Closed Circuit

 2013: Fairly recent but, eh, nothing really to write home about.  Have you ever noticed that some things (just because of what they are) are automatically accepted as being superior and therefore overrated like blonds having more fun than the rest of us, Dutch, Swiss or German Chocolate is far superior to chocolate from anywhere else, French cheese is the best, Italian and British cars are superior (wait, that's a lie) and in this case....British Acting?

Really, I am not sure if the acting was superior to anything else but the British accent I guess adds that flair.  Okay, so the movie was...it was okay but there are so many more I could have seen.  I guess the thing that was bizarre and made the film a bit hard to follow was the court system in England....you get a defender and then a special advocate and the 2 are not to talk about the case....not sure.  Okay, so I did not get that and that led to some mysticism on my behalf.  One other thing that just made me turn away and investigate the lint content of my navel was that a 210lb 6'2" trained killer from MI6 couldn't sneak up on and take out a 115lb 5'3" waif of a woman.

When it was all said and done, what was distinct to me and very memorable is the standard plot line about how governments will do unsavory things "TO PROTECT US" and it is better, even if it may be unjust, that you just accept it and go along with it.  I don't know if I am getting older and more conservative or just burning out on that tired old plot line, but my goodness, give it a rest would you?

Okay so for the standard review:
Writing/Directing: Okay, no real whoop.
Music....didn't really remember it being an add or detractor from the film
Acting: it was British!  It was AWESOME!
Cinematography: Good

Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Avoid at all costs.  Within 1 minute I was annoyed and then within 5 I was straight up angry that I had been duped into renting this.  What a freakin' waste.  I had seen previews and thought, "Hmmmm, maybe."  However, those previews were like a beautiful kernel of corn that is just so enticing until you zoom out and see that it is embedded in a terd....that is this movie.

The Front Line

Whoa!  SEE THIS.  This is one of the few movies that are able to mix, perhaps, a bit of fiction regarding interpersonal relationships and present them within genuine historical events.  It is great in that it really brings to life what life was/might have been during a specific historical event as opposed to reading one or two lines within a history book.

A movie like this is something that would do really well in a history class because it brings to life the strangeness of institutions and their effect on the people who put them in power and then have to suffer under them.  One of the very first movies I reviewed on this blog was 'Tae Guk Gi' and this would have been an awesome sequel!  You must see this.

The acting was really good, the directing was awesome, the script rocked, and the cinematography was just amazing.  Too, the music was key.  It neither got in the way and one song that was sung, played, etc. frequently only strengthened the movie's message.

Lockout

No.  The acting was good, but the script was too "I'm a badass" over the top stuff.  Too cliched, to far fetched, and too many..."what?, why? etc."  The only reallly good shot was Joseph Gilgun; his role and acting as a psychotic were awesome...but alas, not enough to save this.

Bad Ass

As much as I dig Danny Trejo's roles, I couldn't finish it.  Trejo's bit parts that involve little dialogue rock.  This was ambitious...too ambitious.  The supporting cast and the canned plots (bad cops, crooked white politicians, etc) forced me to shut the thing off about 1/2 of the way through.

The Hunter

SEE THIS!  This was one of the best films I have seen in a long time.  In places it is incredibly sad and then uplifting.  3 days later and I still toss the plot and all in my mind and think about it.  Simply put, this is an awesome film.

Thank God Willem Dafoe did this.  The last I thought I have of him is that of a green ghoul in the Spiderman series.  No way here.  This hearkens back to his acting days of Platoon.  Awesomely done.  Sam Neill of Jurassic Park and Red October kicks!  His role as a jealous suitor who plot goes horribly awry is just insane.

Everything; the acting, the directing, the script, the score, and the cinematography are just incredible.  I would watch this one again if I did not have to re watch some of the scenes toward the end of the movie...not gory or anything but just heart wrenching.  Awesome film....just awesome!!

A Beginner's Guide to Endings

Have you ever gone to the Indian reservations to get a big stinking box of fireworks, picked out the ultra loaded box that is filled with some high powered pyrotechnics, raced home, lit them, and been totally let down?  Did you enjoy that?

If you did, see this movie.  Everything about it just seems like it will just totally rock but it doesn't.  The script, the acting, the directing, the music, and the cinemtograhy are great, but there is just something missing.  It is like great smelling cookies that get you all excited until you bite into them and find they were made without sugar.

Harvey Keitel is a loser gambling dad with 5 boys; 3 of whom are going to die soon because of a medical test he enrolled them in earlier.  The experimental drug they took (so Keitel could get paid) turns out to be a lethal littel ditty.  Knowing they have little time left on the mortal coil, they start doing crazy and extreme things.  Sounds great?  IT DOES!!!!  But so what, you will be let down.