stoned_bunnies

The first rule of Fight Club: Don't talk about Fight Club. Well, I'm going to.

Edward Norton plays the main character, a confused, depressed and insomniac man of routine, with nothing to live for but all his stuff (as in the things he buys). His life is so boring and meaningless that he begins attending support groups to listen to people talk about how they're battling cancer or any other disease they may have. He himself doesn't have cancer or any other disease of the sort, but he finds peace and people he likes in these meetings. All of that changes, though, when he meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter). She is a woman who is also faking her way through the groups. Because of Marla, Norton's character sinks back into depression and insomnia. His life is for an even worse surprise, though, when he meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on a plane trip. Tyler takes everything that is of value from the protagonist (Norton). Tyler and the protagonist then start a new trend that helps them deal with their stress. They fight. They fight each other constantly, and attract other people to join what later becomes "Fight Club". The story goes back and forth from the Fight Club phenomenon to Marla and her a insane affair with Tyler, and things gradually spin out of control. Fight Club grows and spreads and our protagonist here finds himself deteriorating as the movie goes on. There is then more to the story but I can't say much without giving the pleasure of watching it away.

So I think it's needless to say that Edward Norton is simply a godly actor, right? Everyone must know it already. Brad Pitt did alright, I suppose, but he didn't do much for me. He always plays the same type of character in almost every movie he's in and, irritatingly, never has any facial expressions. The fact that he is good-looking is a bonus to the film itself and his character is a riot, but I can't say that he evoked anything in me through his performance. Same with Bonham-Carter, as much as she has been praised for her role in this film.

The cinematography, though, was insanely great as was everything else about the movie. I'm glad I discovered David Fincher (the director), and even after having seen his other movies, like "Se7en" and "Panic Room", I would have to say that "Fight Club" is by very far is best.

9/10 if not more.

"Bad Education" (or "La Mala Educacion") is an amazing film. I'm not that familiar with Pedro Almodóvar's work, but I really enjoyed this masterpiece he has here. It's hard to say whether it is a thriller or a drama, but I think it's a little of both. There's a lot of suspense involved in the general plot and it's overall a very satisfying movie.

The main themes in this movie are love, homosexuality and pedophilia in Catholic churches. Enrique (Fele Martínez) is a homosexual director/producer with a haunting past. Angel (Gael Garcia Bernal), a long-lost lover and friend from Enrique's childhood, shows up with a script he wrote which he hopes to have made into a movie. He is also wanting to play the role of one of the main characters in his script, Zahara, who is a drag queen. Enrique still has a special place in his heart for Angel and realizes, after reading the script, that the entire story is an autobiographical (and partly fictional) story of Angel's. At first, Enrique is ecstatic and excited about the script, but he isn't sure about casting Angel in the movie. As Enrique reads through the script, he becomes more and more overwhelmed with the vivid memories and emotions from his childhood. The film takes us into the script's story and into Enrique's flashbacks of his child molestation within the Catholic Church by Padre Manolo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). After reading the script all the way through, Enrique decides to make the movie but refuses to cast Angel as Zahara. Angel becomes annoyed and upset about not getting his way but eventually Enrique gives up and lets him play the part. From there, we discover more about each character and how their lives intertwine with one another. Lies are uncovered and it becomes very suspenseful as the camera takes us deeper into each of the characters' worlds.

So overall, the plot was amazing, but the acting was too. Gael Garcia Bernal is now a favorite of mine. I'd seen him before "Amores Perros" (or "Love's a Bitch") as well as "The Motorcycle Diaries", but this movie really did it for me. It was absolutely fantastic seeing him play three totally different and controversial characters. There are no proper words to describe the wonderful job he did with "Bad Education", especially the fine work of his newly-developed Spanish accent, which he must have worked hard on what with being a Mexican. Fele Martinez is also a good actor and he and Bernal worked extremely well together. I hope they play together more often in the future. I'll definitely keep hunting for both their work.

Anyone who can sit through a good, foreign movie with a lot of gay sex in it should watch this. If this sounded good to you at all, then watch it. You probably won't regret it because it's a favorite of mine, and that says a lot.

"Big Fish", as most people know, is a Tim Burton film. Tim Burton proved himself a great director with movies like "Edward Scissorhands" and the recent "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". So when I sat down to watch "Big Fish", I expected magical and enchanting characters to float out of my screen and set my imagination off to a different planet. But it seriously disappointed me and here's why.

The movie is about William Bloom (Billy Crudup), a married man with a baby on the way, who finds out that his father, Edward (Albert Finney), is dying. He returns home to see him as he feels very distant from his father and wants to reconnect with him before he dies. The reason he is so distant from his father is because his dad is always telling exaggerated stories of his magical past and William doesn't appreciate the fact that his dad can't be normal and serious like everyone else. (I know, what an idiot.) Most of the movie shows us Edward Bloom's wonderful tales, with Ewan McGregor acting as young Edward (with a Southern accent!). So the story is basically about William Bloom trying to decode his father's complicated past. What he's really trying to do though, subconsciously, is to prove his father wrong about his "made-up" past, so that he can rightfully accuse his father of being a liar since everything he ever said was just triggered by his wild imagination.

So that's my first negative point. I hated the concept of getting all teary-eyed over a guy who can't connect with his dad. Alright, so it's nice to have an old man tell stories of his past but why add on tasteless, corny sequences of sons and fathers fighting and not talking for three years and then meeting in a hospital as the father is dying and etc., etc.!? WHY RUIN SUCH A (potentially) WONDERFUL MOVIE? The magical characters of Edward Bloom's stories were all amazing, though. Danny Devito played an eccentric circus owner while they got a real-life giant man to play the Giant in the movie. Also, Danny Elfman was great with the music as usual and Burton did an *ASTOUNDING* job with the visual effects. The only thing that TOTALLY ruined the movie for me was the corny Hollywood plot. But two thumbs up, to quote my fellow reviewers Siskel & Ebert, for everything else, especially the casting.