Fight Club [12 Feb 2006|03:06pm] The first rule of Fight Club: Don't talk about Fight Club. Well, I'm going to. Edward Norton plays the main character, a confused/depressed man of routine, with nothing to live for but all his stuff (as in the things he buys). His life is so boring and meaningless that he begins attending support groups to listen to people talk about how they're battling cancer or any other disease they may have. He himself doesn't have cancer or any other disease of the sort, but he finds peace and people he likes in these meetings. All of that changes, though, when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter). She is a woman who is also faking her way through the groups. Because of Marla, Norton's character sinks back into depression and insomnia. His life is for an even worse surprise, though, when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on a plane trip. Tyler takes everything that is of value from the protagonist (Norton). Tyler and the protagonist then start a new trend that helps them deal with their stress. They fight. They fight each other constantly, and attract other people to join what later becomes "Fight Club". The story goes back and forth from the Fight Club phenomenon to Marla and her a insane affair with Tyler, and things gradually spin out of control. Fight Club grows and spreads and our protagonist here finds himself destroyed as the movie goes on. There is then more to the story but I can't say much without giving a lot of it away. So I think it's needless to say that Edward Norton is simply a god, right? I mean, everyone knows it already. He is just an amazing actor and I think I want to marry him for it. Brad Pitt did alright, I suppose, but he didn't do much for me. He always plays the same type of character in almost every movie he's in and, irritatingly, never has any facial expressions. The fact that he is good-looking is a bonus to the film itself and his character is a riot, but I can't say that he evoked anything in me through his performance. Same with Bonham-Carter. The cinematography, though, was insanely great as was everything else about the movie. I'm glad I discovered David Fincher (the director), but even after having seen his other movies like Se7en and Panic Room, I would have to say that Fight Club is by very far is best. A+ and all of that up there is why. ( Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. ) 7 comments|post comment

Bad Education (La mala educacion) [12 Feb 2006|02:56pm] Bad Education [La Mala Educacion] is an amazing film. I'm not very familiar with Pedro Almodóvar's work, but I really enjoyed this masterpiece he has here. It's hard to say whether or not it is a thriller or a drama, but I think it's a little of both. There's a lot of suspense involved in the general plot and it's overall a very satisfying movie. The main themes in this movie are love, homosexuality and pedophelia in Catholic churches. Enrique (Fele Martínez) is a homosexual direcotr/producer with a haunting past. Angel (Gael Garcia Bernal), a long-lost lover and friend from Enrique's childhood, shows up with a script he wrote which he hopes to have made into a movie. He is also wanting to play the role of one of the main characters, Zahara, a drag queen. Enrique still has a special place in his heart for Angel and realizes, after reading the script, that the entire story is an autobiographal (and partly fictional) story of Angel's. At first, Enrique is ecstatic and excited about the script, but he isn't sure about casting Angel in the movie. As Enrique reads through the script, he becomes more and more overwhelmed with the vivid memories and emotions from his childhood. The film takes us into the script's story and into Enrique's flashbacks of his child molestation within the Catholic Church by Padre Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). After reading the script all the way through, Enrique decides to make the movie but refuses to cast Angel as Zahara. Angel becomes annoyed and upset about not getting his way but eventually Enrique gives up and lets him play the part. From there, we discover more about each character and how their lives intertwine with one another. Lies are uncovered and it becomes very suspensful as the camera takes us deeper into each of the characters' worlds. I a fan of foerign film before seeing this, but never such a fan of any foreign actor. Now Gael Garcia Bernal is a favorite of mine. I'd seen him before Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch and )and The Motorcycle Diaries, but this movie really did it for me.It was amazing absolutely seeing him three totally different and contraversial characters. There are no proper words to describe the wonderful job he did this with Bad Education. Fele Martinez is also a good actor and he and Bernal worked extremely well together. I hope they play together more often in the future. I'll definitely keep hunting for both their work. Anyone who can sit through a good, not-very-typically-Hollywood movie with a lot of gay sex in it should watch this. Most of the people I know would probably hate this movie but I know some accepting minds who can take it. If this sounds good to you at all, then watch it. You probably won't regret it because it's an A+ for me. ] ( Padre Manolo, por favor... ) post comment

Big Fish [12 Feb 2006|02:47pm] Big Fish, as most people know, is a Tim Burton film. Tim Burton proved himself a great director with movies like Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and the recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride. So when I sat down to watch Bigh Fish, I expected magical and enchanting characters to float out of my screen and set my imagination off to a different planet. But it seriously disappointed me and here's why. The movie is about William Bloom (Billy Crudup), a married man with a baby on the way, who finds out that his father, Edward (Albert Finney), is dying. He returns home to see him as he feels very distant from his father and wants to reconnect with him before he dies. The reason he is so distant from his father is because his dad is always telling exaggerated stories of his magical past and William doesn't appreciate the fact that his dad can't be normal and serious like everyone else. (I know, what a dick.) Most of the movie shows us Edward Bloom's wonderful tales, with Ewan McGregor acting as young Edward (with a Southern accent!). So the story is basically about William Bloom trying to decode his father's complicated past. What he's really trying to do though, subconciously, is to prove his father wrong about his "made-up" past, so that he can rightfully accuse his father of being a liar since everything he ever said was just triggered by his wild imagination. So that's my first negative point. I hated the concept of getting all teary-eyed over a guy who can't connect with his dad! I mean, okay, so it's nice to have an old man tell stories of his past but why add on tasteless, corny scenes of sons and fathers fighting and not talking for three years and then meeting in a hospital as the father is dying and blah blah blah!? WHY RUIN SUCH A [potentially] WONDERFUL MOVIE? The magical characters of Edward Bloom's stories were all amazing, though. Danny Devito played an eccentric circus owner while they got a real-life giant man to play the Giant in the movie. Also, Danny Elfman was great with the music as usual and Burton did an ASTOUNDING job with the visual effects. The only thing that TOTALLY ruined the movie for me was the corny Hollywood plot. What the fuck was up with that!? I've been informed that it was a novel originally and that was later adapted to this movie, but nonethless, the sappiness made me want to scream. I'm giving this a B-. Plots are really important to me and this one didn't appeal to me at all. But two thumbs up (to quote Siskel & Ebert) for everything else, especially the casting. ( I saw an iceberg once. They were hauling it down to Texas for drinking water. They didn't count on there being an elephant frozen inside. The wooly kind. A mammoth. ) post comment

Spun [12 Feb 2006|01:57pm] Spun is basically a movie about six methaphetamine addicts. Their life stories are sort of strung together to create a chaotic plot that is the movie. The protagonist, Ross (played by Jason Schwartzman), becomes his Crystal Meth cook's personal driver in exchange for free drugs. During this time, Ross gets lost in the crazy mess of methaphetamine as he tries to struggle with his love life and with these wacky new people he is meeting. The cast is pretty all-star, with Mena Suvari, Patrick Fugit, Mickey Rourke and Brittany Murphy all playing main characters. Also, the soundtrack is by Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and Blondie's Deborah Harry plays the protagonist's dyke neighbor. I thought that this movie was a good portrayal of the bizarre world of drugs. There are no inhibitions, principles or limits. There are some pretty in-your-face bondage scenes and great hallucination cartoons. The cinematagrohpy was my favorite aspect of the entire movie. I loved how the camera took you inside the peoples' minds. The whole mood of the movie changes with each character's view of life. I fell in love with many actors after having seen this movie. Jason Schwartzman, for instance, is on my list of favorite actors now. He did an exceptional job in this movie as a meth addict who's letting himself fall deeper and deeper into his addiction as his life spins out of control. (Eh, pun intended...I think.) Suvari's character, Cookie, grossed me out. Honestly, by the end of the movie I could not stand her anymore. The character was the junkie girlfriend of the drug dealer (John Leguizamo) and you get to watch her chewing gum compulsively and then interrupting sex with her boyfriend to take a dump. That's exactly what I meant by the movie has "no inhibitions." Plus, I hear that the characters are based on real-life people. Creepy? Indeed. Also, the soundtrack is fantastic. It fits the lighting and cinematography and etc., as in it was dreamy and intense. Ahh I was so in love with the music! (I guess it's what you would expect from someone like Billy Corgan, though, huh?) I really did love this movie and have seen it twice alredy, but I couldn't give it more than a B+. Acting, plot and visual added together creates a pretty good movie but not something I imagine most people sitting through. But hey, if it fits the shoe, go watch it! ( It looks like a perfectly healthy green dog. ) post comment

Battle Royale [12 Feb 2006|01:53pm] Based on a Japanese novel by Koushun Takami, Battle Royale is the story of a group of ninth graders who are transported to a small isolated island with a map, food and different arms. They are told to fight each other for three consecutive days until there remains but one student. All students are forced to wear a metal collar with a radar so that their teacher is aware when a rule is being broken. The film is set in Japan and is in Japanese. It's hard to classify this film, as despite the extreme violence it isn't action and despite its nightmarish feel, it isn't horror. It's just in between. There are many themes to this story; from to trust to complete selfishness (killing your best friend to save your own life) to suicide to unloyalty, and the list goes on. The actors in Battle Royale were amazing. It is rare to find young talents like these, for instance, in Hollywood. (Obviously, it's hard to even have a Hollywood director direct a movie as dark as this and not have it be totally corny.) These actors were by far the best young actors I have seen in all my life. Tatsuya Fujiwara plays the main character, Shuya, a young man who is struck by tragedy when he becomes an orphan. All he has now is his best friend and the girl with whom he is madly in love. Fujiwara did a great job of transmitting the feel of despair that one would probably feel if he were to see his best friend die before his eyes, or to have to see classmates killing each other and then to portray that never-ending trust that two lovers share. The other characters all did a generally good job as well. The first actor I'd like to critisize is Taro Yamamoto, who played the compassionate Shougo Kawada, who helps the protagonist and his girl friend as the game Battle Royale goes on. I thought that Yamamoto overplayed the character's casualty and I didn't feel as attatched to him watching the movie as I did reading the comic book. The other actor I thought did a terrible job relative to the other actors was Masanobu Ando, who played the haunting character Kazuo Kiriyama, who basically seemed immune to everything. While reading the book, that guy really creeped the shit out of me. But in the movie, he just basically did the "undercover" thing and sort of leapt from place to place and tortured and killed people and that was it. You didn't feel anything, and in my opinion, that character was one of the most important. But all in all, without being picky or anything, the acting was splendid just as the directing of [sci-fi/Japanese ganster movie director] Kinji Fukasaku. I thought that the story was very haunting and compelling, and that you should read the novel or the comic book before watching the movie because just the use of your imagination and attatchment to the characters while reading the books is so much more real. I really enjoyed the movie too, though, and would recommend it to anyone who has the stomache for constant shootings, hangings, blowing-up, abandoned corpses and a lot of blood squirting everywhere. But hey, don't be a pussy! Just watch it. My grade for the film? A+. Totally certain about that one. ( Could you kill your best friend? ) post comment

Reservoir Dogs [12 Feb 2006|01:47pm] Reservoir Dogs is the movie that lifted the legendary director Quentin Tarantino up to the A-List and is what gave birth to such movies as Snatch and Ocean's Eleven. I suppose I do have a biast opinion of the movie, as Quentin Tarantino was on my list of favorite directors from having seen his other movies (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Jackie Brown) but I also have legitimate reasons to have absolutely adored this one. There are seven main characters in all; Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino), Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker), Eddie Nice Guy (Chris Penn) and finally, Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney). Joe, the boss, has assembled all the other main characters to steal a bag of diamonds for him. He assigns them color-coded aliases to hide their identities from being known even to each other, just to avoid any slip-of-the-tongues with cops or maybe even a rat in the group. But something in their plan to steal the diamonds went very wrong. Some in the group die and some survive just barely. One by one, the surviving robbers find their way back to their warehouse hideout, which is where almost the entire movie takes place. There, they try to find the traitor among them who tipped off the police and chaos strikes. There's a lot of blood, sudden outbursts, confrontations, unloyalty, unexpected fights and a lot of dark humor during this time. In all, it is a violent movie with clever and funny dialogue, and with a great "Sounds Of 'Seventies" soundtrack. The ending is also unexpectingly moving (Well, I haven't given anything away!). No one could ever get bored during this movie (or any other Tarantino movie for that matter) because the dialogue is just so perfect. I know that I said this before, but I had to say it again. The witty and realistic conversation in the first scene in which Tarantino's character, Mr. Brown, dissects Madonna's "Like a Virgin" is simply hilarious. You'll find yourself laughing smugly during the entire movie. Alsom every single one of the actors portrayed their characters extremely well. Harvey Keitel really proved himself an amazing character to me in this movie. I was never much of a fan of his until I'd seen Reservoir Dogs. His character was compassionate and badass all at once, and both those adjectives are very contradicting so for him to have done the amazing job he did do, I would have to cheer loudly for Keitel. Tim Roth was also wonderful and I can't say why without having to give most of the movie away. But if you watch it, you'll know what I mean. To be honest, I don't have a single negative thing to say about this movie. (Okay, so seeing an ear being cut off wasn't exactly my cup of tea but that's probably the only critisism.) A definite A+. ( Why am I Mr. Pink? ) post comment

Donnie Brasco [12 Feb 2006|01:37pm] I sat down to watch Donnie Brasco with the idea of a typical mafia movie in mind. When the movies was over, I decided that it wasn't exactly what you would label as, "A typical mafia movie," because there is a whole side of the movie that has nothing to do with the Mafia and rather involves family and friendship. The plot is pretty basic and it is based on a true story. It's about an undercover agent for the FBI, Donnie Brasco, who joins the mafia in order to find information about it and completely infiltrate it. (Johnny Depp plays the undercover agent.) Donnie is practically adopted by Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), who is a low-class Mafia man. Lefty guides Donnie through the New York gangster scene and they develope a very strong relationship. But as Donnie loses himself in his job, he becomes distant to his wife and kids. (The wife is played by Anne Heche). This causes problems with the family. Donnie turns into a confused, guilty, lost man as he goes on to mix his professional and personal life up and create one hell of a mess. The story itself, I found very interesting. But I'd also like to review the acting. Quite frankly, there's nothing negative I can say about either Johnny Depp or Al Pacino in this movie. I've already decided that Johnny Depp is generally a splendid actor, but I think that he did an exceptionally good job on this movie. I don't recall ever seeing him in a gangster movie, but he was in this one and he really captured his role and created a masterpiece of a character. As for Al Pacino, he is one of my favorite actors of all time. He is most definitely on my Top 10, no doubt about that. And this movie only makes me think even more of him, so you can imagine how good he was. After having seen Donnie Brasco, I thought for the 100th time to myself, "Al is untouchable." The way he talks, walks, acts, laughs and moves with the other actors is simply astounding. The last main actor I'm going to review is Anne Heche. She used to be very popular, and I was wondering what had happened to her. Well, now I know what happened to her. People got sick of Anne Heche. Her roles are never exceptionally challenging, and although she did a good job in this movie, her character wasn't a very powerful one. Many would disagree with me, but the whole concept of a wife scolding her husband every two scenes simply bored me and therefore the character became banal in my eyes. So although Heche did a pretty good job on this movie, I'm not going to give her a standing ovation. All in all, I would probably give this movie an A-. It's going to be part of my small DVD collection very soon. ( C'mon Donnie, let's fillet this fat fuck. ) post comment

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