Movie #363 - Analyze This

Analyze This
1999 - Rated R - 1 hr 43 min
Director: Harold Ramis
Starring: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow, Chazz Palminteri, Joe Viterelli, Molly Shannon

While the sequel Analyze That should never have happened, this first installment is actually kinda funny.  De Niro plays the gangster under pressure who resorts to getting help from Crystal, a regular psychiatrist who'd rather not be involved with the mob.  De Niro pushes and prods, Crystal resists but in the end resolves to help him confront his anxiety.

Mostly though, it's just a comedy.  And there are little tributes to The Godfather here, including a dream sequence that's shot-for-shot from the classic.  Nice.

Overall, this one's just for fun.  De Niro and Crystal are fun to watch together -- totally worth it.

Movie #248 - A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
2006 - Rated R - 1 hr 50 min
Director: Dito Montiel
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Dianne Wiest, Shia LeBeouf, Julia Garro, Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson, Chazz Palminteri, Eric Roberts, Scott Michael Campbell, Melonie Diaz

I don't even know where to begin.  This movie disturbed me, and I'm not sure if that was the response they're looking for.  Robert Downey Jr plays the author, Dito Montiel, and Shia LeBeouf plays the young Dito in 1986.  Based on a true story, Dito deals with plenty of personal tragedy throughout his troubled past.  Lost loves, the deaths of friends, a distant father... all the cliches.

As a story goes, there's not much resolution here. You watch this movie and come away with very little.  It makes me wonder why the story is told, you know?  As the movie goes, the acting seems forced at times. And the F word, which doesn't usually bother me, appears at least three times in every sentence.  It's hard to feel compassion for any character in this contrived drama... I guess I didn't get it.