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blunthead
Reviews
Taken (2008)
Entertaining and unique
I hadn't been to a movie theater for years, but I don't think that alone explains why I enjoyed Taken as much as I did. The story is very appealing in this day wherein bad guys are worse than ever, and the rest of us are proportionately more abused. Going in we know the bad guys are really in for it this time. Though this one does not fall into the category strictly, there are too few revenge movies to be had.
Liam Neeson displays true acting flexibility and is one of the best heroes of the genre I've ever seen and I grew up with Connery-Bond. Indeed, during some of the action sequences, I couldn't help considering that, except for a kind of lurching instead of suaveness, Neeson could make the ideal Bond.
The action direction is good, but the dysfunctional interaction in the protagonist's family felt shallow to me--which, of course, doesn't matter--and the suspension of disbelief fails at times (a machine gun just doesn't miss that much at close range). The movie doesn't aim to win awards, just to be entertaining, and it succeeds.
Finally, Maggie Grace is remarkably convincing as a seventeen year old despite being twenty-six.
Quiet Days in Hollywood (1997)
Reverse Film-making Template
When I think the term "bad movie", I seem to think of Quiet Days in Hollywood first; it looming so large in my mind as to block out memory of all others. I know what you're thinking: It can't be that bad. Oh, yes, it be.
The movie is exceptionally bad in every film-making area. The acting isn't bad just because the writing is so bad. The acting is bad all on it's own, too. What story there is is an unnecessary story. If good direction is Sean Connery in a tuxedo, this direction is an obscene clown. The movie is embarrassing to watch for human beings. One wonders how it survived unhindered through human minds to it's current form.
All that said, Hilary Swank manages to be good. Talent can make such a difference. Otherwise, film teachers and students should use this movie as a template for what not to do.
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Keener is Perfect
The first time I started to watch Being John Malkovich I stopped. It looked like something I wasn't in the mood for, maybe never would be. There was this puppet show. I tried again another day, and discovered one of my all-time favorite movies. My all-time favorites don't necessarily include all-time favorite performances, but this one does. Catherine Keener is inspired and perfectly entertaining as the quirky, kinky, love-interest for ultimate-loser John Cusack.
I'm certain there's never been a movie like this before, and it stands repeated viewing in a completely unique way. Cameron Diaz is virtually unrecognizable as Cusack's neurotic wife. Orson Bean (you read correctly) is sublimely cast in a crucial role. John Malkovich is hilariously flabbergasted at what's going on, whatever it is.
This is not a comedy, just outrageously hilarious. It's kind of a love story, but again, not like any you've ever seen or conceived of. It's refreshingly ultra-strange.
Monster (2003)
Comforted by One of the Greatest Performances Ever
I knew going in to expect something special from Monster. The experts, I'd heard, read. I looked forward to seeing another great performance by an actor. I had no idea.
I'm comforted witnessing--whatever else she can or cannot, does or does not do--Charlize Theron's pure genius. Never doubt, this performance is one of the greatest of all time. What else can I say? Why?
Watch this movie to watch an actor become someone else, arguably, like you've never seen before.
Monster is a unique, suspenseful story wonderfully acted, directed, told.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Day the Earth Froze (1993)
Make The Sampo!
I love movies that are well-made, with good acting and direction, and I love good TV shows. I'm 55 years old, have been watching TV since a kid, and Mystery Science Theater 3000 is my second all-time favorite TV show (since I can't demote TAXI). My favorite mst3k episode is The Day the Earth Froze. Joel Hodgson and the other writers were really on their game this time, and he and the bots delivered their commentary in a flowing, effortless way. They seemed to especially enjoy their unfortunate duty with a movie absolutely determined to be ridiculous.
In my favorite part, the hero's quest requires he journey over water. A loud voice instructs him to make a canoe out of a nearby tree, which he begins to cut down as the scene fades out. The same scene fades back in (Servo says, "...eight days later...") as the tree is about to fall, and Joel, as the loud voice, says, "Not that tree".
The Day the Earth Froze provides fans with on of mst3k's great catchwords: Sampo; which is a substance created, only on uniquely demanding occasion for its powerful, magical properties, by certain mythological types--gremlins, trolls witches, and such--who occupy a subterranean commune, and who regard The Sampo as better than cookie dough.
Other fav episodes: The Amazing Colossal Man, Teenagers from Outer Space, I Accuse My Parents, Rocketship X-M, The Sidehackers, and, of course, 'Manos' Hands of Fate.