In case you care, here’s your author’s top 10 picks. They’ll also be linked on the side.
Neville:
10. Hotel Rwanda
9. The Passion of the Christ
8. Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite
7. The Motorcycle Diaries
6. Bad Education
5. Million Dollar Baby
4. Mean Girls
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Kill Bill: Volume 2
1. Finding Neverland
Liz:
5. The Village
4. Napoleon Dynamite
3. I Heart Huckabees
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
1. Garden State
Chalupa:
10. Maria Full of Grace
9. The Terminal
8. I Heart Huckabees
7. Super Size Me
6. Hero
5. Mean Creek
4. Kill Bill: Volume 2
3. Napoleon Dynamite
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
1. Garden State
Saw this one tonight and liked it. It’s not a deep movie by any means. Just a movie about a young kid (older than me) who gets thrown into a challenging situation at work, has everything else going wrong for him at home, yet has to be the boss and professional at work. It’d be pretty hard to be in those kind of shoes. I really enjoyed seeing Topher Grace. I’m a huge fan of That 70’s Show. One part I found really funny was when he went to his employees house, Dennis Quaid for dinner and gives his wife a hug saying, “Great to meet you Mrs. Foreman.” I also really enjoyed Scarlett Johansson’s role and Dennis’ daughter. Tell me if I’m wrong, but it seems like she got out of the type-cast roles I’ve seen her in up til now. I think I like her as an actress now.
I think you can pretty much guess the plot of the movie from the trailer. It was nice to see Topher learned some valuable life lessons by the end of the movie. I’d classify this one under entertainment. Definitely worth a watch.
Tonight was a night out on the town with Liz, Robby, Megan, Jeremy and Sara. Jeremy and Sara were only with us for our tardy meal and Jeremy only got to enjoy a beverage. Life Aquatic was a much anticipated movie for myself. I’m a big Wes Anderson fan and had been looking forward to this one for a while. Royal Tenenbaums is definitely a top 10 if not top 5 sort of movie.
Well, I guess I should start off by saying I heard some people liked this one and others told me it was slow, boring and not funny. Liz and I were talking about how it was just lacking some funny and this was probably because it lacked the writing skills of one Owen Wilson. Some of the stuff almost seemed contrived for an Anderson film. I know that’s a bold statement and I’m not exactly sure how to back it up at the moment. However it just seems the right things to say. There were still some funny parts and definitely some family inner-workings involved. I think I need to see it again.
While reading How Movies Helped Save My Soul, the section about Royal Tenenbaums contained, “It’s easy to compare with Charles Addams and J.D. Salinger, but the comparison is entirely appropriate; The Royal Tenenbaums is a modern American masterpiece. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I might even say that this film is the great American novel.” I find it interesting that Wes Anderson seems to be always focusing on family, community and relationships. The afore-mentioned movie deals with Steve Zissou finding out he has a son and his rocky marriage; along with the relationships between different crew members. Bottle Rocket has Owen Wilson longing for a father figure in Mr. Henry along with the relationships of Anthony (Owen Wilson), Dignan (Luke Wilson) and Bob (Robert Musgrave). Then there’s also Rushmore with its examples (I guess at this point I’m feeling too lazy to spell all this out for you so go watch this movie or ask somebody about it).
This definitely looked like a Wes Anderson film. Even from the start. I don’t know if I can even put my finger on what makes it look that way. Maybe it’s the way his films seem to be placed in multiple time periods. Maybe it’s a European-esque sorta thing…well, not just that. It’s hard to explain. It’s sorta like quality - you know it when you see it.
Well, to wrap this up. If you enjoy Wes Anderson I’d say go see this one. Definitely not as funny as some others, but I believe it still has a message to convey about our relationships with other people, how we can carelessly hurt others and how sometimes it’s the little things that mean so much - both good and bad.
Aside from the “Road Trip”-like obsession with female breasts that this movie seems to have, “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” is one of those funny, escapist movies, with two new talents leading a host of other struggling actors in the misadventures of one Friday night to a white castle after seeing a commercial for it on TV earlier. What a great setup? Isn’t it? I love how simple and ridiculous everything in this movie is. However, although it’s from the director of “Dude, Where’s my car?” arguably one of the worst films and most disappointing movies of that particular year, this movie is much smarter and has way more social style and class then Ashton Kutcher could ever muster up.
Sure, the story is implausible and by the end gets a little tiring and annoying. But the two main actors are likable, fun-loving, weed-obsessed 20-something year old guys, and their congenial spirits make it worth the trip. Also, the film also works as a racial and ethnic culture commentary, playing on so many stereotypes that in the end, you wonder if the young black man who’s in the jail cellar really was on to something when he said: “life has a way of working things out just as they should be” or something like that. Oh, and what boldness to take on such stereotype blasting: “an Asian-American guy who works in banking and ‘loves crunching numbers’ and “an Indian guy who’s aced the MCAT tests and is practically and literally a natural born surgeon.”
I wish all moves had such daring social strength.
The infamous Pedro Almodovar returns with this stunning, NC-17 homage to film noir flicks and previous Almodovar films such as “All About My Mother” and “Talk to Her” with the much anticipated “Bad Education.”
So why is this movie not really about attacking the Roman Catholic Church? And why is it not simply about transexuals, homosexuals, and drag queens? And why the oh-so-uncomfortable material dealing with child molestation and other similar abusive attacks on the Church? So many questions, so little answers.
Yes, the movie makes you uneasy but it also makes you intrigued. From the opening credits that mimic “Psycho” in its score, however, even more intensified with the credits acting as pieces of blood-stained colorful paper, ripping crossward and upward up off of the screen, to the final end melodramatic “ah-ha” that’s so reminiscent of many 50s and 60s films within the film noir tradition (”Double Indemnity”, “Dead Ringer,” to name just two of the many great ones), “Bad Education” is the kind of film you leave either loving movies all over again OR hating and disgusted with what you’ve just seen. To the latter people, they probably won’t be able to handle or enjoy watching all the sexually charged drama that is constantly unfolding here, but to the former (if you’re a true film buff) you won’t be able to deny the movie’s bantering on greatness and (dare I say it) what might be called a cinematic masterpiece. But the film, essentially, is not about a bunch of gay guys who secretly want each other or about the way the Catholic church might have been largely at fault in creating some of the most significant personal and social problems of our time, but it’s about the crave and struggle for power, in every facet of life. Gael Garcia Bernal, who gave one of the most moving performances of the year in “The Motorcycle Diaries” gives another, possibly even richer performance here that is so different and unique, he may have just unconsciously self-declared himself the most monumental force working in the film industry abroad today.
I know many will hate me when I do this (especially those who end up watching it) but “Bad Education” is going on my top ten list. See it, if you dare.
What more can be said about the Rwanda genocide of 1994? Actually, a lot. And this movie only touches the surface and yes, the real issues and problems between the Tutsis and the Hutus is way more complex, and goes much further into humanity than a 2-hour movie can possibly hope to examine, but having said that, “Hotel Rwanda” still does something to its audience: it moves us in ways movies like this should. Not by showing us gruesome, horrific images (although there are some images that will stay with me, not from seeing them but from hearing them described by people in the movie) but by showing us a story of mass murder and governmental corruption and takeover where the rest of the world slowly closes one eye and looks in the other direction.
Don Cheadle is a revelation here, and I hope he finally gets the recognition he’s deserved for years and years. Ever since his catty, cool performance in Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight,” I knew and hoped he would continue as an actor to be reckoned with. And this might just be the performance that nails him in a best actor seat, next to Jamie Foxx of course (for “Ray”). Again, add this one (probably) to the list of the year’s 10 best. A human interest story from across the globe that manages to get under our skin and tap on our hearts.
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