Before Sunrise (1995)

Before Sunrise is a romantic movie from writer-director Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. From IMDB:

A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe and wind up spending one romantic evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.

And here's the trailer:

What a lovely film! I really really enjoyed it. The movie isn't a typical story in the sense of it having a beginning, a middle, and an end. It's really just a day in the life of these two characters. Jesse(Ethan Hawke) is an American tourist traveling through Europe and Celine (Julie Delpy) is a French student returning to Paris after a trip to Budapest. They meet by chance on a train and after hitting it off Jesse suggests that they spend the rest of the day together. His flight back to the states leaves the next morning and without enough money for a hotel he planned on exploring Vienna until it's time for him to go. Celine agrees and they get off the train in Vienna together.They spend the day exploring Vienna and talking about life and love. They share stories from their backgrounds and discuss all kinds of topics. Eventually they run out of time and Jesse must catch his flight and Celine continues home.

Not much happens in this movie beyond the two characters talking and walking around. In a lesser film this would immediately bore me and I would never get through it. I never felt that way here. The combination of strong writing and great performances from Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy kept me involved at all times. Jesse and Celine feel like real people. They way they talked and interacted with each other was so genuine that I felt like I was spying on real people. I could imagine walking down a street in Vienna or sitting at a cafe and overhearing them having these conversations. And the conversations they have are great. All their dialogue felt very natural and they managed to have discussions about love and relationships without ever falling into speaking in cliches. Hawke and Delpy have great chemistry and you never question how these two could fall for each other. The movie does a great job of capturing that feeling when you meet somebody and are immediately drawn to them. There's this wonderful scene where Jesse and Celine are in a record store and they decide to listen to a record in the listening booth. They squeeze into this tiny booth and listen to the music with out saying a word. They both quietly steal glances at the other never catching each others eye. It's such a genuinely sweet moment and very true to life. I couldn't help but smile.

The film is a beautiful portrait of these two people making an amazing connection in spite of the fact that they only have one day together and may never see each other again. Personally I'm a sucker for super romantic stories so I really really loved this movie. Jesse and Celine have this amazingly romantic night wandering Vienna and taking in all its beauty. They are both such likeable characters and their connection feels so real that you can't help but be swept up in their little journey. If you're a fan of romantic movies you'll love this movie, especially if you're tired of formulaic romantic comedies. And even if you're not a big fan of romantic movies I think the movie has enough to say about life and love and is a great little slice of life that you'll still enjoy it.

Well I think my train is leaving.
That's my cue.

Jose

Here We Go Again!

Wow, its been forever since I posted a recap. I got really lost in school work and other commitments and I let this blog dye off. But I really want to start this back up and hopefully I can post semi-regularly. I'm on Thanksgiving break right now and I'm hoping to get maybe two recaps up. I was supposed to do 13 Assassins next but I wasn't really feeling in the mood for it. I decided to go with Before Sunrise instead because its been a while since I've seen a good romantic movie and I've heard great things about it. I just finished watching the movie so look for that recap later today! To my lovely audience (all 2 of you), I hope I can keep you guys entertained.

Jose

Luther (UK TV Series)

Luther is a British TV show centered around a London detective played by Idris Elba. From IMDB:

Luther follows the cases of a troubled yet brilliant English police detective, DCI John Luther (Idris Elba). Separated from his wife, whom he loves passionately, he is torn between an unrelenting approach to solving serial killings and his attempts to rekindle his marriage. Luther is a highly charged emotional man who is not above stretching the law to solve a case or save a life.

And here's the trailer for Series 1:

I was originally planning on just checking out the first couple episodes of Luther and then doing a quick recap but I failed miserable because I just couldn't stop watching. The first season of Luther is only 6 episodes long and each episode is about 50 minutes long. Often British TV shows have very short seasons compared to to American shows. This can be frustrating because they almost always leave you wanting more, but this also often means the show creators have complete control over the shows and are able to craft tight, well paced stories.

Luther is exactly that. It plays almost like an extended movie with an overarching narrative that slowly builds steam and explodes in the last episode. I'm glad I decided to wait until I had finished season 1 to recap the show because if I hadn't I would have thought that the show was just a well executed police procedural with a bit of British flavor and flair. While there's nothing wrong with that it just wouldn't have stood out in the sea of police procedurals already on TV. However, the different story elements that are set up and later payed off and the character development really elevate the above the dredges that are CSI and NCIS.

Idris Elba is amazing as DCI John Luther. Luther is a troubled man. Caught in between his devotion to his job and his resolve to fix his marriage he has a lot of inner turmoil. On top of that his job causes him to struggle with his morality. Over the course of the show Luther tries to decide what is right and wrong when dealing with the madmen he encounters. Elba is wonderful at conveying all of Luther's emotions. He's wonderfully intense and gives you this feeling that Luther is constantly fighting to keep himself in control, that he's on the always brink of losing it but somehow manages to keep it all reigned it. That makes it so much more impacting when Luther does lose it. Its a good reminder that he's only human. Luther is so good at his job he seems superhuman at times. He's pretty much Batman, but without the costume and gadgets and that makes difficult to feel like he's ever really in danger some times.

The rest of the cast is great as well. Some of the supporting characters seem a bit one dimensional at first but there are small character moments that makes them feel real. The show may be called Luther but there are are other people involved in his story that are almost all significant in their own way. Ruth Wilson really stood out to me because she was just amazingly creepy as the genius and insane Alice Morgan.

Overall I really enjoyed the show. It had interesting characters and a compelling story. The cast was solid and the show looks great. If you like crime dramas, thrillers, or police procedurals this should be right up your alley and the show runs circles around stuff like CSI. Sometimes tension is lost because Luther is just so good at what he does you're just waiting to see exactly how he'll get out of something, but Luther's internal struggle is so engrossing you really don't mind. I rated it 4 out of 5 stars.

Next time I''l be covering Takashi Miike's samurai epic 13 Assassins.

Hmm I think I hear sirens...
That's my cue.

Jose

Brick(2005)

Brick is a the first film from director Rian Johnson and stars Joseph Gordon Levitt, Lukas Haas, and Emilie de Ravin. The tagline from IMDb reads:

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

And here's the trailer:

Wow, what a ride! I had trouble getting into the movie right away because it starts a little slow and the dialogue can be a little off-putting at first. I actually almost fell asleep. But the movie slowly drew me in and once I was along for the ride I really enjoyed the movie. This movie is basically an old school film noir detective story in the same vein as movies such as The Maltese Falcon or Sunset Boulevard but with teenagers and set primarily in a high school. It has many of the staples of film noir, including the cynical detective, the femme fetale, and slick dialogue. The cast is great across the board and although it sometimes seems like they're overacting I think that's just the way the characters in this genre feel. Rian Johnson does a solid job as the writer-director. The plot has all the twists and turns and his dialogue is snappy and left me wishing I could talk the way these characters do. His direction is great and really grounds the movie in the tone and mood of film noir. At the same time he is able to stamp the movie with a distinctive style in the way he frames shots and moves his camera around. He shoots the school in these awesome wide shots that give it this feeling of emptiness. There's also a lot of wide shots of Levitt's character as he travels around that really make you feel his isolation.

Overall I ended up really enjoying the movie once I settled in. The movie takes a bit get moving but once it does you're really happy to be along for the ride. Definitely check it out if you're a fan of classic who-done-it detective stories. This was a nice way to kick off this project. I personally rated the movie 4 stars out of the five possible on Netflix's rating system.

For my next item I'll be checking out the British tv show Luther starring Idris Elba as a police detective who specializes in catching serial killers.

Oh the phone's ringing! That's my cue.

Jose

Here we go!

After adding the 100th item to my watch instant queue on Netflix I came the realization that while I am constantly adding new things to watch I never actually, you know watch anything. This realization coupled with the fact that I am kinda broke and was considering just cancelling my Netflix subscription, have inspired me to try and watch everything on my queue. As I mentioned earlier, I am now up to 100 items on my queue and I don't expect to get through them all very quickly. By starting this blog project I hope to slowly work my way through the list. My plan is to watch something on my queue and then write up a short recap on it and post it on this blog. In a perfect world I'd watch one item a day but with school starting back up soon I know that's just a dream. The hope as of now is to get through at least one item per week. If I have time for more then I'll definitely watch more, but for now lets just plan one item per week. If you're interested in listening to the incoherent ramblings of a lazy, inarticulate, and occasionally witty, if I do say so myself, movie and tv addict, then stay tuned.