Shane

This is one of those films I have heard referenced and parodied so many times that I had to see it for myself.

While it was certainly a great western, in many ways it was not a typical western, as the hero doesn't come riding in with guns ablazing, nor his he impervious to pain. It's much more of a realistic fighter, as well as the somewhat reluctant hero.

As great as this film is, I was slightly disappointed, as I had heard Bill Hicks describe a scene with a bully telling an unarmed man to pick up a gun so the bully could shoot him. I cannot figure out if that scene was edited out of the version of the film I watched, or was just how Bill Hicks imagined the gunslinger would act or if that scene belongs to another film.

You will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

After watching Miral, I was surprised to learn that the star of that film Frieda Pinto, also appeared in a Woody Allen film. I've seen a large number of this film, both his silly faze 60s-70s and most of his films in the 80s and have always enjoyed them. I haven't watched many of his film after the 80s, but that is true for me for most films.

This was an enjoyable film, pretty much typical Woody Allen, with the odd conversations and people giving in to temptation, which leads them into further trouble.

I didn't catch what role Frieda was playing until after she had appeared several times.

The only real troubling aspect of this film is the inconclusiveness of this film, thought it was clearly Woody's intent to leave us wondering about the characters future.

As always Wood Allen does not disappoint.

The Ramen Girl

My friend said that he was planning on showing this film as part of a class he would be teaching. As I had never heard of it, and due to my long experience with Japan, I thought I should check it out.

The film includes some famous Japanese actors, most notably the star, who also stars in the Tsuribaka Nisshi films.

The plot is rather implausible, as some American woman decides to dedicate herself to learning to be a top ramen (no pun intended) chef, while not being able to speak any Japanese.

One of the short comings is that as most of the action takes place in a ramen shop you get a rather limited picture of Japan.

Cherry 2000

I heard about this film from some news post about some female robot. I was surprised that I hadn't heard of this film before, as it was science fiction, from the 80s and had Melanie Griffith in it.

It has an impressive 80s cast, including Byron James (Looking half way between his Blade Runner role and his Fifth Element role), Laurence Fishburne, Tim Thomerson (B-movie icon from Trancers, and several other 80s films).

The film was okay, a post apocalyptic world, without any real edge.

I read somewhere that this film was released in theaters in Europe, but not in America, which would explain why I had never heard of this film before.

Zack & Miri Make A Porno

This was another film by Kevin Smith that I intended to watch a long time ago but only got around to watching recently. Much more typical Kevin Smith fare, about odd conversations, relationships and of course Jason Lee.

This was an enjoyable film, but didn't really blow me away. Enough to satisfy my Kevin Smith needs.

Still the plot, or at least the characters actions to reach their "goal", is illogical. They spend quite a bit of money making an overly costly production for two people with extreme money problems, when they could easily make such a film for practically nothing. This is odd for us to comprehend as an audience, but at that same time, the film would be short and empty if the characters simply set up a video camera for a hour and tried to sell the results.

Cop Out

I was reading about Kevin Smith, and had heard he directed this film, and since I am a fan of Kevin Smith (having seen everything by him up until Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, though I also watched Clerks II), so I had to see this film.

Also, I have enjoyed a large number of Bruce Willis films, more that any other actor I can currently recall (12 Monkeys, Die Hard, The Fifth Element, but not Pulp Fiction, didn't care for that one), so I thought this would be a worthy combination. The film wasn't outstanding in any way, but I didn't hate it as some reviewers did.

I did note the soundtrack had an 80's feel, which is due to it being composed by Harold Faltermeyer, who I know from Beverly Hills Cop (Axel F), though he also did the soundtrack for Fletch, if you happened to see that.

Miral

This is certainly not an old movie. I read about it on a news site, that Israel was complaining that the film gave it unfair portrayal. Of course, if some government doesn't want me to watch a film, I have to watch it.

I wanted to learn more about the troubles in the middle east. From watching this film, it may be hard to understand the root of the problem or its exact history, but you will get a good idea of the injustices Palestinians face.

From the start, I was pretty surprised at the physical appearance of the lead. She has rather dark skin and appeared Indian to me, which as it turns out she was (the actress, not the character). I thought this was an odd choice to have an actress who doesn't look like a Palestinian, but it turns out that she does look rather similar to the original Palestinian author on whose autobiographical novel this film was based. I guess I need to adjust my perception of what Palestinians look like.

This film is 65% in English, but the version I watched was without subtitles. The story was still fairly clear but I will have to go back watch it again with subtitles to see what I missed.

The lead actress, Freida Pinto, also appeared in Slumdog Millionaire, which I also watched, but I don't recall her role in it. That was a rather odd film, and I am uncertain what made the film noteworthy, with the exception of all the controversy surrounding the child actors.