chinatown
director: roman polanski
Beautifully shot in a washed out California haze, full of incredibly seedy characters, and a labyrinth of plot to boot: this is one of the best bits of film noir ever put to the screen. Jack Nicholson is in top form as Jake Gittes, a smart ass private eye (is there any other kind) who takes on a seemingly simple cheating husband case and becomes entangled in a plot of murder, corruption, and one really screwed up family.
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend 2 thumbs up


professione: reporter
director: michelangelo antonioni
An existentialist portrait of a weary, professionally-alienated, journalist (Jack Nicholson circa. 1975) who adopts a dead man's identity, though unbeknownst to him the dead man, while a good likeness in face, is actually an arms dealer in support of a North African political coup. Look for hardly any dialogue, no monologues (especailly quotables), actions not words,an awesome visual representation of North Africa (stark) and other 70s-era European cities, and the best ever final 7 minute scene which took something like 15 days to shoot.
reviewed by: Eve |  February 2006 [link] |  recommend


lawrence of arabia
director: david lean
This epic movie sure is hard to cover in 2 sentances: miles and miles of incredible desert footage, 1,000,000 vociferous camels, Omar Sharrif, Anthony Quinn with an incredible prosthetic schnoz, bloodbaths a la 1962 (original release date), and over three hours long people! Peter O'Toole turns out a fabulous and flamboyant performance as the larger-than-life effete warrior who loves Arabia (especially the boys), has a Martyr complex, and knows how to appreciate a good beating.
reviewed by: raquel |  October 2002 [link] |  recommend 4 thumbs up


band of outsiders
director: jean-luc godard
Trio of cool French kids run around and act like American gangsters, no wonder their plan goes horribly wrong. Visually exciting and stylistically playful, one of the most unlikely “crime” films ever.
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  August 2001 [link] |  recommend


the graduate
director: mike nichols
I pretty much love this movie from start to finish; I actually get goosebumps when it starts and the Simon & Garfunkel soundtrack kicks in. One of my all time favorites, it's your typical boy is seduced by older woman, boy falls in love with older woman's daughter, daughter finds out the score and boy proceeds to stalk said daughter while much hilarity ensues; I often get this film confused with first year out of college but that's neither here nor there.
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  June 2001 [link] |  recommend 4 thumbs up


a hard day's night
director: richard lester
One of the most unabashedly happy movie-going
experiences of all time, I could not stop smiling the whole time
this was on the screen. This brand new print looks amazing
and the sound, well it's perfect too; much better than the first
time I saw this on Dialing For Dollars when I was 11.
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  December 2000 [link] |  recommend 1 thumbs up


trial, the
director: orson welles
An incredible take on Kafka's tale by way of an Expressionism influenced Welles. This beautifully photographed film (lots of great low angle shots) is a real treat to see on the big screen, it was also Orson's favorite film out of his entire body of work…..Anthony Perkins is really good in it too.
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend


breathless
director: jean-luc godard
A young hood on the run from the law hides out in Paris and spends a lot of time smoking and trying to work things out with his American girlfriend. This film looks amazing on the big screen, the editing is brilliant….often imitated, seldom duplicated.
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend


badlands
director: terrence malick
Haunting drama about a James Dean look-alike (Martin Sheen) and his very young girlfriend (Sissy Spacek) who idly stands by his side as he goes on a state-wide killing spree. What makes the film so chilling is the lack of remorse of it's two lead characters, Sheen is killing because he always "wanted to be a criminal" and Spacek's childlike narration shows that her character has no concept of the reality or the consequences of what they've done.
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend


bedford incident, the
director: james b harris
An overzealous Naval commander pushes his crew beyond to the breaking point in a dangerous pursuit of a Russian sub in the Arctic Circle. Good performances from Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier are the high points in this thriller about paranoia in the Cold War
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend


fail-safe
director: sidney lumet
Taut thriller about a computer glitch which might lead to nuclear war. Beautifully photographed, consisting of mostly interior shots, the tension never lets up until the chilling climax
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend


mad max
director: george miller
A long time ago, before there was a place called Thunderdome, before we needed another hero, there existed the B-movie/Drive-in circuit, this film was one of the unsung classics of that era. This is a fun film to see on the big screen, not as hugely entertaining as "The Road Warrior", it's not without it's merits, it's subtle, disturbing, and it's a film that wouldn't have a chance in hell of getting made today
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend


rear window
director: alfred hitchcock
This is one of my favorites, a tight suspense film about voyeurism, and it definitely holds it's own against what passes for a thriller these days. I love the fact that this film is considered to be one of the best thrillers ever made and it simply consists of Jimmy Stewart sitting in a room watching events unfold around him (as the audience watches as well).
reviewed by: JohnLawton |  July 2000 [link] |  recommend 1 thumbs up



:: archives ::


sort by director
 A    D    G    J    M  
 O    R    S    T  


sort by movie title
 A    B    C    F    L  
 M    P    R    T  


  • Token Book Review
  • Haiku Record Review
  • 2 Sentence Movie Review


  • The way I see it: My Favorite Records of 2004


  • DVD Review
  • Old School
  • Books About Movies





  • Want to contribute a review?
    contact us






    © happyrobot.net 1998-2024
    powered by robots :]