Movie Ramblings

Okay. So...recently some people have been taken some interest (believe it or not) in what I've been posting up about what I have to say (aka bitch) about random movies I've seen. Then I got the recomendation to write a blog...which I dismissed immediately and without thought... However, a persistant certain someone pointed it would be convieniant to have everything together rand sorted instead of randomly posted on the internet, saved on my computer, written on my school books, and on scraps of paper beside my bed....yah, I'm not so organized. So, my plan is to slowly start collecting the random posts and scribbles that have accumulated over the years...

[movieramblings]

[movieramblings]

The Departed

I thought it was a pretty decent film. I read that it was based off another film ‘Internal Affairs’, a Hong Kong movie or something? and might want to check that one out too.  The plot was okay, decent...nothing special or unexpected really…. I mean, I don’t think… Basically you got two cops…one is undercover for the good guys, one is undercover for the bad guys. I liked the ending ish...I won't say exactly what happened in case someone wants to see it, but I really wasn't expecting what happened when the elevator door opened. It surprised me at first…but then the more I thought about it mehh…it lost its appeal. Uhm, this is another one with Leo...huh, I've been watching a lot with him in it lately (I’ve seen Shutter Island, Revolutionary Road, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape all within the past week). I really liked him in it, I thought his acting was good, and he is incredibly good looking to boot. And Jack Nicholson!! He was old and fat lol! (I’ve also very recently seen him in ‘The Shining’ and ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest’) Once I got over that, I really liked him too, the perfect asshole. I think that’s how a total dick is supposed to be played. I think the assholes always come off too full of themselves and it just turns me off.  Now, negative aspects of the film, some of the situations just seemed a little bit too far-fetched. I know its Hollywood; I know it’s a movie blah blah blah. I always keep that in mind, but this went a bit over that. I hate Matt Damon. That’s it. I think he's a terrible actor in the first place, and I thought his character was pretty one dimensional. I think that’s all the acknowledgment that guy deserves, I really despise him. Same with Mark Wahlberg…oh man, after I saw The Happening, I can never look at him the same again. I never thought he was a good actor…but that movie…fuck. Also, believe it or not, all the 'fucks' just desensitized me to the word, and then when it could have really made an impact...it didn’t.  Uhm...also the love triangle between the two guys and the shrink...what really was the point of that? I’m probably just being really thick, but in the beginning the way they played it up, I expected it to be really significant later on…and it just wasn’t…I don’t think.  6.7/10

[movieramblings]

[movieramblings]

The Fighter

So, I have to say that The Fighter definitely exceeded my expectations. I had never heard of the director, David O. Russell, but when I looked him up I discovered he also directed I Heart Huckabees...which was a decent movie.  But even knowing that, this quality of movie I was not expecting from someone I had never heard/watched before.  The plot was relatively simple...based on a true story, the story of boxer Micky Ward, played by Mark Wahlberg. This boxer has potential...but he is surrounded by this crazy family and his ex-boxer crack addict brother, played by Christian Bale.  Once again, Christian Bale shows us how serious he is about roles...dropping weight and working out (although not as much as in The Machinist...I don't think ANY role I've seen has been as physically extreme as him in The Machinist)  The biggest surprise for me was Mark Wahlberg. I was really not a fan of him before I saw this movie. I thought he was a terrible actor, I never appreciated the roles he played, and just him as a person...kinda pissed me off. However, he really impressed me with his role as Micky Ward. I will admit, the quality of his acting still was not 100%, but the story and emotion in the character made up for it. He made me really feel for his character, I loved him!  I can't pinpoint exactly what I liked about this movie so much...it didn't stick with me on an philosophical level, I wasn't left wondering about the meaning or symbolism in the movie...but I WAS left wanting to watch it again. From the day after I saw it, up until today, I've thought a lot about seeing it again.  8.1/10

[movieramblings]

[movieramblings]

[movieramblings]

Conversations With Other Women

Conversations With Other Women, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart, was one that I initially watched solely because of Helena. Being a huge Helena fan, I admit that the first time I watched it I think I was focused primarily on her. It wasn’t until I re-watched it recently that I saw that the movie as a whole was put together quite well. Helena and Aaron are essentially the only actors/physical in the film and they play the unnamed ‘man’ and ‘woman’. They meet at a wedding reception that they were both attending and engage in seemingly harmless small talk, which turns to flirting as the couple soon recall that they were lovers in the past. They seem to rekindle their past love as the night goes on, and despite the fact that they were both seriously attached to other people, a one night stand seems to be in consideration.  The very first thing you’ll notice about this film when watching it is the split screen. For the majority of the movie, one side of the screen is always focused on the woman and the other is focused on the man…except when they’re showing a flashback, which they can conveniently play at the same time as the present day due to the split screen. I thought originally that the split screen would be distracting, annoying, and get old after awhile, but you get used to it fairly quickly and it does add a certain intimacy to the movie.  The whole movie felt really honest to me…it was a small independent film with a budget less then half a million and I felt like that tight-knit feeling carried on into the movie. All the emotions that went into what happened that night felt so real, so developed, and so upsetting …  I really loved how the movie ended…the way it was filmed and the actual content of the scene both satisfied me. I don’t like when you can predict many film’s endings by just assuming that it was going to work out for the characters…you can’t do that for this movie, and that’s what I like…it’s different.  7.0/10 

[movieramblings]

[movieramblings]

[movieramblings]

District 9

District 9 is a sci-fi type of movie in a unique setting, the slums of South Africa. It starts out as a spaceship sits hovering over South Africa for close to three months…Obviously, that is slightly concerning, so the government sends some military guys up to the spaceship to check that shit out. Upon breaking into the hovercraft they discover aliens in pretty rough physical shape. They bring them down to ground and set up an area called District 9 where the aliens are nourished and can live to recuperate. Years later (I think, I’m sorry I’m terrible with details…oops) they aliens nicknamed “prawns” are still living on earth and have created a slum in the middle of South Africa. Their presence is causing tension so the government decides to move the prawns to a newly build District 10 which is farther away from the African city. However, when this plan goes into action, shit kinda hits the fan and that’s when all the action begins to go down.  I really loved that it was set in South Africa…it’s not the typical setting for a sci-fi movie and I appreciate when a movie switches stuff up, especially when the plot isn’t entirely unique. The simple plot actually worked for this film though…it made it more believable…which is a benefit considering the subject matter. Even the aliens were more plausible because they were less animal-like then the stereotypical extraterrestrial. They have families and jobs and are intelligent…it allows us to feel and sympathize with them more.  Last thing I have to criticize, kinda, is the camera. I love the shaky camcorder feel, similar to movies like Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project, but the documentary type interviews at the beginning were just a tad bit too much. They were interesting to begin with, but they ran on for just a little too long into the movie.  Altogether, it was entertaining, different, and unique and an easy watch. It didn’t require a great amount of thought, it wasn’t confusing or anything…just a nice viewing.  7.8

[movieramblings]

Memento

Guy Pearce plays Leonard, an insurance guy who now suffers from amnesia due to a head injury from when he and his wife were attacked. His wife was killed, and now he lives for revenge…needing to kill the second attacker that he knows was present during the attack, but who the police refuse to believe exists. He basically has to tattoo himself with important information and constantly take polaroids just to get through each day and continue with his own little personal investigation.  This film is kinda broken into two parts…approx. a quarter is in black and white, while the rest is in colour. The part that is in colour shows Leonards investigation, and what he’s doing to find and murder this man that supposedly attacked him and killed his wife. The thing is, it’s all backwards…so the film starts off, and we actually see who Leonard ends up killing…concluding them as his wife’s murderer. The other part of the film, the black and white portion, is telling us a little bit about Leonards amnesia in the form of a phone call. Leonard is is discussing a former client, Sammy, with an unkown caller, and Sammy had the same sort of condition that Leonard now has. This part of the movie actually plays in chronological order…so in the end of the film, they both kind of come together quite well.  One of my favourite things about this movie is how it made me feel…it was filmed and edited in a way that was very quick and left you with many questions, never fully understanding everything. The fact that the majority of the movie was backwards, made you feel how you would imagine Leonard feeling…totally confused. You never had any background as to why something was happening…you just witnessed it, and found out why later. The quick editing and pace also kept you from really analyzing the movie for too long…just adding to my constant feeling of being a little bit lost throughout the movie.  I also loved how it was so NOT what I expected! The whole ‘guy with amnesia’ trying to solve a mystery isn’t exactly the most unique story…and the technique of showing the scenes backwards isn’t terribly unique either…but, they way they put it together just totally worked, and made it unique!  The acting left me feeling indifferent…which is my only complaint…which is good! My complaint isn’t even bad…its just a lack of…great. I do agree with their choice of casting Guy Pearce though…Brad Pitt was originally the first choice for Leonard, and he wanted to accept, but it ended up not working schedule wise, and don’t get me wrong, I like Brad Pitt…but I don’t think an A-list actor would have been right for that role.  Anyway, this film was totally engaging, I loved it, and I would love to see it again sometime soon. I recommend it 100%

8.6

[movieramblings]

Blue Velvet

I really enjoyed this movie...I’m starting to become a pretty big David Lynch fan. It’s dark, full of dark humour, it was great. It starts out with the main character, Jeffery, and he finds an ear lying in the middle of a field. Eventually, he gets all wrapped up in the investigation following the discovery of the ear, and discovers some things about his town I’m sure he found surprising and disturbing :) My favourite character was night club singer, Dorothy. I just felt like she really developed especially compared to the other female role, Sandy, played by Laura Dern. I just really don’t like Laura Dern, I think she’s a terrible actress. For me, she’s never really brought anything that I haven’t seen before, nothing interesting, nothing. Plus, she sucks ass at crying…Like, really. It’s terrible. The first movie I saw her in was Novocaine I think…which may be why I dislike her so much :P Okay, on to something else I really loved. The scene where the cameras slowly zooming in towards the grass, then it takes us into the dirt and there’s all bugs and shit. Yes, I’m aware I do the scene no justice. I liked the whole introduction into a dirty sketchy kinda world underneath everything else that is seemingly perfect. I also thought it was really neat. When the main character found the ear in the field and we were taken on this eerie trip like through…into the ear. And I totally didn’t even notice (shame on me) that the camera never came back out…until the very end of the film, when all is well, and we get the same journey except out of the ear. Something I kind of noticed was that when a scene was kind of portraying innocence, that kinda thing, the dialogue and everything seemed really cheesy, and dumbed down kinda, and when the darkness was added back into the film everything seemed to improve. I don’t know if that was on purpose…I mean, I got the feel that it was, but I could be wrong. I thought it was neat anyway.  The music and sounds were fantastic, and the contrast between the black and white and colours, most notably the red curtains that kept popping up, were incredible. Would recommend it for sure! Although, with saying that, there is some nudity/sex/rape etc…just wanna put that out there. 8.5/10