Friday Movie Marathon

It rained all day yesterday. Time to stay in and have a marathon. I went to the library and picked up some flicks.

The Godfather


Yes I finally watched it. I've always told people that my generation was stuck in between a lot of great movies. I was to young to see Star Wars. I didn't watch E.T. til I was eighteen. I was like three when it came out! And I never watched the "greatest movie ever made," The Godfather.

I loved it. I kind of new some plot points and thought it would mess it up. But there are like three different climaxes. I loved Sonny, played by James Caan. He reminds me of me at 21. Michael is the man though. He didn't care much about the business until he had to do be a man and take control. He seemed real calm most of the time, but could get crazy any second. And everyone knew it, so they didn't mistake his meekness for weakness.

Another that got me was the old school romance between Michael and the Italian girl. He went and got permission from the dad. And courted her like a man.

Different aspects of the Godfather resonate with each person. The respect theme throughout the movie is what got me. Respect for family. Respect for friends. And most of all, respect for the self. Great movie.

Marie Antoinette


I don't care for Kirsten Dunst, but I like Sofia Coppola. She directed the hell out of Lost In Translation, and she tried her best with this one. Dunst was just so bad. She killed the movie. She's got this lifeless look on her face that is depressing. Obviously Scarlett Johanssen was busy. There's no way Dunst was the first choice. A mannequin would've given them better expressions, and at a cheaper price too.

It definitely had some potential though. Coppola is a great director and I'm sure she'll come up with something else soon.

Iraq In Fragments


Can't resist a documentary. It was calm, but stylish. reserved, and powerful. It's weird to say but it was a chilled out, exciting movie.

I'm glad the director made it stylish. You've seen those docs that want to be soo respectful and serene that they forget they're making a movie for entertainment. This guy stayed true to the art form and the subjects.

What happens in it? Simple, there are three separate stories. We follow a young Iraqi boy in Baghdad who works in his uncle's motorcycle shop. Then we go south and follow an entire city controlled by Shiite extremists. Then up north to a Kurdish farm. Where a boy has to decide to go to school or tend the farm with his dad.

Wisdom from an old Kurdish farmer:

"There are two men wrestling." Someone asks, "Who's side is God on?"
"The winner. God is always on the side of the winner."




Great movie.

Bourne Again

Lately, I've been hating on the blockbusters. I thought 300 sucked. I hated Transformers. So it's probably not much of a surprise that I was yawning through The Bourne Ultimatum.

Why the hell are we still so interested in the world of secret agents? Is it really that cool to see a guy running from the law? I can understand if it was made with a story that really sucked you in. With crazy villains and cool heroes. But just an agent-on-the-run movie for it's own sake? Boring.

The new James Bond movie is the way to make a secret agent flick.



Paul Greengrass is a hack by the way. You think after a chilled out movie like United 93(which was terrible by the way) he'd bring some control to an action pic. Wrong! You want to see an example of a good drama/thriller director putting life into a popcorn movie? Christopher Nolan with Batman Begins. You remember in Memento how he had his editor cut the flashback scenes. And how he brought that same style to Batman. PERFECT. Its little things like that that are the perfect example of a talented director that could keep his classiness and technique and still have fun with a movie. If only Greengrass could've taken some notes.



I'm wondering why the critics are giving Bourne such good reviews. It's probably cause no one pays attention to them any more. They don't want to seem like the old fuddy duddy critics who can't enjoy a fun movie. So they cater to these crap films in hopes of getting some street cred.

I blame Roger Ebert. I saw this trend start after he gave XXX four stars. Yes; FOUR stars to a Vin Diesel stinker. That movie was TERRIBLE. So now every critic wants to join in and say they're cool enough to like the garbage kids are watching.



I'll admit the Bourne Supremacy was watchable. But overall I'm glad the Bourne trilogy is over. Report card: 'Identity' F, 'Supremacy' B-, 'Ultimatum' D+

(editor's note: It seems that Ebert has recently downgraded his XXX review to 31/2 stars.)