Shutter Island

Where do I begin with this film? Well first off, I saw this the weekend after opening weekend, which is super rare because usually wait for films to go to DVD or the dollar show. However, I have been following this film for quite some time now. Leo and Martin’s second film together – I was excited to say the least. I didn’t love THE DEPARTED like everyone else did. Granted, I thought it was an excellent film, but I wasn’t sucked into its world like many of the people who just adored it so. I suppose I can cover the plot fairly quick right here – an FBI agent (Leonardo Decaprio) and his partner (Mark Ruffalo) go to a mental institution to investigate the mysterious disappearance/breakout of one of their patients. While he’s there strange things start to happen and he suspects the warden of the institution and the other patients/guards are covering something up. There’s a huge storm so he cannot leave the island and then he starts to uncover the oddities he initially expected. I won’t go into any more detail, but there is a big twist ending that was pretty good I thought. I had noticed a few hints really early on (Leo not having his own cigarettes on the ferry ride in, etc).

Going in you know that you’re in for a fantastic treat. You have excellent actors, superb direction, and a fascinating locale and story to be bedazzled by. And you’re not disappointed either. Scorsese meticulously constructs this new world for us and it feels extremely real. The actually island they shot this film on is off the coast of Boston and it’s one of the film’s best features. If they would’ve green-screened all of the external island shots it would have taken away from the film immensely. Luckily Scorsese is a true old school director and knows what it takes to weave a story.

Everyone asked me how I liked the film after I saw it, and I knew going in that many of my friends loved it, so responding to their question was interesting. I told them that I thought it was really good, but I didn’t love it, which I thought was a legit answer. And comparing it to other Scorsese films that I love, it probably wouldn’t be in the top 5 either.

The best things about the film I named already, however, I wasn’t as captivated by the story as I wanted to be. It felt semi cartoonish from time to time. Not in terms of legitimacy or realism, but in terms of pre-planned situations and straight story timelines. I felt like it was all a little too neat and tidy, I don’t know if that made sense, but it is an excellent film. Watch it with the lights off and with a big bowl of popcorn. Probably Scorsese’s most pronounced popcorn flick to date.

Rating: 8.5/10

Sing a Song of Six Pants

My uncle and my father were hardcore Three Stooges fans during the whole time I was growing up, so I was very familiar with these guys. And even Shep before Curly came into the picture. I don’t know if you could quantify SING A SONG OF SIX PANTS as a feature film, but the website I found it on did, so that’s good enough for me. I also have included short films on my watched list in the past, so I guess I’m not violating any rules of mine with this whole “watch a film and then write a little review about it” rule. Anyways I’ll talk about this Three Stooges feature for a little bit.

SING A SONG OF SIX PANTS Video

Here we find the three stooges working at a tailor shop – removing stains from pants, hemming clothes, and fitting suits. All their stories are situational comedies, so it doesn’t really matter where they are or what they are doing. They will find a way to make it interesting and humorous.

They were no doubt the originators of the slapstick comedy routine. They paved the way for every ball kick, face slap, or violent comedy sequence to follow. We see it in tons of films and at times they are quite hilarious: TOMMY BOY, ACE VENTURA, or even the extremists in the JACKASS series. And this film still stands the test of time. There are truly funny moments and with the perfect special effect sounds with the slapstick routines it really is a delight to walk down memory lane. At times it can be a bit corny, but give them a break – it was 1947!

Rating: 7.5/10

True Romance

I made my wife watch this film Saturday night. She’d rather have been watching HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS, but in my sickness she let me chose. How nice of her, right? I forgot how violent this film really was. And there are several scenes that I wished she didn’t have to set through and listen to. Especially the foul language throughout, she pointed that out to me fairly quick. I guess I’ve just become somewhat desensitized to it, but after she pointed it out I caught every word for the remainder of the picture. HER take on the film – “there are some parts I did like.” So that leads me to believe that the majority of the time she was trying to run out of the room because of lack of felt involvement with the film and its characters. I couldn’t be further from that.

True Romance Trailer

So with this all-star cast onscreen and off, how could you go wrong? This is the first screenplay that Quentin Tarantino sold to Hollywood and it’s definitely very reminiscent of his style. Tony Scott, legendary director, directed it. And some of the actors included: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, James Gandolphini, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, and Christopher Wlaken, with many, many more that I couldn’t name off the top of my head. The film is jam packed with talent. And it features one of my favorite Walken sayings of all time: "I'm the angel of death, and I'm in a vendetta mood..." So excellent.

Real quick synopsis of the story: Christian Slater meets Alabama, a newly made hooker, and then fall for each other. They run off to Hollywood after Christian showdowns with Alabama’s pimp and mistakenly takes a suitcase full of pure cocaine instead of her clothes. Their goal in Hollywood is to sell the coke and live their days of traveling and loving each other. Everything falls apart in California and they end up fighting for their lives. And there is even an epic, extremely stylized “shoot out” with several adjacent parties involved. I won’t give away the ending, but I like it. It’s a refreshing takeaway from a film that is extremely heavy.

However, there are a ton of moments full of all out hilarity. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, as it shouldn’t. We see all types of cinema wrapped up in this film. It follows a trajectory that we are all very familiar with and it’s comforting for the viewers. You can tell that Quentin really has a deep passion for classic American cinema, and meaty dialogue sequences (I guess that goes without saying when you talk about QT films). The relationship between Christian and Alabama reminded me of the one between Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern in WILD AT HEART, David Lynch’s romantic cinematic adventure. In both relationships there is this odd connection that we really cannot comprehend, but what believe in its authenticity nonetheless. And it’s funny because my wife and I also watched WILD AT HEART together, boy that was a mistake. Jeez.

This is probably my favorite Tony Scott and QT film. It’s sincere and moving and a fun ride. I loved that they shot it in Detroit, my hometown, and used a lot of natural backdrops of the cityscape throughout the film. The characters are so unique and interesting that one cannot help but enjoy watching them runaround in their maze and the story is solid. Probably not a great “romantic” film to watch with your loved one (as I found out), but a great film either way.

Rating: 8.75/10