O Captain! My Captain!
To a background of bagpipes, meet the boys of the Welton Academy. A prep school that prepares an all-boys elite to get in the Ivy League thanks to four core values: tradition, honor, discipline, excellence. Mr. Keating, the new offbeat English teacher, will change the lives of those boys by introducing them to poetry and freethinking. A teacher extraordinaire who changes lives is a theme that has been explored more than we can remember but to this day, Dead Poets Society
is still the best movie about it. Robin Williams is a teacher everyone wished they had. Unfortunately for most of us, it's as rare to have a teacher like this as it is to write good poetry. But in Hollywood, everything is possible and brighter. I sure wish I had a teacher pushing me to pursue a career in the arts. Seize the day, find your inner voice, don't let your parents decide on your future... Those are some of the many valuable life lessons that DPS promotes. It's always a pleasure for me to watch DPS once in a while to witness Ethan Hawke's career start. Robin Williams is a master at humor as everyone knows but when it comes to drama, he is deeply moving too. Williams makes hilarious impersonations, as usual. Two-thirds of the movie is quite funny, then an efficient and dramatic twist makes you cry like you have PMS. Dead Poets Society is an emotional elevator taking you to both ends of the feeling scale.
is still the best movie about it. Robin Williams is a teacher everyone wished they had. Unfortunately for most of us, it's as rare to have a teacher like this as it is to write good poetry. But in Hollywood, everything is possible and brighter. I sure wish I had a teacher pushing me to pursue a career in the arts. Seize the day, find your inner voice, don't let your parents decide on your future... Those are some of the many valuable life lessons that DPS promotes. It's always a pleasure for me to watch DPS once in a while to witness Ethan Hawke's career start. Robin Williams is a master at humor as everyone knows but when it comes to drama, he is deeply moving too. Williams makes hilarious impersonations, as usual. Two-thirds of the movie is quite funny, then an efficient and dramatic twist makes you cry like you have PMS. Dead Poets Society is an emotional elevator taking you to both ends of the feeling scale.
is a violent and truthful painting of Manhattan. This movie takes you through the ghetto where a bunch of kids made a pact to share their fortunes, their loves, their lives. Over 30 years later, Noodles comes back to the Lower East Side to face his past demons and regrets. If you ever decide to watch Once Upon a Time in America, keep in mind that it is 229-minutes long. It doesn't seem that long when you watch it because the storyline is energetic but you still need to clear your schedule for almost 4 hours. This masterpiece covers a wide time frame taking you from the 20's to 1968. It is an epic tale on the prohibition era. A full immersion in a cosmopolitan New York City and the Jewish mafia. The cast is obviously impressive. De Niro and James Woods form a perfect duo. They are both flawless and cruel. Their friendship takes loyalty to a whole new level and betrayal gets baleful. Joe Pesci is only starring in the movie for a few minutes but it's a pleasure to watch him perform as a mobster. The classic soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone is an important piece of this crime puzzle. His tune is raw, dramatic, and authentic. I have once attended a Morricone concert and listening to this theme live is a magical feeling. The natural touch of the soundtrack comes quite close to recreating that magical feeling, which is a rarity among films. 
tells Ennis and Jack's secret relationship over almost 2 decades. This masterpiece is a love manifesto avoiding clichés. Its focus is the struggle to live with yourself when society doesn't accept who you are and dictates who you should or shouldn't love. The fight against self-hatred and prejudice are also central topics of the storyline. Ang Lee majestically directs one of the most beautiful love stories ever told on the silver screen. He succeeds where others have failed: he delivers a dynamic movie out of a plot that could have been slow. Lee certainly is an actor's director. The cast he's chosen to prove this point radiates with truth. The late Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the leading roles praise tolerance with their magnificent interpretation. You can also enjoy the performance of a plethora of good supporting actors: Michelle Williams, Kate Mara, Anne Hathaway, Anna Faris... The 
is soothing and echoes in the splendid hills of Wyoming. The sound of the resonator guitar transports you to those quiet great outdoors. I can only hope the blatant moral of this picture will stick to your shoes forever. Brokeback Mountain
is an ironic title for a movie fueled with violence, abuse, and misery. The frantic angles and camera movements used by Clark perfectly depict this atmosphere. The somewhat cheerful R'n'B soundtrack sweetens the painful road trip of our 'heroes' and contrasts with the pitiful path they've chosen. I follow those basket cases taking desperate measures with a certain sorrow but never do I root for them as they've burried themselves in this mess of a situation. This film is an efficient tale on how drugs can make you reach a point of no return and how everything from there is a downhill race to a filthy abyss. Another Day in Paradise seems so real, it makes me feel uneasy and almost sick. I would not recommend it if you don't feel alright because it will mess you up. Vincent Kartheiser in the lead role faultlessly pierces the screen with such a seedy and sore character. The sordid sexuality of our teenagers is only matched by the destructive relationship between James Woods (Mel) and Melanie Griffith (Sid). Woods as the manifest unstable and alcoholic crime king delivers an irreproachable interpretation. 
follows the disintegration of an Australian crime family. Josh (James Frecheville) moves in with his grandma after his mother dies from a heroin overdose. He soon becomes trapped in a vicious spiral rooted in his family's business. The story is set in Melbourne and is inspired by the infamous Pettingill family. Cold-blooded murders, hypocrisy, drugs and more... This movie gives me everything I need to feed my sick curiosity. From the flawless cast, I'd like to specifically mention Jacki Weaver who is sublime and ferociously sweet as The Godmother. Weaver collected another Academy Award nomination for this role. James Frecheville, the introverted pawn of the story, is a true revelation. Proof is that he went on to act side by side with Robin Wright and Naomi Watts in 
is no testing ground for Parker. With this movie, the director deals with post-war mental and physical
trauma as well as the struggle to fit in as a high schooler. On one hand, the
combination of the Peter Gabriel-made soundtrack and the flying camera
shots really convinced me. On the other, I thought it beats around the bush for quite a while. Nicolas Cage's monologues are a bit sketchy even though his overall performance is good. Matthew Modine makes a convincing quiet and deranged bird-lover. As I'm no war-movie enthusiast, I appreciate the fact that Birdy only shows a few war scenes. The plot
is largely based on childhood flashbacks. 
. I enjoy this kind of horrid tales about the monstrosities inflicted to people in the name of social customs. The hypocrisy of religion embraces the whole community. The so-called respectable 'upper class' is obviously the worst. Explore sordid sexuality. Meet molesters. Get offended by child abuse. Haneke's analysis on the obsolete views of normal child development is rather good. Link a kid's arms to his bed at night so he stops masturbating? Really?! I like the director's approach of the century-old clarification of central topics like death. I find Das Weisse Band visually delightful and the thriller-themed pre-war plot is well-operated. But (because there is always a 'but') I am a bit disappointed by the end. I expected a clear-cut grand finale and I left the room with this feeling of unfinished business. From my perspective, Das Weisse Band could have been a masterpiece but as it turns out, it has been a little bit overrated. Every piece by a master doesn't necessarily turn out to be a masterpiece. Das Weisse Band is simply a piece by the master Haneke.