As with my previous reviews I like to point out why I enjoy DVD rentals as apposed to going to see a movie in a theater. First, I'm cheap. There's no getting around the motivating factor and, unless it's a visual must see on a big screen like King Kong, then it ain't worth the price of admission. Plus, I like to smoke and fart at my leisure.
Thus, on to the three movies that watched this week.
I started off with a movie that I had not seen advertised called "Catch a fire" with Tim Robbins starring in the supporting lead role. The movie was about terrorism in South Africa before the ending of apartheid. The story went back and forth from an ordinary African male with his family and the head of the terrorist security force played by Tim Robbins.
Of course, you can imagine that the Anglo/Saxon population lives in homes with grass, swimming pools, etc... and the African community does not even have paved roads along with a string of shacks that make up some semblance of a neighborhood. The character played by Tim Robbins thinks that he is saving the country from terrorist by arresting people randomly, with little to no evidence of involvement in the crimes, along with the standard tortures during interrogations.
The African family man had a child with a previous relationship and he sneaks away to visit his son, but does not want his wife to know anything about the trips that he takes. Of course, a terrorist attack occurs during the same time that he snuck away to see his boy and the over zealous nature of the national security lock him away and torture him. Of course, he is able to handle it, but then they torture his wife. Which turns him into a terrorist for real.
He actually leaves South Africa to a neighboring country and starts training with an underground communist group that believes in all the people having equal opportunities in life. Now, there was an action scene during his time of exile that I had to skip through, because my DVD had a scratch on it at that section of the story.
He comes back to South Africa and reeks havoc and his wife, who has found out about the son from another woman, rats him out. FUCKING BITCH! He goes to prison and you know the rest from history. Nelson Mandela is released and all subsequent prisoners from that time are released as well, along with our main character who has spent 24 years behind bars.
There's a lot in the end of this movie that I'm leaving out so that you can enjoy it for yourself. It is a movie of vengeance and forgiveness. I enjoyed it. It had it's times when it would move slow, but I believe the film makers were trying to capture the rhythm of the nation for that time period. Very nice movie.
Second, I watch "Bandidas." It's always good to see a movie with GOOD cleavage. Selma & "um" Penélope get into a cat fight, they have a scene with WET SHIRTS, and they try to see who can give Steve Zahn (a personal favorite of mine) the better kiss. Oh! there's also the part of robbing a bunch of banks to help the poor trodden farmers who are being oppressed by, guess who, the gringos.
OK action scenes, Sam Sheppard teaches them how to rob banks, ok comedy, but the there were some excellent music tracks that reminded me of some of the old Clint Eastwood Spanish spaghetti westerns movies - very nice. I'd watch Selma & Penélope any day of the week and I love both Zahn & Sheppard. So, all in all -- I enjoyed this movie.
The third movie that I viewed was spectacular "The Illusionist" with Edward Norton (who could have imagined that the guy in Fight Club -- Ah! the days when Brat Pitt was in good movies -- could have become the awesome actor. Here's the plot line: In the turn of the Twentieth Century, in Vienna, the teenager Eduard Abramovich is the son of a cabinetmaker that becomes fascinated with magic. While practicing some tricks on the streets, he meets the upper-class Sophie -- they're drawn apart because of class distinctions and Eduard runs away and becomes Eisenheim the illusionist.