Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Wednesday's Movie Marathon

This past Thanksgiving weekend my family and I had a movie marathon weekend. First we gorged on movie trailers, which was extremely exciting. Then we spent an hour or so at Blockbuster- the new releases isle. Three movies chosen. The second night we played more trailers off the Movies On Demand menu. One movie chosen. The third night we were in the mood for something spooky, but not gory.
Here are my thoughts, from least favorite to most enjoyable.

FRANKLYN
I have no idea what this movie is about.



It was chosen because it's description in the "On Demand" menu said it was about parallel worlds, which is usually an easy win with me. However, in this case the eerie, dark world (think "Dark City," only not nearly as good)- though beautiful- made absolutely no sense to me until I read the Wikipedia entry about the movie. And then there's Eva Green who's suicidal with an imaginary red-haired twin.







Ryan Phillippe in the evil alter-world. I think it was a drug-induced dillusion, though cannot be certain.











ANGELS AND DEMONS


It was fun, certainly exciting-- albeit heavy-handed in a number of ways (including the initial anti-Vatican messages, book-ended with pro-Christianity sentiment) in that true Hollywood style where nothing's subtle. But it was a fast-paced scavenger hunt through Rome, with lots of cinematic moments. Plus, I still like Tom Hanks. Plus, my parents have a BlueRay DVD player.




THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3
I'm so glad Denzel swore off love scenes. Sigh.


This was a good movie! As a New Yorker, I find the idea of out-of-control subway cars to be very very scary!
And John Travolta sort of looks like a the long-lost (gay) member of U2. And that's entertaining!






TRICK R' TREAT


This was our scary-movie fix. The movie covers Halloween in suburbia. It's boo-scary and cringing, terrifying fear at once, with a vintage-horror feel. There's teenagers, creepy high school principals, local folklore, zombie kids, and sexy vampires.















THE FALL (BY TARSEM)

Let me just take all the credit up front and let you know that this was MY Blockbuster pick. My family was wary of my choice, but once this movie started, everyone became pulled into this amazingly vivid story.
And it has since become one of my all-time favorite movies.

Click on the movie's name above to watch the trailer.

I am a sucker for spectacle and fantasy and stories within stories. This is all of that-- and it has a plot! And it takes place in 1940s Los Angeles. And it stars Lee Pace (of "Pushing Up Dasies") and when he's the Blue Bandit, he's wearing eye liner and normally I'm not into that kind of thing but my goodness it works here.

It's one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, so here are some pictures.










1 comment:

Unknown said...

Did you forget that one movie, the worst one: Franklyn, cost over $400 to watch? There is some life lesson to be learned from that.
I too noticed how your family rallied round your choice of movie. It's a credit to them and says a lot about what family means. Also, perhaps you are in the role of being the families collective unconscious.