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MonkeyVooDoo
1.) Children of Men
2.) The Matrix (Sequels not included)
3.) Apocalypse Now (Redux)
4.) The Shawshank Redemption
5.) The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
6.) Stand By Me
7.) American History X
8.) The Last Samurai
9.) Sin City
10.) The Last of the Mohicans
Favorite TV Shows
1.) LOST
2.) Futurama
3.) Breaking Bad
4.) South Park
5.) Nip/Tuck (First 3 seasons)
6.) 24 (First 5 seasons)
7.) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
8.) House M.D.
9.) Arrested Development
10.) Dexter
Reviews
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Personal. Powerful. Perfect. Period
This documentary is by far the most powerful and moving story I have ever had the honor of watching. Every aspect of this film is moving to the point of tears, something very few movies genuinely do. The stories of Andrew and Zachary create an overarching nonfiction drama that has turned out to be the moving force behind a massive paradigm shift in Canadian legislation towards murders, extradition and child custody.
The documentary follows the surviving parents of Andrew Bagby, who after learning that the woman who murdered their son fled to Canada, who then turned out to be carrying their unborn grandson. David and Kathleen (Andrew's Parents and Zachary's Grandparents) are forced to meet with Shirley (Zachary's mother) just to have an effect on their grandson's life.
Kurt Kuenne manages to make the most powerful, personal, and a near perfect documentary by searching for information of his fallen friend to pass on to his son, so that Zachary may get to know who his father for who he was, which was an amazing person.
Although, once the news that Shirley had commit suicide, and murdered Zachary, the film took an unexpected turn. It was no longer a film of the father to be passed on to the son, it became a film to be passed on to the parents from the son and the grandson.
I strongly recommend this documentary to everyone. This documentary touches the soul in every way imaginable. The entire spectrum of emotions flows throughout your body over the whole 95 minutes. Kurt Kuenne proves to make one of the most powerful documentaries that has ever been produced.
9.9 and change out of 10
Children of Men (2006)
A Beautiful, Accurate and simply Amazing Film
This movie is the single most beautiful film ever created. From long action sequences, to long dialogue shots, the movie is simply perfect. The message of this film is the single most important message ever given to mankind, "No matter how bad things get, no matter how much pain and suffering you must endure, no matter how close the world comes to destruction by our hands, There is, was, and always and forever shall be hope." The single most important aspect of any human being's existence.
No human being has had a child for nearly 18 years. The movie starts off with the death of the youngest human being on the planet, and gives us an aspect of 2027 Great Britain, the only stable country left on the planet, stable through it's totalitarianism and stable through it's discrimination, this is the world we are headed for, and the only plausible future if we continue down our path.
Enter Theo Faron, the protagonist of the story, a disillusioned former activist whose son died in the flu pandemic of 2009, and ex-husband of a supposed terrorist leader. Theo Faron, picked up by an activist group known as "The Fishes" is introduced to Kee, who is the first pregnant woman the world has seen in 18 years. Kee must get to the ever allusive human project so that the human infertility can be remedied so that hope will remain for humanity.
Every aspect of this film is absolutely amazing, the acting, the dialogue, the action, the cinematography, everything. This movie not only gave me hope for modern cinema, but it also gave me hope in us. That no matter how corrupt our governments become, no matter how filtered our news is, no matter what happens to us, as long as we are here, we have hope, and nothing can take it away.
All I can say about the ending is that it is perfect in it's open endedness, allowing you to deduce what kind of person you are by the ending you create for the movie.
This is my favorite movie of all time, and one of the absolute greatest films of all time. If you have not seen it, I strongly advise you to see it. This is the future we are headed towards.
10/10
Winged Creatures (2008)
Flawed, but still good.
Although the movie could have been produced much better than it actually was, the story is still a good one. The story of such a touching tragedy which has become all too common in our day, and the way people react to it, directly and indirectly, intentionally and inadvertently. There is nothing unique about it that make this movie stand out from the mountain upon mountains of movies that just build dust on my book case, there is no cinematography, no amazing camera shots, and no memorable lines to be completely honest. But if you're looking for a movie that is just a good adaptation of a well received novel, then this is the movie to see. Not life changing, but enjoyable nonetheless.
WALL·E (2008)
One of the Few Films to Keep a Smile on My Face from Start to Finish
WALL-E is a simple story of a "creature" designed to clean up our waste, who ends up finding love. The entire metaphor for the movie is completely obvious; one mans trash is another "mans" treasure. WALL-E is fascinated by the objects we take for granted on an everyday basis, from sporks and light bulbs, to twinkies and plants. This movie is simply a fun ride with one of the greatest stories I have seen since Peter Jackson's interpretation of "The Lord of the Rings." If you have not yet seen WALL-E, it is simply the best film of the year thus far, and a definite winner of the Best Animated Picture award. When an robot built to clean up trash becomes sentient and learns to love, we know that humanity has run its course in life, in another light, it is Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines without any of the crap (which was most of the movie), and one of the most lovable characters modern day cinema has seen in what seems like ages.
AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem (2007)
What has the movie industry come to?
This movie is where it hit rock bottom for me... I don't know what to say other than I was appalled when I walked out of the theatre after seeing this. When a movie that could have focused on aliens fighting predators instead focuses on aliens fighting humans and a predator covering everything up, I guess thats when everything has gone to hell. When the majority of your characters were brought in for the sole purpose of being killed off, you have a movie which collapses in on itself after the fifteenth or so killing. This was a movie which was solely trying to market itself as a "hack and slash" gore fest, when you could have had a story focusing on a single character, maybe two, hell maybe even three, trying to find a way to defeat the aliens other than using firearms, and trying to escape from the non-existent 15 story building in Gunnison, CO. This move gets a pitiful 3 out of 10 stars, for a pitiful attempt at trying to get me to enjoy such a farce of a film.
The Last Samurai (2003)
A Story of Purification through Enlightenment
The only Tom Cruise movie that I can look past the fact that Tom Cruise is playing in it, because it is unlike any role he has ever taken. We are thrown into the story of Captain Nathan Algren, an alcoholic foot soldier whose regret can only be shadowed by the amount of whiskey he drinks. Captain Algren is recruited by the Japanese Army to train their soldiers after the fall of the Samurai way of life. Algren agrees, only to be captured by Katsumoto, the commander and chief of the remaining samurai. Algren learns to love the people who have captured him as he stays through the winter, waiting for the snow on the passes to melt. This movie was the first movie that I considered to be on the top of my top ten, because of the way the ending made me feel (I still cry to this day). 9/10 stars for an amazing storyline, believable characters/development, and beautifully written dialogue.
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
The Marvel Curse Strikes Yet Again
As we have seen in previous Marvel Comic based films that make it all the way to a trilogy (X-Men: The Last Stand and Blade: Trinity) Spiderman 3 holds true to the curse of the Marvel trilogies by ruining itself in it's storyline. We have Peter Parker, the man who saved the love of his life, and revealed his identity as Spiderman to his best friends in Spiderman 2. After watching the trailers over and over again, I felt as though this movie would be riveting, an edge of the seat, action packed, thrill ride that would keep me asking for more (that is what the previews said). But, instead I found myself watching Peter Parker dance to Sinatra-esquire lounge music and then watch him do the trademark emo hair flick. Alongside that, I found myself watching Spiderman battle as many villains as I had fingers on my hand. First came New Goblin, who vowed revenge for a father who hated him anyway, he was just too stuck up to notice it. And then we have Sandman, the runaway convict that managed to fall into an open nuclear reactor somewhere in the vicinity of New York City? And then the infamous symbiote comes into play and takes over Peter's body, where he finds himself in a battle with his emotions. Do you see where I'm going. This plot was rushed, the storyline farced. They lacked the ability to make good character development like in Spiderman 2, so they figured that they would add more villains in to fill the void. The storyline was too complex for any one movie. We had only 15 minutes of venom, when we should have had at least 30 to 45. This movie receives a 3/10 for the attempt to finish off a trilogy. One and a half stars for each of the amazing movies that proceeded this one, because if I could vote zero, I would.
Bridge to Terabithia (2007)
Amazing (for Disney)
Let me start off with a story. I rented this DVD, because my girlfriend had wanted to see it. Towards the end of the movie, my girlfriend looks up at me, and notices me crying (this is the first time this has happened) and she asked me why I was crying, to which I responded I didn't know. Now this is not the first movie I had cried when I watched (Shawshank Redemption was the first), but it is most certainly the first I have cried like a baby in. This movie was stunning, the actors portrayed their roles perfectly and the storyline was timeless, and the emotion you feel when you watch it, is unmatched by many movies. I was amazed that Disney didn't change the ending to make it more child friendly, but I am glad they didn't, it would have ruined the message that the story teaches. Though, I tried to watch the movie again, after I bought the DVD, and it just didn't have the same effect on me (maybe because I was expecting it?) But, I felt this movie was my absolute favorite of 2007, yes you had the late year hits (No Country and There Will Be Blood), but they were not as touching as this movie (not even close). I wish this movie got some Oscar nominations, but, sadly, children's movies rarely do well with the Academy ( minus Ratatouille) If you have not seen this movie, see it. If you do not want to watch this movie, watch it. If you love character development at its best, see this movie. If you hate Disney for its happy endings, see this movie.
Zeitgeist (2007)
Reveals the Truth about Corrupt People in Our Beautiful World
This movie is amazingly convincing. Many people have tried to guilt you into believing 9/11 was an inside job, tried to barrage you with endless facts. The only documentary that can rival this documentary is "Endgame- Blueprint for Global Enslavement." This movie systematically disproves the greatest believed story of all time, by using simple pagan facts. This movie systematically disproves everything the pigs of our government have tried to prove. This movie disproves all of the reasons behind every major war in the past century. This movie has changed everything I thought would happen in the future. This movie encourages you to get up off your *ss and become enlightened to what the government is actually doing to try and control everything about you.
In the words of Shakespeare: "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war."
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Great Movie with Such a great story line and ending
What do I have to say other than I am speechless after seeing this movie and man do I love happy endings. I just bought the DVD and I saw it in the theater, it was such a great pacifist version of Black Hawk Down.
Storyline: 9.5/10 The storyline starts with the spark of the Tutsi/Hutu battles in Rwanda and leads up to Paul Rusesabagina housing over 1,200 Tutsi and Hutu refugees in The Milles Collines Hotel in Rwanda. The story was told fantastically with Drama, Romance, and brief periods of action.
Characters: 9.5/10 The characters in this movie are actually believable and follow the stories of real people. Paul is a completely believable character and has nothing but love for the people that are being hunted by the Hutu people. His wife is compassionate and actually resents Paul at points in the movie.
Soundtrack: 10/10 This is possibly the best soundtrack since the Lord of the Rings soundtrack in my opinion.
Overall: 9/10(since i can't post a 9.875) If you haven't seen this movie please do. It portrays a great story about those who suffer a massacre and uprisings outside the United States. Very controversial in my opinion about what went on in that period of time in S. Africa.