Last month I came to the conclusion that I need to watch more movies. Between the time I spend at work and my other media habits, I was slacking on my Netflix rentals and felt there were some flicks I needed to add to my resume. So I set out to watch 25 movies in the course of 30 days. Not all were classics, not all were good, not all were even watchable, but I tried to pepper myself all around and watch different genres and eras. Below are my “four sentence reviews” for the 27 movies I ended up watching. Enjoy.
#1 Blade Runner
I began with this because I felt bad for never having seen it. I now understand why its the quintessential science fiction film. Harrison Ford has always played “Harrison Ford.” Amazing visuals for its era.
#2 28 Days Later
It had a great sense of style, was well paced, and the acting was great. It never felt campy in the way that some flicks of the genre do. Fast Zombies are scary. An outbreak like that might ease traffic congestion in London.
#3 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I could tell this was a pretty good movie, but I just didn’t care. As much as I liked Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, I didn’t feel invested in the outcome of their struggles. Michael Gondry should stick to music videos. I’ve come to realize I’m not a fan of writer Charlie Kaufman.
#4 Invincible
It’s biggest flaw is that there wasn’t anything wrong with it. As a inspirational Disney movie, it did exactly what it set out to do. It would be interesting to see how a different production company would have treated the same story. Watch it if you need a little motivation to work hard.
#5 Remo Williams
Wow. This 1985 movie starring Fred Ward was really bad in that enjoyable sort of way. It’s idiosyncrasies are its greatest strengths. It has the best “bullet dodging” in any film made before The Matrix.
#6 John Carpenter’s The Fog
A well told ghost story that I liked because it didn’t try to dress up its premise. As one of Carpenter’s earlier theatrical releases, you can see his visual composition and motifs developing. The simple use of fog machines and flashing lights validated all the work Kevin and I did on The House Between. Keeps me from wanting to move to a small coastal town.
#7 Three Businessmen
A truly brilliant film about globalization, the impact of technology, and hypermodernism. The entire plot serves as the film’s MacGuffin (the device that drives the story forward but is ultimately not important to the film’s “meaning”). It’s a movie that’s over before you know it and though you might feel nothing happened, it’s packed with layers of meaning. Ghost Riders in the Sky.
#8 Accepted
This was a “I’ve had four drinks and I have nothing to do” watch. It’s probably the only way to enjoy it, as the story was trite and none of the characters stood out. I recall laughing a few times but don’t remember why. The female lead is a POA.
#9 Dark City
I can’t tell whether this was a good concept with poor execution or a poor concept with good execution. I think it was that its 90 minutes actually felt a little rushed for such a deep concept. The noir/sci-fi mix was very enjoyable even if other parts were flawed. Oh, and three years before he was Jack Bauer, Keifer had a gun-pointed “we don’t have much time” line.
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