My Favorite Movies

Quentin Tarantino's true masterpiece is Reservoir Dogs. It has the most genius script ever written and tremendous acting all around. It takes a completely new approach to a crime thriller. This is my review on my favorite film.

Tarantino's script is fantastic. The film is such an original idea, you wonder how he comes up with it. It has such real, gritty dialogue that you have a hard time actually believing that it is scripted. The words just roll off the actor's tongue and seem like things people would actually say. Sure there is a lot of profanity but those are probably common words among criminals.

The acting in this is absolutely superb and top notch. Tim Roth as Mr. Orange is a great performance and my favorite Roth performance. He has such an in-depth role as the heavily wounded criminal. Harvey Keitel as Mr. White is also great. He just has a unique knack for playing criminals and gangsters. It is as if he was one. Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink is the second best role in the movie. His wiry, frantic acting as the most energetic criminal is absolutely fantastic. It is my favorite Buscemi role he has played, the second being Norther Winslow in Tim Burton's Big Fish. You also get great performances from Lawrence Tierney and Chris Penn. But, the real show-stopping performance is from Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde.

Mr. Blonde is the most creative, the most menacing, and the most interesting role in the entire film, and Michael Madsen plays it perfectly. He is so subdued and calm but yet the most vicious of the group. He has no problem with killing innocent people and no problem doing whatever it takes to get what he wants. Without a doubt, he also has the most memorable scene in the entire picture, and for those of you who have seen it, you know what scene I am talking about. All in all, he steals the show in one of the five greatest cinema performances.

The film is about a group of criminals, who have no relationship to one another, are assembled by Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) to steal some diamonds. The heist goes incredibly wrong and two of the criminals die. The rest rendezvous back to a warehouse, one incredibly injured, and they try to figure out what went wrong. They conclude that one of the members of the group is a cop, but they do not know who the cop is. The rest of the film, they try to figure out who the cop is and they have their own struggles between one another. It is a high-strung, intense crime thriller.

The interesting thing about the film is that they do not even show the heist. It is about the before and after effects of the heist that gets botched. The film is also shown out of sequence. It is a very interesting way of showing the film, but then you realize, this does not have to be in chronological order.

Another great element of the film was the use of music. Using very popular songs, such as "Stuck In The Middle With You" and "Hooked On A Feeling," Tarantino is able to completely change what you think of the song. He uses them in very precise places and they fit perfectly and they make you think.

This film is 100% of what Tarantino is all about. He was the only person who could have directed this and he pulls it off with flying colors. What makes it even more remarkable is that it is his first film. It is virtually flawless and everyone should see it. This movie is a FORCE to be reckoned with.

This is easily the best film of 2008. It is the feature film debut from Martin McDonagh, who gave us fantasic plays like "The Pillowman" and "The Lonesome West." He, personally, is my favorite playwright. He finds such a unique way to mix dark humor with complete tragedy. In Bruges delivers that brilliantly.

The movie is about two hitmen named Ray and Ken, played by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who are sent to Bruges, Belgium to lay low and wait for furthere instructions from their boss Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes. There, they encounter various sight-seeing marvels, a racist dwarf, and a Belgian coke dealer for film crews. Later, you find out they were actually sent there by Harry so that Ken can kill Ray because he botched a hit that happened a few days ago.

The performances in this are all brilliant. Colin Farrell finally picks the right role for himself. If only he could do more films like this one. It seemed so natural and effortless. Fiennes is also fantastic as the stick to your principles boss. He isn't afraid to call you "an inanimate fucking object" if you know what I mean.

But, the real show-stopper is Brendan Gleeson. He plays the very funny, sympathetic guy that everyone loves. He seems to be the only one that cares for Ray and that looks after him. Gleeson and Farrell play two of the most fun and interesting hitmen since Jackson and Travolta (Jules and Vincent) in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

The script, as always from McDonagh, is pure brilliance. I hope that the next thing we see from him is the film version of "The Pillowman," my favorite play.

This film is a lot of fun and I recommend it greatly. It definitely deserves several Oscar nods. I hope that the Academy remembers it even though it came out early in the year.

The Usual Suspects is the greatest mystery story ever told in any medium. It keeps you guessing until the very end, and once you think you have the solution, it completely changes right before your eyes. That is the key to a phenomenal plot twist. The script is just brilliance from beginning to end and at no point in the entire film do you feel you know the answer to the puzzle. The cast was hired perfectly. There was not one poor casting choice. Each actor fit their character perfectly, especially Kevin Spacey and Benicio Del Toro. I am astounded every time I watch this film because you realize something new each time you watch it. I won?t reveal what I have noticed because it would ruin the mystery of the story. John Ottman deserves a lot of credit in this film. His score is one of the best scores I have ever heard in a film and his editing is able to keep the great mystery alive until the last second. I applaud everyone who worked on this film and you should be incredibly proud of your work.

There Will Be Blood is by far the best film of 2007. Daniel Day-Lewis gives, yet again, one of the best performances in cinema history. I?d say he has two in the top five. Anyway, this performance is so real, so personal, and so intense that you have trouble believing that he is playing a character. Sure I could go on talking about his performance, but that would take too much time to write and I?m not going to. This film also has a great performance from Day-Lewis? counterpart Paul Dano. He plays the town?s preacher and you come to realize that the money hungry Day-Lewis character and the supposedly righteous Dano character have a lot more in common than you might think. Aside from the acting, the cinematography in this film is some of the best I have ever seen in a film, and believe me, I?ve seen a lot of them. You actually feel you are living in early 1900s California because everything looks so natural as if you were standing five feet away from it. Paul Thomas Anderson is genius for writing this. It as credited as being based on the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair, but it is far from based. He literally took one page from that book and created a completely new story and I applaud him for that. Overall, it is one of the best pictures I have ever seen.

Pulp Fiction is a very undefined film with a superb script. It is one of the most original films ever shown to an audience.

The film is split into three different story lines. One, is about a hit man named Vincent (Travolta) who is told to entertain the wife (Thurman) of his boss (Rhames). Another is about another hit man named Jules (Jackson) who contemplates retirement after he thinks he witnesses a miracle. The third, and lesser of the stories, is about a boxer (Willis) who is told to throw a fight. He does not and is on the run from Rhames' character.

The three storylines are perfectly woven together by Tarantino. This way of a film may turn some people off who believe in strictly linear stories. Personally, I love the technique. It may not work on every film, but when it has the capacity to work, it does.

Every character in the movie is perfectly cast. But, the standout performances come from Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, and, especially, Samuel L. Jackson. I still do not see why Jackson did not win the Oscar for his performance. It has so many layers and no one can say Tarantino dialogue like him. It was the role he was born to play.

This movie has a very definitive style that can only be shown by Tarantino. That aspect may turn some people away from the film. Some people just don't understand what Tarantino is. It is hard to put into a context of what kind of a writer and director he is. He is a person who understands people. He understands the nature of people and how they function. That is the best I can describe it.

This, by far, is a very original movie that should be seen by everyone. Tarantino deserves every praise he gets for this film.

Updates For The Review Will Come In The Near Future.

Gangs of New York is a rare spectacle to ever come on screen. First off you have to start with the mind blowing performance given by one of the greatest actors of any generation, Daniel Day-Lewis. His portrayal as William ?The Butcher? Cutting is so riveting and raw that you just wonder how he is able to be so good. I?ll tell you why. He does intense research and preparation for each role he does, and that is about 2 years of preparation. He is probably the most dedicated actor to ever appear on screen. Yes Daniel Day-Lewis steals the show but let?s not discount the other performances. Leonardo DiCaprio is our hero, Amsterdam Vallon, in this and it is his first of many collaborations with Martin Scorsese. Sure his Irish accent could have had more work to work out the kinks in it, but overall he still gives a very good performance. Cameron Diaz plays Leo?s love interest and fellow Irish immigrant Jenny Everdeane. She gives the best performance of her career in this film. I was very surprised of how good she was in this. You also get very good performances from Liam Neeson, John C. Reilly, and Brendan Gleeson. But now we have to talk about the directing of Martin Scorsese. He is truly a cinematic genius and there is no denying that and this is probably one of his most personal films. He had been wanting to make this film for 30 years, and now that he finally did, he can hold his head up high because it is truly a masterpiece of a film. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I want to thank the Coen Brothers for giving us this fantastic piece of work. It is such a major improvement from the shit fest that was "No Country For Old Men." This film had a better story, more suspense, and such superior acting to the previous film. Not only that, it was hysterically funny. It is a smart movie for stupid people, and that is all part of the treat that is "Burn After Reading."

The stories that go on in the film are all over the place and very hard to describe. This movie jumps around quite a bit, but it is not hard to follow. It is hard to explain later which draws people into the movie. How bout I say that there are many romantic affairs, blackmail, and paranoia. If that doesn't get you interested, then I feel sorry for you.

The movie has an all star cast that are brilliant. You have the wonderful Frances McDormand playing the character of Linda Litzke. She is a lady going through a mid-life crisis and is desperate to find someone to love in her life. Also, in order to trry to acheive this, she wants to have a substantial amount of plastic surgery done. Frances plays the perfect up-beat, "can-do" person in this.

Tilda Swinton plays the cold hearted bitch that is Dr. Katie Cox. She is a self-absorbed doctor who is married to John Malkovich's character and is having an affair with George Clooney's character. I'll get to those two in a minute. She is very conniving and one of those people you never want to be around. Yet, you love all of her screen time.

John Malcovich plays Osbourne Cox, a CIA agent who has just been fired. After he is fired, he decides to write a memoir which ends up in the hands of Brad Pitt's character. With the blackmail that happens and his wife having an affair and his compulsive drinking, Osbourne eventually drives himself to insanity. He also has tendency to say fuck a lot.

George Clooney plays Harry Pfarrer. He is a man who works for the treasury and apparently has many food allergies. He is having an affair with Tilda Swinton's character, as I already mentioned. He also suffers from a great deal of paranoia. You have to see the film to know why. Otherwise, I would spoil a lot of the plot. He gives one of, if not his best performance of any film he has done. That's saying a lot for he has had some pretty memorable roles.

J.K. Simmons is only in two scenes of the film but he definitely has the second best performance of the film. He plays the CIA person who is pretty much observing what is going on like us, the audience. He has no clue of what is going on but is desperate to find out what. Okay, maybe thats a stretch, but I don't know how to describe his character.

That brings us to Brad Pitt. The most outlandish, eccentric, and memorable role in the entire film. He plays Chad Feldheimer, a personal trainer who stumbles upon CIA secrets in Malkovich's memoirs. He is completely clueless and has no sense of reality. He has no morals and has no idea of how any of what he does will unfold. His character is charming and he is captivating in every scene he has. This is easily his second best role, the first one being the pikey Mickey in Guy Ritchie's "Snatch."

The movie is filled with humor that only the Coen Brothers could have written, another example being "The Ladykillers." It also is very suspenseful at times. You don't realize it at first but it becomes apparent as the film goes on. It has a fantastic balance of hilarious comedy and a suspense thriller. This should, and I hope, be nominated for Best Picture. Pitt and Clooney should also get nominations, and of course, you gotta give some love to the Coens. This is one fun time at the movies.

One hell of a film. It has such a unique and twisted story that you want to stay tuned until the very end. Michael Caine gives his best performance of his entire life. You want to watch this film again the second it is over.

A stunning masterpiece by Burton. Sweeney Todd is a gruesome piece of art that is incredible each time you watch it. Who knew that the actors they chose to be in it could sing?

With all of its twists and turns, The Prestige takes on on a wild ride through art of magic. You are never sure what is about to happen at any point in the movie. This is Christopher Nolan's masterpiece.

V For Vendetta is the greatest film based on any comic book or graphic novel. The script in this film is just so genius and the art direction in this is so dark and beautiful to look at. Hugo Weaving is a very underrated actor and in this film he shows just exactly what you can do with a phenomenal part, even though you are never able to see his face. That even makes the part even more superb. He has to do all of his acting with his voice. You get no facial expressions which is a big help when trying to decipher emotions, but you are able to tell what he is thinking and his emotions just from the tone of his voice. In acting, I believe, the two most important things are your voice and your facial expressions. When one of those is taken away from you, you need to fill the gap with the other. Hugo definitely does that. Natalie Portman is also amazing in this film. She had to endure so many things in this film including losing a ton of weight and getting her head shaved. This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen and it is a force to be reckoned with.

Network is a film with some of the best writing and acting every put on screen. Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch put everything out on the table in this film in both of their best performances. It was va major shock to me when I found out that this film did not win the best picture award at the Oscars over Rocky. I was completely stunned by that. This is one of the greatest films ever put one screen. The language and dialogue is so strong and dramatic that this is definately one of the top three scripts ever written for any film in history. Everyone should see this film. It is a force to be reckoned with.

Vertigo is truly Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece. Not only does he bring his classic suspense flair to this film, he has his best use of color than in any of his films. This movie, especially for its time, is incredibly beautiful to look at. James Stewart proves that he is one of the top five greatest actors of all time. Kim Novak gives two great performances as well. Hitchcock also proves why he is one of films most cherished directors. He has such a sense of what is correst in a film and has everything perfectly planned out. This film is one of the greatest of all time and anyone who sees this film can not disagree with that fact.

This is such an innovative film. Every performance is fantastic, but the standout is Mickey Rourke. This is the only Robert Rodriguez movie worth seeing. That is because this is the most stylized, the most original, and most sophisticated film he has made. This follows the original graphic novels to every last details. Sure, Rodriguez in editing took some liberties with adding in some color that was not present in the novels, but other than that it is shot by shot what the graphic novels are. Tarantino makes his stamp on one scene in the movie and that is one my favorite scenes in the film. This movie is one hell of a ride. This film is a force to be reckoned with.

This is the funniest movie of all time. You could disagree with me, but you would be wrong. From its endless puns to the mixture os slapstick, Airplane! is the gold standard for all comedies to follow. Leslie Nielsen completely steals the show as the inept Dr. Rumack. He has some of the greatest lines in any movie, including the infamous line, "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley." It is hard to find a place in this film to find a good laugh because if you laugh to long you might miss the next joke. ZAZ proves they are comedic geniuses with this outstanding piece of comedy that can never be outdone.

Chinatown?s greatest mystery is what makes it so damn good. Well, that is only a mystery if you haven?t seen it. If you have seen it, you know what a hell of a film this is. Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway are two of the greatest actors in cinema history, and when you put them together on screen, the film is bound to be great. Not only do they have a great cast, the story is one of the best in cinema. It is about the murder of a man who owns the water company of Los Angeles. Sure, some of you reading this may be thinking how can that be entertaining. Well, it has so many twists and turns and drama that you want to watch the film over and over and over again. Roman Polanski, even though he is a pervert, can make one hell of a great film. There is no denying that. This film makes you think. That ultimately is what I love about the film. It makes you think. If a movie doesn?t make you think, it really isn?t worth watching. Comedies are the exception to this rule. But other than that, thinking is what makes a movie. Thinking is what you need to be doing when you go in. Thinking is what you need to be doing when you come out. If you don?t do this, you don?t understand any film. Chinatown is a masterpiece and is a force to be reckoned with.

This classic comedy is one of the funniest ever. With it's play on words humor and quick, witty one liners, The Marx Brothers deliver their best movie.

Citizen Kane is absolutely fantastic movie that is ranked as the best movie of all time by the American Film Institute. It's is quite a joy to watch over and over and over again.

This movie, winner of 8 Oscars, is a cinematic masterpiece. This is really the first time you are actually brought into a mental asylum for the first time. Sure, there has been other movies about instituions, but none so profound as this one. Jack Nicholson is phenominal in his portrayal as R.P. McMurphy. The movie will stand the test of time as one of the greatest.

A fantastic mystery story that keeps you as the viewer changing your mind every second of the film. Stewart and Kelly give some of their best work in one of Hitchcock's finest. More will come later.

An all time American classic. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those movies that hits you in the gut. With the powerful story line and an Academy-Award winning performance by Gregory Peck, Mockingbird has you captivated each and every second. It is one of the best.

A heart-breaking movie with tremendous direction by Frank Daranbont. A must see but be aware of the powerful antics of it.

Bonnie and Clyde is just a movie that you don't want to end. This was the film that launched Faye Dunaway into stardom and recognized as one of the greatest female actors ever. This was also Warren Beatty's debut as a producer. He really pushed the making of this film. I am sure glad he did. It has the great midwest cinematography and a great story about to of the most infamous criminals in America. This is one of the greatest gangster films of all time. It should have won every Oscar it was nominated for. It is too bad that it only won two. Everyone should see this film. This film is a force to be reckoned with.

This film is one of the many spectacles Mel Brooks is able to put on screen. With co-writer Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks is able to recreate the classsic tale, of course with his own spin. This film is also the top of Marty Feldman's career.

Tarantino never seizes to amaze me. Kill Bill is pure Tarantino when it comes to script and its 70s touch. This is just one action thrill ride you can not get enough of. You wouldn't expect a Tarantino full blown action film. Uma Thurman gives the performance she really needed to give because of disasters, most notably "Batman & Robin. The story is planned so brilliantly to ever last detail. And then after the planning, the execution is one hell of a roller coaster.

Tarantino never seizes to amaze me. Kill Bill is pure Tarantino when it comes to script and its 70s touch. This is just one action thrill ride you can not get enough of. You wouldn't expect a Tarantino full blown action film. Uma Thurman gives the performance she really needed to give because of disasters, most notably "Batman & Robin. The story is planned so brilliantly to ever last detail. And then after the planning, the execution is one hell of a roller coaster.

Without a doubt this movie is the best western of all time. The story of Wyatt Earp has always been a captivating one. And with the tremendous acting skills of Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, and Sam Elliot, this film brings it all back to life.

This is how you make a Marvel comic book movie. The story is planned out perfectly to every last detail and the special effects are absolutely spectacular. THis was the beginning of the Robert Downy, Jr. comeback. Now, he has started the stream of films that will propel him back to the top of Hollywood. Those films being "Tropic Thunder", "The Soloist", "Sherlock Holmes", and "Iron Man 2". He also had a fantastic supporting cast around him with the performances of Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard. I would have liked more out of Gweneth Paltrow, but we can all forgive her and see what she does in the sequel. But the main reason the movie is so good is because of Downey. He is truly one of the greatest actors of this generation and, sadly with the drug occurrences, is overlooked. People lost their faith in him. He is back and better than ever, and I only expect more from him. Thank you John Favreau for putting him back on the map, and thank you Ben Stiller to taking that to greater heights.

This is my personal favorite crime movie. With a stellar cast of Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, and Robert DeNiro, The Untouchables is a thrill ride of the Capone era.