#91 (2007): Sophie's Choice

M: A powerful and tragic movie. The story moves between a present-day and the past as Sophie reflects on her tormenting past. It was very well acted, especially with a powerful, manic personality portrayed by Kevin Kline. Of course, Streep does a phenomenal job, finding and executing every detail of her character. Good movie.

M's rating:

J: Oh, how I was dreading this one!  I kind of new what the titular "choice" was, and it's always tough to bring yourself to watch a movie that you know is going to be sad.  Also, it's like, 2 1/2 hours long, and I've probably mentioned before that I hate long movies.  Well, the choice doesn't come until about 2 hours and 15 minutes in, and the rest of the movie was enjoyable.  Not fun by any means, but it wasn't hard to watch like I expected it to be, though still quite heavy.  Meryl Streep does a killer job (as Meryl Streep always does), Kevin Kline (looking frighteningly like Ted on How I Met Your Mother, I mean seriously, it looked exactly like him) disproves the "Kevin Kline + mustache = funny" rule by being craaaaaazy, and hey, look!  It's young John Cage from Ally McBeal, but with a Southern accent instead of a stutter!  This is one of those "see it once because it's great, but that's enough times to see it in your life" movies.

J's rating:

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#96 (2007): Do the Right Thing

M: Ugh. Overdone, exaggerated film that ostensibly focuses on the outcry of the black community stuck in the struggle of racial judgment. I’m sure there was a message in this movie somewhere but was lost in manic dialogue, no flow in the storyline, and wildly overemphasized characters. The opening credits alone, with Rosie Perez angrily gyrating to a purpose unknown to me and unrelated to the movie, makes me hate this movie. Every one of Lee’s films I’ve seen all have this same, overwrought, unrealistic feel with the exception of Malcolm X, only because that was a true story and [fortunately] not from the mind of Lee. Spike Lee needs to take copious notes from John Singleton’s Boyz in the Hood, a powerful film about racial struggles.

M's Rating:






J: I enjoyed this Spike Lee joint a lot more than my movie-watching buddy up there. It was really funny, at least in the beginning. The characters had fun names like Radio Raheem and Coconut Sid. Also, it was an all-star cast of, "hey, that's so-and-so from [insert show here]", like Gus from Breaking Bad,Commissioner Burrell from The Wire, Martin from Martin, and Ossie Davis from everything. When it turns into a drama at the end, it really makes you think. Or, at least, it really made me think. Neither Radio Raheem nor Sal got what they deserved, and the cops definitely didn't do the right thing (zing!), but what about everyone else? I don't know. Plus, I'm sure my race influences my opinion. Anyway, I'd watch this again. It was quirky and weird and thought-provoking.

J's rating:





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#97 (2007): Blade Runner

Note: We actually watched this movie last year, but we're a little late on posting.

M: This is a classic film for me I’ve seen a dozen times. A futuristic L.A. overrun by industry. Blade Runners are the cops of artificial life forms called Replicants created to work in off-world colonies. When those replicants go rogue, Blade Runners are called in to “retire” the them. A Band of replicants escape with the intent to find their creator and get more life, because they are created with a 4-year lifespan and their time is running out. Deckard (Harrison Ford) is a Blade Runner forced out of retirement to track down the escaped replicants and retire them, but finds conflict when he acquires an unlikely love interest.

M's rating:





J: I thought this was going to be a fun action-adventure type Indiana Jones or Star Wars, but it was more sci-fi drama. Not really my thing, but I do like movies that take place in some kind of dystopian future. Of all the movies we've watched so far, it was probably my second-least favorite (after Unforgiven). Also, I wish I had done this write-up earlier so I had more to say about the movie. I guess it was just okay for me. We need a third mask, Comedy, Tragedy, Indifference. This would get an Indifference mask. But since I didn't spend the entire time wishing it would end, I'll put it on the positive side.

J's rating:





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