Movie Review: Lots and Lots of Movies

Why hello there!

It\’s been awhile. Well, I\’ve been busy, you know how it is. Work is a bear! Some good news though is I got promoted. Yeah… thanks! No, no change to the work I\’m doing, but that just shows you I was doing senior level work without the title. But what have I been doing when I\’m not working? Well, watching movies of course!

Last time I discussed: Citizen Kane, The Prestige, Collateral, and Gangs of New York.

This time we\’ve got seven movies to review! I\’ll try not to spill any spoilers, but procede at your own risk.

First up is Taxi Driver – this movie is ingrained in our pop culture society (\”you talkin\’ to me?\”), and I have never seen it. Well… to be honest, the movie is pretty damn boring for the first 90 minutes. I think the only highlight is DeNiro\’s character taking Cybill Shephard to a porno on their first date. The performance DeNiro gives is very good, but the plot just didn\’t hold me all that well. But it\’s all worth it for the last 15 minutes when all hell breaks loose. The only other highlight is Jodie Foster. It\’s sad that she was a better actor before 10 than she is today. If you haven\’t seen the movie, I don\’t know if I would recommend bothering with it. A great plot and story interests me more than great acting or cinematography. You miss those things when they aren\’t there, but without an engaging story, you lose me.

Raging Bull – Yes, a bit of a DeNiro kick here. Don\’t worry, Heat isn\’t up next. Again, another strong performance from DeNiro, with his favorite side kick Joe Pesci. Had I known more about Jake LaMotta, I probably would have enjoyed this movie more. But it is a stronger story, and the acting and cinematography are outstanding. Shooting the whole movie (minus home video footage) in black and white just sets the right tone for this. The fight scenes are some of the best you\’ll ever see outside a Rocky movie. (ok, that\’ was a joke, just seeing if you are paying attention). But seriously, the fight scenes are well done. Definitely recommended.

The Illusionist – After seeing The Prestige, I was anxious to see this movie. Wade wants to know which one I liked better. Well, I liked The Prestige better. No particular reason I can hang my hat on for that preference. Just a gut feeling. Maybe I just don\’t like Jessica Biel. I dunno. I liked the darker aspects of The Prestige better, as well as the \”not feel good\” ending. The Illusionist is a fine movie, but there are better ones to put at the top of your Queue.

Children of Men – I absolutely loved how this movie was shot. It felt like a Kurbick movie from the 70s (that\’s a compliment actually). I loved London of the future, I loved the beginning of the movie, and I really loved that Julianne Moore wasn\’t in too much of it. 🙂 I think Clive Owen is extremely underrated, and he plays the \”lone everyday man on a mission\” very well. What I didn\’t like was how the movie ended. I\’ve racked my mind to think of a better way, but I can\’t, so perhaps I shouldn\’t ding the writers too much on that one. The movie had comedy, suspense, action, drama. Just about all you could ask for. And it was interesting to watch it right after watching Aeon Flux (two movies that center around mankind not being able to procreate). I would definitely recommend this movie.

Solaris – If 2001 was a psychological thriller. Well, 2001 after the monkey throws the bone in the air. Replace HAL with figments of the characters imaginations, and you pretty much got your movie. I really wanted to see this movie when it came out, but I heard it wasn\’t very good. The reviews were right, it wasn\’t very good. If you are looking for SciFi, you\’ll be disappointed. If you are looking for a psychological thriller… you\’ll be disappointed. Interesting premise, but not completely thought out. The only positive is that you get to see George Clooney\’s naked butt. Even I can admit that he\’s got a nice ass.

Mulholland Drive – What the f*ck? After watching it I was so freakin\’ confused I had to go to the internet to figure out what the hell happened. Without runing anything, the first few moments of the movie are real, then the next 90+ minutes are a fantasy (or a dream), then the last half hour is real again. Now this is a David Lynch movie, so I should have figured it would be f-ed up, but even I couldn\’t keep up or figure it out. However, I did discover that Laura Harring is freaking hot… even more than Naomi Watts… and their lesbian sex scene is enough reason to rent the movie. Whew! Not the right movie for everyone, but if you liked Twin Peaks, you might like Mulholland Dr.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – I\’m not afraid to come right out and say it. I didn\’t like this movie. I didn\’t find the special effects all that special, I didn\’t care for the story, and I didn\’t care for the ending. However, the acting was good, which is sometimes hard to tell when it\’s overdubbed in english. Honestly, I would have rather had subtitles. Some of the voice acting was a little overplayed… hell, some of it was just straight out of a Saturday afternoon Kung Fu movie. Chow Yun-Fat was good…real good. The scenery is gorgeous (and I\’m not just talking about Ziyi Zhang) and the fight scenes are great, but not spectacular. This may be an instance where the hype of the movie put it too high to possibly deliver. Although many describe the film as beautiful, breathtaking and deeply moving; I can only agree with the first, it is beautiful but not much more.