tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21435657010992685192025-11-21T00:56:32.762-08:00..."Viddy this, and viddy it well, o my brothers" - A Clockwork Orange...José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.comBlogger871125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-72799975795781737802013-02-08T17:19:00.002-08:002013-02-08T20:05:41.237-08:00

David O. Russell, 2012  (8.7*) This is a surprising romance, better than I expected, largely because the screenplay is refreshingly different, with some witty and original dialogue, and because the cast is uniformly excellent, especially actress Jennifer Lawrence who was just 22 when she filmed it, the film is transported beyond the sum of its parts. As a result, Lawrence has

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-29315225235600136142013-01-04T17:17:00.000-08:002013-01-04T17:24:48.703-08:00

Beasts of the Southern Wild *10* Benh Zeitlin, 2012 Sundance Award This is a mesmerizing and powerful film by debut director Benh Zeitlin, from a play by Lucy Alibar, a fellow writer that Zeitlin met in a writers workshop as a teen. The unlikely star of the film is six year old Quvenzhané Wallis, who had to pretend to be six when she was five to beat out 4,000 others for this part in

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-72298121039848942172012-12-11T16:05:00.000-08:002012-12-11T16:11:43.949-08:00

Jan Van Dormeal, 2009 (9.5*)  Belgium-Canada-France-Germany  It's hard to describe this film without making it sound perhaps incohesive and out of control, but quite the contrary, this is a long, complex work of art that is very well constructed, and one which will warrant and reward the true cinema fan on repeat viewings. What director Jaco Van Dormeal has done here is not new, he

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-9333834217233910502012-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:002012-12-10T19:00:05.969-08:00

John Madden, 2011  (8.1*) From the director of Shakespeare in Love (1998) comes a more serious film, as a disparate group of seven Brits go to India to live in the hotel of the title, not knowing it's not really open yet, due to the ineptitude of undercapitalized owner Dev Patel, who inherited it when his father died..  This is a comedy with some tender moments, and a

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J.C. Chandor, 2011 (8.2*) Another spooky film about how flimsy and corrupt western capitalism is at the top levels, those megalithic banking corporations that control everyone’s money and who always start what they like to call “investor panic”, when it’s really just the pros themselves making all the panic moves to cover their own assets. This story involves massive layoffs at the

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-80228945015333002212012-07-07T14:02:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:09:56.444-07:00

Lars von Trier, 2011 (8.4*) This is a rarity among films, a science fiction film that has little to do, really, with that aspect of the story. Instead, the fact that a hidden planet has emerged from behind the sun and is heading on a path toward earth really is little more than a metaphor for the characters psychogically complex stories. Von Trier has created his most mesmerizing film to date,

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-47786183202967812582012-06-12T13:34:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:10:16.979-07:00

Duncan Jones, 2011 (7.9*) Interesting science fiction film that leans more toward the intellectual and less action style, which is a welcome relief on one aspect. However, as usual, you can’t look too deeply at the so-called science aspect of this one. Jake Gyllenhaal (hey, figure out a better way to spell that, will ya?) plays a man who suddenly comes to awareness on a commuter

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-6201456288077922202012-05-05T17:57:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:10:27.310-07:00

Michel Hazanavicious, France-Belgium, 2011 (8.5*) Best Picture (AA, BAA) Having won 114 awards so far, second only to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, you would expect this film to be one of the truly great cinematic masterpieces of all time. For me, it’s a good but not great film, not as good a 2011 film as Malick’s The Tree of Life, or Refn’s Drive, but I’d put it in the tier after

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-29501518017503615012012-04-15T23:04:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:10:39.934-07:00

George Clooney, 2011 (8.4*) This is an intelligent political thriller with a few unpredictable twists. One would say the acclaim is due George Clooney, since he co-wrote the screenplay, directed the film with himself in a lead role. His character is a new presidential candidate, whose idealistic follower Steven Myers, brilliantly underplayed by Ryan Gosling, is second-in-command of the

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-70727638688861770332012-03-29T12:00:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:18:01.191-07:00

Gore Verbinski, 2011 (8.8*) Academy Award, Best Animated Film I loved this trippy, clever, irreverent film! You know you’re into something heady when a family's pet chameleon character, hilariously voiced by Johnny Depp, falls off the family car on a highway,  and  gets blown by traffic smack into the windshield of the convertible driven by Hunter Thompson with Dr. Gonzo in the back

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-34262474798151677012012-03-28T16:13:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:16:33.878-07:00

Byron Howard, Chris Williams, 2008 (7.8*) Another enjoyable Pixar-Disney animated film, with some incredibly realistic graphics, at least the landscape portions (the humans look a little stiff and plastic). Bolt is a small Swiss shepherd who is rescued from an animal shelter in the beginning, when he is being appropriately cute with a rubber carrot toy. His person, as he calls her, is a little

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-49119669230133059832012-03-12T22:28:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:10:47.229-07:00

Jeff Nichols, 2011 (8.5*) An intense young man, brilliantly portrayed by Michael Shannon, begins having apocalyptic dreams, leading him to think a huge storm is coming. He slowly drifts toward his vision and away from his everyday duties. He begins to spend more time and money building a safe tornado shelter for his family behind their house.  This descent into obsession could have been

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-53473702258389745402012-02-28T07:22:00.001-08:002012-02-28T07:39:25.034-08:00

The James Bond Films (aka 007) The James Bond series of films is based on the wildly successful series of novels by British author Ian Fleming, which helped popularize the genre of espionage novels by creating a fictional intelligence agent whose adventures resembled those of swashbuckler films of the 30’s. The novel Casino Royale was author Ian Fleming’s first, and introduced the world to

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-79665567645077551562012-02-24T22:32:00.000-08:002012-07-24T16:10:58.951-07:00

Nicolas Winding Refn, 2011 (9.0*) Ryan Gosling plays a man we see in the beginning of the film driving a getaway car for men pulling a heist. The audience is immediately sucked into this film by having it start in the middle of some tense crime action. We later find out that Gosling also works in a garage, and performs driving stunts part-time for films. Early in the film we learn a little

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-72544861403139342782012-02-18T23:46:00.000-08:002012-07-24T16:07:35.365-07:00

Jonathan Wacks, 1989 (8.2*) This is a funny modern Native American film that also has some points to make about the survival of N.A. traditions in the modern era, and how some manage to walk with a foot in two different eras. A Martinez (born Adolph) plays Buddy Red Bow, struggling against persecution and greedy capitalist developers to keep his people independent on a Cheyenne Reservation in

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-14816952862148863702012-02-02T02:22:00.001-08:002012-02-17T11:55:43.537-08:00

Jim Carter as the butler leads the servant staff (L), whileHugh Bonneville as the Earl heads the family (R) Brian Percival and Brian Kelly, directed four episodes each; several others directed two episodes. Season One: 2010 (10*) Golden Globe and Emmy Awards, best tv mini-series or movie During the reign of England’s King Edward, estates of the wealthy aristocrats grew to their ultimate in

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Jim O’Hanlon, 2009 (9.5*) Masterpiece Theater version for BBC There have been a veritable plethora of Jane Austen’s novels put to film, usually 3 to 5 per novel. In fact, this is the fourth version of Emma since 1972, beginning with another BBC miniseries, then a tv film with Kate Beckinsale, then the more famous film in 1996 with Gwyneth Paltrow (trying her best to affect a British

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-91587718728861489812012-01-18T23:54:00.000-08:002012-07-24T16:13:09.512-07:00

Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2009 (8.4*) Sundance Awards for directing and screenplay. Based on a true story of the troubles in Northern Ireland. A Protestant worker is ordered to leave a shipyard in Lurgan by Catholics. In retaliation, a teenage gang of four, members of the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) orders a Catholic to leave, a man named Griffin. The youths decide to kill him, even though he’s

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-57602758361166936512012-01-12T23:11:00.000-08:002012-07-24T16:13:32.790-07:00

Woody Allen, 2011 (9.0*) Woody is back! This is a light romantic fantasy in the same vein as The Purple Rose of Cairo and Alice, which mixes reality with a fantasy world that obviously comes from the mind of the protagonist. Owen Wilson is a young American, on a trip to Paris with his domineering fiance, Rachel MacAdams, whose right-wing parents are wealthy capitalists there for a business

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-56853207355274850672012-01-01T22:41:00.000-08:002012-01-04T16:55:03.041-08:00

Frank Capra, 1937 (8.2*) Exotic, unspoiled locales around the world have always appealed to the more daring individuals of more populous regions, such as Europe; just look at the nationalities of all the famous explorers. In 1923, Frenchwoman Alexandra David-Neel was the first known westerner to enter the forbidden Tibetan city of Lhasa. She then published her accounts in her 1932 book Magic and

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-85237040157714178602011-12-31T00:01:00.000-08:002011-12-31T09:05:03.041-08:00

Dir: Stanley Kubrick, 1968 (10*) AFI Top 100 [Updated: 12.31.11] This groundbreaking SciFi epic was the first to feature totally realistic space effects, and changed forever the way SF films looked. The story, by Arthur C. Clarke, was written for this film because Kubrick wanted to film his incredible novel A Childhood's End, which could not be filmed at the time with existing technology. That

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-63515730007565942822011-12-28T23:07:00.000-08:002012-01-03T17:47:07.667-08:00

Frank Oz, 2007 (8.3*) It’s not every day that you laugh all through a film about a funeral. Writer Dean Craig has managed to do just that in this black comedy. It’s also not in any other cinema funerals that you see hallucinagenic drugs ingested (accidentally), a naked man threatening to jump off a roof, and a blackmailing dwarf giving everyone a thrill with an unexpected appearance. These are

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-39812772404230048612011-12-26T17:24:00.000-08:002012-07-24T16:05:19.225-07:00

Noomi Rapace, her biopic, and as Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Denmark - Sweden - Germany - Norway Niels Arden Oplev, 2009 (7.8*) I’m reviewing these together because after you’ve either read the novels or seen the trilogy, you realize it’s just one long story about the heroine, not three distinctly different stories. Actress Noomi

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-24905041124327388262011-12-22T23:47:00.000-08:002011-12-24T23:42:49.019-08:00

Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell, 1970 (8.5*) Roeg was also cinematographer This is #326 on our Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls. Former cinematographer Nicolas Roeg shared directing credit on this one, beginning a career that included some visually stunning films. Performance woke me up when I first saw it. In the beginning, gangster Chas Devlin, played by James Fox, appears to

José Sinclairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03860067230183443583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2143565701099268519.post-5257462122139376882011-12-18T23:51:00.000-08:002011-12-22T17:05:08.653-08:00

Elia Kazan, 1961 (8.6*) Ranked #1003 on our 2011 update of the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net, all polls. Not considered one of Kazan’s best, certainly not when compared to On the Waterfront (1951) or A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) bw, or even up against A Face in the Crowd (1957), or his first film, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), this film of a 50’s high school romance still

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