Monday, May 29, 2006

The duke´s top 100 list (2)

Mr Holland´s Opus.

Mr Holland is probably the ideal teacher. He is teaching music at a n american highschool. But the thing that makes him special, is that he changes the lifes of his students. He even gains the respect of his own teenage son (who is deaf, but despite the bad relationship between them during his teens, he decides to follow his dads footsteps). During his years as a teacher, he leads a troupe of like minded coleagues (including the drama teacher and the gym teacher) into fighting with everything they have, against their conservative counterparts, to keep a humanist approach in education. He is a beacon to his students....until the dark ages of Reaganism and Bushism come, and he is forced to give up the fight. An amazingly told story, of a man whose unbelievable 35 year old career has changed a lot of young people, with his wins, his failures, his time of disapointment and his times of joy.
Robert Duval portrays the young (at heart) idealist who never gives up , and always takes a stand, in order to help his students go over the troubles of being teenagers, and follow their own dreams. Probably the teacher I never had.......


Pulp Fiction:
Quentin Tarantino´s follow up to Reservoir dogs, and the movie that made him a brand name. A stand-out soundtrack, and a league of top-noch actors. A relaxed Bruce Willis delivering a kind of performance that has never been seen on cinema (up until Sin City) but only in tv series Moonlighting. Its Travolta rejuvinating his career after the "Look whos talking" debacle...and of course Samuel Jackson delivering the best wuotes ever.....whioaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Sunday, February 05, 2006

The dukes top 100 list (no sequence) 1)

Anchorman: Get to see this, its probably one of the most hilarious comedies ever made. An male anchor, who is probably the biggest (and loudest) cinematic "macho hombre" type of guy. When witty and smart Christina Applegate is cast beside him as his female co-ancho (and she tops him on the Bill), he goes totally berserk, and chaos ensues. Plus it has one of the funnyest cinematic fights, with rival newscrews battling each other. Will Ferell is just at his BEST!

Dr Strangelove: Some weird psycho has triggered a doomsday machine, and provoced an american nuclear attack on Soviet Soil. The war room in the White House is occupied by a bunch of crazy warmongers. The american president is in despair. And his Russian counterpart is so royally drunk, that he cant even pick up the phone.... Stanley Cubrick is at the weel and Peter Sellers is just insanely hillarious, playing 4 different characters (amongst them and ex-nazi Dr Strangelove, who appears to have a weird opinion on ideal living conditions, etc), this cold war satire will make you just......laugh your guts out.


Reservoir Dogs: Quentin Tarantino definately IS the king of cult movies. From cleverly borrowing a sequence from "Oceans 11" , to making Michael Madsen really act ( believe me the guy is your average non-actor), to one of the greatest movie quotes in the history of cinema(-Did you kill anybody?- A few cops. - No real people?- Just cops), and then on to a great deal of comic book violence .......all the tarantino stuff is here....


Mathe paidi mou gramata: Seing problem child Nikos Kalogeropoulos run around the village, with the transistor radio blasting "Rasputin", or using the bald head of his brother (Kostas tsakonas) to signal to the rest of his friends.....just classy


Tacones Lejanos: Probably pedro Almodovars best movie (ever), with Victoria Abril proving why she is considered to be one of the greatest spanish actresses.
It also features Luz Cazal's Piensa en Mi.......