The Hurt Locker

I felt like I had missed something when I watched The Hurt Locker (2008) because everyone was hailing it as one of the best movies ever made. I just didn't get it. The movie never came across to me as anything more than your basic war movie.

The story follows a young soldier in the middle east who is somewhat of a thrill seeker. He's constantly putting those around him at great risk and seems to have no regard whatsoever for his own life. As he goes through different experiences, you think his outlook is going to change, but all that goes out the window in the end where he's still just as reckless as ever. I tried to find something to like about this movie, but I just couldn't. The acting isn't really that great, the story is choppy and struggles to stay together, and the hand-held direction of the movie is absolutely atrocious. When Kathryn Bigelow won Best Director last year, I almost cried. Not only should Sofia Coppola have been the first female winner of that award for Lost in Translation years ago, but it should have gone to James Cameron last year for the amazing movie Avatar.

All around this movie was lost on me and the intense critical praise it received made me like it even less. (5.4/10)

The Night of the Hunter

The first time I saw The Night of the Hunter (1955) I thought it was one of the greatest older thrillers I'd ever seen. All of the tension was there and the story was clever enough for me to consider it on the same level as Psycho.

However, upon watching it the second time I realized there was one big flaw with the movie, one I cannot and will not overlook. That problem is Shelley Winters. Now, I love Shelley in other movies and was saddened by her recent passing, but her character in this movie is so overacted that it makes it hard to enjoy the movie. She plays the new wife of the murderous pastor and not only turns a blind eye to absolutely anything wrong about him, but doesn't even care when it looks like her kids are in trouble... because she's in love. Whatever.

What could have been the most well-crafted thriller ever is lost on a character that steals each scene she appears in, and doesn't give it back to you so you can enjoy the film. (6.7/10)

Repulsion

I was really looking forward to this movie. I think the only other Polanski film I've seen until now was Rosemary's Baby, and that is one of my favorite films of all time. I was thinking another psychological horror film from the same director made around the same time would be just as good, but I was wrong.

Repulsion (1965) is supposed to be a movie about sexual repression and how it can affect the mind. It's drawn a comparison to David Lynch's Eraserhead, another one of my favorite movies. I see the similarities, but the difference is the execution. Repulsion lumbers along from one scene to the next, every scene lasting too long and some not needed at all. I can appreciate the film and some of the visuals are quite startling, but in the end I don't think it was made all that well from any aspect.

For a movie titled Repulsion, I was expecting a bit more than what I found. (6.1/10)

Inception

I had been looking forward to Inception since the first posters and trailers made their way into theaters. Everything about it seemed like it would turn out as nothing but perfection, and I was not disappointed.

Inception (2010) starts out with a jumble of images and ideas that are only explained later in the film. The audience finds themselves thrown into an uncomfortable and new world that does not quite make sense. Though there is much plot to describe in the first hour or so of the movie, I found myself so engrossed in everything that was going on. I was trying to figure out how characters fit together, what was going to happen next, and what things were symbolic to cracking the code of the movie. As the film progresses we fall into a complicated bank robbery-type film that moves you to the edge of your seat; all the while you're forced to keep track of every second of the film to keep with it. I don't think I've ever had more fun at a movie.

I can't wait to view the movie a second time to see if I've gotten everything out of it that I can. I used to think that the 1970's were the peak of cinema. Now I'm looking forward to this next decade to prove me wrong.

As close to perfection as I've ever seen in a movie. (9.8/10)