Hello101's movie reviews

→ in
Tools    
Page 2 of 5
123Last »




hello101's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Message
Registered User
12-03-14
Originally Posted by cricket
Never heard of When the Wind Blows but you sure make it sound good.
I reckon you and your wife will love it.



hello101's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Message
Registered User
12-09-14
Review #7 - Mean Streets:
(Martin Scorsese, 1973)


Mean Streets was Scorsese’s first major feature, it stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro as two small town gangsters, one who’s fairly organised with his life and goals, and the other completely off the handle. Mean Streets ranked #13 on my 100s list, so I do love it.

Mean Streets has not much of a plot like most Scorsese films, in a fly’s perspective we just follow these criminals about their daily shenanigans. The dialogue matches the personas of the characters perfectly, you really get the sense of who’s who right from the get-go, Johnny Boy is the a-hole, Charlie is the nice guy (well as nice as you can get in such a film), Tony is the idiot and Michael is the authority. Robert De Niro is often regarded as MVP for his performance as the hotheaded Johnny Boy, but Harvey Keitel is nothing to snuff at, he’s really calm and constrained in this film, completely unlike him. It’s a shame his career become somewhat of a secondary guy, he’s definitely capable of leading as per his performance in here.

There’s quite a bit of humour in Mean Streets, the way guys talk to each other is funny and the dialogue is basically dumb but fun. “What’s a mook?”

Mean Streets reminded me a lot of Quentin Tarantino’s films, specifically Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. I can see Reservoir Dogs as a Mean Streets 2.0, not for its premise and anything story-wise but rather filmmaking-wise - lack of plot, dialogue, happens over the course of a few days or day, Harvey Kietel, not one main character etc.

Mean Streets tends to fall victim to underrating, I commonly see users post Martin Scorsese’s defining films as Goodfellas/Taxi Driver/Raging Bull but Mean Streets deserves a spot in that category, if only for it being his first major feature.




cricket's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Msg
Registered User
12-10-14
Great review; Mean Streets is one of my favorites as well

I've also talked about the De Niro/Keitel career paths after this movie. I also thought this was Keitel's movie, and it seems odd that he went on to a career as a supporting actor. I think someone said he may have been somewhat blackballed?



hello101's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Message
Registered User
12-10-14
Keitel was dropped as the lead from two major films - Apocalypse Now and Eyes Wide Shut

BS



hello101's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Message
Registered User
12-28-14
Review #8 - Office Space:
(Mike Judge, 1999)


Office Space is the story of a man (Peter Gibbons) who is fed up with the mundane nature of his work, and with the help of a hypnotherapist who miraculously drops dead, Peter is freed from the pressures of his unwanted job and abandons all care towards it.

I didn't care much for Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston as other actors would've played their respective roles much better, they were decent but I wasn't head over heels with either. My favorite character and someone who rather did an exceptional job was the guy who played Michael Bolton (no, not the singer ), his hatred-filled obsession with the singer and infuriation to the comparisons made by his fellow co-workers ensures a hilarious side-gag. Samir is the cheap-laugh magnet, you know the guy who's dumb, foreign and swears a lot, I laughed at his stupid antics though I probably shouldn't have (:skeptical). Milton and Lawrence are universally loved characters of Office Space, I just didn't get their shtick, I wasn't entertained by Milton's mumbling or Lawrence's cool talk. I would've much preferred a character similar to Gordon from Dodgeball, who Stephen Root also played, he was more along the lines of a nervous wreck than a mumbling goof. It seems realistic that someone like that would be working in an IT company than a borderline retard, excuse my french. Lawrence is a gimmick that was over done even prior to Office Space, plain and simple.

With all this rambling on the characters that I don't like, it seems like the final verdict would be something like a
but really no, Office Space is great with its subtle humor and memorable characters (Michael Bolton and Bill Lumbergh), did I even mention Gary Cole? to put in a phrase, he's the boss you shouldn't like but just because of how cool he is, you do. Everyone aspires to be Bill Lumbergh, you say you don't wanna become an a-hole like that but deep down, you sure as hell want to. What else was left unmentioned? Oh yeah, the montages with gangster music in the background, so much win. Who thought something like grunge rap would fit so well with the innocent and humble office workplace, I love every single one of them equally but my favorite montage is Cube's "Down for Whatever" mainly for the slow-mo shots of office sneakiness and system hacking, thus making it seem like a spy-thriller (parodying the genre successfully) but also for the song which is equally as awesome as the visuals that precede it. Overall, Office Space is one of the top comedies of the 90s (and most overlooked) and successfully satirises the seemingly boring life of an IT worker into something funny, subtle and great. Screw printers.




seanc's Avatar
Profile
Posts
Message
Lone Wolf
12-28-14
One of my favorite all time comedies. I probably would have ranked it about the same as you the first time I watched it, for different reasons though, I always loved Lawrence. It is better evertime I watch it though. Like most comedies we love it is infinitely quotable and comes up frequently in conversation for me. Screw printers indeed.
__________________
Letterboxd

Page 2 of 5
123Last »