Holiday Wish List

"One Witness. One Camera"

"REC" turns on a young TV reporter and her cameraman who cover the night shift at the local fire station. Receiving a call from an old lady trapped in her house, they reach her building to hear horrifying screams -- which begin a long nightmare and a uniquely dramatic TV report.

REVIEW
This film is a real treat.

The camera work is of that seen in Cloverfield but does a much better job of keeping you hooked, and of course it looks less Hollywood than Cloverfield and better for it I say. The best thing about this film is that it noticeably gets better the more you watch, by the end your completely drawn in and find yourself wriggling in your seat wondering if they are going to make it. For the first five minutes you might get a little concerned but stick with it because you will be rewarded.

Highly recommended for any horror/zombie fan.

"A homespun murder story."

Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of pregnant Marge Gunderson.

REVIEW
Dark comic undertones and excellent character actor performances dominate this richly macabre crime story gone awry flick by the Coen brothers(Joel and Ethan) involving pathetic used car salesman Macy so hard up for money and respect (not necessarily in that order) that he hires a pair of dim-witted thugs to kidnap his wife for ransom from his father-in-law's vast wealth in a plot-line that unravels with nice little twists and snags. McDormand (Best Actress) is perfect as a pregnant Midwestern sheriff on the case with a no-nonsense and homespun effect with her tactics of crime solving. Great cinematography by Roger A. Deakins accentuates the bleak winterscape of unearthed uneasiness. Nominated for Best Supporting Actor Macy, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Academy Award winner for Best Original Screenplay.

"They figured he was a lazy time wasting slacker. They were right."

"Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.

REVIEW
Hysterically funny comic noir salute to THE BIG SLEEP from masters of mirth and menace The Coen Brothers gives a wide brush on the genre with one of cinema's greatest characters ever on The Silver Screen, The Dude (Bridges in an unexpected iconic role having a blast and resembling/channeling Warner Bros. Looney Tune Pete Puma; seriously his facial qualities are uncanny), a leftover '60s hippie/radical/slacker who unwittingly is mistaken for the titular LA entrepreneur (Huddleston) in a wild-and-woolly kidnapping scheme by a pack of numbskulled nihilists. Fast and riotously funny and inimitably quotable (i.e. "That rug really tied the room together") with outstandingly out-there performances by Goodman as The Dude's main amigo and bowling partner Walter Sobchak ("I don't bowl on Shabbas"), Buscemi as their dim bud Donny ("You're out of your element Donny!"), Moore as an avant-garde artiste, and Turturro as a 'pedarast' sporting foe. So many scenes and quotes to call my favorites but Walter's non-stop rant about Vietnam and showing a dullard teen what happens when you "Fuck a stranger in the ass!" are the tops. The Dude Abides!

"Everyone has one special thing"

The story of a young man's adventures in the Californian pornography industry of the 1970s and 1980s.

REVIEW
Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 film "Boogie Nights" is a breathtaking ride through seven years in the pornographic film industry. This was a huge undertaking for this filmmaker's sophomore foray into picture making, but as seen with his prior effort, "Hard Eight", he has a knack for garnering career-making performances from his actors and for interweaving story lines on par with Robert Altman. He seems also to have no qualms with wearing his influences on his sleeve, as is clear by the often spoken about three minute long opening shot that hearkens back to Scorsese or DePalma.

The film follows the journey of a young man, played by the previously under-appreciated Mark Wahlberg, who yearns for a life beyond his Southern California suburban nowhere. Once he meets up with Burt Reynolds, in the finest performance of his career, and his pseudo-family of skin flick makers and performers, the story is just getting revved up. What follows are two and half hours that wiz by with the deft hand of a filmmaker so attuned to the needs of their story that the frequent subplots and meanderings only add texture and aesthetics to the piece. Though it is basically "42nd Street" with a porn twist, it's surprisingly subdued in its expression of on-screen sex, because the film is about so much more. Although their business is sex and pleasure, it is the variation on the family unit and the hopes and dreams of the characters that are really at the core.

Put simply this is brilliant film-making!