This is one of the best films EVER! It always makes me cry buckets! It is definetely worth buying because you can watch it over and over and it will always pull at your heart strings! It should be law to watch this film!
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To have both of these films on offer for under a fiver is a real bargain! Whilst I know there are those who find the premise of the movies lacking credibility, I found them to be charming and the performance of Julie Delpy in both films is an absolute treat! There was some disquiet at the ending of the second movie, but the optimists will believe that the couple were about to embark on a journey of discovery.
For two films that consist basically of intense dialogue between 2 characters, your attention is held throughout and this is a tremendous achievement. The films are nicely photographed with Vienna and Paris (in particular) making pleasant back drops. A great advert for small independent movies and I'd recommend this set to ... Read More:
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Stunning movie - easily the best American urban/police thriller I've seen to date!
VERY stylish and often brutal, this hooks from start to finish.
It's not action packed, rather delivering thrills in short, sharp bursts. It's very atmospheric with an incredible central performance from Denzel Washington as antihero/villain, Detective Alonzo Harris, and strong support from Ethan Hawke as rookie officer, Jake Hoyt.
Look out for small roles from the likes of Snoop Dogg & Dr Dre, in this unflinching portrayal of the very mean streets of LA. Also, Scott Glen, Cliff Curtis & Tom Berenger. It's a real tough guys movie BUT not in the cliched action roles that we saw back in the '80s.
The direction from Antoine Fuqua is extremeley tight, ... Read More:
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To be honest I found the whole film rather pretentious - its message wasn't very engaging. If you're going to make a film about philosophy at least use that medium to its full potential (some kind of plot and characterisation would have been nice!), otherwise write a book.
The rotoscoping technique created some sort of an atmosphere, at least, although I didn't find it quite as dissociating or effectively done as in 'A Scanner Darkly' (see it - it's much better).
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Sidney Lumet has made a lot of really good films - 'Fail Safe', 'Twelve Angry Men' - and lot of really not so great - 'Family Business', 'Q & A'.
Before the Devil knows You're dead is in the latter category, but near the top. It's a credit to the guy (and the film's underwriters) that an 83-year-old can make a picture like this, but it is inescapable that matters of tone went a bit awry.
I think Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great, but - in this - he feels a bit miscast. From the opening, graphic shot of him going at it with Marisa Tomei, it all feels wrong. He's not adonis and she - frankly - is stunning. My first thought was that this was a commercial transaction. Later on, he's visiting a transvestite. Is that for sex? It appears to be for drugs, but it's not clear. ... Read More:
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The whole tone of this movie is set by its unusual and shocking opening - the story of a bullet from its manufacture to its final resting place in a child's skull. It is a simple idea which reminds you throughout the film of the REAL consequences of the world wide arms trade.
The movie is about arms trader Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) who is also the narrator. His career unfolds from sordid beginnings as a small time gun dealer to one of the worlds largest private merchants of death. Based upon a real life character, Cage's performance is an effective mix of comedy, irony and a chilling `matter of factness'. At no time does this movie descend into sentimentality or moralising. This glimpse into the murky world of an arms trader as seen through the eyes of Cage's devious and amoral anti-hero is ... Read More:
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To say that 'the essence of Dickens is perfectly rendered' (as claimed by one reviewer) in this dumbed-down monstrosity is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who has read the original. Everything that made the original story great, including the plot twists, is stripped out, leaving a withered husk of the story, and creating (using the term loosely) a basic, rather tedious love story. I was actually left angry after watching this. It is sad that society has degraded to the level of intelligence that is the target audience of what can only be described as a hate crime against Dickens.
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Alive is a true story of a plane crash that happened in the Andes mountains in South America in October 1972. 45 Uruguayans were on their way to Chile for a rugby match. The passengers were made up of the players and some family members. Only 16 survived their ordeal and it was a miracle that they did.
This story is (unfortunately) famous for the fact that the survivors ate parts of their dead comrades in order to live. That instinct for survival shouldn't overshadow what was truly a remarkable tale of human endurance: these people survived a plane crash, a devastating avalanche and 72 days 11,000 feet up a mountain in Winter.
I've took a star off as the ending is rather abrupt and what should have been the highlight of the movie isn't featured (you'll know what I'm talking about when you watch ... Read More:
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Perhaps not that well-known, but a really nice film- really heartwarming. Typical Disney in many ways, White Fang sets its own pace and gently eases you into what is a lovely story about a young man's adventure into the unknown. A great story, well acted, superbly shot- all in all a nice film. I'd definitely recommend it. Just be aware of some hairy dog-fights though!
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To understand Gattaca, it helps to know a little history.
About a century ago, progressives took up what the New York Times in 1912 called the "wonderful new science" of eugenics. Because of improvements in medicine and public health, eugenists said, the "unfit" were having more children than the "fit." Their solution included both positive eugenics--encouraging the "fit" to have more children, and negative eugenics--preventing the "unfit" from having children.
Forced sterilization laws in some 37 states were their greatest achievement, with California being the most zealous in applying its law. But legislation in more conservative states, particularly in the South, was blocked by claims that forced sterilization was unconstitutional. That barrier was shoved aside in a 1927 Supreme Court decision, ... Read More:
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