A Few Good Men
Fight Club
Finding Forrester
The First Wives' Club
Friday the 13th (ALL)
It's a good thing I'm not a member... cuz I'm gonna talk about Fight Club.
First off, I'd like to say that this was not really my choice for a movie to watch. I have in my guestbook a section that asks what movie you, my readers, would like me to review. The suggestion of Fight Club didn't come from the guestbook, but it did come from a friend/reader, and as I aim to please (sometimes), here it is. Hi, Chandelle.
Since I truly had no interest in seeing this overly violent movie, I truly was not prepared for the things I witnessed. Sure, I knew it had testosterone dripping from the reels, and that the whole plot involved fisticuffs. Well, most of the plot. I was prepared for that, but...
I'm still stunned. I can't say that I enjoyed the movie, but at the same time, I was hypnotized throughout. I was horribly disgusted by its pointlessness, and yet marvelled at its brillliance. Truth is, I feel like I've been (pardon the pun) suckerpunched by a plot twist that completely and retroactively shifted the focus of the entire movie. And I didn't even see it coming.
Edward Norton plays an ordinary guy leading an ordinary life (We'll call him Rupert, as we're not really told his name until well near the end -- Rupert is one of the fake names he uses in "group therapy".) until he meets Tyler Durden, a soap maker/salesman whose life is anything but ordinary. What "Rupert" is to day, Tyler is as much to night.
I think the most intriguing part of the movie is its odd assortment of characters. There's Rupert, whose insomnia drives him to join up with various therapy groups so that he can get in touch with his emotions and break the insomnia. There's Marla (Helena Bonham Carter -- eerie, if you ask me), who also joins these same groups and becomes an annoyingly persistent presence in Rupert and Tyler's lives. There's Tyler -- the antithesis of everything Rupert is, and yet Rupert's savior and best friend. Bob (Meat Loaf), a survivor of testicular cancer who has grown breasts due to a hormonal imbalance. "Angel Face" (Jared Leto), an enthusiastic member of Fight Club.
They interacted, affected each other's lives, and completely freaked me out.
Heaps of praise -- sounds like I liked it. Well, I did, but I didn't. As I said before, much of the violence in this extremely dark film was pointless. It wasn't "horror movie" voilence (which in itself is pretty pointless), so I wasn't entirely sure of the motivations of these guys who would pound in each other's faces one minute, and embrace the next. I was disgusted in a few places -- nearly nauseated in fact -- such as when Rupert and Tyler go out in search of soap ingredients. Irony at its best, to be sure, but still gag-inducing. I was also disturbed by the escalation of Fight Club, how it seemed to manifest like a disease and spread and become malignant. I suppose the fact that I was disturbed is actually a good thing.
Fight Club is not a movie that is easily explained in a review -- nor is it a movie for everyone. If you have a weak stomach, you should probably skip it. If happy endings are your thing, you might also want to consider alternative forms of entertainment.
Still, for all its good points, and all its apparent failings, Fight Club must be seen to be appreciated.
This movie is rated R for graphic violence and anti-social behavior, as well as for language and sexuality. Definitely for mature audiences only.
SCORE: 7 Brutal fight scenes detract from -- and yet effectively enhance -- a dark and gritty story about how much is too much to take. An incredible twist turns the whole thing on its ear until the inevitable conclusion. I didn't much like the movie, but it did certainly impress me. Recommended, but hesitantly.
What a vast improvement.
In 1998, Gus Van Sant cheapened one of the greatest movies ever by remaking it -- shot for shot -- and becoming Plagiarist Supreme. "Supreme" because he not only got away with it, but was applauded for it. Whatever.
Finding Forrester is by no means Psycho -- it actually has some originality to it. In fact, I enjoyed the heck out of this movie, which stars Sean Connery as a reclusive author who chose to only publish one book in his entire life.
Nicknamed "The Window" by some local boys, Connery watches the world from his apartment, not venturing out to join it. When young Jamal (played superbly by Rob Brown ) is dared to take something from the legendary "Window's" place, he is startled by, and later meets and befriends, the extraordinary man. Jamal is a closet writer himself -- he's exceptionally bright, but doesn't let it show because of peer pressures. He plays basketball well, and that's where he finds acceptance from his friends. His intelligence remains hidden away, breaking through only when he writes in his secret notebooks.
He leaves his backpack in "the Window's" place when he is frightened off. When he gets it back (he is teased with it *in* the window, and later the pack is dropped at his feet as he passes under the apartment window), he notes that the mysterious man has jotted notes in his book. At first he is indignant that someone "went through his stuff", and then is hopeful that someone might actually help him with his writing.
This is how he meets William Forrester. He is persistant in asking this strange man to help him with his writing, and through a conversation with new friend Claire (Anna Paquin of X-Men), he realizes that his new tutor/mentor is none other than the man whose book he is reading for lit class. Forrester swears him to secrecy -- and thus a great friendship is born.
Though the setup reeks of contrivance, the end result is refreshing and a joy to watch. Man and boy have mutual respect, though each tests the boundaries of his newfound friendship with the other. Connery is always an asset to any film, and Finding Forrester is no exception. Brown portrays Jamal perfectly.
Although Van Sant films have been rather hit and miss with me (I liked My Own Private Idaho, despite its serious "indie" feel, and you already know what I thought of Psycho), this one is a big-time hit. It started slowly, but picked up the dramatic momentum nicely. I enjoyed all of the performances, including Paquin and F Murray Abraham (as a haughty Lit professor).
If you're looking for one of the action-packed blockbusters of last year, you'll be sadly disappointed. However, if you're looking for a good movie with moving performances and a strong sense of friendship and loyalty, look no further -- you've found Forrester.
This movie is rated PG-13 for language and references
to sexuality.
SCORE: 8 A strong film with some powerful themes.
Although the identity of "the Window" is given away in the title, the
bond formed between two kindred spirits is one that will touch -- and
even enlighten -- some people. Recommended!
Return to top
A Few Good Men is rated R for some very raunchy language and some brief violence at the beginning. Not appropriate for young children.
SCORE: 7 An engaging script, if confusing in places, and entertaining delivery, but I don't like Nicholson to begin with, and his acting was below even him. I had the same trouble with Moore and Cruise, both of whom I've come to expect much more. Bacon and Pollack were good, pulling off their characters well. Recommended, with reservations. Return to top
Despite what you may have heard about this movie, it is not about bashing men (either literally or figuratively). It is about justice. It is about fairness. Most importantly, it is about teaching men not to mess with those of the better sex. It is about three women (played by Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton) whose husbands one day decide that their wives just aren't good enough for them anymore, and go after someone much younger. It is about these three women's ability to cope-- not only in the face of their husbands' departures, but of the loss of the fourth in the group of college friends.
And it's about revenge.
Admit it. You have been married for twenty-five years. You've dedicated your whole life to some guy, and all of a sudden, and with no warning, he starts to date your therapist. You'd be miffed.
Or you helped build his career from the ground up, and now that you're pushing fifty, he wants to pawn "mom" roles on you and go out with some twenty-one year old bimbo out for the part of a lifetime. You'd want to take all of his possessions and sell them for a dollar.
Perhaps he owes the success of his electronics business to you. You worked as the cashier at the first fifteen stores in the chain. You have a son who is turning thirteen soon. And then--POOF!--he's suddenly hooked up with a blonde gold-digger.
And there's nothing you can do about it.
Or is there?
Enter the First Wives' Club, a trio of women dedicated to liberty, justice, and making the husbands pay for what they did. "We helped them rise; we can help them fall." And how! Through elaborate schemes and working together, these three bring the men that did them wrong to their knees. And they have fun doing it.
Now, being a man myself, I should have been offended by this movie, right? After all, isn't the message of this movie about how evil men are, or that they're (we're) all buckets of slime? No. I don't think it is. At first, that was what it seemed to be. But when that was their mission, the women started bickering amongst themselves, and their plan nearly fell apart. They came to realize that their mission should not just be about showing their exes the error of their ways, but preventing it from happening in the future. So to me, the message was about how a woman will stand by her husband. Will help him build an empire. But if you take that empire for granted, toss her out like yesterday's newspaper, there is hell to pay. It's about fairness, decency, and treating people with kindness... respect.
And it's a warning to men: Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.
This movie was hilarious. Midler, Keaton, and Hawn had some kind of psychic connection; their timing was perfect. Midler truly has a flair for comic dramatics, and Hawn makes an excellent snob (I especially loved her in Death Becomes Her). I had a tiny problem with the mousy Keaton character, but only because I'm used to seeing Diane play strong roles (such as Baby Boom, where she was a businesswoman instead of a whimpering shy "mouse" that can't even put two words together without stuttering). Still, the combination of these three was terrific. There were some excellent moments of bonding (a musical number springs to mind), and some rapid-fire exchanges that, while they won't win any Oscars, were beautifully portrayed. Applause for all!
Was there anything I didn't like about this movie? Yes. The women in this film were constantly referred to as "old" and "washed up", when I found all three to be very beautiful. Not only their outer beauty is in tact, but their strength of character, their courage to go on, their conviction to do what was right-- all of that added up into (there's no other word for it) FABOO!
I also didn't like that they still loved their husbands after all that these men had done to them. When Midler's son informed her of the impending marriage of the ex, she was genuinely saddened, as if she had hoped to reconcile (in fact, there was even a hint that it would happen). Forgive me, but my mother taught me a very valuable saying when I was a child: "Hurt me once, shame on you. Hurt me again, shame on me." In my eyes, she was just setting herself up for it again.
The First Wives' Club is rated PG for language and adult themes. Not recommended for children, as they would not be very interested.
SCORE: 9 I love the interplay between the three leads. They've all been among my favorites for a long time, especially Midler. The way the three plots (theirs, not the movie's) all seemed to depend on one another to succeed was excellent, and the overall writing of the movie was superb. Highly Recommended!
Return to top
The "story" takes place at the legendary "Camp Crystal Lake"--the stomping grounds of our villain. Each movie consists of an opening murder, usually not too terribly grisly--unless it's part of a "flashback" sequence--about 30 minutes of "Is someone watching us?" with really bad acting and sub-zero dialogue, 30 minutes of total gore, and another 30 minutes while the survivor of the movie runs away, only to "kill" the psychopath with one lucky blow.
This is a fun series of movies to watch on a Friday the 13th (if you're as childish as I am, that is), or if you just want to see mindless violence and nudity.
These movies are Rated R for graphic violence, language, and usually some scenes of nudity and sex. Not appropriate for children.
SCORE: 2 for content, but 8 for fun!