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.

Movies watched recently

Lisbon story: this movie is too slow and it doesn't work because it has almost no fascinating elements. The monologue about cinema is funny, the acting is natural and the music is beautiful. The camera angles are well chosen and it gives you a fine idea of Lisbon, close to reality.
Night at the museum: clichéd and with the typical moralism. Still the visual effects are excellent, the acting is funny and some of the jokes work well. This is nice if you're looking for a decent kids' movie.


Scoop: typical Woody Allen comedy. Hilarious and very quotable. Well acted, enjoyable and thought-provocking. Watch this and Match Point together.


The squid and the whale: one of the best indies I've watched. Its subject matter is realistical, the characters are profoundly humane and flawed, the screenplay is touching and sometimes painfully funny. The acting is brillinat, without any false tone and the music is beautifully used.

Fellini's Roma: exotic, original and poetic. Even if the directing is breath-taking, all scenes are enjoyable and meaningful and together they give a good portrait of Rome , I think the lack of a storyline made this a bit confusing. It's still worth watching and beautiful.
Arsenic and old lace: Laugh out loud screwball comedy with a lot of original characters. THe dialog is superb and amusing. The acting and direction are also excellent.


Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside): great drama. It will make you cry and it's affecting, but it's never manipulating. Dealing with a complicated subject, it never takes sides. The direction is beautiful, the acting is very strong from everyone , the music and the photography are great.

The Brooklyn Follies

This is the second Paul Auster novel I've read, and I personally found it better than The Book of Ilusions, which had some excellent moments and some terrible ones. This is an heartwarming tale (or should I say several tales) about redemption and the beauty of life. It's a pleasure to read, with all the funny twists, intelligent dialogue, interesting life stories, realistic characters, and uplifting conclusion. The ambience varies between tragic and comic, and it always feels right. I loved the unravelling of the story, with the characters changing and developing naturally. They are all very original and beautifully described, with unique charactersistics. The relationships between all the characters are realistic and, in the end, positive, with people really connecting with each other. Even if sometimes this is too hopeful, it always feels warm and it's enteretaining. It obviously follows Paul Auster'ps typical obsessions and situations, but it's a wonderful read.

Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham

I read three books by Michael Cunningham: The Hours, which is my favorite, Flesh and Blood and Specimen Days, which is my least favorite. I really liked it, almost loved it, but I loved the others in all aspects. This one has three stories, starring each a man named Simon, a woman named Catharine (or a variant) and a boy named Luke (or Lucas). There's a victorian ghost story, amodern day cop thriller and a sci-fi love story, by thids order. The first one was my favorite, it reaches Cunningham's other books greatness. The characters are fascinating, the writing is poetic, beautiful and haunting, The twists are intelligent, the pace is exciting and at the same time reflective, and the ambience is uniquely strange. It's filed with gorgeously dark descriptions, and I was absorbed by this. It made me think about life, death and love. The second story is still very well written, but the dialogue was unrealistic and the subplots weren't developed enough. Even so, it builds a convincing athmosphere, you can feel the fear of the characters, and the children are brilliantly sinister and evocative. The ending leaves you wanting to know more and thinking about the story. The last one was the one I liked the leaqst. Even if I liked the characters, the settings were terrible, very clichéd and typical. Besides, why are ETs always green humanoids with some distinctive feature, but still able to speak, walk andreacting like humans? This had too much action, and Cunningham obviously doesn't really know what to do with sci-fi, creating alien words and an apocalyptic, unbelievable version of a near future. But I loved the painful ending and the love that Simon is unable to express. It's good to compare the stories and see the similarities, that go beyond the names and Walt Withman. Together, they create a beautiful mesage about the power people have to heal and love each other. This is a very original read, but it's not a good book if you're just starting this author's work.

Monsoon Wedding

Monsoon Wedding is the first indian movie I've watched, and I found it very original, vibrant and exuberant. The screenplay is very good. A traditional indian marrige in the 21st century is the beginning point on a study on human relationships and a country trying to find an equilibrium between modernity and tradition. The approach isn't very subtle, but the message isn't forced or repeated like absolut truth either. The characters are believable they are just people and they talk, act and think like it. The stories are well built, give you a good insight on lifes of different people and have a good pace, this movie never becomes boring.

The acting is very good. As I didn't know any of the actors, they automatically became the characters they were playing. Vasundhara Das, who plays Aditi, the bride, gives her character grace, beauty and sensibility, never overacting in a quietly remarkable performance. Naseeruddin Shah plays the father very well having a few remarkable scenes. Tilotama Shome, who plays Alice, should have had more screen time, but she still had a great chemistry with her romantic pair. The cast is consistent and believable.

The direction is good. The camera angles capture sensuality and at the same time an everyday feeling. The digital photography works and gives Monsoon Wedding bright, clear colouring. The music is indian, but in all styles and types. This sometimes benefits the scenes, but it might make them sound like a soap opera. The wardrobe is beautiful and appropriatte, I loved some of the traditional costumes. Overall, this is an original movie with a very interesting subject.

Dubliners by James Joyce

Dubliners is a classic and it's often considered ground breaking work. It brings Dublin to the world, by showing the lives of several dubliners realisticaly ceating a touching portrait of life, not just in Dublin but in al the world. As there are characters of all ages, it shows the experience of growing up by the eyes of different characters. So, alone each story has its value and interest, but together they are masterful and meaningful. Some of the stories are much more interesting than others, even if all have good characters and something to say. My favorites were Eveline with its amazing leading character developed in 6 pages, Counterparts with another powerful lead and a horrifying ending, A Little Cloud, with another great point of view and heartbreakingly funny and The Dead, a subtle character study with a haunting twist and every emotion beautifully described. The writing is beautiful, with every feeling and emotion subtly captured and a realistic, even if poetic feeling about it. This is a deep, quite intense book with beautiful stories and writing.

The Straight Story

So, uh, what's the worst part about being old, Alvin?
Well, the worst part of being old is rememberin' when you was young.

The Straight Story is a beautiful, simple movie, a reflection about life and growing old. The story is simple: 73-year-old Alvin Straight makes a 500 km journey in a lawn mower to mend his relationship with his ill brother. During the way, he reflects about growing old, his life and his mistakes. The subtle way this is done is effective and gives the movie beauty, but the story is sometimes too slow, with nothing happening. The dialogs are good, sometimes quotable, even if once or twice I spotted obvious stories that could have been avoided. The characters are all very natural, and you believe them from the first minute you see them on the screen. They are all likeable because they are normal people, but always hopeful and with a certain innocence and able to accept life. The ending is, too, very simple but it works extremly well leaving you touched and moved.

The acting is very good. Richard Farnsworth gives a wonderful perfomrance. His character, on paper, isn't very interesting, but he's able to give Alvin dramatic nuances. He creates a man that slowly accepts growing old, ignores his pride and goes in a journey to meet his brother. He is stubborn, with a simple but pure morality. He has an amzing delivery of his lines, slowly, realistically, showing his character's controled emotions in a touching way. Sissy Spacek gives Rosie vulnerability and barely visible pain, never overacting. All the other cast members that make brief appearences do a good, even if not remarkable job, with good delivery of their lines.

The direction is brilliant. Lynch fills the movie with gorgeous shots and camera angles, that allow you not only to see the meaning of the screenplay and the great work by the actors', but you can see the beautiful roads and vegetation all around. His shots are steady and reflective just the right style for this movie.

The cinematography is very good, capturing the beauty of Lynch's wide shots and the faces in a clear way. The music is beautiful, giving the movie a nostalgic feeling. This is slow moving and sometimes boring; even so, it's technically impressive, beautiful and meaningful.

Frida

At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.

Frida is a beautiful, inspiring movie about the amazing Frida Kahlo and her struggles through life. Not only it gets you to understand her art much better but it's also a story about life and suffering told beautifully. The screenplay is very good, it doesn't have the feeling that most biopics have, like they're rushing to the end and don't really know the person they're talking about. This feels like fiction, because Frida Kahlo feels like a person, she has flaws, a convincing personality, she's not just a victim, and some moments of her life matter more than others. Her reactions have a reason, not like you're supposed to think that, as she's a genius, she's a bit mad. The other characters have a realistic feeling about them too, and Diego Riviera is fascinating. The dialogs are quotable and there are some inspiring lines.

The acting is very good by all the cast, but Salma Hayek has the most powerful acting and outacts everyone. She looks a lot like Frida Kahlo, but there's a lot more to her performance. She creates an impetuous, sensual, intelligent, able to enjoy life character, someone that suffers but endures everything. You can't take your eyes off her, her performance is just magnetic. She never overacts, and the most emotional scenes are beautifully done and really touching. Alfred Molina gives Diego Rivera an edgy charm and has a good body language, acting subtely and he has a great chemistry with Salma Hayek even if I think she's more responsible for this than him. Geoffrey Rush is great, he creates an humble, intelligent thoughtful character perfectly. Valerie Golino is very good playing a lost, drunk, sad woman and has very expressive eyes. Diego Luna and Edward Norton are very believable and make the most out of their small parts.

The direction is excellent. Julie Taymor gives her movie originality, having perfect control over every aspect of the mvoie. Not just the camera angles are beautiful and able to express ideas, feeling and thoughts greatly, but the music and the part of the movie in which it is placed is perfect. Besides it sounds beautiful and has a great rythm. The color of the movie is well chosen and makes it look exotic, warm and envolving with all the red, yellow and bright colors, contrasting with the dark themes aborded but giving you a sense of South America. The editing is often good, but some scenes last too much. It's a matter of seconds, but it can give those scenes an awkward feeling. Overall a great movie I recommend.

Happy Feet

We've got personality with a capital Y. Why? Because we're HOT!

This is another movie about pinguins, those lovely, cute, sweet-looking animals. It has gorgeous images, some of the best, most amazing animation I've ever seen. It's a joy to look at and a very enjoyable movie. The story is nice and you can relate to the pinguins and feel some empathy towards them. Some of the subplots are very good: the love story is beautiful, the coming-of-age is deliciously innocent, the family/society rejection subplot is intelligent but sometimes a bit forced and the «macho» pinguins subplot is laugh-out-loud funny. The worst subplot was the ecological one, it just tries too hard to pass its message. The dialogs are often very funny and intelligent, with a lot of jokes young kids won't get. The pace of the movie is mostly addequate and keeps you entertained, but it gets a bit to slow and forced in the end, which I didn't like.

The cinematography and the animaton are beautiful. They create gorgeous images, with a wonderful dimension, cute, lovely pinguins, and the humans are the most realistic I've ever seen. The water and the ice lok real as do all the other animals. The angles are amazing, they make the images even better. The music sounds great and has beautiful lyrics. Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy and Robin Wiliams are good singers especially Kidman, who has the most cristaline, pure voice that fits the part. Overall, it's a fun movie, good to look at but lacking a great story.

Crash (2005)

You think you know who you are. You have no idea.

I have no idea in why this won Best Picture and had so many great reviews. Here, every character is either racist or a victim of racism, and if he/she is a racist it's because there's a reason, some sort of trauma in his past. Every character is one-dimensional and learns a lesson in the end. The dialogs sound fake, and the ONLY theme is racism, racism, racism. That even makes it less realist because people tend to speak about several subjects. Paul Haggis seems to think people will only onderstand the message if he repeats it all the time. All with me "Racism is bad, racism is bad, racism is bad". Now repeat this 500 times and you'll have a good part of this movie done. Even if obviously this is an important message, you don't need it to be thrown into your face. The stories come together in unnatural way, using to many coincidences, making it look false and predictable after some time. The changes some of the characters go through in the end are ridicolous and there's no reason for the to happen. Even if this is not a boring movie, it tries too hard to get you to feel something. If the characters had been better this would have been possibly a good movie. I'm not saying all were bad; a few had a certain dimension and their struggles were touching.

The acting is the best thing about this movie. All the actors are very talented and make the most out of ther parts. Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Michael Peña, Thandie Newton, Terrence Howard aand Sandra Bullock (during the first part of the movie) were very god. The worst perfomance was by Ludacris, who just seemed too self-conscious and fake to me.

Paul haggis direction is lame.I know he lacks experience, but I think this movie needed a raw, realistic style, not the emotionally manipulative shots used. Al the slow moving scenes, the bad use of sound and the still camera in angles that lack interest are useless.

The technicals are good. The editing is simple and common in this type of movie, not original but well executed. The music is well chosen and beautiful. The photography, even if sometimes it should have been dirtier loking, creates some images with the right mood. Overall, this is NOT a great movie or even worthwile, but it has a bunch of good performances and a good message, even if badly transmited.

The Conversation

I'm not afraid of death. I'm afraid of murder.

This is a brilliant study on obsessive and paranoid behavior and the effect technology has in our lifes and society in general. It's about a surveilance expert, Harry Caul, who has a crisis of conscience when he susects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered. This had happened before and he feels very guilty about it. But can he really know what's happening, or did he lose something with the capture of the sound? Or is his mind playing tricks on him?

This has a briliant screenplay. The leading character is fascinating, and the pther characters are seen by his distorced eyes in a frightening way. The dialogs, especially the conversation the title mentions, are mind blowing, meaningful and hold clues to what's going to happen. The pace of the movie is just right and it keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat. The story is interesting, reflective and intelligent, and all the touchy subjects the movie talks about are aborded with sensibility, even if sometimes they can make you feel uncomfortable. You get to a point in which you don't know what's reality and what isn't, making this thought provoking. It's simply a great screenplay.

The acting is all at least above average. Gene Hackman gives his tortured, paranoid, character complexity and sincerity. He disappears into his part and you believe everything he does. He gives the character vulnerability and his acting is one of the main things that made me see the story by his point of view. Frederick Forrest and Cindy Williams do a good job in creating dream-like characters in just one scene, and Cindy Williams has an amazing delivery of her lines. John Cazale makes his character likeable and has a convincing chemistry with Hackman. Harrison Ford makes a good impression in playing the bad guy, with his soft spokenways and strong eye expression that contrast.

The direction is amazing. Francis Ford Coppola not only gets great performances from the casting, but he choses meaningful camera angles, giving his movie an unique feeling, and gets the best work from the crew. The angles he choses suggest an invisible presence, peeking into Harry Caul's life. They can be truly claustrophobic and make you know the characters' feelings. They give you a sense of space and time the way it's experienced by Caul.

The technicals are all great. The sound plays a huge part in this movie, and it's intelligently manipulated. It connects with the images during the conversation itself in an original fashion, in a different rythm, volume and tone than reality, showing us Harry's point of view and how what we hear is not always what is there. The cinematography, with all the dark, dirty colors works in showing us Harry's trip to a personal hell and the sudden flashes of red-the hotel scene-are shocking and used hauntingly. The editing gives the movie its exciting, but reflective pace. I really recommend this. It's thought provoking, technically brilliant and haunting.

Night On Earth

Don't blind people usually weardark glasses?
Do they? I've never seen a blind person.

This is a truly amazing movie which I love. It has five different stories, each on a different city, with very different people, but al in a taxi. All the people are very different, with different background, ambitions, culture and personality, but in the end, so similar. I loved every part of it, some of them are very funny, others touching, depressing, heartbreaking, enjoyable or simply beautiful. They are all wonderful portraits of the city in which they happen. They don't show touristic locations, but how the cities really are and how people behave and think. Every story is well told, with great pace, amazing, believable dialogues and realistic characters that you get to know very well in little time. They work both together and alone. They're all great and I can't choose my favorite.

In the first segment, a young tomboy taxi driver meets a wealthy talent seeker, who wants to cast her in a movie. In New York, an afro american meets an immigrant, his cab driver, lost in the city. In Paris, a blind girl takes a ride with an irritable cab driver from the Ivory Coast and they talk about life and blindness. In Rome, a cab driver picks up a priest and starts confessing, and in Helsinki a miserable driver picks up three drunks and they speak about the most depressing things that ever happened to them.

The direction is amazing in al its simplicity. The camera angles are steady, usually focusing no the actors and allowing you to concentrate on the dialogs.But there are some that show the city, the cars passing, the buildings, lovers in the middle of the night, junkies, etc, and these have ususual quality.

The acting is great by everyone. Winona Ryder, frequently criticized, is in my opininon very funny and totally different from her other roles. I really enjoyed her acting. Gena Rowlands plays her "opposite" in a nice, underacting way. Armin Mueller-Stahl is very touching and expressive (the moment he says he was a clown is very beautiful), with an amazing use of his eyes. Giancarlo Esposito and Jennifer Perez are fun to watch, too. Béatrice Dalle is incredibly charismatic and believable as a blind young woman, and Isaach De Bankolé is good. Roberto Benigni is about as hilarious as you can get, in his one man show. His speech is obviously very funny, but Benigni makes it mind blowing. Some will hate it, though I couldn't stop laughing. Matti Pellonpää delivers his speech in a dramatic, depressive way but without overacting.

The cinematography and the music are beautiful, make this movie feel nostalgic and help linking the segments. This is a very original, worthwile movie.

Chinatown

Forget it, Jake,. It's Chinatown.

This is a noir mistery, with a dark, haunting story, great acting and a brilliant direction. Its ambience is just perfect. In this story, every character has complicated issues thgat can't be solved, a troubled past and sins they can't atone for. It's all very dark and misterious, and it gets you in the edge of your seat. The political part of the mistery keeps you guessing and it's incredibly competent, but the character development and their personal issues are even better.

The screenplay is mind-blowing. All of its subplots are perfectly developed and are understood just at the right time, they keep you guessing. The characters are all believable and interesting: Gittes (Jack Nicholson) and his obsession, Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) trying to get her life back together and, Noah Cross, the personification of evil, have a convincing, elaborated relationship with each other. They are all, in a way or another, trying to atone but in Chinatown there's no redemption. The dialogs have a lot of meaning and are thought provocking. Some show the hypocrisy of people and others just their weakness, always ina tense, disguised way. There are a bunch of quotable lines too. The ending is surprising but well done and very fitting. The themes are spoke of with maturity and sensibility.

The acting is great. Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway and John Huston have a very believable, amazing chemisrty between them, they seem to be always messing with the other's mind, trying to mistake him and convince him. All this is noticed just by a gaze, a movement or a blink. It's very subtle, but it makes the performances outstanding. Jack Nicholson creates a haunted character, strong but human. Faye Dunaway makes her character remarkably vulnerable and sad, even if at the same time a bit of a femme fatale. John Huston is evil, in his two scenes he's just perfect. All the secondary actors are talented and they make this movie better.

I highly enjoy Polanski's way of shooting, all the angles and camera movements he tends to use. He does a great job once again. The movie never gets tiring and some of the shots are breathtaking. They are a beautiful homage to older noir movies, even if still have their originality.

The music is haunting and it gives a movie a touch of originality. The editing pays homage to the noir movies from the 40's, showing the many layers of the story slowly and there's not one minute tat shouldn't be there. The cinematography, glossy but dirty, with an harsh, dark lighting creates the right ambience. Just brilliant and unmissable.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit' em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

This is considered a literary masterpiece, and I found it very good. It's about racism in a small town during the 30's, and it's seen by the eyes of a young girl, Scout. The story is told in an old-fashioned, traditional, comforting way, and the pont of view is truly great. It captures the feeling of childhood and all the kids are realistic, not annoying little brats. The adults are all believable and interesting, especially Aticus. His advice is wise, it never sound forced and you have to like him and respect him. The building social and racial tension are well written, as is the kids' life, with all the everyday routines, small mysteries and adventures. All the attitudes peaople have and their irracionality ar just greatly portrayed. The writing is beautiful and simple, but full of remarkable sentences and quite lyrical. This book is general culture, and it's really beautiful. From the innocent Boo Radley mystery to the thought provocking trial goes a long way, but Lee is able of creating fascinating characters and a really thought provocking story.

The DaVinci Code

As long as there as been one true God, there has been killing in his name.

The DaVinci Code, the bestseller that sold as much as possible. This movie works...as a comedy. (Almost) everything is wrong on this, with the exception of Ian McKellen and some of the supporting cast. Come on, the book was a fun, exciting, light read, with a good sense of pace and a lot of interesting puzzles to solve. Not perfection or anything, but nice.

The movie just sucks. The screnplay has no sense of pace and it fails to keep you interested or making you feel anything by the characters. It just provokes a total detachment , and you can't avoid to feel all the story is ridicolous. The dialogs are clichéd and even if I didn't read the book (I didn't remember it very well, anyway) I would have been able to guess what was gonna happen next. All the flashbacks are useless and badly written, the emotional scenes lack any sort of meaning and all in all, this movie can't even entertain decently.

The direction is really, really awful. Ron Howard uses all the clichéd shots on the most clichéd order. He seems to think he's doing a brilliant job, with all the flashbacks done in a degradé way, so very kitsch, melodramatic and funny (that was not the objective). He fails to make this movie consistent or interesting, he isn't even OK.

The acting was the best thing about the movie, even if not too good. Tom Hanks is automatic and severely underused, you'd never say this is the same guy that delivered such an amazing performance in Forrest Gump and The Terminal. The same can be said for Audrey Tautou who was so amazing in Amélie. Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina and Jean Reno are underused and can't even develop their characters. Ian McKellen is the standout. He uses such a funny irony, wittycism and cynism in this character that he just becomes a joy to watch and the only thing worthy on this.

The music is very annoying, It's always trying to make scenes exciting, but it doesn't. It just manages to sound overplayed and too loud. The editing is terrible; the movie lacks a decent pace and the scenes come and go in a meaningless, boring order and the transitions are amateur. The cinematography is sappy, with the colour used in an obvious way. It's meant to be very touching and beautiful, but it isn't. Overall, a movie that should be avoided by everyone. Recomend this to your worst enemies. I pity them.

Chicago

You wanted advice? Well here it is...straight from me to you...keep your paws off my underwear.

I watched this movie with low hopes, since admittedly I don't like musicals (Moulin Rouge and Romance & Cigarettes are the exceptions). This isn't bad, it's just fluff with everyone dancing and a happy ending. The story is fine, the directing is pretty good, the acting in worth watching, the wardrobe, cinematography and sets are all OK, and the editing is mediocre.

Even if the story is clichéd and very moralistic, it's entertaining. The characters aren't really well written, but they're well played and so it's not too noticable. The dialogs and relationships between the characters are very predictable. It lacks meaning and it seems like it has nothing to say, it just wants entertain a bit.

The actors all work effectively, but the clichéd characters don't help. Renee Zellweger looks a bit unconfortable while dancing, but she can express the contradictions, feelings and transformations of her character quite well. Catherine Zeta Jones isn't half as sexy as her character is meant to be, but she uses her eyes, body and voice in an interesting, sometimes funny way. Richard Gere can be annoying but charming and John C Reilly has the most likeable, touching character, even if awfully stereotyped. Queen Latifah nomination for Best Supporting Actress is a total joke, she did nothing worth seeing.

The main problem I have with this is that question that always comes to my mind when watching a musical: "Why the heck is everyone dancing all of sudden?". As the movie didn't absorb me, I just found it ridicolous. Still, I admit these were good choreographies, even if too theatre like. This feels like a stage play, not like a film, so the adaptation isn't realy good. The lyrics and the dances go from very good to laughable.

The directiong is good but... well, let's just say it's classic and without brilliance or originaity. The colors of the movie, glamorous and fluffy, fit the rest of it and accentuate the glamour. The editing is far from good, I can't see how it won the Oscar. Everyone just seems to start dancing out of no where, without any type of real connection. The sets are too much like stage play ones but the wardrobe is fitting. This didn't deserve Best Pic, far fromit, it's just an OK movie.

Manhattan

I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or catholics.

Manhattan might just be one of the best movies ever. Its style, themes and humor are obviously similar to other Allen movies, but this one has a touch of class and beauty that makes it quite unique. It talks about a group of new york intellectuals: Isaac (Woody Allen), a man on his 40's dating a 17 year old girl, Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), and lusting for Mary (Diane Keaton), who's his best friend's lover. At the same time, he's trying to come to terms with his lesbian ex-wife, Jill (Meryl Streep). The story keeps you hooked, and the realistic, very flawed characters are interesting. The dialogs have a lot of wit and intelligence, as in all Woody movies, but there's something else: some of the scenes with Mariel Hermingway are heartbreaking, and a lot of others are dramatic and sad. The storyline and the characters are some of the best ever, the nostalgic mood and the insignificance of these lifes are just beautiful.

The acting is simply great, and all the actors have a good chemistry between them. Woody Allen plays himself, but damn well, Diane Keaton is funny and good, too, but Mery Streep and especially Mariel Hemingway steal the show. MerylStreep plays a totally different character, I had never seen her like this before. She has the funniest delivery of lines, the best way of disappearing into her character ands showing all type of emotions. Mariel Hemingway transmits beauty, innocence and love in a pure, believable way. Her character is the most likeable and she makes the most out of that.

The gorgeous cinematography helps making this movie great and gives it its ambience and mood. The simple way Allen shoots the movie, with wide shots that capture a moment, a feeling, an emotion subtly, lets it breathe. It shows you New York with a lot of beauty and obviously Allen's love comes across. The editing is simple but effective, and there's not one second of the movie that shouldn't be there. Simply brilliant.

How To Be Good by Nick Hornby

Sometimes we have to be judged by our one-offs.

Wonderfully funny, enjoyable and intelligent, these are some of the adjectives that best describe this book. I had never read anything by Nick Hornby, but I had watched two movies based on his books, High Fidelity and About a Boy, which I enjoyed. The best thing on How To Be Good is its originality and freshness. A subject almost no one else has written about- how would a truly good person get along in the 21st century?, a witty, funy voice, and thought provoking questions make this truly great. The beginning isn't that good, but the witty remarks start and the characters are slowly, smartly developed. Then all the story changes, and that's when things get interesting. Katie, who's unhappily married to the cynical David, sees all her life changing when her husband meets GoodNews, a spiritual healer that makes David wanna change the world. It sounds pretty dumb, but all the dillemas the characters face, the empathy you feel for them make this worthy. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a nice, original, witty and still sweet book.

The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden

This is a dark drama about a young scottish doctor in Uganda during Idi Amin's brutal regime, and the relationship he has with this dictator. This is a slow paced book, and the leading characters are well developed and have depth. This book is filled with descriptions, and all of them have a beautiful feeling of Africa and can be breathtaking. Idi Amin's personality is fascinating and contradictory, one of the most evil villains I've ever read. Nicholas Garrigan, the doctor, suffers an amazing, even if realistic, change during the book. The supporting characters aren't really good; Sara and Marina are clichéd and the later should have been cut from the story. The ending could have been better, but the fascinating leading characters, the beautiful, sometimes horrifying descriptions and the exotic feeling of this book make it worthy if you're looking for a character study or descriptive thriller. This is a good, even if flawed, first book.