Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye

I watched “Eagle Eye” recently.  I haven’t seen the trailer and the rough plot descriptions that I have seen around were way too vague, so I didn’t really know what to expect of it.  Once I saw it, I realized that the plot is indeed difficult to describe without spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it.  On the other hand, the covers are open pretty early in the film, so I wouldn’t felt robbed if someone told the truth.

If you don’t want to get any spoilers, stop reading here.  Maybe fast-forward to the last paragraph or so.  For the rest of you – the film is a bit too far fetched conspiracy of the computer going crazy.  It has all the attributes of any other conspiracy film – innocent victims, dictator’s plot for the greater good, lots of secrecy, lots of car chases and shooting, and a few federal agents.  The only difference here is that it’s not a human or an organization, but a supercomputer going nuts.

I think we’ve all seen films with computers going crazy.  These films had their time and place, except maybe for last one, which can still make it through.  I’m talking about the Terminator, of course.  Everything else should die off as an IT legacy.  Three year old kids these days know how to use a computer.  You can find one in absolutely every non-government office which has electricity.  Millions of people are connected to the Internet, have very sophisticated mobile phones, and have seen films about insane computers.  It’s just not working any more.

And I think that’s about the only thing that was bad in this film – the story.  Other than that, it was pretty good.  There are quite a few well-known people.  There are plenty of special effects.  There is enough suspense and drama.  And even something to listen to while everything moves, shoots, thinks, and explodes.

My overall rating is 4 stars.

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.

Bad Santa

Watched “Bad Santa“. It is an excellent comedy for those who get easily tired from the Christmas spirit. It wouldn’t have been so dramatic if I didn’t know of any alcoholics. Really. As it is, it’s very sad…

On the bright side though, I’ve picked up a few more swearing words and phrases. I’ll have to watch it another couple of time to naturalize the new vocabularly, but I will be able to use it once in a while anyway.

Bill Bob Thornton did an amazing job. His 3Bs Santa was one of the greatest I have ever seen. I mean it was hard to belive that this guy is actually acting. I was under the impression that it was his real life and that this is his only role. Luckily we all know that it is not true.

8 out of 10.

Intolerable Cruelty

Went to see “Intolerable Cruelty“, which was an excellent movie to see during Christmas season. Not that it was in any way related to Christmas, though.