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Femme Fatale (2002)
Femme Fatale (2002)
2002 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A pretty decent sultry thriller directed by Brian DePalma. A jewel thief tries to cover her past but a chance photo of her alerts the people she has crossed before. Enjoyable if not quite a classic but I do like the ending and Rebecca Romijn suits the role to a T before her success as Mystique in the X-Men series.
  
Scarface (1983)
Scarface (1983)
1983 | Action, Drama, Mystery
Say hello to a modern classic!
Brian DePalma has had an interesting career making some truly classic films and a lot of real crap. Obviously, this film is the former and is probably his best work.

A role written for Al Pacino by Oliver Stone, the story is a basic one I suppose, the rise of a Cuban drug lord. The old replaced by the new. Gruesome violence (a lot of which isn't actually seen, but heard and implied).

The film still holds up as a tour de force performance by Pacino and an epic drug gangster film that has not been equaled.

The cinematography and beautiful look of the film is also interesting in that it seems to capture the locale well even though they only filmed in south Florida for a few weeks (the locals heard about the making of the film and decided they didn't like the idea of it before even seeing).

One of my all time favorites!




  
Under the Silver Lake (2018)
Under the Silver Lake (2018)
2018 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Trippy
417. Under the Silver Lake. A pretty wild mind bender, head scratcher, what the fuck just happened good time! A great recommendation from the Movie Ninja, thank you. We meet Sam, he's kind of a slacker, and about to be evicted from his pad, but he is dating a very nice prostitute. One day hanging out on his patio, he spies a beauty, Sarah, chilling by the pool, and meets her later on while hanging around her dog. And after fun night of chilling, poof, she disappears. And Sam apparently really felt a connection with Sarah over those 2 or 3 hours because this dude goes on a hunt for this girl. Through a crazy couple of dreamlike days we follow Sam through some insane conspiracy theories that lead him through a hobo underground, complete with its own king (Fisher King?) secret sex drug parties, getting crazy to a Brimful of Asha (Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow) and of course the billionaire cults preparing for the afterlife. Think Alfred Hitchcock, Brian DePalma and Stanley Kubrick got together for a movie, and it turned out pretty sweet! Starring a former Spider-Man and a former Venom (didn't recognize him at first, Foreskin is all grown up) But yea, I really liked it, gets pretty crazy!! Check it out! Filmbufftim on FB!
  
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Mission: Impossible (1996)
1996 | Action, Mystery
Great Start to An Awesome Series
I remember seeing this trailer for the first time during a Super Bowl. As an eleven-year-old, this trailer had everything I wanted, jaw-dropping action left and right. When I finally saw the movie, I was slightly underwhelmed. I liked it, sure, but I didn’t expect to have to do so much damn thinking. As I got older, the more I watched the film, the more I liked it. Its overall appeal still holds strong today.

After being framed for killing his entire team, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) must get to the bottom of who did it and why while escaping prosecution at the same time.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 9
Pretty solid opener as you get to see Agent Hunt performing his job for the first time. I love what director Brian DePalma did with this first scene as he gives you just enough to get you intrigued. It wasn’t perfect as it leaves you with a couple questions you hope get answered, but it definitely gets the job done.

Characters: 10
Hunt is a young agent who is just as agile as he is cunning. You can tell this guy really knows how to control a room. He leads a diverse group of characters with their own set of skills and their own respective problems. I enjoyed these characters because each of them seemed like they could shake your hand one minute and stab you in the back the next. You had no idea who to trust. They keep the story fresh and interesting.

Cinematography/Visuals: 10

Conflict: 10

Genre: 9

Memorability: 10

Pace: 10

Plot: 9
This is definitely a movie you have to pay attention to as I alluded earlier. There were times where I had to remind myself of things that had happened earlier since they now fit more into the story. The temporary confusion kept this category out of perfection, but I will say that everything does eventually get revealed before it’s all said and done.

Resolution: 10

Overall: 97
Mission: Impossible has a timeless appeal that hasn’t seem to have gotten old yet. Even though it’s the first, I still have it ranked up there as one of the best. If you’ve decided to give this series a try, do yourself a favor and start here, then skip the second (awful and zero relevance to the rest of the series), and head straight for the third. You’ll thank me.