Foreign
They say that the potency of marijuana has changed drastically since the 1960’s. They say that the marijuana people smoked in the 1960’s is like oregano compared to what is commonly available nowadays. But drugs are not the only things that have gotten stronger since the 1960’s, movies are changing too. With the onset of ever more instant gratification due to internet advertising, mobile phones, and consumer tracking systems in the marketing and distribution of millions of products, people, and more specifically, the American public’s patience, attention spans, and incredulity are getting shorter, weaker, and are threatening to disappear altogether. Because of this decline in patience, attention spans of more than several second durations, and incredulity, movies (at least some) are becoming, in this writer’s humble opinion, more shocking, more intense, more graphic, and less far fetched than ever before. In the same way that marijuana has become more potent over the years, movies too have evolved in their capacities to communicate experiences. Take for example, the general, with Buster Keaton, an old, black and white silent movie. It was hailed in its time as very good. Buster Keaton was a funny guy who made people laugh and mildly stirred their emotions. He did many movies and was a very successful comedian. People knew who he was and they saw his movies because they knew that they would be rewarded with a pleasant experience, a nice short vacation from reality.
Now take a brand new movie that was just released in several theaters across the United States: A Prophet. This writer has never seen anything like it. It was unique in its relentless pace, gritty storyline, and carved-out-of-wood (hardened) characters. Very few traces of Hollywood exist in this movie. The protagonist has no romantic interest or counterpart and his only goals seem to be to out-dog-psychologize the other characters in the movie. By this I mean that he seems determined to possess a stronger will than anyone in the movie. Though exciting, mesmerizing, and impossible to turn away from, I found myself mourning for some lost element of joy or even the slightest hint of an uplifting message. Watching this movie, I felt very base instincts in myself being appealed to. It is very violent and very unforgiving in its depiction of the main character as ruthless and yet heroic. He prizes survival against desperate odds over anything else. He seems determined to do whatever is necessary to achieve satisfaction. In this writer’s humble opinion, his character is praiseworthy because of his ability to deal with reality exactly as it is and have slim to no illusions about his situation (though calling a merciless killer praiseworthy raises deep ethical issues about film as a story-telling medium). He is pragmatic, strategic, calculating and yet passionate. How much of this is his character and how much of this is the actor’s true personality is impossible to tell.
To compare The General (with Buster Keaton) and A Prophet (with Tahar Rahim) is a little like comparing apples and oranges but here goes. If you were to make the analogy using bullets, The General would be like an ordinary 22 caliber bullet: it does its job, it gets some kind of point across and if you’re in its line of fire, you’ll feel something. A Prophet would be like some sort of explosive head bullet shot out of an elephant gun that enters making a hole its size and exits leaving a hole the size of a basketball: it does its job and yours, and your family’s and your dentist’s and your lawyer’s and your milkman’s and your cousin’s and then goes on a corporate downsizing rampage, it hammers home its message with Thor’s divine hammer and then crawls inside your mind and rearranges some wiring and then writes you a couple dozen post-its and puts them up in your car and your office and your bathroom and then it makes you take acid and it explains everything again, and finally if you’re in its path, tell your next of kin.
Obviously, the analogy with drugs has already been elaborated upon so I won’t go into that again save to say that if A Prophet were marijuana, it would be some super potent genetically engineered strain that is laced with PCP or something equally horrible.
The impact of this movie definitely depends on what you bring with you when you watch it however. Some people will see gangsters, some people will see embattled religious sects, some people will see warring cultures, and some people will see the main character not as an actor but as the prison system which is the setting for the majority of the movie. One of the lessons here, in this writer’s humble opinion, is that prisons do not rehabilitate prisoners, they teach them that only the strong survive. All in all, A Prophet is, without a doubt in this writer’s mind, one of the most inordinately powerful pieces of cinema ever created. Grade A.
It took me 8 years, from the time of its release in 2002 to find the time to sit down and watch City of God. Poor show I know, but I imagine as its world cinema, the non-film students amongst you may not have even heard of it so I thought I'd do a bit of a review, to encourage everyone to watch it.
City of God, or Cidade de Deus, to give it its original title, depicts life in the infamous, real-life slum of the same name, situated in Rio de Janeiro. It charts the growth of gang culture and organised crime in Rio throughout the sixties, seventies and eighties and follows a group of youngsters as they grow apart and try to survive in the dangerous world of the City of God.
The "hoodlums", the aspiring gangsters of the suburbs, have strong morals from the beginning about how to make money and get away from Cidade de Deus and it certainly doesn't involve working. "The Tender Trio", a group of three young boys with inflated egos growing up in the sixties, decide the only way they will ever make it away from the slums is to hold-up a motel. The Trio make their escape. However, having stolen all that money, all 3 of them make themselves many enemies. Two end up dead and the third joins the church. Li'l Dice, a much younger boy who idolises the Trio surpasses their achievements in the slums, killing and stealing before he even hits puberty and changes his name to Li'l Ze.
Fast-forward to the slums in the seventies. Li'l Ze has made a name for himself. His coming of age means no one will touch him in the City of God and he begins taking over small-time drug businesses, hiring his workers and killing without a second thought those who oppose him. Standing in his way is a gang leader called Carrot who blindly refuses to give up his business and his drugs. Several killings and personal vendettas later, the situation in the slums reaches boiling point and becomes a full scale war.
The audience's way in to the violence of the gang warfare comes in the form of Rocket, the honest younger brother of one of the Trio. Desperate to leave the slum and make it as a photographer and with equipment scarce, it isn't until Rocket lands an opportunity with the newspaper covering the violence that his life starts to turn around. Li'l Ze wants his face plastered all over the papers and the reporters equally want to send Rocket in to get what they need, the dangerous environment means that they daren't send journalists or even police into the slums any more.
As the violence escalates, it all comes to a head. Carrot and his closest cohorts end up dead and Li'l Ze loses his business. As it dawns on him that all his power is gone, he is attacked by a group of runts (the name given to the young street rats of the City of God). The film ironically ends with Li'l Ze being shot dead by children as they discuss their plans to make it big and stop anyone who stands in their way.
The first 20 minutes of the film are quite jarring and I found it hard to get into at first. The action flits around all over the place and because we never stay with one character for very long it's difficult to know which is which, not to mention having to concentrate on the subtitles. However, once we find more out about our narrator and protagonist, Rocket, the film takes you on a rollercoaster ride through the chequered history of the City of God as he does everything he can to survive and make it as a journalist. Along the way we meet many different characters and I enjoyed how it felt like an ensemble film more than anything. Though Rocket is always there guiding us through the story's many twists and turns, we are often left in the capable hands of other interesting characters as we hear their stories.
The film felt quite segmented into separate chapters which seems to be deliberate. There are defined sections of the film charting the changes between the sixties and the seventies as well as subheadings on screen denoting specific plot developments which I really enjoyed because it pushed the plot onwards.
The culture and lifestyle represented in the City of God is far removed from every day life and that's what makes it such a riveting watch. We get a sneak peek into the life of people in the slums. What's great is that the film doesn't layer this on as if we should think that it's a terrible lifestyle. It certainly doesn't glorify the actions of the gangs and murderers but it at least offers a lighthearted (at times) look at the events in the City of God.
The script and the cinematography of the film are the two stand-out elements for me. I enjoyed the parallels and symbolism relating to religion as I felt it worked and a very clever, complicated script means we're presented with some very street-wise, smooth-talking kids that make you feel as though the slum is a universe away from anything you're used to. The characters tie together well and the clever ending, with the group of runts effectively inheriting Li'l Ze's reign of violence is a well-presented metaphor for the fact that life goes on. The events portrayed in the film are horrible but the film points out that it's life, it works in cycles in the City of God, and only Rocket seems to realise that there is more to the world.
I'm a firm believer in background reading before and after watching a film, and context in this case did fulfil my enjoyment more. The film is based on actual events and the majority of the cast were real life people of the slums with no acting experience. When I watch it again I'll certainly appreciate the work that each of the actors puts into their roles.
On the whole I was fairly riveted to my screen as I watched City of God. Aside from the few doubtful minutes at the beginning, if you're willing to give it a chance, City of God is an extremely rewarding watch and will leave you pondering the ins-and-outs of Cidade de Deus for hours after the credits roll. 8 out of 10.
Woody Harrelson is kick ass and out of hand in the ghoulish world of Zombieland! I'm telling you Zombieland is the funniest, most entertaining zombie movie ever! The Zombieland experience is what going to the movies should be!
Zombieland, a Mr. E Movie Review
(Run time: 81 min. - Directed by: Ruben Fleischer - Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Bill Murray)
Woody Harrelson is kick ass and out of hand in the ghoulish world of Zombieland! I'm telling you Zombieland is the funniest, most entertaining zombie movie ever! The Zombieland experience is what going to the movies should be! And, Jesse Eisenberg rips the land right out of adventure and blows it straight through the chest and head of Zombieland!
The worlds gone crazy and become infected with disease. Everyone, everywhere seems to be infected it by it. First it's a fever that leads to madness, and madness that ultimately leads to a fetish for flesh! The opening of this movie has one of the best title sequences I honestly think I've ever seen! As Columbus, played by Jesse Eisenberg from Adventureland, begins his voice over to catch us up on the madness we see visually assaulting us in a borage of creative, stunning zombie kills, all while Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" rocks out in the background.
Zombies are on the loose everywhere and no one is safe! Well, unless you follow a few simple rules.#1. Cardio, because if they can't catch you they can't eat you! #2. Beware of Bathrooms, because zombies attack when they know your vulnerable, so hold it! #3. Double Tap, don't be stingy with your bullets, always make sure the zombie's dead with one shot to the chest and one to the head! Add in a few other rules such as buckle up and always check the backseat and you get what plays out in the first scene! Columbus stops at a gas station and is attacked when he tries to use the bathroom. He then has to run around the parking lot to avoid the two slower zombies who are attacking him. all while trying to get the keys into his car door. When he finally gets into the car he buckles in but forgets to check the back seat which of course has a zombie in it! Speeding into a wall he ejects the zombie through the windshield and of course has to double tap him. (Hilarious!)
Now on foot and trying to make his way home to Columbus, Ohio he runs into the tough as hell, smart ass Tallahassee, played by Woody Harrelson. (See a theme in the names?) Tallahassee is the baddest zombie killer there is! He actually make's killing zombie's into an art form! Using everything from a banjo to a baseball bat to make his kills! The two decide to team up and hit the road with Columbus heading for home and Tallahassee looking for a Twinkie. (Yeah, that's right I said Twinkie!)
When the two stop in a town to check if the grocery store has any Twinkies left they run into three zombie's and two sisters, Wichita, played by Emma Stone from Superbad, and Little Rock, played by Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine. Initially thinking they're helping the girls the guys are tricked by the two cons and robbed. But, not too far down the road they all decide that they should team up with the only other humans they've seen in awhile and head off.
Ruben Fleischer used the actual rules as cool graphics worked into the screen shots as sight gags that play out so well that it really adds simple, perfectly timed elements throughout the movie that really make the Zombieland experience that much more entertaining. Fleischer's slow motion camera tricks were so bad ass in that they really gave you the opportunity to visually absorb the action as it plays out to a point where you can actually appreciate it for what it is.
Everyone's acting was right on point. Jesse Eisenberg had just the right amount of funny likeable, nerdiness while Emma Stone was cute and tough all at the same time. Young Abigail Breslin played an outstanding little tough chick while the movie's stand out performance goes to the zombie crusher himself, Woody Harrelson. I think this is one of the best roles Woody's played since Natural Born Killers! Finally, when you add in a hilarious cameo by Bill Murray you really get movie magic!
I recommend this movie to anyone breathing, mainly because zombie's probably won't like the way they're depicted in this film. All I have to say is that if you want an awesome movie going experience then check out Zombieland! And, then do like me and make plans to check it out again!
Slumdog Millionaire is an awfully dramatic movie with with a chain of highly unreal imaginary coincidences.
Very dramatic movie which starts with a riot.
Two little brothers and one little girl lost their parents
in that riot.
Elder brother becomes the bad guy and the younger one
is supernaturally lucky because when this 18 year old office boy in a call centre
gets an opportunity to play "Millionaire Game"; he knew the answers
to all the questions MERELY because every question is related to
one of the incidents that he has experienced in his life from childhood.
Moreover he got the right answer to the last question just by fluke.
It has a happy ending because the younger brother was able to
find his childhood love (the little girl who lost her parents in the riot)
who turned a prostitute.
A.R.Rehman had composed music for lots of songs which are a lot better
than "Jai Ho" song.
My respect for Oscars has reduced after realizing that it is only a puppet of
lobbyist
![](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=vidamise-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0009S2T0M&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder.01._PC_TZZZZZZZ_.jpg "Oldboy (2003)")
My personal review for Oldboy the movie!
If you where kidnap and locked away for 15 years... what would you do? What can you do? Would you go crazy? Are you going to sit around and wonder Who did this to you and why?
You don't have to put yourself in his situation! Better yet you can watch it unfold right in front of you!
Before I tell you about OldBoy let me give you a warning!
This movie has a bit of violence! I don't want to say a lot but some of the movie scene's do have stuff that you wish you did not see! Want me to tell you what kind of stuff? Just a little? No! You will have to find out for your self!
About Oldboy:
In general the movie is about a man who is kidnap for 15 years!
Before you say "Oh! So that's it?" Heck no! That is only the beginning! First you have to see and hear what goes on inside the head of the hostage! Wouldn't you want revenge? Don't you want to see what hell he has to unleash when he is release?! Use your Imagination, Blood, Drama and Action!
Why did I watch this movie and why you should watch it?
I like Asian movies period! But I don't just watch ANY Asian movie! The movies that catch my attention are usually either:
1. High in Violence or Action
2. Has a lot of comedy
3. Base on a true story or true events
I don't watch a lot of movies; but have you ever seen a man take on 20 other man with a single hammer and win? Oh did a mention he does all of that with a knife inserted in his back? If you have never seen what I just describe then you should definitely see it! I know that you are not going to be disappointed!
Oh and I will admit! I bought the Oldboy graphic novel the first time I saw it in the store! It has a totally different beginning! You should read it too!
Ps. I heard that Spielberg and Will Smith want to remake this movie. Its difficult to picture this but Smith says that they are basing it off the first Graphic Novel for Oldboy. You can read more about this here.
A man struggling to make money for the family gets his bike stolen on his first day of the job.
The Bicycle Thief is about a struggling man to put food on the table for his family. The movie takes place in Rome post WWII. Since it takes place in Italy it requires watching the film with subtitles if you’re not fluent in Italian. Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is an unemployed man that is struggling to get a job. When he does get a job it requires him to have a bike. So his wife sells some linen to the pawn shop in order to pay for the bike. He hopes this job will help the family since the pay is pretty good. The first day on the job he learns how to properly glue a poster on a wall. While he is gluing a poster his bike gets stolen he chases after the thief but eventually the thief loses him. This just ruins his day because he thought the income would help make things better for his family. The next day he gets a few friends of his and along with his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) a place where most likely the thief would take the bike. They start looking when someone spots a part of the bike similar to the one stolen. The man that has the bike in his possession refuses to let Antonio see the bikes identification number. Antonio calls a cop so the man can allow him to see the number it turns out that it wasn’t the bike. Its starts to rain and that put a halt to the search for the bike. They go to another place and he finds a man that looks just like the guy that stole the bike. He follows the old guy that was making business with the young guy. He follows him to a church and tries talking about the bike but eventually the guy is able to make a run for it. As he tries to catch the old there’s kids calling for help because one of them is drowning. Antonio runs towards the kids thinking its Bruno but it turns out that it was a false alarm. Bruno was waiting for his dad on the top of a staircase. Antonio is so relief that it wasn’t his kid that he invites him to lunch. During lunch he allows his son to drink wine. It shows that incidents like that make you relies what’s really important in life. I think it made Antonio relies that an irreplaceable family is better to have than losing a replaceable bicycle. The end was a bit unsatisfying but at the same time it made sense since it’s based on an everyday plot. You’ll have to watch it in order to understand what I mean of this. I liked the movie since it was better than watching a musical. I was told after the movie that the actors that portrayed the father and the son weren’t actors they were everyday people playing the parts. In my opinion they did a very good job of playing the parts. I would rate this movie an 8 since it was a relatable movie to people that struggle every day. I enjoyed watching the film.
A mutated dinosaur like creature emerges out of the ocean in tokyo as the city try's to find a way to defeat it.
If you haven't noticed my title (and the genre!) this is the original GodZilla movie (not the 1998 american remake!). I would have to say this is one of my favourite movies of all time. The movie came out a decade after the bombing on Japan in WWII. GodZilla is a mutant from the bombing and will destroy tokyo unless the people can find a way to kill him. This first GodZilla movie is very serious compared to the other movies in the series. The pacing in the movie is slow but really works as it builds up to GodZilla attacking and almost destroying tokyo. The characters really work towards the story and really fit the role. And honestly the scene where GodZilla attacks tokyo is awesome! This was also the first movie to really launch the giant monster movie genre! Heck! Some consider it the best out of the series!
Overall: A excellent Monster movie that every fan of the genre should see!
Parallel stories of young women making their way in Peruvian high society.
“Dioses” is a film about a group of wealthy adolescents in Peru. They spend most of their time getting drunk in elegant beach houses in the south that somehow evoke images of Mt. Olympus and the Greek gods (Dionysus especially). They have conversations about whether they should buy a Suzuki or a Ford F150, whether they should go to Miami for the summer, or how many houses they should buy. They make slovenly messes which are cleaned up by their Ketchua speaking maids. Sometimes they get pregnant by unknown fathers, and this too is handled without causing much of a ripple in their frivolous lives.
I suppose the fascination with the wealthy elite is something that stretches beyond cultural boarders and into the fantasies of people from all walks of life. Most people, at some point or another, must fantasize about living a life where you're free to do whatever you want, and your actions are without consequence. The drive for wealth has greatly superseded purer ambitions in our modern world, but what is often left out in the telling is that even if you have the means to erase your problems, they still leave you with a burden you must carry to the end of your days.
“Dioses” begins with a shot of Andrea (Anahí de Cárdenas) dancing with her back to the audience. She's tanned, anonymous, and sweaty, seeking the illusion of escape that only throbbing music and endless beer can provide. Within the course of thirty seconds, she allows herself to be passed between two different, random guys, eventually accompanying one of them to the bathroom. Watching in the wings is her brother Diego (Sergio Gjurinovic) who has what can be called an unhealthy obsession with his sister.
The next morning, Diego and Andrea's father Agustín (Edgar Saba) introduces them to his new girlfriend Elisa (Maricielo Effio). Elisa is only slightly older than the two children, and upon looking at her Andrea sneers and says, “who is this, the new maid?” Andrea and her brother laugh nasally at the jest and then engage in a food fight as Elisa looks on in shock. You know that Andrea, at least, is aware of the poverty that exists in much of Peru, and somehow the spiteful indifference of others Diego and Andrea proudly display in their comments, their actions, and their general apathy is about as horrible as anything you'll ever see.
The more we learn about Elisa, the more we understand how close Andrea's comments were to the actual mark. Elisa is a beautiful young woman of humble origins who has bought into the illusion of wealth and is trying to learn the mannerisms of “high society.” She spends her time with a group of wealthy wives who casually go through a variety of fleeting interests. Elisa makes a noble effort, but the wealthy women see through her instantly and there's a lot of snickering behind her back. Elisa makes the mistake of thinking she can integrate herself through study; however, it's not actual knowledge that these people possess, but merely a cultivated attitude, a sense of superiority unfounded in any achievement. To a person from the working class, that simple truth is nearly impossible to accept.
“Dioses” exposes many illusions about a certain class of people. Watching the film, you'll be disgusted with many of the characters, but you'll never descend into hating them. The director Josué Méndez isn't preaching, he's simply showing people as they are, the good and the bad, and in the end you'll feel sympathy for all the major players. In the most powerful scene of the movie, the maids are talking to each other quietly in Ketchua. By this point in the film, the servants have been such background characters that it's jolting to have they brought to center stage. They are portrayed as so silent and submissive that the audience, like the people they attend, is lured into forgetting that they are capable of independent observation. “These people are so strange,” they say referring to their employers, “all they do is drink, sleep, and make messes, and they're all so unhappy.”
I suppose it would be unfathomable for the wealthy to consider that, yes, even their servants are capable of judgment. I suppose in most cases the servants' comments would be dismissed with a snort and a wave of the hand, but it's interesting to note that the hardworking maids are the only people in “Dioses” who are shown to have true joy in their lives. Show me the fancy store in Europe, the US, or anyplace where you can purchase that.
A wonderful movie that Will make you cry from start to finish
The movie "One Love" is one of the best movies that i have ever seen. This movie is an independent film that takes place in Jamaica. This movie goes into the life of two people from different religions that would not be excepted by society if they were together. Over all this movie is entertaining from start to finish. There is comedy as well as action that will keep your eyes glued to the T.V.
Jean-Claude as Jean-Claude in a real life mockumentry
When I say the words Jean-Claude Van Damme, what images immediately come to mind, splits, high kicks and cheap martial arts movies? If I were to say range of emotion, honest acting and a movie that had a good story line you would say what in a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie but that is exactly what I am telling you. In Mabrouk El Mechri’s movie JCVD which he also co-wrote he has created a movie that really shows off the acting abilities of Jean-Claude Van Damme which is something I am not sure I would ever write. I saw this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival Midnite Madness showing and the crowd was very enthusiastic and was not disappointed from their reaction.
The movie deals with Jean-Claude Van Damme playing himself in his native country of Belgium and how he is perceived there and what happens when he gets involved in a real life hostage situation. His life is not going according to plan and he goes back to Belgium to re-group and examine his options after suffering a set back in his on going custody battle. The movie moves from clips of his custody battle to Jean-Claude in Belgium trying to send money to his lawyers to continue the custody battle. Due to unforeseen circumstances Jean-Claude gets involved with a robbery/hostage situation and the movie continues from there with some interesting plot twists. The robbers are typical movie characters including a pointed homage or direct rip off of John Cazale’s Sal from Dog Day Afternoon. It was interesting to see how they reacted to Jean-Claude Van Damme as a hostage. How would bank robbers caught in a hostage scenario react in North America to finding one of their hostages being a famous celebrity and interesting premise.
Jean-Claude shows a range of emotions in this movie that has never been seen in any of his movies and one wonders whether Jean-Claude thinking and speaking in English removes some or most of his acting ability. I truly believe Jean-Claude should continue making in his native language and he could become a cult hero. This movie moves with a good pace and had some very interesting character actors to carry it and make it very entertaining. I would recommend this movie to all who enjoy Jean-Claude Van Damme movies and are curious to see how his career and life have been going.
