It was a ok movie. I didn't like Kevin Spacey creeping on a young teenager, but other then that it was a good movie.

I first saw this film in my teen years. I didn't understand the plot of the movie back then but found the erotic scenes interesting. I think I was also impressed by Lesters change in attitude back then.
Rewatching it in my early thirties the movie really catches me. The story of every character is catching, because everyone is struggling with different ordinary problems, some of them probably known by every adult.
* Lester is fighting with his midlifecrisis and wants to break the devils-wheel of his boring everyday life. He also hates his job and the responsibility he has to carry because of it.
* His wife Annette is frustrated by her job, because she isn't as successful as she wants to be. To bring more joy in her life she starts an affair with another (more successful) real estate salesman.
* Their daughter Jane has a lack of self-confidence. She wants to be more like her more attention-getting friend Angela.
* The neighbor Colonel Frank is militant, conservative and wants to give his values to his son. As he thinks his son is gay, he thinks it is his failure because of himself feeling attracted by men.
* The neighbors son Ricky is a survivor. He tries to mimic to be a good son to his dad to stay out of trouble with him. Because he wants the newest technology (TVs, Camcorders, etc.) he is dealing with drugs.
* Angela lies that she is sleeping with a lot of boys just to feel more self-confident when her friends geht jealous. She wants to become a model and tries to avoid to be ordinary in any way.

The film American Beauty to me is a film about purpose. What is your purpose in life? The film teaches that there is such great beauty in the small things in life and that sometimes you need to take a step back to allow yourself to take in the unfiltered beauty in the small things like a plastic bag dancing in the wind, playing with the leaves. The film tells it's audience that the beauty in the small details is much greater than society's typical image of beauty. The prominent rose in the film is a symbol of false, surface beauty; the expensive and romantic flower is amongst almost every single shot in the film reminding us that we need to look beyond the surface beauty of an entity and see the beauty within. This message surrounding beauty is empathised with the inclusion of the rose on the films poster and the tagline, 'look closer' indicating that to see real beauty one must 'look closer', a task that typically requires more thoughtfulness and less immediate facial value judgements that make up the typical image of beauty.

This has been made almost a generation after the first, "Finding Nemo", outing for this annoyingly forgetful fish so it's not really fair total it a sequel. It's really a whole new concept that sees "Dory" out on a school trip where she gets a bit of rather unpleasant déjà-vu. This brings to mind the incident that led to her separation from her mum and dad. Determined to see if she can track them down, she enlists the help of "Nemo" and his dad "Marlin" and embarks on a series of fun adventures that introduces us to the engaging septopus "Hank" along the way. The story is quite a poignant little one, here. The young fish gradually discovers enough mnemonics to help them all inch towards their goal, and there is enough in the dialogue to satisfy younger audiences - though not so much for the oldies. I am afraid I still find this particular tang fish a bit irritating, but this is still quite an enjoyable and vividly colourful family comedy with messages of loyalty, determination and perseverance featuring strongly but delicately throughout. It gets perilously close to cheesy at times, but is still worth pitching up to a cinema to appreciate on a big screen.

A tiresome joke in the first movie becomes the central premise and is incredibly over-used.

**Before Nemo, a long ago another child got lost in the open ocean...**
Whoa! 200 million dollar film, 1 billion box office collections worldwide. The 27th film to do that so and the 5th animation film. This sequel was made after 13 years, surely a long gab, but 'Finding Nemo' was one of my favourite animations, tell me who does not love it those who love animation. Nevertheless, I liked the idea of having a sequel, but I scared it would go to flop terribly. Now, after watching this, I totally stunned. This is not a greatest animation ever made, but the way the screenplay handled, along with other stuffs, this makes one of the best among its kind.
Firstly, when I heard the sequel's title, it made me laugh. Like, whaaaat? Once again the story is going to repeat. I did not think it would bring a big change. Actually, it was a different tale, especially I was not expecting it to be emotional. Tell me how many tearjerker-animation you have seen. Once again the Disney-Pixar jointly did it. I think appreciation must go to the director who also made the original film. Great casting too, I mean the voice- over artists.
We know that Dory is severely suffering from the short term remembory (memory) loss. Now this tale is going to reveal her backstory. From her childhood to till she meets Marlin and then Nemo, there was a series of forgotten events. She slowly regains some of those memories and begins her quest to find out more. This is where she gets lost, but the title defines that she was lost before and now looking a way to get back where she really belongs.
For me, after 'Frozen', this film is what emotionally got me. The value of having family and friends beautifully disclosed. It might be an animation, but still a meaningful story from many perspectives. Lots of new characters were introduced and those were really cool ones. I expect theirs short animations to make its way about their origins, particularly Hank the octopus and his story about how he lost one of his tentacles.
The Oscars is the quarter of a year away, but releasing nominees would come weeks ahead. So it's about time to learn where this one fit in. But I'm anticipating close contest between this, 'Zootopia' and 'Red Turtle'. Coming back to the review, this is a good watch, for everybody, so I highly recommend it. I hope there will be a third film, but like I had felt before this, I desire it and then I'm not sure it would extend its legacy to further. So fingers crossed!
_9/10_

Amidst some beautiful Italian rusticity, we are introdcued to the "Perlman" family. It's the father (Michael Stuhlbarg) who has employed American "Oliver" (Armie Hammer) to help out with some research, and that involves living-in with his family of wife "Annella" (Amira Casar) and teenage son "Elio" (Timothée Chalamet) at their villa. Initially, they just call him "later" as that's his most often used expression as he takes his leave, but gradually they take to this man who appears to have depths that bely his slightly friendly but diffident attitude. It's the young "Elio" who seems most smitten. He's only seventeen but has a maturity that seems beyond his years as he uses his own substantial polyglot intellect to engage with their visitor. Though he's flirting like mad with his childhood friend "Marzia" (Esther Garrel) it's quite clear that his relationship with "Oliver" is passing the infatuation stage and heading into uncharted territory for both men - and the onlooking parents. With the sun shining, the wine flowing and the swimming tempting, Luca Guadagnino now takes us on a beautifully crafted story that is more than a rite of passage, or a typical "coming of age" drama - it's a love story that I felt at times was joyous and optimistic and yet, ultimately, somewhat cruel. The outwardly confident "Elio" has been raised in a loving and tactile family environment and so finds this emotional exposure he now faces both exhilarating and terrifying, and the sylphlike Chalamet really does deliver that vulnerability - and playfulness - like an experienced hand, whilst Hammer walks a path that I was never quite sure of. Is he just playing games with the young man, does he really care? Is it all just to pass the time during his visit or it it more? The location settings are gorgeous and the combination of a sparing script from James Ivory and some poignantly mixed musical themes ranging from Bach to Giorgio Moroder contribute to an aesthetic that is both ideally sheltering and yet hot-blooded at the same time. This is a film that seems to get better with age, and for just over two hours we are immersed in something that's really quite natural.

A near-perfect, timeless movie which will be responsible for many tears and yeast infections. Languid small-town living is captured perfectly, as is the tentative romance between the leads. I can't think of any substantive criticism until the last 25 minutes, when the movie becomes sloppy, less of a climax than a dissipation. (And personally, I'd have liked to see a sliver more of sexuality, which is oddly lacking.) Still, it's good. Watch it.

Alongside _Weekend_ and _Moonlight_, _Call Me By Your Name_ is the greatest queer film I have seen in the past ten years. It's a gorgeous, quiet masterwork - Luca Guadagnino has given us something truly special here. I'll cherish this one for a long, long time as it's extremely human and very personal. The fact that the legendary James Ivory wrote the screenplay for this shoots this over the top and slam dunks it into the cinematic stratosphere. Truly stunning work that deserves to be remembered, preserved, and celebrated for decades to come.
The performances in this are so mesmerizing. I've never liked Armie Hammer as much as I like him in this. He really embodies his character and it's a lived in, fully realized performance. Timothée Chalamet - who has a great year ahead of him with other big projects - is absolutely captivating as the young lead in this coming-of-age tale. I've seen many a coming-of-age film, but this one is one of the truest portrayals of a gay youth coming to terms with his sexuality, emotions, and his own body.
There are so many phenomenal scenes, but the one that stands out above the rest - and the one that made me cry in a theatre full of festivalgoers - is Michael Stuhlbarg's final monologue. It's one of the most honest and real moments I've seen in any film and one of the best father and son moments too. Crossing my fingers so hard that this becomes a huge critical darling and garners some attention come awards time (specifically for Guadagnino, Ivory, Chalamet, and Stuhlbarg).
Oh, and bonus points for that final shot of Chalamet's face as the credits roll. It's the best of its kind since Glazer's _Birth_ in 2004 when Nicole Kidman shattered all of our souls. Chalamet does the same thing here and it's overwhelmingly stunning.

Isn't "Elizabeth Shaw" the woman who makes the Christmas mints? Anyway, here she's been persuaded by "Meredith" (Charlize Theron) to diversify into the intergalactic travel game with a trip aboard the eponymous science vessel. She (Noomi Rapace) is travelling with her boyfriend "Charlie" (Logan Marshall-Green) to a remote moon where there might be the glimmer of a clue as to the origins of not just our species, but of life in general. Their team, augmented by the android "David" (Michael Fassbender) arrive on LV-223 to discover clear evidence of a civilisation - well of engineering effort, anyway. Thing is though - has anything survived in the bleak and hostile environment and if it has - is it friend or foe. Now the visual effects are excellent across the board; the use of darkness, shadow, intermittent light and some marvellous creativity from Neal Scanlan and Conor O'Sullivan really do make this at times a menacing and compelling adventure to watch. Sadly though, it all takes far too long to get going, it recycles a little too much from it's parent film ("Alien") and there's just far too much chatter cluttering up the closing stages. The acting is competent, no more, and it could easily lose twenty minutes of preamble and ramble and just focus on the "can they survive" bit. This has got to be seen on a big screen. The 70mm print I saw showcases what this film is really about - a scary looking sci-fi horror that we've all seen in some guise before, but maybe not quite this technically proficient. Is it a reboot or a reimagining? I'm not sure we really needed either.

Follows greatly the Hero with a Thousand Faces, very well executed.
Probably the best science-fiction ever made, along Kubrick's Space Odyssey 2001, where you can actually learn something about true **technology**.
Well done for those who can see. We need more!

Good Sci-fi 👍🏾
Finding a map left by our creators and then following it lightyears away for the search of the meaning of life, and immortality... Forget the horror part of the film, that plot alone had me fully immersed.
_I watch this one at least twice a year. _

What? Seriously...WHAT?!
I don't understand what I watched.
Alien was a monster movie in space. It was a great movie, it was scary and you could taste the tension....but it was just a monster movie in outer space. It was really just a merger of horror and science fiction.
Aliens was a fun movie. But it was just Space Marines v Monsters. It was just a merger of action and science fiction.
We can go on and on and on but, I think Scott is buying the fanboys that are reading too deeply into the Alien franchise. It's not "Chinatown" it's just the Alien movies.
Prometheus was just too much for the franchise, FAR TOO MUCH. Watching it felt like that moment when you realize that the top came off of the salt shaker and now you're going to have to just bare threw the mess bite by bite.
There was so much that, in the end, there wasn't really anything at all. Everything that was good about Alien and Aliens was totally forgotten here and you were left with, well, pretentious ramblings.
This is a monster movie that thinks it's "Taxi Driver." It's putting on airs and you can see straight through it.

Looks good, but feels a bit hollow to me.
'Prometheus' - which serves as a (loose) prequel to 'Alien' - didn't excite me and I didn't feel like I got anything from it. It's still a good film and it is a pleasant looking one at that, with neat special effects et al. I also like the casting for this 2012 release.
Noomi Rapace is probably the film's standout, though Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Charlize Theron and Idris Elba are also involved - the latter two feel a bit underused, we get a fair bit of them both but still I wanted to watch them more - especially Theron, who feels a bit tacked on.

Although this is not a great movie, I was positively surprised, given the tons of bad references I got from this movie.
The background story is interesting and the cast is quite decent. Theron and Elba played well but specially remarkable are Rapace and Fassbender.
In any case, it does have many flaws in the script. Several characters are stupid beyond comprehension, several things are completely unexplained, Pearce character is really bad and the crashing of the alien spaceship is just ridiculous, as it is the killing of Theron's character.
In any case, it doesn't leave a bad after taste and I am looking forward to the continuation of the story.

The special effects are great, the scenery and photography is lovely but the film is as a whole a big disappointment. You would have thought that with such a budget they could have hired some guy to make a basic sanity check of the script but obviously that wasn’t in the budget for this one. I do not know if a lot of Hollywood people are idiots or think the audience are idiots or both but for Christ sake, how difficult can it be to come up with a plot that holds together and are at least half believable?
A trillion dollar expedition to discover the “makers of mankind” and they put together a band of asocial morons for crew where not even the scientists among them seems to have met each other before the wake up millions of miles from Earth.
Almost everyone behaves in a completely unbelievable way. Yeah, it looks okay so let’s remove the helmets for instance? Right, apart from the immediate danger to your own health, what about quarantine procedures…idiots?
Why did the robot put the mutagen in the drink? It’s just illogical and never really adequately explained. Speaking of robots, robots have a power source and it’s not spread all over them. If you rip their head of they do not continue to talk like nothing had happened. In the original Alien they at least had to hook him up to something. It goes on. The entire film is just a jumble of illogical acts one after another.
Then we have the ending. What a joke. Apart from the fact that Elizabeth’s actions are just ridiculous, how does she expect to live on a alien ship without food or any other supplies?
This film had good promise. The idea of getting to know the origin of the aliens intrigued me and the basic plot idea was cool. However, the film was really ruined by a script obviously written by total morons.

The Shape of Water is a well-written and beautifully executed film that truly lives up to its expectations. Guillermo del Toro brings his signature visual style and emotional storytelling to create a unique blend of fantasy and romance. While I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, it's a film that's captivating and deeply engaging.
Sally Hawkins delivers a standout performance as Elisa, conveying so much emotion without a single spoken word. Her connection with the creature is the heart of the story and feels surprisingly genuine. The supporting cast, especially Michael Shannon as the intense antagonist and Octavia Spencer as Elisa's friend, help round out the film with strong performances.
The visuals are stunning, with the use of water imagery, lighting, and color creating a dreamlike atmosphere. The production design captures the Cold War-era setting perfectly while adding a touch of magic to the world. The story itself is simple yet layered, exploring themes of love, loneliness, and acceptance in a way that feels both fresh and timeless.
Overall, The Shape of Water is a beautifully crafted film that's well worth watching. It's not perfect, but it's a memorable and heartfelt story that stays with you long after it ends.

I appreciate that this probably isn't to everyone's taste - but I really enjoyed it. Set in 1960s America this is a story about a mute woman "Elisa" (Sally Hawkins) who ends up working as a cleaner at a top secret military facility where an aquatic creature is being held captive/experimented upon. Over the course of the film, she befriends him and they establish a bond despite the cruel treatment he is receiving from a truly unpleasant "Colonel Strickland" (Michael Shannon). Octavia Spencer is also superb as her close friend who interprets for her and ends up being her partner in crime. This is story about humanity (and inhumanity), trust, hope and ultimately vengeance filmed in a magnificently enigmatic fashion by Guillermo del Toro and scored by Alexandre Desplat.

My girlfriend and I called it "the Fish F***er Movie" and that is really what it is...but it's also green, very, very green.
Ever wondered how Abe from Hellboy had sex? Well this movie explains it.
But honestly, it isn't bad. It's a total period piece. It's beautiful, I mean it is very beautiful, and it has a story.
But, yeah, the thing about it is that it's beautiful AND has a story. The English Patient, Brokeback Mountain, they were just beautiful and beauty alone with no story behind it is boring. The Fisk F***** Movie had both.
And, yeah, the story is something we are used to. It was the good, friendly monster that had to be rescued by the mean nasty government plot and, especially if you are a child of the 80s, it works. It's a plot that we've seen over and over again...only in kids movies.
This Fish F***er movie, the plot is made for adults, so less adventure and fart jokes and a lot more beauty slightly deeper issues, issues that equate homosexual and racial issues to being the outsider that matters...in the right way. Not the immature and racist way that we see in Black Panther and Get Out...
...so it's refreshing to see that handled subtly and politely and still make the point.
Subtle and polite hardly go hand in hand with a serious point now days.
The Shape of Water was able to hint at a point, still entertain, and, well, do it in a way that was so beautiful it was mesmerizing.

Just finished watching this movie and despite the other critical reviews I enjoyed it! No I don't think it deserved the BP Oscar but it is the kind of movie that I will be watching again in time! David N.

**It's a good movie, but not as good as I was expecting.**
I don't know many Guillermo del Toro movies, but I imagined this movie to be a little similar to “Pan's Labyrinth”, a work that I really liked. So I sat down to watch it with some anticipation. When it ended, I didn't feel cheated, but I also don't think it's any better than that other Del Toro film, despite the greater media attention and professional criticism. It received four Oscars (Best Film, Best Director, Best Production Design and Best Soundtrack).
The film begins by introducing us to Elisa, a mute cleaning lady who works in a high-security Army facility, where there are military laboratories and workshops, and where a marine creature caught in the Amazon River ends up being arrested. The creature quickly becomes close to Elisa, who falls in love with that being. When it becomes obvious that the military is going to kill him, Elisa decides to save his life and give him back his freedom.
The film is quite surreal and dreamlike, and that for me was something very positive. I really liked the creature, and the design given to it, and I think that the characters and dialogues were written and conceived in a very detailed and thorough way. Unfortunately, the film has too much explicit nudity to be a family movie, and there are also some shocking and violent scenes that are not strictly suitable for children or sensitive people.
The cast leaves us, in general, a very well-executed job. Sally Hawkins manages to be convincing in the role she plays and leaves us with an excellent performance. I also really liked Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins, who brought to life the only friends the film's protagonist really had. Michael Stuhlbarg also handled the challenge at hand quite well, even if he doesn't have a lot of time to do much of it. The actor who turned out to be the weakest here was Michael Shannon. He wasn't able to make his villain really threatening and cold. Instead, he turned him into an insecure, fake, and aggressive individual who uses his profession to humiliate and demean others.
We all know that Del Toro's films tend to have a lot of style, and a strong style, with a very personal nature. This film does not escape, on the contrary: it is one of the best to see well the habits and visual signatures of the director. This is the case of cinematography and the color palette that was used, and where green, in various shades, has a great ascendant. Set in the 60s, the film has several sets and period cars and this works very well, as well as the costumes, highlighting here, of course, the aquatic monster costume. All the visual effects worked reasonably well, and the characterization team also deserves praise for their work with Doug Jones. The soundtrack, signed by Alexandre Desplat, was also excellent and quite unusual.

Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me!
Guillermo del Toro directs and co-writes with Vanessa Taylor what would turn out to be the Best Picture Academy Award Winner for 2017. A much loved film that's not without dissention in certain quarters, it's a picture that warrants dissention but it should be noted that just because someone doesn't like it, that doesn't make it a bad film. I'm certainly in the camp that finds it over praised, even annoyingly disappointing, whilst appreciating many of the facets within its production.
Story in simple terms is a Beauty and the Beast like fable where Sally Hawkins' mute cleaning lady Elisa Esposito falls in love with a captured Amphibian Man. Amphibian Man is known by the government types as The Asset, and as the Cold War rises and 60s paranoia takes a hold, the American big wigs want to vivisect the special species to learn from it. Elisa, after courting "The Asset", enlists the help of close friends and plots to free the creature from its captivity in the underground medical bunker labyrinth place.
Now as simple as that sounds, there is more to it than that, del Toro and Taylor whilst enveloping the pic in a fantasy realm feel, ensure messages are thrust hard at the viewers. Be it the racial disharmony, the quest for different walks of life finding love with each other, the cry for humans to stop being bad and killing things because they don't understand them, torture is evil and etc etc. It's all right there in your face and we get it. So plot maybe simple but for sure there's a lot being said in the narrative.
Yet as great as it looks, and it's superbly acted by Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer, it just to me loses its way come the mid-point, getting daft and even getting a little icky into the bargain. I have no problem with improbabilities and outrageous contrivances here, this is del Toro painting one of his fantastical worlds - only on Earth in the early 60s! But the pay off is poor, hinging on a twist that's not only ridiculous, but insulting as well because otherwise the pic would be very troubling indeed. No art deco eye orgasms or vibrant characterisations can compensate for a film that runs out of steam.
That said, I was glad to have watched it, there's even a possibility I could return to it in the future - this is very good film making. But it's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination and not for the first time in the Academy's long history, many are baffled by their choice of Best Picture winner. 6/10

GDT's first truly great flick. The R-Rated Family Movie schtick always came off as silly or had a story too dull to carry its own weight. Characters and morality are two dimensional; the world functions via cartoon logic. But the love story here is precious. Could be argued it's an apologist film for zoophilia, considering the amphibian shows little intelligence beyond that of a dog.

Not just a love letter to the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but to cinema itself. Del Toro's _The Shape of Water_ is the "Who is the real monster?" question taken to the nth degree, with some some fascinating side-concepts that are explored just enough to be worthwhile. At the end of the day _The Shape of Water_, at its most stripped back, is a movie about fucking a fish. But it's the kind of movie about fucking a fish that should also probably win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
_Final rating:★★★½ - I really liked it. Would strongly recommend you give it your time._

**_Hellish urban decay and one man’s step-by-step fall into Big City madness_**
In the mid-70s, an ex-marine insomniac in New York works the graveyard shift as a cab driver (De Niro) while trying to develop a relationship with a beautiful campaign volunteer for a presidential candidate (Cybill Shepherd and Leonard Harris). He experiences White Knight Syndrome as he seeks to rescue a 12½ years-old prostitute (Jodie Foster).
Written by Paul Schrader and directed by Scorsese, "Taxi Driver" (1976) is an interesting character study of a misfit and his descent into radicalness after the day-to-day grind of living amidst the grungy, unsanitary places of an infernal Gotham, especially the grindhouse district. The protagonist is a ‘contradiction,’ loathing the decadence he observes but frequenting porn theaters in his spare time. Then there’s the irony of a potential assassin perceived as a vigilante hero.
The notable cast also includes a young Harvey Keitel as the girl’s pimp and Peter Boyle as Travis’ mentor-like fellow cabbie. Albert Brooks in on hand as a protective colleague of the campaign volunteer. Scorsese shows up in a bit part as an unhinged cab passenger.
It’s a good companion-piece to similar Schrader flicks, like “Hardcore,” “Cat People,” “Auto Focus” and “Dog Eat Dog.”
The film runs 1 hour, 54 minutes, and was shot in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
GRADE: B+/A-

Robert De Niro is outstanding in this dark and gritty depiction of former marine "Travis Bickle". He spends his time, alone, driving his cab at night then watching seedy movies during the day. This relentless cycle is broken when he takes a shine to "Betsy" (Cybill Shepherd), a campaign worker for a would be US Presidential candidate. There is a glimmer of hope for him, as she agrees to go out with him for a movie - but when he takes her to his usual haunt for a Swedish film that perhaps wasn't quite Ingmar Bergman, he ends up back at square one. Simultaneously, he takes a more protective interest in the young "iris" (Jodie Foster) - a teenage hooker who is being used abused by her pimp, and to that end he acquires some firearms with which he is perfectly proficient, and so finally starts to see a purpose for his hitherto rather rudderness existence. Director Martin Scorsese and veteran scorer Bernard Hermann have created a wonderfully convincing and evocative scenario emphasising the seediness of a night time New York in which De Niro is able to thrive as few other actors could. He exudes a sense of helplessness but also of decency; he has integrity almost in spite of the indifference of his city, his peers - and by the end, I was firmly in his corner. If you can see it up on a big screen, then do so - it lends a great deal to this wonderfully atmospheric and potent piece of cinema.

Taxi Driver has had many things said about it, and I don't wish to add to all that but it is the yardstick I measure all other films by, it is by far my favourite of all the films I have ever watched.
It's brutal honesty and use of themes such as paranoia, mental health issues, and society degradation make it a film that has been imitated, and referenced since its opening in cinemas back in 1976.
Robert De Niro puts in a tour-de-force performance as Travis Bickle, a Vietnam War veteran with symptoms of PTSD and paranoia, who becomes a New York City taxi driver because of his inability to sleep. Travis is one who is at odds with society, fed up with pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, and all the other scum of the earth, he slowly works himself in his sleep deprived and drugged state to become a one man army ready to kill anyone he believes to be part of the problem.
His interactions with other cabbies, Betsy (Shepherd) a Presidential Candidate campaign worker, Iris a teenage prostitute (Foster), and her Pimp “Sport” (Keitel) fuels his destructive mission to rid New York City of its problems. His attempt at normalcy with Betsy, by taking her on date to a movie that disagrees with her sensibilities ends in disaster, mostly due to Travis’ supposed naivety about what is considered appropriate and tasteful entertainment.
While plying his nightly trade as a NYC cabbie, he has some unusual encounters, including a fare from a fairly psychotically jealous man showing Travis the place where the man’s wife is cheating on him, and then a short encounter with Iris who gets in his cab, and then forced out by Sport, who throws Travis a dirty crumpled up twenty dollar note for the trouble, Travis then makes it his mission to rescue Iris from her situation while also making a menace of himself to the visiting Presidential candidate.
This film is still relevant in these times, as social media, and other such technological & society advancements have brought about a new degradation of values, with many wanting their fifteen minutes of fame by any means necessary, which now brings with it many who sell their souls to attain notoriety.
I love De Niro's performance as Travis, its one that has many facets to it, in it is a man who is angry, naive, sleep deprived, lonely, a sociopath, and a killer.
A scene in the Presidential campaign office where he is rebuffed by Betsy due to the terrible date experience, and ushered, and menaced by the opportunistic & snotty campaign co-worker Tom (Brooks), shows the range of De Niro's performance as he goes from apologetic, and sheepish to angry, and ready to fight. De Niro was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this role.
The presentation on blu-ray is a solid one, PQ is nice, skin tones not waxy, and the AQ allowing the score, and surrounding noise subtleties to really shine through, it's very well handled for a source filmed in the mid 70's

**Social outcast with a mohawk goes nutzoid**
Porn obsessed loner, Travis Bickle, is a cabbie in New York. The story tells of his gradual descent into madness brought on by his inability to relate to those around him and a feeling of a lack of worth. Travis is essentially invisible - of no importance. Walton's self imposed isolation preferable to getting along with the scum around him. One day he decides to change all of that and become _a somebody_ by murdering a politician.
This _nobody_ with the superiority complex has gone off the rails, for certain and it can only lead to bloodshed. A lot of it will be his own.

Jesse Eisenberg does his best Charlton Heston impersonation as ostensibly the last man left on the planet amongst an army of pathologically fed up zombies. His initial narration gives us a little clue as to how he has survived, unbitten, for this long - and just how dangerous it is to use the toilet - before he encounters "Tallahassee" (Woody Harrelson) on what's left of the freeway. Convinced they are both still human, they join forces and go off in search of "Twinkies" (that's the food variety and not young gay guys!) They find a grocery store where they are quick to rescue "Wichita" (Emma Stone) and her twelve year old sister "Little Rock" (Abigail Breslin) only to quickly discover that it's now them that needs the rescuing. Some cat and mouse antics now ensue between what is now the last four remaining people, before things settle down for an an hour of comically inspired adventures that sees them seek safety - in the Beverly Hills mansion of Bill Murray for a while, before a denouement in funfair that sees a battle royal commence that's only really missing Ennio Morricone. The four characters here all gel well and with Harrelson on a form that reminded me of why he became famous in "Cheers" in the first place, Eisenberg and Stone developing their rapport and the young Breslin looking on with a degree of sagely amusement, this is a fun film. It's well written with plenty of pithy one-liners and plenty of homages to other films and actors who've tackled the zombie theme over the years too. It's nice and short so we've no extended and repetitive combat scenes to bore us, just some short and sweet slaughtering using just about every piece of kit you can imagine (even a food mixer!).

**Zombieland is a hilarious treat for comedy and zombie fans alike.**
Zombieland is a goofy spin on the hordes of zombie movies that came as a result of The Walking Dead’s popularity. It follows a zany cast of characters with big personalities thrust into a post-apocalyptic landscape. However, rather than living in constant fear and survival, it feels as if the characters consider it all another Tuesday. Their motivations are finding twinkies or love rather than escaping death. This tonal twist leads to a very entertaining, self-aware plot that takes funny jabs at traditional zombie tropes. The cast nails this tone as well, with Harrelson, Eisenberg, and Stone all delivering sarcastic yet genuine and caring performances.