B Movies
Bandits (2001)
Starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thorton, and Cate Blanchett this is the story of the “Over night Bandits”, or in other words, Willis and Thorton found the best way to rob a bank, is to kidnap the owner the night before and walk in before the bank opens and their are other people to account for.
Willis and Thorton escape from jail together in the beginning of the movie, an unusual pairing with Willis being a tough guy, and Thorton a obsessive compulsive. I have determined I either don’t like Thorton in anything since Slingblade, or I don’t like Obsessive’s other than Jack Nicholson in “As Good as it gets”. These two guys are bouncing all over the US, without an end in sight, a perfect plan that can’t be stopped until they accidentally kidnap Blanchett and both men fall in love with her. Things start to unravel, and they pull off one last heist to put them in the black for good.
What I liked about this movie was Blanchett, I haven’t seen in her a movie where she wasn’t a weirdo, instead she was desirable in this movie as a feisty, intelligent redhead. I also loved the ending of this movie, I did not expect it at all, especially after how most of the movie was told in one big flash back. The movie starts out pretty slow, but builds to a good ending and drama between the three characters.
An ok movie, if you like any of the cast, you might try this one. Not too vulgar or violent, this is a comedic movie, just don’t expect to be blown away.
Birth (2004)
This was a weird one. I leave Sarah to her own devices, free movies from the library, and she comes home with some strange choices.
The basic premise, as the box will tell you, is that this woman believes this 10 year old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband. Nicole Kidman does an awesome job of making this believable, but it doesn’t change the fact of how creepy this movie gets when she starts to fall in love with this little boy. So not only does it make me nervous from some weird perversion, I also have to put aside my problems with the ideas of reincarnation, which isn’t at all possible when it comes to the beliefs of Christianity.
The movie is filled with long, dramatic, pauuuusessss. Music sets the mood and reactions further the disbeliefs that all of the main characters have when this little boy starts to reveal facts that only the dead husband would know. But through the whole movie, you wait in anticipation of some sort of payoff, but it never comes. Things seem to be a little unresolved. Kidman falls for the little boy, she believes that it is really her husband, and you wonder how the movie is going to end.
Then, one character, his apparent lover, throws a wrench in the picture. He denies he is who he said he was, and Kidman marries another man, ending the movie in some crazy dramatic event where she seems to be on the verge of suicide. Does the boy lie, saying he isn’t the husband because of this alleged affair with another woman he was having, that this would cause problems later if he went through with everything? Does kidman go wacko because she knows deep down it is him and feels like she’s lost him again? Does she try to kill herself on the beach, where they met to be with him in another life? You see what I mean, I don’t really know, there is no resolution, and you sort of care during the course of the movie, but you sort of don’t.
I wouldn’t recommend this movie to many people. Only if you like things that are a weird and something you’ve never seen before would you want to check this out. Which as I find as I grow older, includes me at times. If I have to research the meaning of a movie after it is over, that may mean I sort of liked it.
Be Cool (2005)
This is the sequel to Get Shorty. I don’t know why it took 10 years for it to come out, but it did anyway.
This movie still has an enormous cast, including this time round, Christine Millan, Uma Thurman, The Rock, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, and Harvey Keitel. But just because it has a great cast, doesn’t mean it was a great movie. I may watch this movie again, but I doubt it.
This time round, John Travolta is trying to get out of the movie business. He is a successful producer and still has great presence, but it tired of the politics of film making. Through another weird series of events and contacts, he comes across a very hot young singer (Millan) and proceeds to take her to the top.
Uma is the gorgeous record producer that Travolta brings out of the brink of destruction to sign this hot artist and take her to the top. Along the way we meet Vince Vaughn, who is a pimp and talks like he is ethnic, The Rock, who is a very gay bodyguard, and Cedric, who is a Beverly Hills Harvard gangsta with a whole posse of huge guys.
There are some very funny parts, but there are parts that are like nails on a chalkboard. From Vince Vaughn talking too much, to one of the hit men and his funny eating mannerisms, there were parts of this movie where I just wanted it to be over.
Not hardly for everyone, if you remember the first movie then see this one. If you can see it for .50 cents like we did, see it. But otherwise, I would pass. Poor John Travolta and Uma Thurman, they do a great job, but the rest of the movie kind of hops from one hilarious part to the next, with long dead awkward moments in between.
Big Trouble (2002)
This was one of those movies that was largely funny because of the company we were in. If I had seen this at home, I may have thought, “Mmmm, yeah ok.”
Starring Tim Allen, Rene Russo, and Stanley Tucci, the plot of this random movie is a hit is put out on Stanley Tucci that turns into a heist by two idiots who run off with a nuclear bomb. It is silly to the core, and it almost never came out. With some of the implications it made that airport security is lax, this movie was delayed after 9/11.
Reoccurring jokes, and a diverse well known cast that pops in and out, this is a bizarre movie. Wandering goats, Johnny Knoxville wearing women’s full legged hoes on his head, and rabid Miami Gator fans, if you didn’t get a joke the first time, you will love it by the last as they all build on each other.
Have some drinks in you then watch this. It worked for us. It is not good acting, but you don’t go see Tim Allen for that reason. But don’t think this is like Napoleon Dynamite where every time after the first time you watch this movie, you will love it a little bit more.
Breakfast Club (1985)
This is one of those teen cult classics that I have never seen. I wish I had seen it earlier in my life, but it was still pretty good.
The whole movie revolves around one early Saturday morning and five kids of different personalities who by the end of movie, have made this bond.
Starring Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson, this movie is funny, a little nostalgic, and just a fun short movie. I barely recognized Nelson, who is the real bad boy trying to open up the eyes of the other four personalities, a geek, a school chair, a jock, and an social outcast.
Fun high school mischief from socking it to the jerk teacher, to smoking dope, this is a fun movie to watch with a group of friends. If you like simple hijinks and like remembering what it was like to be in high school, this is a great movie for you. Don’t like harsh language, or movies with a real profound statement, you may want to pay. But it is worth it to see Judd Nelson. I bet he thought he had a real future after this movie, not some jerk producer in Airheads and a role on an obnoxious Brooke Shields sitcom.
Blade Runner (1982)
Oy, this movie. Jeeze. How stupid.
The only reason I didn’t give it a half star, was that Christine said that this movie was enormously popular when it came out, and it was cool too.
I can imagine, and that is about all I can do.
A Ridley Scott film, starring Harrison Ford, this movie is about Harrison, who is this cop guy, set in the future that kills these things called “Replicants” or fake humans. The Replicants were used for slave labor on other planets before they because too smart and started causing trouble. Well, the whole movie kind of revolves around, “If one of these replicants wanted to live beyond its set lifespan, what would it do?”
Anticlimatic, hard to empathize, really really dated story and effects, and a really stupid ending, I can’t think of one reason to recommend this movie. I just hope some more people will leave comments and bash it a little.
Band of Brothers Series (2001)
Now, I wrote about this movie when I saw parts 3-4 in December of last year, just before Christmas, and this is what I had to say.
When Sarah was student teaching in Seymour, her host family was the pastor at the school and church where she was at. He highly recommended this HBO series from a few years back.< We rented part one and I didn't really think much of it. All I remember was that David Schwimmer was in it. Seeing as it has been over a year since we saw part 1 & 2, parts 3 & 4 didn't make a whole lot of sense. Justin also really enjoyed the series, and that is what made me give it another try. If you like War stories, kind of in the vein of Saving Private Ryan but a little less gory, then this is your bag. With interviews with some of the cast members, this really gets into the development of the different characters and seeing the different effects war has on every solider. Last weekend Justin came down and we watched the whole series, all 10 hours. It was a daunting task, and because of the constraints, sometimes it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. You need to really watch this series in larger chunks, and you are stupid if you don't at least appreciate the story, and what the men from Easy Company 101st Airborne went through in WWII. So many characters and so many lives, and it develops each and every one of them individually and in depth. The story's strength really is in the characters and picks up so much strength after the fourth and fifth part when you really start to get attached to them. Beautiful scenery, unbelievable scenarios, and just the whole weight of everything that happened in that war are all conveyed here. With great epilogues about what the characters are doing now, and testimonials from the actual people that the story is based on, this series by Spielberg and Hanks really is an unknown classic right now that could use a little more attention. At the very least, watch half of it and appreciate what those men did for our freedom and what war means in context of what is going on in Iraq today.
