My Favorite Movies

What makes this movie so riveting is its haunting atmosphere. With a dark and melancholy tone, it is like Edgar Allen Poe on screen. Requiem for a Dream literally gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. Never has a movie impacted me as profoundly as this one. Never has a movie taken my breath away to the extent that this one does, no matter how often I see it. Aronofsky is irrefutably a brilliant film-maker; his style is innovative, gripping and glaringly unique.
The music score in this film is spine tingling, enrapturing, and powers the engine of this mind boggling piece of work. This movie could be called a tragedy and it could be called a horror; it functions as both on so many levels. What I call it is the most masterful piece of work I have ever witnessed. Profound. Awe inspiring. Thank you, Aronofsky. You are the rarest kind of genius. This movie is a level above anything else out there.

The most fun I've ever had watching a movie. Delightful, wicked, hilarious, and dark. What a brilliant and innovative way to tell a story. A true Mafia epic, this film captures the glamor, the glory and the consequences of Mafia life. I can't get enough of it.
Great casting choices as well. Pesci is unbelievable, and earned every bit of his Academy award. Liotta is the ideal choice for the story's protaganist; his persona is played to perfection.
This movie made me a man. I gotstta!!!!!!

The greatest love story ever told. Emotionally riveting and powered by superb performances.

There's a reason this movie is on so many top lists. Powerful, compelling, and fascinating.

This is the way horror movies were meant to be made. Gruesome and terrifying, it kept my heart rate up until the final minute.

An intense movie, loaded with subtlety and stripped of melodrama. Gosling delivers an admirable performance as a tortured young teacher whose life is going nowhere. I love everything about the character: how he tries to inspire kids and is bothered by his own hypocrisy, his need for intimacy and his inability to handle a relationship, his repression. The character is a masochist, and it's hard to watch, but also beautiful. The most poignant scene is when one of his students sees him at a party, and sells him cocaine.
As for the ending: it isn't bad, just slightly underwhelming. I cared so much about Dan Dunne that I wanted a few more hints about where his life might go.
Overall, this is one hell of a movie. A heart wrencher.

This movie is legendary. The creationism and storyline are spectacular; like Lord of the Rings, I was swept into a world of fantasy.

This movie hooked me with its atmospherics, which can be attributed to the awesome soundtrack. The mood and excessively gory action in this film are unlike anything I've seen.

A stunning epic. The cast, the music score, the special effects and the screenplay are all mindblowing. More than anything, though, this movie takes you into its world and captivates you: the sign of a materpiece. Undoubtedly the most visually stunning film out there. Pure magic. You simply can't rave enough about a movie like this. It has, I believe, an awesome power to it, and marks a crucial point in movie history.

This classic film manages to make the relationship between an alien and a boy not only believable, but very moving. This movie is both haunting and riveting.

So funny I'm almost paralyzed by laughter every time I see it. This is, in my opinion, Bill Murray's greatest work. The man is golden. But this is also a very evocative love story, and touching at all the right moments.

An emotionally riveting, deeply moving film. There will never be another war film like it. It established all the constructs of war films. The vivid and graphic nature of this film is a necessary tool for depicting the harsh realism of war, and Spielberg executes every aspect of the battle sequences to perfection. Needless to say, the performances and screenplay are both phenomenal.

True. Honest. This movie does nothing special, yet it's amazing in its ability to depict a brutal and unflinching portrayal of troubled youth. This movie is tremendously powerful; both complex and simple. It made me seriosuly reconsider certain aspects of my life.
And as a sidenote, Cheadle is terrific as usual.

This movie concentrates more intensively on the character of Michael Corleone, delivering a fascinating character portrait of a man falling into a life of corruption and sin. Pacino's icy and moving performance do this portrait justice. What is so compelling about this character is the way he justifies what other people would construe as pure evil.
The storyline is very interesting, though at times seems to get mired in its own complexity.
An astonsihing and mindblowing character study like this only comes around every couple of decades. A must see for anyone who appreciates such a rarity.

Paul Giamatti: the performance of the year. Plays a depressed alcoholic like the role is a part of him. He overshadows a fantastic cast, so what does that tell you? What a true to life, evocative story. Manages to draw sadness and laughter at all the pivotal moments. A truly balanced, post modern classic.

I want to marry Denzel Washington

Very dark, bordering on eerie. Also benefits from a bizarrely creative storyline and good performance from Jake Gylenhal. It's the type of deliciously spooky film that avoids cliche' and makes its audience use their brains. And it also has one hell of a music score.

Classic Scorsese. Sharp, cutting, bolstered by some fantastic performances. The screenplay is excellent, and the storyline is genius in its high paced simplicity. This movie is also humorous at times, especially when it comes to Mark Wahlberg's character. I also thought Nicholson did an awesome job of playing a psycopath; just another great performance from a great actor. And Dicaprio shows his undeniable talent once again. I was also impressed by the cinematography and unorthodox introduction in this movie. A hell of a film, and alot of fun to watch.

As breathtaking as The Fellowship of the Ring, flowing with Peter Jackson's magic. The battle sequence near the end of the film is one that can't be missed.

You won't find many people who have bad things to say about this movie, and that's probably becasue it's one of the greatest movies ever made. Some might say that's a stretch, but this is entertainment in its purest form. Powerful in its theme and gripping in its concise storytelling. Not to mention that this is an extremely well contrived plot. I simply don't see how anyone could dislike this movie.

This movie is driven by a series of powerful performances, particularly in the case of Michael Clarke Duncan. He embodies his character so well that it goes beyond the realm of acting. Rarely can a movie evoke this kind of emotion. A stirring and intense film.

Despite what all the Cruise haters out there might say, this is truly a powerful and profound movie. Whether or not you like Tom Cruise is irrelevant; he delivers an excellent performance in one of the most visually beautiful films I have ever seen. I also love the theme of spirituality to this movie and how it transforms Tom Cruise's character. A fascinating, heartwrenching, and innately deep film that somehow seems to elude critical acclaim. Probably one of the most underrated movies out there.

Next to Gone With the Wind, this is the greatest love story I have ever seen. Epic in scale, dramatic, gripping, and heartbreaking, this movie involves you like few movies can. The performances of DiCaprio and Winslet are a key asset to this film; with weaker actors, the movie would have crumbled.
Titanic is a successful cliche', a claim that few other films can make. It's simply so jaw dropping, so tragic, that cliche' becomes its most important element. This isn't supposed to be unorthodox. It's supposed to depict a brief love affair in the most touching way possible.
Sure, there's the odd corny scene, but the movie overpowers its flaws. Truly enchanting. A miraculous feat.

The epitome of intelligent stupid comedy. This is a movie that blasts people to pieces with scathing criticism. Sure, it's offensive and obscene, but that's part of its charm. How this movie makes stupidity something genius is beyond me, but it truly does that.

Bizarre, twisted brilliance. Henry Selick, in collaboration with Tim Burton, create a delightfully dark and ingenius film that will always stand on its own. Such a cool and original piece of work. I would give this one the masterpiece label.

Edward Norton is now one of my favorite actors. The content in this film is grisly and shocking, but only an actor like Edward Norton can elevate the overall emotional impact of the film to such a disturbing level. This film is flawed, with the odd moment of cliche'd dialogue, poor acting and extraneous scenes, but by the end I was so shook up that none of the flaws really mattered to me. I've always found racism stupid, but because of this movie I now find it sickening.

What a good time. Sheer cinematic entertainment. Big names, lots of laughs, and a compact, easy to follow plot make this movie as enjoyable as movies come.

Beautiful. Gregory Peck leads the most important masterpiece of its era, delivering a performance worthy of a man hell-bent on winning an Oscar. In this movie, Peck acts like it's his last movie. Socially pivotal, this film is a monument of its time that should never be forgotten.

Oh Star Wars. Where would I be without you? Conceivably, I'd be less of a nerd. The cast in this film has such phenomenal chemistry. Fun, awe inspiring, thrilling. This movie does no wrong.

M. Night Shyamalan's greatest work by an arm and a leg. This movie is truly his one stroke of brilliance. Sheer terror and intelligence is injected into every second of this glorious film. Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment are magnificent. After this movie, Shyamalan's career slid downhill.

Epic and beautiful. And something else it may not necessarily get alot of credit for: heartwrenching. This is not a movie about fights and gore. It is about determination, as cheesy as that may sound.

Mesmerizing brilliance. Eerie, haunting, and these traits are accentuated by a ghostly music score. This movie has such a surreal feel to it, like it takes place in an isolated void detcahed from reality. The concept itself has perhaps evolved into a cliche by this point, but it is delivered in such a way that cliche becomes irrelevant. I would go so far as to say that this movie is a mindblowing, revolutionary achievment.

A fascinating portrait of the problems underlying a psychiatric institution. This movie is extremely clever in its parody, and powers its message with moments of intense sadness as well. It certainly strikes a delicate balance. Needless to say, Nicholson's performance is excellent.

Goodfellas II. Scorsese adopts most of the techniques that made Goodfellas such a brilliant success and simply utilized them in a different setting. This movie is sharp, and the acting is superb. As a Goodfellas fan, I would have preferred a tad more originality, but this movie is fantastic nonetheless.

DeNiro and Pacino: a lethal combination. Thankfully, a talented director like Michael Mann didn't squander a rare opportunity to utilize two legendary actors in one movie. This film is suspenseful, gripping and emotional. The emotional element underlying the character's actions is perhaps slightly overwrought at times, but for the most part sustains its impact. This movie is great in that it weaves such a tragic look at relationships into a crime thriller. You're excited, and you're also moved. Not very often can a movie accomplish this.

A riveting and suspenseful thriller. Admittedly flawed, but it's so much fun that the flaws don't really matter. Enemy of the State actually has a very intelligently contrived storyline with a killer ending. And Will Smith is great.

Fascinating, dark, and truly profound. A study based loosely on Heart of Darkness that explores the innate evil in every man, this movie is both compelling and bizarre. Francis Ford Coppola evokes a truly insidious atmosphere throughout the whole film. Really, he couldn't have done a better job.

An endearing and engaging story, fuelled by DiCaprio's boyish charm. This movie is fun, but it's also very interesting in its look at a bright, talented young "criminal" who still struggles with being nothing more than a kid. At times, this movie is touching, and at others quite humorous. But the storyline never fails to captivate.

DiCaprio delivers what I believe to be the best performance of his career, and one of the best performances historically, in this riveting depiction of a billionaire who undergoes a psychological breakdown. There are a few dull moments, but 99% of the film is fascinating and beautiful to watch. Scorsese is simply the best director around, and DiCaprio is one of the best actors around. He really separates himself from the boyish Titanic sort of role here; I believe that this film marks his evolution as an actor. Not that he wasn't great in Titanic (he was), but this is a different kind of role entirely.

A tragic and in depth portrayal of a man who struggles with isolation. De Niro plays this role with an undertone of sorrow and bitterness. This movie says so much about the human capacity to deal with loneliness: it can really screw with the mind.

A gem of a storyline, though this movie is riddled with many flaws (i.e. Cameron Diaz's presence). Nonetheless, Daniel Day Lewis delivers the most remarkable performance I have seen to date and carries this movie on his shoulders. I owe my enjoyment of this movie to Daniel Day.

Sheer childlike fun, this movie makes me feel like a kid again. This movie has a definite humorous element to it with its fantasy parody, but manages to piece together a really engaging storyline. What an awesome movie.

Horrifying and mindblowing. What an intense portrayal of brilliance hampered by mental illness. Crowe and Connelly are terrific.

Believe it or not, this movie actually has depth to it. Normally I despise romcoms, and this one does have many of the flaws characteristic to the genre. However, the movie's quality goes beyond the chemistry between Pacino and Pfeiffer (which is great, by the way). It deals with human loneliness on a surprsingly profound level, as opposed to the pittering crushes of horny rabbles. More than a chick flick.

Achieves the emotional hit that it strives for. Visceral, shocking, and disturbingly entertaining. Hotel Rwanda is a well researched success.

A thoughtful and disturbing character study of a disturbed boxer that deals with obsession and weakness on many levels. This movie is flawless, but I found it dragged at times, otherwise I would have given it five stars. Joe Pesci's outbursts, though well acted, are a tad too predicatble, and get tiring by the end of the movie. I know he'll bite, swear, punch, kick, and then get pulled away after inflicting severe bodily damage upon his adversary.
Nonetheless, this is an immaculate and insightful character piece worthy of its critical acclaim.

Very flawed, but equally entertaining. Although this movie often rings of a "Don't Do Drugs" piece for high school kids, it manages to maintain a dark, somber tone and disturb with graphic scenes and images. There is something deeper in this movie than a simple anti-drug campaign; it deals with the hardships of mortality and adolescent life. DiCaprio's performance borders on brilliance at times, and peters out at others, but he is the strongest actor in the movie. Wahlberg is also very good.

Ferociously funny, and very satirical, this is one of the more intelligent comedies around.

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton: two of the coolest actors you'll find. What charisma! What chemistry!
At times, this movie is a little too bizarre for its own good (see: computer animated penguins), and the fighting is overdone, but the premise is mindblowing. Throughout, Fight Club rivets, entertains, and fascinates.

A touching and beautiful movie

A postmodern love story masterpiece. Occassionally, this movie lapses into blandness, but the vision is succinct, highly intelligent, and well executed. Winslet delivers a fantastic performance.

Primitive entertainment. Tornadoes, action, and a cliche'd romance subplot. I never asked for anything else. Twister delivers on its promise to entertain and intrigue; some of the tornado sequences are really well done. My interest in weather probably motivated alot of my enjoyment for this film.

Adam Sandler like you've never seen him. I had no idea Adam Sandler was such a phenomenal actor. It's unfortuante he plays roles like Little Nicky when he has this much talent. This is easily one of the most heart wrenching movies I have ever seen, and Sandler is essential to its emotional success.

Pure comedic bliss. Obscene? Yes. A masterpiece? No. Well acted? Probably not. But this movie is the heart of comedy. Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn are dynamite. This movie had me laughing like an animal. Crammed with funny scenes. Unbelievable.

A level below its predecessors, but for the most part, this is still a strong movie. Al Pacino and Andy Garcia basically carry it on their shoulders with stellar performances, particularly in the case of Andy Garcia. Some great directorial work by Coppola in that Garcia's chracter near the end of this movie mirrors Pacino's in the second Godfather: icy and ruthless.

This movie is epic, and as breathtaking as its predecessors as far as special effects and battle sequences go. However, it does drag on a little bit at the end, (despite some emotionally powerful scenes, particularly involving the friendship of Frodo and Sam). There is also the odd cheesy part, which is a little disappointing because the first two movies in this trilogy managed to avoid such scenes. Overall, though, this film is just wicked, with heartstopping action, amazing battles, and solid performances.

Everything you might expect from an epic. Gets off to a rough start, but as the story progresses it gathers emo0tional momentum and delivers some wicked battle sequences. Inspirational and memorable, though not quite as spectacular as some people make it out to be.