Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Hollywood's A-list stars come together to pull off the most daring heist Las Vegas has ever known...11 men, 3 casinos, 150 million dollars, 1 chance to pull it off.

    Some may accuse me of being behind in my film, but yeah, I reviewed movies that came out in the 1950's, ok? I work my way chronologically sometimes. I know some people who adore this movie. I can see why. It's kind of like a shorter, sassier The Sting. It's got classic elements that make a movie good - suspense, humor, money...I like that it wasn't super hard to follow, everything was in order, the characters generally explained everything they were doing, it was easy to watch while slightly distracted. At least for me. My "distractions" usually don't consist of much more than trying to pry Chips Ahoy from their packaging. 

    I liked the acting. There are a lot of big stars in this and their chemistry is actually pretty good. In my opinion, this is one of the last movies where Brad Pitt actually looked really good, and George Clooney, who usually gets on my nerves, was his normal smooth self. Julia Roberts had a weird part. That's ok. It wasn't nearly as weird as in the second movie in this series, which, might I add, was a DISASTER. 

    This wasn't a movie I would necessarily choose to see, but I was with a bunch of girls and it was either this or Pineapple Express. The choice was pretty clear, and it was a worthy decision. The movie, though not especially memorable in the ocean of movies, is fun and smart. Why not.  

The Thing (1982)

Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills.

    I have been seeing a lot of alien-related movies lately, haven't I? And I also just bought the full box set of The X-Files. Wow. I am turning into one of "those" people. Anyway, on to review. This reminded me of Alien, like a lot, except where Alien was based on psychological fear, The Thing went all out on that AND the gore. I forgot that the movie was rated R until the first transformation scene where "the thing" comes out of its disguise as a seemingly friendly husky into its true self. It was quite horrifying. As a critic though, I was incredibly impressed by the makeup and special effects required for that scene and others where our characters suddenly become monsters. 

    The acting was good, I don't really remember much, but no one was terrible. It was very down-to-earth, a cast of all men sitting around on a frozen slab of ice with their green-screened computers and furry coats, who either muttered to each other about their work or went ape with terror at the prospect of "the thing" eating them or whatever it does. There was no Ripley character, no real hero, so it just reminded me the movie wasn't really about the characters, it was just the shock value of the sudden appearance of something terrifying out of the body of someone you thought you could trust.

    I didn't really like the movie because of its high gore factor. There was one scene in particular that involved a pen of husky dogs that deeply disturbed me. As a dog lover, I could barely watch. I read on movie threads that many people share my disgust at the scene but I was somewhat soothed by those movie buffs who try to calm the frantic nerves of dog lovers by pointing out the wagging tails of the dogs "in agony," signifying their response to their trainer standing close by on set. STILL. WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARILY, CARPENTER? HMM?

    So, in a nutshell, think not as good Alien, but gorier for those of you who like that, and it's got Kurt Russell. There's a cool UFO scene, too. I watched it to burn time. It served its purpose. It's a cult film, and I guess I don't fit into that realm of people who are all over this film. Maybe you will be. Watch it and see. 

The Fourth Kind (2009)

Fact-based thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover up. -IMDB.com

     First of all, this is not a fact-based movie. The marketing on this film took its cue from The Blair Witch Project and other such similar "documentaries" to such an extreme that Nome, Alaska went up in arms against the deceptive ads. I myself being somewhat a believer in alien encounters, was fooled for a while until I did more research and realized it was all just a way to promote the movie. Moving on from that however, the movie was quite fascinating.

    Because the director had access to "real" footage of interviews and such, the split screen technique was used often, one side portraying the real person with the actor miming the actual events. It was an unusual move and definitely gave the film an amateur, real-life feel (it was appropriate this was released around the same time as Paranormal Activity, a movie essentially filmed like a youtube video). The movie cut between the plot and the director's interview with our victim of the alien encounter. Honestly, she was the creepiest out of any of the movie's characters, human or alien. There was a lot of talk about owls in the movie, and when I first saw her, she reminded me very much of an owl, with her hollow, shadow-rimmed eyes and creepily whispery voice. There are several scenes where she cries, and it was quite possibly the most haunting sound I've heard in my life.

     I like the plot. It's fast, gripping, and keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. It has plenty of gotcha! moments, so much that a girl in my theater screamed during an intense spontaneous levitation scene. It's not an uplifting movie however, shedding little hope to the traumatic experience of alien abduction. However, like District 9, it moves away from traditional alien movies and employs psychological horror instead of special effects - you never see the aliens, only shadows - and since the similar made Paranormal Activity profited so much, I anticipate more movies that stray away from tradition and turn classic movie food into something unique. 

North by Northwest (1959)

An advertising man is caught in the middle of an FBI case when he is mistakenly taken for a spy by mysterious and threatening strangers. His situation becomes even more dangerous when he is accused of murdering a UN official and is seduced by a beautiful woman who is very interested in his plight.


I really don't understand why this is considered one of the best movies ever made, it's certainly not Alfred Hitchcock's greatest works. Cary Grant plays a man much younger than himself and his acting style is just so over-the-top and melodramatic it's hard to really feel for him. James Stewart in his glorious naturalness would have been better. The plot, though interesting, drags on for way too long. The movie reaches over two hours, leaving lots of room for the editing knife to hack out some ridiculous sexual dialogue between Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant. It was like a less interesting James Bond movie, with a beautiful woman inexplicably falling in love with our hero half-hour after meeting. Cary Grant, though almost constantly in the hands of death, still finds time to engage in biting remarks to the gruff silence of his enemies. This film reminded me of "The Man Who Knew Too Much," which has Doris Day singing that song again and again and again: not that great.

Cthulhu (2007)

A homosexual Seattle history professor, drawn back to his estranged family on the Oregon coast to execute his late mother's estate, is reaquainted with his best friend from childhood, with whom he has a long-awaited tryst. Caught in an accelerating series of events, he discovers aspects of his father's New Age cult which take on a dangerous and apocalyptic significance.

This was a bizarre movie, but strangely fascinating. The plot is based on famous horror author H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," which was written in 1926. Cthulhu has since then become a media icon of Pagan horror, present in other stories, films and video games. The story is interesting, but extremely incomplete and confusing. The ambiguous ending made me very angry; the movie had succeeded in getting me wrapped up in itself, and then completely slapped me in the face. I liked the eerie atmosphere; it would be a really good video game. It's an indie film, which I'm not especially "experienced" in, but still worth it to burn a couple hours on a Saturday night when nothing's on T.V.