My Favorite Movies

The wrong war at the wrong time.

Still one of the best "futility of war" movies ever made. Holden's performance holds up so well. Those last desperate minutes are gripping, even after many viewings and more than 50 years. And there's Grace Kelly, too. Possibly the best performances ever given by both Mickey Rooney and Earl Holliman.

Mr. Lundie: They were indeed horrible destructive women. I dinna suppose you have such women in your country?

Tommy Albright: Witches?

Jeff Douglas: Oh we have 'em. We pronounce it differently.

One of my all-time favorites. Absolutely non-reality based, this musical touches on that deep-seated human desire to escape time. And what better way to escape time than to spend eternity with your one true love.

I tell you, if Kelly could sing like Robert Goulet, this would be a six-star movie. Don't misunderstand me: Kelly can sing well enough. But if you get a chance to listen to the TV version where Goulet sings "There but for You Go I," one of several beautiful songs that were left on the cutting room floor in this version, you'll get a sense of what I mean.

Cyd Charisse! Of all Kelly's dance partners through the years, Charisse is the most stylishly elegant. She's a for real dancer, baby. If I ever make it to Scotland, I'm going looking for her in this secret little town :)

Van Johson is superb as the jaded and cynical anti-romantic foil. I always feel sorry for him when he decides, at the end, not to cross the bridge. If it were me, I'd go with Kelly. Plenty of single women, Van. Just do it.

The momentary New York City scene is well-done and so appropriately paced and placed. Even for a first-time viewer, it will be clear where Kelly is headed after listening to his city girlfriend rattle on.

For die-hard romantic escapists, there are few better films boasting such great music and passion with which to leave the real world behind.

07/29/08 update: I went to see The Dark Knight and then coincidentally ran across this movie later that night on cable. It's amazing to see these two Ledger performances back-to-back, as it were. What a range. I'm bumping this one up to a full five stars and adding it to my Top 100 list. End update.

This is a tragedy for Gyllenhaal and Ledger. But my heart bleeds most for the women in this film who are victims of the doomed love affair: the wives, the daughters, the girlfriends, the mothers. It is devastating to witness the lives of all these women being impacted because these two men cannot publicly acknowledge their love for each other. A very convincing job of acting all the way around. For me, however, the most astonishing performance is turned in by Roberta Maxwell as Gyllenhaal's mother. She so movingly embodies great love and understanding, all of this condensed into such a brief screen appearance.

Oh good. For a moment there I thought we were in trouble.

Famous last words from Robert LeRoy Parker (aka Butch Cassidy) right before that amazing run out the door. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are one of the unbeatable male pairs in movies. If you've not seen this one, but saw The Sting and liked their work together, you must see this movie. A good job done by Katherine Ross as well.

Man, do I hope they do a few more together before they call it quits.

11/14/06 update: Just watched this again. One of the aspects that really grabbed me this time, even though I've seen this so many times, is the way you believe, right up to the end, that Newman and Redford might actually get out of this . . . and go to Australia. Beautifully done. I'll say it again: Hope they do one or two more together . . . for the ages.

If I loved you

Time and again I would try to say

All I'd want you to know.

If I loved you

Words wouldn't come in an easy way

Round in circles I'd go.

Longin' to tell you, but afraid and shy

I'd let my golden chances pass me by.

Soon you'd leave me

Off you would go in the mist of day

Never, never to know

How I loved you . . .

If I loved you.

One of the greatest love songs to come out of musical theater. Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones: A Hollywood musical match made in heaven. I wonder if Jones might have broken a few hearts in high school . . .

Carousel's story is different from most Hollywood musicals in several ways, the most significant of which is that true love is won right at the beginning, then is tragically squandered by Billy Bigelow, although not ultimately lost. Besides such memorable numbers as the "Carousel Waltz" theme itself and "You'll Never Walk Alone"--the ultiimate graduation song--, one of my all-time favorites is "When (the) Children Are Asleep," the beautiful duet, shared by Carrie and Mr. Snow on the way to the clambake, in which they dream of their married future together:

When the children are asleep we'll sit and dream

The things that every other dad and mother dream.

When the children are asleep and lights are low

If I still love you the way I love you today

You'll pardon my sayin' I told you so.

When the children are asleep, I'll dream with you.

We'll think what fun we have had and be glad that it all came true.

Ahhh, love. It can kill you.

This is another one of those movies I watch every time I come across it. If I could perform Gilbert and Sullivan with Ben Cross' verve, and if I could run with Ian Charleson's passionate commitment, and if I could always hear this truly inspirational musical soundtrack when I was doing it . . . A great ensemble cast. Even though it's a quarter century old now, I have a feeling that if someone sees this 100 years from now, the movie will stand up so well it will seem as if it could have been made yesterday, always. You can run as long and as fast as you like, but you cannot outrun your heritage, and no matter how far you go, you will still find prejudice. Maybe a hundred years from now, this won't be true . . .

Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown.

Nicholson's and John Huston's greatest performances. The kind of script anyone who aspires to write wishes he/she could write. No matter how many times I see this, I still get caught up in the intricacies of the story.

08/11/06 update: If you have not seen The Two Jakes, the sequel to this movie, you must give it a try. Many people were disappointed by this one, including me, but when I finally watched it again, I realized what a good movie it really is. The whole post-WWII angle is quite compelling, especially as it considers the trauma that many combat veterans go through. Everyone is affected; everyone is changed. An interesting examination of moving into the nuclear age. I must write a review the next time I watch it.

Chung hing sam lam

A beautiful lyric set of short stories. I am not sure the connection between the two is all that "loose." First, they are tied together by location--the onolicious Chungking Express--, and the principal male figures in each story work in law enforcement. Both have lost their girlfriends, and both embark on new love pursuits. All four principals, including the two women, exhibit signs of damage, the two men hurting from lost love, Lin somehow caught up, perhaps against her will, in a genuine life and death struggle for survival, and Wang having something in her history that drives her to escape in a Califonia dream. Both women also exhibit a kind of obsession. With Lin it is her work, which she is obviously well versed in, and her seeming frequent need to kill or be killed. With Wang, it is both her California dream and her fascinating drive to make over, in secret as best as she can manage, Chiu-Wai's apartment.

Please stop me before I compare and/or contrast again.

While the first love story does not appear to come to fruition, the second ends on a wonderfully upbeat (re)union of the two, topped off by Chiu-Wai's actually giving up his job and buying the Chungking Express, the locus of desire, and, happily, even ironically, redoing it, just as his own apartment was redone.

If I'd had input on the script, I would have made one structural suggestion. The "other May," the one who works at the Express, would have filled out either a center love story segment, or perhaps the last segment. We would have a love story completely from a woman's point of view. For balance it would seem appropriate that this story would fill the center portion of the movie, with the men's stories framing hers. But for a real capper of a love story, I'd have hers be the final story. The previous owner of the Express, the one who is always trying to set up this May with his customers, would turn out, in the end, to be the object of May's desire, and at this bar where he is the new owner--having sold the Express to Chiu-Wai--May would enter, lay her cards on the table, and finally hook up with this gentleman who always thought highly enough of May that she would make a good love match for his customers, but never realized that May was a good love match for him as well. That would be a very cool ending, for my tastes.

Whether you see the original or the reworked version of ten years later, I guarantee you, flixsters, that you will never see a movie with more kissing in it : )

I definitely prefer the original for its concise portrayal of love won and lost. But even though Toto loses the love of his life and thus his ability to love any other woman again, his other life's love, cinema, remains constant and true. Perhaps there is consolation in this? Perhaps not.

This is a movie at once inseparably both comic and tragic. One of the most beautifully effective soundtracks in recent memory.

I was so sorry to hear that Philippe Noiret had passed away. It was as sad an experience for me as finding that his character had died in Cinema Paradiso. What a beautiful human being.

It's like it's a marriage of convenience, and all it produces are dead offspring.

The more I see this, the more I'm struck by how intricate the relationship is between Weisz and Fiennes. To be sure, the political focus of this film is very important, but the romance angle grows more compelling with each viewing. It isn't just that the two are in love; they obviously are. But it is the very real feel of their married interaction that staggers me. This is no idealized romance. Not by a long shot. These are two real people who face some rugged challenges to their relationship in terms of fidelity, self-doubt, childbirth/children, and teamwork, to name a few. It's almost an idealized kind of "typical" marriage -- if that's possible and not wholly oxymoronic. A typical marriage is a blend of very good, very average, and, sometimes, very bad moments -- such as the moment of the leading quote above. That weave here is perfectly executed.

Fiennes rarely misses in his performances, and when he does, I believe it's more likely the failure of the material rather than any fault in his acting. Nighy is so versatile -- a great "heavy" here. Why wasn't he nominated for an Oscar? This is a movie that not only holds up to repeated viewings, but it actually gets better each time. The haunting soundtrack will stay with you.

What we got here . . . is a failure to communicate . . .

Pretty freakin' tough to pick my all-time favorite Newman movie. This may be the one, depending on which one I've seen most recently.

True, this is another classic up-against-the-system film. The man who cannot be broken, trying to show the others how to live. Yes, it's the old JC parallel, like Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest. Plenty of movies try it, flixster friends, but few do it so well.

One night, a long time ago, I was walking through the student union, way over here in Hawai`i. The place was deserted, except for this tall, rather largely built man standing at a railing, looking off into the distance. It was pretty dark, but as I neared him he glanced over at me briefly, then returned to his thoughts. I knew him immediately; it was George Kennedy. I thought about saying hello to him, but he was so absorbed in his contemplation and the Hawaiian night that I didn't have the heart to disturb him. I guess he'd done a public appearance, and he must have just been cruising the campus to unwind or something. I so badly regret now that I didn't talk to him, especially to thank him for this movie. What an actor.

This movie may be the reason why I always keep an eye on folks wearing mirrored sunglasses. Kind of the same way I feel when I'm walking along and all of a sudden all the birds around me take off. I'm always hoping I'm not in the middle of the Bonnie and Clyde closing.

As I've always said, in Ron Howard I trust. Wow, what a wonderful surprise.

I'd wanted to reread the book before seeing this, so it took a while. Entering the theater, I had to wonder if this might not have been a bassackwards strategy. Wouldn't it be better not to remember the book if the movie deviated substantially from it? Well, granted, there are differences, but I have to give high praise to Akiva Goldsman and Ron Howard for rendering a great adaptation of Brown.

I tell you true, my butt was completely numb after the 2.5 hours of this movie, but I would not have wanted Da Vinci to be any shorter. There is enough of Brown's original included to make this a very convincing, self-sustained movie, I believe, although I had to wonder a bit, leaving the theater, whether I would have understood it all had I not read the book.

For any of you who might have read other comments I've made about Tom Hanks, you probably know that if he were to announce he would never make another movie, I would not retire from the world to live out my days sobbing uncontrollably in a cave. I must say, I believe this is the best job Hanks has ever done--for me, at least. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Da Vinci is a true ensemble effort, but I found my jaw dropping repeatedly as Hanks delivered soundly one great line after another. For sure the final scene where Hanks spontaneously falls to his knees to pray over the pyramid could have been horrible. He does that so beautifully, however, that it turns into one amazingly stunning moment. How much of that is Howard's direction? I don't know. I must rethink my position on Hanks if this miracle continues.

There is a great musical soundtrack here as well. Brown himself wrote one of the pieces! All in all, flixsters, this is a must see. I swear I never dreamed I'd say this in my lifetime: Hanks fans must make sure to see his amazing performance.

The first time I saw this, I watched it three times in a row. We're talking nine hours plus. And it's exhausting after just one viewing. People dumped on this movie, particularly the Russian roulette scenes, saying their presence was a factual inaccuracy. This is one of the most literary/literate scripts ever wriitten. It's called a "metaphor," okay? The Russian roulette scene is a metaphor for the Vietnam experience. If you've ever sat through all the credits for Platoon, you know that the very last thing you see is Oliver Stone's "thank-you" to Michael Cimino for making The Deer Hunter. How many times have I watched this movie? I've lost count. But the interesting thing is that I can only watch it nowadays up to the point where George Dzundza plays the piano after the first hunt. Once the Vietnam half kicks in, I can't handle the movie anymore. Maybe it's an age thing. I don't know. Way too painful, way too intense.

The best anti-war film ever made.

This one really took me by surprise; it's well worth the watch. Barbara Stanwyck is superb here as the long-suffering wife of James Mason, the playboy who claims to love her, but cannot seem to stop chasing other women -- especially Ava Gardner. This might be Stanwyck's best acting job I've seen so far. It's very understated. You feel sorry for her, but she never overplays the victim role. She is too strong to do that, by far.

The biggest surprise for me, however, is Van Heflin. If this were a performance battle between him and James Mason, Heflin would clearly be the winner. Too bad he didn't have a greater career. The man can really deliver lines.

As a side note, Cyd Charisse does not dance in this one. Still, she is wonderful. A very fine actress on top of her dancing prowess.

Brilliant and risky. I used to watch this every time I ran across it. Weird. Now I can't handle seeing any of it. "Unsettling" is not even the close right word. Neither is "disturbing." A great inconclusive study of characters. "Unforgettable" is right.

04/07/06 update: I just thought of something while I was writing a comment about A Passage to India. Another thing that is almost incomprehensibly admirable about this gem of a movie is that you care about every one of the main characters. Even the two shooters. How do they do that? Even some of the lesser characters too. It's another amazing aspect of this movie for me. I'm bumping this up to five stars.

05/31/06 update: Although Bottoms has a minor role in this, it's good to see that his talents have not diminished over the years. If you've not seen him in The Paper Chase or playing our esteemed president in the Comedy channel's That's My Bush, you would be amazed at his range.

I just noticed the cover photo for the movie box. Interesting. This kiss would be an essential one in terms of a gesture of compassion in this movie. Compare this kiss with the others (two?) in Elephant. It's the most heartfelt one, and is especially interesting since one major reason for this kiss may actually be the father whom Timothy Bottoms portrays.

Once again, Michael Douglas proves his acting worth with a wonderful performance as a man who has suffered the proverbial back-breaking last straw. Guaranteed, flixster buddies, you will see some of your own frustrations with the modern world mirrored in this gem. Hopefully we can all deal with our frustration in a more socially acceptable way : )

As I usually do, I voice-recorded my reactions to this movie while I watched it. As is normally the case, I checked my number of voice-recorded comments post-viewing, and I see that I actually have 87 notes.

I know that 14 of you have already posted reviews of this movie, that 4 of you want to see it, and that 3 of you are "not interested."

Flixster friends, for those of you who've been kind enough to bear with my extended commentaries, I promise you that I will not write 87 paragraphs for you to weed through at your convenience.

I just have to say, in terms of movies dealing with creativity, the writing bent, and in-born genius, you must treasure this movie.

I want to thank all of you who've not asked me, point-blank, my age. At my advanced number of years, really, as possibly the Grandpa Walton on flixster, compared to all the teens on this site, this wonderful movie hits absolutely home with an impact that I've not felt with such emotion in lo these many years (of my existence on this planet). I'm still snuffling and Kleenexing.

Comment #1--but not with 86 more to follow, I give you my flixsterian word--even though I am in my terribly advanced years and might forget, in my dotage, that I promised this : ) (BTW, Mahalo, Joanna, for my new-found Rilo Kiley music love)

Roughly quoting Kiley's Jenny Lewis:

I never never never never
. . . ever thought that I would say this in this lifetime, but Dustin Hoffman absolutely kills the energy of this movie in every scene he's in--but I refuse to subtract stars for this . . .

More comments to follow--but not 86 more : )

08/17/06 update: Like Kali says, Highmore is "adorable" in this. Like Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Highmore was good, but constricted, I believe, by the script. Like Depp in this one, he is sterling. Freakin' amazing for a kid so young.

Johnny Depp. Ah, flixsters, there appear to be two definite split camps in our family. You love him, or you don't. Me, I'm in the former camp. Coincidentally, I saw Nightmare on Tuesday, the day before I first saw this. Depp is definitely competent in Nightmare, but it was actually 21 Jump Street that put him in this wonderful position where he could pick and choose his projects. What a charmed and charming life he leads. His accents . . . I don't even care if they're genuine; for me he is always convincing. I truly believe, as Ashley and I were discussing, that he only gets better and better with age. I can hardly wait to see Dead Man's Chest.

Wow . . . . For those of you who haven't seen this yet and who believe you have guessed what this movie is about, I'm going to say that you may be very surprised to discover what unfolds when you do finally get a chance to watch this.

In this film, Eastwood manages to present a widely varied interpretation of "propaganda." From Tokyo Rose to the meaning symbolized by that famous photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima, Eastwood does not settle for any one definiton of the word, allowing the audience to consider the significance, the pros and cons, if you will, of propaganda from many angles. At times you will be tempted to say that Eastwood has managed overall to uphold the "pro" in propaganda, giving it a very positive connotation. Ultimately, however, it will be difficult to pin down any exact interpretation of propaganda and how we should view it.

Having now seen all five movies nominated for best picture, and four of the five nominated for best director, I am going to conclude one or more of the following:

1. That director Paul Greengrass was robbed -- United 93 being the one film I've not yet seen;

2. That Scorsese and The Departed were hand-in-hand sentimental winners; and/or

3. That the Academy believed, for some unknown reason, that they have given Clint Eastwood and his work too many awards.

Unless United 93 has one very intricately woven plot, then it cannot compare to the true intricacy and subtlety found in Flags of Our Fathers. The many story strands that Eastwood draws together in this film are astonishing, and the playing back and forth in time is a sterling accomplishment in and of itself. Even more amazing are the emotionally charged performances he wrings from every actor in this huge cast. Most commendable, however, is Eastwood's layering in, for the audience, of the pain suffered by these tremendously complex characters. This accretion of pain, building inevitably, moment by moment, affects the viewer in climaxing to a near unbearable sorrow, a kind of universal despair over the fate of these human beings. This is in almost every way a full blown tragedy of epic proportions. I am hard pressed to find glimmers of hope. But you know me, flixsters, I can find them.

There is hope to be found in at least two things. Simple survival, the ability to carry on, is one positive factor, and the other is love, the kind of compassion that brings a son to investigate a perhaps emotionally distant father's past and to tell that father, despite that father's inability to see it, that this father has been indeed the best of fathers. We hang in there, and we find a strong human connection in love for our fellow soldiers and for our family.

So many good performances in this one. That whacky Rose, Melanie Lynskey, from the TV show Two ahd a Half Men is great as Jesse Bradford's ball-and-chain, and if you liked Barry Pepper as the religious mantra-driven sharpshooter in Saving Private Ryan, you must not miss this performance. An awesome acting job. You'll see him here as a fully fleshed out character, not as a character type.

Flixster friends, this is a must see. It is Eastwood's greatest directing accomplishment to date, even more seemingly jazz improvisational and more poetic than Byrd or even his highest achievement so far, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Depp rules. So glad the Hughes brothers picked the ending they did. Anything less would have been cheating the audience.

06/14/06 update: After seeing Sin City and realizing what a good job the Hughes brothers did with this graphic novel, up a half star.

Superior acting from top to bottom. For his work in Stalag 17, William Holden beat out both Clift and Lancaster for best actor. What a freakin' great year for movies! If I had to pick Lancaster's best performance, I'd choose either this one or Atlantic City, I think. And maybe The Swimmer . . . Elmer Gantry . . . Well, this is right up there : )

Right or wrong emotionally, and trapped in a downward spiral, Clift is doomed after he avenges Sinatra's death by killing Borgnine. The taking of a life this way can never be justified; that's the way it seems to work in literature. It's hard to say whether Clift's damning flaw is actually his hard head, as Lancaster says, or the fact that he just never does fit in. A great tragedy played out against the perfect backdrop of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Really, flixster friends, Lancaster must not be missed in this incredible performance as the emotionally constricted career military man who lives most comfortably by the book and by his blunted realism.

Two of my favorites, Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald, in the kind of HBO movie that sends chills up and down the mainstream moviemakers' spines. This is small independent filmmaking at its best. A great love story coupled with an important story about global poverty.

01/22/07 update: David Yates, if this is a sign of what Order of the Phoenix could be, more power to you!

Perhaps my favorite Altman, this is not just another study of the lives of those who live the privileged upstairs life versus those who are consigned to the drudgery of downstairs existence. If Agatha Christie could have seen this, I'm sure she would have smiled. How do you pick out, in a cast of 30 or so superb performances, the ones that make a movie? There's Michael Gambon as the insatiably procreative and amoral host, so well matched to a role compared to his casting as Dumbledore. Kelly Macdonald embodying the spirit of a Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot in her understated performance as the unraveller of mysteries. Maggie Smith offering a clipped opinion about everything and everyone with so much humorously eloquent attitude, arguably the only upstairs dweller who seems to realize that the servants do exist and do hear what you say. Richard E. Grant as the man of vices and magnificently opinionated looks and gestures. Helen Mirren as the servant and mother who, true to her "calling," anticipates every need. And on and on and on, I kid you not. What a great movie. To pull off something this complex must have given Altman an incredible artistic high. This is a must-see movie.

Plastic. Yeah yeah yeah, we all know he's actually driving from Berkeley to SFO. If that's the very first thing that leaps to mind when you think of this movie, we may not end up flixster "friends." Simon and Garfunkle are a huge part of the 60s atmosphere. Hoffman was destined for superstar status from this moment on.

We'll always be together . . .

Every teenage male was in love with her, Travolta said. All his male buddies were jealous when he landed this part opposite Olivia Newton-John. I can appreciate that. I think I prefer the old Sandy, though. If you've never listened very closely to the lyrics for some of these songs, you might be surprised. Don't watch this on network TV. The censors always butcher songs like "Greased Lightning." Love the hotdog jumping into the bun behind "Stranded at the Drive-In Movie." But Stockard Channing's number, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do," was the knockout tune for me.

05/07/06 update: Up a half star.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning--

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

I tell you, flixsters, depending on what kind of a day it's been, this may ring all too true : )

My favorite Redford movie of all, and an interesting adaptation of one of my favorite novels, this will definitely not prove to be everyone's cup of tea. Farrow is a surprisingly good choice to bring Daisy Buchanan to life, falteringly balancing a faded idea of romance against the burgeoning tide of privileged ennui and shallow nonchalance. The supporting cast is stunning all-around, and Sam Waterston, as the framing narrative voice and point-of-view, plays Gatsby's only real friend to perfection. The pool scene, paced to a devastating climax, slowly plays out a universal worst fear of pursing love that is in reality permanently lost to begin with. The soundtrack, punctuated by versions of "What'll I Do?", is haunting and unforgettable.

In those occasional gloomier moments, I sometimes believe I am Nick Carraway's Gatsby--minus the money : )

Not many of the folks who come out of SNL actually can act. Murray is one of the very few. I had to visually describe this to my boss, who is blind, on a flight from Hawai`i to Chicago. She kept saying, "He's doing that again?" What a treasure of a movie. This and Four Weddings and a Funeral are MacDowell at her best.

Tracy and Hepburn, still gold in their golden years. An interesting meditation on race and marriage, especially for its time period.

I am always thankful that the cattle executions are kept off camera. Man, can Newman play an absolute SOB well. Now we know that couldn't be easy for him : ) What a talent.

Patricia Neal took best actress honors for this in 1963. This is well-deserved, but it's also ironic. McMurtry's novel calls for an African American woman to play the character whom Neal portrays, Alma Brown. Undoubtedly the powers that be figured the public was not ready for Newman and a Black female actress -- although I'll bet that if Newman had carried the weight then that he does now, he would have insisted on having a Black actress play the part. It's a shame that so many people thought the way they did back then. Really, nowadays this would be a no-brainer.

But imagine this, flixsters. What if they had decided to stay absolutely true to the story and had cast an African American woman in this role? And what if this woman's performance had been as strong as Neal's, and she had won the best actress Oscar? Well, it would have been an historic night. 1963 is the same year Sidney Poitier won his best actor award for Lillies of the Field.

I am so glad that we now live in a much more progressive age.

If not for the animal slaughter, albeit off-screen slaughter, this would be five stars. Hey, guys, if you've read my stuff before, you know how I feel about the treatment of living creatures on screen.

I saw you . . . I saw you in an orange grove.

A great death scene by Cusack. This movie is slick and pretty darn scary, even after multiple viewings. I cannot look at the number of "bars" on my cell phone without thinking about this movie. It's chilling.

I'll stop a car, and I won't use my thumb.

Do you ever think: "Hmmm, people throw the words 'icon' and 'iconic' around so much you'd think we couldn't get to the bathroom without bumping into icons left and right." They are waaaaay overused terms; I use them sparingly, like four-letter words, or like the word "cherish."

Damn! I absolutely cherish the iconic experience that is this movie. The Colbert-Gable pairing is one of the most iconic pairings in the history of film. You know what, flixsters? Gable is better at comedy than anything else, and icon Claudette Colbert is burned into the cinema heavens for her hitchhiking one-up(wo)manship of Gable. Iconic gams, baby.

Just back from the war, Jimmy Stewart said he was a bit rusty and quite nervous when he had to kiss Donna Reed in the great telephone call scene. Eh, Jimmy! Brah, who needs an excuse? Who wouldn't be nervous kissing somone like Donna Reed in this? Since I wasn't alive when this first came out, I'm not really sure why the movie didn't do well; this is a mystery to me. Every scene in this movie is purposefully, perfectly set up and shot. There isn't one scene that is not important. Capra knew what he was doing; every scene is a story-supporting set piece. This movie and Alastair Sim's SCROOGE (aka A CHRISTMAS CAROL) make the holiday season for me. Stewart plays a man so totally principled that you would think he could never survive in the "real" world. If I could die knowing that people had that much respect for me, I'd be thrilled.

Gongdong gyeongbi guyeok JSA

Just as a reminder, photography is not authorized in this area.

If you may be curious about how I would distinguish between a "bittersweet" ending such as the one in Dalkomhan insaeng (A Bittersweet Life) and the deeply tragic ending of a moivie such as this one, I would in turn ask you to consider the possibility, in your own life, of having to kill a best friend in a horriffic moment of mind-numbing intensity. Joint Security Area is indeed a full-blown tragedy centered around the fact that the two Koreas are currently divided by the 38th Parallel (aka the DMZ). To say that director and co-writer Chan-wook Park here makes a devastatingly powerful artistic statement about his problem with this political barrier might seem hyperbolic if you have not actually experienced this film, but once you see JSA I believe you will agree with me.

The movie is perhaps even more moving for me since my paternal grandfather and grandmother came from what would become North Korea and South Korea, respectively. They actually met on a ship when they were immigrating to Hawai`i, fell in love and eventually married, and, well, here I am : ) Obviously I have a deeply personal stake in this whole idea of a very real yet seemingly artificial division. No matter which side of the 38th Parallel you come from, you are still a Korean at heart, body and soul. I have never been to Korea, so I can't vouch for the accuracy of Park's depiction of how amazingly easy it is to simply step over that division line. It is incredible.

The acting of the four principal friends, two from the North, two from the South, is outstanding. This is my second experience of Byung-hun Lee (Sergeant Lee) in less than a week, but I am here making the bold statement that he will eventually do a movie or two in Hollywood, and this will expose him to a wider audience who will absolutely love him. Kang-ho Song, as Sergeant Oh, is killer good as the most matured and strongest binding personality is this movie about friendship. Tae-woo Kim (Private Nam) and Ha-kyun Shin (Private Jeong) are excellent as well.

Please, I don't want to turn you off to giving this film a chance by suggesting it is a tragic downhill run into the pit of despair:

But don't you have any female singers down there?

This is just one of the funny lines. I particulary love it when the four friends get together and, even though they are all adults, play childhood games. Their friendship is a beautiful sight to behold.

If you are looking for a movie which will make you think about the issues of politics and the bonds of friendship, this is a good one to see, flixster friends. Again, I must offer the disclaimer that this might be more deeply moving for me because of my personal stake in the whole issue. In the Olympics, the two Koreas march together under a flag especially designed for the Olympics. It's a simple blue and white design with an outline of the entire country. Google it if you don't know the flag I mean; it's easy to find on the web. If only the two Koreas could come together like that again.

The opening quote up at the very top refers to a photograph taken right on the 38th Parallel in the course of the movie. We do not see it until the very end. It is a chillingly tragic picture of the four friends. I'm getting goosebumps just typiing about this. What I definitely want to say, flixsters, is that you will want to watch this movie at least twice in order to understand everything which transpires.

Third viewing: To give you an example of a "bittersweet" scene in this film, I would point you to the exchange of girlfriend pictures among the four firiends. When Tae-woo Kim (Private Nam) throws them his wallet and they see how beautiful his girlfriend is, the admiring reaction of the other three is very funny. The two North Koreans would not know this, but the further reaction of Lee, Kim's fellow South Korean, leads me to believe that the photo Kim offers is of a South Korean movie star, the kind that comes with the wallet when you buy it. This further amplifies the suggestion of Kim's sexual attraction to and love for his childhood friend Lee ("Sergeant Lee . . . you are very handsome"). This love for Lee would go a long way toward the audience's understanding of Kim's multiple shooting of Shin (Private Jeong) in the end, the man whom he had moments before honored with a birthday present of art materials. While we do find out that it was in fact Lee who fired the initial shot ("They all say you are fast with a gun"), it is Kim who puts the additional eight shots into Shin. To further explain this killing, and to further expand on the angle of Kim's love for Lee, it is only after Shin shoots Lee that Kim fires all those additional shots in retaliation, a reaction motivated by grief.

I just have to add that the time transitions are superior. This editing artistry is a tribute to Sang-beom Kim.

It doesn't matter which version of this movie you see, the story is always the same. Yes, the ape becomes more "realistic" the newer the remake, and the effects improve, but the bottom line remains the same: The exploitation of animals by humankind is abominable. The same sad story with the same sad end. As my buddy Gwen says, it isn't beauty that kills the beast. It's ripping the beast out of his environment for the purpose of making money off of him that kills him. This is a beautiful and moving vision of the stupidity of mankind.

If for nothing else, see this for Naomi Watts. She is a wonderful addtion to the line of Kong's love interests, and she lends an interesting intensity to the notion of a two-way love affair. Very . . . interesting . . . . The way the romance angle has evolved since the original movie, when they do another remake twenty or thirty years from now, I fully expect Kong and Darrow to live happily ever after upon their return to Skull Island. Maybe it'll be a kind of "prequel" to Planet of the Apes . . .

It's extremely difficult for me to choose my favorite Barbara Stanwyck movie so far, but this one is it -- so far. In addition to being a knockout beauty, Stanwyck has got to be one of the most talented actresses I've ever seen.

This is an excellent comedy in the screwball romance tradition, and I'm not sure many people would think of pairing Stanwyck and comedy as readily as they would associate her with drama -- intensely wrought dramatic films such as Double Indemnity. She has it all covered, however, and for sure three things stand out across the board:

1. Stanwyck has great timing and great delivery of lines, whether comic or dramatic.

2. She can use her body, all of it, with great expertise, to work her scenes.

3. Even without speaking a word, her face can express a huge range of emotion and thought.

Definitely one of the most cerebral actors I've ever seen. She's as camera-savvy as Irene Dunne and Kate Winslet. My only regret is that I never saw her bigger than life at a theater.

Big points for Henry Fonda in this one as well. I think he may actually be as good in comic as he is in dramatic roles.

(LA VITA E BELLA) You remember how Benigni was jumping all over the furniture and the people when he won the Oscar? That's exactly how he comes across in every movie of his I've seen. That joy for living, for life, is something he brings to every role. This is particularly important for this movie. Not only is this another movie that celebrates the power of storytelling--one of my favorite themes, like BIG FISH--but he uses that storytelling power and his humor to take on a subject that you would NEVER think could be positioned anywhere remotely near the realm of humor. This movie is astonishing and deserved every bit of praise it received.

I love movies with great gaping secret holes in them that make it impossible to understand everything about them. Nothing can be resolved, finally. That whispered ending which the audience cannot hear and can only guess at is just one of the great aspects of this movie. Murray is definitely one of the SNL veterans who holds his own in Hollywood and deserves to be there.

02/05/07 update: No one could ever accuse Murray of playing the same role over and over. Up a half star.

One's too many, and a hundred's not enough.

Very much like The Deer Hunter and Elephant, this is an inordinately difficult movie, for me personally, to watch. I have known, loved, and suffered with so many alcoholics in my lifetime. Ray Milland, a grossly underrated talent, is absolutely on top of his game here. This watershed cinematic work follows him moving, from one exquisitely painful scene to the next, like a crescedoing waltz, into oblivion. Although the racial stereotyping is unfortunate, I cannot bring myself to take away stars for that. So unlike, for example, Breakfast at Tiffany's

There are so many heart-wrenching scenes. The one where Milland is forced to steal the woman's purse in the restaurant is just one of the great ones.

Why oh why did Ray Milland feel he had to go to the "B" movie circuit? What a great actor. Another one whom I so very sorely miss.

Great! The best thing Grant ever did. Awesome ensemble cast. Wisconsin women . . . ah yes, I remember them well : ) Firth and Moniz are the best couple. I want to marry her too : )

Holy . . . smokie-dokies. I can't remember ever seeing, ever experiencing a viewing of anything like this in all my years on this planet. Maybe the first time I saw Jaws. Maybe. This isn't just a film, and it's not even just a documentary. It's an audience participation full-bore adrenaline rush. Talk about vertigo. And that began just when Petit was practicing for this feat. Not to mention the still photos of him scoping out the towers, almost hanging off the rooftops. Not only did I experience every step of the way the "butterflies" that I associate with heights, but I actually, at certain points along the way from the very beginning, thought I might fall and die going through this.

The word "reality" gets thrown around like crazy these days, so much so with TV shows, that when I hear the word reality, at most, I can only think of cheesy production values, horribly mundane BS, and cruddy over the top "acting." This film, friends, defines reality; it's what reality is all about.

I see it's nominated for an Oscar this year. If this doesn't win, I . . . well, to stop short, I wouldn't be surprised actually. The Academy . . . But I don't think there will ever be many more impressive documentaries made. Ever. And to think. I was in NYC in the summer of '74. I just missed this by a month, live and in person. Gotta add this to my Top 100 right away.

You call it luck. I call it destiny.

And, in the darkness of 20-20 hindsight, it could be called fate. Fatal. The fatal flaw. Hubris. Greed. The egotistical assumption of divine calling. Delusions of grandeur. A never-ending laundry list of tragic flaws unfolding in the character of unthinking people and obtuse peoples. The rise and fall of Daniel Dravot; the rise and fall of the British Empire. Kipling and Huston tell the age-old tale of the quest to reach out, reach out and conquer someone. It is an historically repetitive universal tale of tragic overreach which can rarely end happily.

But the English author, my dear Rudyard Kipling, who was born and lived in India, in Vermont, and in England, points fingers not just at his own English countrymen. The phrase "savages all" comes to mind. No people is perfect. Some are just more egregiously and overbearingly imperfect than others.

09/11/06 update: On this fifth anniversary of 9-11, Kipling's story is ringing some huge bells. The abysmally ignorant and avaricious clawing of George Bush and his twistedly horrid group of dark-force jackass -- just say no to politics.

Sorry. My apologies. I must remember to restrain this kind of venting.

So for a brilliant segue: The team of Connery and Caine is another beautifully energetic male pairing not to be missed. A great friendship/road movie despite the downside. If you've not seen this gem, flixster friends, you must do so as soon as the opportunity presents itself. You will not be disappointed.

Note: Michael Caine's real-life wife, Shakira Caine, who, kinkily enough, plays Sean Connery's love interest in this movie, adds a whole other level to the intrigue value of this movie.

May finally be my favorite Garland movie. She absolutely could sing and act on the superstar level. I'm not sure people truly understand that. It's more like some kind of given you heard somewhere: "Yes, right, Garland could sing and dance." I mean to tell you, flixsters, she could REALLY sing AND dance AND act--her most overlooked attribute. I gotta say, sincerely, that she's actually been woefully underappreciated. Try watching some of those B&W flicks with her and Mickey Rooney--another underappreciated true talent. Garland lights up the screen. You'll think you're watching color. What an amazingly riveting screen presence.

07/04/06: It is interesting to thiink that they considered cutting the entire Halloween sequence because it seemed peripheral to the main story or made the movie too long. This sequence is wonderful for two reasons. Not only does it give us now, 62 years later, a nostalgic look at Halloween traditions of a bygone era, but it serves masterfully to push forward the romance angle of the film. The alleged brutality of Tom Drake not only causes Garland to confront him, but that confrontation in turn has the purposeful effect of driving Garland into Drake's arms, cementing their love.

I never ever get tired of watching this great movie. Have to push it up to a full five stars.

Wow . . .

This film and Letters from Iwo Jima came out within a year of each other . . . Gotta say that makes for one heck of a productive period for Ken Watanabe. Short of actually being a documentary, this is about as "real" as a film can be. Whether or not you have lived with someone in any stage of Alzheimer's, this one will definitely and very painfully ring true-to-life. A brilliant performance by Watanabe as he moves deftly through the stages of the disease.

I have to believe that Watanabe has either experienced loved ones going through this horror himself, firsthand, or that he is indeed one of the greatest actors working at the present time. This is one where the actor's motivation is coming from his soul. And it's a great cast all around. Absolutely devastating.

Thinking about it again, I have a feeling that people who have experienced a disabling condition themselves can develop an empathy with others who suffer in similar ways. Perhaps it's Ken Watanabe's own battle with leukemia that makes him more attuned to persons with disabilities in general.

This is a must-see, flixster friends. Not only must I add Watanabe to my favorite actor list, but I must also put this film on My Top 100 list right now.

It begins with a soundtrack: All Johnny Mercer, all the time. We know Eastwood has an ear for music. BIRD is a good example of his tastes. This soundtrack is phenomenal. k.d. lang's "Skylark" haunts me; I hear it in my head from out of nowhere when I least expect it.

To say the reaction to this movie was "mixed" is generous. If it was truly mixed, I think there would have been a few more critics making a few more positive comments. Clintwood was called self-indulgent for meandering around with the direction of this movie. You can call it meandering; I'll call it . . . jazz. Cusack delivers a tour de force performance. Spacey is equally good. That death scene with Jude Law, facing each other on the floor, and that smile Law gives Spacey--it gives me goosebumps just typing about it. The acting of Eastwood's daughter. Okay, so this isn't big on FX, lacks thrilling stunts and car chases, and maybe moves very slowly, very methodically, very thoughtfully, at times. But this true story is compellingly condensed, not butchered--just think, if Eastwood had stuck even more closely to this excellent book, the movie could have gone on for three or four more hours. Chop-jobs of books is what I fear we may see trending with the HARRY POTTER series--although that's way too harsh of me to say. All these wonderfully quirky Savannah characters so beautifully played--or discovered: The Lady Chablis! That fine detail, so artistically appropriate, of the one painting covered up by the second painting. Layer upon layer . . . Yes, flixsters, I think that's it: I'm calling this a masterful Clint Eastwood jazz performance.

Jane Braxton: Are you an outlaw?

Tom Logan: I'm a jackpot farmer with one milk cow and a hundred-square-foot patch of vegetables.

Jane: Then how come you have so many guns?

Tom: Because I'm a sportsman.

Jane: Why do you have a sawed-off shotgun?

Tom: Because I'm a sawed-off sportsman.

And speaking of Marlon Brando, I was just thinking about what I'd said with regard to On the Waterfront not being Brando's greatest movie, and I was thinking about The Missouri Breaks, and I flip the channel to Turner and lookie here: The Missouri Breaks is showing. I call it fate.

The supremely gifted Brando plays the "eccentric" gunslinger frightfully well here. Reading cue cards because he didn't want to memorize lines anymore . . . Whatevahs. I don't know if he was on a chocolate and lasagne high when he was making this movie, or if he was just plain off his rocker, but he climbs to the heights of bizarre-dom in this plum role. And I definitely mean this in a good sense. The word "lurid" comes to mind, for some reason. Yeah, lurid, that's a great adjective, I think, and, well, he is so darn real as this psychotic killer, that he literally scares the chitterlins' outta me every time I watch this. The scene where he . . . executes Harry Dean Stanton is maximally spine chilling.

Flixsters, I caution you in all seriousness, please make note to beware if anyone ever tries the old "round this time of year, Indian summer, you can see the star of Bethlehem" routine on you. Be prepared.

Brando's own death scene, at the hands of Jack Nicholson, after expressing a fairly odd affection for his horse, that opening of the eyes to experience death, is un-freakin'-forgettable. Nicholson and Brando, eyeball to eyeball. Never ever to happen again in cinematic history. An amazing historical moment.

Geez! Just the accents coming and going, Marlon Brando, you are extremely creepy. Creeeeepy . . .

You know what woke yah up? You just had your throat cut.

So direcrtor Wai-keung Lau gave Martin Scorsese an eight out of ten for his use of this movie in making The Departed . . . I think I'll have to call that "professional courtesy." And if he gave Scorsese an eight, then this one is deserving of about a 16 out of 10. It certainly is at least twice as good.

For one thing, there is none of the sleaziness or coarseness of Scorsese's failed borrowing. And with apologies to one of my favorites, Jack Nicholson, there is no comparison between this film's cast and Scorsese's. This cast all around is a cut above, Lau's directing is at least as good, and any finesse to be found in the Scorsese project's story is a tribute to the original.

I've said before that it takes a lot for me to put a living actor on my all-time favorite list, but I've now seen more than enough of Tony Leung Chiu Wai to know that I must add him. Nicholson is also another living actor on this list. I'd love to see them do a movie together. That would be one awesome treat.

I'm also going to put Infernal Affairs on my Top 100 list right now as well. This is a movie not to be missed.

One of my flixster buddies gave this 2.5 stars with the comment that maybe she wasn't in the mood for a comedy when she watched it. I can wholly relate to this. I really do believe that the mood you are in can, to a very high degree, dictate your reaction to a movie. I was actually in an upbeat mood when I watched this just now, so please keep that in mind if you do read what I'm about to say. . . .

First, if you are as big a fan of the mass hysteria -- or as Robert Preston might say, massteryia -- hand-held camera movement as I am

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then you will appreciate how perfectly Mr. Bean's enthusiastic video camera work warps its way into the whole fabric of this movie. Not only is it very fancifully woven throughout, but it actually works masterfully into the finish with the film premiere at Cannes. Very nifty : ) Atkinson's playing with that video camera all the way through is a brilliant concept.

I'm a big fan of Rowan Atkinson from the Black Adder series days. I also love the first Mr. Bean movie. I cannot see or think of the Mona Lisa without smiling, at least. So please bear with me.

I have not laughed so hard in recent memory as I did in the hitchhiking sequence here, and I caught a chest cramp laughing at the suicide bit. Sorry, now you know two (more) things about me:

1. I may be a very low-brow, low-IQ humor kind of guy, and

2. I may not be a very well person, mentally speaking. I guess you could even conclude that I'm a bit sick, if you like -- yes, I can, sadly, laugh at suicide from time to time.

So be it. I absolutely love this movie. It is the most perfect Atkinson project I've yet seen, and one of the most perfectly executed movies I've seen in some time.

Normally, I would knock off stars for the three flaws I find here. I do not like the lack of concern for others that is foregrounded in Bean's coffee-on-the-laptop accident, nor do I enjoy the intentionality in his oyster-dumping-in-purse move, and I especially dislike the knocking out of the Cannes security guard with the purse. These three incidents are indicative of character flaws that are not acceptable. This is not what Mr. Bean is about, people. Mr. Bean is much more about the man who steps off the train to offer protection to the boy -- and in the grand Everyman tradition that is Mr. Bean, no good deed ever goes unpunished. Had I been in on the editing, I'd have left those three glaring characterization gaffs on the cutting room floor. Give us more of the operatic lip-synch money-raising scheme Bean -- stunning writing and direction.

But I can't deduct stars for these problems. The overall film is superb comedy. It is comedy so finely wrought that it moves beyond Hollywood-esque churned out run-of-the-mill comedy into the realm of first-rate dramatic comedy with a bullet.

You might have heard of the life of quiet desperation. I think I've heard that it could quite possibly be the life many, if not most, of us lead. It is surely Bean's life, and it is the life that those of us who may lead it, might well long to escape. That very end with Bean's seeing the actual ocean -- his one dream -- leading to his romping in the water, finishing with the whole cast singing together in celebration of community -- I kid you not, it brings tears to my eyes just thinking of it.

This, by the way, is the best work Willem Dafoe has managed in a very, very long time, and even his character is "saved," if you will, transcending the mundane, that rut, the sadness of his entrapped small sameness, to celebrate participation in the grand festival that is life shared with others. And who is Emma de Caunes? We must see more of this actress asap.

What a beautifully near-perfect work of art. I gotta put it on my Top 100 list right now.

I actually played one of the members of the barbershop quartet in a stage version of this. The movie . . . is better :)

Freddie, you should have stepped up to the plate, brah. A true only-in-Hollywood romance. I'm sure George Bernard Shaw is still spinning in his grave some 40 years later.

An amazingly funny film from out of nowhere. At least 70% of the lines in the movie have been quoted elsewhere. A true pop culture phenomenon.

07/14/06 update: I'm sorry I never mentioned this before, but the musical soundtrack from this film is phenomenal.

This really is one of the most beautiful movies in recent memory to honor tolerance and loving acceptance of difference. Watching this just after Brokeback Mountain is a film pairing experience I'll not soon forget. This is another one I never ever get tired of seeing.

Just as a side note, this is yet one more film that gives a nod to Saturday Night Fever.

To very weakly paraphrase Sabina's initial critical impulse:

Holy sh--mokes!

Once you see this, as she and her buddy say, you will never be the same.

Oldboy is to the current Japan-Hawai`i popularity phenomenon of Korean soap-operas as Sophocles is to, say, Tarantino. The latter is but a shrill half-shadow of the former, strutting and fretting his fifteen minutes upon the stage--or upon the keyboard--or behind the camera, as the case may be.

Oldboy is the modern-day Korean equivalent of an Oedipus Rex, I do not exaggerate. And the soundtrack is stunning, to boot.

The memory loss snapper at the end makes the whole Oedipal-esque tragedy take a giant step into our beautifully twisted modern age. Devastating and sickening, and strangely uplifting in many, probably borderline-grotesque and bizarre ways. Really, flixsters, this is my kind of "bittersweet" film to the max.

Shouldn't everybody care about everybody else?

When that philosophy comes up against the "I only care about me" philosophy, and especially if love's involved, you know something has gotta give. Not my all-time favorite Brando, but it's hard to knock the greatness of this movie.

Possibly Lee J. Cobb's most memorable role. Rod Steiger is excellent in this.

Kingsfield: Mr. Hart, here is a dime. Call your mother. Tell her there is serious doubt about your becoming lawyer.

Hart: You . . . are a son of a bitch, Kingsfield!

Kingsfield: Mr. Hart! That is the most intelligent thing you've said today. You may take your seat.

I have been fascinated with this movie for many years. Everyone who aspires, even peripherally, to the study of the law, should watch this. No, I've never contemplated approaching the bar, much less passing it, so that's not the source of my fascination.

No, it's John Houseman. The entire cast is fantastic, but Houseman dominates this brilliant group of actors like a 1000 pound gavel cutting dead the noise of a disorderly courtroom. It's not as if he hadn't paid his dues either. Among his many credits is assistant to Orson Welles on Citizen Kane. But he seemingly burst on the scene like an overnight sensation, despite his lifetime of service to the acting profession and to theater in general. An amazing man. Very few actors playing very few roles have so commanded the screen with such an awesome presence.

It's interesting to see Bottoms in this and then as the alcoholic father in Elephant. Thirty years have passed, yet the talent remains solidly the same. And for those who want to see what gifted editing looks like, no movie ever made can surpass this one.

Mr. Houseman, you are missed.

God is . . . God si . . . is/si . . . love . . . And here we have mister fists and fingers himself. A superior screen adaptation of one of my all-time favorite novels. I bet a dollar that Forster would have loved seeing this. What a swan song for David Lean. Banerjee plays Aziz just as I had pictured him. Surmounting or succumbing to prejudice can sometimes be a deadly movie topic, especially when the movie maker wants to "teach" you something, beating a "lesson" into you. This move is not one of those. This movie is one for the ages.

Stick around.

I'm not Ahnold's biggest fan, but this movie gave us one of the best monsters in recent times. The first movie I ever bought.

If it bleeds, we can kill it.

Dare I say that I'm not a John Wayne fan? But this is the one movie of his I love. Not great on the treatment of women, but aside from that, it has a beautifully quiet magic.

Possibly my all-time favorite Steve Martin movie. Smart and funny, the nose monologue in particular is brilliant.

Alain Delon in one of his most classically understated performances ever. In fact, I'd venture that Delon pretty much defines "understated performance." Melville cast him perfectly for this French hommage to the "masterless warrior" figure of Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Leone's Per un Pugno di Dollari (A Fistfull of Dollars). Ever noticed that Delon's bird has more lines in this than Delon? : )

I was home. What happened? What the hell happened?

Geez, now I'm gonna have to add Steve McQueen to my favorite actor list. Amazing how you can never seem to run out of movies to review here because you keep remembering yet another one you've seen.

If you've not seen this movie, it's a definite must for all McQueen fans. Mako gives the performance of his career in this one as well. You see a movie like this and, if you really are one of those cynical types, you have confirmation, at least until the movie shifts out of your consciousness, that good guys always do finish last. The emptiness you feel when good-hearted Jake Holman gives up everything, all for what was a hopeless cause to begin with . . . Man, what the hell did happen? Perhaps a veiled comment not just on Vietnam, but a bold comment about the heartbreaking futility of all wars.

Ah yes, really, you must see this in order to celebrate McQueen when he rises to a demonstration of his best abilities. I'll stick my neck out and say this is the most well-rounded performance of his entire career. Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen, and Richard Attenborough all provide strong support, too, but Mako truly is amazing. You will never forget his last scene in this movie.

Al Pacino. Allllllllllllll Pacino!

For all of the negative criticism regarding the '70s disco baggage hangover of this movie, we do know that this soundtrack alone crystallizes a decade we'll not ever shake off or soon forget. I'm serious when I say that this movie--the soundtrack of which I would stack up against any other for "memorable"--has influenced film-making in more ways than have been dreamt of in anyone's philosophy to this point, now 30 years down the road. One day, I wish to predict in my abject foolishness, we will decide that this was one of the watershed movies of all-time. And I'm not actually just talking about the music and the dancing. I'm talking about movies as movies in their individual totality. I sincerely believe that this "phenomenon" for its time resonates way beyond that period and has affected movies made after it for all time. But, hey, I could be wrong.

Aloha, insomniac1968. If you see this, I want to add grabbing and grinding a slice of pizza to the paint cans :) Eh, Tony, you've got red on you.

This is another one of those watershed films that is so far ahead of its time in dealing with issues of race, love, and marriage. Definitely one of Brando's most moving endeavors, overshadowed only by the even more masterful performances of Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki . This one is heartbreaking every time.

In the history of corn, this ranks high on the list, and given its lack of critical recognition, I guess I'll just have to conclude that I must be an idiot, because I absolutely love this movie. Cusack is right on the mark, Beckinsale does her best job ever, and I am a freakin' hopeless romantic. This is one of those rare movies that always makes me cry. I have to add that Piven and Cusack always seem to help each other rise to the top of their game. Why couldn't they have ended this with the reuniting in the snow? Ah, love, if only life were . . .

As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Meat is the anagram of team . . .

The most uproarious and entertaining zombie movie ever made. And pardon the zed word : )

06/14/06 update: Up a half star. Any movie that can make you laugh every time you see it is special. The humor never gets stale.

Donald O'Connor was rushed to the hospital emergency room after they shot "Make 'Em Laugh." Well, not really, but I could have believed he was. He did, however, have to take three days of bedrest. Really, he did. This one AND Kelly's rain routine in the same movie, plus Astaire dancing up walls and on the ceiling: Are there any dance numbers on screen more memorable? O'Connor: What an amazing freakin' performance. Jean Hagen is not to be missed either. Believe it or not, comedy was not her primary genre. This is another one of my favorite "making movies about making movies" type films. The transition from silent to talking films gets one of its most remarkable treaments here.

Sandra: But one soldier against seventeen. What are you going to do?

Todd: I'm going to kill them all, sir.

Out with the old, in with the new. Okay, so Shakespeare it's not. But it is slick action. Kurt Russell cut himself a whole new body for this one. Jason Scott Lee does a good job.

I'm always tempted to count how many words Russell actually utters in this. Gotta be under 100. Actually, this is a kind of tribute to Russell's nonverbal acting ability. Amazingly emotive. I'm thinking his being a real life dad may have helped him with this role. Russell fans will love this no matter how mindless it might seem. Think of this as Snake Plissken without the witty banter.

Julie, you're right. This is one outstanding original. This movie is definitely one that was ahead of its time. I love the scene where Lemmon is actually contemplating marrying Joe E Brown. Aside from everything that's been said about the major players here, Brown really does a first-rate job as the smitten suitor.

There is nothing you can name, nothing in the world . . . like it. A great song line-up. Ray Walston is one of the most memorable character actors . . . Bali Ha`i may call you . . . And a young France Nuyen--beautiful . . . Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger across a crowded room . . . That booming Brazzi voice: Still dreaming of paradise, this nearly was mine . . . Not to mention it was shot on Kaua`i!

05/07/06: Up a half star.

The best STAR WARS movie of the seven. Lucas could have used Mel Brooks' help.

No question, this is my favorite Fellini. Masina is always good, but she truly shines in this one. I've seen terms as unkind as "retarded" and as kind -- if you can call it kind -- as "simple" used to describe her character here. Flixsters, I'm here to argue that her character is neither retarded nor simple, and is certainly not "addle-brained."

Up to the point of the murder, Gelsomina is what I would call innocent. The word "sophisticated" used to mean something quite unlike what it means today. Nowadays, when we say someone is sophisticated, we are generally being complimentary. We mean that this person is quite worldly wise. Originally, however, if you were labeled sophisticated, the connotation was not flattering. If you were called sophisticated, it meant that you were viewed as, roughly, being "ruined by the world." Your innocence was far behind you. You were damaged goods, and irreparably so.

So up to the point where Quinn murders Basehart, Gelsomina is innocent in the ways of the world, lacking in life experiences which disabuse us of our innocence. But from that point on she is ruined by the real world, sophisticated in the truest sense of the word, irreparably damaged by that experience. It is her psychic state post-murder that might -- might -- be termed "addled."

Quinn is great in this one, and Basehart is astonishing. If you only ever see one Fellini, flixsters, this is the one I'd strongly recommend.

The amazingly subtle Richard Farnsworth in his final, gentle, magnetic performance. This atypical "road" movie, based on a true story, documents a man's journey via lawnmower to reunite with his estranged brother. This is definitely not your typical David Lynch movie, but it may be my favorite of his. Every single time I watch this, it makes me think more deeply about my loved ones and the new people I meet every day.

Can anyone on flixster tell me if he / she can really believe that Mr. Farnsworth spent most of his life as a stunt actor. INCONCEIVABLE! What a talent.

Aloha e Mr. Farnsworth, I miss you very much. If can do, buddy, please keep the beers cold -- by the way, in heaven, Mr. Farnsworth, do we actually need a cooler and real ice cubes, or those funky non-environmentally-friendly gel packs? No matter, Mr. F, no reply to my question is required. We'll all -- hopefully -- be joining you for a great big party blowout in the next life. Stay gold . . .

When my non-flixster movie fan friends were sharing their Top 10 for 2007 lists, I got into a discussion with Cheryl, a woman who knows more about film than I could ever hope to fathom. We finally decided that there just weren't enough 2007 films to dig up a "top" ten, so we decided to include some "older" ones we'd viewed either for the first time, or for the first time in a while. We both coincidentally agreed that Wong Kar Wai's 2046 should be on the list, and that Fellini's La Strada was possibly the 2007 great view for all time for us both. Cheryl said, eyes closed and massaging her temples, "Gee, I hope I'm not getting to that age where I start saying, 'the only good ones are the old ones.'" She's fifteen years older than I am, but I give you my sworn word that she is not anywhere near getting old enough to say that old films are the best.

Flixsters, this 1963 movie is wonderful. Really. I'm not just saying that because I'm an old guy. I promise. Yes, there are hokey moments. Hokey with a capital H. As Walter might say, you can tell from the dialog that this is a movie adapted from a play. It is very clever at times, dialog driven, and very Hokey, as I say, at times. We're talking 1963 here, flixster friends, but romance, and more specifically romantic comedy, when it's done well, is truly timeless. This is what happens, no matter when a movie is made, when you get four very smart, very camera savvy actors to click together. And click they most certainly do. Cliff Robertson, Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor, and Robert Culp are chemistry dynamite here together. A true pleasure to experience, and it's climbing into my Top 100 right now.

From a writing standpoint, kudos for this script.

There is something about getting old, in Hollywood, that is imminently topical. In this movie about making movies, the notion of growing too old to draw an audience echoes a kind of universally unspoken nightmare for everyone who becomes a "star."

How ironic that this really was Gloria Swanson's swan song. After this it was all a path to obscurity for her with mostly TV parts until the end. Her melodramatic acting style is almost so over the top that you might be tempted to laugh in some scenes, but the fact that her character's story is so sad keeps you from doing so. Swanson would have had my vote for the Oscar.

William Holden is so good in this; dying young is one sure solution to the problem of aging. My favorite player is Cecil B. DeMille as himself. He completely and sympathetically understands the aging star's tragedy.

In Hollywood, how old is too old? An interesting commentary on a problem that must plague many Hollywood industry folks even to this day.

Okay, here's a question for everyone who might want to think about it: In literature, when a narrator continues to speak after death, is that an artistic problem, or, in this case, is that perhaps a commentary on art and immortality?

Excuse me, do you people still execute in this state?

For me personally, the best Robert Shaw performance ever. No one scarier than Mr. Blue, I kid you not. He asks this of Matthau right before he . . . Don't want to give it away. It's an electrifying scene.

As if his work in The Laughing Policeman just the year before was a tune-up, Matthau appears again as the dogged cop dutifully dealing with the bad guys. This is for me, his most memorable dramatic role. He and Shaw, as adversaries, give a performance for the ages. I miss them both.

You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only one here. . . .

De Niro's first huge effort. Monumental, really. Assassin or savior? Life works on little twists of fate or circumstance sometimes. De Niro's final journey toward healing is one of the most harrowing sequences in movie history. What an intense acting job. Jodi Foster's great future acting career is assured.

Gregory Peck's finest achievement. This is one of those watershed movie classics everyone should see. Robert Duval's tentative step toward superstardom. A fairly unique case where the movie and the book are equally as good in their own right.

Horace Hardwick: You mean to sit there and tell me that that girl slapped your face in front of all those people for nothing?

Jerry Travers: Well, what would you have done? Sold tickets?

Really, friends, is there any better dance duo in screen history than Rogers and Astaire? It is difficult to believe that this move is over 70 years old. Aside, obviously, from the visual look of the film due to technological reasons, this could have been made yesterday. The chemistry between the two is mesmerizing, even though they apparently were not great friends. They dance like they're in love; it's a wonder they didn't end up together.

Just to throw some balance into the flixster synopsis. I personally don't find the story "silly." The word I would use is charming. Charming in the tradition of a comedy of manners. That chemistry between Rogers and Astaire carries over into their non-dancing moments as well. They can exchange lines, looks, and gestures with the best actors, and that fine acting carries the whole story to a higher level per force.

Special praise for the performances of Erik Rhodes and, especially, Eric Blore as the butler of all butlers. And of course, flixsters, it's Irving Berlin. What could be better?

Update 07/29/08: I just watched this again for the umpteenth time. It never fails to move me. I'm jumping it up to five full stars and adding it to my Top 100. End update.

And speaking of Hayley Mills, this is a classic. Rosalind Russell was a huge talent. And if you can believe it, Ida Lupino directed this. No, Hayley, you cannot become a nun. Please. But I'm convinced that it's what you must do. Where is June Harding? She was so good in this. Rosalind Russell is an all-time all-star.

Noelle: What's wrong, Abby?

Abby: Nothing that a rooftop and an AK-47 won't take care of.

Yo, flixsters, I hate to keep harping on this "Hollywood image" thing. So bear with me, if you have any faith in what I might have to say. Garofalo, for my movie-viewing dollars, is one of the most beautiful and comedically funny women making movies today. Natural beauty, inside and out, just cannot be beat. This movie showcases everything that's good about Garofalo.

He lets the last Hungarian go. He waits until his wife and kids are in the ground and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids, he kills their wives, he kills their parents and their parents' friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in. He kills people that owe them money. And like that he was gone.

Never gets old. I don't get the debate about whether this film is too clever for its own good. You'd wish you could write something this good. I'm thinking about adopting Keyser Soze as my role model :) Benicio Del Toro should have won an Oscar for this one. Traffic sucked.

What about it, pretzel man. What's your story?

06/14/06 Update: Up a half star.

Greed, for lack of a better term, is good . . . And speaking of Gordon Gekko (sorry, it's not spelled Gecko), if you've not seen Wall Street, you've missed a chance to experience one of the greatest villains in silver screen history. For you younger flixsters, if you've heard about the great "yuppie" dream of the '70s and '80s, you can consider this a kind of historical document which epitomizes those yuppie yearnings, not to mention the whole issue of "insider trading" on the way to the rise, "bubble," and decline of the whole dot-com wall street phenomenon. Want to know what makes companies like Enron succeed and then ultimately fail? This is the movie for you. Douglas deserved every ounce of that Oscar, and Terence Stamp deserves big points as Douglas' scheming business arch-rival from across the pond. And speaking of yuppies, another way to look at this is as a kind of American Psycho without the gore.

If I ever have a daughter, I'm naming her Maria.

07/21/06 update: Look, fellas, I'm for you. I want this beef cleaned up, and you can do it for me.

This really is one of the best screen musicals ever made. The choreography rocks. As I always say, like the proverbial broken record, any story based on Shakespeare rules. I know, jokes about those dancing gangs abound, but I would offer that violence lends itself to movement.

It is so hard to pick a "best" song from this movie. They all are so good. But if pushed to the wall, I'd have to say that "America" stands out, just slightly, from the rest. It is brilliant that, in the move from Broadway to the screen, they shifted this number from a dialogue between the Shark women, to one between the Shark men and women. Not only does this song capture the frustration of class and race bias--only white born-and-bred Americans have a fighting chance to realize the American Dream--but the fact that the Shark women celebrate America while the Shark men see the situation in reverse is, for me, a profound statement about the better opportunity for women of any race, color, or creed to succeed in America. Whether this happens in reality is certainly up for debate, but there is still that definite chance of opportunity for women in America.

The way they pull off the five-part rendition of"Tonight"--Maria, Tony, Anita, the Sharks, and the Jets--is breathtaking. Flixsters, if you ever have a chance to see a revival on a big screen, be there.

This musical absolutely kicks butt.

The quintessential "death of the West(ern)" film. Peckinpah was honorably amazing in his quest for brutal realism on screen. Love what the Monty Python group did in tribute to him with the lawn party. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid also salutes Peckinpah's vision.

Possibly Holden's, and very possibly Borgnine's best work, although his Marty performance is justifiably legendary and hard to beat.

Great performances by Ford, McGillis, and young Lukas Haas, but this is Danny Glover's film. Scary! When Haas identifies Glover as the killer from the photo in the glass display case, I still get chicken-skin. Danny, please play more villains.

Kelly, what up? Man I miss her--and I'm not saying that Top Gun was any kind of compensation for my loss.

When Zorba's son dies, everyone else cries. Zorba? He dances. If Quinn had only done one film, this film, his contribution to the history of movies would have been enormous and his place in that history assured. Life, death, comedy, tragedy, love, hate, nastiness, compassion . . . this movie encompasses every aspect of existence. I'm not sure if Bates and Quinn ever did another movie together, but what great chemistry. To live life no matter what may come, the "philosophy" behind this movie, makes more and more sense the older you get. And when all else fails, eat, drink, laugh, and dance . . .

I never met a Bogart movie I didn't like. This is surely one of the most idiosyncratic love stories ever to hit the silver screen--and I'm not talking about Bogart and his boat--although that relationship is pretty kinky. Bogart won a best actor Oscar for this, and Hepburn, playing the passionate missionary as if she were born to the part, was barely outmuscled for best actress by Vivien Leigh in Streetcar. Only Casablanca comes in higher on my Bogart movie list.

Michael Powell's last directorial endeavor, the resurrection of James Mason's career, and the role that put Helen Mirren on the map. This beautiful little film is a must-see for a stunning Mirren alone, although it is a great comment on the 60s. Thinking about it now, as Powell's last, I see parallels with Shakespeare's The Tempest and even, perhaps, with Faulkner's The Reivers. I say again, flixster friends, this is a true must-see.

A movie I should see every year to remind me of how good movies can be. Lucas was on top of his game when he came up with this idea. A beautiful job of capturing a bygone era that speaks to the end of innocence in every age. A must see for all Ron Howard fans, for Richard Dreyfuss fans, for Paul Le Mat fans, and for anyone who remembers a moment in life when music and lived experience were inextricably intertwined.

If you blink, you might miss Harrison Ford.

I have a friend named Guy who's always wondering whether older generation actors were really good or were only "famous" because the public made them famous. Man, I am really missing Jack Lemmon. If not his best movie, this one is certainly right up there. A great love story, and a great comment on the moral evolution of corporate America. I can never look at a tennis racquet without thinking about this movie.

Teach me stuff.

Maybe my favorite Burt Lancaster movie -- when it's the most recent one I've seen : ) I can never decide. So many good choices. The way he celebrates the killings is a great sequence.

This is also, if not THE best, one of the top Sarandon performances.

And HEY!

Don't touch the suit : )

The beautiful triple climax. This script should have been nominated for an academy award. This movie was sadly way overlooked at Oscar time.

Hey! Shakespeare for everyone!

I celebrate this movie for several reasons. First and foremost, Rodney, you have my respect and you are missed.

Is she right? 'Cause I know that's the popular version of what went on there. And a lot of people like to believe that. I wish I could, but I was there. I wasn't here in a classroom, hoping I was right, thinking about it. I was up to my knees in rice paddies, with guns that didn't work! Going in there, looking for Charlie, slugging it out with him. . . .

It doesn't end there. One of the most hilarious rants in film history. When Sam Kinison passed away on some lonely highway in California, his last words, reportedly, were "Why now?" So sad. He'd worked long and hard to get to the top of his profession and finally, seemingly, he'd arrived. If you know this comedian and enjoy his persona, you will love him as history professor Terguson.

The University of Wisconsin, Madison -- Go Badgers! . . . This was filmed in autumn, the most beautiful time of year with the full glory of the color changes peaking. The campus of America's best college town looks so good, and the location shooting in places like Bascom Hall sends waves of nostalgia washing through me every time I watch this.

I had worked for this old man and once he told me that he had spent his whole life thinking about his career and his work. And he was fifty-two and it suddenly struck him that he had never really given anything of himself. His life was for no one and nothing. He was almost crying saying that. . . .

When I think about how critics like Siskel and Ebert, quoted on the front of this box, went raving on and on about how intelligent My Dinner with Andre was, how the writers had done such a magnificent job of creating a script that revolved around interesting and witty dialogue and fascinating stories, and on and on and on . . . And then you saw the movie, and it was a piece of . . . well, not very good. THIS is the movie they should have been talking about. If you want to see a movie where dialogue rules, where the conversation sparkles and actually is interesting, this is it. This is one of the best love stories you could ever see.

I absolutely did not want to see this movie. How could they possibly hope to pull this off twice? But I did see it, finally, and was floored by how well they did reprise this love match, now ten years down the road. I'd give it five stars if Hawke would hammer a little less on the lovelessness of his marriage, how great his wife is, and how he hates to see her trapped in this match that only holds together because of their child.

06/24/06 update: Just watched this again. Even with the reservations that made me give this only four stars initially, I have to bump this up to five. That very last beautiful two-line exchange kills me, the hopeless romantic : )

03/08/08 Update: Just watched this again for the first time in, apparently, two years. This is really well done. Nagra is, with all sincerity, brilliant, and Anupam Kher as her father, Mr. Bhamra, is worthy of a supporting Oscar nomination. I rarely shed a tear when I watch movies, but I shed more than a few as this one was coming to an end. I'm bumping this up to five stars and adding it to my Top 100 list right now.

03/04/06: Dreaded seeing this, but friends were insistent. What a wonderful movie! I'll never be the world's biggest soccer fan, and fortunately this had less to do with soccer and more to do with race and family issues. Parminder Nagra must do more movies. Keira Knightley is leaving her behind -- in terms of number of movies cranked out, not in terms of talented performances.

01/14/09 update:I just saw this again after quite a while. It's still 5-star worthy. Just a dynamite ensemble cast effort (end update).

What is it with you? Is jail another "experience" you want to try? See what that's like?

Kevin Costner was perfectly cast here : ) I used to watch this every night when I was into one of my I-must-study-this-closely-so-I- can-engineer-my-own- great-script phases. It really is a fine script, and the movie holds up well after nearly a quarter of a century. Another great musical soundtrack, so incredibly periodizing that Jeff Goldblum's and Kevin Kline's characters actually comment about it in the middle of the movie : ) That may be a first. Goldblum is perfectly cast for his role as well. One of the best things William Hurt has done. Tom Berenger in an unusual role for him.

Wrong, a long time ago we knew each other for a short period of time; you don't know anything about me. It was easy back then. No one had a cushier berth than we did. It's not surprising our friendship could survive that. It's only out there in the real world that it gets tough.

By the way, I want more of Mary Kay Place on screen!

The Dude abides.

One funny thing about this movie is that Bridges didn't have to have any wardrobe made up. All the clothes he wears are his own.

Beware of the nihilists. Remember, they don't care about anything : )

(Dalkomhan insaeng )

We can't turn back time, can we.

I am quickly becoming a Korean film addict. I have a strong feeling that I am about to embark on a long neglected quest for a deeper understanding of my paternal heritage.

If I could give this movie more than five stars, there would be no hesitation on my part to do so. This film is one for the cinematic ages. There is evidenced here an historical linked legacy of tribute to films that have come before. Yojimbo stands as the foundation for this chain. Although there are surely other films which could be mentioned, for me a clear line of homage to Yojimbo runs from Leone's Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistfull of Dollars) , to, as my flixster buddy Sabina points out, Melville's Le Samourai, to Scorcese's Taxi Driver, to this masterpiece by Kim Ji-woon. Each pays tribute to the ones before, yet each is its own unique masterpiece.

If you have not experienced this Korean actor, Lee Byung-hun (Sun-woo), you must do yourself the entertaining favor of seeing him in action. And when I say action, I mean full-bore head-cracking action. His martial arts style is fluid and sharply crisp. His acting is very good as well, especially in that he is able, through facial expression alone, to communicate great emotion. And those eyes! Although I must say that I've noticed a degree of ability for doing this in not a few of my father's family. Maybe it's a Korean thing : ) As Sabina points out, his close resemblance to Alain Delon in Le Samourai is uncanny. The acting is solid throughout, but Kim Roe-ha as the somewhat socially clueless Mun-suk is particularly fine. There is a stronger bond between Lee and Kim, and their combined acting talents shine in their final meeting, a scene straight out of Taxi Driver, where whatever that affection is that they do feel for each other comes across most poignantly. It is the only killing, I believe, that gives Lee pause, perhaps tugs at his heart and/or conscience, in his final march to the end.

And speaking of killing.

No doubt about it, this movie has been accurately billed as a Korean revenge film. It is indeed bloody, flixster friends, but it is not the kind of repulsive violence you might find in, say, Natural Born Killers. The violence here is purposefully and pretty darn artfully choreographed and filmed. I always appreciate a little humor with my gore, so I give huge points to the gun instruction scene. Ever experience road rage? Go home and watch this. There is a road rage vengeance scene that will make you feel so much better :)

A key, for me, in determining the difference between violence that has purpose and violence which is presented for the sake of violence is motivation. While it is true that Lee is a no nonsense ass-kicker from the start, he is not a natural born killer. Live burial scenes in literature, where the victim does somehow escape death, can symbolize a kind of rebirth. At the moment Lee emerges from his grave, he is indeed reborn. It is then that he becomes the stone-cold killer bent on revenge.

It would be unfair, however, to say that A Bittersweet Life is only a revenge movie. It is also a love story, and these two motifs are inextricably entwined. Of course, it is not a happy love story, since Lee's love is unrequited, but it is a moving love story nonetheless.

Sorry to do this, but the final four sequences of the film, Lee near death, the flashback to his watching the woman he loves play her cello, Lee's death, and the amazingly moving, seemingly non sequitur cut to a still living Lee, somewhere in the near past, shadow boxing with his reflection in a window, all help reinforce the bittersweet nature of his life. I am not fluent in Korean and cannot vouch for the English translation of the title. I, however, love the title because it emphasizes the fact that this is not a tragic end. A man who, finally, fights with himself, and even seems to enjoy that struggle against his own person, is a man for whom life cannot ever end in tragedy. The killing and the longing for love commingle in Lee's last conscious moments, and make "bittersweet " a very apt word to describe his end.

To quote one of my friend's favorite lines: I cry not because I had a bad dream, but because the dream was so good, I know it has no chance of coming true.

True love, as I've said before, can literally kill you.

This is one of Brooks' best. The Little and Wilder combination is magic, and the townsfolk characters all play their parts well. . . . Mongo only pawn in game of life. Alex Karras surprises. . . . I'm so tired. Madeline Kahn will always be missed; she died way too early. And the most stunning performance is turned in by Harvey Korman. Who would have guessed how well he would do on the big screen? Another interesting aspect is the way Brooks mixes the "real" world with the movie world. I love scripts that blend the real with the fictional.

Swank kills. If you like Million Dollar Baby--and I'm not saying it's a bad movie--you are only getting a part of a picture of her talent. Swank, in this painful downward spiral of a film, will break your heart. Million Dollar Baby was actually a walk in the park for this gifted actress. Chloë Sevigny is a comer. Her best is just up ahead.

04/14/06 update: Just saw this again. Have to push it up to five stars. Even harder to handle the second time through. Chloë, do lots more movies.