Movie and Book Blog

It's the new year, and I have decided to try this mess once again. As you can see i have refreshed the look of the blog, and am returning to full reviews of movies with pictures and all the fun stuff you love. I am once again shooting for 300 movies but will probably not concern myself with a book number this time around due to a supreme lack of reading last year. If, however, finish a book i will review it. Any suggestions for the web page or movies for me to watch are appreciated.



The Wrestler


Mickey Rourke (in a Golden Globe-nominated role) stars as retired professional wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson, who returns to the ring and tries to work his way up the circuit for a final shot at defeating his longtime rival. Along the way, he tries to reconnect with his daughter, Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), while exploring a relationship with a stripper named Cassidy (Marisa Tomei, also nominated for a Golden Globe).

"Mickey Rourke is back" or whatever they are saying about this. A great movie that i probably can never watch again. Mickey Rourke is so great as a weird washed up roid riddled old creep, and in typical Aronofsky style, Rourke's heavy story of loss and failure never quite gets happy. I cannot really claim that i can relate, but some how it made me feel like i could.

8/10

The Conformist


When the government orders him to kill a political refugee, Marcello (Jean-Louis Trintignant) agrees -- even though his target is his college mentor. Hence, he is "the Conformist," a man who will do anything to belong. Bernardo Bertolucci directs this thought-provoking drama set in 1930s fascist Italy, a visually complex character study with production design by Nedo Azzini and camera work by Vittorio Storaro.

I rented this movie because a friend of mine who is super into pretentious fashion bullshit saw an article about a designer who used textures and sets pasted from this movie in his latest ads. That being said, there are some incredible attired babes in this movie, as well as great set design. I had to read a bit about the fascist part of the story, but really even knowing nothing about fascist itally this movie has this weird homosexual tension as well as a weird love triangle that keep it interesting.

6/10

The Fall


Set in the 1920s, director Tarsem Singh's visually lush drama stars Lee Pace as paralyzed movie stuntman Roy Walker, who bonds with an imaginative 5-year-old named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) as they convalesce together in a Los Angeles infirmary. To coax the girl into procuring the cache of morphine he wants from the hospital pharmacy, the suicidal Roy regales Alexandria with an elaborate fantasy about larger-than-life heroes.

Another movie with some incredible costume design. Every character in the fantasy world looked like an asian david bowie space pirate, and it is great. The little girl in this movie probably has one of my favorite child performances ever (behind 400 blows and Let the Right One In) she has this really natural and kind of awkward conversation cadence, full of interruptions and repeated words. Sort of a modern (and better) "Never Ending Story".

9/10


Thin Blue Line


Errol Morris's gripping investigation into the murder of a Dallas police officer was responsible for freeing the man originally -- and erroneously -- charged with and convicted of the crime. Through archival footage, interviews and stylized reenactments, Morris skillfully makes a case for the innocence of a man who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Widely acclaimed, this breakthrough documentary captured numerous awards.

Sort of dry and uninteresting cinematically but with very interesting subject matter, and interesting, very "Texas" characters. I think more exciting then the movie it's self is the fact that the movie was pretty much what got the "wrong man" out of jail.

7/10

4/300 movies watched