throwback(s) thursday

I've been watching a lot of throwbacks lately, so bear with me here.

1) The Last King of Scotland
Loved it! Forrest Whitaker was phenomenal, and so was James McAvoy (quickly becoming one of my new faves). It was really dark and a little bit brutal, but pretty much any story out of Africa is going to be that way. I liked it because it wasn't like most of the genocide in Africa movies you run into. Definitely worth seeing, just be mentally prepared for it.

2) Groundhog Day
I was trying to stay on my Bill Murray kick, and I concreted my opinion that I don't really like him. I guess the premise was sort of clever, but I got a bit tired of it by the end, and I didn't really believe that he had changed as a person. Funny enough I guess, but I won't be watching this one again, and again, and again, and again.

3) Reservoir Dogs
No matter how hard I try, I still can't quite understand Quentin Tarantino. It was good, good plot twist and surprise/gasp moments, but I don't always get his symbolism and plot details. Definitely very bloody, a boy movie for sure. Basically just saw it to mark it off the list. See it for the same purpose I guess.

4) The Big Lebowski
Again, the early 90s comedy is lost on me. I loved Jeff Bridges in this just because it was absolutely ridiculous. I liked the convoluted stories, and Tara Reid being the dumb slut wife (type-cast much) I also loved how bowling was integral to another movie. Weird. See it for Jeff Bridges as "the dude" oh and John Goodman was good too, as the overly sensitive Nam vet.

throwback thursday(s)

Okay, in the interest of space, here comes another double action post! Not one but 2 throwback thursdays!

Apocalypse Now: I'm not the biggest fan of FF Coppola, normally because I just don't get it. I had to watch this movie for a class, and the first viewing left me extremely annoyed. After doing a little more research, and understanding it was from the 70s (not as I expected, a 90s cheap filming) and hearing the infamous quote "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning" I was a little more into it. It doesn't change the fact that I think Martin Sheen is the redheaded step child of the family, and thus a terrible human. But it did make me think, and sort of made me want to watch it again in order to get all of the deep psychological understanding. Apparently it is based on Conrad's, Heart of Darkness (thus why we watched it in class), but it seemed like this movie was much better than that book.

Kingpin: This was freaking hilarious. I've always wanted to see it, and LUCKILY it came on tv and I had time to DVR it (i'm a genius, I know). Anyways, the plot was silly and many of the jokes blew past me, but I loved bill murray in an actually funny role, and it was nice to see woody harrelson not acting like a mentally challenged character. Definitely a good 90s comedy, that I wouldn't have understood until this point in my life. I also loved that the sport of bowling was taken so seriously, and I'm now really scared of the air vents at the bowling alley.