Epinions Film Dictionary: You Can't Spell "Cinema" without an R! Apr 18 '03 (Updated Apr 19 '03)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line R you ready? ...okay, well yes you probably can spell it without an 'R'. But trying spelling 'cinemar' without the 'R'. Now who's the hotshot, punk?! To be slightly more serious, I was assigned the letter R in this big ol' Epinions Film Dictionary that Simply Crispy is putting together. I didn't realize that so many damn things filmic started with this particular letter until I started getting into it. And being the obsessive freak that I tend to be in areas such as these, I'm sure I'll go on far too long with this entry, which is why I encourage you to scroll all the way down to the bottom of this Review and click on the Very Helpful button. This is a practice here at epinions known as Rubberstamping. But I digress. One last note, I'm not doing this in any sort of alphabetical order, mainly because I am a rebel. You can't get much more unrebellious then submitting an entry into an online dictionary, but you know me, I gotta give it a shot. That is because I am rad. So, to the list proper then, these things occurring to me in the moment I sit down to write them, thus being often strangely related, but otherwise coincidental. Reservoir Dogs: Quentin Tarantino's "look at me I made a freaking amazing first film!" film. Responsible for Pulp Fiction, which is, in turn, responsible for a hundred bad rip-offs and countless more bad dialogue scenes scattered throughout the 1990s. Still, a glorious film that I've seen at least 10 times and would watch another ten right now, if given the chance. Oh yeah, and the ear part. Ryan, Meg: My first Hollywood crush, though the cutesy routine wears a bit old as she nears her 40s. Still, she starred in one of the best romantic comedies of all time (When Harry Met Sally), tried to be a prostitute once (HurlyBurly) and managed to be Randy Quaid's sister-in-law for quite some time. And I still find her very very attractive. Room with a View: A movie I have never seen based on a book I have never read (though I once claimed that I had, in high school, to impress a girl. I don't think it worked.) Rolling Thunder: As raw and explosive as exploitation/revenge films get. Light years ahead of (and better than) Death Wish or any other Bronson movies, William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones get themselves some serious revenge post-Vietnam, with a little help from Paul Schrader's angrier-than-Taxi Driver script. Radio Days: Probably the only time in this entire entry that I'll be able to squeeze a Woody Allen reference in - though that won't stop me from trying. A not very serious but altogether pleasant film with a great soundtrack. Rocky I-V: movies that had boxing in them and also, in one of them, Mr. T himself. Red: Part of Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy (White and Blue being the other two), one of the great film trilogies of all time. Red just so happens to be my personal favorite. Though you should watch them in order, and this one is the final film in the trilogy. Red Dawn: Apparently, this was a movie at one time. Russkies: A movie I remember watching with my dad on video when it was first released. It just might have been the first "PG" rated movie I ever saw with him. No one has written a review on this film for the site, a fact that makes me sad, though not sad enough to write one myself. Rudolph, Alan: Hit or miss film director over the past twenty years, originally from Seattle. One time protege of Robert Altman (whose style he rips off to good effect in films like Choose Me). I have met him in person, he is not that tall. Rossellini, Roberto: If you want to impress your film snob friends, you'd better learn who this guy is, quick like. Besides being the father of Isabella Rosselini (one time wife of Martin Scorsese), he is also one of the most revered Italian directors of the 20th century. Films like Open City should help you understand why. Rossellini, Isabella: Daughter of genius neo-realist Italian director. Former wife of Martin Scorsese. Do you need more reasons to admire her? Okay, she is/was a beautiful lady. Roger Ebert gave Blue Velvet a one star rating because of the way Lynch "portrayed" her at the end of the film, which to this day makes Ebert look insane, though his immense championing of Mulholland Drive goes a little way towards rectifying this view. Rock and Roll High School: Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock n' roll high school... Rear Window: In a very close race, people seem to actually like the Alfred Hitchcock version of this film - with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly - better than the TV movie version starring Christopher Reeve and Daryl Hannah (actual vote: 1,934,810 to 7 in favor of the former). One of Hitchcock's greatest films, and if I didn't like Vertigo so damn much, I would say it features Jimmy Stewart's best performance. So now I'll say second best. Man confined to wheelchair thinks he witnesses a murder in the apartment across from him. So, naturally, he becomes an obsessive voyeur and gets Grace Kelly to join in the fun. Rock, Chris: complete failure on Saturday Night Live, which everyone seems to now forget ("Nat X" anybody? Didn't think so). Briefly on In Living Color, after everyone had stopped watching it. Did a stand up special for HBO and all of the sudden he was the 'best comic working today' - which is giving him a little too much credit. But still, he is a funny man if given the right forum and is actually quite surprising in his low-key turn with Morgan Freeman in Nurse Betty. Richard Roeper: The guy they got on the show to make you forget that Ebert was ever part of an intelligent film criticism team. Any time he recommends a movie, be very wary of said film. There seems to be a good chance he is there to make us feel smarter than him. But he still scares me. Rumble in the Bronx: Jackie Chan movie that my sister watched, not knowing it was dubbed - and so she thought the whole thing was a joke. I never watched it to verify it as such. Sorry if you're offended, I've just never cared all that much about Jackie Chan. Ran: One of the truly great films ever made. In every aspect - story, visualization, scope - Ran is an epic delivered to our weary souls straight from the heart of one of the cinema's legendary directors, Akira Kurosawa, working at the very top of his game. If possible, see this one on a very large screen. (Note to ArtbyJude: why haven't you reviewed this yet you Kurosawa freak?!) Rashomon: Another movie he did, like 40 years earlier. Opened up the doors of narrative possibility in the cinema or some crap like that. Russell, David O.: Spanking the Monkey is decent if overhyped, Three Kings is an especially good film to watch in these times, but the reason I love this man is that he provided us with one of the best (and most criminally underseen!) comedies of the 1990s, Flirting with Disaster. If that is the only film he had ever made, he would remain a great man. River's Edge: Keanu Reeves and Crispin Glover and some other random later-famous and not-so-later-famous teenagers get all weirded out because that is what teenagers do. Okay, I've never seen this film. Raiders of the Lost Ark: But I have seen this film perhaps more than any other. The first movie I consciously remember watching is still one of my all-time favorites. For my birthday a few years back I attended a revival showing of this film at the Cinerama, and appreciated it all the more. Harrison Ford can make a hundred Random Hearts and Steven Spielberg can make a hundred 1941's; they've more than earned that right for makng a masterpiece like this. rotoscope - "Historically, a rotoscope was a kind of projector used to create frame-by-frame alignment between filmed live-action footage and hand-drawn animation. Mounted at the top of an animation stand, a rotoscope projected filmed images down through the actual lens of the animation camera and onto the page where animators draw and compose images." A recent, albeit slightly modified (computerized) version of this technique was used to glorious effect in Richard Linklater's Waking Life. Rated R: Under age 17 must be accompanied by an adult or legal guardian. Or, I bought tickets to Ladybugs and snuck into The Lawnmower Man on my very first date. I am so glad that somebody came up with a system to keep our kids from seeing violence, hearing foul language, or watching scenes of a sexual nature! Wait, if they watch the news they can see actual violence, assuming they hang around other people they have probably heard far worse things come out of people's mouths than anything some screenwriter is dreaming up, and if they want to hear about sex they can just watch Friends at 8pm (7 central!). Way to go MPAA. I already feel safer. Roth, Philip: Insanely talented author who, so far, hasn't seen his work fare well on the big screen. Though to be fair, who could make an intelligent movie out of the rambling (though hilarious) monologue that is Portney's Complaint? Luck should shine more fairly on Mr. Roth as his tremendous novel, The Human Stain, finds its way to theatres (with Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman leading the way). Ricky Jay: Yeah, so I'm using his first name, so sue me. You can't have a dictionary without a little Ricky Jay action. Master magician and some time film star. Also, narrated the introduction to Magnolia Rope: Hitchcock's most homo-erotic film, most famous for its lack of editing (each 'take' is an entire roll of film, there are no cuts or close-ups in the entire picture). And it's an interesting movie to boot. Rental: A concept introduced about 20 years ago whereby you plunk down your money and some snot-nosed kid lets you take a movie home for a day or two. Late fees are the work of the devil. I'm still waiting for BETA to catch on. Replacements, The: Keanu Reeves plus Gene Hackman plus football = some sort of disaster. Reeves, Keanu: I don't really know what to say about him. I did like Bill and Ted's Excellent Journey and The Matrix, but the guy can't really act his way out of a paper bag. Which, by the way, is an expression I've never fully understood. Rocky Horror Picture Show: If you're normal, you've seen this because it's required that you see at least once in life. If you're insane, you go to theme parties at midnight and watch this, dressed as your favorite character. I never got that. The Rock (movie): Sean Connery and Nic Cage run around wondering why they agreed to be in this picture. The Rock (actor): I'm not sure how you just get to call yourself "The Rock". But I'm also not going to argue with this guy any time soon. My resolution? Never see any of his films, ever. That will totally passive-aggresively show him! Rushmore: What can I say about this wonderful wonderful film that Mike can't say better?! Yours Truly, Dirk Calloway. Jacques Rivette: Totally foreign. Renoir, Jean: Foreign and talented. See Rules of the Game below. (Confession: I fell asleep the first time I tried to watch The Grand Illusion all the way through). Reed, Carol: Sounds like a girl, but definitely is not. Poor guy. On the upside, he directed the best ever non-Orson Welles, Orson Welles film, The Third Man, which also features one of the greatest film scores of all time. Romeo and Juliet: If you need me to tell you what this is about, I feel sorry for you. I'm still not sure whether or not Baz Luhrman's update was a good idea or not. Ritt, Martin: Underrated director of films such as The Front (starring Woody Allen) and The Great White Hope (featuring that CNN voice guy). The Right Stuff: Another movie I haven't seen but should have, or so I've been told. Astronauts and stuff. Raging Bull: Only the greatest film of the 1980s in the minds of many serious film critics. But it's actually good, too. This is one to buy for the collection, kiddos. Robert Deniro is absolutely overwhelming in his Oscar winning performance, forever lending credence to the idea that if you have to physically alter your body in any way for a role in a film, you have automatically turned in a remarkable performance. Rio Bravo: In terms of pure entertainment, this is one of the best Westerns to ever grace the screen. And what's more, chances are you'll like it even if you don't like Westerns. One of Howard Hawks' greatest moments (in a career literally full of them) and a movie that Quentin Tarantino shows his girlfriends as part of a screening process. Pay attention ladies, if you don't like it, you're no longer up for consideration in his eyes. The Royal Tenenbaums: Some people actually don't like this movie, though I'm convinced they are aliens from a planet where Big Business plays in an endless loop. How can you not fall in love with Wes Anderson's heartbreaking and hilarious portrait of a family of geniuses? In my eyes, this was the best films of 2001. Run Lola Run: German movie where girl with red hair runs all the time, then starts over and runs again but different things happen. I liked it the first time, but I haven't thought about seeing it again since I first saw it. For extra cool points, refer to this film buy its German name at all times, Lola Rennt. Run Ronnie Run: The funniest movie you'll never see. From the messed up magical minds of David Cross and Bob Odenkirk (the creators and stars of Mr. Show), comes what is, by all accounts, a Mr. Show movie. In the can for nearly two years now, New Line has no idea what to do with it, so they're sitting on it. You should email them and tell them you want to see it. Bootleg copies are supposedly circulating on the internet and other such sordid places. Roundtree, Richard: Shut your mouth. But I'm talking about Shaft! Roger and Me: Michael Moore's first venture into documentary films, a largely successful movie that examines the town of Flint, Michigan as its residents struggle with being laid off by the big motor companies. As always, Moore is on a quest to get some answers, and his first time out he shoots right for the top, attempting to get an interview with the CEO of GM. Good stuff. In a bizarre aside, this film features George W. Bush's cousin as its cinematographer. Ruggles of Red Gap: Leo McCarey made some great films, this being one of them. Ruggles is the name of a character. I don't know why, but that always makes me laugh. I put off watching this for a few years, after a strong recommendation from a good friend. I now regret that. Don't let this happen to you. Roman Holiday: Has there been a face more beautiful in American films than Audrey Hepburn's? (Correct answer: no). Raising Arizona: Dem dere Coen Brothers film with the (at the time) hilarious Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter, among others. A comedy that works on many levels but never forgets to make you laugh. Rebel Without a Cause: James Dean's whole image pretty much stems from this one film. And it's a good enough one, just not quite as mythic as our culture might have you believe. Red River: Hawks' other great Western, though for my money, not as entertaining as Rio Bravo. Red Shoes: Mmmm...Powell and Pressburger films...mmmm... While not their very best, it is close, and it's the only one I could remember that started with an R. Listen to Scorsese's audio commentary on the Criterion DVD edition to gain a truly great understanding of this gem of a film. Rosemary's Baby: Creepy in all the right ways. Polanski's film ever blows its load or loses any steam. Great performances and direction. And Mia Farrow's pixie look is the stuff dreams are made of. Repulsion: Another seriously creepy Polanski film with yet another hot woman in it (Catherine Denueve in this case). A truly unique film, shot in black and white, that draws you in slowly and never really lets go... Risky Business: Just take those old records off the shelf... Rules of the Game: You are supposed to have seen this and compared Robert Altman's recent Gosford Park to it. I haven't seen this film, though I've heard nothing but good things about it. Still it's in French, so it's probably against Freedom in some way. If it is found to be un-terroristic, I might get around to watching it (for liberty of course). And that ends it, my friends. Talk about a ramble. Sorry if your head hurts. Just think how mine must feel.

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