101 Peliculas Con Subtitulos

A group of Italian villagers struggle to survive the final days of WWII, battling Nazi sympathizers and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the American soldiers who will liberate them.

La Notte di San Lorenzo is a good film that may have been great had it be given a larger budget. For example, the highly anticipated American army is represented by a whopping TWO soldiers (neither of which ever utter a word), war planes are heard but never seen, an explosion in the church is represented by loud sound effects and a little smoke coming out of the door, etc., etc., etc... Still, you have to credit the Taviani brothers for making the most of what they had and giving us a film that seems to live well beyond it's means.

A little campy, a little titillating, a little scary (VERY little).

"The first advantage is at the end of the story. It doesn't finish, it falls in a hole. And the story starts again halfway. The other advantage, and the biggest, is that you can change course along the way... If you let me. If you give me time."

Dude, anybody can make a crappy movie about boobs. There are literally thousands of crappy boobie movies out there. But, how often do you come across a crappy movie about butts? To be completely fair, there are a few 'schwiiing!' moments here, especially if you like butts (I do! I do!), but overall this one stinks. (I should know, I watched it TWICE!!)

"Put a little versa into your vice..."

A perverse cabaret that's interesting because it's strange.

Widely considered one of the world's most controversial films, Men Behind the Sun presents a gruesome depiction of a Japanese death camp in WWII.

Speaking just for myself, after witnessing limbs being severed, electrocution, urine drinking, baby killing, live human vivisection, bludgeoning, freezing, skinning, crucifixion, microwaving and gassing, the part that bothered me the most is when they killed a cat. :(

Without Giulietta Masina, Fellini's films seem a little thin on charm and a little thick on just about everything else.

Exquisite crime drama that kept me in suspense from beginning to end. It's really three stories seamlessly interwoven and simultaneous, topped off by a Miles Davis score that's just fantastic.

There is enough symbolism here to keep a whole team of cinematic existentialists busy for months. At its core, it's a film about a man who gets trapped in a hole. Too simplistic? Probably. It's the story of an entomologist who gets captured by a group of villagers and is forced to shovel sand along side the beautiful Kyoko Kishida (I could think of far worse fates). He spends most of his waking hours plotting his escape, but the longer he's there the more he feels obligated to his hole-mate. Is he falling in love? Is he learning the meaning of true freedom? Can he figure out a way to escape? Does he really want to? Is he an 'everyman' and the hole a representation of an oppressive society? Can I find a clever way to end this review?

One of the key elements of a true classic it its ability to weather the ravages of time. Jiri Menzel's dark comedy, Closely Watched Trains, passes this test with flying colors. Menzel quietly lampoons teen angst in a manner that's unique and tragic. Viewers have been laughing at this one for forty (+) years and I suspect they'll still be finding humor and relevance in it for a long time to come.

Pedro Almodóvar continues to confound and amaze me. He can take the most peculiar circumstances, the most perverse scenarios, and extract incredible, romantic love stories. I'm not certain how he does it, but after viewing several of his films I have formed a hypothesis: he views situations without prejudice. He ignores preconceived notions. Instead of focusing on the differences, Almodóvar concentrates on the commonality, thus encouraging us (his audience) to see the world with an unjaundice eye. In the end, what might have appalled us is now cause for reflection, maybe even celebration.

Confounding and amazing...

Polish sci-fi sex comedy that's quirky but charming.

If I assembled a list of my favorite sadomasochistic Nazi co-dependency films made prior to 1975 that featured topless dancers is SS uniforms, this would definitely be in the top five.

The most disgusting film I've ever seen. Makes Pink Flamingos look like a Disney Movie.

Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso is one of my all-time favorite films so, from the beginning, I had high expectations for La Sconosciuta. Let me save you the trouble of finding this out for yourself, this is NOTHING like his earlier minor masterpiece. This is a dark thriller that starts like a three star film but ends like a five. Four Stars (I split the difference).

Twisted genius! Sorta' like Road Warrior meets Willy Wonka.

Arguably one of his more conservative efforts, Live Flesh still remains true to the Pedro Almodóvar form. Like a magician plucking a rabbit out of his hat, Pedro finds tenderness and romance in some very dark & unromantic places. And, if you've only seen Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men, check your preconceptions at the door.

A young boy & his little sister are forced to make sacrifices for each other as they attempt to share an old pair of sneakers.. The Children of Heavin is a beautiful illustration of how adversity draws people closer together.

A bizarre, animated, environmental, sci-fi acid trip (acid optional).

Fans of Cloverfield will love this Korean offering. Both have similar premise but The Host is much more humorous and, consequently, much less pretentious.

Gripping anti-war offering from director Luis Mandoki. Innocent Voices shows us the civil war in El Salvador through the eyes of a child. Mandoki presents a harsh but accurate indictment of the war and of the U.S. involvement in it.

Two women, both recently fired from a strip club, make a pact to use their sexuality to secure better jobs and to advance themselves in the corporate world.

Not a bad film but not nearly as good as it pretends to be.

Tarkovsky's near masterpiece of lost innocence. The story of a young Russian boy who, having lost his family, serves as a spy behind the German front. Everything in this film works, from the minimalist landscapes to the fantastic dream sequences. Not a single frame of film is wasted.

Director Nikita Mikhalkov doesn't just remake Twelve Angry Men, he takes it on. He tackles it. He puts it in a headlock and makes it say "Uncle!"

Direct from Israel, a powerful political film that's artfully animated. My only gripe is that it's painfully slow in pacing, as if director Ari Folman was trying to stretch sixty minutes of material into an hour and a half.

A fantastic offering from Israel depicting the comradeship between soldiers assigned to an isolated outpost in Lebanon. Director Joseph Cedar centers the focus on his characters by putting the camera right down in the trenches with them. Other than their mortars and missiles you never even see the enemy, increasing the sense of isolation and (sometimes) despair. A fitting tribute to the brave men who actually served at Beaufort.

I know a lot of people hated this one, but I for one thought it was hysterically funny. The monsters are totally outrageous and the ineptness of the 'hero' makes him completely identifiable. Highly recommended for the visuals and the creative "bizarreness" (just don't take it too seriously).

1920's Russian propaganda that is still awe inspiring. Here it is, more than 80 years after it's initial release and it has not lost it's ability to motivate the masses. A classic in every sense of the word.

Truffaut's docu-drama about the discovery of a small boy living completely on his own in the forests of France in the late 18th century. Much more academic than most of his other films, it's nonetheless fascinating to watch. A study in child development and psychology.

Little Shop of Horrors, with a Czech twist. An off-beat (to say the least) rendering of a fanciful fairy tale. Consider this a rave review for a ravenous root. :)

It's easy to see why this film has such a huge fan-base. Personally, I prefer the realism of anime like Grave of the Fireflies over whimsical fantasies but it would be difficult to watch Spirited Away and not be completely taken in. Definitely an impressive work of art.

A Czechoslovakian funeral director, obsessed with cremation, adopts a warped sense of purpose when his German ancestry becomes a topic of interest in his community. Director Juraj Herz manages to take his main character from "merely distasteful" to "completely repulsive" in the span of 95 minutes, completing an arc that is as riveting as it is macabre. A dark and distinctly unnerving film.

Inspired by actual events, Indigenes is the story of Arab soldiers serving in the French Foreign Legion in WWII. Director Rachid Bouchareb oversees a talented cast that brings to light the exploits of these obscure, almost forgotten heroes. A history lesson that everyone should see.

Ingmar Bergman is a taste I have yet to acquire but this is far less abstract than his other films I've seen. Cinemaphiles familiar with The Last House On the Left will recognize the plot but this one is enormously (and quite thankfully) more artistic and elegant.

Original and fantastically imaginative! I no longer question the appeal of Japanese anime, especially when it's this good.

Pierre is the product of a very unconventional marriage. Both his parents lead promiscuous lives and he spends most of his childhood in a Catholic boarding school. Soon after he returns home, now a young man, his father dies and his mother, undeterred by her husband's death, draws her son into her perverse lifestyle.

I'm not sure I'm open-minded enough to fully appreciate Ma Mere. It attempts to titillate by venturing into those dark places where most people feel VERY uncomfortable. If there is a moral to this story it's simply this: "Don't hump your mother". (Frankly, I didn't need an artsy French film to figure that out.)

Bravo Melina Mercouri!

"What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." - Ecclesiastes 1:13-14

Casting, directing, cinematography, scripting... Ratcatcher is firing on all cylinders.

*NOTE: Even though it is an english language film I had to revert to subtitles or risk missing about a third of the dialog due to the thick dialect.

I get the impression that writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky was raised in a repressive Catholic boarding school populated with sadistic nuns and this, The Holy Mountain, is his revenge. It's full of blasphemous imagery that I'm certain caused more than one self-righteous christian to exit the theater before the last reel concluded. Personally, I wasn't offended, but I'm a less-than-devout protestant who is detached enough to see the irony of it all. I don't necessarily agree with Jodorowsky's vision but I definitely applaud his courage.

A cultish, campish, low budget horror film done as only the Italians could do it. Lots of scenes featuring menacing monsters and Barbara Bach in wet clothing (or no clothing at all). Sort of reminded me of Lucio Fulci's Zombie but much more 'aquatic'.

In spite of the efforts of men like psychiatrist Johannes Schultz and Gustave Le Bon, hypnosis was often viewed as something supernatural or other-worldly well into the mid-twentieth century. This was not lost on German director Fritz Lang who made full use of public misconception here in his sequel to M. Though it's science is flawed, the rest of the film is well ahead of it's time.

Lang's use of sound to tie scenes together (i.e. a ticking time-bomb becomes a man tapping on his breakfast egg) worked so well that similar effects are still being used today. The specter of Dr. Mabuse and his hypnotic mind control manifests itself in ghostly apparitions which Lang presents in transparent fashion, complete with makeup that is almost as effective and frightening today as it was in 1933.

Don't expect this to be in the same league as Lang's landmark crime drama, M (to compare the two would be unfair). The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is much more of a ghost story, a horror film, than it's predecessor but it is very much a classic in it's own right. Anchored in realism but delving far further into the macabre and the surreal.

Part suspenseful thriller and part coming-of-age drama, I'm Not Scared is a minor masterpiece of film making from director Gabriele Salvatores. It's a story of crime and courage, a story of a young boy's realization that there is evil in the world and those nearest him are not only aware of it, they may be a part of it. Not a perfect film, but the flaws are completely forgivable.

Has to be one of the first post-war films to come out of Italy after WWII. In 1945 the Italians had every right to be anti-German, yet this film is less about that than it is an homage to the men, women and children who fought against occupation in the underground resistance movement. A fantastic film.

I have a soft spot for inspirational true stories, especially ones with meaningful dialog between fathers and sons. A terrific story of reflection, regret and reconciliation.

Off-beat gender bender that's at times funny, at times poignant, and always entertaining. Ma Vie En Rose manages to vilify our collective ignorance without insulting our sensibilities. A truly remarkable film.

*High marks for set decoration and cinematography as well as casting and direction.

This man's name is John Austin Frazier...

He lived in Chicago, Illinois. He now resides at the state mental hospital. We are saddened to tell you that this tragic condition was brought on when Mr. Frazier attended the world premier of our nightmare of horror program Kill, Baby, Kill. Since this event the producers of the program have secured an insurance policy insuring the sanity of each and every patron. The policy states that in the event you lose your mind as a result of viewing this explosion of terror, you will be provided with free internment in an asylum for the rest of your natural life.

Poor John. It's not surprising though, after all, murder, mutilation, blood, spirits from beyond the grave... It's enough to drive anyone mad.

Be sure you're insured before you dare to see Kill, Baby, Kill!

F.W. Murnau's treatment of Bram Stoker's Dracula has proven to be the standard by which all others are judged. Effects and techniques have certainly improved but Max Schreck's rendition is still, for me, unequaled. Simply fantastic.