I try not to give anything away, but nonetheless, I do not promise that these ‘reviews’ would be spoiler-free. Also, these are my, you know, opinions. Hehe.
*From here on out, I want to thank www.rottentomatoes.com, www.imdb.com, www.youtube.com, www.wikipedia.org and www.hulu.com and everyone who suggested which films I should watch.
April 25 - Fargo (1996): It’s not particularly dark, and it’s not particularly funny, but did I like it? Yah, you betcha, yah. It’s still not one of my favorite movies, but I appreciate how it feels so real. There are dialogue and scenes that aren’t really essential to tell the story but are present anyway, so it gives the feel that I am watching the characters in real time. I like how the characters seem to just go on their own way, like doing what they would’ve if they were actual, real people. It’s very human, even the violence and greed. Before the films starts, there is this note: THIS IS A TRUE STORY. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred. And the film is so true to that note, and understandably, there are some who believe that the movie is 100% accurate. There is a disclaimer at the end saying that it’s purely fiction, but try to suspend that until after the movie.
26 - Rounders (1998): Ask me why I decided to watch this movie and proudly I’d answer: Ed Norton. :) A friend said that this movie is already kind of a cult classic, and that’s not hard to imagine. See, you wouldn’t watch this to be touched or to feel good about yourself, nor would you watch it for the action and the drama. But should you see it? Absolutely. I think the point of the story (which is cradled in a show of world-class, street-style poker), is that you cannot take who you are out of yourself. It’s easy to sympathize with Mike (Matt Damon) because he seems like a good kid who made some costly mistakes, and it’s equally easy to hate Worm (Ed Norton) because he just doesn’t learn, plus he drags Mike along with him. But you’ll understand them both, and somehow you will see where they’re coming from and why they do the things they do. So seriously, I would’ve liked this movie even if Norton wasn’t in it, but I couldn’t discount that it must have been his creativity that made me see Worm’s character: the character which Mike must see in Worm - the reason why Mike keeps coming back to save Worm’s neck.
27 - American History X (1998): Ok, maybe I’m a little bit cheating on this one because I’ve seen this before, although not in one sitting and not without censored cuts. Even before I became a Norton fan, this film has already intrigued me because it’s not mainstream. The film tackles how anger and hate can consume reason and brainwash a person regardless of race or intellectual capacity. The tone of the film is also dark and serious, but I love the spirit it releases: letting go of hate, being a good brother, friendship, forgiveness… You just can’t go wrong with that. I also find Derek Vinyard (Norton) very intriguing because he’s just an average, out of control young man. What he does is probably what you and I sometimes picture doing, except we take a deep breath and almost instantaneously realize that it is wrong. When I look at Derek’s expressions, I can see the mixture of emotions. He has too much passion which turns to rage, which turns to uncontrolled violence. Give him while and you’ll see a psychopathic smile or a blank, tough stare, which could be a mask to hide his fear or shame or even his entertainment. I guess you see in his face what you want to see, what you’re projecting.
28 - The Painted Veil (2006): Another Edward Norton masterpiece. There, now that I’ve said that, I could go write about the movie. :) The Painted Veil’s story is not a secret, it’s based on a book of the same name and is the third movie remake. If it feels predictable, it’s because it is. You will not watch it for it’s unpredictability anyway; you will watch it for the same reason you watch a theater production of the same title year after year. You will watch it to pick on those tiny subtleties about the characters and the world they’re living in; little bits that are too good to be missed. The familiarity of its story is what actually appeals to me more, like it gets personal somehow, and still after a while I find myself engaged, as if I want to whisper to the characters and tell them to apologize already, or soften up. I really love everything about this movie, especially the two main characters, Walter (Norton) and Kitty (Watts). Walter is this uptight, shy, awkward, but near perfect bacteriologist who falls madly in love with Kitty who marries him only to shut her mother up. The couple move to Shanghai and Kitty is obviously bored with Walter, but seeing how much she is loved by Walter, it’s hard to completely sympathize with her. Then she and a married British vice consul become involved in an affair which Walter finds out but doesn’t confront right away. Instead, he blackmails Kitty with a divorce if she doesn’t go with him to a cholera-stricken village. He does this to spite and punish Kitty, but in doing so, he, himself is being punished as well. And aren’t we like that sometimes? Walter is really, really uptight and quiet, which all the more makes you wary of when he raises his voice. He is very reserved that when he speaks, you know he must be boiling inside. Kitty on the other hand, is adventurous and is still living in a fantasy; she isn’t ready to settle down and be passive. As the story progresses, she becomes the one trying to reach out. You’d want to sympathize with her, only, you know that she’s at fault. So yeah, there’s your dilemma. Another interesting character is their neighbor, Waddington. He’s interesting because he becomes a “right” more than a “good” influence to the couple. Watch the movie and see for yourself. This one I highly recommend.
29 - The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009): This one is hard to describe without giving much away. I guess I’d start by saying that I thought it had an original idea and a good premise. I haven’t read the book so I’m basing this only on the movie, and it fell a little short for me. You know how sometimes, especially when you were a kid, when you tell a story, you would make your favorite characters smarter or prettier, even though it serves no purpose to the story? Also remember how when you tell a certain part of the story and someone questions you, you’d answer ‘it is what it is just because’? Well, that’s sort of what the movie does. It gives you this: Clare (McAdams) and Henry (Bana) meet in the present, and Clare has been in love with Henry her whole life because a much older Henry time travels to when she was still a little girl. The present Henry doesn’t know this yet because it is the future Henry who time travels to little Clare. Kinda gets your attention, right? Oh and here’s some more, Henry has been traveling since he was a kid, he can’t control when and where he travels, and he doesn’t know how long he’ll be gone. Also, he can’t change anything from the past nor the future, and he’s naked when he arrives and returns. So you have these rules set up in your mind and you’re willing to suspend reason, then the films takes a turn that either pushes itself too much on these rules, or contradicts them altogether. But that’s just me, OK? I just had high hopes I guess. I still know some people who like this film and would kill me if they read this.
30 - The Graduate (1967): This film is the 7th best movie of AFI’s 1998 version and 17th on 2007’s. It’s also a comedy, and that’s what got my attention. So I googled this and I found one special word: plastics. I had no idea how relevant this word would be, but I watched out for it anyway. The plot is this: Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) is 21 years old, fresh out of college, and is bothered about his future (he wants it to be different). So he flies home to California (the opening scene is a close up of him and pans out to the rest onboard) and reluctantly go with his parents’ plans of showing him off. The adults seem genuinely proud of him, which sort of is like a way of welcoming him into the adult world, and he’s having second thoughts about that. Enter Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) and the famous line “you’re trying to seduce me, aren’t you Mrs. Robinson?”. Benjamin and Mrs. Robinson have no problem keeping their affair, but, Benjamin soon falls in love with someone else - Mrs. Robinson’s daughter. Good luck, Ben. I think what made this film one of the greatest ever is because it’s timeless. No matter what generation you’re in, you would still have the inner struggles of Benjamin. Also, the movie is loaded with humorous, subliminal messages hidden in the shift of perspective, or panning in and out of the camera. The Simon and Garfunkel songs are so apt too, especially The Sound of Silence - so eerily apt. By the way, the word ‘plastics’ is said only once in passing, but it does have a purpose. I wish I could’ve seen this movie when it was released so I could see how much of a milestone it has been, but as I’ve said, this movie is still timeless.
