Cin’s Movie Critiques

Memento

Guy Pearce, Carrie Ann Moss. Rated R for violence, language and some drug content. 2000, Mystery/Thriller. Cin’s Critique:

This movie is a puzzle. It begins five minutes from the end. After playing out those five minutes, it stops and rewinds to ten minutes from the end and plays another five minute increment. Thus telling the story backwards, yet building upon new information. It very effectively draws you into the life of the character.

“Lets see…what am I doing? Oh! I’m chasing this guy. No…he’s chasing me!” This is by far the funniest part of the movie, as the main character finds himself running, but can’t remember why. He figures out quickly (while being shot at) that he is not the one doing the chasing.

Leonard Shelby suffers from anterograde amnesia, a form of memory loss that prevents him from forming new memories. The last thing he does remember: his wife being murdered. This is a story of revenge. He tries to piece together information as he gathers it, using written notes, photographs, even tattoos, before he loses his memory of it. His goal is to use this information to track down his wife’s killer.

Twisted, unusual and hard to follow, this one you may have to watch twice to figure out, but it would be well worth the time it takes to do so. Click here for a preview.

In my online cave wandering I have found a very cool site: http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/virtcave/ . It includes some absolutely amazing photography and descriptions of cave formations. My desire to spelunk has increased dramatically the last few days! However, don’t bother watching the following movie to satisfy your exploring urges…

The Descent

Shauna Macdonald. Rated R for language and strong violence/gore. 2006, Horror. Cin’s Critique: 1 *

After the entrance collapses, a group of adventurous women are trapped in a cave. And surprise, surprise…things get worse when a strange cave predator hunts them.

This is one of the worst movies I’ve seen yet. You know, maybe it’s just the genre, I hate horror movies. They are so fake, predictable, and incredibly boring from beginning to end. Honestly, the only reason I rented this one is because I wanted to watch another cave movie. If you’re into this genre, you might actually like The Descent, it won several awards for Best Horror Film.

Aahhh, isn’t it great how I can relate my real life adventures to the movies I’ve seen? That way, by reading my blog, you can live vicariously through me. I’ve had quite an exciting couple of weeks: family reunions, insane relatives, cave expeditions, mountain climbing adversities, freak blizzards, road trips, music festivals, real life court room dramas, emergency room visits, house sitting duties and more!

To get started, I visited Lehman Caves in Nevada and was flabbergasted with the bizarre beauty. It was very amazing and very unusual at the same time to be inside the earth. At one point the tour guide turned off the lights and my imagination ran wild. I thought of all things dark and horrifying, which made me want to watch The Cave. (Which of course I did immediately when I got home!) I’ve also done my fair share of cave research on the internet, and have a list of caves I want to visit now. Here is a non-movie recommendation, if you haven’t done so already, visit a cave. It was a truly unique and rewarding experience.

The Cave

Cole Hauser, Piper Perabo. Rated PG-13 for language and intense creature violence. 2005, Action/Horror. Cin’s Critique: 2 ½ *

I remember seeing this one in the theater and walking out wishing I had spent my money elsewhere. But I have to say it was better this time. I was just in the mood for a scary cave movie. I recommend it if you are in the mood for sheer horror entertainment and nonrealistic creatures and situations. (Hmmm…that sounded very sarcastic and insincere.)

Things go very bad for a group of divers that become trapped in an underground cave. Full of spelunking, climbing, diving, crawling, jumping and other “ing” words, this one has plenty of action for adventure lovers. And some creepy creatures in caves fulfilled the scary underworld element I was craving. (I guess I had a creepy cave creature craving!) Wow, say that five times fast!

Hunter lost his first tooth tonight!  Bottom tooth in the middle, only a gaping hole remains.  And now he is tucked away in bed, while visions of sugarplums danced in his head…wait…wrong occasion…visions of the Tooth Fairy fluttering her translucent wings and gently lifting his pillow, finding the precious treasure and leaving something monetary in return.

What does the lovely lady do with all those teeth anyway?  I’ve always believed that she uses them to build her castle, and everything in it… furniture, dishes, statues, fountains, walls surrounding the palace, the roads…everything, a glistening white estate in the sky.  And where does she get all the money to pay for these teeth?  Maybe she sells some of her creations to other fairy tale characters.  I really can picture Rapunzel needing a ladder made of teeth to help her out of that tower once she cuts her hair…

Darkness Falls

Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield.  Rated PG-13 for terror and horror images, and brief language.  2003, Horror.  Cin’s Critique: 1 *

When he was a young boy, Kyle woke up when the tooth fairy entered his room, and she tried to kill him.  All grown up now, Kyle’s childhood friend calls him for help.  Her younger brother has been hospitalized with night terrors, and she thinks that he is experiencing the same thing Kyle went through when he was a child.

There is a legend in the town of Darkness Falls.  In the 1800’s children would take their lost teeth to a woman who gave them a coin in return.  The woman was later hanged, and became the tooth fairy.  But not the sweet cozy fairy tale we all know, she became an evil vengeful spirit that killed anyone who saw her.

This was a typical pathetic movie, just as all horror movies based on legends seem to be.  Agonizingly long and drawn out films that are dotted with unforgivable acting and phony villains that make me want to cry with boredom rather than scream.  Don’t waste your time, the only reason I wrote this review is because it’s the one movie I’ve seen that has a tooth fairy in it!

Thank you Dane, for your uplifting comments on the Bullboards, something I really needed to hear…

So…yes, I’ve been out for a while. The pile of excuses is a mile high, but only one is worth mentioning. My computer had a virus. Yes, a nasty, byting, influenza of the motherboard compounded by the antivirus. Now, we all know that the antivirus is supposed to fix the virus right? But this particular bug fooled my computer into thinking that there was a virus inside, when in reality there was not, and the whole purpose of the pesky thing was to get me to buy the antivirus software that would fix the problem that didn’t exist. It was a downward spiral that ultimately caused my computer to kill itself for no apparent reason, except the belief that it was sick. Depressing huh? Suicide without a cause, insanity of the circuits. Oh well, my computer savvy brother came to the rescue, and obliterated the electrical germ. (Thank you Rusty!)

So, with viruses in mind, I have a relevant movie review:

Outbreak

Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman. Rated R for language. 1995, Drama/Thriller. Cin’s Critique: 3 ½ *

A doctor tries to save a town from a lethal airborne virus. His job is complicated by several things: One, by his boss, who is under orders to destroy the town to prevent the virus from becoming an epidemic. Two, his ex-wife, who he is still in love with, is trying to do the same job he is and they keep butting heads. And three, this is a new virus, and while he wants to learn about it, he desperately needs to find the antivirus, and the trail to the origin of the virus is (predictably) difficult to follow.

A fast paced movie with an all star cast, including Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kevin Spacey, and a very small part for Patrick Dempsey for the Grey’s Anatomy fans out there. This one makes you thankful for the flu.

Red Eye

Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy. Rated PG-13 for violence and language. 2005, Thriller. Cin’s Critique: 4 ½ *

One word: Intense! Of course, what else would you expect from a Wes Craven film?

On her way back home to Miami on the Red Eye flight, a woman is held captive by a man that threatens to kill her father if she doesn’t cooperate. He wants her to use her position as a hotel manager in his plot to assassinate a politician.

Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy were perfect for these roles, they had a flawless connection that made their characters fearful and realistic. An airplane was an excellent setting for this movie, giving it the extra sense of claustrophobia, and heightening the intensity and fear that is never lacking once the flight is in the air. This movie is full of tense moments and a few jump-out-of-your-seat scares! (Guys, a perfect movie to watch with your girl, she’ll snuggle up close for you to keep her safe!) . Enjoy this one with the lights off!

The Lookout

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels. Rated R for language, violence and sexual content. 2007, Drama/Thriller. Cin’s Critique: 4 *

I went into this expecting an action movie, but what I got was much better, an intelligent film with some unusual elements. I was impressed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, he did a great job. Remember him from the TV series Third Rock From the Sun?

His character was very interesting as a popular young man who had a tragic accident leaving him with a brain injury. Now working as a janitor at the bank, he realizes his new “friend” is using him to execute a bank robbery.

Like I mentioned, I was ready for an action film, you know, bank robbers and all. But this movie had some depth of human emotion and tragedy, and dealt with the issue of consequence. How our actions and decisions affect us long after the moment we do or decide. All the while, keeping the audience guessing at what would happen next with a great plot full of unexpected turns. For me, The Lookout was a pleasant surprise, one I recommend.

Here is another attempt to answer Rusty’s request for a classic sci-fi movie. This is probably as classic as you can get, being that Alien has become an icon for science fiction movies.

Alien

Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt. Rated R for sci-fi violence/gore and language. 1979, Science Fiction/Horror. Cin’s Critique: 2 ½ *

Well, I have to say I was a little disappointed in this movie. Now I know that it was made a long time ago, and was ground breaking at the time. I know that it was the scariest movie of the day, but I just didn’t think it was all that great.

I did like the eerie silence throughout the film, it let the viewer feel the vast nothingness that surrounded the spaceship. I liked the story line, from the point where “mother” awakens the crewmembers, through all their banter with each other, through the realization that something awful is on board. I liked the alien itself, very creepy and nightmare invoking.

What I didn’t like was how unrealistically they reacted to the threat. This is the case in most horror movies, which is why I’m not a huge fan of the genre. Really, who is going to go out looking for a killing creature one by one? (In their panties no less?) No. In reality, we’d lock ourselves safely together and come up with a more logical plan, but then there would be no movie. And how is it in the end (spoiler alert!!) that one person manages to get away? She actually walks back and forth in front of the alien, doing some of the same things that got other members of the crew killed, yet, it somehow doesn’t notice her. Hmmm…

So anyway, I went in with an open mind, and decided for myself that this one was just so-so. If you would like to read some rave reviews of the movie, look it up online, there are many out there that think it’s the only perfect movie ever made…