May Movie Reviews

The Last Sammurai: B+ [Edit: grade dropped to a B]

This one is difficult to rate. Ever since my Modern Japan history class several years back, I've been interested in the Japanese and their entanglements with "the West." While I don't think this film lives up to it's Western frontiers counterpart Dances with Wolves, it's nonetheless a very beautifully done film. Definitely worth it just for the gain of a better sense of the attrocities of Western imperialism as well as the intriguing lifestyle of the Sammurai. I probably would have chosen a different actor than Tom Cruise though.

Alexander: B- [Edit: grade dropped to a C]

This one gets a B-, mainly just because it was different, kind of like the first time you watched Hercules or Xena on TV. (After all, who isn't half interested in ancient Greek history and legends.) Yet when it comes to the actual acting alone, this movie would easily drop a whole grade. Still, it's worth seeing just to get a very general (and Hollywood-style) picture of the life of Alexander, one of the great military leaders in world history.

A Beautiful Mind: A

By far the best of the movies I've watched in May, Ron Howard does an excellent job at taking an incredible true story and making an amazing (and inspiring) motion picture out of it. Being the sucker for "movies that make you think" that I am, I couldn't help getting drawn into this one, and it's probably the only one on this list that I'll definitely give another watch to somewhere down the line.

Chariots of Fire: B-

Surprisingly, this is the first time I've ever seen this film. I know it won an academy award for best picture in 1981, but frankly I was a little disappointed, most of all because the famous theme music that everyone has heard before is only played once in the entire movie...at the very beginning! You'd think they could have used it at least once more, perhaps towards the end during the final races at the Olympics, but no. Despite this, the acting was decent and the true story an inspiring one (even if again, not entirely accurate). It's a classic that everyone should see once.

Johnny English: D

Oh dear...I don't want to be reminded of this one. I had a bad feeling when checking it out from the local library, yet I watched it nonetheless! Why? What possessed me?! Please, I beg of you, do not watch this movie. It will kill brain cells.

That's all for now then. I apologize for all incoherencies in these remarks, but I'm not taking time to review them.

Coming next month: Big Fish, Bowling for Columbine, and much, much more...

posted by Chris @ 12:30 AM 1 comments