Movie Reviews

For those of you who know me you know that I love to watch movies, so I have decided to blog a review of the movies that I have seen lately so you all will know what to see and not to see according to me. Lets start with the most recent:






A Raisin in the Sun


I actually just got back from watching this an hour ago. It is a Sundance film that was amazing. It is about an African American family living in the southside of Chicago (a place that is very special to me) and the struggles that each individual in the family has to face. It was funny and it was depressing at points but overall brought out a very inspirational message. Phylicia Rashad did a great job portraying the matriarch of the family and Sean Combs did a suprisingly good job as well. This is a movie I will definately own. It touched a lot of subjects that are near and dear to me (the fight against prejudice, the importance of family, the southside of Chicago) and can understand if others do not feel the same that I do, but I will give it 4 and a quarter stars out of five. A you should see film










Absurdistan


Again this was another Sundance film that I saw a few days ago. I went and saw it at the Tower theater at 9th and 9th. It is a foreign film that was mainly filmed in Azerbijan. It is about two children who are meant to be toghether. They both knew it from birth. They live in a small village in the middle of the desert that gets its water supply from a cave that their ancestors built an aquaeduct from to get water out of. Well the men in the village are lazy and horny. The water stops running and the women in the village decide that they are going to stop putting out until the men fix the problem. The men are lazy and refuse except for the boy previously mentioned who now is 18 along with the girl. It was fortold by her grandmother that they would finally know eachother intamately during this same time. So the boy sets out to fix the problem so he can get laid by his true love. It is an interesting story with some really funny parts. It was a little slow and the main actors rarely spoke in it. It was creative, I will give it that. I will give it 3 out of 5 stars. Not one I will own but it was worth seeing. It also took away my status as a Sundance virgin. It was the first Sundance film I have seen while it was playing in the festival. A you can see it if you want to film, you won't be amazed but will leave not feeling you have wasted your time. I liked it but I really like foreign flicks



Atonement


Wow is about all I have to say about this movie. Let me preface it by saying that I am not a big Keira Knightley fan. I have really not liked her in most of the things that she has done. But in this film she is great. All the actors in it are. The cinematography is great. The story is a little slow but very intruiging, the flashback sequences are almost perfect. The music is perfect, especially the parts where the sound of the typewriter are the sound of the beat. Warning: it is a total art house film so if you do not like art house films you most likely will not like this one. It is sorta chickflickish but not really, the artsy genre makes it void of deserving that title. There are a few crude parts to it as well. But if you can stomach a few f words and a few other crude parts to I highly reccomend this movie. It deserves all of the attention that it is getting in and all the awards it is nominated for. At the end of the movie me and my friend Christa who I saw it with were pretty much in awe of how good it was. 75% of those who were in the theater stayed in their seats and just talked about it for well over five minutes after it ended. There is definately something amazing about this movie. I would pay to see it in the theater again. I will give it 4 and a half stars out of five. A must see if you choose to watch rated R movies and can handle a little crudeness.






Goodbye Lenin!
Okay with Sundance being here I kinda got ready for it by buying one of my favorite foreign flicks. It is probably my second favorite foreign movie. It is about a single parent family (mom as leader of the house) living under communist rule in East Germany. The mom is a staunch supporter of the socialist program and falls into a long coma. During this comatose state the Berlin wall comes down, Germany is unified and capitalism is brought to Berlin. It is a funny and really touching film that again shows the importance of family among a myriad of other topics. I highly reccomend this movie as well. It is rated R for those who choose not to watch those films. For those that do I now own a copy if you want to borrow it. I give it 4 stars out of five.

As a side note: For those who think I have no life I did go and see these with friends over a three week period of time minus Goodbye Lenin which I bought for a lucky five bucks. So don't think I am a complete loser.