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BuunDawg
Reviews
A Perfect Getaway (2009)
This movie is very good - if you pay attention !!
Some of the posters here claim that the 1st half of the movie is a "lie", but that's only because they don't pay attention.
The "honeymoon" couple in the movie are NOT checking the cellphone to see if the 2nd couple are the killers - it only seems that way if you fail to pay attention. On that particular scene, you need to think about what words are actually spoken, NOT what you think the characters are saying.
If you are still lost, there's a flashback scene very late in the movie which ties up the loose ends.
I see no plot holes in this movie whatsoever.
Crashing (2007)
If you pay attention, it's an interesting movie
This movie is sufficiently complex that you need to watch it very carefully to be sure you don't miss anything. It's basically a demonstration of the craft of writing - and a very good one at that. Because the movie is written so well, if you think about it afterward, you'll get an excellent insight about how to advance your ideas via suggestion, rather than plodding explanations. The context shifting between what's real and what's imagined by the characters themselves (as they also think and write) forces you to really pay attention. I'd say it's definitely worth watching - especially if you want to see how it makes your own thinking react.
The Final Storm (2010)
Better than sleeping pills, but takes effect more slowly
I saw this movie last night on cable TV (FIOS, actually) and only kept watching it because I recognized a few of the actors. After reading the other reviews and thinking it through myself, I can offer you a synthesized explanation for the plot elements and storyline: 1) Almost everybody disappears from the local community - but not a few ruffians in town.
2) There is evidence they disappeared left quickly (half-eaten cookie & coffee in the police station at the dispatcher's seat) 3) It happened during a big storm - which adds to the mystery. Family dog disappeared (doesn't come back) during storm. Power is out, house is cold. After several days, food is low forcing trip to (semi) deserted local town for food - allowing for evidence of disappearance to be seen and for ruffians to attack. Storyline family and Luke Perry flee town after Luke helps defend husband from ruffians.
4) Luke Perry originally showed up at (the storyline family's) farm during the storm and gets invited (mostly by wife) to stay with our storyline family after it's over.
5) The husband of the family, Steve Bacic, may or may not be the best husband (some rude drinking).
7) Lauren Holly (the wife) may or may not be a semi-bored, randy farm wife who's flattered by the attention from Luke at more than one point.
8) In the TV version I saw, we get to see some cleavage and she's in her panties in the bathroom with Luke at one point. And while refilling the tub for Luke, his junk may have been visible to her, but she's not shy about staying there to talk.
9) If you search online, you'll find out that a side-view of her breast was in the DVD version (while Lauren and hubby were doing it) in one scene.
10) Luke has a Bible verse tattoo on his arm and mumbles Bible talk from time to time.
11) Later on, we find out that Luke killed people at that farmhouse 20 years before (his father being one) - at the time, it was his family's house.
12) We get a few clues during the movie that this might be the end of the world.
13) Luke desires Holly and makes a violent play for her - just as the husband comes back from a trip to town (injured and in a weakened state).
14) Family son rescues father from Luke's attempted hanging, which sets in motion final battle scene where Luke is killed.
15) Stars vanish from night sky - world ends.
OK, here's my synthesized storyline for you: Luke is The Prodigal Son who comes home. The family is his symbolic family and he's got Oedipal lust for the wife. The wife is sort of randy and might be unfaithful in her heart (just like mankind is unfaithful in our hearts to God, so too might she be to her husband).
So then, Luke is the sin of man, let loose in real form to illustrate that at the end of the world, only those whose hearts are right with God get raptured.
The Rapture is why most people disappeared, leaving ruffians in town and a sin-tinged farm family for the plot.
The husband has sin because of booze and attitude, the kid because he's a mouth-off, the wife because she accepts intimate flattery from Luke.
Luke is sin personified and when the family overcomes him (by resisting and fighting back), the world ends for them because they too are raptured.
The movie is better than sleeping pills because it's non-chemical. But the effect is the same: you sleep well afterward.
There are no hidden plot messages or twists to think about after it's over, so your mind switches right to sleep mode and you get a nice rest.
For late night TV fare, I'd give it a 5 (of 10)
The Kingdom (2007)
Great action finale - poignant final message
Late in the story, Jason Bateman gets dragged away in a surprise snatch & grab kidnapping, totally changing the tempo of the entire movie.
From that moment on, until his fate is resolved, you are on the edge of your seat watching some of the best chase, shoot-out and death-battle scenes ever filmed.
Every featured actor in the movie totally earns their stripes in the ending scenes.
Very watchable, very realistic and very intense.
Highly recommended.
5-stars!
King of California (2007)
A very nice movie with a message to savor
King of California ("KOC") is one of those movies where if you don't pay attention, you might miss the punch-line.
Basically what is boils down to is this: The slight zaniness of Charlie (Michael Douglas) in his search for long lost treasure, is a metaphor for the long-standing allure California has had on hundreds of thousands (millions) of people over the years.
Like moths to a flame, the intangible allure which is the promise of a better life, has drawn legions of seekers to California over the years.
But the genius of KOC is that it waits to the ending scenes to confirm for us the viewers that Charlie's obsession is, by the standards of the allure of California, 100% correct, 100% valid and in his instance, it actually pays off for his beloved (and loving) daughter in the end.
Think carefully about the symbolism of the illegal immigrants emerging for the ocean in the movie's final scene and also about the scene in which Charlie last appears and you'll make the connection regarding the utter immersion which the allure of personal fulfillment compels people to. People want the dreams of their lives to be fulfilled and they will indeed throw caution to the wind seeking it.
The symbolism of the Costco (so much is there, it has everything) is also a metaphor for California itself.
I'll leave the rest to the viewers, but I'll just say that Evan Rachel Wood is very believable as a loving daughter and Willis Burks's ingenuity in the Costco scene is for me a modern version of the can-do pioneering spirit which carried people westward in the past.