Movie Review Time!

Wheeeee! More movies! Rhetorical question: Have you ever watched a movie despite knowing how terrible it would be? I guess really the issue is how do you know whether a movie will be horrible or not before you've even seen it? They say, don't judge a book by it's cover, but sometimes all we need is the cover to know how horrible a book will be... I think the first person to say "don't judge a book by it's cover" never read books like this...

Here's what I watched this week:

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - I was first introduced to this back when I was a kid. It was actually from a movie called Summer School (which is a good '80s movie) that I first heard of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Over the years I had seen clips and read about a person named, Ed Gein, but for some reason, never really bothered to watch the film in it's entirety, yet knew all about the mythos of Leatherface. Having now seen the film I can verifiably say that anyone who has never seen this film is basically missing out on one of the pantheon of great horror. Very few horror movies can shock/scare you in the way that this can. There are so many cringe-worthy sequences of gore and shocking horror, that I have no idea why I waited so long to see this masterpiece. Kids, if you've only seen the remake, which admittedly I have not, please scrape your eyeballs clean and remove the brain matter which will cause you to remember it, and go watch the original. Ok? (Disclaimer: Don't mutilate yourself cuz it's bad for you.)
  
• Deliverance - Following on the light-hearted theme of mutilation, cannibalism, and "bizarre home decor", we have a classic scene delivered in the deep woods from Deliverance. While there was no cannibalism and ill-advised interior decorating choices, there was a particular scene of... shall we call it mutilation? Um... Yeah, anyway. I did like the banjo scene, although, that kid really freaked me out... But all told, it was a good movie, and another one that you should see if you have not. (Mental note - No canoeing in the deep south or rural America)
  
• The Darjeeling Limited - This was supposed to be a comedy about 3 brothers doing something in India. But I found it hard to care about them at all to be perfectly honest. There were some "heart-warming" scenes between the 3 main actors at the end about acceptance and shit, but seriously? I dunno... I just find this guy's movies to be bland.... Bland like Wonder Bread... To make a movie in India of all places and to come away still with that Wonder Bread feel, that just blows me away. Congrats on making "The Most Boring Movie in One of the More Culturally Interesting Parts of the Globe!"
  
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin - I have to say, I was fairly unmoved by this movie. I laughed in a few spots, but I don't like comedies that are this cute. It's very saccharin and like the Wonder Bread movie I just reviewed, it left kind of a foul taste in my mouth. "Free" was a good price to pay to see this, and I don't think I would have liked spending more than $0.00 to go to the theater and watch this.
  
• Kagemusha - I honestly think I've exhausted the well of Kurosawa films after this one. I'm not saying this was bad. Actually there were some scenes in this that I don't think I've ever seen in cinema elsewhere. There was kind of a dream/hallucination sequence which totally blew me away. But I would have to say that my real favorites of his movies are Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro... Some of my favorite Mifune scenes in those as well. This was still a really enjoyable film and I liked much of what I saw. I just don't think it ranks up on my list of favorites. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.
  

To answer my own question from earlier, there are times when I've picked movies to review here, knowing full well that I wouldn't like them at all. Ocean's 11 was a good example of that. I don't know what my barometer is for determining whether or not I will or will not like a movie. It's purely a gut feeling, but that doesn't really explain anything. Or rather, it's a convenient way of avoiding explaining something in detail.

I've got some more movies right now for the next review post, so stay tuned.... (^_____^)