Nine Dead (2009)

Countdown to Halloween: October 11, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

Wow. I expected nothing from this movie, and I was completely shocked. Of course I thought at the beginning that it was going to be a Saw ripoff, but it totally wasn’t. Sure, maybe the story was mostly Sawish, but the execution wasn’t. It was more clean and to the point. It’s the difference between John and the killer in this movie. John didn’t want people to change… he just wanted to torture them and let them die knowing why. The killer here gives them a chance to figure it out, and change if they manage to leave alive. In that way, I think it was a little bit more harrowing. I mean, in Saw you know those people were going to die. Here, you kept wondering who would finally give that last piece of information, and which ones would be left. This was clean, fast, and to the point.

Most of the complaints I’ve read about this movie are about the ending. But I wonder if that’s just because people want everything tied up in a nice neat package and handed to them. People don’t want to have to use their imagination. I think the way it ended, while frustrating, was along the same lines as the rest of the movie: you need to figure it out. Of course there isn’t any more evidence or anything to know for sure, but there’s a shot in the last minute or so of the movie that if you paid attention, would bother the crud out of you once the ending credits started rolling. It basically changes the ending completely, depending on what actually happened in that one shot. I wish I could say it, because it’s immensely frustrating, but if I did, it would ruin the whole movie. Spoilers in this kind of film are the worst. Intricate weavings of lives, actions, and consequences hang in a very delicate balance. So while the ending does frustrate me, I don’t think it was a case of “the writer just didn’t know how to end it” as one Netflix reviewer put it. I think that if someone doesn’t like the ending, it’s because they’re not willing to accept that not everything gets tied up in a neat little package and handed to you.

See it on Netflix

Mario’s Story (2007)

Date Watched: August 20, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This is everything that drives me insane about the penal system in this country.

Don’t get me wrong… I think if you murder someone, you should be put to death. Except the problem here is that the justice system is more worried about looking good to the public than actually carrying out justice.

Mario was convicted of a crime based on eyewitness testimony alone. Once other eyewitnesses came forward after his conviction and sentence and years in prison… and they said that Mario couldn’t possibly have murdered anybody because he wasn’t standing where the original witness put him… the courts denied evidence with the same credibility to free him as it had to lock him up. Why? Because the prosecutors, investigators, judge, and jury don’t want the OJ Simpson complex hanging over their heads and their careers. You know what I’m talking about. OJ was guilty but for some reason, he got away with it. Well, that can NEVER happen again because everyone involved with that case looks like a moron and none of them had a good reputation after that. So now they’re going to make it look like the US justice cogs could never, EVER skip a peg and make a mistake ever again. So Mario, locked up for something he legitimately didn’t do… is denied freedom just so these jerks don’t look bad for screwing up.

WHAT. THE. HECK.

Ugh. Uggggggh!

Obviously this isn’t a post about Mario as much as it is about the film made about his story, but like I’ve said a million times: if a documentary evokes any substantial level of emotion, it’s a good film. It did its job.

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Nick of Time (1995)

Date Watched: July 30, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This was pretty decent. I like conspiracy films and thrillers. I love Christopher Walken. I especially love Johnny Depp, though this is definitely not what I’m used to seeing him in. He’s always done quirky films. In this one, his character had no… well… character. No flare. No little Johnny Depp touch.

Ah, well. It was still good.

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Without A Trace (1983)

Date Watched: June 4, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

I enjoyed this film, though I must say I don’t understand what’s so “haunting” and “heartbreaking” about it. I suppose you’d have to be a parent to understand.

One thing I will say is that Kate Nelligan is gorgeous. I don’t know what kind of an actress she is… I wasn’t overly impressed. She didn’t seem all that emotional at all, regardless of what was going on.

Yet somehow, I really liked this.

Queue it on Netflix

Fast Five (2011)

Date Watched: May 2, 2011
Source: Theatre

You can say whatever you want about the F&F franchise, but I love it. Granted, I haven’t seen 2 or 4, but I’m told that 2 is unwatchable and also unrelated to the rest of them. I still need to see 4, and I feel like I still need to try and watch 2.

But anyway, the first one is one of my favorite movies. It’s one of my big-time quotables, apparently. Especially drunk, so I’m told. But I’ve loved that movie since the first time I saw it. Then I saw 3… against my better judgment, since I HATE watching movies out of sequence. And I liked it quite a bit. I didn’t really want to see 5, since I hadn’t seen 4… and it seems as though I missed a few important details. So I really do need to see 4.

I loved 5. Something about F&F makes their heinous errors completely acceptable. Like in the first one. O’Connor overdoes it with the NOS, and that causes… his floor panel to fall out? And little things… like when Jesse’s looking under the hood of the Supra that Brian has towed in. He says, “2JZ, no shit!” when every Supra had that engine. Little things like that.

And there were huge errors like that in 5. I really wish I could point them out… but I don’t do spoilers, so I’ll just say this: The climax… the actual heist… is utterly ridiculous. That doesn’t mean I didn’t love it though.

Anywho, I guess my general point here is that I loved the movie. It’s hard to post about recent movies without spoilers and still get my point across… but… there it is.

Queue it on Netflix

Gran Torino (2008)

Date Watched: April 25, 2011
Source: redbox

Wow.

Of course I thought this was going to be another ho-hum car movie. I was delighted to find out that the movie really doesn’t have much to do with the car at all, nice as it is.

Clint Eastwood is so fun to watch. I am not by any means saying he’s a good actor. In fact, I don’t really think he is. I have no way of knowing, since he always plays the same character, more or less. But that also doesn’t mean he’s not fun to watch. And in this movie, it’s especially fun.

I don’t care what anyone says… the dude is funny. He’s an absolute curmudgeon, and the racism just makes it hysterical. Anyone who doesn’t think so is really just too sensitive. Hell, look at Thao and Sue. He calls Thao “zip” about a skillion times, and Sue and Thao just glaze over it. Nobody cares. In fact, Sue doesn’t let him fool her into believing he’s that much of an asshole. She knows there’s something good in there, and she finds it underneath all the piss, vinegar, and racial slurs. Those are all just a facade.

Point is, I freaking loved this.

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The Bad Seed (1956)

Date Watched: March 22, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

Man, do I love old movies. The problem with old movies, usually, is that they’re predictable. This one was no different. You knew what was going to happen. You knew how it was going to happen.

And then, it didn’t happen.

Something else happened instead.

And you’re like, “WHOA! I didn’t see that coming for MILES!” And then you smile because, THE TWIST, though very short and pretty sweet, has surfaced again.

Queue it on Netflix

RoboCop (1987)

Date Watched: March 5, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

While I’m not sure how I feel about this — I definitely do not rate it up there with other 80s classics that I know and love — there were some memorable points:

1. “Bitches leave.”
2. *Bob Morton gets shot several times in the leg* “STOP IT!”
3. “come quietly or there will be… trouble.” “awwww… fuck you!”
4. When the giant shooter/walker thing falls down the stairs and squeals like a pig on the landing
5. *shoots giant gun* “I… LIKE IT!”
6. “Murphy! I’m a mess!”

But I think the best part about this movie is the fact that Dan O’Herlihy, better known as CONAL FREAKIN COCHRAN is in this movie!

Queue it on Netflix

Murder in the First (1995)

Date Watched: Feburary 19, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This was a phenomenal movie. Seriously. It was one of those movies that the story makes you want to jump up and down on whatever you’re sitting on and yell at the TV for people being so STUPID and CRUEL.

The long-and-short of it is that Henri Young stole something like $3 from a little store in order to feed his younger sister, who he was raising because their parents died. The store happened to also double as the town’s post office, so it was a federal crime, and he was tossed into Alcatraz. He masterminded an escape attempt, and as punishment, he was put into solitary confinement for 3 years, with only 30 minutes once a year outside. The max allowed is 19 days in solitary. So of course we all feel bad for him because he’s completely screwed… can’t stand up straight or walk correctly, can barely talk once he gets out… he’s just a wreck.

Except then you Google or Wiki the REAL Henri Young and find out that he was a bank robber who took hostages aggressively and also a murderer, and this was all before he was even sentenced to Alcatraz. Then you find out that his stint in solitary only lasted a few months, and the murder of a fellow inmate that he committed the day he was released into the general population, really happened a year after he was released from solitary.

So basically, while this movie claims to be inspired by a true story, it’s only INSANELY loosely accurate. And by that I pretty much mean they got the name of the prisoner, the name of the prison, and one crime (the escape attempt) correct. The rest is just la-dee-da’d by some dude who really should have just changed the names of people because it’s so inaccurate, using the real names is just dumb and lazy.

Still, I can’t say I didn’t love this movie. I did. Just finding out the truth annoys me.

Queue it on Netflix

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)

Date Watched: January 22, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

I’m all about order. I blog in the order I watched. Not this time. I couldn’t. I couldn’t write about Meryl Streep and Nic Cage after seeing this film, nor could I wait until I had calmed down before I wrote. I had to do it now.

And yet, I can’t find the words.

This film… gah. Well first off, because of the project, I’m less likely to pass over something that looks interesting. So while I was browsing through new stuff on Netflix, and the gorgeous cover art caught my eye, I skimmed the description. I’m a girl; I’m into all that heartstrings crap. I figured this would be a Lifetime movie sort of documentary, so I glanced at how many stars it had. Five stars. Wait, that can’t be right. Nothing EVER gets five stars. Maybe four and a portion of the fifth, but never five WHOLE stars. I queued it and went about my business.

Last night it caught my eye again, but my boyfriend was with me, and obviously, guys who shave their heads and wear steel toed boots aren’t into all that heartstrings, Lifetime movie crap, so I made a note to watch it today while I crocheted. About 3 minutes into the film, I realized that my assumption about all the Lifetime movie stuff was so far off that it wasn’t even on the map. I put down my crocheting.

This film is a documentary by a man named Kurt. His best friend Andrew was murdered by a bitter ex lover. She turns out to be four months pregnant with Andrew’s child. The story that unfolds is the most unthinkable nightmare you most likely couldn’t even imagine. I hate spoilers, but in this case, I refuse to say even another word about the actual story because it deserves every ounce of emotion it draws from anyone who watches it.

I couldn’t tear myself away. If I hadn’t been at my desk, at my job, I may have collapsed into sobbing fits. Very few films/plays have been able to evoke that from me, and this one was no different.

This is one of those films that by the time you’re through watching, you feel like you knew everyone personally. Like you want to pick up the phone and give David and Kate Bagby a call, the way you always do, until you realize you were just watching a film about total strangers. That sounds odd and maybe even creepy, but you’re a liar if you can say you’ve never been touched that way by someone you never actually knew; that someone’s story could bring you to your knees in just the relatively short time it took to soak it all in. Either that, or you don’t pay enough attention.

This isn’t for the faint of heart. If you’re shaky in your faith in either God or mankind, I wouldn’t suggest watching. Unless of course, you’re looking for a definitive answer that’ll damn near solidify your stance on either of those things, good or bad. You’ll come to a conclusion, alright. Might not like it, but you’ll come to one.

This is a message that needs to get out. This is a film that needs to be watched. Actions need to be taken, and laws need to be changed. The death of Andrew Bagby and everything that followed, all the pain left in the wake, needs to be justified. If all this grief can be prevented for one other family, then none of it will be in vain.

I’m sure it all sounds cliche, but it’s the truth. I’m distracted, uncomfortable, touched. I want to get up and do something. But there’s not much I can do except write here on my little blog, hope someone reads it, finds it interesting enough to watch the film, and feels the same way I do. Then maybe they’ll write on their little blogs, and someone will read it, watch the film, write on their little blogs… and you get my drift. That’s the only way change happens.

Queue it on Netflix

Edit: I just unpaused the end, noticed there was a website, and in visiting that site, I discovered that just this past December, the law the Bagbys were fighting for has been passed.