One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest is a really funny, shocking, dramatic and touching movie. The story of Randall McMurphy, who is sent from prison to a mental hospital, under the orders of the evil Nurse Ratched, is amazingly well told. The screenplay has moments that are about as touching and beautiful as possible and the alway present dark humor makes the emotional moemnts ( and those are unforgetabble) tolerable. The characters have dimension and you like them, except for Nurse Ratched, who is one of those evil characters you can only hate. The dialogs are good too.

Jack Nicholson is really amazing. He has a great comic and dramatic timing, he makes his character likeable and real. His delivery is perfect, and his body language, the look in his eyes and deliberate energy are just mind blowing. Louisa Fletcher as Nurse Ratched is perfect, too. Her delivery is so calm and at the same time, you hate every single word that comes out of her mouth. The way she moves is so correct and so mean, at the same time, and her power is frightening that's brilliant. Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito and Josip Elic, Sydney Lassick, Will Samson are the standouts on the rest of the cast, wit their touching, painfully realistic performances.

The direction is just great. Milos Forman lets the actors work, and he gets the most out of them. The shots are always just right, and some of them make the movie much more powerful. Others just let you see how miserably wrong al this is, and make you think about what madness actually is. The cinematography is good, nothing outstanding, but it makes a good use of light and darkness. The music fits perfectly. The editing runs smooth but it's not outstanding. Overall, a great, unmissable, thought provocking movie.

Little Miss Sunshine

Where's Olive?

This is a very original, enjoyable movie. It's typical indie cinema, with its flawed, realistic characters, the dark humor, the way it includes a lot of drama, it's a critic to our society and is unpredictable. The screenplay is simply amazing.The characters are all so well written, you easily rot for them and can identify with at least one. The dialogs are brilliant; you can perfectly see real people saying that, but at the same way it's so satyrical and funny. The storyline has been seen many times, but the twists and the characters make it different from anything you've seen before. The introdution of the characters is so fascinating and beautiful that you imediately like them, despise all their flaws. The pace makes you be so hugely entertaining that it wil seem that the movie tok 5 minutes. The ending is just amzing, one of the best I've ever seen; so funy and dark.

The direction is great, too. The wide shots on the highway are beautiful and full of life and energy. The close shots are really cute and some perfectly brilliant (Olive's introduction), and others very touching (Olive conforting Dwayne) and others satyrical. The cinematography is full of light, but dirty too, which makes it look real. The music is perfect, as is its use.

Now, we get to the acting. Abigail Breslin is the best. She has a screen presence, comic and dramatic timing, delivery of lines and an ability to touch you that are really unsusual in a chld actress. Besides, she looks like a real person, and that makes her character beliavable. Steve Carrel is very enjoyable, and even if his character is not really nice he makes you like him. His comic timing is brilliant, and you can feel his emotions in a realy touching way. The third best was Alan Arkin. so funny, with such an original character stretched to the limits. You can only like him. Greg Kinnear is really funny, Toni Collette is realistic and equilibrates the movie, and Paul Dano has a perfect way of expressing emotions without barely speaking. This one is recommended.

Notes On A Scandal by Zoe Heller

And she knows, by now,not to go too far without me.

I read this book because I knew they were making a movie with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench, and I thought it looked realy interesting. It's realy a great character study, about loneliness and manipulation. The main characters are complex, and the point of view of the story realy works; it makes you unconfortable with what you're reading and at the same time fascinated. Besides, the image of the characters is distorced already, which works terribly well. The storyline is gripping, original and twisted; you can feel something's wrong, but you don't know what. obviously, that makes you want to know, so it's a fast reading. The writing is great and is emotionally intense, though not in the normal way. The dark humor works. I really recommend this if you want a (very) dark, twisted book an interesting character study and a surprising plot.

Mediterraneo

No, whore's good, whore's good.

This is a enjoyable, funny movie about a group of italian soldiers in an island, with only women and children. The screenplay is the best thing of this movie, and it makes it worth watching. The characters are funny and ridiculous, and at the same time you cnnect with them; the storyline is simple, but interesting, even if the romances are a bit idiotic; and the dialogs are usually great, even if sometimes sappy. Besides, italian sounds beautiful. The acting is mostly good, especially because the screenplay helps a lot. The men are all funny and make a strong ensemble, and all the women have to do is look cute. The direction is very nice, not brilliant. The sets are great; the island looks like a paradise, and you truly envy the characters for being there. The cinematography could have used the set in a better way; it wasn't bad, just you feel like it could have been better. It has touching moments, and most of it is jusst laugh out loud funny. It's no masterpiece, but certainly it's hilarious.

Chocolat

I thought you'd never guess. My favorite-hot chocolate.

Chocolat is a nice movie, the type of movie you want to watch in a Sunday afternoon. It has some good acting, a nice story, and it's good to look at, even if forgettable. The screenplay follows the book closely, so it has nice, uplifting subplots, engaging characters and a terrible ending. The narration was good, and it gave the movie a cute fairytale tone. The characters weren't very developed, sometimes they were clichéd, but all the actors are great, so it's easy to not notice that. The dialogues are OK, nothing brilliant but not bad, either. Lasse Hallstrom's directing is simple but effective; the chocolate is very well shot, and almost all the rest of the movie as a simple direction with no flashes of brilliance. It's actually a delicious movie, very good to look at.

The actors were great, even if their material wasn't very good. Juliette Bioche is lovely, with her smile always present and a certain sweetness that fitted the role perfectly. Judy Dench was pretty good, playing her typical cranky old woman, but she expresses her emotions in a god way and can be touching. Lena Olin was perfect for the part, with the right awkardness and pain. Johnny Depp did what he had to, which was looking sexy. Peter Stormare, Carrie Ann Moss, Alfred Molina and Aurelie Parent Koenig were good with their few scenes. The only bad element was Victoire Thivisol, who was too old for the part even if not a bad actress.

The music was pretty good, as were the costumes, the stunning cinematography and the sets. Overall, enjoyable, with gorgeous images and nice.

Gosford Park

Didn't you hear me? I'm the perfect servant; I have no life.

This movie is much more than a murder mistery. It's a satire to the futile society of the early 20th century, a touching story about a mother and a son, and much more. The screenplay is truly great. All the delicate subplots are we-written and have something to say, and they all come together in the end. None of then is just a filler; all are incredibly interesting and important. The comedy is subtle and intelligent, as is the drama, and both are together perfectly well. The down stairs part was dark, true and much more dramatic, even if the comedy is there too, in a much more heartbreaking way. The upstairs part is full of ligh and futility, and funnier. Both work. The dialogues are inspired and some of the best you can get, full of dark humor and inspired sentences.

The directing is great, with the camera moving around in a beautiful way and it's never tiring. The editing is brilliant, leting you understand every plot and they all come together beautifully. The order of the scenes is also perfect. The cinematography is adequate; in the downstairs dark and with some hints of light that are amazing, and upstairs it shows the light and color necessary. The music is great.

The acting. It's amazing, as the rest of the movie. All the actors are great. Maggie Smith, with her wittyness, is perfect; Kelly McDonald, the leaading, is softspoken and has a good screen presence; Kristin Scott Thomas is charismatic; Claudie Blackley is touching and her character is deeply sympathetic; and all the others are great. This is deeply recommended

Jeremiah Johnson

His name was Jeremiah Johnson, and they say he wanted to be a mountain man.

This is not a remarkable movie, though it has some good scenes, breath-taking views and beautiful shots. The dialogues are often clichéd, and the storyline is just mildly good. It's about a mountain man played by Robert Redford, and his struggle to survive. After that, you see his life with an indian woman and a little boy; those scenes are very cute. It's mostly quite boring and not absorbing enough, though. One of the main problems of this is that Robert Redford isn't capable of holding a picture. His character never is tri-dimensional, and it's never iconic. He still has some moments in which the emotions of Jeremiah come out, and those are beautiful and touching. The supporting actors are better. Delle Bolton, who plays Swan, shows a nice deal of emotion with her body language, and Josh Albee as Caleb is really expressive, and his character is the one I cared the most about. Will Geer is pretty funny, but his character isn't very well-written.Allyn Ann McLerie plays crazy very wel, in her few scenes.

The visuals were the best thing on the movie. The locations are some of the best I've ever seen, and I think you can say they are the main element of the story. Without the mountains, the peace and beauty this movie has would disappear. Sidney Pollack's direction is great. His close shots are always lovely, and his wide shots are perfect. Then, there's some great music too. All those songsabout Jeremiah sound beautiful and have good lyrics. As I mentioned, I didnt enjoy the dialogues much, but some of them are truly poetic and seem to echoe on the mountains. The ending is well done, too. This is not an unmissable movie, but it's very beautiful

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Robbie and Cecilia, stil alive, still in love, sitting side by side in the library, smiling at The Trials of Arabella? It's not impossible.
But now I must sleep.

Ian McEwan's Atonement is a great book, with all its dark twists and touching moments. During the first part of the book, the character development is subtle, and you can feel the sexual tension in the writing, exactly as the pain of the characters, that increases as the book goes by, and a lot of confusion they feel. Then, the second part is horrifying, and it makes you notice how the actions in the past can change everything around us. It gets you to see the story from another perspective, which is very interesting. The third part is great, too; it reforces the idea that our actions deeply affect our future, and it explores guilt, fear and love very well. It makes you think about how much people change during time, and how our actions can be so impulsive. I found the last part to be fulfilling and very thought provocking. Besides, it's touching and the ending makes your emotions spin. The storyline is very interesting, even if not too original and the characters are realistic and always likeable. I recommend this a lot

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: how the Sex and Drugs and Rock'n'Roll Generation Changed Hollywood by Peter Biskind

This book is very funny and shows and interesting view of the 70's, as a decade and the cinema from that time. The gossip is very funny, but I think it's probably exagerated to be more interesting. But I still can see some of it being true. All the behind the scenes episodes are fascinating, as are the analysis Peter Biskind writes. I don't agree with some of them, but I stil think that they still show a good prespective. After reading this, watching the movies mentioned gets much funnier, since you almost can see what ahappened during the shooting. That's another good thing on Easy Riders, Raging Bulls; it doesn't just describe what happened, all the stories come alive in front of you. Biskind's writing is very funny, sometimes ironic and you can notice he actually loves 70's movies. It's well-written, and it's all sort of sugar coated, which works. It doesn't usually get boring, though the episodes descibed get to be a bit similt with each other. I recommend this for movie buffs and people who want to know morre about the 70's.

The Phantom of the Paradise

An assassination live on television coast to coast-that's entertainment.

This is a small movie very few people as ever heard of. The screenplay and the acting don't really matter in this case. I think Brian DePalma wanted to create a satire to the very popular popstars and the glam rock era. It's a very weird movie; if you mixed The Phantom of the Paradise with The Portrait of Dorian Gray, satire touches and dark humor and setted it in the glam rock era, this is probably what you'd get. The settings are amazingly well done and very original, as are the make up, clothes and cinematography. There are some incredibly original scenes that get you by surprise, which is just the objective. This is quite obviously done by a young director, withh its wild imagination and ways of changing the direction of the movie (too) quickly. As an example in the scene where you find out what Swan did, and you only have clues, like, one minute before.

Though, the direction is greatly innovative. It perfectly captures the madness of drugs, singers trying to innovate the most ridiculous ways and the way popstars are just images to society. The shots reach, sometimes, a level of brilliance. There's the scene in which Swan confronts Winslow, aside shot that's great; there are the scenes with Winslow writing, the light flickering and Phoenix appearing behind him, also incredibly beautiful, there are the lesbian sex scenes, there's the shower scene, a clear homage to Psycho, and much, much more.

The story is full of weird, interesting characters. Winslow Leach is quite an idiot, but I found myself rooting for him to get his way. William Finley doesn't do much, but his facial expressions during the first half of the movie are greatly funny, as are his lines. Paul Williams, who did the score too, is great as Swan, the malefic popstar/producer. His voice and mannerisms create a funny, scary character. Jessica Harper as Phoenix was cool. She was sweet, had just the right looks and sang well. Gerrit Graham as a...weird rock singer is hilarious. Obviously, the script isn't meant to be taken seriously: it's al a huge silly parody, with a lot of style and not a lot of substance (even if you can still find a lot of accurate, funny lines).

Finally the music. It's just perfect, fitting on the movie and having great lyrics. It's very original and unusual to listen to this type of music all in the same movie.

This is an hidden gem from the 70's, stylish and very well made, even if way silly. You need to be in the mood for it, but if you are, you'll defenitely enjoy yourself.

Thelma & Louise

You shoot off a guy's head with his pants down, believe me, Texas ain't the place you wanna get caught.

This is one of the most enjoyable movies I've ever seen. The gripping story, the action, the well developed characters, the great acting, the dramatic tension and the dark humor kept me on the edge of my seat. I've never seen any other Ridley Scott movie, but this one is surely great.

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon were amazing. Davis created a character with whom you empathise immediatly. She can be a bit dumb, but she's sweet. Her crying scenes are very believable, as is the amazing transformation her character suffers during the movie. Besides, she has a great comic timing and can be very funny. Sarandon shows a down-to-earth attitude, and her eyes are incredibly expressive. Har character changes realistically during the movie, and her crying/confused scenes arevery touching and heartbreaking. They have a really great chemistry together, and their characters balance each other.

The supporting cast is good too. Brad Pitt is incredibly hot (as always), and he has just the right look and mannerisms for the role. Harvey Keitel is just there, but his voice fits in the little time he has of dialog. Christopher McDonald is incredibly funny and beliavable, I loved his performance; the way he walked, spoke and dressed was perfect. Michael Madsen played is character fairly well in the touching subplot he had. Timothy Carhart as Thelma's rapist had a sinister intensity and charm that was great.

The direction was amazing. Ridley Scott shot a road trip mostly with a dusty, yellow look. He had some surrealist moments (the jamaican guy smoking pot in the desert) that were very cute and enjoyable. The rape scene was very intense and disturbing, and setted the mood of the film. The dramatic tension you can feel comes in good part from his direction. The music was good and created the right mood for the filmThe locations were great. They showed poverty and lots of dirt and decadence, but the desert was beautiful. The stunning cinematography helped giving the movie its ful of style look.

The argument was amazing. The storyline kept you increasingly interested and the characters were touching and you cared for them. The dialogues were sharp and well written. The only problem was that some of the subplots shouldn't have been there.

The last thing I wanna say is that some moments were clichéd. Like, when Thelma is talking to Louise on the phone, she opens the door of the fridge. This is not too bad, but sometimes it gives the movie a not realistic quality. But, on compensation, there are some incredibly original moments, like when Thelma robs a store. Overall, one of the most enjoyable movies ever, great direction and performances

Rebel Without a Cause

You're tearing me apart!

This is a classic teen angst movie, and one of the first to capture it realisticaly on screen.

James Dean gives an incredible performance as the troubled, confused teen, trying to stand up for himself and understand what's going on is his life. you can notice his fear and eagerness to be loved in his gaze, his movements, his laugh and his voice. When he shouts the famous line "You're tering me apart!", it's truly heartbreaking. He creates a character with whom you can easily relate and who's incredibly simpathetic.

Natalie Wood has a steady sweetness and beauty, a woman-like quality in a confused, stuborn teenage girl. She's beliavable and has a good deal of touching momoents, without overplaying them. She has a good chemistry with James Dean, too. Sal Mineo as Jimmy's friend is the best of them, though. He was just 16 when the movie came out, and this is noe of the est teen performances ever. His character has a fear, a confusion, and above all, such a need to be loved, that you can't avoid to want to protect him and help him. His puppy-like eyes, begging to be loved, his sweet, young boy's voice, and his way of shivering all the time, the doubts you can feel he has make this performance great. You never doubt by a single moment that what you're seing is real. His performance is the best in the movie, I think, even if everyone is just great.

Al the supportings are amazing. Jim Backus as Jimmy's dad, keeps up with the difficult task of making us like and understand his confusion abou his son and at the same time wanting him to be stronger and seeing Jimmy's side. The gang members have a typical teen arrogance, but they are real. The actor's that play Judy's parents have a nicely played scene too.

The screenplay is incredible. It portrays realisticly the confusion of teenagers and their parents, it has very touching moments, it's suspenseful, the characters are all beliavable and you care by them. Here, you can feel the lack of communication between adults and teens. But the most singulat thing of all is the satire to american society. You can see the irony of all this seemingly perfect families, hiding in their houses and arguing. Some of the shos suggest this, too; the way outside everything's perfect, and inside of all the suburbian houses and the minds of the characters everything's confused and messed up. I liked the ending resolution a lot, too, showing that sometimews people just can't live with themselves.

The directing is good, with some shots that are sort of campy and fits in the mood of the movie. I liked some subtle touches, like Dean's red jacket and Plato's socks. The music was sometimes a bit overplayed, but mostly, it worked. This is a great movie, not to be mised by anyone!