It is a rainy Monday afternoon during the dog days of summer. The temperature is 99 degrees with a heat index of 105. You are hot and the beach is out of the question. You pick up the newspaper and look at moving listings because a cold theater and a matinee is just what you need. The problem is you have seen every Summer Blockbuster and nothing intrigues you to the point of excitement. You notice a couple of titles that sound familiar and may have some promise. Maybe you just need to get out of the house and cool off in chilly movie theater. You decide to take your chances and grab your car keys. When you arrive at the theater there is the scattering of patrons, but nothing monumental has been released lately so it is seemingly deserted. There is no wait for popcorn and two pimple faced ushers are discussing whether or not the have a shot of "hooking up" with Miley Cyrus. This could be a bad day, but you are determined to enjoy whatever mind numbing movie you choose. You buy your ticket and grab your popcorn and Sno-caps. The actual screening room has about ten people sprinkled about in their seats. You take your seat and two hours pass without a blink. What happened in those two hours? You were surprised beyond belief. You just found a cinematic jewel. You didn’t expect it, but it happened. You feel like a professor of archaeology and you just unearthed a great find that may change civilization. This is the power of cinema. This is the unexpected and your day out was well worth the price of admission.
Today’s Roar is dedicated to Johnny K. who gave me the idea for the blog. These are movies that caught me “off guard.” I didn’t expect much or had no expectations at all for these films. By the end of each of these movies I was pleasantly surprised. John was taken aback by American Beauty and I’m guessing the screenplay had him floored.
4) Jurassic Park-I heard about the book. I heard it was a Spielberg film, but I had no clue it was going to be fun. Jurassic Park had my heart pounding for two hours and John William’s score gave me goose bumps. “You bred raptors?”
3) Gone Baby Gone-This could have been a paint-by-numbers thriller, but it was Casey Affleck’s finest hour. It brought up one of the great moral dilemmas in cinema. I was surprised at how well this movie handled several issues. The twist was well worth the investment.
2) Blast from the Past-By all rights this movie should be deemed terrible, but I had to laugh at Christopher Walken’s portrayl of the paranoid anti-soviet father. The underground bomb shelter was kind of cool and Brendan Fraser’s ascension to the “top of the world” was interesting. This was a good movie and to say I was surprised in an understatement.
1) Hotel Rwanda-Don Cheadle was absolutely riveting in this moving, real-life drama. It was an education on genocide and raised awareness on the plight of Tutsis and Hutus. We said genocide would never happen again after World War II, however 100, 000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda in 100 days. I am still moved by this picture and in my opinion it is one of the best movies ever made. “Surprised,” doesn’t entirely convey how I felt after seeing this movie.
6 comments:
I have to say that another film that really surprised me was Terminator 3. I thought the action scenes were really cool and I loved the chemistry between Claire Danes and Nick Stahl. Plus this one had a chick terminator.
The end of the movie sealed the deal for me. When they walked into what they thought was the Skynet system core and I saw how the place was decorated, I remember getting it instantly and thinking- "no way". It was a moment that reminded me of that scene in the Sixth Sense when Bruce Willis realizes his situation. The fact that the end of T3 made me think of a masterpiece like the Sixth Sense, was a total surprise.
T3, really? I liked it. I thought I was the only one. I love the hook-and-ladder scene. T4 looks like they sucked the fun out of the franchise, but who knows.
i felt the same way about major league-just saw it because i had nothing else to do and it was about baseball. I had no idea I would see it so many times that I can remember every single line and the how bad the editing was with the fat guy celebrating at the end of the movie or why there is a fan with a sixers shirt on.
As for teh list I thought you would have icestorm and/or election on there
I loved Gone Baby Gone. The mother was fantastic and deserved the Oscar. We saw it because something else was sold out and I can't even remember what that supposedly better movie was.
Rocky Balboa was surprisingly good too. Basically just because I'm from Philadelphia and getting old. Which hits on your other topic about Glory days.
Then there are the movies people shit on undeservedly. Shane hated "I am Legend" so I had low expectations. In the end I liked it more because of that. Apocalyptic movies always are a hit with me.
Oh and that reminds me...Apocalypto by Mel Gibson was awesome. I had no expectations and enjoyed a thrill ride.
I want to do a blog about moral dilemmas, much like Gone Baby Gone. I thought Casey Affleck was outstanding as was Ed Harris.
I just saw the movie Reign Over Me with Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler. I have to say that I really liked the movie and I was completely surprised by how much I liked it.
It really made me look at 9-11 from an angle that I had never considered. After seeing those planes hit more than 100 times myself, I can't imagine the feeling of those that had family on board those planes. It must have been exactly as Sandler's character said, "I burnt with them".
It was a really good portrayal of how people deal with grief and the crazy things they do to avoid feeling pain. The laughs were perfectly timed and gave the viewer a break from the pain of the characters.
Don Cheadle was his usual stellar self and Sandler was surprisingly good.
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