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Reviews
Joker (2019)
A Deep and Personal Character Study
Joker has only like 2 or 3 very violent scenes that last only a few seconds, but whose impact is extreme due to how well the character study is developed and written. Simply put, it doesn't glorify violence but magnifies its impact due to its very realistic and personal nature.
Joker (2019) is a masterpiece.
Other movies feature the deaths of hundreds and thousands of characters that make you feel zero empathy for them, as the deaths are presented from a purely cinematic and cash-grabbing point of view.
Any movie that doesn't make you feel for the death of its characters was made to grab your cash and your short-lived attention span.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
A kind-hearted masterpiece of friendship...
This majestic movie is about Andy (Tim Robbins), a banker wrongly accused of murdering his wife and her lover after discovering she had been cheating on him. He gets impounded with two life sentences in the Shawshank Prison. There he meets Red (Morgan Freeman) who befriends him, and as the story moves along slowly, he eventually understands what Andy once told him: "Get busy living, or get busy dying."
Andy is persistent in his quest to be free. And he tries to convince Red during the entire course of the movie that hope is indeed a good thing, even in a prison like Shawshank. In his endeavor, Andy will come face to face with the warden, who is truly a manifestation of greed itself. Many challenges will test his mettle.
This piece of art is not to be missed; it is one of the greatest works of modern drama. And the slow pace of the movie only helps further to sink you in its mood, and leave you satisfied with a strange bitter sweet feeling in the end.
Saw (2004)
The horror genre is reborn...
It's hard to come up with a realistic horror movie. Ever since the infamous Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, movie makers have struggled to balance reality with horror. Many have failed. Saw comes along as a bloody thriller that actually succeeds as a horror movie. This makes it a rare gem among its peers, if there were any.
The movie starts off in a small, abandoned bathroom where two men are trapped with their legs in chains, namely Adam (Leigh Whannel) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes). A dead man shot in the head lies between them, and all they could salvage from their hopeless attempt to escape are a small recording and an even smaller key. From then onwards, the movie builds upon flashbacks, with our doomed heroins sharing memories and trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
The movie has some flaws, like some overreacting and a slow pace, but the whole experience is truly an art in itself, and should appeal to horror/thriller fans everywhere.
The Last House on the Left (1972)
Nothing will be the same after this movie...
I don't review exploitation movies. But when a movie like The Last House on the Left leaves you wondering if there's still any hope in humanity, then you have to read through its lines, bear its unbelievable dehumanization, and thank God that the second half of the movie is less than average, consisting of only cheap scenes of gore and violence. The first half however, especially at its end, is one of the most disturbing, depressing, and melancholic scenes in film history. Prepare yourself. And if you don't have a strong stomach to handle not only the gore but also the animalistic rape and torture of the two girls, Mari (Sandra Cassel) and Phyllis (Lucy Grantham), do yourself a favor and go watch Scream.
Mari is a young girl, full of life. She has a friend, Phyllis, whom she admires and like your typical best of friends, they like to have a little fun, a little adventure perhaps. They want to get a "fix", and unfortunately for them they get trapped and kidnapped by a group of murderers and rapists, two men and a woman. They let them lose in the forest, and from then on, they torture them, humiliate them, and erode their dignity, until they meet their ultimate fate. Ironically, the criminals take shelter in Mari's apartment.
Not to spoil anything, but what's left to spoil? Wes Craven's graphic film is only for those who want to know what it's like to strip any entertainment value from a movie. This film scratches the surface of the Vietnam War, and inspired many directors. A word of advice: This is not entertainment.
The Pianist (2002)
As good as acting gets...
Adrien Brody plays Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jewish musician struggling to survive the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto by the Nazis during World War II. This movie is an idol of outstanding performances, especially by Adrien Brody, who was more than up to the challenge.
The plot isn't the main focus here. As the demanding role of Sziplman is more than enough to tell the whole story. He has to fight his way, not with submachineguns and grenades, by trying to stay alive even when the odds seem vastly overwhelming. We see him being forced by the German army to move from one place to another with his family, and the drama escalates as he gets separated from them later on, to find himself armed with only his wits, and a seemingly useless talent, which is of course, playing the piano.
Do yourself a favor, and forget all this nonsense about anti-Semitism for 150 min, and get yourself a copy of this movie. It's as good as acting gets.
The Elephant Man (1980)
John Merrick: The most beautiful man you'd ever meet.
I was speechless. Without any attempt of overreacting or being passionate, this piece of art will make you dream again. It will keep haunting you like a white, fuzzy dream. Believe me, I am a big fan of almost all genres, but this movie muted me.
The movie tells the story of John Merrick, a dreadfully deformed individual, enslaved and used as a means of entertainment. One scene shows a French man spitting at his "owner" for taking advantage of a such a majestic creature... Not an elephant, not an animal... but a human being, a man. It seems hopeless for him, until one person, a doctor, played brilliantly by Anthony Hopkins, takes his hand, and leads him to a place of beauty... A theater... He gives him hope again... But what John Merrick doesn't realize is that he's given the doctor something as well, something much more valuable than hope. He's given him life...
Please do yourself a favor and watch this movie. It is not sad, it is full of life. Tears come in pairs. A sweet tear never goes down alone...
Snitch (1998)
A nice drama but perhaps a little too conventional...
When I first saw Noose (a.k.a. Snitch), I thought it was going to be another one of those 'gangsta' style movies where newbie mobster has a big brother and that big brother has a boss and that boss doesn't like the newbie... Well I was right, but the style of how's it's done adds some spice.
This is an average movie though the acting can be considered very good most of the movie...
The ending is also quite disappointing because it leaves no questions behind and nothing to talk about... It is done in the most clichéd of ways. It could've delivered a lot more than that.