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ben-152
1. Eternal Sunshine...
2. Blue Velvet
3. Lost in Translation
4. Pulp Fiction
5. Fargo
Lists
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Six Feet Under: Everyone's Waiting (2005)
Parting is such Bittersweet Sorrow...
More then a year ago, I began to watch the show Six Feet Under because friends and relatives recommended it to me. All of the seasons were on DVD and conveniently located at my local Library. Wondering how amazing this show was, I rented the first season. After the first ten minutes, I was blown away. Seriously. Already did I know that this was one true to life family. So in a flash, I finished that and went for Season 2 and so on. And for the most part, it stayed true to life and solid. Eventually, I picked up Season Five to watch.
Suddenly, I realized that this was the end. That after this, there was no more of the show left and that the saga would have to end. Many people said it was an amazing ending, so I just couldn't wait to watch it at the same time dreading it's conclusion. In this season, Nate and Brenda, the ultimate on/off couple finally get married, but Nate screws this up by having a small affair. David and Keith (One of the most realistic Gay couples in TV or Movie history) finally decide to adopt kids, but while they both feel the true responsibility of raising children, David fears Keith's heterosexual desires will take over. Ruth has to deal with her husband, George returning from his stay in a mental hospital after obsessing over his bomb shelter. Rico, the Fisher's longtime friend has to deal with the rift in his marriage after cheating on her. Claire, the daughter is facing isolation after dropping out of college and works in a dead end business. Very, very true to life. As the season and series winds down, we look back at the many things that happened to the Fishers and their friends. Nate was diagnosed with a defect in his heart, Ruth tries to deal with her husband dying and fix the space between her and her sister Sarah, Claire got pregnant and had to abort her child, and David had to keep his gay secret away from his loved ones for the beginning, and many more events happened both sad and happy.
Then comes the final episodes.
To say that the final episodes of Six Feet Under were moving and haunting is a huge understatement. The final episodes were one of the biggest doses of reality from a TV show. I laughed at some of the quips characters made, I cried when they moved on, and at the episode where it's central character Nate dies before it's fully over. His funeral was so heart wrenching, the family coping with the death of Nate was moving and everything just splendid.
All of this leaded up to the last episode of Six Feet Under. And possibly the best.
In Six Feet Under's last episode, all the loose ends are tied, characters reunited and it seems perfect. Just you wait for those final five minutes. In those five minutes alone, I have cried harder then ever at any book, movie or song. Watching every character I loved die was so shattering and just incredibly done. The way it ended doesn't need any changes or suggestions to improve, it just flat out delivered. The song, 'Breathe Me' by Sia was pitch perfect and worked amazingly with the finale. Funny how in the beginning I wished it never ended, now I'm glad it ended perfectly and at the right time. So watch the final episode if Six Feet Under, I'm sure you won't regret it.
Titanic (1997)
Icebergs aren't the only disaster in this Blockbuster piece of Cinematic Crap
When I was around 5, Titanic came out and my parents had seen it in theaters and hated it. I, however found a big love for the movie, my friends played Titanic on the playground, my friend owned the video and I eventually saw it, well half of it since I wasn't ready for the distress and peril. As I grew, I learned how cheesy, formulaic and just plain god awful this movie was.
To start off, I think that the scenery, costumes and sets are magnificent, and some of the characters give life in their roles (The man who played the Captain, Victor Garber and Kathy Bates) the rest, however are just irritating and trying too hard to make their performance stand out. And they do, just not in a good way. Kate Winslet is just a snobby girl who obviously is misunderstood and wishes her mother would listen to her, Leonardo Dicaprio is just a vile, poor boy who seems an awful lot like a rude and bratty version of Tramp(Who is from a rich girl meets poor boy story that works, "Lady and the Tramp.") Billy Zane plays Rose's Fiancé, Cal and uses an accent that mocks the British as do most of the other supporting actors. Plus, Cal is convinced that the ship is unsinkable, as is everyone, except Rose who is "educated" (apparently knowing who Freud is makes her a smart scholar.) But she's a girl! Why listen to her?! This Ship is Unsinakble! It is she who notices that they're aren't enough lifeboats, but is reassured once again by another man that the ship can't and won't sink. Enoguh on that, let us talk about the main plot.
Titanic was a ship that was to sail from Ireland to New York, we all know that. But, it seems that the Director, James Cameron (Who is usually a good director and who redeemed himself with Ghosts of the Abyss.) does not know anything but that small fact, and that many Irish people were in third class. The many wonderful stories about the ship, not that the death of many people is a good thing, but that the tales survivors have passed down about their voyage on the Titanic. If James contacted the few still alive or read a book, he would maybe make this film get two stars for researching the stories of the ships passengers. Anyway, Rose is on the ship with her mother and fiancé, but she is not happy. Jack is a poor boy who wins tickets to the Titanic in a game of poker and lives his life to its fullest. They meat while suicidal Rose is about to jump and Jack won't let her. If this were the real world, any chance that these two would meet, or that she would even come near the third class deck would be very slim. So long story short, he saves her from falling. While doing so, the police hear screams coming from her and when they arrive, it appears that he is raping her. They arrest Jack, but Rose says that he saved her and he goes scotch free. Then, their bond begins.
Already, within the first forty five minutes am I bored, waiting for the ship to sink and not center around these two bratty kids who never even existed, but the story makes them as big as the ship itself. So these two become friends and Jack teaches Rose how to live a little, which means he gets her to hock spit and dance at a drunken third class party and escape the upper prestigious class. Soon Rose begins to realize, Do I even love Cal? Is Jack the one for me? He understands her and she understands him, unfortunately her mother disapproves of their romance because he's poor and she's engaged. Rose then tries to end her romance with Jack, but like every other romance movie she goes with the man she just met and apparently the choice was right. They stand on the edge of the ship and "fly," he draws her nude only wearing her necklace Cal gave to her as an engagement present. If you have been living in a cave or hopefully haven't heard of Titanic, these scenes are none as its most memorable, as is their sex scene in the back of a car. Luckily, the iceberg hits and all hell breaks loose. After Cal insisting it won't sink it does! And nobody listen to Rose! Cal wants her, but she says, "I'd rather be a whore then your wife." Soon enough, Jack and Rose are together in the water all cold and near death, but they can still churn out cinematic waste. While watching it, I found their love being broken not as important as the many people dying right next to them. And before you know it, Jack dies. It would be pretty obvious because when a disaster occurs, one of the lovers is bound to die. Eventually, selfish Rose is rescued and calls herself Rose Dawson, which makes me laugh. She knows him for two days and then considers their little unimportant romance like marriage, Please. The end is when the diamond the explorers are searching for isn't found, Rose has it, she dumps it over the edge and then meets Jack in heaven. There, I saved you three hours of your life.
Adding on to the boring love story, the music sounds like Enya half the time and the rest like music you hear in a Nordstrom's store at the mall(the theme is sung by sea wench Celene Dion another disaster for the film). The script sounds like a dreary English paper using vocabulary words I learned in seventh grade. At least it is when the two lovebirds aren't screaming "Jack! Jack!" or "Rose!!" The star goes to scenery, and it stays that way.
Blue Velvet (1986)
A Disturbing, compelling and without a doubt Excellent film.
From the start of Blue Velvet, which is a man who is hosing his garden suddenly has a heart attack (And I believe water in his ear) This brings you, the viewer of this movie to either turn back now, or be lured into the dark and mysterious undergrounds of Blue Vlevet.
The Main Character, Jeffery Beaumont(Kyle MacLachlan) is a simple man with a sickly father in the hospital who one day discovers a severed ear in a field. This is a bizarre finding, considering the town has a radio station who support the town of Lumberton and it's main resource, well lumber. But in a David Lynch Film, everything you think you know is thrown out the back door and weird is the norm.
After showing this ear to Lumberton's head detective, John Williams, who just so happens to have a young daughter, Sandy (The naive Laura Dern who totally changes her role in another Lynch film, Wild at Heart) To make a long story short, Sandy knows something about this ear, and about a disturbed woman who also knows about the ear. She is a nightclub singer named Dorthey Vallens(Issabella Rossalini portraying one of if not the most disturbed and humiliated women ever in a film) Jeffery is anxious find out about the ear and about the woman, and then the story goes from slightly odd and seemingly harmless to disturbing and unsettling. This happens when you first see Frank Booth, one of the creepiest rapist/villain you could find anywhere. But, before he appears, Jeffery Beaumont, who is trying to find out evidence about Dorthey, and is caught hiding in her closet and accused of being a peeping tom freak who gets sick pleasure by watching women change their clothes. Soon, he is forced to strip and then has to hide in the closet and watch Dorthey be degraded by Frank in the most horrible and disturbing scene filmed. This is only the beginning.
After this, we learn that frank has Dorthey's child and husband who is one ear short. Not only that, but we dive deeper into the creepy world only David Lynch can create. This includes an unforgettable evening and scene with Ben, a bizarre pimp with an equally bizarre behavior, (Not many people lip sync to Roy Orrbison's In Dreams) as well as Dorthey being dumped on the front lawn naked. All of these events lead up to an ending that is actually happy and resolves all of the problems, which is only as odd as Frank.
I recommend this film only to people who are mature and have a strong stomach. I won't say an age, because some teens can handle it, while some adults cannot. If any part of this review unsettles you, the you shouldn't see this film, if not then enjoy this masterpiece, Blue Velvet.
High School Musical (2006)
Not as good as Rent, but not as bad as Cats
High School Musical if you think about it, is basically Grease for the new generation mixed with Romeo and Juilet. The story line is pretty easy, boy meets girl over vacation, boy can be different than he is with his friends when with the girl, boy is popular girl is mathlete(or the other way around,)boy and girl can't be together, in the end it is either sad tragedy, or light hearted and slightly UN realistic when everyone is friends and they all are happy and have a girlfriend/boyfriend. The odd part is when people told me how cool it was, I thought it would be some lame Disney movie to market another very bad pop star, which it probably will be thanks to all of its popularity. The good thing is that I just love movies that have some theater group(Camp) or is a musical (West Side Story, Rent)usually. Musicals can be bad, that means they are either a) Badly written, b) The musical is Seussical, or c) Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote it. This movie isn't going to be a classic musical even if Julie Andrews' Cinderella by Rogers and Hammerstein was on TV, but it isn't truly god awful. High School Musical starts on New Year's Eve when the Rico Suave of High School Troy(The Danny Zuco of the movie) meets Gabriella.(The Sandy of the movie)She's an out of towner, he's a homeboy to his High School. The fates meet when they are asked to do a Kariokie and they are good. Later, they meet in High School(like Grease) and are talking, but wait! He's the hot shot Basketball star, she's some dowdy Mathlete new girl. They can't be together in this society! But they can and everyone is happy and does a lame dance number in the end. Mostly, it's what you would expect from a Disney Channel Movie, but it isn't Stuck in the Suburbs bad. To sum it up, High school is a movie that takes an old musical, and makes it relevant for our day and age, and is sure to launch more Disney Channel stars into recording artists. Even if it is corny, trust me, I'd rather one of this than a million of the dreadful performances of Cats any day.
Catwoman (2004)
So Trashy, So Awful, and So Watchable.
In Catwoman, an awful train wreck of a movie it begins with pictures of cats from the Egyptian times, Cat suit women and so called Catwomen. Eventually we meet Hallie Berry's Character mild mannered, quiet and UN attractive Patience Phillips, who works for Sharon Stone(Who through out the movie is an unpleasant scowling bitch) at a Make up company as the Art Designer for their magazine ads. They're famous for apparently a whole line of make up, but all they seem to supply is Beau Line a deadly face cream. Not only this, but Sharon Stone's husband is as unpleasant and cold hearted as she and is also sleeping with their make up model. Sharon is mad at him and acts like she is a five year old who never got her Barbie for Christmas. Patience has a friend, played by the otherwise talented Alex Borstein(More well known as the voice of Lois Griffin on Family Guy)as Sally, her wisecracking friend who makes awful wisecracks through out the movie, AND is addicted to Beau Line which causes her to faint and keep her under hospital care. After we assemble these characters, we show Patience and her daily life. This includes her trying and failing at stopping a party next door, and trying to save a kitty and almost killing herself, but is saved by Benjamin Bratt, or Mr. Ex Julia Roberts. He's a cop(again), she's an artist with make up, so opposites attract. Pretty soon, Beau Line is ready to ship in a week or so, and Patience finds out that it's deadly and damages skin severely(Which from what I've heard sounds like Batman, or I'm just mixing up my movies.) They find out that she found out and kill her. Eventually, cats find her and after saving a cat becomes reborn as cat woman.
A problem I had was that Hallie Berry, as talented as she is abuses her Cat powers by playing Ben Bratt 1 on 1 in basketball, and not only eats tuna like a junkie,but orders milk at a bar, and is attached to a ball of catnip. Some other parts involve a makeover in 5 seconds, Catwoman learns how to use a whip after one try, and robs, but gives almost every item back, and the most famous part, when Patience struts out in an S&M style cat suit as Catwoman. Also, the scenes with Sharon Stone are just as unpleasant as the last. She never smiles, kills her husband and frames Catwoman, and just has an icy voice that makes her the irritating Ice Queen she really is. Also, who thought of the idea of a Shut in Cat lady as one of Catwoman's friends anyway? Or who came up with the soundtrack sounding like music at an orgy or a rave.
All in all, this movie is like i said terrible, but watchable, on HBO don't rent, cause you won't want to pay for this hairball of a popcorn flick.
Late Night Shopping (2001)
Much better than American romantic movies
After eying this movie at the local library, I thought I'd rent it. The set up sounded interesting, and My cousin lives in Glasgow. It was very well done, the acting believable so the workers who watch this movie will relate, the set ups are funny like when one person car has a bad radio station playing only bad 80's love songs, which in the end is works like normal. And it's also got some sad moments like when a senior worker gets a heart attack, and the pain of being cheated on. Plus it has wit and sarcasm.And Each of the friends managing their jobs is just painful but fun, and makes you maybe want a night shift job. Definitely a film not to miss. So check this movie out at a video store. You will love it. Ben