Movie Reviews
Review of Donnie Darko
The other day, Stephen and I watched the movie Donnie Darko. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal (I have no idea if I've spelled that correctly) as the main character and a few other 'big names', like Patrick Swayze and Drew Barrymore.
I'd love to be able to tell you what it was about but it was just one of those films that you know you might just understand if you watched it about ten times. My stepdaughter apparently has watched it that many times, and some, but she watches it not to understand it. No. She watches it like I used to watch Pink Floyd The Wall. Because she loves it.
Hopefully, the only difference is that she's not smoking anything to enjoy it! Because, let's face it, The Wall is too weird to watch sober!
I haven't watched it in years, OK?! Many, many years!
Anyway, Donnie Darko is weird too. Scary bunnies, time travel and a Boeing 747 jet engine dropping through the roof of a house.
Stephen recorded his thoughts about the movie on his blog and he pretty much sums it up.
1 and a half stars out of 5. I don't think I'll watch it again to understand it.
The Da Vinci Code - SPOILER ALERT!
The night before we had to have the movie back, Stephen and I finally saw The Da Vinci Code. I liked it. Stephen was fairly luke warm about it. I had read the book previously and so I knew what was coming up and didn't have to concentrate too hard at following the ins and outs of quite a detailed story.
At one point, I looked over and Stephen's chin was resting on his chest and his eyes were closed. Hmmm.... sleeping? Yes, my darling husband was asleep. Was the movie that boring?
Stephen did spend most of the movie awake and rated it a 6 out of 10. I'd give it a 7, I think. Good, but I wouldn't watch it again. It was a bit too long.
SPOILER ALERT!
I found the most exciting part - the part that gave me a thrill and made me feel quite emotional - was at the very end when Hanks' character finally figures out where Mary Magdalene's sarcophagus (sp?) is. The music worked so well with the visual and I felt like I was walking alongside him as he followed the path back to the Louvre. The camera pans up and looks down from above Hanks' head and through the floor to the space below. And there she was. That bit was very well done and ended the movie on a real high for me.
"The Departed"
Last night, Stephen, Sarah and I watched The Departed. It has an allstar cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone. A big list of impressive names. We'd heard a lot about this movie, as it won the Academy Award for Best Director, Martin Scorcese.
But was it good? Yeah. I liked it. The story was fast-paced and interesting. It told of two guys (one played by DiCaprio and one by Damon). One was a cop and worked undercover within the mob, while the other was a cop solely to work as an informant for the mob. They are each looking for the 'rat' and, of course, elude each other until the very end.
The mob boss, played by Nicholson, was great. As always, Jack Nicholson was a star.
And Leo? As cute as ever! 
My only complaint about the movie was that it was too long. I don't even know how long it was, but I finally got to bed at 1:15am! Too late for me.
Do I recommend it? Yes, I do. Good movie, fast-paced, great acting. Just make sure you've set aside 2+ hours for it.
Bridget Jones' Diary
Yeah, finally got around to seeing that last night. I liked it. Funny and charming. No boring lulls.
Recommended... if you haven't already seen it.
5 Stars!
Friday night, we rented War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg. Loved it! Fast-paced and thoroughly nail-biting. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through without a moment's break. If he wasn't being attacked by aliens, he was being hunted by aliens. If he wasn't running and freaking out, he was couched and cowering, waiting to be killed.
Most alien movies are pretty cheesy, in my opinion. But this one had cool aliens. Scary aliens! Believable aliens.
I didn't think I was going to like this one, but I did. Recommended.
* * * * *
(5 stars!)
Getting better!
We rented Red Eye last night and we liked it. It was entertaining, fast-paced and suspenseful. There were a few moments when the main character, played by Rachel McAdams, ran right past a cop and one couldn't understand why she wouldn't tell them everything but, other than that, it passed with flying colors.
I mean, what could be more scary and suspenseful than a movie where bad things happen while at 30,000 feet?!!
I remember seeing the trailer on TV a few months back and I thought that it was more of a supernatural thriller with Cillian Murphy playing the devil. I was way off! It has nothing to do with the devil!
And I have to say that Cillian Murphy is one weird-looking guy. Perfect for the part though, without a doubt.
* * * * *
(Four stars out of five.)
Cry Wolf
I've just heard that Cry Wolf has just been released in theatres in the UK. We rented it on DVD the other day...
I'd like to warn you off this one too.
Movie Review
Stephen and I rented the DVD Dark Water last night and I have to say:
Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
What a boring movie! The plot was boring, the characters were boring and the scary music was even more boring. I'd seen the ads on TV for the movie while it was in theatres and it looked great. Really scary, which I love. But the truth was that we were almost to the end of the movie and I still didn't know what kind of "scariness" we were dealing with.
You know what I mean? Usually, you get some kind of idea whether you're watching a movie with an actual scary-killer bad guy in it, or perhaps demon ghosts, or maybe even the wacko hallucinations of a screwed-up main character. Not this film. Instead, I ask Stephen if perhaps I'd dosed off and had missed a huge chunk of it or something. Nope, just a shitty movie.
The scary bits weren't that scary and the rest of it, story-wise, was very reminiscent of The Ring. You know, creepy young female character... lots of water, death and drowning.
Been there, done that. And The Ring was way better.
