Matt’s Movie Review

I haven’t been anally comprising my thoughts on all the movies I watch and posting them on here, primarily because I see it as even more pointless than the book reviews I post. I mean, with the books, at least I’m giving my opinion on books that there aren’t already an insane amount of opinions of floating around online. I just don’t think “The Lord of the Rings is really good!” is something that anyone much cares to see again, nevermind act on. However, to that point, since such a high percentage of the movies I watch these days are unpopular indie films, I thought it might be fun to do one of these on movies and see what you readers thought of them while at the same time providing recommendations of a sort as well. So, without further ado:
 
The Really Good:
 
Fixing Frank: A homosexual man intends to expose a therapist who is known for trying to “cure” people of their homosexuality by going through his therapy and then revealing the sort of tactics he uses. There’s only one problem. What if the therapy starts to work?
 
Hard Candy: As if a movie about a pedophile isn’t shocking enough, this bizarre one turns everything on its head so much that by the end you’re wondering who’s the victim anymore. A little over the top, but shocking and memorable.
 
The King: The past will come back to haunt you (and possibly murder your son and impregnate your daughter).
 
Look Both Ways:  Really interestingmovie about both dealing with the reality of having a terminal illness (or “Cancer, cancer”) and also the complexities involved in living the rest of your life with such little time. Is it fair to start a relationship with someone when you know that you’re inevitably going to die and hurt them and you’re going to do so soon? Terminally ill cancer patients can still fall in love, but should they?
 
Separate Lies: Good movie dealing with not just infidelity, but also the battle between honesty and deceit. Is it really better to be honest with someone if you know it’s only going to hurt them?
 
The Good:
 
Akeelah and the Bee: Fun movie that overcomes its occasional cheesiness and has its kids learn a lesson. I really bought into it, somehow.
 
Brothers of the Head: A fictional documentary of Siamese twins who become rock-n-roll stars. You’d think that you couldn’t make a concept like that boring, but this one is actually a little slow. Still, the concept is quite the concept, and it does have its moments.
 
Down to the Bone: A good (but slow) portrayal of a woman battling her drug addiction.
 
Land of Plenty: Really slow, but still an interesting look at trying to bond with a paranoid individual, with the added bonus of a post-9/11 setting.
 
The Notorious Bettie Page: A bio-pic of Bettie Page (America’s first S & M porn star) that’s fairly worthwhile, as bio-pics go. Bettie was apparently pretty unaware of the questionable morality of what she was doing (there’s an absolutely hilarious scene of her tied up and being photographed where she says “I believe in Jesus!”)
 
A Prairie Home Companion: I watched this the day before Robert Altman died, ironically. For all his faults, I was an Altman fan, and this ode to the radio show of the same name (one I was previously unfamiliar with) is a suitable way for Altman to go out.
 
Thank You for Smoking: Flawed but funny movie about the life of a big tobacco spokesperson. I’ll admit to chuckling a few times, but a social commentary this isn’t.
 
Twelve and Holding: This movie does a great job of depicting kids (12-year-olds, hence the title) and how they can have knowledge of things like death and sex and yet completely misunderstand them. Zoe Weizenbaum gives such a great performance that I felt the need to look up her name so I could say so. The other kid actors are a little weak though, and I thought they hurt an otherwise very powerful (and somewhat haunting) movie.
 
United 93: A solid recreation of what (might have) happened on September 11th. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
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The Mediocre:
 
Lassie: I thought this was very solidly done with good performances all around and basically about as good of a movie you could possibly make out of the Lassie concept, but it still succumbs to cheesiness eventually. Not sure this is a good children’s movie either, as I imagine most kids would be bored; it’s surer to be a hit with 50-year-old women, I think.  
 
And that’s all (note that if I seem unusually positive, one has to remember that I’m watching movies that I’m already supposing I’ll like. Past experience has shown that my reactions to randomly presented movies aren’t anywhere near so positive).
 
As a note, all of the above movies are nothing more than the Netflix movies that I rented over the past 90 days. I didn’t include anything I watched theatrically or at 2:00 AM on HBO, as I don’t have a handy record of them and I don’t care to go to the trouble of actually remembering. Anyway, I might do another of these in another 90 days, depending.