

[cinemaafficionado]

Also, boyfriend, you do not have to use the avatar if you don't want to. My God. You could just come right out and say it.

I see it now and thanks for the effort but how do you expect me to pick up fine chicks looking that old:p? Also, I'm a leader and not a follower so when the time comes, I'll start my own Red Brigade!;)

[Sexy Celebrity]

I see it now and thanks for the effort but how do you expect me to pick up fine chicks looking that old:p?

What chicks? Dorothy Michaels?

[cinemaafficionado]

More than 50 in the last few years, but who is counting?

[Sexy Celebrity]

I meant around here at Movie Forums.

[cinemaafficionado]

Et tu Brutus:p My irony has failed you , too.
I don't like to see Marlon like that. It reminds me of his final days and the sloppy Filipina maid that put him to rest.

[cinemaafficionado]

Ill Manors (2012)

A profoundly dusturbing and gritty movie about small time hustlers and wanabee gangsters on the seamy streets of London.
It's pretty bleak and redemption comes in the form of death but even so, in it's darkest hours the human spirit soars to new heights and shows that for some change is possible.

Excellent

[Gabrielle947]

We watch the same unknown movies I guess. :D First Brest Fortress,now this one.

[cinemaafficionado]

We watch the same unknown movies I guess. :D First Brest Fortress,now this one.

Similiar interests, Gabby:)

[cinemaafficionado]

Red 2 (2013)
I don't know about you, but action comedies just don't work for me, especially this one directed by someone called Dean Parisot, who takes a super cast and turns them into a San Francisco gay parade.
Let's see: There is Marie Louise-Parker with her lips done like a female joker, Helen Miren turned anorexic and sultry assassin, John Malkovich wearing a cowboy hat and a coat out of the Long Riders and there's Bruce Willis looking uncomfortable and dumbfounded at every turn. They also managed to cast Byung Hung Lee as a totaly out of place assassin.
They've even added the beautiful Zeta Jones, who is probably the only one in the whole movie that stays in character throughout.
This movie is the perfect example of a director who is clueless in directing a stellar cast. What a waste and my candidate for the outstanding cast worst movie of the year award.

SUCKS!

[honeykid]

CZJ has character? Someone should tell her agent that so she can add it to her CV.

[cinemaafficionado]

The Grandmaster (2013)

There have been many movies made about Ip Man, Bruce Lee's teacher.
They have been Kung Fu action movies with various actors portraying the main character.
This time the legendary Chinese director Wong Kar Wai brings his unique vision and interpretation and the lead is Tony Leung.
Unlike the previous Ip Man movies, most of the pace is slow and visually stunning. It's almost like watching a Terrence Malick movie.
When there is action, it's breathtaking and and expertly choreographed.
Some of the fight scenes take place in the rain and are poetic in their cinematography.
Zhiyi Zhang portrays impressively a stone cold woman martial artist that has never been beaten.
I loved the mood and atmosphere of this movie and feel that it is a rare work of art.

Hurry up and see it!

[cinemaafficionado]

Endgame (2010)

Is it coincidence or some other design that I should have watched this movie just now at the passing of Nelson Mandela?
Expertly crafted movie by Peter Travis surrounding the events that led to the release of Nelson Mandela and the end of Apartheid.
From what I know, it is historicaly correct and in a very clear way educates even those without any sense of South African history.
William Hurt is exceptional in his role.

Exceptional

[BlueLion]

Red 2 (2013)
I don't know about you, but action comedies just don't work for me, especially this one directed by someone called Dean Parisot, who takes a super cast and turns them into a San Francisco gay parade.
Let's see: There is Marie Louise-Parker with her lips done like a female joker, Helen Miren turned anorexic and sultry assassin, John Malkovich wearing a cowboy hat and a coat out of the Long Riders and there's Bruce Willis looking uncomfortable and dumbfounded at every turn. They also managed to cast Byung Hung Lee as a totaly out of place assassin.
They've even added the beautiful Zeta Jones, who is probably the only one in the whole movie that stays in character throughout.
This movie is the perfect example of a director who is clueless in directing a stellar cast. What a waste and my candidate for the outstanding cast worst movie of the year award.

SUCKS!

Definitely one of the worst of the year. I don't even know why I watched it, when the first was nothing short of average. But at least the first is watchable compared to this piece of crap.

[cinemaafficionado]

The Color Of Freedom (2006)

Could be a companion piece to Endgame, told with a more personal touch
and revealing conditions on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent most of his prison years.
Billie August takes us on a tour, guiding us through the life of a prison guard ( Joseph Fiennes ), who eventualy becomes personaly responsible
for Nelson Mandela's safekeeping and transforms himself from a stereotypical South African white racist to a caring and compassionate human being, largely due to the influence and contact with Mandela, very ably portrayed by Dennis Haysbert.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

The Family (Malavita) - 2013

Now this is what I call a dramedy worth seeing.
Directed by Luc Besson and starring Rober DeNero, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Pheiffer, this movie is a perfect mix of comedy and drama and centers around a New York wise guy and his family, on the run and in the witness protection program, in France, of all places.

Excellent

[cinemaafficionado]

Force Of Execution (2013)

I don't know why but I've always been a sucker for Steven Seagal movies, even though after the first 6 they kind of got progressively worse, with a few exceptions.
Unfortunately, this last movie was not one of them. If you like action, some of the fight choreography was ok but the story line was so weak and silly that I just could not stomach it.
Steven played his usual God like character ( you just can't hurt him, much less kill him ) but this time around he was the bad guy ( although he was kind of trying to be the good bad guy ).
David House played the good guy.
Frank Mir, UFC MMA fighter lurked in the background and Ving Rhames and Danny Trejo rounded off the supporting cast.

Dissapointing ( but not surprising )