1997 best of the year

paul thomas andersons, follow up to indie drama, hard eight, and probely my fav direcror at the moment, followed with magnolia, and got adam sandler acting in punch drunk love, his new one there will be blood, looks amazing
boogie nights sees the life of eddie torrence, played brilliantly by mark warlberg, as a wash up guy, who does favours for money in the back of the restaurant, here hes discovered by jack horner,( burt reynlds) as he notices he has a special and big talent, if you know what i mean. he invites him out to his huse where he is offered a job as a adult movie star, eddie with no real prospects, and is now homeless, jumps at the chance, here we get a glimpse inside the world ofadult movie making, we are introduced to all the people involved, john c riley as a fellow pawn star, reece fairchild, william h macy, as a cinematoghrapher, heather graeme, as pawn star rollergirl( shes always keeps her skates on) julianne more as amber waves, the best in the business, and of course phillip seymour hoffman as scotty, the lonely boom guy
we see eddies life rocket to stardom, and turned into dirk diggler, as he becomes the best at what he does, and along with jack horner, and reece fairchild, think up a concept for a film, with a actual story, hes then turned into brock landers, and agsain is a success, things turn ugly as the 70s turn into the 80s, and things like videotape and cocaine, begin to ruin the party, so we see eddie during this time, sink to a low, of prostituting, and crime to make a quick buck,
the style of this filn is so great, and in a way so many elements of goodfellas are seen here, the structure, the use of music all present, and the third act, which sees the downside, everyone is on fine form, and it was great to see anderson team up with a lot of this cast for the amazine magnolia, and a shout out to reynolds who while playing a 70s charactor, puts him back where he once was king of the box office, since boogie nights he dident capalise on its fame, unlkie say travolta and pulp fiction,
great 70s soundtrack, 70 settings, funny moments( warlberg and riley, in recording studio, is priceless, you got the touch, brilliant), and anderson on his way to genius, this is in my top 10 easy

matt damon, and ben afleck wrote this story about a genius played by damon, who doesent take advantage of talent and works as a janitor while also hanging out with his buddies, due to a arrest hes taken in by a maths prooffessor, who sees his potential, and one condition is therapy, taken by a shrink played exellently by robin williams, and all the way he balances his life between buddies,a new girl, played by minnie driver, and his talented brain, a superb lookat troubled souls, and damon showing great talent as that guy, a great working class boston setting, a caractor its self, directed by gus van sant, who is a great choice, great support turns from not only ben afleck, as best buddy, but also casey afleck, in a small role, he really has talent, a engageing story, well directed, great pace with great use of music, and a heartwarming tale, these charactors look and feel so real

a great follow up from clerks, for kevin smith, and a more grown up storyline, what happens when a lesbian gets on a guysmind, and also, gets between your friendship with your best mate, superbly played bt jason lee, smith writes great dialogue, and here, its very grown up, but with the slacker generation, star wars references weve come to love, and jay and silent bob only make 1 apearence, they are not the best thing about a kevin smith film by the way, its always the script,

john cusack is superb here in one witty film. cusack is martain blank a hitman for hire, who through circumstances goes to his 10 year reunion in gross point,, hence the title, but with a rival hitman on his back over business matters, and, his high school sweetheart he jilted at the prom, things could be worse than he can imagine, razor sharp humour here, cusack arguably never been better, coming out with winning lines after another, check a early scene where he pulls up to his childhood home to sound of guns n roses, and scene that follows, its a classic, cusack best bud, jeremy piven is also on hand to give his great pusual supporting turn, and of course aykroyd, great seeing him again, minnie driver is stunning and great to watch, and of course joan cusack, giving her whit, great comedic scenes, and action when it needs it, and a kick ass 80s soundtrack,

johnny depp is undercover fbi agent joseph pistone, who gets in with a newyork crime family under the disguise as donnie brasco a young up and coming wannabee, noticed by lefty played by pacino, as a great fiamond guy, lefty takes him under his wing and into the family, he does this for quite a few years, ashe gets deep in with the crew, he gets deeper involved with lefty, and in some way a mentor has apeared, as donnie sets up various things to get evidence, he quickly realises, some events hew must have at least some involvment, but is nessesery for undercover work to suceed, while at home his marriage is suffering as he spends more and more time away from home, as donnie gets more established in family, sonny his boss, played by michael madsen, takes a shine to him, and seen by lefty as a insult, are cracks forming in there friendship, as a f.b,i plan involving a boat down in miami is in full swing, also a brasco suggestion, things could be working in f.b.is favour, but at what expense to him self, and lefty a person he jhas come to admire greatly. a great aditin to mafia films, not as stylish or grandstanding as goodfellas or epic and great llooking like the godfathers, but ceretainly holds its own, in a way a companion piece to serpico, which looked at another side to newyork crime, a great insight into a newyork mafia family from ground level, johnny depp is definatly top of his game here, in a sence playing 2 charactors, his acent superb, pacino, playing lefty a big diference from michael godfather corleon, madsen as well, really doesent get roles like this anymore, great 70s setting, newyork at its best, the film is more simplified to the book, more focused on atempts to get sonny and crew set up, as in book there were many other undercover missions in various parts of country, so a good atempt to concentrate on one story, a great watch