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10/10
A true masterpiece
8 July 2002
I had heard a lot of things about Dr. Strangelove before I saw it. For some reason I do not really know I got to postpone watching it until April 2002. Since then, I must have seen it at least 10 times.

Dr. Strangelove is one of those movies that make movie watching a trully enjoyable experience. It combines irony, humour and criticism on a very serious matter, such as nuclear combat between the two superpowers of the 20th century in a daring yet remarkable way.

Peter Sellers, who has three roles to his own in this one, is clearly at his best and so is George C. Scott whose talent radiates at all times. The casting in this movie is among the best I've seen. It is hard to make serious movies about 'the Bomb'. It is much harder, to make a comedy about it, and while at it a comedy that manages to defy not only the fear of the era in which it came out, but also convey several important messages to the rulers of this planet about their actions.

I believe there's not much one can say about this movie. Everyone should see it and try to imagine how daring and amazing a feat this movie is in the near-fascist political climate of the 60s in the Western world, where Communist fear brought the nuclear threat into everyone's life. It is, in my opinion, Kubrick's best.
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7/10
A touching movie! Excellent.
2 November 2001
This was an excellent movie. Amazing photography and casting and an

intelligent scenario which passes messages about how horrific war is

to the audience in the mildest yet touching way I've seen.

The story involves a hospital in Scotland where officers are sent when

they suffer a breakdown, a common phenomenon in the first and second

world wars. In there, a doctor (played by Jonathan Pryce) attempts to

treat his patients in a more humane way than the one other doctors of

the time choose. Through the stories of characters in the hospital --

including Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, two poets who happen to

meet and become friends in the hospital -- the life of the British

soldiers in the first World War, as well as several political messages

about that affecting era for humanity are successfully transmitted to

the audience, without blood, without effects or huge battle scenes in

a way that touches and indicates its significance more than any other

film I've seen about the subject.

The performances are excellent, with Johny Lee Miller -- who apart

from this movie has not shown any signs of serious acting that I've

seen -- delivering a very good performance of a shocked and ambitious

officer and Jonathan Pryce metaphorically accepting the ideas of

Sassoon -- who opposes to the war after a point where he realises its

futility and the lack of values in the politicians driving it -- can

be though as the link between the soldiers and humanity itself.

It is definitely a movie I would recommend! Excellent.
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The Score (2001)
4/10
Disappointing for what it could've been.
27 September 2001
This movie was at least disappointing for me. Brando, DeNiro and Norton, performing SO badly in such a badly written movie is something that is definitely worth seeing.

First of all, Norton's part bears a striking resemblance to his debut role in Primal Fear. It seems that he has a talent for roles that include faking a retarded/disabled person. And where Primal Fear was original and well performed, this role is not. Forgetting about the fact that the character he played was -- in many respects -- similar to the character in Primal Fear, his performance is definitely less appealing than the one in other movies, showing a more 'relaxed' stance on his role.

DeNiro is a master of any role that has to do with Law Enforcement/Shadowy types/spies/master criminals etc. He has performed in a large number of movies at many different levels of realism/comedy and is universally accepted as a great actor. I am not so convinced only because his performances always revolve around the same type of person/character and adventurous situations. Even though I personally like watching Robert DeNiro's movies, I think this performance was disappointing. He does however stand out of the remaining cast.

I will not comment about Brando since his role is fairly limited in the movie.

The movie as a whole is a sheer dissapointment. It could have been a milestone, having three of the most respected actors of our time in its cast list. It is slow, badly written, predictable and it seems as if the actors are bored performing their parts.

On the plus side, the photography (especially the way Montreal is depicted) is very good and was the only thing I enjoyed during the film. But then again there are so many more movies with DeNiro with more qualities and better photography than this one.
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5/10
Better than I thought.
28 July 2001
It was obvious to me that this one would be yet another one of those movies Hollywood tries to feed you every once in a while. Based on a generally appreciated book the story is set in 1940 in the beautiful island of Kefalonia (Cephalonia) in Greece and presents life under the Italian, and then German occupation through a generally lighthearted romance between a Greek girl and an Italian captain (yes, that would be Cage).

I was surprised to find out that the movie was *much* better than I thought. Perhaps, if I expected a quality film I'd be very disappointed. The movie combined history with romance in an intriguing way which kept you going until the very last minute. The photography was amazing and the music was subtle and almost unnoticeable at times. Casting could have been better, with Nicholas Cage being anything but an Italian and Penelope Cruz having the tendency to just stand there looking at the camera doing nothing.

I'd probably recommend it to someone who'd like to rent a movie for a night in and looking for something less challenging/heavy than other movies involving war and history.
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7/10
An amazing film. Definitely worth seeing.
26 April 2001
This film is one of the few quality films of 2000 and definitely one of my best. The scenario is based on the novel by Vladimir Nabokov and the transfer to the big screen is absolutely brilliant.

The photography of the film is excellent as is the acting of both Turturro and Watson. Turturro definitely gives his best performance to date proving he's worth much more than what we thought. Watson also performs brilliantly.

The story is about a phenomenal chess player (Turturro) which is also extremely eccentric in his everyday life. The film is presented in a non linear time, with multiple flashbacks of Luzhin's childhood. Through those, the complex character of Luzhin is described.

I have nothing more to say, but to suggest this film to anyone.
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2/10
A sheer disappointment.
24 April 2001
This movie was a disappointment. Lazopoulos has the Greek audience accustomed to higher quality movies than this with content that can be viewed and appreciated by different audiences, something like Simpsons.

In this movie, Lazopoulos fails to impress with a script that has appeared in a way or another many times in Hellenic cinema in the past four or five years. The movie is about relationships and although at times successfully points out interesting facts about the Greek society and the relationships present, it is an abused subject.

The acting is below average, with Kafetzopoulos playing the usual role taken from a well known greek TV Series. Lazopoulos performs well (as usually) with his distinctive style of the shy, introvert and smart greek person. He's good at it and loved exactly for that. But it ends up being boring and repetitive after a point.

Overall, the movie is not recommended. I can be thought as a set of jokes, slapped together in an evening and leaves you with a bitter feeling and a guilt for throwing away 2800 drachmas for the ticket.
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To koritsi me tis valitses (1994 TV Movie)
5/10
Average, yet probably one of Lazopoulos' best.
2 April 2001
One of Lazopoulos' early movies, and some of his best work. In some respects, the movie demonstrates Lazopoulos' talent, through his portrayal of a smart uneducated Greek man from the countryside, a character very similar to one from the "Deka mikroi mitsoi" TV series that was very popular in the early 1990s in Greece.

The movie largely owes its value to a twist occurring about an hour into the movie. Most of the scenes of this movie are shot inside an apartment with only a few parts near the end being filmed outdoors.

Overall, this is an average movie, which can only prove to be entertaining for a viewer with low expectations.
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