andialu Reviews

Southern Cross (1999)

Should be used only as a post card

[3/10 · 11 January 2000]

This movie is really BAD, there is nothing appealing or worth of commentary in it except for the beautiful settings: Chilean landscape. I know I must supply four lines as a commentary for this movie, but the thing is that it is such a bad movie, that I can only say that is actually BAD. Michael Ironside is the only one who saves the money in the film.

Instinct (1999)

Excellent and disturbing

[10/10 · 21 June 1999]

This movie is excellent. All the performances are beyond any imagination. They are strong and believable to the maximum...and the message...I wish the movie would have taken more ideas and messages from the book "Ishmael", but at least it's a beginning. I hope many people go and watch this piece of art. By the way, Hopkins and Gooding Jr., as usual, are Maestros!

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996)

Beautiful mini-series with marvelous performances

[10/10 · 24 May 1999]

The way the story is developed, keeps the audience wondering what is the tenant's dark past. We get some clues during the series, but enough to keep us interested in the mini-series. The characters are all believable and I personally felt immersed and surrounded by the story.

Dona Beija (1986– )

Don't miss the scene in the cascade under the moon!!!

[5 April 1999]

Interesting Brazilian soap opera that broke records in rankings all over the southern cone. About Dona Beija and her strong will to overcome a close minded rural society, no matter at what price and what would take to do so.

Julio comienza en julio (1979)

This is the best Chilean movie I have ever seen

[10/10 · 2 April 1999]

This is the best Chilean movie I have ever seen. For all the resources the Director had, Caiozzi made an excellent job recreating the rural Chile at the turn of the century. The psychological treatment of the characters and how crude and unmanageable the reality can be for an adolescent when too much is expected from him. The performances are marvelous. And at the end, I was left with the feeling that things practically haven't changed at all in Chile.

Melody (1971)

This movie took me by storm

[10/10 · 1 April 1999]

I saw this movie when I was 10 years old or so, I had a crush for a girl in my neighborhood and this movie took me by storm. I have not been able to find it in video format. But the story is so simple yet very touching for everybody I know has seen this movie.

The Butcher Boy (1997)

This is not a Hollywood movie

[10/10 · 19 March 1999]

I felt that the movie was very carefully crafted, with a difficult theme but direct. The protagonist, the "butcher boy" was excellent in his performance and made it believable. You can tell this is not a Hollywood movie, because it is real and does not sweeten anything, the director was not worried about "good taste" but to tell a truthful story, and I loved it!

Prince of Darkness (1987)

This is what any horror movie should be like

[10/10 · 8 March 1999]

This is what an horror movie should be like: smart, frightening and believable at the same time. This movie surrounds and engulfs with its plot, in a way that makes it, at one point, to have sense for the viewer; and that is its strongest point, it is convincing, it does not appeal to extra blood and gore. The movie goes directly to one's mind and is able to stay there.

When Father Was Away on Business (1985)

I was there, Kusturica took me to Yugoslavia and I breathe the movie.

[10/10 · 22 February 1999]

I remember when I saw this movie back in 1986, the people I was with left the theater bored and puzzled because of my reaction to the movie. I can't explain quite well what was that fascinated me so much about the story. I think it was because you can breathe the reality of the story, I swear I was there with the little boy and the suffering of the family. I was there, understanding the complexity, but simplicity at the same time, of the people and history of that part of the world. It is a movie you have to watch to understand and let it take you where Kusturica wants to.

City of Angels (1998)

Don't even bother watching this movie

[1/10 · 17 February 1999]

I watched Wings of Desire a long ago and it is the best movie I have ever seen, but when I saw this version, I felt that the wonderful Wings of Desire was tarnished. The performances are acceptable, but I could not stop comparing this movie to its original, and the question is...there is no possible comparision between both of them. Don't bother renting this movie, get the original and "breathe" good cinema.

Rhapsody in August (1991)

Quite sad, but powerful movie

[10/10 · 12 February 1999]

We won't forget the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Akira Kurosawa makes sure of that, but not with a revengeful attitude, rather as a reminder to all humanity that we must care for each other and respect one another because the consequences of not doing so will be paid by all human beings.

The Big Blue (1988)

Alles les bleu

[10/10 · 12 February 1999]

A very well built story that touched my heart. The deep friendship between the divers, the giving love that Rosanna Arquette teaches at the end of the movie and the true love and belonging to a world that can only exists if one's spirit is not contaminated by the everyday life of western 'culture'. A marvelous movie that you can't just sit and watch, but buy it and use it as reference when you want to find an idea of what it means to be in touch with oneself.

Wings of Desire (1987)

A poem made into a movie

[10/10 · 12 February 1999]

It is a slow movie, no question about it, but as every good piece of art, we need to take our time to digest what is presented in front of us. We need to look at it over and over to pass beyond the first impression (which in my case was of amazement, it was like looking at a Dali), the 'gut feeling' and then understand in your own terms the concept of love, in all its meanings as the poem that this movie is.

Goodbye, Children (1987)

The movie accomplishes its meaning solely at the last scene

[10/10 · 12 February 1999]

The atmosphere, the music, the photography, the cloud of melancholy that Louis Malle inmerses us throughout the entire movie meets at the last scene, in which we come to understand all the dialogues of the movie, all the feelings of the young boy and how a pure friendship can be taken away because of external events that children can't even fully understand. This movie took my breath away and restored my faith in filmmaking