Reviews

Let me preface this critique by saying, I am a 25 year old and though an avid movie lover, far more attracted to the movies of the last say 30 years, than before. That school of thought may have to change.

Casablanca tells the story of the Morroccan city during the second world war, specifically during the German occupation of France. While the whole world seemed to be crumbling, the city provided a sanctuary from the madness and doubled as a way-station for refugees leaving one war torn part of the globe trying to make it to America. By every account however, the law in this place was a matter of opinion and could be bent or even broken for the right price.

Traveling papers are like gold. With them, your safety is all but assured, without them, you cannot even leave the city and would most likely die there.

Humphrey Bogart plays the ever so suave and cynical, Rick Blain, the connected proprietor of Ricks Cafe, arguable the best club in town. The story develops into a love triangle that involves a French leader in the resistance movie as well as someone from Rick's clandestine past.

Filled with romantic scenes, pride and nationalism, wit, and intrigue, I must say that I was more than surprised to see how this movie affected me.

Truly deserving of its Oscars and one of the best films to ever grace the silver screen.

When it comes time for an adopted son (Mel Copeland played by Ben Stiller) to name his own son, he develops the desire to find out about his natural parents. Employing the help of a neurotic and attention-starved case worker he and his wife (Patricia Arquette) embark on a cross country trek to find his parents.

Plagued with deliciously problematic situations for everyone involved and even picking up more people along the way (people with problems even funnier than his own), Mel starts to notice some inadequacies in his own marriage through no help at all from the attractive and very 'friendly' case worker (Tea Leone).

Ben Stiller was perfectly cast for this role, bringing to it a humour and realism that is very refreshing. Tea Leone is fantastic as a woman approaching middle age with nothing permanent and solid in her life.

Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin are incredibly funny when we are introduced to them in the latter part of the film. From the moment we are meet them until the end of the film, be prepared to laugh HARD. They have excellent chemistry together, but in addition their scene summarizes and incorporates the story behind the whole film. Very funny.

The movie will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys dark humour and good writing.

From Blade's opening sequence you can tell this is not the ordinary Vampire flic. Escorted by former porn star Tracy Lord's, a young man enters an industrial rave that even by this 'sin city's' standards is frightening.

The hero, which we soon realize is himself as much vampire as human, enters the fray and proceeds to slay the vampire patrons implementing everything from silver spikes to automatic weapons to his longsword, Blade's signature weapon.

Wesley Snipes does an excellent job of portraying Blade, a man 'infected' with Vampirism because his mother was bit by one, while still in the womb. Dedicating his life to ridding the world of vampires, he is befriended by Whistler, played by Kris Kristofferson who trains him, helps him and tries to find a cure for him.

Steven Dorff plays Deacon Frost, a vampire who has a purpose behind his madness and sees Blade as his sole enemy which must be eliminated.

The industrial/techno score compliments the movie well, quick cuts and masterful martial art scenes all accentuate each other and contribute to the overall aesthetic of the film.

Highly recommended.

Perhaps one of the biggest shadows to ever get out of, TV. Upon hearing that an actor is moving from the small to the big screen, immediately the average fan judges said actor poorly, usually for the sole reason that they feel he is betraying his medium. David Duchovny was unfortunately, no exception.

His portrayal of Eugene, a doctor who loses his license for losing a patient while under the influence of a controlled substance is excellent. Drawn into a world that his education never prepared him for, he feels himself wanting to leave it on the surface, but intrigued by it in a way he'd rather not admit.

Timothy Hutton, continues to show us that his Oscar in 1980 is still very well deserved. As Raymond Blossom, the underworld czar with his fingers in just about everything from bootlegged CDs to murder, he befriends Eugene through a incident that is as well thought out as it is acted.

Angelina Jolie rounds out the cast as Raymond's girlfriend who has as her own agenda as much as Raymind and Eugene do.

Recommended.

Since the style in which Pulp Fiction is shot amplifies the excellence of the film - all scenes are shown out of sequence - the movie's opening scene is its ending scene as well.

We are quickly introduced to two lovers who double as small time thieves. Unfortunately for them, they decide to rob the coffee shop were our main characters are enjoying their coffee and breakfast, Vincent and Jules, who are themselves hit men for a powerful gangster, Marcellus Wallace.

And so the story develops, bouncing from different times to different characters we see how each event affects everything else. Character development is a major part in the film. You feel empathy for the characters, whatever those feelings may be, you understand the motives behind their actions.

Complete with a Christopher Walken monologue that he has become famous for and brilliant performances from Samuel Jackson, Bruce Willis and John Travolta, comedic scenes that you'll be reiterating afterwards and graphic scenes that will keep you up afterwards, this movie is a must for everyone.

An excellent film, with the always outstanding Harrison Ford at the helm, Clear and Present Danger is the third of Tom Clancy's works to be adapted to the big screen and the second with Ford as Jack Ryan, the patriotic ex-marine turned politician.

With the CIA director - played by the James Earl Jones - befallen by pancreatic cancer, Jack Ryan is 'promoted' to acting CIA director in his absence. Once there he becomes involved - unbeknownst to him - in a series of plots that answers the question of what would happen if the United States used some of its brawn to do what is morally right if not politically right, the covert eradication of drug producers in Columbia.

Complete with a powerful and brutal scene where American policy makers are caught in an ambush in a run down section of Bogota that is sure to surprise and thrill you. Willem Dafoe does a terrific job of playing Joe Clark, who those of you familiar with Clancy's work will undoubtedly know.

True Romance has everything necessary to create art on celluloid. From the writing expertise of Quentin Tarantino to Tony Scott's brilliant directing to its cast of gifted actors, the movie is all that one would hope for.

Beginning in Detroit and ending in Mexico, a loner that never really made his mark on the world meets a call girl who falls as deeply in love with him as he does with her. Filled with drugs, gangsters, Hollywood and of course romance, the movie's story becomes only stronger as the movie goes on.

With exceptional performances by Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken (the scene they share is without equal), Gary Oldman and Christian Slater, the action and violence only help to develop the plot and accentuate it's intricacies. Its superb ending has since been imitated - by Tony Scott's own Enemy of the State for one - but never as cleverly.

A must see for any movie lover.

Fight Club is the next in what will undoubtedly be a long line of successes for David Fincher. The movie, in my opinion, is the definitive work on males in today's society. The film - in its own masterful way - chronicles the gradual immasculization of man as he evolved from the hunter gatherers that we once were, relying on instinct and cunning to survive to the tie wearing, office working drones that we have quickly become and in the process losing the instinct that made man - an animal - what he was.

It is in these 'fight clubs' that man finds his true self again and gains strength from others. The setting for the film is the michrochasm 'sin city' that we saw in Fincher's masterpiece, Seven and his use of dark colors, shadow and clever splicing - look for split second shots of Tyler Durden in different scenes in the first twenty minutes of the movie - to make the story come alive.

This movie will be greatly enjoyed by anyone that has ever wondered what it would be like to just let go.