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Ricardo Rico

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Ricardo is a lifelong fan of cinema, and is always searching for new films to add to his watchlist. He also enjoys writing, playing music, walking his dog and reading.

This is a really great looking film. The colors are saturated and the cinematography capturing the mountainous but urban Chile is great. The dance scenes feel like music videos, but still feel cohesive with the plot and drama.
Not your average serial killer mystery. Kurosawa does a great job of keeping you guessing and making the twists and developments really surprising while maintaining a lot of tension and suspense throughout the film.
Dune is massive in scope and visual ambition. It does what any solid blockbuster should do, let you escape and immerse yourself in an exciting and new world. Director Denis Villeneuve adds his distinct and calculated artistic touch, and makes Dune worth watching even if it is only half of the story.
Very tense film. Surge has lots of moments that are hard to sit through but impossible to look away. It manages to make you question how much of your day to day decisions are balanced between your true desires and societal expectations, and what you'd be capable of if, like the main character, you decided to live on impulse and instinct.
Uncut Gems places you into the chaotic and anxiety inducing world of Howard Ratner. Seeing through the eyes of a man that can't seem to stop sabotaging himself is thrilling and exhausting, and Adam Sandler is entirely convincing as the diamond district gambling addict. Special praise should go to the sound design and editing of the film as well.
Tony Jaa's breakout film, where we got to see the full extent of his stunt work and martial arts capabilities. Like other action films, it's plot is thin and is there to serve the larger set pieces, but the action choreography and craft put into the stunts and fights helps elevate it past a standard martial arts film.
Interesting sci-fi film. It does have an interesting balance of the action and spectacle you might expect from a large scale spade odyssey type film, alongside more contemplative and introspective themes of family, parenthood, and finding meaning in life.
Always the versatile director, Takashi Miike throws many unique elements into First Love. It's funny, has action and yakuza drug schemes, it's at times scary and depressing. These are all common elements of Miike's filmography, and he does manage to bring them all together well enough in this film. Most importantly though, it's just really entertaining.
As is consistent throughout the entire Ip Man series, the action in Ip Man 2 is the standard to beat in martial arts films. Donnie Yen continues to showcase his talent as a martial artist and even an actor, playing the reserved but confident Ip Man. Ip Man 2 however really goes above and beyond with the story, with compelling motivations and clear stakes that are impossible not to get invested in.
This is a very gripping drama. You constantly fear for and root for Yella who can't seem to catch a break throughout the events portrayed. Lots of really subtle and nuanced performances, and there's constant sense that something just isn't right. It also likely has a love it or hate it kind of ending.
Even if the historical and literary references and allusions go by too quickly or are too obscure to appreciate in full, at the very least I can appreciate Russian Ark for the technological achievements. Every so often a film "shot-in-one-take" comes around and gets attention, but really seeing it for yourself and experiencing the unique way the film unfolds never fails to impress.
Probably my favorite Kubrick film. It's often hard to believe how well much of the effects and set pieces have aged since the 60's. Thematically, it's incredible how much scope Kubrick can cover, the film really does confront our place in the universe and it's so easy to fall into a sort of meditative state while watching this as the images and music wash over you.
Wes Anderson returns to animation and adds his usual signature touch. Visually, Isle of Dogs is as impressive and stylized as any of his previous films. There's lots of solid voice acting, and the story is enough to remain compelling. It's worth the watch mostly to see the stop-motion work, a style that's always fun to experience and appreciate.
The Imposter is a documentary but it plays more like a psychological thriller. As the film goes on and the lies and deception unravel, it's incredible how every unbelievable twist manages to one-up the previous one. Good documentaries like these remind us that truth really is stranger than fiction.
This film takes an interesting approach to bringing awareness to environmental and ecological issues. Information is limited, and film generally just allows the images and scenery to speak for themselves most of the time, and for many scene this works well enough, with many of the visual in this film being genuinely impressive and awe-inspiring.
Pu Yi as a subject is ideal for a biography like this, and it's very satisfying to see that the film can cover a large amount of his life. It also can't be overlooked how much of a visual accomplishment the film is. Bertolucci took full advantage of the opportunity to be the first western production to gain access to the Forbidden City. The result is film that covers an incredible amount of visual and biographical range.
Aardman always delivers when it comes to stop-motion animation, and provide lots of really impressive and satisfying visuals in this film. The animation also luckily supports really solid storytelling and jokes. The plot is surreal and absurd, and is a great set up for plenty of visual gags and set pieces.
Stephen Chow manages to turn a silly premise into a pretty incredible film. The action is a very entertaining mix of physics defying wire fu and cartoon inspired absurdity. Juxtaposed to that is fantastic traditional chinese music. It's consistently very funny, and there's even a large dance number. Chow throws everything he can manage to fit into this film and it all somehow works.
A thrilling and thought provoking sci-fi film. It manages to accomplish a lot with very little, given the confined setting and limited cast. Moon really does pose lots of interesting questions about identity and consciousness that stick with you along with you after the film is over.
This is an interesting sci-fi film that does a good job of balancing its interest in its themes and moral questions with the action and drama of the story. I think it also does a particularly good job of utilizing its score and soundtrack. It's used to heighten multiple moments of action and was one of the most memorable aspects of the film for me.
Happy End is as cold, observational and difficult to approach as any of Haneke's films, in the best way possible. I thought the films approach to representing new technology and our relationship to it pretty novel and interesting. Filmmakers for a while have been trying to figure out how to make text messaging cinematic, and while Haneke's approach might not become the industry standard, I thought it was pretty compelling.
This is a very unique Shakespeare adaptation, and a strange viewing for someone like me not at all familiar with Shakespeare's work and only aware of the Romeo and Juliet story through its constant pop culture presence. Being unable to really comprehend the dialogue didn't end up being much a hindrance because the music, acting, editing and general over the top production more than made up for any uncertainties I had about what kind of emotions were being conveyed at any given moment.
Watching this film feels very meditative. The scenes and shots are long and often very static, usually giving us a great view of the Anatolian mountains. There's also interesting musing on the nature of violence and humanity that will stick with you if you're patient with the films pacing.
Enemy does a great job of maintaining a reasonable balance between true mystery and great surreal sequences. The story had interesting plot twists and developments, but also isn't scared of going completely off the rails into strange and bizarre ideas and visuals.