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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 428608" data-attributes="member: 8">HAPPINESS (1998)[ATTACH=full]57028[/ATTACH]I had previously seen some clips on youtube but the full film has never been accessible online to me.So, yet again, I had to fix it with a DVD purchase, but if&nbsp; I had&nbsp; seen the film online I may have done that anyway.Brutal, cringe and laugh-out-loud funny, but always with (enough) sympathy for the characters.Total commitment from the entire cast, and I didn&#039;t remember that Lara Flynn Boyle had such a sexy voice.Some parts look like an updated version of Mike Leigh&#039;s brilliant Bleak Moments and I&#039;d say this film is the better &quot;American Beauty&quot;.From the sadistically funny and somewhat poignant opening scene to the sadistically funny and very poignant final scene between father son - and everything in between is also great.TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985)[ATTACH=full]57029[/ATTACH]By William Friedkin, sooo....The story itself is nothing special, something you can get from an average TV cop show, but that shouldn&#039;t prevent it from being a great cinematic experience.It&#039;s just that everything in this film is boring: the casting, the wooden performances, the banal dialogue spoken in a monotone voice by all the actors, the scenery, and let&#039;s not forget the horrible soundtrack which is like the worst the eighties had to offer.There&#039;s a feeble and laughable attempt at philosophy when the D-list actress mentions &quot;the stars are God&#039;s eyes&quot;, she mentions it twice just in case we missed it the first time.It&#039;s a line that comes out of nowhere and also isn&#039;t going anywhere. We&#039;re not in David Lynch Land, that&#039;s for sure.The physical fights are adequate and the story becomes slightly more exciting in the final act, or maybe it was the joyful prospect that the film was about to end soon.The painful display of lameness and non-artistry didn&#039;t annoy me - no, it frightened me.I also find it quite scary that a lot of people consider this film a masterpiece.IMDB lists it as conspiracy thriller, some reviewers call it a neo-noir. Personally, I didn&#039;t see any of that in this story.Lastly, if you manage to make an actor like Willem Dafoe look bland then you know something went teddibly wrong.A smiley-face rating for the nudity. It wasn&#039;t much but it was there.My suggestion: watch REPO MAN instead.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 428608, member: 8"] HAPPINESS (1998) [ATTACH type="full"]57028[/ATTACH] I had previously seen some clips on youtube but the full film has never been accessible online to me. So, yet again, I had to fix it with a DVD purchase, but[I] [/I]if[I] [/I]I [I]had[/I] seen the film online I may have done that anyway. Brutal, cringe and laugh-out-loud funny, but always with (enough) sympathy for the characters. Total commitment from the entire cast, and I didn't remember that Lara Flynn Boyle had such a sexy voice. Some parts look like an updated version of Mike Leigh's brilliant [I]Bleak Moments [/I]and I'd say this film is the better "American Beauty". From the sadistically funny and somewhat poignant opening scene to the sadistically funny and very poignant final scene between father son - and everything in between is also great. TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985) [ATTACH type="full"]57029[/ATTACH] By William Friedkin, sooo.... The story itself is nothing special, something you can get from an average TV cop show, but that shouldn't prevent it from being a great cinematic experience. It's just that [I]everything[/I] in this film is boring: the casting, the wooden performances, the banal dialogue spoken in a monotone voice by all the actors, the scenery, and let's not forget the horrible soundtrack which is like the worst the eighties had to offer. There's a feeble and laughable attempt at philosophy when the D-list actress mentions "the stars are God's eyes", she mentions it twice just in case we missed it the first time. It's a line that comes out of nowhere and also isn't going anywhere. We're not in David Lynch Land, that's for sure. The physical fights are adequate and the story becomes [I]slightly[/I] more exciting in the final act, or maybe it was the joyful prospect that the film was about to end soon. The painful display of lameness and non-artistry didn't annoy me - no, it [I]frightened[/I] me. I also find it quite scary that a lot of people consider this film a masterpiece. IMDB lists it as conspiracy thriller, some reviewers call it a neo-noir. Personally, I didn't see any of that in this story. Lastly, if you manage to make an actor like Willem Dafoe look bland then you know something went teddibly wrong. A smiley-face rating for the nudity. It wasn't much but it was there. My suggestion: watch REPO MAN instead. [/QUOTE]

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