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"Chop Shop" video still

“Crash” was the last film to show the so-called dark side of America. It came as no surprise to many that racism is still very real in America. “Crash” is convoluted and preachy: perfect for colleges looking to show a film about racism. For all “Crash” accomplishes in showing, however, the film never escapes the clutches of Hollywood sensationalism. “Chop Shop” manages to avoid the sensationalism of Hollywood but can not avoid the shock value of poverty.

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Among the guns and pornos looking for a good movie at blockbuster is tough. With titles like “Fool’s Gold” getting an entire shelf top to bottom it is amazing that a film like “Japón” is even in the store. On a total whim I watched “Japón” and I am pleased to say it is the best movie I have seen in a long time. Maybe even the best movie I have seen since “Indigènes” last summer. “Japón” may be old news to some of you. Released in 2002 the Spanish language film with English subtitles written and directed by Carlos Reygadas is available on DVD. This is the movie I would make if I made movies. One reviewer called it “a movie unafraid of taking itself seriously”. But the movie is better than that.

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Hotel Rwanda, Last King of Scotland, Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers, The Good German, The Devil Wears Prada…

coming soon: Art School Confidential, The Departed.

These are my thoughts on these movies, not really reviews in the true sense, since I do not go over who is in these movies and who directs, when they were made and released etc..

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