For a good date movie, try Young People Fucking. It follows 5 couples through a night: the ex´s, the married couple, the best friends, the roommates and the first date. Hilarity ensues. It´s a Canadian film, and I don´t recognize any of the actors, but totally worth the two hours. Also, I recently downloaded Masters of the Universe-1987, with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Courtney Cox as a 16-year old skank. Jean jackets, Beast-Man and absurd dwarfs aside, this movie is highly enjoyable. See also Transformers 1986 for uncut 80s childhood awesome.
This only works as a date movie if the girl you're with is laid back, and probably not as a first date, as at times it's gets pretty graphic. It is however, hilarious, and worth seeing. I went to go see the Thing in theaters the other night. I had forgotten how good it was. A group of scientists are stranded in the Antarctic with a creature from outer space which absorbs and replicates the scientists. It's by John Carpenter and stars Kurt Russell, which some pretty good special effects for the time. Very entertaining.
The Sting For those who haven't heard of it, this is a classic 1973 film about a 1930's conman (Robert Redford) seeking to avenge his murdered partner by taking down a major Chicago boss in a giant betting scam, with the help of another legendary, old-time conman, played by Paul Newman. While a major problem with many older films is the slow pacing, this is one of The Sting's many strengths; there is constant action, dialogue, legitimately unexpected revelations and double-crosses, and great acting performances, from top to bottom. Even the minor, background characters are memorable, have solid, entertaining lines, and acquit themselves well in their roles. All I can say is that the film is the 15th highest grossing US film when adjust for inflation (Dark Knight is 27th) for a reason; it takes a solid, compelling story, frames it with outstanding, unique characters and brilliant dialogue, and never pauses for a dull moment. Check it out.
This film also won 7 Academy Awards, including best picture and best director. Any movie starring both Paul Newman and Robert Redford is worth watching.
Getting seasonal: 20 YEARS OF NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION We we so young? You can never, EVER tire of this film. The slapstick and the jokes fire off at machine gun pace for 100 minutes without ever taking a breath. Do you honestly know ANYONE that doesn't love this film, or have it memorized for that matter? Chevy's funniest role, Randy's funniest role, and dad forgot to bring a saw. My favourite: the dog under the dinner table.
Young People Fucking- That's Calvin Klein model Diora Baird as the chick who we DON'T get to see naked. M.O.T.U- That's Frank Lengella (yes, FRANK LANGELLA!!!!) as Skeletor. No shit.
2 Days in the Valley - Great movie from the mid '90s featuring a lot of good actors in it. The story is a bunch of little stories that all collide at some point, sort of like Crash but not so gay and dramatic. Pretty comedic, also features at least a few minutes of Charlize Theron's nice rack in it. Features Danny Aiello, Theron, Jeff Daniels, Teri Hatcher, Peter Horton, James Spader, Eric Stoltz. Good little film. Legends of the Fall - One of my favorite movies of all-time, just watched it last night. I generally don't like Brad Pitt, but in this one he did an excellent job. Anthony Hopkins and Aidan Quinn play their roles very well too. There are a few plot things that I thought were stupid, though. Spoiler When Samuel gets killed in the war, the enemy sets up a machine gun while he is caught in the wire. They don't have any pistols or anything? Seems like an overdramatic way to kill a single soldier. It is one of the saddest movies I've ever seen, and the narration by One Step the Native American is really well done. "Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, or they become legends." Spoiler When Alfred pulls the trigger on the guy at the end of the movie, saving Tristan from getting shot, it was a good way to end the story between the family. Julie Orsmond's character is a total slut in this one though. She gets with all three brothers at some point in the movie. While they are gone, does Hopkins get a shot at her? What about One Stab? Does he get one stab?
Ever since I saw it as a 6 year old, I was convinced that the role of Skeletor was played by the late, great Jack Palance. But goddamn, looking it up on IMDB, it is indeed Frank Langella. No offense to the latter, but my memories of the film just dropped significantly after finding this out. I think I'll continue with reviewing relatively famous, Hollywood films, since it's not like most people here watch anything else; Roadhouse- Great, funny, well-paced first seventy minutes, only to be ruined by a needlessly melodramatic forty minutes that takes itself far too seriously, and completely abandons its original formula. Instead of the humorous, well-paced action we had at the beginning, we're subjected to pointless relationship bickering, and quotes about life that are painfully stupid and irrelevant to the rest of the film, but are doubly so considering their stone cold delivery. Thankfully, the film ends right before "boring" and "eye-rolling" turn into "cringe-worthy" and "irritating", but not before they took down a potentially excellent action film. With all that being said, there's still a lot more good than bad, and the quotes are, while simple, still absolutely hilarious. 6/10
The Castle, I watched this on the weekend. It's an Australia movie that is hilarious. It is heartwarming, and the main characters' innocence makes them extremely compelling characters.
Gerry, starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck Do not watch this steaming piece of worm riddled, runny dog shit. Seriously, I would rather get my ass beaten in a bar fight than have to sit through this movie again. You know how some people will walk out of a bad movie and say that they want that two hours of their life back? Well this is the movie by which all other epic failures of movies will be judged. Here's the plot (fuck the spoiler tags): Two utter dipshits go out into what I assume was the Mojave desert (with no water or food, I might add), get lost, and one of them dies. THAT IS IT. Now see, the tragic thing is that this movie COULD have been good; you know, sort of like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, only minus the treasure. Maybe one of the guys could descend into madness and try and kill the other, or maybe there could be a huge revelation, like maybe one of the guys was fucking the other's wife or dog. ANYTHING. But no. There is only about 10 minutes of dialog in the whole movie. There are no great revelations, no redeeming factors beside the beautiful scenery, and if I wanted that, I'd open a book of photos by Ansel Adams. The only reason why I sat through this whole 103 minute ordeal was that I could not bring myself to believe that I had actually wasted so much time already. I came home still drunk after a night of partying, plopped down on a chair with some water and started watching. I mean there are a lot of movies with very little dialog or long stretches of no dialog (No Country For Old Men springs to mind), but there was at least something happening on screen. I am most disappointed in the director, Gus Van Sant. He has made some great stuff (Drugstore Cowboy, To Die For, My Own Private Idaho), but not this shitpile. And because it was a Van Sant movie, there was a gay undertone. Hell, if those two idiots started fucking each other, then that would have at least been SOMETHING. See, that would have been a good revelation; one friend brought the other out there to profess his love! I give this movie 0 stars out of a possible 1,000,000. I am disappointed in you Gus. And before anyone leaps to his defense, yes, I have made better films than this.
Happiness - If you saw/liked Welcome to the Dollhouse, then you'll like this one also written and directed by Todd Solondz. It's essentially a case of how many fucked up people can you cram into one story while still having some semblance of a plot, but it's an interesting watch nonetheless. I particularly enjoy the first scene with Jon Lovitz. Bad Day at Black Rock - From IMDB - A one handed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary. That about sums it up right there. Spencer Tracy beats the crap out of a bunch of people using one arm. Supporting roles from Ernest Borgnine and Lee Marvin are good as well. The Grapes of Wrath - Based on the Steinbeck novel of the same name, this is a great depiction of people's struggle during the Great Depression.
Two Hands: One of my favourite Australian movies, it’s a good mix of funny, action, drama and just a damn good ride. It was the vehicle which mainstreamed Heath Ledger in Australia, made on a budget comparable to most Hollywood blockbusters catering bills. If you haven’t seen it do yourself a favour. 4.5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145547/
Then you would definitely hate the shitpile that was Gus Van Sant's Last Days. "A Seattle-set rock & roll drama about a musician whose life and career is reminiscent of Kurt Cobain's." Really, its a turd where they get a guy who looks like Kurt Cobain and there is no dialogue in the fucking movie.
I actually awoke one night having left Showtime on and was really intrigued by Last Days. I just saw a disjointed part of it but it still had something to it. Not like his other shitpile Elephant. Which is a narrativeless retelling of the Columbine shootings. With the same undertones he inexplicably has the two killers turn gay for some man love before their murder rampage. It's about as random and confusing as any art house film.
I just watched a movie in my film class today that I had never heard of until my teacher put it in. It is a German film by the name of Kammerflimmern which roughly translates to Off Beat. To my knowledge is has not been released in the US and we had to use a European DVD player (forget the format) to even watch the film. It is hands down one of the better foreign films I have seen. Touching, riveting story about a paramedic and his life. They have it on google video although I haven't checked to see if it has subtitles. If your a a film buff and got a little time to kill do some research into checking it out. I HIGHLY recommend it.
I’ve gotten to really like South Korean films. To me, many of the ones I’ve seen remind me of Hong Kong cinema, but within the context of the different, unique, cool Asian culture that is South Korea. I like seeing well-received films which are made in another country by its own artists, getting a sense of another culture’s perspective on life/society and the way film as an art form can express such a perspective. The Sundance Channel plays many good South Korean films on Sunday nights at midnight. If you have the access to the Sundance Channel, check it out. Personally, I really liked the “Vengeance Trilogy" of South Korean director/writer Chan-wook Park; my favorite being Lady Vengeance. Lots of people love Old Boy, of which I agree with many people is brilliantly scripted and directed. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Boksuneun naui geot) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310775/ Old Boy http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/ Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan geumjassi) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451094/ Chan-wook Park http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0661791/bio
I wouldn't call South Korea a unique or cool Asian culture for a number of reasons, but that aside, I agree they have a great cinema tradition during the last 20 years. Chan-Woo Pak's movies are the most popular in the West, as you mentioned, and are indeed excellent. Anyways, my favorite film ever is actually Korean, and aside from that one, I've also really liked No Blood No Tears Musa Honestly, I would write reviews of all three of these, especially the first one, if I could, but it's difficult to give them justice, as there would necessarily be too many spoilers, and they treat common subjects/situations in such an unusual manner, that calling it a "gangster film" or whatever would just give the wrong impression.
The Razor's Edge. Watch the original with Tyrone Power, then the Bill Murray remake. Sex, drugs, alcohol, betrayal, a man's search for the meaning of life. The Quiet Man. "Impetuous! Homeric!" Brilliantly scripted, acted and directed. Barry Fitzgerald steals this movie. The 39 Steps. Classic Hitchcock. Any of the Thin Man movies. William Powell and Myrna Loy were made for each other. Only problem is, these movies make me want to have a martini. And the movie for which Paul Newman should have won the oscar, The Hustler. The grittiness of the pool halls, the dingy bars, you could practically smell the atmosphere. I will personally castrate anyone who colorizes this film. And when it comes to campy, The Kentucky Fried Movie and Big Trouble in Little China is the go-to double-feature.
The Tripper When I saw this movie trailer, my member could have easily been nominated amateur rocket scientist of the year. This is concentrated awesome. Check it out. http://www.myspace.com/thetrippermovie A murdering, axe-wielding madman out to murder hippies? Are you fucking kidding me? The title of the film is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Ronald Reagan's nickname, the Gipper. So basically, we have a film about an undead Ronaldus Magnus playing the role of lumberjack while the hippies play the role of trees. Could this get any better? So, yeah. I am so there. Talk about vicarious living. Unfortunately, the movie sucked, but talk about a great premise.
The movie isn't that old. Get "Mr. Brooks" with William Hurt and Kevin Costner. It's excellent and the back and forth of Costner and Hurt is fantastic. Also has Demi Moore is a bathing suit and possibly the best role Dane Cook has ever played. He's an annoying idiot. I didn't expect much from the movie but it's great, well acted and fast paced.