1-Francis Ford Coppola,
At the height of his creative genuis, and with films like The Conversation, Godfather 1& 2 to his credit, he was considered to be one of the few directors/auteurs,one responsible for enriching American Cinema and lifting it to new artistic heights to this day
2-Brando..Brando..Brando..
He was paid millions to appear just for a short time at the end of the movie, and he is worth every single penny/cent and more. Forget his speech in the opening of Godfather, as great and classic as it is, the 'Horror' speech still gives me a chill down my spine, one of the most haunting speeches in cinema history.
3-Vietnam
With Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now is the best film that dealt with the Vietnam war, and how it slowly affected the hearts and minds of some of its soldiers, pushing them into the darkest recesses of the human soul.
4-Scenes
There are many memorable scenes in Apocalypse Now, but few have forever stuck in my mind, the Helicopters attack with Wagner's music playing, and the tiger jumping out of nowhere in the dense jungle, though short was totally unexpected and scary.
5-Actors
Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Dennis Hopper, Larry Fishburn,all giving 100% and more for Coppola.
6-Joseph Conrad
John Milius and Coppola adapted Conrad's novel, and though Africa became Vietnam, the spirit of the book was not compromised in any way, one of the very few who devled into the darkness of the human soul.
7-The making of Apocalypse Now, appropriately named 'Heart Of Darkness' is the most interesting making of documentary ever filmed. Done by Coppola's wife Eleanor, it brilliantly manages to be personal yet detached and objective, and captures in intimate details the creative process and the difficulties that it encountered with the heart attack (Martin Sheen), near nervous breakdown (Coppola),and logistic problems (with Phillipines army).
8-DVD
Though short on Extras, it is of excellent quality
9-Music
With a combination of classical and original score, the music expresses and complements perfectly each scene.The soundtrack CD is a must buy too, since it also includes extracts from dialogue (including the 'Horror' speech)
10-Movie Library
If you are serious about starting a movie collection or enhancing your present one, then Apocalypse Now is what a 'movie collection' is meant for, a rich and rare film, the product of a time when directors and actors had personal visions great talent, and the free hand to translate it on screen and share it with cinema lovers worldwide.

The Full Monty, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Billy Elliott, Sliding Doors, East is East, 28 Days Later..and so on..British cinema is full of prime talent in acting, writing and directing. With so little expectations, all these films have surprised everyone and became box office hits worldwide, and far from being a coincidence, it was all the result of not only talent,but of dedicated hard working young filmmakers,who have fresh and very original ideas, and who got the chance to share it with the world.
These young filmmakers, unlike their colleagues in France or the US, do not have the same financial support, and some do really struggle to get their films made. Although there is the Film Council and BskyB who support movie making, the demise of the excellent Filmfour the film division of TV's channel 4(a bit similar to France's Canal +) was a blow to British cinema. But despite that, films are still being made, very successfully and artistically at a that.
What distinguishes British cinema, not unlike some European cinemas,is the close relationship and collaboration between writer and director,(if the two are not one and the same). Usually, the two are close friends, who work on the idea together for some time before securing the finances and shooting their project.
Bend it Like Beckham is another example of a little film, whose impact was huge.Director Gurinder Chadha (Bhaaji On the Beach) manages to direct a movie that takes womens football as a platform, but weaves many themes on top,friendships,dreams, traditional cultures in 21st Century Britain clashing with the possibilty of fulfilling these dreams, one that was not available to the first generation of immigrants.
So as a result,it does not matter if you do not like football (soccer)or do not understand the game, because the film has a lot more to offer and entertain you in the process.
Chadha manages as well to write (or co write)a wonderful comedy too, which is guaranteed to leave you with a feel good feeling long after you watch it.The humour mainly comes from the parents, both Indian and English.
Chadha also manages,to show another lighter face of multi-cultural Britain, not unlike the film East Is East (and not Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding as one reviewer saw it).
All the actors are great, especially first time actor, and very pretty Parminder Nagra(Jesse), and Keira Knightley (Jules),and also of course the wonderful Juliet Stevenson, one of my all time favorite actresses.
Bend It Like Beckham, is a rare treat, a film that will totally captivate you, with its gentle humour, its engaging story, a must buy from the rich vault of British Cinema.

Firstly I have to admit that I was not an Aldomovar fan, and although All About My Mother was the one I enjoyed the most, I did find his other output, especially his earlier films an 'acquired taste'.
So I did think twice before renting Talk To Her,recommended highly by a couple of friends for some time, but finally I thought winning the award for best foreign language film at the Oscars can not be accidental.
And true to the hype,(for a change!!)since nine out of ten of the films that have been hyped turned out to be disappointing to say the least, Talk to Her was a beautiful film, full of heart and life, tragic and sad yet far from depressing..a very important distinction.
Friendships, obsession, lost loves, and deaths are all themes interwoven cleverly by Almodovar.
I will not go on about the story of the film itself, since it has been well reviewed by many, but I have few observations to make,
The genuis of Almodovar is not only he is the best Spanish director today, and like Tornatore in Italy, soley responsible for reviving the Spanish Cinema industry, but he is an excellent writer as well. It is always more interesting for the director to be the writer too,as it gives the film a personal and much more artistic dimension.
An example of this great writing is obvious in Talk To Her, as I felt sympathy for Benigno,instead of the revulsion that the act that sends him to jail later will undoubtedly and normally induce.
Although I am generally against bull fighting, I too found myself sympathizing with Lydia, the female matador (beautifully played by Rosario Flores), and this is all the result of powerful writing!
The soundtrack was beautiful,tragic and melancholic but somehow subdued and never overbearing..just gently complementing the scenes.
For me personally, this is Almodovar's best film to date, one that will surprise you, will captivate you from the first minute to the last, a film that reminded me why I love cinema so much.

Although Philadelphia is not the sort of film that I would normally buy for my collection, being too sentimental for my personal liking, it is nonetheless a very powerful and important film, that everyone should watch.
Aids was an epidemic that took some time to get noticed outside the gay community, initially the most affected, and as such, as far as movie subjects were concerned,it was largely ignored by mainstream cinema and Hollywood.
The most famous film to deal with Aids at that time was Longtime Companion, but this movie was largely considered as a 'gay' film, and as a result did not quite acquire the distribution and the wider audience that it deserved.
But when HIV and Aids started to affect Hollywood and members of its 'club' then the mentality started to change drastically.
It took the deaths of Rock Hudson, Brad Davis, Tony Richardson, Anthony Perkins and others for Hollywood to wake up to the beast that was slowly creeping up its iron doors.
Philadelphia was primarily the result of this awarness and alarm that gripped the movie industry.
Jonathan Demme's film had such an impact at the time that it got nominated for the Oscar and landed its star Tom Hanks a deserved best actor award (and Bruce Springsteen won his Oscar for the song 'Streets of Philadelphia).
In addition to it being very well directed and acted ,it is a very important film for several reasons,
The fact that Tom Hanks, a loved actor worldwide,a VIP member of the Hollywod club and straight, played the dying gay man with such convincing force, it brought worldwide sympathy to the character, and as a result an increased tolerance,and a deeper understanding and recognition of the problem of AIDS,no longer a fringe virus confined to a 'minorty group', but an epidemic that can affect everyone.
It is also a shout of defiance at the conservative establishment, and can be looked at metaphorically as any fight for justice from any group of minorities, be it sexually or culturally different.
For these reasons Philadelphia is a landmark film with a bold and heartfelt message, as death, love too should be indiscriminate about age, faith, culture and yes gender.

The surprising success of Final Destination, ensured that it was only a matter of time before a sequel hit the screens, and surely not to disappoint, there it is.
This success was interesting, because the film mixes your average blend of gore and thrills with the universal question of mortality: Can Death be inevitable? When the time comes, does it really mean just that and you can not escape it? (assuming the grumpy grim reaper has made too long a journey to go back empty handed!)
Well,I seem to be in a minorty here, but I really did not like this sequel much. Not because it is a bad movie, it surely has its moments, but because I found it very similar to the first! Final Destination 2 is a bland, bland movie. I believe the filmmakers concentrated more on how to make the next death scene more gruesome and gory than the previous one, in a style that will make Dario Argento proud, instead of working on developing and expanding the story more. Surely they might have thought if the formula of the first film brought in the dollars, why not use the same one for the sequel, but somehow I found the two films identical as a result.
Final Destination 2 is heavy without being intellectually challenging, and gruesome without being scary.
The acting is pretty average as well,the best performance given by Final Destination veteran Ali Larter.
On the other hand the Extras on the DVD are very good, exepct for the fact that there are '?' everywhere in the menu, which was very annoying! I mean did the studio assume that the viewer need all the help he/she can get in figuring out how to select the widescreen option??
So at the end..(I am afraid I can not avoid this 'end', no matter how I try to escape it)..Final Destination 2 is Final Destination with new faces and new deaths.Nothing less, nothing more..

Abel Ferrara is the type of director that it is 'hip' to admit following, giving you a certain intellectual air among friends and family. While, Ferrara is definitely not a bad director, his films and cinematic language are not for everyone.
RXmas is his latest film to date, and one of his weakest by far.
The themes of Ferrara's cinema are all there yet again,
Drugs,gangs, gloominess,despair,more drugs, inner demons, religious icons and images, redemption and yes still more drugs.In fact there are so much drugs in Ferrara's movies, that I suspect there is none left for any other movie!
With Driller Killer (banned in the UK for ages), he gained a reputation as a cult director with an eye for psychological violence and an unrelenting dark atmosphere,and this was reinforced albeit more subtely with King Of New York, his finest film to date, mainly because of Chris Walken's performance,(with Harvey Kietel ,his actor of choice).
Bad Lieutenant was yet another controversial visit to familiar territory and themes (yes you guessed it..there is lots of drugs there too), a film so depressing I needed to watch Bambi a couple of times to wash it off!
Ferrara made other films that alternated between the good (Funeral, New Rose Hotel)and the'what on earth was he thinking about? type ' (Blackout, with a tintalizing but empty promise of more than a peck on the cheek between Beatrice Dalle and Claudia Schiffer).
I have to say that RXmas falls directly in the latter category. Not only because Ferrara's themes are all revisited one by one, but because there is absolutely no life in the camera or story. The first half of the film I waited for any action to start, to be disappointed by scene after scene of copious amounts of er..drugs..being placed on a glass table. I got the feeling that Ferrara's heart and mind were not in this film at all! The only saving grace was The Sopranos's Drea de Matteo who gave a solid performance.
You should totally forget about this film,and if you like Ferrara's style stick with his better output, and hope that his next film would be light years better than this one, and yes with less drugs!!

In the tradition of many French films, L'Auberge Espagnole is a warm,well written, coming of age and semi autobiographical movie that is guaranteed to stay with you long after you watch it.Cedric Klapish does a wonderful job in telling a story that at first look does not seem to say much, but hides many realizations, which the viewer will subtley unravel one by one. The plot seems simple enough: Xavier a young French student (played wonderfully by Roman Duris)is preparing his future life and career in the EU commision thanks to his father's connections, provided that he acquires a masters degrees in Spanish economics. He goes to Barcelona,leaving his girlfriend behind (Amelie's Audrey Tatou),and after staying with a French couple he meets at the airport, he finally gets a room in a flat he shares with others European students,from Italy, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and England.He is estatic about his new lodgings and the good vibes he gets from it, little does he know that his life is about to change forever from that moment on.
His plans for a secure career, and his mundane and sheltered life comes gradually under attack from his experiences with his roommates in a foreign city he comes to love: An affair with the wife of a French doctor (the excellent Judith Godreche)the same couple he stayed with on his arrival,his lesson of seduction by a lesbian (the gorgeous Cecile de France),who becomes his best friend, a friendship first sealed by their common love of the music of Ali Fakre Toure (I thought what an original way to seal a friendship!),and the love of life in all its colours he soon discovers.
The core of the film is not about some Europeans getting together in the spirit of a new Europe, with all their cultural differences and habits, it is rather about a young man who finally discovers who he really is and what he wants from life! Barcelona could be London or Paris or anywhere else for that matter, and the students could have been from any nationality, it does not matter as much as the fact that it is about a journey of self discovery and change, this is what makes the film a masterpiece.
I first thought that there were too many characters in the film which could have easily done without, especially that some students, like the Italian, German and Danish characters are more than extras and not quite developped, but by the end of the film, you do understand why Klapish wrote them all.
Apart from Duris's charater, I thought the English characters were well written and provide most of the humour in the film (brilliantly played by Kelly Reilly and Kevin Bishop).It is always interesting to see how the English are seen and portrayed in French films, and vice versa-The love/hate relationship of the two countries is legendary ever since William the Conqueror woke up one morning and decided to have Fish'n'Chips for lunch-but Klapish,although falling slightly in the cliche of the heavily drunk who can't take his drink, he has a sympathetic eye for the 'neighbors across the channel'.
Klapish's aversion of bureaucracy is very well emphasized: the fast camera shots of the EU corridors, the endless forms he has to fill, the men in grey suits who think they can tell a joke, a world that Xavier realizes he does not belong to.
So L'Auberge Espagnole is a movie about friendships, about self discovery and it is about rebirth, a film that should on no account be missed.

Monsoon Wedding is a masterpiece. Rarely I watch a film and come out with a sense of well being, totally satisfied, but with Monsoon Wedding, the joy of watching films, and enjoying cinema as an art form of the most sophisticated kind was rekindled.
If watching movies is compared to eating out, then I do enjoy my pizzas and pastas and burgers, but once in a while when I decide to have a gourmet meal, the difference is immediately felt:
Moonsoon Wedding is similar to a gourmet meal which you know will not happen too often, but when it does you will totally savour it.
This film is multi-layered, deep, funny and poignant, all blended together finely in a rich Indian canvas full of colour and life.
The wedding preparations of the arranged marriage of an upper class Indian beauty (Actress Vashundara Das, who does more playback singing for Bollywood movies and little acting) to an Americanized Indian, becomes a social backdrop that reflects on one hand the Indian culture it comes from, and the complex family relationships that can be common in many cultures on the other.
Most surprising is the issue of child abuse that was totally an unexpected element/sub plot of the film, but handled powerfully and with care,with top acting from Shefali Shetty(the once abused child who rightly suspects that the same relative is doing it again to another child) and Naseeruddin Shah (her decent devoted uncle who raised her and the father of the bride).
Another subplot which was handled very smartly and which added a lot of humour, was the class issue, as we get to see a sample of the Indian working class through the love story of the servant girl 'Alice' and the wedding arranger (an excellent Vijay Raaz).The visible transformation of Raaz as he realizes his feelings for Alice is at times bittersweet and heartwarming, and their developing relationship provide us with unforgettable scenes.
The genuis of Nair, is the fact that Monsson Wedding is not sentimental: the emotional scenes are not long enough to fall into that trap, yet their impact and message is all the same to the point.
Moreover, I loved the hand held shots of Delhi, which as brief as they were,not only succeeded in capturing the colour of the city but somewhat its soul as well.
Monsoon Wedding is first and foremost a director's film, from one of the most talented filmmakers these days,a film that should certainly be in your collection, to go back to it once in a while and savour it like the finest gourmet it is . Bravo Mira!

First this is probably the worst film I have ever seen.Second, this has nothing to do with the original American Psycho but by name! so the title is misleading..(it should have been named 'the Yawning' or 'How to not direct movies' or something..
It is yet another straight to video/DVD serial/psycho movie with a twist,it manages to be consistently awful till the last minute, and then when you think it is safe to watch movies again, in comes the chance in the last scene for a sequel a la Hannibal Lecter!! God Help us all!
Mila Kunis is gorgeous and talented, but I think she made a terrible choice for her first leading role in features,whereas William Shatner is one of the best actors of all time (er..just not on earth, but on some spaceship looking for earth).
The only thing that could have redeemed this movie is for the filmmakers to have opted for the erotic thriller genre and spiced it up a bit, but maybe they took themselves too seriously as artists to do so, who knows??
Anyway, avoid this film at all costs.

Whenever there is Tears in a title of a movie,it should be a warning sign, when Sun is added to it, then you will surely be in for a sentimentally drenched, cliche ridden ride, and yes I was not mistaken.
I really wanted to like this movie, for the director of Traning Day teaming up with Bruce Willis, to take us into another 'Heart Of Darkness' is something to follow with interest, sadly this was not the case, for several reasons:
1-With lines like 'God has already left Africa' or 'If we continue to slow down we will move backwards in time (??!!), the dialogue is pretty lame.
2-The first half of the movie is very slow and weak, and if you expect a thrilling warfare action that will cover the flaws in the script as in Black Hawk Down, you will be disappointed. And the flaws in the script are many,for instance we get no convincing reason why Willis's character changes his mind in mid air and goes back to help the other stranded people, who were still standing in the exact spot where he left them.(!!)
3-Monica Bellucci, as delightfully sexy and talented as she is, and who was great in Malena, Asterix and Cleopatra and Irreversible, was in my opnion miscat for this movie.It needs some effort to believe her as this doctor working in some monestary in the heart of the African jungle.In addition to that, Bruce Willis has a tired expression on his face throughout the film, and he does seem a tight uncomfortable.
4-The political side of the film is ridden with cliches. The images of rape and murder,especially the murder of the priest by the rebels, whose leader look at the cross around the priest's neck before ordering his murder,is harrowing as any images of war are, but they are too sentimental to have the desired impact.Thin Red Line, Deer Hunter and to a lesser extent Platoon and Black Hawk Down succeed much more in showing the brutality and effects of war on both soldiers and civilians.
One critic found Tears of Sun to be more Wild Geese and less Black Hawk Down,and I could not agree more.