IMDB No. One Hundred and Six

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Imdb No. 106
Gladiator (2000)

I've only seen this film twice and upon seeing it the second time I realised why I waited eleven years to see it again. This film seems to be the best part of Spartacus, just overly drawn out. The difference is I cared for Spartacus's cause. Here we meet Maximus a general who decimates everyone. He gets screwed over. Then decimates some more. There is no struggle for him. He seems to cope well from going from a respected general to an enslaved gladiator. So while the film may look pretty and be an all-encompassing epic the lack of care dealt with the characters really lets the film down. Considering the film isn't plot heavy Maximus just groans through nearly 3 hours of slaughtering which really affcets the vieewing pleasure. Maximus isn't the type of guy I would deem a hero and I doubt any other person would think of him when compiling a list of films greatest heroes. But he does try to restore Rome and I guess he should get props to that.
Any other complaints?
Sure, in any exterior shot of the Colosseum, in which its granduer is paraded there is always a plethora of birds flying away. But not like a few here and there. BUt what seems to be hundreds and thousands, enough to notice and be like 'That's a shit load of birds.'

6/10

IMDB No. One Hundred and Fifty-Two

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Imdb No. 152
The Big Lebowski

Everyones favourite movie. What I love about this film is the characters. They are just so complete and exist fully inside of this film that it is such a joy to watch them do anything. ANd I guess that's the point. The film isn't really about anything, The same way Seinfeld isn't about anything. These characters don't have any growth, no arc and yet we want more from them. The Dude especially.
The dialogue is quick, witty and funny. The best you can expect from the Cohen brothers. The costumes are so well designed for the characters that you know exactly what kind of person you are dealing with the moment you meet them. This is one of the great assets the Cohen brothers have with their storytelling. I would love to see an animated film by the duo just to see the designs of the characters.

9/10

IMDB No. Two Hundred and Twenty-Four

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Imdb no. 224
Good Will Hunting
I really enjoyed GWH but I found it all to be a little too pretentious. WHat I mean to say that here is Will this sad little fella with a couple of friends but by the end of the film everyone wants to help him. No-one goes 'Fine if you want to be a little bitch, be one.' It feels like everyone is in love with him and I can't see why. Other than that it was really good. Especially how Robin Williams character teases issues and information from Will by giving stuff up about himself. That whole dynamic is played off the emotions of essentially two lost little boys trying to cope with life. Minnie Driver as Will's love interest just seemed too good to be true. She wasn't like all the other college students coasting through on their parents money, she like Will was finding her own way. But I can't help but feel that her character was just too good. And the way Will just leaves his friends, like Community points out it just seems a little off that his best friend's part of the day is when he goes to pick Will up and Will isn't there. I get that he means well and he wants him to fulfill his potential but the way its made out and how Will frives into the sunset it just seems like he will never see those guys again. One of the reasons why i found the film a little pomous because that part could have easily been left out but it is in there just to have that quote, just to be like 'yeah that seems deep'. It isn't. It's odd and slightly self-deprecating.

8/10

Pretty Sure She Dealt It

Flash

So a couple of weeks ago now we went and saw the band Little Red down at the Hi-Fi bar.
To be honest it wasn't great. They didn't come out until 10.30pm and only played an hour set. Meanwhile in the shitty crowd we were in (shitty because 95% of the people there were douches that only knew Slow Motion and Rock It. Not even my favourites. They just stood there for the rest of the songs having no clue what they were) someone kept farting. THE WHOLE NIGHT. Now I assumed these farts were permeating from this blonde "lady" in white.
How did I come to this conclusion?
Well for one thing the farts smelt like girl farts. Not as brutish and in your face as guy face but more sneaky and attacks most of the senses. it was pretty horrendous.
Why did I think it was her?
Well she was in front of us and she looked pretty filthy and I'm sure she was drinking beer which would have added to her uncontrollable bowel issues. Plus her drunk friend was really small. Like really small. Not midget but you could be excused for thinking so.
Plus she looked like she's had kids, probably a single mother, so I bet her parts are pretty loose.
That's not even the end of the story.
After the concert we were walking to the car and we passed some of the band about to have a smoke.
I went up to one of them coz here I was thinking it would be pretty cool.
I'm like 'Hey how you going?'
'Hey man, I'm fucking trashed yeah?' (drops joint) 'Don't have a lighter do you?'
'No I don't. SO how was the show?'
'Oh t was so shit yeah. Not even the best we've played.'

And this goes on for a little while after I become too tired to deal with incoherent drunk talk. But it made me upset that an actual member of the band thought it was a crap gig. Hows about don't get über smashed when performing. Ruined my birthday week.

Coming Right Up......

Review: Megamind

I was very reluctant to see Megamind as my brother claimed that it was crapper than Monsters vs Aliens. And as a friend once said 'You wouldn't go to a restaurant KNOWING that the food will be shit.'
Alas that was not the case with Megamind. I could see how it could be shit but I think it comes off as one of Dreamworks little gems.
I could go on about the plot but its been done before and fairly unexciting.
Hero. Villian. Villian kills Hero. Villian bored because he killed Hero. Villian makes new Hero. Hero becomes Villian. Villian becomes Hero.
Thats it.
But I distinctly remember laughing out loud in this film which means I enjoyed it. I think that Will Ferrell and whoever else had to bring Megamind to life did a great job. He wasn't a pansy villian with the capacity for good. He was a villian but shit at it in comparison to the heroics of MetroMan.
Enjoyable but nothing awesomely new.

5 out of 10

Review: Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone is the directorial debut by Ben Affleck oh and what a debut.
The film is this new version of film noir set in contemporary Boston where a little girl has gone missing.
It is based on the fourth novel by Dennis Lehane writer of Mystic River.
The girl's Aunt and Uncle come to PI Casey Affleck, who by the way does such a fantastic job of a man having both legs in two different worlds, and his partner/lady friend played by Michelle Monaghan (who is currently in Source Code) to find their niece.
The aforementioned two worlds are the normal, upright people of the world and the scum who deal in drugs and death for a living and make their community a shit hole. Affleck's character Patrick Kenzie seems to have belonged to the latter and only recently tried to make himself a better man. Which might explain his choice in the end of the film.
Kenzie and Gennaro partner up with two cops played by Ed Harris and John Ashton. I wont ruin any plot details here but things aren't all what that appear they be. They're better or worse. Depends on your point of view and moral code.
Amy Ryan plays the little girl's mother. You might recognise her as Holly Flax from The Office. I didn't.
She plays a pus of a person more interested in getting high, laid and drunk than the well being of her daughter. If anyone is a down right villain in this film I would call her it, you might say different and you could be right.
What you want from a good film is to have feelings and emotions about it and weeks later I am still thinking about the decisions of the characters and the outcome of the plot.

9 out of 10