Persona - My second Bergman film (after The Seventh Seal), and I still don't like it so much. Bibi Andersson was great to watch and listen to the whole time... Liv Ullmann not so much. But I think my problem with Bergman so far is that he tries too much to provoke thought, and it feels too heavy-handed that his situations feel contrived. That and the fact that within it all, it almost feels that he forgets to tell the story. So far, both of his films that I've seen feel more like a collection of thoughts and reflections than actual stories. This doesn't work for me so much because I'm the type of viewer who looks for the story first, and everything else is just gravy. 6/10
The Godfather Part II - An amazing movie, and it still has that compelling feeling and masterful storytelling that the first one had. However, I felt that the first one was still the tighter film, was better paced and more intense. While DeNiro's young Vito was simply charming, Pacino's Michael Corleone was more intriguing to watch in the first film as he transformed from timid son to ruthless don as opposed to the way he destroyed himself and the family in this one. Still, overall just a small step below the first one. 8/10
Frost/Nixon - A very magnetic film all throughout, especially due to Frank Langella's amazing performance. You actually feel for most of the characters actually, as they were all well written and well played: Jack Brennan's intense loyalty to Richard Nixon, David Frost's worldly ambitions that overshadowed the gravity of the situation at hand, James Reston, Jr's bitter hatred and desire to squeeze the truth out of the impeached president... An intimate, yet intense film. 8/10
