The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Director: John Huston

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet

Stars: 3

Humphrey Bogart stars as private investigator Sam Spade. His partner and him meet a perspective client, Brigid O'Shuagnessy (Astor), who claims to be looking for her missing sister, who is suppose to be with a man named Thursby. Spade sends his partner, Archer, to follow him, and Archer ends up dead. Soon it is learned that Brigid may have been lying and is really in search of something else, the Maltese Falcon.

The story then spins you in many different directions, following a diverse cast of characters including Joel Cairo and Mr. Gutman. All of them are on a hunt for the seemingly invaluable falcon statue. The story constantly takes you in different directions. The answer lies almost always somewhere else, even when you thought you figured it out, you probably didn't.

While the plot line is excellent, the movie overall, is a little slow. Which is an accomplishment since it is only about 100 minutes long. While you are fascinated with figuring out the answer to the murder mystery, it seemingly takes a long time to get there. However, the plot and acting are superb. Its probably just a generational thing for me, but because of the pace it gets taken down another star. Nonetheless, this is a movie that every movie buff should see.

This is Spinal Tap (1984)

Director: Rob Reiner

Cast: Christopher Guest, Tony Hendra, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Bruno Kirby

Stars: 4

Well this will probably be a short review. Why? Because I just don't know what to say.

This is Spinal Tap, is a mockumentary, that is a documentary comedy film, about the fictitious and inept band Spinal Tap. The band itself is just downright absurd. They have 2 lead guitarists, a bass player who is always dressed up in some type of bondage, and have gone through at least 7 different drummers because they seem to die in mysterious ways. The absurdity of the lyrics, album covers, and album names demonstrates the craziness of the band.

Not only is the band terrible and ludicrous but the people around them give them no help. The manager carries around a cricket paddle just so he can hit things if he gets mad. And often the people setting up the scenery behind them often screw up which creates epic fails on stage.

The sheer ridicolousness of the band and its groupies and what is what makes the film so comically. I should give it an 11! And remember you can't dust for vomit!!

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Director: Mel Brooks

Cast: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Mel Brooks

Stars: 4

Film critic Don Druker called Blazing Saddles "one of the funniest awful movies ever made." That is probably one of the best ways to describe one of Mel Brooks earliest movies. At times it is so stupid it is funny.

The plot is not complicated (are comedy plots ever?). In 1874 the old west is being built on the backs of the recently freed blacks and Chinese immigrants. Rockbridge, the city which serves as the main setting of the movie is in danger because the local political machine wants to force the inhabitants to leave so they can build a railroad there. Just prior to this revelation, the same political machine appointed the first black sheriff in Rockbridge as a publicity stunt and in the hopes that he would do such a poor job that the town would be in shambles. At first, the towns people are horrified. But after he saves the day with the help of the Wacco kid (more than once) he becomes accepted and even loved.

The comedy is simple yet effective. The villain, Hedley Lemar, always corrects people because nobody can pronounce his name properly. The Governor has the letters, G-O-V taped to his back so nobody forgets who he is. A bumbling, stumbling oaf, that everybody is afraid of. The old fastest gun in the west trick. And, of course the bean supper sitting around the campfire, which turns into essentially 5 minutes of farting. Simple, stupid, and hilarious. Any movie making fun of the old John Wayne westerns, which I tend to despise, is probably going to be pretty good in my book.

However, despite it being an excellent comedy, and one of Mel Brooks classics; I would have to say Spaceballs, is still his finest.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

Director: Joseph Sargent

Cast: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, Jerry Stiller

Stars: 4

The plot is simple and familiar but that doesn't keep this movie from being enjoyable. The counting clock scenario is a clichéd one, but Sargent keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. While the action keeps you engaged for the 2 hours, the sarcastic wit of numerous characters makes you constantly laugh in the midst of tense situations.

The movie begins in New York City, when four men board subway train Pelham 123 at different stops. Soon, they force the train to stop, and hijack it, hold 17 passengers hostage, and demand $1,000,000 to be delivered to them in one hour, or they will start shooting the hostages. Detective Zachary Garber (Matthau), is the head of transit police, and begins to negotiate with the criminals. He finds they are always one step ahead of the police and have everything worked out to the minute, and the police are left wondering what to do and how they will escape.

One of the movies best facets, is not its generic plot, but the curiosity behind it. These four criminals, Mr. Blue (Shaw), Mr. Green (Balsam), Mr. Grey (Elizondo), and Mr. Brown (Hindman), have purposefully cornered themselves, or so it seems, in a subway tunnel with no escape. The movie is able to keep you fascinated, not so much with the ticking clock, but with attempting to figure out how they are suppose to get away. By all accounts, this is the worst possible situation they could have wanted, yet for some reason they seem like its exactly what they want. After every plausible idea is shot down by the lead detective, you and the police are left wondering what the criminals possibly have planned. As Lt. Rico Patrone (Stiller) says, "I think they will fly the train to Cuba!"

As good as this movie is, the conclusion is a bit anti-climatic and the final scene is a little corny. The reveal of the heist, is in actuality probably the only plausible way to accomplish it, but is rather surprising in that it was unexpected yet at the same time very expected, as it was the only real way this could be accomplished.

However, despite its weak ending, this is an excellent movie, that is a joy to watch. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, and is able to cut the tension with quick witted sarcastic humor, without ever losing its intensity.

The remake some 35 years after the original portrays the same scenario, but not the same movie. While the original is basically a heist movie, the remake takes the lead character Garber, and makes it a redemption movie. The movie isn't about the heist and hijackers, but about the life of Garber (who is not a cop), and how Ryder (the head bad guy) helps him achieve his redemption. Also, they put an interesting twist on the criminals intent.

So which one is better? Well, of course that is all a personal preference. The action scenes in the remake are, of course, better given the technology advancements over the last three decades. However, the original is definitely my preference. An excellent mixture of action and humor, that keeps you thinking. Given that I gave the original 4 stars, the remake would get 3.

Internal Affairs (1990)

Director: Mike Figgis

Cast: Richard Gere, Andy Garcia, Nancy Travis, Laurie Metcalf, William Baldwin

Stars: 2

Have you ever watched a movie and when the credits rolled you thought to yourself “what a damn good movie!?” You were engaged from the beginning of the movie, not only in the storyline, but the action and characters too. And when it was all over, you didn't even realize that you had just spent two hours in front of the TV. For weeks afterwards you talk about the movie to all your friends exclaiming how good it is. Well, Internal Affairs is not that kind of movie.

The plot is simple, familiar, and predictable. Raymond Avila (Garcia) begins his first day in the Internal Affairs Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, and is paired with Amy Wallace (Metcalf) as his new partner. Their first assignment together is to investigate a complaint on an officer, Van Stretch (Baldwin). And guess what? It just so happens that Stretch and Avila were old friends from the academy. Soon their investigation leads them to believe that Stretch's problems go deeper than just emotional stresses, and that his partner, Dennis Peck (Gere), has been bribing and abusing his power as a police officer for years. They begin trying to gather evidence and gain information on Peck's activities and Peck begins to fire back when he realizes what the IA agents are doing. This is when the movie spins out of control.

From here on out it seems to be more of a bad soap opera than a movie. Peck is a senior officer on the force and has been able to do whatever he wants; bribing, "hits," running rackets, and numerous other escapades. He begins to involve Avila's wife (Travis) in order to get back at Avila, and Peck also begins to sleep with almost every woman in the movie, as he continues to attempt to stop Avila from investigating him.

The largest problem with the movie is its very poor storyline. It tends to be a familiar and predictable one. It was no surprise when people died, nor was the conclusion any better. The entire movie seemed to build to the final scene, which was an ultimate let down. There was very little character development, and in a movie with such a lackluster story character development is essential. By the last twenty minutes I found myself not caring where this movie was going.

Overall, it was a long movie that led to a predictable end. I leave this review wondering how the hell this made it onto the 1000 greatest movies list. Then again, it got 88% favorable reviews on Rottentomatoes.com, so what do I know?

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Cast: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro

Stars: 5

People often argue that the "Godfather Part II" exceeds the original film. Some rank it as one of the best sequels ever made. However, it is not just one of the better sequels but one of the best films of all time. Francis Ford Coppola's continuation of the Godfather saga lives up to its reputation, and is able to rival the original.

The original leaves us with Michael Corleone consolidating power by assassinating the heads of the five other families and Michael becoming the new Godfather replacing his own father. In “Part II” the film picks up three years later and follows the tribulations of Michael as he begins on his tenure as Godfather of the Corleone family. While showing the life of Michael after becoming Godfather, it also tells the story of the Corleone families rise in the early 20^th century, as Vito (Robert De Niro) goes from “rags to riches.”

The juxtaposition of the young Vito’s rise and Michael’s downfall is a brilliant comparison. On one hand, there is Vito. Young, smart, and trying to make a good living for his family so they can survive, he meets up with Tessio and Clemenza; the most important thing for Vito is his family. On the other hand, 30 or more years later there is Vito’s son, Michael. Attempting to keep together the enterprise his father built. What seems to be most important for Michael is not family but power and respect and in the process he alienates his entire family, and eventually himself so that he does not lose those coveted attributes. Vito, at least in his mind, did only what he had to do to provide for his family and make a better life for them. He did so with a virtuous quality to fight what for what is right and protect the people of the neighborhood justly. Michael does whatever he has to maintain his power, and in the process loses his family.

One of Coppola’s true gifts as a filmmaker is capturing that feeling of raw emotion for his audience. Through the two movies we see the dynamic character Michael, the prodigal son, go from reluctance in joining the family business, to a power hungry mob boss who only cares about his own self-survival, and is willing to keep himself intact at any cost. Coppola is able to capture the pure emotion of the rise and fall of Michael Corleone, and the concluding scenes of the movie rival those of the first film. In the end, we realize the once mighty Corleone empire, which always takes care of its family, has been reduced to a lonely Michael.

Coppola has pulled off a second masterpiece in just a short time. The “Godfather Part II” is an excellent film that rivals the epic and dramatic levels of the first.

Traffic (2000)

Cast: Michael Douglas, Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Quaid, Catherine Zeta-Jones

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Stars: 4

This is a movie that I have seen once before but could hardly remember. Therefore, I decided to watch it again tonight and was not disappointed. It won four Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing and was nominated for a number of other awards including Best Picture and definitely lived up to its reputation.

Steven Sorderbergh takes on the world of illegal drug trafficking between the United States and Mexico through three loosely connected stories. The first follows Mexican police officer Javier Rodriguez (Del Toro) and his partner Manolo, who in the beginning of the movie stop a drug transport and arrest the drivers. However, General Salazar a high-ranking Mexican official soon interrupts them. Salazar decides to employs Rodriguez to help him rid Tijuana of the Obregon Cartel. Rodriguez agrees but soon learns more about the situation he got himself into and his superiors and realizes not everything is as it seems.

The second story line follows Robert Wakefield (Douglass) when he is appointed as the new Drug Czar of the United States. He tries to learn more about the drug situation in the country while many high profile politicians tell him the drug war is unwinnable. Soon, Wakefield learns that his 16-year-old daughter Caroline, who is also an honors student, is using drugs. Soon Caroline goes on a downward spiral to being a full-fledged heroin addict, and her father is now torn between his new position and his deteriorating family life.

The third storyline involves undercover DEA Agents Montel Gordon (Cheadle) and Ray Castro who arrest Eduardo Ruiz in a sting. They soon convince him to become an informant and testify against his boss, drug lord Carlos Ayala. When Ayala is arrested his family is completely in shock who are unaware that he has made his fortune by smuggling drugs into the country. His wife (Zeta Jones), is faced with threats against her son and her husband facing life imprisonment must take a critical role in her husband’s business in an attempt to keep the family afloat and her husband out of jail.

All three stories are eventually loosely connected to each other showing the manner in which the drug world runs and each has their own set of surprising twists and turns in the plot. It shows how drugs not only effect a 16 year old girl who begins by partying on the weekends, but the issues that arise within the higher ups in the American government, as well as how a low level police officer in Mexico is thrown into the forefront of the Mexican drug war. The cinematography throughout the movie was excellent, which is shot similarly to a documentary style and the acting was even better. Both Cheadle and Zeta Jones give excellent portrayals. While at times the plot line may be a bit over the top, it is still fascinating and excellent.

Sorderbergh does an excellent job of capturing the issues surrounding the drug trade in the United States on every level. You may not be inclined to agree with the points the movie attempts to make, but it is still an excellent movie the delivers an inside look of the drug world.