Cobpyth's Film Reviews

It's not as refined? Do you mean "stylized"? Because I'd agree with that, but if you mean refined, then I don't understand what you're getting at.

Also, the majority of those actors weren't big stars (hell, most weren't even stars) when this was made.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Yes, I probably mean "stylized". I'm not a native English speaker, so I don't really get the nuances in these sort of things, but I think you got it right here.

And I know that most of them weren't (big) stars back then, although Christopher Walken already won an oscar and Dennis Hopper was already pretty famous, but that's irrelevant in the present, isn't it? What counts is that right now, some of them are amongst the most respected stars of the business and it's great fun to see them perform some small roles in this movie with their already existing talent.

Reviews of the day:

Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

I am a huge Woody Allen fan and this is again a classic Allen movie with a lot of heart. Next to the brilliant comic lines and the inventive plot, there are some deeper emotions which the main characters have to struggle through, during the run of the story. It's this great mix between drama and comedy that makes Allen one of the very best filmmakers ever, in my opinion.

In this frame story, we have a bunch of comedians sitting at a table, telling eachother stories about a legendary talent manager named Danny Rose (played by Woody Allen himself). After some short, extremely funny stories, one of the comedians claims to know the most striking story about him and he starts telling the main story.
Danny Rose is working with a has-been crooner, Lou, who's having an affair with a blonde Italian girl, named Tina Vitale (played by Mia Farrow). When at a certain moment, Danny has settled a very important night at the Waldorf's for Nick, the singer wants his girlfriend to be there, so he can meet with her after his wife has left. He asks Danny to be his "beard" during the presence of his wife.
After some discussion, Danny agrees to do it and drives to the girl's house to pick her up, but he's way too early as usual. When he arrives, Tina is having a mental break down and she doesn't want to go with him, because a friend of her saw Nick with another "stupid blonde". Instead she flees away to an Italian family house. Danny follows her and when he arrives, a romantic admirer of Tina thinks Danny is Tina's boyfriend and he asks his two violent brothers to avenge him.
Together, Danny and Tina try to escape from the two brothers and get in a wild adventure together.

The hilarious dialogue gives the film a lighter mood, but during some more serious, yet still funny, conversations between Tina and Danny, the two main characters really start to open up to eachother (and to the viewer) and talk about their visions of life, the feeling of guilt and the fact that all of Danny's succesful former clients have left him for the faster and bigger money. What Danny doesn't know is that Tina told Lou, the singer, that he should get a better manager and that they actually spoke with a more influential manager a few days earlier (before Tina knew Danny). This gives the movie another very interesting dimension.

At the end, we see Tina finally getting to know the feeling of guilt and Danny having a Thanksgiving party with his other outcast clients and friends, who stayed loyal to him. You have to see the movie to see it all come together and of course for the many spectacularly comical, yet moving scenes.
I rate this movie:

+

Reviews of the day:

Rango (2011)

I saw Daniel M recommending this animated feature in a lot of his posts, so I decided to watch it this afternoon.

I was EXTREMELY entertained during the whole movie. This film is a gorgeous animated tribute (and spoof) to the Spaghetti Western genre and more specifically to Leone's western movies.
The other thing I really liked about it was the fact that it followed a plot line from one of my favorite movies of all time, Chinatown.

The film tells the story of a lonely chameleon who is 'accidentally' dropped on a road in the middle of the desert. He meets Roadkill, who tells him to follow his own shadow to find water.
After a long walk with some obstacles along the way, he meets a girl lizard, named Beans, who brings him to a typical western town. In a saloon, he tries to impress the residents of the town, by stating that he is Rango, a fearless cowboy, and making up stories about his supposed heroics. The town believes him and when he kills a hawk with luck, they worship him even more and the evil mayor of the town, who is modelled after Chinatown's Noah Cross, makes him the town sherrif, to give the inhabitants a false feeling of security.
The town has one big problem. Their water resources are shrinking and nobody knows why. When the bank is actually robbed and the town becomes officially waterless, Rango teams up with some of the bravest villagers and starts a search for water. During this quest, he comes across an army of underground animals, corrupt politics, one of the coolest villains in recent animation fillm memory, named Rattlesnake Jake, the spirit of the West and... Himself.

The story is great, the animation is stunning, the characters are colorful, the music is perfectly fitting and sometimes pleasantly unexpected, the humor is good and there are plenty of fun references for movie lovers! What's not to like? This movie is one of the best American animated films I've seen in a long time. I rate this film:

+

Great to see you watched Rango and even more that you enjoyed it so much! You know I share similar film taste to you so I loved the Chinatown plot line combined with tons of references/homage paid to Westerns, in particular Leone. Every viewing I notice more and more references, like recently Easy Rider (the helmet) and Mad Max 2 with the tank of water, if you're interested check out my review here where I decided to write loads about just why I love it.

In terms of visuals, I honestly think that this is the most perfect animation I have seen. The quality is superb, every last detail is included - especially with the animals, the pictures you've included show this, and it perfectly captures the gritty Spaghetti Western feel.

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Nice review! I read a whole list of all the references just after I watched it and although I noticed most of them, there were some real deep ones.

I agree about the visual quality of the 3D animations. It's amazingly well done.

Moonstruck (1987)

I was in the mood for something rather comical and romantic and this was,(apparently) exactly the movie I needed! The film was charming, had great (comic) characters, driven by some very good performances, and also had a lovely script which held a perfect balance between drama and comedy.

The main character of this film is Loretta Castorini (perfectly played by Cher, who won the oscar with this performance), a 37 year old widow. At the beginning of the movie, she agrees to marry a rather boring, but friendly bachelor, named Johnny. She doesn't love him, but she doesn't believe that's necessary for a healthy marriage, just like her mother (played by the very memorable, oscar winning Olympia Dukakis).
Johnny's mother is dying and just before he gets on the plane to Sicily, he asks Loretta to contact his brother and ask him to come to the wedding, because he wants to end the 5 year long 'feud' they are having.
She goes to visit the brother, named Ronny (Nicolas Cage), and he seems to have lost a big part of his hand while slicing bread, because Johnny was distracting him. Because of that, the girl he loved left him for another man and he never forgave his brother (although it wasn't actually his fault).
Loretta is attracted by Ronny's traumatized and neurotic personality and she ends up making love to him and falling in love with him.
While Loretta is doing all these 'wrong' things, the other characters also have their own things going on. Loretta's father, for instance, is having an affair and her mother has a strong suspicion. She tries to find out why her husband is cheating on her by asking a womanizing college professor, who she randomly meets at a restaurant, "why men are chasing woman?"
All these exciting events come together in a climactic kitchen scene where all characters end up in the same room.

Everything in this movie feeled authentical and real. There was plenty of comedy, but it was so perfectly weaved into the story, that it never seemed jumped-up. That golden combination of comedy and drama is something that's very rarely found in today's romantic comedies, but a beautiful modern example of this magical duo is of course last year's Silver Linings Playbook.
I rate Moonstruck:

Gangs of New York (2002)

First of all This film deserves a lot of credit for its wonderful sets, costumes and cinematography. It was really a joy for the eye. Besides that, we have some good performances, with most notably Daniel Day-Lewis in the role of Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting.

The story itself begins as a classic revenge tale. The father of Amsterdam Vallon (performed by a good DiCaprio), 'Priest' Vallon (Liam Neeson), is killed by Bill 'The Butcher' during a battle between the Irish gangs and the "native" americans. 15 years later, we see Amsterdam leaving the reformatory as an adult, out for revenge. This all takes place during the time of the Civil War.
Amsterdam integrates himself into the gangs and starts to win Bill's trust by serving him well and he slowly becomes his intimate. Bill is at this time one of the mightiest gang leaders in New York. He owns practically the whole neighborhood of the Five Points and the whole mob shares loot with him.
Meanwhile Amsterdam starts to fall in love with one of Bill's former girls, Jenny (Cameron Diaz). The problem is that Amsterdam's associate, Johnny, who knows Amsterdam's secret, is also in love with her. Out of pure jealousy Johnny snitches on Amsterdam and tells Bill that "his name is Vallon".

Up to that point, the film was extremely captivating to me and I was very interested in what would happen to the characters. But after Bill punished Amsterdam, the film starts to drag a little, in my opinion, and becomes less stronger. The quality of the visuals stay and it's still worth watching, but it seemed to me that the heart of the story was gone. We still get some nice riot scenes and the so called message of the movie, but the faith of the characters suddenly becomes of less importance, which is a shame!

It was still a very enjoyable movie and I certainly didn't regret watching it! Some scenes and sets in this movie were actually some of the best I've ever seen of this milennium! So there's plenty of eye candy to make up for the sometimes weaker plot. It's also a very good period piece and Martin Scorsese once again showed me, that he's worthy of being called the best director alive by many movie buffs. I rate this movie:

Reviews of the day:

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

This is a GREAT film adaptation of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize winning play. Obviously the movie is script- and character focused, but I actually also liked the atmosphere they were creating with the visuals, especially during the rainy night scenes. They gave this movie a kind of neo-noir feeling, which I absolutely adored!

It's a story about salesmen who are under pressure to close their leads. For some of them it means they won't be fired if they do and for the winner, Ricky Roma (exceptionally well played by Al Pacino), it means that he will get a bonus in the form of a Cadillac. Each in their own way, they try to deal with this pressure.
One of the guys, Dave Moss (Ed Harris), has enough of being humiliated by his bosses and plans to rob the best leads of his own company to sell him to another starting company (from a friend he knows) for some money and a new, more independent job. He knows he will be suspect, so he asks one of his co-workers, George Aaronow (Alan Arkin), to do it for him for 2500 dollars.
That same night, one of the older salesmen, Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon), who is very close to being fired and really needs money for his sick daughter at the hospital, is having a lot of trouble with his two old leads, who are almost impossible to close.
The next morning the office is indeed robbed and the police is trying to find the perpetrator, while every other person in the office is dealing with their own particular problems...

Next to the actors I mentioned in the brief summary, there are also very good performances by Kevin Spacey as the office leader and Alec Baldwin as Blake, the young succesful boss who gives a tremendously harsh speech at the beginning of the movie.
The dialogue was razor sharp, the atmosphere was fantastically dark and the performances were awesome. I also liked the sometimes sudden turning movements of the camera towards faces during conversations. That's just a piece of awesome direction.
I rate this movie:

+

David Mamet is one of the masters of hard-nosed dialogue.

Wild at Heart (1990)

This is another odd, yet gorgeous, stylized 'wild' movie by David Lynch, which won the Palm D'Or at the Cannes festival in 1990.

I was entertained during the wole mesmerizing, weird looking story about two lovers who are trying to flee away from the girl's evil mother. I'll let you discover the whole plotline by yourself, because it's pretty hard to describe all of it in words. It's really something you have to see. This film certainly is above all a visual experience, with lots of beautiful colors and picturesque images.

The film can be seen as a kind of dark, freaky tribute to The Wizar of Oz and Elvis. Both phenomenons are continuously referenced and used in the dialogue. It's really wonderfully done!

Another big advantage of this movie were the great performances of the actors! Nicolas Cage was very solid as the wild, but romantic Sailor Ripley; Laura Dern was FANTASTIC as the sexy, daring and yet very sweet Lula Fortune; Diane Ladd was really good as the creepy Marietta Fortune; and Willem Dafoe completely nailed his role as the freaky Bobby Peru.

I recommend this film to all movie fans, who're not afraid of unusual pictures and who'd like to witness an obscure, dreamlike love story with colorful, odd and sometimes shocking scenes and characters. I really adored the atmosphere of this movie, so I rate it:

(-)

Glad you liked Wild at Heart, it's great fun. The Wizard of Oz is one of David Lynch's favourite films and it's great to see how he manages to fit so many links to the story with constant references from that characters

Indeed!

One of my favorite parts of the movie was when Lula tapped the heels of her red shoes against eachother, trying to get away from all the mess. That moment really gave me goosebumbs.

It's remarkable how much Lynch is able to move me sometimes with these little, odd things.

It's funny if you're in the right mood (or wasted), but it's more bizarre than anything. But I'm resigned to the fact that Cannes and some others will lap up anything by Lynch, turds and all. Sorry.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I personally think his films are very fresh and orginal and although they might be a little controversial and bizarre sometimes (I can't deny that), I enjoy them a lot. I've only seen four of his movies yet and I rate them as followed:

Eraserhead:
Blue Velvet:
Wild at Heart: (-)
Mulholland Drive: (but it's been a long time since I've seen it, so it will probably be higher after a rewatch)

It is of course all a matter of taste.

Whilst you have a point, when Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was aired at Cannes it was absolutely hated and booed by audiences and critics, I think giving the award to Wild At Heart was more of a response to his two kind of cult classic instant films Eraserhead and Blue Velvet.

The public at Cannes is just plain rude. They boo way too much and really show no respect.

David Lynch was booed when Wild at Heart won the Palm D'Or, just like Tarantino for Pulp Fiction and many others.

I don't care if they're controversial or bizarre; I just like them better if they're not boring and juvenile, and thankfully, they all aren't. I'll shut up now since I've spoken my piece enough elsewhere.

Reviews of the day:

Batman Returns (1992)

I didn't enjoy it as much as the first Batman movie (mainly because of a lack of Jack Nicholson), but it still has its good moments and some very iconic characters and scenes.

In this Batman movie, there are 3 main villains. First of all, there is the mighty power plant owning Max Schreck (Christopher Walken), who plans to build a new factory so he can suck the energy of Gotham and become rich by selling it. The problem for him is, that the current mayor doesn't want to give him permission.
The second villain is Penguin (Danny DeVito), who is essentially a freak who was thrown away after his birth by his parents, because he looks very odd (especially his hands) and who grew up in the sewers of Gotham close to the penguins. By blackmailing Max Schreck, he is able to rise up from the sewers to the 'real world' where he wants to avenge his own unfortunate past.
The third and most interesting villain is the fabulous and iconic Catwoman (very well played by Michelle Pfeiffer). At the beginning of the movie, she is the brand new secretary of Schreck and while going through documents, she discovers his evil plans. When she confronts him, he pushes her out of the window and because of her fall, her shy personality turns into her new, dark, bold and sexy identity of Catwoman!
Batman/Bruce Wayne is again played by Michael Keaton and while fighting crime, he is pulled towards the mysterious and dual figure of Selina Kyle/Catwoman...

The direction by Tim Burton is again tiptop. Good examples are the opening scene and the introduction scene to the zoo, in which the viewer literally flies through the location.
Gotham city is again depicted as a dark, gothic and obscure city, just like the first one. The sets are again of great quality!
But after all, it stays a very simple popcorn flick, where too much brain usage is harmful for the enjoyment of the movie, because there are a lot of plot holes and because the characters are extremely flat. This is of course always the fact with comic book adaptations, so we can't blame this film in particular.

I still enjoyed the movie, so I rate this film:

(+)

A Single Man (2009)

This is a very well crafted and extremely stylized movie about a homosexual British professor, named George, who has the feeling that his life is worthless after he lost his long term boyfriend in a car accident. The story takes place in the early 60s.
This film shows his supposed last day alive, because he's planning to commit suicide in the evening. We see him saying goodbye to life, while he's still struggling with his painful grief in the form of flashbacks.
As the day proceeds, we meet some other characters, such as one of George's gay students, who tries to connect with his English professor, because he feels that he's the only one that truly understands him.
Another character is Charley (played by the always magnificent Julianne Moore). She is George's seemingly depressed childhood girlfriend, who is divorced, and he decides to have dinner at her house as his 'last meal'.

My favorite things were first of all the acting (by Colin Firth and Julianne Moore) and second of all the visual perfection of some shots. The film is directed by (first time director) fashion designer Tom Ford, who really has an eye for detail and style and really shows it off here. I hope he will ever direct another film, because this one was a real pleasure to look at!

Sometimes, however, for me personally, it was a little bit difficult to connect with some particular scenes, because I personally never felt so much affection and love for someone, that I wouldn't want to live anymore if I lost him or her. I still was able to behold it from a certain distance and enjoy it, though.
I rate this movie:

(-)