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No Country For Old Men [2008]

starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Kelly MacDonald, Stephen Root
directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

June 02, 2008
Took a while to heat up - my interest grew and the excitement rolled - then a big dissapointment for an ending (perhaps that was the point) but these types of endings may make for good reading - but not very interesting for a film.

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No Country For Old Men [Blu-ray] [2007]

starring: Kelly MacDonald, Stephen Root, Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem
directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

September 08, 2008
This film is absolute perfection, the suspence, the confusion and the thrill of the characters brilliant

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Love in the Time of Cholera [2007]

starring: Javier Bardem, Benjamin Bratt, Liev Schreiber
directed by: Mike Newell

July 14, 2008
A beautifully made film, with passion, humour and insight - a real gem - only for those who believe in love...

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The Sea Inside [2005]

starring: Javier Bardem, Belén Rueda, Lola Dueñas, Mabel Rivera, Celso Bugallo
directed by: Alejandro Amenábar

July 18, 2005
The issues underpinning this film are ones which provoke the strongest of opinions, with very few being able to occupy a grey middle-ground. Who has the right to decide when a life should end, when the holder of that life wants his to stop, but needs help to achieve that end?

This film is no dreary discourse on the ethics of euthanasia. Nor is it a life-affirming piece filled with cod philosophy and hope. What it is is a masterfully-acted sweep of underplayed emotion and artistic film-making which simply captivates. The acting is superb. There are characters here who make you weep - not through overplaying the emotionally-charged subject matter, but by quietly shouldering the events that life has thrown at them, dealing with them, and simply ... Read More:

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The Dancer Upstairs [2002]

starring: Javier Bardem, John Malkovich, Laura Morante, Juan Diego Botto, Elvira Minguez
directed by: John Malkovich

October 20, 2003
This film shows clearly that a good actor should just stick to his role, leaving the direction to who has that competence or talent. The Dancer Upstairs shows an extremely poor direction since the opening, followed by poor script, poor photography, poor music down to even a wrong title! The cast is of student level and the protagonist, Javier Bardem, one of my favorite actors [The Sea Inside, Before Night Falls] victim of probably the worst direction of his career. What to say? They didn't even get the title right, in fact the dancer, who is the lover, is actually downstairs not upstairs!!! This film will disappoint you, don't be tempted by the price.

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Before Night Falls [2001]

starring: Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp, Michael Wincott
directed by: Julian Schnabel

August 05, 2002
A beautiful film in every terms: from outstanding cinematography to dazzling ambiance, from stirring performances to gripping theme. Having the bittersweet taste of an independent film, it defies categorization, grimly realistic and highly improvisational. What I particularly found captivating is its almost-documentary nature and realness, a razor-sharp realness disguised under character persona.

The film traces the chaotic life of Cuban novelist Reinaldo Arenas, from his unwanted birth in absolute poverty in Oriente to his death in NYC at the age of 47. Multi-layered and absorbing, the film follows a narrative-based episodic course and never gets bogged down in long and boring psychological analyses and free from any kind of unnecessary details. What's more, ... Read More:

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Collateral - 2 Disc Collectors Edition [2004]

starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg
directed by: Michael Mann

January 17, 2005
I fully understand that some people will find the movie boring, espeically for those who expect they will get the same experience from the stimuli in playing PS I, II, III... The film is a great stuff if you savour the content, the details and the visual feast...etc.

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Collateral - Single Disc Edition [2004]

starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg
directed by: Michael Mann

January 17, 2005
This film is not particularly rich as for the content. A professional killer has been hired to eliminate all the witnesses and even the cops and other prosecution personnel in some criminal case. Banal. He does not want to drive his own car and he does not want to hire a car and an accomplice to drive him around. So he comes at night and just hires a taxi and its driver. That makes him difficult to trace. But that creates some problems because the taxi-driver is not really willing to do the job. And then the two are like mutual prisoners or custodians. One cannot work without the other and one cannot escape from the other. Yet the taxi-driver, after a long series of killings, finds the courage to cause an accident which means the arrival of the cops, but that also means the discovery of ... Read More:

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Goya's Ghosts [2006]

starring: Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem, Randy Quaid, Michael Lonsdale
directed by: Milos Forman

September 10, 2007
This is a haunting, visually-striking, absorbing film. Set in Spain just before and then during the Napoleonic War it centres on the life and work of the celebrated artist Francisco Goya. Stellan Skarsgard turns in an excellent performance in this role, far from the sort we usually se him in, but in terms of impact the main character is the fanatic Lorenzo. Javier Bardem turns in a stellar performance as a softly-spoken well-mannered man who gives the impression of having a soft human side but who is capable of the most extreme cruelty (all for a higher cause, of course): the sort of man who over dinner will calmly explain that it is perfectly in order for the Inquisition to use confessions obtained by torture as proof of guilt because God will give the innocent the strength to withstand the ... Read More:

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Live Flesh [1998]

starring: Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal, Ángela Molina, José Sancho
directed by: Pedro Almodóvar

February 28, 2000
Victor is born on a late night bus, and together with his free bus pass for life we follow him after a life changing event which results in him being sentenced to jail over a shooting.

The shooting takes place when Victor takes a shine to drug addict Helena. After being spurned the ensuing argument attracts the police. A police officer is shot and paralysed from the waist down. Here four lives come together, and six years later, when Victor is released from prison - these four lives, and the life of Clara, a police officer's wife will intersect.

Giving details of the plot would confuse and ruin the effect of the film. But Almodóvar ensures that the characters aren't bland - each has a history and all are well developed. At first this looks like a simple psychological ... Read More: