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The Departed (2006)
spectacular tension
The plot grips your interest, the action raises your blood pressure and the main characters keep adding nuance over time. Very intense.
Di Caprio is just great and Nicholson turns in a fine performance.
The level of violence is such that this movie is not for the squeamish or overly sensitive.
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Apparently a succinct comment is not sufficient. I rarely comment on movies at IMDb but thought this early short review would be helpful to people looking for a quick opinion about a just released movie.
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
Took a few days to process this one
As someone who watched the Pink Panther first run with my parents at the drive in I was interested to get a look into the person Peter Sellers. I don't think the portrayal is as shallow as some of the reviews imply. While we don't get any childhood scenes or flashbacks to peg just how Sellers became the person he was there is still plenty of ways to connect the dots.
The music is great, the visuals pleasurable and like everybody says the portrayal of Sellers himself is very convincing.
There is a "near death" scene in the movie which is reminiscent of a similar scene in Gladiator (though only in the foreign cut version for some reason)
Unforgiven (1992)
great acting does not outweigh gratuitous violence
A well done film about some pretty twisted characters. The setting is the old West. The characters are the gritty cowboy / settler types and the hangers on. The quality of the acting and direction are evident in the clear stereotypes portrayed. Even the minor characters like the saloon owner, the madaam and the innocent villain are portrayed with exceptional clarity.
The problem I have with the movie is it is difficult to watch. Murders, beatings, cruelty, callousness - a cesspool of human dysfunction - are exquisitely crafted.
If you are inspired by the art and insulated from the emotional content - go for it. If you watch films to learn something or feel better when the movie is over then forget it.
Waking Life (2001)
Spectacular essay on lucid dreaming methodoligies
This movie crosses over from entertainment to education. Not that it isn't entertaining, it is an absorbing flick, but underneath it all are some useful techniques right out of Stephen LeBerge's work at the Stanford University sleep lab. In addition to the lucid dreaming content there are a number of riffs about the nature of consciousness, reality, existence and our choices that are thoughtful and entertaining.
The movie cuts from vignette to vignette, they are seemingly separate but a look back (or a second look) will reveal the continuity. There is one rant in the middle that is a bit hard to take for it's crude content but the rest of the movie is pretty easy if you are the sensitive type.
I liked the soundtrack. I was especially pleased to get to meet the musicians early on in the film. That device gives the whole movie a more familiar tone.
You could float on the surface of this one and groove on the animation and the story line but I would encourage a deeper viewing.
House of Cards (1993)
Spectacular yarn
I found the story engrossing and especially enjoyed how the characters put the pieces together as the movie progressed. I also thought parts of the soundtrack were excellent. There is one scene that has stayed with me years after I saw the flick.
This is not a documentary. One reason I rented the movie is my clinical experience with autistic children. If you are the kind of person who requires movies even tangentally reflect how it is in the real world then don't watch it. If you think Hollywood will educate the public about autism this movie will upset you.
This is a thinking person's movie.