Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932)

Yay! The last film for me to complete the American Film Institute's 10Top10 list released in 2008. A gangster film that I had to buy on ebay to get my hands on, and the back cover of the dvd is in Korean.

The sad thing is that I had really high hopes for this one and it was just not that exciting. Paul Muni plays Tony, a character you are likely familiar with if you have seen the modern day remake (which is much much better). The opening of the film has the director posting dialog about how we should condemn these actions and support the police force in preventing these actions in the future. The film then goes on to glorify and glamorize the gangster lifestyle, which was all very confusing.

There were only a few good one liners and the action sequences were not as action packed as I hoped for, movies like Public Enemy and others on the AFI Gangster list were better. Not much more to say than pass on this one and watch the modern one twice.

Vote: 4/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023427/

Share:

Read More

Valentine's Day (2010)

I consider this film an American version of Love Actually. A romantic comedy with many intertwined love stories with a very full cast... all with minor roles.

Jessica Alba & Ashton Kutcher start as the main couple. Jennifer Garner & Patrick Dempsey then get pulled into the mix. Round out a full cast with Kathy Bates, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah, Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift, and a dozen other minor stars.

With so many minor roles the actors rely on the director and editor to make the film worth watching. This was obviously just fun for everyone involved, and not an attempt at a good cinematic film, so if they aren't trying is it worth watching? No. Was just at least ok? Well yeah... kinda.

There were some good parts, Kutcher's storyline and Julia Roberts storyline were entertaining. The high school storyline with Taylor Swift was just awful. So were the Jamie Foxx and Anne Hathaway stories. A 6/10 was very generous. Don't get your hopes up on this one.

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0817230/

Share:

Read More

Pumping Iron (1977)

The Arnold Schwarzenegger body building documentary was the 6th film in my attempt to watch the ESPN Top 10 Sports Documentaries. This is by far the creepiest film on the list, and one of the strangest I've seen in a while.

Arnold has some very interesting quotes in this film about equating working out to an orgasm. Smoking pot. Deliberately giving fellow competitors bad advice. Good thing he is in politics now... or does this just explain why that career move was a good choice.

The look into the lives of the people he is competing against just goes to show you how many people have different motivations in life. There are some very colorful people in these competitions, most of which have some sort of inferiority complex, are dim witted, or are quite full of themselves. I wouldn't say this to any of their faces though...

With 70's porn music playing in the background while oiled up guys in Speedo's flexed their muscles it definitely made me a little uncomfortable to watch. The most interesting thing about the film to me was when they panned over the audience during the competition. What kind of people go and watch these? Middle aged women? Aspiring body builders? Friends/Family? Guys questioning their sexuality?

Interesting look at an interesting demographic, Pumping Iron II is about lady body builders, maybe I'll check it out to see if they are just as colorful.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076578/

Share:

Read More

The Book of Eli (2010)

A post-apocalyptic action film starring Denzel Washington as a blind man guided by faith with the last surviving copy of The Bible.

A film that touches on the events that led to the current status, does a horrible job explaining that the man is blind with constant hints that he is not (peaking over a rock at one point), and generally bad acting from all the supporting cast.

It takes him over 30 years to make it from the East to West coast, but don't worry he is just an afternoon's drive from his final destination the entire film. Silly with a very cheesy ending and a slow and boring plot.

If you are going to watch this one, at least watch it in High Def. to take advantage of some decent camera work. Not worth your time... Denzel is not Mad Max...

Vote: 3/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037705/

Share:

Read More

When We Were Kings (1996)

This turned out to be a much narrower documentary subject than I expected it to be. I thought it was going to document Ali's career as a boxer, or a phase of that. Yet, this film was really only about a single fight: The Rumble In The Jungle.

We start about 6 months before the fight, talk about how it came to be in Zaire. Talk about the delays. See some actual footage, discuss the strategy of the boxers. Then we wrap up without talking much about what happened to the boxers after the fight.

The scope was way to narrow. It was filled with live music performances and unnecessary interviews that could have been filled with a lot more useful information to the history of these men instead.

Watched as part of the "ESPN: The Watchlist" and just average.

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118147/

Share:

Read More

In The Loop (2009)

The only thing cool about this crude dry British comedy that pulled an Oscar nomination out of nowhere is that it features Anna Chlumsky [the girl from the movie My Girl]. For the whole film I had one of those "where do I know her from?" feelings. So yeah, that is about it....

Ok... fine... this dry comedy was more like a curse word filled drama about a British Secretary of State who is a complete boob. He makes some off topic remarks about war and is throw into the spotlight of a conflict that could send Britain and the US into a war (not against each other, but against an unnamed country).

Clearly some sort of spoof on events that happened earlier in the decade. Not my cup of tea, probably not yours either. Pass on this one...

Vote: 6/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226774/

Share:

Read More

Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009)

The 3rd of 5 Oscar documentaries from this years Oscar nominees. Hard to compete with The Cove and Food, Inc., two excellent documentaries that stole the entire spotlight.

Earlier in the decade a documentary called Fog of War won the Oscar. It was a film about an interview with Robert McNamera, the Secretary of Defense that served the country during World War II and Vietnam. The "Seven Lessons" he spoke of were interesting, and a good lesson for future leaders.

This film is about Daniel Ellsberg, a man that worked for McNamera and was responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers. The historic implications of him releasing the papers are that 1) It gave the press the room to criticize the government, 2) triggered Watergate. Both of these things were not directly Ellsberg's doings. He wasn't the strongest character and the film was quite boring. It took me over a week to work my way through this dry rehashing of the events. I felt like I was sitting in an old folks home listening to some old man babbling. Don't waste your time, you can read a wikipedia entry on this guy in 5 minutes and save yourself the hassle of finding this film.

Vote: 5/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1319726/

Share:

Read More