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Cronos (1992)
A Strange and Beautiful Film.
Antique shop owner Jesus Gris is shocked when he finds a strange metal object hidden in one of his statues. As he is examining the small device it latches on and stabs into his hand. After he takes it off he begins to feel the urge to let it grab hold of him once more. The more Jesus uses it the more he realizes that there is much more to this machine than meets the eye. He's not the only one who knows of it's power though. Mr. De La Guardia, a dying millionaire, will stop at nothing to get it, even if that means getting rid of Jesus once and for all.
Cronos is Guillermo Del Toro's first film and may very well be his best. Del Toro masterfully blends elements of horror, comedy and mythology to create a magnificent fairy tale concoction. He creates a film that can be scary, funny and touching all in the same scene. Cronos also has a uniquely spooky tone that's much more like a classical ghost stories than a modern horror movie.
All the actors are excellent; specifically Federico Luppi whose performance makes me want to search out more of his films. Ron Perlman also gives an excellent and hilarious performance as Angel De La Guardia, the carefree nephew of Mr. De La Guardia, who can't wait for his uncle to croak and leave him his fortune.
Every element of Cronos is expertly carried off, but what really stands out are the small touches. Gris sneaking to the bathroom to use the device like some perversion of drug addiction. His granddaughter trying to hide it from him as she is afraid of what he is becoming. Angel's sheer disgust every time he has to deal with his dying uncle and be part of this seemingly pointless quest.
Cronos is proof positive that Del Toro is a true master of his art and one of the best directors working today. Cronos is a masterpiece and a film not to be missed by anyone. It's also easily one of the most overlooked and underrated movies of the 90s.
True Grit (2010)
Not nearly what it could have been.
A cruel bandit named Tom Chaney has recently murdered the father of a young girl named Mattie Ross. Chaney escaped the law and Mattie feels that he needs to be brought to justice. On her quest to find a bounty hunter she finds an aging drunkard named Rooster Cogburn who may be just what she needs.
True Grit is not a bad movie by any means, it's actually a good movie, it's just a severely underachieving one. Considering that it was directed by the Coens, who are the best directors working today, and starred Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon it should have been an instant classic. What it turns out to be is an often touching sometimes exciting film that completely fizzles before it's over.
All the acting is exceptional, especially the young Hailee Steinfeld who should have a bright cinematic future ahead of her. Many of the characters are quite endearing as well and you genuinely care what happens to them. And, as to be expected from the Coens, it is expertly directed, until the end at least.
Now the bad news. A large portion of the movie is shown in the trailer and so many of the events, in an already somewhat predictable storyline, are known going in. The pace is out of whack. Most of the comedy is too silly for my taste and I found Jeff Bridges' character to be used as comedy relief a bit too often. The ending is also a major disappointment as it seems to happen far too quickly and it feels like there must be a missing reel somewhere.
True Grit is an enjoyable movie that will likely please many audiences. I just find it to be very disappointing being such a huge Coen Brothers fan. They usually have a knack for making you think even if you don't particularly enjoy the subject matter or the movie itself. True Grit fails to make you think, but provides you with a mostly fun time at the theater.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
Shakespearian Monster Mash
Prince Nuada is the last of a dying race and he has grown tired of watching his kind wither and die in a world that humans continue to tear apart. In order to gain back control and eliminate humans once and for all he will attempt to revive the ancient Golden Army, even if that means breaking the truce between humans and his father. As Hellboy attempts to prevent him from what would surely be the end of humanity as we know it he comes to the realization that he has much more in common with Prince Nuada than the humans he protects.
Hellboy 2 is a truly amazing piece of cinema. Guillermo Del Toro manages to not only make what may be the best comic book movie ever, but also make a fantasy story for the ages. On a visual and set design level, Hellboy 2 is absolutely stunning. The world he creates in Hellboy and the creatures that populate it are complete creative bliss.
The Troll Market scene is one of the happier moments I have ever had in sitting in a theater seat and it is packed to the brim with creatures that only Del Toro could think of, all the while not relying on CGI to get the job done. When every aspect of a movie is created using CGI it's hard to feel any connection to it (the Star Wars prequels anyone). I find prosthetics and makeup a much more impressive and effective method of bringing a character to life than CGI.
Aside from the visual splendor and eye popping action scenes, Hellboy 2 has a huge heart buried under its thrills. At the core there's Hellboy, brought to life by the underrated Ron Pearlman, who struggles with his place in a world that fears him. Then there's Liz Sherman, his damaged pyrotechnic girlfriend who may be more lost and confused than Hellboy himself. Their confused and tragic nature is what makes the characters in Hellboy 2 so great. They are super heroes who are freaks that would be cast out if they weren't useful in protecting the world from others like them.
Prince Nuada is one of the greatest villains in movie history; mainly because it would be easy to say that he wasn't a villain at all. His struggle to save his people is a true moral quandary that is very understandable given the circumstances. He believes that humans are the problem and he will stop them no matter what the cost. Is he right or is Hellboy, it's up to you to decide.
Another amazing addition from the original Hellboy is Johann Krauss; the new BPRD agent whose gaseous form is contained within a special suit. He is hilariously voiced by Seth McFarlane and the applications of his amazing powers are truly endless.
What I think brings down Hellboy 2's rating and consideration is that some of the humor is very silly and childish. Is that a big deal? You tell me. I agree that some scenes can be overly silly but that adds to the fun atmosphere and tone of the film.
Hellboy 2 is an absolute classic. It's filled with thrills to put you on the edge of your seat, it packs a much greater emotional punch than almost any movie of its type, and it has a ton of laughs as well. I can't smile without it.
The American (2010)
Who Forgot To Bring The Movie?
After an attempt on his life an assassin named Jack must hide out in Italy for awhile so things can cool down and he can do another job for his boss.
Let me start by saying that The American starts off quite well. It hits you with a bang and you can't help but wonder where this strange and somewhat cold character is headed. Nowhere.
The American is just a very flat experience. I know many supporters like to say that it's slow pace is a good thing and you have to be more mature and film savvy to enjoy it, but I disagree. I don't need action every second and I truly enjoy character development; this is nothing. Each seemingly useless scene proceeds with such a slow pace that any possible interest disappears. This is not a movie that uses pace and tone to it's advantage.
George Clooney really doesn't show much range as his character doesn't appear to have any discernible emotions. Whether he is shooting somebody or sleeping with a prostitute he has the same bland look on his face. Maybe this was an attempt to show that he was cold and unfeeling, but no one really contrasts his stoicism. Most of the other characters were very underplayed and cold as well.
This seems to me to be a movie that thinks it has a lot more to say than it does. Especially considering it borrows a lot from superior films (In Bruges, Bourne Identity).
The American mainly fails because it can't successfully succeed as a thriller or a drama. It's not nearly exciting enough to be a thriller and their is very little true emotional meaning. So whatever your taste, it's more likely to disappoint than not.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Truly One of a Kind.
2001: A Space Odyssey is a very difficult film to summarize, but I will give it a shot. A mysterious monolith that dates back to the dawn of time is found on the moon and scientists are attempting to excavate and study its mysterious nature. Also, two astronauts headed to Jupiter must deal with Hal 9000, the artificial intelligence controlling their ship, which appears to be malfunctioning.
2001 is not only one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time but easily one of the most strange and original pieces of film art to ever grace the screen. Every facet of 2001: A Space Odyssey is so meticulously detailed and painstakingly filmed that it's truly a wonder to behold. And while its detail and realism are some of its highest commendations they are also 2001's biggest flaws. Stanley Kubrick crafts a sci-fi universe that is so realistic and believable that it is boring.
I believe that by making certain scenes go on for what can seem like an eternity he was attempting to make the entire concept of 2001 being a science fiction movie blaze' and unimportant. As if to say; "yeah it's science fiction so what, I've got an important story to tell." And what a story it is.
2001: A Space Odyssey deals with everything from god to artificial humanity with such subtly that it's very hard to even discern what any of it means during initial viewings. Everyone who watches this movie once and hates it should at least give it one more chance. Like most really great films the more you watch it the better it gets. Though many scenes can be tedious to watch more than once, 2001 has such a vast amount of subtext it is virtually a completely different film every time you watch it.
2001: A Space Odyssey is easily the most misunderstood and hard to love of all cinematic classics. It's easy to write it off as a self-indulgent piece of pseudo sci-fi nonsense, but it is truly so much more than that. It's not only the most realistic portrait of what our future may really look like but a meditation on where humanity has been and where it may be going. It's a spectacle unlike any other and a film that should not be missed.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
One of Pixar's Most Meaningful Films and It's an Absolute Blast.
Andy is going off to college and what's left of his toys are afraid of ending up in the attic or worse; the garbage can. After a mix up with with a garbage bag Andy's toys find themselves being donated to Sunnyside Daycare. Once they discover how nice it is there they must decide whether to return to Andy, who no longer plays with them, or stay at Sunnyside which seems to be the perfect place for a toy...or is it?
Toy Story 3 is filled with one beautifully constructed and visually arresting scene after another. All the characters look better than ever, backed by the consistently amazing voice work of the Toy Story series, and every scene pops with vibrant colors and and toys of all shapes and sizes. In addition to the numerous exciting action scenes, and there are plenty, the humor is another quality that elevates this from just another Pixar sequel. Yeah, some jokes are juvenile and go on too long but a majority of the comedy is amazingly mature and precisely and cleverly spoofs many cinematic cliché's.
Put looking past the fun and excitement of Toy Story 3 is a cleverly written script that deals with getting old, leaving your childhood behind and becoming unimportant to the people who matter to you the most. Though I find the final scene to be a bit sappy and overly drawn out it a touching and cutting analogy for growing up. What aspects of your childhood are left behind as you begin your journey to adulthood? Some part of us all yearns for the years when our lives were simple and our exuberant joy so easy to attain.
Whatever your age and cinematic preferences I believer you will find Toy Story 3 to be a thoroughly enjoyable and shockingly heartfelt adventure seen through a child's eyes. Believe the Hype.
Inception (2010)
The Most Original and Entertaining Movie In a Long Time.
Cobb, an operative trained in the art of manipulating the dreamland, is hired for a particularly difficult job involving Inception, implanting an idea into someone's mind, which many believe to be impossible.
When I first saw Inception I looked at it all wrong. I was focusing on the all of it's flaws while ignoring all of it's many gifts. Yes, many of the ideas in Inception don't make strict logical sense and some of the characters we've seen before but it doesn't matter. Some movies if you just check logic at the door you are in for the ride of the your life and this is one of the those movies.
The concept of infiltrating the dreamland and stealing information like some of sort of demented bank job is such a great idea with so many cinematic implications that it's a crime to just disregard it because is "doesn't make sense." Movies are meant to tell you an amazing story and let you escape the world for a while and Inception has that in spades. No other director is currently pushes the bounds of film like Christopher Nolan. He is a true visionary and I think many people are quick to discard him and say he is overrated. Whether you think he is overrated or not; he is consistently created original movie concepts and that's a very hard thing to do these days. Nolan also refused to shoot Inception in 3D as well; which I admire because that has quickly become Hollywood's go to big bucks gimmick.
In Inception, Nolan creates not only some of the best action scenes in recent history but some of the best all time. The way Nolan is able to weave a dream within a dream within a dream into a coherent scene is truly a wonder. It's mental Olympics just to keep up with all these narrative strands at one time but it's also a blast trying to solve this mind puzzle that flies at you at 100 miles per hour.
Inception isn't just strictly meaningless fun however. Inception deals deeply with memories and dreams and specifically how they can affect and warp the mind. The idea of functioning in a word where bad memories can come back to haunt you in a physical form is at once cinematic excellence and a Freudian psychological study.
Inception is not only the best movie of 2010 but a cinematic adventure to rival Raiders of the Lost Ark.
If Inception is a dream...I don't want to wake up.
Mystery Men (1999)
The Most Underrated Movie of All Time
Mr. Furious, The Shoveler and The Blue Raja have been super heroes for some time with very little success. Despite their best efforts everything always seems to go wrong and they are constantly living in the shadow of the city's favorite hero Captain Amazing. When Amazing is captured by a recently released super-villain it is their chance to prove to everyone, including themselves, how important they really are.
I'll start by saying that Mystery Men is absolutely hilarious and one of most clever and subtle comedies ever made. All at once the Mystery Men are spoofing super hero conventions while being heroes themselves. Ben Stiller gives the best performance of his career as Mr. Furious; whose failed puns and inability to use his power to any affect are the two funniest running gags in the film. Backing up Ben Stiller is an superb ensemble cast almost all of whom give amazing performances that are at once resonant and hilarious. In addition to Ben Stiller; William H Macy, Hank Azaria and Greg Kinnear are high points.
I also want to point out that Mystery Men isn't just a good comedy, it's one of the best movies about super heroes ever made. Never have super heroes been portrayed in this realistic light. These are super heroes that live with their mothers, have low self esteem, and can't talk to women. This is an underdog story in the truest sense of the word and you can't help but root for them because they're like real people. Much like Watchmen reinvented super heroes in the 80's as cruel and sometimes impotent lunatics, Mystery Men reinvents them as well meaning losers.
Don't let the critics or the paltry 5.9 IMDb rating fool you this is one of a kind. I highly recommend this to everyone and I implore you to not this let cinematic gem slip through the cracks. People who don't appreciate good movies....Make Me Furious!
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Why so Underrated?
Dr. William Hartfor has just had a fight with his wife and begins to realized that his marriage may be collapsing. As he wonders New York City he has a series of strange encounters that culminates with him visiting a strange masked ball where nothing is as it seems.
I went into Eyes Wide Shut without high expectations. I am a huge Kubrick fan and I knew, since he directed it, it couldn't be a complete waste of time but due to its lack of acclaim I figured it was one of his weaker efforts. I was blown away.
Eyes Wide Shut is a cinematic masterpiece that, in true Kubrick fashion, can be interpreted in innumerable ways and puzzled over for hours. Eyes Wide Shut dissects everything from marriage to sexual perversion all the while containing an ominous tone that turns it into some perverse horror story. Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise both give excellent career defining performances as does Sydney Pollack even with his extremely short screen time.
I'm not sure why this isn't considered one of Kubrick's best. Virtually every movie he has made, including the disappointing Full Metal Jacket, are considered to be some of the greatest pictures to every grace a multiplex, yet Eyes Wide Shut was virtually ignored by critics and audiences alike. I guess most of his movies were misunderstood at the time of their release and the intense expectation everyone had coming in didn't help either, but don't be fooled. Eyes Wide Shut is an amazing achievement and one that you can watch over and over again. I have watched it five or six times now and every time I notice a few new things and discover another way you could interpret a specific scene or phrase. Trust me; Eyes Wide Shut will blow you away.
Kick-Ass (2010)
An Occasionally Fun, Mostly Juvenile Action/Comedy
Dave is a depressed nerd who can't understand why no one has every tried to be a super hero and decides to try it himself and call himself Kick Ass. While attempting to help out Katie Deauxma, his high school crush, he encounters two other vigilantes named Hit Girl and Big Daddy; a deranged father and daughter who are just a bit more serious about dolling out justice.
Kick-Ass is not soul-shattering stuff. It mostly consists of vulgar jokes, gratuitous violence and super hero clichés. The characters aren't particularly interesting and outside of Chloe Moretz, who is actually pretty impressive as Hit Girl, the acting is sub par. The plot is a bit of a mess and it's hard to really follow or care about what is going on. Kick-Ass teeters between action and comedy and never really finds a happy medium. It's not funny enough to be a comedy and not action oriented enough to be a proper action movie.
The music is good and some of the action sequences are impressive, even though suspension of disbelief is a must. I also have to commend Kick-Ass for it's originality and guts as Matthew Vaughn tried to combine many genres and include particularly shocking elements; a little girl slicing and dicing criminals with total relish. But, even though I appreciate him pushing the envelope I dislike the fact that it is used as a gimmick. It's as if Vaughn is saying; "isn't a little girl killing people cool," instead it just being part of the story.
Despite it's few good points Kick-Ass is a failure, mainly because of what it could have been. What was hailed as an ingenious retooling of the super hero genre feels very rehashed. You've heard these lines before, you've seen these characters before and the comedy; you've not laughed at before.
C'era una volta il West (1968)
Every Shot is a Work of Art.
Jill has recently married a man named Brett McBain and she is going to live with him and his family. Upon arriving at the McBain home she finds that they have all been slain by a vicious criminal named Frank, the muscle for a railroad tycoon. Frank framed a man named Cheyenne and his band of outlaws and everyone believes that they did it. Cheyenne must get his revenge on Frank, protect Jill, and work with a strange man with a harmonica who has his own score to settle.
Once Upon a Time in the West is quite possibly the most expertly directed movie of all time. Every single scene is so stylistically shot that it is truly a wonder to behold. Sergio Leone uses a combination of long shots that show off the impressive western landscape with amazing facial close-ups that capture the emotions and expert acting of the wonderful cast. Leone directs with such finesse he could take a scene of someone brushing their teeth and turn it into cinematic gold. The first scene where Leone combines everyday sounds to create music is inspired as well as being an amazing example of slowly building tension to an exciting climax.
Possibly just as important if not more is Ennio Morricone's beautiful score, which is the best he's every done. His music can breath such life into a character or scene that you don't even need dialog. Morricone's compositions pack such emotional weight that they can transform a scene. A happy scene could be sad, a sad scene could be frightening and all the emotions in between. If a pictures is worth a thousand words, Morricone's music is worth ten thousand words.
The cast is excellent as well. Specifically Henry Fonda in his deeply haunting and extremely out of character turn as the ruthless Frank. A blue-eyed sweet talking villain is a rarity and a treasure. This detail is wielded to perfection by Leone as he will use a close-up on Fonda's face to accentuate his blue eyes. His clothes are dirty, his face is dirty and amidst all that grime shining beautifully are his two blue eyes. Like two oceans in the middle of the desert sand.
The script is also amazing and it deals with so many cultural and personal battles; corruption, greed, the dying of the "man," and the mechanizing of the West, and so many more. Some will complain about its length and pace, but like many great movies it gets better with multiple viewings. What can seem unnecessary and overlong oftentimes is just detailed and becomes more and more beautiful the more you see it. Once Upon a Time in the West is one of the greatest films ever made and it solidifies Morricone and Leone as some of the all time greats.
Disaster Movie (2008)
Barely Even Qualifies As A Movie.
Disaster Movie is truly a disgusting spectacle. As you watch you will go from sheer amazement that this was even made to complete disgust and boredom as you realize how truly unfunny these so called "jokes" are.
Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have truly done something amazing. They have created a whole new breed of disgustingly mindless and low-brow entertainment unlike anything ever seen before. It's not a bad movie, because bad movies have stupid plots, bad characters, and bad acting; their movies have none of that. No plot, characterization, or acting exist in these black holes of all things mind-numbing.
Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie, and this their crowning achievement of stupidity consist of nothing but stream-of-consciousness lowest-common-denominator jokes strung together in random order. Nothing is spoofed or lampooned; just mentioned and just in case you don't know what their referencing, the characters will shout out the name of whoever is being referenced that second ("Hey, Iron Man!").
Within this disgusting framework Seltzer and Friedberg manage to top themselves in Disaster Movie with the all new "trailer spoof." Characters are included from movies that came out just months or even weeks before the release of Disaster Movie; meaning they couldn't have seen these movies before including them, and you can tell. They won't even mention anything from the movies these characters appeared in, they will just have them appear for one second and then get sucked away by a tornado or something.
The fact that these so called Spoof Movies continue to be made is an abomination. Either Seltzer and Friedberg have a ton of money to waste or there are enough people seeing these in the theater to keep them going. Both are frightening prospects, especially considering another of their collaborations is coming out soon. Hopefully movies like this will go the way of the dinosaur because it appears that the bar for mainstream entertainment is getting lower and lower.
Cop Out (2010)
I wish there was a rating lower than 1.
Jimmy Monroe, the older experienced cop, loses a valuable baseball card and his partner Paul Hodges, the zany goof ball cop, must help him find it in time to pay for his daughter's wedding. Cue the wacky hijinks.
Bruce Willis and Kevin Smith have made a lot of bad movies over the last few years, but I'm amazed that either of them would go anywhere near this turkey. The acting is awful, the script super-humanly inept and the on screen chemistry between Willis and Morgan non-existent. I don't know if I laughed once. Cop Out is one of the rare comedies that you go from being in awe at how unfunny it is, which almost makes it funny, to being completely miserable watching it.
Tracy Morgan is doing the same shtick he did successfully in 30 Rock and failing miserably. Simply saying a line in a silly way doesn't make it funny, the actual line has to be funny. His character is extremely annoying and I don't know how were supposed to believe that he could put on his own pants, let alone become a successful cop and have a beautiful wife. Competing for the role of most irritating and unfunny character is Sean William Scott, who must be missing the American Pie days. He plays a dim-witted burglar named Dave who repeats what people say and tries to annoy them for no particular reason.
I truly don't even understand what Cop Out is supposed to be. The lines and characters are so absurd you can't possibly invest any emotion in the story and there don't appear to be that many actual jokes. Cop Out plays like a 5th rate knock off of Lethal Weapon without the comedy or the drama. Simply put; opt out of Cop Out.
The Score (2001)
Run-of-the-Mill Caper Film.
Nick Wells is a long time thief who is looking to get out of the business when Max, his friend and benefactor, proposes one last job. In order to do the job, Wells will have to work with a strange young criminal named Jack Teller.
The Score has very little new to offer in a genre filled with nearly identical movies. Nearly every heist movie unfolds the exact same way, and The Score is no different. One reluctant experienced guy leads a group of criminals, each with their own talent and quirk. What sets the score apart is its stellar cast, all of whom are fairly bland. Marlon Brado isn't really in it long enough to make a difference and the script doesn't really give De Niro and Norton that much to work with. Neither does bad, and they have a decent on screen chemistry, but it's nothing to right home about.
The plot isn't bad, but as I said before it's not that different from any of the other heist movies you've seen. The heist scene is exciting and the ending is fairly clever, but those are about the only high points. Aside from clichéd hacker who lives with his mother bit, it doesn't have that many low points either.
The Score is just an extremely average movie in virtually every way; which makes it a bit of a disappointment considering the talent they were working with. Watching The Score you won't be offended or enthralled, but you probably won't be bored either.
Chicago (2002)
This won Best Picture?....Inconceivable!
Roxie Hart is a Broadway hopeful in a fading marriage who is having an affair with a man named Fred Casely. Upon learning that Casely has been lying to her about his connections and plans to leave her, Roxie shoots him and is sent to death row. Running low on options, Roxie pays for the service of a sleazy attorney named Billy Flynn who just may be her only hope of getting out of prison.
Chicago is an extremely bad movie. The fact that is was even nominated for a Best Picture Oscar is a complete sham, but it winning is just beyond words. The Academy has a long history of ignoring excellent movies and giving Oscars to inferior pictures, but this is ridiculous. The acting is bad, the writing atrocious and nearly every person in it is horribly miscast. Renee Zellwegger can't sing at all and Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere don't help matters much. It appears that this was cast solely on how famous someone was, not on acting/singing ability. A couple of the songs are good, but most of those aren't good either. Many of them are poorly integrated as well as being too long.
Worse than all these failings would be a certain hard to describe "full of itself" quality. It's as if every actor is saying: "I'm such a great actor, don't you just love me." I hated every character, and not because they are morally reprehensible. Many flawed and even mean characters can be interesting and even comical if done right; these aren't. Like the actors the characters are disgustingly full of themselves. Fans of Chicago would no doubt say that this was making a point about show business, and if that's what this movie was trying for it failed. Just like an experiment every movie needs a control; something to balance out all the bad characters and create a acceptable contrast. There is no moral center here, every character is equally flawed and irritating.
Avoid Chicago at all costs. It is a musical at it's worst: self-indulgent, overly elaborate and poorly sung. In addition to being a perfect example of how incompetent the Academy can really be. The fact that this beat out LOTR: The Two Towers and Gangs of New York is a complete joke.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Probably The Best Action/Adventure Movie Ever Made.
Indiana Jones is a college professor who the government hires to find priceless relics. After hearing that Hitler and the S.S. are searching for the Ark of the Covenant, the government hires Jones to beat the Nazis to it.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the most exciting and action packed movies ever made, along with being the best Steven Spielberg has ever done. George Lucas' imagination combines with Spielberg's direction to create a film that is truly epic and amazingly gutsy. The fact that anyone would even try to cram this many action set pieces into one movie is almost as amazing as how well they executed it. Every action scene is more complex and exciting than the one before it.
Raiders is like a movie made by the child inside Spielberg; unbridled creativity and enthusiasm brought to life on screen. He combines elements of almost every genre as well as many of the movies he probably loved growing up (North by Northwest, The Maltese Falcon) into a truly glorious concoction.
Yes, you have to throw logic out the window in certain scenes and the acting/writing could be better, but it doesn't matter. Raiders has basically every movie beat on the amount of sheer fun you have watching it as well as one of the greatest endings ever. Raiders of the Lost Ark is not only Steven Spielberg's crowning achievement, but one of the best movies ever made and essential viewing for any film buff.
Near Dark (1987)
An Excellent Vampire/Western Combo That Drops the Ball on the Finish Line
In the process of courting a strange girl named Mae, Caleb finds out that she is a vampire. After being turned by Mae he joins her renegade band of vampires and finds his initiation to be harder than he expected. Should Caleb stay with these strange creatures and start a a new life or go home to his family who could never understand what he has become?
Near Dark is not only a very good horror movie, but one of the best vampire movies ever made. Kathryn Bigelow seamlessly and amazingly integrates the western genre into the mix to create a truly haunting blend. The vampires in Near Dark are portrayed in a more real life manner than in most movies. They aren't mystified and they have no absurd other-worldly powers(flying, turning into bats, etc.). Much like a band of criminals they are constantly on the run and they have to eat, they just happen to eat/drink humans.
The acting is also very good specifically from Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, and Bill Paxton. Wright and Pasdar capture a vulnerability that makes their romance work very well as well as allowing the audience to see the movie through Caleb's eyes. The viewer can experience the same horror he does when he begins to understand how violent these creatures really are. Paxton gives the best performance of his career as Severen, the most violent and unhinged member of the group, in a role he was born to play. Severen delights in slaughtering humans and you can tell Bill Paxton is loving every minute of it as well.
All that said, the ending of Near Dark is very poor. The entire progression of the movie is lost when suddenly the gas pedal is slammed down and Near Dark is rushed into a conclusion far too quickly. An extremely convenient and unlikely plot point is introduced and then, in true horror movie fashion, all logic is thrown out the window in order to create an exciting climax and tie up all the loose ends. Very disappointing in a movie that was very tightly knit up to that point.
So, Near Dark is definitely worth watching at least once, and maybe twice. It's not only a very good movie, but an unprecedented horror/vampire/western combo. Just don't be surprised if the ending leaves you wanting more.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
A Remarkable Film.
Two cowboys named Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist are hired to protect a herd of sheep as they move across the prairie. During the job they become closer and closer friends until their relationship turns intimate. Even though they both care about each other, neither feels completely comfortable living a gay lifestyle and must attempt to sort through feelings they don't fully understand.
Brokeback Mountain is a beautiful film not only in the flawless cinematography of the sweeping landscapes but in the many deep and heartfelt emotions that are being dealt with. This is without a doubt one of the best romantic movies ever made, it just happens to be about two men instead of a man and a woman.
The truly amazing thing is that it has a much more universal appeal to audiences than many conventional romances. Brokeback Mountain deals with relationships with friends, lovers, family as well as the idea of living of lie. Many people, gay and straight, feel as if they aren't really living the life they want and this movie captures the detrimental effect that can have. It also deals with feeling that you can't connect with anyone and you are alone in the world.
All this aside, the best aspect of Brokeback Mountain would have to be the acting. Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent, but Heath Ledger's portrayal of Ennis Del Mar is just on another level. He embodies the role like very few actors can; every line, every look he delivers just exudes pain.
Brokeback Mountain isn't just a romance and certainly isn't just a "gay cowboy" movie. Brokeback Mountain is a movie that transverses the entire emotional spectrum and studies the human condition. It is not only one of the best dramas ever made, but possibly the most emotionally affecting movie I have ever seen. Brokeback Mountain is absolutely Unmissable and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of film.
A Single Man (2009)
A Boring Man.
George is an English professor who has recently lost his longtime boyfriend in a car crash and is having trouble dealing with not only the loss, but his extremely lonely life.
A Single Man is an extremely overrated movie. It consists of one boring scene after another of George just talking to someone about something irrelevant and uninteresting. Intersperced between these are flashbacks of his life with his deceased lover in which they, you guessed it, talk. The visuals can be impressive at times and Tom Ford's use of altering the colors to emphasize scenes is the only thing I can really commend about A Single Man.
Apparently George is a guy magnet as well because everywhere he goes he meets an overly attractive and absurdly articulate gay man. Every single person in the movie appears to be a poet who has nuggets of wisdom and life lessons to impart. George is an English professor, so that makes since but there all plenty of dumb people walking around who aren't going to shake the foundations of your beliefs with one conversation.
Also, A Single Man continues the annoying Hollywood trend of making homosexual main characters that have no other characteristics aside from their sexuality. All the conflict, events, and many of the characters are simply byproducts of the fact that Colin Firth is gay. I understand that gay people have to deal with persecution and I could never fully understand what they go through, but it's not like every minute of their lives is devoted to the fact that they're gay.
I also believe that directors/writers do this just to draw attention to their movies. If Colin Firth were straight in this movie it wouldn't have received nearly as much critical acclaim and would have been relatively forgotten.
Cape Fear (1991)
This was looking like a really great Horror/Thriller....and then the last 30 minutes happened.
Attorney Sam Bowden is being terrorized by a former client of his named Max Cady. Cady has just been released from prison, after 14 years, and he feels it is Bowden's fault he went to jail in the first place. What starts as idle threats escalates until Bowden must decide how far he will go to protect himself and his family.
Martin Scorsese's take on Cape Fear is actually an improvement on the original. The characters are more well developed and aside from Robert De Niro the acting is better in this one. Not to say that De Niro's Max Cady is bad, just that it can't compare to Robert Mitchum, who was made for the role. This version is a lot more intense as well. Film violence was much more limited in the 60s and as a result Max Cady was much less threatening in the original.
All that said, the final act is so bad it almost drags everything good about the movie down with it. Logic no longer exists and neither do the limitations of the human body. Max Cady like so many horror figures before him is bestowed with otherworldly powers as the climax is taken to the umpteenth degree. If this could have been rained in just a little bit, Cape Fear would have been a horror classic, instead of just an above average outing.
So, it's intense and enjoyable enough for an initial viewing, but by the end you'll be ready for it to be over.
Daybreakers (2009)
Total Crap.
In a world run by vampires blood is running short and humans are dwindling. If a suitable replacement for blood can't be found all vampires will turn into mindless feral bat-creatures. While attempting to create an alternative, vampire hematologist Edward Dalton has an attack of conscience when he stumbles upon the last human resistance and has to decide whether or not to help them.
Daybreaker is a very bad movie. The only thing that is even remotely good about Daybreakers is the idea of a vampire culture. The writing, acting, and plot are very poor as are the crazy action scenes that seem very out of place in what should have been a drama/horror movie. Despite all this, the nexus of Daybreakers' badness would have to be Willem Dafoe's over the top, poorly acted character who goes by the name of Elvis; that's right, Elvis.
Elvis is a former vampire who became human in an extremely bizarre and ridiculous accident. He accidentally crashed his sports car into a pole, flew out the windshield into the sunlight, and then promptly fell into the water, and upon getting out he was human again. This was not just a complete fluke however, this is repeated in the movie to make Dalton a human again. So according to Daybreaker rules, if a vampire is set on fire by the sun and then extinguished after a certain amount of time they will become human. How? You got me.
So, even if you can wrap your mind around that and give Daybreakers a pass on this extremely absurd concept there isn't much to fall back on. All the characters are bad and all the drama contrived. Don't see Daybreakers unless you just want to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but it can be boring at parts so even that may be ill advised.
Ondine (2009)
A Touching and Unique Fantasy/Drama.
An unsuccessful fisherman named Syracuse is shocked when he pulls up a strange women in his fishing nets. She can't explain who she is or how she got in the water, but she doesn't want anyone besides Syracuse to see her. Syracuse must attempt to unravel the mystery or who or what she really is while trying to patch up his relationship with his ex-wife and take care of his sickly daughter.
Ondine possesses a style all it's own. It successfully blurs the line between fantasy and reality until the audience doesn't really know where one ends and the other begins. But, at it's heart Ondine is really about relationships and finding hope in desperate situations.
You truly care about all the characters and this is achieved by excellent performances from all the leads. Especially Alison Barry who is an amazing child actress and absolutely inspired as Annie, Syracuse's ailing daughter. Annie is convinced that Ondine is a Selke and revels in living in a fantasy that is much easier than her own life. The chemistry between Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda is another high point.
Ondine is not without it's flaws though. At points the drama can seem forced and it was starting to lose me towards the end. The ending is a little crazy as well, but that is fairly easy to forgive when considering all that works in the movie.
Ondine is an extremely heartfelt story and deserves a lot of praise for originality alone. I believe it is certainly worth watching at least once and hopefully it will get the attention it deserves.
The Book of Eli (2010)
Just Another Post Apocalyptic Thriller.
Eli is a post apocalyptic drifter who wanders into a town run by an extremely cruel man named Carnegie. Carnegie wants him to join his gang up until he finds out that Eli possesses the last bible on earth and he will stop at nothing to obtain it.
The Book of Eli is much like the dozen or so other identical Road Warrior knockoffs. The only real difference is that this time they included a most disgusting kicker: flimsy and transparent religious messages. The Bible is the only saving grace of humanity apparently and it acts as some sort of guardian angel over Eli's life throughout the film. Also, A voice LITERALLY told Eli where to find the bible and that he should take it West. No metaphors here, these messages are loud and clear. Without this obvious attempt at promoting religion this would just be a fairly benign and extremely boring outing, instead of borderline offensive.
The plot is about as predictable and full of holes as most of these movies are. Questions are continually raised throughout the movie, specifically how could this many people be alive after 30 YEARS! That's right, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard them say it in the movie. This is 30 years after most of the human race was wiped out. Yet, there are still towns with pretty large population numbers; especially considering how many henchman Eli wipes out.
Speaking of plot holes and Eli wiping out henchmen; that leads me to the mother of all plot holes when it is revealed that Eli has been completely BLIND the entire movie. During the course of the movie Eli: murdered several men at once with his machete, shot men and animals from far distances, and wandered the countryside for 30 years managing to find food all without any being able to see anything. I guess this was supposed to be another bit of help from upstairs, but come on. Couldn't God at least have spared some of these henchmen; not only did Eli behead several of them but he busted one man's face on the bar for simply talking mean to him. That doesn't sound like a warrior of God to me.
Then after this A-bomb is dropped on the audience we find out that on Alcatraz Island, after the apocalypse, there is some sort of society of men doing their best to preserve history by printing up books and distributing them to nobody. I don't know what these guys are eating or where their getting paper, but I do know one thing: they like printing up books and then just setting them on a shelf. After Eli recites the King James bible to them, which he has memorized, they print one up and set it next to their one copy of the Kuran and then I guess they just leave it their in case someone wants to check it out.
Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, and even Mila Kunis are slumming it Big Time in this amazingly dull movie, and they are all acting way below their ability. So avoid Book of Eli at costs, unless of course you are someone who is very religious yet still enjoys watching people being brutally murdered for no apparent reason.
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Someone stop Sam Worthington before he opens the gateway to hell!
The few humans who survived judgment day are waging a war against the machines that were responsible for the deaths of almost everyone on earth. John Connor, one of the leaders of the resistance is struggling to be the commander he knows he is destined to be and Marcus Wright, a machine who thinks he's a man, must struggle with where his allegiances truly lie.
Terminator Salvation has very little to offer. The acting, writing, and characters are extremely sparse. Almost every character is about as two dimensional as a piece of cardboard and Sam Worthington acts about as good as one. This makes three action epics that he has starred in that have been a complete waste of time (Clash of the Titans, Avatar{sorry, it sucks}). For some reason instead of focusing on John Connor, who should be the main character of the movie, the filmmakers decided to focus on a ridiculous terminator who thinks he's human storyline.
During most of the action scenes you can't tell what is going on, and when you can they don't make no sense. The entire climax of Terminator Salvation is one of more unrealistic and plot hole filled sections of any move in recent memory.
Hollywood needs to stop making Termiator movies; it is completely ridiculous and the story ended with Terminator 2. The third movie was just a carbon copy of 2 with a female robot, this one is a complete mess and five will be even worse. So Please, no more movies about Terminators and no more movies with Sam Worthington. Thank You.
Star Trek (2009)
Without Leonard Nimoy, this would be really good.
Star Trek chronicles the lives of James T. Kirk and an alien named Spock. There lives intersect when they are both going to pilot school at the same time. Both end up on the USS Enterprise and must try to captain the ship after the main pilot dies.
Most of the characters in Star Trek are interesting and well acted, particularly Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Both young actors give career making performances and have good on screen chemistry as Kirk and Spock. Also, the rest of the crew including "Bones" and Sulu are very well cast and everyone in the movie seems to fit right into their roles.
The action is very exciting and the plot is good up until the biggest quality drop off in a movie I think I have ever seen. Kirk is sent to an ice planet that the older time traveling Spock happens to be living in a cave on. I'm serious, that actually happens.
This older Spock proceeds to interact with the events of this time and tell characters things that will make them fulfill their destiny as he knows it. At one point old Spock goes up to young Spock and tells him "hey, you should be good friends with Kirk your friendship will really pay off." Aside from his mind exploding from talking to a older version of himself, why would young Spock listen to him. You can't just tell someone to be friends with someone else, that has to happen naturally. Old Spock then says he is going to go to their home planet and help them rebuild; so apparently their are going to be two versions of Spock in the same time line, how ridiculous is that.
Also, Scotty doesn't figure out the formula for beaming people up, old Spock gives him the formula. That isn't cool, it's cool that Scotty thought it up, not that someone from the future told it to him. Scotty's kooky hairy friend doesn't help matters either.
The idea to include Leonard Nimoy really subtracts from the quality of the movie. I was completely loving Star Trek up to this movie sinking, poorly conceived, terribly transparent plot point. It's extremely obvious that the only reason this was put in is so J.J. Abrams can service the fans of the original series. He thought it would be cool to include Leonard Nimoy and have him reference events from the show. Unfortunately, events are meaningless if the only reason they happened is because a person from the future made them happen.
In my opinion this truly awful idea turns what could have been a classic sci-fi picture into just a pretty good one. Don't believe the hype, this is barely even in the Top 10 of 2009. Hopefully Nimoy won't be in the second one and it will be what this should have been.