Choke

Victor Mancini (Sam Rockwell) is a sex addict, a con artist, and a historical re-enactor. One thing Victor isn’t is truthful, well not with himself that his. With others Victor is sometimes too truthful but in an attempt at coming to terms with himself Victor finds that the truth hurts.

 

After being lied to his entire life, and going back and fourth between foster homes and being kidnapped by his mother, Victor has a hard time making any real connections with normal functional human beings. Victor’s best friend is chronic masturbator named Denny, his mother is mentally unstable and criminally insane, and gratuitous sex has become his only form of emotional release. Possibly the most conventional relationships Victor holds are with the people he allows to save his life while forcing himself to choke on food in the hopes of conning them out of emotional and monetary capital.

 

Victor tries at all costs to prove to the world and to himself that he really doesn’t need anyone. His life story becomes so completely obscure and outrageous that it allows for an excuse for Victor to be out of touch with the rest of the world. Victor sees himself as an outsider whose job it is to give others a reason to live and feel good about themselves, the fact of the matter is that Victor is the one needing a reason to live and is willing to pull these stunts in order to find some meaningful connection with another human.

 

The film Choke based off the book by the same name written by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), will be noticed on the surface for its sexual content and graphic themes, however this film isn’t about a sex addict, a con artist, or a historical re-enactor, this film is about a young boy who was a pawn in his mothers crazy mind games who is simply looking for someone to take a paternal role that he was never afforded growing up. Victor realizes the necessity for meaningful human relationships but because of his early life he doesn’t afford others the chance to get close enough where they could possibly abandon him like his mother did.

 

This film starts off a little choppy and leaves out many of the explanations and details provided in the book, however it does a fair job of pulling it all together in the end and showing the side of Victor we don’t see throughout the rest of the film. This film doesn’t quite live up to the Fight Club adaptation, however inspired performances from Rockwell, Kelly MacDonald, and Anjelica Huston, put forth a very strong effort. This film takes a little while to get into but I thoroughly enjoyed it by the end, therefore I give it 3 ½ “R’s” out of 5. 

 

(A version of this review will also be appearing in The Stylus the official paper of the College at Brockport State University of New York)

21

I did not see this movie in the theaters because I wasn’t too sure on whether or not it would all that good. I generally tend to be suspicious when a film centers around a concept that seems generally small like card playing. It turns out my suspicions were right. The film follows the lives of the MIT blackjack team and their weekend trips to Vegas in attempts to outsmart dealers and card count their way to large sums of money.

Likes: The most interesting part is the fact that it was based on a true story. I thought for the most part it was ably acted. It entertained throughout and I rarely got bored with it.

Dislikes: After looking up the actual story it is quite disappointing how it was portrayed on the big screen. Smaller roles from Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne were probably the best performances and I felt like they could have been used a little more. I thought the overall plot was a little bland and didn’t have enough substance to carry a two hour film.

Overall: I probably wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone but the most interested gamblers. If you are looking for a good film in this genre I would argue that you would have a much better time with Rounders, starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton. As Far as 21 goes I would give it 2 “R’s” out of 5.

Older Movie Reviews

I have decided that I am going to start doing some short little blurbs about older movies. I will basically just give a couple things I liked, a couple things I didn’t like, and what I thought of it overall. I figure that this could be especially helpful due to the fact that the economy is facing a lot of troubles and it is a whole lot cheaper to rent a movie and make a bag of popcorn then go to one. (This week I spent $28.50 at the movies alone just getting 2 tickets, a drink, and some candy. It is starting to get really outrageous.) I hope you find these older reviews helpful, and I hope you will actually enjoy some of the films as much as I do.

Ryan

P.S. This week I will be going to see the movie Choke, starring Sam Rockwell and based on the novel written by Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club).

Ghost Town

Ghost Town tells the story of a man who is bitter at the world, annoyed by other humans, and simply wishes to be alone. Throughout the course of the film however, he begins to have a change of heart, when he is literally dead for a short period of time and upon coming back to life has the ability to talk to ghosts, leading many critics to jump to the conclusion that this is a page taken straight out of the life of Ebenezer Scrooge.

 

Ricky Gervais (The Office) plays Bertram Pincus D.D.S. an overall disgruntled human being. After a trip to the hospital, Bertram starts having what he seems to believe are hallucinations, and after questioning, finds out (in possibly the funniest scene in the film) that he was dead for “seven…no about seven minutes” due to complications from his procedure. The problem enters when these hallucinations turn out to be the spirits of the dead and they all have a favor to ask from Bertram since he can mingle with both the living and deceased.

 

Bertram, who already has a hard enough time coping with the living, now has a whole new problem with the dead. Wishing it would all just go away, he reluctantly makes a deal with Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) to break up the engagement of Frank’s widow Gwen (Téa Leoni) and her new fiancée, ensuring Bertram that if he helps all of his problems with the dead will go away.

 

Although the comparison of Pincus to Scrooge isn’t unfounded I find this film to be a potpourri of many things I have seen in the past. I found bits and pieces of this film that were reminiscent to It’s a Wonderful Life, The Philadelphia Story, and unfortunately it seems the most like the dreadful television series The Ghost Whisperer. At the end of the film I certainly didn’t feel like I had seen anything new, however the dry humor and comedic wit of Gervais was enough to save this movie from worthlessness. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it because I did, but don’t expect something groundbreaking. I give it 2 ½ “R’s” out of 5.

 

(A version of this review will also be appearing in The Stylus the official paper of the College at Brockport State University of New York)

Ryan’s Reviews

Hello Everyone, I am pretty new to writing movie reviews so bear with me I promise they will get better as I go along. I hope to obtain as much feedback from all of you on what it is you would like to see as far as reviews go, because after all if you don’t want to see the movie anyway you won’t care what I have to say about it.

Just a little note about the way I rate movies, I felt that most of the really successful film critics had some sort of gimmick (Ebert and Roeper, “Two Thumbs Up”), and I figured since they were Ryan’s Reviews it might be fun to continue that theme and rate them with “R’s”. 1 “R” is the worst and 5 “R’s” is the best.

Last but not least I have seen a lot of old movies and would be willing to do reviews on older movies if that is something people are interested in. I could even just make a small post letting you know whether or not I think a movie is good and whether it is worth buying or renting.

Thanks for reading!

Ryan

Burn After Reading

 

 

Burn After Reading

Back to quirky, that’s the best way to describe the Coen Brother’s follow up to their Academy Award Winner, No Country For Old Men. Burn After Reading is far from a serious crime drama like No Country, but if you are a fan of the Coens you know that the comedy genre might be where they shine the brightest. 

Burn After Reading centers on the life stories of 5 main characters played admirably by a juggernaut cast. Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand play Chad Feldheimer and Linda Litzke, two personal trainers who are a couple of bumbling self-interested idiots who stumble upon a disk containing secret information of CIA agent Osborne Cox played by John Malkovich. Cox, an alcoholic who has just been fired from his job, finds that his wife wants a divorce and she takes his files feeling they will help her get what she is entitled to in the divorce proceedings. The disk goes missing, the Russians get involved, there is blackmail and corruption galore, and to complicate matters even more Harry Pfarrer played by George Clooney, whose vice seems to be dating websites, entangles the whole cast by sleeping with just about every female in the film. In the end, Burn After Reading accomplishes its task as a quirky intellectual comedy. If you liked the Coens earlier work in the comedy genre (Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?, and The Hudsucker Proxy) you are sure to like this one.

It is near impossible to receive a good reception on a follow up to an award winner but in this case I think the Coens provide us with a valiant effort. Their direction is masterful as always, and the comic dialogue mixed with impeccable body language proves a perfect marriage to warrant huge laughs from its audience. Burn After Reading is a good but not great film, but it still is well worth viewing. I had a lot of fun with this film and therefore give it 4 “R’s” out of 5.

Ryan’s Reviews rates films on an “R” scale, 1 “R” being worst 5 “R” being best.

(Ryan also writes for The Stylus the official newspaper of the College at Brockport State University of New York where this review first appeared.)