Thought I'd revive this thread.
We haven't been to the theater as much since we got married so I've only seen a handful of movies since my last post, but I thought I'd mention a few I thought were worth reviewing.
First one I'll mention is Burn After Reading, the new Coen Brothers film. I thought it was absolutely hilarious, and a good direction for them to go after winning their Oscars for No Country for Old Men. It's a whole movie full of misunderstandings and the whole point of the movie is that there is no point. I'm not a fan of George Clooney, but I do love Brad Pitt (who was really, really funny in this) and Frances McDormand, also funny, when paired with Brad Pitt. Overall, I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
The next one is Hounddog, more commonly referred to as "The Dakota Fanning Rape Movie". I've been wanting to see this ever since it started making such a fuss at the Sundance film festival last year. Finally a year later, it gets a limited release across the country and comes to ONE theater in the greater Chicago area, which happens to be in the area of the city I live in.
All in all, I enjoyed the film (even though based on the reviews it sounds like I'm the only one who did). Sure there were a few ridiculous elements in there, but it had a nice southern gothic feel to it. I don't think I'd watch it again, but I'm not wishing for those 102 minutes of my life back (unlike my husband).
As for the rape scene... I have to say it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually rather...tasteful, for what it was. Now please, that does NOT mean that it wasn't still disturbing to watch, because it absolutely was. I will say that I'm grateful that I knew it was coming so that I was prepared for it. If I saw that movie without knowing anything about it, that would be a different story. One thing that made it easier to watch was that the person who does it in the movie is a pimply-faced teenager. When I read "milkman" in the reviews, I pictured some creepy old guy with a sick penchant for kids. As it turns out, it was a creepy young guy with a sick penchant for one kid. Again, still disturbing to watch, but for some reason that made me feel better.
All in all, there's really a reason why this movie is referred to as the one where Dakota Fanning gets raped. There isn't much else that happens in the movie, and that scene is pretty much all that anyone's going to talk about as far as the movie is concerned. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
On a lighter note, I'll also mention the new Frat Pack hit, Tropic Thunder. Can I just say how awesome it is that Robert Downey Jr is making such a huge comeback and broadening his acting horizons? I've always liked him. I love him more as Iron Man, but seeing him as a black guy really takes the cake.
The best part of the movie (aside from the big star cameos of Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise) for me was definitely the mock trailers at the beginning. Priceless. The other part of the movie I thought really made me laugh was seeing an almost unrecognizable Tom Cruise, fat and balding, dancing to "Low" by Flo-Rida, a popular hip hop song. I didn't even recognize him as Tom Cruise until a few seconds beforehand, and I was nearly doubled over in laughter in my seat when he started busting a move. Entertainment Weekly actually said this might be the movie that makes Tom Cruise cool again, after his somewhat controversial personal life in the tabloids and string of flop movies, and I have to say I agree. Of course the rest of the movie is amusing too. Ben Stiller is kind of hit or miss with me, but we wasn't too bad in this one. Of course though, much of my laughter was due to RD Jr.
Did I also mention Ethan Coen (of the aforementioned Coen Brothers) co-wrote this with Stiller?
I give it a 4 out of 5 because I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard in the theater. (Actually I do, and it was Talladega Nights, but you catch my drift.)
