Category Archives: cinema

Prometheus by Ridley Scott [2012]

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prometheus

Don’t.

I don’t particularly like Ridley Scott – Blade Runner is the exception. Nevertheless I gave it a shot, not knowing a thing about the movie apart from the fact it was about aliens. Again…

Unfortunately I just saw it was written by Damon Lindelof* after the movie was over and that explains a lot. Mr. Lindelof, you see, writes scripts like a bipolar chicken. Mediocre, confused, incoherent little plots that lack any attention to detail.

Yeah, that’s my review of this movie: Mediocre, confused, incoherent little plot that lack any attention to detail. Purty graphics, though.

74% on Rotten Tomatoes. I give it a 10%.

* One of the two writers responsible for the “Lost” series fiasco.

The Hurt Locker [2008]

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the hurt locker

I didn’t know anything about the movie apart from the fact that it was about the Iraq War and that it had 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. Telmo suggested we see it yesterday and I’m so glad that he did.

It’s a nail biting, nerve recking, OMG OMG, kind of movie. Much like a japanese horror movie (or so I’m told – I don’t watch horror movies) in the sense that it’s a relentless stress.

I loved it. Perfect writing, sets, acting, story line, whatever… Perfect.

If you loved “Generation Kill“, the brilliant HBO mini series about the invasion of Iraq, you will love this movie.

Sunset Boulevard

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Small comment on the movie, part of my project to watch the “AFI’s list“.

Sunset Boulevard poster

Classic film noir from 1950. Amazing performance by Gloria Swanson. Very dramatic. I loved the way it starts, with Joe Gillis (William Holden) dead, floating in the pool, and narrating the movie. (I don’t consider this a spoiler since it’s the first scene after the initial credits but I blocked it anyway. Select the black line to read.)

Sunset Boulevard still

Wikipedia page here.

City Lights

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Small comment on the movie, part of my project to watch the “AFI’s list“.

City Lights

I was dreading this one. I disliked Charlie Chaplin’s “Tramp” character since I was a kid. There is something about it that rubbed me the wrong way.

After this movie I grew a liking to it. I can see why this tramp is well loved. It’s still not my cup of tea but it was a pleasant enough 1h27m.

City Lights

City Lights

City Lights

Wikipedia page here.

A Streetcar Named Desire

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Small comment on the movie, part of my project to watch the “AFI’s list“.

A Streetcar Named Desire

Very impelling film. Black and white flicks sometimes put me off but I was engaged from the beginning. Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando do a dynamite job.

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire

If you love films you need to watch it.

Watch a scene from the film on YouTube.

Read more about it in “A Streetcar Named Desire”‘s Wikipedia article.

The American Film Institute 2007 list of films to watch

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The American Film Institute list of the 100 greatest American movies is still on my mind. In 2008 I started to watch some films on this list until I got sidetracked by life, I guess.
I still want to watch them all so this is a new page dedicated to that. I will comment or review some of the films as I watch them – it will show a link in the list – and will scratch them off as I go.

This is my attempt of making my own list of the greatest films out there. First I need to see them all!

In bold are the films I already watched before I knew about this list, scratched are the ones I watched as part of this quest.

10th Anniversary 2007 List:

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather (1972) – 2023-07-06
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. Raging Bull (1980)
5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
6. Gone with the Wind (1939)
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler’s List (1993)
9. Vertigo (1958) – 2008-04-25
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
11. City Lights (1931) – 2011-11-02 – Comment
12. The Searchers (1956) – 2015-01-12 – Comment
13. Star Wars (1977)
14. Psycho (1960)
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
16. Sunset Boulevard (1950) – 2012-04-22 – Comment
17. The Graduate (1967)
18. The General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
21. Chinatown (1974)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959)
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Godfather Part II (1974) – 2023-07-18
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
35. Annie Hall (1977)
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964) – Jan/Feb 2016
40. The Sound of Music (1965)
41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) – 2011-10-27 – Comment
48. Rear Window (1954)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
51. West Side Story (1961)
52. Taxi Driver (1976)
53. The Deer Hunter (1978)
54. M*A*S*H (1970)
55. North by Northwest (1959)
56. Jaws (1975)
57. Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973) – 2016-09-18 – Comment
63. Cabaret (1972)
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971) – November 2014
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – 2014
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76. Forrest Gump (1994)
77. All the President’s Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997)
84. Easy Rider (1969) – August 2011
85. A Night at the Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)
100. Ben-Hur (1959)