Added by OsamaExKing on 2 Mar 2015 12:51

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Complete Review of Alejandro González Movies.

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Decade: Rating: List Type:

1639

7.9

8.1

Amores Perros

My favorite movie of Alejandro so far. I'm always more into indie, cheap movies than mainstream ones, and this was Alejandro's first major film, it is cheaply looking 3 hour movie, very low budget, but screams talent.

The story include three parts, one homeless guy, one poor family that lives in the slum, and one very rich family, the stories seems inconsistent at the beginning but few clues here and there makes you keep watching assuming it would all make sense at the end, and it does, in a big way, the movie just keeps getting better with time, and at the end, you can't help but be astounded by how great the movie was.

The movie is pretty violent, includes animal abuse a lot, but not for no reason, it is built within the story, there's also envy, jealousy, crime, theft, abuse, infidelity, sex and love. this whole combination of things in one story really makes it interesting, you just hope things goes smoothly but it'd never did, which is why the movie keeps you at the edge of your seat, the intensity of this film is magnificent.

I have watched this movie multiple times and it is one of those movies that gets better with repetition which is an important quality in most Alejando movies, as in the way he gives you clues through out the film, you will most likely ignore or not pay attention to some of them, but upon second watching, you get the full story and you start appreciating how wonderful the production was.

The performances in this movie were very realistic, the actors were so dedicated for these roles that they went into major transformations through out the movie, the movie setup is really interesting too, as it takes three families that are very different in class, but they all connected within events that you get to discover slowly watching the movie, this is one of the few movies that i would give 8 star rating.

OsamaExKing's rating:

2562

7.4

7.6

21 Grams

I had to watch this movie twice to fully appreciate it. The usual style was there, three stories, unconnected at first, but the pace was fast and i wasn't able to fully comprehend what was actually happening and i think i missed few clues here and there, which is why the 2nd watch made it so much better.
The main theme of this movie was dealing with lose and tragedy, it was very sad, in fact, there's no light at the end of the tunnel when watching this movie, it is very tragic.

However, in these tragic situations, you get to see top performances from everyone involved in this production, very real performances even from semi-corny actors, like Namoi Watts which blew me away with her performance.

Watching this movie you'll experience unusual state of mind being that you're routing for every character in this story even though the well being of some of them goes against others. this is why this movie was great, you get to watch pure human emotions with flaws and errors and you'll be routing for them because they seem very real.

OsamaExKing's rating:

720

7.4

7.5

Biutiful (2010)

Biutiful is one of those movies that are pretty forgettable, i mean, it wasn't bad, but wasn't good either, it lacked the aspect of being an interesting picture, i honestly had to go back to read some reviews before writing this as i have no memory of what this movie was about.

I'm not really a fan of Javier Bardem, he's a good actor, but i think he lacks the genuineness and the ability to show emotions, even worse here in this movie as he plays a really bad person, he bribe cops to save his friends of illegal immigrants, he's really bad to the mother of his children and just overall played a repulsive character.

After he gets diagnosed with terminal illness however, he tries to change his behavior and helps people, but all the methods he tried fails to help people, instead, it made things much worse, and the director i think tried to change our opinion about the character the second half of the movie, as if, we'll start routing for the character if we understood where he's coming from, but i'm not sure that worked.

Maybe i'm being biased as i mentioned before that i don't actually like the main actor and i probably wasn't able to see behind that, so, i would recommend this movie if it seemed interesting to you, probably my least favorite work of Alejandro's but see for yourself.

OsamaExKing's rating:

3159

7.2

7.5

Babel

My introduction to Alejandro films started with this one. a long time ago, i watched this movie because it was critically acclaimed. back then, i was amateur in films and didn't get it, i wasn't able to connect the three stories and they didn't blend well for me, i thought it was overrated and stupid. i had the tendency to hate overly Hollywood movies (still do sometimes) and i hated this movie back then. cut to few years later, after i had the time to watch "Amores Perros" which was instantly one of my favorite movies, i decided to watch "Babel" again, and glad i did.

The movie consist of three stories (the usual style of Alejandro), the stories seems very unconnected at first, you even wonder if this movie makes sense at the beginning of it, but then, you start getting clues every now and then that implies that these stories are connect. although, compared to other movies by Alejandro, Babel is the least connected one, because the relationship between these three stories are somewhat faraway, but it's a unique style in film making and it is really good.

It is not my favorite film of Alejandro, in fact, it is one of the least favorite, mainly because of the Hollywood cast in it, i don't like seeing them in these roles, they seem overly glamorous even for tragic situations, but nonetheless, it is a good movie.

OsamaExKing's rating:

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

1552

7.6

7.7

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)...

Birdman was the movie that got Alejandro González into the Hollywood exposure, because, until 2014, Alejandro wasn't really known or popular, sure, he had good movies, but most of them were obscure and unpopular, and Birdman was the movie who brought all the buzz.

In terms of Alejandro González work, this is really unusual production, as he stepped away from the three stories theme and created something really unique, a story about broadway, an okay story at best, but the style was the element that made it all magnificent.

Bringing the "Single-Shot" to a movie this magnitude was amazing, i'm sure it was done before by other directors, but it was a very unique viewing experience that made a somewhat okay story into something really gripping that you can't look away from.

Another element that brought this movie into a higher level was the pace, as it was absolutely perfect for you to keep watching continuously, i really liked how he sometimes combined elements that we shouldn't see together into one scene, like when you can hear the drums in the background of the entire movie, then the two main actors starts walking in the streets of New York and you get to see the drummer stationed somewhere on the sidewalk. the movie was also very funny, very dark at times, a bit of overacting though specially from Emma Stone, but it was amazing nonetheless.

I have watched this movie multiple times and I've noticed that i wasn't able to pause the movie until an hour and a half into it, after the accident, which was the only scene that cuts to black, telling you to rest, take a breath, as the entire movie keeps you on the edge of your seat.

One thing i have to bring up is the fact that the ad campaign for this movie was very misleading, they tried to mislead us into thinking that this was a comic book adaptation, and the trailer brought few scenes of destruction and convinced us that this is what the movie is all about, i'm also pretty sure that the wrong audience attended the first few screenings of the movie until words spread out about what the movie actually was.

OsamaExKing's rating:

1179

7.5

The Revenant (2015)

If have to think of one word to summaries this movie, it would be "Captivating", as it was one of the best viewing experiences of the year. it combined my favorite actor with one of my favorites directors, and although, i'm not a fan of movies about wild and nature, this made me rethink that choice.

The movie is almost 3 hours long but it is so captivating and so gripping that you don't feel the time, it actually reminded me of that documentary series "Planet Earth" in which you get to see incredible nature shots never seen before, on top of that, actors and performances.

I for one have been routing for Leonardo to win an Oscar since "What's eating Gilbert Grape" and i have watched all Leo's movies, and thought that he would never surprise me with a performance range i haven't seen, but i was wrong as he puts so much effort into his performance it's almost surreal, aside from the makeup and the visual effects you get to see real emotions, real pain from him that adds another layer to his performance, and makes me believe that this movie would never be this good if it weren't for him.

I also think this was a unique experience for Alejandro to create such a film, it is so much different that his other films which interest me in a way that i had to watch a documentary about this film and how it was made, and some behind the scenes footage i got to watch from the documentary "Before the Flood", as Alejandro didn't want to create this film with over the top green screen effects and wanted to include nature scenes filmed in actual nature, and this is the element that makes this movie such a different from others.

In terms of story, i think it was about an average, but the performances by everyone involved, specially Leo's carried this movie out entirely along the production design and cinematography, defiantly i would recommend this movie to everyone as it was much better than i expected.

OsamaExKing's rating:

Name: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Born: 15-Aug-1963
Nationality: Mexico
Movies : 6
Amores perros (2000),
21 Grams (2003),
Babel (2006),
Biutiful (2010),
Birdman (2014)
The Revenant (2015)
Oscar Wins: 4

Hey, it's me, back from the dead. i haven't published a list in two or three years. please show support otherwise i'll disappear again..........kidding...enjoy reading.