Movie 26 of 2008: Basic Instinct

Movie Description:

The take-no-prisoners sex thriller from 1992 now stands as a milestone in the career of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, but in the hands of director Paul Verhoeven Basic Instinct is an undeniably stylish and provocative study of obsession. In the role that made her a star (and showed the audience a little more skin than she intended), Sharon Stone plays the cleverly manipulative novelist Catherine Tramell who snares San Francisco detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) with her insatiable sexual appetite during the investigation of her boyfriend's murder. Tramell is the prime suspect, but the plot twists and turns until Curran is trapped in a dangerous cycle of dead ends and unsolved murders, never sure if Tramell is committing the crimes or if it is some other, unknown suspect. With a plot that keeps viewers guessing, Basic Instinct is the work of a director who is clearly in his element.

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My Opinion:

I can't believe I had not seen this movie before last night. WOW!!! This was actually one of the first DVDs I ever bought because I had heard it would be something I would like, but I just never got around to watching it. Eric mentioned it last week and I said I had never seen it so we pulled it out to watch and I was thoroughly absorbed in this flick. I have been trying to recover from being sick all week so I have been pretty tired and run down and even starting this movie late at night and having not had a nap all day... I stayed awake through the ENTIRE movie without batting an eye. I even forced myself to not get up to go to the restroom during the movie... I was THAT into the movie!!! Yeah, I know, there's a pause button on the DVD player, but I just wanted to see what happened next. I will most likely be watching this movie again soon to see if I missed anything as I already pointed something out to Eric that he didn't catch onto that I thought I saw. I need to check to see if I was right. LOL!!! Loved the 80s club scene as well in this movie... classic!!! I definitely need to check out more 80s films because I seem to really dig the essence of them.

Movie 25 of 2008: Juno

Movie Description:

When a teenage girl is faced with an unexpected pregnancy, she enlists the aid of her best friend in finding the unborn child a suitable home in this coming-of-age comedy drama from Thank You for Smoking director Jason Reitman. Juno (Ellen Page) may seem wise beyond her years, but after sleeping with classmate Bleeker (Michael Cera), the pregnant teen quickly realizes how little she really knows about life. Thankfully, Juno has been blessed with parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) who trust their daughter's judgment, and a best friend named Leah (Olivia Thirlby), who's always willing to help out in a pinch. With a little help from Leah, Juno soon comes into contact with Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) -- an affluent suburban couple who have been unable to conceive a child of their own. Mark and Vanessa seem like they would make great parents, and are eager to adopt Juno's unborn child. Now, as adolescent Juno is faced with a series of very adult decisions, she will draw on the support of her family and friends in order to discover who she truly is, and discover that one bad choice can have a lifetime of consequences.

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My Opinion:

I wasn't sure whether I'd like this movie or not. I thought it might just be another silly teen movie, but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot. There were a few things I would've like to have seen wrapped up a bit more at the end, but I guess they weren't all that important to the movie. I mainly was just curious to see what happened with Jason Bateman's character.

One major highlight of the movie for me was the soundtrack. This movie had a hilarious soundtrack. The lyrics to the songs had both me and my date cracking up. I recommend checking out this movie for the soundtrack if nothing else.

Movie 24 of 2008: The Eye

Movie Description:

Sydney, a young, blind violinist is given the chance to see for the first time since childhood through a miraculous corneal transplant. As Sydney adjusts to a dizzying new world of colors and shapes, she is haunted by frightening visions of death itself capturing the doomed and dragging them away from the world of the living. Terrorized and on the brink of insanity, Sydney must discover whose eyes she has inherited, and what secret visions they have held.

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My Opinion:

This wasn't one of my favorite movies for sure, but I did enjoy it. Unfortunately, I watched this at like 1:00 in the morning so I dozed off a few times throughout for short periods of time so I'm sure I missed bits and pieces here and there. It was a decent flick though and some of the scary graphics were pretty cool. The concept of the story was neat, but I think I'd rather have read a book about it, though I'm not sure that there was one made. I'll have to look into that.

Movie 23 of 2008: The Number 23

Movie Description:

Walter Sparrow is a family-man married with Agatha Sparrow, and works catching dogs in the Department of Animal Control and has a teenager son very close to his wife and him. On the day of his birthday, he is bitten by a dog and comes late to meet Agatha. While waiting for him, Agatha buys a detective book with a novel about the mystery around the number 23 in a bookstore as a gift to Walther. He becomes captivated with the story and obsessed with the number 23, finding many coincidences with his own life, and he decides to find the author, believing the story is about him. His further investigation discloses a mysterious situation that makes Walther paranoid.

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My Opinion:

I kind of had mixed opinions on this movie. I typically do not like Jim Carrey, but his serious movies aren't so bad so I watch them. I do think he did a great job in THE NUMBER 23! I found the storyline quite fascinating, but I'm not sure that I liked the ending of the story. I definitely think I would've found the book he was reading in the movie interesting and need to see if that has been released as it wouldn't surprise me. So... I really can't decide whether I fully liked this movie or not. I'd be willing to watch it again at some point because it did keep my attention for the most part. (though I was really tired and dozed off for about 15 minutes or so... LOL!) I also think it's definitely worth a watch for those who like suspenseful movies for sure.

Movie 22 of 2008: Donny Brasco

Movie Description:

In the late 1970s, FBI agent Joe Pistone (Depp) is assigned to infiltrate a New York City mafia family. Calling himself Donnie Brasco, and posing as a diamond expert, he befriends Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), a low-level mob hit man whose personal life is in tatters, and Dominick Napolitano (Michael Madsen). Lefty can't seem to make any money, his son is a junkie, and he is continually passed over for promotion to a higher position within the Family. He continually reminds Brasco of his growing disillusionment about having spent 30 years in the mafia (and killing 26 people), with little to show for it. In Donnie, however, Lefty sees a young protégé who might be able to succeed where he had failed. He takes Donnie under his wing, and under Lefty's tutelage Donnie quickly becomes accepted by the other Family members, although he is never elevated above the rank of "associate" member (the lowest mafia rank). But the longer Pistone plays the role of a gangster, the more he finds himself actually becoming Donnie Brasco during his rare off duty hours. His change in personality drives a wedge between him and his wife (played by Anne Heche) and three children. Over time, Pistone comes to realize that the slightest mistake in his performance as a mobster could result in the death of him and his family. In addition, Joe Pistone has come to regard Lefty as a close and trusted friend. He knows that when the day finally comes that the FBI arrests his mob associates, he will be ending Lefty's life as surely as if he himself had killed him.

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My Opinion:

This was one of the few Johnny Depp movies I hadn't seen yet, but I now have. It's definitely not one of my fave Depp movies, but I did enjoy it. Al Pacino is also a fabulous actor (especially in THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE) so that helped make the movie a winner as well. I'll probably re-watch this one someday though as I was kinda drifting in and out towards the end.

Movie 21 of 2008: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Movie Description:

Sweeney Todd is a villain/anti-hero appearing in various English language works starting in the mid-19th century as a barber and an early example of a serial killer. His weapon is a cut-throat razor (or "straight razor" in American English), with which he slits his victims' throats. In some versions of the story, Mrs. Lovett, who is his partner in crime and variously his friend or lover (and whose first name is variously Marjorie, Sarah, Nellie, Shirley or Claudette) hides the crimes by butchering the corpses of Todd's victims, baking their flesh into meat pies, and selling them to unknowing customers. His wife, Lucy Barker, is a woman so contested that it caused him to be exiled for life and fuel his vengeance. He is also assisted by an unwitting apprentice lad named Tobias Ragg, who later aids in unmasking his crimes. In most recent versions of the story, Sweeney either helps or hinders (sometimes both) the love affair of a young woman, Johanna Barker, and a sailor named Mark Ingesterie or more commonly known as Anthony Hope. In the musical stage production and 2007 film, Johanna is Todd's daughter Johanna Barker.

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My Opinion:

This was actually my 2nd viewing of this movie as I originally saw this at the theater back in December the week it came out. I enjoyed this movie a lot! Granted... I'm a bit biased as I'm a fairly huge fan of both Johnny Depp and Tim Burton and when they work together on a film the outcome is always amazing! The songs in this movie are fabulous and I ended up ordering the soundtrack the day after I saw this movie the first time. I don't know if I should've laughed so much during this movie considering the theme, but I found several things about the movie to be quite amusing... even the way the blood splattered. LOL!!! Maybe I'm a bit sick & twisted... who knows!

Movie 20 of 2008: L.A. Confidential

Movie Description:

L.A. Confidential is a 1997 feature film based on the 1990 crime fiction novel of the same title by James Ellroy, the third in his L.A. Quartet novel cycle. Both book and film tell the story about a group of Los Angeles police in the 1950s, and police corruption bumping up against Hollywood celebrity. The film adaptation was produced and directed by Curtis Hanson and co-written by Brian Helgeland and Hanson. At the time, both Australian actors Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce were relative unknowns in North America and one of the film’s backers, Arnon Milchan was worried about the lack of movie stars in the lead roles. However, he supported Hanson’s casting decisions and this gave the director the confidence to approach Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito and Kevin Spacey. When Hanson gave Spacey the script, he told him to think of Dean Martin while in the role.

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My Opinion:

I honestly didn’t focus on this movie as much as I probably should’ve when watching it so I can’t give a full opinion of this. I did enjoy it, but I didn’t keep up with the movie enough to get a true idea of what all happened in it. LOL!!! Maybe I’ll watch it again one day.