Change Your Image
SpiderCider
10. City of God
9. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
8. Sideways
7. Brokeback Mountain
6. Mystic River
5. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
4. Sideways
3. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2. Million Dollar Baby
1. American Beauty
My Oscar Predictions- (in order)
Best Picture: Brokeback Mountain, Good Night, and Good Luck, Capote, Walk the Line, A History of Violence
Best Actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Pheonix, David Straithan, Terrence Howard
Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Huffman, Laura Linney, Charlize Theron, Keira Knightley
Best Supporting Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Matt Dillion, William Hurt
Best Director: George Clooney, Ang Lee, David Cronenberg, Bennette Miller, Steven Speilberg
Reviews
The Notebook (2004)
A movie that could have been amazing...
I really hate it when something like this happpens, you have a movie, with an amazing story, with unlimited potential, and then Hollywood has to go and screw it up by casting it with teen "hearthrobs". There is so much wrong with this movie it's not even funny. Small stuff that anyone making a movie should know, most of it's just common sense. Ryan Gosling was wrong for this part for a number of reasons, the part needed a good actor. He had about three emotions in the movie, "smile", "loving anger", and "lonley". That's all. The role should be contended for best actor at the Academy Awards, but they had to give it to someone based on looks, it's ridiculous. James Garner and Gene Rowlands were just pathetically fake. Their acting was so over the top and so bad it made me laugh several times in the movie. This movie has a very good story, but it was ruined by Hollywood. Who knows, maybe in 20 years they will remake it with better actors, hopefully.
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
The definition of a thriller
When I went to see this movie, I didn't expect much at all. During the first 20-30 minutes I was shocked at the subject matter that the movie was about. This movie is very, very dramatic. The things that happen in this movie are just so... wrong, and awful. I thought that the story was amazing, just simply great. The acting was also very good. Ashton Kutcher played "Even" in his 20's, very well. There were some sceen's that could have been stronger, but hey it's his first drama. But mostly in the movie he was totally beliveable and, very very good. Amy Smart plays "Kayleigh" very well, the character has so much range because of the story, it's hard to explain you just have to see it. Elden Henson was outstanding in his role of Lenny as an adult, simply outstanding. The sceen's he were in were just great. There isn't a bad actor in this movie, the jail section of the movie was just, disturbing. That's how I would describe this movie, extremley disturbing. This movie has the best child acting I have ever seen, bar none. I gave this movie a 10/10. This was the most intense movie I have ever seen, it was just great. See this movie.
Sleepers (1996)
Sleepers, one amazing film.
Sleepers is one of my favorite movies ever, the story is just amazing. Four kids from Hell's Kitchen are sent to a juvinal detention center for nearly killing a man (on accedent), and their lives change due to Sean Nokes (Bacon). Nokes and the other gaurds are horrible to the kids, they beat them, and sexually abuse them, for about a year. When the kids get out, the film shows them as adults, two are crooked, drug addict gangsters (Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup , one is a lawyer (Brad Pitt), and the other a reporter (Jason Patric). All are amazing in their roles. One night Tommy see's Nokes and in a really amazing sceen, Tommy and John kill Nokes in a resturant. They are put on trial, and their buddy from childhood Micheal (Pitt) takes the case defended Nokes. And Dustin Hoffman is put as John and Tommy's attorney, he is an alcoholic and a drug addict, he is put there to lose. The plot of Micheal's scheme is to get John and Tommy off free, by losing his case on purpose. But its hard to do this because people actually saw the killing, so there are several hurdles. But all come down when Father Bobby (De Niro) who was a childhood guide and friend of the children throught the movie, lied and said he was with them on the night of the murders. This movie is so good, you really need to buy it or rent it. I don't know what the academy was thinking, Bacon should have won best supporting actor and this should have been nominated for several other awards, but anyway I rated this movie a 9 out of 10.
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
One of the best female performances in film history...
Dancer In the Dark is an amazing up to date musical about the life of Selma, who is from the Chezh. Republic, and moves to the USA with her son, to get him eye surgery so he won't go blind like her. There are many great conflicts, Selma with herself, you see she has a family disease that makes her go blind at a certain age, and there is a surgery to prevent it but she is too old to have it, and too poor. The conflicted with money problems she works at a factory for little money so she can save up to get her child an operation to save his sight. She can't hardly work cause she is going blind she can't walk home, she is too poor to have a car, and she is in a terrible bind. Her land owner and cop, Bill (David Morse in a very good performance) developes a little crush on her (although he is married) and then he finds out where she hides her money, and steals it to aid his greedy wife. The music was all made by Björk, it is really odd, but her singing style and the natural sounds that are used for beats work amazingly for this film. Selma loves musicals and that is her favorite thing about America, she lands the lead in what seems to be a community theatre musical but still its the world to her, but she has to give it up because of her failing sight. She finds out Bill stole her money and goes to get it back and then he tells Selma to shoot him. She is blind and can't see what she is doing and shoots him in places that... won't kill you too fast. She unloads the gun on him, but she hits no major area so she beats him in the head with a metal box. It is deffinatly brutal, but what is worse is the dance and song number after it. Bill rises from the dead to sing a song with Selma. Selma is put in prison and gets the money to her son to have the surgery. She is put to death by hanging. In a very very disturbing final sceen she is hung til death. This movie has the most amazing female performance I have ever seen in a movie. It's a true shame Björk won't do any more films, but really it would be so hard to follow this one up. This is an amazing movie, I rated it 9/10 stars.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 6/10 stars
I saw Master and Commander last night, and it a really well put together film however, the plot is pretty weak, the HMS Suprise (Crow's ship) is attacked at the begining and so the Surpise try's to hunt down the ship that attacked them. The acting was really good. But, the plot and dialouge wasn't that strong. There were lots of parts that had nothing to do with the plot, and useually that is to build character for you to like or dislike the characters but I really didn't care if anybody died or not. But that isn't the acting that was bad, just a weak weak script. There wasn't much meat to this movie, and if this movie is nominated for any Academy Awards for acting (the script made the acting weak), someone is getting robed. Master and Commander 6/10
Phone Booth (2002)
Simply intense.
WOW Is what I said when I left the theatre for this one WOW. This was probably one of the most intense movies I have seen in the movie theatre. Im not going to go into the plot but just let me say, the acting in this movie is amazingly good. Colin was great, Keifer was great, hell the guy who played the cop was great. This movie is truley great, but it won't get anything from the Academy but who cares, SEE THIS MOVIE!
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
DiCaprio, Depp, and Juliette Lewis at their best in this tear-jerking drama.
Well, this is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of the 90's. The acting is superb on all accounts from, Depp, Leo, Lewis, to everyone in the family, and the man who is in just about every great movie as of late, John C. Reilly. The plot is this...
Leo plays Arnie Grape, a mentally handicapped teenager, who is more like a 5 year old. Depp plays the title character Gilbert Grape, who is the man of the Grape house, and Arnie's idle. Lewis plays Gilbert's love intrest and is traveling through town when she and Gilbert fall in love. The plot of this movie is rather uncertain, it's more like, the life of the Grape family, from the good times to the bad. This movie has so many plots to it, from the struggels of the overweight mother, to the struggels with a mentally retarted son who the family is almost burdened with, to Gilbert falling in love with Becky. The end scene of this movie made me cry, Leo is amazing in this movie, so is Depp. If you have not had a chance to catch this on TV, look for it because it is on all the time, or rent it, or buy it, you will not let yourself down. I rated this 9/10.
Coven (2000)
Holy God
This has got to be one of the worst films in the world. If you have ever seen "American Movie" you will know how big of losers these guys are. But non the less, my friend and I watched Coven, on the DVD from American Movie. And we agree the last shot in Coven, with the drug abuser beating that women and calling her "words that aren't in the guideline" is without a doubt the funniest thing ever in Cinema history. Buy or rent this movie just for the last minute or so, its great.