IMDb Information
Title: A Scanner Darkly
Year: 2006
Genre: Animation | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Runtime: 100 min
IMDb Rating: User Rating: 7.2/10 (26,668 votes)
RT Rating: 66%
My Rating:

Synopsis: Richard Linklater’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s classic novel is a challenging, mind-bending experience that cautions about the dangers of excessive drug use as well as the government’s capacity to abuse and manipulate power. Using the same interpolated rotoscoping technique that Linklater employed in 2001’s WAKING LIFE, the film is an animated, trippy descent into one man’s unraveling mind. Set in the not-too-distant future where a new drug, substance D, has created an epidemic, A SCANNER DARKLY charts the mental unraveling of Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves). Arctor is an undercover cop who has been assigned to track a group of individuals who include the druggily verbose Barris (Robert Downey Jr.), the hyper-intense Luckman (Woody Harrelson), the ultra-paranoid Freck (Rory Cochrane), and the beautiful Donna (Winona Ryder). As the film unfolds and Arctor finds himself abusing substance D in order to maintain his façade, his mind begins to spin out of control, to the point where he doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t. Eventually, the truth comes out, leaving Arctor even more numbed. Linklater’s surprisingly faithful adaptation of Dick’s novel blends humor, drama, and Bob Sabiston’s striking animation to deliver a thought-provoking film that will leave viewers as dazed as the film’s protagonist.

Review: Very odd movie, great animation style. Very heavy analysis of drugs and use. Fantastic cast including Reeves, Downey Jr., and Winona Ryder.

IMDb Information
Title: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Year: 1998
Genre: Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama
Runtime: 118 min
IMDb Rating: User Rating: 7.5/10 (55,164 votes)
RT Rating: 48%
My Rating:

Synopsis: FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS is a whirlwind of a movie, a wacky, drug-laden story backed by a fist-pumping rock & roll soundtrack featuring everything from Wayne Newton and Tom Jones to Combustible Edison and Dead Kennedys. Journalist Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) heads to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, bringing along his Samoan lawyer, Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro), in this furious adaptation of the book by Hunter S. Thompson. It is 1971, and Duke and Gonzo are on their way to Sin City with a frightened hitchhiker (a nearly unrecognizable Tobey Maguire) and a trunkful of drugs, which they ingest nonstop. Depp is terrific as Duke, Thompson’s alter ego, and Del Toro is a riot as the crazy lawyer. To perfect his Thompsonian performance, Depp spent a lot of time with the good doctor, and it paid off in a film that captures the frenetic pace of the counterculture novel. Director Terry Gilliam, a master of complex, bizarre visual imagery, has a field day interpreting the drug-hazed world in which Duke and Gonzo reside. An all-star cast chimes in with wonderfully offbeat bit parts, including Harry Dean Stanton, Gilliam regular Katherine Helmond, Flea, Cameron Diaz, Ellen Barkin, Christina Ricci, Gary Busey, Lyle Lovett, and others.

Review: Very true to the book and Thompson, or so I hear. Depp portrays one of his greatest characters perfectly.

IMDb Information
Title: A Clockwork Orange
Year: 1971
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Runtime: 136 min
IMDb Rating: User Rating: 8.5/10 (134,694 votes)
RT Rating: 90%
My Rating:

Synopsis: From its opening shot of Malcolm McDowell staring with evil intent directly into the camera (which pulls back to reveal him drinking a glass of milk), Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant A CLOCKWORK ORANGE announces itself as a completely new kind of viewing experience. The film, set in an unidentified future, overwhelms the senses with its almost comic depictions of rape and violence set to an upbeat classical and pop music score. Kubrick based his chilling masterpiece on Anthony Burgess’s culture-shaking novel about a young man growing into adulthood, but unable to shake his huge problem with authority figures. The first part of the film shows Alex (a career-defining performance by McDowell) and his “droogs” (his cohorts) indulging in what they refer to as “a little bit of the old ultraviolence.” After establishing Alex and co. as unremitting psychopaths, Kubrick’s movie changes tact, and shows Alex getting caught and forced to undergo controversial treatment that will make it impossible for him to commit violent acts, leading to a fascinating ending to the film. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE purposely confuses crime and punishment, cause and effect, hero and villain, irony and satire, and many other concepts, creating a truly unique work of art in the process. Its magnificent, colorful, futuristic set designs and utter determination to shock, frighten, and thoroughly entertain left audiences reeling in the ’70s. Kubrick even withdrew the film from distribution in the UK, after reading newspaper reports of people dressing up as Alex and his Droogs and meting out their own brand of ultraviolence (it was subsequently rereleased after his death). One thing is for sure: No one who has seen it has ever been able to hear “Singin’ in the Rain” or Beethoven again in quite the same way.

Review: This movie is crazy.

IMDb Information
Title: Back to the Future
Year: 1985
Genre: Action | Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi
Runtime: 117 min
IMDb Rating: User Rating: 8.3/10 (137,587 votes)
RT Rating: 95%
My Rating:

Synopsis: A fast-moving and heart-warming comedy, BACK TO THE FUTURE is Robert Zemeckis’ well-loved 1980s classic. It is the story of a teenager from 1985 who commandeers the time-traveling DeLorean invented by a wacky scientist friend, and is accidentally sent back in time to the 1950s. But the real problems start after he inadvertently disrupts the first meeting between his future parents–and his mom ends up falling for him instead. Eliciting help from the inventor of the time-machine (who is now thirty years younger), the young man must untangle the reverse Oedipal knot he’s created, or he will never be born. If he can’t influence them to fall in love, he might never exist! And if he somehow manages to succeed, he must then find a way to get “back to the future.”

Review: Brings me back to my childhood when I first saw the movie every time I watch it. I love the story and the simplistic concept of time travel presented in the story.

IMDb Information
Title: Reservoir Dogs
Year: 1992
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Runtime: 99 min
IMDb Rating: User Rating: 8.4/10 (147,169 votes)
RT Rating: 95%
My Rating:

Synopsis: Former video store clerk Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut, RESERVOIR DOGS, is a brutally funny, supercharged introduction to his supremely distinct cinematic vision, which was later to become one of the most mimicked styles of the 1990s. Mastermind Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) assembles a crew of top-notch criminals to pull off a jewelry store heist. As the film opens it becomes immediately clear that the plan backfired, forcing the survivors, who have gathered at an abandoned warehouse, to figure out if one of them is, in fact, a police informer. The crew–Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), an aged veteran; Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), a wounded newcomer; Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), a psychopathic parolee; Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), a bickering weasel; and Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn), Joe’s son–begin to unravel as the pressure becomes too much for them to handle. When Joe arrives, the truth becomes clear in a vicious Mexican standoff. Tarantino takes liberally from Hong Kong action flicks, most notably Ringo Lam’s CITY ON FIRE, but his ultra-hip ‘70s soundtrack and hysterical pop culture dialogue make the film seem wholly original and new. Taking a cue from the French New Wave–most notably Jean-Luc Godard–RESERVOIR DOGS remains one of the decade’s most influential motion pictures.

Review: A neat Tarantino film and story but pales in comparison to Pulp Fiction.

IMDb Information
Title: The Salton Sea
Year: 2002
Genre: Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Runtime: 103 min
IMDb Rating: User Rating: 7.1/10 (10,828 votes)
RT Rating: 63%
My Rating:

Synopsis: Caught up in the permanent nighttime of the habitual methamphetamine user, Danny Parker (Val Kilmer) and his friends close the curtains so they can’t tell what time of day it is. But while his associates revel in their highs, Danny is haunted by his previous life as Tom Van Allen, a trumpet player who lost his wife (Chandra West) in the crossfire of a shoot out. In an effort to find his wife’s killer, Tom became a police informant, adopting a heavily-tattooed disguise. When he discovers that a Mexican drug lord has put a hit out on him, Danny decides to pull one last score–unfortunately involving Pooh-Bear (Vincent D’Onofrio), a childlike kingpin with a penchant for torture and a yawning void where his nose once was. D.J. Caruso’s debut is a beautifully photographed punk-noir set against the backdrop of a gang of speed freaks in contemporary L.A. Opening with a brief history of methamphetamine, THE SALTON SEA immediately establishes an original tone for its kaleidoscopic tour through well-traveled territory. Taking its cue from the wave of mid-1990s crime films, the script by Tony Gayton (MURDER BY NUMBERS) delivers the usual doses of hip “gallows” humor, but also infuses the proceedings with dollops of pain and loss, often shifting the tone to that of the more soulful, responsible crime films of the 1970s.

Review: A great cast made for each of their respective roles. The twists in the movie are predictable but nonetheless a fun movie to watch.

IMDb Information
Title: Pulp Fiction
Year: 1994
Genre: Crime | Drama
Runtime: 154 min
IMDb Rating: User Rating: 8.9/10 (283,494 votes)
RT Rating: 96%
My Rating:

Synopsis: Writer-director Quentin Tarantino revisits the seedier side of Los Angeles–following 1992’s RESERVOIR DOGS–with this funny, violent, tongue-in-cheek tribute to the less “classic” side of filmmaking–the potboilers and capers, the Blaxploitation flicks and gangster movies. The… Writer-director Quentin Tarantino revisits the seedier side of Los Angeles–following 1992’s RESERVOIR DOGS–with this funny, violent, tongue-in-cheek tribute to the less “classic” side of filmmaking–the potboilers and capers, the Blaxploitation flicks and gangster movies. The film interweaves three tales, told in a circular, fractured manner, which only fully connect by the time the final credits roll. The first story focuses on Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), two hit men on duty for “the big boss,” Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), whose gorgeous wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), takes a liking to Vincent. In the second, a down-and-out pugilist (Bruce Willis), who is ordered to take a fall, decides that there’s more money in doing the opposite. The final chapter follows a pair of lovers (Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth) as they prepare to hold up a diner. Tarantino wears his cinematic influences proudly, bringing them to life in the ironically hip, self-referential 1990s. The result is a work that changed the face of independent cinema forever, making it a legitimate player in the Hollywood mainstream. The all-star cast steps into their roles with obvious glee, and Tarantino once again uses his soundtrack to up the “cool” ante yet another notch, making for a motion picture event that has worked its way into our national vernacular.

Review: Best Tarantino film ever and best film of its time.