I don't really go to the movies that often. Perhaps it's because I don't want to pay $10 to see a movie. Perhaps it's because I don't want to pay $10 to see a shitty movie. I do however have parents whom I visit twice a year who have 459 satellite movie channels. Using my somewhat passable math skills, I figure that by just waiting until one of my visits to catch up on all the hot new releases, I end up saving over $200 on movie tickets. During this last visit I saw 23 movies, and I'm gonna review a few of them now. Sounds like a pretty boring blog. At least you don't have to pay for it.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Where to start with this one? I thought it was a very well acted and directed movie, but I also couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching Forrest Gump 2 the entire time. It's the same premise of someone being born different from the normal standards, yet having a life that is way more interesting than your own. In this case however, Benjamin Button is born looking old instead of being retarded. They should have made him old and retarded. It would have won more awards, but it would have caused F Scott Fitzgerald to roll in his grave. Tough decision indeed. It's also one of those movies where the plot moves along so quickly that if you get up to go take a whiz, you end up missing some important plot event. So have an empty bottle on hand when you watch it.
The Watchmen
I enjoyed this movie way more than I thought I would. I was expecting another visually impressive, yet emotionally vacant superhero movie in the vein of practically every other superhero movie ever made. This one actually had an interesting story and characters you could give a shit about. It also happens to be a fairly gritty movie, having more in common with the dark tone present in the Batman films. (Excluding that atrocious one.) Part of the reason I didn't think I'd enjoy it was that all I heard about it were remarks pertaining to blue penises. Indeed this movie does have glowing blues penises in it, and I'm still not quite sure why it needed them. It didn't advance the plot at all that I know of.
Avatar
Here is another movie that I though I wouldn't care for, but ended up really enjoying. I had preconceived notions of it being a live-action version of Fern Gully, or some other light Disney fare, but it was actually a surprisingly deep movie, dealing with themes of science, spirituality, and inter-planetary domination. It coincidently also involves glowing blue people. It most reminded me of Star Wars in its scope of creating a fully fleshed-out sci-fi universe, complete with it's own unique flora and fauna. It's one of those movies that harkens back to the days of seeing a film as a kid and wanting to be one of the characters played out on screen. After seeing this movie, I wanted to be a 10-foot-tall blue thing riding dragons around a 1000-foot tree and messing around with all sorts of cool glowing shit. I'm actually looking forward to the obligatory sequels. Don't screw it up, Cameron.
Inception
People were fairly divided on this one it seems. Some people raved about it, and others called it overrated. I personally felt that it was a really great, thought-provoking movie as far as sci-fi thrillers go. I think your opinions on the movie hinge solely on your interest and experiences with the concept of dreams and the subconscious. If you can relate to the concepts presented, due to your own experiences with your own dreams, then you'll get more out of the movie. If you can't relate to these themes, or have no interest in them, there's really no reason for you to see this movie. If you've ever had a dream within a dream and dealt with the confusion upon waking up, or had that falling sensation that wakes you up, or had a dream about waterfalls, only to wake up needing to go to the bathroom, this movie will be intriguing to you on some level. You can tell Christopher Nolan has had these experiences, otherwise he could never have written this script. In fact, I wish he'd stick to movies like this and ditch the overrated Batman fare.
Inglorious Basterds
This is very much a Quentin Tarantino film. That is, it exhibits the same influences his other movies have, all the while retaining the same characteristics he's known for. It's one part wordy dialogue-driven narrative, one part exploitation flick. It's essentially a historical rewrite about a plot leading to the slaughter of a bunch of Nazi higher-ups. Kind of like if you took the movie Valkyrie, but threw out the historical accuracy and threw in some Jewish vengeance. The dialogue-driven parts are often very tense, leaving you on the edge of your seat/couch/floor wondering what the outcome will be. The exploitation parts are all gritty gory excitement at the Nazi's expense. This is the kind of movie that works because Tarantino is first and foremost a film buff and great at taking the good parts of his favorite films and mashing them up into new hybrids.
The Social Network
Out of the six movies listed here, this is the only one that I felt was truly overrated. It has been called "Revolutionary", "A once in a generation movie", and one reviewer even said "It gets no better than this". Really? How many movies have you watched? This is the best you've ever seen? Peter Travers called it "An American landmark", but Peter Travers is an idiot. So much so that I'll have an entire blog entry about his idiocy in the near future. Movie reviewers in general are over-sensationalizing idiots though, so no offence Mr Travers.
What this movie boiled down to to me was a biopic about a website. A website that is widely used, but no more important than any other huge site like Google or Amazon or Myspace. The circumstances behind the creation of the site aren't even all that exciting. The same back-stabbing and double-crossing evident in any other multi-billion dollar company. Plenty of socially awkward guys create plenty of successful websites each year. Why does this one warrant it's own movie? Don't get me wrong... it's a good movie, only it's not really worthy of all the praise. It's not a movie you walk away from with any kind of deeper internal discourse being bounced around in your head over. It's just an entertaining 2 hours. Nothing more.
