Movies

Rain Man

Watched “Rain Man” on DVD. This is an interesting drama, but kind of slow-paced.

Two main characters were played by Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. Cruise was as useless as usual. Hoffman, on the other hand, delivered the best performance I have ever saw. He was so amazing that he made the movie worth watching only by himself. Everything is else became very unimportant. Absolutely totally brilliant.

None other bits of the movie matched Hoffman’s performance. Some of them though were pretty good. Particularly I liked how casinos and old cars were shown.

8 out of 10.

Scarface

Today I wanted to see some classics, so I rented “Scarface” DVD. I have seen this movie plenty of times before. I even had it on video. That was way too long ago though.

The movie is based on a pretty regular “rise and fall” story. There is this guy who “rises” from nobody to a powerful drug lord. And then he “falls” and gets killed. The film is not so average though. First of all, it tells the story in a nice way and puts some romance into perspective. Secondly, Al Pacino delivers and excellent performance.

This movie is a must see for all Pacino fans. This movie is a must see for all fans of crime movies. This movie is a must see for all “movie drug scenes” fans. This movie is a pretty much a must see for a number of other reasons.

8 out of 10.

BMW Films: The Hire

Finally, I came across the source of those wonderfull “Hire” short films. I’ve had all of episodes, but with a terrible translation into Russian. The translation was such bad in all of them it practically was taking out all the fun.

I am currently downloading all episodes with the English audio track. Now that’s a dream come true. Additionally, there are few more clips, such as “The making of…” and the “Driving techniques”. Now, why didn’t I look for these before?

If you still don’t know what I am talking about, here is a litlte introduction for you. BMW made a number of short films (about 10 minutes each) about these guy, the driver, played by Clive Owen, who is hired to do different jobs that require driving. He does one job using one model of BMW cars in each film. Also, each film is directed by a different director and casts different actors. Excellent cars, amazing driving, and a nice story, all packed into about 10 minutes – these are the BMW’s Hire movies.

Thelma & Louise

I just watched the DVD with “Thelma & Louise“. This is an excellent criminal drama.

While the movie itself is very relaxing and enjoyable to watch, it does stimulate for some thinking on the subject of equality of men and women and “head of family” issues. I do believe in the equality in the relationship. I don’t mean a blind equality. Men, from one to another, are way too different to make them equal, not to mention equality between men and women. But I think that neither of them are better. They are just different. And so they should relate, like equals but each allowed to their own differences. Repressing and framing other half will not go unnoticed and will eventually go out of control. And when it will you better be somewhere else.

Anyway, I got carried away… The film is nicely done, with a good story, acting, sound, camera work and photography. Don’t go see it just because Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, or Brad Pitt play in it – there are parts are rather small and unimportant. But go see this film because both Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis delivered excellent performance.

If you are still not convinced, I’ll tell you that this film was directed by Ridley Scott, the same guy who produced “Matchstick Men“, “Black Hawk Down“, “Hannibal“, “Gladiator“, and few episodes of “Hire” with BMW. Does that ring any bells?

8 out of 10.

Boat Trip

Hazard and I watched “Boat Trip” on TV. This is a hilarious comedy about two guys who, in their quest for lots of young beautiful women willing to have sex, ended up on a ship at gay tour, with practically males only onboard.

Apart from a large quantity of jokes, I really enjoyed acting in this film. Particularly, Cuba Gooding Jr. delivered and excellent performance. Award winning even.

Watch it and don’t believe a low rating at IMDB. Believe me. 7 out of 10.