“School of Rock” Rocks
If you like popular music and if you like to laugh, this movie is pure joy. I haven’t cried in laughter so much for a long time. Jack Black’s acting performance itself is a joy to watch. He deserves an Oscar for the gig.
Capturing the Friedmans
Watching the life of a child molester and the disintegratation of his family is probably not the kind of story most people consider seeing when they wish to have a good night at the movies. But this documentary is such a spectacular piece of work that even a difficult subject cannot get in the way of having a great film experience. The film raises all sorts of interesting questions about family relations and how different people experience and remember the same events. This is a must-see film for any aspiring documentary maker.
“Punch, Drunk, Love” and “The Hours”
“Punch, Drunk, Love”. The title of the movie summarizes the film well. People who have problems with their tempers (Punch) have difficulties maintaining stable relationships. Their dispair can lead them to the bottle (Drunk). But, according to the film, there is still hope: Even if you cannot control your temper, don’t give up. There may still be a girl (Love) for you.
“The Hours” struck me me as a much more compelling movie than “Punch, Drunk, Love.” The writer of the script plays marvellously with the biography of Virginia Wolf and her novel “Mrs. Dalloway” by weaving it together with the life of a woman in Post-World-War II Los Angeles, and a third women in contemporary Manhattan.
Whale Rider
The whale rider is a young girl who finds herself in the middle of a collision between a small traditional culture in New Zealand and the modern world. Her mother and twin brother die during childbirth. Her father leaves her with her grandparents and tries to escape to Europe. The grandfather has absolutely no use for her from the moment she is born because she is a girl and he needs a grandson to continue the bloodline and be the next leader of the tribe. But the young girl knows granddaddy better than he knows himself and takes us along for a quite a ride. This is a beautiful film although the pace of a narrative could have been a bit faster at times.
Together
If you like classical music and detailed explorations of emotions triggered by the relationship between father and son, this is a film is for you. In the middle the movie feels a bit slow. But once you have seen the surprising and dramatic ending, you realize that the slowness in the second hour made the ending all the more powerful. The story is so moving that if you are prone to tears, you should bring a good supply of clenex to the show. I am eager to see the previous film by the director Chen Kaige, “Farewell my Concubine.” The film is in Chinese with English subtitles. Postscript: “Farewell my Concubine” was not nearly as good as “Together” and can be skipped!
Finding Nemo
Beautiful animations of the sea, cute and clever dialogs. A film for everyone. Go find Nemo. It will be a feast for the eye and the heart.
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Dancer Upstairs
I am a big fan of John Malkovich the actor. John Malkovich the director might still win me over some day, but not if he does not hire an editor who can keep the self-indulgence of a movie-star turned director at bay. I was lured into the film by high ratings that the moviegoing public gave the film. I left the theatre disappointed. The political story about South American tendencies for civil war and military takeovers could have turned out a gripping drama in a hands of a more competent team. Malkovich got away with making a film that could have been cut by at least a third. My respect for the role of editors has increased dramatically after seeing this flik.
New Film Review Section
7/27/03. I have migrated to new software which will be much more user-friendly.
Here is also my old favorites list:
Favorites 2002-3
Talk to Her
Adaptation
The Pianist
About Schmidt
Gangs of New York
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (funny comedy)
Top 5
1. Cinema Paradiso
2. Death in Venice
3. Godfather I and II
4. Casablanca
5. Henry the V
Previously featured Top 5 (1996)
1. En Coeur en Hiver
2. Angels and Insects
3. Shattered
4. Casablanca
5. In Line of Fire
British:
Henry the V
Braveheard
Remains of the Day
Howards End
Othello
Russia:
Burnt by the Sun
Russia House
Gorky Park
Hunt for Red October
Germany:
Nowhere in Africa (Nirgendwo in Afrika)
Lola Run (Lola Rennt)
Nobody Loves me (Keiner Liebt mich)
Men (Männer)
Das Boot
The Voyager
Cafe Bagdad (Out of Rosenheim)
Hanussen (Brandauer)
France:
Cyrano de Begerac
Germinal (Depardieu)
Tout les Matins Du Mond
La Femme Nikita
Indochine
The Lover
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Recent Version)
Toto Le Hero
Horseman on the Roof
Schweden: Pele the Conqueror
Italy:
Death in Venice
Cinema Paradiso
Spain:
Talk to Her (Brilliant)
All About My Mother
Abre Los Ojos (Open your eyes. Remade as Vanilla Skies)
Belle Epoche
Goya
Mexiko:
Like Water for Cocolate
Frida
China:
The Last Emperor
Raise the Red Lantern
Ju Dou
New York:
Manhatten Murder Mistery (Woody Allen)
6 Degrees of Separation
The Age of Innocense
Don Juan de Marcos
War Time:
Schindler’s List
Au Revoir Les Enfants
Europa, Europa
The Tin Drum
All Quiet on the Western Front
Spike Lee “Joints”:
Mo better blues
Do the right Thing
Jungle Fever
Other Films:
Secret Burning (Fay Dunaway)
Hook (cute)
How to Make an American Quilt
Jesus of Montreal
The Mission (Robert De Niro)
Death and the Maiden (Polanski)
Copy Cat (Weaver)
Patriot Games
Silence of the Lambs
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
On the Golden Pont
A few Good Man
The Day of the Jackal
Midnight Express
The Player
Ghost
Shawshank Redemption
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Fatal Attraction
Reality Bites
Lord of the Rings (Part 1)
Mulin Rouge
Artistic Documentary
Vincent or Van Gogh
10 Short Film on Glenn Gould
Watergate (PBS Documentary on Nixon)
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