Entries from March 2009
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland & Curtis Hanson. Based on the novel by James Ellroy
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Produced by Regency Enterprises
Running time: 138 minutes
What the *&#! Is This About?
In Los Angeles of the early 1950s, Officer Bud White (Russell Crowe) stops on his way to deliver his fellow cops booze for a Christmas [...]
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Tags: Based on novel · Crooked officer · Femme fatale · Gangsters and hoodlums · Interrogation · Murder mystery · Prostitute · Shootout · Surprise after end credits
Boogie Nights (1997)
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Produced by Ghoulardi Film Company/ Lawrence Gordon Productions/ New Line Cinema
Running time: 155 minutes
What the *&#! Is This About?
In the San Fernando Valley of 1977, busboy Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg) catches the eye of Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), maker of “adult films, exotic pictures” [...]
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Tags: Bathtub scene · Coming of age · Dreams and visions · Drunk scene · Father/son relationship · Master and pupil · No opening credits · Prostitute · Rated X · Shootout
The following was originally published 17 August 2008. This lazy attempt at recycling is my contribution to Ibetolis’s “Counting Down the Zeroes” series at Film for the Soul, in which he compels the Internet to rhapsodize on the best films of the ’00s. one year at a time.
High Fidelity (2000)
Screenplay by John Cusack & D.V. [...]
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Tags: Based on novel · Cult favorite · Dreams and visions · Famous line · Master and pupil · Music · No opening credits
Donnie Darko (2001)
Written by Richard Kelly
Directed by Richard Kelly
Produced by Flower Films/ Pandora Films/ Newmarket
Running time: 113 minutes (theatrical version)/ 133 minutes (Director’s Cut)
What the *&#! Is This About?
Teenager Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes to find himself sleeping in the middle of a road overlooking “Middlesex, Virginia.” He bicycles back to his suburban [...]
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Tags: Ambiguous ending · Brother/sister relationship · Cult favorite · End of the world · High school · No opening credits · Paranoia · Psychoanalysis