Fine friends…I’ll try again. 365 days, 100 movies. This time I’ll give at least a brief review of each along with the score (Netflix scoring system) and my pace (in parentheses…like this). For those who would like to follow along in your scorebooks at home…feel free to friend me on Netflix. ( http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/P7igcGg8aZcknFKFvCV7 )
1. Layer Cake – This is a crime drama starring Daniel Craig. It is very much in the vein of the good Guy Ritchie movies (read, not Swept Away). It was kind of an average heist flick, and definitely working into a grown-up version of Guy Ritchie-ness. Average at best, but the end made it all worth while. 4 stars. (365)
2. Chaos – Apparently I was in a Guy Ritchie mood, because movie 2 was also Ritchie-esque in that it starred Jason Statham. This is a vs. movie (Statham vs. Wesley Snipes) with a twist. Every timer I thought I had this one figured out it turned on me. I did beat it to the punch in the end, but that didn’t take away any of the enjoyment. Excellent action, decent acting, and well directed. Worth a watch. 4 Stars. (122)
3. Zombie Strippers – Yes, I said Zombie Strippers. Call it peurile, but Jenna Jameson and Robert Englund (Freddy Kreuger for those unfamiliar) in a movie about strippers who tunr into zombies and start eating their customers. It was completely unavoidable. I should have avoided it. The scary parts weren’t scary, the sexy parts weren’t sexy (unless you’re really twisted – like necrophilia isn’t enough for you twisted), the funny parts weren’t funny, and the action parts weren’t…um…active. Porn acting in a D-movie horror. Frightening only in the fact that I waited so long to turn it off hoping something would improve. Didn’t finsh it, but I get credit anyway. Seriously, watch half of this and tell me you don’t feel you deserve some kind of compensation. 1 star. (183)
4. Scarface – It’s true, I’d never seen the whole thing. Now I have. It was almost as awesome as advertised. In ways I think it was better. You hear all the time about the action, gore, and violence. What you don’t hear about is the political commentary, the tragedy, and the clasical allusions. Everything from MacBeth to King Lear. If Shakespeare had written movies in the early 80’s I think he would have written this. It was beautifully done. And just when Tony gets everything he wants…it all goes to hell. beautifully acted although I don’t know if they had one actual Cuban in the whole thing and the accents were attrocious. But hey…it is what it is. Awesome movie. 5 stars. (209)
5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – Seriously, disappointing. I was looking forward to a good Western with an outstanding cast. I think they tried to pull off the same feeling as the Coen brothers did in No Country for Old Men. Here though, it just came off as boring. Bradd Pitt was seriously underused. A Western with essentially no action is asking for trouble anyway, and this sure delivers on that. Even the assassination itself was dull. The only saving grace of this movie (if it can be called that) was the epilogue after the assassination. It was interesting to see what Ford went through afterwards. And although he never became sympathetic, the movie did do a good job of giving a balanced look at the man. 2 stars, and that a gift. (140)
6. Idiocracy – While this had been in my Netflix que, I actually caught it on Comedy Central this weekend. Well, most of it. I fell asleep at some point. This was a waist of my time. Turns out a movie about everyone in the world being stupid is, well, stupid. OK, maybe I should have predicted that. But I usually like Luke Wilson. He’s dry, ironic, usually intelligent humor. He played this one way too straight and it failed miserably. Which means, yes, I felt like an idiot for having watched it. 1 star. (122)
7. The Brestford Wives – This was basically Skinemax. For the three of you unfamiliar with that term…think late night cable when Mom and Dad have gone to bed and don’t know what you’re watching upstairs. For the genre, however, it was good. An obvious ripoff of The Stepford Wives, the plot was almost interesting to watch and the acting wasn’t a complete turnoff. Basically, they were enough to get you from one sex scene to the next without hitting the fast forward button. The women were attractive, and the sex scenes were decently done. Well, not so much the all-female action. That just ended up looking silly. It was a lot of “almost” and not much payoff. But all in all an enjoyable romp to help soothe my nerves. 4 stars (a different scale for these types of movies). (134)
8. Changeling – This movie was outstading. Angelina Jolie is a force of nature. Jeffrey Donovan is always great at someone who is pretty sure he’s smarter than you. Based on a rue story of a mother who loses her child, only to have the LA PD replace him with a different boy, this was riveting stuff. The type of story you wouldn’t believe if it wasn’t based on a true story. Angelina may have chewed a little scenery and John Malkovich was criminally underused, all is forgiven. Once again Clint Eastwood proves he is a masterful director with a deft and subtle touch. He gets his actors to say so much without uttering a word. The look in Angelina’s eyes as she came to the realization she was stuck in the insane asylum was heartbreaking. Jason Butler Harner was terrifying as the lead bad guy. I stayed up late to finish this one. And on a Monday night after a long Army Reserve weekend, getting home at aro0und midnight, back up and at work by 6 AM…that’s saying something. 5 stars. (146)
9. See Arnold Run – This was a made for TV biopic chronicling Arnold Schwarzenegger’s run for governor of California. Not bad for a TV movie. The acting was pretty half-ass really, but the writing and directing were good. It really caught Arnold’s love of a challenge and need to imrpove himself. At the end of the movie, I felt like I knew the man better. My respect for what he is and what he has doen continues to grow. I could turn this whole review in to hero worship of Arnold…but I won’t. Great movie if you’re a fan of Arnold the man. If you’re not – or just looking for the terminator, rent The Terminator. I, however, quite enjoyed this. 3 stars. (156)
Up Next: Eagle Eye, Transporter 3, Pleasurecraft
