Movies Seen: First time viewed*
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
Sideways
The Jacket*
Mongol*
The Omega Man*
Remember how last week I was talking like the guy from There Will Be Blood? Now I am talking like Charlton Heston, and I CAN’T STOP!
SPOILERS AHOY!!
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985 Tim Burton):
When it comes to Tim Burton movies, I am pretty sure this is my favorite. Or maybe Beetlejuice. Anyway, we watched this in my American Films class, and it was great seeing it projected on a larger screen. The movie gives an excellent sense of joy, goofiness, suspense, and all around fun. Pee-wee is the kind of person who should be annoying, but you cannot help but love. I really do love every bit of this movie. As soon as I see Francis (Mark Holton) on screen I want to yell “It’s Enrice Pellazzo!” but I am afraid the reference will be lost on younger audience members. I guess I don’t have much to say about the movie other than that.
Sideways (2004 Alexander Payne):
Something about this movie. I cannot help but love it all the way through. Miles (Paul Giamatti) is really a detestable person when you consider his actions throughout the movie. I guess you end up feeling sorry for the man. You get a sense of his unreached potential, and how he is acutely aware that his life is pretty crappy. Then on the other side you have Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) who is an overcompensating extrovert, and once again a detestable person. In the end though, I love both of these characters as if I know them myself. This has the male bonding buddy movie feel of a new Hollywood era film. It’s kind of amazing how well scripted and acted the whole movie is. You get such a feel for these characters in the short time you spend with them. As a side note to all the male bonding as well, you get Virginia Madsen, who does such an amazing job. The casting director for the film needs to be working on every movie I have high expectations for from now on. I want to say something nice about Susan Oh too, because I do really like her in this movie, but her character is the least fleshed out of the main four people. Love the scene where she beats the hell out of Jack though, it’s just really brutal. I always wish I knew things about wine after watching this movie, but I just don’t have a taste for them. They all taste like what I imagine dirty feet would taste like. See, I inserted the “what I imagine” part in there because I don’t want people to think I have ever licked someone’s feet. EVER.
The Jacket (2005 John Maybury):
After seeing this movie, I decided to look up what the general consensus was critic wise. It seems most professional critics really didn’t like it. I’ll admit, I can see some general holes in the plot, especially looking at it from a sci-fi angle, but otherwise I thought the movie was a solid psychological thriller. Adrien Brody is great, which is what I have come to expect from the man. Kris Kristofferson and Keira Knightly did just fine for, you know, them. The show stealer by far was Daniel Craig for me. I just did not recognize him! Talk about winning major actor points in my book, that man is a downright hero to me now. That is if it’s possible to be heroic as an actor who takes on roles. So, the story contains time traveling and messed up doctors and older people getting it on with younger people. Sorry, I just had to mention that the whole “going forward in time so it’s ok to sleep with someone I knew when she was a little girl” part was just creepy. It felt incestual to me. Hmm, according to Word, incestual is not an actual word. Oh well, you heard it here first! Or maybe you didn’t, because I am pretty sure I have heard it before. All things considered about The Jacket, I would watch it again, because it has some great performances in it. I recommend it if you are curious.
Mongol (2007 Sergei Bodrov):
When you hear the name Genghis Khan, do you think love story? Well, maybe if you consider how many offspring he had I guess you could stretch it to that, but one man one woman kind of stuff? No, I doubt it unless you are a historian and if you are WHY ARE YOU READING MY LAME LITTLE BLOG?? Just kidding, I love everyone who reads this crap, especially smart people who should know better. So, foreign movie about Genghis Khan, although he is called Temudjin in the film, I expected a lot of violence. I got that, so check. I expected a long arduous journey to the top, to the leader of a large amount of people (damn vocabulary, you have failed me!). I got that, so double check. But…. But… the whole time, all throughout the movie, he was pining away for this woman he met as a child and was determined to be with her, even to the point of betraying the trust of the other khans. I am not a history buff (although I do listen to Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast!), so I was caught totally by surprise by this part of the film. And I know it isn’t a big deal, and it wouldn’t have been, except there was a lot of cheese thrown in to emphasize the love in this movie. A lot of staring into each other’s eyes and promising eternal devotion to one another scenes. Just a lot of cheese. The ending also had that going for it, but it was a different kind of cheese. The kind that should make you want more, but just kind of left me with a bad taste. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know all I have done is complain about the movie, but I still dug it. It was almost 3 hours long, and it kept me pretty enrapt the whole time. The battle scenes were pretty tight. Although they were violent, there wasn’t an emphasis on the actions of violence themselves. It seems to me it was used simply to move the story along, and keep the watcher up to speed. I would watch this movie again, and I give it a little extra pass on the cheese factor because I believe it is part 1 of a trilogy. So I am looking forward to the next film, and I would say this one is worth a watch. Especially for the cute little Eskimo kids! What’s that? Sorry, I know, that was racist. I apologize in advance for my sense of humor.
The Omega Man (1971 Boris Segal):
My adventure into “classic” sci-fi movies continues thanks to the Filmsack podcast. I don’t know if you were aware of this, but this movie is based off of the story I am Legend, just like the Will Smith movie! Now that I have seen this film, I have to say that Will Smith’s version is seriously lacking in the jive talk area. And not enough hairy chests. I haven’t seen that much hair on a man since the third X-Men movie (you know, Beast). When it comes to the sci-fi movies I have seen recently, this is on the lower end of the scale. It had really terrible music, AWFUL dialogue, and awkward sex scenes (well, only one, but still). I did enjoy the irony of Heston sitting down to enjoy the documentary Woodstock, because you know in real life that guy was probably screaming about those damn hippies. Even though the movie was bad, and trust me it was, I think I can still look upon it fondly. You get that 70’s campiness here in a very pure and tasty form. Not much more you can ask for. By the way, why were the albino weirdoes talking about how they don’t use the wheel, and then decided that it was ok later? I must have missed the part where they had a meeting and decided that part.
So, I know I said I was going to talk about Raising Arizona on here too, but when it came time to write up something about it, I felt like I couldn’t remember the things I wanted to. I remember it being really funny, probably the funniest of the Coen brother’s movies I have seen, but not exact details. Maybe next time I shouldn’t ogle Sarah while watching a movie. Plus, we were doing a jigsaw puzzle at the same time. I have ADD, sue me. Any questions, comments, or autopsy reports on famous documentarians, please send them to JDTMovies@gmail.com.
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