The Canuk Movie Critic
THE SHIPPING NEWS
This movie was nominated for a Golden Globe before it was even released,
probably because Kevin Spacey was in it. They should of waited to see it
first. The book is based on the widely poular Pulitzer prize winning book
by
Annie Proulx. The people I know who have read her book and saw the movie
have said that they butchered it badly. I didn’t even read the book and I
still found the movie disappointing. What I’m curious about is what the
Newfies thought of it.(It’s based in Newfoundland) This movie will not do
much for the Newfoundland tourism industry, unless walking around in the
freezing rain surrounded by surly in-breds sounds like a nice getaway to
you. They also screwed up their Newfie accents: (Newfie accent example:
"What are y’at bye", translated means "How are you doing buddy.")
Personally, I really didn’t think the movie flowed too well, just when a
scene was getting good it chopped right in to the next scene. It’s not a
God-awful movie, but it’s definitely not worthy of the hype surrounding it
for the Oscars.
p.s. Newfoundland is one of the friendliest places around and worth a
visit. (If you fly into St. John’s, you’ll notice that the locals on the
plane will get up and cheer when the plane lands and discuss which bar
they’re going to.)
Out of a possible 6-pack, I’ll give it 2 ½ beers.
Out of a possible 6-pack, I’ll give it 2 ½ beers.
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
The movie’s about a schizophrenic Princeton math professor named John Nash(Russell Crowe). It’s extremely well written and well acted from start to finish. I think this movie should and will win best picture this year. It tackles the topic of the often misunderstood illness of schizophrenia in a sensitive, yet realistic way. We follow Nash as he battles his mental illness throughout his life as a student, professor, husband and father on his way to winning the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking math formulas. I think it shows when a movie is well thought out and this one is. Knowing it’s a true story makes it even better. Russell Crowe is truly amazing in it and has a talent for not over-doing it in the melo-dramatic department. I also think Jennifer Connolly (Nash’s wife) should win for best actress. This is also the first movie I’ve seen where the characters grow older without the makeup looking fake. For geeks with no social skills, there is a scene where Nash applies a mathematical formula to picking up women at a bar (pay close attention, it might work if applied properly). I think this was the best movie of 2001, Crowe was the best actor too. Directed by Ron Howard.
I’ll give it a full 6-pack.
2 GOOD MOVIES NEW TO VIDEO:
TIGERLAND
The under-rated Colin Farrell stars as a U.S army recruit who is in the final stages of training camp before being sent off to Vietnam. On paper this might sound like another movie over-saturating the Vietnam war movie genre, but it’s done with an original style to it and has characters that aren’t 'overdone.' It’s based on the writer’s real journal entries during his time at the training camp. I’m surprised it didn’t make more of an impact in the theatres.
THE SCORE
This movie was one of the few really good movies of 2001. DeNiro made a
bad
choice in taking on a role in the lame “15 Minutes”, but makes up for it
with this one. It also stars Ed Norton and Marlon Brando. Norton is great
at
playing a thief who pretends to be retarded, DeNiro is great at playing a
veteran thief on his last big heist and Brando is great at playing a
fatass.
It’s filmed in Montreal and directed by Frank Oz ( formerly the voice of
Miss Piggy).
(5.5 beers)
