The Boondock Saints

Oh man, one of the most popular college hits The Boondock Saints is cult classic through and through. This used to be my hands down favorite movie for years upon years. After taking a Boondock Saints break for a while (with the except of the god awful second film), I've finally revisited my old favorite. Does it still stand up?

In short, yes. Does that mean this is a good movie? Well, broken down to its parts no, no it definitely isn't. The Boondock Saints is a film that went way beyond the sum of its parts and is almost certainly the best mistake of a film I've ever seen.

So what do I mean? Well, I mean the directing shows plenty of signs of inexperience, the acting is average at best (albeit charming), and the writing is all over the place. So why do I like this movie then? The answer is simply that it just works. There's not much of another way to put it, The Boondock Saints fell together in a way that just could not have been planned. It has such a perfect charm, such a great way of delivering a story and delivering its jokes.

Troy Duffy comes off to me as an over confident amateur director that just managed to hit the lottery with this one. He even cast himself in a fairly major role (very Kevin Smith of him) which just seems silly. Everyone knows the story of the sequel's long (ten year) on and off production that is reminiscent of that of Duke Nukem: Forever, but really the sequel just shouldn't have been made...it shouldn't have even been considered.

The Boondock Saints is about as fun as movies can get. Don't watch this film like some sort of snooty film critic trying to pick it apart by its flaws because you'll break it down to the dust that it really is. The Boondock Saints is a cult classic monolith standing on a foundation of crackers and Elmer's glue. Thank you so much for this movie, Troy, but please for the love of everything holy never make another film. Ever.

Grade: A-

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is a cult classic that most people my age saw when they were in high school or college -- and understood none of it. Despite it's complicated (possibly over-complicated?) storyline, Donnie Darko still lives up to its college age allure.

Maybe I just have a thing for dark comedies, but I swear this genre pulls together a lot of really great movies. Donnie Darko takes it a bit further than the average dark comedy however and spins together a riveting, complex, deeply involving story that's creepy, funny, and thoroughly confusing all at the same time. This one will stay with you after it's over and will likely leave you Googling for explanations.

There's not much to be said about the acting in this movie. It's not particularly good (except for the performance of Donnie's mother played by Mary McDonnell, I thought she was excellent), but it really doesn't need to be. The charm of this film is in its simplicity and as a result there's plenty of room for error without really impacting the plot's delivery.

Essentially the same story fits for the soundtrack and the cinematography. There's nothing groundbreaking in either of these categories (though the haunting Gary Jules cover of "Mad World" at the end was a nice touch), but again it doesn't really matter.

Donnie Darko is a cult classic for a reason. It's not a particularly well made film and it definitely has its flaws, but it delivers an awesome story with wonderfully injected humor and drama. This one is definitely still worth watching even after you're all grown up.

Grade: B+

Sunshine

I've been told to watch Sunshine by more than a handful of people, so I finally remembered while I was home and took the time to watch it. I should preface this review by stating that I enjoyed Event Horizon much more than the average critic or IMDber, and many comparisons can be drawn between the two so I might be slightly biased. Or just more right.

Sunshine is about a crew of eight astronauts tasked with reigniting our dying sun to save the planet. The story kicks off as they are getting relatively close to the sun and soon lose connection back to Earth due to solar winds.

Sunshine is very visually appealing, but it almost feels overdone. Everything looks so detailed it just doesn't look real anymore...it looks so much like a blockbuster film that it almost pulls you out of the experience a little bit. I'm not trying to say they're so incredible things look better in the movie than they do in reality...or maybe I am sort of...you can just see all of the computer-generated graphics so plainly that it's distracting, for me at least.

Some of the events that cause the central conflict points in the movie seem a little silly as well. With such an vastly advanced system on board you'd think there would be some sort of warning if what you're trying to do could kill you, but apparently not. There just seem to be a big lack of fail-safe systems on something that is humanity's last hope.  There are a few characters and events that should've been expanded upon to make the film easier to relate with as well. Also, the horror elements were so 21st century it was just annoying. Startling the viewer by making loud noises or flashing things that have no relevance on screen isn't what horror should be.

Despite this minor annoyances, Sunshine is still an enjoyable film. There is always something happening so you can keep even your most ADD-riddled movie friends entertained, but at the same time it's just not terribly deep either. The acting is...well it's average and the writing is...well...damn it's average too...I guess the only thing I really think this movie has going for it is how watchable it is despite all of this. It is very entertaining so if you're not being too critical you'll probably find it enjoyable.

To make the inevitable comparison, Sunshine is much easier to watch than Event Horizon and won't leave you curled up in a corner talking to yourself for a week, but as far as I'm concerned it's not as good either.

Grade: C+

Oldboy

I'm going to start this review by including one of the songs from this incredible movie. I feel this song is a manifestation of the movie itself. It's hauntingly beautiful which is exactly what Chan-wook Park was going for in this movie. The Last Waltz

Oldboy focuses on Oh Dae-Su, a drunkard who is introduced at a police station for being too drunk on his daughter's birthday. Immediately after he is released from the station, he is kidnapped and spends the next fifteen years imprisoned with absolutely no reason given. Once he is free, he spends the rest of the movie trying to find out the truth of why he was imprisoned and the identity of his captor.

It's hard to go into too much more detail about the story of this movie because it just begs to be watched. You shouldn't know the story's progression before actually seeing it so I'm not going to do that. You can expect a very dark movie with so many different elements moving at once to make it incredible. It has humor, action (there's a good chance you've seen its well-known fight scene already), drama by the truckload, and an immensely deep, excellently constructed plot. I will point out that the landmark fight scene was done in one take, which is astonishing when you watch it; it just flows so well.

This movie is not for everyone however. The subject matter is very unsettling, especially once the plot starts to unfold. Though this movie can be watched as a background movie, it's really doing a dishonor to it to watch it that way. Take the time to sit down and watch it from the first scene until the very end, it will reward you for it.

Any movie buff should have already seen this by now, but for anyone who is looking for something a little different that will leave you in awe throughout and afterwards, look no further. This one is a classic.

Grade: A

Not sure what I was thinking, grading this movie is easy.

Grade: A+

Rounders

I've seen this movie a total of twice now, but I barely remembered it the first time and after seeing it again I'm not sure why it faded from memory so easily, especially since it stars one of my favorite actors, Edward Norton.

This movie has a lot going for it, especially if you're a card player.  It does a great job of representing games and showing how you can become great at them, or be a total crook about it.

One of my main problems with this movie, and it's minor, is the final hand.  Without giving it away...it just wouldn't have happened like that.  I'm sure most poker players would agree with me that the majority of the cards played in this movie felt like natural hands that could have happened.  The way the last one played out felt like two total amateurs playing against each other and it shouldn't have.

Also, the characters Worm (Edward Norton) and Jo just don't feel real to me.  I understand to an extent how someone could be that addicted to bad decisions or could be that addicted to being a bitch, respectively, but they just feel like that's all there is to their respective characters...it just didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Overall, this movie is great to watch and great for something on in the background to just jump into whenever.  It's not perfect by any means, but it's still pretty damn good.

Grade: B+

Black Swan

Holy hell, a NEW movie?  Yes, I finally got around to seeing this and I had been looking forward to it for a long time.  I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint.

I've talked about this movie with several people and have come to the conclusion that it's the type of movie you either love or hate.  You can really lose yourself in it, or you can be totally put off by a lot of the content and just the progression in general. Luckily, the former was the case for me.

No matter what your stance on the movie is, it's undeniable that Natalie Portman did an incredible job.  What surprises me is her other recent choices of movie roles. She showed how varied and powerful she can be in Black Swan and then moved on to Your Highness?  What gives?

This movie demonstrates what happens when you don't have a firm grasp on your own life, when you allow obsession to run your world or allow your life to be dictated by those around you.  The lead character's descent into madness is eerie in how effortlessly it seems to happen.  By the end of the film, most of the content can be pretty much left up to personal interpretation, and I think that's an excellent way to present this movie.

Black Swan is a bold film and does an excellent job being exactly what it was trying to be.  Despite how much I like this movie, I don't know if I'd watch it again, it's really disturbing.  That said, this movie is going to be my very first...

Grade: A+

Vertigo

Ah Vertigo, one of my first Alfred Hitchcock experiences.  This is one of a select few movies that really helped me appreciate older film as I find the majority of it is so dated that it's just boring.

This movie really helps to show why Jimmy Stewart was one of Alfred Hitchcock's two main actors he worked with (the other being Cary Grant).  His work is phenomenal and you can really feel him slipping into madness throughout the movie's progression.  Not to take away from the rest of the great acting in this movie, but Stewart really stands out.

This is just a personal opinion (then again, isn't this entire blog), but I think this movie has one of the greatest twists of all time.  It took me totally by surprise when I first discovered what it was and it just made me love the movie even more.

There are plenty of great Hitchcock movies, but I honestly don't understand how this one didn't reach Psycho and The Birds level of popularity.  It is in my opinion far and away Hitchcock's best film.

The only thing I can take away from this movie, and it's really a nitpicky problem, is that if you've seen it recently it can come across as rather slow the next time around.  Other than that, if you haven't seen this, take some time and watch this masterpiece.

Grade: A