the air

The Fountain has to be one of the most under-rated movies of this year. It is one of those movies that revolves around religion and challenges your beliefs or proclivities surrounding faith. If anything, this movie blends thought and belief quite well and leaves ample room for interpretation. What does all that mean? This movie makes you think!

Earlier in the year, I read “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. That book really makes you think about life and how you view it. The Fountain invokes a similar process, however, it focuses on death rather than your living life. The Fountain, in a way, argues about how death itself is a release from your current manifestation and how you are truly free once you are dead. It illustrates its arguments with three parallel story-lines that continually challenge the protagonist’s beliefs. In fact, a loose interpretation of the movie would be how the main character is able to overcome his own fear of death and loss. Don’t worry, I did not spoil the ending because the ending itself is open to interpretation.

I’ve never seen “Requiem for a Dream,” who’s director, Darren Aronofsky, also directed this movie. From what I have heard, both movies require the audience to think and continue thinking about the actions, plots, and the story behind each element of the movie. Those are the kind of movies, in my opinion, that leave a lasting impression. To me, this movie seems to blend the ideals of Buddhism, Hinduism, Mayans, and Christianity. My interpretation of the movie is that no matter what religion you follow, the ultimate goal is achieving nirvana to release yourself from the bonds of fear and life and elevate your mind and soul to a much higher platform. You may disagree or agree, but either way, your interpretation is correct. That is the true beauty of this movie.

If you like movies that challenge your mind and force you to re-evaluate your beliefs, I strongly encourage you to watch this movie. Make sure you watch this movie with an open mind and do not form any opinions until you see the end credits. Don’t worry, everything will be alright.

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It has been a while since I’ve been to the movie theater to watch a great movie. In my opinion, Hollywood is simply producing sub-par movies with appalling plots and shoddy acting. My friends were able to finally convince me to fork over $7 and watch 300. My initial assessment of the movie once it was complete was pure satisfaction.

The film 300 is based on the events at the battle of Thermopylae. I’m a big fan of Greek and Roman history and I certainly appreciate the fact at how real this movie feels when you watch it. However, the actors fail to incite strong emotion from within. For example, when I saw Saving Private Ryan, I felt a strong sense of the pain and grief that the soldiers shared. In 300, I could not feel the emotion, but the action sequences did an excellent job of illustrating the savagery of ancient warfare.

I’m not going to waste time analyzing the plot or the cinematography because that is what all those other critics do. I am going to encourage you to watch this movie if you felt that Troy or Alexander were disappointments. In my opinion, 300 is definitely a much better movie than Troy or Alexander.

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I rented Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby to watch with my dad and brother tonight. Many of my friends suggested that I watch this movie because of my tendency to laugh at the most absurd jokes. Regardless, I found this movie quite entertaining. In a surprising twist, this movie does not have much crude humor. Rather, the movie relies on wholesome fun and pokes humor at “trailer-trash” comedy. In fact, this movie mocks the common term “Red-neck”.

Like the cartoon movie “Cars”, this movie is about a racer who thinks he’s the best in the world and then loses everything. He realizes the errors of his ways and starts from the bottom to get back on top. It is a classic moral story, but Will Ferrel ensures the audience has some great laughs along the way.

WARNING: If you are a French national, you may be slightly offended by the humor poked at the French!

I think this movie is definitely worth renting. However, I would never bother buying this movie on DVD since I know that I will not be watching it again. The driving sequences, a bit unrealistic, complements the humorous nature of the film quite well. The best part of this movie is that they actually use NASCAR racers and terminology. In fact, NASCAR is in this movie, so it works out nicely.

Bottom Line: Rent but do not waste your money on buying.

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Casino Royale is the 21st movie in the Bond 007 series. In addition to being the newest Bond film, it’s also the first Bond movie to take a much darker direction like the ones that starred Timothy Dalton. So what exactly do I mean? Remember how most Bond films portray Bond as a flamboyant playboy who seems to have a gadget for every single incident. Plainly speaking, it seems that Bond can never get stuck in any situation. However, Casino Royale shows Bond as more human and much more cold-blooded. In fact, it seems that Bond is much more inclined to kill for the thrill and fun of it rather than for theatrics. Even the action sequences are pretty well thought out and entertaining. Continue Reading »

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Deck the Halls is not a bad movie overall, but it is a good clean family comedy that is filled with a very trite moral story that has been tried and tested over the years. Continue Reading »

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