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Reviews
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Masterpiece
The lives of a group of Jewish gangsters from childhood to adulthood.
Once Upon a Time in America is dismissed as an overrated film by many, which I can understand. It's very long, lacks dialogue and characters seem less engaging than in other gangster flicks - certainly not the kind you might see in a Scorsese picture. These are not necessarily large flaws in a film created by the master Leone, however.
Once Upon a Time in America is an exercise in cinematic brilliance. Each scene is memorable and extracts the desired effect from the viewer. I was enthralled with each moment.
Over 200 minutes might be a stretch for the attention span of today's viewing audience, but not for those who have a strong interest in film, and know Leone's career.
Once Upon a Time in America is not only a classic film, it is a summation of every gangster film before it. A pitch-perfect movie, and one that definitely ranks among the Godfather.
Deliverance (1972)
One of the all-time greats
Deliverance is indisputably one of the greatest films ever. I can think of very few others that have incited such a strong reaction from me in terms of emotional state - Breaking the Waves is the only film I've seen that can rival it in this way.
The acting is flawless, with fine stars who seem to have fallen into obscurity now. Aside from the main players, the 'mountain men' are amongst the most sinister villains in film history, and the banjo playing boy is coldly sinister in two of the best moments.
As always the infamous rape scene must be mentioned. In short, it is horrible. Not for the immature, nor those seeking entertainment and nothing else.
Deliverance demands to be watched. Those who consider themselves film fans must do so. I hope it will be remembered with Taxi Driver as one of the best films to come out of the 1970s.
Alien Resurrection (1997)
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First off, I would like to state that I am quite a fan of the Alien films. The original was a classic film on its own, the sequel was (in my opinion, of course) a classic of the action/horror/sci-fi/whatever genre, but I found the 3rd one a bit forgettable. Alien:Resurrection, the 4th in the series, is perhaps the most grotesque of all of them. Among the yuckiest moments are the scenes where the Alien "Newborn" is sucked out through the hole in the window, and perhaps where the general is struck in the head from behind by the alien queen with her lovely retractable mouth. These scenes add appeal for those fans of gore in movies, but they don't benefit anyone else and therefore aren't much to watch for the general public.
Something that irritated me in this movie are the one liners that a lot of the characters spit out, mainly Rippley, who states "It was in my way", after Winona Ryder's character shows incredulity when Rippley exterminates an alien. These aren't exactly a good substitute for dialogue and the movie would've done better to have left them out altogether - in fact most speech in this movie could be erased to make the film better, in my opinion.
Anyway, to sum it up Alien:Resurrection should be seen if you're either a fan of the Alien films (all fans of these films would've already seen it anyway), or a sci-fi/horror freak.
Chôjin densetsu Urotsukidôji (1989)
Silly
Everybody that sees this film or even hears about it seems to say that it's "offensive". I don't find it offensive, because it's just a bit too silly. At one point you get to see giant penises smash their way through buildings in Tokyo. Anyone who is a fan of animé would have seen nudity in the films so there's nothing new there, and the whole "chauvinistic" premise (that is, men are the heroes, women are there to be saved/raped/have their clothes removed/penetrated) has been done to death in animé as well. I watched Legend of the Overfiend in the same way that I'd watch a simple live action horror flick: just in it for laughs/thrills and never at any point taking it seriously.
Akira (1988)
Great
Akira is definately one of the greatest animes of all time, and it is also the one which showed uninitiated people that there was more to anime than just 'demon rape', ie. Legend of the Overfiend. Something that tends to get mentioned in previous comments on this website is that Akira is 'bloodthirsty'. This is simply not true, espescially when you compare it to countless others in its genre. It does however have the fairly obligatory nudity, but the scene only lasts a few seconds and we're all used to that by now anyway. The only flaw I can think of in Akira is that it may be a bit too complicated. This would be because the creators tried to sqeeze such a complex story into two hours, but they did do a good job - you will understand the many intricasies and finer points upon second or third viewing(much like Ghost in the Shell). To wrap up this review I will just say that Akira is a wholey remarkable movie compared to anything out there - and if you find it boring, as someone stated in their review, you must not be intelligent enough to appreciate it anyway.
Bernard and the Genie (1991)
Wonderful
I really love this movie. I've seen thousands of films that claim to be 'feel good', but strangely enough none of them actually made me feel good. This one does. It's also quite hilarious, and also sad enough to make me cry at the end. The brilliance that is this film might owe something to the efforts of Lenny Henry, Rowan Atkinson (bugger ye off) and Richard Curtis - not to mention Bernard himself. Another plus factor about this movie is that it really is fit for all ages. Buy it!
Dumbo (1941)
My favourite animated movie of all time
I can't read about this movie without getting a tear in my eye. It's pure brilliance. Uplifting and saddening at the same time... It's one of those movies that you really love.