Wednesday, August 22, 2007

My weekend of movies began on Thursday evening and continued until Sunday night. Because I watched so much I’ve decided to just post some mini-reviews of my thoughts on each movie.

Thursday

After Dropping Jeri off at the airport and having lunch with a friend I finally made it home to start the weekend off right.

Le Samaurai

A French film with lots of style and a slow paced plot. The movie follows French assassin as he carries out a hit and evades the police and his employers. The movie has some really well done scenes, but the story is a little too slow for my tastes. But it was a nice change of what I normally watch.

The Station Agent

This amazing little film follows the interwoven lives of three people: A loner dwarf who inherits a train depot in the middle of nowhere, NJ, a divorcee still reeling from the death of her only child, and a loquacious Cuban Hot Dog truck driver. It’s an amazing story of how these three touch each others lives and change one another for the better. Truly a great film, it’s both comedic and dramatic. One anyone can enjoy.

Friday

This was my day at the movies and I loved every minute of it, my friend Peter and I enjoyed the day by hanging out at the Movie theater from about 10:30 to midnight. It was the perfect blend of movies as we started with an Action movie, moved on to a Comedic Fantasy, enjoyed a Sci-Fi Thriller, and then ended it all with a Hilarious Teen Comedy.

The Bourne Ultimatum

This is what an action movie should be, filled with fight scenes, chases, and a government conspiracy. If only they’d have less of the jerky camera movements, it gets a bit old. But for the most part it was well done, and a blast to watch.

Stardust

This one was so much fun, I went in not expecting much, not sure what it would be and if I’d like what it was. But it was a great, a hilarious adventure full of fun scenes, and wonderful characters. I highly recommend it.

The Invasion

This one is getting awful reviews, but I enjoyed it. It’s not a great movie, but it’s suspenseful and had me on the edge of my seat. The end wraps things up a bit to nicely, but otherwise it was fun. I think people just expect to much, they just need to go in and enjoy the movie for whatever it is. In this case it’s just a fun waste of an hour and a half.

Superbad

Amazing! A fun, immature teen comedy. It’s filled with profanity, which may turn some off, but for every ounce of profanity there’s a pound of real emotion. Sure the main story is about three friends trying to score alcohol for a graduation party in order to impress the girls they like, but deep down it’s about so much more. The real story is the love of two friends and how they deal with leaving each other to go to separate colleges, and thus likely, separate lives. It’s sweet in a way that only the Apatow team seems to manage to pull off these days. And like the other Apatow movies it seems more real than most movies.

Saturday

I spent Saturday hanging out by myself and then with my friend Christopher. We watched a couple of movies and played some video games.

The Trouble With Harry

Classic Hitchcock, my Dad and I used to watch Hitchcock together a lot, both his movies and the TV series. My Dad always told me this was one of his favorites but we never did watch it, so I picked it up at Ameoba on Thursday and decided to sit down to watch it.

It’s not your typical Hitchcock, as it’s almost a romantic Comedy, that just happens to surround a dead body.

It’s got some truly fantastic performances and is quite funny. Definitely one worth owning and something you could watch over and over.

The Searchers (Last Half)

I caught the last half when I went over to Christopher’s. I’d seen this one once in college and forgotten how good it actually was until I watched this hour. It’s quite funny in parts and has some great acting.

One funny thing, there’s a young soldier that comes towards the end of the film to warn of a potential Indian attack and ask for backup. I was joking that this kid was John Wayne’s real life son, named either Wayne or Bruce (Wayne Wayne or Bruce Wayne) After the movie ended we watched an introduction from John Wayne’s son, who was in the movie as, you guessed it, the young soldier who I had joked about. It was quite cool.

Disturbia

I’ve already reviewed this one once, but upon second viewing I realized just how good it was. The suspense still works and made me jump several times, and much like Rear Window, it seems like a movie you can watch over and over.

Brick

We ended the night with this little Indie film from 2006. Starring Joseph Gordon Levitt it’s a film noir set in High School and follows the hero on his search for his ex-girlfriend whom he thinks is in trouble. Suspenseful, with several plot twists, it’s one that takes several viewings to completely grasp, but not in a way in which the first viewing isn’t enjoyable.

Sunday

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

I watched these two back to back (as they should be watched) I forgot how much darker the first one was than the second. Part one has a better story, a better April O’Neil (although not as pretty), and the one thing that really makes it a better film, Elias Koteas as Casey Jones.

Yet the goofy, cheesy feel of the second film makes me gravitate towards it more. Sure the second one has a crappy story, an awful anti-climatic Climatic Battle, and of course Vanilla Ice, but it’s so much more fun than it has any right to be.

They’ve both aged horribly, but the films are still so much fun.

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

This used to be my favorite of the Indy films, but I eventually realized it’s really the worst of the three. But don’t get me wrong it’s still better than most movies out there, especially ones that are over 20 years old. The movie still holds up well, and I’d forgotten this one takes place before Raiders. I’m not a big fan of Voodoo storylines, but Temple handles it reasonably well and the movie still packs a lot of fun. Plus it’s got Data from Goonies, so that’s always a bonus.

Night of the Living Dorks

This is one you’ve probably never heard of, it’s a German B-Horror film that I’ve heard was great for quite some time, so I picked it up. The movie is about a trio of uber-nerds who accidentally are turned into Zombies after dying in a car crash. The three realize they’re zombies and will continue to devolve into mindless flesh-eating ghouls without some kinds of antidote. But of course before they time, they become hugely popular thanks to their zombie-fication.

The movie is a cheesy B-movie, which I love, so it was a blast to watch. I of course watched it with subtitles, because dubbing is awful. But for a few minutes I watched with subtitles and dubbing on and it was great to watch the difference between the two translations.


Surprisingly the movie weekend carried over to the week and I watched a movie both Monday night and tonight (Tuesday) with a group of undergrad RA’s over at my friend Christopher’s.

Monday

North by Northwest

Another Classic Hitchcock. Adventure, mistaken identities, femme fatales, murder, and intrigue, this movie has it all. Plus it’s got one of the most famous scenes of all time: Cary Grant being chased by a bi-plane! Also I forgot to mention it’s got Trains, another Hitchcock staple.

Truly one everyone should see at some point in their life.

Tuesday

Children of Men

Again this one has been reviewed here and is one of my favorites of the year so far. On second viewing it’s still amazing and the 3 or 4 scenes that all appear to be one long shot are exquisite. And there’s one scene (in a building towards the end) that still gives me goosebumps.

And that's how I've spent the last few days. It's a lot of movies in a very short time, but it's been a blast, and I think I may finally end it tomorrow night with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I just watched Last Crusade. I finished watching Da Vinci Code and wanted another Grail movie and wasn't in the mood for Monty Python. Crusade is still amazing. I love it. Can't wait for the new one.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely LOVED Station Agent. I am so happy people are still discovering it.

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