I've been on a bit of an unofficial movie marathon kick the past week or so. Thankfully, they all turned out to be really good.
The Hurt Locker
I'd heard about this one here and there for awhile, so the name was pretty familiar by the time I sat down to watch it. Pretty soon into things I understood why. If most people were asked to sum Hurt Locker up in one word they'd probably go with 'war,' but my answer would be 'tension.' It's about a group of American military specialists in the Middle East whose task is not combat, but going in and diffusing bombs. There are scenes where this leads to action. There are scenes where the tension itself is thrilling even when nothing comes of it. Overall the movie was fantastic and did a solid job portraying both sides as human. The one main character was a loose cannon to the point where I'm not sure he'd be allowed to stay in the field. But then, given the craziness of his position, I suppose I can believe it.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
I've always been a fan of Heath Ledger. Ever since I saw him in The Patriot I could tell the guy was gonna go far. With his looks he could have easily been the rom-com type, but I'm glad he chose the harder route of playing 'characters' instead. Doctor Parnassus is about a guy with a magical imagination that others can enter, and once inside it's both a fantastic and dangerous experience. The pure imagination of the film itself is art at its finest. As any Terry Gilliam movie goes, Doctor Parnassus is visually stunning from start to end. And smart. And twisting. And interesting. And considering this is the movie Ledger was filming when he died, Gilliam did an excellent job of adjusting things to make up for the unfilmed scenes.
The Other Boleyn Girl
Mmm Natalie Portman. Though she's a bit of a cunt here, so this might be the only movie I've seen her in where I didn't want to bang her. >.> No, that's false. There were times where she was just hot. So, I only wanted to bang her half of the time this time around. The other half I wanted to smack the shit out of her. ...Ahem. As for the movie itself, it's the real story about how the King of England could not receive a healthy male heir from the queen, so through his need for an heir and through blind lust he becomes involved with a pair of sisters that lead to his ruination. The psychology of every character involved here makes perfect sense. The sisters couldn't be more different from each other, yet I see the king's attraction to them both.
Kingdom of Heaven
Orlando Bloom did excellent here, yet you can't deny the presence of Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons that had the two men stealing every scene they were in. This was a really good picture of the Crusades, or at least one of the Crusades, that highlights the iffy reasoning of it being about religion rather than power and greed, and how the whole war was one big clusterfuck of self-justification. Bloom's character is a man who has committed grave sins and seeks to right himself for the afterlife by doing what good he can over in the holy land. Some are fighting purely for power, some for greed, some for religion; his is more a path of idealism and righteousness. Saladin, the enemy commander, and those under his command were portrayed exceptionally well, not so much as enemies but as enemies by circumstance.
Girl, Interrupted
This is a fantastic movie about a girl's failed suicide attempt leading to a stint in a psychiatric hospital, and all the crazy characters she runs into there. Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie were perfect in their roles, and wow, damn Angelina, do you look different. This movie is interesting enough as a character study alone, with everyone being very three-dimensional. For awhile I stayed away from this one assuming it to just be some chick flick, but it's not at all. There's an interesting psychological journey here that I think everyone can relate to.
Monster
Speaking of not recognizing someone, goddamn Charlize Theron. Goddamn. I have a newfound respect for you. It's rare you see someone in Hollywood, especially a female, willing to undergo the de-beautifying transformation that you did for this role, with everything from the fake teeth to the facial make-up to putting on thirty pounds. That Oscar was well-deserved. As for the movie itself, it starts with a hooker in her eleventh hour, about to take her own life when she decides on one last beer for the road first. It's during that drink she makes an unwanted acquaintance that inspires her to put off the suicide without knowing it, just for now, which leads her on a journey of one last attempt to fix her life. This journey becomes a desperate one, and throughout it you're not sure if you're rooting for her or not. Do I feel bad for her? I still don't know. It's a very dark film based on a true story, and between the intelligent writing, spot-on acting and a musical score that you feel as much as you hear, the whole thing is tremendously powerful.
Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon
I'm a sucker for anything taken from the Three Kingdoms book, and my instant desire of 'ineedtorentthis' upon seeing it was no exception. I'm not sure if it's great, but it's good, it's solid. The whole story is far too enormous for any one movie to even properly summarize; instead, this film about a historic period in ancient China follows the story of Zhao Zilong (Zhao Yun) from his rise from a peasant to General, and all the way to the end of his story, where he's a seventies-something still fighting on the battlefield long after his friends are all passed on and being treated as legends. The man was really as heroic as it gets. Good casting here, good acting all around. The end could have easily been drawn out with another important scene or two, but they wanted to keep the magnifying glass on Zilong, so I suppose the way it was done makes sense; it was plenty powerful in its own right.
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