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kris-langley
Pulp Fiction
Lord Of The Rings (all of 'em)
The Shawshank Redemption
Die Hard
Predator
Blazing Saddles
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Dolemite
John Carpenter's The Thing
Barton Fink
Miller's Crossing
Bottle Rocket
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Blue Velvet
Lost Highway
Session 9
Ju-on: The Grudge
A Clockwork Orange
Happiness
Once Upon A Time In The West
Lost In Translation
Favorite actors? Hmmm...
Ashton Kutcher
Vin Diesel
Joe Don Baker
Steven Seagal
Bill Forsythe
Really, though, I like Daniel Day-Lewis a lot, Bruce Willis when he's good, Dwight Yoakam, Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Murray, stuff like that. I also have an affinity to watch every damn Bloodfist movie and Cyber Tracker. I like Don "The Dragon" Wilson.
Reviews
Blood Hook (1986)
A Lost Gem From The 80s, or something like that.
Classic. Seriously. This movie is going to be remembered by anyone who sees it.
I'm not saying it's GOOD, because it isn't. The first time I saw this movie, it was at a party where people would show up to make fun of bad movies--almost like MST3K without the segues. That was twelve years ago.
If it isn't a classic, why do I remember most of the lines? Why do I know the tune the Red Echoes sing? Why do I know the significance of turning down your radio (referred to as "the G**D*** headache machine")? Why do I know how deadly a treble hook can be? And why would I go looking at Bass Pro Shop for a treble hook? Go rent this movie if you can find it. Hell, BUY it. Just try and see it without forgetting what you just watched.
Behind the Nine (2003)
What billiards would be like on Cinemax.
I rented this movie from my cable pay-per-view last night, and being interested in the Atlanta film scene and what it has to offer, I had been eager to check this movie out for a while.
I won't say I wasted my money, because even the worst movies are fun to take part in. I won't even say it wasn't a good effort to make a movie. I will say that it IS one of the worst examples of transparent attention-whoring I've ever seen in my life. I had to stop watching after about 30 minutes because I couldn't take any more.
From what I gathered, the movie is about pool-playing. There are lots of shots of billiard balls. There are lots of shots of a red pool table. There are lots of shots of people who can't act, acting like they are playing pool. And, for some unknown reason, there are girls kissing each other. This always leads to nothing other than random titillation for random titillation's sake. Also, someone involved with the production owns a big, pretty house, like you would find in any Atlanta suburb--white, drab, with loads of mini-blinds and some sort of art on the walls. He or she must also know everyone in the cast, because they almost all act like they got the part based solely on looks. And, whoever owns the house owns a pool table.
Wow. Is that where they got the idea to make this? If they would have spent a little more time doing something good instead of doing something that they thought would be cool, I would have enjoyed the movie even with the acting problems. (Having said that...there is a good performance by--well, I don't know her name, but she was the only girl to not be involved in a completely needless lesbian almost-sex scene within the first 20 minutes. This is how engrossed I was--I can't even remember the actor or character names.) There was ONE thing I liked about the movie. Toward the beginning, there were a couple of slow-motion shots that looked great. They were ruined by a voice-over, but they still looked less like video and were impressive for a few, brief moments. Yet, they also represent the same problem I mentioned earlier...it seemed like the shots were added simply because they looked "cool," even though they were completely unnecessary.
Honestly, I wanted to like it, and maybe I missed the good parts by shutting it off after a half-hour. But, also honestly, I don't care what I missed. What I saw was an in-joke of a movie that I didn't want to be invited to in the first place. One out of ten. That's a bad game of pool.
Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
Who knows if they're guilty?
This was a terrific documentary. The facts of the case are slightly obscured by the filmmakers' willingness to exonerate the defendants in the trial, but the viewer is still able to make their own decision (or indecision) about the case.
Whether or not you believe that Arnold and Jesse Friedman are indeed guilty of the crimes they went to prison (and, in the case of Arnold, subsequently DIED for), it is very clear who the victims are. You have children who were either actually molested or railroaded by a corrupt justice system--as well as parents who refused to believe anything other than the beliefs of their children. The fact that some of the accusers came forward years later to recant anything they said about molestation leads one to believe there were false accusations made. You have the defendants as well as the other Friedman children, who--if they indeed were not guilty--have spent their entire lives trying to end their own personal victimization from their father's twisted idea of sexuality.
Above all, you have the mother. This was a woman caught in between the world and her family, of which NEITHER had sympathy or love for her. The manner in which her children ruthlessly attack her--while Arnold sits at the dinner table passively--is shameful and despicable. Throughout the entire film, she is pummeled for not being a proper matriarch as well as being associated with a pedophile she had to make an effort to love and care for, even when she didn't know he was a sick bastard. The behavior of the Friedman children amounts to the actions of spoiled brats who didn't get the toys they wanted for Christmas. It's easy to understand their frustration; they are also caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the (possible) actions of their father. But for them to continually berate their mother for having any doubt is childish and cruel.
The final scene, with the kids at the courthouse with video camera in tow, made me rethink my entire summation of the case and the film. I believe that Arnold and Jesse COULD have done this. The lack of respect they showed anyone but themselves--through self-pity and outright meanness--is the same behavior that serial rapists and murderers show their victims' families. So yes, they COULD have.
But DID they? Who knows?