DylansFearFiles

As a big fan of Dario Argento's 1977 classic, I approached this new look at this story of witches and murder with a mix of apprehension and excitement (but mostly excitement). The reviews got me even more intrigued since the reaction was so polarized. Fortunately, I was not disappointed at all with Luca Guadagnino's re-imagining of Suspiria.

Like the original, this movie follows Susie Bannion (played here by Dakota Johnson) as she leaves her home to go to a prestigious dance academy in Germany ran by the mysterious Helena Markos and her vice directress Madam Blanc (both played here by Tilda Swinton). Little does she know that this school is being ran by a coven of witches who will do anything to keep their dark workings secret. This film adds more complexity to the simple premise of the original film by adding the character Dr. Jozef Klemperer (also portrayed by Tilda Swinton), who is searching for a missing patient of his who was a student of the Markos Dance Academy.

First off, the story of the movie is a great update of the original. The general structure of the story is mostly the same but the details and execution are almost completely original. Argento's Suspiria takes a more simplistic approach to storytelling, mimicking the style of fairy tales. This one is more complex, with multiple interconnected storylines which converge in the climax. The movie moves the action from Frieburg to Berlin in 1977, which is shown as a politically turbulent time. I know very little about the Baader-Meinhoff incident in the film, so I can't comment on how it relates to the story aside from adding more flavor to the setting.

As a 2.5 hour movie, it would be easy to assume that this film would be boring to watch at times. While this is a slow burn and could probably turn off other viewers, I was completely enthralled by the events unfolding onscreen. The characters are interesting and Dr. Klemperer is especially easy to empathize with, so they keep you engaged through the strange events in the film. While violence is used sparingly in the narrative up until the shocking climax, what little violence you see throughout is quite disturbing.

The acting is another very strong point in this movie. Dakota Johnson might get a few boos from the gallery due to her role in the 50 Shades trilogy but here she portrays Susie Bannion with subtlety and innocence that makes her character very endearing. Tilda Swinton especially amazes in this due to her seemingly effortless portrayal of three very different characters in Madam Blanc, Jozef Klemperer, and Helena Markos.

Madam Blanc was a falsely affable villain with no dimension in the original, but the writing and Tilda Swinton's performance here add depth and conflict that make her possibly the most interesting character in the film. Her performance as Dr. Klemperer is very believable as an old man who has spent years being weathered by grief and guilt, especially with the absolutely astounding makeup effects. While she appears only briefly as Helena Markos, Swinton also makes a delightfully disturbing impression as this disgusting and frightening witch.

While Guadagnino's Suspiria lacks the distinctive color palette of the original, the remake uses wintry colors and more subdued cinematography. This all gives is a very different tone from the original and makes everything just feel more cold and ominous. It's really interesting that the climax makes use of more Argento-like to further convey the supernatural ramifications of what is happening onscreen.

I'd be remiss not to make note of Thom York's (of Radiohead fame) beautiful score. Suspirium and Unmade particularly stick out as favorites of mine from this movie. I couldn't stop listening to Suspirium for a few days after watching this and I still listen to it regularly. The style of his score is again very different from the original Goblin Score, which helps this movie stand on its own even further.

Overall, this 2018 re-imagining of Suspiria is a simply astounding film and I believe over time it will be viewed as a classic alongside the original. After I watched it, I was absolutely blown away and spent several minutes pacing around my room just saying "Wow!" over and over again. That isn't something I've experienced with a movie in a very, very long time. I wholeheartedly recommend you check out this masterpiece if you can handle some slow-burn horror cinema.

I am an Apostolic-Pentecostal and I was washed in the blood of Christ/saved in July of 2009. I had seen this film several years ago (I believe it was 2006) and I was relatively indifferent to it but I had not had my life-changing experience with God yet. This movie is best if you are a believer and have been saved.

In this film, Jesus Christ is portrayed by Jim Caviezel. The film is called "THE PASSION of the Christ", so one can infer it was about His death and resurrection. The film does a great harmony of the four accounts of the crucifixion. I think it is also possibly the most emotionally and spiritual impacting movie made about the Lord. The film also includes a realistic interpretation of Satan which honestly sent chills down my spine. I don't think the Devil should be portrayed as scary but it got the main part right: he is subtle in his work and not an over-the-top creature with red skin, horns and a pitch-fork.

I watched this movie for the second time in March. It made me cry, my heart bled for my Savior. Every time that I have watched it since then, I have cried each time. Great movie.

The film is also historically accurate. It does add some little things, such as Jesus seeing Satan in the Garden of Gethsemane or Mary, the mother of Jesus, seeing the Enemy while Jesus is carrying the cross. The film does a little subplot about Judas Iscariot, who we all know betrayed Jesus.

I loved the flashbacks of some of my favorite bits of the life of Jesus such as the Sermon on the Mount (which taught great moral values and spiritual guidance which only the Son of God could give) and Him saving the adulteress from being stoned (who is portrayed as Mary Magdalene) and the Last Supper. I applaud Mel Gibson for his terrific work on the film.

I admired the purpose for which Gibson made The Passion of the Christ. I read that he was suicidal before he made the movie and made this movie to remind him what the Lord did for him and what He was able to do. The movie focused so much on the blood and wounds of Christ and it wasn't just to satisfy the great love for violence today's youth has but to show that "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Surely He bore our sorrows and by His stripes we are healed".

Max (Jamie Foxx) is a Los Angeles cab driver with big ideas to start a successful limousine company. A man (Tom Cruise) exits LAX airport after Max drops off a fare (Jada Picket Smith). He tells him his name is Vincent and has Max drive him to an apartment complex. He offers him several hundred dollars to be his driver to four other stops, Max hesitantly accepts.

Max is setting in his cab when suddenly a body lands on his roof. Vincent immediately comes down and they put the cab in the back of the taxi after he reveals himself to be a contract killer, sent to LA to kill five people in one night. He holds Max hostage and forces him to drive him to his other four "stops". The entire time, Max is trying to find a way to save the other targets. In between the hits, Vincent and Max connect and have a lot of character development. There is also an LAPD detective named Fanning (Mark Ruffalo) on their trail.

Collateral is probably the best Michael Mann-directed movie I've seen. He's directed several of my other favorite movies like Heat (1995), Manhunter (1986) and Public Enemies (2009). Collateral is just an intense movie experience.

Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise are actors I am not a big fan of. The performances in this movie surprised me. Tom Cruise is awesome as Vincent (very rare kind of role for him) and Jamie Foxx is probably even better. I honestly always thought Cruise was a terrible actor. Mark Ruffalo was also very good, he is a very underrated actor.

Collateral was also filmed in High Definition. The cinematography is awesome, it has a really dark look to it. I loved it.

The whole movie is intense. You fear for Max's life and also begin to like Vincent. You're not sure who you're rooting for. I'm still not sure which character I like better.

This is one great movie. 10/10

John Dillinger is one of the gangsters of the thirties who captured the hearts of Depression-era Americans and still does. He represented the people's hate of the banks and lawmen. John Dillinger was also a charismatic Indiana farm boy, who people weren't used to in the 1930s.

Michael Mann's latest masterpiece is another film about cops and criminals but this time based on a true story. This is about the 13 months of fame that John Herbert Dillinger (Johnny Depp) reigned before his death outside of the Chicago Biograph theater on July 22, 1934. The film also follows the story of Special Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) as he hunts down the charming bank robber in the Depression-era Midwest.

Johnny Depp's performance in Public Enemies is something else and Christian Bale is also very good. Depp's portrayal of Dillinger is more realistic and true to history that Warren Oates in the (also great) 1973 film, simply titled "Dillinger". The movie has cinematography and a soundtrack that totally blew me away. Also, Marion Cotillard's performance as John Dillinger's sweetheart Billie Frechette broke my heart.

Michael Mann still has not left his ability to create atmosphere in his films. Heat and Manhunter are other examples of his great atmospheric masterpieces. He is back now with this exciting film.

The only real complaint I have it right below: The film focuses so much on John Dillinger that it doesn't seem to tell anything about the true causes of J. Edgar Hoover's (Billy Croodup) War on Crime or other criminals of the era. The other criminals I would like to have seen more of include Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham), Alvin Karpis (Giovanni Ribsi) and Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum). The Kansas City Massacre is also something that needed to be told about because this is a key event in the connecting history of the Public Enemy Era.

Overall, Public Enemies is probably the best film I have seen so far this year and I don't expect to see better.

10/10

2007 was a high quality year. Three of my favorite films of all time came out of that year. Zodiac, a gripping tale of murder and obsession. The Assassination of Jesse James, an emotionally psychoanalytical film about Jesse James and his relationship with Robert Ford. And this, No Country For Old Men.

No Country For Old Men is the tale of a drug deal gone wrong and the violence that follows. The film follows three characters, Llewlynn Moss (Josh Broline) who is the hunter that finds the drug money and the bodies, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) who is one of many bounty hunters hired to retrieve the money and Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) who tries to find Moss before Chigurh does. The film is very violent but is a fantastic, character and action driven film by Joel and Ethan Cohen. The film is based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy.

The film is a modern western. It features amazing performances by the three main actors, especially Javier Bardem (who is the best part of the film). Javier Bardem's sociopath Anton Chigurh is most definitely one of the most chilling characters to ever enter the crime genre, he is better than Hannibal Lecter.

No Country For Old Men is basically a tale of cause and effect. The actions of the Moss character set off a chain reaction of violence. The film has cliffhanger ending which might disappoint most viewers, but it didn't bother me. The ending (which I will not spoil) has a meaning which I have yet to find. The whole film includes multiple situations of symbolism.

All and all, No Country For Old Men is one of the best films to come out of the year 2007. Great performances and direction, as well as a nicely paced story. Watch it again and again to fully appreciate it.

10/10

Left 4 Dead 2 is set one week after Left 4 Dead 1. In it, four strangers named Nick (a gambler and conman), Rochelle (A news producer), Coach (A health teacher and coach), and Ellis (a mechanic) team up to survive an outbreak of the "Green Flu" which causes people to behave like zombies (the Infected). There isn't just one type of Infected though. Here is all of them:

1. The Smoker- An Infected with a long tongue that can snatch survivors from a distance and constrict them.

2. The Boomer- A bloated Infected that can puke a bile on the survivors and attract a horde of Infected.

3. The Hunter- A hooded Infected that leaps long and high to pounce survivors and claw them to death.

4. The Tank- The biggest and baddest of the Infected that simply attacks with its strength and throws debris at the survivors.

5. The Spitter- This Infected spits and acid-goo that rules out the possibility of corner camping during crescendo events and if you stand in it too long it will kill you.

6. The Jockey- This Infected jumps on a survivor's head an steers them into danger.

7. The Charger- Another large Infected that charges at a survivor and pummels them into the ground.

8. The Witch- A crying Infected that if startled, will attack the Survivors.

9. The Common Infected- These are the normal Infected that you fight that will travel in "hordes".

10. The Uncommon Infected- These are types of Infected you only see on one map. They usually have varied abilities. For example: the Clowns on Dark Carnival attract hordes with their squeaky shoes.

The game is very fun with large improvements over the previous title. The game now has melee weapons to kill the Infected and a lot more guns. The variety of the maps is interesting and they are all connected, unlike the original Left 4 Dead.

The game is also more challenging. The bots aren't as good as they were in the first game is my only problem. Sometimes they will let you die or try to kill a Charger with pistols LOL. But overall the game is better than the first (which was my favorite game until I bought this one).

The multi-player is good. There is a new Scavenge mode, as well as a Realism mode, a versus mode and normal coop. Here is a breakdown of how the multi-player modes work:

1. Coop- Just you and a friend teaming up with two bots to survive a campaign.

2. Versus- A team of survivors trying to make it to rescue while a team of player controlled Infected tries to stop them.

3. Scavenge- The Survivor team tries to collect gas tanks to fuel up the rescue vehicle while the Infected team tries to kill them all before they can or cause as many gas drops as possible.

4. Realism- This mode is the same as campaigns except that you can't see the Survivor Halos (this causes you to have to stay together), the Witch can kill you instantly and the common/uncommon Infected take less damage to the body and cause you to have to shoot them in the head.

The only game types I've played are coop, Realism, Versus and the normal campaign. The Realism mode is a nice tough. Very challenging and causes you to work together more to survive, it makes the game feel less like 28 Days Later and more like the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.

The game is great. I highly recommend it to fans of the first game.

10/10

28 Days Later is a revolutionary film about a virus that is accidentally released in England called Rage. Rage is a virus that turns a human being into a psychotic monster called an Infected. The film focuses on a group of survivors trying to make sense of the epidemic that they are faced with.

The cast is top-notch, you have Cillian Murphey (Red Eye, Batman Begins) and Naomi Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest) and some other people I will fail to mention. The movie is also directed by Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire). The movie has strong performances, and some very suspenseful scenes.

This is basically a more realistic version of George A. Romero's zombie series. 28 Days Later is heavily inspired by other horror classics, such as Day of the Dead (1985). The movie also has beautiful cinematography and some amazing shots of deserted London. It was filmed in digital video.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie.

9/10

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a rip-roaring comedy about Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man), a petty thief who stumbles his way into a movie audition and goes to Los Angeles. At Los Angeles, Harry meets Perry Van Shrike (Gay Perry, portrayed by Val Kilmer, Heat) and runs into his high school crush, Harmoney (Michelle Monaghan, Eagle Eye). Gay Perry is a consultant for the detective movie that Harry is to be starring in, and while they are out on a surveillance trip the two end up on a murder scene. Soon, the three all end up trying to solve the murder.

Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. both gave amazing performances. Oscar worthy, but sadly the film done horridly at the box office. But this is a great movie, one of the best out there and one of the funniest I've ever scene. Michelle Monaghan was pretty funny too. I expected more of an action film but I got better, a hilarious satire of the detective/buddy genre.

You really wouldn't suspect Val Kilmer to be gay, he's just such a tough-looking guy. Hard to believe sometimes, even though I've watched this movie a hundred times. Shane Black wrote a brilliant script, and as I said this is not an action story but more of a black comedy.

10/10 for great script, acting, direction, and cinematography.

Heat is the story of a brilliant Los Angeles detective named Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino, Scarface) and his confrontation with an expert thief named Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro, Raging Bull), as well as his crew (including Val Kilmer as Chris, Tom Sizemore as Michael, and Jon Voight as Nate). The film is more about character development than gangster action. That is part of what makes director Michael Mann's Heat the best of Al Pacino and Robert Niro's careers.

The performances in Heat are superb. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino play their characters in such a way that you don't know who to root for and you can't tell who is the better actor. The supporting cast is strong also. The film is long, which gives it more time to bridge into several different subplots (examples: Hanna's troubled home, McCauley falling in love with a civilian, and Chris's gambling addiction).

Okay, now here's for the new generation. The action in this movie is great but spread out throughout the story. There is a very famous bank heist scene which follows with a lengthy shootout between the cops and criminals. Although my favorite scene is when the two rivals (Hanna and McCauley) meet face to face and drink coffee at a diner.

This is a great movie, and fans of the crime genre will not be disappointed.

10/10

Don Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is now in his 60s, divorced, and very close to becoming legitimate. Now he must find a successor, and that person might be his nephew Vincent (Andy Garcia), who is just as violent as his father Sonny (James Caan, who only appeared in the first two films). Michael is also trying to reconcile his relationship with his ex-wife, Kay (Diane Keaton) and protect his daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) from the Mafia business.

The Godfather Part III is the most misunderstood of the trilogy. I feel that Sofia Coppola gave an underrated performance, but I'd like to see what Winona Rider could have done with the character. Sofia Coppola portrays the innocence that Michael wants to preserve. Andy Garcia also received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his performance as Vincent Mancini-Corleone. The movie also includes a good supporting cast including Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds) as rival mobster Joey Zaza and Eli Watch as Don Altobello.

I found the third entry in the series to be a great movie, but not as good as the first two. This one is more tragic than the rest. This movie is very underrated and deserves more recognition.

9/10

Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is the Don of the Corleone's now. He has already consolidated his power in New York, now he moves into Nevade. Michael now has his brother Fredo (John Cazale) as his next-in-line and is having trouble making his older brother stronger. Michael is also having tension with his wife Kay (Diane Keaton). Even worse, someone tried to kill him. Michael's suspects are Frankie Pantangelli (Michael Gazzo), his caporegime running the New York division of the Corleone's and Jewish mob boss, Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg).

While telling the story of Michael's rise as the new Don, The Godfather Part II also tells the story of Michael's father, Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro in his first Academy Award-winning role) when he was younger and rising to power. These scenes show Don Vito as a young boy from Corleone, Sicily, escaping another Sicilian Mafia clan leader, Don Ciccio. In New York, Vito gets involved with crime but never loses his sense of honor, he meets Peter Clamenza (Bruno Kirby), Genco Abbandando (Frank Sivero) and Salvatore Tessio (John Aprea) who all become top members in the crime family that Vito builds. After becoming experienced in the ways of the Cosa Nostra, Vito returns to Sicily for revenge on Don Ciccio.

The Godfather Part II is one of the best sequels ever made and also one of the best movies ever made in general. I think that this continuation is better than the first. The movie is a very exciting and well-told story.

10/10

I am a big fan of gangster films. The Godfather series, Goodfellas, Casino, most of them have been good. The 1983 Scarface was good, but something was missing for me. I can't find out what. Whatever was missing in the remake, was present in this 1932 classic.

The story is based loosely on the criminal career of Prohibition-Era Mafia kingpin, Alphonse Capone (who's nick-name was Scarface) and a novel of the same name by Armitage Trail. The movie chronicles the rise and fall of Antonio "Tony" Camonte (Paul Muni), who begins to elevate his role in the Chicago mob. He gets a crew together (including George Raft) and dominates the city. His line of work causes family tension (with Ann Dvorak as his sister, Cesca) and trouble with the cops and rival gangs (including an appearance by the celebrated Boris Karloff as Irish mob boss, Gaffney). Soon, he becomes the cities most powerful crime boss and suffers a dramatic fall from grace.

With all honesty, this version was better than the remake with Al Pacino. All major plot-points from the remake still exist in this one (his love/hate relationship with his sister, his love-affair with his boss's lover, and the main character's rise and fall of power). Paul Muni deliver's a great performance as Camonte, the rest of the cast also done a fine job. This movie blew me away, while the remake did as well but not to the degree that this classic piece of film-noir did. I love them both, but I have to point my fingers to this one as the better movie. This is easily one of the greatest gangster films of all time.

10/10

I like the satire and thriller genres. American Psycho is a spoof of yuppie-culture in the 1980s. The movie is basically about how some people see material possessions as more important than human life, which Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) and his murders symbolize. The movie is based on the controversial bestselling novel by Brett Easton Ellis (Less Than Zero, The Rules of Attraction).

Patrick Bateman has everything, a beautiful fiancé (Reese Witherspoon), wealth, a great job at Pierce & Pierce, a big circle of friends, nice clothes and most of all: an addiction to murder. Patrick Bateman descends further and further into insanity as his murder spree goes along. He murders and sometimes rapes colleagues or even strangers without hesitation. This great film also features a great supporting cast including Willem Dafoe as Detective Kimball and Chloe Sevigny as Bateman's secretary, Jean.

American Psycho is a disturbing and intelligent trip into the life and exploits of a madman. This is probably Christian Bale's greatest performance, it shocks me that he didn't get an Academy Award nomination. But then again, it isn't that surprising considering that the Academy usually gives their happy movies the awards. Since when has Christian Bale been disappointing?

Patrick Bateman is an interesting character. Who is likable at certain points but mostly downright despicable. Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times even praised Bale's performance as "heroic in the way he allows the character to leap joyfully into despicability; there is no instinct for self-preservation here, and that is one mark of a good actor". Indeed, he is right.

The movie also has a lot of humor. Mainly the humor comes from the character's personalities. Each of these characters that Bateman hangs out with are total embodiments of the many stereotypes about yuppies.

American Psycho has even spawned an LARGE cult-following. People on the IMDb message board even constantly quote the film, I have never seen that on any other board here. I guess that just shows how great the movie is. I hope that one day American Psycho earns a spot in the Top 250. I don't see how it hasn't made it yet.

American Psycho is also not just about a man running around killing people, like another consumer satire, Chuck Palahnuik's Fight Club (I also recommend the film and the novel of that), American Psycho produces a good and true message about consumer culture and materialism. As I said, it is about how people sometimes see material possessions as even more important than human life.

Here is a couple of notes about the fantastic book by Bret Easton Ellis and how it compares to the movie. The movie and the book are both great but the book, as usual, has so much more detail and you hear more of Bateman's sick thoughts. The movie is more like an examination of a sociopath's daily life while the book is basically a descent into Hell. It even starts with the lines from Dante's Inferno, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

This movie almost did not get made. It had developed so much controversy from feminists and animal rights groups before and after it had been published due to its graphic violence. The filmmakers had to remove a lot of the graphic violence and disturbing acts that Patrick Bateman commits (including cannibalism, only mentioned in the movie and necrophilia, both are described in great detail). I wouldn't watch this movie without reading the book. Beware, if you don't have a strong stomach: do not read the book, I found it hard to read on some parts.

10/10

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are names that we all run across in our lives. The two young people were lovers in the 1930s (the Public Enemy era), that killed people and robbed banks. They have gained much fame and a cultural significance that they don't deserve, we can attribute part of that to this film, which renewed America's interest in the Barrow gang. Bonnie and Clyde is loosely based on their story.

Faye Dunaway is Bonnie Parker, a waitress in Dallas, Texas who runs into a small-time crook, Clyde Barrow (played by Warren Beatty), who is trying to steal her mother's car. Bonnie quickly gains an interest in Clyde, who she discovers very soon is an ex-con. She isn't bothered by it, but it intrigues her all the more. Clyde even commits armed robbery right in front of her. Bonnie and Clyde begin a romantic relationship and embark on a life of crime with a gang that the two recruit that extends all the way to the couple's demise. The supporting cast includes Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons (in her Academy Award-winning role), and Michael J. Pollard.

This movie, like I said, is only loosely based on the true story. It simplifies that facts but never ceases to be entertaining. This is a great movie, a masterpiece even. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway have a very good chemistry on the screen and fit their roles. Bonnie and Clyde is also one of the first R-rated movies. This is a good mixture of romance and crime, I hope you enjoy it.

9/10

I have always been fascinated by the Mafia underworld and I have admired Martin Scorsese's work since a young age. Scorsese has brought us several good gangland films, like Goodfellas in 1990 and The Departed in 2006. In between the two, he brought us Casino in 1995.

Casino tells the story of Frank Rosenthal (Portayed by Robert De Niro under the name "Sam Rothstein") and Anthony Spilotro (Portrayed by Joe Pesci under the name of "Nicky Santoro). The film's subject is the 1970s casino skimming the mid-western Mafia families built an empire on. The movie is basically about two hoods from Chicago who get to the top of the world, only to be dragged back to the ground.

The film is a first person narrative, much like Goodfellas. It is told from Nicky Santoro and Sam Rothstein's perspectives. One of the many attracting factors is that the film is Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the novel of Casino and the novel of Goodfellas as well as being involved with both screenplays and Martin Scorsese, who directed, also wrote. The result of these two geniuses in their fields working together was a great script.

The performances were also great. I believe Sharon Stone was nominating for an Oscar for her portrayal of Ginger McKenna (based on Geri McGee-Rosenthal), Sam's greedy wife. Joe Pesci, playing a similar role to what he did in Goodfellas, comes back with a vengeance as a brutal Mafia hit-man. And of course, Robert De Niro is great lead (as always), as the smart and cool Sam "Ace" Rothstein. The film also has a great supporting cast, including Don Rickles and Frank Vincent.

All in all, Casino is a great movie. The movie is not as good as Goodfellas, but almost reaches the point to being just as good. I enjoyed both of them.

10/10

In the Summer of 1977, the .44 Caliber Killer, also called the Son of Sam ruled the streets of New York City. Similar to the Zodiac Killer of the 1960s, the Son of Sam shot couples and sent letters to the police and media. After a year and a half of bloodshed, the Son of Sam was finally identified as David Berkowitz.

This historical fiction film does not follow the killer itself, but is about a fictional group of friends who live in 1977 the Bronx, one of Berkowitz's hunting grounds. Vinny (John Leguizamo) is the main character, he is an unfaithful hair-dresser married to Dionna (Mira Sorvino). Soon Vinny, his friends, and the Mafia begin to set their sights on Vinny's friend Richie (Adrien Brody), who's lifestyle and dress-sense attracts their attention.

Don't get turned off if you want to see the killer more, he is a focus of the story. In between interactions you see David Berkowitz (Michael Badalucco) battle his demons and the story also makes reference to the infamous "dog made me do it" story. Badalucco does a great job in his rather short screen time.

This captures the atmosphere of the 1970s very well. It also paints a great picture of how massive chaos and paranoia can be created by one man and ruin many lives. Director Spike Lee is backed by a superb cast, great sets, and a great storyline. This is probably one of the best crime-dramas I have ever seen.

Tommy Angelo, the playable character, was a cabby in Lost Heaven, a fictional city on the East coast filled with crime, mostly cause by the two Mafia families that hold control over the city (Salieri and Morello). One night Angelo meets two guys who seem to be in a hurry and it turns out that they are two wiseguys working with the Salieri crime family, their names are Paulie and Sam. Tommy joins in with the Salieri's and over the next eight years, he rises and falls within the Salieri family.

This game is told in first person narration to a detective. This is probably the greatest storyline in a game that I have ever seen. This game has good graphics for its time and very good gameplay as well as a "Free Ride" mode. This game is a timeless classic of its genre and makes "The Godfather: The Game" look like a heep of crap.

The game also pays homage to many mob films, including Goodfellas. You get to do a lot of the Mafia activities, boot-legging, bank robbing, hit contracts. To sum it all up, Mafia is a great game.

David Fincher has brought us many great movies. Zodiac in 2007, Se7en in 1995, and Fight Club in 1999. Now, he brings us The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I feel wasn't as good as Zodiac or Fight Club, but was still a great movie.

Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button, a man who was born in his 80s and ages backward. Cate Blanchett plays Daisy, the woman who he loves.

The story is told in flashbacks as Caroline (Daisy's daughter) reads a diary to her dying mother right before Hurricane Katrina hits. The diary is about a man named Benjamin. Benjamin ages backwards. The diary also talks about his adventures around the world and his love for Daisy.

This movie should have won David Fincher an Oscar for Best Director and Brad Pitt the Oscar for Best Actor but sadly, it didn't. I enjoyed this movie very much. I hope you will too.

10/10

Batman has been with us ever since our childhood. He was our hero on television and in comic books. We saw a really good performance of him by Christian Bale in 2005's Batman Begins. But this time, we get what is probably the greatest Batman film ever made, The Dark Knight.

Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Officer Gordon (Gary Oldman) investigate a series of Heat-style robberies by a man known only as The Joker (Heath Ledger). Meanwhile, District Attourney Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, who is caught in a love triangle between Bruce and Harvey) put away a whole Mafia family in one trial. The Mafia hires the psychotic Joker to take out the cities leaders, including the Batman. The Joker goes further than he was supposed to, causing total chaos and anarchy.

This action film is probably the best superhero film I've seen in a long time. We have had many disappointing ones such as Spiderman 3 and X Men 3 but we finally get one that is gritty and more realistic. Heath Ledger won a well deserved Oscar for this movie and I wish he could have lived to see it, he buried Jack Nicholson six feet under the ground and stomped on him until he was battered and bruised.

I give this movie a solid 10/10

Hunter S. Thompson (RIP) was one of the greatest journalists in the United States. He worked for the Rolling Stone and is highly revered. His most famous work was written in 1971 called "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey Into the Heart of the American Dream" (originally published in the magazine), which told the story of journalist Raoul Duke (fictionalized version of Hunter Thompson) and his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo (really the Chicano attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta) who cover the Mint 400 while experimenting with a large amount of psychedelic drugs.

After suffering a large amount of failures trying to adapt this great novel into a feature film by such great filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese. The duo was played once by Peter Boyle and Bill Murray in the 1980 film "Where the Buffalo Roam", which was heavily panned by critics. Academy Award winners Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson were also once considered to play Gonzo and Duke, but we got two very good actors with very good chemistry in this final and successful attempt to bring the wild world of Hunter S. Thompson to life.

Johnny Depp (who is the spitting image of Thompson when bald and wearing the sunglasses) is Raoul Duke. Benicio del Toro is the psychopathic lawyer, Dr. Gonzo. The two begin to plan for a 3-day trip to Las Vegas to cover the Mint 400 race. The two bring almost every drug you can name with some booze, all in a suitcase in the trunk of the infamous Great Red Shark convertible. While in Las Vegas, the two friends take a hilarious journey into Hell while on their trip, from torturing the help to terrorizing the citizens.

This movie, is a masterpiece which totally captures the vision of Hunter S. Thompson. The novel, is probably also one of the best and funniest books written to date. The film is very faithful in the portrayals of the characters and the recreations of the scenes. All in all, Johnny Depp, Benecio del Toro and Terry Gilliam made one heck of a movie which will leave you laughing for a long time. Classic film.

10/10

S. Darko is the follow-up to the cult-smash Donnie Darko, which is one of my favorite movies that I have been a fan of for a long time. S. Darko has received a mixed-to-negative reaction from movie reviewers. My review is mixed, but it is also positive.

This time we follow a teenage Samantha Darko (Daveigh Chase) and her rebellious friend, Corey (Briana Evigan). The two young girls are having an adventure to escape their "boring" life in Middlesex, Virginia in 1995. Samantha is troubled by her past, she has changed a great deal in the seven years that passed since the death of her older brother in 1988, Donnie. While their, they witness a meteorite crash and they are all plagued by bizarre visions.

I liked it, but didn't love it. This follow-up wasn't anything special, but deserves a higher rating than a 4.0, at the most a 6.3. The acting wasn't great in some parts but it is made up for by amazing special effects and a decent storyline.

Some parts of this film are repetitious but they didn't bother me. Don't be mislead by all of the negative comments, half of these people hated the movie from the beginning and some hadn't even seen it.

S. Darko stays true to the original film. It doesn't totally leave it, but is told from a different angle than the first film (in which you are getting the point-of-view of the "living receiver). There is no bunny, but does Roberta Sparrow ever mention in The Philosophy of Time Travel that the manipulated dead will be wearing demonic bunny suits? I missed Frank, but I found the dead pretty creepy.

Don't be mislead by the rating, most of the votes were made over a month before the S. Darko was released. I'd rent the movie first if I were you, even though I bought it at Wal-Mart, because you will either think it is okay or you will hate it. I say it is worth the watch.

I bought this movie when it came out on DVD. I love Brian De Palmas films, Scarface, Carlito's Way, and his other crime classics and sense I love to look at true-crime stories, the Black Dahlia caught my eye. But I was highly disappointed.

The Black Dahlia tells the story of a detective on the trail of the killer of Elizabeth Short, an aspiring actress. The movie is based on the book of the same name by James Elroy. I thought this would be a true story but it wasn't, just a fictionalized account of the investigation (that isn't what was bad about it).

Hilary Swank gave a horrid performance and so did the other actors in the film. I don't even know if De Palma actually directed this, he has directed some of the greatest actors in Hollywood (Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Michelle Phiefer). How could he have fell so low directing this?

George A. Romero, the legendary director of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, brings us another entry into his "Dead" series. Armed by amazing gore effects by Tom Savini, Romero makes another fantastic zombie film. Romero never fails to entertain.

The humans have lost the war (as another reviewer once wrote) and now the dead have taken the world. A group of scientists and soldiers hide in an underground mining facility to find a solution to the zombies that exists above. Not all goes as planned...

Romero has created one of the favorite genres of movie-going audiences, the zombie apocalypse. This time the zombies aren't black and white, they aren't blue, they actually look like the walking dead! The gore was very realistic and I applaud Tom Savini for this.

I personally feel like Dawn of the Dead is the best of the Romero zombie films, this one wasn't bad, but it wasn't the as good as the first two, it was better than Land of the Dead (which wasn't bad either). Day of the Dead just wasn't as good as the previous films in the series.

10/10

American Gangster is, without a doubt, a good movie. I wasn't bored but found a few annoying things about it. I got what I wanted though, two solid performances and a good story.

Richie Roberts (Russel Crowe) is a cop who is going through a divorce and is in danger of losing custody of his son. He is seen as a boy scout to his corrupt colleagues, he turns in millions of dollars in a brief case to his authorities. Meanwhile we get the story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), who rules the Harlem drug trafficking. Soon, Detective Roberts is assigned to bring down Lucas's criminal empire.

I really found the consistent use of nudity annoying. Despite that, the film doesn't glamorize the life of a drug lord, it gives you gritty and sometimes horrific realism. It was good, but like I said it wasn't great. I doubt that crime fans will not be pleased, I most definitely was.

The film also reveals things about drug trade that isn't shown in Scarface, which is seen as a definitive drug lord film. You see how they use there business relationships to make an empire. Lucas uses his relative's small businesses as fronts, just clever. It also shows how the dealer sees themselves, they see themselves as business men who will kill to get money and respect.

I am a big fan of Edward Norton and something of a gangland researcher. I expected something of a "gangster" film as well as drama. Instead I got a drama, an anti-racism drama, that produces a well tailored argument.

Racism is seen as one of the greatest United States problems. The issue dates back thousands of years. I think it is wrong, but that opinion is unable to be proved. Many people have fought for civil rights, such as President Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..

Derick Vineyard (Edward Norton) was seduced into the world of Neo-Nazi skinheads as a teenager. His father was shot down in a black neighborhood while fighting a fire on a drug den. This tragic incident thrown him into a large amount of anger and also created a grudge with other races. Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) recruits him and uses his charisma and intelligence to brainwash other frustrated kids into the group. At the end of Derick's career as a skinhead, he brutally killed two African-Americans that try to steal his car and is imprisoned for three years. When he comes out, he is completely rehabilitated but his brother, Daniel (Edward Furlong) is going down the same path. Derick decides that he must stop his brother from going down that path before it is too late.

Norton deserved his Oscar nomination for this film. There is no question about it. I have probably never seen a movie that produces such a good argument about the topic. It really shows the effects that racism has on a family.

All of the acting is good. The supporting cast was solid. Avery Brooks and Beverly D'Angelo both did a great job.

This movie made me see how bad racism is. I am not or was not a racist to start with but still shows you what the problems and causes are. I hope you, the viewer, see it the same way.