Saturday, July 18, 2009

Random Reviews

Australia: Where to begin? Perhaps with the gratingly sweet aboriginal boy's endless narration, which started out kinda cute but in the end left me, for the first time ever, wanting to punch a kid in the FACE. Or maybe I'll talk about the abrupt jerking around from one genre to another, as though the director was possibly schizophrenic. I could touch on the endless racial stereotypes and cliches, the interminable riding and rounding up of horses, or the laborious and heavy handed attempt at educating us about Australian and WW history. Or maybe I'll just demand of you all: what was up with Nicole Kidman's FACE in that movie? I mean, I know she was pregnant, but does being pregnant make your lips get all wonky and your nose get bigger??

Conclusion: It takes a pretty bad movie to be unredeemed even by a shirtless Hugh Jackman, but Australia achieved it. Easily one of the weirdest and worst movies I've ever seen.

Fight Club: This may be on of the best movies I've ever seen. Coulda done without the whole soap making aspect (can't give away details without a spoiler, but those of you who've seen it are now thinking FAT FAT FAT OMG THE FAT) but overall it was seriously mind blowing. I know I'm possibly the last person under thirty in the world to watch this movie, but bear with me because I'm still processing it in my mind, reviewing all aspects of its sheer genius. It was just so startling and and so true. All over the place, but in a good way, an utterly riveting way. Some of the little comments resonated with me so deeply, I'm still hearing them in my mind hours later. I thought this movie would be all about, y'know, violence and men and how humans are all caged in and suburbia is repressing our animal instincts and we just need to get in touch with our physical side again... Stuff like that. And it is about that, but it's SO much more.

Conclusion: Don't be put off by the blood and gore. The violence isn't the goal or the point at all- there's a really an almost American Beauty quality to the message of this film. Make sure you watch it with the right people and in the right setting though. You can't just pop it in immediately following, say, a Bob the Builder marathon with your kids. The juxtaposition might actually break your brain.

5 comments:

Swistle said...

I might be too nervous to watch Fight Club.

Jessica said...

ITA with both reviews.

Shirtless Brad Pitt and Edward Norton - how can you go wrong?! Love that movie!

Katy said...

I love Fight Club--just so interesting.

I've never seen Australia, but I don't really want to--your review is pretty much sealing the deal.

Nowheymama said...

Hmm. Maybe I should add Fight Club to the Netflix queue.

Shelly said...

LOVE Fight Club. Finally got my hubby to watch it last year (he thought it was all about guys fighting. I was like, um, no. The fighting is just about the least of the story.) And he loved it so much he bought it for me for Christmas.