Movie #401 - Legends of the Fall

Legends of the Fall

1994 - Rated R - 2 hr 13 min
Director: Edward Zwick
Starring: Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Julia Ormond, Henry Thomas, Karina Lombard, Gordon Tootoosis, Paul Desmond, Tantoo Cardinal

Lovers of Greek tragedy listen up: this is one to watch for you.  Lovers of happy endings beware: this will make you cry. A lot.

Really, Pitt's character just deals with one heartbreak after one bear fight after another heartbreak (after another bear fight). Could any more bad stuff really happen to this guy? He's like a Hollywood-ized Job, taking God's punches in the face, jaw set, eyes blazing. And surrounded by a fantastic cast, he still manages to give a stand-out performance.

This has always been one of my favorite roles of his.  It requires such deep grief and hardened emotion to carry it off and young Pitt does it well.  For me, this movie is what made him an actor not just a hot guy with a cute butt.  Although the latter is still very, very true.

Movie #216 - Fracture

Fracture
2007 - Rated R - 1 hr 53 min
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, Billy Burke

I can never remember this movie by its title, so when I saw it on the wall I didn't know if I'd seen it already.  But as soon as I started watching it, it all came back.  Maybe the title just doens't fit, that's why my brain doesn't make the association.

Anyway, this one's great.  Anthony Hopkins is a jilted husband who wants revenge on his wife and her lover.  He sets up what he thinks is the perfect crime, then sets up the perfect acquittal  by representing himself in court again Ryan Gosling and proving the evidence to be invalid again and again.  But as with any good movie, in the end, he gets what's coming to him...the fun is in watching to see where he missteps.

It's smart and clever, the kind of cerebral intrigue that's nice to see from Hollywood once in a while. Hopkins is great, no surprise, but Gosling holds his own against him.  Well done all around.

Movie #68 - Beowulf

Beowulf
Paramount Pictures
2007 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 55 min
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Robin Wright, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, Ray Winstone

I'm not gonna lie, this movie is a little bit weird. I really think it was made because they thought it would look cool. It does, it's true, but I didn't really find anything all that compelling about this movie.

For the most part, I'm too distracted by all the weird accents everyone is using... particularly Angelina Jolie. And since I'm watching all these movies alphabetically, when Grendel came on screen my first thought was, "Oh look! It's George McFly."

Anyway... I'm not that impressed with this one. It really seems like something a bunch of geeks made just because they could (and because they all had secret fantasies about Angelina Jolie in animated form.) That's all I got, folks.

Movie #20 - Alexander (Director's Cut)

Alexander (Director's Cut)
Warner Bros Pictures
2004 - Rated R - 2 hr 47 min
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Anthony Hopkins, Jared Leto

The best thing they did while making this movie was to choose a little boy who looks like like a young Colin Farrell. The worst thing they did while making this movie... hold on, I'm gonna need a minute here... I really can't decide which is the worst. Why don't you decide?

Is it...

A. Dyeing Colin Farrell's hair blonde?

B. Making Angelina Jolie have a Russian accent? In Macedonia, no less.

C. Casting Colin Farrell, who brought his Irish accent with him?

D. Filming a slapping match between Colin Farrell and Rosario Dawson?

E. Turning an epic war hero into a whiney bitch?

My biggest beef with the movie is probably Jared Leto and that whole lover subplot. It is speculated that Alexander might have "lain with men," but so did everyone else! Instead of making it part of the story, it takes over the whole second half of the movie. It was an aspect of his life--maybe--but the way this movie depicts it, the relationship was largely scandalous. Ummm... probably not. That's probably modern culture painting its own perceptions onto this story, which takes place in an era when sexual relations (with anyone) were much more accepted. Some may applaud it for being so "open" about it, but I think they went overboard. I hope that makes sense without insulting anyone.

Beyond that, the movie is toooooo long, jumps back and forth too much, and doesn't really paint Alexander the Great in a favorable light... his father (Val Kilmer) either, for that matter.

But oh, the actor who plays Thomas Boleyn on The Tudors is in this. Cool.

That's all I got on this one...