Twelve Monkeys

Today I watched or rather rewatched “Twelve Monkeys“. It’s been a long time since I saw it last time and I practically forgot it. I couldn’t even remember who was playing in it except for Bruce Willis.

Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Genres: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Cast: Joseph Melito, Bruce Willis, Jon Seda, Michael Chance, Vernon Campbell, H. Michael Walls, Bob Adrian, Simon Jones, Carol Florence, Bill Raymond, Ernest Abuba, Irma St. Paule, Madeleine Stowe, Joey Perillo, Bruce Kirkpatrick
IMDB raintg: 8.0
My rating: 6.0 [rate 6.0]

Continue reading Twelve Monkeys

Danny the Dog

I added “Danny the Dog” to my list of movies to watch because it was one of the most mentioned Jet Li movies. So I didn’t expect anything but a good action out of it when I pressed the playback button.

Directed by: Louis Leterrier
Genres: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast: Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Kerry Condon, Vincent Regan, Dylan Brown, Tamer Hassan, Michael Jenn, Phyllida Law, Carole Ann Wilson, Michael Ian Lambert, Jaclyn Lee, Puthirith Chou, Tony Theng, Owen Lay
IMDB raintg: 7.2
My rating: 8.5 [rate 8.5]

Continue reading Danny the Dog

A Lot Like Love

I try to avoid romantic dramas with a touch of comedy as much as I can. But I knew from the start that I won’t be able to skip “A Lot Like Love“.

Directed by: Nigel Cole
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Cast: Amanda Peet, Ashton Kutcher, Taryn Manning, Aimee Garcia, Lee Garlington, Birdie M. Hale, Tyrone Giordano, Melissa van der Schyff, Theresa Spruill, James Read, Molly Cheek, Sarah Ann Morris, Gabriel Mann, Kathryn Hahn, Ali Larter
IMDB raintg: 5.5
My rating: 7.0 [rate 7.0]

There are two good reasons for me to be interested in this movie – Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher. I really like both of them. Not just the acting, but rather that charm and energy that they have drives me towards their work. Well, and the acting as well. I knew that they would be excellent together in a film like this, and they were.

Everything else doesn’t matter – story, music, all that stuff is just unimportant. I’ve seen it all before and I will see it many times more. But the teamwork of Peet and Kutcher is a different story. They basically glued me to the screen. Yeah, I know that’s easy to do, but it doesn’t happen all that often.

Resume: if you are even a tiny bit centimental – watch the movie. It was very very good.

Raging Bull

I wanted to see “Raging Bull” for some time now. This one was chosen mostly because it is a classic and I didn’t want to leave any gaps in my movie self-education.

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Genres: Biography, Drama, Sport
Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Mario Gallo, Frank Adonis, Joseph Bono, Frank Topham, Lori Anne Flax, Charles Scorsese, Don Dunphy, Bill Hanrahan, Rita Bennett
IMDB raintg: 8.4
My rating: 7.0 [rate 7.0]

Continue reading Raging Bull

Sling Blade

Sling Blade“. With this kind of title, R rating, and Billy Bob Thornton being in it, I was expecting a really nice action. I guess I didn’t check the genre beforehand.

Directed by: Billy Bob Thornton
Genres: Drama, Thriller
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, J.T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, Robert Duvall, Rick Dial, Brent Briscoe, Christy Ward, Sarah Boss, Kathy Sue Brown, Wendell Rafferty, Bruce Hampton
IMDB raintg: 8.0
My rating: 8.0 [rate 8.0]

But the film was real good non-the-less. It is one of those films that can be easily spoiled by a trailer or a plot outline. A guy who killed his own mother is released from the mental hospital after spending most of his life in it. He is out in the open. And he is Billy Bob Thornton. Yeah.

Another spoiler? No problem. Not a single gun shot in the movie. He killed them all with the blade. One more? He called only one guy and that wasn’t on the screen. Because it’s not an action movie. In fact, I don’t even know why they put a thriller tag on it. It’s not.

It is an excellent drama. Interesting to note that Billy Bob Thornton wrote the screenplay, directed the film, and played the main role in it. And all of these were excellently done. It is indeed an excellent film with a great story and some really good acting. Particularly from Thornton.

This film could have been better with slighly more pace and a bit more work on the soundtrack. But that’s really nitpicking. The film is outstanding.