Lookin' forward to Movie Sign tonight -- my second time watching the MST3K movie this year, haha.
Point Break (1991): You know, this movie isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, mainly because it actually has competent action sequences (including a legitimately exciting skydiving scene). There is some goofiness there (Keanu Reeves gets a dog thrown at him at one point wtf), but in terms of pure action this is actually an entertaining movie. But, uh, I think we all know Reeves is not a particularly strong actor. Any time he tries to be serious, I just could not stop laughing. And it's already pretty tough to take this movie seriously, haha.
500 Days of Summer (2009): Really good romantic-comedy, mainly because it focuses less on forcing the leads together and more on presenting the realities of the relationship and the ways in which Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) remembers it. The movie jumps back and forth at random through the relationship between Tom and Summer (Zooey Deschanel) from the earlier, happy days to the days where it is not going so well. But even during the harder parts, there is a charm that's never too far away, because even when their emotions are being trampled upon, Tom and Summer are smart, cool people. The beginning of their relationship is so fun to watch because you can really feel the energy of their passion and how much they care for each other. The best part of this is after Tom and Summer sleep together for the first time, and the next scene is a rousing musical number with Tom dancing like a madman on the way to work. Freaking awesome. So, yes, I like this a lot -- it's a really inventive, hilarious movie.
Man Bites Dog (1992): Man, this is like the darkest of dark comedies. I like it overall (it's well made and doesn't compromise for a second), but damn, don't know if I could watch it again. Basically it's a mockumentary about a Belgian serial killer, Benoit, who makes a living by robbing from wealthy elderly people. The comedy in this is really frightening because Benoit elucidates on his craft so seriously, and you can't help but laugh a bit, but it's also scary to see him be so charming while explaining how to best drop off a corpse, or how he noticed an old woman had some heart medicine, so he killed her by scaring her into a heart attack rather than waste a bullet. Movies like this are the scariest to watch -- I was way more disturbed during this than any horror movie I've ever seen, because Man Bites Dog just about destroys the line between fictional and real violence. That said, it works as a condemnation of violence as entertainment and as a media spectacle. None of the violence in this movie is enjoyable -- it's all brutal, savage and inhuman. As it should be.
Burn After Reading (2008): Just a really crazy, classic Coen Bros. bizarre comedy. The relationships are insanely complicated (just about everyone is sleeping with everyone else, as is pointed out late in the movie), which is matched only by how the insanity builds from a simple blackmail plot that rolls into, well, just about the worst thing that could result from that. The funniest thing in the movie (aside from the ridiculous present George Clooney's character builds for his wife -- whom he is cheating on, btw) is Brad Pitt's meathead gym trainer trying to assume a serious blackmailer persona. It's so absurd lol. (Almost as funny is the scene at the end showing Tilda Swinton's character on the job as a pediatrician. Just about the worst possible job for that character.)
Glory (1989): It's movies like this that make me baffled when people say history is boring. How could a story like this be dull?? The soldiers who fought these battles were the bravest of the brave -- they fought hard for a country that looked at them as if they were shit, and treated them like shit even after creating a special battalion for black soldiers. I like the subtle ways the bonds form between the black soldiers and the white commanding officers, especially regarding Trip (Denzel Washington). Guy's got a sharp tongue, and he's unfocused, but even if it's not always apparent, he wants to fight. The scene where he is flogged for deserting is really tough and emotional to watch, especially after Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) tells Col. Shaw (Matthew Broderick) that Trip was just looking for usable shoes, because his feet are so raw and painful to walk on. Out of all the soldiers I identified with Thomas (Andre Braugher) the most, because, being honest here, that would totally be me. If the cause were great enough, I wouldn't have a problem fighting, but I would really need to be whipped into shape, haha. So I really felt for the poor guy, because he wants to fight, but it's so far gone from his normal life.
On the queue for this week: Nothing at the moment. Time to scour the TV for stuff to record again!
Total Movies: 110 (Gaslight, The Last King of Scotland, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Darjeeling Limited, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Diary of the Dead, Bullets Over Broadway, Interiors, Husbands and Wives, The Professional: Golgo 13, Lars and the Real Girl, Lolita, Quills, Hamlet, Iris, Manhattan Murder Mystery, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, The Savages, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Stranger, Love and Death, Harold and Maude, Spartacus, Scarlet Street, Sabrina, Zelig, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask), Stardust Memories, Barry Lyndon, Be Kind Rewind, Radio Days, Deconstructing Harry, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Creating Rem Lazar, Undefeatable, Ninja Terminator, Ninja Dragon, Rumble Fish, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, In Bruges, The Bank Dick, Marathon Man, Clannad, Air, Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, MirrorMask, Slither, It's a Gift, Splendor in the Grass, Waitress, North by Northwest, Monkey Business, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, Bringing Out the Dead, Gurren Lagann: Gurren-hen, There Will Be Blood, Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Spellbound, Frenzy, Anatomy of a Murder, Clue, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Changeling, Shadows and Fog, Into the Wild, Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Man Who Fell to Earth, Synecdoche, New York, Carlito's Way, Shoot 'Em Up, Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Up, Yor: Hunter from the Future, Tropic Thunder, True Romance, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, A Woman Under the Influence, Casablanca, Frost/Nixon, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Le Samouraï, Inland Empire, The Reader, Doubt, Arachnophobia, Manhunter, Wild At Heart, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Omega Man, Hitman, Leaving Las Vegas, Cape Fear, Say Anything ..., Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa, Chasing Amy, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Point Break, 500 Days of Summer, Man Bites Dog, Burn After Reading, Glory)
