Animal House

John Belushi made this film. A legend in it's own right the 1978 film basically about fraternity wars, corrupt deans and lots of alcohol induced trouble makes me wish I were part of the generation. Unfortunately this review can only be short because let's face it. It's a comedy about as in depth as one of George Bush's speeches and 10 times as funny. 

I'm a little bummed out it will be so short 

But i'm going to give it a shot anyway.

John belushi ultimately kicked ass in the film. I will never forget the "I'm a pimple" scene. Theres plenty of swearing, alchohol, nudity everythng my parents grimace at and that's what makes it awesome. This movie is the ultimate uni fantasy. I wish I could get into a house like that when I'm booted out of my parent's cushy home and into uni pretending to follow my dream. 

I will admit the plot is a little "hmmm" at times. Just a bit unbelievable here or unrealistic there but as I said this is a college fantasy so who needs reality? 

That's the message of this teen-inspiring parentally crucifying film! 

Who needs reality when you can get drunk, have a night out with some chick you just met and enjoy creating more trouble then your worth in alcohol-drenched, stupidity-induced not-so eternal bliss.

A film that put John Belushi, Crudeness, Violence and Comedy in a blender then served it up raw. 9 out of 10 all the way.

Crash

Well it's early in the morning and I just finished watching a beautiful movie. 

Crash.

Involving a star-studded cast including Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Ben Fraser and a number of other actors the movie truly surprised me.

I have a confession to make though. I thought this movie was just another one of Matt Dillon's signature drug movies like Drugstore Cowboy. And though I was disappointed that Dillon plays one of the less-likable characters it seemed I had stumbled onto something more. The thing I loved most about this movie is the fact that the people who I thought would die never did. And the people who I thought would live shockingly died. It's nice to experience true shock in a movie rather then knowing who's gone before they actually are. 

Another thing that impacted me was the soundtrack, I'm actually listening to some of Mark Isham's (the composer) work right now. This guy generated music so sensitive and fitting for each scene that I had to look him up and download a few tracks. 

I love the ending mood. In fact this will be the first time in history that I am actually impressed with how a movie ended. Because even though it does shine it's light on some of the characters others are still in the same situation that they will probably have to deal with for eternity. And the last scene shows the despair that the movie was on about to begin with. Its nice to see a movie that didn't end absolutely in despair but certainly did not tie everything up in a neat, moral and conclusive package. The ending was realistic yet cinematically beautiful to the point where I was actually impressed with how they ended it. Because I've seen how hard it is to end the movie just right and these guys achieved it.

But the one most amazing thing about this film is that it actually brought tears to my eyes. I never cry over a movie...ever. To realize I was crying over such a simple but beautiful scene shocked me completely. It shocked me more then any unexpected death or amazing sequence in that entire movie. And if a film has the capability to make me unexpectedly cry then it certainly must've done something right. 

This movie wasn't just another racial issues classroom assignment. This is The Movie you have to see. I could watch this movie over and over if I could, I give it a 9 out of 10 only because a 10 out of 10 would mean it was perfect and I don't think I know what perfect is yet. If i told you to watch a film before I had no idea what I was talking about. You must see Crash before you can call yourself a person.

The Bourne Supremacy & The Bourne Ultimatum

Well I promised I'd check this one out after I got a taste for it with The Bourne Identity so here it is. 

This post has been sitting in the works for over a month now because i am not sure what to say. The issue here is even though there was some good standard action and the whole aura around Jason Bourne remained in tact it had considerably less "emotional" talk and another considerably disappointing observation is a lot of the scenes in Supremacy are exactly like what happens in The Bourne Ultimatum. 

So because of that detail I am doing the Supremacy and the Ultimatum in one post. that's how ridiculously copy-cat like these 2 films were. 

I am considerably disappointed because Matt damon is definitely awesome and yet even though the Bourne Identity went up like an illegal firework on some well known holiday the following two sequels didn't live up to it. I will say if your looking for your action movie fix Supremacy and Ultimatum are the flicks to see but they could've been far better.

6 out of 10 for Supremacy and 7 out of 10 for Ultimatum only because the soundtrack was better.

The Darwin Awards

The movie was good enough to steer me away from my usual Saturday program but not good enough that it's still not on Wikipedia after approximately 3 years since the release. Let's investigate this shall we?

The cast was fairly noticeable with Winona Ryder as the leading lady and Joseph Fiennes as the main character that this entire plot is consisted of. Put in simple terms it's about a criminal profiler who is kicked off the force due to his comic fear of blood. He finds a job analysing incidents for an insurance company, to decide how the victims really died and whether their families deserve the insurance. It goes on like this making mockery of the combination of stupidity and death and of course through the process Micheal (Fiennes) not only discovers who the serial killer is from his last case at his previous job but also he discovers love. Oh and for some reason they decide to throw in a college student who has gotten permission from Micheal to use him as his subject for his documentary. The filmer has no real purpose in the plot besides the fact he is a good tool for humour in certian scenes.

So the plot is a little pointless but sometimes plot is over-rated. I found the way all the people died hilarious in every way the director intended it and if you keep your eyes open you'll see the guest appearance of those two guys from Myth Busters.

What sucked about this film or what probably doesn't help the film's status is that Winona Ryder was the only actor i recognized (she was after all considered an 80's Goddess) It might just be me but I've never heard of Joseph Fiennes. Another problem was the plot though comedic when it wanted to be was really stupid and ultimately lame. The romance was pathetic and the movie ended ultimately with a cliche'. Now I know this movie wasn't meant to be a cinematic masterpiece. Leave that to movies like Crash or something old school like Rumble Fish but my point is it could've ended with a little dignity.  

And though I am still surprised the film still isn't on wikipedia (thank god I have my back-up site imdb.com) I guess it's for the best. The movie isn't fantastic, just the way some of the people die is this film. So I'm giving it a 6 out of 10. Nothing spectacular, watch if your bored and feel like some clever black humor. But be prepared to have crappy romance and pointless plot flooded over you too.

The Quick and The Dead (1995, not the 1978 racing documentary)

I have to say I ask for true western and I got a true western. To be honest what mainly brought my attention to the movie was the fact Russell Crowe AND Leonardo Dicaprio were in it. I was truly surprised to find Crowe or Leo were not the main characters but a name I hadn't heard of, Sharon Stone. 

The story tells a tale of a young female gunslinger(Stone) who travels to a small town to partake in a quick-draw contest. But obviously she's not just in it for money but a quest of revenge, a real western vendetta to avenge the death of her Father. And the man that shall pay for her father's death is the corrupt mayor of the town running the contest and supplying the reward. Meanwhile a young man(Dicaprio) presumably just out of his teens living in the dusty forgotten and corrupted town also has plans to enter the contest. But in his case it's not a quest of revenge but a quest of recognition and respect. And then believe it or not the plot thickens! Yes, the third vital character to this incredibly layered western is the guy we've been waiting for. Crowe plays "The Preacher" A man who used to be a real bad-ass outlaw who was involved in many schemes with the now corrupted mayor but had a change of heart when certain blood was shed. So these are the three main focal characters of the film and as the plot twists tighter and tighter tension arises as guns are fired and confessions are made.

Sounds corny right? Well fortunately it wasn't. the film just had the right blend of western themes, well known-actors and a fairly decent ending.  The things I was impressed with is though the ending was pretty clear seeing as it is a western there were things that I should've picked up on. you'll notice that throughout the movie there are hints to what happened so many ears ago. I also found the second last duel between people i am not going to name and the outcome of this fight to be relatively unexpected. Sharon Stone certainly pulled off the Gunslinger Bitch look and even though the flashbacks were cliche I guess they were standard for this genre of movie.

The things that I was disappointed in was a lot to do with Crowe's performance. I was hoping for a more bad-ass looking guy. I mean I know he was The Preacher with honorable intentions and a haunting past but I was hoping for something like his vibe in 3:10 to Yuma ( a western film in 2007 where he played the "bad guy") I knew he was playing a man of God but God can be bad-ass too can't he? Maybe it's in the Bible somewhere (laughs at the thought) Anyway, my point is I reckon Russell Crowe could have turned on the western outlaw charm a bit more. Other then that I thought the ending was good but could certainly be better. And when I say better I mean a little more complicated and shocking for all the characters circulating around the conclusion. I just think the ending being summed up with one short flash back after many fragmented flashbacks earlier in the film was too easy. I wanted something so complex that I had to take a minute to process it. Maybe something that even shocked the main character as she realized something that she'd forgotten after all those years. I was hoping for something like her realizing that it was not the mayor but in fact The Preacher who killed her father or anything along those lines. But I will say the ending was good none the less even if it wasn't as mind-blowing as I'd hoped. The third and final flaw that i found more amusing rather then disappointing was the sets. I mean some of those "mountains" in the distance made me laugh out loud. And in the serious moments of heart-wrenching emotion or a few close-ups and zoom-outs the sky just said it all. As if God had put those computerized sunsets and perfect clouds there to command us to laugh. So when your watching it keep an eye out for those. Start bets with your friends as to which sky or cluster of background mountains are real or fake. I say have fun and enjoy film in new ways then ever before. 

But of course I haven't elaborated on my mentioning of Leonardo Dicaprio. Now i know this is completely irrelevant to the current blog I'm typing but Leo looks so old now! I mean I see him in that and he's what? Early to mid 20's? I just caught him in A Golden Globes Award Show and he has the whole beard happening and the hair is darker and more mature and it's just like whoah! I had to get that off my chest now back to the article at hand...

He certainly proved himself right for the role. All I can say is he got the job done. Nothing inspiring or incredible but I can't say he didn't do a good job. I guess there were some emotional scenes with him that were completed quite masterfully for an actor who was at that age (remember it was 1995 when this came out) but it is definitely not his best work. And don't anybody dare say Titanic was his greatest film because shivering and saying I Love You Rose should never be the kind of thing your remembered for. 

So what else is there here for me to say? It was a good worth-your-while western with a great cast and on-screen "spark" that will not disappoint. 8 out of 10 from me and I hope you don't make the mistake that the fact 1950's westerns aren't supposedly "cool" means any other western should not be counted as a decent movie either.

The Machinist

Now you can tell this movie really had an effect on me because I just realized i have written so much. 

It certainly is an interesting film that manages to horrify you with the little details but eventually falls back and lulls you into another conclusive and neatly finished psycho-thriller.

Christian Bale. I have new found respect for him. I loved him in the kick-ass film American Psycho but I thought he had demised to the label of another hollywood somebody after his successful line-up of batman movies which were good but not totally mind-blowing or out-there if you know what I mean. But this, this particular role he played makes me look up to him in a different light. Two lights if we are being literal here. I see him in the light of a new disturbing side to Christian Bale and yet I also look up to him in a light that suggests he's more of a gutsy method actor then you think. When I first saw him I honestly gagged but as the movie goes on you will get used to it. Now tell me that's not skinny.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a56/NietzscheSprGirl/machinist.jpg

You don't think thats so bad? How about...

http://www.myfittribe.com/files/images/Christian%20Bale%20in%20The%20Machinist.jpg

I don't know about you but I felt mentally violated after seeing that.

Now i've been wasting all this space gabbing about how freaky Christian Bale looks but I have barely talked about the movie. And that's exactly what i am saying. The fact that he is so skinny distracts you from the movie itself for the first 10 to 20 minutes. 

The plot that you will keep getting distracted by is basically about a man who commits a hit and run car accident. The movie is set one year (presumably) after this incident and you can see how in one year this crime has effected his sleep, his body and more or less importantly his mental state. It's fun to watch him slowly decline deeper and deeper into total psychosis as he discovers what he is perceiving may not be entirely right. I have to say I was impressed with Bale's performance, he surprised me with his kick-ass take on the schizophrenic aspect of acting. Definitely a step forward from his last encounter with insanity in American Psycho (I just love referring to that movie)

The things that sucked about this movie are listed in order of the plot (mega spoilers ahead)

When Miller loses his arm due to Trevor (Christian Bale) intentionally/unintentionally activating the machine it wasn't as gory as I had hoped. As Miller started screaming, as his arm got closer and closer to the jaws of the machine I instantly knew what was going to happen. And in that same instant moment I knew I was psyched.  I was getting ready for some massive gore sequence to remember, I already had sentences coming to my head on how to describe it to you guys but when the moment came it barely showed you anything. A bit of blood yes but it was only standard stuff. A let-down for any gore fan or thriller movie lover alike.

This is another suspense related bummer to me. Yet I'm still trying to decide if it'll just be me who was disappointed or not. When Trevor oh so slowly approaches the fridge leaking gratuitous (yes I said gratuitous) amounts of blood and as trevor fearfully reaches out to the handle with his skinny anorexic hand and as he gets the courage to pull the bloody door open the site I was watching it from froze up on me. I nearly kicked myself in the head when it happened. So when I finally got myself all fixed up again and I let the scene play the blood wasn't from anything horrifying at all. Now I'm not going to tell you what it is because a) that'll just blow the whole shock ending and b) it's evilly fun to torture you with the unknown. So I understand the contents of the fridge is the key to the entire movie's conclusion but I was hoping for something glaringly gruesome. After the failed attempt with The machine Incident I thought The Fridge was going to be the one. I guess not.

And the third biggest flaw in this movie: The Ending.

The movie was so skillfully brought up to be just waiting for a kick-ass ending. Like the way you see an athlete build himself up on steroids. In fact, that's what it was.

 A Psychological Thriller on Steroids

And then the ending just tanked it. Like the Titanic on it's way to America only to be bitch-slapped by an iceberg. Or a crackhead discovering he can take on the world only to come down from his high. Or even George Bush thinking he can ride out the election with his ego only to get owned by democracy. The ending died.

You have Trevor screaming at people and realizing that maybe he didn't have everything worked out and then he turns himself in peacefully and co-operatively! And to make it even more cliche' and just-so because he did the right thing and turned himself in he could finally get over his year-long insomnia and sleep.

Bleh!

I wanted to see him go crazy! I wanted one of his friends to call the men in white coats! I wanted to see some real Psycho-Thriller Meltdown ending. Even to just see him end up in a mental hospital trying to convince people that the people he saw are real would be enough. I do  have to say there were parts to the ending that even I didn't predict(and no I'm not telling you them hehehe) and they were in fact clever, what a suspense movie should be. But the way it was just rapped up so morally and neatly with no shocking imagery to send the movie out with a bang at all disappointed me. It truly did. 

So I've told you the good points and the bad points to this movie so I give it a 9 because of what Christian bale did for this movie but then i take it back to a 7 and a Half because the ending tanked and I was hoping at an MA rating the violence would be better. So watch it and see what you think.

Control

The 2007 british biopic black and white film on Ian Curtis's (the lead singer of Joy Division) life from his late high school days till his death at age 23. Telling the story of his life as he brought a band to life, dealt with his epilepsy and spiraled down with depression to his suicide the day he was meant to tour America. 

Me having epilepsy myself instantly made me want to see this movie. I knew his music already having a few tracks on my iPod but I did not know the story behind the band so naturally i was psyched. And also naturally the film did not disappoint.

When I researched more I discovered there was another film for the same subject called 24 Hour Party People. I also learned that though they were based on the same plot Party People was less realistic compared to Control which from my speculation seems to me as a artistic biography. 

Starring Sam Riley as Ian Curtis the movie to me was more then awesomely beautiful. The tale is very sad but graceful covering his marriage, his music, his epilepsy and ultimately his death. The only fault I found was whenever he had a epileptic fit it had to be violent and dramatic. Most people with epilepsy do not have fits like that. I can't say I'm a fully qualified neurologist with all the answers or anything but it was so blatantly dramatized. But in light of that in any movie they will take a scene or concept and exaggerate it because let's face it, if any movie was 100% realistic they'd all be shit.

So I found this movie to be a must-watch for anyone who enjoys good music or great filmography. 7 and a half out of 10.