Justin at the Movies

This Week On DVD

// May 6th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Recommendations

Kaerlighed pa film (Just Another Love Story)

Rated “R”

Starring: Anders W. Berthelsen, Rebecka Hemse, Nikolaj Lie Kaas

This is a danish film that absolutely blew me away. It’s about a guy who after witnessing a car accident, goes to visit the victim in the hospital to see how she is doing. When the family confuses him for her boyfriend who they have never met, it sets off a whole chain of bizarre events. He will do anything to keep the secret hidden, and abandoning his wife and children is just the beginning. I know what you are thinking, that is just like While You Were Sleeping. Believe me, this is NOT while you were sleeping. It shares that one small point of misunderstandings but the plot is so much more than that as is the rest of the film.  I wish American’s dared to make films like this but most are cowardly sheep that just want to make a buck and don’t care about the quality. This film makes you feel like you are in a jar and somebody keeps violently shaking it. Very original, startling, and thought provoking, I highly recommend this film to everybody. The previously mentioned car crash scene will make you feel like you forgot how to breath. Absolutely fantastic.

This Week on DVD

// April 22nd, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Recommendations

Ghost Town (PG-13)

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni

Ghost Town stars Ricky Gervais as Bertram Pincus, an annoyable Dentist that has an awesome attitude. When he goes in for surgery he dies for a couple of minutes. Because of this, after his surgery he is able to see dead people. Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) appoaches him and asks him to intervene in his widows relationship. Bertram wants nothing to do with the obnoxious dead people until he starts to fall in love with Kinnears widow played by Tea Leoni. This is a hilarious movie that is a must see for sarcastic people and cynics alike. Ricky Gervais is hands down the funniest man on the planet, with nobody even coming close. Although we americanized him a little bit in Ghost Town you can watch his goofy ol’ self in the original version of The Office, his show Extras, and his stand up which you can find on youtube. Seriously, there is nobody funnier and I highly recommend everything that has anything to do with this guy. His smart, sarcastic, cynical sense of humor is so subtle and precise. And he has a cackle  that he does when he thinks he is funny that will make you fall over in laughter. Queue it.

This Week on DVD

// April 17th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Recommendations

A la folie? pas du tout (He loves me, he loves me not) (PG-13)

Starring: Audrey Tautou

This is an absolutely fantastic french film starring the incredibly adorable Audrey Tautou. One reason I love foreign films, especially french ones, is because they do things that American’s are afraid to do. For some reason our society requires formulaic cupcake garbage, with nicely wrapped endings that make everybody feel good. The french tend to keep it more real. This movie is about a girl and her relationship with her doctor. Or is it? Watch the movie, you will see what I am talking about. When I watched Amelie for the first time back in 2003 I referred to Audrey Tautou as our generations Audrey Hepburn, so it gave me great joy when Chris referred to her that way as well. Anything with her name on it you should watch. This is a really fun movie that takes a twist you don’t see coming. Completely original and one hundred percent enjoyable. Queue it.

This Week on DVD

// April 7th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Recommendations

I am starting a weekly recommendation for movies on dvd so maybe I can give some people good movies to watch that they hadn’t yet heard of or seen. I will primarily choose all PG-13 movies and lower so they can be real recommendations. Onward.

This weeks recommendation:

Doubt (PG-13)

Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

This is without a doubt one of the best films of last year. They story is incredibly intriguing and so subtle it still leaves me pondering the film. I love the ambiguity of the whole thing. This movie is anchored by masterful performances by all three major actors. Amy Adams really proves that she can do something other than the ditsy and bubbly characters. The movie is about a priest (Hoffman) being accused of having inappropriate relations with an altar boy. When I first heard the plot to this movie I was really intrigued and really surprised that it was rated PG-13 given the subject matter. But when I watched it I was really impressed with how tastefully done the movie is. You never actually see anything happen and they never talk in specifics. Very tasteful handling with a very difficult matter. The acting and writing are superb. I constantly find myself thinking about this movie and wanting to watch it again and again. Go out and rent this movie today…or maybe go out and queue this movie is a more accurate sentence. This movie is rated PG-13 for subject matter only. There are only four swear words in the entire thing and none of them are the almost standard “F” word.

Murder on a Sunday Morning

// March 10th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Recommendations, Reviews

My rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Rating: NR

I watched this fantastic documentary last night called ‘Murder on a Sunday Morning.’ It is about a 15 year old boy who is arrested for the murder of a woman who was visiting Jacksonville with her husband. This movie is very well made and shows many holes in the judicial system. I also right away thought this boy was guilty. Why? I couldn’t really figure that out. Was it because he was black, or was it because the husband positively identified him. I hope that it was the latter but I couldn’t say for sure. You get the background of the story and then you basically watch the trial unfold. Watching an actual trial was very entertaining and very maddening. I am a big fan of documentaries, especially ones that are actually documentaries, Bill Mahr. This one is very well made and everybody should watch it. And don’t worry I didn’t give anything away in this little pretend review. There is nothing bad in this as well except for a semi-graphic photo at the beginning.