So I had the pleasure to watch a lot of movies this week. All of them had serious psychological issues/impact, and some of them were definitely worth seeing. The newest one was "Animal Kingdom" out of Australia last year. Here it goes:
1) Twelve Monkeys
Okay, its been a few days and I'm still not sure what happened in this movie. Its early Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis from 1995. There isn't too much I can say about this because it is a super confusing and convoluted storyline, but basically Bruce Willis is a convict in a post death-to-humans era where everyone lives underground and is sent in a time machine to the past to get information on a terrorist/extremist group that was in charge of killing 5 billion people. It was really strange but really good, I never really knew what was coming next and even at the end I was going "wait what?". Its on demand as of now, and I would definitely recommend renting it either way!
2) Platoon
Okay, this one is way more well known, but none the less I had never seen it! It came out in 1986 and featured Charlie Sheen, Johhny Depp, Kevin Dillon (who was oddly attractive in his younger days) and Forrest Whitaker just to name a few famous faces on in this one. Chris Taylor (Sheen) is a rich kid who volunteers to go to Vietnam, and chronicles his time there. I was really impressed with this, and I think its fair to say it is one of the most gripping and moving portrayals of Vietnam that I've seen (much better than Apocalypse Now, if you ask me). I really like it, and definitely think it would be one to watch again! See it.
3) Animal Kingdom
Okay, as I said a film from last year from Australia. So strange. It really was. I had a really tough time understanding the dialog, but basically J's mom dies and he goes to live with his crime riddled rest of the family with an incredibly protective (and creepy) grandmother. I guess in theory the story line was strong and inventive, but I got caught up in the dry, slow movement of the film and the incredibly thick accents. I would recommend it, only if you've seen everything else in this post. It definitely freaked me out more in a "those people are insane" way than anything else.
4) Domino
Okay, why haven't I heard of this one before? 2005, Christopher Walken, Keira Knightley, Lucy Liu and Mickey Rourke are all key players in this one, and I really liked it. It is super dark and twisted, with strange lighting and retrospective storytelling. It was raunchy and gross, and moved really fast, but I thought it told a seriously twisted story. Domino (Knightley) is a newly established bad ass bounty hunter who had a famous actor for a dad. She and her bounty hunter team proceed to get caught up in an incredibly twisted act of capture, theft, and double-crossing. I really liked it, and would recommend it if you like serial thriller action flicks. But pay close attention, because it moves really quickly. Oh, and Keira Knightley is a total badass, I was impressed.
Showing posts with label throwbacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label throwbacks. Show all posts
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, May 9, 2011
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.
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.
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