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Just as a follow up to my last post…  See this article here on the Heigl & Kutcher movie Killers.  The studio is not releasing this movie to critics before its release.  You know what that means?  It means that the movie (as I predicted) is terrible and the studio knows it.  This is a spineless strategy that some studios use.  Their talking heads will say it’s because they want viewers to make up their own mind rather than having critics make up their mind for them.  Well, if they thought the movie was even worth a C grade, they’d let the critics see it.  K-Duce is the Nostradamus of movies. Heigle’s day are numbered on the big screen… Big time.

What’s there to say about Return of the Jedi that hasn’t already been said?  It’s the third installment of one of the best two trilogies of all time; the other of course being The Godfather.  I’m saying it’s a trilogy because I don’t consider the three movies director George Lucas started in the late 90’s to be in the same group.  Yeah, some of the characters are the same; but they’re just different.  Anyway, I happen to like Jedi better than the original Star Wars.  Maybe it’s because when it came out, I was old enough to see it in the theater and know what I was watching.  I saw it in this shitty theater in Redwood City.  Needless to say, it was a huge event.  There is something to be said about the effects of all the Star Wars movies.  If they were made today they would be filled with CGI and the look would be, oh I don’t know… blah, sorta like the more recent Star Wars trilogy.  How Lucas was able to pull off using puppets and models to create these characters, spaceships and worlds is quite amazing.  What’s more amazing is how well it holds up.  You’ve all seen the movie and I would assume that most of you love it.  If you haven’t seen it, you’re weird.

Before I get in to the bulk of this post, I want to comment on something.  Facebook and Twitter were not built for you to tell the world about your personal problems.  I see posts where people give a vague statement that obviously means someone just cheated on them, or that they are heart broken or that they are pissed at someone. Please keep your personal business personal.  I also don’t care that you are going to the dry cleaner just like you wouldn’t care if I was “gettin’ a coffee ”. I don’t mind someone giving their opinion on something, but don’t post something obnoxious in an obvious attempt to anger people and start some debate.  I am going to try to start collecting some of these and putting them in a section called, Terrible Posts.  I encourage everyone to email any terrible, unintentionally funny or weird post they see and I will post them.  Obviously I won’t post anyone’s names.  Here is an example of a few posts I have seen or heard of recently…

XXX in the Drs office while my poor mom is having a Colonoscopy…poor mommy!

Umm…  I am sure that your mom truly appreciates you letting the world know that at the exact time people were reading that, she had doctors sticking stuff up her ass.  If you were my child, I would hope that you would keep that between people who are close to you.

XXX Thank god I got my period

A friend of mine sent me this one to me.  The fact that it was written by his college age cousin and her mom is one of her Facebook friends makes it worse.  This of course would be inappropriate to be written by anyone.  It’s none of our business.  Sure, we’re glad this worked out for you; but you’re letting us in on a part of your life that we really shouldn’t be involved in.  I’m sure her mother was proud.

XXX My ass is sore and my left wrist hurts… but I have no complaints. Snowboarding in Mammoth, life doesn’t get any better than this!

Are you sure you were snowboarding?

These are real posts.  Ok, nothing inappropriate about the last one.  Like I say though, unintentional comedy is also very welcome for this section.  Is it contradictory that I say that people shouldn’t be posting some of this stuff and I turn around and use it for jokes?  I don’t think so.  These are Anonymous and posted for the sake of humor and for me to make a point.  So feel free to send me stuff if you think it fits.

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I was watching the National Title game the other night when I saw an ad for the new Mel Gibson movie.  It’s called, The Edge of Darkness.  This looks a lot like the run of embarrassing movies he had in the 90’s such as Payback and Ransom.  I think the whole thing about him being somewhat blacklisted due to his unforgiving anti-Semitism and alcoholism may have overall been a good thing for Mel.  I say this because we have all sorta forgotten about him and how big of a schmuck he is.  It appears that he is now trying to make a comeback.  So before anyone blindly goes out to see any of his movies, I thought it would be a good idea to remind you all of how terrible he is; not only as a person, but as an actor.  Let’s start with some of the one-liners…

The ad for his new movie that I saw last night showed a quick snippet of a scene where he unleashes a one-liner that is sure to rank amongst his most embarrassingly hilarious of all time.  He’s pointing a gun at some guy sitting in car and in a “wicked” bad Boston accent says, “I’m the guy with nothing to lose… now fasten your seatbelt.”  I mean, this has to rank right towards his top right?  We’ll take a look at some of the classics and you can decide for yourself.

“We went for breakfast… in Canada. We made a deal; if she’d stop hookin’, I’d stop shooting people…  Maybe we were aiming high.” – From Payback

“I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me, I got a bad reputation, like sometimes I just go nuts like now ha ha!” – Lethal Weapon 2

“I’m not a cop tonight, Rog. This is personal.” – Lethal Weapon 2

“I’m a parent. I haven’t got the luxury of principles.” – The Patriot

And the granddaddy of them all…

“You kill him, you kill yourself, you motherfucker! GIVE ME BACK MY SON!” – (In the most intense intensity you can imagine) –Ransom

To this day, my friends and I quote the Ransom line on almost a weekly occurrence.  So we got some horrible Mel lines from some horrible Mel movies.  Most of his movies were horrible.  I was never really in to Braveheart (seriously, watch it again and I promise you will laugh) and the Lethal Weapon movies were ok for the time, but they didn’t age well.  Does the world really need a comeback from Mel Gibson?  Before you answer…

I just want to list off some things that Mel has said and done in the past.  Mel is a big time in to his Catholic religion, which is fine.  He was asked about non-Catholics not being able to get in to heaven.  Here is what he said…

“There is no salvation for those outside the Church … I believe it. Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s, like, Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it’s just not fair if she doesn’t make it, she’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.”

So basically he says his wife won’t get in to heaven because she prays to Jesus differently than he does.  How did it take her until 2009 to divorce his ass?  Here is what he had to say when asked about gay people…

“They take it up the ass.” He said while pointing at his butt.  “This is only for taking a shit.”

Thanks for clearing that up Mel, classy guy.  Here is something he said to a Jewish police officer that pulled him over for drunk driving…

“”Fucking Jews… Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world. Are you a Jew?”

Wow Mel, wow.  You’re in the movie business and you are ripping homosexuals and Jewish people, not a great career move.  How does he still get work?  So do we really need more Mel Gibson movies?  Maybe if he was going to make a good one we’d give him a pass; I just don’t see it happening.  We already spoke about The Edge of Darkness.  His next movie to come out is called The Beaver.  Here is the plot synopsis from IMDB…

A guy walks around with a puppet of a beaver on his hand and treats it like a living creature.

Sounds good, huh?  Jodi Foster is directing and I assume she cast him as a favor.  They are old friends.  After that, he is making a movie called How I Spent My Summer Vacation.  Here’s the synopsis…

A career criminal (Gibson) nabbed by Mexican authorities is placed in a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy.

What is a 9-year-old boy doing in prison?  Anyway, in his defense he has just cast Leo DiCaprio for his next directorial effort which is impressive.  It’s a movie about Viking culture.  Can’t wait.  So basically I saw a commercial last night for a stupid movie and it reminded me how much of a joker Mel Gibson is.  I can’t believe I just wasted my time and yours writing about him.  The quotes are funny though.  Oh… and to answer my own question.  No.  We probably don’t need any more of Mel Gibson.

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Speaking of movie slayers, check out the trailer to John Travolta’s new movie, From Paris with Love.  Check out his face.  This has shades of his performance in Face/Off all over it. That’s not a good thing.

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Ok, let me talk a moment about a good movie.  I watched (500) Days of Summer the other night and thought it was just awesome.  It’s billed as a romantic comedy, but this isn’t your typical Sandra Bullock or Kate Hudson fluff.  This movie is funny, very clever and bends the genre to a place that sorta makes it another genre.  The lead performances are great.  Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have the type of chemistry that you only see every so often in movies nowadays.  It’s a throw back in that sense, but everything in this movie is done in ways I have never seen done before so it’s the furthest thing from a throw back.  I think the movie I can most easily compare it to is Annie Hall.  They are both about the same thing really; but both stories are told in a really unorthodox way.  Like Annie Hall, it’s the story of a relationship between a guy and a girl that ultimately doesn’t work out.  Anyone who has been in one can relate to this.  (500) Days of Summer is told from the guy’s perspective; it really takes place in his memory.  We get the entire duration of the relationship from when they meet, hookup, breakup and the getting over it phase.  What’s so cool is that it’s not told chronologically.  When thinking back on a past relationship your mind will usually jump around.  You think about some good times, then some bad and often not in any kind of order.  That’s how director Marc Webb tells this story.  He also uses… I don’t want to say gimmicks because that implies that it’s bad; I’ll call them techniques, to really capture what is going on in the character’s head and what they are feeling during certain points of this relationship.  I don’t want to give too much away, but there is an imaginary musical number in this movie that is absolutely hilarious.

How this movie didn’t get nominated for more in the comedy categories for the Golden Globes is beyond me, especially after seeing who and what was nominated.  This movie immediately jumps in to my top 5 of the year and is really going to give the top spot a run for its money.  It’ll be one of those movies that will have real staying power.  It’s going to get bigger as time goes on as it is very rewatchable.  I can’t wait to see it again. 

P.S.

I didn’t list this movie as one I thought would compete for my top 5 list in the 12/23/09 post, I guess I was wrong.  I did list District 9 which I watched the other night.  That will not be making it.  It was good, but different than I expected and not in a good way.  It starts out as a very interesting and unique sci-fi flick and eventually ends up as your run of the mill action movie complete with a hokey buddy relationship and an, “I won’t leave without you” moment .  It’s a solid B, but nothing to get too excited about.  It’s a little overrated in my opinion.  It’s not nearly as overrated as Public Enemies though. Not sure why I am mentioning this because I didn’t have high expectations to start with.   That movie got solid love from critics and audiences over the summer.  I don’t see why.  Not that it’s bad, it’s just very average.  I have never been a fan of the director Michael Mann.  If you like his stuff maybe you should see it anyway.  I also had Avatar on that list.  I still want to see it, but can probably cross it off.  From how everyone describes it, I’m not going to like it.  We’ll see though. I guess what I am saying is that I’ll end up with a solid top 10 rather just a top 5, but at this time it’s all influx.

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So I have been on a movie kick on this site for a little bit.  There has just been a lot out on DVD and in the theater.  The holidays gave me some time to catch up on my watching and I wanted to talk about them.  So if the movie stuff bores you, don’t worry.  I’ll be getting back to other stuff soon enough.  I hope 2010 is treating you well so far.  Later.

I recently saw a trailer for the new Meryl Streep movie called It’s Complicated. It obviously looks like nothing I would ever want to see; but hey, women in menopause need movies to watch too. This actually has nothing to do with the movie itself, but the title. “It’s complicated” has turned in to a phrase with an annoyance level up there with, “too much information”. This phrase, said mostly by women is typically being used to describe a romantic relationship. Even on Facebook, you can say that you are in a relationship, married, single, engaged or it’s complicated. I see more and more people using the it’s complicated option. This drives me nuts. What is anyone supposed to get out of this and what does it mean? You’re either in a relationship or not. Get over yourself. By saying it’s complicated, it sounds like you are just baiting people to ask you about your drama. Or maybe you are secretly trying to say that you aren’t in an official relationship, but you have someone you bang late night when you’re drunk. Either that, or the person you are in a relationship with is married. No one except for maybe some close friends and family cares or wants to know about your complicated relationship. Aside from that, it just sounds lame.

Person 1: So, you dating anyone right now?

Person 2: Well… it’s complicated. Ya know?

Person 1: (in a very cheesy laugh) Oh ha ha. Yeah… I know what you mean.

Actually no, we don’t know what you mean and before you try to explain yourself… Just. Shut. Up. I think most people that use this phrase actually are single people that hate being single and this is a way for them to avoid the embarrassment of having to say…

Person 2: Actually I am single, lonely and feeling utterly helpless. I spend every evening alone watching Meryl Streep movies and petting my cats. (begins to cry hysterically) I’m a good catch, right? I’m not fat. All I want is to have babies and no one wants to give me any.

Well ok. Maybe that’s “too much information”. Maybe she should stick to saying “it’s complicated”. Maybe I should shut up and talk about something else.

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I saw the Golden Globe nominations this week and I couldn’t help but think that this was a down year for movies. Having said that (thank you Larry and Jerry), I haven’t seen everything and there are still some promising movies that haven’t hit theaters yet. Still though, take a look at some of the nominations.

For those of you that aren’t familiar, the Golden Globes work a little differently than the Oscars. There are two sets of nominees for Best Picture, Actress and Actor. There is a Best (fill in the category) for Drama and one for Musical or Comedy.

It must have been a horrible year to be a woman in Hollywood. The Best Actress nominees are shameful. Half of the ten are a total joke, the other half seem either legitimate or I don’t know enough about them to form an opinion. I should tell you that I don’t have to see a movie to necessarily to form an opinion on it. I just know that some movies are going to be god awful. Old Dogs? Knew it. Just like I can tell you that Sherlock Holmes and The Bounty Hunter are going to be embarrassing. Anyway… two women were nominated twice. Meryl Streep, for Julie and Julia and the other of course for It’s Complicated. Ugh. The other double nominee is Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side and The Proposal. I can see the Blind Side, I guess. It’s the kind of overly sentimental fluff that so many people like, the sappy performances get confused for being good. The Proposal though boggles my mind. One critic said it was, “…a romantic comedy so numbing it feels like Novocain.” It’s the type of role that that you can interchange actresses and the movie won’t be any better or worse regardless who they have playing it. Bullock, Jennifer Gardner, Katherine Heigl, maybe Julia Roberts; it just wouldn’t make a difference. That type of performance and role should never be nominated for anything. Speaking of Roberts, she was nominated for Duplicity. This movie came and went and I honestly never heard a word about her performance being anything special. She has turned in to one of my least favorite actresses out there. She plays every role she’s in nowadays with this sexy arrogance that drives me crazy. It probably wouldn’t bother me if she was still somewhat, I don’t know… sexy? Julia, you just don’t have it anymore. Honestly you never really did in my opinion. So that brings me to who I am guessing will win these. The Best Actress in a Drama will likely go to Gabourey Sidibe for Precious. It’s the type of movie that I am scared to see because I feel like I already have enough to be depressed about than to watch how miserable this poor girl’s life is. I haven’t read a single thing that says the movie is anything less than top notch though and the voters would love to give the award to an out of nowhere actress. My backup winner here would be Carey Mulligan for An Education. For Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, I am literally just using process of elimination and giving it to Marion Cotillard in Nine. I don’t know anything about the performance, but we’ve discussed the alternatives and you know how I feel about them. Plus, musicals always do well and I happen to be a fan of Marion for obvious reasons.

The men have a much more impressive set of nominees. Some of this may have to do with the fact that there are just more good roles written for men; but that’s a different topic. The only one that seems totally out there and horrible is in the Musical or Comedy category. Robert Downey Jr was nominated for Sherlock Holmes. I didn’t know that was supposed to be a comedy. Also, have you seen the commercials? It literally looks like one of the worst movies of the year. Do you remember Wild Wild West with Will Smith? Do you remember how big of a bomb it was? That’s what the new Sherlock looks like to me. Since when was Sherlock Holmes a badass action guy? With Guy Ritchie directing, all signs point to this movie giving you a headache. The rest of the slate is pretty solid. Every time Daniel Day Lewis is nominated for anything, you have to consider him the favorite. With that said, I am going with Matt Damon in The Informant! and will make Lewis my runner up. In the drama category I think Jeff Bridges takes it for his role as a washed up country singer in Crazy Heart. I can’t wait to see this movie. George Clooney will be my runner up for his role in Up in the Air.

I don’t think there will be much suspense for the Supporting categories; therefore won’t even bother with runners up. Christoph Waltz seems to be an utter lock for his role as the super mean Nazi in Inglorious Bastards. Same goes for Mo’Nique who has been getting a ton of buzz for her role as the super mean mom in Precious.

The nominees for Best Drama actually look ok. I just have this feeling that Precious is going to win. I’ll choose Up in the Air as my runner up. The Musical or Comedy category is not nearly as deep. My guess is that Nine wins. Musicals always do well in these award shows. I can’t imagine that any of the other four nominees have much of a chance, so I won’t even bother with a runner up. It is interesting to see The Hangover nominated. It was definitely funny, but there was nothing award worthy about it. I do want to see (500) Days of Summer even though my friend Dave hated it. I have heard enough good things that I will check it out. From what I have read and seen in previews, it looks like it was done in a very clever and new way, which is what I would look for if I was voting for these awards.

With that, I figured I may as well give you a list of my top five movies of the year… so far. Keep in mind that this list is incomplete until I see everything. Here they are.

1. Fantastic Mr. Fox
2. Inglorious Bastards
3. Up in the Air
4. Sugar
5. Star Trek

Yeah, that’s right. Star Trek. I saw it again on DVD the other night, and I thought it was great. I went in thinking it was going to be GI Joe or Transformers bad, but it was really well done.

Sugar is going to be one of the more underappreciated movies of the year. My friend Rob told me to see it and I was very happy he did. It’s about a pitcher from the Dominican Republic signed to play Major League Baseball and his life in the minors. It’s more about adjusting to a new culture than it is about baseball.

Up in the Air is a very funny look at two very sad subjects; the economy and loneliness. The cast is great and Jason Reitman cemented himself as one of the best young directors going.

Inglorious Bastards is easily Tarantino’s best movie since Pulp Fiction and a huge punch in your gut. I was blown away.

See the bottom of my post from 11/30/09 for a short review on Fantastic Mr. Fox. I loved it.

I still do have a lot to see, so Star Trek shouldn’t get too comfortable. The movies I expect to contend for my top 5 that I have yet to see are as follows…

The Hurt Locker

Avatar

District 9

Crazy Heart

A Serious Man

The Informant!

I’ll probably have a final list some time in March.

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I actually had some more things that I wanted to talk about, but this is already getting long so I will save them for another time. I’ll switch gears here for a second and get a little serious…

2009 was a downright bad year. It was a down year for me personally, but my problems can’t compare with those of many others. So many people all over this country have lost their jobs and their homes. Those who can’t afford health care are left with the decision to sink in to insurmountable debt or to leave their illness untreated. Violence and hunger are plaguing millions all over the planet. I don’t remember a year where so many people I know have lost family and friends or have had people close to them get sick and deal with painful surgeries. My thoughts are with all of you that have lost someone and I hope that anyone who is sick can receive the best treatment possible and get better soon. I hope that 2010 is a much happier for you all.

2009 is over and we are entering a new decade. What that means exactly, who knows? I guess we’ll all find out eventually. While it’s nice to look back at the memories of the last ten years, it’s also a chance to look forward at all the new people you’ll meet, places you’ll go and accomplishments you’ll… um… accomplish. I can’t believe ten years have passed since Y2K. It has literally flown by. The next ten will fly by just as fast, so try to slow down and take the time to enjoy it when you can. Some words of wisdom from the not so wise K-Duce. Take them to heart. I’m going to try to.

So from all of us at kduce.com (me) to all you out there who visit me every so often, I thank you. Whether you got to my site on accident by searching for hidden urinal camera pictures, you work for Jimmy Fallon and are stealing my jokes, you are on my mailing list or you just found me randomly; have a wonderful holiday season, an amazing 2010 and long lasting 20-Teens (or whatever they eventually end up calling the decade).

I Heart Huckabees is one of those movies that you’ll appreciate more the more times you watch it.  That’s not always a great quality in a movie as most normal people only see a movie once.  For those that do watch movies multiple times, they usually only do so with movies they liked.  I liked Huckabees the first time I saw it, but began to “heart” it as I watched it a third, fourth and fifth time.  David O. Russell wrote and directed the movie.  His resume at that point was already strong with Flirting with Disaster and Three Kings, but this movie solidified him as a Hollywood formula outsider on the rise.  Russell makes movies on his own terms and doesn’t fall in to the same boring traps that most mainstream directors do.  That is why I Heart Huckabees is completely original, all over the place, hard to figure out at times, often hilarious and when it’s all over stays with you.

I’ll give you a quick (as I can) run down of the plot, but keep in mind that it’s really not all that important.  Jason Schwartzman plays Albert, an environmentalist and poet who is searching for the meaning of his existence.  To try and figure this out, he hires a husband and wife existential detective team.  These are Mr. and Mrs. Jaffe, played by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman.  To dig in to Albert’s self conscious they use odd ball methods and spy on him at all times, “even in the bathroom”.  After he meets with them there are various shots of them in the background of scenes or snooping outside of windows.

Jude Law and Naomi Watts play Brad and Dawn, the golden boy and girl of Huckabees Department Store.  Huckabees is sort of Wal-Mart.  Brad is a top executive and Dawn is the spokesmodel.  They are a couple and as fake and pretentious as anyone you could imagine.  Brad and Albert become enemies as Brad stabs Albert in the back by planning on building a strip mall over a marshland that Albert is trying to save.  To spite Albert, Brad hires the Jaffe’s to spy on his and Dawn’s life as well.

Mark Wahlberg plays Tommy, a disillusioned post 9/11 firefighter who is also a client of the Jaffe’s.  He and Albert have some things in common and become fast friends.  Tommy has become so embittered with big oil and corporations that he rides his bike to the fires that he fights.  He eventually leaves the Jaffe’s to become a client of their dark thinking rival Caterine who is played by Isabelle Huppert.

All of these characters and stories intertwine and hilarity ensues.  The movie has depth too and lots of it.  While we may never be certain what any of it means, we can all relate to the emotional roller coaster each character is riding and the questions they have about why they even bother.  And to me, isn’t it the point that we don’t know what it means?  None of the characters know either.  We’re all on the same journey. 

From top to bottom the cast is awesome.  There is not one shotty performance in the bunch.  The standout though is Marky Mark.  He is so fucking funny in this movie, and his pain is so believable I honestly think he should have been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.  He was nominated for Departed, and deserved it but this is the performance of his career.  I don’t understand some of the movie choices that he makes.  He is awesome in supporting/character roles.  I am guessing and hoping that when he gets older and the offers for ridiculous action movies start dwindling, we’ll get a chance to see him show off his acting chops more.  He is a very good actor, but so far he has only given us glimpses. 

If you saw this movie once and didn’t love it, I would highly recommend giving it another shot.  If you haven’t seen it ever, watch it.  It’s not for everyone, but for those of you who the movie clicks with will not be disappointed.

SIDE NOTE:

David O. Russell and Lily Tomlin, who worked together on Flirting with Disaster, had a highly publicized fight on the set of Huckabees.  Thanks God for youtube, because the fight was caught on tape and is pretty damn hilarious.  Check it out here.

Everyone out there, even snobs have their guilty pleasures.  The food snob who secretly loves Chicken McNuggets, the rock n’ roll snob who will only listen to Dave Matthews Band on his headphones so no one else can hear it and then there is the movie snob who loves the movie Diggstown.  I mean loves it.  Maybe the comparison isn’t spot on. More people have heard of McNuggets and Dave Matthews than have heard of Diggstown.  Also, no one should be embarrassed by loving Diggstown but anyone who loves the Dave Matthews Band probably should be.  I will also openly admit that I think MgNuggets are delicious.  Anyway, I guess the point that I am trying to make is Diggstown is by no means a great movie.  It’s filled with cliché and is even a little cheesy, but for whatever reason I have always loved it.  It’s like a girl who you think is really hot maybe because you like how she dresses or because she’s in to the same music as you, but your friends are kinda like “eh”.  So after all of this, do I recommend this movie?  Fuck yeah I do.  The cast is great, it moves quickly and if you can’t get passed the shortcomings, it’s a lot of fun to watch. Read the rest of this entry »

The next movie on the list is Donnie Darko.  I am not going to try and explain it or tell you what I think it’s about because when it gets right down to it, I have very little idea.  I just enjoyed the trip. This was the debut for writer/director Richard Kelly and it looked like he was one to watch.  That really hasn’t been the case so far.  Five years after Darko, he released his follow up, Southland Tales which was a huge disappointment and has a movie called The Box coming out in November which looks to be equally forgettable.  Still though, Darko was one of the most interesting movies of the decade, so we can hold out some hope that he’ll eventually realize his promise.

The title character of the movie is a troubled teenager in a suburban Christian school played by Jake Gyllenhaal.  He is in therapy and heavily medicated.  (By the way, his therapist is played by none other than Elaine Robinson.  Some may know her has Kathryn Ross.  Where has she been for the last 25 years?)  Why exactly is he in therapy?  It’s hard to say at the beginning.  His family seems normal enough and it’s not like he is  completely without friends.  He’s funny and obviously smarter than the other kids in school.  Maybe it’s the evilish man-sized rabbit named Frank that visits him at night telling him that the world is going to end in 28 days.  Frank apparently gives Donnie images and sends him messages on how he may be able to save the world.  Along with this, Donnie averts being killed by a 747 engine that crashes in his room one night because he is on one of the sleep walking adventures that Frank sends him on.  There’s really a lot going on here; too much for me to try to explain.  While it all sounds like sort of a confusing mess, it’s not.  At least not really.  We have teen angst, scary rabbits, time travel and worm holes.  You may not ever come to a pitch-perfect conclusion here, but there’s a lot to talk to about and you can at least come up with your own idea.

I am cutting the plot short because there are some other things that I want to mention.  Darko takes place in 1988 during the presidential elections and Donnie goes to a Christian school.  There are plenty of religious and political undertones here, but Kelly doesn’t bog you down with them.  He also does a great job at creating a surreal and suburban late eighties feel.  In particular there is a great music montage of the goings on of the school to Tears for Fears, Head over Heals.  There are also some great characters and acting throughout.  Gyllenhall is very good.  I usually think he’s good, but this was one of the times where he was particularly good.  He captures the over-medicated ADD teenager of the late eighties perfectly (thanks Bob).  I also want to give a special shout out to Patrick Swayze who probably had the performance of his career as the kiddy porn and Jesus loving motivational speaker who takes an active role at Donnie’s school.  He really is hilarious in this. Check this scene out.

This was a really difficult movie for me to write about.  It’s very hard to summarize and try to explain to someone who hasn’t seen it.  I would assume most people reading this have.  It starts out as a dreamy and surreal look at teenage life in the late eighties that ends up taking you in all sorts of directions.  All teenagers have the fantasy of saving the world (thanks again Bob), and Donnie is given a chance… we think.  This is a great movie to get lost in and if you haven’t seen it and don’t mind having to think a little when watching a movie, definitely check it out.  It really works for multiple viewing too.

Do you remember when Ben Stiller made good movies?  It wasn’t that long ago, was it?  Ok, Tropic Thunder had some really funny moments but that’s the only one you can give me since 2004.  And I don’t even think most people were that excited about his movies in 2004, Starsky & Hutch and Dodge Ball.  Those had some laughs, but pretty average overall.  Before that you have to go all the way to 2001 when he was in The Royal Tenenbaums.  Maybe it was that long ago.   I am looking at his resume on IMDB.com and am coming to the conclusion that he is vastly overrated.  (Side note: Ben Stiller played a character named Fast Eddie Felcher on two episodes of Miami Vice in 1987.  That, I would like to see.)  Overrated or not, he did have a run in the late 90’s where he made some very funny movies.  The funniest of that run was in 1996 with a lesser known movie called Flirting with Disaster.  

Disaster was written and directed by David O. Russell who hasn’t done a ton of movies, but is batting a pretty high average on those that he’s made.  In fact, this is the first two movies on this list that he has helmed.  The cast is absolutely loaded with veteran actors that know exactly what to do with a great script.  This movie is hilarious.

Stiller and Patricia Arquette play a married couple, Mel and Nancy Coplin who just had their first child.  The problem here is that Stiller was adopted, and while very close to his adoptive parents (Mary Tyler Moore and George Segal playing neurotic, New York City Jews to perfection) feels like he can’t name his new born son until he meets his real parents.  The adoption agency enlists Tina, played by Tea Leoni to help the young couple coordinate a meeting.  Mel’s real birth mom (we think) is in San Diego and Mel and Nancy head across the country to meet her.  Going with them is Tina who wants to document the event.  This is where everything gets a little crazy.  The agency makes some mistakes that send the Coplin’s and Tina on a wild goose chase across the country in search of Mel’s real parents.  Along the way they meet a bunch of hilarious characters including a couple of gay ATF agents played by Josh Brolin and Richard Jenkins, who end up going with them when they eventually find Mel’s parents.  Sexual tension arises between Mel and Tina and then Nancy and Brolin’s character who decides that he’s bi-sexual.  In the end we find out that Mel was put up for adoption because real parents, Richard and Mary Schlichting played by Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin (both very funny, but Alda just kills here) were arrested for selling LSD in the 60’s.   Read the rest of this entry »

The word ‘cop’ isn’t written all over him – something more puzzling is. 

This was the tagline of one of the great cop movies ever, Bullitt.  It’s also one of the great tag lines ever; how can this movie not be good with a tag line like that.  Steve McQueen plays bad ass San Francisco cop, Bullitt.  His job here is to guard a witness.  When that witness is blasted, Bullitt must keep the body under wraps until he finds out what the hell is going on.  There are twists and turns and the story doesn’t stray too much like most cop movies do.  That being said, it’s not the story that makes this such a great movie.  It’s McQueen.  He’s always been regarded as one of the “coolest” actors ever in Hollywood and he plays that persona to perfection here.  Bullitt is a rebel on the force and while a thorn in the side for his higher ups, he’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done.  Jacqueline Bisset is the love interest eye candy in this movie.  Her character is basically pointless, but she’s hot and doesn’t take enough away from the movie to care if she’s there or not. Read the rest of this entry »

I had Frost/Nixon as one of my top 3 movies from last year.  I’m usually not huge on Ron Howard fan unless he’s hanging out at Al’s with Ralph and Potsie, but this was one of his best.  With that said, it’s not the best movie I have ever seen about Richard Nixon.  No, Oliver Stone’s Nixon isn’t either.  The best one doesn’t even really have Nixon as a character.  The lead characters in the best Nixon movie I have ever seen, All The President’s Men are the guys who brought him down. 

The men who broke the story that eventually led to Nixon’s resignation are the now famous Woodward and Bernstein, played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.  What’s great about this movie is there is no fluff.  They don’t dwell on if one of the main characters had a drinking problem or if one had relationship issues.  It doesn’t matter.  That’s not what this movie is about.  It’s about the facts.  How the story broke, who was involved and what was the outcome.  That’s what we get.  Director Alan Pakula puts us in the news room and on the streets of Washington DC and shows us how the biggest political scandal in the nation’s history unfolded.  The acting is great from top to bottom.  There is no over-acting, what actually happened is interesting and suspenseful enough.  This is how true stories should be done.  If you’re interested in American History and this particular time in the history, this is a can’t miss.