Review of Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Dog Day Afternoon is another brilliant collaboration between director Sidney Lumet, and actor Al Pacino. The story's pretty simple, two guys rob a bank, something goes wrong and they're caught in a shitty situation with a ton of cops. The film's strong point is in it's characters.

Al Pacino plays Sonny, a young guy who along with his partner, Sal execute a bank heist. The cops get wise to what's going on and a job that should have taken ten minutes goes from the afternoon and long into the night.

Based on a true story, this film makes you root for the bank robbers. Without glorifying what they're doing, Lumet is able to show a sympathetic side to the criminals.

One of Pacino's best performances, this film is a must see for any crime film fans.

-9/10

Review of Manic (2001)

Manic is another great film, with a fantastic performance by Joseph Gordon Levitt. The film follows Lyle (Joseph Gordon Levitt) a young man, admitted to a youth psychiatric ward for anger issues, after nearly beating another kid to death.

At first, seemingly apathetic (yeah, Joseph Gordon Levitt seems to play that character a lot) to all of the pain the teenagers around him have endured, Lyle eventually warms up to them, and learns to cope with his own issues, while helping them with theirs.

The film is show in a documentary style, that really puts the viewer into the film. The atmosphere is great and there are a few moments in the film where the director puts the camera to such an effect where you fall into the mindset of the characters.

Manic is one of the best films released in the past ten years, as far as I'm concerned, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

-9/10

Review of Mysterious Skin (2004)

Mysterious Skin is one of those films that you watch once, are competely blown away by, but never want to watch again.

Following the story of two boys who were sexually abused by their baseball coach when they were young, it shows the affect such a thing would have on a person. One boy, Neil (Joseph Gordon Levitt) knows what happened to him, and acknowledges it (going so far as to frequently tell the audience how it made him feel special). The other boy, Brian (Brady Corbet) repressed the memories, and throughout his life is convinced that he was abducted by aliens.

Skip ahead about ten years, Neil is a male prostitute. He is amoral and actually seems to enjoy his lifestyle. Brian has reccuring nightmares of being abducted by aliens, and in all of these dreams there is one boy from his baseball team in them (obviously turning out to be Neil). Brian tries to track down Neil to figure out what had happened to him.

The film is narrated by Neil, and hearing his thoughts on what he does (and what happened to him) is disturbing to say the least. Throughout the film, we have to endure watching him hooking himself out to men, and being completely apathetic to it.

All in all, Mysterious Skin is an extremely powerful film, that occupies your mind long after you've seen it. I don't recommend watching this film for entertainment, but if you're looking for a powerful film that shows the affects things like this have on people, check it out.

-8.5/10

Review of F.I.S.T. (1978)

F.I.S.T. is one of the few films out there that illustrate Sly Stallone's great acting talents. Stallone really brings his character, Johnny Kovak, to life and gives one of his most memorable performances. This film shows that, having gone a different route, Stallone could have become a much better actor. After this film, Stallone had a few other good films but the majority were crumby sequels, cliche action films, and poor attempts at comedy. It's really a shame he didn't put his talents to better use like he did in his earlier work like Rocky, and Nighthawks.

The film begins in the Great Depression of the 30's and follows the life of Johnny Kovak, a labourer who works at unloading trucks. Who, with his coworkers after being severly mistreated, and underpaid fights back against the company. This leads to Kovak becoming a member of the Union F.I.S.T, the Federation of Innner-State Truckers. At first idealistic, Kovak's morals and values are challenged when he has to get organized crime groups involved to get what's fair.

My only complaint with the film is, in the later scenes were Stallone plays an older Kovak, his portrayl is a bit weak given his limited acting abilities at the time. This, however is only a minor complaint, he still gives a great performance.

The script is good, all the characters are realistic and well fleshed out,and the great director, Norman Jewison puts his talents to good use in F.I.S.T. Also, filled with a fantastic supporting cast (including, Peter Boyle, and Rod Steiger) all these elements come together to make F.I.S.T. a film that is definetly worth seeing.

-7.5/10.