Directed By: The Coen Brothers
1991 Gangster film about an aging prohibition smuggler/gangster desperately trying to keep his grasp on a small town. With great acting, a great story, and amazing detail, this is just a great all around gangster movie.
Directed By: Michael Mann.
A story about the French and Indian war, Daniel Day Lewis plays one of the few remaining Mohican people, who helped the French attack the British in America during the French and Indian War. This movie is epic, violent, and gory, but also very well made and pretty historically accurate (as far as movies go anyways...)
Directed By: Justin Lin.
A crime/coming of age movie about a group of extremely smart Asian American students who bore with their success in academia and begin to dabble in drugs and criminology. A great look at teenage psyches, as well as a great movie with some nice plot twists. It seems like no one has seen this movie!
Directed By: Martin McDonagh
A great drama/comedy about a hit man recovering from a botched hit in the city of Bruges, Belgium (despite his wishes...), and his sidekick (who loves being in Bruges...) with a secret agenda.
A great drama/comedy about a hit man recovering from a botched hit in the city of Bruges, Belgium (despite his wishes...), and his sidekick (who loves being in Bruges...) with a secret agenda.
Directed By: Spike Jonze
One of my favorite movies, and certainly one of the few watchable Nic Cage movies. Nicholas Cage plays twin brothers, both writers, who have very differing lives. One brother struggles to adapt a seemingly un-adaptable book about orchid (flower) thieves, while the other brother easily pounds out a "cliche psychological thriller". Despite the plot description, this movie is both extremely entertaining and very unique. It will mess with your head, too. It beautifully blends the line between reality and film. For instance, the characters are Charlie and Donald Kaufman, and while the movie was written by the REAL Charlie Kaufman, it is mostly fiction.
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood) directed this under-the-radar romantic drama/comedy about a loner who longs for someone, anyone, to love him. Played BRILLIANTLY by Adam Sandler (he should have gotten an Oscar nomination, in my opinion), the character of Barry is a semi-successful business man whose personal life is essentially nonexistent thanks to intrusive and mean sisters, shyness, and his misunderstanding of human nature (Barry seems to think people are inherently good). This movie has been hated on, more than it's been appreciated, which is a shame.
My Final Thoughts...
Most Overlooked of the Bunch...
Miller's Crossing
This movie is slept on more than Paris Hilton's king size bed. It's a gangster film by the Coen Brothers (who directed Fargo and No Country for Old Men, amongst others.) Set in the era of prohibition, the film masterfully transports the viewer into a complex, rich story involving an aging mob boss trying to keep his hold on a small town.
Best Movie of the Bunch:
Punch Drunk Love.
This is literally one of my favorite movies. I don't really know why. Maybe it is the camera work, maybe it's the acting, maybe it's the writing, or maybe it's a combination of a bunch of factors. The whole thing just feels real. It feels like the whole movie could actually happen, unlike most romantic movies which use over the top Hollywood antics to sell a type of love that doesn't exist (like Serendipity or The Notebook). Actually, Sandler's character, Barry, could very well be lonely and alienated because of those types of movies...a product of modern cultural ideologies. Adam Sandler is a great actor, and it's awesome to see the more serious side of his acting here. This movie also has a brilliantly dry sense of humor, and some of the moments are absolutely hilarious (everything involving the Mattress Man, for example). Paul Thomas Anderson is amongst my favorite writer/directors, and it's because all of his movies show a great range of emotions, his camerawork is amazing, and the stories play out very uniquely and naturally. I encourage anyone to watch this film and not feel more optimistic about life after.
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