Both Cal (that’s bullshish to you) and I love the movies. Sometimes I will recommend a movie to him that he has never seen, and he recommends one to me (that I have never seen, obviously). And then we watch them on our own time and Cal ends up blogging about the movies he has had to watch. And me? I usually tell him over an AIM conversation what I thought about the movie and leave it at that. But all that has changed thanks to this guy, who wanted to know my opinions of the movies I was forced to watch. This is the second post in this “series” but the first on as a part of the Bullshish team. So rather than copy and pasting the first six movie semi-reviews, you can just click this link right HERE.
7. Slumdog Millionaire
Cal had me watch this movie and I had him watch the always amazing Green Street Hooligans. Check out his review here. Now, apparently Cal loves Slumdog a lot. Overall this was a fantastic movie. I had my reservations as first, because I was not rooting for this movie during the Oscars and it won almost EVERY freaking thing. The cast was superb and those little kids are probably the most adorable things I have ever seen. I liked the story lay out (I’m a fan of the flash back)- it was very creative. When I put the DVD in I thought it was going to be kind of boring, but it was very much the opposite. While I didn’t want to watch this at first, I will definitely be watching it again.
Movie considered: A success!
8. Spirited Away
I had Cal watch Waitress and in turn, I watched Spirited Away. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against anime. I think the first thing I did wrong whilst watching this movie was watching the English version. It didn’t even occur to me to watch it in Japanese until over half way through the movie, and I was not about to start it over. For some reason, these things are so much better with subtitles. By the end of the movie I liked it well enough. The story was fun and a little weird and kind of gross at times. I mean, it wasn’t horrible but I don’t see me watching this movie by myself again.
Movie considered: A moderate success!
9. American Beauty
I gave Cal an amazing Oscar winner called Chicago, and he had me watch an Oscar winner called American Beauty. Kevin Spacey really stole the show. His character was such a loser until he grew a pair and became awesome. I figured out the ending before it happened so it wasn’t any sort of surprise. I don’t know what else to say for this lame review. I liked this movie well enough, though the chances of me ever watching it again are slim to none.
Movie considered: Not that successful!
So there you go. My quick, not so great reviews of the latest movies of the trade-off.
June 16th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Slumdog Millionaire and Spirited Away are two of my favorite movies ever, so it’s nice knowing you enjoyed them.
I’ve never really considered Spirited Away (or Studio Ghibli films in general) to be anime. When I think of anime I think of Japanese tv shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion or Cowboy Bebop. Studio Ghibli’s films are much more like a Japanese take on Disney. You can even see elements of the films that Disney and Pixar have borrowed. And I don’t think you missed much by watching the English dub. As far as dubs go it’s one of the better ones and by watching it in Japanese you just get more technical Japanese terms that most people wouldn’t understand.
I’m with you on American Beauty. It was a good enough movie, but I don’t feel the need to see it ever again and I don’t understand why film students go crazy about screenplay. Most of my friends think it’s one of the best movies of the last 15 years.
June 16th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Yeah, I wasn’t sure if it technically was an anime or not, so I just went with the assumption it was.
I don’t see the genius in American Beauty. Then again, I am not a film student.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
I’m very surprised in your distate for American Beauty, as the director comes from a theater background and examines his characters from that perspective. To each his own.
I haven’t seen Spirited Away, and probably never will. Just not my cup of tea.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Connor, for the love of GOD you need to see Spirited Away. Not that I hold the IMDB top 250 at THAT high of meaning, but there’s a reason it’s surrounded by movies like Slumdog Millionaire, Eternal Sunshine, Terminator 2, and Saving Private Ryan on that list. It’s undeniably one of the best of its genre if not THE best. Even if you don’t typically like anime, Spirited Away is a movie every film lover needs to see at least once. If I could hack your Netflix, I would make it the next movie you received.
Lauren, I’m glad you at least liked Slumdog. Of all the movies on the list, that one was probably the most important to me just because Spirited Away is pretty genre specific and American Beauty is a bit of a downer.