A Netflix Community

Alex DeLarge 41, Male
Korova Milkbar
United States

Alex DeLarge's Friends

Alex DeLarge's Groups

Film Reviews

L'Eclisse


Vittoria is an empty and silent structure, an unfinished shelter that remains hidden beneath a shroud of flesh and temporary beauty, trapped at a dirty windswept street corner. Here at this spiritual nexus, her emotional lifeblood spills out onto the dark pavement as the shadows settle upon the oblique cityscape, her present tense eclipsed by this urban malady and her bitter unfocused apathy. Director Michelangelo Antonioni films in a starkly vivid black and white, breathing life into Vittoria’s colorless existence, though she putters about without direction, fractured and lost even to herself, like a cold kiss of glass, she strives to comes alive and seize the moment. Antonioni’s narrative structure becomes its theme, its placement of objects in relation to the characters within the shot, an almost metaphysical cinematography. He creates an abstract geography through physical objects to help us understand and connect with Vittoria’s feelings, desires, and instincts. If we are left confused or doubtful it’s because she is too. A jagged splinter becomes a metaphor for love, discarded into a water barrel but unable to sink into the murky depths. Or the giant phallic tower that Vittoria rebels against, thrusting herself away from a relationship that is stagnant and impotent. The final seven minutes are sharply minimilistic: Vittoria looks to the wavering treetops, reminiscent of the imaginary forests of Kenya, and she disappears from the bottom of the frame as the bleak and nearly deserted city takes form, a montage that births an urban malaise…devoid of Vittoria and her minor affair. The electric charge of a light casts its glare upon Vittoria’s future; does the empty barrel mean an end, or a new beginning? (A)

God Told Me To


NYC Detective Peter Nicholas is drawn into a murderous nexus of religious barbarism and alien intrigue. He must accept the fallacy of his own past while confronting the last vestiges of his archaic and crumbling Catholic upbringing, and enter into the final apocryphal battle with his own brimstone doppelganger. The film’s startling violent first shots are reminiscent of Charles Whitman’s rampage: Director Larry Cohen uses this traumatic event as a template for his intriguing narrative; but here the killer talks happily with Detective Nicholas and he jubilantly responds, “God told me to kill those people” before leaping to his death. Cohen then jump-cuts (literally) to the Detective awakening from a nightmare, his inner vision haunted by this ordeal. As the unrelated murders and the soft-spoken excuses continue, Nicholas begins to investigate a common thread: each killer had contact with a strange blonde haired (blue-eyed?) guru. Cohen is best when he alludes to the violent act, such as the father who shot his wife and two children to death, and lets the killer sit in a gentle repose, describing the act as meditatively as a transcendent joy: truly chilling and realistic. As Nicholas searches for this mystical demagogue (demongogue) he discovers the secret to his own mysterious past. He must dissolve the malignant and pervasive tendrils of his own faith and accept the Truth. Nicholas must ride the Chariots Of The Gods to his own fiery salvation and face his greatest enemy; he must destroy that beautiful creature of light whose incandescence rules through fear and loathing, a monster who is actually the shadow race of Homo Superior. Peter Nicholas carries the burden of guilt for all humanity; he accepts his punishment and smiles to the camera. His body displays Christ’s stigmata and his hollow words echo nihilism; “God told me to”. (C)

A Fistful of Dollars


The Man With No Name has a heart of gold sheathed with two inches of bulletproof steel. Ironically, Italian director Sergio Leone recreates the American Western genre by remaking a Japanese film: Akira Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO. Clint Eastwood channels the energy of the great Toshiro Mifune by mimicking a few physical gestures (such as the beard-scratch) but lacks the sublime grace and subtle facial expressions of the original Ronin. Though Leone imitates Kurosawa and actually lifts a few shots (and jokes) directly from YOJIMBO, there is little doubt that he makes this his own operatic western, full of sardonic humor, ludicrous caricatures, and absurd violence. The beautifully zany score by Ennio Morricone remains a favorite, often adding the bare-fisted punch line to the droll monologue, or infusing a scene with nerve-tingling suspense moments before the volcanic eruption of lead. Morricone reduces the world to a piercing live-wire screech just before two of the major gunfights: this heightens the tension as Leone cuts to extreme close-ups showing us the sweating porous landscape of nervous faces, a minute facial tick or the shifting of eyes, the nervous flexing of calloused fingers…then all Hell breaks loose! Eastwood’s character is not given a proper name though he is pejoratively called “Joe” (as in American) a few times. He is morally bound together by opposing forces (yin yang) and at once benefits from murder, playing both criminal elements against one another, and then rescues the innocent family caught in this brutal nexus: he brings balance once again to this hellish frontier town. He seeks vengeance for the wrong done to him and his friend the Innkeeper, destroying his enemy by displaying nerves of steel…or more precisely, a chest of steel. The Man With No Name proves that it’s not the man with the biggest gun who wins…but the one whose gun reloads the quickest. (B+)

Boy A


A young man hides in plain sight assuming a government assigned identity, his new persona forever tainted by the dreadful deeds of his childhood. How can “Boy A” be rehabilitated when he never had a morally healthy foundation? This film examines serious questions concerning Restorative and Retributive Justice without judging the characters or giving us contrived answers. Jack Burridge is the new animus, outwardly projected by the now young man, who has spent the better part of his life as Eric Wilson, a child murderer locked up in a juvenile detention facility. Jack must become this new creation of flesh and blood, he must absorb a false history in a few days, and he must be always wary for those who would do him harm: after all, society demands its 165 pound of flesh. Though he has served his legal sentence, does Jack attain grace when he saves another little girl, is the debt morally repaid? Can the harm ever be undone? Director John Crowley never preaches or chokes the audience with virtue; he frustratingly lets the story become a volatile emotional cocktail and lets us reach our own conclusions. We must ask ourselves to define justice. Does the legal definition differ from our spiritual association? Should Jack have been allowed to reintegrate back into society? We are not allowed insight into the victim’s family but it seems as if more resources were spent on the perpetrator than on helping those harmed. The film is structured to create empathetic contact with Jack, to experience him as a human being, and this is the power of the narrative. As his new life descends into chaos he must confront the demons that walk the suicide fringe and oppose the worst one of all: himself. (B)

La Notte


A tangible veil of darkness has settled upon the marriage of Giovanni and Lidia like a dying friend, or a long slow descent into the glass labyrinth haunted by the ghosts of love and despair. Lidia has become trapped in a loveless marriage and wanders the lonely echoing streets of Milan, tiny and lost amid the mirrored buildings and crumbling blank walls. The minimalist soundtrack heightens this angst as the city exhales it noxious fumes, it voice a harsh tremulous curse as Lidia regurgitates her past, hopeless and afraid. Giovanni grasps at the madness of his art, his lust pronounced by the insane embrace of a mental patient, his future invisibly written on the tabula rasa of the hospital room’s wall; a perpetrator of emotional infidelity that goes unpunished. The two drift apart and in that long dreary night of apathy, they both discover these secret truths like a beautiful lost ruby whose value is monetary but remains empty of all worth. Giovanni believes that he still loves his wife but feels the cold vacuum of space separating them, too self-involved to understand while he chases his raven-haired dream, stumbling like a sleepwalker through the slick wet night. Michelangelo Antonioni has created another masterpiece of emotional dissolution and disillusionment; this discomfort is technically sublime, employing stark black and white cinematography, deep focus long takes, and steady tracking shots, that diminishes the characters amid society’s rigid steel framework. Lidia and Giovanni don’t hate each other; on the contrary, they care very much for one another but she has drifted away and must become herself once again, to redefine her identity as Lidia…not Giovanni’s wife. They are caught in a sand trap, and like victims caught in quicksand grasp at each other for their immediate survival. Antonioni lets the camera float away to a jazz score as the couple disappears, seemingly to sink beneath the weight of their own embrace. (B+)
 

Are you prepared for the Ludovico treatment?

Latest Activity

Aces (Chaoshawk) left a comment for Alex DeLarge Nov 29
Alex DeLarge left a comment for Aces (Chaoshawk) Nov 28

Profile Information

Relationship Status:
Married
Are you a Netflix member?
I Netflix therefore I am.
Are you a Netflix employee?
a) No.
What is your (apx) "Reviewer Rank" Number?
240
What is your (Anonymous) Friends Link? (the code on the right side of Invite Friends)
http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/P8Gd7agVO4I9rCdSvlJP
What is your Outward Profile page URL (find yourself on one of your friend's lists, and click back to see yourself)
http://www.netflix.com/StrangerProfile?prid=174455419&lnkctr=yo...
Website:
http://korovatheatrepresents.blogspot.com/
A Small Set Of My Favorite Movies
CITY LIGHTS (Chaplin), CITIZEN KANE (Welles), THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (Frankenheimer), BLADE RUNNER (Scott), 12 ANGRY MEN (Lumet), VERTIGO (Hitchcock), A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (Kubrick), THE CONFORMIST (Bertolucci), THE THIRD MAN (Reed), THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (Wise), 400 BLOWS (Truffaut) and a hundred more I'm too tired to type. I also enjoy thought provocking films by Kim Ki-duk and Michael Haneke.
What I Snack on in Movie Theaters
I watch movies in my home theatre and enjoy coffee with a film.
About Me:
I work for the the local District Attorney's Office as a Counselor, Investigator, and Victim's Rights Advocate under the Stop Violence Against Woman Act. I have been promoted to the Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Unit in 2005 and enjoy helping people and upholding the Rule of Law. I have seen many many terrible things; I never watch "true crime" shows on TV.
KOROVA AWARDS 2003-2007
2007
01. THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA)
02. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel & Ethan Coen, USA)
03. EASTERN PROMISES (David Cronenberg, UK)
04. WAITRESS (Adrienne Shelly, USA)
05. ONCE (John Carney, Ireland)
06. GRINDHOUSE: PLANET TERROR (Robert Rodriguez, USA)
07. THE HOST (Bong Joon-ho, South Korea)
08. PAPRIKA (Satoshi Kon, Japan)
09. THE BOSS OF IT ALL (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
10. TIME (Kim Ki-duk, South Korea)

2006
01. UNITED 93 (Paul Greengrass, USA)
02. MANDERLAY (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
03. BATTLE IN HEAVEN (Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)
04. L'ENFANT (Jean Pierre-Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, France)
05. THREE TIMES (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan)
06. SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (Park Chan-wook, South Korea)
07. DUCK SEASON (Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico)
08. THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
09. CAVITE (Neill Dela Llana & Ian Gamazon, Philippines)
10. THE PROPOSITION (John Hillcoat, Australia)

2005
01. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong)
02. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (David Cronenberg, USA)
03. OLD BOY (Park Chan-wook, South Korea)
04. BIN-JIP/3-IRON (Kim Ki-Duk, South Korea)
05. KONTROLL (Nimrod Antal, Hungary)
06. VOZVRASHCHENIYE/THE RETURN (Andrei Zvyaginstev, Russia)
07. OR (MONS TRESOR) (Keren Yedeya, Israel)
08. LAST DAYS (Gus Van Sant, USA)
09. LA NINA SANTA/THE HOLY GIRL (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina)
10. DARE MO SHIRANAI/NOBODY KNOWS (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan)

2004
01. DOGVILLE (Lars von Trier, Denmark)
02. OPEN WATER (Chris Kentis, USA)
03. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (Jared Hess, USA)
04. BEFORE SUNSET (Richard Linklater, USA)
05. KILL BILL VOLUME 2 (Quentin Tarantino, USA)
06. FAHRENHEIT 911 (Michael Moore, USA)
07. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (Michael Gondry, USA)
08. YING XIONG/HERO (Yimou Zhang, China)
09. SHAUN OF THE DEAD (Edgar Wright, UK )
10. THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD (Guy Maddin, Canada)

2003
01. ELEPHANT (Gus van Zant, USA)
02. LOST IN TRANSLATION (Sofia Coppola, USA)
03. 21 GRAMS ( Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, USA)
04. SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...and SPRING (Kim Ki-Duk, South Korea)
05. AMERICAN SPLENDOR (Shari Springer Bergman, USA )
06. CIDADE DE DEUS/CITY OF GOD (Fernando Meirelles, Brazil)
07. LE TEMPS DU LOUP/TIME OF THE WOLF (Michael Haneke, France)
08. KILL BILL VOLUME 1 (Quentin Tarintino, USA)
09. LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (Peter Jackson, USA)
10. THE STATION AGENT (Thomas McCarthy, USA)

The Technology of the Korova Theatre
So what infernal devices make up the Korova Theatre? I'm glad you asked. If you are going to follow any of my recommendations based on PQ (image quality) or SQ (sound quality) then you need to know what equipment I use. Makes sense, dunnit? I have upgraded my theatre over the past few years because I believe it's important to watch a film in the particular way that the director envisioned: OAR (Original Aspect Ratio) only in my house! DVD has become the standard format replacing VHS in the past ten years. VHS was plagued by poor image and sound quality, almost every release was pan & scan, and a tape contained no extra content. They were also a bitch to rewind constantly which would wear out the tape. DVD came along with superior PQ and new 5.1 remaster audio for surround sound setups, and boat-loads of extras. But things change. Blu-Ray (BD) has won the war of competing High-Definition formats. These discs contain 1080p video remasters and new amazing PCM lossless soundtracks that are truly unbelievable!

01. Mitsubishi 55413 CRT High-Definition Television. This is the centerpiece of the Korova. It is a lovely 1080i rear-projection unit with outstanding film-like PQ that can't be matched by fixed pixel displays (IMHO). This set has been professionally modified by Craig Rounds. He has twice done a complete calibration including the 2% overscan and which just takes the PQ to a whole new level. He has also calibrated the set to be compatible with all of the other components listed below.
02. Lumagen HDQ Video Processor. All of my componants pass through the processor via HDMI so I have one cable to my reciever and only one to the TV. Check out the Lumagen HDQ specs.
03. Denon 2930CI DVD Player. This player has been modified to be region free and has a standard 16 meg PAL converter. I believe this to be the finest region-free player under a thousand bucks! This is connected to the Lumagen through HDMI at 480i (yes, this Denon allows a pure 480i signal to be output!) and is then upscaled through the Lumagen to 1080i. The layer change in this machine is seemless too.
04. Toshiba HD-XA1 High Definition DVD Player. I have the latest firmware installed and the HD image quality is outstanding. I have compared HD discs to their DVD counterparts and the contrast is shocking: I did not realize how much information (re: quality) was missing on DVD due to the limitations of the format. The Toshiba is connected via HDMI to the Lumagen then passed through my Yamaha so it can decode all the high resolution PCM audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is an epiphany. The Toshiba upscales better than the Denon surprisingly enough!
05. Playstation 3 Blu-ray DVD Player. I have the PS3 connected via HDMI to the Lumagen and then passed through the Yamaha. Lossless PCM is outstanding! BTW: I don't use the PS3 for video games and have discovered the usefullness of the optional remote. My only complaint is that it's not the best for upconverting DVD.
06. Yamaha RX-V1600 THX Certified Home Theatre Reciever. Yamaha makes an awesome reciever and this model is no exception. It has two HDMI ports but only outputs 1080i...which is perfectly fine for my setup. It decodes all the high resolution PCM audio and packs a punch with 130 watts per channel. I like to bypass the matrixing programs and keep the setting on Straight so I get a pure analog signal from the disc. I also like the auto setup feature which includes the microphone: just let the reciever do the work and measure your speaker distance, sound level, room acoustics, etc...
07. Polk RTi10 Tower Front Speakers; Polk CSi5 Center Channel, Polk FXi5 Rear Side Surrounds; Polk RTi8 Tower Rear Surrounds. These speakers are voice matched and sound great! I have these speakers bi-wired for optimal performance. I have the Yamaha internal speaker setting adjusted to Large for the front speakers (LFE: Both) and Small for the other channels which enables them to produce very clear sound while my Front/Sub handles the LFE and bass.
08. 12" Polk PSW505 300 Watt Powered Subwoofer. This powered subwoofer can shake the room. I have the crossover frequency set to 80hz and the speaker setting (on reciever) to LFE:Both: the Yamaha only passes the LFE signal to the Sub despite the setting. I want my front speakers faithfully reproducing all the high and mid-range sounds and let this unit handle everything below the crossover. I have this floating on a Auralex SubDude isoaltion platform and the bass is less punchy and much more focused. What a great tweak for under $50!

Alex DeLarge's Photos

Loading…

Comment Wall (57 comments)

You need to be a member of A Netflix Community to add comments!

Join this network

At 5:29pm on November 29, 2008, The Professor said…
Thanks Alex, still interested! Page looks great!
At 11:05am on November 29, 2008, Aces (Chaoshawk) said…
Hey Alex, thanks for mentioning Bob Le Flambeur to me. Your review is intriguing and I've put it in my Queue. I haven't seen Le Cercle Rouge yet. You must have seen the synopsis in the RSS feed from my queue. I like Melville and it sounds interesting to me too. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
At 8:05pm on October 29, 2008, Aces (Chaoshawk) said…
Nice review of Downfall! I agree - it gave me a view of Hitler as a man that I've never seen before. Bruno Ganz did a great job and while I was watching it I thought "now I see why people followed Hitler!".
At 1:15pm on October 18, 2008, The Professor said…
Alex,
Let me know if you have a friend spot open up! I'd like to match up.
At 5:34pm on October 12, 2008, Tracey said…
I love James Cagney!
At 2:49pm on September 17, 2008, pihkal020 said…
Thanks for the kind words. And likewise, I'm an avid fan of your reviews. As for Hanake, I haven't given up on him just yet because I am still drawn to his thematic preoccupations. Hopefully, the execution of his ideas will continue to improve. That was an interesting take you had about Funny Games in your review; I intend to watch the remake in the near future to see Tim Roth's performance so I will keep your perspective in mind when I do so.
At 5:17pm on September 11, 2008, Lester said…
Hmm, M never heard of it. :) Top notch write-up, both in terms of substance and presentation. Concerning Hitchcock, the story goes that Hitchcock was at one point known as "the poor man's Lang" and by the 50's, Lang became "the poor man's Hitchcock." But despite the legend, I like Lang's US films quite a bit and would recommend those I've seen.

The Holy Grail I've seen many times and still convulse in laughter every time. I have seen Man Push Cart and will read your comments soon.
At 6:38pm on September 5, 2008, e. manderthal said…
Thanks for the samurai review.
Don't know how many times I've seen it, but I give you full credit for it jumping back into my queue just now.
I would like to experience it in your movie-house. (hint, hint) Must be amazing.
At 2:57pm on August 10, 2008, jumpspeed said…
Hey man, I didn't hate or despise this flim at all even before I read your review. And I understand that film maker manipulates into liking these two dudes. Where I thought you made a good point is where you say he manipulates you into like them at the victim's expense. also I thought you made a good point about the two kids being good looking young and intelligent for a reason. reading those two thing help me like this flim more in this way. To me the movie is almost unwatchable boring after they kill the kid and leave. But now I think it's boring on purpose. The flimmaker manipulates you here too. You want them to come back. which is why I think my favorite scene is when tim roth see the golf ball you know things are about to pick up. Anyway Thanks for the friend invite,man. I'll look for any new reviews you write
At 12:49am on August 10, 2008, jumpspeed said…
Hey dude, I never do this,but I just watch the movie funny games. And I have to say your review on it was really great. it actually made me like the movie more. Thats the first time a review made me like a movie more. in fact I liked it so much that if I do write a review of the movie I'm gonna talk about yours ( to tell people to read it if they want to really get the movie more) If thats cool with you?
 
 

About A Netflix Community

droidmaker droidmaker created this social network on Ning.

Create your own social network!

A Netflix Community Badge

Photos

Loading…

Ning Stats...







 

© 2008   Created by droidmaker on Ning.   Create your own social network

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Privacy  |  Terms of Service