Dec 27th 2009, Week relating to 12/8 – 12/14

Movies Seen: *First Time Viewed
Dazed and Confused*
The Sting*
My Cousin Vinny*
Invictus*
Ronin*
I am looking back on my first year of being a real movie maniac (a cinephile?) with love and hate. I saw a lot of great movies, a few bad flicks, and got in a lot of great discussions. Next year is going to be full of remakes in the theater, and I am in turn going to be full of dread.

Dazed and Confused:
I must have missed my window on this movie. I think if I had watched it in high school or just after high school I would have been able to relate to the characters and probably would have really liked it a lot more. As it is, I did not like Dazed and Confused. It was a lot of music with scenes thrown in. There were stories, sure, and characters, yeah, but nothing gets resolved, at least not satisfactorily. I just don’t get it. The only thing I really liked was how much a creepo Matthew McConaughey played. Everything else… eh. This movie must have meant a lot to some people, because I can’t watch an episode of Family Guy without seeing a reference.

The Sting:
I love con movies. Heist flicks. Confidence films. I just get a kick out of them. And of course, this movie is a classic. Robert Redford and Paul Newman are great actors, and I defy you to dispute that! The Sting was a good movie, but I ruined it for myself. Having seen so many con movies, I knew what was going to happen before it happened. My recommendation is that if you rent this movie DO NOT over think it. I left feeling disappointed and I thought at first it was because there was something wrong with the movie it’s self, but upon further reflection I just ruined it for myself by trying to guess everything in my head. I have to say I think I liked this movie better then Butch Cassidy, probably because of all the other characters in The Sting that were essential to the story. And because there wasn’t an entire musical number in the middle of the movie. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just look at almost any movie from the 80’s.

My Cousin Vinny:
I get the feeling that this movie is a classic for some people, and not just because of the controversy around Marisa Tomei’s Oscar. It was a funny movie, but I have grown tired of fish out of water tales over the years. The character of Vinny, played by Joe Pesci, is a bit strange. He is supposed to be a hot shot Guido, but he comes off as really gentle and understanding. Not to be confused with dumb, he definitely pulled off being ignorant. Joe Pesci is a good actor. As for Ralph Macchio, let’s just say I am glad he is no longer in the business. Oh, my favorite part was when they were making jokes about rape in the prison. What does that say about me?

Invictus:
An excellent piece of film if you know nothing about Nelson Mandela, which I didn’t. I begin to see why the man is so well respected. Morgan Freeman does an awesome job OF COURSE. The part was practically created in history with the intention of him some day playing it. Matt Damon was also excellent. I appreciate the fact that his character was 2nd banana in the story to Mandela, and not made to be the co-star. There was a lot of beautiful camera work, and a few sport scenes that had my adrenaline going. My only problem with the movie were that the music was some times ON THE NOSE, trying to make me feel a certain way in a certain situation. The other thing was that I don’t understand Mandela’s family situation. They same to hate him, and I wish they explained why. Perhaps I am just not reading enough into it? I don’t know. It was a good movie, I recommend it.

Ronin:
This movie is sky rocketing up my top 25 all time list. Not that I really have one of those, but I do have certain movies that I hold in very high esteem, and this is one of the best action movies I have seen, EVER. Robert Deniro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean (I HEART YOU) they were all amazing. But Stellan Skarsgard? He stole the effin show. Having only previously seen him in Good Will Hunting, I guess I had no idea what he was capable of. He was one scary MF. This movie has some many great action scenes, such a great sense of tension throughout, the car chase scene a BAR NONE. I feel all flushed talking about this movie. So great, I cannot recommend it enough. Let’s all get together and watch it soon hmm?

Sorry, I know, I’m a few weeks behind. My brain just goes to pudding after writing stuff down sometimes and I need to take a few days to recharge. I think I am going to try to see a movie in the theater once a week this year at least. You are all invited to join me. Please, send any comments, suggestions, snazzy haikus to my email address at JDTMovies@gmail.com. Hope everyone sees a great movie soon!