Movies watched recently 3

The Crying Game: I hated this movie. I found it meaningless and I couldn't think of a single reason to shoot this story. The IRA part of the plot (the first part of the movie) is interesting, but not great and the Dil part just sucks. I didn't find it realistic, the characters annoyed me, the story rushed and it was predictable. I enjoyed Forest Withaker's acting, but as I found the rest of the characters irritating, I also didn't like the acting. The cinematography and direction are good, but I just couldn't stand this movie.

Johnny Guitar: This is a pure classic. It's ambitious, beautiful, technically perfect, and a joy to watch. The screenplay is able to get realistic characters and issues into a story with a lot of surreal moments. The acting is great, particularly by Joan Crawford, who creates a strong, believable character. It's very well-shot , with breath-taking images filled with meaning.

Groundhog Day: This is a genuinely funny, sweet story, that asks a lot of good philosophical questions. The acting is remarkable, particularly Bill Murray's unforgettable comic timing. The screenplay is truly outstanding, offering an original concept, that's well developed, laugh-out-loud scenes, quirky supporting characters and a cute love story. This is an unmissable comedy.

Mars Attacks!: This is a fun movie, a parody to the action movies and the sci-fi from the 50's. Its silliness will have you laughing out loud,a nd that's about it. The direction is good, as is the acting: a great cast with a good comic timing. I recommend this is you want to watch something entertaining and hilarious.

Secrets and Lies: This is pure british cinema and about the best of it. It's a character-driven story about families and, as the title says, their secrets and lies. The dialog is very strong and the characters are real people. The acting is mind.blowing, specially by Brenda Blethyn, who lives her character. The chemistry between actors is great, and you learn a lot about their relationships without any speaking. This is truly beautiful and original.
The Shawshank Redemption: This is a beautiful stroy about redemption. It's a calmly good movie, that explores life in prison decently and has a lot of sweet moments. You like the characters and the ending is beautiful. The acting is great by everyone, but the best were Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, who perfectly capture the essence of their characters. The technical aspects are good.

The 25th Hour: This is a morally ambiguous, uncomfortable, but poignant tale. The screenplay perfectly explores modern society, the characters are very realistic and the final solution is poignant and touching. Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, Brian Cox and Anna Paquin all give amazing performances, the best being Ed Norton and Philip Seymour Hofman, whose performances are just exceptional.The direction bravely captures fear, anxiety, paranoia and other feeling in our society. The cinematography and editing are also fine.

A Fish Called Wanda: A comedy classic, this has one of the best screenplays ever. It's hilarious nad you won't stop laughing for a second . The actors do an excellent job and create unique, subversive characters. All the technical aspects are good, this is a true gem and a favorite. You need to watch it to understand.
Corpse Bride (re-watchment): This is one of my favorite animated movies. The gothic ambiance is fascinating, the characters are lovely and the story is heartbreakingly poetic. The voice-overs are perfect, and the screenplay also has a lot of genuinely funny moments of satire. The sets, music, gorgeous camera angles and color make this movie a huge joy to watch. I just love it.

You Can Count On Me: This is a very beautiful, honest movie about ordinary lives and human relationships. The screenplay is excellent with great character development, realistic dialogue and situations. The acting brings the movie the life: Laura Linney creates a character to whom you can relate without overacting, Mark Ruffalo gives Terry a painful rawness which is rarely seen in movies and Rory Culkin delivers a very natural child performance. The direction is good, giving the movie an intimist feeling.
The Piano: The Piano is avery acclaimed movie, and even if I didn't like it it's a technically well-made movie. All actors deliver very good performances: Holly Hunter can express her feelings without saying a word and Anna Paquin shows a lot of talent in a dificult part. It's beautifully shot and it has a gorgeous cinematography, but I disliked the screenplay. Even if it has some interesting ideas about dealing with love and adapting to a different culture, its secondary characters are very flawed, and I found many scenes pointless and repetitive in a pretencious way.

To Have and To Have Not: This Hollywood classic is a movie with a lot of charm and sensuality. The story is a typical adventure of the 40's, which is not great, but the acting and direction make this a thrilling experience. Lauren Bacall gives one of the sexiest performances ever and delivers her lines perfectly: she's the best thing about the movie. The camera angles are often beautiful, and the black and white color gives it a lot of glamour.

Aprile: A very sweet movie about life. It's easy to relate with the people portrayed, and the story is quite touching. There are a lot of funny moments, and technically this movie is great: gorgeously shot, with fitting music, beautiful cinematography. This will make you smile with its positive, colourful view of life.

Sleepy Hollow: This is pure Tim Burton: tongue-in-cheek horror with a beautiful romance, wonderful sets and lots of funny characters. The direction is very good, keeping you excited, the acting by a group ofaclaimed actors is excellent and delivers laughs and twists, the screenplay is very funny and, at the same time, romantic and frightening. The cinematogrpahy, special effects, music and sets are all just amazing and create an unique ambience. It's a true joy to watch.

Movies watched recently 2

The Purple Rose of Cairo: A particulary sweet and original Woody Allen movie about innocent love and Hollywood, working equally well in both aspects. The screenplay is flawless, with beautiful characters, a very funny, intelligent satire to movies and an interesting, imaginative development of the story. The acting is very good, particulary by Jeff Daniels, who's simply charming and shows how versatile he is and Mia Farrow, playing the sensitive heroine with emotion. This movie has just a perfect nostalgic feeling about it and it's very original.

The Others: This is defenitely a scary movie, and one of the good ones. It doesn't use blood, gore or violence, yet the sound of a door opened frightens you more than you'd think possible. The movie has great performances: Nicole Kidman shows once again why she's considered one of the best of her generation, portraying a woman on the verge of madness while trying to protect her children; Alakina Mann and James Bentley give realistic child acting, making you believe their characters.The screenplay is effective: there aren't flaws in the plot, it's deliberately slow-paced, making you want to know more, the characters are well-written, nothing is what it seems and there's a truly thought-provoking analisys of religious obsession. The use of light and dark creates an original athmosphere and the direction and shots are very suspenseful.

Babel: This is truly an amazing movie which is also very powerful and emotional. It's excellent in all aspects: the actors are all brilliant (Adriana Barraza, the moroccan boys and Rinko Kikuchi are the best, but all the others are also mind-blowing); the screenplay is flawless, tackling difficult subjects such as lack of communication intelligently and having the stories complement each other with many layers of depth; the direction, that portrays different cultures so well; the editing, that makes the four stories flow gently along and adding the movie notion of time and keeping you hooked; the cinematography, capturing the different aspoects of the world and the music, capturing more emotions out of the scenes. A true work of art not to be missed.
Babette's Feast: This is a lovely movie with a beautiful message about how we must enjoy our lives. The story is very simple and subtle, with well-written characters and it's slow-paced, but fascinating, character sudy. The acting is very good by everyone, and the standouts are4 the direction, with the beautiful wide shots and the cinematography, giving the movie a dream-like feeling.
Rabbit-Proof Fence: This is a very moving, touching story about three very corageous girls and the racism against australian aboriginals. It's an intimist story, with excellent acting from the three girls, who are very natural and realist, beautiful music, interesting direction (shooting both the faces and the huge landscapes), close to perfect cinematography (the frightening desert) and organic editing. The screenplay is simple but effective, making you feel for the characters without being sappy.
Duel: This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat , without cheap thrills. It builds its suspense slowly, with the ennerving music and atmospheric direction,without gore and physical violence. It's very intense and it shows Steven Spielberg's talents. I found it better than Jaws, because it doesn't rely at all in special effects. The screenplay is simple and in the hands of the director, very powerful. Dennis Weaver gives a good performance showing the character's feelings.
The Devil Wears Prada: This is just an enjoyable, funny comedy, with some elements that make it special. The story, even if banal, has an interesting message about private vs. professional life, satyrical characters and hilarious, highly-quotable sentences. The acting is the best thing about the movie, with Meryl Streep presenting us with an excellent, very charismatic performance, Anne Hathaway, playing a sweet, intelligent young woman with quirks and some realism and Emily Blunt, who delivers a very good supporting performance. The rest of the movie is just a common romantic comedy.

El Laberinto del Fauno: Not just this movie is gorgeous (you can see that by the beautiful poster, can't you?), but it also has an amzing story about innocence, horror and evil. It's truly original, with both parts of the story (the real and the fantasy world) complementing each other. The acting is excellent, particullary Ivana Baquero, giving one of the best child performances, very real, affecting and easy to connect with and Sergi Lopez, playing a sadic, violent man to perfection. The direction, editing, special effects and cinematography are out-standing and some of the best I've seen, pulling you into the movie. It's very violent, but it's never exploitive.
Hotel Rwanda: This is a beautiful story about survival and how one person can make the difference. The screenplay avoids the biggest clichés, it's very touching and all the characters are well-developed. The acting by Don Cheadle is amazing and he has very good support by Sophie Okonedo and Nick Nolte. The direction is subtle and it pulls you into the movie and the cinematography captures the warm, envolving color. Recommendable to everyone who's looking for a very well-done and honest tear-jerker.