Alan's Blog

After ace counterfeiter Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe) murders the partner of Secret Service agent Richard Chance (William Petersen), the gumshoe will stop at nothing to even the score. Big problem, though: Masters is, well, a master at the game and outfoxes Chance at every turn. Can Chance outwit him? William Friedkin directs this suspenseful, violent thriller with the City of Angels (a misnomer in this case) as the alluring backdrop.

I believe it is the Los Angeles backdrop that makes this movie work. It was a hoot to relive 1985 again with the music, cars and white pants. Hey where are my white pants and can I still fit in them?

This movie is about revenge and how far the lead character will go to get even. This plot is in many movies however it plays out very differently here. I found the last ten minutes very shocking.

To Live and Die in LA does have a 1980’s Miami Vice feel to it and in reading the trivia found out there was actually a lawsuit against this movie for it. It was tossed out of court and I agree with that decision. Unlike Crockett and Tubbs from Miami Vice (two guys too cool for school) things do not work out so smoothly for our heroes.

I think actor Willem Dafoe is really good at playing a bad guy. Rick Masters is one of the better villains I have seen in movies. I am giving this one 3.4 stars. It isn’t the best movie ever but worth seeing every 20 years. I did see back in the 80’s and as I said back in the beginning it was fun reliving 1985.

Click here for the Netflix link in case you would like to add it to your queue.

All the best,

Alan
Alan Zibluk
The Film Movie Critic
Cell: (203) 500-3834
E-mail: alan@internetguy.ws

Tags: Live · and · Die · L.A. · Willem · Dafoe

A prominent New York City gang leader named Cyrus (Roger Hill) wants to wage an all-out battle against the police, and as part of his strategy he calls upon Gotham's gangs to set aside their turf wars and come together at a summit. At the meeting, a rival leader kills Cyrus, but a Coney Island gang called the Warriors is wrongly blamed for Cyrus' death. Before you know it, the cops and every gangbanger in town is hot on the Warriors' trail.

This is loosely based on "Anabasis" by Xenophon. The plot is simple, nine members of “The Warriors” gang are trying to get back home safe from within enemy territory. They are following a New York Subway map and with each stop they encounter a different gang and engage in battle. There is no character development but I liked this movie. It had “A Clockwork Orange” feel to it.

If you can remember 1979 and when the band “Kiss” was really huge you may enjoy this one. The hairstyles, clothes and dialogue will take you back. I loved the battle music and the different gangs they encountered. My favorite gang had to be the “The Baseball Furies.”

This movie is violent but it had a cartoonish feel to it. This was validated when I saw the extras and the director even said this wasn’t supposed to be taken too seriously. This film was apparently controversial at the time.

There is one serious thing I take from this. I am a person who “observes and reports” and it has always irritated me when one person has to ruin everything for everyone. There is always one bad person in every crowd. This is demonstrated very early in the movie.

I am giving this one 3.4 stars. It is a quick ride which never stops.

Click here for the Netflix link in case you would like to add it to your queue.

All the best,

Alan
Alan Zibluk
The Film Movie Critic
Cell: (203) 500-3834
E-mail: alan@internetguy.ws

Tags: The · Warriors · Anabasis · Xenophon · Kiss

Director David Fincher's biographical drama chronicles the meteoric rise of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) from Harvard sophomore to Internet superstar, examining his relationships with co-founder Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake). Winning Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director, the film also racked up Oscar nods in the same categories and for lead actor Eisenberg.

When I was in College at SCSU I remember a professor saying if you want to see a really good business model then see the movie “The Godfather.” I agree with that statement. I want to add “The Social Network” to that list.

I have been online and active on the web since 1992. All these guys did was take ideas that were already out there and made them better. The subject matter fascinates me.

I think this is a phenomenal movie. In the end they say 15% truth 85% exaggeration. The story on the rise of Facebook is incredible. You cannot dispute this which makes the story work.

Besides the social media aspects of this movie, I love the relationships that were examined here. Relationships are complicated, whether is just a best friend or someone we are intimate with. I have had both in my life and it is so easy to be diluted (from the movie) and not see someone outside interfere with all that. It happens way too much in this life.

This film is 2 hours long. I watched the first 50 minutes Saturday (went to bed thinking I was only giving it 3 stars) and then watched the last 70 minutes Sunday resulting in me giving it 5 stars. I didn’t care for the first 50 minutes with the Winklevoss Brothers story but when Justin Timberlake’s character is introduced the movie becomes really compelling.

I am giving this one 5 stars. On a personal note I never betrayed a friend or ever cheated on anyone I was serious with. I still have had people from the outside come in to plants seeds of doubt (Alan is not a good friend/not a good boyfriend). This reminded me how delicate and fragile relationships are. We all need to be wiser on what is going on.

Click here for the Netflix link in case you would like to add it to your queue.

All the best,

Alan
Alan Zibluk
The Film Movie Critic
Cell: (203) 500-3834
E-mail: alan@internetguy.ws

Tags: Mark · Zuckerberg · Jesse · Eisenberg · Social · Network

Paul Mazursky's 1969 classic puts two couples and their relationships under the unforgiving lens of society's microscope in this unflinching examination of marriage. After one liberal group therapy session, Bob (Robert Culp) and his wife, Carol (Natalie Wood), are convinced they're open-minded enough to embrace a no-guilt approach to fidelity. But can they convince their best friends, Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon), to do the same?

I respect the fact that this is an intelligent movie that was controversial at the time to make. It deserves to be a classic and I did laugh twice. I further respect the adult subject matter here. Having said these things let me come out and say I really didn’t care for this film. The characters were just a little too full of themselves which rubbed me the wrong way. The term “hipster doofus” comes to mind.

I did like the very end of this movie when the four of them walked out of their Las Vegas hotel and they played “What the World Needs Now is Love" sung by Jackie DeShannon. I never realized what a beautiful women the late Natalie Wood was. I found a really nice tribute video with this song to Natalie Wood. Here is the link to that video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kicr39iLXiw

I am only giving this one 2.7 stars. I just didn’t like the characters. They were too believable and I know they would never be friends with a person like me. I am not hip and I own up to it.

Click here for the Netflix link in case you would like to add it to your queue.

All the best,

Alan
Alan Zibluk
The Film Movie Critic
Cell: (203) 500-3834
E-mail: alan@internetguy.ws

Tags: Bob · Carol · Ted · Alice · Natalie · Wood

Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) is the only one strong enough and brave enough to take on the baddies who murdered his brother. What's the former CIA agent to do? Expose a conspiracy that leads straight to the White House. Providing plenty of hilarity and sexy, slick action, Scott Sanders directs this homage to classic 1970s blaxploitation flicks. Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Arsenio Hall also star.

This movie did a fantastic job in spoofing the movies I saw on Channel 5 out of New York growing up. I am talking about both the Shaft and Bruce Li movies. We have awful editing, bad lighting, over the top acting, reused car crashes and seeing the same bad guy get killed over and over again. This movie is short and never takes itself seriously. Those of you that know and appreciate my juvenile sophomoric humor (Mel) would get a kick (no pun intended) out of this one. I am giving this one 4 stars.

Click here for the Netflix link in case you would like to add it to your queue.

All the best,

Alan
Alan Zibluk
The Film Movie Critic
Cell: (203) 500-3834
E-mail: alan@internetguy.ws

Tags: Black · Dynamite · Michael · Jai · White