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La resa dei conti (1967)
On par with Leone´s westerns
NOTE: Watch the 110 minute version of the film, not the butchered US cuts.
Sergio Leone is undoubtedly THE director of Spaghetti Westerns. However, there is one other director, another Sergio who can almost rival Leone: Sergio Sollima. His first western, "La Resa Dei Conti"/"The Big Gundown" is, in my opinion, as good as the Dollar trilogy.
Lee Van Cleef (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) is Jonathan Corbett, a bounty hunter wanting to get into politics. However, at a wedding, he accepts to take the job of tracking down the
evil bandit Cuchillo (Tomas Milian, Run, Man, Run), who has assaulted and killed a young girl. Howevr, as the story unfolds, things become more complicated...
Sergio Sollima proves that he can create a deep character study within a cool and entertaining western. The camerawork and cinematography is fantastic, with the dialogue being very good (despite the dubbing and whatnot). The score by Ennio Morricone, however, is on another level. From the opening to La Resa, every piece of music is well thought out and works perfectly. Of course, the acting is also fantastic, with Lee Van Cleef delivering his greatest performance alongside FAFDM. Tomas Milian is great as the bandit, with Fernando Sancho, Nieves Navarro and Walter Barnes playing various roles throughout the film, and doing so very well.
Even though it is not directly a "Zapata-western" as it doesn´t take place in what is generally considered the Mexican revolution, political and social commentary is present throughout the film. It makes a particularly strong comment about poverty, wealth and one triumphing the other. It also explores the morality in a gunfighter, something not too many westerns do.
Overall, if you haven´t seen this film, GO WATCH IT NOW! This is, in my opinion, the best Non-Leone spaghetti western. Again, stick with the full length 110 minute version.
Il mercenario (1968)
One of the best Spaghetti westerns
Ever since Sergio Leone´s "Per un pugno di dollari" reinvented, not just the European western, but the western genre as a whole, many directors sought to capitalize on the popularity of the genre. One of them was Sergio Corbucci, a good friend who made his breakthrough with 1966´s "Django". In 1968, he made a film called "Il Mercenario", which has since been celebrated as one of the best.
Franco Nero (Django) stars as Sergei Kowalski, a Polish mercenary in Mexico hired to protect gold. Paco Roman, played by Tony Musante, is a Mexican peon hiding out in the mine with the gold. Jack Palance is Curly, an American who is also looking for the gold. When the stories of the three men intertwines, all hell breaks loose!
All of the preformances are great. Franco Nero fits very well as the campy and energetic Polack, Musante is great as the idealistic bandit and Palance as the bad guy. One of the highlights of the film is Ennio Morricone´s beautiful score, especially that one part. The camera work is excellent and the cinematography is beautiful. The action is well choreographed, with the costumery being great. The script is co-written by Franco Solinas, who contributed to many political Spaghetti westerns. The story takes place in Mexico in the 1910s, making it a "Zapata Western".
Overall, if you are into Spaghetti westerns, this is a must watch. Definetly reccomended!
Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)
Sergio Leone´s underappreciated masterpiece
If someone mentions the words "spaghetti western", for most people, the Dollars trilogy with Clint Eastwood by Sergio Leone will come to mind. "A Fistful of Dollars" is widely remembered as being the first spaghetti western to redefine the genre, in addition to kickstarting the carrers of Eastwood, Leone and Morricone. "Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo" permanently changed, not only the Europen westerns, but the western genre as a whole with the perfect cast, perfet soundtrack and the instantly recognizeable soundtrack. However, the Dollars trilogy's overlooked film, "For a few Dollars More" is , in my opinion, as good as "The good, the bad and the Ugly", in addition to being my favorite of the trilogy. As opposed to the previous film, the stoty here is a bit deeper, with a certain mystery that only becomes solved at the last scene. In addition to Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef enters the cast as Colonel Douglas Mortimer, a former soldier-turned bounty hunter. Van Cleef´s acting, especially in the duel, is perfect, because of how he is mad, sad, excited, ready and badass all rolled into one. Gian Maria Volonte, playing a different mexican bad guy than from "Fistful", is great as El Indio, if not a bit theatrical (he was a stage actor). And who could forget Josef Egger as the old prophet. The scope has also increased tremendously from "Fistful". They visit at least 5 towns, mutliple jails, a train, sallons, and, of course, the beautiful Almeria desert. The soundtrack for this film is also beautiful, and the diuels are all accompanied by fantastic scores. The film is, in my opinion, the funniest spaghetti western (aside from the comedies, of course). The humor is more subtle as opposed to jokes, with countless memorable ones (the hotel owners, the old prophet, the not-so-politically-correct hotel worker, the "robbery" at Santa Cruz, the old prophet and many more). This movie pioneered Sergio Leone´s style and takes it´s time with telling the story, something that i appreciate. The dialogue and scrips has definetly improved since "Fistful", thanks to Segio Donati and Luciano Vincenzoni. There´s countless things i could say about this film, but I think it´s time to wrap it up.
This film is my personal favorite of the Dollars trilogy, which says a lot. The score by Ennio Morricone helps to define it as the masterpiece it is. Pretty much everything has improved since their last film and is a beautiful, fun and underrated film, and a must watch for everyone.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Good movie
This is the third installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and it might just be my favorite. Not only do i like how they did the Davy Jone´s locker, but i like how they did Singapore, even as it does not look like Singapore. I also like the battle sequence at the end of the movie. What i like overall with the Pirates of the Caribbean series is that is does not start with the movies, that there is a lot of backstory to the movies.
Overall I really like the movie, as with the rest of the potc series.
Breaking Bad (2008)
99.1% Pure
Breaking Bad is a true masterpiece. Every single episode (Well apart from "Fly", but it wasn't that bad when binge-watching) is entertaining and unpredictable. The character are interesting and evolve throughout the series. Walter White went from being a nice teacher and father who wouldn't hurt a fly to becoming a drug lord and Jesse is at first just a high-school dropout and becomes someone you root for and feel bad for. At first Walt makes crystal meth to provide his family with money, but starts to like the job because it is the first time he has done something he is really good at (He is not specifically proud of being a teacher and working at a car wash). Walter exploits and uses Jesse, yet he still cares for him.
The character drama is what makes the series so good, and Gilligan does not always rely on music to make a scene sad or shocking. The cinematography is very good and the flashback scenes are executed wonderfully. While the theme of BR BA is dark, characters like Badger and Saul often lighten up the mood. Vince made this brilliantly and made us root for "the bad guys" like Walt and Jesse and made us hate the "innocent" like Skyler. True manipulation. Gilligan knew the story from start to finish, and didn't draw the series out to produce more money.
A lot of people say that if Walt was more careful and hid the Walt Whitman book, Hank would never have figured out it was him. I, however, look at it as it is near impossible to hide something like that forever, and even geniuses like Walt could make a small mistake leading to their downfall. In the end, everything Walt did ended up costing him (His family hating him), but he managed to give his family the money he worked for.
Overall, in my opinion this is the greatest TV series of all time. The directing, the acting, the story, the cinematography and the music is perfect. 10 out of 10.
C'era una volta il West (1968)
Possibly the best spaghetti western
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is Sergio Leone's 4th western and possibly my favorite out of all of then. The music, just like inthe others, is beautiful and sets the tone for the film. Ennio Morricone did great. The dialouge, while minimal, is amazing, with a lot of memorable lines ("He plays when he should talk, he talks when he should play" and "You brought 2 too many" are some of my favorites). The story is also very good and I like how at the final shootout Frank and the audience finds out what Harmonica wants with Frank. Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Henry Fonda and the rest of the actors did a great job. In the movie you can see that modern times are ending the quiet old west, and Leone captures it perfectly.
Overall a great movie and one of my favorites. The music, acting, story, style and everything else is perfect. Many people think it too long, but to me it didn't feel too long because it was interesting (and still is when rewatching). A masterpiece.
The Walking Dead (2010)
A fun show, but def decaying like the title
THE WALKING DEAD is a TV-Show that first aired in 2010 and was about a little group outside of Atlanta trying to survive a walker apocalypse (cuz the're not zombies). As of writing this review, the first hafl of season 11 has already aired (with the "will Daryl, Maggie, Negan and the whole group die in the next episode?"). I love seasons 1-5 with season 6 and 7 also being very entertaining, but the show died a long time ago.
The reason I loved the first seasons was because of the atmosphere (the atmosphere was vey apocalyptic and showed the fall of humanity) and the interesting character and the drama between them. Like for instance, in season 1 and 2 there is drama between Rick, Lori and Shane. I loved the way these characters were written (Lori being a troubled mother trying to fix her relationship with Rick, Shane seeing the true reality of the apocalypse but his gugdement is clouded by the fact that he loves Carl, Lori and unborn Judith, and Rick who tries to live with his family and who didn't want to kill his best friend, even though he sees the threat in him). The drama made the show interesting.
The death of Abraham and Glenn changed TWD, but that is not what made the show horrible. For me Carl's death ruined the show. He was supposed to take over Rick's place and be the new "sheriff". Instead they had Judith take over, but the problem is that she barely remembers Rick and Carl. Another reason Carl's death was horrible is because Carl was the main reason Rick wwanted to live. Without Carl, Rick's purpose in life is fulfilled. When Rick left the show, the only interesting character left were Michonne (I like the way she left the show looking for Rick), Daryl and the main one, Negan. "Here's Negan" was by far the best episode of all of S10 and S11.
The CGI in The Walking Dead has never been too great, but it never bugged me too much. Greg Nicotero and the rest of the artists at KNB are great at making the walker makeup. The walkers in season 1 are a little frightening because they closely resemble humans, but for the rest of the seasons it is all about the characters.
In my opinion they should've had the Negan story be from season 7 to the first half of 8, while in the other half Rick, Carl, Michonne and the rest ride into the sunset or something. But that's just my opinion.
Overall a very fun show in the start, but seasons 9-11 are uninteresting to me.