EnemyOfTheState

This movie is an underrated classic and a must see for anyone who wants to know the true meaning of friendship.

Its a simple enough story, 4 adult male friends compete to see who makes the most money, starting from nothing in a strange city (Salt Lake City). Each goes their separate ways: One jumps head first into the money game, doing the hard sell the best he can, another gives all his money away and works as a mountain bike guide, another works as a bar tender and chases women and the forth, and presumably most sensible has all his money stolen by some thugs and is forced to live off the kindness of the others.

As the story unfolds this foursome learn a lot about themselves. We see, for example as the wild eyed anti-materialistic mountain bike guide actually has a more serious side and reasons why he is who he is. We see that the over-eager materialist is really more vulnerable than he seems, we see that the bartender is really weak and we finally see that the forth person is a lot stronger than he seems.

This is really a "guy" movie, but one that is not offensive to women or anyone. Its about friends finding out what makes them human beings.

Its a fun, inoffensive movie and one of the few movies I can watch over and over again.

I am a major fan of any of Franz Kafka's literature. In fact I read everything ever written by Kafka who is the most unique writer in any language.

So I was very eager to see The Trial brought to the screen.

And I can tell you from this film fan's perspective, this movie was the real deal. Filmed in Kafka's home city of Prague, it shows the world that Kafka knew.

Exploring the life and spiraling downfall of Josef K., a young bank executive, it shows a nightmarish world in which a man is destroyed slowly and gradually.

It is a timeless story about being entrapped in a horrible bureaucracy in which there is no escape.

Josef K is visited by two roguish officers of the court and summoned to a bizarre court. The court comes to regular meetings and he is summoned throughout the story. He goes through the entire proceedings not knowing even what crimes he is being charge with.

The bizarre "court" is a cavernous building where families, children, adulterous spouses and bullying thugs inhabit. Everyone inside seems to have a function yet we never see the judges or those who are responsible for the fate of the story's protagonist.

In the meantime he continues to live is normal, dull life.

But the court continues to rule his life. And the harder he fights the court the more deeply entrenched he becomes.

Students of Kafka's literature will recognize the familiar themes: man against an inhumane bureaucracy, the eminant demise of man, the demise of freedom at the expense of rules and regulations, the literal use of metaphores and the ultimate doom of all humanity.

Its not your average story but for those who are seeking something different I would heartily recommend it.

I just saw the film on DVD last night. There was some controversy surrounding the character of Shylock, the vengeful Jewish moneylender. This was one of many modern films based on plays by William Shakesphear. It was also, in my opinion the best.

Just what made this movie work? First of all it was the amazing performances by Jeremy Irons and Al Pachino and several other young actors. But it was also the direction and the on set scenery.

The film was made in Venice and we get a good look of the city as it must have appeared in the Elizabethian era. We see the wealth, decadence and beauty of the location.

But more than anything else it was the timeless story.

A respected merchant-aristocrat (Jeremy Irons) is confronted by his love-smitten young friend to borrow some money so he could court a lovely woman. The merchant has no available cash so he gives him his credit. (Really just his signature on a note, but in those days there were no credit cards).

So he takes the his credit to Shylock (Al Pachino): A bitter old Jew who writes a contract stating if the required sum is not returned that he would demand from the Merchant "a pound of your fair flesh".

In the course of the film we see the conflict between the two worlds, that of the money-lender who is a rather sad and angry character and that of the merchant.

While it may be easy to hate Shylock, Shakespere adds pathos to his character. He is disagreeable and cruel, yes, but behind his cruelty is a lifetime of baring indignities. In one of Shakerspere's most remarkable speeches by any of his characters Shylock erupts angrily at an accuser who considers his demands too excessive: Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, passions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same summer and winter as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? We see that Shylock, being a usurer is an outcast. Yet he sees his role in society as being essential. Though he is abused and spat upon (quite literally in this film version), he holds in his heart a secret pride.

Shylock, in the course of this movie looses the things he loves most, his daughter, much of his money, what little respect he has and his own pride. Yet in the end he comes to the court demanding his "bond": "All I ever wanted was just to be treated with the respect due to any human being. I know you don't approve of my religion and you don't like the way I earn my living. But just acknowledge that it is you Christians, after all, who have forced us Jews to become money lenders. And much as you may dislike money lending, it is an essential activity without which commerce in Venice could not function. I don't ask for your approval; all I want is to be treated with a little common decency. Give me that much and I will forget about the pound of flesh." The power of this film, and indeed Shakespeare's work is its timelessness. We can still, to this day see men like Antonio, the wealthy merchant who at the end of his days looks for more to his life. And we too see the Shylock's of the world. Al Pachino as Shylock adds yet another dimension to this story. We all remember Pachino as Michael Corliogne, a vicious gangster in The Godfather who tries to earn his respect and in the end realizes that wealth and power do not always equal respect and that a clean conscience is a priceless commodity. Shylock knows very well he is hated yet he clings to his "bond" because it was all he had in the world.

The film makers, to their credit, give Shakespeare's characters a fresh look. In my mind, some liberties were taken which went beyond Shakespeare's intent. The beginning scene shows Antonio spitting upon Shylock, something which was not part of the original play. We also see a scene of preaching against the jews by priests and angry mob scenes which occur before the spoken parts begin.

I can guess the purpose of this is to show modern audiences what the people of Shakespeare's era already knew.

Regarding the charges of anti-semitism of the play. I will admit that the typecasting of Shylock as being a man with an evil heart may rub some the wrong way. But I also believe that this filmed adaptation went to great distances to give some insight into why "the Jew" (as the play always refers to Shylock) is so bitter. We see the class distinctions which existed of that era. We see the pleasure loving aristocrats as they drink, consort with prostitutes and live a rich life while the other classes struggle for life.

Shylock may be cruel but he was no less cruel than his society made him.

I really do not know what offended me more about this overly preachy and entirely predictable tale of southern justice. Was it that the movie tried so dam hard to get us to believe that the Samual L Jackson character was justified in killing the two men accused of raping his daughter? Or was it that the entire movie played out exactly as we could expect it to, up until the anti-climatic ending.

In this movie a black man is charge with killing two white men. We are led to believe that these two men are a couple of trashy, long haired idiots, which of course plays up to the movie's attempt to make us hate them. The suspect also wounds a deputy sheriff, a crime we are not supposed to care that much about.

He is defended by an idealistic but conservative lawyer. And the lawyer is aided by the kind hearted but tough norther liberal Sandra Bullock.

To further enlist our sympathy, the film shows the kin folk of the victims, led by Keifer Sutherland, as being stereotypical, dumb white bigots who go to the KKK for support. The courtroom tension is occasionally broken by a brewing race riot. Inside the courtroom, a opportunistic prosecutor, played by Kevin Spacey shoots the works to try to get poor(???) Samual Jackson to justice.

So where this this well intentioned little movie go wrong? Perhaps, for starters it was to try to vilify the victims.

Wouldn't this film have been better if there was a surprise end? Perhaps it would have been better if we find out that the murdered victims were in fact innocent and another person is found to be the rapist? Well this movie is not about surprises. No, this is no "Life of David Gail".

I remember well a movie called "Revenge for a rape" in which Chuck Connors goes on a rampage after his wife is molested by a group of back woodsmen, only to find the men he killed were innocent of the crime. Maybe a little lesson in humility could be learned in this story as well.

Or worse yet, it was that I could tell from the very beginning what was to happen at the end.

Or still worse, it was that the racially charged morality play hits you over the head with a sledge hammer of self Righteousness.

So what this movies boils down to is a "death wish" in black face as Samual L Jackson takes the law into his own hands.

I myself feel cheated for wasting 2 hours.

If you really love trashy horror flicks with lots of blood and ghoolish monsters, boy do I have a film for you. A guy goes to the Sahara desert looking for hidden gold and comes across a Nazi officer who lost his entire unit there. The old Nazi dies after bursting in flames. So the dude goes out to the oasis and is surrounded by flesh eating members of the Afrika Korps. Obviously this low budget is trash and will rot your brain but who cares. If you got some time and are looking for some trashy fun than go ahead, crack open a cold beer and knock your self out!

This, by the way is an Italian flick. Anyone notice how the very best trashy horror films come from Italy?

During a costume party on New Years Eve, a group of revelers join a celibration drinking and cheering in the New Year. One party goer, having drank too much, sticks her head out the window and hollars bitterly against the regeim in which they live. Within seconds uniformed police knock at the door and insist on searching the papers of all the group present. The partygoes look dumbfounded, looking ridiculous in their costumes and brutish policemen search them.

This is the nightmarish world of Hungary on New Years 1957 in the startling "Diary for my Mother and Father."

This story follows a young student, who is orphaned as she grows to adulthood in the shaddow of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. Coming from the communist intellegensia, he sees her friends and family react differently. Her lover, a married factory manager supports the patriots and later assists fellow workers in staging a strike. Meanwhile her sister and others express anger at being forced from their homes during the revolution and continue to express a hatred for the rebels afterwards. But in the end they realize that for all people, real life is not possible after the revolt and its brutal suppression by the Soviets and their collaborators.

I saw this movie about 10 years ago at the Chicago Film Festival. I must admit its odd that I found it listed here. All the same it was a very unforgettable film.

The film is about two brothers, both competing for the affection of their ailing mother, the friendship of their workmates and the love of a beautiful woman.

Boza, the older brother dedicates himself to hard work at the printing plant where they are both employed. His younger brother Dan slacks off and loots the factory for things to sell on the black market. He drinks with his friends at the local bar and has sex with many loose women.

When Boza falls in love with a beautiful coworker, Dan makes love to her just to spite his older brother (in a very shocking sex scene). Dan's torment and cruelty to his older brother continues until it has a shocking result.

Set in the dark world of Communist era Czechoslovakia, this disturbing film targets the very cruel nature of human beings to take advantage of those less fortunate. It also targets the corruption of the world in which the characters live.

Never have I seen such a more gripping and awsome portrayal of the corruption of human beings as this film. In the movie we see a pair of cruel Czech lowlifes who steal a movie camera and go on a killing spree. It brings back memories of Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killer. Robert DeNero excells as a fire department arson inspector who follows the case intensely. Kelsey Grammer adds some commic relief to ballance out the grittiness of this film. It targets the american lust for cruel violence and a pair of nasty foreign killers who fight for their slice of the american pie (in much the same way Scarface did). Beyond the violence the film has a very powerful message to say about the violent nature of american society and how foreigners perceive the US. I give it a big thumbs up!

I went into this film with an open mind. I left feeling very dissapointed and not a little angry. Mostly I was mad at the fact that there was not one single appealing character in the entire movie.

The film, as you already know involves two sisters, from the US. One is married to a French man and is getting ditched right at the beginning of the film. The other is her sister, who comes to Paris to live. The story slowly (and too slowly, I would add) unfolds as the Kate Hudson sister hops from one bed to another and finally into the arms of a married politician (who is the uncle of of her sister's ex husband). Meantime her sister, played by Naomi Watts (in her most dissapointing role) fights a bitter property battle with her estranged husband.

Another very annoying plot twist involves the ex husband and his new love, a married Russian who is married to an american. The american becomes crazed with jelousy and makes repeated attempts to engage Naomi Watts in a discussion on this. His treatment at the hands is so shabby that I actully ended up feeling more for him and absolutely hating the women of the film.

In the end both women end up happy, Naomi Watts falls for a French Lawyer (who I think is a total a-hole) and Hudson....well I wont spoil the ending but lets just say that I fealt cheated and probibly would have had more satisfaction watching Lifetime movie network at home (where this movie will probibly end up playing a year from now.)

The movie plays on national steriotypes. Boths groups, americans and french shown here are wealthy. The french are arrogent and the americans are seen as neuvous riche upstarts. In fact, we see very little of the everyday life of average french at all.

I saw this film on Pay Preview and did not know what to expect. The previews showed as being something of a commidy. Well having seen it it was more like a thriller. The movie stars Nicole Kidman (who seems to be getting sexier as she gets older, or am I the only one who thinks so) as a Russian Mail order bride. Her purchaser is a lonely British bachelor who is a trusted bank employee. He is so trusted that he has keys to the bank safe, a detail which is important to the story.

Kidman plays this role extremely well. We can really believe that she is russian. She mimmicks the speech. As my Russian friend tells her russian is flawless.

When she arrives at her fiance's place she cannot speak any english beyond "Yes". Well she turns out to be quite giften in the language of love.

Then comes her birthday and a truely shocking surprise as her "cousin" and his friend come to stay for a while. Well then all kinds of hell breaks loose as we find she is not who she says she is.

This movie does have plenty of plot twists to keep us guessing. We pity the poor British guy who was suckered into this little game while at the same time wanting to slap him for being so naive.

There are also a few laughs to make the movie easy to watch and a few interesting shots of Kidman (including one really interesting shot of her bare backside).

I give the film a thumbs up.