Martin Windhaven (SaberHead)

City Lights Unrated

I cannot say that 'City Lights' is Chaplin's funniest film. His movies are ALL consistently and delightfully hilarious: 'The Kid'', 'the Circus, 'the Gold Rush', and 'Modern Times'. It's hard to measure the laughs of any Chaplin movies against each other, because all of his silent feature films are ingeniously and genuinely funny. They all are a great viewing experience and deserve a look. City Lights, however, may be his finest film overall. I had seen enough Chaplin movies to finally read up on a couple of books about the artist: it was in these books that I found out that Chaplin had shot the ending for 'City Lights' many times over in order to get it right. Mr. Chaplin knew what he wanted and he managed somehow to truly deliver the goods: 'City Lights' had totally taken my breath away upon first viewing, and even as I watch the film again and again it still leaves me speechless. *****

Siwore (Il Mare) Unrated

I've never seen 'The Lake House', but the movie it's based on is this Korean film titled 'IL Mare' ("the Sea'). I happen to rent this movie on a whim and found an unexpectedly wonderful, remarkable, and quietly tragic romance/drama film. It has a unique story with some surprising twists. The film's lovely cinematic imagery has a delicate taste and is like sipping fine wine. One also senses the film has a genuine heart and a fine touch for the two lead characters, and how they deal with loneliness and their desires separated by time. I highly recommend this movie if you come across it in a rental shop, a video store, or anywhere online. I'm a sucker for a good romance film so this one gets five full stars from me. *****