Movies I own

I took off half a star because the one juror (who kind of reminds you of a young Ron Howard) was like a reject from a Frank Capra film and impeded my enjoyment of the whole film.

Regardless this is still a great film with an excellent ensemble cast led by Henry Fonda (who kind of reminds me of Dan Crozier) and directed by a very young Sidney Lumet.

This is intense drama at its very best.

Just as 'Raging Bull' is the Anti-'Rocky', 'American Beauty' is, in so many ways, the Anti-'It's a Wonderful Life'

I wouldn't call it a guilty pleasure because I don't feel guilty about enjoying it. Some of the humor is a bit obnoxious at times but a lot of the other stuff is just too damn funny.

It's by no means a comic masterpiece, but it's a comedy I heartily enjoy.

It's one of those rare films where you think you have everything pegged; the story, the script, the characters, the performances, etc, and then it throws you for an unexpected loop.

It's a shame that, all too often, the Academy picks the most pallatable, but ultimately the weakest of the nominees as the Best Picture Winner. This is one of two difinitive examples during this decade.

While it's not a bad film, Ron Howard's involvement hinders it from becoming something better. Howard, possibly one of the most overrated directors of his generation, succeeds in bringing together a talented cast including Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connolly, Ed Harris, and Paul Bettany all giving superb performances, but the film is handled with kid gloves.

After the film came out, stories of the real John Nash surfaced. While his schytzophrenia is romanticized in the film, these stories involved a rambling, toothless, abusive, bisexual John Nash struggling with a horrible mental condition despite his incredible gifts in mathematics. That's the film I would've wanted to see. The existing film's fictionalized depiction does the true story a dishonor.

Beautiful....just beautiful.

This story will forever be a classic, and I must admit I was afraid when I first saw the cast list for this film. I thought a studio would get ahold of this wonderful story, put on a parade with big-name stars, completely butcher the story (no pun intended), throw in some cheap tricks because movie studios tend to think that nuance is completely lost on children and they only respond to things that are big, loud, and obnoxious.

This was not the case whatsoever with this film. It maintained everything that is beautiful and simple about this story. I laughed and I cried and I bought it all the way until the end.

I'm a fan of Dakota Fanning, but I was afraid her presence would prove distracting. Thankfully, the director was smart enough not to turn the film into the Dakota Fanning show. Her scenes are nice, but ultimately, a lesser-known child actor would've worked just as well.

The casting of Julia Roberts as the voice of Charlotte takes away some of the character's mysterious qualities, but she brings a welcome warmth to the character. I suppose I always imagined Charlotte with a voice like Katharine Hepburn's, but that probably would've scared kids away from the movie.

All in all, it's a truly wonderful film. See it even if you don't have a little one to see it with.

Brilliantly made. Director Alfonzo Cuaron presents a Sci-Fi (if you even want to call it that) with a starkness and a kind of realism I've never seen in a Sci-Fi film. I have to hand it to the Academy for nominating Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography, which is very effective, but never too pretty -- unfortunately they missed out on several other highly deserving nominations. But the editing, the long shots, the costumes, the art direction, the score, all brilliant!

Clive Owen gives a career best performance, and the rest of the cast, including Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Pam Ferris, and Peter Mullan all turn in some great work.

The ultimate masterpiece of American cinema. Over sixty years after its release, it remains the greatest example of a perfectly executed directorial vision, and offers some phenominal performances to boot. There's really not much else to say that hasn't already been said.

This film gets viewed through a very unfair lens, and I think a lot of complaints about it have little to do with the film itself. For one, 'Dances' had the misfortune of beating 'Goodfellas' for Best Picture in 1990 -- admittedly an Oscar blunder, but certainly not the greatest. And secondly, after this film, Kevin Costner's career went into a downward spiral and he is only beginning to find footing again now. Apparently someone thought an eye-candy, meat and potatoes, deadpan delivering American actor could play Robin Hood (admittedly a guilty pleasure of mine), and then he did 2 bad sci-fi films (admittedly guilty pleasures of mine) back to back. Thus the sad story of Kevin Costner's post-Oscar career.

If Kevin Costner has a knack for something in this business, it's for directing westerns. In both this film, and in 'Open Range' (which he directed 13 years later), Costner has shown that he can master the tone, pacing, beautiful landscape, language and the attention to detail in a way that reminds us of John Ford and Sergio Leone.

'Dances' is a rich in detail with a strong emotional core, and is a true American epic -- just think, that buffalo hunt scene was done before the days of CGI.

Maybe if Costner had spent the last 17 years directing one or two more westerns and appearing in a few more sentimental baseball movies, his career would be in better shape, and people would view this film in a much different light.

a guilty pleasure.

While it's well done and very entertaining, it's not exactly the "return to form" for Martin Scorsese that just about every critic has been hailing.

Scorsese assembles a solid cast led by Leonardo DiCaprio in his finest performance to date as an undercover cop being plagued by a guilty conscience and fear of being discovered. Jack Nicholson and Matt Damon give respectable turns, but far from career bests for either. The supporting cast has a lot to offer with outstanding performances by Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga, Ray Winstone, and Martin Sheen.

While I was glad to see Marty finally win his Oscar, I couldn't help but think he should've won it for a better film, especially 'Raging Bull' or even 'Goodfellas', 'Casino', or 'The Aviator'. 'The Departed' is a fun throwback to the genre for which Scorsese is best known, but it doesn't quite match the level of excellence achieved in those films.

I'm happy over its Best Director win (though it probably should've gone to someone else) and I'm not upset over its Best Picture win. The Academy has made far worse mistakes (I refer you now to last year). This is just a forgivable oversight. I will probably purchase the DVD and I look forward to enjoying this film several more times.

A hilarious low-brow slapstick comedy from the Farrelly brothers (their finest work by far to date). Carrey and Daniels make a great comic duo.

It's a shame work like this doesn't get recognized in the way it should. It takes a true artist to create comedy this funny.

If I were pressed, I'd probably call this my favorite film. To say it's perfect would be a lie, but the places where 'Eternal Sunshine' excels far overshadow the film's flaws.

The major subplot of the film, involving the the act of erasing Joel's memory, struggles to achieve what the main plot accomplishes brilliantly. Elijah Wood's character seems out of place, Kirsten Dunst does her typical routine (which has never really impressed me). But it's held together by Mark Ruffalo's charm and Tom Wilkinson's gravitas.

The main plot, however, is a dream in every sense of the word. Two of Hollywood's finest talents, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, play against type and give the finest performances of their careers. Gondry's direction and Kaufman's script capture the tangible and the intanglible, revealing what is both real and true about being in love.

Todd Haynes takes the 1950's domestic melodrama style to uncover what lies beneath the surface of the picture perfect 1950's family. The result is one of the most poignant, heartbreaking, and best acted films of the decade.

While it takes on several issues, i.e. homosexuality, racism, and feminism; it's far from an 'Issue' film, and yet accomplishes more than many so called 'Issue' films (for example 'Crash'). And though it is stylistically a melodrama, there is something about the characters and the story that is so much more real and true than our notion of melodrama suggests.

Between Dennis Quaid's self-hating demeanor as he tries to lead the life he is supposed to lead and quell his inner desires, Dennis Haysbert's painful expression when he lets go of his hopes and desires, and in the middle of it all, Julianne Moore giving a controlled, multilayered, emotional performance, I'd call this one heck of a film.

I like to think of the Coen Brothers' carrers as having two phases; Pre-'Fargo' and Post-'Fargo'. I like to think that even their less stellar films are still a lot of fun, and their stellar films are...well...stellar, 'Fargo' stands as a cut above the rest as their perfect accomplishment.

It's a movie that wears its heart on its sleeve, but in a good way.

Tom Hanks gives the performance of a lifetime, with wonderful supporting performances by Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, and Sally Field, and directed to an epic scale by Robert Zemeckis. How can you not love it?

It suffers from some script problems, but I have to give them major props for staying close to the true story in terms of major plot points.

But what makes this film great is the great performances, particularly by Matthew Broderick (his finest screen performance alongside 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off') and Denzel Washington (a well-deserved Oscar win), and the James Horner score with the use of the Harlem Boys Choir that tugs at your heartstrings like nothing else.

Though some credit is due to Scorcese's ambitious directing. Daniel Day-Lewis' performance is about the only fully realized aspect of this film.

Though, by a very narrow margin I prefer Part II over this one. You can't deny this film is one of the greatest film actors turning in his finest performance.

I really thought about what to write about this film and I've got nothing. So I guess it's safe to say it's one of those films that leaves me completely and utterly speechless.