Movies watched recently 9

The Outsiders: This is one of Coppola's worst, though it's still a good movie. The screenplay tells an interesting, though simplistic and very flawed story, using developed leading characters and some good dialog to make this touching. The acting is very good, specially by C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Diane Lane and Ralph Maccio, who are natural and affecting. It's well-directed, with some beautiful shots of nature relating to human feeling. The soundtrack and editing are quite good, but unremarkable. The problem is the cinematography, that looks amateurish, not any epic (this reduces the emotion of the movie a lot) and just doesn't fit here. This is a decent movie, but by no means unmissable.
Uptown Girls: This is a common mainstream comedy. The screenplay has an interesting, potentially funny basic story, which should have been more explored; instead, there are too many clichéd subplots. Although the physical humor is just useless, the two leading characters are well-written enough and the dialogs between them are funny. The acting is quite good by Dakota Fanning, who shows precocious understanding of her character's behavior and precise comic timing. Brittany Murphy is not too annoying and can make her character vaguely understandable. Technically, this is just unremarkable and mediocre. This is light fluff.

An American Rhapsody: This is a purely beautiful drama with a powerful screenplay and brilliant acting. It's an honest tear-jerker with a poignant story that covers a lot of themes seriously. It's an absorbing story that's very well-told. The pace is perfect, the characters are all full-fleshed and flawed, but still likable. The acting is amazing: Scarlett Johansson captures her character's emotions using her eyes admirably, Kelly Endresz-Banlaki has intuitive talent and she's very realistic, Nastassja Kinski has perfect body language and Tony Goldwin delivers an effective interpretation of a character that could've been a cliché. These last two master the accent and can speak in hungarian. All the supporting actors are also mind-blowing. The direction visibly comes from the heart, and the shots are all beautiful. The cinematography, sets, music, capture the very different feelings of the countryside and the american suburbs. The use of hungarian, and black and white color in some sequences made this more realistic. It's not a masterpiece of film-making, but it's an honest, well-told story.

The Royal Tenenbaums: This is a very original, extremely well-done dark comedy. It's the subtly told story of a troubled family of have-beens: all the characters are quirky and interesting and the relationships between them are slowly, though beautifully developed. The fairytale-like narration makes this by turns touching and darkly humorous. The dialogs are great, and all that's left unsaid makes them more realistic. The acting is impressive: I adored the entire cast and the chemistry between them. Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wislon, Gene Hackman and Ben Stiller were standouts for me. The direction is simply gorgeous: the shots are (physically and emotionally) distant from the characters, allowing the plot to develop and humor to flourish. The rock'n'roll music, antiseptic cinematography and clean editing work perfectly. This is not a very funny comedy, but it's a great character study.

Les Choristes: This is a pleasant story about a teacher who's successfully able to make his student's lives better. It's unpretentious and simple, with touching, believable characters, even if clearly divided in goodies and baddies. It works here, giving the movie a dreamy feeling. The acting is good: the adult actors are fitting and perfect parts and the kids are charismatic. The direction is beautiful even if common, holding a particular charm that's similar to Chocolat.The cinematography and editing are neat.
Almost Famous: This is an excellent movie that feels like a labor of love. The story is fascinating and it captures rock'n'roll spirit perfectly. The characters are very well-built: they are simply human and they feel raw emotions. The subplots are all developed. The dialogs feel real. The acting is brilliant: Kate Hudson is perfect, capturing confusion, angst, love and beauty, creating one of the most beautiful characters I've seen. Patrick Fugit and Frances McDormand realistically capture their characters feelings and get you to actually feel them. The direction is pitch-perfect: the shots feel edgy, create a great ambiance that reminds you of the 70's and allow you to feel and understand this movie on many levels. The soundtrack is great, using some of the best rock'n'roll songs, that highlight the characters and their feelings. The 70's look cinematography and the fluid, natural, unobtrusive editing elevate this movie to a classic status. This is unique for you can truly feel this movie.

Casablanca: This is a great, truly romantic classic. It has a wonderful nostalgic feeling about it, it's technically perfect, well-acted and directed. The story is widely-known and extremely well-told. It equilibrates romance with politics perfectly and it's intelligently nuanced. The dialogs include fabulous lines and poignant moments. The acting is very good: Ingrid Bergman is intense and realistically torn, Humphrey Bogart portrays is typical character, Paul Henreid is believable and Claude Rains portrays his unique character admirably. Michael Curtiz gets the perfect shots and he's able to make this authentically romantic. The score is beautiful, the cinematography is gorgeous andthe editing is unobrtusive but effective. This is a masterpiece.