ronnay_barkay Reviews

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

Stayed with me for days afterward

[10/10 · 9 January 2015]

I have not reviewed a movie on IMDb in several years, and wasn't even sure if my account was still active.

I managed to remember my password and log in to write this review because this is the first movie I've seen in a while that had enough of an effect on me to write one. So here goes.

I'll start at the end. When I left the picture-house (cinema) after watching this movie, I felt elated. Not some kind of fake high but a real sense of euphoria of being me. For the sake of being me. A feeling of pride in myself and a feeling of tremendous self-worth.

Perhaps it's because the first movie I ever saw in a cinema was Michael Keaton's Batman as a 10-year old boy, and he rekindled something from deep in my past, or maybe because it was just a really f**king good movie.

I mean... I was just glued, it was beautiful and just enjoyable. It had everything. Witty characters, amazing cinematography, surprises, out-loud laughs, I felt like the actors who were in this movie must have been having a blast when making it and that transpired onto the screen. There was just so much positive energy in this movie, it was just...electric. Despite the fact that the characters were what some people might call "depressed"...trust me they weren't. Even if your life is in crisis you can still be very happy and that's what this movie proved.

It was cleverly made. The claustrophobic atmosphere of the theater and the first-person perspective moving through the corridors of the theater really made you believe you were there. On the big screen it looked amazing. Everything was so perfect it looked just...ordinary. Which was perfect. I'm not saying the movie was perfect, there's no such thing, and I'm not saying it's my favorite movie, there's no such thing either, but it's an entertaining movie that deserves your attention and theater ticket fee because God knows Hollywood doesn't make films like this very often anymore.

Green Street Hooligans (2005)

Couldn't take it seriously

[4/10 · 8 September 2012]

I watched about the first 45 minutes of this movie. I switched it off when Elijah Wood is forced to play in goal in a 5-a-side match with a group of children during their PE class. The PE teacher is a member of a football "Firm" called the GSE or Green Street Elite, named after the street on which Upton Park is situated, Upton Park being West Ham football club's home stadium.

Wood plays an American college student who visits his sister in London and soon becomes friends with a group of West Ham supporters who happen to be heavily involved in football violence. At first they don't accept this college-educated American outsider as one of their own, but once he convinces them that the Karate Kid movies are based on him, they treat him as one of their own.

Although he has never been in a fight before, Elijah beats the hell out of one guy from the Tottenham firm in his first ever fight. I found this pretty hard to believe. Not to mention other little things like the aftermath of a football riot outside Bank tube station. There are no football stadiums anywhere near Bank tube station, and on weekends this area is almost deserted because it's right in the middle of London's financial district.

The other thing I couldn't take seriously was the horrendous cockney accent of the other main character. It sounded like one of those South Park accents that are deliberately bad just for comic effect. Some people might think the accent isn't that important, but I think it is very important. No matter what he says he might as well be saying "I'm not a cockney and I'm just reading a script". It simply didn't work.

The Social Network (2010)

Dark, haunting, with more than a grain of truth.

[10/10 · 22 November 2011]

These days it seems harder and harder to go to the cinema and see a movie that isn't frankly rubbish. The Social Network is the best movie I've seen since the last century.

It portrays the beginnings of Facebook, probably the most famous and popular website ever, creating the youngest billionaire in history, Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg is played by Jesse Eisenberg who gives an incredible performance of a young man with vastly superior intelligence , desperate to make an impression and become "somebody". By pure chance he is asked to design a website for the college, which he agrees to, only at some point he decides that the site he's working on should belong to him, not them.

It's well known that a lot of this movie is fictitious but I believe the core emotions and events are very true to what actually happened. Zuckerberg fed off the thrill of playing people like pawns, gradually shedding his nerdy teenage persona and turning into a ruthless businessman.

The movie tells the story with atmosphere using dark, brooding, menacing music, it just all comes together and exudes some intangible quality that makes it seem hard to believe that this just happened a few years ago, you feel the gradualism of the build-up as Facebook gets bigger and bigger and how people quickly get left behind and how Zukerberg and Parker became perfect business partners to create something the world has never seen before.

It's very brave to make a movie about a true story so soon after it happened. If this movie was made 30 years after Facebook was invented it would have been very different. The residual emotion that was floating around after these events would have long since evaporated.

David Fincher did something bold and brave by making this movie. The fact that it upset Zuckerberg himself is an achievement in itself. He's been portrayed with more accuracy than he's willing to admit.

Get Him to the Greek (2010)

Ughh!

[2/10 · 14 July 2010]

I haven't reviewed any movies on IMDb in the last few years, but I just had to return and warn the world after spending just under an hour of my life watching "Get Him To The Greek". Yes. I walked out halfway through. Does that entitle me to write a review, considering I haven't seen the entire movie? I think it does.

I normally give a movie 10-15 minutes to "get going", and usually they do. "Superbad" started out looking like a bore, but suddenly got very funny and eventually got hilarious.

This didn't.

The plot is simple. Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) has 72 hours to get Russell Brand's character, "Aldus Snow" a hard-drinking, self-absorbed, washed-up rock star, from London to L.A. so he can play a comeback gig and revive his career and make millions for the record company. After flying to London and making contact with Aldus, Aaron suddenly realizes this is going to be tougher than expected. Aldus Snow seems more interested in showing Aaron the "best night of his life", so off they go on an almighty all-day bender. After this intense night of partying and missing about 4 flights, he finally gets him on to the plane and he can finally relax, mission accomplished.

This was the end of the movie, for me. Nobody laughed. I walked into the cinema expecting to have a bit of a chuckle but this was just a poor, weak, desperate attempt to make Russell Brand into a huge movie star, which I now hope he never ever becomes, having starred in this unfunny joke.

Babel (I) (2006)

Forgettable

[4/10 · 29 December 2009]

I watched this movie a few days ago, it happened to be on TV. I decided to watch it as it had won an Oscar. Well what I got was a tedious, melodramatic piece of film making that was not too good at all.

First of all there's 2 boys, one of which shoots a bus. The bullet hits a woman and she nearly dies. At the same time her kids are being minded by a Mexican illegal immigrant who decides to take the 2 children to her son's wedding in Mexico.

Meanwhile in a pretty much unrelated story, a deaf Japanese girl is having difficulties in her relationship with her father and is generally unhappy and sexually frustrated. After taking some alcohol and drugs with her friends, she goes out to a night club but leaves when the boy she likes kisses her friend. When she goes home a police officer calls in relation to the gun that her father used to own. She takes things a little too far with this guy and it gets a little embarrassing for them both.

In conclusion, this film feels like it was written as it was filmed. There was no point in making this, no imagination and no inspiration. It was like Pulp Fiction crossed with Lost in Translation only far worse than either (and I didn't care much for Lost In Translation).

Avoid

300 (2006)

It grows on you

[10/10 · 22 November 2008]

From the time he could stand, he was baptized in a fire of Combat...

From the time you start watching this movie you know you're in for a thrill. The storyline of isn't that complicated. Three hundred spartan soldiers go up against the might of the Persian empire. The dialog is simplistic and cool. Visually 300 is stunning. It will not only stand the test of time but it will get better with time. It is an instant classic and has all the ingredients a great movie needs.

Politics? Who cares? This is a movie that gets your adrenaline going. I know this sounds sexist but if you're a real man you'll love this movie. It has the "true" macho quality that few movies manage to achieve. There are lines from it that pop into your head in everyday life when you see or hear certain things. Like "The Matrix", it creeps into your mind and lives there. It touches on the basic, primal human values and emotions but there is absolutely no sentimentality here. As the line goes: "Theres no room for softness. Not in Sparta. Only the hard and strong may call themselves Spartans. Only the hard. Only the strong."

Go see this movie

Garage (2007)

Fantastic study of human nature

[10/10 · 30 July 2008]

One of those movies you have to watch a few times to appreciate. The first time I watched it (in the cinema), I laughed along at the funny bits and It was only now (having watched it again), that I realized he was actually going to kill himself at the end of it. I realize that the director intentionally makes us feel like we are one of the characters in the movie.. Towards the end we really don't care about Josie, we have bigger problems in our lives.

This tragic scenario of the truly gentle, harmless soul being de-humanized and constantly kept at arms-length, never being shown love by the manipulative, cruel and selfish individuals who surround him is so realistic. It's one of those things that's hard to put into words, but we see it every day and we know we see it.

If you listen to the dialog you see that the central character, Josie, isn't quite as dim as he's supposed to be, standing up to the pub bully, and knowing that one of the girls in the village is of mongrel parentage (in other words one of her parents was from a different village), yet he still can't properly relate to any of his fellow humans and the fact that they don't want to relate to him just feeds the vicious cycle.

The ultimate tragedy is that we eventually get the impression that Josie never got the chance to have a relationship, being bullied and manipulated probably since he was a kid. If he had been an aggressive or even just a cocky individual the audience wouldn't feel any pity for him, but then it wouldn't be realistic.

Wanted (2008)

Mindless, Boring Action

[2/10 · 5 July 2008]

Very poor movie. Even if you forgive the plot which is like something written by a person whose brain was seriously damaged in a bad accident.. Thats exactly what this movie is. A bad accident. It starts off fairly promising though. I deliberately didn't read any reviews or anything about it because I like to be pleasantly surprised by a movie which I have no pre-conceptions of.

It all goes wrong when the main character is in a drug-store getting his panic-attack pills and Angelina Jolie suddenly appears beside him and starts telling him his father is an assassin and he just died, then all hell breaks loose and so begins the painfully over-the-top chase scene which eventually leads to more ridiculous scenes such as a bath full of wax which is meant to heal all his wounds in a day, and a magic loom that magically spells out secret binary messages in the stitching of people they must assassinate. Of course what we're not told is which side of the piece of cloth we should look at, at which stich we should start reading from, and when we do get a person's name, how do we know who to kill if there happens to be more than one person with that name.

I am usually able to suspend my disbelief during a movie, and thus enjoy and be entertained by it. But with this movie I just couldn't, and if your I.Q. is above 50, you won't either.

Fonejacker (2007–2008)

Funniest s**t ever

[10/10 · 31 May 2008]

Fonejacker is by far the funniest show on TV now. Its a long long time when I've found a show so funny that I have to make sure I'm not eating any food or drinking any liquid when I sit down to watch this show because It will likely be projected forth onto my TV screen if I do, such is the explosive nature of the hilarity of the voices, the characters and the whole concept of the show.

Some of the characters are my favorites while others I will watch and laugh with the same regularity of say an episode of the Simpsons but the one that really is funniest is the well-spoken African gentleman who calls up unsuspecting citizens and tries to get them to give out their bank account details for such farcical reasons as: "The money needs to be pressed and steamed". The fact that the victims on the other end of the line don't realise its a joke is the other thing that makes it hilarious. Instead they get angry at him and then he pretends to get upset. You just have to see it. The accompanying animations and live-action footage are hilarious as well.

To summarise: I have never laughed as hard or violently at a TV show in a long long time.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Inspirational Stuff

[8/10 · 23 December 2007]

This is a very "real" movie. Perhaps because you get the feeling Stallone himself wants to prove himself as a film-maker and storyteller to the world so he won't be remembered just as an action hero. This translates beautifully in the movie, where he doesn't use big-name actors, but uses good actors who fit the rolls very well for this low-key but honest end to the Rocky saga.

Now in his 60's, Rocky is doing well for himself. Still living in the same neighborhood he grew up in, now running a restaurant which he named after his beloved wife Adrian. He has one grown up son who is trying to make it in the world, but is reluctant to see his Dad because he feels everything he's got is due to him having the Balboa name.

In one scene, when Rocky tells his son he's going to step into the ring one last time, his son pleads with him not to and Rocky tells him it's a nasty evil world out there and it will beat you to your knees if you let it, but succeeding is not about how hard you can hit, but how hard you can get hit and still move forward. He delivers these lines with all the emotion they deserve. The supporting cast are rock-solid and believable.

Stallone gets back to his roots one last time and pulls it off superbly.

Family Guy (1999– )

The new Simpsons

[10/10 · 13 September 2007]

The Simpsons was the "must-see" program of the nineties. Nothing like it ha been done before. Well now, alas, Our yellow faced friends are starting to show their age and becoming a bit...dare I say it... boring? 1999. Along comes this show called "Family Guy". It is only 2 years since South Park first hit our screens with its extremely crude content that was not everyone's taste. Personally I like South Park (In small doses).

Family Guy kind of bridges the gap between The Simpsons and South Park. The main characters are an American Family called "The Griffins" there's dad Peter, an overweight man who doesn't have any job that I can recall, the mother Lois, an apparently attractive redhead (its hard to tell with cartoon characters), the troubled teenage daughter Meg, the awkward teenage son Chris, baby Stewie (who for some reason talks with an English accent and has a very large vocabulary for someone his age), and the dog Brian (who unlike most dogs actually stands on 2 feet and doesn't bark, but talks instead).

Unlike The Simpsons and South Park there's not a host of secondary characters to build story lines around. Pretty much every story concerns a member of the Griffin family. The show seems to do a parody on every movie and TV show ever made, not to mention poking fun at many,many celebrities. Its a very simple formula I'll admit, but God is it funny. The humor is dark and razor-sharp. Sometimes its exhilarating. Yes. I used the word exhilarating to describe a cartoon.

Its hard to believe this show has been around for nearly 10 years because its still streets ahead of anything else (comedy-wise) thats on TV nowadays.

Very underrated and very,Very Funny.

Fast Food Nation (2006)

Very entertaining

[8/10 · 29 August 2007]

I liked this movie. I never read the book its based on, but Its about a guy who works for the marketing department of a fast food chain called Mickeys and they discover there's crap in the burgers. He is sent down to Texas or somewhere to investigate. While hes there he gets a burger in a Mickeys and one of the guys spits in his burger. We also follow a bunch of Mexicans on a quest to go into America for a better life. However they all get jobs in the meat factory and one guy loses a leg. I thought it was a very good movie, and Avril Lavigne is in it too and shes fairly hot.

Bruce Willis also makes an appearance as a guy who knows all about the industry and he gives us an insight into the hypocrisy of the industry. Greg Kinnear finely plays the unscrupulous marketing executive who is determined to just do his job and find out why there's crap in the burgers. In the end he fails.

In the end you see all the cows getting murdered and it was pretty shocking. You see all the heads with the skin peeled off and their horns hacked off

So for those reasons , I am giving it 8 stars.

Blades of Glory (2007)

I didn't laugh much, but maybe thats because Im a dude

[6/10 · 7 August 2007]

From the beginning of this film (when you see the young boy skating on the lake) I pretty much knew what I was in for. Another formulaic Will Ferrell comedy romp. Don't get me wrong, I think Will's a very funny guy, but the jokes in this movie were weak. I loved "Tallegeda Nights" because the humor was low-brow and appealed to guys. (I mean how many women like NASCAR).

The humor in "Blades of Glory" was mostly of a sexual nature, but not "Bathroom" humor. For instance Jon Heder's character says he was forced to be circumcised to "Lower wind Resistance". These types of jokes appeal to chicks.

I just sat thru this movie and basically didn't laugh much and wondered how it did so well at the box office. It seemed to borrow heavily from "Zoolander" and "Dodge Ball" (2 great movies in my opinion) but didn't really pull it off simply because we've seen it all before. Maybe if you've never seen these 2 movies you'll think Blades of Glory is hilarious.

The Simpsons (1989– )

There's a good reason why it's so popular

[9/10 · 25 July 2007]

And thats because it's very, very funny. The first series of The Simpsons, first aired all those years ago when I was an elementary school student myself, were very child-like, both in animation and script, and as the show gained momentum and subsequent seasons made it more and more of a success, the subject matter got more serious, but it retained what it always had from the beginning: a unique wit for pointing out the idiosyncrasies of the real world.

By around season 5, the writers had build up an entire world, based around the fictional town of Springfield. Not only that, but all these characters had their own relationships with each other, that remained consistent and believable. The central characters are the Simpson family themselves. Parents Homer and Marge, kids Bart, Lisa and Maggie, their cat and dog, then the extended family: Grumpy grandpa Simpson, who can keep people distracted for hours by telling stories that go nowhere. Marge's unmarried, chain-smoking twin sisters Patty and Selma who live with their pet lizard and despise Homer, then there's all the other characters: next-door-neighbors The Flanders who are so religious only a cartoon could convey it. The staff and students of Bart and Lisa's school, Homer's co-workers and co-drinkers, Krusty the Klown, the TV clown who Bart worships, Police chief Wiggum who is so lazy he believes that people should "take the law into their own hands", sleazy bartender Moe, Apu, Reverend Lovejoy, Mr. Burns Homer's miserly boss as well as other interesting characters introduced in later seasons, such as Gil, the hapless loser who's wife has left him and seems to lose every job he gets. And brilliant once-off characters such as Hank Scorpio, The evil head of Globex corporation, who, it could be argued, is a rip-off of a James Bond villain. But that argument is quickly settled by the fact that no James Bond villain has ever been this funny, or indeed, evil. I could go on and on about these characters, but I won't, because if you've never seen the show I wouldn't dare spoil it for you.

Now in it's nineteenth season, with the long-awaited feature-length movie about to hit movie screens, I believe The Simpsons has had an incredible run. Its not nearly as funny as it used to be and hence not as popular, and I feel it's substituting very dark undertones where it used to have clever and funny jokes. I don't like this and I think The Show has given us enough laughs for the last 20 years to easily last another 20. I still don't tire of the old shows and there's so many of them the by the time you've sat through them all you've forgotten the first ones. Whether they decide to wrap it up in the next year or so, or if it Rolling Stones approach of going on and on way past its sell-by date, one thing is imminent: The Simpsons will not be forgotten.

Extras (2005–2007)

Bad taste mostly

[4/10 · 24 April 2007]

First of all, I loved "The Office", and I loved Ricky Gervais IN The Office. But this... Not nearly as funny.

It centers around Ricky's character and another 30-something blonde bimbo who seems to sleep with every man she comes into contact with (except Ricky). Basically the show centers around cringe-worthy scenarios that these 2 characters get themselves into.

Thing is, it should be funny, but it just isn't. There's just too much negativity coming from these 2 characters that you end up either feeling sorry for them or just disgusted. It raises a chuckle here and there, don't get me wrong. Ricky only seems to be able to play one character (Himself), but this is ultimately just a sadder, more cynical David Brent.

The reason "The Office" worked so well was because it was always on the brink of descending into the "taboo" area, but cleverly it never quite did. In Extras it descends rig-th into this territory from the get-go. Im just fed up hearing Ricky's monotonous voice.

The Departed (2006)

Jack Nicholson should have played "The Riddler"

[5/10 · 16 March 2007]

Because, after watching "The Depated" I've noticed that the man speaks in riddles. I can never quiet tell what he's meaning.

I thought this movie was difficult to follow, and it moved way too fast. Now I'm not an old-age pensioner, but Scorsese could have took some more time for a thing called "Character Development".

Also, I didn't laugh once during this movie. There should have been a really angry little guy who's really edgy and violent thrown in for good measure. And there should have been some sex too. Or at the very least some really intense making out.

What I mean is: The Departed was more like an episode of "24" than a movie. It was just fast-passed action all the way through. And by the time it was halfway through, I was bored.

World Trade Center (2006)

Like watching paint dry

[1/10 · 3 February 2007]

Im just after pulling myself away from the TV and that awful movie, World Trade Center, to write this review.

Now. This is like watching a snuff movie. It depicts the events that happened on September 11th,2001 and we all remember so vividly because it was only a few years ago.

Most of the time you're watching Nicholas Cage screaming in pain. and when you're not watching that you're watching another guy scream in pain.

Shall I go on? It's badly edited, although well made, but who cares. It's not entertaining or thought-provoking or funny. It doesn't spark any debate. World Trade Center is just a very bland, uninspiring piece of film making.

Wayne's World (1992)

Revolutionary

[10/10 · 23 February 2006]

This was a major breakthrough movie. Bill and Ted's started the 90's trend of heavy-metal listening duo's who are innocent and stupid, but WW did it with much more wit (or whatever)

Looking back, and remembering when I first saw it in the pictures, me and my best friend were kind of like Wayne and Garth, and could identify with them. Needless to say, in the following weeks and months, much of our conversation involved the words "Excellent", an untrue statement, followed by the word "not", and such.

It's because of Waynes World that I, along with the majority of the earth's population Moshe's when the guitar bit at the end of "Bohemian Rhapsody" comes on. There is so much fresh stuff in this movie, that still seems fresh today. The simple concept of saying "way" instead of "yes way" is something so simple and obvious, but so eluding, that its funny because its interesting. The notion of the girl buying Wayne a "gunrack" leaves the audience almost as perplexed as Wayne. And the icing on the cake for me has to be the scene where Garth is left on his own to present the show and all he can say is "Im having a good time...not". The hilarity of that one moment is simply off the scale.

Bottom line: Wayne's world was and still is way ahead of its time and remains timeless and for a lot of people in my generation it has a special place in their heart.

Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)

I walked out

[3/10 · 2 February 2006]

Get Rich Or Die Trying started off pretty well, and I thought I was in for a entertaining movie, but unfortunately the plot goes to hell fairly fast.

His mother dies, and he takes over the family "business" (selling drugs). Him and his "crew" are making lots of money and partying etc then rival drug dealers start gunning down his "crew" (thats when I walked out).

I don't know. I just found it very hard to take this movie seriously. In fact, I don't think 50 himself took it seriously. Its like hes just coming onto the set and having a bit of fun in front of the camera and not putting any real effort in.

Bottom Line: There are a lot of MUCH better films you can go to see, so just wait till this one comes to TV and watch it then. It shouldn't be in cinemas and the only reason it is is because kids will go to see it and it will make money.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Entertaining, but not Thought-Provoking

[7/10 · 20 December 2005]

I'm just after watching Donnie Darko, and It held my attention till the end. There's some brilliantly chosen music in the movie, egg. Joy Division's "Love will tear us apart" and that other one that was number 1 for like 2 months a few years ago.

However I didn't think Donnie Darko was as thought-provoking as such movies as "Contact" and "A clockwork orange", or even "Fight Club". It's in the same genre as "Final Destination", but better. Its essentially a teen-horror-SF combo, with a bit of a love story mixed in, but It didn't really grab me.

For some reason its set in the 80's, and it reminded me of "ET". The ending confused me somewhat. did the planes engine enter a wormhole or what? Anyway it made me think about life a bit, and I suppose thats good, but it definitely wouldn't be in my to 10.

Batman Begins (2005)

Boring

[3/10 · 23 October 2005]

"Batman Begins" continues the progressive worsening of the Batman films since Tim Burton's excellent "Batman", which has the privilege of being the first movie I ever saw in a cinema, and remains one of my favorite movies to this day.

I'm reading other people's reviews of Batman Begins and they are saying things like "Bale is perfectly dark, yet vulnerable" etc.. Bull. This movie just isn't made how a Batman movie should me made. It looks and feels more like "XXX:the next level", which it shouldn't. I don't think I saw one 30's style hat or trench coat. It just didn't have that "X" factor that makes you believe you're in a comic book world. It tries to make the concept of Batman seem possible, in today's world, which in this world of the internet and cellphones just doesn't seem possible.

Why is Batman Begins a big disappointment? Heres why: the music is generic and emotionally devoid. The plot is WAY over the top. OK, Christian Bale does make a good Batman/Wayne, but his talent is totally wasted. Cillian Murphy as the "Scarecrow" is not very scary. And the script...Don't get me started on the script. The first 2 Batman movies had so many classic lines. This movie has none. When you add these factors together you get what is just a forgettable movie experience.

And another thing: didn't the Joker kill Bruce Wayne's parents? Katie Holmes is the only good thing in this movie.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

Very Odd (but not in a good way)

[2/10 · 3 September 2005]

I turned off this movie halfway through, because frankly, I didn't know what the hell was going on. I never read the book, or watched the TV show, so It was my very first introduction to this particular SCI-FI franchise. The plot centers around Arthur (Martin Freeman) who has his house demolished at the start of the film, only to have the rest of his planet demolished a few minutes later. Luckily he escapes with his black friend, and their quest begins, and the plot goes to hell.

I was just sitting there saying "What is this?". There's no sinister opening scene where an evil warlord plots to destroy the whole universe. In fact the only character that seemed to be evil was the one played by John Malkovich, who wanted them to steal a gun or something

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Greatest film ever

[10/10 · 20 July 2005]

This is a beautiful, beautiful film. It shows how humans behave in the real world and doesn't compromise one inch of truth in doing this. It tells the story of a young man who's daily way of life involves gang warfare, drugs, rape, and listening to Beethoven. The central character, Alex, doesn't see himself as bad. However the society around him thinks otherwise and he eventually gets caught and locked up for his crimes.

He's sentenced to 14 years in prison for "the accidental killing of a person" and one day a government minister visits the prison in order to look for a suitable candidate for a new experimental form of treatment which is supposed to stop a criminal from committing crimes and turn him into a functional member of society.

Because of his outgoing personality, and the fact that he's still a vicious young hoodlum at heart, Alex is the one who they pick as the guinea-pig for this new therapy.

After undergoing 2 weeks of being strapped to a chair and forced to watch movies of rape and violence whilst having a paralysing serum injected into his body and his eyes kept permanently open thanks to a set of "lid-locks", our hero is transformed out of all recognition.

Now a mentally crippled member of society who is free to roam the streets again, the people he terrorized in the past come back to take their revenge on him. Helpless, homeless, and unable to listen to the music he loves without getting sick, Alex decides to take the ultimate step and end his own life.

However, although badly bruised and with many bones broken, he survives the jump out of a third-storey window, and as he lies in hospital physically recovering, he is also recovering mentally from the "treatment" and is starting to once again feel twitches of desire for the old "Ultra-Violence" and we see him become happier and stronger. At the last moment in the movie we see a strange look on his face as he revels in Beethoven's 9th symphony while having a fantasy about having sex with a woman while people stand around and applaud him, We know and he knows he's cured.

That brief summary doesn't do justice to the movie, or the book for that matter. Once you see "A Clockwork Orange" you'll never look at life the same way again. See it a few times and it becomes part of you. It shows you the intangible things everybody in the world spends most of their time talking about, but nobody can explain. It shows you what people mean when they say they "made it" in life, It shows you why people that don't show fear ultimately don't get picked on, regardless of physical size, about why honesty about one's vices will always lead to you being hailed as a hero, regardless of how despicable those vices are.

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

A timeless classic...seriously

[10/10 · 15 July 2005]

The first time I saw Reservoir Dogs, I was about 15, it had been banned in my country, and I heard it was extremely voilent. Naturally I did everything in my power to get my paws on a copy, and when I finally did see it, I was disappointed. I was just sitting there saying "Wheres all the violence", Anyway, I watched it till the end, and then I watched it again, and since then it has just grew on me.

This is one of the movies I don't get bored watching time and time again. I still watch it at least once a year, because its not the kind of movie you watch to unwind or to pass the time. You simply watch it for the sheer quality and originality of the movie. The one liners are classic: "Are you gonna bark all day...", "I'll make you my dog's bitch". Mr.Blonde is totally believable as a psycho. I mean who stops to get fries and soda just after committing a robbery? The fact that everything is ludicrous, but you don't know this because these guys, and the way they talk is so impossibly cool that you just accept it. This movie is all about the dialog. The violence is used sparingly, and to better effect. The way the film is edited is genius. Its almost like you forget the whole movie after you watch it, and the next time you watch it, there's a whole scene that you forgot was there. The storyline is unpredictable and thrilling. This is better that Pulp Fiction and in my opinion definitely Tarintino's best movie. I didn't care much for the "Kill Bill" movies, but who cares, I'm not reviewing them.

If you haven't seen Reservoir Dogs, just rent it, buy it or steal it right now.

Good Burger (1997)

A stoner comedy without the drugs

[8/10 · 26 June 2005]

If you like Kenan and Kel, You will like this movie. If you don't like Keenan and Kel, you won't like Good Burger. I actually used to think Keenan and Kel was one of the most annoying and stupid programs on TV, but then I learned to let go, and realized just how funny it is. One of the funniest characters is the really old bloke (who was in The Godfather, and even then he was old), he comes out with these ridiculous one-liners such as "I think I broke my ass" that make you explode with laughter. Towards the end, it gets a bit weird...Which is a good thing because movies are normally way too normal. Its a few years since I've seen it, but I can remember most of it. Good Burger is basically a really good episode of Keenan and Kel, without Chris, his father, his sister etc