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Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Like watching twenty puppies get shot one by one...only sadder.
Alot of drug movies make you want to do drugs. Most of the time it's because they glorify them. Some of the time it's because they're cheesy, and it's fun to flaunt there cheesiness with drugs. But this one makes you want to do drugs just to numb the crippling depression that sets in by the finale! My god this was a sad movie! That's no criticism mind you, after all, it takes real genius and hard work to make you care about the characters enough to get that sad about their fates. This was simply a perfectly executed movie.
I will say that there are some minor elements that are a bit unrealistic, and that each of the principle characters would meet the ends that they do - and at approximately the same time - is guilding the lilly a bit (statistically speaking I doubt that out of a given four junkies ALL that stuff would happen), but then this is a work of fiction, and deserves to be judged as fiction. Probably a more realistic vision of junky life is to be found in Drugstore Cowboy. nevertheless, the tone is authentic, as are the motivations and character interactions. There is no central villain, as would be found in most anti-drug movies, instead the protagonists are their own antagonists (which is refreshing, since most anti-drug movies place all the blame on some sinister dealer).
The direction is lush and innovative. The acting is spot on in all cases. Now we all know by now that Jared Leto can play anything (and I since he looks so different in every movie, it actually took me awhile to figure out it was him in this, cause he looked pretty much like himself), so I won't waste time saying what everybody already knows. Instead, I'd like to say how impressed I was with Marlon Wayans. Like all the Wayans brothers, he's a competent comedic actor, but whereas most of the dramatic turns his brothers have taken over the years have been in over-budgeted action throwaways, he had the stones to take on a REAL acting challenge. And he succeeded magnificently. he could have easily gone over-the-top with his character (and I think even some of the best in the biz would not have been able to avoid the temptation to do that), instead he hit all his characters high notes without making him at all annoying or cartoonish. The simple fact that he could act alongside Jared Leto and hold his own proves that he is in the top teir of actors today. Now the only question is whether or not he will pursue that branch of his career. I hope he does.
At any rate, I'm getting tired, so I'll just finish off by giving this my highest recommendation.
Goodfellas (1990)
Scorsese's '7 Samurai'
As 'The Seven Samurai' was for Kurosawa, this is the film that Scorsese will always be remembered for. And like that Kurosawa opus, it is not because of technical perfection or creative peak, but because this movie struck the perfect balance of the two. Kurosawa and Scorsese both had other films that were more creative (Roshomon and Taxi Driver, respectively), and they both had other films that were more technically impressive (Ran and Kwaidan, respectively), but it is in those two films that the two directors found the balance that makes a masterpiece. Kurosawa never again achieved that balance (although he came close a few times), and Scorsese has yet to as well (although he has also come close).
this film just pops! it has a frenetic energy that makes its nearly two and a half hour running time just fly by. the various details, and the charismatic narration (possibly the finest use of narration in film to date) used to point them out just draws you into this world. scorsese's use of abrupt freezeframes during the exposition stage really punctuates the points of those scenes. by this time scorsese had already perfected his use of music in such films as Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, but here it shines like no other. he actually scores the entire film with period pop tunes, picked with exquiste taste, variety and precision. all though so many films have tried, no other movie uses music quite like this, and quite this well (well, maybe Boogie Nights).
The cast is a who's-who of actors who have done, or would go on to do fine work in the mafia genre. Sopranos fans will no doubt notice a young Micheal Imperioli (Christopher) playing the bartender 'Spider' in a memerable scene. I recall in an episode of the Sopranos in which Cristopher, having been made to wait for an inordinately long time at a bakery, get fed up and shoots the counter-person in the foot. the guy, writhing on the ground in pain, asks "why did you have to shoot me in the foot?!", and in a clever nod to his Goodfellas role, Christopher responds "it happens".
ahh, I could go on forever about this movie. just see it (whether or not you've seen it already).
Hart's War (2002)
Worst marketing EVER!
some of you may be wondering why so many people here are giving this movie bad reviews. well I'll tell ya why: this movie was advertised as an action-saturated remake of The Great Escape, when in fact it's not that at all. when I saw the trailers for this, I thought it was going to be another mindless hollywood piece of crap. I only ever ended up seeing it because I saw my roommates copy lying on the coffee table. this is actually an exceptionally original movie for either the POW camp genre, or the war movie genre as a whole. it is not about action, and now that I think about it, (a few explosions aside) it has less action than The Great Escape did! this is really a riveting courtroom drama, that just happens to be set in a POW camp. it is full of surprising twists and turns (some of which were revealed here by some of the less considerate people that frequent this site), and is completely unpredictable. in fact, I dare say it's the most clever courtroom drama since Witness to the Prosecution.
someone here said this this film was full of cliches. I've seen alot of movies, and I've seen all the movies that spawned the war/POW camp movie cliches, and this had none of them, except in the most incidental areas. please don't review a movie until you've seen it, okay?
Meikyû monogatari (1987)
brilliant, but even better as a double feature with Heavy Metal!
So here's what you wanna do: get about ten people together and rent Heavy Metal and this. now your friends will have already seen Heavy Metal, but it's a safe bet they haven't seen Neo Tokyo. watch Heavy Metal first, it'll get them in the mood, and the right frame of mind for the second course. pop in Neo Tokyo and just watch as their jaws drop! it's a one-two punch that they'll not soon forget!
one friend I did this double feature with hadn't seen either. needless to say, he's been catatonic since ;)