Alexander's Talk

From Dusk Till Dawn

action horror flick starring George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis and Quentin Tarantino. directed by Robert Rodriguez.

brothers Seth and Richie Gecko (Clooney, Tarantino) are criminals on the run. they encounter Jacob Fuller (Keitel) and his family at a motel and end up taking the former priest and his family hostage. the Geckos decide to take the Fullers with them to meet up with their contact at the strip club The Titty Twister, on the boarder of the US and Mexico. but what lies within the club is more than just sex and booze and soon the criminals and the hostages find themselves working alongside one another to survive.

this film is why I love Rodriguez. he isn't afraid to go to the line of cheese and tiptoe along it. he always manages to find that balance between over-the-top silliness and just enough silly to make for a fun and good time.

gore. comedy. action. boobies. good stuff! ♥

Transamerica

Transamerica was a complete surprise for me, I was expecting a more serious movie considering the subject, but as the movie unfold, I found out that it was much more then a woman being trapped in a man's body, it was the pain Bree had been living with all of her life and how she was determined to find the happiness that she deserves.The movie had a fantastic plot, great characters, Felicity Hoffman was amazing in her role. The chemistry between her and the young boy was really great. They had their funny and touching moments.This movie did a great job of letting the viewer get into a world of trans-gendered people. It was also about family, acceptance, honesty and love.

A Serious Man

The Coen brothers have created THE NEW FIDDLER ON THE ROOF! Here are the reasons I say that: first, the trailer in its own way presents a musical composition to us; second, the opening scene presents roughly the same time period and place; third, the story takes place in an almost exclusively Jewish community; fourth, the main character Larry is dealing with comparable family troubles and trying to find answers from God; and fifth, look at the poster.

Now the Jefferson Airplane song Somebody to Love figures prominently into the movie too as does ceremonial Hebrew music for Larry's son's bar mitzvah. The opening Yiddish scene is darkly humorous and I suppose it is there to suggest the ancestors of the Gopniks may have caused a curse on the family. I have heard that the movie portrays a very authentic Jewish community especially in the way the characters speak and interact. Professor Larry Gopnik lives in America in the 1960's, so he only has two children, a son and a daughter, but his family and professional troubles turn his life on its head with divorce, marijuana, gambling, bribes, and seeking tenure. Wishing he were a rich man hasn't changed though! Being an educated man from the 20th century means Larry doesn't have conversations with God in the same way. He seeks three rabbis as links between him and God because the religious institution is really the only connection to tradition anymore, and being a mathematics/physics professor he is more versed in the Uncertainty Principle. Larry does actually venture up on his roof too, but not to fiddle. Well, wait... yes, by another definition of the word fiddle, Larry Gopnik is a Fiddler on the Roof. He tries to adjust the TV antenna for a show his son likes to watch and then he notices he can see his hot neighbor sunbathing nude.

Sy Ableman is Larry's Lazar Wolf, but as with every other parallel to the old musical, there is a twist. Sy is the one described as a serious man and Larry through all his questioning and trying to fix his life crisis wants to be a serious man too. The cast is awesome! I think the Coen brothers have mixed tragic troubling moments with darkly humorous moments excellently. Like in No Country for Old Men, you may think the plot is being wrapped up all nice and neat, but then the story continues briefly and leaves you realistically (in a way fatalistically) hanging. So well constructed! I loved it!

In the Realm of the Senses

"A girl like you can stab a man's heart without a knife, huh?"

Ai no corrida (1976)

Director: Nagisa Ôshima
Country: Japan / France
Genre: Drama / Romance
Length: 108 minutes



Ahhh, yes... the beauty of sexual intimacy, the great variety of sensations felt during the most beautiful act of love, the very emotions of the human being reaching an extreme point of pleasure. Ai no Corrida is the most cinematically graphic representation of a fully-developed study on human eroticism, but what is often confused with either a strictly pornographic film or with a fully perverted movie is actually an essay of political ideas depicted with extreme liberalism. Audacious and poetical Japanese director Nagisa Ôshima directs his definitive masterpiece, a controversial work of art of impecably explicit proportions that awakens the very human reactions of denial when sexual content is mercilessly displayed on the screen, a reaction that, ironically, people do not posses towards mindless, bloody and nonsense action films. Why is sex banned in a larger scale than violence? How far can cinema really go? To make such questionings, three more important questions have to be asked beforehand:

1) How big is the envelope that this film has to push?
2) Did the film actually pushed such envelope?
3) Was there a significant purpose behind this?

Based on a true story set in the pre-war Japan of 1936, a man and one of his female servants, who was once a prostitute and sought for work in a brothel as a maid, begin an affair. Their torrid relationship grows so strong and begins to be exaggeratedly based on obsessive sexual encounters that their emotional connection is completely erased and their respective lives are utterly threatened. Director Nagisa Ôshima won the Sutherland Trophy at the British Film Institute Awards. Tatsuya Fuji won a Hochi Film Award for Best Actor also in 1976.

The film does not only take liberalist ideals to the most extreme level and parallels them with the influence of an imminent political war; it also shares some parallelisms with the real-life human condition. The sole premise of the film is absolutely fatal and terrifying, covering the tragic consequences of an uncontrollable obsession and contrasting them with extraordinary decisions, such as being part of a World War. In order to play a nostalgic role, the pace and the art direction beautifully decorate what seems to resemble a medieval Japan, where an ancient way of living has not been completely forgotten and erased. The performances are superbly desperate, and although the budget is noticeably ridiculous, it is one of the most controversial and scandalous films in Japanese history and of all time.

Nagisa Ôshima directly questions the censorship moralistic measurements. It is interesting how Japan's filmmaking has been famous during the past decades because of the quantity of violence they usually have, not to mention their explicitness. Ironically, if a penis is briefly shown on screen, the film is banned in case such scene is not erased. The MPAA shares the exact same characteristics, where notable displays of violence such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and The Passion of the Christ (2004) receive an R rating, but films of harmless, sexually explicit nature like The Dreamers (2003) are immediately slapped with an NC-17 rating. Because of Japan's strict censorship policies, the film had to be shipped to France for development. Several countries confiscated the film as suspected pornography and several years had to pass in order to be released theatrically without any cuts.

It may be flawed, but a wonderful visual style and a not-so-common artistic craftsmanship make up for them. To make such a powerfully sexual manifesto is an audacious task, and to do the homework of shocking audiences is not an easy accomplishment. The cinema of the 70s were subject to heavy censorship, but important pieces in the history of cinema were released and these were the ones that made audiences and censorship controls to actually question the subjectivity of art. It was the highest point of expressionistic surrealism that covered very important ideologies. Ai no Corrida has divided audiences, originating the eternal and rather senseless debate of porn versus art. However, the purpose of the film and the societal issues that it implicitly involves reached milestone levels. With an unnerving approach towards impulsive eroticism and a haunting cinematography, Ai no Corrida has positioned itself among the most horrifying and memorable tales of pre-war Japan, and it is much better than its sequel Ai no Borei (1978), which missed the original nature of this film and became more of a ghost story rather than the original intention of taboo extermination that Ai no Corrida represented. It answered the three aforementioned questions positively. Do you approve?

91/100

Sweet Movie

- Hitler! DirtyJew!
- They call me... Neanderthal."

SWEET MOVIE (1974)

Director: Dusan Makavejev
Country: Canada / France / West Germany
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Length: 98 minutes



Delicious, scandalous, expressionistic and controversial Yugoslav provocateur Dusan Makavejev is clearly one of the most misunderstood poets of complete self-destruction. Sweet Movie is a film with such audacity, such gorgeous poetry, such supposedly "disturbing" and "nauseating" sequences, that any lover and supporter of all artistic expressions and the instantly implied subjectivity of both of the terms "art" and "beauty" willl find ultimately impossible not to fall in love with. This complete cult masterpiece is arguably the sexiest and most gorgeous and orgasmic attack towards capitalist authoritarianism and Communism, not to mention the most daring magnum opus ever thought by a brilliant human brain.

Sweet Movie alternatively tells two stories. On one hand, we have the shocking story of a beauty queen, Miss Canada, who slowly descends into a catastrophic life of existentialist madness and depravity after winning a virginity contest (that's right) denominated Miss Monde 1984, denying to have sex with a golden penis (that's right), having sexual intercourse with a possibly Mexican singer named El Macho and getting stuck with her vagina (that's right) and moving to a bizarre anarchich community who celebrate food feasts with orgies of vomit (that's right) and excrement. On the other hand, we have the story of Anna Planeta, possibly the sexiest, non-porn character name in existence, brilliantly interpreted by Anna Prucnal, a beautiful actress who was exiled from her native Poland for seven years after her role in the film and was denied a Visa so she could see her dying mother. She plays the role of a philosophical and pedophile, demented killer who is constantly travelling through the canals of Amsterdam in search of lovers who want to have sex with her and subsequently killing them in a pool of sugar. Her boat is named "Survival" and it has a giant face of Marx with a tear on his eye, and it is in that boat where she makes candy. If this wasn't enough, real documentary footage is shown, portraying the camps that were near the city of Smolensk, where the Soviet Army held more than 14,000 Polish prisoners of war under inhuman conditions. In 1943, after Germany had seized the region, rumors of a mass grave containing the Polish corpses were investigated by an international medical team, revealing that actually more than 14,000 Polish prisoners were killed. Moreover, it was not until 1992 when it was confessed that Joseph Stalin was the one who had authorized the killings.

Sweet Movie is the result of the work of a visionary auteur that actually dared to establish his filmmaking style through a groundbreaking and controversial perspective, slapping the face of totalitarian anarchy. Symbolism may be a very adequate interpretation of the sickening events that take place through a relativelty short running time that, consequently, is felt like an eternity. It is one of the most representative samples of scandalous filmmaking that fully represent the nature of cult and envelope-pushing cinema of the 70s. Most of its political influence comes from the fact that Yugoslavia was a Communist country at the time, an event that may justify the complete explicitness and demented nature of Sweet Movie. The importance of the screenplay and the performances are lost, although not completely, since they are still complementing elements. The true anathematical brilliance of Sweet Movie can be found in its complex symbolism, in its shriek-type-of direction and in its underlying layers of absurdity, constantly suffering a transformation from complete shock value with substance behind to a state of pure absurdity and, yes, hilarious comedy... a comedy that is originated from the criticism that is made towards how degraded the human condition has turned out to be.

Of course, degrading and repulsive acts was the most logical and adequate measure for faithfully representing the negative influence that degrading and repulsive authoritarian Communism and Fascism has imposed over the weak will of a highly dependent society. The destruction of Marx's ideals is emminent, thus the tear on his face is justified, sailing aimlessly in search of grotesque feverishness and sexual perversion. Sexual liberation is not precisely the topic here, and that is hilariously explained through the happenning of an unsuccessful sexual intercourse with a random, supposedly handsome singer in the Eiffel Tower. Elegance and class collide with external degradation. If such cinematic project is released, any financial ambition will meet its doom, so it is obvious at some extent that such hypocritical ambition was not in Makavejev's mind. He wanted to shout and be heard. It is a political and liberalist shout, a shout that was obviously destined to be rejected and catalogued as "depraved". Directors like Nagisa Ôshima, Pier Paolo Pasolini, John Waters, Norifumi Suzuki and Peter Greenaway had to go through the same injustice.

Perhaps it should not be seen as an artistically political act. Perhaps it should be perceived as a merely funny spoof towards the process of political overpowerment, or perhaps it should be seen as a kick in the balls to an audience that relies and trusts in its particular government... not to call it "anarchy" or "dictatorship". Films of this calibre have the power to trascend. People are still talking about Sweet Movie. People still talk about Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma (1975). However, coward (not the sensitive and weak of stomach, since they are excused, but coward) audiences keep avoiding them, but if a film is surrealistic, then it is pretentious nonsense. If a film is slow-paced, it is dull. Moving from a shrewd depiction of the "mysteries of the organism" to a "sweet movie", these are the films that clearly strengthen the statement that implies that modern censorship is preposterous. A woman having sexual relationships with children and an orgy of food and vomit is immediately rejected, but nauseating measures such as organizing and authorizing(!) events such as Katyn Forest massacre... F#ck, people! Open your eyes! Choose a side and promote this type of art. This is not a pretentious and fun piece of crap like Pink Flamingos (1972). This has substance and an inevitable, unique brilliance.

98/100

Fish Tank

Fish Tank was the story of 15 yrs old Mia. She was raised in a single parent family.She has her own inner world,with dancing as her big passion.Then Mom brought a boyfriend home, Connor, played by Micheal Fassbender. Mia felt attracted to him. He gave her some attention, she was always missing, maybe the father figure? Right from the start there were scenes that were hard to take. All felt so real, thanks to the Director and the acting. There was much more then only a storyline that the girl got involved with her mother's boyfriend and everything got even worse after that.FISH TANK won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year and after watching the movie it was easy to see why. It was full of outstanding performances with depressive and uplifting scenes. It was a good and powerful movie without being too emotional. Worth watching.

Brüno (Bruno)

I don't know where to begin, when I have to review this movie BRUNO. What kind of crap is this? This was the worst movie I've ever seen. I'm not prude and I have no problem with gay humor, but this movie not only went beyond the line, but most of the stuff was not funny in any way.The main fault were the gross out scenes. Like the scene with the Japanese, it was not necessary and wasn't funny. Borat was okay, but Bruno was disgusting. I am MAD i lost my time on this crap.

Black Narcissus

Five young British nuns are invited to move to a windy "palace", former house of the concubines of an old general, in the top of a mountain in Mopu, Himalaya, to raise the convent of Saint Faith Order, a school for children and girls, and an infirmary for the local dwellers. The palace was once called "The House of Women" and is rather ornately decorated with erotic art. In the opening scenes, we are told that an order of Brothers had attempted to do the same thing as the Sisters, but failed. After the nun's arrival their "straight-laced" behaviour begins to loosen, their discipline becomes more lax, and the foundation of their self-image begins to change. The lonely and exotic place awake the innermost desires in the flesh of the sisters?This is one of the most beautifully composed colour films I have ever seen. I did not know that this film was shot entirely in a studio. Some of the matte shots are extremely realistic, and others look more like beautiful paintings. All this serves to reinforce the struggle between illusion and reality, and also passion and chastity. So Black Narcissus is filled with magic images and haunting echoes. The "flowering of the snows" scene is breathtaking. The chapel scene is frightening and tense. The "Bell" scene is horrifying. The final view of "The House of Women", viewed by Sister Clodagha from the valley below is heart-stopping: A mist rises slowly and inch by inch blots out the Palace, until it is only a dream in your mind's eye. Then, a large leaf is seen. One drop falls and then another, like tears of regret. A black umbrella is opened. Mr. Dean sits on his pony and runs his hand through his thick black hair. He had said the nuns would be gone with the first rain, and he was right?..memorable scenes?
The extraordinary performances in this film are complimented visually with the flawless cinematography. The cast is splendid. Deborah Kerr's tortured Sister Clodagha registers every emotion, every longing, every doubt and every fear with her eyes and the set of her chin. David Farrar as Mr. Dean, Flora Robson as Sister Philippa, Sabu as The Young General, and Jean Simmons as Kanchi are a superb acting ensemble. However it is Kathleen Byron as the emotionally disturbed Sister Ruth that you will remember the most after viewing this film.
Black Narcissus brings home the point that we are all sometimes far too ambitious, vulnerable, obstinate, passionate, and alas, human. So at last if you love great films, great acting or just stunning cinematography Black Narcissus will haunt you forever.

Paranormal Activity

Creepy film.

I enjoyed this horror this is my second favourite 2009 horror I did think Orphan was a little more Interesting.
This film starts off weiard and strangely but as the film gets on it gets better perhaps there wasn't alot of story to it but it was still Interesting because it was a creepy atmosphere.
If you are looking for a movie that makes you jump alot this movie isn't for you if you are looking for a creepy movie that tries to creep you out then this is for you.
Perhaps it wasn't all that scary but it was really creepy in parts expecially when Kate got dragged out of the bedroom.
Overall this movie was Interesting that had a well delivered cast that gave some great performances and had a well delievered story plot. This film wasn't outstanding and I wasn't expecting for the story to end where it did it seemed as if they missed the rest of the story so I do hope that they bring out Paranormal Activity 2 that will carry on.
This was Interesting and is worth a watch.

Amelie (Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain)

"Amelie" is like a colorful modern time fairy tale about a innocent and naive girl who has some very weird hobbies, falling in love with some other guy that has some weird hobbies himself. As a matter of fact just about every character in this film is pretty odd, like some cartoon characters although the film itself is very colorful. One day Amelie finds a box with some old guys childhood belonging in it and decides to return it to him and if he is grateful, she would help others as well. And during her journey of trying to help others, she falls for a guy who has hobbies of collecting other peoples photos in photo booths that has been tossed away. This is a colorful, bright, funny and delightful romantic film that kids can enjoy it as well despite 2 very short nude scenes that can be fast forward. It was a magical experience that leaves the audience feel lighter, even if Amelie may seem like a bit of a stalker but that is forgotten cause of the film's charm and since the lead actress doesn't appear to be a psycho. I also enjoyed the film's cinematography very much, more than the typical Hollywood style. It maybe a bit overrated but isn't bad as some claim it to be, I think the people that do bash on this film, bash it for being too positive.

Dirty Harry

Just like his Westerns and Spagetti Western's Dirty Harry is one of his classic movies, Dirty Harry has witty dialogue, a cool catchphrase, the most powerful handgun in the world and a interesting plot. The acting is great, Clint Eastwood's performance has Dirty Harry is fantastic, he's performance inspired many other tough cops like John McClane in Die Hard and Martin Riggs in Lethal Weapon, Andrew Robinson is great as the Scorpio Killer, he makes the character look so normal yet he's so insane especially on the school bus. Dirty Harry has a classic 70's music score that goes with the pace, the sound effect for Harry's gun is cool and makes it sound like the most powerful handgun in the world.

The Enemy Below

Splendid double character study of commanders at war, superbly
played by two consummate actors, supported by an able cast,
utilizing an intelligent script by Wendell Mayes; spare, men only
direction by the gifted Dick Powell; and beautifully filmed at sea by
a crackerjack crew. Not a slow or dull moment in its 98 minutes, a
textbook example of how such things should be done, but seldom
are. Mitchum and Jergens give career perfs, the ending is
magnificent, the closing line a proper epilogue.

Twelve O'Clock High

Twelve O'Clock High is exceptional in every way. It is very similar to the excellent movie Command Decision, but goes deeper into the emotional and psychological cost of commanding the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. Whereas Gable is all alone and hated in Command Decision, Peck goes a step further and actually goes on bombing runs with his men--only to become deeply scarred emotionally in the process. As a result, this movie is a fantastic look at the psychological effects of war--something that only rarely gets addressed in war movies.

Death Note (Desu nôto)

After watching the anime and becoming a huge fan of Death Note i was a little dissaponted with this movie.
The main story stays the same but the 'live action version' changes bits so much that at some points your left thinking is this even the same story??
I know there is alot to put in from the books and anime, but huge chuncks are cut out and new charectetrs are added.

Anyone who hasnt seen the anime version will like this movie as it is good, but if your a fan of the anime i think you may by dissapointed or even hate it all together!

Final Destination

thriller starring Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Seann William Scott and Kerr Smith. directed by James Wong.

after having a vision of where the plane that he and his fellow classmates are on crashes, Alex Browning (Sawa) freaks and gets thrown off of the plane, along with a group of his classmates. they're shocked, feel guilty for living and of course, think Alex had something to do with it. their suspicions only continue to grow as the survivors begin to die in freak accidents. is it Alex? or is it death come to collect?

I still love this film as much as I did when I first saw it ten years ago... if not even more! one of my absolute favorite "scary" flicks. by far the best in the Final Destination series. they really should have just stopped while they were ahead. they will never achieve the awesomeness that they found with this original cast and script.

two words: Devon Sawa. RAWR.

love it! ♥

Wristcutters - A Love Story

dark comedy starring Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon and Shea Whigham. based on the short story Kneller's Happy Campers by Etgar Keret. directed by Goran Dukic.

after committing suicide and finding himself in an afterlife set aside just for those who have committed suicide, a young man (Fugit) learns that the girl he loved also killed herself. he then sets out to try and find her.

boy kills himself. boy finds himself in strange afterlife where no one smiles and the scenery looks much like where I come from. boy searches for love. boy finds love. boy loses love. boy finds love again. the end.

interesting idea with decent writing and an okay cast.

The Magdalene Sisters

The Madgalene Sisters was based on true events in Ireland during the 60's. Three teenage girls were sent, against their will, for various reasons.The Magdalene Asylums, were run by the Catholic Church.These girls were treated as slaves and they should work in the laundries to wash their sins and they were so badly treated by nuns who one could never imagine were working in the name of God.Horrible things have been done in the name of religion for as long as there have been religions.It was a sad and shocking movie, the acting was superb, the characters were so real, it was worth seeing.