Movie Review: Mystic River (2003)

I had no real reason to review this movie. It was on tv last night, and that rewatch made me wanna talk about it. So no proper reason. I mean, I could tie it into Eastwood’s new movie “The Mule”, but… nah.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Mystic River”.

After one of them suffers a horrific family tragedy, three childhood friends (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon) find their lives change in some dark, shattering ways. So now we have our crime-drama. And I loved the story here. It’s a slowly burning, somber, and contemplative drama, focusing more on showing what happens within people’s minds after they experience something horrific, rather than a typical murder mystery. This is what I meant with the somber and contemplative. Yes, you do have the murder investigation, but it’s really more of a character drama than a police procedural. And I find it all extremely engaging, gut-wrenching, and incredibly well done.

The characters in this are flawed, layered, damaged, and just overall really interesting. First up we have Sean Penn as Jimmy Markum, a former criminal turned legit businessman. He’s the man who suffered the family tragedy that kicks the plot into gear, and to see him try to deal with it, especially as a former criminal, is quite an interesting journey. And Penn is fantastic in the role. Next we have Tim Robbins as Dave Boyle, the second of the main trio. As a boy, something happened to him that changed his life forever. And recent events put some of those memories back into his mind, which really gives him some interesting character development. And Robbins is fantastic in the role. And then we have Kevin Bacon as Sean Devine, a cop and the third of the childhood friends. He’s the one investigating the death of Markum’s family member, while also kind of dealing with a personal thing in the background. He probably has the least interesting arc of all the characters, but I still find him to be quite interesting. And Bacon is great in the role. We also get supporting turns from people like Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Kevin Chapman, Spencer Treat Clark, John Doman, Tom Guiry, and more, all doing very well in their respective roles.

The score for the movie was composed by… Clint Eastwood. And I think he did a good job with it. It’s emotional, it’s a little eerie, and it just works very well within the various scenes that it can be heard. Yeah, it’s good.

Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane (AKA my favorite author), this movie was directed by Clint Eastwood. And I think he did a fantastic job on that front, directing it with an emotional intimacy that brings us close to the characters, while still allowing for a sense of scale to capture every element of this sweeping tale of personal tragedy. He also brings a decent bit of suspense to it, especially at a certain point in the movie which had me fully locked to the screen.

This movie has been very well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 88% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 84/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 8,0/10. The movie won two Oscars in the categories of Best actor (Penn) and best supporting actor (Robbins). It also got an additional four nominations in the categories of Best picture, best director, best supporting actress (Harden), and best adapted screenplay.

“Mystic River” is a fantastic crime-drama. It has a great plot, really good characters, fantastic performances, really good music, and great directing. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Mystic River” is a 9,89/10. Which of course means that it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “Mystic River” is now completed.

Tragedy hits us all in different ways. Hug your loved ones while you can.

Movie Review: Arlington Road (1999)

The 90s. Now, while that isn’t the most relevant thing to this movie, I just wanna take a second to mention what a great decade that was for film. Especially thrillers, as we got so many interesting and varied kinds of thrillers out of the decade. Let’s just give a nod or a clap for the thrillers of the 90s.

Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to… “Arlington Road”.

Shortly after history professor Michael Faraday (Jeff Bridges) starts getting acquainted with his neighbors after an accident involving their son, he starts suspecting that there’s something a bit off with them. And we follow Michael as he investigates them to see what they may be hiding. And I must say that I really enjoyed this plot. Sure, there were a couple moments of “Really, movie?” throughout. You know, those types of conveniences that are a bit more noticeable than others? Yeah, a couple too many here, bringing the plot down a little bit. But other than those moments I thought the plot was great, filled with excellent suspense, highly engaging drama, and just a great sense of intrigue.

The characters in this are layered, flawed, and quite interesting. First up we have Jeff Bridges as Michael Faraday, the aforementioned history teacher who starts suspecting his neighbors. We find out early on that he lost his wife a while before the events of the movie, which still haunts him a little bit, which may or may not add to his paranoia throughout. And he’s quite a complex character. And Bridges is fantastic in the role. Next we have Tim Robbins as Oliver Lang, the father in the family he suspects. He’s a charming, fun, and just overall cool guy… and he may or may not be hiding something. He’s quite an interesting character. And Robbins is great in the role. And that’s all I’ll go in-depth about, since if I say more it could potentially ruin some stuff. But I can mention that in the supporting cast we see people like Joan Cusack, Spencer Treat Clark, Hope Davis, Robert Gossett, and Mason Gamble, all doing very well in their respective roles.

The score for the movie was composed by Angelo Badalamenti (with some additional tracks done by musical duo Tomandandy), and it was good. I didn’t notice it too frequently, and when I did it ranged from really good to kinda meh. Not saying any of it’s bad, since I do think all the tracks working fairly well for their respective scenes, just that I won’t find myself listening to it any time soon.

The movie was directed by Mark Pellington, and I think he did a damn good job. His direction is tight and suspenseful, often playing around with the main character’s sense of paranoia. He also plays around a lot with lighting, making for a bit of fun watching. There’s also some excellent use of the Dutch tilt in a couple scenes, perfectly encapsulating what is going on the character’s head. Really well done.

This movie has been pretty well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 62% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 65/100. Roger Ebert gave it 2/4 stars. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,2/10.

While not perfect, “Arlington Road” is still a really solid conspiracy thriller. It has a really good plot, good characters, great performances, pretty good music, and great directing. A previously mentioned, I do think there are moments throughout the plot that bring it down a little bit. Not enough to ruin it, but enough to bring the score down a little. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Arlington Road” is an 8,90/10. So while flawed, it’s still definitely worth buying.

My review of “Arlington Road” is now completed.

One more clap for 90s thrillers, they deserve it.

Movie Review: Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the continuation of “The Month of Spooks”. Time to review another horror movie… something that is the basic plan of this little “month” of mine. Thinking about it, maybe I should start it a little earlier and plan it out a little better for next year. Anyhow, time for a horror movie… yeah.

Ladies and gents, be ready to climb… “Jacob’s Ladder”.

Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) has an okay life working as a postman and living with his girlfriend Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña). However he is not a perfect everyday man. First off, he is in grief over his young son (Macaulay Culkin) who died and he is also beginning to have terrible flashbacks about his time in Vietnam. Also, he bgins seeing terrible and terrifying creatures and other things. So Jacob has to try to figure out what the hell is going on, why this is happening and also find a way to get out of it. And not only was the plot very well told, but it was also pretty scary. To be honest, the movie isn’t a straight-up horror movie, but it is also a drama/psychological thriller. And I do think that those aspects helps improve upon the movie. I also love the deep symbolism in the movie, it’s all really cool. Also, if a movie can mentally mess me up, that is pretty great. I guess I would say that this movie left the same type of psychological impact on me as “Enemy” did, and you guys probably know I loved that movie.

The characters are all flawed in some manner of speaking and they are all very interesting. Sure, not many of them get a lot of screen time, but that is still compensated for by great writing and excellent acting. Tim Robbins is fantastic as our broken and haunted protagonist. This is definitely one of the best performances I have seen him give. Sure, I haven’t seen too many Tim Robbins performances, but it’s still fuckin’ great. And Elizabeth Peña was great as his girlfriend. Everybody was great. No weak performances.

The score for “Jacob’s Ladder” was provided by composer Maurice Jarre. And you guys should know by now that I love Maurice Jarre. Every score I have heard from that man is somewhere between great and amazing in my opinion. And the score for this movie was not different at all, it is another welcome addition into Jarre’s discography. It is thought-provoking, it is beautiful and it is quite eerie. It really did fit the a horror movie/psychological thriller so it’s great that this movie is such a movie. Again, it’s by Maurice Jarre and I love basically everything by him.

The shots in this movie look pretty damn great. It was directed by Adrian Lyne who also made “Flashdance”. And he did a fantastic job with it. Also, he achieved some pretty fucking creepy and even scary things in the movie. One example is how he managed to create that scary “Shaking head” effect. Seriously, the way he achieved that without resorting to computers is simply amazing because that effect is some of the scariest shit I have ever seen in a movie.

This movie has been pretty well-received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 69% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 62/100. Roger Ebert gave it 3,5/4 stars. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,5/10.

“Jacob’s Ladder” is a horror movie with a very deep and symbolic plot, fantastic acting, terrific music, great directing and it is actually really scary. Time for my final score. *Cough cough*. My final score for “Jacob’s Ladder” is a 9,85/10. It most definitely gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

“Jacob’s Ladder” is now reviewed.

I need more Tim Robbins in my life.

Movie Review: High Fidelity (2000)

I like to think that I have a pretty varied catalogue of reviews on my blog. From westerns to dramas to sci-fi and so on. However I find it not having a lot of romantic comedies/romance movies in general. So let us have a look at one right now.

Ladies and gentlemen… “High Fidelity”.

Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is a compulsive list maker who also happens to own a record store (Sidenote: A dream job of mine). At the moment of the movie he is working on his list titled “Top Five Most Memorable Breakups”, with the fifth one currently in progress. So we get to follow him as he tries to cope with it and how he tries to find the love. Not gonna lie, this could turn out really awful and cheesy. But luckily, the plot was presented surprisingly well. They don’t present it in the regular romantic comedy way, oh no. They do it in a casual and actually kind of realistic way and not in a forced and terrible way. The story is in general very relaxed and laid back which really makes it that much better. And yes, it is also done in a very funny way that I laughed at when it was supposed to be funny.

The characters are quirky, colorful and surprisingly real. These are people that I have seen in real life, they are not just a bunch of funny characters who someone made up. None of them are your typical, cliché rom-com characters. John Cusack is great in the lead role as Rob, playing a bit of a damaged guy. Despite being the main character of the movie and ultimately a good guy, he is at the same time not your perfect good guy, which makes him all the better for it. Iben Hjejle plays his ex-girlfriend in this movie and she is really good too. Jack Black is great as Rob’s friend/co-worker. Todd Louiso who I’ve never heard of before was also really good as Rob’s more quiet friend. Everybody was great, even Tim Robbins who only had a tiny part in the movie.

Story: Really good. Acting/Characters: Really good. Soundtrack: FUCKING AMAZING! Not kidding, it is that great. The original score which is used sparingly was done by Howard Shore and that is really good. But what really stands out about the soundtrack is everything else. It is made up for the most part of pop and rock from the 70’s and 80’s and as some of you may know, that type of music is my jam. It also really fits the movie perfectly. IT is really a perfect soundtrack.

Stephen Frears did a great job directing this movie. It looks great and everything is fine. I really don’t have much to say here. I guess the only thing I can add is that this movie is based on a book by British author Nick Hornby, but that’s really all I can say.

This movie has been pretty well-received. On Rotten Tomatoes 91% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 79/100. Roger Ebert gave the movie 4/4 stars. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,6/10.

“High Fidelity” is a romantic comedy that actually really works. It has an entertaining plot, entertaining characters & great acting, a fantastic soundtrack, really good directing and it is really funny. Time for my final score. WHAT FUCKING IAN!? My final score for “High Fidelity” is a 9,84/10. It does get the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

“High Fidelity” is now reviewed.

Not gonna lie, I’m surprised I enjoyed a rom-com this much.

Movie Review: Dead Man Walking (1995)

I am a big fan of dramas. Okay, a lot of people are that, but hear me out. I am a guy who a few years back never expected to like dramas. I was a guy who thought “I am simply a fan of sci-fi, fantasy, comedy and action…nothing more”. And look at me now! 17 years old and watching movies from all genres (except horror because those movies don’t appeal to me). What am I trying to get at here you may ask? Well I am just saying that considering the movie we are taking a look at today is a drama. And that I couldn’t find anything better to write here…yeah.

Dead men and dead women…”Dead Man Walking”.

Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) is a nun. One day she receives a letter from a man sitting in death row. This man is Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) who apparently killed a guy by shooting him in the back of the head (twice) and also raping, stabbing and finally shooting his girlfriend…yikes. But he says he is innocent and says his “friend” Carl Vitello (Michael Cullen) is the one who did it. Of course the higher ups (government, law-system, etc.) thinks he is bullshitting them. But when Helen decides to go visit him she discovers more about him and gets to know him more and form a sort of bond with him. And of course the parents of the dead couple is not too happy about it when they find out and all that fun shit. Now I am gonna leave it at that because this story is fan-fucking-tastic. It is not only well directed, but also incredibly tense and even has a little emotional weight. It is also based on a true story…yeah…let that sink in for a second.

The characters like the story are based on real life. But that doesn’t say much for this movie. I think they are very well-handled and their portrayals (while maybe not accurate to the real life people) are magnificent. And if you look closely, you will notice a ton of great actors who maybe weren’t the biggest actors ever back then. Of course we have the ones that are well known since earlier in the leads like Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and R. Lee Ermey…but that isn’t as fun (considering they are obvious and very prominent throughout this). You will find such actors as Jack Black, Clancy Brown, Margo Martindale and Peter Sarsgaard (before they were as famous as they are now). But in general, these characters are handled very well are portrayed incredibly well.

The soundtrack is amazing. A lot of cold songs that makes you feel that everything is wrong in this world. But then there are songs that are just kinda…feelgood…yeah, feelgood. To give an example of that, search for Eddie Vedder feat. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – The Long Road…then you’ll know what the hell I am talking about.

This movie looks great. And to my surprise, this movie was directed by Tim Robbins…yeah. Andy Dufresne from “Shawshank Redemption” directed a movie…who knew. But the camera work was still really good and I am impressed by this. This movie also at one point made me shed a tear. And when a movie does that, kudos to that. I am not saying what happened or when the scene is, just saying it happened.

The reception for “Dead Man Walking” was great. Rotten Tomatoes has a 93% positive rating with a “Fresh” certification. Metacritic has a 80/100 sc0re for it. Roger Ebert gave it a perfect 4/4 star rating and called it:

“absorbing, surprising, technically superb and worth talking about for a long time afterward.”

imdb.com has a score of 7,6/1o. This movie was also nominated for 4 Oscars (Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, Best original song). It won on Best actress (Susan Sarandon).

I have spoken my words and I am ready to hand out my final score for “Dead Man Walking”. My final score for this compelling, emptional and incredibly well made movie is a 9,62/10 which makes me give it the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

Review for “Dead Man Walking” is done.

Dead Man Walking……OH MY GOD ZOMBIE REALIZATION!