If Paris Not Fun

If Paris Not Fun, If Paris Downcast 2018

If Paris Is Not Fun Around the love story between Yue Zhu (Truong Han) and Nguyen Man Quan (Hieu Thanh Tu). He is a successful young entrepreneur going to receive the admiration, women followed long queue. She is a good lawyer and a strong, deep woman who does not fall easily. A person with a liberal personality, not afraid of anything in this world. One who always wants to protect himself and others around him is in love with each other. Imagine they are two opposing extremes, but they create a touching love story. Before meeting Dong Zhuo Yao, Nguyen Man Quan encountered the biggest event in his life. To help her ex-boyfriend get rid of a financial case, the man fake the papers, but she also finds herself in jail and is unable to work as a lawyer.

Staying in prison is still a heart toward her boyfriend she is waiting for each day free to return to find her love. But the end result, when Tse Yao was released is also his boyfriend married another girl. The soldier seemed to have lost everything, so much so that there was nothing left. And at that moment she accidentally encountered Yue Zhuo, who pulled her from the mire. Nguyen Man Quan tried his best not to stop him from becoming a voice actor in the company. But then, she wanted to return to work as a lawyer as before, not because she missed the job so much that she could not quit, but because she wanted to pursue Yao Yuzu Peach.
But their love is too many obstacles, the Army has always felt guilty about his past, while Trieu Yao has many "good reputation far away" about the lack of food, playing lovers not long. Apparently they love each other but always fear and evade their feelings. The enemy flees, to lose before the heart, she ran to Paris, but finally met him. That may be the cause, probably because they can not give up each other but later on, the military knows for Tieu Yue: "People who love Dong Zhuo Yao, but in the world Yue Zhuang only one That person is Nguyen Man Quan. "

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Cape Fear (1991)

Funny that I just spoke in my last post about leaning toward originals [review] over remakes. Well this is a good example. My goodness, I really should have liked this huh? Directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis. The original stars are even in the remake, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck.

The Oscars half way got it right with their nominations. I loved Robert De Niro's performance, but I hated Juliette Lewis' performance. Sure I was supposed to be annoyed by her, but I really just can't stand her acting and it makes her films frustrating to watch.

The film was very "90's," the music, the clothing, I'm not sure why all this annoyed me but I just couldn't love this film.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101540/

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Midnight Express (1978)

I'm not sure why, but I love prison movies. This one is even based on a true story. It won the Golden Globe for best Drama Motion picture, was nominated for 6 Oscars and won two.. but not Best Picture... which it lost to The Deer Hunter which I gave a 9/10. Tough year.

We start the film with Billy Hayes [Brad Davis] strapping two kilos of drugs to himself in a low lit room. He then heads to the airport in Turkey with his girlfriend attempting to catch a flight home. He makes it through baggage claim with no issues even though he looks quite suspicious. When the passengers arrive at the plane they find armed guards checking the passengers one-by-one, turns out there have been several bombed planes in the last week and Hayes didn't bother to turn on the news. He is caught, and almost shot until they realize that it is "just drugs" and not a bomb.


Thanks to the help of the American consulate, he is told that he can be let go if he can lead them to the person that sold him the drugs. Hayes decides to make a break for it instead and is caught trying to run. He is given four years for possession, but the system is corrupt, and 4 years is long enough for them to re-try him for the smuggling a week before his sentence is up and is given life. To this point he has been patiently waiting for his release, but this changes everything. His mental state changes drastically and his goal of escape solidify.

A rare 10/10 for me, I would be happy to add this to my home collection, and if you haven't seen it... you should.

Vote: 10/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077928/

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Boys Don't Cry (1999)

Another IMDB Top 250 film from the 2001 Edition that I was able to find in HD. It has been on the Bubbling Under list, which is the 251-500 on imdb. So he has been hovering outside of the top 250 for quite a while, so I wanted to check it out. I really thought this was some sort of lesbian romance film, so I wasn't really looking forward to it, I was pretty much wrong.

The film is based on a true story, and thanks to some message board links on imdb I saw some profile pictures of the real people behind these characters, and I have to say they are a little scary. Hilary Swank plays Brandon, a young man with a sexual identity crisis. Brandon has girl parts and hopes to eventually get an operation to become a man. He has been in trouble for using a fake drivers license and skips a court date after spending some time in a small town in Nebraska. He makes some friends at a bar and falls in love with Lana [Chloë Sevigny]. Lana's mother's friend John Lotter [Peter Sarsgaard] is much older than Lana but has always had a thing for her, he is very leery of Brandon and you get the feeling that this is becoming a dangerous situation.

Peter makes John Lotter a much more handsome man than he is in real life, I think Kimberly Peirce should have cast someone a little more scary in this role, but I don't want to take anything away from Peter's excellent performance. Swank won her first Oscar for this film, and she definitely deserved it. This one is definitely worth checking out.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171804/

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Killer's Kiss (1955)

For some reason I thought this was Stanley Kubrick's first film. I was wrong, it was his second. Fear and Desire (1953) was his first, but nevertheless I have now seen 12 of his 13 feature films [I will review Lolita next week, #12], I've seen a higher percentage of his films than any other acclaimed director... save maybe Quentin Tarantino.

The interesting thing about this film is that Kubrick did just about everything except act. Maybe he has done this on other films, but I happened to notice that he is credited for directing, writing, producing, editing, and cinematography. This film has been on my to watch list for about 4 years now. I think I got it from netflix back when I got a bunch of Hitchcock films I plan on watching this October. It is a very short film noir movie with a 67 minute runtime and a plot that is far from deep. Basically about a boxer who gets mixed up with a girl who's boyfriend is violently jealous.

Compared to his film The Killing, made directly after this one, I really didn't like it at all. I gave The Killing a 10/10 [review here], and I would suggest you spend your time with that one instead.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048254/

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The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009)

I watched this film thanks to Roger Ebert, who is not afraid to go outside of the box when picking his top 10 of the year. I've been very hesitant to watch anything with Nicolas Cage lately, because it seems it will agree to anything that fits his schedule to pay off all the taxes he owes. However, when you look past Cage there are a number of reasons for giving this one a chance. Directed by Werner Herzog who has both some good [Rescue Dawn] and strange [Aguirre: The Wrath of God] films. It co-stars Eva Mendes and has supporting roles by Val Kilmer and Jennifer Coolidge [American Pie, Stiffler's Mom].

There is actually another film titled Bad Lieutenant that came out in 1992, the director Abel Ferrara was outraged to hear that this film was coming out. The studio pushed it as if it were a remake or sequel, but from what I can tell Herzog had never seen the original and never intended for the two to be compared. All I know is that they have very similar plots, the exact same imdb average, and month/day releases.

The film is about a police sergeant who hurts himself through a stupid act during Katrina, regardless he was awarded and promoted to the position of Lieutenant. The injury, which gives him a permanent limp, becomes an excuse from his rampant drug usage. He begins stealing drugs from the police evidence room, gambles and threatens football players to throw games. Just don't expect a happy Hollywood ending from Herzog.

There are strange scenes where we see iguanas, which might be some sort of drug hallucination, I don't know and didn't get it. That is Herzog for you. A 7/10 is a little generous, it was different, and not an easy film to watch, and I applaud Cage for doing something a little different. I don't think many people who read this blog will like this film.


Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1095217/

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Confessions: Kokuhaku (2010)

Like I have been doing for several years now with documentaries, I am now starting to watch more foreign films. Films shortlisted by failing to get a nomination. With 80+ submissions [one each from most major countries] there are a lot to choose from. For an LFR first I'll plug my favorite blog to read, writer Dzong2 has a blog he just calls Foreign Films, and what he lacks in a creative title for a blog he makes up for in some extensive analysis on the foreign film race. Of his 9 predictions for the final 5, he ranked this one 4th, so I gave it a shot since it did not get a nomination.

The film starts out frantic, a busheling classroom is ignoring a teacher as she hands out milk to the class on the last day of the term. She is telling them a story about her daughter who drowned earlier in the school year and has a convincing argument that it was not accidental.

Her conclusions and revenge are shocking, enough to almost put this in a horror/thriller category. The problem with the film for me was the unbelievable reactions of the two kids. The film is kind of broken into three parts as we get "confessions" from multiple characters that all come together in a thrilling conclusion. I can see why this was not given a nomination, and even found it to be a strange submission in the first place. It was however an Asian Film finalist along with winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, and China's submission Aftershock.

Vote: 4/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1590089/

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The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Before I give my opinion on Matthew McConaughey and his abilities let me say that there are probably a dozen actors that could have done this role well. McConaughey needs to thank his agent for finding him a good script and director because this could be his best film.

McConaughey plays a defense attorney that defends some questionable people. His office is the back of his chauffeured Lincoln. A fast talking, bargaining lawyer that seems to be one thought ahead of everyone around him. When Ryan Phillippe's character comes to him looking for a defense attorney you are just sure you are in for a twist given Phillippe's history of playing bad guys... which he does so well. Some predictable twists but entertaining nonetheless.

With McConaughey as the lead I almost passed on this one, but with Phillippe, Marisa Tomei, Josh Lucas, and John Leguizamo this is in fact worth your time.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1189340/

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The Anderson Tapes (1971)

A lesser known Sean Connery film made the same year he returned to the Bond series with Diamonds Are Forever. Part of the Action 101 book and with pros and cons that I will get to.

Connery plays Duke Anderson, a thief, who is finishing a 10 year prison sentence and wastes no time planning his next robbery upon release. He starts living with his girlfriend from 10 years prior played by Dyan Cannon and starts to plan robbing every apartment in her building. The problem is, no matter how sophisticated the plan may be, the FBI have been taping his every move since being released. Hence the name, The Anderson Tapes.

The heist theme is one that I enjoy. It is fun to see what elaborate scheme they are going to come up with, and I felt how they went about everything was pretty unique in this film. For the first half I was expecting this to be a "Worth Watching" caliber film. The execution of the robbery and wrapping up of the film were boring though. It was forgettable and anti-climatic for me.

There are better Sean Connery Films, there is however a young Christopher Walken that is pretty fun to see in a minor role.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066767/

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The Next Three Days (2010)

A film that I would have understood a little better if I would have taken the time to read the one line synopsis on imdb, "A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder." That is a wonderful way to sum up this film without ruining it for you. I honestly thought this one was about a child being kidnapped and Crowe trying to find his son, well I was very wrong.

This him is all about Russell Crowe, he is the mastermind who spends the entire film planning how he is going to bust his wife out of jail. Elizabeth Banks is second on the cast list, but even her role is very minor. She plays the wife that may or may not have killed her boss.


This is a difficult film to say much about because I wouldn't have wanted someone to spoil it for me, so I don't want to spoil it for you. I like films that have me questioning what is right or wrong throughout. I'm not sure how this one fell through the cracks last year and did poorly at the box office. I'm a fan of director Paul Haggis's films, and think this one is worth your time.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1458175/

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This is England (2006)

A film from the imdb modern top 250. This film is about a young boy Shaun [Thomas Turgoose] who joins a group of skinheads lead by Combo [Stephen Graham]. Shaun hasn't had a father figure in his home and is picked on because his mother can't afford decent cloths for him. Combo takes him under his wing and exposes him to some pretty grim realities of skinhead life.

Based on real life experiences of Shane Meadows, the director; and, starring someone I haven't seen in a film since 2000's Snatch., Graham. The film was pretty good but not great. Nowhere near as intense as American History X, but better than Romper Stomper. If you are looking for something intense in this genre of him, this one if for you.


I actually though this was going to be about British Soccer gangs, like Green Street Hooligans, but was disappointed to see it was about skinheads instead. You just have a feeling throughout that something bad is going to happen...

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480025/

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Wall Street (1987)

With Wall Street 2 coming out this last year I though it would be good to check out the original first. Starring Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Daryl Hannah, and Martin Sheen. Fittingly Charlie's real father Martin, also plays his father in this film.

The film is centered around Bud Fox [Charlie Sheen], a young wall street stockbroker impatient and with high expectations. He seeks out working for the highly successful Mr. Gekko [Michael Douglas], calling his secretary constantly to get a shot at an interview with him. After a little insider trading Mr. Gekko uses Bud to help make illegal moves until things start to catch up to Bud.

With Sheen's current escapades and having dealt with these brokers screwing us all a few years ago, it is hard to side with him in the slightest. I felt Oliver Stone wanted me to care for Bud in the end, but honestly I didn't. "Talk at ya" and 80's decor kept this film from being "worth watching," and I'm curious what a sequel will be like without Bud as the main character.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/

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Outside the Law: Hors-la-loi (2010)

I, sort of, recognized the cast and director of this film when it was nominated for an Oscar, but it wasn't until a French co-worker spelled it out for me that I saw who was involved with this film. Directed by Rachid Bouchareb and starring Jamel Debbouze, Roschdy Zem, and a number of repeats from the previously nominated film Days of Glory, this was another French funded war movie.

Days of Glory focuses on North Africans enlisting in the French army in World War II, and this film is about Algerian's fighting for their freedom not long after World War II. The plot starts with an uprising on the streets of Algeria, which ends in a massacre but the French army and then follows the formation of the French based Algerian resistance.

The idea behind the film and acting were very impressive. I honestly found the plot to be a little dull. We seemed to get a very small picture of the overall resistance. It almost seemed like a handful of people did it all themselves from the slums of France. I don't know what could have been changed to portray how this resistance organization really brought in a number of people, but it just seemed so much smaller than it really was. Don't get me wrong the acting was great, and I could even see this through having to read subtitles. I just don't think I'll remember this film AT ALL in 2-3 years. Nothing was memorable, and I learned nothing about the Algerian fight. The Battle of Algiers (1966) was a far superior film, and I'm sad this didn't have more "terrorist" style fighting that they even talk about taking from the Vietnamese people in the film.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229381/

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Gun Crazy (1950)

I picked this one up at the local library a few weeks ago because it was on Leonard Maltin's top 100 of the century. It also happens to be on the National Film Registry. I would consider this a B movie, and a classic film noir with over-the-top noir style dialog.

The film starts with a young boy who loves guns. He is an excellent sharp shooter, and when he is breaks a store front window to steal a gun, he is caught and brought before a judge. His friends and family explain that he has never had any intentions to harm people or even animals, he just loves to shoot guns. There is even a disturbing scene where he takes a gun to school, and... well... the teacher just takes it away. My how things have changed in 50-60 years.

The judge send him away from family and friends to a juvenile delinquent school and the movie jumps forward to him returning home from the army. He of course spent all this time as a sharpshooter and goes to the fair with his friends where Anne is doing gun tricks. When he accepts a shooting challenge the two of them hit it off, and before you know it this femme fatale has them on the run.

A cheesy and carefree crime movie. Short and easy to watch. I'm not sure why I liked it so much, but I did. If you like this genre, check it out for something different.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042530/

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Greed (1924)

I've made it a goal to stay on top of the silent movies when I find them, and I have to say this one was an easy watch. I actually watched the full  hour restored version that came out in 1999, and it was pretty eventful and good. The original film was actually over 9 hours long, the director then edited it down to 5 1/2 hours. Another director [Rex Ingram] then cut it another 6 reels, then MGM without Erich von Stroheim's knowledge cut it down to 10 reels. So the 42 reel film was cut to 10 reels, and the other 32 were basically recycled before being saved.

So how is there a 4 hour version? Well there are a number of stilled used to reconstruct the story, and a lot of the text is 100% restored using the book "McTeague" as a reconstruction guide. This is considered one of the top ten lost films in American cinema, and from what I've seen it deserved to be held in high acclaim.

The film is about the deadly sin of Greed, and pushes examples it to an extreme. Starting with McTeague's dad and his downfall of greed, and epically following McTeague's life of marrying into fortune. When his wife is overly stingy it causes a rift in their relationship an to McTeague eventually snapping. The scenes in Death Valley at the end are some of the best in this era of film making and do a great job bringing this film to a close.

If you can handle the run time, this one is worth watching.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015881/

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The Town (2010)

When there were five best picture nominees everyone talked about who was left off, the "6th man." Now with 10 nominees you have to look a little deeper to find the 11th man, and there is a group that believes that this film would or should have been on that list.

Directed by and starring Ben Affleck, it did manage a nomination for Jeremy Renner's [The Hurt Locker] performance. It was also chosen by the American Film Institute as a Top 10 American film of the year, maybe because The King's Speech is British and they couldn't pick it also. The film does have a really good overall cast, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, and Blake Lively all turned in good supporting roles and the film was just a fun watch.

The premise of the film is that the Charlestown neighborhood in Boston is known for generations of armed robbers. While robbing a bank they take a hostage Claire [Rebecca Hall] and Doug tails her to make sure she isn't talking to the FBI. He starts to interact with her and falls in love, but can he escape his lifestyle and friends?

Almost two and a half hours, but action packed so it never feels slow. It took me a while to get around to watching it knowing how much of a time commitment it was. When the director stars in his own film events work out a little to well for the character sometimes and I felt that some perfect sequences were a little much and kept me from giving this a 9/10. Very good, and worth adding to your watch list.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840361/

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Maria Full of Grace (2004)

It is hard to have any sort of idea what this film is about from the movie poster. I was expecting some sort of Joan of Arc girl in a boring overall film, which is probably why it took me a while to get around to this one.

The film starts in Columbia and ends up in America, picked by the American Film Institute as one of the Top 10 films of the year in 2004 with a single Oscar nominations for Catalina Sandino Moreno's leading performance.

The film is about a girl with fairly loose morals who works at a rose packaging factory in Columbia. She supports her mother, sister, and niece on her small income and when she finds out she is pregnant she looks for other means of making money. A friend of a friend she meets at a local dance puts her in contact with a man that pays her to smuggle drugs into the United States.

I found the plot and acting a lot more interesting that I was expecting going into this. There are scenes and events that will make this film memorable for me in the future. I liked it a lot, it is worth checking out, but it does warrant an R rating and is not for everyone.

Vote: 8/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390221/

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The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

I happened upon this film by chance when looking for stuff about running at the library. Having just wanted Running Brave, I was looking for another good running movie. Sadly this movie had little to do with running, and more to do with not conforming to society.

I'm very glad that I found this one at the library and was able to watch it from DVD, because I found the optional English subtitles a requirement for the thick English accents. The film was a one of the main films in the early 60's British "kitchen sink" cinema, films where the leading character is an angry young man. Somehow Redgrave is billed first on the poster, even though Tom Courtenay is the leading actor and the man on the poster. Tom, now "Sir" Tom, plays a young man who is in reform school after robbing a store. With little reason for doing it than, "just because," he is the rebel star of the film. When he beats the favorite at the school in the distance race, the headmaster starts grooming him for an upcoming competition. Granted special privileges at the school for the talents, will our star us this to make a change? Or does he have something planned?

It was ok, and definitely a segment of cinema I'm not familiar with. I get too attached to film lists made by individuals, and branching out into areas of cinema that I have never seen was well worth it to me. Not a great film, but I'm glad I watched it.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056194/

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We Own The Night (2007)

I overlooked this film for a long time. Maybe because I only knew it was a Joaquin Phoenix movie, and through it was about some night club. It is actually a Crime Drama about the Russian mafia in New York with Eva Mendes, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall making a pretty strong cast.

Phoenix plays Bobby, a night club owner who has kept his family a secret from his business partners and friends. His brother and father are both on the police force, and through a series of events Bobby is forced to take sides after sitting on the fence.

The movie was ok, and just ok. Maybe I would have liked it a little better if I would have watched it when it came out. I just didn't really get into it. Wahlberg didn't really have a lot of screen time and I was bored with the Phoenix/Mendes scenes. They just seemed to unrealistic of a couple for me, and the plot was fairly predictable. I will give it that the action scene with the cars in the rain was pretty cool, and the sting operations not going exactly to plan made the film a little different. Just ok for me.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498399/

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Badlands (1973)

As my appreciation for artist film grows, my like of director Terrence Malick increases as well. Having watched Days of Heaven recently, I was looking forward to another one of his films. This film starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek is about a young man and his teenage girlfriend who go on a killing spree in North Dakota.

Sheen plays Kit, a twenty-something with little to no aspirations, who falls in love with a teenage girl. Spacek plays Holly, a plain girl, who is flattered that a twenty something would find her attractive. Holly thinks Kit is like James Dean and when her father breaks them up he loses it.

Living in the woods, breaking into people's homes, and running from the law, this is a pretty interesting film. Not for everyone, and it has its Malick slowness that you might not be used to. I liked it, but I didn't love it. A strong 7/10 but I just couldn't give it an 8.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069762/

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