Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood, back when I was six and he was still god of westerns and stuff, was my hero. He could not be defeated; he was awesome.

After I grew out of westerns, I never paid much attention to anything else he did, mostly because he didn't do too many things I thought I'd like. And plus, he's old now. Really old.

It was my mom's fault that I got out to see Gran Torino, and Eastwood growls just as well as he did twenty years ago.

Gran Torino is amazingly a story about love, the kind of love that would make a man give up his life for his friend. Eastwood plays Walt, a grieving, racist widower intent on cutting himself off from his priest and his Hmung neighbors. His growls say, I don't like you, get out of my face, and get off my lawn.

Though laced with profanities, the movie does an amazing job with touchy subjects like racism, stereotypical gangs - one Hmung girl told Walt "The girls go to college, the boys go to jail." - and the reality of life: the "happy ending" is less than such.

The Twilight Saga

I fell for it, guys. I fell for it completely and totally, and I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I loved the four books. I read them all in exactly a week, actually. That's over 2400 pages. In seven days.

Anyway, I'm not feeling very reviewish. They're good, though somewhat laughable, thoroughly enjoyable and don't tell anyone I recommended them, 'kay?

Underworld

I know; I'm late. Six years late.

A vampire movie done right, Selene (Kate Beckinsdale) does the usual: kill. But not humans (there was an allusion late in the movie to these vampires feasting on livestock. Twilight, five years later, has a similar notion); instead, they hunt the Lycans, the werewolves. No one seems to know how the war that had lasted "the better part of a thousand years" had started, but it was war, and people kill.

Things are evidently going smoothly until some human (Scott Speedman) gets involved, and then there's a coup and rising from the dead and a weird love triangle (or is it a rectangle..?) and all sorts of random memories.

The plot is complicated enough to maintain a good storyline without getting anyone lost (The Illusionist, anyone?), but it's got it's share of awesomeness. The violence was rampant - it was a vampire movie - which was the only thing I noticed to give it its R rating.

Trivia: this movie had lots, and lots, and lots of guns. So much so that I had to look them up (and found them) here. So just in case you need to shoot a werewolf (or an evil vampire), there ya go.

Top Gun

I didn't really like this movie.

Tom Cruise is a navy pilot dude who gets into the "Top Gun" Academy - highest place you can get. After that, only one vaguely interesting thing happens (which I would have preferred it not to have happened), and the movie ends with a real dog fight.

Number 1: it's Tom Cruise. He's.... short!

Number 2: it's Tom Cruise.

I suppose it was decent enough, it just didn't make me go oooh that was cool. At all.

Twilight

To start out: Twilight is every bit as lame as you've heard. When the screen is not showing the gaggles of giggling adolescent girls, it's showing Edward (vampire, woo) and Bella (chick, aw) making eyes at each other. Eyes of discomfort.

It's actually sorta painful to watch. Edward (Robert Pattinson) was only mildly attractive (he did bear some resemblance to Edward Scissorhands... or maybe it's just my imagination).

Story: chick goes to new school, everyone loves her because she's amazing. Meets Edward. Edward stalks her, saves her several times. Edward explains to her that he's a vampire, they stare at each other longingly for the rest of the movie. Or maybe uncomfortably, I was debating the point throughout.

Okay okay, it was a cute movie. I liked it. But then, I like most movies.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

My favorite quote from the movie:

"It's not that I condone Fascism. Or any ism, really. Isms in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an ism, one should only believe in himself. To quote John Lennon, 'I don't believe in the Beatles, I only believe in me.'"

This movies rocks. Nice little high-school-in-the-80's movie (yay Breakfast Club!), and Matthew Broderick was amazing. Not particularly handsome or anything, just lovable. The breaking of the fourth wall was done extremely well and I probably enjoyed that about it the most.

I can't really tell ya much about it or else I'd go on and tell all of it.. But it consists of a senior playing hooky (for the ninth time) and making it count. With a principal and a sister out to get him, he ends up in testy waters, but that doesn't bother Ferris Bueller.

It's hilarious. Watch it.

Final Fantasy: Advent Children

I've been wanting to watch this movie since maybe forever. I've seen bits and pieces thanks to my cousin and various AMV's. Actually, it was this AMV (don't you dare say anything about the song*) that made me finally say FINE I'LL WATCH IT. I suppose it's good - as far as animes go. About half the movie was fighting (which didn't get too repetitive until the end: then I got bored), and the other half was Cloud (protagonist) looking emo. A blond emo, mind you. The only time he seemed to really care about the female side of our species is this brief moment
here:

The storyline was alright.. though all in all, it didn't seem like it had much of a point. There was a vague sense of good-guy/bad-guy thing going, but I had some trouble figuring out who they were at first. Of course, this is probably because I should've played the games.

Even though the plot lacked clarity (and can you say "plot devices!") and maybe a more developed moral, it was a decent movie. I enjoyed it. I'ma go find me one of those red fox/wolf thingies.

*In all honesty, the song really wasn't that great. It sounded.... like every other Dragonforce song out there.