Lights, Camera, Action!

Well, I promised that I’d give a list of short reviews for the (multitude of) movies that I’ve watched over the past 2 months or so, but, to be completely honest, reviews for every movie that I have seen will be… Well, it would be a VERY long post. Off the top of my head, I’m sure that I’ve seen over 30 movies, and, making a review to every single one of them would be very draining. But, I’ll give a short review for a few of them:

Blood Simple – The first film written and directed by the Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) is one of the best debut films that I have seen. While it is certainly not the best of their films, it holds up as a great film noir-esque movie, with great writing, great acting, and great direction.

Crimes and Misdemeanors – I’ll just say it, I’m a fan of Woody Allen. I think that he’s one of the funniest writers out there, because the films that he makes are great. This one is no exception, telling two stories about, well, crimes and misdemeanors! Look for the great scene near the end between Allen and Martin Landau.

Caché – Frankly, I need to see more movies directed by Michael Haneke, because this one was spectacular. Yes, it may be slow for most of it, and yes, the fact that it is a foreign film may turn people off, but, the reality of the situation (a couple are videotaped, more or less stalked, by an unknown person), and the way that the two lead actors pull it off is also very well done.

Alien – A great thriller. There’s not too much that I can say about this movie, but what it does is revolutionary to the general genre of sci-fi (even though I may not be the biggest fan of sci-fi movies). The sequel, Aliens, directed by James Cameron, is often seen as being superior to this one, but, since I haven’t seen it, I can’t judge that (though I do plan on seeing it soon). Once I do see it, expect a Face-Off between those two!

American Beauty – This is a spectacular film. The direction, the writing, the acting, all of it is completely breathtaking. The person to watch for, in my personal opinion, is Annette Bening, who plays the wife of Kevin Spacey (who also does a great job).

Brick – This is an interesting one. Think a film-noir made in the ’30s (you know, hard boiled detective, mystery, etc.). Now, set it at a modern day high school. While it is kind of odd listening to high school students talking in ’30s slang at first, it does its job quite well. The interesting camera work (which is pretty hard for me to explain) adds to the experience.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind – One of the first films written by Charlie Kaufman (one of my favorite modern day writers), while not as… well… confusing as his others, it’s still quite a captivating story. Watch out for the few extended takes, where you can really think about how much the actors would have to run around to pull it off. They’re not tricks, they were actually done in one shot!

The Spirit of the Beehive – Yet another foreign film (this one’s in Spanish) that is amazing. The person who steals the show is the little girl who plays Ana, a girl enchanted with the story of Frankenstein, the monster particularly. Is this movie about the Spanish Civil War? Is it about childhood? It doesn’t matter, this is a great movie!

Fight Club – Bloody, smart, entertaining. Essentially, this one is a crowd pleaser. That is, a crowd of testosterone-filled men. This movie is not for everybody, especially not the faint of heart. But, if you’re up for it, it’s a great movie. Also, it has one of my personal favorite performances by Brad Pitt.

Goodfellas – The fact that it lost the Oscar for Best Picture to Dances with Wolves… I can’t even really put my thoughts into words. This is a masterpiece. From the camerawork, to Scorcese’s direction, to the acting (look out for Joe Pesci), this movie is spectacular. Bloody and violent, but still spectacular.

Memento – From the makers of The Dark Knight, this movie… messes with your mind. While the acting is quite good, and the direction is too, the star of the film is the story. The fact that it a) goes in backwards-chronological order, and b) still keeps you guessing, shows how effective a good story can be.

Pleasantville – The acting is pretty good (especially that from Judy Davis and William H. Macy), as is the direction and the writing, but this film relies on the visuals. The visuals at points are completely breathtaking, and really blow you away.

Ok, that’s enough for now. Those were certainly not ALL of the movies that I’ve seen over the past few months, but they were all great ones that stuck in my mind.

Regarding the Oscars, I’m working on what might be a very exciting announcement, so, I’ll tell you as soon as that gets going (if I get it all to work out).

Until then, keep on watching!

R.S.

This entry was posted on February 10, 2010 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.