Two Great Movies

This past week was my spring break (which may have been noticed by my lack of posts, or not because that is not an unusual occurrence). Spring break means two things: 1- spring weather is approaching, even though the snow hides that fact, and 2- there is a little extra time to watch movies. So this past week I had the opportunity to watch a couple of very good movies.

In Bruges and Let the Right One In are the two best movies that I have seen recently. Both easily make it into my top 10 favorite movies of all time, and come very close to the top five. This is not an easy task, but these movies deserve it with every ounce of sincerity that I have.

In Bruges is a very dark, very funny movie. It is about two Irish hit men who are sent to Bruges, Belgium because the younger one made a mistake and killed a little boy. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (the two hit men) perform beautifully together and have the special connection that portrays to the audience the emotion going through their minds. This movie was unexpectedly funny, but not the Anchorman/Zoolander funny, it was dark and witty. The dialogue was incredible, and the Irish accents gave it just the right sound to make me laugh harder to it than to a movie like Anchorman (which is one of my favorite comedies of all time). This movie also took many unexpected twists. In the beginning, the audience gets a general idea for the movie and a mood is set that has humor, but remorse (he kills a little boy, come on). But after a while I started to realize (with the hints that were given along the way) that there were two hit men for a reason. I’m not going to spoil the ending, but I would recommend that you view this film sooner rather than later, you are really missing something if you don’t.

The next movie that I watched was absolutely amazing. Let the Right One In is a low budget, non-Hollywood (key), Swedish film. Doesn’t really sound promising, and just to add to that, it’s about a 12-year boy and the young girl vampire he meets. Great, right? It truly was. I was completely and utterly impressed by this movie. There was something about the innocence of the relationship, and the caring for one another that drew me in and never let go. I came in skeptical, but left dazzled. I’m not sure what else to say about this movie, it’s hard to explain and doesn’t sound very good when I try. But trust me, this film is worth seeing. Just a side note, if you get this on DVD, watch with the English subtitles, not dubbed. When it’s dubbed, the acting loses all of its emotion. Don’t be lazy, and just read what they are saying to get the full effect intended.

5 Movies I Would Bring to a Deserted Island

  So I was sitting here trying to think of what to write about (I have a feeling this wont be the last time) and I was pretty stuck. So I jokingly asked my dad what I should write about because he asked what I was doing just sitting at the computer. His response was perfect. He told me to write about the five movies I would bring to a deserted island. I figured that since I wanted to write about movies on this blog, this was actually a fairly good idea. So here you go, the five movies I would bring with me to a deserted island. Note that these may not be my top favorite movies, just movies that I am thinking would be good on a desolate island.

1- Little Miss Sunshine. This is a great movie that is touching and heart warming. Every time I watch it, it gets better and better. The cast is perfect and work great together. The little girl (I don’t know her name, but she is Olive in the movie) I so sweet and innocent that I can’t not smile when I watch her do the stuff that she wants to do. The last scene is classic, I don’t want to give away the ending, but I must say that they are awesome dancers!

2- Castaway. I would bring this movie just to see how to be lonely. I think Tom Hanks is really good, and that supporting cast makes him look outstanding. If I was stranded on a deserted island, that is how I would learn to do all the stuff needed to survive.

3- Anchorman. I know I would need a good laugh eventually, and who better to deliver the performance then Will Ferrell as a newscaster? This has one of the best scenes out of any movie I have seen, the street fight. I’ll just leave it at that there is a bunch of guys from competing channels, fighting in a back ally, with homemade weapons.

4- Rocky (the first one). After I watch this movie, I want to go out and run a marathon. It just gets me pumped up. I think I would need that motivation if I were all by myself on a deserted island. It just goes to show that you can surmount insurmountable odds and come out on top.

5- Raising Arizona. Once again, this is just a great movie. There really isn’t a reason for bringing it, other then that it’s a classic. This has one of my favorite characters of all time in it. The bounty hunter. I don’t know his name, but he is just a big, mean, tough, grizzly bear of a man that is terrorizing Nicholas Cage throughout the movie. The scene where they meet in the end is just great. It’s just plain and simple with no background distraction (like music) and optimizes the way the movie was made. It’s a well written, well acted, and overall good movie.