Review – La cité des enfants perdus

Movie Title: La cité des enfants perdus / The City of Lost Children

Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Date Released: May 1995 – Cannes Film Festival

Date Seen: June 20th, 2014

Language: French

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

This was a movie that showed up on Netflix and the poster caught my eye – I watched the trailer and knew I had to watch this movie, if only for how cool stylistically it looked.  It ended up having an interesting, mind fucking plot, with some incredible acting, especially from the children.  The movie is sort of sci-fi, sort of fantasy, sort of not entirely sure what genre it wants to be, but it works.  There is a man, Krank (Daniel Emilfork) who cannot dream.  He kidnaps children to steal their dreams.  He kidnaps One (Ron Perlman)’s little brother, who then goes on a hunt to find his little brother.  He is joined by a young orphan girl in the city to help him find the City of Lost Children.

Stylistically, this movie is beautiful.  The sets are incredible, and the coloring is very interesting and odd which gives the whole movie a dreamlike feel.  I read that they did this coloring by making up the actors in white face and editing the color balance until they were flesh toned again.  The sets and small details were very cool too.  Some of the details feel very steampunk, with lots of gears, pulleys, exposed parts.  The most interesting, I thought, are these characters that have these gears on their eyes that also seem to connect to their ears, allowing them to see and hear in a very magnified way.  They were very cool.  The sets are also just super detailed if you ever just pause and look around.

The acting was also great.  I do not know French – at all – but Ron Perlman’s French didn’t seem to completely horrible.  He also was awesome as expected. Judith Vittet, who played Miette, was amazing.  I’m only disappointed in that she hasn’t appeared in many more things (acting wise).  Apparently now she is a costumer for some french TV shows.  She was a great actress in this, however.  The other little boy we see the most, Little Brother, was just adorable for a character trait he had – eating everything in sight.  I also really enjoyed Dominique Pinon as the clones.  Despite them all being “the exact same” he seemed to give them slightly different personalities or habits that I enjoyed watching.

All in all this was a very good hidden gem that I hadn’t heard about.  I will be recommending this movie to people, and it’s one that if you like sort of weird things, sci-fi or fantasy based, or exceptionally well done sets/details, then this movie is for you.

 

Part 2 – Spoiler Stuff

I somehow missed that the sisters were actually conjoined twins.  I mean, I got that impression due to their proximity, but since they’re joined at the leg, I never noticed it.  I think also, it got lost in translation that they are called “The Octopus”.  4 arms, 2 legs, 2 heads I’m guessing?  Again though, you never see their legs so it’s not too hard to miss.  However, the two actresses playing them did some very cool “conjoined” movements.  There were the obvious things like when one would inhale the cigarette and the other would exhale it (yeah right like that works).  But then there were very cool details, like when they were cooking dinner. It was things like one sister will hold the potato and the other cuts it, or one will hold the pepper while the other grinds it.  If you actually watch their hands and arms during that scene, it is pretty trippy.

One of my favorite scenes, despite also being pretty sad, was the Rube Goldberg chain of events while One was attacking Miette.  I hated the actual attack, but the chain of events that resulted in the stopping of the attack were really cool.

A thought I had multiple times in the movie is that Miette is oddly trusting in strangers.  You’d think given that she’s been working for some Orphan Pimp Twins (basically), that she might be a little more suspicious.  But nope, she goes all out for One pretty quickly.  Then when she’s trying to rescue little brother, she is all “This brain in a fish tank is telling me to climb into this machine? Seems legit.” I mean, granted it worked out for her but still.  You crazy little girl.

 

Overall: 8/10

I really enjoyed this movie for the acting, set pieces, small details, and the plot as well.  It was a surprising random find on Netflix that I’m very happy to have stumbled upon.

Review – Event Horizon

Movie Title: Event Horizon

Director: Paul W. S. Anderson

Date Released: August 15th, 1997

Date Seen: October 26th, 2013

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

If you can go into this movie without knowing anything – like I did – that is the BEST way to go.  I watched this because I thought it was just some movie where they go in space, find an old space ship and is like every other abandoned spaceship movies.  Well I was proven wrong and I was very glad. The movie feels like Paul Anderson watched a Hellraiser marathon and then wanted to make a Hellraiser movie in space. So you know, now you know something about it.  Dang it.  But still, it was a pretty good movie.  It was hilariously cheesy, while still quite good.  Yes, it has a ridiculous plot and some serious continuity issues (they suck at space), but still was a funny and gross watch.

Whenever there is CGI, it is blatantly obvious, but you have to remember the movie was made in 1996-1997, so for the time it wasn’t that bad.  Watching it now though, was pretty funny.  There are a couple of scenes that are pretty cool with the CGI though, just for what they do. Examples are when a frozen body shatters into a million pieces and one part has liquid floating around the room, and then when gravity is restored it falls back down like a waterfall.  Pretty cool.

The plot had a couple of really tense moments, with a perfect amount of buildup that you KNEW something was about to happen.  You have no idea what, but just that buildup will scare the crap out of you.  I loved that about it.  It does take a little while to get going, but once they reach the ship, it’s pretty nonstop with tension/action/buildup/plot/repeat. I wasn’t bored watching the movie at all and kept wanting to see what happened next.

I’d recommend this movie if you haven’t seen it and like old sci-fi movies, with a bit of a twist.  Wasn’t one I was expecting at all.

 

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review/Synopsis

There’s a pretty good synopsis here.

My biggest problem with the movie was the character of Weird.  I hated him.  He’s so much of a dick.  Mostly because he starts calling everyone crazy for having hallucinations when he’s clearly having them himself.  Yeah, I get that it’s because he just wants them to stay there, but  I think it would have been easier if he would have been like “Oh yeah, I’m having visions too, maybe if we all go try to get close to this gravity thing and turn it off, it will stop” and then really turn it on or whatever.  But that would make sense, right?

I like how they spend such a long amount of time focusing on Justin in the air lock.  Before the room is even completely open, he’s already starting to bleed from everywhere and have some issues.  But, during the main battle, Miller dicks around for a very long time in a room with a broken window – in space.  Nothing happens.  At all.  That was stupid.  I hate when that happens in a movie – make a big deal of something then later pretend like it doesn’t exist (cough I’m looking at you Man of Steel).

 

Overall: 7/10

I had a good time watching it, especially knowing nothing about it, and it scared the crap out of me because of that so I’d definitely recommend it if you like scifi, gory, hilarious, cheesy, while still managing to actually scare you, at least on the first watch.

Review – Funny Games

Movie Title: Funny Games

Director: Michael Haneke

Date Released: September 11th, 1997 (Germany)

Date Seen: July 10th, 2013

Language/Country of Origin: German / Austria

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

Funny Games is a very interesting thriller that follows two men, Peter and Paul, as they torment a family at their lakehouse.  They have some “fun” with the family, putting them through a number of “games” – that involve in intense emotional pain, and typically a bit of physical pain as well.  But it’s not a torture-porn movie, oh no, it’s so much more than that.  The movie was said to be made to have a “moralistic comment about the influence of media violence on society.”  The director, Michael Haneke, didn’t even intend for it to be labeled as a horror film, although that’s typically where the movie gets put.  The film actually only has one scene of actual violence.  A lot of violence takes place, but other than one scene, it takes place off camera.

The movie is also interesting in that it breaks the 4th wall – IE one of the characters repeatedly looks straight into the camera either acknowledging the audience, or speaking directly to the audience.  Haneke really pulls you in and makes you become an active participant in the movie.  You have to think about how this violence is affecting you – do you really want more violence? Are you a bad person that you want more violence?  Are you disappointed that there isn’t enough visual violence?  Have you become so immune to repeated violent images that the majority of this movie is “boring”? There also is a slight commentary on pornography – which I discussed in the second part of the review.

Peter and Paul were the most interesting characters, just because of the small details you find out about them throughout the course of the story.  You yearn to know more about them, but it never really comes.  The standout performance, however, is Susanne Lothar as Anna.  She does an incredible job – especially because she is made to cry, a lot.  Her character can be a bit whiny and annoying at times, but hey, it’s to be expected after all that she has gone through.  The movie is just so fun to watch because you love the killers – they have that Hannibal Lector factor about them.  They are smart, intelligent, charming, and good looking, so you identify them.  They even sometimes make you feel like you should be siding with them on their fucked up torture spree.  Which is part of what, I think, Haneke was aiming for.

It’s a great movie if you can accept the breaking of the 4th wall – and take the movie for what it is.  A commentary.  A very very smart commentary built around a well written movie, with great actors, magnificent suspense, and intense emotional scenes.

 

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review

I think this movie now has one of my most favorite intro scenes ever.  It opens with us watching Anna and Georg playing a guessing game – which is ironic, considering the fact that they will be playing guessing games later…. just of a different sort.  They are each putting in a CD and having the other person guess which composer wrote the piece and what piece it is.  Then, however, mid-game, we switch from listening to the music in the car to a overlay of some death metal.  This is the first time that you are pulled out of the movie, creating a sort of barrier between you and the family, reminding you that you are watching a story – and that you’ve chosen to watch something horrible happen to this cute, perfect little family.

The next time you are pulled out of the film is after we have met Peter and Paul.  It is during the first “game”, when Paul makes Anna hunt for the dead dog.  While she is searching, Paul turns to the camera, looking straight into it, and winks.  You are again reminded that you are a viewer and this is something he is doing for you – and you like it.  You enjoy this kind of torture he is enacting upon Anna.

Speaking of torturing Anna – she really gets the full grunt of the torture.  The scene where she is forced to strip was a pretty intense scene and seemed to be to be a direct commentary on sexual pornography.  The whole movie is about the perversion people have toward violent events (a “porn” in their own right).  But we see the various reactions of the people in the room to the mother stripping.  Anna is obviously embarrassed – as 3 men look on.  Her husband is embarrassed for her as well, the child is literally forced to hide his eyes due to the pillow case, Peter is aroused and can’t take his eyes off of it, while Paul just watches it for the train wreck of emotional damage he is causing.  I think this is just to show you how porn can make anyone feel – a various number of reactions, arousal, disturbing pleasure, embarrassment, etc.  But who do we focus on the most?  Paul – probably the one watching it the most disturbingly for how amusing he finds the whole ordeal.  Are we as viewers like Paul?  What about in terms of this movie? We really are Paul – enjoying the torture, albeit disgusting and horrible.  The media has made us immune to violence and thus we crave it – more and more of it.

The scene after the son is shot, was the most powerful and intense scene of the movie. Anna is sitting there just trying to digest what just happened – her son was shot, the killers supposedly have left, her son is dead, her husband is injured, her son has been murdered, and so – on.  It is one of the longest moments in any movie.  The camera never moves (not even for the next ten minutes) – but just watching Anna sit in silence is about the longest moment in any movie.  It’s a whole minute of silence – you’re forced to reflect on the gravity of the situation and the overall effect of it on this family – rather than simply just “oh, that kid died. ok moving on”.  Once Anna finally brings her self to move from the chair and go towards her sons body, she then sits for even longer next to her sons body, leaving you with a perfect view of his body behind her and his blood on the other side of her.  The scene then continues in a 10 minute single shot scene, starting with her sitting there all the way through Anna and Georg untying themselves and leaving the room.  It pulls you in and out of the movie, making you think about what happened to the family, how you would react to the situation, where did the killers go, are they really gone, are they coming back, wow for once we get to see the aftermath of this type of situation, OK dang this is a long scene, and wow this is fucked up, etc.  It’s just a lot that goes through your head – and makes you think about yourself rather than simply what is happening to these characters you won’t ever see again.

One of my favorite scenes is the very conversation on the couch between the family and Paul – although, the final scene on the couch is one of my favorites as well.  This scene is when Paul makes the bet that the family will not be alive, but the family bets that they will be alive.  He then looks straight into the camera and asks who “you” think will win the bet.  I was sold on the movie at this point.  Later, near the end of the movie, we come back to this very same scenario where Paul is talking to the family and once again addresses the audience, first by acknowledging the fact that “we aren’t up to feature film length yet” at about 90 minutes in, and then he turns and asks the audience “have you had enough? but you want a real ending, with plausible plot development, don’t you?”  Paul is blatantly mocking the viewer saying that we haven’t had our fill of violence yet – which is what we seemingly come to movies and media for. So after this we go to the first truly violent scene of the entire movie.  We’ve heard violence going on in the other rooms and seen the aftermath of violence, even in this very room with Peter torturing of Georg – but it was again, happening off camera.  When Anna finally grabs the gun, it goes off, killing Peter.  We see his wound, the blood splatter behind him on the wall, Peter falls, and we see his dead face on the ground, still clutching at his bloody wound in shock.  This is the first time we’ve seen the actual blood and gore that we might have come to the movie for – and we get excited – but it’s quickly undone by Peter with his remote control trick.  So unlike before, where we had time to contemplate what this meant for each of the characters and ourselves – we are simply teased with that bit of violence, left wanting more as the movie is “rewound”, and then left to be disgusted with ourselves in the fact that we wanted more killing.

 

Overall: 8/10

An interesting commentary on violence in media, while at the same time being an interesting, well written, smart movie, with a great plot.

Review – Jurassic Park

Movie Title: Jurassic Park

Director: Steven Spielberg

Date Released: June 11th, 1993

Date Seen: Countless times

Date Seen in IMAX 3D: April 6th, 2013

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

IMAX 3D Re-Release Review: Nearly everyone in the whole world seems to have seen this movie – and with the re-release with the addition of 3D, anyone that missed this movie the first time around, or the thousands of times it’s been on TV, can now take the chance to see this incredible movie on the big screen again.  If you’ve already seen the movie and are wondering whether or not it’s “worth it” to go see it on the big screen – the answer is YES.  Is it worth it to see it in 3D?  YES.  The movie had some of the best post-conversion 3D I’ve ever seen.  I know that sounds hard to believe, considering that the effects are a good 20 years old – but I actually think that helped the 3D conversion.  They were able to do so much more to make it better, than having to work around mounds and mounds of CGI in newer movies.  And the final question, if you’re able, should you see this movie in IMAX?  YES.  Absolutely yes.  Even though I’ve seen this movie countless times, the IMAX helped me get sucked into the movie.  I felt like I was sitting in the jeep next to the kids as the T-Rex stomped right on by.  I felt like I was going to get eaten my that velociraptor in the kitchen scene.

The best scene, however, was the one everyone loves – when the jeeps first go over the hill and you see the brachiosaurus for the first time, and then all the herds of other dinosaurs behind them – yeah, I wanted to cry. I could have watched this scene on repeat for a whole day and have been completely fine with that.

The CGI, even 20 years later is still extremely well done.  It obviously doesn’t hold up to today’s standards, but it still manages to have a nice mix of CGI and puppetry, that isn’t done so often nowadays, that helps it feel more real.  I love that about this movie.  The T-Rex breaking through the roof of the jeep is quite possibly one of the most frighting moments in any movie ever, the first time you see it.  Pop that on the big screen, and dang, your heart starts racing.

My only negative about this movie is that the kids are quite possibly the most annoying idiots on the face of the earth.  HOWEVER, I think the kids acted those parts well and it worked in the movie.  If they hadn’t had made some of the (idiotic) choices that they did, there wouldn’t have been a movie, so I can’t complain too much.

This movie also has one of my favorite scores of all time, which isn’t hard to believe considering that it’s John Williams did the music.  Another big shocker, considering the director is Steven Spielberg, so of course it’s John Williams.  They use the score a lot, so if you don’t like it, that could be a problem but I love the score.  It really takes some scenes from being a really good scene to being an an absolutely amazing scene, which I believe is the point of a good score.

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review/Synopsis

There’s a good synopsis here.

I can’t really think of anything I want to say down here.  It’s kind of hard to spoil this movie as well… I mean, there’s dinosaurs out the wazoo, shit goes down, dinosaurs break out, chaos ensues.  All in all a fun ride.

Overall:  9/10

One of the best movies ever made – and spectacular to get to experience it on the big screen with the extremely well done addition of post-converted 3D.

Review – Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Movie Title: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Director: James Cameron

Date Released: July 3rd, 1991

Date Seen: March 22nd, 2013

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

I liked this movie much more than the first Terminator, even though that’s still a great movie.  This one is action packed to the brim, while still maintaining the well developed story line from the first film.  The special effects are dated, obviously, but are pretty decent.  The villain in this movie, the T1000 is incredible.  Robert Patrick did a great job – and dang he was super hot when he was younger.

This movie happens a few years after the first film, this time with a T800 sent back to protect John Connor and a new prototype, the T1000 sent to kill John Connor.  We meet back up with Sarah Connor who is now has the most fabulous arm muscles you have and will ever see in your entire life.  That woman is RIPPED.  The movie is FULL of action, with car chases, explosions, gun battles, bombs, etc.  With all the action, however, there is still a surprising amount of plot development.  There are a few plot holes/discrepancies, but they’re not bothersome.  They generally just focus around the timeline of events (how old a computer says John Connor is, what year it is, etc.)  It doesn’t effect the story however.  It’s fun, full of awesome one-liners, a great villain, and tons of action. Definitely watch it.

 

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review/Synopsis

There is an incredibly detailed synopsis here.

I think this entire movie must have been funded by Pepsi.  The amount of product placement, especially early on was RIDICULOUS.  Vending machines, cans turned DIRECTLY at the camera, people drinking cups of Pepsi.  It was incredible.

During the helicopter chase at the end, the bullet proof vests that John is behind seem to be absolutely the best bullet proof vests in the history of the world.  I realize that he has multiple vests stacked up, but still, the T1000 practically mows him down with a machine gun and John is totally OK.

This movie does create a time travel paradox, but one that can be over looked depending on your view of time travel.  In the movie, they stop Judgment Day from happening.  If Judgment Day didn’t happen, none of the terminators would have ever been sent back, nor would have Reese been sent back to protect Sarah – and thus John Connor would have never have even been born – and this series of events to stop Judgment Day could not have occurred.  So there is a bit of a paradox.  However, if you view time travel as sending to an alternate universe, then this fact can be overlooked.  You just have to kind of let the time travel aspect happen and not over analyze it (like I just did).

 

Overall: 7.5/10

Awesome, action packed, great plot, great cast and a fun ride all around.

Review – Die Hard 2

Movie Title: Die Hard 2

Director: Renny Harlin

Date Released: July 4th, 1990

Date Seen: February 8th, 2013

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

The second movie in the Die Hard franchise and probably the weakest.  This one is SO dated (pagers, insane lack of airport security, pagers again, airplane phones, more pagers) and just isn’t as fun to watch as the first film.  The first film I was glued to and laughing and having a great time.  This movie, I kept zoning out, doing something else, etc.  I kept glancing back and seeing some meh shots and just wasn’t impressed.  The villain was no where near as incredible as Alan Rickman’s character in the first movie.  In fact, I’m not entirely sure who you’d call the “main” villain in this one.  Yes, there is clearly a head honcho of the whole operation, but we see very little of him.  Since villains are usually my favorite characters, that was disappointing.

There are still some good gun battles, fights, annoying characters, and insane moments, but it still just didn’t have the lovely charm that the first movie did.

 

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review/Synopsis

There’s a great synopsis here.

I love some of the things McClane says to himself, just like I did in the last movie.  Especially because sometimes they are exactly what you are thinking yourself.  For example “how can the same shit happen to the same guy twice?!”  “Just get ready to call the Marines…. (I thought they were the army)…. Who gives a fuck!?”

My personal favorite quote though from the whole movie was this one:

“Guess I was wrong about you… guess you’re not really an asshole.” “No, you were right, I’m just your kind of asshole.”

This was the best quote because it could 100% describe my relationship with ALL of my friends.

Marvin the janitor was probably my favorite character.  Because, you know, a large airport such as Dulles would DEFINITELY only have one janitor down in the basement.  But anyway, he was pretty awesome.  His slightly crazy, no idea what is really going on attitude, etc.  Loved him.

Now, watching McClane fly out of the airplane in the ejector seat while the 9 grenades went off in the cockpit below him, was quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.  I laughed so hard at that point.  But in a good way.  Yeah it was insanely ridiculous, but did I care? No.  Another ridiculous death that I loved was the piece of wood stabbed into the guys eye.

 

Overall: 6/10

Watch it because it is one of the Die Hard films, but don’t expect it to be anywhere near as good as the first film.

Review – Pulp Fiction

Movie Title: Pulp Fiction

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Date Released: October 14th, 1994

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

I went to see this last night at the anniversary event, the celebrating 20 years of film-making Tarantino – and I am so glad I got to see this on the big screen.  This is one of the best films ever made.  The opening scene is one of the best ever, the plot, amazing, and just everything about this movie is great.

The anniversary event was especially cool because we had a good 10-15 minute series of interviews with cast members, producers, etc. I’m sure it’s on the DVD but it was a nice little intro.  Then there were 3 trailers chosen by Tarantino.  The trailers were Machine Gun McCain, Scarface, and The Killer (a Chinese movie with Yun-Fat Chow… link here).  They were, obviously, great trailers for the movie.  It got you in the mood.

Beyond the just pure genius of the film-making, the writing of this movie is amazing.  The one liners, the whole conversations, the amazing scenes that you would think would NEVER work in a million years (hint: Bruce Willis in a bondage mask thing), and yet they all do.  Even a theater of mixed generations will laugh, gasp, and have a great time no matter how many times you’ve seen the movie.  Everyone should see this movie because it is one of the greatest of all times.

 

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review

There’s a great synopsis here.

My two favorite scenes are the opening scene – with the spur of the moment decision to rob the restaurant – even though they’re discussing it, you still don’t think that they’ll do it.  Then it wraps around as a nice “frame” of the story to the end.  I love it.

My other favorite scene is watching Butch decide that he needs to save Marsellus.  I’m a firm believer in if you have a legitimate chance to escape, freaking do it.  But, in this case, it worked out.  And they weren’t crazy horror movie people (which is where I base my “rule” off of) – just sick fuckers.  I then love watching him go through the weapons.  Personally, I would have gone for the chainsaw, but I do realize that you needed a sneak attack – so the hammer or the sword were probably the best choice.  Then watching Zed wither on the floor.. yeah, I’m a sick fuck.  But I love that whole Butch – Marsellus interaction going on… “So, we good?” etc.

Now that I think about it, I also equally love the scene when Mr. Wolfe is helping Vincent and Jules clean out the car at Jimmie’s house.  This could partly be because I’m secretly in love with Harvey Keitel, but I’m not really sure.  I love that character.  How polite he is, how respectful he is, and what a complete bad ass mother fucker he is.  Those are the best types of “villains” if you want to call him that.  I mean, you know someone who is the expert at hiding crimes has to be some type of evil – but he doesn’t come off that way and it’s just amazing.

 

Overall: 9/10

One of the best movies of all time that I could watch again and again, and that everyone should see.

Review – Total Recall (1990)

Movie Title: Total Recall

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Release Date: June 1st, 1990

Date Seen: June 27th, 2012

 

Part 1: Spoiler Free Quickie Review

So funny story.  I thought I’d never seen this.  I started watching it, and about halfway through, realized that yes, I indeed had seen (at least) the second half.

I love this movie.  Why?  For having craptastically awesome effects, aliens with three boobs, disfigured faces, and a midget with a machine gun.  What more could a movie ask for?!

 

Part 2: In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review

Since nearly everyone has seen this movie, let me just recount some thoughts.

I love when Doug goes home to Lori, and Lori attacks him while wearing her super sexy (sarcasm) workout outfit.  That was awesome.  And like we all didn’t see that one coming.

When Doug is watching himself on the video monitor, I just always think he’s just a *little* too trusting.  Not because I know the ending, but just because I feel like if I saw that myself, I’d be skeptical.  But I’m also aware I’d be skeptical so I’d probably record something in the message to make me not be skeptical.

When he gets to Mars and goes to the strip club is when I realized that I had seen the movie from there on out.  And the movie from there out is really only awesome for watching the fight scenes.  My personal favorite is when the strip club is attacked.  Some on both sides get shot, but the highlight of the scene is when the midget girl jumps up on the counter and starts mowing people down.  Fabulous.

One thing that has always bugged me – if when Kauto is speaking, George is all… sleepy or whatever, I assume that it works the other way as well.  So how do they talk?  Do they have a telekinesis type ability?  If so, why doesn’t Kauto tell George everything to always stay hidden?  Whatever.

So at the end, epic fight at the reactor, and we get to watch Richters face explode.  We get to watch Doug and Melina’s faces explode for a bit, but then they go back to normal when the atmosphere settles.  Watching this movie today, they are horrible effects.  But I’m guessing for when the movie was made (1989 ish) they were pretty good.  So props to them.

 

Overall: 6.5/10

This movie is great for what it is.  Even though the effects are outdated, that is part of the charm of the movie.  I love seeing the CLEARLY animatronic versions of the characters or CLEARLY animations.  It makes it better, in my mind.  And also the question, was it real, or was it recall?  Who cares?!  I feel like that’s more of what the new movie is going to be about – but this one, I honestly don’t care because I had such a great time watching it.

Review – What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Movie Title: What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Director: Lasse Hallstrom

Date Released: December 17th, 1993 (limited, March 1994 elsewhere)

Date Seen: June 25th, 2012 (yes, I had never seen this before)

 

Part 1 – Spoiler Free Quickie Review

A beautifully shot movie.  One that doesn’t follow a traditional plot – but is an amazing story nevertheless.  Johnny Depp plays Gilbert Grape, the son acting as the father figure in the family, who must care for his obese mother and his mentally challenged younger brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio).  There is so much that goes on in the life of Gilbert in only about a week – but we feel like we’ve known the family forever and love them, despite all their problems.  Leonardo DiCaprio does an AMAZING job playing the mentally challenged younger brother.  He gets things as simple as little mannerisms with his fingers or just physical ticks down.  The little things like that take it from a regular performance to a stellar performance.

Don’t watch it if you want a normal happy ending.  You’re not going to get one.  You will however feel for this family until the very last moment.

 

Part 2 – In Depth Spoiler Ridden Review

As I write this, the end scene is on.  When they burn down the house.  Watching the siblings stand out side proud of what they’ve done (taking care of their mom until the very end) with the house burning in the background, was beautiful.  I also liked Gilbert (and the rest of the family)’s final act in that they weren’t going to let their mom be made fun of that last time.  It was especially touching since it was Gilbert that had the idea – and fitting.  He knows what he did was wrong, such as showing the kid his obese mom through the window.  We see him change through the movie – such as the scene when she goes to get Arnie out of jail.  Then at the end he does the most respectful thing he can think of for her.

The best parts of this movie are the simple scenes.  Such as the beginning and end with Arnie and Gilbert running up and down the road looking at the trailers.  The camera is fixed towards the road, and we see Gilbert sitting there while Arnie plays around waiting for them to drive by.  When they do come, they both have a good time running after them. And the camera never moves.  It’s beautiful.

 

Overall: 8/10

I know this review is extremely short, but considering I feel that I’m one of the only people in the world that hasn’t seen it, I’m ok with that.  It was a beautifully shot movie, great non-traditional plot, and superb acting skills by Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp.