High Fidelity

Rating:
Summary: I BELIEVE WHEN I FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU IT WILL BE FOREVER
Review: For the soundtrack alone, this film could be classified as brilliant. John Cusack is always at his best in this kind of role. His confessions to the screen and audience about the all-time five worst breakups in his love life history are a perfect vehicle for Cusack and his dry humour and wry observations. The original story based on best-selling Nick Hornby book set in London was moved to Chicago where Cusack's character )Rob Gordon) owns a record shop. His life is populated with strange characters, like the two guys who work in the store (the character played by Jack Black is particularly funny although a bit overdone at times). Danish actress Iben Hjejle stars here at Cusack's girlfriend. The film begins with her moving out. Tim Robbins makes an appearance as the new-ageish former neighbour who becomes Hjejle's new lover. You will definitely need to see this to appreciate it. See the DVD version-it has some excellent deleted footage. Also be sure to buy the soundtrack, which has NOT ONE bad track. Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Elvis Costello, The Beta Band, two tracks from the Velvet Underground, and the prolific and underappreciated Stereolab... you cannot go wrong!

Rating:
Summary: One of my Top Five movies of all time...
Review: High Fidelity is one of those movies that grows on you. I have now seen this movie over ten times and I don't foresee a moment when I will get tired of watching it. Even if it's a 'little movie' (i.e. no special effects, no big epic scenes), it has it all, but mostly it is one funny, funny movie.

Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is a record store owner who recently broke up with his live-in girlfriend Laura (danish newcomer Iben Hjejle) and starts asking himself that old age question: what is wrong with me? He recalls his top five most hurtful breakups and starts going back to each of them in order to exorcise his relationship demons as he starts to realize that Laura might very well be the love of his life.

Corny and chick-flick-y as all that sounds, this is essentially the male's equivalent of a date movie. John Cusack has forever been 'one of the guys' and most male viewers relate to his everyman screen persona. His acting here is his usual level of greatness as this is one of those characters that no other actor could have made better (he did co-write the script, so that might have helped). Bonus points come in the way of Jack Black and Todd Louiso, hilariously cast as Rob's two store assistants. Black's character Barry is basically a human Tazmanian devil and he goes and steals practically every single scene he's in. Louiso's character Dick is weirder in an introverted-loserish kind of way, but he also has some great scenes and the facial expressions on this guy are simply side splittingly funny. The dialogues between this two and Cusack are definetely the highlight of the movie.

As far as the rest of the cast, it's a little 'almost' all-star ensemble of supporting characters that include Joan Cusack (John's little sister) as Rob's and Laura's friend Liz, Tim Robbins in a hilarious cameo as Ian, the upstairs neighbor with whom Laura moves after the breakup, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Charlie and Lili Taylor as Sarah, two of Rob's top five breakup exs, Lisa Bonet as Marie DeSalle, a singer with whom Rob has a little fling, Natasha Gregson-Wagner as a music columnist and Sarah Gilbert as Annaugh Moss, Todd Louiso's character's date.

Aside of the wonderful dialogues that fill this movie almost start to end, the use of music is simply fantastic. You should also check out this movie's songtrack as it is full of true musical gems like Stevie Wonder's 'I believe (when I fall...)' and a very cool cover of Marvin Gaye's 'Let's get it on' performed by Jack Black.

Another interesting thing about this film is the fact that Cusack's character breaks the so-called fourth wall, meaning that he speaks directly into the camera.

This movie is one to buy friends. Trust me on this one.

Rating:
Summary: this film saved my birthday
Review: Two years ago i had the most depressing birthday ever. The day itself isnt important but lets just say that i turned 17 and was alone and miserable. But instead of doing the stereotypical suicide thing i decided to go buy a dvd instead. The film i bought was High Fidelity, and after watching it i didnt feel so bad anymore, hence it saved my birthday.
this film is the ultimate in feel good cinema, with a hilarious turns by jack black and john cusack. the soundtrack is great and the script is excellent. quite simply this film is essential.
so if you are sitting there by your computer at 3 in the morning in your pants eating cereal surrounded by wadded tissues at the moment, while thinking of ending it all, dont. wait till the next day and then rent this gem of a film. i promise you'll be smiling at the end.

Rating:
Summary: The story of my life at the moment
Review: Right now this movie is defining my life. I'm only 18, yet I'm a music snob who is getting over a breakup with a girl (we dated for over a year), and this film is giving me solace.

Despite its lack of special effects or cinematic extravagence, this movie is very profound and very high on discovering yourself. John Cusack played the role of Rob Gordon perfectly, using music to cope with his pain, while discovering what he did wrong in his past relationships, a very courageous thing. The music fit the movie very well (everything from Springsteen to Stereolab is included here), and Jack Black and Todd Louiso's role as Rob's co-workers were acted and written in perfectly. The plot itself is defining my life since my girlfriend recently left me and is interested in some other guy who has the same complex that Ian Raymond (played hilariously by Tim Robbins) does in the movie. This is the perfect romantic breakup movie, especially if you love music. Even if you don't know a thing about Captain beefheart's "Safe as Milk" or obscure punk bands like the Stiff Little Fingers, this movie is definitely enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: Anyone who has ever wanted to get an ex back can relate to this movie. John Cusack plays a broken hearted fool too well! He plays Rob Gordon, the owner of a small Chicago record store. He and his two employees (Jack Black, Too Louiso) are obsessed with music, vinyl, and making TOP 5 lists of everything: bands, music, songs, albums, relationships, etc. Meanwhile, Rob is trying to win back his girlfriend who left him for their hemp-smoking-ponytailed-tree-hugging-nieghbor, Ian. The break-up forces him to look back on his TOP 5 break-ups of all time, examine them, and find out what exactly went wrong (some of his ex's include Catherine Zeta-Jones & Lisa Bonet).
This movie is hilarious up until the last second. John Cusack is great, and this is the movie that really made me like Jack Black as an actor. If you're into music, or have ever been dumped, or just like watching good movies, watch this one.

Rating:
Summary: Worth rewatching again and again...
Review: Last night my wife surprised me by popping this movie into the DVD I had planned to read while barely paying attention to the film. Fat chance! It may well have been my 10th or 11th viewing, but it remains can't miss entertainment.

Despite the fact that the Nick Hornby book is transplanted from England to Chicago, darn near everything about this movie works. John Cusack as Rob Gordon is inspired casting and as a special added bonus, we get Jack Black as Barry. Black very nearly steals the movie everytime he is in a scene, but ultimately it is Cusack who delivers a perfect performance as Rob.

In fact, you have to wonder, was Cusack actually acting? Rob Gordon is an everyman who to some degree is leading a dream life. He owns a record store and has had more than his fair share of gorgeous girlfriends. But he's also always borderline broke and can't seem to keep his relationships with women together. His current relationship is on the rocks as his girlfriend has moved out and moved in with another guy (Tim Robbins as a guy all too familiar to many of us; a guy we love to hate).

Rob is depressed, but he's also a list maniac, continually coming up with lists that relate to his life, although most of them are based on music from some period in his life. In an effort to figure out why he keeps losing the women in his life, he decides to contact his all-time top five break-ups to learn what keeps leading his relationships with women to an end.

There's a lot of talking to the camera here, as Rob keeps us cued in on what's on his mind. This may well be the single best use of this effect I've ever seen in a film. This is an inspired film and you'll never tire of watching it.

For a real treat, watch it back-to-back with "About a Boy."

Rating:
Summary: what a loser
Review: This movie is very sad.The poor guy crys about his woman leaving him moaning to the audience about how cool she is,gets her back,then cheats on her.This guy is so whipped it awful.she treats him like a yo-yo and his mommas boy ass keeps taking it like a punk.This is not my idea of a romantic film.

Rating:
Summary: Top 5 Reasons For Watching This Movie!
Review: My top 5 reasons as to why this is a must see film are as follows;
1)The story-The character played by John Cusack has reached his late 20's and he's just split up with his girlfriend of the past 2 years.He owns a 2nd hand record store and he's struggling to survive financially.His best frined are 2 fellow music loving eccentrics with whom he has this sort of love hate relationship.He knows he's coming to an age where he should maybe think of settling down and start making concrete plans for a secure future,yet he's been living in some sort of denial.It's the break up of this relationship that makes him suddenly question the way his life has been going.This is portrayed through the various scenes in the film but it's also totally original in the way that Cusack delivers this really funny yet at times pitiful narrative to the camera in a way that puts everything going on around him in a state of freeze-frame.He goes through the pain of trying to sort out his life during the course of the film.

2)Comedy-There are some really funny moments in the movie.The main character Cusack himself is a witty and yet comically pitiful figure.Even better are the two sidekicks he works with.They are musical snobs and the scenes in the record store are often hilarious as they deal with the less "musically-educated" customers who come to the store.One middle-aged customer who comes in to buy Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say..." is dealt with in the funniest put-down manner imaginable.The contrast between his two assistants is also a source of amusement.The cameos by Tim Robbins and Bruce Sprinsteen are also hilarious-especially Robbins who is a high-flying,world music loving,martial arts expert who also looks like some sort of new age hippy and worst of all he's living with Laura,Cusack's ex-girlfriend.The scene where he confronts Cusack in the record store is totall original and is also hilarious.

3)The Girlfriends-Cusack decides to give you a glimpse of his past life by telling us his worst 5 break ups in his life.Each one is so different and it goes from the time he was in 7th grade right up to current events.He tries to meet up with all these girls again to see if there's a pattern in to where he's going wrong-usually ending up in hilarious and unexpected consequences.

4)The Music-Well it's really good.As you'd expect from the owner of a 2nd hand record store it's not your average commercial stuff but a wide range of classics and alt from the 60's through to modern times.At one stage Cusack says "I'm going to now sell 5 copies of The Beta Bands 3 E.P's".As someone who often frequents record stores myself the scene was just so accurate as the customers hear this wonderful track for the first time and immediately go from just nodding their heads in rhtyhm to the music to enquiring as to who it is?Straight after the movie I dug out my own copy of the c.d. and started to play it again for the first time in years.

5)The top 5 lists-this was a particularly strong element in Nick Hornby's book from which the film is based.It's not only the variety of lists from funeral music,to break-up tracks-but it's also the way they are compiled,the useless trivia that precludes certain items,the arguments and dissing of other people's choices.It's the sort of useless arguments that many groups of guys of that age spend hours upon hours discussing.

All in all this is a really enjoyable movie.It's funny and it also has a "feel good" factor to it without being cringe inducing in a Forest Gump way.

Rating:
Summary: The Chic Flick for Guys
Review: I consider this the best romantic movie of all time. It's a more modern rendtion of Annie Hall, but it centers around a record store owner and movie geek. The main character classifies everyhing in terms of top fives, and throughout the film, he recounts his top five most damaging breakups. It is made that much more complex by the fact that the entire movie takes place during his most recent top five. It features the breakout performance of Tenacious D lead, Jack Black, and it is still his best performance. We witness some of the best directing of all time as we are put into the mindset of John Cusack's character, Rob. As much as we like the guy and sympathize with him, we also experience his self-loathing(that is we dislike things about him, not ourselves, but we also see a bit of ourselves in him. this could be due to the fact that so many writers worked on it.).

This truly brilliant film offers a new intimate look into the world of dating and music. Not in my top five, but definitely in my top ten. FIVE STARS.

Rating:
Summary: Funny
Review: This is a funny movie about a guy named Rob Gordon (John Cusack) who is going through a crisis in which he does not know why all of his relationships have failed. He owns a record store in Chicago that is set in the backstreets where not many people find it, so he is having trouble with business. His friends are Barry (Jack Black), who is snobby and won't allow customers to buy "crap" music and does not sell records to people he does not like, and Dick (Todd Louiso), who is the more quiet of the two who does not try hard. He is upset over the recent breakup with his 2 year girlfriend Laura (Iben Hiejle) and meats with former girlfriends to find out what his problem is with love. Catherine Zeta Jones plays one of his former girlfriends. Rob makes many asides to the audience that are hilarious, and the movie is worth watching. It also has a great soundtrack.