Entertainment

Gran Torino is the best movie that I have seen in 2009.

And though the year is only 24 days old, I am not sure another movie will come along this year to best it.

I wonder why.

The plot can be explained in a few of sentences:  A recently widowed, hard-nosed, prejudice, ex-military, solitary, old man finds himself newly alone in a poorish neighborhood now filled with ethics and gang violence.  Though he tries to remain isolated on his premises, circumstance and proximity lead him to interactions with his neighbors with whom he gradually develops true friendships.   After the gang violence tragically affects his new-found friends, he seeks retribution in his final act.

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At the end of my viewing of Avatar, the audience all clapped.  They clapped because the human race fell to a society of extraterrestrials.

Why is this?  Are humans beings discontent with the world they inhabit, with themselves?

In Avatar, human beings set out to obtain a precious commodity called unobtainium that exists on another planet named Pandora.  Unfortunately, this prized material is found in great abundance directly on the land that the Na’Vi (the indigenous peoples of Pandora) inhabit.  Thus, after perfunctory attempts to befriend the Na’Vi, the human beings attempt to destroy the Na’Vi people and claim their fortunes.

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Last week, I sat through the Michael Jackson movie This Is It and it was one of those rare movies that made me want to…walk out.

This Is It basically contains footage of the concert that never was, the concert that was to begin shortly after his sudden death this summer.

In Reaction to Michael Jackson’s Death, I wrote about the untimely death of Michael Jackson and the ambivalent feelings I had.

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The American, starring George Clooney, had the appearance of a great thriller.  They marketed this picture as a Bourne Identity type of movie.  Substitute George Clooney for Matt Damon and watch the thriller unfold.  Right?  Wrong!

Imagine that Jason Bourne has to lay low for awhile and is instructed to head up to a small village and talk to nobody.  Now, you have to watch him do basically nothing for two hours.  Kicking ass and taking names in this small village?  No.  Just sitting there in an apartment making a gun.

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Take a look at the picture to your left.  Do you know who that is?  Yes, it’s Christian Bale, the actor who saved the Batman franchise.  In the movie The Machinist, Christian Bale plays an extremely gaunt individual who has not slept in over a year.

In the beginning of The Machinist, we do not know why he has not slept in over a year; in the end, we do.

The question then is this:  Is it worth the time finding out?

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Sarah Silverman sings on You Tube about f*cking Matt Damon.  We know why she did this:  she had just seen The Bourne Ultimatum.

Seriously, you’d leave Jimmy Kimmel for Matt Damon even before The Bourne Ultimatum.  After all, he was also good Will Hunting.  But after The Bourne Ultimatum?  Funny’s good-go Jimmy Kimmel.  But being able to kick anyone’s ass, speak any language, and be an apologetic assassin.  It’s a no-brainer.

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