Movie Reviews
Haha, Ed, I beat you to it. Anyway, since all I did over break was watch movies, here are my
Blow: Excellent film about drug trafficking. Surprisingly non-violent considering the subject matter. Johnny Depp is very good, lovely acting. However, do not watch this movie if you want to drool over Johnny Depp. He is, evening when relatively good looking, completely unattractive in this movie. Turned his own charisma off (proof that he is in fact a truly brilliant actor).
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Another movie in which Johnny Depp is not attractive. However, other than his acting, it's not really worth watching. Pretty much just watching a couple guys get really fucked up on whatever drugs they can find. If you want to do that, I'm sure you can find a local place to watch it live.
The Brothers Grimm: Amusing and sufficiently dark to do justice to the original Brothers Grimm. My only complaint is that the French accents occasionally became so thick that it was impossible to tell what half the cast was saying. Possibly that wasn't really a bad thing though... Don't watch this movie if the mutilation of kittens bothers you.
Traffic: Again, an excellent movie about drug trafficking. It was funny, thought-provoking, and was also suprisingly less violent than I would have expected (although definitely more violent than Blow). It has a good cast, and deals with more than the romance of Columbian drug lords and the beautiful women who are fatally attracted to them.
Mulholland Drive: This film was directed by David Lynch. Like most absurdists, he is involved in theater in which the characters do not really communicate, no one accomplishes anything, and the audience is left to conclude that life is meaningless. Unlike such playwrights as Ianesco and Beckett who use humor or satisfying creepiness to accomplish this, Lynch uses violence and tedium. I spent the first half of it concentrating really hard on everything convinced that there was actually a plot and the second half wondering why it hadn't ended yet. If you want to watch a David Lynch film, I recommend Lost Highway. It has a better sound track.
Zoolander: This is not the best movie I've ever seen. However, please picture the following: Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are rival male models. They are bitchy to each other. Eventually they have a "walk off" at a nearby runway. And then David Bowie arrives and officiates it. Totally worth watching/renting just for that scene.
The Life Aquatic: One of the best movies ever. Really. Go see it. Everyone. It's hilarious. It's Bill Murray. It's a jaguar shark. It's Dustin Hoffman when you least expect him. It's some guy with an accoustic guitar playing David Bowie songs in Portugese. I just can't even express how great it is. I give it 15,000 stars. Rent it. Now.