October Movie Reviews

I Heart Huckabees - Although it presents ideas that can be a little difficult to wrap your brain around at times, trying to navigate through them is part of the fun. Its inspired craziness is reminiscent of the Charlie Kaufman movies. The Jon Brion music that you hear in the trailer is used perfectly to glue the story together. All of the actors are good too, especially Dustin Hoffman and Mark Wahlberg.

The Machinist - This is the best thing i’ve seen in a while. Christian Bale will blow you away. As I walked out, I found myself getting really excited about next summer’s Batman Begins. Bale is going to be a great Bruce Wayne. Watching this can be very unsettling at times. Bale lost 60 pounds to play the lead character, an insomniac machinist working through some very personal issues. There are some really cool stylistic things that the director, Brad Anderson, does with the movie. I don’t want to say too much more. The less you know about this before you see it, the better. Trust me, it’s good stuff.

The Forgotten - (Don’t read this if you want to see it) This movie is really bad, almost so bad that it’s good, but not quite. Julianne Moore plays a mother obsessed with her missing son. Her husband, therapist, neighbors, etc. lead her and the audience to believe that she’s crazy by denying the boy’s existence. About half way through the movie it’s revealed that, Surprise!, the boy was somehow abducted by aliens for an experiment. The aliens have been able to erase everyone’s mind except this woman’s. Throughout the movie, people who anger or get in the way of the aliens’ plans get sucked into the sky. I kept wondering why they wouldn’t just suck Moore’s character into the sky too, instead of letting her get closer to uncovering their big mysterious plans.

Friday Night Lights - A nice feel good story. It’s an updated Hoosiers, with football instead of basketball. The game scenes are brutal, lots of blood and broken bones.

The Woodsman - The easiest movie to compare this to would be last year’s Monster. Kevin Bacon plays a pedophile trying to reenter society after twelve years in prison. In Monster, it was easier for us to empathize with the murderer because you understood how she became that person. It’s tragic. You root for her to change and find happiness. This movie tries to do the same thing, but it doesn’t work as well.

Posted by chuck at October 11, 2004 3:44 PM