dataconflossmoor Reviews

Same Time, Next Year (1978)

Not Extra Marital Relations- Rather- Extra Credit!

[10/10 · 5 November 2012]

This is where it all begins, the preclusion, the preliminary- "Yes, I like sunsets on the cape". "Yes,I love the ocean breeze". "Yes, I like innocuous jokes about unexplained human shortcomings".. "Most of all, I love this apparently kindred spirit we have with regards to being cavalier about commitment".. "Yes, I'm bored!" "Yes! I'm smug and ambiguous!" "Yes! I'm Italian and you're Irish, so if we had kids together, not only would they learn how to love life, they would also know how to survive in it!" Let's give it the old college try, shall we! Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn play a socially derivative couple who both love each other because both of them love their spouses! Originally a stage play, "Same Time Next Year" articulates a distinct form of human emotion that is identifiable to any person who becomes cajoled by individual adversity. Infidelity became the necessary prescription for conducting their regimented lives properly. As time went on, the social changes in American behavior wound up being the antagonist for these two "lovebirds" to appropriate their persistence for this precariously prevailing situation. Eventually, their resilience required a modicum of romantic interlude to sustain the tedium of their auspiciously monotonous marital routine. The bittersweet amelioration which both Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn worked so painstakingly hard to attain, ultimately becomes an utterly acute reflection of mandatory human error. Basically, the audience gets it, or, at least, they should! Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn are very believable in this film! Richard Mulligan, the director, does a remarkable job at itemizing the comedic chaos to this movie. The cinematography is wonderful! The song: "The Last Time I Felt Like This", was a blockbuster hit for weeks on end back in 1978. A definite thumbs up! See this '70's classic, should you have the impetuous yearning to engage in a corrupt candor for realistically entertaining yourself!

Ruby (1992)

Since The Federal Government Classifies It As Entertainment, So Does He!

[10/10 · 5 June 2011]

Jack Ruby was an individual that epitomized the plight of someone who became perpetually victimized by his environment. Growing up in a tough and tumble south side neighborhood in Chicago, Jack Ruby had to earn everything the hard way! His testosterone driven theatrics were always justified under the belligerent premise that he loathed and excoriated all caitiff behavior and mannerisms which lurked in his threatened existence! Actor, Danny Aiello, was extremely well suited to the role of Jack Ruby. Desultarily assembled and jagged around the edges, Aiello portrayed the role of the disgruntled owner of the Dallas strip club lounge, Jack Ruby, with an absolutely powerful and well articulated perfection. The mindset of Jack Ruby was one in which he had an emblematic adoration of John F. Kennedy. Ruby was keenly aware of the fact that the assassination of Kennedy was a conspiracy! Knowing this, Ruby's conception of the entire fiasco was one whereby he felt that it was incumbent upon him to implement a simple eye for an eye endeavor of vigilante justice. This being Ruby's objective, Lee Harvey Oswald became his prime target! Love, lust, collusion, money, violence, and organized crime were elements in Ruby's life that ended up becoming a lethally inconclusive and ephemeral obsession with him! Nothing ever made sense in Jack Ruby's world, and, as a result, his adversarial circumstances made him respond accordingly! The intensity with which this film depicts Ruby's rudimentary defense mechanisms, wound up being incredibly thought provoking. Jack Ruby's life became one big tenet for convoluted sensationalism; Killing John F Kennedy and killing Lee Harvey Oswald, were actions which were induced by the prevailing agitation which emanated from the megalomania cal underworld! All in all, the intertwining integral facets of implication in this aggregate potpourri of political tumultuousness for all of this violence, eventually collaborated as a scenario for situational pandemonium. This politically high profile charade brought about a pejorative pique for a bevy of fame famished reprobates to thrive on. Throughout history, this has always been the nefarious scourge; Who was John Wilkes Booth? Who was Lee Harvey Oswald? Who was Sirhan Sirhan? And, of course, it goes without saying; Who was Jack Ruby? What made them famous? The heinous ordeal of murdering, or being related to the murder of a highly prominent political leader, has given all of these men an indelibly dreadful notoriety! The film "Ruby" authenticates the prevailing rancor during the Kennedy assassination escapades in a very scathing, yet poignant manner! The aspects to the Dallas strip club paradigm during the early 1960's was something which the directors and producers of this film executed flawlessly! Films which are candidly cogent about genuinely dire reactions tend to garner my favor far more readily than a high budget Hollywood bombshell flick with a myriad of special effects. The film "Ruby" is a one of a kind diamond in the rough which manifests an unpleasant amelioration concerning the vicious circle of assassinations during the Kennedy era. This movie did not just simply depict the occurrences pertaining to John F. Kennedy's and Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination, they also encompassed the visceral and motivational depravity behind these occurrences as well! Ultimately, cerebral vindication amongst many felonious misfits, as well as people who dealt with these sordid walks of life, became the intellectually diabolical villain which vitiated any respect which these people should have had for law and order in our American system of democracy! Having been to Dallas many times, the historical correlation this film makes to this city is very fascinating! The strip club which Jack Ruby owned is located in one of the nicest hotels in downtown Dallas! As a matter of fact, what was once Jack Ruby's strip club, is now a sports bar, that is somewhat amusing, isn't it? The assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the demented wiles associated with it, all have the dubious distinction of putting Dallas on the map for political terrorism! This movie is covertly compelling, and, I would recommend to any history buff, as well as all movie viewers, that they should see this film whenever they possibly can. "Ruby" is a difficult movie to find, and, it may only be available on video cassette, as in the thing you put in a -VCR- -YES, THAT ANTEQUATED MONSTER!!- Nevertheless, people should try to get a hold of it and view the movie, mostly on account of the fact that the film "Ruby" is very insightful and emotionally innovative! I give it a definite and resounding thumbs up!

Double Indemnity (1944)

Collusion with Angora

[10/10 · 9 May 2011]

In 1943, director of the film, "Double Indemnity", Billy Wilder, was painstakingly determined to complete a motion picture about this compelling novel written by James M. Cain. Cain is known for other great novels such as "Mildred Pierce" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice". In the process of creating this major motion picture, several actors, including George Raft and Alan Ladd, turned down the job as the sinister leading male role in this movie. Finally, the part was offered to squeaky clean, Fred MacMurray, this appointment is literally, out of character for MacMurray! Barbara Stanwyck received the honor for the lead female role in "Double Indemnity", and Edward G Robinson was given the third billing as a star in this picture. This post of third billing was something that had not happened to Edward G Robinson since his prior acting days before "Little Caeser", which was made in 1931. Robinson capitulated to a third billing spot because he had a great admiration for the concept that the film "Double Indemnity" so intricately purported! The whole genre to "Double Indemnity" was set up flawlessly, as it orchestrated a deliberately contradictory dynamic. Behind the sunny pleasantry of Los Angeles, there lurked a deep rooted and conniving chicanery amidst a couple of masterminds who began implementing a horribly dark aspect of human behavior. The film, "Double Indemnity" manifested the rough exterior that the United Staes was besieged with because of their involvement in World War II. The American movie goer had become a little less naive since the advent of WWII, and, this reflected itself accordingly with regards to the type of movie they wanted to see. The film noir captivated the American public, and, now, the movie industry encompassed a myriad of wry depictions that were germane to the pejorative side of an individual. This dubiously sensationalistic technique by the motion picture industry was perceived as intriguing by the newly enlightened movie audience of the early 1940's!! The film "Double Indemnity" epitomizes the entire film noir pique, right alongside with the uncanny masterpiece "Maltese Falcon". "Double Indemnity" did not win for best picture in 1944, that year, the Academy Award was given to "Going My Way". As we all know, there are times when life simply does not make any sense, especially since a prominent Philadelphia critic rated "Going My Way" the worst Academy Award winning film in the whole history of the American cinema! "Double Indemnity" is considered to be Billy Wilder's best directing effort! The next year, Billy Wilder's directorial ability was totally vindicated, as he received his rightfully deserved acclaim with the film, "The Lost Weekend", which won for best picture in 1945. Billy Wilder received the Academy Award for best director that year as well. The film, "Double Indemnity" is truly remarkable!! The itemized and avaricious intensity to this movie was something that had not been depicted in films before the movie "Double Indemnity" was made. This film's wiles of malice and deceit were not expedited with a derivative and visceral disposition, rather, these antics were carried off with a dedicated fervor and paramount gratification. Fred MacMurray's character was perpetually afflicted with a relentless angst that infiltrated an acrimonious reveille to him about the primary repercussions of personal greed! His character, Walter Neff, endured a narrative agony which perpetuated a compulsive pontification about how people really are, as opposed to the way they are suppose to be! Barbara Stanwyck established her formidable status as a revolutionary femme-fatal in the Hollywood world of movies, with her performance in "Double Indemnity". Charismatically charming while wearing her diverse onslaught of angora sweaters, her beauty and allure became a necessary ingredient to the making of this film! The wig that Barbara Stanwyck wore for this movie, signified the overall mendacity to her heinously lethal and obsessive persona!! Stanwyck's intellectual ambiguity to this role was attributed to her overtly callous set of pecuniary priorities! Edward G. Robinson's character was the perennial voice of reason. Robinson was the legal eagle who would ultimately prevail in his tenacious quest to resolve all of these dubiously manufactured and felonious escapades! The final scene with MacMurray and Stanwyck was an all-time noir classic. This last scene with MacMurray and Stanwyck was one of the best scenes of any movie whatsoever, definitely head to head with the extraordinary last scene of the movie "The Killing". A respected production company ranks this ending the sixth best ending of any and all movies ever produced! The dramatic ending to "Double Indemnity" was rated right above "Casablanca" and right below "City Lights". The heightened glamor to the final scene for MacMurray and Stanwyck exuded a zenith within the realm of the classic film noir mystique. The emphatic, yet subtle, overtone to the song "Tangerine" playing in the background, became a melodic element to this final scene which was conducive to a sexually sedate form of apocalyptic doom and despair! Throughout the entire duration of this movie, Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck were always seducing each other with salacious innuendos! This ending wound up emulating a philosophical perspective used by writers of ancient Greek tragedies! Filming a movie in black and white is primarily advantageous to the quality of a film, as it obviates any disorientation to the impact of the characters' emotions!! AFI (AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE) ranks "Double Indemnity" the 29th best film out of the top 100 American movies ever made! This website ranks "Double Indemnity" 53rd out of the top 250 films ever produced. Last, but certainly not least, America's Writer's Guild East, ranks "Double Indemnity" the 26th best written script ever in the history of American films!! The director, Billy Wilder, does a tremendous job with consummating the aggregate megalomania and rancor to this movie. The acting was sensational. "Double Indemnity" was up for seven Academy Awards in 1944! Without question! "Double Indemnity" is one of the greatest films ever created... FIVE STARS... PERFECT TEN!!!!

The King's Speech (2010)

Stop Stuttering and Stammering! Pontificate, Articulate, Theorize, Specify, and also, Implement Leadership with your Nation During World War II

[10/10 · 25 April 2011]

It isn't often that you see a film which gratifies the movie viewer's penchant for intellectual humanism, "The King's Speech" is, indeed, such a movie. The cerebral intuition to the production; "The King's Speech", represents an esoteric saturation to the discerning movie critics, as well as intelligent movie goers. Such a technique instantaneously separates this motion picture from the general run of the mill flick! Colin Firth plays King George VI, he is extraordinarily talented! His tremendous repertoire as an actor includes his compelling performance in "English Patient". The movie, "English Patient", won the academy award for best picture in 1996. Colin Firth's performance in this film "The King's Speech" is totally outstanding! King George VI had an enormous problem with stuttering, hence, he had trouble orating effectively, and, as a result, King George VI severely struggled with the monotonous repercussions of an egregiously inarticulate speech. An individual's speech is a rudimentary manifestation of his feelings, his attitudes, his fervor and philosophies. The inability to speak properly brings on an intellectual impotence for a person to formidably battle with. The professional liability of a stammered speech rudely afflicts an individual with a coerced taciturnity. The success and failure of a human being is largely predicated on how this individual composes his overall verbal demeanor. This resonating impression which a person has created, ultimately gets judged by the fluidity of his speech. For a generic person of this world to be hindered with a stammering speech is an insurmountable dilemma, but, for someone who is in the limelight of British sovereign hegemony, the problem of flawed speech is , to say the least, utterly catastrophic! How a person speaks becomes the dynamic by which they are evaluated. This statement pertains to all individuals worldwide, but, the crucial importance to eloquent speech is emphasized ten-fold amidst England's royalty! King George VI was amongst members of British nobility, this plight made his inhibited oratory skills something that left King George VI susceptible to scorn, as well as relegated to anonymity! Gregory Rush plays Lionel Logue, King George VI 's speech therapist. King George VI was very reticent to capitulate to speech therapy because of a societal exasperation which he was burdened by. The tenacity to overcome stuttering became a lethal struggle for George VI to fully comprehend. Irascible, agitated and just simply angst ridden, George VI almost categorized the whole speech therapy rigmarole as aggregately pointless. Muddling through all of the covert aristocratic ridicule, by his cavorting plutocrats in London, became the more comfortable, yet heinous alternative. This pejorative complacency harbored a myriad of circumstantial scapegoats. Taking the high road would be to conquer the monster of adversity, something which King George VI ultimately chose to do. This movie is unbelievably powerful! The acting, the director (Tom Hooper), the cinematography, and, the adapted screenplay, are all remarkable! Based on the factual account whereby Europe was besieged by the decree of dictatorial terror from Adolf Hitler, King George VI had to rise above his speech crisis. His final decision to assert Great Britain's position against tyrannical Nazi, and Fascist rule was established with his vociferous edict to establish England's involvement in World War II. The itemized intricacies of triumph over physically impaired speech encumbrances were depicted with a stunningly succinct authenticity in this movie. King George VI and Lionel Logue stayed friends for the rest of their lives, as their kindred spirit was one which fell within the realm of dependence. The scenario of being dependent upon someone, and having someone dependent on you, became a comfortably platonic situation that cultivated a bond of candidly cogent affection for both King George VI and Lionel Logue to indelibly cherish. The movie "The King's Speech" won four Academy Awards: Best Actor- Colin Firth , Best Director- Tom Hooper, Best Screenplay, and, of course, "The King's Speech" won for Best Major Motion Picture for 2010!! All four of these awards are a reflection of how excellent this movie truly is! This website ranks "The King's Speech" the 109th best picture out of the top 250 ever made. The lofty dissertation that "The King's Speech" engages in, warrants this coveted accolade in which IMDb has made it the recipient of! The camera angles to this movie are spectacular, as they intensify the intransigent cerebral frustration that King George VI had to endure! The premise to this film, "The King's Speech" evokes an intellectual paradigm for movies which is essentially unprecedented in the Hollywood major motion picture industry!! Thorough rumination of the pertinent and germane concepts in "The King's Speech", were ideological aspects of historical reality that ascertained a brilliantly vivid mindset to the film audience. This enabled movie viewers to format a bevy of prolific and intellectual perspectives that this motion picture purveys! See this film, without fail, it is a FLAWLESSLY PERFECT TEN!! MOST ASSUREDLY! "THE KING'S SPEECH" DESERVED TO WIN THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST PICTURE IN THE YEAR 2010!

Touch of Evil (1958)

58 Pages Decries That The Term, Bastardization Is A Masterpiece of Understatement!

[10/10 · 15 April 2011]

Whenever a film attempts to break ground on the rancor of emotions which proliferate in the citadel for political graft and corruption, it literally becomes a crap shoot. Like films such as "Chinatown" and "The Killing", the laborious depiction of a fervent human intensity catches the attention of copious movie critics. Aware of the prevailing rigmarole for judging powerfully unprecedented productions, such as "Touch of Evil", (Based on the spellbinding novel by Whit Masterson, "Badge of Evil")this criteria became the determining factor which made world renown intellectual director, Orson Welles, so intrepid with regards to his directorial modus operandi! The procurement of this picture had to garner a professional gratification in order for Welles' aesthetic resolve to be auspiciously saturated! As a result, Welles became incredibly hair trigger while in the process of consummating the production of this film. The acute assessment to the revised version of "Touch of Evil" addressed the alterations of the rudimentary framework of the picture. While some modifications of Orson Welles merely suggested a pragmatic restructuring to many scenes in "Touch of Evil", Welles' overall intention was to emphasize the agitated feelings, as well as the vitriolic intransigence which were crucial to his version of this film. Orson Welles' major bone of contention with the new version of his film was that a great deal of the scenes had become too derivative. Now enters a 58 page memoir submitted by Welles which served as a scathing diatribe to the final cut of the picture. Orson Welles admonished the production companies for homogenizing the detailed upheaval with this movie, and, in so doing, the production conglomerate purported an ambiguously glamorized and stilted insanity to the direction of this film. Such a callous generalization of the apathetic and contemptuous feelings in which Orson Welles worked so painstakingly hard on to expedite properly, eventually fell prey to mundane Hollywood theatrics. It was Welles' intention that "Touch of Evil" be nurtured, not hacked out! In these 58 pages of disapproving notations in which Orson Welles comprised, he used some very poignant and caricatured expletives to evoke a confident acrimony about all of this film's dubiously resurrected agenda. Amidst the myriad of ersatz techniques which the film company implemented was that many scenes wound up seeming "inconclusive" instead of "curious"! Welles elaborates on the misuse of climax with the edited version of "Touch of Evil". The essential lamentations about detached intimacy with Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh, gave way for the film to desecrate the credible motivation with these two in their roles as husband and wife! Orson Welles expounds on the fact that the timing to the emotional isolation in this picture was undauntedly compromised as well. It was Orson Welles' vehemently innovative proclivities which spurred on a lengthy specification as to what he thought was a hindrance to this film! These perceived bastardizations are what made Orson Welles so forthright and vociferous. The creative ambitions with which a film aficionado such as Orson Welles covets and orchestrates, became a key ingredient to establishing cinematic excellence in the paramount world of Hollywood film making. Eventually, the necessary commiseration between Orson Welles and the producers later surfaced itself by way of a revised version which came out in 1998. Despite all of these ideological complications, "Touch of Evil" is a fabulous major motion picture! This movie exacts a frightful cogency regarding the protracted misery that all of the main characters in the film are afflicted with. Orson Welles carries off an intentional temerity with his role, he does this to underline exactly how utterly despicable his character is suppose to be. Janet Leigh and Charlton Heston became the targets for sabotage, and their increased awareness of the catastrophic and prevalent conditions became their personal undoing! Perrenial spawns of an upper middle class tedium as a married couple, they must now jump head on into the deadliest of snake pits and combat these circumstances with a vigilante crusade! The infuriating corruption which excoriates all of humanity through the recklessness of some pork barrel politicians was a lethal characteristic to this film which was not commonly depicted with movies back in 1958. Terrorism, bribery and collusion were mesmerizing substances for the scruple less officials who possessed a tyrannical stranglehold on the very existence of a select handful of Mexican boarder towns. The destruction that these scoundrels for the law engaged in was ameliorated with a disdainful self-righteousness! The pitfall of avaricious greed, and indignant megalomania, is so repugnant with this film, that you as the movie viewer hope and pray that there is a foreseeable after life for our world's culture to fall back on! Seemingly, tenacious perdition is the only rational alternative for the aggregate vindication of human behavior, this pertains to the abhorrent human behavior that a film like "Touch of Evil" so vividly portrays!. This website ranks "Touch of Evil: 124th out of the top 250 films ever made! The acting, the directing and the camera angles to "Touch of Evil" are all prescient trend setters in the volatile paradigm for movies. The list of actors and actresses is amazing in this picture: Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joe Calleia, Dennis Weaver, Ray Collins, Marlene Dietrich, Zsa Zsa Gabor and many others. I highly recommend this major motion picture. The music by Henry Mancini is spectacular in this movie, the Latin incorporation to this music accommodates the kind of progressive jazz which was very indicative of the 1950's. Whatever the demeanor to a film may be, the severity with regards to conveying the intended attitudes and effective spontaneity to a movie are what separate a specific motion picture from the general fray, and, establish it as an absolutely stunning and creative masterpiece. These notations were most assuredly worth Welles' effort in order for him to ascertain a charismatic enmity to the unique dynamic of the film. I wholeheartedly endorse this entirely superb production as being one of the most successfully esoteric within the realm of the movie industry!

Lions for Lambs (2007)

Concepts, Ideological Interviews, Circumstances, and Just Plain Conversations

[10/10 · 24 February 2010]

This movie contains three of the biggest box office stars in Hollywood! Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.This triumvirate of talent contributed tremendously to the success of this motion picture. In this movie, each one of these performers manifest their feelings which they have about our involvement in Iraq! Robert Redford directs this film, and like so many of Redford's directing efforts, "Lions for Lambs" ponders the tumultuous intricacies to the prevailing circumstances which pertain to a complicated situation (In this movie's case, the Iraq War). This dynamic technique in directing enables the movie viewer to delve into a thorough rumination of the entire dilemma that this film has formatted. "River Runs Through It" (Which was directed by Redford) was a spectacular instance of where a film which spread out a bevy of cold hard facts, accommodated a subjectively emotional interpretation to the resonating outcome for all parties concerned. "Lions For Lambs" was this type of movie as well!! This film's core conundrum which was related to what the U.S. purpose was for our protracted stay in Iraq, had presented itself as a source of ambiguity for millions of Americans. This upheaval was the focal point of this film! We as the movie audience got to witness the new millennium's version of pork chop hill. While there was a definite liberal bias to the film, the intellectual angle which it purported was an effective articulation for dirges of candor about the precarious ground-rules that our nation's hegemony has subjugated the American people to! The adamant beliefs of some Republican's mindset (Such as Tom Cruise) ran the gambit from specifically limited national interests, to a sharp redefinition of his party's platform. What was germane to the film was that regrets and bad decisions made on both sides of the political spectrum had ballooned into a precarious status quo! The lethal apathy for our nation'actions regarding the war in Iraq was suffocating everybody. This mandated disarray is something all Americans have to come to grips with whether they like it or not! The conversation Robert Redford had with his exceptionally brilliant B student became a forum for lamentations about the significance of academia in our lives. Such pontifications bared a striking similarity to the movie "Paper Chase". "Lions for Lambs" was, in my opinion, a précis for poignancy that was much like the film "Good Night and Good Luck". Both of these films were succinct and concise story lines which correlated to the underlying predicaments which they were burdened with. These major conflicts of interest were intentionally not labeled as the culprits for everything. The cerebral premise to this movie was predicated on the objective aftermath of many given incidents. This film did not unnecessarily dwell on the engaging of elongated and sanctimonious diatribes of self righteous indignation concerning ideological disagreements. Rather, the characters in both these films dealt with factual occurrences which may or may not have been resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Both films elaborated on the visceral components of perseverance about the fact that a vast majority of a numerous quantity of existing complications were due to the unfortunate revelation that our nation was besieged with avoidable human errors Ultimately, the characters in both movies had to assume a flippant disposition about dealing with the end result of our nebulous decisions which were consummated on a disconcerting basis of cause and effect. Idealism took a resounding second fiddle to the implementation of military policies. "Lions For Lambs" stressed reality, and from it, emanated an acrimonious illustration of the phrase "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray!" I like the movie "Lions for Lambs" and I thought the acting was phenomenal! This movie depicts how political solutions to real problems in this country wind up being extremely inadequate! This is something which became a concept that made "Lions For Lambs" a philosophical winner in my book! I give this film five stars and I recommend to everyone that they see it!!

Men of a Certain Age (2009–2011)

Ray Romano is the Catholic Seinfeld!

[10/10 · 12 January 2010]

I am of Italian descent, and in Hollywood, we are the poor man'a bevy of creativity. We do have a couple of halfway decent directors, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcesse, they aren't as good as any Jewish director, right? Such a situation may pertain to the show "Men of a Certain Age" The format is very intriguing. The premise being, "I still have plenty of sex appeal even though I am over 50, don't I? To which the person required to respond to that question, retorts "How much money do you have in your pocket?" The whole genre is set up whereby sexual ambiguity is the assassin which rattles the resolve of a couple of sedentary and assertively middle age reprobates! This rancor coerces them to retrench into a metaphorically fetal position! Now enters the fiasco of being timid and taciturn one moment, and loquacious and intrepidly lewd the next! Theatrics of this nature definitely establish a formidable state of flux for the "one a day" casual dating scene! This show jumps around, and obsesses on unofficial ground rules which only make casual dating infinitely more difficult. The episode I saw last night had Ray Romano's date receiving a cell phone call from the bar, from a friend of hers, to give the verdict on her blind date, She said the guy (Ray Romano) was "sexy". After thorough rumination of this entire scenario, I just want to say one thing; Over 50!! Sexy? Women are going to have to explain that one to me. Ray Romano wound up with a cut under his eye, it is almost as if his insecurities to mid-life crisis dating have the ability to physically bludgeon him!! I like what I saw, however,I think the dialog should be more acrimonious! Also, there should be a largess of fatalistic repercussions which rear their ugly head far more emphatically, and with it, they should contain a wealth of abominable consequences!! In the episode I saw, everything was extremely mollified! This series is funny! Scott Bakula ("Quantum Leap") and Andre Baugher, are very cohesive on this show!! Nevertheless, "Men of a Certain Age" could be funnier!! Then again, what do you expect? The director is Catholic!! How does the expression go? He's more nervous than a television stand-up comic on a Jewish holiday!!

Columbo (1971–2003)

Itemize Everything!!

[10/10 · 1 January 2010]

Someone told me that they found it interesting how my present demeanor was at that given moment. She said "Your total confusion, which manifests itself by way of your befuddled verbosity, all we have to do now is to put a beige trench coat on you and you're just like Columbo" Such a description does indeed describe Columbo to a tee!! Peter Falk did a remarkable job at portraying this seemingly inept detective who engages in a very unorthodox approach to unraveling burden of proof is a needle in a haystack murder cases! Most every episode was set up the same way. Cold, calculated, murders were executed by sophisticated Beverly Hills, Brentwood and Malibu Beach moguls. These money mad misfits could utterly destroy someone very effectively just because they're a little bored!! The initial scenario was such whereby all of these wealthy and subtle socialites could devour a disoriented detective like Columbo in record time. Everything starts off with the plutocratic murder suspect (who is the special guest starring on the episode for the week) delving into the recreational hobby of spoon feeding Leutenant Columbo a largess of condescension! To them, they have already considered the issue of murdering a family member, for a macabre motive, as an accomplishment which was water under the bridge, hence, they have successfully gotten away with this heinous act! Later on in the episode, Columbo's innocuous questions begin to resemble diatribes, and these elusive sophisticates begin to sense it. While all of these wealthy Southern California monsters are labeled as "Cool as a Cucumber", Columbo's actions make them lose their professional composure just a tad!! As Columbo persists with his line of questioning later on in the episode, the audience gets a feel for what is going on. Here is where the show, "Columbo" becomes extremely intriguing!! These social register suspects do not become victims of their own vanity!! As Columbo moves in for the ultimate goal of a conviction, the emotionally detached socialites, otherwise known as the suspects, begin to understand that Columbo is really not all that obtuse and simple minded! They have discovered that Columbo actually has a little moxie, they're surprised, however, they realize that they simply have to go one on one with Columbo! It now becomes a proverbial battle of wits!! Every time, of course, there is a happy ending, so to speak, and the affluent and prominent, upper crust, Los Angeles Area elitist is convicted of murder. Ultimately it is a circumstance of may the best man win!! A bevy of pecuniary powerhouses have become out-witted by a precocious, archaically inquisitive, and rough around the edges detective!! The television show "Columbo" has got to be one of the most innovative shows ever to hit the small screen. Peter Falk does a remarkable job in this series, and the array of famous guest stars procure an articulated finesse to this show!! Critics have rated "Columbo" as one of the best shows to ever be produced, I totally concur!! I give "Columbo" five out of five stars!!

The Office (2005–2013)

My Boss Is An Arrogant And Self Absorbed Psychopath!!

[10/10 · 23 October 2009]

Meet Michael Scott!! He is a guy with an IQ of 9000, he has a few minutes to kill, so he masters the art of managerial finesse, this means for better or for worse!! Michael Scott is capriciously impervious to the tenets of political correctness because that is his way of breaking up the ideological monotony for a little while. He takes pleasure in the fact that he is an expert at harboring a flaunting defiance towards professional decorum! As a matter of fact, dishing out spoon fed condescension seems to be one of Michael Scott's favorite hobbies!! Michael Scott is very impressed with himself!! He is so impressed with himself, that when he sees a bunch of other people having an intriguing conversation, he assumes that they are talking about him!! He's right isn't he? Of course, he's right!! (ha ha!!) Even using only half of his mental facilities, Michael is thoroughly capable of intellectually inundating a dozen people at a time with a single sentence!! Michael can't begin to fathom how the world would revolve without his presence, and after he gets finished talking about himself, he is going to need to use a towel!! The television show "The Office" has realistically exaggerated the profile of an executive manager! Everyone who watches this show can identify with this corporate stereotype very thoroughly and completely!! (that stereotype being one which depicts a person who is an extremely conceited jerk that everybody has to listen to). The setting is very banal and unassuming, it is set in the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. All of the office workers are utterly bored, and are afflicted by their own lives, or, shall I say, lack of them!! Their proclivities include, eating really poorly, telling lousy jokes, taking their latent aggression out on everyone else, and, not talking in complete sentences These office employees exemplify the phrase "A little knowledge is worse than no knowledge at all". Their lackluster anonymity is the insidious scapegoat which has cultivated an existing purgatory for all of their quasi white collar hang ups to proliferate. They loathe Michael Scott, and the biggest problem with this is that they cannot afford to do otherwise!! When Michael Scott gets wacko, the most irksome part of this whole fiasco is that he is ramming his superior business acumen down all of the other office worker's throats!! The best characteristic to this whole show is it's identifiability with the day to day dealings of an inane, American, mecca for mediocrity office complex!! "The Office" is a covertly flippant comedy show which is very intense!! It can be intensely funny, unfortunately, there are times when it can be intensely stupid as well! Perhaps,a lot of the stupidity in this show is through masquerading a lot of stilted theatrics which are done deliberately!! Steve Carell is the best part of the show, his role as Michael Scott, the boss, is spectacular!! Without him, there really is no show, that is my opinion anyway!! "The Office" is similar to "Cheers" in that it has an introductory snippet which is not germane to the rest of the episode's plot. I have just recently started to watch "The Office" on prime time, cable, reruns, DVD packs, etc, etc, and so on, and so forth!! NBC is once again, head and shoulders above the other two major networks for effectively funny programming! "The Office" is a definite winner in the NBC Thursday night lineup!! A precariously clever aspect to "The Office" is that the series' incongruity winds up establishing a bittersweet and whimsical cohesiveness which makes the show vividly spark with a pejorative exuberance!! I will be watching "The Office" more and more often, on one channel or another, in the very near future. Basically, this is an excellent show!! Think about it this way, after watching an episode of "The Office" I do not mind it that much that I am unemployed!!

A Woman Under the Influence (1974)

Entertain Me With A Hair Ribbon

[10/10 · 22 October 2009]

This film, "Woman Under The Influence" purports a very compelling illustration of mental illness. The movie depicts a blue collar family which is writhing in a very desultory state of affairs to begin with. This upheaval is compounded when it winds up culminating with the wife's debilitating cerebral condition! The aggregate domestic despondence that the Longhetti family is experiencing has thrown all of them into a tumultuous tailspin! Because Gena Rowland's mental anguish is unable to pinpoint, comprehension of the cause of such a disease became a proverbial needle in a haystack. Peter Falk plays the husband, he is rough around the edges to begin with, his patience has an agitated overtone attached to it!! The fact that his wife is stricken with a psychological handicap now manifested itself into an excruciating breaking point that he and his family were coerced into dealing with! While the wife (Gena Rowlands) seems presumably normal most of the time, she really is not, furthermore, being normal only 75% of the time will not suffice, sorry to be so fussy!! Her condition ruthlessly erodes at this family's emotional resolve, and presents itself as a heinous source of consternation for all parties involved! All of the major characters in this film were continuously elaborating on the rudimentary components of a very precarious and visceral survival. Gena Rowland's dubious plight was the virulent culprit to everyone else's anxiety, (including the children's) Her little skit, which she performed with a hair ribbon, sort of explained what type of person she was. Such a caricatured display gave you the indication that she was basically intelligent and imaginative, however, her illness had rendered her mentally irrational. As a result, the entire family became burdened with an apocalyptic living nightmare!! The director of this film, John Cassevetes, is absolutely phenomenal at portraying a number of pejorative aspects of human nature that are extremely difficult for many people to stomach. Reality has the potential to offend many movie viewers whether it intends to do so or not!! "A Woman Under The Influence" evokes such a scrutinizing display of haunting realism, that it has been the noteworthy recipient of the critically acclaimed accolade of "stunningly unique" in the cinema world. Gena Rowland's troubles did not delve into dirges of neon accented insanity, rather, they dealt with a series of illogical obsessions. These compulsions wound up pontificating an acute itemization of the type of disconcerting mental disease that she was afflicted with. Peter Falk did not want to commit his spouse to a mental institution, yet, living with her became an obstacle course from Hell!! His predicament became a choice between the devil or the deep blue sea!! This film is totally fabulous!! John Cassevetes is one of the greatest directors in the history of Hollywood!! Made right around the time of "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" "A Woman Under The Influence" deals with the same dreadful similarities to unexplained mental handicaps, and their lethal complexities. The directing to this movie is outstanding! The acting is incredible! "A Woman Under The Influence" possesses an overall ideological fervor which entitles it to be amidst an onslaught of movies which are categorized as emphatically first rate!!! TEN STARS!! Definitely!!!

JFK (1991)

The News Media Meets Depravity

[10/10 · 13 May 2009]

This Oliver Stone classic was a lengthy depiction of one of the most controversial presidents in U.S. history, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was the consummate politician who garnered an unprecedented charisma with the American people by implementing lofty ideology with pragmatic political procedures!! His wife, Jacqeline, was a regal artifact of fashion and glamor, and this couple of President and First Lady which was labeled as "Camelot", easily elevated into the limelight of American culture! The Kennedys were American icons who invoked a dogged tenacity for social changes, and dirges of moral outrage, which titillated minorities and under privileged Americans!! On November 22nd, 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, it sparked a national uproar with the public perception of nationwide politics!!Such a pejorative pique mandated the launching of the investigative documents by the Warren Commission known as the Warren Report. Now enters Jim Garrison, (Played by Kevin Costner) who became engrossed in the factual details involving JFK's death. It was Garrison's ardent admiration of Kennedy that made his prescient curiosity an obsession. It was not just his responsibilities as a district attorney which nurtured his persistence, it was also for his own edification that Jim Garrison wanted to unearth facts about Kennedy's assassination. This entourage of interrogations was all in the hopes that his resolution to this issue would enhance his conception of the American system of democracy!! Garrison embarked on a series of inquiries concerning JFK's assassination which were of his own volition!! The Warren Report was an edict by the Johnson Administration as a way of putting a bureaucratic style explanation on the aggregate calamity concerning JFK's murder!! Such desultory data enticed the subornation of perjury by numerous public officials!! This virulent abuse of due process was tantamount to parading around a flagrant dismissal of democratic justice which was pertinent to the wishes of the American people altogether!! The initiative to challenge the findings of the Warren Commission was motivated by the fact that subsequent reports contained indiscretions to the Warren Commission's findings! Amidst the myriad of miscalculations in the Warren report was the principle bone of contention that more than one bullet was fired. The Communist insurgent who became the guinea pig for this debacle, Lee Harvey Oswald, ultimately became a target himself, and was assassinated by Jack Ruby! This string of heinous murders involving Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald, culminating with the "magic bullet theory" became a cogent revelation to the American people that the Kennedy assassination was indeed a conspiracy! In view of this whole incident, Dallas became the most politically scrutinized city in the entire world for over two years! The film, "JFK" brandishes all of these occurrences as stark revelations to the American public. Such an illustration was realistic because that is what these precarious occurrences were!! Many nuances to the assassination of John F. Kennedy became an outlet for depraved intrigue. The film "JFK" illustrates how the south took a lethal and flippant path of trepidation to Kennedy's killing!! The film "JFK" introduced the viewing audience to the debauched proclivities of many sordid reprobates in Dallas and New Orleans!! Such dubious walks of life demonstrated a social callousness which brought on an onslaught of purulent jeremiads as to why the prevailing political spectrum was so convoluted during this era!! The nefarious characters involved in the whole Kennedy conspiracy were societal outcasts. A copious quantity of them evoked such an ideological ambiguity to their feelings that even the cadence to their voices were extremely dehumanizing!! The film "JFK" is tremendously bolstered by incredible acting performances by an enormous number of accomplished actors and actresses. In addition to Kevin Costner and Sissy Spacek, other famous stars were: Donald Sutherland, Jack Lemon, Tommie Lee Jones, Kevin Bacon, Ed Asner, Walter Mathiau, and many others!! Oliver Stone does a tremendous job at directing this film, as he encompasses a disconcerting aspect of democracy into the entire genre of this movie! I enjoyed this flick more when I saw it a second time. This movie possesses a non-acknowledgeable realism that satiated my ghoulish perception of the whole Kennedy affair, and how it revolutionized American News coverage!! I have been to Dallas many times, and I can empathize with the attitudes that Oliver Stone was trying to expedite with this film. I was dining at Morton's Steakhouse in Dallas, which is right next to the book depository where Kennedy was shot. When I pointed out to a parking valet that this is where John F Kennedy was assassinated, he replied "Who's John F Kennedy?" Historical events reflect our lives accordingly! The film, "JFK" effectively portrays the assassination of John F. Kennedy as a tragic escapade which restructured America's political priorities!! I recommend seeing this film, it is up there with the better American films ever made!! One of the best films of the 1990's!!! Definitely!!

Chinatown (1974)

This Is What Happens When You Find Out Who Runs Los Angeles

[10/10 · 8 November 2008]

You have to get a little depressed when people with so much money are dreadfully unhappy!! "Chinatown" is a movie which ends up being an indelible display of how egocentric megalomania supersedes all other emotions! Such abominable behavior reflects a myriad of despicable qualities of many individuals which pertain to the abhorrent aspects of human nature. The director of this film, Roman Polanski, has had a tenuously depraved life. (Including his tragic marriage to Sharon Tate). This movie is considered to be Polanski's best film ever! "Chinatown" is based on a true story, one which inflicted a lot of suffering for the city of Los Angeles, and, the vast majority of it's citizens sometime back in the 1930's!! The intensity of agitation in this film is astounding!! Jack Nicholson's performance in this film is remarkable!! Faye Dunaway's performance as Evelyn Mulray is considered by some prominent movie critics, to be the 36th best acting performance in the history of movie making!! This does not surprise me, I felt that Faye Dunaway's performance in "Network" was the best acting performance I have ever seen!! The movie, "Chinatown" is about people who are unscrupulous and miserable!! Often times, character portrayals about people who are victims of their environment are usually depicted with the indigent or the oppressed, in the movie "Chinatown", the environmental victims were the wealthy and the powerful!! Hatefulness, callousness, not to mention the blatant disregard for hard working individuals, as well as their overall well being, all became second nature reactions with the hegemony of Los Angeles. (i.e. Noah Cross and a handful of pork barrel politicians). "Chinatown" emanates a subtle tolerance for lethal chicanery by making conspiracy, cover ups, and collusion complete and utter masterpieces of understatement. This film evokes a repugnant display of human intuition by merely divulging some simple, yet, clinically ruthless facts!! Accommodating plausibility translated to dollar signs with everyone in the film. Vindictiveness with all of these plutocratic and nefarious scoundrels in "Chinatown" ultimately relegated them to the precarious plight of having to reap what they've sown. Their recriminations became a proverbial case of too little too late. What wound up being the single most appropriate adjective for describing this film, was the cogently riveting one of POWERFUL!! At the end of this film all negative behavioral ugliness patterns propagated a disconcerting state of resonating despair. The directing in this movie is unbelievable. The acting is sensational. The cinematography and melodic genre in "Chinatown" is unprecedented, basically second to none!! Most critics rate "Chinatown" as one of the top twenty American films ever made, I agree!! One of Hollywood's best efforts to ever hit the silver screen!! Especially on account of itemizing the aggregate character assassinations of every main character in the film!!The movie "Chinatown" is AN ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS CLASSIC OF ALL TIME!!

The Departed (2006)

Making Decisions with a Gun Instead of a Gavel

[10/10 · 20 May 2008]

I am not saying that I think this movie is in the category with other Scorcese greats such as "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver", actually "King of Comedy" is my favorite Scorcese film, however "The Departed" is a relatively remarkable film!! The acting in this movie is simply incredible!! The plethora of acting talent simply overwhelms you!! Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo Di Caprio, and of course Matt Damon!! I thought Matt Damon's performance was the best acting performance in this movie!! The comment he made which I found to be very interesting was "The Irish are impervious to psycho-analysis".. I went to grade school at an Irish parish, and even though they were affluent, they did seem more visceral than many other ethnic groups are!! Boston is the only city in the country where the Irsih control the syndicate. The Italians are accustomed to ruling organized crime in virtually every other city in the United States. Boston is where the movie "The Departed" takes place.. The F word replaced a lot of semantics in this movie, and the violence seemed to have some kind of tenet of amelioration attached to it!! "The Departed" won for best picture in '2006, as it would appear as though the copious quantity of top notch talent in this film would almost mandate such an accolade!! How were all the problems in this movie solved?...WITH A GUN!! The violence in "The Departed" was almost satirical, as it signified a precarious set of checks and balances!! Everyone's anger seemed to reflect a sordid and justifiable pontification for everything!! Many techniques of agitation and vindictiveness with this movie told the movie audience one thing- This is a Scorcese film!! His style emanates a proverbial belligerence through frustration that he has incorporated in so many of his past movies!! I enjoyed this film, and I can definitely see how it won best picture in '2006. What is the best way of saying "The Departed" is an excellent movie, by saying this: "The Departed" is a really good (F word) picture!!

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Change of Plans

[10/10 · 16 April 2008]

When the United States entered World War I., Americans became somewhat enthusiastic at the titillating involvement for national emergency that our nation was ready to emerge in!! Removed from the tumultuousness of combat in central Europe, the United States had manufactured a conception of WWI as a scenario of glamorized heroics!! Once defense and attack initiatives commenced in Germany, as well as many other battleground nations in Europe, the entire plethora of unfriendly combat zones now evoked an onslaught of many visceral displays of distasteful reality!! World War I was known as one of the bloodiest wars in history!! Relentless in the pursuit of patriotic cause, the United States marched through Europe during WWI with rose colored glasses on!! These elements of apocalyptic miscalculation were what articulated some fatal delusions of grandeur!! This complicated rancor was the primary focus to the film "All Quiet on the Western Front". "All Quiet on the Western Front" is considered by movie experts to be one of the greatest films ever made!! This website ranks this film 207th best film out of the top 250 films ever made!! AFI (American Film Institute) ranks "All Quiet On The Western Front" one of the top 100 American films to ever hit the cinema!! Such accolades are largely due to the fact that the emotional revelations of WWI which this film necessitates, presented themselves with a very disconcerting premise; in turn, it became something that served as a stark awareness to the American public!! Lewis Milestone directs this film, he directed "Pork Chop Hill" and was very involved in the making of "I Want You"; Both of these films are Korean War films, Lewis Milestone pinpoints the dismal realities of the cerebral repercussions of American military conflicts!! A bittersweet concept emanating from the film "All Quiet On The Western Front" is that there is always a tragic price paid for getting involved in a war!! All three of these war films delve into the devastating aftermath of battling in the trenches. These acts were veritable nightmares which resulted in killing the enemy for survival!! The desperation to comprehend such remorseful consequences, which initially started out as a preconceived camaraderie, that eventually became a line of logic which was thoroughly vitiated in every conceivable manner, wound up being a ubiquitous form of psychological disarray for all the American soldiers coming home. The aggregate tragedy from WWI which this film "ALL Quiet on the Western Front" depicted, left the movie audience spellbound!!!! Bear in mind, in 1930, American movies were all about escapism, not about the scathing moral drawbacks to wartime combat!! The movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, and, the film expedites the same candor as the novel does about what the acrimonious truth to what World War I was actually about.. The end of the film depicts how the guise of national omnipotence, which translated to the loss of thousands of young lives for questionable motives, became something that the United States government was peccant for!! "All Quiet on the Western Front" won for best picture in 1930, deservedly so too!! This movie encompassed many components of a devastating interruption to a glossy and stilted mendacity which the American movie goer was accustomed to accepting!! I do not think that any other movie up until 1930, the year that "All Quiet On The Western Front" was produced, had accomplished such an unprecedented feat!! THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS MOVIE!!

Battleship Potemkin (1925)

What About The Baby Carriage!!

[10/10 · 15 April 2008]

Sergei Eisenstein directs this Russian masterpiece; Eisenstein is known for so many great films, however, "Battleship Potemkin", is his stellar accomplishment as a director!! To date, "Battleship Potemkin" has persistently emerged as one of the greatest movies ever made with regards to the entire history of movie making for the overall gambit of film productions worldwide!! The esoteric expression of vitriolic mutiny in this film, was articulated with a vivid clarity!! The film "Battleship Potemkin" depicted a grass roots recognition for the overt social and political oppression that the Soviet Union's government was subjugating the Russian people to!! The auspices for revolutionary revolt was provoked by an almost non-human approach of imperviousness when dealing with living conditions that the unfortunate Russian masses had to live under!! They (The Russian people) were the ones who ultimately endured totalitarian torture, thus, the citizens of the USSR became the aggrieved party!! Russia has always had a penchant for evoking pathos concerning the poverty laden circumstances which wind up being the end result of an edict by an utterly unmitigated and abhorrent dictatorship!! The movie audience almost felt compelled to embrace an eleemosynary sentimentality for the vast majority of the Soviet Union's proletariat's struggle for survival!! This indigent plight of the Russian people became a widespread scenario which was a demoralizing element of the Soviet Union's dictatorial status quo!! This film broke ground on the illustrative syllogism which depicted the deplorable living conditions in Russia!! The classic staircase scene marked an unprecedented précis of bedlam emanating from relentless squalor, as well as doom and despair!! Brian DiPalma (Fanous director who directed "The Untouchables") attempted a duplication scene of the baby carriage going down the staircase. It would stand to reason that such classic cinematic genius that "Battleship Potemkin" illustrated with this scene would be subject to imitations by subsequent movies; that is almost something that is inevitable!! What is so remarkable about this movie is that just because it was made when only silent pictures were around, did not mean that this film conveyed any less of a socially poignant message!! The fact that this film was silent became an aspect to "Battleship Potemkin" that actually enhanced this picture a great deal!! This film has always been rated as one of the best pictures ever made, and, "Battleship Potemkin" is a movie classic that brings on an intellectual enlightenment to the forefront of the wonderful world of cinema!! YOU MUST SEE "BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN" IT IS ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!! HERE IS A BIT OF VERY INTERESTING TRIVIA FOR YOU: "BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN" WAS CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S FAVORITE MOVIE!!

Always (1989)

Perfect Ten is for Penicillin, Democracy, and this Movie

[10/10 · 9 April 2008]

This film deviates from your typical Steven Spielberg movie. Intricate technological gimmickry was supplanted with a largess of spellbinding emotions that the movie "Always" implemented so astutely; as a result, the film, "Always" struck a very sensitively artistic nerve cord!! The focal song to this picture, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is seemingly appropriate with the genre of this film, and, the acting is spectacular!! Holly Hunter, Richard Dreyfuss, Brad Johnson, and John Goodman establish a cohesiveness in this movie that perpetuates a heartfelt empathy which is pertinent to the idealistic notions for which people perceive about the unexplained!! The kinetic energy, which is absolutely ubiquitous in the film "Always", induces the movie audience to construe the physical absence of Richard Dreyfuss' character as something which signifies a necessary spiritual guidance throughout the duration of the film!! In evaluating this movie, it does a remarkable job of making you feel fortunate for all of the wonderful things that have happened in your life!! The close knit camaraderie with every one of Hunter's and Dreyfuss' fellow workers, has an auspiciously enticing disposition for the delicately diligent procurement of this Spielberg masterpiece!!! The year, 1989, was one of my favorite years, thus making it easy for me to identify with the positive emotions that this movie has depicted! Understanding the gist of what a relationship has to offer is a critical component to making that relationship last!! My association with this movie is very positive; the emotional gratification to the film "Always", homogenizes directorial, and acting genius, such an aggregate wealth of talent, makes "Always" an incredibly fantastic movie!! I definitely recommend seeing this movie!! The cerebral comprehension to the film "Always" goes that extra mile, that is why this film is so amazing!! "Always" is, without question, a Steven Spielberg caliber flick, there are no two ways about that estimation whatsoever!!

Marty (1955)

Rough Around The Edges!!!

[10/10 · 4 April 2008]

"Marty" is an absolutely fabulous movie which takes on a formidable approach to social realism, this is a feat which was not depicted all too frequently back in 1955!! The film, "Marty" won the academy award for best picture in 1955, and, with the plethora of talent this movie possessed, it is no wonder!! Ernest Borgnine is spectacular as the hard luck simpleton, his reputation in Hollywood speaks for itself! Betsy Blair (She was compelling in "A Delicate Balance") is a method actress who carries off her agitated emotions with a very subtle disposition! Jerry Paris (Jerry on "The Dick Van Dyke Show") is a wealth of talent who was incredibly believable in this film! Many of the other actors and actresses with smaller roles in this movie were powerfully cogent as well! Paddy Chayefsky, (Most famous for "Network") who writes the screenplay, has an amazing amount of talent regarding his ability to evoke heartfelt emotions which are esoteric in their comprehension!! The whole movie puts Ernest Borgnine on the spot to change the course of his floundering environment which was categorized by the negative associations to his cultural stereotype! To say that these two characters (Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair) were introverted, would be a masterpiece of understatement!! The ill-timed fiascoes of being loquacious one moment, and taciturn the next, became a volatile characteristic that obliterated the ground rules to casual dating!! The conversations with Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair, always encompassed the visceral components of perseverance!! Trapped in a situation of a lower middle class environment of an emerging ethnicity, the urge for Marty to necessitate a metamorphosis in his prevailing situation became an insurmountable obstacle course!! Ernest Borgnine's portliness was a good tool to convey his plight as the disgruntled curmudgeon who was perennially despondent! The uplifting insight to Marty meeting a girl, for whom he liked and had a lot in common with, became a necessary camaraderie that overcame circumstantial doubts and insecurities! Throughout this entire movie, Paddy Chayefsky's writing effort itemizes reality, and allows Marty to conquer adversity in a way that is thoroughly plausible! I liken this film to "Rocky" as both of these movies illustrate a boorish Italian-American environment to be the single biggest form of societal intimidation! The unassuming demeanor to the genre of "Marty" became the most stellar characteristic to the picture's success! I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the film "Marty" was, and, I think anyone who has a curiosity about academy award winning films, should definitely consider seeing this movie!!

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

I Will Just Reach Into My Pocket!!!

[10/10 · 1 April 2008]

This is one of Steven Spielberg's all time classic movies!! "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is an unbelievably remarkable and adventuresome comedy flick that is synonymous with Harrison Ford!! The enormous popularity of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" evoked a charisma that the American movie audience took to instantaneously!! This website ranks "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as the 17th best film out of the top 250 films ever made, this is very impressive!! The audience research report on this movie has it at an 8.7 rating out of a possible 10... Also very impressive!! AFI (American Film Institue) ranks this film as one of the top 100 American films ever made!! The comedic suspense to this film is extremely well developed and overall, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is entertaining with a capital E from start to finish!! The famous machete scene is the most identifiable scene in this movie...IT IS UTTERLY HILARIOUS!! I found this movie to be one of the stellar trademarks in the American cinema!! "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was a harbinger of things to come with the happy go lucky disposition of the 1980's!! The ending was irksome, yet also very comical, and Harrison Ford is a well deserved recipient of many accolades for his acting performance in this movie!! Throughout all of this movie's flippant demeanor, the dubious societal nemesis of bureaucracy reared it's ugly head!! Oh well!! Such as life!! I have not seen "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in quite some time, and I am very tempted to see it again in the very near future!! I give this movie a resounding five star approval for directing and acting excellence!! YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM!!

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

As America Goes, So Goes The Cinema!!

[10/10 · 31 March 2008]

Let's just take a moment and evaluate the academy award winners for 1968 and 1969!! In 1968, "Oliver" (which was an innocuous musical) won for best picture. 1968 was a year of absolute tumultuousness.. Robert Kennedy was assassinated, Martin Luther King was assassinated, and there were riots on the streets of America from coast to coast on an ephemeral basis. Upheaval at the Democratic convention was an assertive rejection of the structured status quo by this nation's hegemony, and, our protracted involvement in Vietnam was emerging as a volatile avenue for an utterly pandemic disdain!! So!! what movie won for best picture in 1969? "Midnight Cowboy".... Does this tell you anything? The 180 degree polarization of these two movies could not be anymore emphatic, it is almost as if the occurrences of 1968 had a profound impact on the choice for best picture in 1969!! Such a radical difference in Academy Award winning pictures in just one year, gave a crystal clear indication of how the social transition in America was indelibly ubiquitous!! Hence, the radicalism of the 1960's was influencing virtually everything!! "Midnight Cowboy" is a film which depicts the sordid sexual behavior which was pertinent to the decaying American moral value system which erupted during the 1960's!! Such depraved and detailed immorality had never been illustrated on the silver screen before!! Jon Voight is tremendous in this film, as he engages in precarious sexual theatrics, (which were the antithesis of his conservative upbringing) as a means of supporting himself. What was so demoralizing about this whole endeavor, is that supporting himself with this nefarious occupation completely backfired!! Dustin Hoffman's character goes beyond desperate and hopeless, his situation is tailor made for society to shut the door on him, and pretend that he simply does not exist... New York City is a cosmopolitan venue which has the formidable potential to effortlessly ostracize and socially obliterate their victims of sub level poverty!! The characters Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman play become metaphorically decimated by New York City's cavalier imperviousness.. This film serves as a five alarm fire wake up call for Americans to be aware of the actual United States they live in, as opposed to the United States that is masqueraded around in front of Americans on the Fourth of July!! Significantly prescient for the prevailing paradigm for movies made during this era, the film "Midnight Cowboy" presents a circumstantial set of tragedies which will not conquer adversity.. All parties concerned will go from bad to worse, a scenario which directors were reluctant to bring to the American moviegoer's attention back in the late sixties!! John Schlesinger directs this film (He is also known for directing films such as: "Darling", "Marathon Man", and "Falcon and the Snowman" to name but a few), he does an amazing job directing "Midnight Cowboy"!! Schlesinger won for best director with this picture in 1969! Dustin Hoffman is definitely in a category all by himself when it comes to his acting genius!! The theme song "Everbody's Talking" by Harry Nilsson, made its debut in tandem with this movie!! In a nutshell, "Midnight Cowboy" was a cunningly relevant tenet for admonishing societal despondence. This film was incredibly poignant, as it denounces a bevy of socially callous philosophies in America!! Fabulous film!! One of my top fifty!! I recommend to everybody that they see this movie!!

True Lies (1994)

So!! Dear!! What Exactly Is It That You Do For A Living?

[10/10 · 26 March 2008]

Everything about this film was tailor made to be a resounding success!! The stars, Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Jamie Lee Curtis were immensely popular when this film came out!! Tom Arnold, is fantastic as the guy you love to hate, or dislike, or be annoyed with, or something!! The special effects to this movie were spectacular, as they garnered a largess of popular support from the movie audience!! The famous bridge scene with Jamie Lee Curtis dangling from the helicopter is considered to be one of the classic scenes of any movie made ever!! in the history of the silver screen!! The film, "True Lies" is incredibly entertaining as it oozes with charisma and testosterone driven theatrics!! Presently the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzeneggar is one of the all time box office big wigs in the wonderful world of Hollywood!! This movie is suspenseful, funny, clever, and above all else, innocuous entertainment which cries out: THIS IS SUCH A GUY'S MOVIE!!!!! I give it a perfect ten, see this movie, your perspective on the entire gambit of films is not complete if you do not see "True Lies" EXCELLENT!!

Unforgiven (1992)

I Would Hate Everyone Too!!

[10/10 · 25 March 2008]

The film "Unforgiven" is considered to be one of the top 100 films in the history of the American Cinema, I totally concur with this verdict!! The emotions and pathetic despair that was depicted in this movie were sensational!! This is not a typical western whereby the setting is very polished, the rough and tumble days of Wyoming in 1890 were illustrated with a raw and undaunted rugged individualism!! The acting in "Unforgiven" was fantastic!! Gene Hackman was a despicable character, I hated him, but, at the same time, that was the idea!! Morgan Freeman was very believable in his delivery of the role he was assigned to!! Clint Eastwood made everything look second nature, as his experience with westerns is so adept, and it shows over and over again with this film!! Clint Eastwood directs this movie, he does a marvelous job at executing the tumultuous genre of this cut throat western!! I got an empathetic state of plausibility with all of the characters in the film "Unforgiven" as I could see how everything in the old west was honed in at survivalist mode, a defensive mechanism would be for me to hate everyone!! We are products of our environment!! This movie points this out time and time again!! "Unforgiven" won for best picture in 1992, I feel it is one of the best films ever made!! It is on my top 50!! See "Unforgiven" it is definitely up there with the best films ever to hit the silver screen!! Guaranteed!!

Winchell (1998 TV Movie)

They Want To Be In Winchell's Column, They Don't Want To Go To His Funeral!!

[10/10 · 22 March 2008]

This HBO presentation was a somber and bittersweet depiction of famous columnist, Walter Winchell. Director, Pat Mazursky, illustrates this biography through the eyes of Walter Winchell's key assistant. This assistant viewed Winchell as someone for whom he garnered an ardent admiration! My association with Walter Winchell was that he use to narrate episodes of "The Untouchables". In the zenith of Winchell's career, he was an uncompromising columnist who exemplified the phrase; "The power of the pen is mightier than the sword". Anybody who was anybody in Hollywood during the late thirties through the early fifties, was interviewed and featured in Walter Winchell's column! Winchell's quip about how "Hollywood has to be seen to be disbelieved" was a witty one liner which described Hollywood to be a tenuous hotbed of raw capitalism! Walter Winchell engaged in many commentaries which ultimately gave him a political prowess during World War II !! He was always greeted as a recognizably formidable foe by prominent paragons at the pinnacle of national power; This included moguls and dignitaries such as William Randolph Hearst and President Franklin Deleno Roosevelt. Walter Winchell possessed many qualities which made him successful.. The fact that he went after the truth, and eventually acquired a cunning and creative stranglehold on the American News media, is something which can be attributed to Winchell's basically egotistical nature. Winchell's callous determination made him vicariously ruthless just by virtue of adhering to some simple journalistic procedures!! While this hacked out, made for TV movie, by HBO, cannot really be considered one of the best efforts of movie making, it definitely served a useful purpose!! What I conceptualized with "Winchell" was that he was driven to make a difference in the American News media world!! Making a difference in the American news media subsequently translated to Winchell evoking a radically different perspective on many of the sordid events which were pertinent to a myriad of individuals in the entire world altogether. This movie gave you an effectively brief synopsis of the type of life Walter Winchell engaged in, as well as the life he wound up with! So!! What was the scoop on his personal life? He died a lonely widower, his son committed suicide, and his mentally disturbed daughter was the only one who attended his funeral!! Such a grim scenario suggests that Winchell's national prominence concurrently manufactured a personal life of domestic alienation! The fact that nobody attended his funeral is painstakingly ironic for Winchell, as a newspaper columnist perceives that the most heinous emotion by which to be afflicted is the emotion of being deluged with disinterest!! The knifing acrimony to Winchell's deteriorating fame manifested itself most convincingly when people talked about him in past tense!! When his assistant heard of his passing away in 1972, Winchell's obituary served as a platitude consisting of mere mention of the bygone era in which Walter Winchell was a news media legend! Time erosion relegated Walter Winchell to a sinister anonymity!! The utterly insidious monster of death reduces even the most famous people to faint memories. Walter Winchell's tumultuous life epitomized his philosophy which was expressed very succinctly with his famous quote of "America,love it or leave it". I enjoyed this HBO production, and, I definitely feel that Walter Winchell is, without question, a noteworthy element of historical importance in America!! See this movie if you can!!

The Silence (1963)

Imagine If A Pack Of Wolves Went To Oxford!!!

[10/10 · 19 March 2008]

This will be the first Bergman film I have commented on!! I feel that Igmar Bergman has established a plethora of paramount accomplishments in the world of the cinema industry!! His brilliance depicts abhorrent human nature which reflects a calculating subjectivity that erupts with callousness and tormented recriminations. These pejorative aspects of behavior are pertinent to the desultory plight of the characters in his films!! A typical Bergman film's portrayal of depression is one whereby it eventually becomes elevated to a new level of hopelessness!! This onslaught of sibilant human discrepancies always unearth a frightful despair in so many of Bergman's productions!! The film, "The Silence" is no exception to the rule!! The term used by a prominent movie critic from the New York Times about this movie, was "ruthless gratification"... This phraseology sums up the culprit to the primary dilemma in this film!!... I can assertively empathize with the fact that these two women are not American; what that means is that their emotional enmity is manifested very differently than "good old fashion Yankee anger". The intercontinental disposition of this film necessitates an urban sophistication which becomes a premise for judgmental injury!! Infidelity, as well as sexual experimentation, are subterfuges for a passionately nurtured loathing... In the United States, Central Park Wext intellectuals deliberately masquerade such infuriating pretenses as a way of flaunting their appropriated prestige with their cavorting intelligentsia!! To the movie audience, the actions of these two women would suggest a very disconcerting demeanor, yet, very much to the contrary, these two characters are consumed by overt resentment and deep rooted hatred!! The first rate felony for the characters in this film was to not be seen in a way they want to be seen. They were impervious to the fact as to whether they protracted any esoteric aspects to their personality in a cogent manner or not!! This was the silver screen's introduction to the nefarious venue of a sex club!! As a matter of fact, when "The Silence" came out in 1963, it was considered the most lewd movie ever made!! Usually when I comment on something being sexually suggestive for it's day, I immediately counter it with "By today's standards, of course, this seems ridiculous" however, in the case of this film, I would have to say that even now, this film is still relatively provocative.. "The Silence" illustrates pictorial nudity, and concepts of debauchery, along with degenerate sexual behavior, which are so ubiquitous, that they suggest an absolute vitiation of moral imperatives!! Bergman does a tremendously dispassionate job of directing this film, as he encompasses sexual wiles into a form of intellectual intimidation.. The acting in this movie is superb... The eccentricities of many side players with "The Silence" articulate a genre of philosophical diversification!! What are these two women really like? My assessment of them is this; Imagine if a pack of wolves went to Oxford!! There should be an unfortunate empathy for the prevailing situation in this movie... In the 1960's, films began to depict people as they really were, and not just stilted characters of exaggerated altruism!! I wish to reiterate that Bergman has always possessed an unprecedented and remarkable quality in directing, so, when "The Silence" was made in 1963, the aggregate double entendre to every critical expression with this flick, was, without question, a perfectly executed breakthrough in cinematic genius!! See this movie, but, make sure the kids are not around!! I give it five stars!!

NFL Monday Night Football (1970– )

I Miss It!!!

[10/10 · 16 March 2008]

Nothing use to touch Monday Night Football when it aired for over 38 seasons!! The other two major networks would try different approaches to Monday night programming and to no avail!! The initial idea to Monday Night Football was that Monday was the day of returning to reveille, kids back in school, everybody back to work, and just a naturally depressing day for everyone!! Once Monday Night Football came on the scene, Bars were having drink specials, friends were getting together for football parties at their homes and there now entered a little lilt in everybody's monotonous Monday blues schedule!! I counted on some of the best games in the NFL to be on Monday Night Football, and it was a real treat if they had the Dallas Cowboys' games!! I am a big Dallas Cowboy fan!! I also thought they should have given a fat contract to Mike Barz for being the new host of Monday Night Football, bringing him on would have been great!! "Monday Night Football" was a spectacular idea, the new Monday Night Football is not as good, but, it fills the void somewhat!! My bone of contention with "Monday Night Football" on ABC: BRING IT BACK!!!!

The Third Man (1949)

That Part About The Cuckoo Clock!!

[10/10 · 13 March 2008]

This film has been noted as one of the best films ever in the history of the American cinema!!! While this website ranks it 48th best movie out of the top 250, and AFI (American Film Institue) has ranked it as high as the 14th best picture out of the top 100 American films ever made, something even more significant looms on the horizon!! Many intellectual spawns of the American film academy have ranked this film in the top five films ever produced!! One prominent critic from Boston ranked "Third Man" the number one movie of all time!! So!!! What justifies such critically acclaimed praise anyway? Start with the fact that the intellectual complexities to the plot in "Third Man" are intensely riveting!! The esoteric demeanor with which this film carries, has a deliberately convoluted line of logic!! The derivative responses from so many of the characters in this film spark a necessary ambiguity with regards to the prevailing circumstances for whom the third man must relinquish his mystique to!! The conversations pertinent to any kind of plausible resolution to the core issues in this movie were always philosophical!! Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles are a highly classic and highly talented duo of actors (As demonstrated in "Citizen Kane") who immediately necessitate a lofty aura of academic concepts. This detailed and contemplative cerebral quandary invites the movie audience to a very noteworthy ideological rumination of the story line in this film. Whether it be "Citizen Kane", "The Third Man", or any other film, the indisputable mark of the majority of intelligent actors ( Including Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten) is one where they convey the understanding of a situation, and instantly establish whether this situation is really complicated or very simple!! This is about the seventh time I have seen this movie "The Third Man" and, I believe, that finally!! I have a grass roots recognition of what this movie is about!! The visceral components to this film induce a correlation to an adamant political passion, as well as, yes, what else? love!! The trials and tribulations of espionage became a form of mutual vindication, thus establishing a kindred spirit for emotional devotion!! Set in Vienna, this film was very identifiable to me, as I have been to Vienna, and I recognize a lot of aspects of splendor to this city. All of it ignited an auspicious recognition; the Gosser Beer signs, the Sacher Cafe', the Mozart concertos with the players wearing wigs, ( I saw a production of this nature while in Vienna!!), and, of course, the cobblestone streets where a cross section of dubious walks of life perennially congregate!! Vienna is a city which is proverbially known to be a hotbed of political malcontents!! Just by virtue of the copious number of summits and dignitary gatherings it has hosted suggests that Vienna is a city which vicariously straddles the political fence!! With the intransigent aftermath of WWII, and the world almost ready to go to war again over the conquest of Berlin in 1948, central Europe had become totally dissected!! By 1949, when "The Third Man" was made, the overall infrastructure, which was ruined in Vienna, from confrontational combat during WWII, was ubiquitous!! The city was divided in four sections, belonging to four nations, the American, the British, the Russian, and the French. The center of the city was international, and for Joseph Cotten's character, Vienna presented itself as a mecca for diplomatic intrigue!! I loved this movie!! Based on the screenplay by Graham Greene, this film erupts with talent. Carol Reed ( Known for "Oliver" and a remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty") does a remarkable job as director with his efforts in the making of "The Third Man"!! The acting in "The Third Man" was utterly superb, basically second to none !! Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten are an unbeatable combination, and Alida Valli, who plays Anna, is flawlessly disconcerting with this role!! The speech Orson Welles made was one which he wrote... the gist of it being (I am paraphrasing)" War, terror and bloodshed are adversities which brought on greats such as Michaelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci, and the Renaissance, Switzerland has had 500 years of peace and democracy, and all you have gotten out of them is the cuckoo clock". I thought this little doggerel of Welles' was very impressive!! Orson Welles is a lone rebel cynic who raised the bar on directing and acting excellence, not only in Hollywood, but also, in New York and London Theatre!! Orson Welles has the same birthday as I do, I guess this day was earmarked for brilliant byproducts of unprecedented genius!! (My personal vanity in this case is totally in kidding of course!!) The Hawaiin music in this film served as an aside for anachronistic flippancy with this picture!! The cinematography and lighting in this film were spectacular!! Accomplished actors, directors and producers prefer a movie to be filmed in black and white, as it exudes the absence of distraction!! The film "Third Man" is a must see for virtually every movie aficionado on the face of the earth!! I agree with the discerning movie critics, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER MADE!!