My Review: LA Confidential (9/10)

"Rollo Tamasi is the reason I became a cop. I wanted to catch the guys who thought they could get away with it. It's supposed to be about justice."

L.A. Confidential was a very pleasant surprise. I had been waiting a long time for a crime drama like this one and somehow I had never been able to see this classic film from 1997. They don't make crime dramas like they used to in the 90's anymore. L.A. Confidential belongs in the same rank as Se7en, The Usual Suspects, and Heat in my opinion. Unfortunately, in the last decade this genre has faded away. This is director Curtis Hanson's best film and despite directing many more movies in the last decade they have been decent or misses. None of his films compare to the set and mood he's established here with LA Confidential. The film is full of suspense, thrills, and has several twists along the way. This is just the kind of film I love to see. The performances were also all really strong thanks to a spectacular cast and a fabulous adapted screenplay written by Hanson and Brian Helgeland (42, Man on Fire, Mystic River). The script was adapted from James Ellroy's crime novel and it incorporates several true events from the 1950's crime world in L.A. Fans of film noir and crime thrillers will be in for a treat here because this is a really special movie and it deserves all the awards it has received because this is a very satisfying film. The last hour of this thriller is really intense and will leave you at the edge of your seat. The build up is also very satisfying because the characters and events are all well developed.

The film takes place in LA during the early 50's right after the arrest of the well known gangster, Mickey Cohen. The LA police department is as popular as ever thanks to this arrest and a TV drama glorifying them. They are prepared now to face the war over the control of the drug trade that Cohen's arrest has provoked. Among the best men in the department we have the hot headed cop, Bud White (Russell Crowe) who is willing to do what it takes as long as the guilty pay for their crimes. He`s extremely sensitive towards abused females and is ready to punish the criminals. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) on the other hand is always looking for fame considering he`s a consultant for the cop TV show. Jack has close ties with Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito) a magazine editor who makes deals with him to cover some high profile arrests after setting up their victims. Then there is the promising young officer Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) who does things by the books and has impressed the DA and high officials for his smarts. Exley is ambitious and is looking for a big arrest in order to climb the ranks. These three men despite being very different from each other will have to join forces if they want to solve the brutal crime that has just taken place near a local cafe. Their main suspect is the millionaire, Pierce Patchett (David Strathairn), who runs a sort of high profile prostitution net involving Hollywood star look a like hookers. One of these hookers, Lynn Bracken, is played by Kim Bassinger and begins to be romantically involved with Bud. James Cromwell plays a supporting role as one of the Sergeant's in the police department.

This film received 9 Academy Award nominations including best picture and director, but only won two (Kim Bassinger for best supporting actress and Hanson for best adapted screenplay). There is something unique about this film despite the fact that the subject matter has been dealt with before a million times (corrupt cops and gangsters) and I think it has to do with the fact that there is no main character here. All three officers have the same amount of screen time and they all kind of play out like anti heroes. They are not your usual heroic cops, instead they are all flawed but easy for the viewer to identify with and root for. I was interested in what was going to happen to each one of the characters in this film. There are good enough twists for the audience to enjoy this film based on the action alone, but the performances from Spacey, Pierce, and Crowe are all so good that they just elevate this film and take it to an entire other level. Basinger is really good here as well, but I don't think she was better than the male actors in this film. L.A. Confidential is one of the best crime dramas I've seen thanks to a great script, some incredible performances, memorable characters, and a lot of thrills. This film is a must see.

Rating: 9.3/10

My Review: Big Fish (9/10)

¨There are some fish that cannot be caught. It`s not that they are faster or stronger than other fish, they`re just touched by something extra.¨

Big Fish is a beautiful film that truly captures our hearts by its brilliant storytelling; and it couldn’t have been directed by any other than the great and imaginative storyteller himself: Tim Burton. Daniel Wallace`s novel, Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, could have been a disaster in the making if not put in the right hands because the novel is all about imagination and storytelling. Many movies have destroyed stories similar to this one because the effect that imagination has when we read a book isn’t translated in the same way when we see a film. Very few directors leave room for imagination in their movies, but thankfully Tim Burton is one of them. He creates a very beautiful, artistic, and imaginative scenery, and the cinematography in Big Fish is also brilliant. He can turn a simple story into an extraordinary one with his artistic sense. Big Fish is actually all about storytelling and teaching us how our lives can remain immortal through the stories we tell. People can remember us by the stories we`ve told and left behind in the minds of those we`ve touched. John August (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) did a magnificent job with the screenplay adaptation as well. The entire movie worked well as a whole thanks to the great scenery, great performances from the entire cast, and great dialogues. The movie is great from start to finish, it`s truly beautiful; the scenes and characters will stick in your head even long after you’ve seen it.

Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) has just been diagnosed with cancer and as he lays in his deathbed his son, Will (Billy Crudup), begins recollecting his past and trying to separate fiction from facts. Ed has always been a storyteller, and Will used to love to hear these fantastical stories about how his father caught an uncatchable fish, married the woman of his dreams, and set out to do big things in the world, but as he grew older he became resentful towards his father who always spent a lot of time away from home and making up stories that in his opinion weren’t true. Will`s wife, Josephine (Marion Cotillard), wants him to make up with his dad before he passes away. Ed however claims they shouldn’t worry because he`s seen the way he was going to die and it wasn’t like this. That was just one of his many stories and it`s exactly how Will begins recreating the story of his father. When Ed was a young boy he visited an old witch (Helena Bonham Carter) who showed him the way he was going to die through her glass eye. We later see Ed as a young adult (played by Ewan McGregor) trying to make a big name for himself in the small time he grew up in. He achieves many great things, but realizes the town is just too small for him so he decides to move on to a big city for greater things. He takes a journey that leads him into various interesting characters, such as Karl the Giant (Matthew McGrory), the poet Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi), the Siamese twins Ping and Jing (Ada Tai and Arlene Tai), his future wife Sandra Bloom (Alison Lohman and Jessica Lange as the old Sandra), and a circus owner named Amos Calloway (Danny DeVito). Will tries to make sense of these stories in order to figure out what is fact and what is fiction so he can finally understand his father.

Several of the stories are unbelievable, but they are extremely funny and worth listening too. The performances from Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney as Ed Bloom are really heartwarming as well. Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito are hilarious in their supportive roles, and Alison Lohman is breathtaking in her role as the sweet Sandra. This was also Marion Cotillard`s first American film and she has made quite a name for herself by now. Helena Bonham Carter also had a remarkable role and she is as strange as ever. Billy Crudup has the most serious role as his character is more of a fact sort of guy and is tired of listening to all the stories his father has told him for years expecting him to believe them. He is also very credible as Will Bloom. The entire cast is actually a delight on screen and Big Fish works in great part thanks to their performance. The artistic scenery also caught my attention and it played a huge part in the storytelling. No one could`ve done it better than Tim Burton himself. By the end of the movie I guarantee you will feel touched and moved by this great story which is also helped out by having a powerful ending. It is just one of those pictures that will be hard to get off your mind for quite some time so I really recommend this film because this is the way stories should be told. Just like an ordinary life can become extraordinary through great storytelling, this ordinary film becomes extraordinary through Burton`s storytelling

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My Reviews: One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest

¨ And now they're telling me I'm crazy over here because I don't sit there like a vegetable. Don't make a bit of sense to me. If that's what being crazy is, then I'm senseless, out of it, gone-down-the-road, wacko. But no more, no less, that's it.¨

R. P. McMurphy is one of my favorite movie characters and probably Jack Nicholson`s best role to date (although he has had several great and memorable ones). It is as if he was destined to play this character all along, and will forever be remembered as this over energetic guy trying to help and free his fellow patients from the order, discipline, and boundaries set by his nemesis, Nurse Ratched. The movie may be criticized by a few people for not portraying psychiatric patients truthfully, but that wasn`t the purpose of the story. This is a very smart tragic comedy that focuses on the struggle between a complicated free spirited man (who happens to be a criminal as well) and a very cold, over controlling, and disciplined Nurse who thinks her way is the only right way to do things. She runs the institution like a General who orders his soldiers. Her treatment doesn`t seem to be helping her patients at all, and only seems to refrain them, while McMurphy`s crazy, radical, and anarchic behavior actually improves their well being. A clear example of this is that Nurse Ratched is so blind and focused on doing things her way that she doesn`t even realize that Billy has stopped stuttering. Maybe she did notice it, but since it wasn`t accomplished by her methods she makes sure he goes back to being his usual self by blaming him for his actions. Louise Fletcher gives a terrific performance playing this cold hearted character so well; she isn`t your typical villain who knows is evil and only wants to hurt people, she actually believes that she is right and that her methods are the only ones allowed. The two characters are so different from each other that they just end up complimenting their performance. The reason we love McMurphy so much is because he represents the fight against abusive authority figures, such as Nurse Ratched.

For those who aren`t familiar with the plot I will briefly explain it. R.P. McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) has been sentenced to prison for several assaults and a rape conviction. The guards have doubts whether or not he is mad and needs mental treatment or is faking it, and therefore is sent to an institution where the doctors can analyze his behavior. Little does McMurphy know that in the ward he is placed at there is even someone more controlling than the prison guards, Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) who runs the place with absolute authority. Among the very submissive patients we have Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif), who has suicidal impulses, Harding (William Redfield) who suspects his wife cheated on him although he has no believable proof, Charlie Cheswick (Sydney Lassick), Fredrickson (Vincent Schiavelli), Taber (Christopher Lloyd), and Martini (Danny DeVito). McMurphy catches his eye however on Chief Bromden (Will Sampson) because he could be useful to him due to his big size and seems to be outside of everyone else`s radar (including Nurse Ratched) since they say he`s deaf and mute. McMurphy befriends the patients, plays cards with them, basketball, talks about the World Series, and tries to teach them a thing or two about being men (he even finds a way of taking them fishing). He defies the Nurse`s authority and makes a bet with the rest of the patients that he can put an end to her daily hospital routines and break her, but when McMurphy realizes that in the institution he doesn`t have a release date like he would have at prison he tries to find a way to escape.

 One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest is a classic that has enjoyed success ever since its debut in 1975 , and it continues to be beloved by movie fans around the world today (it ranks at #9 on the IMDB Top 250 Films of all time). It was actually only the second film to date to win the grand slam of Oscars: Best direction (Milos Forman), Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), Best Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman), and Best Picture (Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas). The screenplay was adapted from Ken Kesey`s novel and he wrote after his own personal experience when he volunteered to work at a Veteran Hospital in California. The screenplay took a different approach (so much so that Kesey sewed the film and has refused to watch the final cut,) in the novel the Chief narrates the story. The film will be remembered for its very memorable characters, and there are several great scenes in the movie (when McMurphy narrates the imaginary World Series game to the guys, when he takes them fishing, his confrontations with Nurse Ratched), but it will also be esteemed for the very climatic and powerful ending. This is truly a great film and has stood the test of time. This is a must see movie.

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My Review: When In Rome (7/10)

¨This is what the Romans call the fontana de amore: if you throw in a coin, you find love. So maybe if I take a few like you, you, you, and you, some of the magic will rub on me ¨

(7/10) Director Mark Steven Johnson decided to leave superhero movies (Daredevil and Ghost Rider) behind him and move on to the romantic comedy category with his latest film When in Rome. David Diamond and David Weissman (Old Dogs and Evolution) teamed up once again to write the script for this film, which wasn`t very memorable, but it did have its moments thanks to some good performances from an interesting cast. When in Rome has a very predictable beginning, but once the plot began to thicken I found myself laughing throughout the movie. I really went into this movie expecting to dislike it because most romcoms are very similar and generic, but I was surprised when halfway through I was smiling and actually rooting for the main characters. What I enjoyed the most was that the movie itself seemed to be making fun of other films in its genre by introducing the legend of the fountain of love and all these strange characters that seemed to be taken out from other romcoms. The movie felt much more like a satire on love and you knew you had to take the whole thing more lightly. The two main characters probably didn`t have much chemistry between them, but the movie focuses more on the laughs and awkward situations than on the love plot. When in Rome is so full of ridiculous situations that I felt it worked as a satire on romantic comedies more than an actual one in itself (although at the end of the film you have your typical romcom finale). I found myself laughing halfway through the film up to the very end at all the ridiculous characters and absurd situations that present themselves.

Beth (Kristen Bell known for her TV roles in Veronica Mars and Heroes) is a young woman who hasn`t had any luck with love, but who has a very successful career and loves her job. She has a relationship with her work and doesn`t believe there is anyone out there for her. Her younger sister, Joan (Alexis Dziena), however has seemed to have found the love of her life in a trip to Rome and is getting married. Beth has to travel to Rome for the surprisingly quick wedding and here she meets Nick (Josh Duhamel from Transformers and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton), the best man. They seem to hit it on from the beginning, but Beth sees another woman kiss him during the wedding and ends up disappointed once again. She gets drunk, ends up getting into a fountain of love, and decides to take a few coins in order for some of the love to rub off her. The legend is true and the people from whom the coins belonged too magically fall in love with Beth and begin to stalk her. Among them there is a painter named Antonio (Will Arnet), a successful sausage business man (played by Danny DeVito), a street magician resembling Chris Angel named Lance (Jon Heder from Napoleon Dynamite and yes Pedro has a small cameo as well), and a egocentric male model named Gale (Dax Shepard). Beth really can`t handle all these strange characters that have showed up in her life and realizes that the reason for all this mess are the coins she picked up in the fountain. She even begins to doubt that Nick is interested in her in real life and that he is also under the spell of the legend of the fontana de amore. Now she will have to figure out how to undo what she has done and try to discover if there really is such a thing as true love.

Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel are both very likeable actors and they do a decent job with the script although I can`t say I felt much chemistry between them (however I did end up rooting for them to be together). But the true success of the film relies on the secondary characters who really steal all the laughs. Jon Heder, Danny DeVito, Dax Shepard, and Will Arnet are all extremely funny and they have a chance to play very eccentric characters, which is what they do best. They seem to be taken from different other types of romcom films and put together into this one to serve as a satire on this genre. The movie never takes the romance too serious and that is why it feels so light and gets away with being predictable and corny. There are several laugh out loud and enjoyable moments, but you have to get through the awful beginning and wait until these characters show up to save the film. I recommend this movie, although I was almost certain I wouldn`t because my expectations were really low, but the movie really took me by surprise and made me laugh more than I expected. Yes, When in Rome is very predictable and it probably won`t end up being a very memorable film, but it really was entertaining and funny nonetheless and is worth the watch.