Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

7.5/10 [Recommended]

Dialogue driven drama that is fantastically well made!!

Glengarry Glen Ross is an examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office.

I was surprised as to how much I enjoyed this film being one that mainly consists of dialogue and character development. Focusing on salesman and the negative connotation that comes with it. This film explores the arrogances of successful salesmen, the intense stress from the pressure of making a sale, grovelling that comes desperation, success that follows with pride, and the sly dishonest methods used to make a sale.


Glengarry Glen Ross starts off with an intense opening that creates an unsettling and stressful atmosphere for the rest of the film. The rest of the film is carried by the star studded cast and their terrific performance in embodying their characters. What successful element in this film is its camera work and lighting choice. There are some very note worthy shots of continuous panning shots with zooming in and shifts between the camera moving verses the subject moving. The use of BLUE and RED light and shades adds an edge this flick.


Add this to your watch list because the pure talent of the cast ( Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Alex Baldwin, Ed Harris and John Lemmon) makes this film a gem!!

Elf (2003)

6/10

A cheerful, silly look at raw and complete innocence

Elf is about  a man raised as an elf at the North Pole who is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity after inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size.

Elf is a clever holiday film that both tells a lovely tale as well as makes a spoof on it. An elf by the name of Buddy is actually a human, but he was brought up by elves. So imagine a full grown man, who is smart, high spirited but has the innocent mindset of a 2 year old. We see Buddy interact with the outside world unbeknownst of it's cruelty and lost of innocence. Every negative remark made towards Buddy didn't affect him until...spoiler

I spent most of the film absorbed with the visual effects of the film. The simple yet effect treatment of the scenes and the created animation made the film believable and cute.

When Christmas rolls around..watch this movie!

Jackie Brown (1997)

6.5/10

Layers upon layers but no surprising conclusion.

A female flight attendant becomes a key figure in a plot between the police and an arms dealer.

Samuel L Jackson gave a great performance in this film. I felt myself despising him the moment the film rolled. His character had a sinister nice guy personality that makes you unsure whether to run away from him or to trust him.

This film had much of Quentin Tarantino's stylish touch to it, though the story didn't engage me but the filming technique kept me interested.

A visually appealing film that is fairly slow paced

Deja Vu (2006)

9/10 [highly recommended]

By far one of my favourite suspenseful thriller with time travel element.

An ATF agent travels back in time to save a woman from being murdered, falling in love with her during the process.

Deja Vu is a very realistic crime thriller with a clever sci-fi twist that will keep ou engaged. Acting is superb, plot is superb, but what makes this a great film is the mix in genres. Romance, drama, thriller, suspense, crime, action AND time travel.

The time travel wraps itself into the crime that is being investigated, so you are seeing bits of the ending throughout. I don't want to say too much as I might end up giving spoilers so I'll end it by saying WATCH IT and then REWATCH it and then repeat.

Narc (2002)

6.5/10

Profanity at its highest level, character intensive, really intense,  predicable storyline, nicely shot but nothing that new

When the trail goes cold on a murder investigation of a policeman an undercover narcotics officer is lured back to the force to help solve the case.

If you don't like profanity in a film, then this film will be offensive to you. 297 uses of the f-word (not to mention other curses that are thrown out).

Narc is character driven film exploring everything from inner demons, family difficulties, frustration, the theme bad/good cop, corruption, and the hardship with undercover.

The storyline is fairly straightforward and somewhat predictable. The ending wasn't as exciting as I hoped as I was expecting more twists.

This film does not put police officers on a pedestal, but rather peels back the core to expose the raw side of being exposed to the world of narcotics.


In the end, who's really a bad cop and who's a good cop? Question may never be answered.

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

6/10

Lovely cast with funny scenarios

The Importance of Being Earnest plot: In 1890s London, two friends use the same pseudonym ("Ernest") for their on-the-sly activities. Hilarity ensues.

Rupert Everett and Colin Firth both are fantastic in the lead roles.

Not my favourite film but it is family witty and silly.

Fateless (2005)

9/10 [highly recommended]

A heart breaking and haunting tale of a boy living through something no one should ever experience.

Fateless is about a 14-year-old, György's, life that is torn apart in World War II Hungary as he is sent to a concentration camp where he is forced to become a man, and learns to find happiness in the midst of hatred, and what it really means to be Jewish.


 This film is not a walk in the park, as it explores some of the cruellest and unbearable moments in human history. When the final credits rolled in Fateless,  I sat there for 5 minutes staring into space, thinking and trying to let it sink in. Some scenes in Fateless are so raw and shocking that it will leave you feeling at a lost for words.

We see everything from György's point of view: he attempts at survival, loss of hope, his search for happiness, sorrow, and acceptance of his fate. Part of him died while imprisoned in the camp, a part he will never get back.

[below contains spoilers]
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The end line in this film is one of the most bitter sweet narratives I've seen. As he walks off into the distance, his voice calmly says: "it was at that certain hour..even there in the square...was my favourite hour in the camp. I was filled with a sharp, painful, and helpless feeling: I felt Homesick... People always ask me about the horror, never the happiness. Because they ask, I can't forget." 

The most shocking bit in his epilogue is that he felt homesick for the camp...It completely boggles my mind at his reaction, however it makes sense that he would. The camp was where he lived his life from childhood to maturity. It is the only place where he has friends who can relate to how he feels, and it is the place where he almost died.

The most touching part in his conclusion is his view of the entire experience. He was not feeling sorry for himself, but rather his seeking of happiness of his entire journey. He rather talk about the joy in the camp, and not the horror. However, since all anyone ever ask is of the horror, he can never put it behind him. No hatred, no self pity, no fear, but just a need to seek happiness/desire to find meaning again.
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A very life changing, heart breaking, and powerful film. Watch it.

Micmacs 2009

7/10 [Recommended]

Micmacs is about a man and his friends come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers

From the maker of the French film Amélie, brings you MicMacs, a clever and well edited with small clips of animation and shot/edited in a very unique technique.

A very quirky yet sophisticated film that takes your through a intricate plan to bring down two weapons manufacturers. This film may not be the most action packed film with car chases and fight scenes, but it did not need any of these elements to be just as exciting. Although slow paced at times, the amount of artistic elements that Micmacs contained, such as mechanical puppets and cut out pictures, made this film very spectacular.

The array of clever, witty, silly, and ridiculous characters brought together in this film are worth watching.

If I had to chose two words to describe this film it'd be 'smartly quirky'. Micmac is a smart film filled with many quirky characters and is a piece of masterpiece.

Napola (aka Before the Fall) 2004

7/10 [recommended]

Astounding and shocking look at how boys became weapons.

In 1942, Friedrich Weimer's boxing skills get him an appointment to a National Political Academy (NaPolA) - high schools that produce Nazi elite

This film at first felt like a story of friendship but as the film rolled we see that friendship is clouded with cruel intentions attempting to build up killers. The innocences that each student that entered the school is washed away and filled with ideologies of the Nazi regime.

Definitely worth watching.

Haywire (2011)

5/10

Meh

Haywire is about  a black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission.

ok, plot sounded exciting but the film was far from it. Many parts of Haywire didn't make sense, there was odd use of sound effects, and scenarios were extremely un-captivating .

The genre this film is labelled under are "action" and "thriller, so my expectation going into it was exactly that. I turned on this movie on a friday night, hoping to kick back to something similar to the Bourne films, but rather I received a rather dull movie and a very un-fulfilling performance from the main actress. This film felt more like a drama then thriller.

The main part of this film that captured my attention was the star-studded cast and the idea of a super spy film. I guess I had too high of an expectation going into this film but with a cast of Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, and Channing Tatum, can you blame me?

Haywire tried to hard to be a sophisticated spy film that it forgot to have a good storyline and thrill to go with it.