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movies + personal shit
By vrtualme | July 12, 2008
I have to admit that this week depression has been kicking my butt. My sleeping schedule has been all shot to hell, and I’m not looking forward to my measly four hour shift at work tomorrow later today; it’s just not fun anymore. I keep blaming my new pills and pms, hoping that this mood will pass by next week. Otherwise it’s another doctor visit and more experiments with medication. I’m just not up for all that. Anyway, here’s the list of movies I’ve seen this week (at least the ones I remember)…
Oxygen (1999) – when a film description mentions Adrien Brody (Oscar winner for The Pianist 2002) and the word kinky, I have to admit I’m intrigued. And though the overall premise is quite interesting, the movie falls way short. This ones such a dud that I’d forgotten I’d seen it before, just last year.
Twilight (aka The Magic Hour 1998) – another repeat viewing, but this time I did it on purpose for the great cast. Starring Paul Newman (Oscar winner for The Color of Money 1986), Susan Sarandon (Oscar winner for Dead Man Walking 1995), Gene Hackman (two time Oscar winner for The French Connection 1971 and Unforgiven 1992), Reese Witherspoon (Oscar winner for Walk the Line 2005), Stockard Channing (Oscar nominee for Six Degrees of Separation 1993), James Garner (Oscar nominee for Murphy’s Romance 1985) and Liev Schreiber (golden globe nominee for RKO 281 1999). This little mystery about murder and blackmail in the Hollywood hills went pretty much unnoticed when it was originally released ten years ago, but it sports one of my favorite movie quotes… “If you wanna learn to kick ass there’s no better place than Yuma.”
Domino (2005) – surprisingly, my mother recommended this one to me. I write “surprisingly”, because my mother can’t stand the smallest amount of violence and a woman has her son’s arm thrown in her face in the first scene. But admittedly it’s a pretty good watch. It’s the “maybe, kinda” true story of Domino Harvey, a famous actor’s daughter and working model turned bounty hunter. Starring are Keira Knightley (Oscar nominee for Pride & Prejudice 2005) as Domino, with Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart 1987), Delroy Lindo (Gone in Sixty Seconds 2000) and amazingly hot Edgar Ramirez as her ass kicking bounty hunter buddies.
Bad News Bears (2005) – I’m part of the generation that enjoyed the originals so I figured I was obligated to watch the remake. And while it will never match its predecessor, it’s not horribly bad in its own right.
Get Smart (2008) – I went in expecting utter stupidity, I’m not a big fan of the director’s (Peter Segal - Tommy Boy 1995) other films, but it was actually kinda cute. It’s not surprising that it took more than forty years to make a movie version of the television classic. No one else could match Don Adams’ perfected portrayal of Maxwell Smart like Steve Carell (The Office 2005-2008). It’s like he was born to play the part.
The China Syndrome (1979) – an old favorite that, along with a few others at the time, haunted my thoughts and made me fear the atomic age. I may revisit this film in a future post.
Alexander (2004) – what can I say? Great movie. Great cast. Have seen before, and will see again.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) – like most people I knew the premise and I’d seen cuts from the film; but I’d never watched the whole movie. Now I have, and it was well worth it. Mob mentalities have always scared me. Another good example would be The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). Always take the time to reason things out for yourself before you act. Anyway, it appears there is a remake in the works starring Keanu Reeves (The Matrix 1999) as the visiting alien Klaatu.
The French Connection (1971) – admittedly, I wasn’t feeling too great when watching this last night, so I was a bit distracted. That said I know I must have missed something. This Oscar winning best picture (along with four other little gold men) just didn’t grab me, but I’m totally blaming my mood at the time rather than the movie.
coming soon…
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) – due for release July 25th this next installment in the franchise also stars my second favorite scot Billy Connolly (Timeline 2003). Here’s the official site and a trailer…
Topics: movies, previews, reviews, views |