Rating: 
Summary: Five Stars?
Review: I do not blame this film for being what it is. It's a good film. However, I do not agree with the critics who heaped praise upon it so lavishly. It was a very, very good film, but not a five star film. There is nothing here beyond "Pulp Fiction." I read an interview with one of the actors saying how the violence in this movie was "real" as opposed to the glorified violence of "Pulp Fiction." Actually, I think that is completely inaccurate. I think that this film is basically a Mexican "Pulp Fiction" without the punch that Tarintino's movie had. Don't get me wrong, it's a good drama, and will hold your interest, but if you go in expecting something stunning or groundbreaking, I don't believe it is here. Some of the scenes were very average, as a matter of fact: the non-chalance with which the hitman treats his captive, for example. Is this supposed to be humorous? Have we not seen this same ambivalance towards violence several thousand times? Worth the price of admission but not a landmark by any means.
Rating: 
Summary: This film has raised the bar, in mexican cinema.
Review: Bow, wow, Bow,this film it's truly very impressive, creative, imaginative, great acting, now i see why this film has been awarded and nominated by many, many awards, i really do love the way, Mexican cinema it's evolving, also the camerawork it's really impressing, the film really does capture Mexico City, and the mexican family, also the stories aren't just all glued stupidly, they are very well and smartly "glued", wow, i really do hope that mexican cinema, keeps evolving, and i hope that is shown around the whole wide world.
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I've seen the movie when I was in Mexico. It was kind of a weird movie but I really enjoyed it. Honestly, I was totally impressed and the soundtrack was just stressing this crazy atmosphere in the movie. I would recommend to watch the movie first before buying the disc but I promise: It's worth it, anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Mexico's contemporary best films
Review: In the largest city of the world LOVING is not just a need but a way also to show how brutal we can be when we look for love. Looking for affection, love and understanding might become something really hard to find in a concrete jungle like Mexico City. We human beings can turn into brave and wild dogs when we love that bad, we may lose the head and just follow our animal instincts just like the main characters no matter the social status they belong to. The narrative is fun, great and shows at the same time a new face of Mexico's lifestyle probably hasn't seen before in a movie. If you want to see the Old Mexico's stereotypes with big moustaches, horses, tequila and a "beautiful senorita", don't waste your time, this is not definetely that kind of movie.
Rating:
Summary: "Amores Perros" certainly lives up to its name
Review: There have been many movies where it seems obvious that the director has been inspired Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" but few of those films live up to that standard as well as Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 2000 film "Amores Perros." The title translates as "Love's a Bitch" and there is an intentional irony in that because dogs are a crucial element in each of the interwoven stories. However, saying this is "Pulp Fiction" with dogs misses the point."Amores Perros" begins with a frantic car chase in which two men with a founded dog in the back seat of an old car are being pursued by guys with guns in a souped up pick up truck through the streets of the city. The prologue ends with a scene that is the nexus for the three stories written by Guillermo Arriaga, although we will not know that until we return for the second of three visits to this particular moment. The first story is about "Octavio and Susana." He (Gael GarcÃa) is a young man who is love with the teenage bride (Vanessa Bauche) of his brother Ramiro (Marco Perez), who is a thug. Octavio has dreams of taking Susana far away and when an opportunity comes to make money off of the family pet Cofi in dog fights, he takes advantage of it. Of course his complex plan comes down to one last big chance to score, which is just another way for Fate to play with him. "Daniel and Valeria" is about a television producer (Alvaro Guerrero) who has left his wife and children for the young and beautiful Valeria (Goya Toledo). Their happy home starts to fall apart when a small part of their living room floor gives way and Valeria's little dog end up underneath the floorboards. In the final segment we finally find out about a bearded, scruffy looking street person that we have seen throughout the film. In the final segment, "El Chivo and Maru," we find out that El Chivo, "The Goat" (Emilio Echevarria) is living in an abandoned building and is a hit man for hire. In addition to ending up taking care for one of the main characters from the first story, El Chivo is hired by a man who wants to have his business partner killed. However, El Chivo discovers one interesting fact about his victim that makes him decide to play out this job a little differently. "Amores Perros" is two-and-a-half hours long, which is a long time to read subtitles, but worth it. Arriaga creates characters with substantial depth and first time director Inarritu invests the stories with flair. The result is a compelling combination of visceral violence and passion, neither of which comes across as being gratuitous. The violence here matters, as compared to the bloodfest in "Cidade de Deus," where all the killing is just a constant waste of lives. Granted, Kátia Lund and Fernando Meirelles are making a much more political point in their film, but I am still struck by the artist range of how violence can be used in such films where the goal is more than to make money and give adolescents cheap thrills. Translation: These films made "south of the border" reflect a better appreciation for the reality of violence then what is coming out of Hollywood. Final Note: The DVD for "Amores Perros" has a several music vidoes, which seems strange given the subject matter, but proves to be rather interesting. You would think the film's subject matter would not lend itself to such promotions, but, again, I think we are coming up against some significant cultural differences worth noting.
Rating: 
Summary: A strong debut in the Pulp Fiction vein...
Review: The film is the directorial debut of its director (Alejandro González Iñárritu ) and was chosen as Mexico's selection for consideration for the best Foreign Language Film Oscar for 2000 (and received a nomination). The film tells 3 stories set in Mexico City that all intersect with a car accident, and all show how people are burned by love. The film has solid production values. The 1st, and most compelling, story shows the seedy world of dogfighting. A character discovers his dog has a killer instinct & uses it to earn the money that will allow him to leave town with his brother's wife, with who he is sleeping. This is the strongest section of the film & really manages to portray a side of Mexico we rarely see in films. The film is absolutely raw here, and there aren't a lot of pulled punches in the depiction of the dogfighting. Putting this gritty section 1st definitely works to the film's advantage, as it catches the viewer off guard. As I commented to my friend who was watching with me, "If the film has the guts to kill DOGS, you know all bets are off!" This is definitely a film that would face hell if it was made in America.
The 2nd story shows a model who has broken her leg (in the intersecting car accident) and is confined to her new apartment which she recuperates. Unfortunately, her small dog falls in a hole in the hardwood floor that was made while she was moving in. Without her income as a model, she cannot afford to tear up the floor, and she and her lover are forced to listen to the dog whimpering at night, as they imagine it being terrorized by the rats that also live in the hole. This section of the film definitely works as well... the terror is palpable, since we've seen what's happened to the dogs in the 1st 1/3 of the film.
The 3rd story is the film's weakest, but is far from a failure, and it contains the film's best performance. It centers on a homeless ex-guerilla who is contracted by a man who wants to kill his brother... The hitman has other plans however... This section of the film is probably a little too simple-minded for its own good. The film's energy level is high, and its subject matter warrants comparisons to Pulp Fiction. It manages to hold up relatively well in that respect, surprisingly. It's missing a lot of the wit, however, that made Pulp Fiction a classic. In addition, the stories never come together in a way that really enlightens, but that's not to say the film is anything less than entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Love and Dogs
Review: Emilio Echevarria makes one of the most powerful Mexican films to be viewed in US American cinemas to date. This three-part film follows three stories and the interwoven themes of love and dogs. The first story, "Octavio and Susana" features the at once grittily violent and tragically romantic story of Octavio and his sister-in-law, Susana. Octavio chooses dog fighting as his path to liberate his love Susana and himself from their destitute state of servitude to Octavio's family. The story ends with a bloody crash that brings us to the next story of "Daniel and Valeria," and we are harshly jolted by the contrast between this beautiful model and her apartment overlooking her billboard and where we left off in Octavio and Susana's bloody lives. Echevarria even foreshadows this contrast earlier in the film when Valeria appears in the background on a television talkshow in the livingroom of Ocatvio's friend prior to a final dogfight. However, Echevarria cleverly turns our concerns on their head, and the most superficially perfect of lives becomes the most sad. We are left feeling empty and helpless when "El Chivo and Maru" ties all three stories together, by at once showing dogs as our loves, our enemies, our weaknesses. This film is gritty and real; the cinematography is at once documentarylike, and beautifully crafted. The shift in time and space suggests the ties between love and dogs, a theme that carries us through the end of the film. You will not be able to see this film once; multiple viewings are required in order to capture all of the beauty and pain.
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: This was the best movie of 2000 and it is a farce that "Crouching Tiger" took the Oscar for best foreign film. This film is a tightly woven and moving portrait of how three seemingly seperate lives are connected by a terrible car accident. While often violent and brutal, especially in regards to the dog fighting scenes, this movie is beautifully filmed and the director does not waste a frame. It is easily one of my favorite films of the last several years and I recommend it to those who enjoy intense, thought-provoking films. Doesn't get any better than this. Gael Garcia (also seen in the recent film "Y tu mama tambien") is fabulous and there are several other impressive supporting performances.
Rating:
Summary: Grabs you by the scruff of the neck
Review: Amores Perros is a Mexican film by 21 Grams director Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu that involves three interlocking stories of love, violence, loss, and dogs. Yes, dogs.
The first segment of three in the 150-minute movie involves a young man named Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) who puts his rottweiler Cofi into dog fights, in which Cofi literally kills all his competition, and makes some nice coin along the way, which he hopes will convince his troubled brother Ramiro's mistreated young wife Susana (Vanessa Bauche), pregnant with Ramiro's second child, to come away with him. The segment begins and ends with the climactic car crash that links the three stories.
Segment two focuses on up-and-coming model/actress Valeria (Goya Toledo) and her beau, Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero), a magazine publisher who has left his wife and two daughters to be with her. In the new apartment they share, Valeria's dog Richie accidentally ends up underneath the floorboards, and the couple are at a loss for ideas on how to get him out, especially since they can't even see him and don't know if he's scared, trapped, or lost under there. This, coupled with Valeria's deteriorating health and uncertainty about her professional future, allows complications to arise in the relationship.
In the final segment, a seemingly down-on-his-luck guerilla-turned-hitman (Emilio Echevarria) is hired to take out a yuppie's partner for reasons not apparently clear. The hitman has also recently rescued a dying dog and attempting to nurse it back to health, adding him to the already bountiful stable of pooches that follow him around as he pushes his cart around town. The hitman has unfinished business from his past that he is also dealing with - and an opportunity arises for him to set things right and carry out his own designs on the hit for which he has been commissioned.
It is near impossible not to get completely absorbed in this film. The characters are so well drawn out, and each given hints of ambiguity that it is so easy to relate to every one of them - because we can immediately recognize them as humans, not just people in movies. Innaritu's documentary style of filmmaking - nearly every shot done with a handheld camera - makes us feel as if we're spying on real life.
As far as the involvement of dogs: it's a stroke of genius. Pay attention to the scene near the end when two characters, each carrying a massive amount of enmity toward the other, are unleashed on one another. Besides the species, how is this different from a dog fight? Parallels are drawn throughout the film between dogs and humans; we can be at times loyal, scared, hurt, and vicious. Unlike most movies, Amores Perros does not seek easy answers to life's hardest questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't do it for me
Review: I never thought I would utter the following phrase, "This movie was just too dark for me."
3 LONG stories all linked around a car crash scene that opens the movie. Each story not only involves, but is centered around characters' relationships with dogs. I am not a dog person, but I do consider myself an animal lover (go figure). All three "shorts" (I use that term loosely) shows dogs getting either hurt or killed. It was not enough for me to be offended or grossed out or upset, but it did hurt my opinion of the movie.
My thoughts are not all negative towards Amores Perros. I did like how the main characters/dog owners in each story are just like the dogs with which they keep company. Parallels can easily be drawn between the characters and the dogs. In this way to suggest that we are not so unlike dogs and that we are not necessarily as civilized as we like to think was very well done.
I think the percentage of people who would like it is so small that the odds are not in your favor. If you do happen to see it and do like it, I will stand corrected. That said, good and bad both shown above, it is my recommendation that you should pass.
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