Sunday, December 19, 2010

Movies that made me the way I am - part 4

41. 25th Hour (2002) - I hope none of us will be faced with such terrific 24 hours when you watch yourself in the mirror and say things like "Fuck *you*, Fuck you and this whole city and everyone in it. Fuck the panhandlers, grubbing for money, and smiling at me behind my back...Fuck terrorists in fucking training. SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! Fuck the Chelsea boys with their waxed chests and pumped-up biceps. Going down on each other in my parks and on my piers, jingling their dicks on my Channel 35. Fuck the Korean grocers with their pyramids of overpriced fruit and their tulips and roses wrapped in plastic... Fuck the Wall Street brokers. Self-styled masters of the universe. Michael Douglas, Gordon Gekko wannabe mother fuckers, figuring out new ways to rob hard working people blind. Send those Enron assholes to jail for FUCKING LIFE! You think Bush and Cheney didn't know about that shit? Give me a fucking break!..." This much, much longer speech where Edward Norton is f...g everybody smashes your brains and leaves you in blood.

42. Cape Fear (1991) - One of the remakes I adored because De Niro is playing his sleaziest role and because Juliette Lewis sucking his finger with her innocent eyes and smile is the hottest and dirtiest scene in the history of cinema.

43. About Schmidt (2002) If you are in your 20's this movie will make you think it's better live fast and by 35 you are already dead. If you are in your 40's and plus this movie will give you the final blow. Life is over. If you are in your in your 30's you feel trapped like a mouse in a treadmill, but you will fool yourself with "There is still time and I will not watch this movie again. Ever." I don't understand why Nicholson didn't win 1 million of Oscars for this role.

44. The Name of the Rose (1986) - Only a brilliant mind like Jean-Jacques Annaud's could have the guts to screen a novel by Umberto Eco. Add the perfect cast (the ugliest people in the world gathered in a 2 h carousel), the gloomy atmosphere, the mystery of a book, a camera that follows the characters greedily and you have a win of a movie. Besides "Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith, because without fear of the Devil there is no more need of God."

45. Gaslight (1944) - One of Ingrid Bergman's first roles. A black and white movie which will thrill you at best. A Cukor masterpiece, though the not so familiar with cinema history would swear this is a 100% Alfred Hitchcock. Oh and one short moral of the story...beware whom you love and trust. :)

46. Whatever happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - This is not a movie to be watched by soon to be actresses, as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford can kill instantly such desires. I mean how can you even think of getting at least as good as them. Blasphemy. My first encounter with virtual isolation. Creepy and haunting.

47. Anger Management (2003) - Because Adam Sandler, otherwise a not-to-be-mentioned-ever-actor, manages to keep up with Nicholson. It's true that for this he has to sing "I feel preety". Hilarious and a comedy to light up your heart. :D

48. Love Story (1970) - People avoid talking about it. And nowadays it seems so outdated and ridiculous. But oh boy...I cried my heart out hundreds of times. Like all the love stories depicted in flicks, such a thing does not exist in real life, so relax and wash those eyes a bit.

49. Butterflies are free (1972) - All kinds of stereotypes in this one. Overprotective mother, the handicapped person and his right to have a normal life, the sissy girl... but what interpretations. My favorite quote from this one. "Mother, you have to laugh sometime, or people will think you're a lesbian."

50.Fellinis Satyricon (1969) - Rome, homosexual love, earthquakes, a hermaphrodite demi-god, impotence, sentences stopped in the middle, decadence, visual feast, brilliant soundtrack, craziness, child exploitation (?)...what more can one ask? It makes you gasp in awe. Maybe even puke your soul out.

To be continued...

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