Thanks for ruining the ending for the people that haven't seen it :rolleyes:

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The source material by Thomas Harris could have been adapted in different ways, as is evident by later, cheaper thrills like 'Red Dragon' and 'Hannibal', but Demme chose not to make a horror movie in favor of a human drama which just so happens to be a bit creepy. A wise decision indeed, especially as the film so knowingly toys with what we expect out of horror movies with far-less sinister monsters, or at least less real. But what is a monster? Is an intelligent murderer more sympathetic than a delirious one? It's hard to think otherwise as we simultaneously fall for the cunning charm of Dr. Lecter (played exquisitely by Hopkins, of course) and are repulsed by Buffalo Bill (Levine). At first glance this opposition may be inaccurately attributed solely to the two character roles and performances themselves; it is Demme's careful eye, however, which guides us. When Demme shoots scenes with Lecter, we become him as an audience; we are strange to Starling as she sits outside the cell and asks Lecter/us to help her, as is made clear by the terrified gaze she points directly into the camera. But we see her with a calm deliberancy as Lecter does, we calmly read her thoughts, and dissecting her becomes increasingly more interesting even though it is irrelevant to the story. But looking at Bill is a horrendous thing to do. He is defined by individual parts- a nipple piercing, a quivering nostril, genitals tucked between legs- and we see him as he sees the world and wants the world to see him: not as an organic whole but by detailed pieces, each organic and its own entity. I admire Demme's adaptation because he is quite a different visionary than Thomas Harris. The first time I saw the film I disliked it because of its lack of depth behind Bill as a person and detail behind the crime investigation, both of which were heavily covered in the novel; while I have found the first more symbolically oriented around Demme's camera, the second would simply not belong here. Like Kubrick's 'The Shining', this is a different piece of art than its source, and cold technical detail is less important than the witnessing of the warm flicker of an eyelash, a movement which says much more to Demme about human nature than any case file ever could.

Donnie Brasco

A brutal mob story with exquisite performances from Pacino & Depp.

Unforgiven.
instantly became my favorite Eastwood directed flick. ending kicked total and complete ass. some pretty deep character analyzing too.

Das Boot
That was a pretty damn good one with a good amount to say. Too bad i rented a copy with dubbing. bad dubbing.

Get Carter
liked this one a good lot too, I've been diggin these older crime flicks, ex. Bullit and The French connection.

Event Horizon
this was enjoyable as well, didnt find it to quite live up to the hype. the visuals and the concept were cool (even if it was the same as that of Sphere), the scares didnt really get through to me however.

The Day after
really creepy film that does a good job simulating the tension that would occur pre-nuclear war, the effects were pretty dated, but it remains an eerie and
unsettling film.

2 Fast 2 Furious
awful.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Pretty chilling take on a serial killer.


i liked the way some of the murders were shown, aftermather imagery with offsreen ruckus and screams of the actual murder. That worked for me. Ashe.
d

Paul Blart :Mall Cop

I like Kevin James and I wanted to like this movie....it had a few chuckles....could have been better.

Wonderful movie. Loved it the first time I saw it. Very underrated.

Very underrated mob flick- scary performance by Madsen, too.

Wrong Turn

Fairly standard set up, its hills have eyes with 'mountain men' instead of mutants, but a better than average flick. Quality FX and well paced story with little excess fat on it.


Bad Taste

An old favourite, gloriously over the top gore fest with terrible acting that cant help but add to the enjoyment.

Superhero Movie.

Better than some of the spoofs out there, but that isn't exactly an achievement. At least this one had a bit more of a consistent storyline.