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Shichinin no samurai [Seven Samurai] (1954) --> When a movie that is first, filmed in black and white; second, foreign (and therefore subtitled); third, made 50 years ago; and forth, over three hours long, it must be great if it is still around. This movie is exactly that. The inspiration for movies like The Magnificent Seven (1960) this movie can be considered the best movie to come out of Japan. It tells of a village in the 16th century which will be attacked by bandits as soon as the farmers of the village harvest their crops. The village sends out 4 men to recruit samurai to defend their homes. The men come back with seven samurai and the battle commences to cinematic glory.


Full Spectrum Staff

The Incredibles (2004) --> Has Pixar ever made a bad movie? The closest would have to be A Bug's Life (1998) and it was still entertaining. This movie tells the story of a family of superheroes who were forced to retire (with all the other supers) because of an onslaught of lawsuits from citizens injured by their exploits. Only Pixar could think of a plot angle such as this and what is truly amazing is it isn't the first time. They did so with Toy Story (1995) by making toys have lives of their own, and with Monster's Inc.(2001) when monsters scare in order to power their cities with the energy captured from children's screams. Even though the heroes from The Incredibles all have powers straight from the comic books (nothing original in other words) the story and the topnotch animation make this another success story for Pixar. Will they ever fail?


Full Spectrum Staff

Lola Rennt [Run Lola Run] (1998) --> Directed by Tom Tykwer, the beginning of what will be a great career, this is a visual "what if" movie that deals with various choices a girl (Lola) makes which will affect her life differently. Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend. He needs to give a very bad man 100,000 marks or he will be killed. How will Lola save her boyfriend? The film goes through 3 scenarios that have different outcomes because of a choice Lola makes. Since Lola had her moped stolen, she has to run everywhere. She has 20 minutes to solve the problem, so she is running and running and running. With added animation at the beginning of each scenario, and the truth that an insignificant thing can change your whole life, Tykwer has his hand on the pulse of fate and circumstance. A German film (with English sub-titles).


Full Spectrum Staff

Pi (1998) --> Written and Directed by Darren Aronofsky, who was soon after to hit it big with his adaptation of Herbert Selby Jr.'s book A Requiem For A Dream, Pi is a black and white freak of a movie. Sean Gullette plays Max Cohen a mathematical genius who is also a paranoia freak. His apartment, behind numerous locks, is a labyrinth of computer hardware all self designed to help Max decipher the meaning of the universe. Max has developed astounding abilities in number theory through some type of damage to his brain caused by staring too long at the sun as a child. This causes extreme headaches and almost prophetic visions.

Thinking that mathematics is the universal language imbedded in all things, and as such, can reveal the truth of existence, he begins a journey that garners the attention of two groups. Using the stock market and all it numbers as a catalyst to find the right number to unlock the secret, he is harassed by a group looking to profit monetarily by the patterns he is discovering. The second is a group of Hasidic Rabbis fronted by a man named Lenny. Both groups show that his paranoia is well founded. The Rabbis are looking for answers from the Torah that are based on mathematical theory and realize that Max may be doing this through his stock market research. A gripping and weird film not for those who like action, Pi is for the film buff who enjoys variety in their movie viewing.


Full Spectrum Staff

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