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thomashamps
Reviews
Fargo (1996)
Ya! That's a good one!
This is a great film. It is that simple. The cast are all superb. As is the script, the direction and everything else. It's extremely fuuny in places and is all held together by a great story full of little twists and turns. But it is the characters that kept me hooked. From Buscemi's weasily small-time crook to McDormand's pregnant cop to the guy sweeping his driveway and through every other person you meet along the way, you can see them all as real people. If you haven't seen it, see it. Then watch it again and again.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Entertainment at its best
If all you ask of a movie is that it is entertaining, that it helps you escape your everyday life and lets you just sit back and enjoy the spectacle then this fits the bill perfectly. It's fast paced, well acted, funny, exciting and full of classic scenes.
Harrison Ford is at his best, as is Spielberg. Together they make Indy's race against the Nazis to find the Lost Ark a true classic slice of entertainment. I loved this film as a kid and I still love it now.
Goodfellas (1990)
A true classic
This is the gangster film at its finest. Scorsese is on top form as are Pesci and De Niro. Liotta has never bettered the performance he gives here. The film starts as it means to go on - violent, full of profanity, fast paced and very stylish. The story follows Liotta's character from boy to man as he climbs his way up through the ranks of organised crime. We see all the highs and lows of his life and meet a host of very believable and very undesirable characters along the way. It's a film full of memorable scenes whilst remaining much more than the sum of its individual parts at the same time. This is what all movies should be like. It draws you in and won't let you out of its grasp at any point. When it finishes you feel exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. If ever the word 'masterpiece' was meant to be used, it was for this film.
Jui kuen (1978)
Jackie at his best
Drunken Master is, without doubt, the greatest Jackie Chan film I have ever seen. It is also one that I have seen countless times. It is classic Chan - everything you could ever want. Fight after fight with as little plot to interupt the entertainment as possible. Plus, Jackie's very own brand of physical comedy of course. The fights, as well as being plentiful, are all beautifully and painstakingly choreographed and executed with great style.
The plot is far from original - Jackie is a naughty boy, gets sent to train with his cruel, and drunken, uncle and ends up a master, this time in Drunken kung fu. The acting and script is what you'd expect. The sets are basic and the film quality and sound and hardly top-notch. But none of this stops this being a thoroughly entertaining film. Even my kung fu hating housemates liked it. And that is saying something.