Archive for the 'Movies' Category

L. A. Confidential 91/100 by dan

The Maltese Falcon, in 1941, constructed a dark, amoral universe that would become the home of the noir hero, eventually defining an entire movement. Film noir is a mindset, a total package that consists of plot, theme, characters, and mise-en-scene working together to encompass an overriding sensation of darkness and amorality. Though critics tend to define the end of film noir with Orson Welles’ 1958 thriller, Touch of Evil, the movement’s presence is still with us today in neo-noir movies such as Curtis Hanson’s L. A. Confidential.

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posted on 2:14 am 05/22/2006
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The Wild Bunch 100/100 by dan

The Wild Bunch is like a swift kick to the guts. It’s salt in a wound. It’s a cinematic rape of the senses. A bombardment of quick cuts and violence. A stab at the jugular. A punch to the spleen. It’s a movie that exudes masculinity. That assaults unsuspecting viewers with a story of “unchanged men in a changing land” doused with a healthy dose of the ole Ultra Violence. The Wild Bunch is, in short, perfection. Here’s why…

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posted on 1:01 am 05/22/2006
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Jules And Jim 99/100 by dan

In his first feature film, The 400 Blows, Francois Truffaut exhibited the heartfelt and personal style that would become his trademark. Truffaut liked to make movies that were intensely personal; however, in his third feature film, he looked outside of his own life and decided to adapt Henri-Pierre Roche’s semiautobiographical novel, Jules and Jim. While Jules and Jim is obviously personal to Roche, it is also a uniquely personal reflection of Truffaut. Truffaut’s use of camera, editing, music, and narration combine to make an extraordinarily emotional and personal film that’s part traditional and part New Wave.

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posted on 12:38 am 05/22/2006
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L’Avventura 94/100 by dan

Seymour Chapman writes in Antonioni, or, The Surface of the World, of the Å“many terms that have been used to describe a Å“life lacking in purpose, in passion, [and] in zest, essentially a Å“life of spiritual vacuity. Such a complex state of mind is nearly impossible to describe in words, more or less images, yet Chapman proposes that Antonioni was able to portray such a complicated state of emotion Å“convincingly in his film, L’Avventura. Antonioni establishes this difficult theme of ennui and dissatisfaction in all of his characters through his control over the film’s dialogue, the character’s actions, and the mise-en-scene.

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posted on 12:12 am 05/22/2006
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Review: The House Of Flying Daggers 95/100 by dan

It’s been exactly two years since I first saw Zhang Yimou’s The House Of Flying Daggers at the world’s greatest theater, the Palais Du Cinema, as part of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Since that time, I’ve always wondered if my endless praise for the flick was due in part to the film’s merit or was it due to the sheer joy of seeing an insane action flick on a screen the size of Canada with the most vocal, film-drunk crowd imaginable–all the while living it up on the beaches of Southern France. Well, I just rented the movie and I’ll assure you of this: the praise is merited. Simply put, The House Of Flying Daggers is an exceptional movie. Here’s why:

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posted on 10:48 pm 05/21/2006
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