G Movies
Garden State (2004)
Who’s in it
Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Zach Braff, Peter Sarsgaard
What was good
I thought this was a cool story that was told backwards, and it worked really well. It starts out slow but as you get to know the main character (Braff) you start to realize why he is the way he is, slow, dopey, and he barely talks. Braff is grown up, working at a dead end restaurant job and his father calls to tell him his mother died and the funeral is during the next week. This takes him back home, to the typical small town where he has some fame for writing a script for a tv show. But nothing excites him and we really start to relate why.
What sucked
The beginning was terribly slow, and looking back I think it could have been explained a touch better. You never see Braff with pills and I think so little detail is covered that you can’t even look back towards the end of the movie to make the connections, “Oh, I remember that, that is why he…”. If you don’t appreciate small time folks and the things they do to stay entertained, some of their activities are annoying and make you cringe but life in a tiny city can be darn boring.
Who should go see this
I would recommend this to my friends. There is a great love story that develops between Portman and Braff that gets a touch too sappy at the end of the movie, but otherwise this movie has a decent amount of humor with a lot of serious moments. This is the second or third movie that I have seen Portman play this cute really young girl that older guys are attracted to. I like the role, but I don’t want to keep seeing her play it, it seems a little wrong for how young she postures to be. But, a select group of 20-30 somethings would like this if you they liked other movies then goofy comedys.
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
I got to borrow this movie for free, and I enjoyed it the first time, so why not jog my memory.
A fun movie with a ton of people in it, this is a remake of some really, unimportant original from back in the day. I am sure that this is much better.
Basically, Nicolas Cage is an expert car thief, and when his little brother’s life is threatened, he comes out of retirement to lead his band of rag tags to one last amazing heist. A Jerry Bruckheimer film, that also stars Robert Duvall and Angelina Jolie, it is fun and if you are into cars, this is like a fantasy.
But most of that stuff is lost on me, except for the 1967 Shelby GT. That is a pretty amazing car for how old it is.
So, if you like Nicolas Cage, he is funny, and this has some good action, including a scene where Cage flies Evil Kenievel style over a string of 15 cars. If you aren’t into the most engaging or original dialogue, this won’t have it. There are some hokey moments. But slow motion, big explosions, and mass appeal, all in Bruckheimer style. This movie should appeal to most.
The Girl Next Door (2004)
I was hoping for a teen angst movie about a changing world of sex and drinking, instead I got a confusing movie that was trying to be deep, and funny, and to have a believable plot. The movie starts out with Matt, the main character, falling in love with Elisha Cuthbert who just moved in next door. But then he finds out she used to be a pornstar,
starts to hate her, treats her badly and messes things up. It was a neat love story, she was upset because he looked at her differently, and that is what she wanted, but then it took a turn for the worse. All of a sudden Matt was caught up in the seedy underworld, owing producers big money, risking his great future, and jail, all for this girl.
There was so much focus on his being this bright kid with a future and it was moving towards the idea that he was reconsidering everything for this girl, but this movie had a long rambling stretch where it couldn’t figure out what type of movie it wanted to be, teen angst, or thriller. Overall, it wasn’t nearly as fun as it should have been for a Friday night popcorn fun show.
Godfather Part I (1972)
When Justin Varner and I watched this for the first time in college, I knew this was a great movie. But when Sarah and I rented this from the library, I picked up on so much more and realized why this movie is such a classic. Al Pacino really is at his best in this movie, to see his character change from slightly denying what his father did for a living but war hardened to taking over the family business and tying up all loose ends. A great cast and riveting the whole through, everyone needs to see this movie.
