Movie Update IV

This has been a good week for movie watching. Posting all my reviews would make for a huge post, so I’ll break this up into (at least) 2 posts.

[NOTE: I saw this one the week before last but forgot to include it in my last post] Requiem for a Dream (#65) - Wow. I don’t know what else to say. This was an excellent movie, but one I don’t know if I ever want to see again. The cinematography was fantastic as were all the performances. It was a very “stylistic” movie, but not to the point it detracted from the movie. The movie deals with drugs, dreams, and relationships and it holds nothing back. For a while I was wondering if this movie was actually darker than Trainspotting. It is. I recommend this movie, just don’t do it with a full bottle of booze or anything sharp near by.

Downfall (#66) – Another war movie. This one is about the last days of WWII from the point of view of Hitler’s inner circle. I thought this was a great movie from a standpoint I’d never thought of before. It was a bit long, but the shots were very good and it kept my attention. If you’ve seen this before, and even if you haven’t, you’ll get a kick out of this. History buffs should like this one.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (#94) – the first love story for me to watch off the list. At least it’s billed as a love story, but while the love story played a significant part of the film, I think this movie much more about the main character and his relationships than about his love interest. In all honesty, I think the relationship between the main character and the father figure was more interesting than the love interest. This was also a long movie, nearly 3 hours. It did drag at parts, and while much of it, especially during the first act, could have been cut out, it made for some of the best character development I’ve ever seen.

The Great Escape (#83) – Another of those movies I know I should have seen before now. A good, movie, but I don’t know if I’d call it ‘great’. Another ~3 hour movie, but this one didn’t drag at all, it kept me going the whole time. Perhaps the most important thing I got from this one is that now I get Mr. Brown’s line in Reservoir Dogs during the Madonna speech.