The Road

heartbreaking, well acted, but not perfect

obviously no movie is perfect, but the road has a lot going for it. it's nearly flawless in my opinion. the biggest problems are the ending, and the kid that gets more annoying as the film goes on. viggo mortensen stars as the man, along with his son they are navigating their way through post-apocalyptic america in search of heat, shelter, and warmth. the world they live in is always cold with very little light and almost nothing is alive. we don't know what happened to the world, but almost everything is now dead. the man was married to a woman (charlize theron) who couldn't handle the hopelessness that this new world brought, and eventually ended her life. now the man and his son are on the journey to survive. they encounter gangs of cannibals who are searching for any food available. the film is very dark, and plays out kinda like a thriller. the kid gets very annoying as the film goes on... he says 'papa!' in almost every scene, and it gets very cliche. overall a good movie, but the ending also isn't that satisfying.

Repo! The Genetic Opera

if not for the singing, i woulda loved it

repo! is a musical from Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich. it's obvious that they put lots of effort into the screenplay, songs, and music for this highly ambitious film. the story is great, visuals are stunning, and a lot of the music is good too. it's just too campy, in a rocky horror picture show way. this can be good, but with a plot as good as this i just don't think it works that well.
in the future people get organ transplants often, and one company supplies them: GeneCo. if people can't make payments on time for these organs, geneco sends in the repo men to remove them. rotti the geneco owner is dying and must leave his company to one of his 3 rotten children (one of which is paris hilton ffs), so he tries to find a new heir, shilo. she's the daughter of rotti's true love who died years ago. he was responsible for killing her but pinned it on her husband and shilo's father, nathan. nathan is forced to be a repo man which he keeps a secret from shilo. this all sounds complicated, but gets explained pretty well through comic book flashback sequences. i liked the whole idea of the repo men, all the other stuff doesn't do it for me, but i appreciate how ambitious the entire plot is. i mostly just don't like musicals all that much, and the singing in this gets rather annoying quickly. some dialogue is spoken, then sung and back again. i didn't like that whole aspect of the film, which is a huge important part.

Rubin and Ed

crispin glover + howard hesseman =

win. rubin and ed is such a strange buddy road comedy. crispin glover plays rubin farr, a 20 something loser who has no friends, life, ambitions, etc. all he wants to do is stay in his mom's home and listen to music all day. howard hesseman is ed, a loser salesman who is trying to work things out with his wife, and become successful at a network marketing scheme. he tries to get rubin to go to a seminar with him and rubin ends up ambushing his car to drive to the desert to bury his dead cat! this is all awesome. the 2 hate eachother, and over time come to understand the other. the movie is made by local utahn trent harris, and it's filmed in various areas in the state. it's quirky and fun with some good heart thrown in.

Revanche

beautifully shot, but gets a bit bogged down at times

revanche is an austrian film about a man whose entire life changes in an instant. alex and his girlfriend tamara are trying to escape their debt and life. she works as a hooker in a brothel, while alex does odd jobs at the same place. he comes up with a plan to rob a small town bank with an unloaded gun. things go wrong (tamara ends up getting shot by a stray bullet and is just at the wrong place at the wrong time) and alex can't stop thinking about taking revenge on the one man who fucked everything up. the 2nd half of the film is quite tedious and seems to go on forever. alex moves in with his grandfather on his farm, and he takes care of things for him. he chops wood and tends the farm animals (some of the most tedious parts of the film). alex finds the cop who shot his girlfriend and doesn't realize how the death has affected him. the cop is taking it just as bad as alex is. the film is very well made, and the cinematography in particular is very well done. other than the few gripes this is a very good film about revenge and chance. who is to blame when things go wrong? that's kinda the theme here.

Revolutionary Road

american beauty 2

ok, its been done to death... people don't feel alive and feel like they are just machines waiting to die, and feel so much more important than all those "other" people who haven't figured it out. yeah yeah yeah. kate winslet and leo dicaprio are these people. a young married couple who feel like they are now trapped in suburban america and don't feel really alive. its a great premise, it always is, but i just felt that it has been done before and the characters (especially winslet) are just too damn pretentious. don't worry however, the film gets good late when winslet tells leo she hates him, and his world seems to fall apart. seriously, there are a few amazing scenes towards the end of the movie. leo is great as frank wheeler, and winslet is also good as his wife april. i just sided with frank's character and sympathized with him. maybe because i'm a guy and know what that situation is like. he wants to do well in his career and succeed, while his wife still has "fairy tale" dreams that are unrealistic for a married couple with kids. either way there is a lot of win in revolutionary road but also, unfortunately, some fail too. *SPOILER* thebotched abortion that leads to death has been done enough. we get it, back alley/self induced abortions are bad. move on.

Red Dawn

wolverines!!!

classic world war III movie pitting teenagers against commies in the middle of colorado. awesomeness ensues! lots of cool action scenes especially for the mid eighties. swayze and sheen kick ass (as usual!), but the ladies just get in the way. many classic lines and scenes, in a very campy type of way. it has been... a red dawn.

Raising Genius

odd little indie

justin long stars as hal, a 17 year old genius who has locked himself in his bathroom to pursue his dreams of mathematical and scientific discovery. his mother (wendie malick) is obsessed with trying to get him out of the bathroom, even though it is her that truly scares hal. she claims to be an amazing mother, yet can't stand how her only son turned out. very odd little film, and it seems to be very low budget despite the decent cast.

RocknRolla

mess of a film, poor performances, and not funny

blah. i was hoping for guy ritchie to return to his 'roots' with this film, but he didn't deliver. man the 'jokes' weren't fucking funny, and the plot was so contrived and pointless. i really hated ludacris and jeremy piven in the movie... they were pointless and stiff. some parts were good, like the action scenes.

oh, and the "brilliant" accountant lady in this film was the dumbest character out of anyone! man, this was disappointing as fuck.

The Rules of the Game (Règle du jeu, La)

Tragic Love. and damn the French!

one of the best films of all time (according to many), the rules of the game is a simple story of relationships during WWII in France during a weekend at a rich bastard's home. The film involves a record setting pilot, his lover, her other lover, his wife, a servant girl, her husband, and her lover, etc. etc. I may not have fully grasped the importance of the critique of the Bourgeoisie (as I am not French, however I do see the terrible ways of their society during the time this took place), but I do know a good film when i see it. and Jean Renoir made a great film here. Very well acted and directed throughout. Criterion did a great job on the DVD by the way.

Role Models

Seems dumb at first, but pretty heartfelt overall

Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott are very funny in whatever they do. This is no exception. Fogel/McLovin is in it as a LARPer kid who has no friends. The guys from 'The State' are great. What else can I say? Oh yeah, Jane Lynch is fucking hysterical! Best parts of the movie are with her.

Rachel Getting Married

good drama involving addiction and family

Although Rachel Getting Married is pretty much a chick flick, I found it pretty interesting and thoughtful. Rachel's sister Kym is back from rehab and needs plenty of attention from her family, while Rachel herself is getting married (as the title suggests), and is the center of attention. The tension between the sisters heats up quickly and issues from the past are brought up, etc. etc. etc. Lots of good stuff, and plenty to bore us at the same time. I like Anne Hathaway a lot, and even more after seeing her in this film.