Movie #83 - Blazing Saddles

Blazing Saddles
Warner Bros Pictures
1974 - Rated R - 1 hr 33 min
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Madeline Kahn, Mel Brooks

Oh, Mel Brooks and your curious brand of humor.  There's something about the half-slapstick, half-witty combination of comedy that makes a Mel Brooks movie so unique.  Some of the jokes are cheap and dumb, then others surprise you with their wittiness.

Every actor in this movie, it seems, was told "go big or go home" in rehearsals.  Mel Brooks isn't subtle, ever, and this movie shows it... from the profuse use of racial slurs to the "dirtiest song he ever wrote."

Watching this again, as an adult, I got a few more of the jokes, too.  Another fun movie to watch on my journey across the Wall.

Movie #82 - Blades of Glory

Blades of Glory
Dreamworks
2007 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 33 min
Directors: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Starring: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Jenna Fischer, Craig T. Nelson, Romany Malco, lots of skating pros

Any time I need a pick-me-up, I turn to a good Will Ferrell comedy.  (You'll notice I said "good," so Semi-Pro is strategically missing from the movie wall.) When I was pregnant with my daughter, this was often found in the DVD player just because it makes me laugh.

For pure entertainment purposes, this movie is fantastic.  The plot is a bit fantastical, but the satire of figure skating is a lot of fun.  A huge list of skating pros appear in this movie, which just makes it that much better.  And how can you not love "Coach" playing their coach? Craig T. Nelson is a quiet tyrant in this movie and it's awesome.  Ferrell is outrageous and Jon Heder is the farthest thing from Napoleon Dynamite that a man can be.  From start to finish, I love these characters and this movie.

Movie #81 - Blade Runner

Blade Runner
Warner Bros Pictures
1982 - Rated R - 1 hr 57 min
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer

This was my second viewing of Blade Runner, something I would consider a "guy classic." But I have to admit that this second time around, I enjoyed it more.  The whole "is he" or "isn't he" debate drives me nuts (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you have to watch the movie... I'm not spoiling this one for you), but I can appreciate the open-ended "conclusion" of the movie.

Harrison Ford is great, especially considering that he was in the midst of Han Solo-ness at the time this movie was made.  This is a distinctly different character while still being very action-oriented and romatic-hero representative.  Sean Young just freaks me out, though.  Really.

To sum it up, great futuristic concept with a believable plotline and an excellent cast.  I kinda wish the shots weren't so dark throughout the movie, but what do I know about cinematography?  All in all, this one's climbing up my list of personal favorites.

Netflix Movie : Grizzly Man

Grizzly Man
Lions Gate Films
2005 - Rated R (for implied bear violence) - 1 hr 43 min
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Wener Herzog, some bears

Here I am making fun of this movie, a post-mortem tribute to a bear-saving activitist who was eaten by a bear. Am I going to hell? Or does this guy deserve it, after trying to live with the bears for 13 years until one of them finally thought he looked tasty?  (You might say they could "bearly" stand him!) Honestly, the phrase "pushing your luck" does not capture the insanity of Timothy Treadwell.

Who apparently did not tread well enough.

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

A highly polarizing figure (the bear puns are just flying now!), Treadwell lived in the most dangerous bear-ridden part of Alaska he could find every summer for 13 years.  The year he was eaten, he'd also brought his girlfriend along to share his fate.  Ironically, she was afraid of the bears... he was trying to show her how gentle they are. Yeah, gentle and friendly with foot-long claws and bone-crunching teeth.  I think we'll stick with the teddy variety in my house.

So some people say, "Wow! He was such a hero! Living with the bears, fighting the hunters, getting in touch with nature." Blah blah blah.  Others say, "He's messing with the bears! They'll get used to humans and it will make them more susceptible to being hunted!"  While the documentary does a good job of presenting both arguments, it's largely skewed in favor of Treadwell and his mission.  I say, when in the hell was he fighting hunters?  During most of his footage, he's just prancing around the forest and giving bears really lame names like Mr. Chocolate.

Perhaps I'm too cynical to see the merit here.  Or maybe I'm right.  Either way, he truly is a fascinating character and this piece on his life is really interesting. The fact that they have audio from the video camera of the two of them getting eaten just proves it.  He's getting attacked by a bear and he turns on the camera.  They assume he just didn't have time to remove the lens cap, but he probably would've if he could've. And I think that's one dedicated bear lover.

Netflix Movie: The Losers

The Losers
Warner Bros Pictures
2010 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 37 min
Director: Sylvain White
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Jason Patric

This movie is just shoot 'em up fun, with a good twist ending (that I won't spoil) and a great cast.  I don't have much to say, because it really is just your basic action film with elements of comedy. A CIA black ops team gets left for dead (and many actually think they are) so they plan their revenge.  Double-crosses ensue, Zoe Saldana shows up to kick some serious booty, and Chris Evans will be your comic relief for the evening.

Really, there's not much to think about here. It's a fun watch for a Friday night in.  Enjoy!

Movie #80 - Blade Trinity

Blade Trinity
New Line Cinema
2004 - Rated R - 1 hr 53 min
Director: David S. Goyer
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Parker Posey, Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds

Whistler's gotta step messing with us.  He doesn't die, apparently, and he's got a secret daughter.  No, not one of the ones killed by vampires, a self proclaimed "other daughter, born out of wedlock" and she's Jessica Biel! Surprise!

Thank God, too, because Blade's getting old now and he needs the Mickey Mouse Club to help him kill vampires now.  Honeslty, Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel have some cool action scenes but any scene with Reynolds quickly degenerates into a comedy special. It's not horrible but I don't really see it fitting within the Blade franchise framework.  Maybe Reynolds and Snipes, if they wanted to get these two in a movie together so badly, should have done a stand alone buddy-cop movie or whatever. The banter between them is kinda fun, but mostly I think Blade Trinity is just gratuitous cinematic noise.

Movie #79 - Blade II

Blade II
New Line Cinema
2002 - Rated R - 1 hr 57 min
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Norman Reedus

So let me get this straight, Whistler ain't dead? And now he's a vampire?

I hate when movies do this and they lie right to our faces. "Hey, remember how we didn't *show* him die in that last movie? We were totally kidding! Firing a gun at point blank range into your own temple doesn't *always* kill you, so we're capitalizing on this tiny percentage of failed suicide attempts to back our claim. Whistler ain't dead, the vampires got 'im, and you gotta come get him. Bitch."

On the plus side, Norman Reedus is a delight and Ron Perlman is an awesome bad guy.  The movie keeps your attention, but not in the same way the original did.  Snipes is still all "I'm not like Angel at all, Joss Whedon. Wanna fight about it?" and believable about it, too.  But really, I don't think this installment was necessary.

Movie #78 - Blade

Blade
New Line Cinema
1998 - Rated R - 2 hours
Director: Stephen Norrington
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristoffersen, Donal Logue

The working title for this movie was Blade, the Vampire Slayer. I'm really glad they steered away from that, because then it really would have seemed like a tougher, edgier, Wesley Snipes-ier Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And Joss Whedon was all set in that sector, thanks.

But Blade sounds harsher, fierceer even, than your average high-school vampire slaying film.

This movie is good, definitely the best of the three, and introduces the concept of a vampire-virus-infected vampire killer as just this unfortunate life-sucks kind of occurrence.  I think this is my favorite Snipes role after Demolition Man, and it kinda makes me miss the magic of 90's era action films (and their action heroes.)

Anyway, onto the less than stellar sequels.

Movie #77 - Black Snake Moan

Black Snake Moan
Paramount
2006 - Rated R - 1 hr 56 min
Director: Craig Brewer
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, Justin Timberlake

After the first time we saw this movie, we bought it.  Now, watching it again for the first time in a while, I remember how much I enjoyed it.  Did you know Samuel L. Jackson could sing the blues? You will after you see this movie.

There's a spiritual overtone to this movie that doesn't impede the characters' development, but rather enhances it.  I never feel like Lazarus's rehab/confinement of Rae is for any other reason than that he sees someone who needs to understand love and what it is to love herself... not just sleep with everything that moves.  The relationship that forms between them feels genuine and real.  And it's also a lot of fun to watch them duke it out along the way.

Justin Timberlake is pretty good, too... so good you forget who he is for a bit.  Not only does he act, but he does it well. His panic attacks seem real and painful - well done.  And Christina Ricci is just insane in this.  Even as a drugged up, strung out, half-naked sex addict, she manages to stay likeable.  You're rooting for her character almost the whole time.

I really enjoyed watching this again and recommend it if you haven't yet seen it.

Movie #76 - Black Beauty

Black BeautyWarner Bros Pictures
1994 - Rated G - 1 hr 28 min
Director: Caroline Thompson
Starring: Sean Bean, David Thewlis, Alan Cumming, Jim Carter

I'd never seen this one before, so I wasn't prepared for the narrator to be a horse.... Once I got over that, I actually started to enjoy it.  Knowing nothing about horses, I can't say whether this movie is an accurate depiction of a typical horse's life at the turn of the century, but it certainly feels as though it is.  The "people" in this movie flitter in and out of the horse's life quickly, but you really see the impression each has on Black Beauty's perception of the human race.

Overall, it's a nice family film.  Kinda sad and depressing at times, but at least it offers a nice, warm fuzzy ending.