Confessions of a filmoholic

Masterpiece time! No, really. There Will Be Blood is without a doubt the best film of the last years, which makes it one of the best cinematic experiences ever. Paul Thomas Anderson has always been keeping good form, making the likes of Boogie Nights, or Magnolia, but in his latest outing he simply committed a flawless piece. I won't be writing for too long, there is really not much to add - if you want to see an important film, dealing with serious moral issues, with impeccable performances from some of the best actors out there, with astonishing music and cinematography, the film that is intense and addictive, There Will Be Blood is just for you.
10/10

I am getting old, I guess. Yesterday I started watching Michael Mann's Miami Vice, and did something, I hardly ever do - I turned it off before the end - after half an hour, to be honest. I simply decided that life's too short, to lose another hour of it for a pointless effort like that. And then I saw something quite different - The Conversation. I'll tell you, that switching from a modern action film to an over 30-years old drama was my best decision of the day. Francis Ford Coppola rarely makes movies that aren't awesome, and this one is no exception. For the first half it plays like a social drama with elements of a love story, where Gene Hackman plays a troubled and lost professional eavesdropper, only to become a gripping thriller after an hour. The film is written perfectly, the hints we get in order to be able to solve the mystery are put in the exactly right places, and Hackman's slow fall into paranoia is shown with unspeakable craft from both the actor and the director. A must-see, trust me on this one.
10/10

Great actors can't be around forever. Sometimes they die. If this happens, they don't make new films anymore, which is a shame, but it's not really their fault. At least the ones in which they've already acted will stay with us. Like Blue Velvet in Dennis Hopper's case. He was great in a few other movies too, but in this particular one he was completely magnificent - sad, terrifying, engaging and full of passion. Exactly the same can be told about the film itself - a flawless take on the dark side of a human soul performed by the master of such trips - David Lynch. If you are the director's fan already I don't have to convince you, but if you haven't seen any of his works - or saw the likes of Mulholland Drive and didn't 'get' them - please, give Blue Velvet a go. It is pure cinematic perfection.
10/10

A few days ago I wrote about the 'scariest film ever made'. Since that post didn't get any nasty comments, I guess everybody agreed with my choice. Either this, or the fact that nobody read it. Still, me being a born optimist (ha!), I believe most of my readers share my cinematic views. If not - let me tease you a bit more. It is time for the funniest film ever made! This has to be Monty Python's Life of Brian - a movie, that seen some 20 times still makes me cry with laughter. There's not really much point in writing about it - if you love the Pythons you've already seen and loved this film too, if you hate them you won't be bothered watching it. If you have just come back from a 40-year trip to Mars, let me tell you it is their most accessible work (by that I mean it has an actual plot), and sometimes it might be a bit offensive (but it is also a part of it's charm). It also features quite a few very accurate observations on the mechanisms of society. Oh, and by the way: Life of Brian is absolutely hilarious.
10/10

Today I would like to tell you about the best (and scariest) horror movie ever made. I know it's pretty tricky to say that, since many people won't agree, putting in the first position the likes of The Exorcist or The Blair Witch Project, but for me there is only one winner – The Shining. Based on Stephen King's novel, directed by the genial Stanley Kubrick and starring the always awesome Jack Nicholson – such mixtures don't always work, or at least they may not meet one's expectations. This is not the case here. Everyone is on top of their game and they have created a chilling masterpiece. Some people say that the film's plot is not close enough to the book, but I can't agree. Those changes made by Kubrick only make the whole enterprise more cinematic. A true work of genius.

And now for something completely... foreign: Cinema Paradiso – a small masterpiece from Giuseppe Tornatore, a modern Italian genius. Italy has never been shy of talented directors, enough to mention the likes of Bernardo Bertolucci or Michalangelo Antonioni, but there is something special about his films, Cinema Paradiso being his best achievement so far. It is a story of Toto, a boy growing up in a small town, discovering the delights of love to both movies and girls. Many others have been telling similar stories about coming of age in the place of their childhood, those nostalgic and romantic stories of long-lost innocence, but hardly anybody (apart from Federico Fellini in Amarcord, from which Cinema... borrows a few scenes and motives) does that with so much charm as Mr Tornatore. It may seem boring when read, but believe me this is one of the most touching and funny movies you'll ever see.