Hey everybody! First of all, sorry for the long absence. Don’t worry, I have still been watching and thinking about movies, I just haven’t gotten around to writing about them. I plan to remedy that, slowly but surely. If you’re reading this, then thank you for your patience.
Second, I know I told you last that I would be doing a graphic novel week. I still plan to do that. In fact, the film I currently have out from Netflix is V for Vendetta. I soon as I finish watching that for the umpteenth time, I will probably have enough material for a good post. I can’t tell you exactly when that will be, but stay tuned.
Last night I watched a movie. More on that later. This movie was unlike any movie I had ever seen before. And it got me thinking to myself, “Wow Harry. You’ve never seen any movie like this before. That doesn’t happen very often. Can you think of any other times you’ve watched a movie and were blown away by how stunningly unique it was?” And so I thought long and hard about an answer to that question, and the answer is the subject of this post. So without further ado, I present: The Most Unique Films I Have Ever Seen! (In no particular order.)
First off, the movie I watched last night. It’s called Valhalla Rising. It is easily the best film I’ve seen in the last year, maybe more. The film’s lead is Mads Mikkelsen, who is rapidly climbing the ranks of my favorite actors list. The reason for this is two particular performances, them being Valhalla Rising and Flame and Citron, a Danish film which I’ve only seen half of. Now those of you in the know might say at this point, “But Harry, how can a man be on your list of favorite actors if in the two performances you love him for, he does not speak a single word you can understand?” Well, within your question lies the answer. Because I cannot understand what he is saying, or he’s just not talking, I can truly appreciate how expressive his face is. Without the scripts getting in the way of my viewing of the performance, I can really get a chance to see the actor’s true talent. This kind of makes me feel as though I should see more silent films. (Or foreign ones.) But let’s get back to the movie itself. What makes it unique? I know that I’ve never seen anything like it. But how can I describe the qualities that separate it from the rest of the movies I’ve seen? I think the answer to that question can be boiled down to two words: Real and Fantastic. Those two words seem like they contradict each other, so let me explain. The Real part is pretty simple. I’ve never seen a movie that looked so realistic. The effects and colors are simple, exactly what you would expect from life on “the fringes of the Earth.” And then there’s Fantastic. The story, the violence, the characters. All of these elements are so far beyond anything I’ve seen before. The story is epic, the violence is brutal, and the characters are larger than life. You may say to yourself, or me for that matter, “But Harry, I’ve seen realistic movies before. I’ve seen fantastic movies before. I’ve seen movies both realistic and fantastic before. How is this one different?” If we were having that conversation face to face, I would interject before the last question with the following statement: “Not like this you haven’t. Not like this. Nothing you’ve ever seen can prepare you for what you will see in Valhalla Rising. That is all.”
Next up in my list of completely unique films is... Any Given Sunday, Oliver Stone’s football epic. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a sports movie. It is a people movie that happens to be centered around sports. No other “sports movie” even scratches the surface of the complexity and depth of Any Given Sunday. And no other character driven movie can match the intensity of the football action. It combines the best elements of great sports movies like Remember the Titans and Friday Night Lights, while tackling much more serious emotional issues. (Pun intended.) Also, I can’t think of too many comparable ensemble performances. Seriously, there are about ten actors that could easily be leads in other films, yet none of them upstage each other. It’s pretty incredible. Because it is a hybrid film, it is in a genre by itself. It is not a sports movie and not a character drama. It’s both. And because of this, it is completely unique.
Continuing on, let’s move to a film that was at the top of my personal charts for at least 2 years. That film is The Machinist. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. Imagine taking a Dostoevsky novel and having the lead character played by a 115 pound Christian Bale. If you’ve seen Mr. Bale recently, you probably will have a hard time imagining him at under 160. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, an apple and half a can of tuna fish a day will get you down to 115 pounds pretty quick. Then, most people in the right minds will call for a doctor as soon as they see you. I’ve often said that Christian Bale gave the single greatest individual performance of all time and the lead character, Trevor Reznik. I stand by that. There is no performance like his, and there is no movie like this one. A perfect performance and a perfect story make this film the ultimate in the exploration of guilt and the human mind. This film is as unique as they come.
The fourth film on this list is Brick. And I am not the only one who thought so. It won the Originality of Vision award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. To say that it is like The Maltese Falcon is unfair, even though that is probably the most similar of all films ever made. While Brick may be loosely based on The Maltese Falcon, the style is so individual that any comparisons really don’t hold much water. It has noir elements, with the lead (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as the hard-nosed detective type, but it’s not film noir. It’s not an mystery thriller. It’s not a high school drama. It’s just... Brick. When people ask me to describe it, I have trouble. There is really no frame of reference for it. It is, simply put, unlike any film I’ve ever seen. And that’s all there is to it.
Next up... A History of Violence. This is a polarizing film, I know. Some people can’t stand it. I love it. Either way, I think everybody can agree that there is nothing else like it. By my count, Viggo Mortensen should have two oscars by now. He deserved one for this, and he was cheated out of the one he should have had for Eastern Promises. But what makes this film unique, once again, is that it fails to fall into any pre-established category of filmmaking. It has action, it has drama, it has sex, and it has Viggo. (For me, that’s really all you need for a great film.) The combination of those four elements put it in a category that contains no other films. Also, I’ve never been embarrassed watching a movie with my family. Until this one. Trust me, see it with friends, not family. This applies especially to the younger generation.
And the last most unique movie I’ve ever seen is District 9. If you’ve seen it you know what I’m talking about. Yes, it is a sci-fi action movie. And no, there are no other sci-fi action movies that are even remotely close to it. District 9 was actually my best picture of 2009. Watch out for Sharlto Copley, his star is on the rise. After seeing that movie, I was thoroughly convinced that if we ever make contact with aliens, they will look exactly like the Prawns. But in addition to its incredible sci-fi elements, it is also a brilliant political commentary about internment camps and separation of social classes. Going back to what I was saying about Valhalla Rising, this film is real. Everything about it looks real. The humans, the aliens, District 9 itself, all of these things blew me away with how realistic they looked and felt. Again, I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. Not only is it unique, it is also incredible. See it.
And that’s all I can think of for now. Feel free to sound off about movies you think should have been on this list. And thanks for bearing with through my absence.
Until next time,
Harry
Second, I know I told you last that I would be doing a graphic novel week. I still plan to do that. In fact, the film I currently have out from Netflix is V for Vendetta. I soon as I finish watching that for the umpteenth time, I will probably have enough material for a good post. I can’t tell you exactly when that will be, but stay tuned.
Last night I watched a movie. More on that later. This movie was unlike any movie I had ever seen before. And it got me thinking to myself, “Wow Harry. You’ve never seen any movie like this before. That doesn’t happen very often. Can you think of any other times you’ve watched a movie and were blown away by how stunningly unique it was?” And so I thought long and hard about an answer to that question, and the answer is the subject of this post. So without further ado, I present: The Most Unique Films I Have Ever Seen! (In no particular order.)
First off, the movie I watched last night. It’s called Valhalla Rising. It is easily the best film I’ve seen in the last year, maybe more. The film’s lead is Mads Mikkelsen, who is rapidly climbing the ranks of my favorite actors list. The reason for this is two particular performances, them being Valhalla Rising and Flame and Citron, a Danish film which I’ve only seen half of. Now those of you in the know might say at this point, “But Harry, how can a man be on your list of favorite actors if in the two performances you love him for, he does not speak a single word you can understand?” Well, within your question lies the answer. Because I cannot understand what he is saying, or he’s just not talking, I can truly appreciate how expressive his face is. Without the scripts getting in the way of my viewing of the performance, I can really get a chance to see the actor’s true talent. This kind of makes me feel as though I should see more silent films. (Or foreign ones.) But let’s get back to the movie itself. What makes it unique? I know that I’ve never seen anything like it. But how can I describe the qualities that separate it from the rest of the movies I’ve seen? I think the answer to that question can be boiled down to two words: Real and Fantastic. Those two words seem like they contradict each other, so let me explain. The Real part is pretty simple. I’ve never seen a movie that looked so realistic. The effects and colors are simple, exactly what you would expect from life on “the fringes of the Earth.” And then there’s Fantastic. The story, the violence, the characters. All of these elements are so far beyond anything I’ve seen before. The story is epic, the violence is brutal, and the characters are larger than life. You may say to yourself, or me for that matter, “But Harry, I’ve seen realistic movies before. I’ve seen fantastic movies before. I’ve seen movies both realistic and fantastic before. How is this one different?” If we were having that conversation face to face, I would interject before the last question with the following statement: “Not like this you haven’t. Not like this. Nothing you’ve ever seen can prepare you for what you will see in Valhalla Rising. That is all.”
Next up in my list of completely unique films is... Any Given Sunday, Oliver Stone’s football epic. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a sports movie. It is a people movie that happens to be centered around sports. No other “sports movie” even scratches the surface of the complexity and depth of Any Given Sunday. And no other character driven movie can match the intensity of the football action. It combines the best elements of great sports movies like Remember the Titans and Friday Night Lights, while tackling much more serious emotional issues. (Pun intended.) Also, I can’t think of too many comparable ensemble performances. Seriously, there are about ten actors that could easily be leads in other films, yet none of them upstage each other. It’s pretty incredible. Because it is a hybrid film, it is in a genre by itself. It is not a sports movie and not a character drama. It’s both. And because of this, it is completely unique.
Continuing on, let’s move to a film that was at the top of my personal charts for at least 2 years. That film is The Machinist. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. Imagine taking a Dostoevsky novel and having the lead character played by a 115 pound Christian Bale. If you’ve seen Mr. Bale recently, you probably will have a hard time imagining him at under 160. They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, an apple and half a can of tuna fish a day will get you down to 115 pounds pretty quick. Then, most people in the right minds will call for a doctor as soon as they see you. I’ve often said that Christian Bale gave the single greatest individual performance of all time and the lead character, Trevor Reznik. I stand by that. There is no performance like his, and there is no movie like this one. A perfect performance and a perfect story make this film the ultimate in the exploration of guilt and the human mind. This film is as unique as they come.
The fourth film on this list is Brick. And I am not the only one who thought so. It won the Originality of Vision award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. To say that it is like The Maltese Falcon is unfair, even though that is probably the most similar of all films ever made. While Brick may be loosely based on The Maltese Falcon, the style is so individual that any comparisons really don’t hold much water. It has noir elements, with the lead (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as the hard-nosed detective type, but it’s not film noir. It’s not an mystery thriller. It’s not a high school drama. It’s just... Brick. When people ask me to describe it, I have trouble. There is really no frame of reference for it. It is, simply put, unlike any film I’ve ever seen. And that’s all there is to it.
Next up... A History of Violence. This is a polarizing film, I know. Some people can’t stand it. I love it. Either way, I think everybody can agree that there is nothing else like it. By my count, Viggo Mortensen should have two oscars by now. He deserved one for this, and he was cheated out of the one he should have had for Eastern Promises. But what makes this film unique, once again, is that it fails to fall into any pre-established category of filmmaking. It has action, it has drama, it has sex, and it has Viggo. (For me, that’s really all you need for a great film.) The combination of those four elements put it in a category that contains no other films. Also, I’ve never been embarrassed watching a movie with my family. Until this one. Trust me, see it with friends, not family. This applies especially to the younger generation.
And the last most unique movie I’ve ever seen is District 9. If you’ve seen it you know what I’m talking about. Yes, it is a sci-fi action movie. And no, there are no other sci-fi action movies that are even remotely close to it. District 9 was actually my best picture of 2009. Watch out for Sharlto Copley, his star is on the rise. After seeing that movie, I was thoroughly convinced that if we ever make contact with aliens, they will look exactly like the Prawns. But in addition to its incredible sci-fi elements, it is also a brilliant political commentary about internment camps and separation of social classes. Going back to what I was saying about Valhalla Rising, this film is real. Everything about it looks real. The humans, the aliens, District 9 itself, all of these things blew me away with how realistic they looked and felt. Again, I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. Not only is it unique, it is also incredible. See it.
And that’s all I can think of for now. Feel free to sound off about movies you think should have been on this list. And thanks for bearing with through my absence.
Until next time,
Harry
