I know I said I was going to do this more often, but life, well, it happens. And that's a good thing right?
So I've got four film reviews for this blog. Two are fairly recent (one is still in theaters and the other was released last year) and the other two, well...their much older.
Blue Like Jazz is a movie that I've been waiting for for a long time. It's about this kid who grew up in a very religious environment (something I can relate to growing up in a po-dunk town in Rural Utah...it looks like this place...cause that movie was filmed there). His parents split up when he was a kid and he doesn't have the greatest relationship with his dad. So he's getting ready to go do college when something rather drastic happens and he takes his dad's advice and goes to a different college than what he had planned. There he goes on a journey of self exploration. In his journey he finds that he himself represents what he hates most about his past. One of the things I think I liked most about this movie is that, although partying is part of college life, that wasn't the focus. I feel like far too many movies about college can be summed up to about two things. This movie reminded me a little bit of Accepted. The story could have been told from any setting. They chose college to hit a certain audience and to help them along. The song Twentysomething by Jamie Cullum really hits my generation home. Well, the whole album really (it's my favorite album of all time).
My one true gripe about this movie is that it doesn't quite deliver enough Jazz. John Coltrane plays a major role in the development of the main character and his ending monologue is one for the poetry books (watch the movie just for that if you need to), but only John Coltrane and only his track A Love Supreme is really given any mention. Don't get me wrong, I love Coltrane, he's fantastic. But I was hoping for maybe some Miles Davis or Glenn Miller or Dave Brubeck or Duke Ellington. The Soundtrack isn't bad, it could have been so much better though.
The roll of the dice give the movie an 8/10. Everything is great, the pacing, the acting, and especially the writing. But if you're going to name your movie Blue Like Jazz, there damn well better be plenty of Jazz and Blues. It's on Netflix, so check it out. Buy it if you want to watch it without internets
Alright, say what you will about Tom Cruise's personal life, the man can act. He also picks really good movies to act in unlike...some others that are...hit and miss. Oblivion is about Tom Cruise and his red haired compatriot doing clean up after an alien invasion. I am going to spoil something for you, but really it's only a spoiler if you don't watch movies with any actual twists. The trailer gives away the first twist, which is that the aliens he thinks he's fighting aren't really aliens, but humans, but it doesn't prep you for the real twist! I gotta say, when it happened, and I knew it gonna happen, it still knocked me off my feet (which was bad cause I had the popcorn). Whoever came up with the idea for this movie deserves all the money he got paid and maybe a little bit more. It's really hard to mention the specifics about what makes this movie great without giving away some major spoilers, so suffice it to say that it's worth seeing in theaters. Besides who doesn't want to see Catherine Zeta-Jones mixed with Michelle Rodriguez? She looks like this.
The roll of the dice give it a 9/10. The acting and writing are phenomenal, but there is this sex scene and the music is like...it's from a different Oblivion and was a little too epic for a swimming pool sex moment.
ON to the foreign films. Well, they're only really foreign to us in the U.S. to them they're just movies. We'll start with the French one and move further east to India.
The movie is Vivre Sa Vie (translated most correctly to "Live One's own Life"). It's about this chick who, through unknown circumstances, gets kicked out of her apartment and has to start making a living as a hooker. Not the most friendly of plot lines, but one that is done in such a way that you actually feel bad for this chick. There really aren't any sex scenes and her experience with her first client is so awkward you can tell that this isn't something that she wants to do. There are a few scenes of brief nudity, but nothing really pornographic, meaning they weren't trying to arouse me with the nudity (for all the jokes I make, I due tend to be serious every once and awhile. Here's a definition for you). It was filmed in black and white and they did some fantastic camera working in the movie. I'm not sure how you'd find it, I'd almost suggest pirating it, but since I one day want sponsors on this blog I think I'll stay away from the suggestion.
The roll of the dice give it a 7/10. As much as I liked the movie, they were French and some of the lines lacked the life I think they would have if they had filmed it American style. Maybe that was done on purpose to show the lack of life of the characters they portrayed. Go watch it and see for yourself.
OKay, so India has really been like, taking a big part in a academics, books, and films (namely Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and Life of Pi which I blogged about awhile back). So it made sense to watch an older Indian film. The Music Room really could be taken as a post colonial view of India. It's about this guy, the last of a long line of wealthy landowners, whose lands are being swept up by a river and his financial and emotional decline. The focus of his social status lies in his Music room where he and all his friends come over listen to whats hip and get high. Sounds pretty sweet to me. But tragedy after tragedy befalls our protagonist and yeah...it would make for a good paper if you ever take a film class or if you, like me, like post-colonial theory on literature and movies (if you want to get your feet wet with that, here you go). There were a few parts that, um, made me laugh pretty hard. Unfortunately I can't find a way to even give you a hint as to what was going on in that particular scene. But we, me and the guys I watch movies with, were laughing pretty hard for awhile.
The roll of the dice give the film a 6/10. For an Indian movie it drags and time tends to leap making it hard to follow. The acting is done well and the writing works too. I think though, that it would have worked better as a book than a film.
Well there you go you movie gluttons. 4 movies that I watched in the past week. I'm going to be starting a grave shift soon and we'll see how that affects my ability to keep this thing going. Also, I'm thinking about doing video reviews in addition to the blog and linking the two together. Let me know in the comments if you think that's a good idea.
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