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Inland Empire (2006)
A Cinematic Nightmare of Epic Proportions
I seriously think David Lynch may have gone to bed one night, had the scariest dream in the history of mankind, and then decided to document it.
Inland Empire is a very difficult movie to watch. I've had the DVD since August of '07 and it still smells brand new inside because I've opened it and watched it only twice.
It is really hard to mentally prepare to view this movie, so more than a review, this is a suggestion on how to view the film.
Inland Empire begins as oddly as any Lynch film ever made. A young woman, who's face is blurred out, is led into a hotel room by a man who's face is blurred out. It's black and white, and they exchange some odd dialog in polish about how they're about to have sex.
After their conversation, the shot becomes completely distorted and she begins saying "Where am I? I'm afraid." The next shot is in color and it's a girl crying, naked and watching a television with no reception. Then we cut to a shot of three people in rabbit suits who are discussing a secret in incoherent dialog and a very creepy laugh track.
That's the random nature of this film.
Mulholland Dr. took multiple viewing before I finally got it. It's now one of my top 10 favorites of all time. Inland Empire is 10x more difficult to understand than Mulholland Dr., but there is something there. I just haven't completely figured it out yet.
But I'm getting there.
This isn't a fun movie to watch, but it is a challenge, and a riddle, and so it can be fun if you like the challenge and feeling of power of choosing whatever you want the movie to be.
If you feel it's about nothing, than that's exactly what it's about. If you feel it's about a young woman trapped in her subconscious, that's what it's about, etc.
Tips for viewing...
* Have a clear head when you watch this * Watch this during the day, because night will contribute to the scary nature of this film and distract you from what's going on * Don't try and figure it out while the movie is going on, because you won't * Soak up as much info as you can, possibly on back-to-back viewings and then try and fit all the pieces together * Remember Lynch's love of illusion and that what you see may not always be real Just take all the info and at the end try and figure it out. Soak up everything. If you try and figure it out while it's going on, you'll keep getting thrown off. Just look at it like you're figuring out a riddle, and the info you need to get it is coming in pieces.
I'll give this movie a 10 for it's intrigue, and because I like the plot (What I believe the plot to be, anyway. ;) )
Family Guy: Don't Make Me Over (2005)
The Best Episode Ever
Everything in this episode is hilarious. The best one they've ever had. Everything from the people setting themselves on fire, the shirts at the mall, the cow at Baskin Robbins, the 80s montage, the band in prison, the scenes with Jimmy Fallon, the songs Stewie and Brian sing, Brian barking at Doctor Diddy, etc.
Everything is so great.
I don't understand why after 64 votes this thing only has a 6.9 This episode is an absolute classic!
Maybe one day you will all recognize the greatness of this episode.
Until then, I'll keep laughing my butt off.
Rescue Dawn (2006)
Expertly Crafted, Politically Muted War Drama
The biggest compliment I can give Werner Herzog and his crew is this: Rescue Dawn is the most most well developed plot of this year.
Rescue Dawn follows Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) and his struggle to survive in the jungles during the early stages of Vietnam.
All Dieter Dengler has ever wanted was to be a pilot. He was pretty much neutral when it came to war, but his main reason for signing up for military service was so he could fly. His one and only passion.
His first mission was a heavily classified mission in Laos. Dieter is shot down and begins on the run in the jungle. It doesn't take too long before he's captured and sent to a prison camp of sorts. He's locked up in Vietnamese huts with 5 other men. The two he immediately connects with are Duane (Steve Zahn) and to a lesser extent, Gene (Jeremy Davies) One thing becomes obvious quickly. His captors are relentlessly mean and his cell mates are borderline insane. Especially Gene. Dieter appears to be the only one who completely has it together.
Dieter becomes frustrated and quickly realizes he's not going to live much longer if he stays where he's at. Along with the 5 other fellows, Dieter plans his escape.
What Herzog does so brilliantly in this movie is set it all up to come full circle. In the opening scene, Bale and others mock a training video that tells you what to do if you are stuck in the jungle on your own only to end out needing similar skills when he's on the run. The 5 men all appear crazy and we wonder "What's with these guys? Is Dieter the only sane one in the bunch?" well, Herzog makes you feel claustrophobic in that camp. Slowly we see Dieter's mind go and start to understand that all of these fellows were probably just as sane at one point as Dieter.
This is a slow paced, expertly developed war drama. If you don't like slow moving character studies, avoid at all cost, but if you can even slightly appreciate such a thing, you will love Rescue Dawn. One of the better films of 07.
9/10
Ratatouille (2007)
Ratatouille Disappoints
Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 1 and 2.
And now, Ratatouille. Considering that this movie came from Pixar, it was so earth shatteringly average that it made me want to cry.
Remy (Patton Oswalt, King of Queens) is a rat with a love for cooking. It's his passion in life. Often choosing cooking over family. His dad (Brian Dennehy) and the rest of the rat colony, all think Remy needs to stop chasing a dream that will never come true. It's time wasted.
After messing around in a local woman's kitchen, Remy gets busted and chased out of the house with a shotgun. Everyone else, in fear, heads for their little boats to float away in the sewer. Remy gets separated from his family, certain that he'll never see his family again. Hungry and alone, all Remy has is the book, Anyone Can Cook, of his all time favorite chef, Gusteau.
In his delusional state, Remy receives advice from a shoulder angel version of the recently deceased Chef Gusteau and ends out making all the way to Gusteau's old restaurant in Paris.
Remy befriends Linguini. A young garbage boy who is credited with making a delicious soup that was actually Remy's. Because Remy would never get a chance to cook, he and Linguini enter into a partnership, where Remy does the cooking through Linguini, and Linguini gets the credit.
As the movie wears on, the two run into several problems. They find it difficult to keep this secret from the overly mean head chef, Skinner, a growing tension between the two begins when Linguini falls in love with another chef, and they are faced with the challenge of cooking something for the most respected and hard to please critic in France...Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole)
Critics have raved this movie as the best film Pixar has ever made. Uh...no. This is probably their worst film ever made. Pixar has always churned out great family movies, and I've always adored the characters they create. No...not this time.
None of the characters are terribly likable, and the laughs are very few, despite repeated attempts with gags about French people.
It was OK. Nothing more, nothing less. It's original, as most Pixar stuff is, and so that helps it along, but it just wasn't that good compared to their other work. It was a semi-entertaining, unfunny family film.
A generous 6/10
Knocked Up (2007)
Knocked Up is Fantastic
No way! A raunchy comedy...with heart? You betcha.
Ben (Seth Rogen) is your typical, young slacker. He doesn't do anything except play stupid games, get high and help create a new website with his buddies that tells you when and where all nudity is in films. Alison (Katherine Heigl) is an up-and-comer with E! and just got a promotion. She now gets face time on E! What else to do but go out and celebrate, right? After a series of events, Ben and Alison hook up at the night club and have a one-night stand. She wakes the next morning to realize the loser she just hooked up with, and quickly cuts ties.
Eight weeks later, she finds herself calling Ben up with news that she's pregnant.
Knocked Up follows them through the pregnancy and their fight to have a relationship for the sake of their child. Both seem to have feelings for each other, but rarely can they get on the same wavelink at the same time. Ben tries his hardest to be a good parent...he tries to muster up feelings for Alison that he's not really sure are there, he goes with her to every doctor visit, he buys baby clothes/nursery items and buys parenting books. Alison, doesn't seem to want to try as hard. She's glad he's there to help, and she is attracted to him, but she feels that the feelings are forced.
Knocked Up is a genuinely sweet and funny movie. It's so incredibly funny at a lot of points, but also unexpectedly touching, real and romantic.
The first half is much funnier than the second half, but the second half has much more depth. Throughout it all, it feels so real. So genuine.
The whole cast has great chemistry and is undeniably likable.
The best movie of 2007 to this point.
9/10
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Spider-Man 3 Surprises...It's Awful
OK, well, let me start by saying that I enjoy the Spider-Man series. I thought 1 was good and 2 was excellent. Yes, a lot of the dialogue is cheesy, but it's a comic book series. It's based on action and stories.
Now that we got this out of the way, let me say that if this wasn't a part of the Spider-Man series then this would be on every critics bottom 10 list for the year.
I was so excited to see it, but they really took the cheesy dialogue, really lame scenes and horrible attempts to elicit emotional responses to an all time high.
By now, we all know the story. Peter Parker is a photographer with an alter-ego...he is Spider-Man. He's in love with the emotionally hard to figure out Mary Jane Watson.
Very early in the movie we get one of the 'anticipated' matchups when Harry and Peter fight. Not Spider-Man, but Peter. Harry is all done out in his father's goblin suit.
Of course this first battle ends out in a victory for Spidey. Harry takes a huge hit to the head on a bar and is knocked out and is dying. Peter gets him to a hospital where the doctors are able to save him, but he now has what could be permanent short-term memory loss. He can't remember his anger for Peter, he can't remember if he has a girlfriend or not...he pretty much only remembers up until high school.
The other 'Bad guys' are played by Thomas Haden Church, who is a character called "The Sandman" who can do amazing things after being involved in a freak accident while on the run from the police after breaking out of prison, and the other is Topher Grace who plays Venom. We'll get to him later.
Peter finds out that his grandfather's murderer was not found originally and that the convict escaped from prison is the one who did it.
With his anger growing, a black, sticky, ooze creeps on to Peter and takes over. He is now Venom. He has nothing but anger and revenge in his heart.
After a series of unfortunate events, he feels the need to get rid of the suit. He fights himself to get it off and finally does so only to have the black ooze transfer on to Peter's arch enemy from The Bugle, Edward Brock.
I can't say much more without giving away the plot, but good gosh this was bad. There are many scenes that make you cringe because of how bad the dialogue is and there are plenty of scenes that tested my gag reflex (Harry and MJ doing the twist, Peter walking down the street with a new attitude and pointing and winking at girls as he goes along, Peter doing pelvic thrusts in a men's store, Peter dancing and playing piano in a jazz bar, etc.) Peter's Venom side is actually quite intriguing though. When he is Peter, he has an attitude. He will willingly fight people on the street without his suit. Not bad guys, he'll fight people who just plain tick him off. His edge is nice, but not really useful except for in a couple of scenes.
Overall, this is probably the worst comic book movie ever. Not kidding.
I'd avoid at all cost, but knowing that it's Spider-Man, I know most can't resist. They're curious and they have to know.
Well, don't say I didn't warn you...
Perfect Stranger (2007)
Take It For What It's Worth
Is it Friday night? Are you sitting at home with nothing to do? Well, I got something for you to do.
Perfect Stranger stars Halle Berry as a journalist named Rowena who goes undercover to bust the man she suspects killed her former friend Grace (Nicki Aycox) After becoming frustrated with her employer, Rowena quits her job at a newspaper and decides to pursue stories on her own without the shackles of censorship.
After she discovers that Grace has been murdered, Rowena and her close friend from the paper, Miles (Giovanni Ribisi) decide to go on an investigative mission inside the business run by the man she believes killed her friend, Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis) Over the next 1h49m, we watch as Rowena is hired as a temp at Hill's offices, and as she looks for evidence to prove that Hill killed Grace after she threatened to reveal their affair to his wife. She talks to the office gossip, Gina (Clea Lewis) and chats with Hill over the internet under an alias in order to get to know him better so she can get close and get the info she needs.
Rowena gathers the proof along with the friend she so unappreciatively neglects, Miles, as she inches closer to seducing Hill into the trap she's about to spring.
Halle Berry is really awful in this movie. Really awful. Willis is OK, but the movie is clearly stolen by two actors. The first is the very surprising Clea Lewis. She is by far the most likable character and she plays it well. The second is the VERY undervalued Giovanni Ribisi who doesn't get the respect he deserves as a very talented actor. I have always loved Ribisi. Ribisi and Lewis have a certain charisma to them that sets their performances so far apart from everyone else's.
Is the movie a great movie in the typical sense? No. Not really. Is the ending contrived? Very much so. But the fact is that this movie is not trying to be something it's not. It's not trying to be a great thriller like Se7en or Silence of the Lambs, instead it's simply trying to be a Friday night popcorn flick with a bit of an edge, and in that context, it succeeds to an extent.
Overall this movie is decent for what it's trying to be and probably doesn't deserve the horrid reviews it's been getting so far. People need to take it for what it's worth and if you do that, you may find yourself somewhat entertained.
6/10
Zodiac (2007)
The Latest From the Greatest (Fincher)
David Fincher is a directing God. Se7en, Fight Club, The Game and Panic Room are all really good movies.
His directorial return to the big screen for the first time in 5 years had me more than a little excited as he decided to take on the Zodiac killings from San Francisco in the late 60s to early 70s.
Zodiac chronicles the story of an seemingly random killer who terrorized the city of San Francisco for years. After committing his second murder in 8 months, the Zodiac killer contacts three newspapers in the area and orders them to print a cipher on the front page of the newspaper or he will continue to terrorize the area.
Columnist Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) both immediately become engrossed in the case. For Avery, it's his job. For Graysmith, it becomes a passion.
Inspectors David Toschi and William Armstrong are two who follow the case very closely and go through several interviews to try and pin the Zodiac killer.
Over the next 2h40m we see the grisly murders of The Zodiac and the investigators failed attempts to track him down. It gets to the point where he is toying with columnists, investigators and the general public.
For the first half of the movie, we are fully in the grasp of David Fincher. He keeps you fully engaged in the movie. The second half begins to drag as the story begins to focus on Graysmith's attempt to bring down The Zodiac. Graysmith goes through the files and contacts three different people involved with the case on a regular basis to try and crack the case.
The main problem with Zodiac is that the second half of the movie seems to do nothing except review all the info you got in the first half, only it does it all in a very slow fashion and with a lot less of that Fincher flair.
The one thing that is consistently good about Zodiac, is Robert Downey Jr.. Downey is great in the movie from beginning to end.
Overall, I'd say it's a good movie, but the second half could have been more interesting than Fincher made it.
7/10
Children of Men (2006)
Wow! Worth it for the Filming Alone
It's the year 2027. Human reproduction has come to a halt for the last 18 years and they youngest person on earth, Baby Diego, has just been murdered. But new hope arrives in the form of a young woman named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) and Theo (Clive Owen) a former political activist who's vapid working life has been rejuvenated by the discovery that Kee is pregnant.
This is the premise of Alfonso Cuaron's latest and greatest masterpiece.
Set in a somewhat futuristic and very violent London, we immediately get the feeling that we are viewing a world that is, at it's core, dead. Violence erupts all over the world all day every day and military personnel are constantly walking the streets of London.
News breaks that "Baby Diego" the youngest human on earth, was murdered after he refused to give an autograph.
While everyone else around him mourns, Theo seems to be unshaken by the news. He's accepted mankind's fate and looks at this as another domino being pushed over.
Theo is kidnapped by his former love interest Julian (Julianne Moore) in an attempt to lure him back to the activist life. We get the sense that she has something very important, but does not reveal to him what it is.
Through a series of unfortunate events, Theo meets Kee, discovers that she is pregnant and is now roped into trying to get her to a sanctuary at sea where she can give birth and scientists can examine Kee and her child and try and figure out a solution to the reproduction problem.
Cuaron is a master storyteller. The filming is some of the greatest I have ever seen and it's a shame that this movie has gotten zero Oscar buzz.
Clive Owen is his normal brilliant self and everyone else around him is good. Not great, but they do their work and they do it effectively.
Children of Men is simply one of the best films I have ever seen. I feel like the ending was a bit abrupt, but it's not an ending that would ruin what I would say is one of the best films of the 21st Century.
9/10
Dreamgirls (2006)
Moments of Brilliance...Mostly Average...
Oh, what could've been.
"Dreamgirls" is Bill Condon's latest creation which follows three black female singers, a songwriter, a manager and their ascent to the top of the pop charts in the late 60s to the mid 70s Deena Jones (Beyonce Knowles) Effie White (Jennifer Hudson) and Lorrell Robinson (Anika Noni Rose) have been singing their whole lives and much of it together. They are three talented singers who all compliment each other very well and perform the songs of Effie's brother C.C. (Keith Robinson) to perfection.
They are always looking for their big break, which comes one night after being seen at a talent competition by Curtis Taylor Jr. (Jamie Foxx) who convinces them to go on tour with James "Thunder" Early (Eddie Murphy) as his backup singers.
Taylor is a car salesman who goes on the road with them and seemingly muscles his way into becoming Early's manager and closely watches after the girls and falls in love with Effie.
After helping to somewhat revive a slowly fading career of Early, the three singers land their own deal to perform shows in Miami. The Dreamettes are born and quickly rise in popularity.
Effie begins to become frustrated with her role in the group and what appears to be her fading spot in Taylor's heart. One night she leaves without any notice and comes back the night of one of their shows only to find that she has been kicked out of the group and replaced by Michelle Morris (Sharon Leal) The Dreamettes become one of the most popular groups of their time and Effie fades into obscurity. The movie pretty much chronicles the ugly side of the music business. From the side of the Dreamettes and from the side of Effie.
Dreamgirls is a fun movie at times. The music is upbeat and entertaining for the most part, but music alone can't carry a movie. It can carry a "Musical" but not a movie that is supposed to be Oscar worthy.
Dreamgirls lacks heart and depth. It attempts to make up for it at times, but each time reaches too far and comes up empty.
Jennifer Hudson is everything she has been rumored to be...great. She will undoubtedly be nominated for an Oscar and may even win. Eddie Murphy isn't too bad either. Everyone else in the movie is decent at best.
There are some scenes during this movie that you watch and marvel at, but then you quickly come back down to earth when you realize that those moments are few and far between.
5/10
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Uncomfortably Heartbreaking
"The Pursuit of Happiness" is a movie about Chris Gardner (Will Smith) and his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) and their struggle to "Survive" in San Francisco.
Chris is a struggling salesman who's wife (Thandie Newton) becomes frustrated with their way of life. They struggle to pay every bill and they can't afford anything other than the necessities of life and sometimes they can't even afford that. Linda leaves Chris after one too many days of disappointment at Chris' inability to sell his product.
Chris and Christopher are on their own. Chris lucks out and gets an internship at a stock brokerage. He's one of twenty people fighting for a spot at the brokerage and he is constantly the underdog. Whether it be having to be the one to stop his work and get a donut for an executive or walking into work with one shoe and being stared at the entire way into the office area.
With the good (Winning the internship) comes the bad (He gets no pay, which in real life, he did, but in the movie, he didn't) Chris spends the next six months of his internship living off the earnings of the remaining stock of his product he invested in. He and his son have no stable home. One night they'll be sleeping in a hotel and then the next they'll be sleeping at a homeless shelter and some nights they'll be sleeping in the bathroom of a subway station.
Is Will Smith good in this? He's decent. Not as great as I had heard. But the acting of Will Smith can't save this movie.
You are left sitting in your seat for two hours watching most of the movie squirming from the uncomfortable situations of being constantly railed on from landlords, etc. and begging his buddy for the 14 dollars he has owed him for months just to take the bus back home. I watched most of this movie with my hands over my face and peeking through my fingers out of the uncomfortable situation of watching a man struggle to survive and to keep his son's belly full.
Go into "The Pursuit of Happiness" expecting this: this movie is about Christopher Gardner sleeping on the street and struggling to make up stories to people he comes in contact with about why he's carrying all he owns everywhere around him. It's nothing more.
If you'd like to spend 7.50 to peer into the life of a man who is basically homeless and trying to raise his son, be my guest. I, for one, regret spending the money on it because the movie is nothing more than a classless play on emotions that leaves you turning your head from the screen half the time.
1/10
The Holiday (2006)
Very Predictable, Easily Forgettable
Just not a very good movie.
Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslett) are two completely different people. Iris is a writer for a newspaper in England and Amanda is a movie trailer maker from Los Angeles.
They decide to switch homes for the holidays and get away from their man problems in their hometowns.
From the commercials and trailer, we are led to believe that Amanda goes to England and falls for Graham (Jude Law) and Iris goes to Americas and falls in love with Miles (Jack Black) And while Amanda does rapidly develop a relationship with Graham, there never really seems to be anything there with Iris and Miles except for that they both are two pitiful push-overs who are really not that likable.
Amanda, Graham and Iris are all not likable for various reasons and while Miles is slightly likable, Jack Black is insanely unbelievable in his role as the sweet and kind pushover who wallows in his sorrow over constantly being taken advantage of.
The plot has been done over and over again on poor TV Christmas specials about love at the holidays. Nothing original and nothing really interesting.
I don't know...maybe it's because I'm a guy and this is more of a girls movie, but it was pretty bad.
Oh well...
4/10
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Missing Something
Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) is a writer who has writer's block. She is deeply involved in her latest novel, but can't find a way to kill off the main character of the book.
Without knowing it, Karen is writing a real life story about an IRS tax agent named Harold Crick who is a loner in life and at work. He spends all day by himself and has no social interaction except with those he is auditing. If Karen writes that he trips over a curb, the real life Harold trips over a curb. If she writes that he makes a telephone call, the real life Harold makes a telephone call.
Harold (Will Ferrell) hears the voice of the author narrating his life. Harold is becoming frustrated since no one else can hear the voice and simply thinks he's crazy. When standing at a street corner waiting for the bus, Harold hears the narrator say that he had just set in motion events leading to his imminent death.
In an effort to get help, he asks literary professor Jules Hilbert (Dennis Hoffman) to help him figure out who could be writing this story and how he could prevent the grim ending. The professor tells him he needs to figure out whether he is in a comedy or in a tragedy and that they can go from there.
Harold is in the process of auditing a baker named Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal) when he realizes that the plot of the story is beginning to lead him to fall in love with Ana.
In an effort to figure out which genre Harold is being written in, he starts keeping tally on everything in favor of a comedy and everything in favor of a tragedy, and his relationship with Ana becomes the center of his checklist.
Harold finally is able to come in contact with Karen to inform her that he is real and needs her to write his death out of the ending.
Just like Harold, this movie does not know whether it is a comedy or a tragedy and it suffers greatly for that main reason. The acting is fine and the dialog is interesting and fast paced (Much like an Aaron Sorkin type script) but in the end the movie isn't quite sure what it wants to be and causes for the ending to fall flat.
I thought the ending could have been much better, but the movie overall is decent. It's certainly a movie with a lot of potential, and many may feel like it reaches it fully, but this movie simply didn't end the way it should have...at least not in my opinion.
Casino Royale (2006)
Casino Royale is Simply Awesome
Well, it took them 20 times, but Hollywood has finally created a Bond that will blow you away.
This is James Bond before he holds his license to kill, but Bond is just as gutsy and dangerous. James is elevated to "00" status and his first mission takes him to Uganda where he is to bring in a terrorist, Mollaka, for questioning. Of course, it doesn't work quite that easily and the first 15 minutes of the movie is an action packed, chase that, of course, ends in an explosion.
Bond decides to investigate, independently of MI6, in order to track down the rest of the terrorist cell. He follows a lead to the Bahamas where he encounters Dimitrios who he finds out is involved with Le Chiffre who is the banker to the world's terrorist organization. Bond is able to take care of Dimitrios and stop even more terrorist activity (Which once more ends in an explosion) which then leads him to his next assignment by MI6 to go to Montenegro at Le Casino Royale where Le Chiffre is setting up a high stakes poker game.
M sends accountant Vesper Lynd along to keep an eye on the finances and to unofficially keep an eye on Bond, who is still not completely trustworthy in the eyes of M.
The action in this movie is superb, but if you look deeper than that, you'll find something more meaningful to this movie. This is more a subtle emotional investigation into the character of James Bond than it is anything else.
Some scenes that may at first seem meaningless (EXP: The scene in the shower with Vesper) really are more showing that Bond does indeed have a soul. He can love, he can care, and he can hurt, he just chooses not to. He needs to be broken down in order for that to happen, but in a profession like his, he can't afford to.
Daniel Craig is the perfect Bond. Eva Green was a good Bond girl, and they do have amazing chemistry throughout the entire film.
Is it worth the price of admission? Absolutely! It is 2 and a half hours, but it moves by fairly quickly. Tons of action, great acting and a deeper look at the character of James Bond.
Best movie of the year.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
Borat Owns The Universe
Wow.
Borat is the single most horribly offensive movie on the face of the planet. Borat is also the single most incredibly hilarious movie to come along in a long time.
Borat is sent over to America to learn more about the American culture and bring back his findings to Kazakhstan. While in New York, he is not exactly welcomed with open arms. His ignorance and woman and Jew hating mindset is not something that is looked upon very favorably.
While in his hotel room, Borat is flipping through channels and comes across the television show "Baywatch" and immediately falls in love with Pamela Anderson. He desires to travel to California and marry her, but before he left Kazakhstan, he was told by his wife that she would "Snap his cock" if he cheated on her.
Later that day, he receives a telegram informing him that his wife has died...Borat is overjoyed! We are then led on a cross-country road trip to California as Borat learns about the US of A. He takes us on adventures into the ghetto of Atlanta, a hostile group of rednecks at a rodeo, an uncomfortable dinner with a pastor and his family, a naked wrestling match that spills over into a Dallas banquet and so much more.
Borat is most likely going to offend you at some point. Cohen makes sure of that. If you can stomach the parts that are tailor made to offend you, you will laugh your head off at the other parts of the movie.
Unless you are a god fearing, Jewish, woman who is uncomfortable with nudity, in which case the entire movie will offend you, then I recommend seeing this one. I think it's most definitely worth the price of admission.
If Borat is not the funniest movie I've ever seen (Still can't decide if it's better than The 40 Year Old Virgin) than it's way up there.
A++
The Prestige (2006)
Could Have Been Better
"The Prestige" has potential, but fails to fully reach it.
The story follows two budding illusionists, Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and a bitter rivalry that ensues after a disheartening tragedy.
The Angier, Borden, Cutter (Michael Caine) and Angier's wife Julia (Piper Perabo) are stagehands for a magic act. A tragedy that ends out taking the life of Julia is to be blamed on Borden and Angier begins to become full of rage.
From then on, the movie follows them as they open their own magic acts and try and out-do each other. Cutter joining Angier and bringing along a helper named Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) as Angier runs his own magic show with his stagehand (His name escapes me at the moment, and I can't find a credit for him) Borden pulls off a magic trick that has Angier scratching his head. He asks his new found love, Olivia, to join Borden and be a spy. The movie continues to take you one way and then turn you another. Angier turns to a wizard in order to help him create something that will put Borden out of business. We're not quite sure what it does for awhile, but we know it's not a "Trick" and we also don't know what exactly is going on since the movie keeps jumping back and forth between present day, a very long time ago, a short time ago, a long time ago again, etc.
And if you are wondering "Hey, whatever happened to ScarJo?" I am asking the same question. She just kind of disappears.
It all comes together in the end and everything is explained, but it's almost not worth the trouble of being so confused the rest of the time.
Their are plenty of twists, but I was able to call all of them before they happened. Not tooting my own horn, just letting you know that I found the twists somewhat predictable. It was a good movie, I'm sorry if I'm acting like it's not, but it's because I know it could have been so much better.
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
Flags of Our Fathers
On paper, this is one of the greatest war films of all time. It's got everything working for it. Clint Eastwood is one of the most highly regarded directors, Spielberg is working on the film and we all saw his brilliant work on "Saving Private Ryan". One of the co-writers (Paul Haggis) has been one of the majority writers on the last two best picture winners, it is based off of a very popular book, it's a film about "The last great war" and a minor thing working for it, it has Barry Pepper who appears to have become the quintessential war film actor.
On paper, this should be the greatest movie of all time, or at least the greatest war film of all time. It's not either, but that shouldn't discourage you from going, because it is still a very good movie.
"Flags of Our Fathers" is a moving drama about the war. This is not a war film, it's a drama that revolves around the war. Comparisons to "Saving Private Ryan" are inevitable, but don't go into it expecting the same type of film. These are two completely different kinds of movies.
It focuses on three men, John "Doc" Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford) and their celebrated lives after the war and most notably, their lives after raising the second flag on Iwo Jima.
Bradley, Hayes and Gagnon get a ticket home after they are apart of the raising of a flag over Iwo Jima. The picture was released in papers and publications across America and gave hope to those at home. They are brought home with the express purpose of being spokesmen for the war in an attempt to raise money for the war effort.
In coming back to America, Hayes and Bradley struggle with being dubbed heroes and are haunted by things they witnessed in war. Meanwhile, Gagnon fully embraces his new found stardom and it causes for a butting of heads between himself and Hayes.
The movie does start off somewhat slow (Only for the first ten or fifteen minutes) and it does appear that Eastwood didn't exactly know how to close it out, seeing as how the last 30 minutes seem to drag on for forever, but overall the movie is good. The battle scenes are just a shade under Saving Private Ryan's, but are still very intense. The acting is decent, but in particular I enjoyed Ryan Phillippe's performance.
At times, Flags can be confusing due to flashbacks inside of flashbacks that aren't even in chronological order, but if you pay close enough attention you'll be fine.
Overall I'd give this movie an 8/10. Not as good as "Saving Private Ryan" or "Platoon", but better than "Black Hawk Down" and "The Thin Red Line" (Both the 1998 and 1964 versions) And for something extra, be sure to stay all the way through the credits.
The Departed (2006)
This Would Be A 10, But They Screwed Up The Ending
This script was absolutely incredible! The acting was absolutely incredible! The directing was absolutely incredible! The ending, however, left something to be desired.
This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. You are so involved in the story that you feel as if it's real.
The ending, however, reminded you that this movie wasn't real.
It seems to me that the writer wrote this incredible script and then hit the end and didn't know what to do, so he said to himself "Hmm...what should I do now? Oh, I know! I'll simply kill off every main character in the span of about 10 minutes. That's perfect" Go see the movie...it's really good. I just thought the ending could have been better.
Crank (2006)
A New Generation Has Taken Over
If this is a preview of what is to come of movies over the next ten years or so, then the American cinema is in trouble.
"Crank" is a movie that will only be enjoyed by guys. Not all guys though. I'm a guy and hated it.
"Crank" looks for every opportunity to say the 'F' word, show something sexual and be so loud to the point where you want to cover your ears.
This movie will probably make a lot of money, because it does have some entertaining moments and that will draw out a ton of teenagers.
I thought "Crank" would be a movie like "Boondock Saints"...it won't win any awards, but it is great for it's purposes, but it wasn't like "Boondock Saints".
3/10...save your money
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
I Fell Asleep During This Movie
This could be because the movie sucked, or it could be because it was two o'clock in the morning.
I don't know, man. This one doesn't even measure up to the first one.
I went with a group of about 8 people and most agreed that it sucked. It was incredibly odd and the script was fairly weak.
Johnny Depp was good, in terms of acting, but everyone was just OK or bad.
I turned my mp3 player on for about a quarter of the movie.
It sucked. It's not worth watching unless you are a DIE HARD Pirates fan.
Nacho Libre (2006)
The Worst Jack Black Movie, Ever
I'm sorry, but this was awful. Nothing more to it.
I love Jack Black, I love Mike White, I love Napoleon Dynamite, but this was just horrible. Lame bathroom jokes, a lot of useless, not funny, dialogue, and a very boring script.
I laughed once during the entire movie. Laughter is supposed to be contagious, but I was in a theater full of people and only laughed once.
The movie sucked. Jack Black disappointed me. He shouldn't have taken on this script.
I like stupid comedies. This isn't a stupid comedy...this is just stupid.
The Break-Up (2006)
Chick flick
Very disappointing. I really expected more out of a Vince Vaughn written movie. This is not a romantic comedy as it is portrayed to the public...this is a chick flick with one laugh.
Very dull, at times helplessly sad, and an odd ending which awards you more questions than answers.
I will give Vince Vaughn credit for one thing...he did create an ending that is not very predictable from what you see on the commercials.
Still, don't waste your time or money. A below average movie that did not achieve the label of "Romanitc Comedy" The one positive was that we got to see Jennifer Aniston's back side for about two seconds ;)
The Benchwarmers (2006)
This movie is funny, but only to a certain group of people
I, personally, laughed my head off during this movie. This is a movie that will only appeal to a certain number of people. Stoners, kids, and fans of dumb comedy (I.E. Goodburger, Spaceballs, etc.)
This movie has some bathroom humor, which I admit, is the dumbest kind of humor around, but it also has some pretty good laughs, like when Howie believes that there is a serial murderer in the neighborhood who kills anyone named Howie or when David Spade is recommending movies with lesbian sex scenes to any girl that walks through the movie store's doors.
Most don't like this movie because it is dumb humor, but I thought it was funny. I also thought Goodburger and Spaceballs were funny, so I may not be the best person to ask.
Braveheart (1995)
Easily one of the ten best movies ever
This movie is incredible. Mel Gibson does an incredible job as William Wallace, and how he didn't even get a nomination for best actor in 96 is beyond me.
This is a long movie (Just short of three hours) but unlike a movie like Titanic, it is not a slow movie. Titanic is long and slow, but Braveheart is long and keeps moving.
Tons of action! Best Battle scenes ever! Best acting ever! Best movie ever! Best score/soundtrack ever! If you have not seen this movie, get up from where you are, right this second, and go buy it or rent it. This movie is brilliant!
16 Blocks (2006)
Bruce Willis is good, Mos Def is great, and this film is underrated
Wow! This was actually a great movie! I was walking into the theater not really knowing what to expect, because I hadn't heard any reviews or previews for it, but it was excellent! Bruce Willis is pretty good in this movie as a down on his luck cop who is asked to take a witness 16 blocks to the courthouse to testify. Mos Def, who is absolutely fantastic in this film, plays s witness who hasn't exactly had a squeaky clean record. On his way to get Eddie (Mos Def) to testify, Jack (Bruce Willis) runs into some trouble with some crooked cops who want Eddie dead because he's going to testify against a few cops. Jack and Eddie are now running all around New York City trying to escape the cops who are now trying to kill both of them. Jack must get Eddie to the courthouse by 10AM, otherwise the trial is dismissed and the cops go free. It is a movie worth seeing in the theaters and worth buying! 8/10