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.

Movie #177 - Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands
1990 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 45 min
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Vincent Price, Alan Arkin

Oh, poor Edward! This dark "fairy tale" is so sweet and so sad and so utterly Tim Burton that I just can't help but love it.  The first time I watched this, the ending really frustrated me (and not just because Winona Ryder is the worst "old lady" ever) but now I can see that it ends the only way it can. And in a way, it's a happy ending. Kinda.

Johnny Depp, even though he has about ten lines, is awesome.  The way he moves his scissored-hands around seems almost natural.  His innocence is in every look, word, and movement.  And its easy to see how pure of heart he is, even if those around him can't see it.

This movie is also an interesting social study of the American suburb and human nature in general.  People are captivated by the new, but reject what they don't understand.  Edward is both of these at once and must suffer the changing moods of the surrounding neighbors.  He really is safer on his own and that simple fact is just too sad.

He could come and live with me anytime.