2046 5/5

2046 is a great foreign film.

I didn't understand what it would be about from watching the trailer, but it was intriguing so I downloaded it and gave it a go.

It takes place in the late 60's in Hong Kong, where Chow, the narrator, writes vivid and surreal fantasy stories. He takes room 2047 (next to room 2046) after seeing a woman, Su (Li Gong), in room 2046. He believes this place is where he, like others, can go to "lose memories" ("All memories are traces of tears", a title-card reads), which encourages him to start writing a sci-fi novel with the room's title. During his stay, he meets two women that affect him in different ways and he incorporates elements from his own life into his story "2046".

It is a story about people going to a place called 2046 on a train.

It may be a place, it may be a time, one simply doesn't know; but his story takes place in distant future.
In the writer's own life, he spends his days womanizing and writing successfully for a newspaper. As his life goes on, the story is more and more about his life. He writes as a form of release, since his life is empty and lonely.

This film is a splendid masterpiece that is about a writer who incorporates elements of his own life into his story. It is somewhat film noir, and reminded me of Cloud Atlas; except for the fact that it was more thought out and generally better.

One may wonder what the point of this poignant film is.
There are many interpretations, but the only way to find out is to see it for yourself. It is as riveting as Casablanca and jumbled and disordered as Pulp Fiction.

Best Movie Player

This isn't a film review, but it is an analysis on which media player is best for movies when you are watching them on your PC.

Windows Media player and Quicktime suck!
They can't read a lot of formats and they are annoying to use.

I like Mplayer the best since it can read a lot of codecs, but if you can't deal with the user interface I'd recommend VLC.

If you own a Mac, MplayerX is a must-have app.

VLC works well for PC is you want something that is fast and easy to use.

Here are the links to the sites:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mplayerx/id421131143?mt=12 (mac only)

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

City of God 5/5

This Brazilian film won international acclaim. It is about a boy who grows up surrounded by gangs and slum violence. He sees how pointless this bloodshed is, yet cannot escape it since it is his home. In the 1960s and 70s a teenager named Li'l Ze grows up to be a powerful gang leader. He destroys another man's life in the 80s, causing that man to become a rival gang leader. Blood shed is imminent. The main character, the narrator, is placed between two sides in a war zone. He survives by photographing both sides violence and bloodshed and selling those pictures to a newspaper. In doing that, he hopes to one day move out of the slums.

In the slums of Rio De Janeiro, the police do little to interfere with gang wars and bloodshed. This film is raw and gritty, realistic. Many people compare the film to Goodfellas, however, this was a much darker film.

The Green Mile 3/5

The Green Mile is The Shawshank Redemption's lesser known cousin. The book was written by Stephen King and the movie was directed by Frank Darabount who also directed the Shawshank Redemption. Unlike The Shawshank Redemption which is told from the point of view of the prisoners, The Green Mile is told from the perspective of the cheerful guards. Paul Edgecomb is a warden of the death row part of a prison in Lousiana. The prisoners and the prison guards have nicknamed the facility the green mile. John Coffey, a huge black man, arrives at the Green Mile. He seems very infantile and simple minded and asks that the lights are left on because he is afraid of the dark. John is accused of killing and raping two young girls. Later on Paul realizes that John Coffey has the ability to heal creatures and people. The acting was amazing, yet I feel that this movie seems childish compared to the Shawshank Redemption. Though it was an interesting movie to watch, I don't think to be either believable or realistic. The Green Mile had a Disney sort of feel to it and it also put out a lot of (stupid) empathy for a mouse. This movie could have been so much more, but unfortunately it just fell short of my expectations of a director/writer like Darabount. Still, this movie is worth a watch so I recommend seeing it if you like movies about miracles or unrealistic prisons. I give this movie a 3/5. Post your ratings and comments below.

God Bless America 4/5

Ok. Hello World. etc..

This is my first post so I'll keep it brief. In this post I'm reviewing God Bless America (2011). This film was directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and is about a guy who can't take it anymore. . Frank has severe migraines and to make matters even worse for him he lives next to a young couple who are extremely noisy and annoying. He watches television a lot and the more he sees the more irritated at the world he gets. Frank works at a shitty office job and gets fired for sending flowers to the office receptionists house. Later, he goes to the doctor who informs him that his headaches are caused by a massive inoperable brain tumor. He comes home to see a bratty rich teen on television who is ungrateful about her parents buying her the wrong type of car. When he calls his ex-wife he hears his daughter behaving in the same way. Frank kills the rich teen and meets a 16 year old psychopath named Roxy who wants to join him in killing people who she doesn't like. This movie combines violence, hilarity and social justice in a way that would make Tarantino proud. It is about the cultural wasteland that America has turned into. It seemed like a combination of Falling Down (1993), Taxi Driver (1976) Network (1976), and Natural Born Killers (1994). However, I think that although this movie was definitely entertaining, I feel it fell short when it came to having an actual message. By all means see this movie, but don't take it too seriously because it criticizes the very thing it embodies. Rate the movie if you've seen it below. I gave it a 4/5 stars.