47/50: Reservoir Dogs

This is the second to last film in the Quentin Tarantino pictures that I had on my list. The only one remaining is the newest - Inglourious Basterds.

Like I mentioned in my Kill Bill post, Tarantino has a way of telling a story in flashbacks and language so well that we understand everything without actually seeing it.

Reservoir Dogs is a film about a heist - a heist that we never actually see.

Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) has pieced together a crew of individuals to pull off a heist. In case anything goes wrong, the individuals had been instructed to not divulge anything personal about themselves - including their names.

So, they are given the aliases of Mr. Blonde (Mark Madsen), Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker) and Mr. Brown (Tarantino).

Of course, something goes wrong. The police are clued into the heist by a mole somewhere in the organization, and Mr. Blonde goes on a shooting rampage.

(BEST TO NOT READ MORE IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT)

Anyway, during the shootout Mr. Brown is killed during the getaway and Mr. Blue is killed at the scene. Mr. Orange is shot in the stomach and Mr. White is able to get him back to the gang's hideout. Mr. Pink also makes it back to the hideout - and with the loot in tow as well.

The rest of the film is trying to weed out the mole and figure out what exactly they are going to do now.

Again, it is so amazing that I was able to go this long without anything important being revealed to me. Sure, I knew all about the ear cutting scene, and Mr. Pink complaining about being called Mr. Pink, but the actual plot and all of the important spoilers I was able to stay away from - and I am glad I did. I think it made me enjoy the film even more.

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25/50: Taxi Driver

Well, I am not really sure how to start this. This film was not really what I was expecting it was going to be - and I think that may have hurt my view of the film, but we shall see.

Taxi Driver stars Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle. A Vietnam veteran who has had a bit of a time adjusting to life back in the states. He spends most of his time watching movies and walking the streets, but soon decides that if he is up he might as well get paid for it - and applies to be a night time taxi driver.

At first Bickle seems to be a decent person, who just may have a bit of a problem sleeping. He begins to become infatuated with a worker for a Presidential campaign, Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). Not truly knowing how ta act around her he takes her to a pornography film - and sort of freaks her out in the process.

She begins to ignore all of his calls and he begins to snap.

After he is ignored by Betsy, he befriends a young prostitute named Iris (Jodie Foster). He does all he can to get her to go home - even giving her money to return, but her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel) and his fellow friends don't allow her to leave.

I was really glad that the end went the way that it did. I was worried that Bickle would have gone one way and I was really wondering why. But, when it went the way it did it helped me like it a little more.

However, the one thing that really threw me off of this film was the music. It was horrible and never fit the film for me. It got so annoying I almost turned it off. I have never felt that way about a score before.

Anyway, like I said, I didn't think this film was what I thought it was going to be, but it wasn't horrible.

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