For some reason I’m always intrigued by drug movies. Maybe it’s because it’s something I know nothing about. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what they were going for in Spun though. It almost had an MTV, jazzed-up feel to it. At times I think the film was trying to accurately portray what it’s like to be on crystal meth, but all the while being hip and cool about it. Everything was shot with a lot of close-up lenses. I know some would argue this really gets you in there, but I really prefer the wide-angle any day. It gives you a feel for the scene and its surroundings. There was also a lot of camera movement and jiggling along with some varying camera speeds with time lapse photography. I think this is what may have confused me on the level of seriousness.
At times things were from almost a first person view. Not like a first person video game, but from the viewpoint that you were in the group. At other times the camera was pulled back a bit and I felt much like an outside observer. This combined with some of the camera tricks are what made me feel like the film was “jazzed-up” to seem more hip and cool. The main pair of cops trying to catch everyone also seemed like they might have been more at home as the two detectives from Hot Fuzz. While most drug-centered films I’ve seen are trying to show how drugs are bad (Blow, Trainspotting, etc), this one almost made it seem maybe a little cool. I felt the comedy aspects were counteracting the seriousness of the drugs.
One other aspect I really didn’t understand was the bleeping of some dialog and the blurring out of some nudity. The reason this seemed weird is because they sometimes allowed you to hear the same word in an earlier scene. Now not all nudity was blurred out, just some. I could kind of see some consistency in the blurring, but it still didn’t make sense. Maybe they were trying to avoid an NC-17 rating?
Even though I wasn’t completely on board with everything, this film did bring out an reaction and that is a sign of good art. Who can say no to a movie starring Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo, Patrick Fugit, Mena Suvari, Deborah Harry? Who’s Deborah Harry you ask? Well you might also recognize her as the front woman for a band called Blondie. Jason Schwartzman never ceases to amaze me and Rourke has been awesome in everything I’ve seen him in. It was also cool watching Blondie kick the crap out of a punk in a convenient store.
I’m not really sure how to recommend this. Some will be offended by the content and others will just get bored with the feel of it. I’m glad I stuck through and watched it all. Something to check out if you have Netflix. It’s on the Watch Instantly list.
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It’s not often that I’m just completely bored with a film, and this was one of those times. To me, this came off as a cliche of cliches. I was enticed to add this to my Netflick’s queue because of the ensemble cast and several reviews I had heard. I wasn’t really impressed.
The plot of centers around a summer camp and it’s the end of the season. All of the camp counselors are probably not quite as responsible as the parents hoped and probably a little too “cool” than the campers would like. Christopher Meloni plays the crazy and insane camp chef. He fought in Vietnam and likes to let everyone know that, but definitely not like Walter Sobchek does.
I think this could have been more funny if I was watching it with a rowdy group late at night. Any thoughts?
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If you’re a fan of the hit Sci-Fi show Stargate, then you’re sure to love A Dog’s Breakfast. Written and directed by David Hewlett, Dr. Rodney McKay, you’re sure to recognize him as the main character. Other face you’ll recognize are Kate Hewlett (Rodney’s sister and David’s actual sister), Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett), Christopher Judge (Teal’c), and Rachel Luttrell (Teyla).
Hewlett plays Patrick, a character not all too different from his Stargate role. He’s a little weird and definitely has some quirks. Out of nowhere Patrick’s sister shows up with a surprise - she’s engaged. Unsurprisingly, Patrick can’t stand Ryan, Marilyn’s fiance, and immediately starts plotting Ryan’s death. But what to do with the body?
I’m sure you’ll love this film as much as I did. Rent it if you haven’t seen it yet.
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The title 11:14 refers to a time. On one fateful night, a lot of lives are drastically changed at exactly 11:14. People die, people are hit by cars, a convenient store is robbed, one girl is playing several people for money, and one guy even losing some very important bits in a bit of a car accident.
I wish I had heard of this one when it came out. I was really impressed with it. Some of the cast includes Hilary Swank, Colin Hanks, Rachael Leigh Cook, Jason Segel, Patrick Swayze, and Ben Foster. I’m not completely sure if this would be considered a neo-noir or not, but it definitely has a lot of those elements in it. This is another one of those films with multiple time lines and everyone being connected in the end. It might be good to watch this one without the movie talkers and question-askers.
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I didn’t really know what to think of the cover, but the plot looked good so I decided to check this out. Happy Endings is a story about several groups of people all being connected without knowing it. Kind of like Pulp Fiction.
Mamie, Lisa Kudrow, is a middle aged woman working as a counselor and dating Javier, Bobby Cannavale. She’s being blackmailed by Nicky, Jesse Bradford - the kid from Hackers, to help him make a movie about her life and her child she has never met. Meanwhile, Otis, Jason Ritter, has a band and just hired on Jude, Maggie Gyllenhaal, to be their new vocals. Things get weird though when Otis’ father, Tom Arnold, takes an interest in Otis’ new girlfriend, Jude. There are a few more characters I’m not going to go into, but I’m not going to spell it all out for you.
One thing I took from this movie was how incredibly messed up some of the characters are. Mamie is being blackmailed over her son she gave away years ago by a somewhat crazy kid. All kinds of interesting things happen there. Otis is also going through hell watching his father being used by his ex-girlfriend while dealing with his own insecurities and issues. Like I said earlier, everything ends up being connected in the end.
I wasn’t really sure where this movie was going, but ending up really liking it by the end. There were a lot of strong performances by many of the characters and actors. I’d recommend checking this one out.
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I’m usually not a very big fan of animated films, not because they’re animated, because the story lines are usually very much geared towards children. Fortunately I have internet friends like ReelFanatic who give me good recommendations on what’s out there.
Ratatouille is a story about a country rat with refined tastes for food who suddenly finds himself lost and in the heart of Paris. Away from his family, he must find his own way and ends up trying out his culinary skills at a once renowned restaurant.
I immediately loved this movie from the start. There’s plenty of seriousness with some comedy thrown in. Remy, the country rat, befriends a human and Remy is able to prove to his family that not all humans are bad. I would have to say one of my favorite parts was the cooking challenge at the end, but I won’t say anymore to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
I’d have to say this one if fun for the whole family, and I don’t mean it in the “fun for only the kids” kind of way.
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I’ve been finding it intersting that more and more movies are coming out about the war in Iraq. The other day it just dawned on me that in 20 years, this war will be just like Vietnam in that there will be plenty of books, movies, etc out there for people to learn from.
In the same way that Lions for Lambs seemed so lame compared to Charlie Wilson’s War, I think Robert Redford’s film once again pales in comparison to In the Valley of Elah. The first pair goes together because they both deal with war in Afghanistan. The second pair also makes sense because they both deal with the current “War on Terror” or “War of Terror” as Borat puts it.
This film deals with a soldier that has just returned from home, but turns up missing. Tommy Lee Jones, plays the boy’s father, is trying to figure out what happened to his son. Being a veteran, and a bit of an investigator himself, Hank Deerfield isn’t satisfied with the lackluster efforts and figuring out just what happened to his son. Through trial and tribulation, Hank finally gets Detective Sanders, Charlize Theron, to take a real look at the case and try to piece all the parts together. In the meantime, Hank is trying to make sense of some of the videos his son had been sending home to him from the battlefield.
This is truly a sad and tragic story, but I feel that it gave me a little peak into what some of these people are going through. Every once in a while I catch a blip on the news about what’s going on in that region of the world. The only real thing that’s actually affecting me are gas prices and the economy tanking. I’m not in the armed forces though, and there’s very little chance of a draft happening again so I’d be really surprised if I ever experienced anything like this first hand.
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