Well, yes, I've been watching some flicks...so here goes.

Running With Scissors

For anyone who ever thinks they came from a fucked up family, think again. After I watched the movie, I had a hard time thinking this was a true story. It just seemed almost too outrageous (kind of like Malcolm in the Middle was a true story but you know they exaggerated for television)

Alex Balwin plays the "distant" father and Annette Benning the emotionally warped artistic mom. When the two divorce, the boy goes to live with his mother who begins seeing a shrink. The shrink suggests (as the mother relays to the boy) that he stay with the shrink and his family, which consist of a mother who eats cat food (and in the end is the only one who helps and believes in the boy) and two sisters...one prim and proper, the obvious favorite of the shrink father and the other a rebellious teen girl who is close in age to the boy.

After the movie I had to look up more details. And sure enough, the shrink's family were quite upset at the author (sorry, don't remember his name and too lazy to look it up) portrayal of them. They claimed their family, which really consisted of four daughters total, was purely misrepresented. To me, it brings back the issue of A Million Little Pieces and how in the creative non-fiction genre, the creative part can probably overtake the non-fiction part.

At any rate, despite the the controversy, it was a good and odd movie (just my cup of tea) and so I'll give it three and a half paws up.

Sex and the City

Ok, what can I say, yes I watched this show. I loved the frank talk, the social mores attached to dating, relationships and sex in the modern society.

In the movie, Mr. Big (we finally learn his real name, but damned if I can remember it) and Carrie decide to get married, only their first planned intimate wedding begins to take on a life of its own. Mr. Big gets cold feet and leaves Carrie basically (but not quite there) at the alter.

Meanwhile Charlotte and her hubby have adopted but as per what usually happens, she ends up getting pregnant on her own.

Miranda has "intimacy" problems and when she finds out her hubby has cheated on her, the two separate (he confesses, the dumbass)

Samantha is not so enjoyably co-habitating with Smith in Hollywood. But his long hours leaves her lonely and frustrated while she forces herself to remain faithful.

In the end, Mr. Big gets his girl, Miranda and Steve make up, and Samantha decides that some women are just not meant to be with one man, stating "I love you, but I love myself more."

I miss the show, so yeah, I give the movie three and a half paws up.

Into the Wild

I loved this movie for a bunch of different reasons. I love that he blew off his parents materialistic lifestyle. However, his parents had a volatile marriage, and him and his sister suffered many abuses (mostly verbal, restrictive and watching his father beat his mom)

So taking the money put aside for law school, he takes off after his four year graduation with plans of living in Alaska.

Along the way he has many adventures, meeting different folks, working odd jobs, and basically having experiences of a lifetime.

Eventually he makes it to Alaska and relishes living in the wild by himself. He becomes adept at hunting and fishing and living off the land.

After a several months he realizes that he's been running from his past, his family and also realizes that in order to be happy, you have to be surrounded by people who mean the most to you. Resolved to go home, he starts back out of the wilderness only to find that the spring time river is too wide and fast for him to cross. He heads back to his abandoned bus where he'd been living and tries to wait it out.

The irony is that the loneliness begins to get to him. Running desperately low on food, unable to find game to kill, his mind and body weaken. He panics and in his panicked state and using his edible plants field guide, he picks vegetation and berries to eat. However, he picks the wrong thing and slowly dies of poisoning.

Its a joyous, yet sad and deep movie. I give this four paws up and a tail wag.

The Dark Knight, Batman movie (ok, I can't remember the whole original title, but you know what I'm talking about)

This movie is not my cup of tea. I was never one for Batman movies. However, I think out of all of them, this one was by far the best.

Same ole same ole, Batman battles the Joker...yadda yadda yadda...however, I have to say that this Joker was dark. Definitely one of Heath Ledger's best rolls (and no, he didn't disappoint) I love a smart ass, sort of twisted villian with a twisted sense of humor.

I also enjoyed the Micheal Caine part, but then again, I've always been a huge Micheal Caine fan.

There are a few twists and turns along the way.

I give this three and a half paws up.

No Country for Old Men

Well...this is another little twisted tale almost in the flavor of Quintan Tarrentino...so based on that fact alone, I liked it.

Set in the 60's or 70's, Tommy Lee Jones plays a sheriff in a small Texas town. He begins by talking about the days when law men didn't have to carry guns and reflects on how things have changed.

A less that perfect man (Josh Brolin) is out hunting on the Texas plains. He stumbles across a scene that is quite unsavory: dead pit bull dogs, men shot all over the place and one Mexican still barely hanging on to life inside a pick-up truck who begs him for water. When he inspects the back of said pick-up, he sees it loaded down with heroin. Finding no money, he finds a blood trail leading away from the site and begins tracking.

He finally finds another dead Mexican lying under a tree and a suitcase full of cash beside him. He takes the cash and goes home to his (yes, of course) trailer.

Not a completely bad man, he can't sleep that night and so returns to the site with water for the dying man. Only when he gets there, the man is dead with a gun shot to the head and a vehicle shows up and begins chasing him.

He escapes but the chase is on.

Javier Bardem plays the man whose money it was and begins his unscrupulous and vicious quest to get it back.

The sheriff is trying to find both men.

I enjoyed this movie, which is from a book (and I think I want to read the book)but my biggest complaint is that it seems they spent so much time on the first 2/3 of the movie that they all of a sudden realized they had to wrap it up and wrap it up quick. So the ending was bam, bam, bam, and over.

In other words, the ending sucked.

So I give this three paws up, because to me, the ending is everything.

Sicko

I finally got to watch this and I have to tell you, I was in tears. Healthcare is a big issue for me (and I know it is for a lot of my friends)

Say what you will about Micheal Moore, but facts are facts and everyone knows that the healthcare system in this country is less than adequate and only in place to make a few people rich.

Even more staggering is that Moore travels to three countries who offer universal healthcare to their citizens. He talks to natives who laugh at the fact that they would ever have to pay a dime for healthcare. None of them complain about quality either.

In the UK, they have a cashier in their hospital, but it's not for taking a payment toward care, he GIVES money to patients for the cab fare home.

As for the argument that doctors in those countries don't make enough to live on, Moore interviews several doctors who say they make a more than comfortable living (around a $100,000 dollars..in US dollar terms, a year), live in a nice flat, drive a nice car, and not having to worry about whether a patient can afford his care frees them to focus purely on the care itself.

I have to tell you, my son had already seen this last year. When I told him I had downloaded it, he insisted on watching it again with me. This is a kid who loves video games and is a World of Warcraft geek. Yes, we've raised him to be socially conscious but how many 19 year olds in today's (American) society will sit down and watch a documentary with you, or any documentary for that matter?

Sicko made me sick to my stomach, not because it was a bad documentary but because of the sad pathetic truth of the situation that I have witnessed first hand over and over again.

Oh yeah, four paws up and a tail wag. Now, if only the Washington buerocrats would pay attention.


Cassonova

Another Heath Ledger film, what can I say. Silly and probably historically inflated, nonetheless an enjoyable show. I think we all know the legend of Cassonova, so I'll just leave it at that.

For a mindless, entertaining movie...

Three paws up.

Well, that about wraps up this installment of Movie Madness.

Pop a bag of popcorn, pour yourself a coke, and enjoy the show!

;-)