If you didn't know, movies are the one thing I can always be excited about, and the one passion I think I truly have. Stories in general have always been something I could turn to, any form, but movies are what my focus lies in. My fundamental debate of this semester is deciding whether or not I want to transfer into the film department, seeing as journalism is dying and jobs don't exist, but the acquiring of a film degree amounts to jack-fucking-shit in the real world. There's always the other choice of switching into something entirely different.
Anyway, I usually rate movies privately but I've always wanted to start, at the very least, giving little reviews. So I'll probably do both new/old films that I see and possibly the important ones I think everybody should see. Here we go.
Burn After Reading, Coen Brothers, 20084.1/5
So the latest from the Coens proved to be quite good. You can file this effort under their sub-category of goofy, yet incredibly serious and grotesque crime-tangled mess of idiotic characters doing idiotic things, i.e. Fargo, The Big Lebowski, etc. While I wouldn't rate it too high in their filmography (something I think is incredibly underappreciated, and hopefully won't be overshadowed by No Country For Old Men) it was a solid effort and was great to see them taking another stab at writing, since they haven't written an original script since The Man Who Wasn't There.
The highlights in Burn After Reading are the immensely funny characters of Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. Pitt is the obnoxiously dumb personal trainer, while Malkovich is the misanthropic know-all that has been fighting a world of idiots his entire life. Malkovich's characters always seem to have this self-importance; I'm thinking directly of In The Line of Fire and Empire Of The Sun, characters that were fairly ruthless in getting what they wanted. Here, he brings that same arrogance, but with just as much ferocity. I've never seen someone say "What the fuck?!" so many times.
Anyway, I don't feel like giving some arbitrary plot summary, because I'm a big believer in the element of surprise and the element of first experience. Trailers have always plagued me in this regard because I always think I'm seeing way too much, but how else will I know what I want to see? The movie is funny if you appreciate the Coens darker comedy. The last scene is incredible. You will leave, at the very least, wonderfully confused.
I was going to review Koyaanisqatsi, but I think I'll make a seperate post about that, because in it are a lot of things I've been feeling about humanity and the stupid things we do, the stupid ways we act, everything. If you don't know what it is, I think you should just take 80 minutes to watch it.
http://www.hulu.com/koyaanisqatsi
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