The Green Mile Movie Review

It's been quite awhile since I wrote on my movie list project, so today I'm bringing it back. Usually I take two movies and compare them, but this movie, is just way too big for all that.

The Green Mile (1999)

Surprisingly, I can't believe I never saw this movie until a few months ago. As a student of film, that is a "no bueno" on my behalf. After seeing the movie I know why everyone is so in love with this movie, it truly is a masterpiece.

The premise of the movie follows the life of Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) as he leads a crew of misfit guards who are assigned to watch over the inmates of Death Row. However, these Death Row inmates all have their own quirks and eccentricities that really tell the stories of how everyone in Death Row, guards and prisoners, are connected and not much different from each other.

Based on the novel by Stephen King, the movie is a flashback in the form of a story told by a very elderly Paul to a friend as he reflects back on his life.

Paul is a man of integrity and character and despite the nature of his work, he is very committed to his job. He is always the go to guy, and pretty much runs the prison. He never complains of his work, even as he began suffering from some sort of crippling prostate/bladder problem.

Even though he worked with convicted killers and rapists, he managed to treat the prisoners with some soft of decency and dignity. His life radically changed upon the arrival of one inmate in particular, John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan).

First impressions say Mr. Coffey is an intimidating scary killer. He is a hulk of man, probably around 6'5 and undoubtedly over 300 pounds with giant hands. Without giving too much away, John, was convicted of a crime he didn't commit. This becomes clearly evident as you see him grow as a character throughout the film. He has a young childish mentality that is reminiscent of Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

As time passes John starts performing healing miracles and displaying powers of sorts. Once the guards start experiencing John's amazing power they realize him being in that prison was a grave mistake. All he ever wanted to do was help people.

Throughout the film we see a range of human emotions and thought provoking intense soul searching. The value and worth of life and whether a person's soul is evil or pure is a big theme in the movie. There's a powerful scene that shows John removing evil from one person to another. Honestly, you just have to watch it to truly understand.

By the end of The Green Mile you begin to see the similarities between the prisoners and the guards. All of them have their good and bad tendencies and despite their flaws they function and are aware of these traits. Also, it paints a picture of prison being both a place to cage up criminals and a place to hold captive the people who work there. It's just as dangerous to the staff as it is to the convicts, and aside from sleeping at home they spend all of their time there. The mundanity of life comes into to focus as something that becomes a burden.

The acting in the film is incredible and features a great ensemble cast. Everyone is believable, everyone is sincere in their role. The script and story are superb. But perhaps the best part of the movie, is watching the genuine chemistry between Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan as the movie unfolds. Although the film is roughly three hours, you wish their was more. This is indeed a classic.



IMDB - 8.5/10
TheSIBandGuy - 5/5

Do the Right Thing and Crash Movie Reviews

It's been awhile since I posted anything on my movie review project. So without further ado, I present to you, "Do the Right Thing" and "Crash."

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Do the right thing is a foray into the lives of Brooklynites who are not only experiencing the hottest day of the year, but also a building tension of local racism.

Being no stranger to controversy, director Spike Lee's agenda of this film was to show a slice of his own life as a resident of Brooklyn by uncovering Italian and African American and at times Asian American aspects of hate between one another.

The majority of the story takes place at Sal's Pizza Shop (Danny Aiello). Sal seems to be a virtuous man that is in tune with the community and his customers despite being a white Italian pizzeria owner in the middle of a black neighborhood. His son Vito (Richard Edson) is much the same way while his son Pino (John Turturro) is extremely racist.

The main character of the film, Mookie, played by Spike himself, is a slacker delivery boy who probably still has a job because of Sal's kindness and loyalty to consistency.

The movie starts to get crazy when two trouble makers come into play. First a disgruntled character named Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) is upset with the price of the pizza and also Sal's lack of American American representatives on his celebrity wall, which features Italian sports heroes and entertainers. After a heated argument Mookie convinces Buggin' Out to leave it alone.

Another guy, Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) comes into the shop with his boom box blaring Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" (he is constantly blasting this song the entire movie). Naturally Sal is peeved at the noise pollution in his pizzeria and gets into an argument with Raheem.

Things quickly escalate out of control and an all out race brawl breaks out between Sal and his sons, the black customers and neighbors near by and the white cops that show up to the scene.

It would be a shame to spoil the ending so I won't, but it is very powerful and sad. The effect of actions over petty hate is unbelievable.

However, Spike Lee misses the mark with the message which I will get to later.

Here is one of the most famous monologues in movie history. WARNING GRAPHIC LANGUAGE



IMDB - 7.8/10
TheSIBandGuy - 3.5/5

Crash (2004)

"Crash" is a movie I heard so much about but unfortunately just never got around to seeing. This movie masters the art of multiple storytelling as it follows around about five different story lines and some how weaves them all together by the end of the movie to paint almost like a quilt of movie.

What's most incredible about this movie is the all star cast they assembled: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, and Jennifer Esposito just to name a few. This film just like "Do the Right Thing" deals with racism and stereotypes in a much more clearer and emotional direction than "Do the Right Thing."

The movie covers many different racial relations: Black, White, Hispanic, Arabic and mixed races all while playing on stereotypes and sadly everyday negative occurrences people of ethnicity go through.

Perhaps the most telling of these characters is Matt Dillon's portrayal as a racist cop who takes advantage of his power to black citizens, specifically Thandie Newton and Don Cheadle.

Another moving scene involves the character Daniel (Michael Pena) and his daughter when an Arabic man pulls a gun on him assuming he sabotaged his store because of his Mexican heritage.

Every story has a unique plot twist and a powerful outcome that warrants an emotional response. The movie was done so well, and yet had such a small budget. It's amazing because it is an award winning movie and in a sense, an indie film.

I would highly recommend watching this film, but make sure you pay attention!



IMDB - 7.9
TheSIBandGuy - 4.5/5

So the obvious reason I grouped these movies together is because of the topic of race and stereotypes. Another reason was because of their ensemble casts. Lee's movie featured a popular lineup of actors he used in his early works while "Crash" featured A-listers in small roles, pretty cool.

Here is why I liked "Crash" better; the story was a lot more clear and there was a message at the end. Where Spike Lee missed the mark in "Do the Right Thing" was in the message he was trying to convey. At the end of the film it almost seemed like he glorified all the madness that happend without ever really addressing right and wrong. He brushed it off as normalcy with no prospect for a brighter and different future. "Crash" addressed these issues and showed the real power behind hate while making amends for the actions.

All and all, two classic films that are a must see and take on two different time frames of American culture.

Another Earth and Moon Movie Reviews

As I continue on my quest of movie awesomeness, I have encountered two space movies yet again. What's different about these two is they don't deal with the impending doom of the Earth for once. They are more of the sit back and think type of movie. So I now bring you, Another Earth and Moon.

Another Earth (2011)

This movie is about as independent as you can get and manages to create a beautiful movie despite the low budget. I only heard of this movie through a compilation trailer and was immediately interested.

The story follows a young college student named Rhoda (Brit Marling, who also wrote the movie), as she crosses paths with a famous music composer in a tragic way all while the Earth realizes they aren't alone in the Solar System. Coming into plain site, a "twin" Earth is discovered and has come into the plain of site.

It would really be a shame to spoil any of the plot to this movie because the intersecting storyline is incredible and so important to the film (so really pay attention when you watch.) What I will say is at some point contact is made between the Earth's, and they realize just how similar both of them are.

Rhoda was studying astronomy in college before her unfortunate accident happened which ultimately ended her education. However, she won a contest held by NASA to visit "Earth 2."

Here's where the movie gets confusing in a good way. The ending is simply incredible, and nothing really happens. It's left up to the viewer to decide if what they just saw happened, or not. I've spent much time on message boards trying to interpret the ending, and no one answer seems right.

Another Earth is easily one of my favorite films on this list so far, and writer/actress, Brit Marling has a bright future in front of her.



IMDB - 7/10
TheSIBandGuy - 4.7/5


Moon (2009)

Moon is a similar movie to Another Earth, in it's more of something to get you to think besides the obvious space connection. In this movie, Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), is a scientist who is living on the Moon for three years in order to harvest Helium-3 and send it back to Earth as a fuel source. Sam is alone on this mission and only communicates with his robot/computer companion, GERTY (Kevin Spacey). Unable to directly communicate with Earth, GERTY and Sam form a close relationship although one of them isn't real...maybe...

The acting by Sam Rockwell is great. He is pretty much the only person ever on screen, and does a convincing job of someone who has clearly been isolated for too long. Spacey's character is just a computer, so it is only his voice, but even his tone is perfect. He reminds me of the computer HAL from Space Odyssey 2001.

This movie is filed with a couple of great plot twists. It's also important to note that it takes place in the future so some of these twists involve thinking about where we would have come as a civilization.

Moon offers a compelling look at loneliness, fear, and mistrust as Sam learns everything is not what it really seems to be.

You must check this movie out for the sheer brilliance of the acting and simple premise.



IMDB - 8/10
TheSIBandGuy - 4/5

Both of these movies were among the favorites I've watched. They are grouped together for having to do with space, but also not being about the end of the world. Instead they focus on advancing the Earth. These films were very much under the radar and did not boast huge budgets, but were very effective in their stoytelling.

Melancholia and the Quiet Earth Movie Reviews

Melancholia (2011)

Melancholia is a rather intriguing independent movie starring Kirsten Dunst (Justine), Kiefer Sutherland (John), and Charlotte Gainsbourg (Claire).

The movie opens up seemingly happy and a bit comical as we see two newlyweds, Justine and Michael, on the way to their wedding reception. After a series of funny and "cute" married couple moments they wander into the reception about an hour late.

It is there that things begin to take a turn for the bizzarre as we see Justine's true traits come out while around other people. She suffers from some sort of depression or bi-polar disorder and can't make any rational decisions once she gets into one of her moods.

What is supposed to be the best day of her life turns into a total disaster and embarrassment as the wedding and hours old marriage comes to a crumble...but wait, that's not the main plot of the movie.

Justine's brother-in-law, John, is a scientist, and along with the rest of the world has seen a new planet in the sky, Melancholia. The planet is a greenish hue and appears to be moving past the Earth when suddenly it changes direction and starts on a collision course that will wipe out humanity.

The rest is up to you to see! No spoilers here! However, Justine's character becomes a background to the bigger problem at hand, and her sister, Claire comes to be more prominent in the second half of the movie.

The film is actually quite fascinating and visually beautiful with vibrant colors and an opening and closing montage that really makes you happy to have HD. Dunst easily becomes one of the most disliked characters to ever be on screen, and that is due to her superb acting. She makes you hate her, and that's the point.

IMDB - 7.2/10
TheSIBandGuy - 3.5/5



The Quiet Earth (1985)

This is a very unknown gem of a movie made in New Zealand on a budget of $1,000,000. The movie has no major stars and only features three actors the whole movie. It is one of the most simple movies I've seen, yet is so effective in it's storytelling.

The Quiet Earth opens with a man waking up to a world where he is the only person left. As weeks go by he descends into a mild insanity as he can't figure out how to cope with being the "ruler" of the world. Eventually he finds a woman and they quest off together until they run into a renegade of a man.

The movie is devoid of much sound and music aside from what they are listening to themselves within the movie. It's just an empty movie just like the world they inhabit. It sounds boring, but it is incredibly awesome to watch.

You grow attached to the main character, Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) and want to see him succeed in this end of days scenario.

The cause of this human wipeout is a bit confusing to follow, but in short it has to do with some sort of time-warp dimension that scientist were fooling around with. The results of this experiment vanished everyone save for a few people who were experiencing things at the right time.

One of the best scenes of the film is the closing title screen when Zac finds himself on a beach and on a new planet. Saturn is rising in the horizon and there are breathtaking cloud formations rising with the sun – truly a great outro for a crazy film.



IMDB - 7/10
TheSIBandGuy - 3.5/5

I chose to group these two movies together for the obvious end of the world situations, but also for the character development and unresolved issues of the players involved in the films. Melancholia is two totally different movies. The whole first half it shows you a clearly not all there Dunst while in the second half of the movie shifts to the other characters and the diasater at hand. There's no cure or hope for Dunst except for her waiting to die.

In The Quiet Earth, we see the main character Zac unable to cope with himself. He tries to play the survival card and look for others but fails. Dunst thrives by herself, Zac truly comes alive when he has a companion, opposite spectrums.

Overall, these are must see movies if you are looking for low budget well made quickies. Both movies start off slow, but give them time and you'll get sucked in.

Iron Man 2 and Super 8 Movie Review

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Yes, I know this movie doesn't fit into the "You Gotta See This" type of category that most of the other films I've seen do. Quite frankly, it's on the list because I never saw it before. 

The first Iron Man was a great blockbuster that got the whole Avengers craze off and pretty much resurrected the career of Robert Downey Jr. Downey has become the embodiment of Tony Stark, the multimillionaire, playboy mogul of Stark Enterprises who moonlights as a super hero.

The second installment of the franchise to me felt a bit bland. Downey was great as usual, but the storyline really lacked, and the villain (Mickey Rourke) wasn't very memorable. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) was a better character. A glaring and distracting gripe about the film was not having Terrence Howard reprise his role as Lt. Rhodes/War Machine. Although Don Cheadle is a formidable replacement, he didn't seem to fit it. Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) played the Lex Luther type of villain that has no power but rather imposes will.

As you'd expect, the action was superb, the fighting was good too, but the movie just suffered from being boring and kind of all over the place. 

IMDB - 7.1/10

TheSIBandGuy - 2/5

Super 8 (2011)

Super 8 is a really cool movie because it is a throwback to the early Spielberg of the 70s and 80s. Director J.J. Abrams did a fantastic job of capturing the ominous almost whimsical but emotive presence that classics like E.T., Close Encounters, and Jaws have. 

Using predominantly a cast of kids, they play their roles wonderfully as the curious and adventuresome protagonists of the story. The key characters are: Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), and Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler). 

This is Courtney's first movie and you'd never guess it as he plays the leader of his group of friends. Fanning as is her sister, a great actress. I honestly can't believe how big she's gotten, I thought she was still a little kid, nevertheless, she's going to break out in a big way.

The main plot of the movie is the kids making a zombie film. They each have assigned roles: director, cameraman, makeup, actor, actress, etc. They film their tale with an 8MM camera aka a Super 8, which was a pretty standard home camera to have in the 70s and 80s. 

While filming an important scene of their movie something terrible happens in the background and they get it all on film while being in danger themselves. This kicks off the events of the rest of the movie (NO SPOILERS). This movie is best viewed while being in suspense.

Super 8 has a few small plot holes mixed throughout, but it is nothing major enough to lessen the movie. I'd have to say a lot of people did not enjoy the movie because they were unaware of the context and background of which it was made and were expecting a crazy monster action flick. That's not the case here, it serves to be a fun movie that pays homage to some we already love. Check it out for yourself and see if you can notice any of these similarities. 

IMDB - 7.2

TheSIBandGuy - 4/5

I chose to group these two movies together because they were both supposed to be big summer blockbusters when they hit theaters, and yet failed the hype in certain ways. One was about robots and machines while the other was the "monster" movie. Iron Man 2 failed to deliver the punch of the first one and Super 8 failed to deliver the monster movie people were looking for. However, from a film standpoint, Super 8 was all around a better movie in my opinion.

Requiem for a Dream and Lost in Translation

Requiem for a Dream (2001)

Requiem for a Dream was a movie that I had seen most of before a number of years ago, however, I thought it deserved a proper revisit. 

I wasn't crazy about the move while watching it, but when I looked back and thought about what I saw, the value went up. This movie is another case of raw but realistic acting, and while the plot was an integral part of the movie, the story was really subliminally told by the sites and sounds of the movie. 

The jump cut editing was fantastic in this movie, and made the scenes stand out as an experience rather than a visual. The premise of the movie is the effects of drugs on the lives of four connected people. The main characters: Harry Goldfarb (Jared Leto), Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), Tyron C. Love (Marlon Waynes) and  Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) all experience something traumatic as their addictions take them to the brink of life. 

Now back to the jump cuts...They were artfully done in the movie. Everytime a drug was taken, a separate drug scene was shown. The hurried pace and noises of this rapid sequence made you feel like you were doing it with them. This clip will best explain what I'm talking about a few seconds in and then perfectly at the 44 second mark: 



My main gripes with the film are that it develops very slowly with the best parts during this time focusing on the mother, Sara. Her decent into schizophrenic madness is impressive work by Burstyn. The other characters shine in the last 20 minutes of the film as they begin to experience the cost of their actions. 

Overall, it's a very dark and slightly disturbing film that shows the dangers of drugs and recklessness. Overrated, maybe, but not really. I can understand why people feel that way. Watch the film with an open mind and pay attention to the detail rather than what's in front of you. 

IMDB - 8.4/10
TheSIBandGuy - 3.8/5

Lost in Translation (2003)

Having no idea what this movie was about except for the famous opening scene, I was pleasantly surprised. The entire movie is an extremely slow moving look into the lives of two completely opposite yet similar people. The stars of the film: an old sort of washed up actor, Bob Harris (Bill Murray), and a too young, bored married wife of a traveling photographer, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), share a weird friendly romance while stuck in Japan.

Bob is in Japan to shoot commercials for a whiskey company while Charlotte is their with her "barely their" husband. Confined to sit around in her hotel room in a foreign country all day, she begins to venture into the hotel and runs into the unhappily married and terribly sick of the mundane actor Bob Harris.

After a number of small run-ins, they begin to hang out and go on a few nightlong adventures (never sexually implied) throughout Japan. When the time comes for Charlotte to return home, the departure is harder than anticipated.

The movie broaches the subject of emotional cheating, and relationship issues between young and old, did Bob take advantage of a lonely Charlotte? Interesting dynamics to digest in such a simple and straightforward movie. Sofia Coppola directed a movie as far from the spectrum of her famous father as you can think, and it worked. 

Overall a wonderful film that highlights the art of a strong dialogue and emotions. This movie is not for everyone, but if you are curious to see Bill Murray do something besides comedy, this is his opus. Johansson is also great as she was just getting into her own as an actress.

IMDB - 7.8/10
TheSIBandGuy - 3.7/5

I chose to group these two movies together because they deal with people who have no sense of identity. In Requiem, they use drugs to place themselves in a world devoid of responsibility and reality. In Lost in Translation, they use a "forbidden" romance to quell their own desires and escape their seemingly miserable situations.

Donnie Darko and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

Donnie Darko (2001)

I had no expectations of what Donnie Darko was coming into the film. The only thing I knew was that it is commonly regarded as a great film. With that being said, I was a little disappointed that the movie didn't give me much of a reaction after watching it. I was sort of just "blah" with it.

The best part of Donnie Darko was the low budget, raw feeling of the film. The actual shooting style is more narrative as it feels like you are living through the day with the characters. Donnie is played by a young Jake Gyllenhaal and because of his age, his acting seems unpolished but it works for the role to provide the awkwardness of his character.

His sister, is played by his real one, Maggie. Their table bickering becomes more believable and obviously their resemblance adds to the validity of the family. Another key character is Gretchen Ross played by Jena Malone, who is Donnie's love interest and the big piece of the puzzle at the end. Patrick Swayze plays the role of a guru self-help doctor who feeds propaganda to all those around him. Donnie's interactions with him are some of the more priceless points of the movie.

Without giving away too many details, the movie becomes rather bizarre as Donnie tries to deal with an imaginary friend who tells him to do bad things. The sequence of events in the movie play out in cause and effect scenarios. Every action has a reaction, and because this the final scene of the movie is a bit of a shocker. The plot twists through different times periods in the story.

Overall, as I said, I'm kind of apathetic toward the movie. I can't decide if it was a small masterpiece in storytelling or just an overhyped movie. What do you all think?

IMDB - 8.2/10
TheSIBandGuy - 2.9/5

That leads me to...

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)

I found this story to be much more involved and of higher concept. The main character, Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), and his eccentric lover, Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet), become involved through a chain of random events. They are drawn to each other because of their own personal problems, Joel is a socially awkward pseudo recluse while Clem, is an erratic and compulsive alcoholic.

Using their new found relationship as a way to deal with their own problems, they eventually develop new ones with each other. In an effort to rid themselves of each other they try an experimental treatment that alters their minds...I'll leave it at that.

The audience is then taken through the recesses's of Joel's mind in an effort to find Clementine. It is here that we see Joel in real life, Joel in his mind, and Joel conscious of himself in his head, in other words, three parallel universes of sorts.

The viewer really has to pay attention as the story advances back and fourth between the three Joel's. At certain points it becomes disorienting because you don't know which is which. The movie hits deep, and makes you wonder how fate works. It also in a way tackles the age old question of: "Is it better to have loved and lost than not have loved at all?"

Yet again this movie sort of open ended, leaving the viewer to interpret which Joel they are watching. The cast is excellent, the dialogue and story are great, and the intense dream like sequences make for a psychological drama.

IMDB - 8.4
TheSIBandGuy - 4.4/5

To tie the two movies together, obviously Eternal Sunshine was a better film in my opinion. I thought Jim Carrey really stepped out of the comedy realm and put his head to something serious, and it worked. The cast and director were more experienced and the budget was bigger. With that being said Donnie Darko worked on a small scale and really utilized what they had. I'd recommend DD as a one time watch, and Eternal Sunshine as a borderline classic.