In Bruges

"They're filming midgets!"

4 Stars

It's pronounced "brooj", which is a small town in Belgium where two hit men are sent to hideout after a job in London. I guess you would put this under the dark comedy category. I've never been too keen on that term, I don't know why because, well... it fits!

I love the little odd couple thing these two guys got going on. One guy totally loves the town, the other totally hates it. "If I'd grown up on a farm and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn't, so it doesn't."

The fun really stops for Ray (Colin Farrell) when he accidentally shoots and kills a young boy.
"The little boy..." Unable to cope with his actions he contemplates suicide, while both Ray and his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson who I totally want to get hugged by) rethink the ethics of their line of work.

There's not too much that can be said about this movie.
It was good, entertaining, and funny, and I would totally recommend it to anyone that asked.
Of course there's more hi-jinks, some drugs and boozin, a pretty lady, and one of the funniest midget scene out there. But in the end, it's a tad forgettable, still a good time none the less.

I have since realised how many people I know that have actually been to Bruges.
Go figure.

A Cry in the Dark

"I don't think a lot of people realise how important innocence is to innocent people."

3.5 Stars

The true story of Lindy Chamberlain. A woman whom during a camping trip to Ayer's Rock in outback Australia 1980. She witnessed a dingo steal her three month old daughter Azaria from their family tent. Azaria's body was never found, causing police to question her story further. Overexposure in the media causes speculation that perhaps Lindy killed her daughter. The media blitz turns into a murder trial and the Chamberlain family fights to clear their name.

The JonBenet case came to mind while watching this.
The media (myself included) really wanted the parents to be at fault, or involved in something so bad. Honestly, the parents are the only ones who really know what happened that night.
If they are (were) innocent, it must have felt like screaming for help at soundproof glass. I bet they saw this during that time. History does repeat itself doesn't it?

If people dig hard enough through someones crap (even yours) they can totally make a case against you. For anything! The cops confiscated a bible from their home which had a passage highlighted that had the word "tent" in it. "Ooo! We got 'em!" People are crazy.

As you might have guessed this is yet another movie I can check of my Meryl Streep list. She is solid gold, man! Someone as talented as that must be coo-coo, you think?
My mom has been really into a book lately by Shirley Maclaine called Saging While Aging. She's been sharing tidbits with me. Knowing my love for Meryl, she relayed a conversation Maclaine had with her in her book. Talking to Meryl she asked about the movie A Cry in the Dark, specifically the courtroom scene of her on the stand. "How did you do it?" Maclaince asked. "I was the dingo" she said.
See? Crazy brilliant.

Sublime

"Welcome to Outback Steakhouse."

2 Stars

I really don't see the point.
This movies goes round and round and there's no real pay off. I'm all good with the un-fairytale endings, I dig 'em! But this was just, well retarded. It reminded me of those pointless jokes that keep going and going only to have the punchline be simple and obvious and not funny. "Hey clown! Fuck you!" I'll tell you that one later. Just like this movie, it sucks.

Dude goes into the hospital for this first colonoscopy.
Soon one weird thing after another starts happening. They switched his chart and he got someone else's surgery. There's some mysterious wing of the hospital that is doing raw and dirty surgeries to people. He gets his leg amputated, bangs a nurse, witnesses a murder, wheels in on his wife banging his doctor, and some dude named Mandingo cuts off his fingers and toes!! On top of all this wackiness there's a shrieking eagle throughout the whole movie, and it doesn't tie into anything. Like I was watching The Falconer sketch on SNL.

With all of this going on could you believe it felt like absolutely nothing was happening? I was watching this with some friends. Freaky said "I feel like I'm just waiting for something to happen already."
I'm sure this would make for a better TV movie on the SciFi channel.
This movie was a recommendation as well. And I was feeling so bad while watching it. Sorry V.
But hey, it's not like she made it, right?

Juno

"Oh you think your hot shit 'cause you get to sit over there and play pictionary, well guess what? My five year old daughter can do that and let me tell you, she's not the brightest bulb in the tanning bed. So until you have your own kid, why don't you just go back to nightschool in Manteno and get a real job."

4 Stars

Though the hype on this movie has really died down, I saw it when it was really at a frenzy. During the opening credits, I could feel my eyes rolling a bit, cause it all ready felt like I'd seen this before. But I let it go, took a deep breath, and decided to simply watch the movie. This is a skill I'm trying my best to master.

This movie is the definition of charm. A dry and witty teenage girl, Juno, gets pregnant by her equally cute boyfriend played by Micheal Cena (Superbad). She chooses to give the baby up for adoption, but wants to make sure it will have the best parents she can find.

Ellen Page who plays Juno, has the best delivery which is really what makes the writting shine.
Speaking of writting, the screenplay was written by a first time screenwriter Diablo Cody who began writing Juno on her down time from stripping. (I know, right?!)
Micheal Cena is as cute as ever, but I am concerned that he may be pidgeonholed into the akward teen role much like John Heder of Nepolean Dynamite fame. He should stay away from comedy for a while and wiggle his way into a good drama. Oh oh, and no thrillers either!

Yeah this movie is cute and funny, but it really gave me some thoughts on teen pregnancy. Teens just aren't meant to have babies. As Juno put it she's "dealing with situations beyond [her] copasoty".
Juno really felt she was doing the right thing, and she was. It was just heartbreaking to watch her find out that her chosen parents weren't as perfect as she thought. I remeber being young an thinking, why don't people just do one thing, or stop doing another. It should just be that simple. Since I've gotten a little older I've found that the most simple issue can become really complicated. A lesson that teens who are faced with parental responsiblilty are forced to learn very fast.

When I left the theater I wanted Juno (the movie) to be a little tshatshke that I would put on a shelf. I would look at it and feel a little gooffy for liking it, but it would make me smile. Maybe I would make it in the form of a cheeseburger. Cause there's nothing like calling your best friend on your cheeseburger phone to tell her your pregnant, and need an abortion.
See? Charming.

There Will Be Blood

"Give me the blood,
so I can get out of here!"

5 Stars

Okay, when I first walked out of the theater I was very impressed with Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, and wasn't too thrilled with the movie as a whole telling my boyfriend "It' wasn't the best movie I've ever seen."
(It has been hyped a whole lot.)
But as the days pass since I've seen it, I am more and more interested, intrigued, and excited about this movie.

On the radio I heard a reviewer say, "that you wouldn't think a movie about the oil industry in the early 1900's would be interesting." He felt it was more about a father and a son. To some extent I would agree, but there are for me so many facets that are close to home.

Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) is an oil prospector finding new oil lands and buying them up with this young son H.W. at his side.
As some of you may know, I work at my families pawnshop founded by my grandfather, ran by my mother, and sees me as VP. Just as H.W. cooed in his basket at the oil drill as a baby, I was taking naps between the VCRs that were in loan as a kid. And little is different for my mother as well. I know what it feels like to see business go on around you with youthful eyes. I may not have known exactly what was going on, but I knew it was real, and it was important.
Love a scene where Daniel tells H.W. about his plans for a pipeline. I know the feeling of having the business click for me as it did for H.W. right then.
"So we can save on shipping costs."

When Daniel decides to buy some profitable land he has to oblige the locals. He ends up butting heads with a preacher named Paul Sunday, played by Paul Dano from Little Miss Sunshine fame. When I saw him in that I looked up all I could on him, and knew he had it in him to be a good actor. Even though The King sucked, Dano was great in that too.
Come to think of it, he played a religious freak in that one too! Hmmm.
I felt the Paul Sunday character wanted to be a star, and used the stage of the church as his theater. He starts to act like a bratty celebretard too, until Daniel put him in his place.
One thing's for shure, that kid can play car-azy!

Now lets talk about the man. Daniel Day-Lewis is.. man, I'm trying to think of a way to say it without sounding like a movie poster! "Phenomenal. Chilling. Powerful. Astonishing."
As I was watching this I was genuinely concerned for the actor opposite Day-Lewis. I just kept thinking if that were me I would be Frightened to hear these words, with that much power, with that much intensity looking right into my eyes!
I think I might pee a little.

This movie totally stimulated my love for everything turn of the 20th century.
The costumes, the very dangerous working and living conditions, and most importantly the teeth!! No pearly whites in this one, A+. Not mention the best hangover scene. Ever.

Yup, Biggy was right. "Mo money, mo problems."

Hostel : Part II

"What's the code?!"

"Fuck! You!"

3 Stars

Awe man, that line killed me!!
I was hecka laughing, to hear it is
just so funny.
Even though this is a horror movie,
I found I laughed a whole lot. I watched it with my boyfriend and a couple other friends, and really, that's the way to watch it. Otherwise I would have gotten really fed up and turned it off halfway through.

I did see the first one. I liked it. I thought it was a well rounded horror flick, and it felt new. Quentin Tarantino backing it didn't hurt either, and he's behind this one too.

Return to the place where all your nightmares come true in this sequel the the hit gore fest. When three young American take a break from their international studies and check in to a Slovakian hostel, they have no idea they've walked into a chamber of horrors, where, for a price, wealthy psychopaths can live out their most gruesome fantasies by torturing and murdering visitors.

What was really fun was to see Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to The Dollhouse) all grown up. She does some frontal nudity too. In the first Hostel there were boobs left and right, geeze. So in this one Eli Roth gives us some male frontal. Ooo la la.

There's really not much else to say about this movie. It's horror, it's fun, and I highly recommend watching it with friends. If you do, having one person around whose particularly squeamish makes the movie that much better.

Perfume

"That's a really good perfume."



3 Stars

(He's so cute when he says that!) But besides that, what was up with this movie?
The first three quarters are great! The passion, the curiosity, the transcendental emotions of scent... awesome. But WTF was that ending about?

When I first saw the preview of this I was in. As it played in theaters I heard some terrible reviews on it.
I still gave it a chance, and wow, it was beautiful.
The period was great (some real grit just how I like it), and this boy's passion, and extraordinary gift of scent that drives him mad. Sounds good...
But would you really attach the term "orgy" to that?
Yeah. Not to be a spoiler, but the end is a huge mess of an orgy! What?! I just felt that it was so gratuitous, and very very unnecessary. It's like they took a perfectly good movie, and wrecked it with nonsense. I understand it was based on a novel, and maybe the written word explains it better, or sensual, or... something. Ugh.
Apart from Dustin Hoffman's performance, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
Pah-leez.