Me & my Movies: 2
Friday, March 24, 2006
♥ Friday, March 24, 2006
Now, this blog is written while my aunty is watching a documentary about the early days of the movie world, on the discovery channel. It features " Stallone vs Schwarzenneger". Rocky vs Terminator.. Oscar vs Revolutionary Graphics (Remmeber the liquid guy in T2?).
I am about to make a statement. I am about to mention which are my favourite movies. And the problem with this, is that there is a certain commitment involved. It becomes a certain trait, a sorta shape that im going to take; people are gonna say 'he likes this', and then they're gonna have the flawed assumption that they do know something abt me. :) Somehow, from young, maybe in some childhood 'discovery' thing ( like sex, and vulgarities, and erm... friends?) i began having this mentality that when people can say what they like or dislike, there's a certain 'form' they take under. And in my own indecisive nature, i have long admired this form, this person or this thing that they willingly commit to be. Indecisiveness is the fluidity of the mind and the person. You end up being nothing, floating away in the winds of change, chance, emotions, friends, circumstance, hormones, whatever. So..anyway, down to business, shall we?
Rocky. Sylvester Stallone. I think my dad sorta 'forced' me into watching this when i was a child. Haha, and of course, i longed for solely the action, and got just a little of it. Few months ago, i decided to 'force' myself to grab it- it was oscar winning and all. Best Picture for 1970 soemthing. So, guess it gotta be good. i had
no idea man. At 1970, i think it was the first of all feel good movies- the Genesis of movies like Remmeber the titans, Coach Carter, even Million dollar Baby. It was a simple plot, no doubt. But know what happened? It inspired a nation. The story goes as a low-key boxer, gets a shot at the World Championship..and goes
all the way. Along the way, he's a friend, a lover, a person with a low self esteem, who changes. The soundtrack is fantastic. At that time and age, to come out with somehting like that, was a spectacle in itself. Stallone played out his "italian" character perfectly, having the build, the determination, the co-stars liek Carl Winters (who also starred in PRedator?), to pull it off. A nobody into a somebody..telling everybody, in being the best they can be. A motto im slowly adopting. And the scenes? when they're supposed to be touching..they bring the lump to yr throat, to have you swallow it back down. Thats what i mean by good. When you're watching the movie, you're in. You're each of his characters, and they sinisterly reel you into that circumstance, that victory or that loss, that death and that grief. All were good. At Rocky 5, they even managed to reel me into nostalgia! haha..of the first Rocky at least. u din want it to end...seriously!
Tom Cruise, Renee Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Junior, Regina King. Powerful cast in a beautifully crafted movie. Ok, try guessing. Sports Agent. Thown outta the company, gets no one but this bad attitude, pretty talented, family loving, football player. Falls in love with secretary who leaves that same company to join him. Have an adorable,
adorable kid who steals the show. And then..in all failure,the football player makes it BIG. Actutally, the moment i mentioned Sports Agent, you should've guessed: Jerry Maguire. Also Oscar nominated, with Cuba Gooding Jr playing Rod, football player, winning Best Supporting Actor.
NOw, that is an oscar winning performance you dont see everyday. Man, these blacks just know how to make a movie, a movie. He's so intensely humourous, you'd ardy have a solidification of the character that he is, within ten minutes of his entry into the movie! And the movie, is just splendid. The romance, btw Cruise and Zellweger, btw Cruise and Zellweger's "kid", btw Cruise and Cuba (haha trust me, in the show, there
was romance). Everyone displays a chemistry that fits perfectly into their role. This show is a category of its own. Its not feel good..its apparently romantic comedy. And the kid! Remmeber Stuart Little? Ok, i think Jerry Maguire was screened probably 10 years before Stuart Little..but, you know, when you see girls crowding over babies and saying they're
soooooo cute? haha.. erm, i think its something like that. He's different from Macaulay Culkin- he's innocent. He's different from Haley Joel Osment- he's funny. Watch it! Im beggin you. And enjoy what i enjoyed.
Lastly, without a shadow of a doubt, John Woo's Travolta vs Cage, Face Off. Believe me when i say i have watched about 20 over times, this movie. Probably even more. Yes, its a typical police vs terrorist thing. But, hey, its that kinda movie when you watch, you realise its a notch above any, and i mean ANY, action movie you've ever watched. John Woo. They called him the King of Bullets. ( sounds stupid, yes. UNTIL you watch this.) There's so much circularity about the show.. Travolta's Archer losing a kid in the starting 5 mins of the movie, then Cage's Castor Troy losing a brother in the near middle. Then Travolta regaining a child at the last 5 mins..Cage's child. When both stared into a mirror,and you understood that it was the other they were looking at, i thought that scene was just ingenious.
When both characters squared off, there was a something 'sexy' abt how they did it. The way they moved, the dialogue. Yes, the dialogue. In my first entry abt movies, I mentioned that no one plays Evil better than John Travolta. You have to watch the scene when he approached Cage, in the cell. The intimidation, the charisma, the
beauty of his character. Haha, you know, when i was in secondary 2, i watched it so many times i knew the scene by hard, and used it in one of my English essays! haha..i din do too well for it though. Think bad grammar or soemthing. Nicholas Cage also has a talent, to look pained. Seriously. I've never seen a sadder character. you can almost spell 'guilt' and 'sorrow' on his forehead. And yes, you've gotta have the details. I believe he won Best supporting Actor for this.
It started off, just for the action. At 14, haha i think all the value of entertainment lay in how much violence a movie had. And this movie, it was violence to an intriguing degree. All the way, to yesterday, i have watched it, and enjoyed it for the action sequences it has. Its not like Tarantino's Kill Bill- its action entertainment. Not raw, brutal killing, but sleek, suave, slow-motion-to-enchance-intensity, entertainment.
yes, this is my opinion. But for once, let me impose it on you. Watch these 3. And understand why. Why its in my blog. Why its oscar winning. why ppl claim its so good. And for once, witness the miracles and power of moving pictures. And then tell the whole world like i did, the phenomenon movies like Rocky, Jerry Maguire and Face Off are.
