My Favorite Movies

I've seen several films that touched me in so many important ways after I saw this one back in 2005 but there will always be only one Garden State in my life. I saw it a couple of days after it was released in just one theatre here in Mexico City and all I can remember is walking out of the cinema after the movie ended with the true decision of becoming a filmmaker.

This movie completely changed my life, and that's beyond any flaw, any opinion, any academic review of rights and wrongs. This film means more to me than just 109 minutes of moving pictures set to the greatest soundtrack in modern memory.

And that's all I have to say.

The ultimate B/W slacker indie film.

Everytime you look up filmmaker in a dictionary, Fernando Eimbcke's picture should be in there.

Deep in my heart, I always knew Jim Jarmusch was meant to be my ultimate influence when it comes to filmmaking, as he single-handedly influenced almost every single indie filmmaker in the last two decades, including most of my favorite directors. Maybe that's why I'm always so afraid of seeing his movies, what if I don't find myself influenced or at least attracted to them? I've been very careful about when and how I watch his films. I saw Stranger than paradise and I liked it a lot, but I didn't feel it as close to my heart as I thought I would. I will see it again someday, hoping this time it speaks to me in a more personal way.

I had to choose carefully which Jarmusch movie I was going to see after the first tone, Down by Law maybe? What about Permanent Vacation or Night on Earth? The decision was made for me when the Cineteca Nacional released a program called Rock & Film: Mystery Train was the lucky one.

I was sadly disappointed by all the negative, awfully lame reviews I've found all over the internet but, thankfully, I hadn't actually seen or read anything about the film before today's screening so, in a way, I was a virgin. And, boy! What an experience it was!

From start to finish, I realized every single movie that came after Jarmusch's was just a mere -sometimes clueless- attempt to evoke his idea of beauty, rhythm, loneliness, minimalism, gesture economy, character development, use of music, sense of humor, odd friendships/relationships: the essence of his genius. A friend of mine who watched the movie with me actually said afterwards: "This just ruined Pulp Fiction for me." I wouldn't go that far but it definitely opened my eyes to new possibilities, and made me as happy and joyful as a Jarmusch movie should make you. The details of everyday life suddenly looked brighter and funnier with every step I took after the credits rolled: I was hooked. Next stop: Down by Law and Dead Man.

I read somewhere a review saying the characters were not interesting enough, and another one saying the second part of the story is complete non-sense and the third one is just lame. I keep reliving the movie in my head, unable to understand which "uninteresting" or "lame" scenes and characters those people saw! Every single character is beautifully developed through unrelated dialogues (the characters express their feelings and thoughts by not expressing them), looks and silences, usually broken by Elvis himself. Every single second of silence makes more noise than all the dialogue put together. As for the second segment being "non-sense", I found it to be the most emotionally gripping and sad. Nicoletta Braschi (who I usually relate to crappy, annoying Roberto Benigni movies) digs deep in her soul through a subtle, almost inexistent performance, portraying a woman whose husband died, wandering alone through Memphis, surrendering to the mischievousness of others, who scam her every step of the way. She's lost, hopeless and doesn't know how to react to every single thing surrounding her yet, at the end of the day, she finds solace inside the same rundown hotel as the other characters, a dark, old, falling-to-pieces limbo that keeps the souls of its inhabitants locked up for one night only, changing their lives not with big explosions, but with small decisions that create big waves in their relationships.

You can read deeply into every frame of the movie or you just can sit down, relax and laugh (a lot, trust me), as Jarmusch's movies usually have space for both interpretations. This is 100%, pure Jarmusch, from start to finish, and an excellent start for neophytes like myself.

This is the movie that came before every other movie, and that's a fact.

I know: I have a thing for slacker movies about a group of teenager friends coping with everyday problems while hanging out on a regular afternoon/night. From 25 watts to Temporada de patos, and maybe even Glue and Cómo estar muerto/ Como estar muerto, the subject always feels painfully close to my heart and the whole screenplay/performances combo works like magic into my eyes and memory.

After surprisingly discover Guatemala film industry through this tiny, extraordinary movie (the same way I discovered Uruguay movies by hand of 25 watts), I watched it with my jaw wide-open from start to finish: fun, deep, sometimes hilarious, sometimes painful, wonderful, real and never dull or even slow.

Look for it, it's well-hidden somewhere in your town: it's worth the search.

A perfectly built film experience. Everything fits in its right place: the lead character (astonishingly portrayed with dexterity and depth by an uncanny Adam Sandler) and the road to true love.

What's the difference between this and other lame love stories? This one takes you deep (and raw) into the mind of Barry Egan, a man obsessed with his own loneliness and insecurities, afraid of living, in constant panic of being in the same room with somebody else. The music becomes a greek chorus, constantly reminding you of Barry's emotions, rather than just beautifying a scene (Jon Brion's most beautiful work to date) and the whole universe surrounding the character morphs and stumbles into the ground when Barry's insecurities arise. Crashes and accidents are a direct result of Barry's crisis and fear.

Pay attention to the color palette, specially the use of blue and red.

PT Anderson's most experimental, yet enduring and emotionally relatable film. He simply took one cliché love story and turned it into a study on human nature and love as a disease, that invades every single one of your organs and evaporates your sense of self-protection along with the barriers in your mind.

There's a lot more in this movie than people usually thinks. You just have to look close enough.

Once in a while, a movie like this one reminds me what I love the most about films. Every single frame, every single shot, every dialogue, every character hit me in so many ways that by the end I was weak and fragile as if I had come out of a street fight or a bad break-up. This tiny masterpiece (as I like to call it) became a personal experience, a journey that took me two hours to fully digest.

But enough about me. Let's be honest: indie filmmaking has been knocking on Mexico's door for the last decade and it seems as if we'd finally let it in. This 100% hand-held film, shot from the main character's point of view (it is a chronicle of Mariano's last days alive before his imminent suicide) with honest, raw performances and painful dialogues, is a breath of fresh air between Mexico's finest films and it's not as gloomy and hard to watch as it sounds. It's actually a cute, lovely little gem that takes its time to tell a beautiful story with a great sense of rhythm and editing. Director Sergio Tovar Velarde takes you by the hand and tells you this story with ease and elegance. It's never boring or overwhelming.

A wonderful thing about this movie is how it places you in 1994 from the beginning and how the storm of memories from the 90s are so real and alive in your mind: the music, the videogames, the Nirvana references all over the place, the toys, the TV shows (He-Man and The Wonder Years make nice cameos) and the overall feeling of confusion and economic fear. It's like browsing through the pages of a photo album or a box of old souvenirs.

There's nothing huge or fancy in this movie because it's not necessary. It works at so many levels and you can dig deep into it or simply relax and have a nice time watching it.

I tried hard to tell you how great this movie is, now it's your turn: go see it.

Tour-de-force is such a small word to describe Daniel Hendler's performance here. There isn't any word able to fully describe the power of his eyes, his voice, his body language, the ability he has to deeply swim in his characters' mind and soul. In this extraordinary film, he avoids his usual arrogant, sexed up gimmicks (which always work brilliantly) and develops a tender, cute, broken, soft, paranoid character who will get stuck to your memory for years to come.

Gabriel Medina's playful (but mature) direction is able to keep the fun going in this high-class, hipster dramedie about a loser writing a screenplay while struggling with his insecure being and working in children's parties as Cachito, the purple, fluffy monster.

The screenplay takes you deep into an underachiever's heart. A man who closes his curtains at night, smokes a joint and dances wildly to punkrock music in the safe environment of his apartment. A man who is afraid of living and avoids any kind of human relationship. A man who is, and probably will always be, alone.

One of the underrated elements of this movie (everybody focuses on Daniel Hendler's uncanny acting... not that there's anything wrong with that, of course) is the music score, which is so subtle, so tiny and precise that helps us understand the lead character instead of telling us how to feel or think. The soundtrack is also wonderful and absolutely downloadable.

Don't miss this one for anything in the world. Truly inspiring for any fan of slacker cinema, a truly wonderful work from the 25 Watts generation.

Go Hendler! Go Medina! Awesome!

It deals with everything and nothing, but mostly everything. From ages 12 to 20, this movie broke several hearts: it's made for us. And only for us. The choices you make right now, may not be the ones that ruin or improve your life: but they can reaaally make you miserable. Loneliness, depression, love, friendship and even some pot, this is how been a teenager in Mexico feels like. Nobody loves you and nobody cares about you but yourself. But even with all those problems, you can spend a nice Sunday afternoon with your best mate and hide your issues (for a while)... even if it's the last time you'll ever see the guy that makes you happy and helps you get out of your miserable life. Minimalistic and humble, this film is groundbreaking just for its simplicity and soulbreaking for its complex and emotive screenplay and philosophy. A perfect movie. A perfect ensamble performance: the best in Mexican cinema.

Words are not enough.

Picture this: a group of friends go to the movies. One of them is a sweet, dreamy guy who recently broke-up with his sweet, rocker girlfriend but can't let go. Another one is a metalhead girl who can't move on after she broke-up with her boyfriend... more than a year ago. Two of them are a brand-new couple where she loves him more than he does. And the other one is me: a lonely film buff who recently came out as asexual after deciding love wasn't in his plans.

The lights go down and we're all excited about the indie, bittersweet film we're going to watch. Smiles on our faces, laughs and thrills.

The lights go up after an hour and a half and we're all in shock, in complete silence. Speechless, I turn to my friends and mutter an apology: we were not expecting to get so hurt with a film.

From the outside, it may seem like just another indie, rom-com with cute moments and quirky characters but you can't begin to explain the perfection of this film til you experience it. The screenplay is like a ticking clock: everything works flawlessly in its right moment and place, every dialogue, every joke, every sweet moment, every painful memory. Both lead characters are so uncannily developed it's scary and tough to get through how real they are. The film is so perfectly built that we fall in love with Summer at exactly the same pace that Tom does, we are crushed by her actions and words as if she was doing it to us, and we hate her just as much as Tom does -or maybe even more. But we need her. We need her so badly that we can't stop watching, hoping for a lame happy ending. Hoping for a guiding light that tell us everything will be OK, that love is real and possible.

But this is not a movie. This is life in its most painful, true portrayal I've ever seen. And life, like love, doesn't have happy endings.

Hysterical scenes, unforgettable dialogues and brutal moments (you know you covered your eyes when the split-screen Expectations v. Reality scene came along), (500) Days of Summer is a painful experience, and that's awesome: it's exactly how movies are supposed to be. An experience to live in its fullest, to feel right in the guts. To reject, to love, to remember, to rinse, and repeat.

One of the most painful stories of free spirit I've ever seen. It makes your soul soar every frame from start to finish, thanks to some of the best performances in contemporary mexican cinema and an extraordinary music score.

Beautiful!

Tanner Cohen is, by far, the most charming young actor I've ever seen. His sweetness and grace fill up the screen every single frame, from start to finish, and his voice is as powerful and rich as one could wish from a lead role in a movie musical, something that hasn't happened often in the last few years (Pierce Brosnan or Johnny Depp, anyone?), while the rest of the cast feels a little bit overshadowed. But it is, after all, Tanner's show and he manages to hold your guts every single second.

The music is fantastic, each song fills your heart with warmth and love and the plot feels relatable and heartbreaking. Production design, costumes, cinematography and dialogues (a cute, intelligent mix of Shakespeare's lines within the screenplay) work together as the best team to get this ship to the greatest end.

This is a movie that is close to you, that speaks to your heart and never lets go. This is a movie to enjoy, under a blanket, with the one you love. This is a movie shot with soul and emotion like no other.

I have seen several teen adaptations of Shakespeare, from Othello to The Taming of the Shrew and, obviously, Romeo and Juliet, but this kicks ass like no other. This is the best one, by far. And the best A midsummer night's dream adaptation yet.

Do not miss it. Really: don't.

"Hubi, my love....Let's fly away. Maybe beyond the smoke and the fighting, there's a better place. Maybe there really is a paradise where we can just love each other. I don't know.

I wonder if we ever really had a chance. If, even for a moment we had a chance.... Lulu and Yali will probably give the papers a photo of the two of us. Maybe the one from the rave where we look all high and happy.

Maybe people will see how beautiful we look, and understand how stupid these wars are. No, they probably never will."

Heartbreaking and absolutely beautiful.

It gives all the shallow, self-centered gay movies a kick in the balls by dealing with a touchy, universal subject without losing its essence or alienating straight audiences.

Gorgeous!

*Review coming soon*

(By far, one of the greatest soundtracks I've ever listen)

I thought it was going to be good.
I just didn't know it was going to be that good!

HOLY COCK!

I hate when people focus on sex instead of taking the ride along with the actors and the plot and THEN judging the entire movie, not only the sex. This movie suffered the same lame comments as "9 songs" did with the difference that this one survives every single stupid remark about "How graphic it is!"... in Winterbottom's film, the cinematography played a huge role along with the editing and the concerts scenes. The performances were great and the screenplay, as simple and tiny as it was, showed us what was the actually important thing about the film: the relationship between the two main characters, their painful love and their way to communicate through sex... However, in Cameron Mitchell's movie (shall we called it his masterpiece?), the screenplay goes way beyond relationships and sex: it deals with loneliness and frustration as nobody else does. The first sequence shows us that same thing and prepares us to the tearful, tragic, extremely lovable ride ahead us: sex, sex and more sex in ways that make us laugh and start to think if it was a good idea to watch this movie afterall... but then, the characters climate and we realize what the whole point of the sequence was. Our heart begins to break into small pieces with every dialogue, every kiss, every tender touch, every masturbation, every copulation and ejaculation, every anecdote, every single song in the terrific soundtrack.

Cameron Mitchell knows his business and creates a wonderful film to cry and feel lonely but with the hope that we can be loved (and love in return) if we don't stop looking for love. Sex here is not only a way to communicate and not only catartic. Sex here is a way of living, a way of feeling alive, a way of destroy ourselves and reborn as new, tender creatures that will keep on looking for that LOVE we need.

Sex here is simply a character.

For most of us, Drama/Mex is proof that a man with talent, focus and a fantastic screenplay will be able to make an extraordinary piece of filmmaking without tons of money or help from certain government institutions if he has the balls and guts to go and film it already: no money, no support, just a camera and some friends. Gerardo Naranjo (again, for most of us) became a hero, an example to follow. Somewhere in between his Cannes success and the difficult commercial release of his masterpiece, somebody gave him money to support his second movie, now that they knew what to expect from such a man like him. Voy a explotar was born.

I'm in love with this movie. Once again, words are not enough to describe the power behind its images, its story, and, most of all, the best part: its characters. Voy a explotar flows like magic, like fairy dust on your eyes, a tragic love story between outcasts, a teen drama that doesn't focus on the geeks or the cuties but on the freaks who everyone avoids eye-contact with, the ones with the deep thoughts, immature but uncondicionally romantic.

The character development (from looks and kisses to voice-overs and costumes), the screenplay (my favorite love story ever, real and painful but dreamy at the same time), the directing (fresh, playful, young), the whole production design (every location is flawless, every set decoration is gorgeous and important), the movie itself: everything works perfectly to move this lovely story forward.

Let's wait for Naranjo's third: it's going to be history in the making.

I was nearly peeing my pants in excitement: my first mumblecore film... on a theatre in Mexico City! After hanging out with Joe Swanberg for a couple of days!

I expected the movie to be all the things my dreams are made of, but it just blew me away and destroyed my expectations by going beyond them by many miles.

Deep, raw, emotional, cute, hilarious, depressing, extraordinary performances and a beautiful cinematography.

Some genius moments (the opening sequence is one of the funniest sex scenes I've ever seen and the banana conversation was simply wonderful) and a painful ending, Nights and Weekends was everything I asked for, and more.

The most touching, compelling and heart-breaking movie I've ever seen.

The cast couldn't be any more extraordinary.

(That's all I have to say because I just pushed Stop in my DVD player and I'm still crying my eyes out and feeling like a piece of depressed shit so I can't really see what I'm writing)

The ultimate love story.

*After a ninth view... Full review coming soon*

Don't dream it, be it!
By far, the most beautiful & sexy portrait of freedom and soul.

*Review coming soon*

Charlie Bartlett: "This place sucks. But I just worry that one day we're gonna look back at high school and wish we'd done something different."

The greatest 97 minutes of my life...

I'm so related to the main character in so many ways that seeing this (for the third time now) with my mom getting pissed off everytime Hope Davis appeared on screen (because she KNOWS just how similar we are to them in real life) is both weird, unconfortable and extremely hilarious.

I'm absolutely madly in love with this movie.

*Review coming soon*

Take a moment to think about all the things that the name "John Waters" brings to your mind.

Was it disgusting and outrageous?

Well, then you proved my point. I adore Waters' movies and I think he is a genius, but let's face it: the man has some wicked, crazy shit in his mind. That's part of his charm. So when I caught "Pecker" on TV last night, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know I was face to face with Waters' most mature, focused, yet wicked movie ever. There's nothing gratuitous here, nothing shocking but the story of a young guy (Edward Furlong playing a nice kid, for a change) who lives in Baltimore (you saw that coming) and LOVES to take pictures. The variety of characters surrounding him inspire him every day to keep on taking pictures until one day at an art show in his sandwich store, an art dealer meets him and gets him to New York, where he becomes famous and ruins his entire life as soon as he gets back to Baltimore and the news of him becoming a successful photographer spread like a plague.

The cast is simply fantastic, no freaks here, but normal people from Waters' memories in Baltimore. For the first time in his filmography, it seems to me that he didn't just look at the people around him growing up for inspiration but at himself and the character seems John Waters' inspired, without, of course, making this an autobiography. The cinematography, by the way, it's wonderful and I think Baltimore never looked THIS good. The movie is compelling, cute, endearing and entertaining from start to finish (Am I really using THESE words to describe John Waters?!) and it shouldn't be missed for anything in the world.

Believe or not, John Waters is all about finding beauty and art in everyday life, in common people doing their own business. And Pecker (one of the most beautiful characters I've seen on film) is all about that too. His photographs may look depressing, marginal or shocking but he took them to remember the people around him and how they live every single day being obsessed with what they love and adore: sugar, gay men, fashion or laundry rules. And, once again, that's what John Waters is all about!! For the first time, I think his soul and heart, more than just his wicked mind, is everywhere in the picture.

"Pink Flamingos" may be for every John Waters fan his best movie but, for me, this one is his masterpiece. Focus and maturity, plus his usual wickedness create an splendid example of a great movie from a great filmmaker.

My favorite road trip ever.

*Review coming soon*

Hands down, one of the best movies ever made. And without a single doubt in my mind, the strongest, most beautiful, most amazing and mindblowing performance by a male actor in Film History. Sam Rockwell is simply a great ACTOR.

a lot has been said about this picture as it became so freakin famous with the course of the year but the truth must be told: IT'S A MASTERPIECE! Nice, brief (only an hour and a bit), cute, funny, tragic, black, dark, hilarious, universal, complex, bright, genius, raw, optimistic, everything but SIMPLE. Larger-than-life performances (Steve Carrell's best performance in his whole life! He won't get better than this), humble but genius screenplay, great cinematography, great music by DeVotchKa, an unbelievable rythm and sense of tempo by two amazing directors and some historic scenes (Rick James will never be the same) make this one of the best masterpieces of the new century that will be hard to forget. At the end of the day, it's just about family and self-acceptance but with a sense of originality that deals with isolation, depression, rage, repression and regret with a twisted, dark humor that caught everyone by surprise. "Little Miss Sunshine" is a flawless piece of art for the ages...

*Review coming soon*

It took me a while to see this one because I wasn't sure what to expect. I was excited about it and I bought it as soon as I found it but I kept waiting and waiting for the "right moment" to see it. I wish I hadn't wait.

What I loved so much about this film (but apparently not so many people understood) is how it manages to be cute and fresh even with its "touchy" subject. After all, it's not a film about hermaphroditism but about growing up with a body (or mind, or soul) that sometimes doesn't feel like us at all and it's actually a strong metaphor for adolescence along with a statement about the limits and horizons of sex and sexuality. Between Martin Piroyansky (Alvaro) and Ines Efron (Alex), the performances are so realistic and true that it feels not as if you were part of their lives but as if you were THEM! I specially found myself in Piroyansky's eyes and soul and the character and the actor per se were heartbreaking all the time. Ines Efron's haunting performance ranks as one of the most beautiful character developments of the year but I still stick to Martin Piroyansky and his gorgeous character and performance. The rest of the "grown-up" cast is also magnificent but they are always shadowed by the two teen leads.

Over all, the movie is technically flawless and the oh-so-Blue art direction is as beautiful as the story and screenplay. The music is haunting and subtle and the direction, by Lucia Puenzo, is fantastic. One of those directing jobs you can actually notice by seeing the movie.

It's sad that many people will feel disturbed by the movie because it has, after all, an hermaphrodite character dealing with issues beyond her maturity level (the line "Who are you to tell me what's possible or not?" is simply wonderful) and the people surrounding her coming to terms with what's "normal" and what's not.

The outstanding screenplay with witty dialogues full of sadness and lack of hope along with the two young lead actors (Efron and Piroyansky) and the art direction are the powerful tools this movie has to make an everlasting impression in everybody seeing it.

Bring an open mind.
What else could you say about the best road movie in the last decade? About the masterpiece that will end with stereotyping in filmmaking? About the ultimate female performance of the new century? (along with Meryl Streep in "The Hours") About the wake-up call for producers to trust in young talent like Kevin Zegers? (this wake-up call should include Paul Dano, Nick Stahl, Brad Renfro, among others) About Duncan Tucker being a fucking genius in screenwriting and directing? About Dolly Parton creating the best song of 2005 no matter what the "pimps" of the Academy said? Nothing could be said except for this: "God made me for a reason, and nothing is in vain"...
oh, yeah, I forgot: beware... this is an extremely quotable movie!! :-)

Wow.

Daniel Hendler keeps captivating me with his average man performances that always fall into some social/cultural group in particular, creating a unique character that almost any man in that group can relate to. From his extraordinary gay man facing the first gay marriage in Spain in Reinas to his dreamy, kind of a jerk high school slacker in 25 Watts (my favorite character in a movie, by the way) and now with his wonderful display of a bored son in search of answers about his parents' past, creating a jewish character like most of the jewish twentysomethings we actually know: forgetting about tradition and religion and trying to cope with a family environment that annoys and wracks the nerves.

The whole cast is superb but without him this would be another wannabe jewish modern masterpiece lacking on the tons of charm Hendler has to offer. Definitely one of the greatest young actors working today.

Kudos to Ariel's Grandma, a beautiful character played with dexterity and high class skills by Rosita Londner.

Unforgettable piece of cinema. One of those movies I usually fall in love with: a slice of life, painted in grey and blurred colors.

Gorgeous!

Isabel Coixet proves (if it needed to be proved) that she is an excellent filmmaker that has some serious stuff in her mind she needs to get out. Her screenplay takes you by the cliché road of "I have 2 months before I die" with the hand of an expert in emotions and her direction makes Sarah Polley the best actress on Earth just for a while. Coixet seems to have a fascination for her and for cars as the best (and most heartbreaking) scenes are into a car: Ann recording birthday messages for her daughters... Ann and Lee kissing and screaming... Ann's mom remembering how sad she is.

Isabel Coixet is a pure talent that needs to be seen and Sarah Polley and Mark Ruffalo prove once more how great actors they are.

A masterpiece.

Breathe taking? No. Life taking! This sucks your soul, tears it appart, spits on it, PEES ON IT, destroys it and then throws it at you while you try foolishly to put it back inside you... and you've seen just 30 minutes of the whole movie. Over the top? Not at all. It kills you, it rapes you, it DESTROYS you. But in the end... oh, no... wait. Nothing happens in the end. No. You remain destroyed. And after seeing this, you actually think you deserve to be destroyed. And maybe you do. The best ensamble performance in the last decade and one of the darkest, cruelest and most extreme screenplays of the new century. Words can only describe a little part of this film...

Powerful.

I expected so many things from it and it gave a lot more than I expected. It may be a little bit on the "experimental/amateur" side but that's not a bad thing. Jonathan Caouette had something to say about a touchy family issue and he has the guts to say it. But, against all expectations, this is not just a film about an ill mother but about growing up. It doesn't matter if Jonathan grew up in a sick environment, he turned out completely fine and mature as a result of it and that's the true spirit of the film: no matter how sick the world is, you can change it around you.

Or maybe even: that which doesn't kill me, can only make me stronger. Whatever the message of the film is, it's a powerful statement on how life sometimes is the most magnificent piece of art there is.

This film (or at least its history and trailer) inspired me to make my first shortfilm as I owned a Mac with iMovie and this movie was edited with that program and had a tremendous success. So I said: "Ey, what the hell? Right?"... and the rest is history...

An extraordinary experience, beyond anything you've ever seen on film.

See only "Planet Terror" and you will get an exciting zombie homage to 70's exploitation films with great performances and visually stunning action sequences.

See only "Death Proof" and you'll receive the most brilliant dialogues of the new century.

See them both in the whole Grindhouse experience and they'll get you out of your mind with excitement and hilarity.

A truly entertaining experience.
Awesome.

*Review coming soon*

Hands down, the funniest movie of the year.
Top 10 Best of 2008.

EXTREMELY HILARIOUS!!

Uncomfortable but beautiful.

People were surprised, in the wrong way, when they realized how the new Wong Kar-Wai experience wasn't "as good" as they expected and they blamed it on the language. What they didn't realize was that the new language and the new actors gave WKW a whole new spectrum of abilities and things to talk about in a whole different context, without losing his usual gimmicks that we all love to death. WKW has always been simple, subtle and poetic, creating his poetry and his urban tales of loneliness and dispare in the most unlikely, yet familiar, of places and plots.

I think a definitely helpful new element that came with the language were the actors. I've never seen in my entire life such a hypnotizing cast that, from the mesmerizing and gorgeous Norah Jones to the heartbreaking David Strathairn and including the beautiful and over-the-top (yet, wonderful) Rachel Weisz and the sexy Natalie Portman. Jude Law is great as an insecure, compelling lead but he isn't as memorable as the rest of the cast.

The soundtrack, the cinematography (by somebody else instead of Christopher Doyle, for a change) and the art direction help the movie but the beauty of WKW's lost souls and delicious road trip are more than enough to create a stunning, depressing, intense view on human pain.

Gorgeous!

*Review coming soon*

If you've decided you have what it takes to become an actor (or an artist in general), watch this... you will regret your choice. But if you don't, then YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES. You have the guts. You have the tears and the blood at the ready to spill them all away. You have the soul to crash into people. You have the spirit. Talent? You don't need it. Nobody but you needs to know what the hell are you doing right or wrong... anyways, you're doing it wrong. Life's a bitch. People's a bitch. Drama's a bitch. Acting's a bitch. Are you a bitch? No? Then get out of the stage, get away from the camera, don't touch that screenplay... YOU don't have what it takes. You suck! You don't think you suck? Watch this. If you love it, you suck. If you hate it, you suck. If you don't watch it... you're dead. Oscar Jaenada should be named God of Acting and Achero Manas is BY ALL MEANS nothing but a GENIUS.

Shot in HD video in the director's dead grandmother's house, this movie tells a day in the life of a family of 5: the shy son, the pothead daughter, the unemployed dad, the cute, old uncle and the dead mom. On the eve of a special day, they cope with their depressing reality and boring lives.

Jose Angel Bichir's revelation is simply beautiful and inspiring. He carries the entire movie over his shoulders.

It may follow the same plot line as Quemar las naves and maybe even Garden State (you know: dead mother, depressed losers trying to cope with reality and everyday life) but it takes the opposite way from those movies and avoids every single drop of hope and brightness, making us realize nothing's going to change after that beautiful last frame and the whole family will probably kill themselves.

The rythm is extremely slow and it may annoy some people but the last 30 minutes or so are completely worth the wait. The whole movie is subtle and quiet but it speaks a lot about despair and loneliness: two delicious common places in contemporary mexican cinema that we're always oh so happy to go back to.

A truly fantastic debut from a really promising director/screenwriter.

Only Judd Apatow and his team would be able to give such a bunch of heart and soul to a gross-out teen flick.

As always, flawless character development.

Pure genius!

*Review coming soon*

I have no words.

Fearless, that's the right word to describe this film. Everything is in its right place and I was actually speechless at the perfection of the screenplay, so round, complete and flawless, everything happens for a reason and there aren't any loose ends. Paul Dano is wonderful but Billy Kay steals the show in what is the sexiest S.O.B. in film in the last decade, probably more. It was sad that his character disappears so early in the film but the time he is in it he IS IN IT! Outstanding direction for young actors creating extreme characters that go beyond the screen to kick you in the balls.
But the real motherfucker deal in the whole movie is BY FAR the extraordinary Brian Cox. Not even in his wonderful performances in "X2" or "Adaptation" he has been as haunting and larger-than-life as in this one, his best performance to date. Such an underrated actor deserved this role as a proof of his guts and talent. Big John is as charming and sexy-bastard as he is TERRIFYING! He scares the crap out of you not without making you love him all the way. Big John is one of the top characters of the new century and "L.I.E.", Michael Cuesta and Paul Dano found exactly what they needed: a lane straight to film Heaven!

incredibly heartbreaking... touching at extreme points. Sexy but soft, hardcore but cute, bitter but sweet. Love above everything but destroyed by the characters themselves. Incredible performances, a nice little uneven and humble screenplay, a raw cinematography, unforgettable lines... one of my favorite movies of all time. Sadly underrated even if it's actually flawed and raw. Not your movie-next-door or Lifetime-masterpiece but a REAL reflection of RAW LIFE. Life as it is: unperfect...

OK, it's a little bit over the top, I get it. It's exaggerated, alright. But it's a really useful way to create a window into a guy's mind. The performances are sutile and energetic while the screenplay takes us to places that may be over the top but the situations are directed in a way none of this matters: it's a sexy ride of violance and justice. Andreas Wilson creates a Brando/Dean/Elvis character with such ability it's almost creepy. Stellan Skarsgard's son, Gustaf, is a great villian with flaws and vulnerability so scary and touching it's absolutely lovable while Henrik Lundstrom reveals himself as a great supporting talent (as Linda Zilliacus)... simply a great movie... and a window to MY life at school (maybe not THIS hardcore but kind of...)

One of the best movies EVER... amazing mix between blockbuster and MASTERPIECE (more of the second actually)... great performances, great cinematography... just perfect. A perfect film. No flaws. Just... perfect...

I pushed play on my DVD player expecting what everybody expects when they see a collective film: "This is gonna have a couple of good shorts and a bunch of wrong ones and maybe one that will be memorable and amazing"

Was I wrong?

I couldn't be wrong-er!! :-)

Absolutely an important part of 2007's Top 10! Every single piece of directing/screenwriting in this film was an AMAZING lesson in how to do a flawless short: a neat narrative and an amazing sense of rythm. 18 short films and only 1 was absolutely disgusting (Christopher Doyle is a cinematographer, a great one, but he is NOT a director and he will never be one) but the other 17 were a little masterpiece after another masterpiece. From the huge names like Cuaron and Van Sant to the small ones that will be hard to remember, this is how I rate one of the best films of the decade and the best collective film EVER:

*Quartier des Enfants Rouges (by Olivier Assayas)... 7/10*
thanks to the amazing performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal and the sutile junkie love story.

*Quartier Latin (by Frédéric Auburtin and Gerard Depardieu)... 9/10*
A work of friends. But the main surprise was this one: I wasn't able to believe my eyes at the end credits... Gena Rowlands not only gave an incredibly amazing performance, she also WROTE THIS SHORT! The lady is a complete goddess...

*Quais de Seine (by Gurinder Chadha)... 10/10*
one of my personal favorites: warm, cute, tender and completely flawless. A love story that goes beyond anything I have ever seen in just a couple of minutes. Beautiful and full of hope.

*Tour Eiffel (by the amazing Sylvain Chomet)... 10/10*
I was expecting an animation from Chomet but what he gave us was even better: a cartoon with real actors full of Chomet's signature comedy and a giantic piece of heart in every single frame. One of the best.

*Tuileries (by the Coen Bros.)... 10/10*
the funniest of the bunch with a terrificly hilarious performance by the always amazing Buscemi and a great piece of screenwriting. One of the best, BY FAR!

*Bastille (by Isabel Coixet)... 10/10*
warm, extremely well acted, incredible, sad, tragic but full of a strange kind of hope and sense of love-in-the-air even if it ends in the complete opposite way. Coixet is one of the best directors nowadays and no one can deny that!

*Père-Lachaise (by Wes Craven!)... 8/10*
of course I was expecting a horror fest from Craven, afterall, he placed his story in a cemetery. But what he delivered was a marvelous love story in such an old-fashioned-french-movie-meets-old-Hollywood-way that it felt odd at times but that was the whole point. Great performances and a surprise appearence that will leave you with a HUGE smile on your face!

*Parc Mounceau (by, of course, the one and only: Cuaron!)... 10/10*
I mean... c'mon!! Will this man ever go wrong??? HELL NO! This was just amazing, round, complete, deep, exciting, surprising (!!!) and extremely well directed and written. Nick Nolte and Ludivine deserve part of the credit but Cuaron was the master behind such incredible puppets. Just incredible...

*Porte de Choisy (by Christopher "I'm-just-a-cinematographer" Doyle)... 0/10*
disgusting, illogic, piece of crap. Ruined the entire movie...

*Pigalle (by Richard LaGravenese!)... 7/10*
I wasn't expecting much from this one. I mean, the guy just directed "Dangerous Minds Part 10" (a.k.a. "Freedom Writters") but it was nicely directed and written with nice, funny performance by the always beautiful Fanny Ardant and Bob Hoskins. It was a little bit inconsistent and kind of all-over-the-place but at the end of the day, it's nice and cute

*Quartier de la Madeleine (by Vincenzo Natali)... 8/10*
Everybody hoped this was Craven's piece but I'm absolutely sure it wouldn't have been as exciting, erotic and amazingly done as this one in his hands. From the first couple of minutes it looks like "Sin City-redux" even with the awkward casting of Elijah "I'm-overrated" Wood. But after a while it's just breathtaking: a love story with no words but a lot of blood and a final vampiric-69!! A nice weird cousin for this amazing family.

*14th arrondissement (by Alexander Payne)... 9/10*
Perfect closure for an "almost-nearly-if-it-wasn't-for-Christopher-Doyle" perfect film. A heartbreaking story in Payne's style: no need of breakdowns, yelling, breaking mirrors in rampage or excessive crying, just a little bit of innocence and heart with lonely characters shall do the trick. Terrific ending.

*Montmartre (by Bruno Podalydès)... 6/10*
I supposed that, after seeing "Moulin Rouge!", we all expected something more from the neighborhood of love and lust. It's not a bad short, it's not bad. It's just not... enough. But afterall, it's the beginning of the film so it's OK to be a little bit slow or simple to prepare us to what's coming next...

*Loin du 16éme (by Walter Salles/Daniela Thomas)... 10/10*
I said this over and over again every time somebody asked me "Why the hell did you like 'Dark Water' besides Jennifer Connelly?!"... "Because this man CAN'T go wrong!"... Walter Salles shines with a kicking-ass light in this heartbreaking, tragic but sutile shortfilm helped by the always unbelievable Catalina Sandino Moreno. The latinamerican directors (Cuaron and Salles) excelled in their work and showed a little bit of what we're capable of but Cuaron created just a story: Salles made a statement. Latinamerican working-class inmigrants are anywhere: even in the City of Light...

*Place des Fêtes (by Oliver Schmitz)... 9/10*
A terrific love story with larger-than-life performances. By far, best performance of the entire film.

*Place des Victoires (by Nobuhiro Suwa)... 9/10*
Binoche breaks your soul in half with the asian contribution (I wonder what Suwa thought about Doyle's crap?) in this tender but cruel short. Amazing.

*Le Marais (by Gus Van Sant)... 10/10*
The hair, the cinematography, the boys, the gay flirting: Van Sant HAS a style. And what a style this is! Sexy from the first shot to the last cute moment. A fresh short between all the love stories and heartbreaking moments. Van Sant is back into his business...

*THE BEST FOR LAST...

*Faubourg Saint-Denis (by Tom Tykwer)... 10+/10*
I'm NOT a fan of Tykwer. At least not of "Lola Rennt" and I haven't seen "Perfume". His "Lola..." style is not something I relate to or something I adore. This post-modern, 90s, caotic style of cinematography, music and editing just doesn't work to me. But this time he went over the limit of what is great and what is beyond everything: he created the most hysterical, flawless, exotic, breathtaking love story in a couple of minutes that I (and probably all of us) have ever seen. Natalie Portman and (specially) Melchior Beslon deliver perfect performances and Tykwer plays with our hearts, guts and minds as he pleases with extraordinary dialogues in an extraordinary screenplay for an extraordinary piece of filmmaking. Short or long, this is it. BEST IN THE ENTIRE FILM. BEST IN SHOW.

Disgustingly underrated!! Completeley forgotten in the sands of past, it was the masterpiece for the early 90s... one of the most groundbreaking performances and screenplays ever: almost a full monologue carried with A TOUR-DE-FORCE performance by an extraordinary (and never NEVER better) Oedekerk who never lets the movie fall from his outstanding power to create awkward yet hilarious moments. Jim Carrey doesn't appear for almost an hour and a little more and when he does, he disappears after only ONE scene... IT DOESN'T MATTER! This is Steve's movie from the beginning to the end and the whole spectrum of characters that parade through his loft is meaningless and merely support for a movie that should be classified only as: UNIQUE. A monologue? A movie monologue for 2 hours? If that's not groundbreaking, I don't know what is... it's really necessary and EXTREMELY important that it gets released in DVD... It's really a matter of life or death!! Please!!

What a nihilistic piece of shit this was!! AND IT WAS GREAT! The screenplay, direction and performances are so real they are surrounded by a surreality at times that, along with the plot, develops the story at such an awkward rythm and speed it's really ground-breaking. Technically flawless (cinematography in a beautiful b/w, sound mixing & editing in such connection with the plot and a fast-paced, sometimes slow but consistant editing) and with such a political context that surrounds the nihilistic, anarquist characters with great style, it's by far, one of the greatest masterpieces of 1995 which was a year more dedicated to great performances over good movies. Also, a surreal classic for the decade.

My favorite screenplay of all time.

*Review coming soon*

I am speechless.

It makes you smile.

I can't believe it took me so long to experience a Wes Anderon film but I'm glad it was this one. This is, by far, the best screenplay of 2007 and a great introduction to Anderson's body of work for anyone that wants to become a fan, just as I became one just a couple of minutes into the introductory short film, "Hotel Chevalier". The dialogues have so much flow that it's almost surreal. The words cut like knives and heal clumsily like drunken nurses. The eyes tell so many stories and there's so much dept in the characters that it's genius. Wes Anderson is a true filmmaker with such a unique vision and talent to tell wonderful, awkward stories. The three leads are simply marvelous. Adrien Brody is subtle and, by playing it slow and tender, it creates an even more-fucked-up character than using his usual gimmicks (not that there's a problem with his gimmicks) while Owen Wilson carries the whole film over his shoulders with cleverness. For a long time, I've thought that Jason Schwartzman is a little bit overrated. I mean, the boy has some nice talent but there are moments when he just keeps on recycling characters and he looks like an actor with no range at all. But I truly think that Wes Anderson is the right director for him: Schwartzman is incredible in this one and I suppose also in "Rushmore".

But the HUGE surprises come in the form of beautiful, gorgeous and talented women with almost no screen time at all. Amara Karan, playing "Rita", is simply fantastic; and Natalie Portman, in the introductory shortfilm gives such a mature performance is almost unbelievable. She shows an extraordinary range to play any characters she wants and the tomboy/rude/trashy ex-girlfriend-from-hell is one of the top moments of the film. But the thunder belongs to Anjelica Huston in the most extraordinary cameo of the year as the boys' mother. I knew she had to be somewhere in the film and she was simply flawless. The best character in the movie and the greatest performance.

It's a long, sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic, sometimes a little bit too awkward journey that won't appeal to everyone but it's definitely one of the best movies of 2007 and by far one of the most underrated. Wes Anderson's style is mature, quirky and colorful and this movie is all that and even more. Anderson's fans will drool all over it and the newbies will fall in love with it but if for some reason you aren't sure if you will like it: take a chance, you won't regret it.

BTW, it's an excellent gift for your brothers and/or sisters. It's a family journey, after all.

Even many years later, animation doesn't get ANY BETTER THAN THIS. Mostly because of its screenplay: touching and depressing, it deals with growing up as I've never seen a movie deal with it. It fights with iron fist against several live-action classics... and it's a KO from Chihiro! One of the best films ever made, overall. An incredible screenplay with a great music and a direction from the master of animation: Hayao Miyazaki. An unforgettable movie. The best animated feature film of the entire history of cinema! Technically and artisticly larger-than-life and breath taking. Movies should be made like this...

One of the funniest, wackiest, most interesting homages to the French Nouvelle Vague nowadays.

Absolutely, one of the most hilarious movies of 2008.

*After a second view, intense and probably psychotic review coming soon*

Is there any chance to give this 10 stars?
5 is simply not enough.

*Review coming soon*

Phillip Glass may have helped a little more than A LOT to create the right atmosphere for this film, but the whooole film rests in somebody's shoulders... and it's not Nicole Kidman. Sadly shadowed by her co-star at award ceremonies, Meryl Streep wasn't shadowed by nobody during this amazing couple of hours, totally well-used. I just want to comment on one scene, and one scene only, that made me realize I was watching at the best individual performance of the entire history of film making, and now I'M NOT KIDDING. I'm totally sure I've witnesed that. The one and only Meryl kicked some serious "Marlon Brando butt" with one single shot: the egg breaking. She's in her kitchen talking to her ex-lover former boyfriend (yep) and remembering how he made her feel and she's preparing dinner... and breaking eggs. With each egg she tears a bit of her soul apart, her pain and her rage, her whole existance breaks a little more with each egg in the bowl. No words. That's acting. This is a masterpiece of art.

I thought the whole experimental nature of this movie (made entirely out of still photographs and voice-over dialogue) was going to be boring and uninteresting after the first 10 minutes or so, and I was scared because it seemed like a very cool idea to be wasted. The best thing, by far, from this beautiful film is the fact that it surprised the hell out of me by being absolutely entertaining and light, easy to digest and enjoy, considering you're watching, in lack of a better word, a slide show. But the great thing about it is that it isn't just a slideshow: it's a breathtaking work of editing to put everything together in a logic, easy-going way and then decide how many seconds/frames we're going to watch each picture, some of them more time and some of them very quickly, in order to accomplish a great rhythm that many conventional movies don't have! After a while, you truly forget you're watching only still photos and the dialogue is so extraordinary, it takes you by the hand into a cute first-love story between a horny teenager and a naive, innocent and slightly dumb American girl. They don't understand each other beyond language barriers: they simply don't speak the same "language" when it comes to love and relationships, specially all the flirting part which is awkward to the point of extreme hilarity and uncomfortable because we've all been there. The subtitles work beautifully by translating everything that is heard, Spanish and English, into the opposite language, a nice detail that may be unimportant to some but it is, in fact, a way to put everything together and forget about the language for 78 minutes: all the characters have serious communication and understanding issues, despite their language being the same or different and Jonás Cuarón succeeds at telling us that language is not the ultimate communication obstacle behind relationships.

It blows your mind how simple/light, yet beautiful, this film can be, despite its apparently complicated nature. Give it a try, it's worth every single minute.

Technical dexterity and flawless cinematography in each scene, where everything's measured to perfection and every single frame becomes a surreal photograph of reality. Everything's in its right place. Sounds like a cold, academic, film school movie? Well, it's not. The difference being that Jarmusch talent to shoot everyday life and awkward moments of boredom (with a huge sense of humour, the father of contemporary weird-indie-comedies) falls into the "perfect-technique-with-a-lot-of-heart" category, and that's saying a lot.

I often (if not always) reject "old directors" (let's just say I haven't seen a pre-80s film... for real) because I feel they're so great in technique (cinematography and sense of narrative and framing everything in each scene) that their stories are cold and not close to me. But I always knew Jarmusch was different and this movie proves it over and over again. While he masters everything the Great Directors (you know... those old fellas) had to show his generation, he also masters what He, Mr Jim "White Hair" Jarmusch, has to show to the new generation: how to portray OUR own reality into film.

We don't have to go to a galaxy far, far away or to the Middle Earth or to some weird suburb with kinky housewives and psychopaths with sharp knives chasing hot high school chicks. We just have to look around us and we'll find interesting stories to put on film, and keep on doing our own version of "Stranger than Paradise", which (if you haven't seen the film) you'll soon realize every "indie" movie has being doing that since this came out.

Long live the King!
(Now I have to pay a visit to Grandpa Cassavettes)

A dream.

Raw and sometimes irrational. Rage and blood, tears and heroine, sweat and cocaine, "Requiem for a dream" is masterpiece film making. It's art and it's hard to watch... hard because it's enjoyable. Because it's funny, because it's twisted. But that grin in your face is whiped out with an extreme punch in the face and then is put back... and then it's punched out again. Aronofsky plays with our minds and makes us taste the sweetness of coke, and the bitterness of life without some. You scream, you cry for help, you can't take it anymore... and you're loving it!! Over and over you want to watch it... you NEED to watch it. It's nowadays horror taken to an extreme level: it scares the crap out of you because it's REAL. Raw, but real. The best film of 2000 has some of the best performances of the decade, wrapped in a nice screenplay and groundbreaking cinematography... Incredible music... ARONOFSKY.

I find impossible to describe the way this movie moved me.

Penelope is the reason God created women, and Almodovar is an uncanny force of nature. Cast, music, words, shots, tears, silence, wind, clothes, color, high heels: everything works like the most beautiful clock in the world, flawless and precise.

A disturbing, haunting, beautiful masterpiece. The blackest, darkest comedy ever.

First of all, this one is NOT "Garden State - 5 years later", it's an excellent piece of filmmaking on its own. I hate when movies are not successful for bizarre reasons, like this film. OK, I get it: it was too sad with a lot of laughs in the middle. Well, it's a dramedy! Actually, it's not a dramedy, it's almost as if it was a new genre: a tragemedy! It has a lot of really sad situations (Braff's character, executed flawlessly, is very flawed and almost stupid... really human) but the funny parts are actually really funny! It's a weird movie (but it is not "The Ex") for twenty-niners-going-on-thirty but they shouldn't see it: they may kill themselves afterwards. Beware of this film, it's great and the performances are FLAWLESS (Rachel Bilson is a dream) but it's dangerous for easily-depressive people. I'm serious: this one is a real downer...

Hands down, the best comedy of 2007 and one of the top 10 comedies of the entire decade.

Best buddy movie ever!
One of the top screenplays of the year. Hilarious but intelligent, more than your average dating/love/relationships story. It doesn't deal with pregnancy: it deals with life.

The biggest flaw is that it will be hard for people who love "serious" movies to face the fact they will LOVE this! This is a great film beyond any genre or plot. Judd Apatow is severely underrated!

The most extraordinary lesson on family love and loneliness I've ever seen. A piece of indie filmmaking at its best. Katie Holmes has a role that seems written for Evan Rachel Wood but she does a nice work even if Patricia Clarkson kicks ass through the entire movie along with John Gallager Jr in a pre-Spring Awakening role that should be remembered. Derek Luke and Oliver Platt also shine while Sean Hayes shows that even if he is as untalented as Jack McFarland, he is a completely charming piece of guy. Great film!

Tilda's performance... the final song by Jimmy Somerville... and Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth... Sally Potter has a total masterpiece in her hands, an underrated masterpiece.

I just can't believe my eyes: this is such a beautiful film in the best asian-magnifique style. Kar-Wai and Yimou usually create breath-taking masterpieces that will look OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD in a big plasma TV but Kar-Wai, not as Yimou, creates heartbreaking, raw, cruel tales of human love and betrayal, of hate and lust, of extreme reality and being lost.
I felt so lonely after watching this that I'm still a little bit blue and with a weird urge to visit the Iguazu waterfalls.
Tony Leung proves once and for all why is he one of the top asian actors today (and ever) portraying the loneliness of his character as no one else could have done. Kar-Wai's use of music is absolutely haunting and the way Christopher Doyle paints the streets of Buenos Aires with light and red is extremely beautiful and captivating. He is one of the top cinematographers today along with Rodrigo Prieto, Dion Beebe and 'El Chivo' Lubezki.
Simply remarkable film of epic proportions but intimistic nature.

Masterpiece lesson in acting, directing and art-direction/set-decoration. Ellen Page is the next-HUGE-thing giving one of the best performances of the decade along a sometimes-out-of-this-world-but-sometimes-not-that-good Patrick Wilson in yet another JUICY role. This guy is not able to go wrong... "Angels in America", "The Phantom of the Opera", "Little children" and this one prove that he has the biggest secret talent any actor wishes to have: he knows how to choose his movies. That's the secret about being a good actor: knowing when to say "hell no!" and when to say "hell yeah!"...

This is a "Hell yeah motherfucker pedophile!" all the way!

As incredibly beautiful as it is disturbing as it is sexy as it is out-of-this-fucking-world!

A poem to life and death.

Haunting...

An ocean full of glitter, drugs and blood. It's like watching the gayest ballet on Earth... on crack. It's wicked, twisted, sick, messy, crappy, wonderful and groundbreaking. The performances are magnificent and even if it IS Macaulay's movie, Seth Green steals his thunder with charm and elegance. The characters are fabulous and the screenplay takes you by the hand and goes nuts all over the place.

It's as great as the smile of a drag queen when somebody buys her a pair of stilettos for her birthday... with a brand-new Madonna wig on the side.

No dialogs. No words. No comments, but one: WOW. That's the only word you can hear through all the movie: and it comes from the audience, and yourself! Groundbreaking cinema: a musical without saying a thing. And what a musical !! Retro and funny, amusing, artsy but enjoyable. Take your kids to watch this and some Miyasaki, drop the "Little-bloody-Mermaid" away and the "Freakin Beauty and the Crappy Beast"... believe me, your kids, 10 years from now, are gonna thank you. Unbelievable film with larger-than-life music. "The Incredibles" and "Spirited Away" really need to watch out for these girls, cuz they're trying to steal their spots as the best animations in history. France is the rival, Sylvain Chomet: the genius... WORDS AREN'T ENOUGH.

Touching and larger than life. The best performances of 2005. One heck of a music score. An amazing screenplay. A love story for the ages: forget they're two men. They are TWO HUMAN BEINGS. Two souls in pain finding the other part of their existance that was ripped apart from them when they were born. A movie for the ages. A force of nature. And a Heath Ledger for the ages... and beyond.

Extreme. Powerful. Raw. Larry Clark. Hate it or loath it. Trash it or burn it in hell. This one is art. A masterpiece of nowadays horror and life. It portrays life as it is: sad. Horrible. It hurts and it kills. But it's life, and you've gotta love it. Or leave it (like Ken Park)...

Alfonso Cuaron has just lost his throne: this is it. Even if Cuaron's movie was such an amazing movie, it was still a poor adaptation that became the best HP movie for its direction and those winks to Cuaron's universe here and there. But if you really focus on the movie, you can still smell Colombus' shit all over the way. The 4th one, well, was such a pity. The movie was just too big for Newell and I really despise when people forget about Cuaron and go straight to "Oh my god, the 4th one is the best ever!" (*read with stupid voice*)

Anyway, what is different in this one? What's all the fuzz about? Finally, someone thought for a second and realize it was time for a change: Colombus is no longer producing the saga (since HP4), the arcaic-honestly-decadent John Williams didn't wrote the score and (finally!) Steve Kloves is no longer adapting the book. That's exactly what makes this amazing: Yates took control of the situation, understood the book to the deepest subject and had it in his hands the whole time. The direction is so strict, so precise, it was actually flawless. The political subplots and characters were just in their right place (including that little, tiny wink to "Citizen Kane") as this is not an Oliver Stone film, even if it's the most political book of all (even over the 6th one), everything was in its right place. Hand-held camera added that raw look to some scenes just in the right moment. The movie felt mature, adult. The lost of innocence was all over Cuaron's film and it went through Newell's "movie" too but Harry is 15 now and he needed a mature director to go with it. Excellent!

But that extraordinary something about the film is by far the adaptation. Michael Goldenberg actually ADAPTED a HP book: everybody thinks "adapting a book" is just taking some major scenes and plots, throwing away "unimportant" subplots and tieing them all together to please the fans. And the fans are always angry because "so many things were cut! Oh my gosh!" (*stupid voice again*), and forget they're watching A MOVIE, not reading a book. The main thing about an ADAPTATION is to let the scence, the spirit, of a book fly through the movie, even if the order is changed, or some characters cut and stuff. Goldenber knows this perfectly as he adapted the arcaic story of "Peter Pan" and turned it into a complete new tale of great value in an absolutely underrated movie back in 2003. This time, he manages to create a solid film with the right amount of JK Rowling plus the political universe of Yates and the maturity of the story. I insist: everything was in its right place to make the movie flow at such a fast pace even if some scenes were slow, precisely because of that, it was an unique rythm that will be tough to repeat in another HP movies as Kloves is coming back for 6th and 7th. Luckily for us, so is Yates. I hope that he will be able, as Cuaron, to overcome a lousy adaptation and make yet another excellent film.

The performances were extraordinary, as usual, and everyone seemed to have found so many things about their characters, that their performances feel new, fresh, better. Evanna Lynch reveals herself as a raw talent, ready to be exposed to the world and polished through the films, as Emma Watson's and Rupert Grint's were. She gives one of the top performances of the film with that Luna rythm that suddenly slows things down to make Harry think a little. The scene with the thestrals and Luna is amazing but her presentation to the world, her first scene, will be hard to forget. Of course, Imelda Staunton shines beautifully and I finally understood her being cast in such a "Judi-Dench-role" instead of... well, Judi Dench. Dench would have given the character that amount of evilness and cruelness that was mandatory but Staunton took control of every scene and every single piece of dialogue with the mastership of a Britain-leading-lady with Theatre background. And she is sweet! We can't (and won't) forget about the ALWAYS extraordinary Bonham Carter and thank God she's british. Rowling seemed to have written the character just for her and it was impossible that any other actress would have given Bellatrix that piece of wickedness and sexy-bitch look but still being (and look) disgusting and evil. Amazing performance that won't be forgotten soon. Gary Oldman gives a little more of range to Sirius this time than back in the 3rd movie and Gambon finally understood his character. Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman and the whole cast give the perfect amount of support to the film and finally, thank goodness once again, Radcliffe is showing some FREAKING range!! The boy is terrible, but this time (maybe because of Yates and specially because of Staunton) he manages to grab the character by the balls and pull it off. He still has a lot of path to walk (is he going to manage 6th-book-Harry? I dunno) and I hope he proves me wrong.

The visual effects were just about right. Realistic and not overwhelming, they felt (for the first time) as if magic was surrounding us and it was a common-day-thing instead of something unusual. The battle at the Ministry and the DA lessons were unforgettable and well produced, created and directed.

Finally, I have something to say: whoever says this is a bad movie, fan or not, complains about the adaptation or something else is not "expressing his opinion": it's proving he doesn't know the first thing about cinema. This is a GREAT movie, not a "great HP movie" but a GREAT movie on its own. David Yates needs to get away quickly from TV and prove everyone the wonderful filmmaker he is, even if this movie will prove it as soon as people realizes is not just an "effin-children's-book" but a fantasy masterpiece that will go beyond our time. Kudos to Rowling for making THIS movie happen just as the third one... kudos...

Quietly, slowly, tenderly and extremely heartbreaking is the way Johansson's performance matches the amazing Japanese context into which Coppola's genius mixes the lives of two lost souls. One of the greatest masterpieces of the new century, its biggest flaw relies on not being for everyone. It's better to watch this in a HUGE state of depression or nihilism, as extreme happiness doesn't match with the pathetic hearts of this two characters. The greatest performances of 2003, along with a beautiful and sutile cinematography (watch the opening sequence for confirmation) make this one incredible, nearly flawless piece of art... we will always have Tokyo...

Beautiful
Stunning
Gorgeous
Inspiring
Extraordinary
Breathtaking

"He turned down a blow job from his ex-girlfriend... mid-blowjob. You know how hard that is for a man? It's called blue balls. He's like Gandhi! But better - he likes puppets!"

I really want to write a fantastic review about this, so, I will take my time... but, damn! I have to start writing all these reviews already!

Jason Segel is by far one of the best actors I've had the pleasure to see. His whole body of work amazes me: between SLC: Punk!, Freaks & Geeks and this, he shows a fantastic range like no other Apatow Pack member yet.

:)

*Review coming soon*

Whoever reads at least 10 of my reviews knows I easily refer to a good or great film as "flawless", "perfect" or "masterpiece" as if nearly every single movie I see is, in fact, perfect. I understand and confess that sometimes I get a little bit "too excited" when it comes to a great film but as soon as this movie started and, obviously, by the final 20 minutes, I knew this was, probably for the first time in years, a truly masterpiece and I'm not afraid to write it down because whoever sees it will know I'm not, for one, overreacting.

The beautiful, gorgeous and, yes, FLAWLESS aspect of this film is how the tragedy and the intensity of its characters is subtle and quiet just until the last minutes but that doesn't mean it's ever boring or slow because it actually manages to hold the tension all the way and makes us repeatedly wonder what's going to happen with this hurt, destroyed souls in search of justice and dignity.

The characters reach so much depth and the dialogues are so stunning, yet silent that you can just let go and enjoy the tragic ride. Jennifer Connelly is gray and teary-eyed all the time but she never gets melodramatic. Let's just say her character is closer to "Dark water" than "A beautiful mind" and the direction/screenplay is so precise she doesn't need help from any of her usual gimmicks that we all love but that, in this movie, we don't miss. Let's just say she stepped out of the freakin box and found out the most powerful weapon to the audience's soul was inside of her painful look. It helps a lot, of course, that her co-star is Ben Kingsley in what is, without any doubt, his best performance. I loved his character from the first moment he had a quarrel with his wife: there wasn't a single word that came out of his mouth that didn't have sense or dignity and everything he says is correct in argumentation and intelligence. It's a rightful men that doesn't want to hurt anyone and his only flaw is to be so naive, innocent and, of course, loving to his family's honour. By the look of some clips, Shohreh Aghdashloo's character looked extremely melodramatic and cliche but, boy was I wrong! Her performance is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on screen. Maybe she didn't reach Connelly's depth or Kingsley's powerful presence but her fear was as terrifying as anything the two lead beasts at war could do or say.

Yes, this movie is not a regular drama. This movie is almost like a modern greek tragedy as everything these characters did was already written in the stars and the only thing they did wrong was making the choices they made for better or for worst.

This movie is terrifying, unconfortable, visually stunning and intense but beware because the fog never disappears and the light of a beautiful morning never comes through the windows.

*Review coming soon*

A drama with fairy tales elements.

The first sentence from Flixster's own synopsis for "August Rush" shows exactly the essence of the movie and the reason why so many people (bitter people) has called this "corny", "cliche" and stuff like that. I think the movie is extremely sweet but it's not as corny or cheesy as, for example, "Forrest Gump" or "Titanic" or movies like that. I think it's a cute fairy tale about an orphan who stumbles into the world with a gift. Is the gift too far-fetched? Of course! But that's what's so wonderful about this one. It's a fantasy movie about music and coincidences in life, about love and about family.

So, why is this so great? Because "family movies" from some years til now have been hideous, boring and artificial instead of cute, sweet and compelling, just as "August Rush".

The music is simply extraordinary, both the score and the songs, and Jonathan Rhys Meyer's voice is really wonderful as it is his performance over all. He is, by far, the best in the movie and gives one of the most beautiful supporting performances of the year. Keri Russell goes a little bit for the melodramatic side of the movie and Freddie Highmore is everything we can expect from here and a little bit more.

It's so sad producers decided to have a "bankable" name for the movie and included Robin Williams in the cast in what has to be his worst and most annoying performance ever. Actually, I can think of at least 100 actors than can play the exact same Fagin-ish role with more guts and charm than Williams.

The good thing is that his character (along with his performance) is so simple and unimportant, he doesn't ruin the movie at all.

If your heart is cold enough to not love this wonderful film, just wait to the last scene: August's Rhapsody melts anything.

The most heartbreaking movie I've ever seen.

I loved how life suddenly isn't as "pink" as it was the first 30 minutes or so. Great touch from the cinematographer.

This is definitely so much more than people say. Beautiful and extraordinary.

After a second (and third) view, I know what's the movie really about. Behind the inicial cool/blogger vibe, a warm, charming story awaits for those willing to see beyond the weird dialogue and the "light" sense of humour. It's not about being 2007's "indie flick that could", it's simply about being a compelling movie with wonderfully created characters and laughs/tears to share.

I don't know if this is the year's best movie or the best female performance (I save that title for Angelina Jolie) but it's not about that either! It's about love and enjoying life taking risks at every single step of the way.

I'm a Kraken from the Sea, by the way...

EDIT: I cried my eyes out when I saw it for the fourth time.

"Bully" finds a great spot between the "almost-documentary-reality" of "Kids", Larry Clark's first masterpiece, and his "surreal-sex-suburban-hell" featured in "Ken Park".

A group of kids decide to kill one of their "friends" named Bobby (Stahl) after Marty (Renfro) and Ally (Miner) convince them that he deserves to die. Ally creates a spider web of lies and hate in order to get everyone in touch with her loath towards Bobby and the games begin... Murder is not a joke and it's harder than it seems. But sometimes it looks like the only way out.

Here, Clark decides to forget his "Let's capture real kids on film" motto and develops his characters far away from social cliches or junkie, skate-ish gangs. He shows a maturity in his directional work achieving some great performances from his entire cast in dark characters with beautiful dept and emotion. Renfro and Stahl get on a one-on-one acting fight through the entire movie but Rachel Miner gives the most haunting, cleverly dark performance of the movie. A wonderful screenplay, a mature direction and outstanding, deep performances make this the best Larry Clark film to date. I know I love "Ken Park" the most but I have to admit that this one is simply better executed. A triumph.

Tarantino doesn't get any better than this. He's able to tell an absolutely complex story (imitated over and over again) with no more than 10 characters and no more than a couple of sets, most of all an abandoned factory where we listen to the obstacles behind a well-staged robbery that went wrong: genius. Best opera-prima of the last 50 years, it's violent, wicked and hugely funny. A great film... not even Tarantino himself has been able to top it, not even with "Pulp fiction" or "KB2", really... Screenwriting at its best.

A poem over thin ice.

Nice little film with amazing performances. I love it... I ADORE it. But it's flawed. The screenplay is incredible at the beginning... sadly, after the first half hour, it starts to go down and finally it crashes and burns in the last 5 minutes. Colin Farrell 2nd best performance to date ("Tigerland" will always be his "Godfather") and a surprisingly warm Sissy Spacek with a charming Dallas Roberts and a wacky Robin Wright Penn is not enough. Watch it as acting lessons from great teachers... but that's all. I won't stop loving it anyways

The first part was made for the action, for the violence and the fun. The sequel is where the real deal is stored. With even more awesome fight sequences but also out-of-this-world dialogues and some kick-ass screenplay issues, Tarantino delivered as promised: a masterpiece. Uma Thurman's career is over as she won't top this one EVER! David Carradine's comeback and Daryl Hannah showing us she can actually act... and be AMAZING at it !! As fast and furious as a movie can get, and with an amazing "Tarantinesque" soundtrack, martial arts reborn with this one. Cool!

if "Requiem..." is the mother of all drug movies, this one's the father. Aronofsky's film deals with the mind and the body, guilty of each character's addiction in a dramatic way... this one's a comedy!! Renton suffers his addiction but he exposes his reasons so clearly and convincingly that you actually BUY IT!! You agree with every decision he makes and every needle he uses, everything's ok and, after all, "Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?", Renton says. Incredible. Fast paced. Young. Fresh. Sick. Wacky. Wicked. Cool... yep, cooool. A cool flick for every generation, including the hero of "after 1980 generation": Renton. The man. The jackass.

unspeakable bad and nastily awful are little adjectives that don't get the size of this piece of poo... but it's actually so bad it's AMAZING! One of the sickest movies ever, this one's not for weak minds (and stomachs) but for geniuses in the making with broadminds to realize this one's a masterpiece of John Waters' craft. Better than "Hairspray", better than "Cry-baby" and a lot more, Waters doesn't get any better than this. Unbelievable. But awful. Great. But awful... well, you get the idea.

As a documentary it's extreme, raw, real and great. As fiction... it's even better! Larry Clark hit the right note with "Ken Park" as an auteur but this one made him a well-known "enfant terrible" that even got to go to CANNES! Justin Pierce's performance is going to be kept for the ages to come but the real deal about this is the handful of nowadays stars/really committed actors/artists that started here. Chloë Sevigny and Rosario Dawson come to mind. AIDS, booze, sex, skateboards, drugs, sex, pot, sex, and skinny dipping... and, did I mention sex? And, guess what? We're watching real 15 y-olds. But, is this over the top? No. It's real. That's creepy... but that's exactly what makes this one so cool and amazing.

Just as "Big Fish" showed Burton's style all over the place but in a mature, sutile way, "Santa Sangre" shows a mature Jodorowsky that doesn't rejoice in his own visual style or earlier screenplays but creates a masterpiece on the lunatic and family with larger-than-life performances by Blanca Guerra and both his sons without rejecting his usual gimmicks. A piece of art

the first masterpiece of 2007

a masterpiece, Gus van Sant's comeback, a documentary... call it whatever you like, this one's a KO! Long shoots of kids walking through empty highschool aisles make you feel inside their lives. The last hours of several people make you realize how sick this life is. The last hours of the two guys that are gonna end with several kids lives are portrayed with such poetry and heart as you wouldn't dare to think about them. You love them, you pity them, you hate them but you want to hug them, make love to them... make them happy... or maybe even help them. Who knows? This movie isn't about Columbine and, actually, it could've happened anywhere. This is art. Full stop.

Amazing satire of the tough enviroment that surrounds a writer's birth. Funny every second, it changed my life and that's probably why I embrase it so much but I just saw this again last month like 5 times and I confirm every single praise I have for it. Really cool, funny and great to watch and enjoy! It doesn't get any more underrated than this!!

Flawless. A modern american cinema masterpiece by Sam Mendes. One of the best ensemble performance ever, Kevin Spacey: perfect.
Annette Bening: more than perfect.
Wes Bentley: never better than this. One of the best performances of 1999.
Thora Birch: never better.
Mena Survari: WHERE'S THE TALENT SHE SHOWED HERE?? Please, stay away from teen movies!!
Imposible to hate, it's shocking, it's raw, it's wicked, it's funny, it's sexy and real. One of the movies you've got to see if you call yourself a filmmaker.

Sick but actually really touching, it's Miike's masterpiece and he doesn't get any better than this. Deals with the mind... and plays with it. Owns several (probably endless) analysis, meanings and interpretetions but each and every one of them matches at the same point: this is art. Beautiful shots surround twisted situations creating the right enviroment to laugh at incest, sadism, bullying, prostitution, reality TV, rape, necrofilia and other stuff while looking at life as only Miike could do it...

The ultimate romantic comedy. Before the genre matured and then started to collapse flick after flick until today, Rob Reiner developed a modern masterpiece. Really innovating for its genre and context, it's touching, cute, funny and eternal. Great performances.
I know I always say this but this time is actually true: Meg Ryan doesn't get ANY better than this!

I knew it! I knew this was going to be a masterpiece on acting, directing and screenwriting! Terrific! Outstanding! OUTSTANDING! Emilio Estevez reveals himself as an extremely professional and fresh filmmaker that should be more recognized than he is. He had a tough task ahead of him: the screenplay is complicated and hard-to-shoot as there are so many characters but at the end of the movie you know every single one of them (and Bobby) as if they were your best friends ever. The acting is simply incredible. Estevez managed two big things. He got outstanding performances from awful actors: Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Ashton Kutcher, Christian Slater and Emilio himself pulled their characters off like huge pros. Also, stuck/so-so actors like Joshua Jackson, Lindsay Lohan, Elijah Wood, Heather Graham among others managed to create amazing characters and give amazing performances. This is an actors' movie but the screenplay also shines in so many ways it's hard to describe. A disgustingly underrated movie. The music and cinematography also shine but the best-of-show is BY FAR Freddy Rodriguez' performance that steals the show with every single breath he takes and every word he says (or doesn't say) with or without Laurence Fishburne. Ashton Kutcher's comic relief performance, Lindsay Lohan's cute-as-hell character, Nick Cannon actually ACTING, Anthony Hopkins finally not playing some serial killer and so many other bits of genius make Estevez' debut behind the camera something really hard to forget. Aretha's singing also helps. Probably Helen Hunt/Martin Sheen's plotline could have been a little bit more well-drawn but it doesn't ruin the film at all since Hunt's character ends up being one of the most beautiful characters in the last years... but it could've been better... WAY better...

Anyways, a hell-of-a-movie-masterpiece. Estevez is THE man!

Absolutely one of the best movies for the Vietnam-period ever made (if not the best) along with BY FAR the best Colin Farrell performance that made EVERYONE trust him and believe he was a star in the making. He then made "Phone Booth" and "Minority Report" that, along with this one, showed such a beautiful and wide range that should be shown again soon, please! Anyways, this film is extreme, raw, on-your-face and always exciting. Schumacher KNOWS his business, he just has to choose better projects to show this. The entire cast delivers beautifully, specially the AMAZING performance by Clifton Collins, Jr. Absolutely an out-of-this-world film that should be seen without any prejudices. It's just amazing.

So flawless! Amazing! Great directing, great screenplay, great performances, and: Frank, the bunny. What else do you want? Try to interpretate it but it's useless: just enjoy it!

The thing about this one it's that you MUST've seen it before all the hype and the buzz and the fight against "Brokeback Mountain" and "Amores perros" started to appreciate just how awesome it is. The screenplay and the direction are flawless and hipnotize you but the real deal here it's, of course, the ensemble cast. As a whole, it's awesome, but you have to see all the little roles that make the whole be simply as great as it is. Michael Peña, Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton steal the ensemble's thunder with larger-than-life character development and amazing pace and nuance to say their dialogues. Peña is definitely the Best in Show and I'm still pissed to realize how underrated he is. Just as this movie. I know it's weird to call it "underrated" when it seemed to everyone like the most "overrated" movie ever but that's exactly what I mean: many people where biased by the "Brokeback..." thing and started hating this without seeing it as a single movie, away from all the buzz and hype. I saw it several months before it started to pop up in award shows and I loved everything about it. I think it's simply outstanding, buzz aside.

My recommendation?
See it in about 5 or maybe 10 years. Same goes to "Brokeback mountain"... After the jokes and the hating and the over-praise die, you can see it with virgin eyes and realize just how great films both are. Or just decide by yourself.

a groundbreaking thrilling and extremely exciting and amusing flick by Joel Schumacher, it deals with truth, morality and ethics in an original and fun way. Colin Farrell shines with an amazing performance as a man trapped in a... well... phone booth while he's being threatened by a sniper who wants him to come clean to his wife and his lover. Out-of-this-world cinematography and a bearable Katie Holmes, along with a GREAT vocal performance by Kiefer Sutherland and a great direction by an underrated -sometimes stupid- director, make this movie a popcorn, yet amazing, masterpiece that should be taken seriously and seen as more than a Farrell's flick but a great performance that holds the entire movie together scene after scene, shock after shock...

One of the most ground-breaking fantasy/oniric movies in Latin America. Nicolas Lopez (director) is a complete master in capturing the mind of a geeky teenager and presenting it in surreal, fun, original moments mixing reality with imagination. The performances are flawless as it is the extraordinary soundtrack, screenplay and visuals (which is extraordinary in Latin America) so the plot could run fast and free for an amazing movie-experience. As warm, cute and tragic as funny, hilarious and exciting, a really original film from a promising director

doesn't beat its own sequel but an amazing proof of Tarantino's unnatural talent... nice, unforgettable moments

Gets you in all the right spots so the tears come down as easy as sneezing: suddenly, you're crying. The performances are by far the highlights of this piece of mexican-indie filmmaking. Between Elizabeth Cervantes and Julia Urbini, the directors managed to take some kick-ass emotions from their actresses. Juan Carlos Colombo is great in his weird character but he's the weakest spot in the movie as we never know what the hell is going on with him: we don't know his life, his context or background. It's just an ill guy next door. Anyways, it's a nice little film that should be seen by everyone. Specially young mothers and daughters from young mothers: they will cry their eyes out with this excellent film.

Andrés Montiel shines too and should be remembered as a nice actor who should get some work (besides TiVO commercials)

Another masterpiece from Jeunet, one of my all-time favorite directors. With this one, I've now seen every single one of his movies (yes... even "Alien 4") and I can call myself a real fan. Somebody told me Audrey Tautou's performance was just another repertoir of her usual Amelie-gimmicks but that's just not true: she really takes the whole weight of the film over her shoulders like a real pro. Visually stunning with great music and amazing performances (Jodie Foster is a really good actress in french...), this is one of the top love movies ever made. There isn't a love like Mathilde's... MANECH AIMES MATHILDE!! MATHILDE AIMES MANECH!! MMM... love doesn't get any better than that...

For those of you out there hating biopics: this one is for you. Wisely enough, instead of trying to show in a matter of 3 hours (because those damned biopics are long!) the whole existance of a human being, from troubled childhood to drugs and tragic death, James Mangold focuses on Cash's torrid relationship with his wife June Carter and the struggle of June to save his best friend and future husband from the abyss of failure, drugs and self-torture.

Thanks to Joaquin Phoenix's flawless abilty to go deep into Cash's dark soul and creating such a delicious and innocent, yet dark character, the movie is more than just a biopic and it's almost as if Mangold had created a deep love story out of two tridimensional characters, famous or not. Joaquin's out-of-this-world voice (a homage to Cash instead of just an impersonation) completes the circle of perfection and makes this one of the truly best films ever made about rock and roll or simply music in general.

It's clear that Reese Witherspoon's performance is terrific and reaches extraordinary depths and peaks (and what a voice she has!) but I'm still sore about her undeserved win at the 2005 Oscars when it was clear Felicity Huffman's ability and talent were absolutely bigger than Reese's. She's great but there were better female performances that year. Fortunately, that's not important when watching her in such a lovable, cute, mature performance.

This is a masterpiece. Maybe just because of the two leads' voices and performances or maybe because it's better than almost every single biopic of the last 20 years, but there's no doubt about this movie's charm and magic. Johnny Cash is proud.

Every single second of film blows your mind.

I reee-eh-lly thought for a long time that this was way overrated but it is actually one of the most beautiful love stories ever told on film. Ryan Gosling's performance carries the entire movie and makes everyone realize why he is one of the greatest actor of his generation if not the greatest. Rowlands and Garner are, of course, marvelous and McAdams is actually kind of annoying but there's a lot of talent in her, you can tell. Cassavetes is truly a great actors' director and pulls the best out of his entire cast. Of course it's a little bit unrealistic as most love stories are. After all, the melodramatic, extremely sweet and tragic passion and infatuation of a poor-boy/rich-girl relationship HAS to be as unrealistic as it sounds but Cassavetes and the cast manage to turn things out of cliché and make a truly remarkable screenplay work as if no other love story has ever been told before this one. I'm in love with this movie.

I bought this one about 5 years ago but I just saw it yesterday for the first time. My expectations weren't too high. Why? Because for one weird reason, everyone that borrowed this movie from me hated it! After the first half of the first song, I HAD ALREADY FALLEN IN LOVE WITH VERBEKE! and with the movie hahaha but mostly with Natalia Verbeke... It's actually a pretty funny, hilarious and so sexy musical that excels in so many levels it's hard not to fall in love with it and its characters. The songs are marvelously chosen (as most of them aren't originals) and the choreographies are cool but one bad thing that turns people away is the singing voices of the non-singers lead roles. They're not perfect but a little bit odd and people reacts badly to it but this is actually to create the effect of weirdness, loneliness and desperation. Sexy sexy sexy and cool cool cool... Nice!

I could say a whole bunch of things about this movie but I think everyone has already said it so I'm going to focus on one single thing: Doug Jones. This movie IS about Doug Jones and his extraordinary ability to morph into any creature that comes from Del Toro's mind. Once I read he even comes up with a unique way to breathe for each character he does... now... THAT's acting.

I have not one single doubt in my mind about Jason Segel's uncanny acting talent. Producers must start seeing through the whole dumb comedy shell and realize the Apatow gang has a lot to offer besides laughter. But if I was surprised by anybody in this movie, it was by Paul Rudd. The man has a lot more range that I thought!

It's a little bit sad that Apatow didn't take this production under his wing because it's clear this movie would've been a bromantic masterpiece with his talent behind the paperwork. Some stuff feels all over the place and it sure needs some editing here and there but the leads' performances save the whole thing over and over again.

Hilarious, cute, smart and bromantic, all the way.

Guys, go see it with your best friend: it feels better.

Kitsch, dark, twisted masterpiece from the 80s!! A nice film that turns into an ode to anarchy after a while and then into a cheesy horror flick, almost slasher-flick. Anyways, it's a prophetic film that goes too far without going THAT far with an OUT-OF-THIS-FUCKIN-LUNATIC-WORLD performance by Timothy Van Patten that should be remembered as one of the greatest performances of the 80s!!! Unbelievable talent and a sexy performance from a guy that is wasting himself directing TV series instead of using his extreme talent to pursue acting. Michael J. Fox is just a chubby kid here and you shouldn't see this just for him but for Perry King's lead role and Roddy McDowall's amazing performance from the beginning to his legendary breakdown. Probably the greatest Mark L. Lester film... and that's saying much... A fuckin MUST SEE!!

I cried.
A lot.

Really hard to sit through if you don't think a pothead going mad is funny or mildly interesting. Confusing, nonsense, illogic, lame, idiotic, stupid, hilarious, genius, intense, slow, boring, reiterative... call it whatever you like but you've got to admit: this is the ultimate pothead movie or maybe the "Fear and Loathing..." for the new generation. Anna Faris is funny as hell but the real deal is called John Krasinski in a much funnier role than the one he made in "License to Wed". We can call 2007 his last stupid year before taking charge of next year's "Brief interviews with hideous men" directing and writing. Krasinki's hability to make everyone laugh with the minimum effort (see "Jim's faces" in "The Office" for more info on that) is legendary. He doesn't have to go over the top in a Carrey-ish way but just like the good old Zach Braff (before season 3 of "Scrubs") he just says his lines hitting every single right note all the way to your laughing system. By far one of the most underrated actors nowadays.

Good movie, hilarious but maybe too weird for some people: not for everyone. But perfect for me!

The original film means a WHOLE LOT of things to me and it's a really important film in my life (I mean, it's JOHN WATERS for God's sake!!!) so I thought I was gonna hate this... but I ADORED IT! The film respects and pays tribute to Waters' style all over the way (including the juicy cameos) and manages to turn a so-so Broadway musical into a wonderful, funny, cute, fresh and cheery movie that will be impossible to forget. It keeps you dancing and enjoying a GREAT time of your life along the way without leaving out the good quality technically and artisticly.

Every single cast member, from Elijah Kelley (amazing breakthrough) to James Marsden (that can actually sing!), from a nice surprise as Amanda Bynes to an actually REALLY great Zac Efron, everybody does an OUTSTANDING job! But Travolta steals the show ALL THE WAY TO THE AUDIENCE'S HEART! His character is a brand-new woman, far from Divine or Harvey Fierstein. Travolta is worth seeing the movie everyday of the week, twice-a-day!

It's over the top and everything but it's simply delicious to see where do "Rent", "Spring Awakening" and "Across the universe" have to pay tribute for their plots and character development. John Savage and Treat Williams give two of the best male performances I have ever seen in a musical and the music and lyrics are gorgeous. What a delightful movie! Who knew Beverly D'Angelo was HOT?

Every once in a while, there comes a movie that tries to reivindicate a genre that's considered lost into clichés and bad movies after bad movies. One of the genres where this happens the most is in the so-called "teen movies". For every single "American Pie" there's a "Thirteen", for every single "Road trip" there's a "Brick", an "Elephant", a "Duck season", a "Mean creek"... one of the always awful subgenres of "teen movies" is the disgusting, almost unbearable world of "summer camp movies"... the number of movies that take place in these hell-holes (by the look of all of those movies) is extreme and keeps growing each year but it was in the 90s when it was just unstoppable. It was like a really stupid campaign to get even more kids into these camps, from "Heavy Weights" to "Parent trap" and all the slasher movies, it was just about time to cry out loud: ENOUGH! and so the 90s ended, youth was now into violence and teenagers killing other teenagers and sex... way more sex. Then, in 2002, it was turn for a visit to an old friend: the freakin summer camp. The cast of "Happy Campers" was unbelievable (as my face could've tell when I found the movie on TV): Brad Renfro in his good years, Peter Stormare and newcomers-back-in-the-day Jamie King and Justin Long... I mean, what the hell? Right? And so the movie began. One extremely raw surprise after another, one good turn after another, one hell-of-a-great performance after another. Daniel Waters, the director, doesn't fear clichés, he uses them to not only make fun of a walking cliché (summer camp) and a terrible bunch of movies that came with that subject: he embraces the clichés of the genre to create something unique, something raw and unexpected... something trully ORIGINAL. Sex, sex and more sex, but not only between horny teenagers but the first approaching of a bunch of KIDS to sexuality without censorship of stupid morality but truth and intelligence. "Happy campers" also speaks about LIFE and what sucks about it with such an excellent narrative and a flawless dialogue after another. The plot is carried by the characters which results into a fast-paced, yet careful movie-experience. It is, then, the ultimate summer-camp movie, as it is the ONLY intelligent, truthful summer-camp movie because it doesn't want to show you "how summer camp really is" but how kids and teenagers-becoming-adults really are. It's probably one of the few movies I've ever seen to really capture every single doubt, desire, dream and crazyness in a 10-y-o mind or a 18-y-o heart... Really, really, trully underrated. Brad Renfro's best after "Bully"... Justin Long's best after "Galaxy Quest"... and Jamie King's best BY WAAAY TO FAR! What ever happened to Dominique Swain, btw?? And Peter Stormare... well... I'll stick to "Fargo" and "Constantine" for now...

I waited long enough! And it was worth it!
This movie is an absolutely delicious treat. I hate when people call this "stupid" just because the director is not somebody with "cult status" that, with the same one-liners and action-packed hilarious comic relief, would've had them drooling all over the place.
It's fun, it's wicked, it's raw, it's crazy, it's unrealistic but, over all, it is COOL. The characters are cynic, confident and angry at everyone and everything and you roll with them laughing all the time. Clive Owen is perfect for the role and Paul Giamatti is sinfully badass. As for Monica Belucci... well, let's just say she won't leave your mind for a while.

Best scene? You have plenty to choose from: having sex in the middle of a shootout, eating carrots in the middle of a shootout, or maybe just carrying a baby while shooting some badguys (drinking game alert!! Every single death - a drink!), but the best Mr. Smith gimmick ever is by far creating a gun out of his hand. You gotta see it to believe it!

It's a little bit unrealistic and kind of stiff at some points but the plot was unrealistic enough to warn the audiences this wasn't a very serious movie with a very strong critic towards something.

But even if this isn't the masterpiece some of us expected, it's still a wonderful, exciting and extremely entertaining thriller with amazing cinematography (what can we expect from a mexican movie if it isn't beautiful cinematography?) and a fast-paced screenplay, along with a poweful ending.

It's nice to see a mexican movie that doesn't deal with crime and poverty in the same way most of the 90s mexican movies did. Instead of dividing the movie between "rich" and "poor" (because the characters do that themselves), the director divides everything between "right" and "wrong" and works with ethics and morality providing us with flawed characters that, when scared, are unable to control their instincts and lose their humanity.

The movie tells the story of three thieves that enter a prestigious "forbidden city" where the rich and privileged live surrounded by a wall (The Zone) and, when attempting to mug her, kill an old lady, starting a manhunt where two of them die. The remaining kid (Alan Chavez, in one of two extraordinary performances this year, double-nominated for an Ariel) hides in a boy's basement, where he develops a small relationship with him by realizing they're not different from each other. Unfortunately, the "Board" of neighbors will do ANYTHING to chase down the remaining boy and "make justice".

The best of the entire movie is definitely the ensamble cast that includes the elite of "good actors" in mexican cinema instead of just an "all star" cast of "hotties". From Daniel Gimenez Cacho (one of the best mexican actors ever) to classic old foxes like Blanca Guerra and newcomers like Daniel Tovar, Alan Chavez and Marina de Tavira, including underrated actors like Andres Montiel, Mario Zaragoza and Enrique Arreola, the cast is strong enough to portray a "mini-government", sort of Big-Brother-ish, that won't stop until "their security is total". The metaphor towards the ultimate "Zone" (USA) is subtle but acid.

Don't miss this for anything in the world. A little bit over-exaggerated but exciting enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Stunning, simply stunning. Jean Pierre Jeunet (and Caro) really inspire ANYONE to go behind the camera and direct, CREATE! Their ability to tell such wicked stories as reflections of life as we know it, is bigger than the screen itself! This one's by far one of the greatest twisted films ever made and one of Jeunet's masterpieces. It deserves the buzz as not so many movies do

If a sci-fi-hater loves this movie as much as I did (and as much as I hate sci-fi), then that's a good sign. Danny Boyle keeps on demonstrating why edgy tales of humans VS the universe are his best recipe to create a great film. Great visuals, amazing music and incredible performances by the "Hello, I'm underrated" cast (Evans, Murphy, Curtis, Yeoh!! and Byrne) complete an outstanding action film with great deep thoughts all over the place. A "2001:Space Odissey" for the new generation with thoughts and fears for the new generation. My comment is a little bit low for such a film like this but I still don't know what the hell happened in me while watching this... and I watched this about 4 months ago. You can fill in the blanks.

Top 10 of 2007, hands down.

Brilliant!

It's a definitely unique movie in the jungle of the mexican movie industry. For no more than 4 years, mexican cinema has evolved to be inspired by the indie way of making movies: the characters are starting to evolve into human beings with flaws and awkwardness and the humour is silent and weird, nothing is obvious or predictable. Before this evolution, mexican filmmaking considered important to raise a warning about social issues and marginality, poor people struggling with reality and depressing scenarios. I think the best examples of how mexican directors care even more about their characters than the way they live or how poor they are, are "Duck Season" (2004) and this one, "Blue Eyelids" (2007)... If Wong Kar-Wai did a movie in Mexico, it would probably look a little bit like this one.

It's as indie as it can possibly get and it's full of moments to prove it: the characters are awkward and boring, the situations are uncomfortable, the humour is subtle and comes from the most unlikely moments of silence and the dialogues are dull and full of brightness. The movie tells the story of Marina and Victor, who probably met in Junior High School but they're now just a couple of strangers who share the most painful of diseases in big cities like Mexico City: loneliness. Marina wins a trip to a beautiful beach and decides she doesn't want to travel by herself but she has no one to call. That's where Victor, a lonely, boring insurance office worker pops into frame and, after deciding they are going to take the trip together, they start an awkward, surreal relationship to "know each other better" before going to the beach.

This movie has been slaughtered by some of the audience and critics who recognize the great moments and the excellent performances and direction but call the screenplay "too unrealistic" and the situations "too dull". The fact that they acknowledge this characteristics from the wonderful script (written by the director's brother) proves my theory on the New-New Mexican Cinema style (New-New because back in the early 90s there was a New Mexican Cinema, this one's different, so it's New-New) and shows how mexican audiences are not ready to fully enjoy an experience like this one. Anyways, it has been loved by everyone; with lots of excuses, but loved nevertheless. The characters are actually more realistic than they look and the whole movie makes you smile and feel in love... and awfully lonely at the same time. Gorgeous art direction and set decoration, along with one of the greatest cinematographies of last year, complete this wonderful piece of cinema that mustn't get lost in translation as loneliness and love are universal codes. Enjoy!

Exciting, thrilling and unforgettable, it deserved more luck than this. Actually a GREAT film, not only a cool one but a GREAT one! Amazingly well directed, some of the best performances of 2005, great effects, cool music... the whole package... Just pay attention to the final showdown over the Empire State, at sunset, and you'll know what I mean!

Tim Burton's masterpiece. A mature film for fathers & sons.

I hoped this would honor the original play in a proper way because the play is a masterpiece! Well... it did! The performances carry the entire film just as it would've happened on stage instead of filling an adaptation with visual effects and "creepy" music they focused on the paranoia and claustrophobia of the characters: simply extraordinary acting lessons with some gory moments and bits of insanity that will keep you wondering "What the hell is this and why did I play it on my DVD?"... simply outstanding piece of filmmaking. Kudos to Judd for picking better films than before, ever since "De-Lovely" she knows what the hell she is doing, Harry Connick Jr. is marvelous but the REAL FUCKIN DEAL is Michael Shannon reprising his on-stage role and carrying the entire film on his shoulders.
4 stars for acting + 1 star for being just great over-all = 5 stars for being a masterpiece of paranoid horror!

actually AMAZING, almost perfect satire of reality. GREAT FILM, forget Lindsay, it's almost auteur hehehe well... no, just cool. Great satire, thou

It's got JAZZ, it's got SUPERHEROES, it's got DRAMA, it's got ACTION... OUT-OF-THIS-WOLRD!! Second-best animated feature ever created, just below Miyazaki's masterpiece "Spirited Away"... even if Miyazaki produced 10 more masterpieces, this one's when ANIMATION matured and entered a new era.

Unbelievable. Best ensamble performance of the year and one of the best ensembles EVER. But actually neither Brad Pitt nor Cate Blanchett and not even Gael García are the best of the film: "Babel" is owned by Adriana Barraza (Amelia), Boubker Ait El Caid (Yussef) and Rinko Kikuchi (Chieko)... they are the actual lead roles in this amazing masterpiece of art and THEY TAKE YOUR LIFE AWAY!!! Adriana Barraza: Best Single Performance of the Year.

By WAY TOO FAR, the best movie of the entire fuckin saga. Colombus finally decided to stop raping Rowling's creations and gave the power to make this book alive to one of the greatest fantasy filmmakers ever: the one and only, Cuarón! Thank you LORD!! THANK YOU!! The performances were better than EVER and even Radcliffe was a little bearable while wrapped into an excelent film. A masterpiece on fantasy, action and teenage desire, it turned a great book into an out-of-this-world piece of great art. I just can't believe how far is this movie from part 1, 2 and 4 which are hideous and stupidly idiotic. This magnificent film showed to the world that the excellent cast wasn't the one to blame for the other movies but the worst director ever: Colombus, the hideous. I hope the 5th movie will be also great thanks to a great director and an even greater cast... this one's extraordinary!!

Ang Lee failed terribly when mixing audiences-desires with artistic merit... Del Toro proves himself as a master of his business mixing our reality, his reality, eye-candy for the people, mythology for the fans, outstanding direction and such a WARM screenplay, creating a flawless movie. One of the best films of 2004 it has it all: a touching, solid and master-degree direction along with FLAWLESS performances by the ENTIRE cast. Nobody doubts of Del Toro's muses, Ron Perlman and Doug Jones, talents but the nicest cherry on the most perfect cake is by far Selma Blair... Before this one, I have NEVER, EVER seen something quite like it: a TRULY GOOD performance by her. She delivers like a huge pro and, believe me, I have seen ALL OF HER filmography for some weird reason and I HATED HER for being so cold and distant! Now she has MY ENTIRE respect and MORE! John Hurt touches softly every single right note and the visuals are terrific. The screenplay, the direction and Ron Perlman give Hellboy a sense of humanity no other super-hero has and a dimension so touchable and close to ourselves that it's almost like we are INSIDE the freakin movie!! As much as somebody talks to the goddamn camera, it's REALLY hard to create the sense of partnership between the characters and the audience. DO WE NEED ANY OTHER PROOF THAT DEL TORO IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ARTISTS EVER IN THE GODDAMN FUCKIN BUSINESS????? DO WE REALLY NEED SOMETHING BESIDES "CRONOS", "EL ESPINAZO DEL DIABLO", "PAN'S LABYRINTH" AND THIS MASTERPIECE?????

Extraordinary!

People usually forget Nickelodeon Movies aren't just bad Rugrats sequels and Steve Oedekerk's male cows getting drunk on milk. Nickelodeon Movies, back in the 90s, gave us amazing "intelligent kids" movies like "Harriet the Spy" and "Snow day", damn! even "Good Burguer" was good! But people think that having the Nickelodeon label means a bad movie. Well, this one proves the opposite.

More than reminding me of "fantasy epics" like Harry Potter and LOTR (why do people ALWAYS put those 2 together?), it reminded me of "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" (another underrated dark masterpiece by Nickelodeon Movies) mostly because it doesn't treat kids like stupid little people that need vomit and farting in their movies to feel entertained, but actual interesting plots with no less than "great" performances and cool visuals (I mean, who doesn't?) and that's exactly what this movie delivers, and how!

If you people really need to compare this with other "fantasy epics", here's the deal: it goes beyond any other fantasy movie simply because it lacks of the pretentious feeling Harry Potter, LOTR, Eragon, Narnia and so many more have. This world, the Spiderwick world full of goblins and fairies, is not hiding behind a wardrobe, or in a dirty old pub in London or a millenium ago in the Middle-Earth or whatever: this is real. The extraordinary screenplay and, why not, the great source from where it all came from (the books) are good enough to create a whole world right there in your backyard, with ACTUAL peril and ACTUAL creatures, not funny magic spells that not everyone is capable of performing or huge battles in front of a gigantic fire eye (I know it sounds as if I hate those movies but I don't, I just think they're not as close-to-you and warm as this one).

Overall, that's why I loved it, but if I have to be specific: the cast is simply mesmerizing. Every single one of the actors does a tremendous job. Ok, maybe Mary-Louise Parker feels a little bit out of place (the woman doesn't know how to do "fantasy acting", you know, believing something's there, like the awful Bonnie Hunt in "Jumanji": out-of-place) but it's awesome to finally see Freddie Highmore in a non-annoying-cry-baby role, stepping out of Haley Joel Osment's shadow for the first time since he came into the picture. His double role, as the rebelious, semi-emo twin and the anal, gay, pacifist twin, shows way more range that his performance in "August Rush", a movie that worked perfectly except for his annoying gimmicks. Sarah Bolger's tremendous talent is not used to the top here but it's great to see her after she disappeared from the face of the Earth after her great role in "In America". The voice cast, lead by Martin Short and Seth Rogen is amazing, and the short appearance by Nick Nolte (who I thought was Kris Kristofferson at first) is scary enough. Joan Plowright and David Strathairn in short but pivotal roles are simply hypnotizing.

Visually stunning and with a music score to remember for many years to come, the movie feels mature, intelligent and exciting the whole time. Even the epilogue, that is usually the most boring part of any movie, is touching and lovely. Too bad the whole movie was shadowed by its distant cousins when it came to critics and box-office but if you try to forget all those other "fantasy epics" for a couple of hours, you'll find yourself truly in love with a fantastic film like this. The characters are so well-written that their family issues and relationships between them are never "useless subplots" but true elements that help us understand them better. Everything fits to perfection, everything is interesting, everything is magical.

extremely COOL, that's the word: cool. Sadly underrated... Funny and warm with some great musical moments and a great cast. Linklater at his best!

way after Travolta hit the melodramatic notes in his resumé, Gyllenhaal tries to look as stupid, idiotic and naive as he could fake it in this masterpiece of innocence and weirdness. Nonsense, irregular and sometimes even cheesy, I have NO FUCKIN IDEA why I love this SO MUCH!! Maybe the funny screenplay with tons and tons of great quotes to remember everyday or the gallery of extremely funny characters that Gyllenhaal finds in his way to stop the girl of her dreams' wedding across the nation, but this movie touches my heart in a way not any movie does. I love it! I love it! I FUCKIN ADORE IT! Stupid and useless but cute and funny!

I don't know how great Slumdog millionaire really is, but I seriously doubt there's any movie better than this one in 2008.

BEST MOVIE 2008

The first 20 minutes or so didn't look like a Del Toro movie, everything felt stiff, forced, as if it were filmed in a hurry.

The introduction (with John Hurt and a big-toothed Hellboy, emphasise on the "boy") had everything to become a memorable moment for the new century (John Hurt tells little Hellboy a bedtime story and we see inside the kid's imagination as he listens to the tale) but the effects/animation was kind of lame and the purpose of the scene flops.

Then, we're back in the BPRD (after some elf trainning in the subway) and we are doomed to cope with Jeffrey Tambor's unfunny character for a while and Hellboy makes a couple of unfunny jokes and Liz is bitchy. By this scene (probably 10 or 15 minutes into the movie), I was pissed and disappointed as it looked like Del Toro's first flop. But then, the whole movie started to make a little bit more sense and by the time the BPRD was fighting the Tooth Fairies, I blinked and the movie became another Del Toro masterpiece. From that moment, right until the very last (freezed) frame, the movie had this unique Del Toro sense of humour, extraordinary visual effects, awesome creatures (not "a shitload of creatures" as some people are barking) and a compelling story. The characters grew up so much from the first movie to this one and this movie is better without taking any credit from the first one, another masterpiece.

Awesome character development, great jokes and fantastic art direction, costume design and make up.

Simply extraordinary.

Most solid mexican film in years. Nothing's over the top, overrated or pretentious, everything's in its right place. Outstanding visual design and excellent performances. Patricia Arriaga, the director, is a pure talent in storytelling and actors' direction. Excellent film. Top 10 of 2007.

An amazing John Waters masterpiece that combines his own style (working with his weird, "unique" friends and being edgy but hilarious) with Hollywood mainstream filmmaking. The perfect combination that proved the world that the genius behind "Pink Flamingos" wasn't just some weird guy with a camera but a really mature, professional, extraordinary FILMMAKER. The man is not a weirdo! He KNOWS how to do his job! The performances, the dancing and the incredible screenplay are worth the entire movie. Divine shines proving us that she is ALSO a professional in her work: she IS an actress. A good one, btw, getting into the hard task to play both a nice mom and a racist S.O.B. that directs a channel. And she shines in both roles as no one does! Ricki Lake has such a beautiful light glowing from inside her it's just impossible not to love her and Michael St Gerard is the perfect hot lead-male. The movie is just flawless from start to finish but lacks of a strong hook to catch people who aren't familiar with the director or the cast but thanks to Divine's, Ricki's, Sonny Bono's and Debbie Harry's fans, it's probable it will leave forever, no matter how many adaptations to any genre come after this. And, in words of John Waters himself: "I hope 'Pink Flamingos' is turned into an Opera..."
n_n

My personal favorite when it comes to Evan's performances. The movie lacks of sense of rythm and flops at some moments while being captivating at some points. That doesn't make a good movie even if most of it is great, that's the main flaw. But Evan's performance is a truly tour-de-force... one of the most underrated performances ever.

Mind-blowing!

unbelievable! Amazing but extremely underrated! One of the best cinematographies of 2001 and some great moments of acting by a better-than-usual Julia Stiles, it's a great flick to enjoy and respect

a masterpiece of animated cinema, sad and depressing. Pixar demonstrates once again they got "it", forget the box office numbers: this is art, a BIG masterpiece of art about the search for family and home and the fight against loneliness

Seeing it once again after more than 15 years without setting eyes on it became one of the most amazing moments in my lifetime: everything I remembered loving was there, only better.

On an objective side, I discovered this was a much better film than I expected it to be: Anjelica Huston's performance ranks high on iconic and timeless, she's larger than life and commands the whole thing every time she's on screen.

The make-up is still extraordinary and the whole transformation process (for both kids and witches) and Anjelica Huston's human mask are still timeless and unforgettable but, unfortunately, the visual effects (explosions and ray beams coming out of fingertips) grew old very quickly and feel more dated than the freakin Bible.

While there was one Roald Dahl book-turned-movie that needed to be remade for the sake of Dahl's legacy (Willy Wonka), this one stands right there with Matilda as a truthful adaptation of one of the greatest voices in children's Literature: a man who never talked down to kids. Including some exact extracts from the original book (you can tell when the narration is word-by-word from a literary text rather than a screenplay), the essence of Dahl's rebellious, intelligent spirit is right there, frame by frame, mouse by mouse.

One of the most brilliant, fresh, exciting, hilarious, thrilling and original action films ever created. Jason Statham was born to play this kind of roles and this movie definitely fits him like a glove. He's the kind of action-man the film industry needs: somebody cool.

Overall, the new and terrific techniques used in the film enhance the fact that this was made to blow everybody's minds... and everything, with a GREAT sense of humour.

Too bad (or too good?) that there's a sequel baking somewhere... it totally ruins the otherwise beautiful ending

An intense, raw masterpiece with extraordinary performances (specially Gerardo Taracena) and outstanding screenplay and beautiful cinematography. A marvelous work of pure art in mexican cinema. No money or big names: just pure love for filming.

I simply can't believe this was hated by such stupid audiences! It's not only supreme and marvelous in technical aspects with larger-than-God-himself costumes, SHOES!, art direction, locations and make up but also with yet another OUTSTANDING performance by Kirsten Dunst (the best Lead Actress of 2006, BY FAR) as the troubled, innocent, naive yet smart and bitchy queen of France. Sofia Coppola CAN'T miss!! She is absolutely the best female director ever!! She really digs sooo deep into women minds and creates such unique atmospheres along with extremely careful, elegant, touching direction. Her abilities behind the camera are so unique and flawless that you can ACTUALLY notice some direction!! In most of films, direction is merely a guy shouting "action!" for no reason at all... in GREAT masterpieces, actors, art direction, cinematography, music and everything else IS ACTUALLY GUIDED by somebody who knows what the hell he (SHE!) is doing!! This is one of those films. A truly underrated masterpiece with such a great style it really blows up the screen with color, tears, laughter and Kirsten Dunst...

Back in 2001, "Scary Movie" was still fresh in our minds and that's why this one looked like an old joke already, and at the same time, as something that unexplicably excelled our expectations. It's hilarious at every single moment, original in its own unoriginality and brings back some of the most amazing memories of youth, from "The Breakfast Club" to "American Pie", instead of making gross, stupid, nonsense jokes it reminds us why cliches are always funny. Molly Ringwald's and Melissa Joan Hart's appearances are simply delicious. Besides, seeing so many actors in their first big role is fantastic. Chris Evans, Samm Levine and Jaime Pressly, just to name a few.

Yes, after all, it IS another teen movie... but how great it is!
(By great I mean HILARIOUS and ENTERTAINING, of course it's crap but chill out and enjoy it!)

It's all about Corey Haim's performance. The boy had some huge talent and great charm. He deserves a second chance in life.

The movie? Cheesy but compelling. One of my all time favorites: a total feel-good flick.