Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Tucson's the weird capital of the world...WEIRD.

One of Martin Scorsese's early movies, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is very good. It's shot in a raw, gritty, realistic way, and that's the best part of the movie. But there are a lot of other things to enjoy in this hidden gem: the performances, the music, the inspiring storyline and believable characters, the editing and the message and esquisiteness of this. The begginning is perfect. You see a young girl singing, next to her house, and everything's so dreamy. Then, you're introduced to Alice's life in a really well done way. As the story develops, the characters become more consistent and you can't avoid to like them. The dialogs are always realistic and meaningful.

The direction, as I said, is amazing. The hand held camera makes it realistic and gritty, and the dusty look of this movie makes this even better. The other great part of the direction is the femininist message. It works so well, without being forced, and at the same time it can show several beautiful relationships. The shooting is really well done, adapting to the scenes. It makes them often funny beautiful, touching or violent.

The actors are all very good. Even if sometimes I felt Ellen Burstyn was a bit hysterical, that's a part of the character. All her emotions come out in a gret way. This is a brilliant leading performance. Her character isn't slim, particulary pretty or anything; she's just a normal woman trying to work her life out. Kris Kristofferson gives his character wiseness and beautiful feelings, at the same time he underacts in a good way. Alfred Luter was very natural and funny as Alice's young son. I think everyone knows kids like him. Harvey Keitel was very frighening in his part, but a bit clichéd. I don't think this is his fault, though. Billy Green Bush is OK in his small part and Jodie Foster is very funny and charismatic in her small role. Diane Ladd is very funny and great to watch.

With all the great scenes, the beautiful photography, stunning direction, great acting and touching message, this is a very good movie.

Little Children by Tom Perrota

I didn't find this book very good. There's a feeling- like you're peeking and seeing things you shouldn't- that makes it interesting. But the storyline is very banal and too American Beauty-ish, and it's so negative and exagerated. Perrota sems not to know what he wants to do; some characters apeear and disappear all of sudden and the ending is confused and a real let down to me. The characters are too clichéd, we've all seen them before and they are too banal, they never reach an approprate intensity so it's hard to fel fascinated by them. The writing is good, as is Perrota's dark humor and satyrical view of life in suburbs, and there are some great scenes. I found one of the characters to be very original, but the way he acts sometimes really doesn't fit in the rest of the story. This is not a bad book, but I don't really recommend it either.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

This means something. This is important.

This movie is usually considered one of Spielberg's best, and I have to agree on some aspects. The direction and shots are breathtaking, the use of light is brilliant, but some of the conflicts should have been more developed. The screenplay is mostly good, but not the best thing abou tthe movie. The three storylines balance each other. My favorite was the one with the little kid, and my least favorite the one with Richard Dreyfuss playing Roy. I think the characters mostly lacked a background, which made them less believable. The dialogs are very often clichéd, but they can sound cute. The pace is amazing; the stories take time, and all the pieces come together in the amazing ending, as if it was a circle closing itself slowly.

The storyline with the mother (Melinda Dillon) and the young son was brillaint and remarkable. This is the one where you can most easilly realte to the desperation and confusion of the mom, so the characters are really well written. It's the one with more suspense and it's pretty gripping, too. The story of Roy, his obsession and his family is not so good. I mean, I liked the way the relationship with his wife is portrayed, but his obsession is too sudden and childish, so unbeliavable. Claude Lacombe and his investigators is just the technical story; its characters have close to no development, and all they do is explaining you in a concrete way what's happenning.

The shots and special effects are both great and the best thing of the movie. Every sci-fi shot is fascinating, and the use of music in those is mind blowing. Just thge way the ending scene is done makes the movie much better and very thought provoking. The use of light and darkness is brillintly surprising; the ETs are signed with a hard to lok at light, and the rest of the time, there's mostly darkness. The UFO's are just lights of different colors, and that works. The special effects are mostly light, but the control of the wind and perfeccion with which everything's done make the stunning.

The acting is good by Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr and Cary Guffey. The first one shows such a desesperation and affection that you can only like her and roo for her. Teri Garr portrays the not understanding wife, and she does that amazingly. I found myself conecting more with her than with Roy, who was just mad. Cary guffey had the right cuteness and fresh look to make you love his character, and he has a good delivery for someone so young. Richard Dreyfuss is quite ridiculous, because he just sounds mad and I could barely connect with him. The actors fro François Truffaut bit weren't bad, but they didn't have much to do.

The cinematography was truly great, with al the impressive lighting, and the editing mkaes all ends meet beautifully. In the end, This is not a very equilibrated movie, but technically it's a masterpiece and it has one of the best endings ever.

Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

This is one of the weirdest books I've ever read. I had to keep remembering that this is actually a true story, as it reads like another universe. The good thing is that there's no self pity; Burroughs always finds the funny side of things, and he seems grate ful to have lived such a messed up childhood and teen years. All the situations are so surprising you can't avoid to laugh at them. The writing is subtle and every word is well chosen. Tgr people involved in this are all real, despise the fact that the point of view obviously transforms them. It's very creative, and often touching. I connected with them, even if my life's totally different. Some of the scenes are really gross, though, so I recommend this if you're not faint hearted.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

I don't usually read true stories, because they tend to get boring. This one is incredibly exciting, because it tells a real story, recreating it and rewriting it with a lot of inside views,which makes it much more interesting. all the people here are understood by the writer, and there are no monsters, just people wyho do mistakes and pay for them. All of them are fascinatingly complex. The writing is great and I found it original. The characters atart by being described, in a very traditional way, and then you get to see whothey actually are. The sentences are offten really poetic and touching, and some of them are really disturbing. Everything gets more amazing when you know this actually hapenned. Overall, a fascinating read and a classic of modern literature.

Annie Hall

I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable.

Annie Hall is one of the best movies Woody Allen has done. It's witty, intelligent, realistic, beautiful, touching, and unique. It toys with our concept of time, as we see a relatioonship and the beggining, middle, and end of it, not always in this order.

The screenplay, as in all Woody movies, is great. The romance always sounds so real- with its bad and good times, and no forced happy ending- that you root for them to stay together. The characters are amazing. Annie Hall is wonderfully developed. She's truly beautiful, sweet, humane and quite odd, which makes her endearing. Woody Allen is just himself, nervous and paranoid. The jokes are always thought provoking and incredibly witty and ironic. The dialogs are about as good as you can get; not just they keep you interested, but they're full of references to another movies and books and have a lot of criticism to our society and ourselves. The way the story is told gets you even more interested, with all the flashbacks giving you insight in who the characters were and who they become.

The acting is stunning. Diane Keaton, as Annie, gives one of my favorite performances ever. Her character is well written, but it's quite difficult to pull off. She can just get the right quirky, messy look,. with a lot of swetness and beauty. She has an amazing delivery, speaking about everything in a light, cute way. The supporting actors are all good, but no one can get close to Keaton. Woody Allen, even if just playing himself, is particulary good.

The direction is one of the best Allen has done, with the hand held camera and his way of starring at the camera and saying what he thinks or wishes. The editing makes the movie much more interesting; it runs smoothly an it's easy to understand, and at the same time it helps you to get a full understanding of the relationship. The music and photography are good, but not remarkable. Overall, this is an obligatory movie for everyone, and what every romantic comedy wishes to be.

Les Bidasses en Folie

Les Bidasses en Folie, a french movie from 1971, is a very short, easy to watch, slapstick hippy comedy. The gags are always very physical, and during the first half hour of movie they work and it's pretty enjoyable and funny. It' outdated and supposed to be cool, and that makes it even funnier. You laugh at how ridicolous it is. Then, the five characters go to war, and you just grow tired of watching them fall and acting stupid, even if it's still funny. The actors have some good body language, and the gags are funny, but it lacks any link of decent storyline or characters. It's just fluff, cute and sugar coated, with a positive feeling. It can leave you with a smile on your face, as some of the moments are spot on. Fortunately, it's short, because if it had 5 minutes more you'd be incredibly tired of watching this. It's not my type of humour, but it's not bad. I wouldn't recommend this, except if you have nothing else to do and only want some fluffy, 70's styled movie.

The Last Picture Show

One thing I know for sure. A person can't sneeze in this town without somebody offering them a handkerchief.

This is a subtle, real portrait of confused teenagers, the hidden lives of a group of people, and a town dying, with everyone going to the city. Its influence on more recent movies, such as American Beauty and Ghost World, is quite obvious. It's ahead off its time, because it is brave enough to criticise society and to show us the lives of a group of people, just as they are, without sugar-coating them and not being afraid of making them sometimes unlikeable, just the way people are. The screenplay is very good. The characters are realistic and well written, and their attitudes and actions are always where they should be. The pace is just right; it's a slw movie, but always entertaining and thought provocking. The dialogs are great, and they always have double meaning, so you really have to be focused on them to get to the core of their meaning. The fact that the characters go to the movies and that's really important makes this beautiful for any movie buff. Besides, the end of the picture show, is, too, the end of an era, the death of a town.

The acting is truly amazing, by just everyone. A look, a movement, the accents, the timing and delivery are just brilliant. all the actors were perfectly cast. Timothy Bottoms underplays a sensitive, shy character, but it works and makes the movie and his character not over the top. You can feel his pain, but in a subtle, still intense, way. Jeff Bridges makes an unlikeable character have a certain grace and you can root for him. He has a good timing and his feelings are real. Cybbil Shepherd has the most amazing body language you can get. She's seductive, sweet, mean, and most of all confused, and you can see all this just by looking at her. It's a complex character, and Shepherd has just the right look and freshness for the part. You can understand her character, even if you don't particulary like her. Cloris Leachman is incredibly expressive; her character is depressed and unhappy, and she's the nicest person. She's just so eager to be loved, and her movements show it all. Ellen Burstyn is very good, her character's in a point of her life in which she's stuck, without knowing how. Ben Johnson has some good delivery and you root for his character, but it's not that great.

The direction is simple, focusing on the actors, but still brilliant. The ending, so full of meaning, Cybill Shepherd shots, the large shots, languid and beautiful, the close shots, emotional and touching and the use of light and dark. The black and white makes this nostalgic and beautiful. Overall, really impressive; ahead of its time, tackling important issues and technically impressive. It's a true classic.