Die Hard: My Favorite Christmas Movie

When it comes to my generation, I believe there are certain movies that we hear about so many times while watching other movies that we either feel like we've seen them already, or don't want to because we're already tired of it. Schindler's List, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shawshank Redemption, you get it. These among many others have essentially sent the standard for their respective genres and it is because of this that they are always being compared to new movies that come out. My point being, Die Hard is such a film. Everybody I know has heard of it, they know Bruce Willis is in it, but they refuse to watch it. Why? Probably because it's old and no genre is as saturated with filth and drivel as action. We feel like once we've seen one shoot em up movie, we seen em all. People are generally right, but it's unfortunate that is is the case because this is the action movie that every other one wants to be. There is so much going on in this film you will have to pause it and take a breath. New York City cop visits his ex-wife at her corporate building job in Los Angeles, perhaps to rekindle what they had, or maybe apologize. We never find out because as soon as he gets there the 30th floor is taken over by European terrorists. He is able to duck away with his gun, but without his shoes. And this is the way our hero is going to be for the rest of the movie. I don't want to spoil anything more, but I will say that you will enjoy watching Bruce Willis take on all 12 terrorists one at a time, each with their own reason for being there (yes, we actually get to know the anonymous henchmen in this movie) while getting kicked around a fair amount himself. Merry Christmas!

Catch the Midnight Express: It's the Only Way Out

When I think about movies that involve entrapment, or jail, I remember this movie. Midnight Express came out long before I was alive (1978) and I'm not sure how my parents came across it, but I first saw it when I was about ten years old and I didn't know what to make of it: In the first ten minutes some guy gets arrested going through Turkish airport customs for attempting to smuggle hashish strapped to his chest. My first question was, why was he trying to take that stuff with him if they were going to search everything on him? And most of all, doesn't he know that drugs are bad? I had a hard time finding sympathy for him, especially the part soon after he is told that if he identifies the person who sold it to him he will be released, he tries to make a run for it. It is at this point they shave his head and throw him into a Turkish prison, and that's where the main chunk of this movie takes place. This man is named Billy Hayes, and this is his (true) story. Watching this when I was young, I remembered all kinds of images, like Billy getting beaten for taking a blanket, his friend beaten to a pulp for trying to escape, a lot of people getting a good thrashing by the same head prison guard, who you quickly learn to hate in this movie. I didn't really understand why this guy was so mean to everybody but I knew one thing: I never wanted to see Turkey after this movie. I was only a child, but apparently everybody felt this way, because this movie killed Turkish tourism so much that it was banned in Turkey from it's release until about ten years ago. Check out this article:

http://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/The-real-Billy-Hayes-regrets-Midnight-Express-1134196.php

It discusses how the real Billy Hayes regrets the movie because the message most viewers walk away with it is, "Don't go to Turkey", instead of "Don't be an idiot and smuggle drugs" but it also tells of how many Americans to this day steer clear of Turkey because of this film. Turkey even issued a warrant for Billy's arrest, interestingly enough not after he escaped from prison, but after this movie was released. However, despite this anti Turkey slogan, everybody agrees that this movie is shot and directed beautifully. Watching this movie today I feel it hasn't aged a bit, it still brings out the same emotions as when I was younger and I always find myself rooting for Billy. A true gem of filmmaking.

Fear, Paranoia, Suspicion, Desperation: Welcome to Cube

We're gonna keep the ball rolling with movies that mess with your head. Last post we discussed Donnie Darko and as soon as I remembered that movie another came to mind; hence this post. Here comes a little film with an equally little budget from Canada, how good can it be? This were my thoughts as I put Cube in the dvd player, not knowing what to expect. The first thing you see is a man who wakes up in odd room; cubical in dimensions, with a door on each wall, one on the ceiling, and one on the floor. He opens a door, and beyond it is the same type of room, except a different color. As he continues to explore we learn at his expense that this place is not only confusing to navigate, but is booby trapped. I imagine half of the movie's budget was used in this guys demise, and the funny thing is that he is never mentioned again after that. But this opening scene succeeds in getting your attention and then it just never lets go. We meet a group of people, all strangers to each other, who slowly realize they're all from a different walk of life and have to use their respective skills to figure a way out of the cube, but as the film goes on we see it isn't so much about the cube as it is about the human psyche and far it can go before it snaps. We see what paranoia and desperation can do to somebody in a high stress situation, and it's not pretty. Seek this one out.

Enter Donnie Darko

What can I say? I like movies that start off as something trite and cliched but end as something so different you have trouble deciding what to call it. Meet Donnie Darko (Jake Gylenhall), a teenager once again in suburbia with a pretty normal mom, dad, younger sister, and life. Until of course, one day he wakes up in the middle of the night and sees visions of a rabbit, or perhaps somebody in a rabbit suit, stating only a time period in which the world will end. In the morning, he wakes up in the middle of a golf course with no recollection of how he got there and comes to see that a jet engine has crashed into his house, destroying his room. This of course means that the vision he had saved his life because he left his room to answer it, but what does it mean? And who is that infernal rabbit? These are the questions along with many more that you will find yourself asking throughout the course of this film, and you will wait eagerly till the end to find out the mystery of Donnie Darko in this psychological film.

A good review and the trailer can be viewed here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/

American Beauty: Existentialism for the Masses

1999 in my opinion, was a good year. We've already discussed Fight Club and it's message to America, now in the same year comes another movie with a big budget and all star cast that may fool you into thinking it's a certain type of movie, but you slowly find out that you are in for a ride. Kevin Spacey stars in this glimpse of what appears to be an ordinary suburban family in Anytime, USA. We have a mom, dad, and of course teenage daughter. Fast foward a little more, and right across the street we meet another seemingly normal famly: An ex-marine, homophobic father and his wife who seems to have suffered from some kind of extreme mental disease and as a result says very little, along with their teenage son who has a fancy for videotaping things around him, such as a dead bird or even a dead person. It appears to be a pretty normal setup and you can probably already imagine what happens between the teenagers, but it is only a matter of time before the true nature of each of these characters is slowly revealed. One of the first things you see in the movie is Kevin Spacey touching himself in the shower before work, narrating: "Look at me. Jerking off in the shower. This will be the high point of my day. It's all downhill from here." Every character has their own personal conflicts and insecurities, but the last thing they want to do is reveal them, and as a result they are all pushed to do very drastic things, such as have an affair, and even murder. But I've already said too much. Throughout all of this drama in suburbia there is a message for the viewer, advertised by the tagline, "Look Closer". Although the movie was very successful, grossing over 300 million worldwide, and many have walked away from the movie with a powerful statement in their mind, critics will say that the statement against the materialistic lives we live is a bit contrived and almost pretentious, almost as if they dumbed down the message of the movie so that mainstream audiences could understand it. There is a certain scene where the teenage boy shows a video where he filmed a plastic bag in the wind, saying it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It sounds a bit silly, but I will say that the great performances and terrific score carry this movie through it's 'weak points'. Definitely check this one out.

Fight Club: Mischief. Mayhem. Soap.

In 1999, a little movie called Fight Club made it's debut to theaters all across America. Based on the Chuck Palahnuik novel by the same name, it illustrates the emotional journey of a soap salesman and a white collar office employee as they discover a way to vent their aggression (by beating each other up) one night after drinking. Before they know it, many other disgruntled workers are watching them and some even want a turn in the ring, giving birth to what they called Fight Club. At first glance it seems like another action movie with a slightly different premise, as illustrated by this trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi781228825/

And it was this mismatched marketing campaign that would lead to this film tanking in the box office. And it's a shame, because this movie is not only brilliantly acted and shot stylishly, but is quite a commentary on the consumer driven, capitalistic America that we live in today. But even that is only one of the many themes of the movie. In it's 2 1/2 hour running time the viewer sees concepts that probably could have had their own movie, such as one of the character's schemes to make soap from human fat that he steals from a liposuction clinic and sells to department stores at $20 a pop, or even a collection of books that the narrator of the movie finds titled something like "I am Jack's Liver" or "I am Jack's Colon", a recurring joke in the movie. The idea of an underground boxing club is interesting enough and yet it is only secondary here. And in the midst of all of this chaos there is a twist near the end of the film that will completely shock you. I don't want to spoil it, but anybody who wants to see an action movie with some depth, or a complex movie with some fight scenes owe it to themselves to check this one out.