Archive for June, 2005

La Mala Educación: Second review

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 29, 2005
in Drama, Film Noir, Foreign and Thriller
. 1 Comment

Here’s one I’ve been interested in seeing for a while mainly because it was directed by Pedro Almodóvar and starred Gael García Bernal. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect here. This movie is about a Catholic priest who sexually abused a small boy. It’s also rated NC-17 so that will deter some people right away. I’d have to say the story was a bit interesting but I never really quite got into it. It’s like I was missing something. Maybe it’s because I’m not catholic or,  maybe more specifically, Latino and catholic. I’m not sure. I know a lot of times I watch foreign films and I know I’m missing something but just can’t put my finger on it because I’m not part of that culture. Oh to be more culturally aware.

Anyways, this is definitely a darker film. I wouldn’t say it’s disturbing, but (as I always seem to bring up) I’ve seen stuff like Irreversible and House of 1,000 Corpses among other films so I feel a bit un-shocked by a lot of things. I can think of a couple people right now who have probably seen this or might see this. I can also think of a lot that will probably stay far, far away from it. I’m not entirely sure why it’s rated what it is. I think there’s more explicit material in Boogie Nights and that’s only rated R. If you’re looking for a better insight to the more recently exposed scandals involving the Catholic church, this probably isn’t going to be extremely helpful to you. This is more of a movie about some people involved in something tragic and life-changing.

The Red Violin

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 29, 2005
in Drama, Foreign, Independent, Music, Mystery and Romance
. 2 Comments

This one, like the title suggests, is about a violin. Mark was just telling me yesterday about a similar movie that involves a dollar bill. Basically you see how this one musical instrument has changed and shaped the lives of so many people over a span of about 400 years. It was really interesting and a great idea for a film.

The violin was originally made in Italy and you see it travel to Vienna, China, England, etc. It crossed through the hands of poor and rich alike. There’s a few famous faces in here, but not too many. Some might find this one a bit slow or boring but it’s definitely a drama/make-believe documentary.

The Pianist

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 27, 2005
in Based on a book, Based on a true story, Biography, Drama, Foreign, Music, WWII and War
. 0 Comments

Somehow I missed this one when it was in the theaters, but I finally saw it. This won Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay. I’d have to say it was pretty good. Adrien Brody did an excellent job in this timepiece.

This wasn’t nearly as disturbing as Schindler’s List, but I think it really did show how people survive. At one point Brody’s character is asked what he used to do. He says that he’s a pianist. He’s then asked what he’s going to do after the ware is over and he says he’s going to be a pianist and that’s exactly what he does. It’s really horrible that these kinds of tragedies have taken place in our world, however, it’s even more horrible that good men and women stand by and do nothing when they know about it.

MAD HOT BALLROOM!

Published
by
nathanshorb
on June 25, 2005
in Coming of age, Dancing, Documentary, Music and New York
. 2 Comments

Hello, movies blog, sorry for neglecting you. But I must admit, I’ve been neglecting movies in general until recently.

We saw Mad Hot Ballroom last night, a documentary about a ballroom dancing program/competition that goes on in the New York City public schools. It’s full of lots of darling inner-city children shaking their hips.

The dancing is beautiful and amazing. Dancing is a lost art in our world, and it’s a shame. The benefits of this program are many and great . . . manners, knowledge of culture, new opportunities, and heck, just being able to back your thing up. No but seriously, it’s important to know how to shake your bon-bon.

So the dancing is really incredible. These kids are GOOD. And the children are funny and adorable. They’re pretty good at stealing your heart right away. It’s full of funny and beautiful moments that will make you smile and laugh and feel good.

But unfortunately, that’s about it. While it was an enjoyable film, as a documentary, it lacked major substance. You didn’t learn a whole lot about the kids themselves, their families, or their backgrounds. While it was fun to watch the dancing, that’s about all it was, 1 hour and 45 minutes of watching them dance. And this is all good and fine, but you can only carry a movie for so long on children making cute and awkward and funny faces while dancing.

You’ll enjoy it, but it’s just really not all that impressive in the end. People have been comparing it to Spellbound, but this is nowhere near the documentary that Spellbound is. Watching dancing is more fun than watching spelling, but you need more than just that.

Slackers

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 25, 2005
in College, Comedy and Romance
. 0 Comments

I remembered seeing previews for this way back in the day and wanting to see it cause Laura Prepon from That 70’s Show is in it. It also stars Jason Schwartzman (who I just found out is Talia Shire’s son) from Rushmore and I Heart Huckabee’s, Jason Segal from Freaks and Geeks and Jamie King. I never really knew what it was about, but just thought it looked really cool.

I’d have to say I was a bit disappointed with this one. It’s about some guys in college that do stupid things and Schwartzman is a crazy stalker kid that does some funny stuff. However, the movie was full not so funny frat-boy humor that didn’t really make me laugh that much. On a Netflix scale of 1 to 5 I give this one a 2.

The Machinist

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 22, 2005
in Drama, Factory, Independent, Mystery, Neo Noir and Thriller
. 1 Comment

Here’s one I was always wondering about…but now I know. Liz and Robby came over and I’m glad I saw it. We were all amazed at how much weight Christian Bale lost for this role. It was pretty much just painful to see him in so many scenes with his shirt off. He looked like a holocaust victim.

The premise of this film is there’s a guy who works as a machinist in a metal shop and there’s this guy who’s after him, messing with him and the machinist is trying to track him down. This movie reminded me a bit of Memento and Fight Club - I won’t say much else because I don’t want to ruin the plot for you. There were definitely a few twists and I really liked the ending. I wasn’t really expecting it, but afterwards everything makes perfect sense.

If you’re into thrillers/mysteries, don’t mind dark films and aren’t afraid of something that might be a bit mildly scary/creepy at parts you should check this one out.

Anywhere But Here

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 21, 2005
in Based on a book, Comedy, Drama and Family
. 0 Comments

One of my goals with Netflix has been to see all the movies certain actors/actresses have been in. Natalie Portman is one of those people on my list. She co-stars with Susan Sarandon as mother (Adele) and daughter (Ann). This is a movie about family. Adele is a bit messed up in this film. She’s a single mother, not exactly a great role model and her system of support is her daughter. Like in many family situations, Adele unfortunately takes out most of her frustrations, anger, disappointment on her daughter. At one point in the movie Ann makes a comment that makes Adele angry so she stops the car on a highway, kicks Ann out of the car, throws her backpack out and takes off down the road.

At the start of the movie Adele has grown tired of living near family and the state of Wisconsin so they up and move to Beverly Hills. Adele is constantly trying to live glamorously in the ‘best school system in the country’, trying to keep up with her teaching job, occasionally making a floosie out of herself and also trying to raise a teenage daughter. One might say it’s a miracle Ann turns out halfway normal given the circumstances. In the end both Ann and Adele realize they really do love each other and try to do what’s best for each other.

To some this may be one of those ‘tear-jerkers’, but it didn’t illicit much emotion out of me. I’d say this is one worth watching once, but it probably isn’t on many top 10 lists.

The Big Kahuna

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 18, 2005
in Based on a play, Comedy, Drama, Independent, Religion and Salesman
. 0 Comments

This one is a little old, but not quite over the hill by any means. Came out in 1999. There’s also only 3 main characters - Kevin Spacey, Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli. Now I’ll be the first to admit this movie is a little slow, but as Toll says, “slow movies have the greatest potential for being great at the end.” Let’s just say that this one keeps up with Toll’s saying.

The plot goes something like there’s 3 guys from a company that go to a convention to schmooze with representatives from their customers and try to encourage them to maintain/increase/create accounts with them. The whole point of the night it to try and find one guy and talk him into using their product, The Big Kahuna. Well, nobody can seem to find this guy, but Bob - the new guy, apparently ran into him and talked to him all night about pets, life, religion, etc. When they find out Bob made a connection with the man, his colleagues send Bob back out to try and talk to him again only this time about the company. Turns out Bob decides not to talk business, but talk Jesus instead. Now this last sentence may or may not resonate with you, I’m sure you can guess this irrates Bob’s fellow businessmen. An argument and fight ensues between two of them and afterwards Danny DeVito says a few, yet powerful words. Bob insists that in talking about Jesus he’s being real with people. DeVito’s character points out that if you’re going to have a conversation with somebody, the minute you steer that conversation it becomes a sales pitch, not a conversation. This doesn’t matter if you talk about Jesus, widgets, hamburgers, steel beams, etc.

So even though this one is slow, I still think it packs a powerful punch. If you have some time to mildly pay attention and are looking for something to think about, check this one out.

Batman Begins

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 15, 2005
in Action, Adventure, Based on a comic, Crime, Martial Arts, Neo Noir and Thriller
. 1 Comment

I started off with the intent to see Mr. and Mrs. Smith but Sarah informed us that the movie sucked so Liz, Sarah and I went to see this movie instead and I’m glad we did. For starters, we have a star-studded cast including Christian Bale (Treasure Island, Newsies, American Psycho, Equilibrium), Michael Caine (Zulu, Alfie-original, The Italian Job-original, A Bridge Too Far, The Muppet Christmas Carol), Liam Neeson (The Mission, Schindler’s List, Michael Collins, Kinsey), Morgan Freeman (Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Unforgiven, Shawshank Redemption, Seven, Amistad, Million Dollar Baby, Unleashed), Katie Holmes (Pieces of April), Gary Oldman (Dracula, True Romance, Leon, The Fifth Element), Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Intermission, Cold Mountain), and Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai). See? I said it was star-studded

I read a review earlier today of said movie that talked about what a crappy film this was. Apparently the good actors just didn’t quite make it good, there was action but it was full of dead spots, blah blah blah. I didn’t see any of the bad things I read about in this movie. I really believe that Christopher Nolan has resurrected the Batman movies - especially after a string of such bad ones. This one definitely rocked. I think this was also the first Batman movie to explain the origins of Bruce Wayne. Liam Neeson did an awesome job as well as Gary Oldman, one of the few films where he’s not the bad guy. I didn’t quite recognize Ken Watanabe, but his voice immediately gave him away. Then we have good ol Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Christian Bale. If you like Equilibrium, you’re definitely going to love this one.

I think this movie will appeal to the comic lovers, the action lovers and the Batman lovers. It’s definitely way more serious than the “Holy Swiss Cheese Batman!!!!” TV series, but fake and unreal like other comic hero movies. This is also a movie that should keep the interest of older kids and adults. There’s not really much swearing and other than people getting the crap kicked out of them by Batman, there’s not much else to deter people from watching this film for content. I rate this as a must see and it will probably end up on my top 10 list at the end of the year.

Closer

Published
by
Chalupa
on June 12, 2005
in Based on a play, Drama, Independent and Romance
. 0 Comments

Saw Closer tonight. It seemed different from what I thought it would be…however, I have no idea what I was really expecting. This movie is about relationships….messed up relationships. You have two couples(Natalie Portman and Jude Law, Julia Roberts and Clive Owens) that trade partners, trade back, break up, etc. It’s a vicious cycle full of masochism, envy, greed, hate, lust, jealousy and revenge. The sad thing is I know of a couple people that have dabbled in this sort of life style and it’s horrible to have to watch the results.

While watching, I was reminded of several other movies:
Basic - I love you, I don’t love you, I’ve found somebody else, I’m leaving you, I’m back with you, etc, etc. There weren’t as many turn-arounds relationship-wise as plot twists in Basic, but I think you understand what I’m getting at if you’ve seen these movies.

Alfie - This would be partly because Jude Law stars in both movies, but when Dan’s life is pretty crappy he is no longer the cool, self-confident man we knew. He breaks down and has a good cry.

Usual Suspects - When Dan finds that name on the end I so knew it was coming. I think I guessed or thought, “it’d be cool if…” pretty much right from the start.

Scrubs and The Matrix - The end of the movie with Natalie Portman strutting her stuff down the sidewalk screamed lady-in-the-red-dress, created by Mouse, and was also strangely reminiscent of Elliot Reid when she gets her make-over and new attitude. This probably has something to do with the complete change in hair and clothes.