Young Guns (1988)

Young Guns. In the beginning, the first thing i noticed was the sound track. The thought that popped into my head was, "wait, am i watching a western, or 'Top Gun'?"

Despite the incredibly out of place music, the movie was pretty decent. I wasn't extremely impressed, or extremely disgusted by it. The plot was straight forward yet interesting, following a group of six wayward young men avenging the death of John Tunstall (Terrance Stamp), a very educated man from London and cattle rancher who took them in after they had trouble with the law. He gives the boys an education, job, and place to live so they are not living on the street. Tunstall's rival, Murphy (Jack Palance), sends men to kill Tunstall because of their intense competition. The six young men, played by various well-known and not so well-known actors, (including Emilio Estevez ("and i was like... EMELIO!") and Charlie Sheen, who i am not a huge fan of in this kind of movie) get deputized and set off with warrants to arrest Murphy's men, but instead of the tedious process of bringing them in and having a legal trial and finally getting arrested, Billy the Kid decides to take the law into his own hands and just kill Murphy's men instead, which works pretty well. Except for the part where they get chased by mercenaries hired by Murphy and soldiers of the United States.

Billy the Kid, (played by Emilio Estevez) is made into an overnight legend, describing him as a left handed ladies' man, and he is right handed and not exactly great with the ladies. But this works to his advantage, as he finds a mercenary of Murphy's in a bar talking about how he's going to kill Billy the Kid, and Billy takes this advantage to empty the mercenary's gun and promptly splatter his blood all over the bar wall. At least he doesn't waste time. Billy manages to kill quite a few men, 5 or 6 by most way through the movie, but Billy decides he'll call it 10 even to make his reputation grow. He often does it in quick, gruesome ways, such as when he finds out one of his men is planning an ambush, he puts a bullet through his forehead and pushes him into a river. The group of men follow Billy's lead, mostly because they're all wanted too so they have to stick it out as a group of outlaws.

The movie moved quickly, which i like, especially in westerns, (ugh i hate really slow dramatic western movies) and was enjoyable to watch. The acting was done well, but nothing special, and the directing style was different, very modern for western movies, which was really interesting. I enjoyed the movie overall, but it's not going on my all-time favorites list. I only had two big problems with the movie, though: the out of place rock music, and the fact that Charlie Sheen was in it. He's a good actor, but not so much in this type of movie. He should definitely keep his acting horizons narrow. Two and a Half Men and Hane's commercials are definitely enough Charlie Sheen for me.

Overall Rating: 5.9 out of 10.0

Categories: "Pretty Good but Not Great" "Don't Really Have to Think About It"

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

This movie is old fashioned fun. Crime, music, adventure, a large deal of Dapper Dan hair care products, it's all here.

Placed in the late 1930s, this movie was loosely based on the the story "The Oddessey" by Homer. Following the trek of three men who happened to get chained together in a chain gang, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), who goes by Everett in the movie, Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson), and Pete, (yes, just Pete. played by John Turturro), escape from their chain gang to look for the buried treasure of Everett in an old lake bed, which Everett supposedly got from knocking off an armored car, which landed him in said chain gang.

In reality, Everett was nailed for practicing law without a license, (lame reason to be in a chain gang) and needed to get back to his home town to save his wife from marrying another man, and had to formulate a plan to get the other two guys to follow along with him. Along the way he's a quick talkin', "Dapper Dan" type guy, who is incessantly obsessing with his hair, waking with a start several times in the movie, his first words are, "How's my hair!?" Sounds like a pretty solid plan, right? The path of these men isn't quite as smooth as George Clooney made it sound...

Their road to success isn't paved with the smoothest of asphalt. They run into quite a few problems along the way. They knock off a few banks with "Baby Face"... i mean George Nelson, who leaves them a good sum of money, which they get promptly stolen from them from "BIG DAN", a supposed Bible salesman, who they encounter later. at a giant KKK rally. But don't worry, they crush him with a giant flaming cross. But before the giant flaming cross fiasco, they come across a black man named Tommy Johnson, who has sold his soul to the devil for some guitar talent. They cut a record at a local radio station as the "Soggy Bottom Boys" for a quick ten bucks each, and quickly become extremely famous across Mississippi, but no one knows who they are, because the only person there was the blind operator of the radio station. Later in the movie they cut into a packed concert hall so Everett can talk to his wife, but have to pretend to be a band to get in. So they become the "Soggy Bottom Boys" once again, and a few songs and a good deal of silly dancing later, they get a full pardon from the governor of the state of Mississippi. One more quick "act of God" and the movie's done, with an ending that leaves some loose ends, but ends that the movie goer can easily tie up with their imagination.

I loved this movie. it was good old fashioned fun, with some great acting and fantastic story writing, this movie was everything i like in a movie, short of a few good explosions. It was well done, but the background was nearly nonexistent. That may have not necessarily been a bad thing, though. It made you wonder throughout, and kept you thinking. I may have enjoyed the first hour of the movie slightly more, had i not been extremely distracted by where i recognized the actor who played Pete was from. (don't worry, i figured it out. The butler in "Mr. Deeds".)

Not so much of an intelligent movie, it wasn't dumb action either. Anyone can enjoy this type of movie. It's usually subtle humor and interesting plot kept you entertained with no problem.

Overall Rating: 8.3 out of 10.0

Categories: "Good Old Fashioned Fun" "Intelligent, But Not Too Much" "All Around Good Movie"

Se7en (1995)

This movie is very... interesting. The first hour of the movie starts off slowly, with quite a few scenes of conversation, with the occasional murder scene thrown in. The slow start struggles to hold your attention, but if you're intent on watching it, (as i was), or a fan of tension filled dramas, the first hour isn't terribly boring. The background of the two main characters, detectives David Mills (Brad Pitt) and William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), is very effectively told in a timely manner. They don't dwell on the background, which is in my opinion a very good thing, however i think slightly more detail would have helped understand the characters.

The idea of this movie seems quite simple: an obviously insane man, (John Doe, as he is referred to, played by Kevin Spacey), goes around an unnamed city, (in which it is almost constantly raining, which must get really annoying) gruesomely killing citizens who have 'violated' the seven deadly sins; gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust. The two detectives, played by Pitt and Freeman, follow his hints, and use some... "not so ethical" methods to find the killer, such as paying off a member of the FBI, which supposedly keeps track of every book you check out of libraries, to find a suspect by checking for people who have checked out books concerning the seven deadly sins. Throughout the movie, they actually encounter the killer on a couple of occasions, one of which they had not idea they were face to face with a man who had tortured and/or slaughtered three people. About an hour into the film, detective Mills chases down the suspect after he shot at Somerset and Mills. An intense chase scene follows, running through hallways of two different floors of an apartment building, through an apartment, out a window, around some heating/cooling equipment, into another building, off a balcony, onto the fire escapes, down onto the street and into an alley, and finally the killer gets the upper hand on Mills in said alley, and holds a gun to his head, but Somerset bursts in just in time to scare the killer off. The killer gets away, but it isn't the last you see of him.

The ending has quite a twist, and i would hate to spoil it for anyone wanting to see this movie. Let's just say there are seven victims of all seven deadly sins, and six of them are extraordinarily gruesome and disgusting, yet prove the killers point effectively, which is this: this world is so horribly corrupted, we go through every day ignoring people that violate what were once considered the worst sins one could commit.

Morgan Freeman ends the movie with a quote about a famous author:

"Ernest Hemingway once said: "this world is a fine one, and it is worth fighting for." I agree with the second part."

The acting in this movie is extremely good, but Brad Pitt wasn't custom made for this role. Pitt is an excellent actor, however i am not a die-hard fan of his work. He has very good movies, such as "Fight Club" (1999), which is one of my all time favorites, and "Ocean's Eleven" (2001), but i am not going to go rent a movie only because Pitt is the main character. He doesn't do a fantastic job of expressing emotion, except anger, he's good at that one. But i feel they could have picked a better actor, but Pitt was pretty good. Morgan Freeman, however, was perfect. His character is a nonchalant, brave, calm, yet slightly troubled retiring detective, which is the role Freeman was born for. His unexpected laugh catches you off guard because of his serious demeanor throughout, and his performance was terrific. Kevin Spacey plays his role well, although the role was not a very in-depth or difficult one. He succeeds in capturing the creepiness of his character, and is scarily calm for having murdered six people.

Overall, very good movie. Not an action packed by any means, but still excellent. As a drama, fantastic, with some over the top murder scenes and great chase scene or two, it will satisfy any movie buff, but would probably not satisfy someone who is looking for something with a lot of action and so forth.

Overall Rating: 7.4 out of 10.0

Categories: "Intelligent Man", "Enjoyable Drama", and "That Amount of Violence Probably Isn't Necessary"

District 9 (2009)

DISTRICT 9

My very first reaction to this movie? amazing. visually pleasing, phenomenal acting, basic, yet intriguing plot.

Although it's graphic, quite a bit of cursing and violence, it doesn't detract from the storyline of the movie. The dozens of exploding humans and 'prawns', along with the tearing of a human limb from limb, the f-bomb being thrown out there every other sentence, didn't make me think, "this movie is extremely action packed". This movie was so much more than an action, it was a drama, a sci-fi, and an all-around incredible movie.
The plot is simplistic, however incredibly grasping. it pulled me in from the first few minutes, and kept me intrigued and entertained for the duration of the movie.
The first twenty minutes or so of the movie is almost boring, if you were looking for an action movie. very documentary-esque, and almost sloppily edited, it was what i called a very "Cloverfield styled" shooting style. (i use 'Cloverfield' (2008) as an example, because this was the very first movie i have seen that uses the style of shooting that makes you think you're the guy with the camera, running around new york while trying to avoid the american godzilla.) The slow start to this movie isn't bad, it really reels you in, gives you an amazing background of what happened.

They reach a point where it switches from mock-documentary to what i'd call a normal movie. It follows Wikus Van De Merwe and his exposure to alien technology, his attempts to hide from the South African Government and hired military groups, and his helping of the alien race.

The acting of this movie is what i got the most out of it. Sharlto Copley, something of a no-name actor, did a phenomenal job. His character, De Merwe, was absolutely gripping. His turnaround from MNU agent and head of alien eviction, to almost savior like role to the alien race, was second to none. Once exposed to an alien infection, he slowly transforms from human to 'prawn' throughout the movie. After being almost dissected and used as an MNU science fair project, he escapes the MNU headquarters and becomes disillusioned about the MNU's biological research program and helps the aliens escape their prison on earth.

David James plays colonel Koobus Venter (what a silly name), the main antagonist and villain of the movie. He plays his role perfectly, the role of a ruthless, 'prawn' hating mercenary. He is sent to capture De Merwe, and throughout the movie i thought to myself, "i really hate this guy. when is he going to get killed?".

So, to recap, i loved it. My personal opinion is it was the best movie of 2009. (yes, it topped avatar. i have my reasons, i'll post a review about avatar and my problems with it at a later date.) The acting was the best i've seen in a movie for a long time, and the plot was very... abnormal. The whole idea of the movie is strange, but this is the first time i have seen a movie with such a simple plot and still not hated the fact that the plot was as simplistic as it was.

Total Rating: 8.3 out of 10.0

Categories: "Intelligent man", "Wow that's violent", and "Action movie you still have to think about"

First Post - what's goin' down on this blog.

This blog is probably going to be quite a bit different than most movie reviews out there. I don't organize the posts by anything special... i just put them in the order i write the review. I am planning on putting 3 main things into each review:

1.) a review of what i thought, my opinion, what i think could have been better, etc.

2.) a total rating out of 10.0

3.) a category, or categories. they will be whatever i feel describes the movie, most of them will be in their own little categories. however i have a few common ones that i will briefly explain here.

--> "Intelligent-Man movies" (movies with deep meanings, hidden messages, movies that make you think about it after the movie ends.)

--> "Just-An-Action movie" (movies that are action movies - nothing truly special, good but not life changing. good fight scenes, good special effects, but no plot twists or "what the hell does that mean to my life meaning" moments.)

--> "Cult Classics" (movies that are love or hate. there are groups of people who worship them, and an equal amount of haters. generally slightly older. monty python, mel brooks, and quentin tarantino are lifelong members of this club.)


Feel free to let me know what you think! comment, express your opinion, but don't argue. don't be that internet dick that everyone hates.

Let me know what movies you think i should see, however i don't have a horribly large section of my free time devoted to watching terrible movies, and i have a large "to-see" list.