Raging Bull

Date Released: December 19, 1980
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent
Genre: Drama/Biography
Rating: 8.4/10 (IMDB.com)

If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you get out from the rock your under and witness motion picture history! "Raging Bull" is based on the memoir Raging Bull: My Story written by former middle-weight champion Jake LaMotta.
Robert De Niro plays boxer LaMotta, a paranoid and violent prize-fighter who's abusive tendencies destroy his relationships with his wife (Moriarty) and brother (Pesci). Based on a true story, "Raging Bull" follows the life and career of LaMotta and his bouts with famous fighters such as Marcell Cedan and Sugar Ray Robinson. It also follows LaMotta's life after boxing and self destructive behavior.
The story is compelling to me because it portrays human nature in such a way that is rarely portrayed; realistically. Most films are scared to dive deep into some of the complex ways of human behavior, but this film holds no punches and explores the true jealous, violent, and deviant nature of some men.
When you watch this film you will be taken aback by LaMotta's animalistic behavior and the way he treats and acts towards people. A credit to De Niro's brilliant acting, who by the way gained and lost over 60 lbs for this role. In the behind the scenes features of the DVD, Vicki LaMotta, who is played by Cathy Moriarty in the film, stated that when she saw this movie, Jake LaMotta asked her if he was "really that bad?" Vicki said, "No, you were worse."
Shot in black and white, Scorsese does a magnificent job in directing this culturally significant film. Lauded by many critics and polls as one of the best movies to ever be made, it truly is Scorsese's best film and De Niro's best role.
This movie helped launch the career of Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent as well. Scorsese always seems to cast Vincent and Pesci in dueling roles in many of his films. They converse in such an authentic way that they don't ever seem to be acting. I must admit, some scenes in this film are so unbelievable that all you can do is sit back and laugh. But you won't be laughing out of humor, you'll be laughing out at how a human being could actually act in the manner LaMotta did.
You should buy this movie and display it on your mantle to show people that visit your home that you have the wherewithal to know what a great film is.

My Rating: 9.2/10
Available: DVD

Posted by Matt

The Cooler

Date Released: November 6, 2003
Director: Wayne Kramer
Cast: William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin, Ron Livingston, Paul Sorvino
Genre: Drama
Rating: 7.0/10 (IMDB.com)

I had heard a lot about this film from friends and finally got around to watching it. "The Cooler" is about a former gambling addict and bad luck charm named Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) who works for the Shangri-La Casino as a "cooler" under his old friend Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) in order to pay off an old gambling debt. Bernie, who is quitting his job in seven days, meets a cocktail waitress (Maria Bello) who quickly begins to change his luck.
A cooler is an individual who makes his presence at tables where customers are winning in order to make them loose strictly by chance. Also known as "chillers", the concept itself is hilarious and outdated, but there was a time casinos did employ "bad luck people" in order to stave off winning streaks from customers.
Shelly Kaplow once cured Bernie's gambling problem by shattering his knee with a baseball bat, which Bernie is completely grateful for! Under Kaplow's employment, Bernie is seven days away from finally paying off his gambling debts. His effectiveness as a cooler is jeopardized when he meets a cocktail waitress named Natalie and his luck begins to change. Bernie doesn't know that Kaplow has paid her to fall in love with him in order to get him to stay. While this takes place, Kaplow's running of the casino is called into question by a group of investors who are not happy with the nostalgic ways in which he runs it. Kaplow considers the current Las Vegas to be a "Disneyland mook fest", and refuses to give in to more lucrative based operations.
This is a very entertaining film. There was a lot of controversy with the movie when it was made due to a graphic sex scene involving Maria Bello's character. The MPAA gave the film an NC-17 rating until they edited it out. The film is well acted and well written, and Baldwin is great. I did find the style of the film to be off-putting at times because although it can be humorous, it is very dark and disturbing also. There's a scene where Balwin's character catches and beats a cheater, breaks his legs and kicks his "pregnant" girlfriend in the stomach. You'll see, watch! All in all, a very good film, especially for those that like gambling genres.

My Rating: 7.8/10
Available: DVD

Posted by Matt

Thank You For Smoking

Release Date:14 April 2006 (USA)
Director: Jason Reitman
Stars:Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright and Maria Bello
Genres:Comedy | Drama
Rating: 7.8/10 (IMDB.com)

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is a successful lobbyist on behalf of the tobacco industry. His is the face of Big Tobacco, and his job is to defend the reputation of Big Tobacco when anti-smoking sentiment seems to be everywhere.

Whn he's not working, Nick is raising his 12 year old son, Joey (Cameron Bright). There is quite a bit of dialogue between Nick and Joey as Nick tries to help Joey understand some of the apparent contradictions between what he says publicly and what he says when at home. Being a role model to Joey is clearly one of Nick's priorities.

The movie has its share of creative dialogue, instances where Nick turns a seemingly strong argument against smoking on its head using creative or unexpected logic. The story progresses through a business trip where Nick visits the Marlboro Man in person, speaks before Congress and is kidnapped and nearly killed by nicotine patches. All the while Nick stays true to his son and his cause, an unwavering example of persistence that is easy to admire.

This is an excellent movie, eliciting sympathy from the audience for an individual many people would otherwise love to hate. I consider it to be well done, with a nice balance of thought provoking dialogue, action, suspense and drama that has kept my attention each time I have watched and re-watched it.


My rating: excellent (out of superb)


posted by: Thomas

127 Hours

Date Released: January 28, 2011
Director:  Danny Boyle
Cast: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Treat Williams
Genre: Adventure/Drama
Rating: 8.0/10 (IMDB.com)

     James Franco stars as Aron Ralston, a mountain climber who is forced to cut off his right forearm to free himself from a boulder that wedges it against a canyon wall.  Based on a true story and the book "Between a Rock and a Hard Place", written by Aron Ralston, "127 Hours" follows the events leading up to, during, and after the incident in which Ralston taps into his survival instincts and manages to escape a slow and inevitable death.
     Mountain climbing in Utah, Ralston falls in between a crevice and manages to get himself trapped in an inconceivable situation; his right forearm stuck between a boulder and a canyon wall.  Ralston fails to leave a note telling anyone where he is going and his only tools are a climbing rope, a video camera, some food and water, and a meager multipurpose tool (not a Swiss Army Knife).  Director Danny Boyle does a great job in portraying what this unfortunate situation was like for Ralston; the initial panic that set in, the failed attempts to free himself, and eventually, the bravery he had in actually cutting off his own forearm!  I don't know if I could have done it, could you?
     I highly recommend this film on the basis that I have never seen a story quite like it.  James Franco was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role and the movie was also nominated for Best Picture.  Franco is great in the movie and does a terrific job in selling his character.  Audiences will definitely be entertained but certainly grossed out by this film, but it is not so graphic that it becomes unwatchable.  Ralston's story is truly one of guts, courage, and the ultimate will of human survival.

My Rating: 8.1/10
Available on DVD

Posted by Matt

   

Shutter Island

Date Released: February 19, 2010
Director:  Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Max von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley,Ted Levine, John Carroll Lynch, Elias Koteas, Patricia Clarkson
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 8.0/10

Let me start off by saying any movie with Leonado DiCaprio is a must see! He's such a great actor. I saw this movie on Netflix a few times and I was actually afraid to hit play because of what was to come. The movie looked pretty scary, and to my surprise it was 50/50. It was more suspense than scary. The movie is set in 1954 where U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearances of a murderess that was being held in a hospital for the criminally insane. as the movie goes on you are lead to believe that the whole thing was a setup to get Teddy Daniels and his partner to the ward to operate on Teddy's brain. The movie is full of a lot of twists and turns. I cant really give away any more information or it will ruin the movie for the people who want to see it. All I can say is be prepared for anything!!

Latonya

Tangled

Date Released: November 10, 2010
Director: Nathan Greno , Byron Howard Cast: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Brad Garrett, Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor, Richard Kiel, M. C. Gainey, and Paul F. Tompkins
Genre: Animation, Kids & Family, Musical & Performing Arts, Comedy
Rating: 8.4/10

Tangled is a great family movie. The movie is based off of the Disney story Rapunzel with a 2010 spin. The movie begins with Rapunzel being stolen from her Royal family by an old women. The reason you ask? Rapunzel's hair is magic. The magic is her hair causes the person who sings to it to stay young. In the normal story Rapunzel gets saved from the tower by a strong prince, not in Tangled. In Tangled the prince is a known thief around the kingdom and wanders into Rapunzel's life. As soon as he gets there they both make a deal with each other and the cute, yet funny adventure begins. As always the tale has a happy ending. The musical aspect of the movie is great. the way that Disney took pieces from the original Rapunzel and made it into a modern day movie is fantastic. Must see for both the adults and the children.

Latonya

Hairspray

Date Released: July 20, 2007
Director:  Adam Shankman
Cast: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Brittany Snow, Nicole Blonsky, Zac Efron, Allison Janney

Genre: Comedy
Rating: 8/10

Hairspray is about a young plump teenager, Tracy Turnblad who wants to fulfill her dreams of dancing on the big screen of the hit show "Hairspray". The movie takes place in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland where segregation still was very much entertained. The movie is great as the story shows how a young teenage girl fights the odds of both being overweight, fulfilling her dreams as a dancer and making colored people her Friends. In the story as she battles against her enemy to win the heart of the hottie hunk Link Larkin, builds her own mother's confidence and helps her to leave the house, and expose the colored cast for their great dance moves on the show. The movie is a must see for those who enjoy musicals. I'm not really a musical fan, but some of the songs were catchy and I still sing them word for word today.

Latonya

Fight Club

Release Date:15 October 1999 (USA)
Director: David Fincher
Stars:Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf
Genres:Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: 8.8/10 (IMDB.com)

I find movies that are violence with little more (aka, "Kill Bill") to be boring, and can't remember when I last tormented myself by sitting through one. Thus, when I first became aware of "Fight Club", I disregarded it, believing it to be a violence-filled, testosterone-driven movie likely to have little depth and an overly simple plot. I was judging the movie on it's title and the promotional images it was advertised with, and was not impressed with what I had concluded. Fortunately, "Fight Club" has proven to be more than just A list faces in a gratuitous violence movie - but a well developed story of an individual with ambition, psychological abnormalities, and an overactive imagination.

We never learn the main character's name (Edward Norton), although he uses several names throughout the movie. He narrates many scenes, offering an insight into his thoughts and actions to the audience. He's an analyst in the "compliance and liability" department of a "major automobile manufacturer" whose job includes long hours and frequent travel. He develops insomnia, which causes the narrator to go about his days in a daze; "When you have insomnia, you're never really asleep, and you're never really awake" he says, and seeks the help of his doctor.

His doctor refuses to prescribe medication to him, and when the narrator pleads with him, saying he's "in pain", the doctor sarcastically suggests "You wanna see pain? Swing by First Methodist Tuesday nights. See the guys with testicular cancer. That's pain." The narrator visits this support group, which is where he meets and befriends Robert Paulson (Meat Loaf).

The narrator finds that attending support groups allows him the release he needs to be able to sleep, and before long, he is visiting a different support group each day of the week. Finally he is able to sleep and feels much better for it.

The narrator's therapy is abruptly disrupted by the presence of a newcomer to his support groups, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter). Marla too is a "faker", one who visits the support groups without having the disease that the members meet to support, and the narrator's insomnia returns when he realizes that he can't get the same effect with another faker at the meetings. He confronts Marla and pleads with her to alternate her meetings with his, and she agrees.

The narrator is sent on a business trip. During his return flight, he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) who introduces himself as one who "makes and sells soap". They share a few words before Durden hands the narrator his card and excuses himself.

Upon returning home, the narrator finds that his condominium has exploded, apparently from a gas leak. He finds Durden's card and calls him, asking if he could stay with him. Durden consents, and the two meet up and go to a bar.

As they are leaving the bar, Durden asks the narrator to do him a favor, "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." The narrator is a bit surprised, but complies, punching Durden in the ear. Durden responds with punching the narrator in the gut, and the two take in the experience of pain.

They quickly find that through fighting, they can bond and feel the same release the narrator was getting from the support groups. They fight again in public, and draw a small crowd of spectators. In time, these spectators fight too, drawing attention and instigating what formalized into Fight Club.

As the narrator and Durden form Fight Club, it's rules are defined and it's membership swells. Fight Club eventually moves from the parking lot to the basement of the bar just as members become devoted to the club and its founders. Despite rules against talking about Fight Club, new members show up at each meeting looking to be initiated.

The movie continues with Fight Clubs formed in other cities, and Fight Club morphing into "Project Mayhem", a task based organization with more ambitious goals and more drastic means of achieving them. The movie ends with the same scene that it opened with, with the narrator and Durden poised to witness the culmination of Project Mayhem's efforts.

Generally, I do not like when movies hide key pieces of their story until the last few minutes before disclosing them to the audience. Fight Club does this, but it is quite forgivable. The surprise ending is virtually necessary to maintain the continuity and believability of the story, and it all but guarantees that the audience will want to watch Fight Club again.


My rating: excellent (out of superb)


posted by: Thomas

A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)

Date Released: April 30, 2010
Director:  Samuel Bayer
Cast: Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker
Genre: Horror
Rating: 5.1/10 (IMDB.com)

     I really have to start updating my Netflix queue to have movies come that I actually want to see.  Low and behold the remake of Wes Cravens original classic "A Nightmare On Elm Street" (1984) arrived.  It came, I saw, I disliked.

     Must I go into elaborate detail about this mindless, complete waste of time?  We all probably know the whole story about Freddy Kruger; He was a child molester who was burned to death by an angry mob of parents in a boiler room.  Now, as if he was unjustifiably killed, Satan (I'm guessing) allows him to haunt and kill the very children he molested in their dreams.  Nice. 

     Lets go over what was good about the movie.  The special effects were OK, the acting wasn't terrible, and the dream sequences were semi-creative.  A trend with many of these new films is that they rely heavily on CGI and insult the audience in thinking we are too stupid to appreciate a solid storyline with good dialogue.  Jackie Earle Haley does a good job as the new Freddy Kruger.  The problem is we all grew up and loved the old Freddy, which prevents people from adapting to the new face and voice.  Dismissing my bias for the old Freddy, the new Freddy was kind of entertaining and visually cool.  The music score was pretty good too, except that it was just a rip-off of the original score.

     Let's highlight the bad points.  It's a horror movie!  There are lots of teenagers being killed with not much creativity.  Although I must say, I did laugh when Freddy hung the poor teen upside down and told him he still had "six minutes of fun left to play with him" before his ripped open stomach would officially expire him.  The movie follows the same storyline as the original films; pull Freddy out of the dream and into reality so they can kill him.  But, is he really dead?  The track record of movie companies wanting to make a profit says NO!

     Why must Hollywood remake everything? Why can't they just leave some of the classic, culturally significant films alone? My guess is, the almighty dollar.  Unless you are trying to get your date to hug you out of terror on Halloween night, don't bother seeing this movie.  And that probably won't happen anyway considering the movie isn't scary and because you rented the remake of "A Nightmare On Elm Street."

     

My Rating: 5.4/10

Available: DVD

Posted by Matt

     

  

Four Rooms

Date Released: December 25, 1995
Director:  Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Tim Roth, Madonna, David Proval, Antonio Banderas, Quentin Tarantino, Marisa Tomei
Genre: Comedy
Rating: 6.4/10 (IMDB.com)

     I had this movie in my Netflix queue for awhile and finally came around to receiving it.  I'm a huge Tarantino fan and this was the one thing he had done that I hadn't seen.  Not too many people know about this film, and now I know why!

     The movie has four different stories pieced together that are directed by four different directors; "The Missing Ingredient" (Anders), "The Wrong Man" (Rockwell), "The Misbehavers" (Rodriguez), and "The Man from Hollywood" (Tarantino).  The stories take place at an old hotel on New Year’s Eve where a goofy Tim Roth plays a bellboy who encounters a group of witches, a crazed gunman and his tied up wife, a suave Latino man, his wife, and his unruly children, and a Hollywood director with an entourage of characters.

     The movie is a waste of time.  It’s just not funny, except for maybe a few chuckles which can be found in Rodriguez’s and Tarantino’s stories.  Bruce Willis’s un-credited cameo part made me a laugh for a second, but then I was unfortunately brought back to reality. To make a long review short, this film simply misses the mark.  Tarantino was probably riding high at the time just coming off the successes of “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” and decided to throw his director buddies a bone and attach his name to this project.  Tim Roth, who is usually a great actor, was just silly and annoying in this movie. He was silly I tell you, SILLY! (The Jerky Boys)  Madonna is in it, which is pretty much a given that the movie is going to bomb.  OK, “A League of Their Own” didn’t bomb, but that's all I'll give her credit for.  What’s odd to me is that Marisa Tomei plays a stoner in this film, but on the movie poster looks glamorous, as if she played a completely different character.  Miramax probably said something similar to this in a meeting; “Guys, this movie looks pretty bad, let’s maximize profits by putting a sexy Tomei on the cover and just ignore the fact that she doesn’t look anything like that in the movie.”  That seems accurate.  My advice, skip this one.

My Rating: 5.2/10

Available: DVD 

Posted by Matt