wrongboyo

Dog Day Afternoon is another brilliant collaboration between director Sidney Lumet, and actor Al Pacino. The story's pretty simple, two guys rob a bank, something goes wrong and they're caught in a shitty situation with a ton of cops. The film's strong point is in it's characters.

Al Pacino plays Sonny, a young guy who along with his partner, Sal execute a bank heist. The cops get wise to what's going on and a job that should have taken ten minutes goes from the afternoon and long into the night.

Based on a true story, this film makes you root for the bank robbers. Without glorifying what they're doing, Lumet is able to show a sympathetic side to the criminals.

One of Pacino's best performances, this film is a must see for any crime film fans.

Manic is another great film, with a fantastic performance by Joseph Gordon Levitt. The film follows Lyle (Joseph Gordon Levitt) a young man, admitted to a youth psychiatric ward for anger issues, after nearly beating another kid to death.

At first, seemingly apathetic (yeah, Joseph Gordon Levitt seems to play that character a lot) to all of the pain the teenagers around him have endured, Lyle eventually warms up to them, and learns to cope with his own issues, while helping them with theirs.

The film is show in a documentary style, that really puts the viewer into the film. The atmosphere is great and there are a few moments in the film where the director puts the camera to such an effect where you fall into the mindset of the characters.

Manic is one of the best films released in the past ten years, as far as I'm concerned, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

F.I.S.T. is one of the few films out there that illustrate Sly Stallone's great acting talents. Stallone really brings his character, Johnny Kovak, to life and gives one of his most memorable performances. This film shows that, having gone a different route, Stallone could have become a much better actor. After this film, Stallone had a few other good films but the majority were crumby sequels, cliché action films, and poor attempts at comedy. It's really a shame he didn't put his talents to better use like he did in his earlier work like Rocky, and Nighthawks.

The film begins in the Great Depression of the 30's and follows the life of Johnny Kovak, a labourer who works at unloading trucks. Who, with his coworkers after being severely mistreated, and underpaid fights back against the company. This leads to Kovak becoming a member of the Union F.I.S.T, the Federation of Innner-State Truckers. At first idealistic, Kovak's morals and values are challenged when he has to get organized crime groups involved to get what's fair.

My only complaint with the film is, in the later scenes were Stallone plays an older Kovak, his portrayal is a bit weak given his limited acting abilities at the time. This, however is only a minor complaint, he still gives a great performance.

The script is good, all the characters are realistic and well fleshed out,and the great director, Norman Jewison puts his talents to good use in F.I.S.T. Also, filled with a fantastic supporting cast (including, Peter Boyle, and Rod Steiger) all these elements come together to make F.I.S.T. a film that is definitely worth seeing.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is one of the best films I've yet to see that deals with themes of rebellious and frustrated youths. Tom Courtenay brilliantly plays Colin Smith, a young man living in an impoverished area of England. Colin is the oldest member of a large family, his father is in poor shape and refuses to take his medication. The entire family seems to remain unbothered by this and his mother even carries on several affairs with different men. Eventually, the father dies and with the money she receives from insurance she blows on clothes and a new television.

Frustrated about not having any money (because he refuses to get a job, insisting that he doesn't see any sense in working his guts out just so the employer can make all the money) Colin breaks into a bakery and steals a cashbox.

Eventually, Colin is caught by the police and sent to a reformatory school where he shows promise in athletics as a long distance runner. The Governor takes special notice of him and gives him special treatment, hoping for him to compete in the long distance run against a preparatory school.

When the day of the competition comes Colin straight away takes a huge lead on the star runner of the opposing school. He keeps up a steady pace but throughout a series of flashcuts we see Colin reflecting on his home life. He stops in place and in a rebel yell stares at the Governor who was completely expecting him to win.

Now, the film is told in a non-linear narrative which makes the film have a lot more emotional resonance. It is shot in black and white, in a fantastic documentary style. The music in this film perfectly underlines all the emotions Colin goes through (most specifically loneliness, when it shows just his shadow running along a long road).

Throughout the film we find that the apparent criminal seems to have more moral and ethical codes than the authority figures.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is a great example of a film in which almost all of the elements work perfectly together. It's experimentations in editing, the shaky camera work, gritty cinematography and fantastic acting all go together wonderfully.