Four Lions (2010)

Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point.

This is the type of movie that unless it is done right can be pushing a very sensitive subject. When you make a movie about four people who want to be suicide bombers I think you can do it two ways. One, you can make it a very serious movie that takes inside the culture and mindset of these people and give an unseen look into their world. Two, make it a comedy about these characters that want to be jihadists but are just to stupid to make anything work. The one thing that wont work is combining the two.

The movie starts out as a comedy, and it has some pretty funny moments. While in a terrorist training camp, two of the members try to take down an American spy plane with a rocket launcher, they accidentally shoot backwards and take out a terrorist camp. It seems like everything they do is a mistake, their leader seems to be the only one capable of doing things right.

As the movie progresses though it starts to get a little more serious, but you still think that it will all turn out with a funny ending because these guys never seem to get things right. There is a moment in the movie where one of the character accidentally kills himself, and it is supposed to be funny (think Tropic Thunder), but you realize this is a character I actual like and it isn't funny how he dies. From there on out it continues to push a subject that really isn't funny. When you make jokes about suicide bomber killing people you have crossed a line.

There is one character in this movie that I think  they delve far enough into his character that when he completes his suicide mission you don't feel like it was all for nothing. That being said the movie crosses some touchy subjects and isn't really funny enough to make it worth it.


When to Watch Rating: While Plunging Your Head in Boiling Water


Now Playing in Select Theaters

Making the Movie Review - HERE

The Blind Side (2009)

The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family. 

You would think a movie that makes $255 million, wins the award for best actress and is nominated for best picture would be a lock to be a good movie. Not so fast. Can you argue though with a movie that did so well with audiences and critics? 

If this movie was not based on a true story it would seem like your typical kids Disney movie. Person made for sport, but has (add problem). Person gets a chance to succeed, but needs to learn to play. Person gets coached by small child. Person almost instantly becomes great. Person has problem that could ruin everything. Person triumphs. So what makes this movie any different.

Sandra Bullock is a highlight to the movie, wouldn't cross my mind for an award, but the academy was set on giving her an award. You can't blame her for some of the writing that makes her character seem way to over the top. 

The story of Michael Oher is incredible, but oddly enough happens quite often. Check out this interesting article on black athletes that come from bad homes and go on to live with white families, and excel in sports. http://www.slate.com/id/2270482/

So I want to know how a movie that cinematically falls very short, only has one strong performance and no climax can do so good. I have a theory that also is some aspects goes along with the success of the 2009 best picture winner Slumdog Millionaire and 2010 nominee Precious. People see these situations that people are stuck in, coming from broken homes where their mothers throw their babies on the couch like a football, or 2 young boys watch their mother die and have to survive in the slums of India. Their reactions are "I can't believe people actually go through this, this movie really blew my mind." (Actual reaction I have heard) That alone seems to give movies some merit on being a great movie, regardless if the story is true or if the movie was made well.

This seems to be the effect that The Blind Side had on people, and with the "true story" tagged on,  it was sure to succeed. This seems to me the only way this movie could have done so well, if it weren't for that factor you could place it right up there with movies like The Rookie. Interesting true story, nothing more.

When to Watch Rating: While Plunging Your Head in Boiling Water

Available on DVD

GhettoPhysics: Will the Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up? (2010)

Ghetto Physics is about the affiliation between the pimp and the ho and how that relationship can be extrapolated into politics, the economy, and even one’s everyday encounters.

Read review at Making the Movie - Ghetto Physics Review. Jeff P (writer for the website www.Tastesfunny.net) is the guest reviewer, hopefully he will also do some reviews for ThinkSplosion.


When to Watch Rating: While Plunging Your Head in Boiling Water (From what it sounds like)

Now playing in select theaters

The Burial Society (2002)

In The Burial Society, Sheldon Kasner, an unlikely criminal who works as a bank loan manager, infiltrates the mysterious world of the Chevrah Kadisha (the Jewish society that prepares bodies for burial according to ancient ritual).

 There wasn't much to like about this movie. It was slow (I fell asleep), the cinematography was bad, the acting was sub-par and the editing just made things more confusing. The one thing about the movie that could have been good was the script, but all of those other elements can ruin a good script very quickly.

The movie drags by slowly revealing small pieces to the puzzle of why Sheldon, a middle age man is trying to join the Chevrah Kadisha who is made up of 3 old men. By the end of the movie I wasn't exactly sure who was in on what. And to make matters worse the twist of the movie is made even more confusing with bad editing.

I would say to stay away from this movie unless you want to learn a little bit about the Chevrah Kadisha. When it comes to indie movies this isn't a terrible movie, just not a good one.

When to Watch Rating: While Plunging Your Head in Boiling Water

Available on Netflix Instant View

Red Road (2006)

Jackie works as a CCTV operator. Each day she watches over a small part of the world, protecting the people living their lives under her gaze...

Red Road won the 2006 Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival. One night while Jackie (Kate Dickie) is working she see's a man that sends her into a panic. She frantically begins calling people trying to find out if he has been released from prison early. She begins following the man, at work through the cameras, and in her off time in person.

I think what made this movie good also made me dislike it. This man is supposed to be kept a mystery, we know he was in prison and had something to do with Jackie, but Director Andrea Arnold wants to keep us guessing why the entire movie. At first it plays very well, as she follows him in person you think that if he see's her he will recognize her and that will start a confrontation. Then after they have a conversation and he hasn't recognized her you start to wonder why she has such an interest in him. And by the end of the movie I was beginning the think that Jackie is crazy.

Jackie lives a very cut off life. She doesn't speak to her parents much, she hadn't seen her sister in years before her wedding.She doesn't get together with friends. She works a job where she doesn't really have to deal much with other people, but instead gets to watch other peoples lives, which she enjoys. But we get the sense that things haven't always been this way.

The film kept me interested throughout because I wanted to know what this strange relationship that Jackie had with this man, and some of the scenes were very intense in large part to the sound design that was used instead of a music score, which I found brilliant. By the end of the movie though I had lost most of my interest, maybe in part to the heavy Scottish accents where I couldn't understand some of the dialogue or maybe to the fact that it took so long to get to the reveal and when it finally did the payoff didn't seem to be worth it.

When to Watch Rating: While Plunging Your Head in Boiling Water

Available on Netflix

The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009)

A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army's New Earth Army, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions.

With such a good cast and a story that is absolutely crazy that any part of it is true, I thought this movie would be a can't miss. Wrong.

The movie jumps all over the place. It feels like a Cohen brothers movie gone wrong. The acting of course is good with this cast, but even that can't seem to save this movie. I believe that part of it that makes it seem so bad is how crazy it all seems, but being based on true events I imagine those parts really were that crazy.

The pace of the movie never really seems right, its to slow and then to fast. It jumps back and forth to much and doesn't really seem to know what it wants to be as a movie. A Comedy? Action? Just a crazy story?

Some of the scenes were funny, but I found most of the movie boring and very hard to watch.


When to Watch Rating: While Plunging Your Head in Boiling Water

Available on Netflix Instant View


***I recommend that if you think a movie looks good you should watch in anyway and then hopefully you will love it and write a comment on how horrible my review is.