Surprisingly Thought-provoking Movies
- Life (Eddie Murphy/Martin Lawrence)
- Falling Down (Michael Douglas)
- Leap of Faith (Steve Martin)
- Ferris Beuller's Day Off (Matthew Broderick)
- Pleasantville (William H. Macy)
- Truman Show (Jim Carrey)
- Three Kings (George Clooney, et al)
- Drop Dead Fred (Phoebe Cates, Rik Mayall)
- The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao (Tony Randall, Tony Randall, Tony Randall, et al.)
- Mother (Albert Brooks, Debbie Reynolds)
- Labyrinth (David Bowie, Jennifer Connolly, Muppets)
These are movies that I expected to be light-hearted comedies, or simplistic action flics, but turned out to be rather deep intelligent films. All were very good, but not all of them are ones I would want to watch again.
Leap of Faith was somewhat frightening in how easily I found myself caught up in the superstitions pushed by Martin's gang (I grew up in a rather religious household) but also enlightening in how well it showed that "one man's magic is another man's technology" (or something like that.)
I expected Falling Down to be a simple shoot-em-up, but it turned out to be something more. The thing I noticed was that you start out rooting for Douglas' character, but at some point, he turns into a bad guy. What point is that? It was different for everyone in the theatre, and I was some of the responses I saw in others scared me.
Ferris Beuller is not about Ferris Bueller. It's about his friend Cameron Frye and how he comes out of his shell into manhood by forcing himself (through Ferris) into facing his father.
Three Kings surprised me too. I thought "Steal the gold, have a few laughs, show you're a decent lot", but it was really a bit more. I had to explain some of what was going on with the military/political stuff to Rachel -- not because she's dumb or anything, but because most people either don't think about or aren't told about such unpleasant things -- especially the atrocities that our government commits on a regular basis.
I like the idea behind this list - that you can still find intelligent films when in the midst of lots of Hollywood garbage.
Life was a very pleasant surprise. With Murphy and Lawrence in the spotlight I was expecting a showcase of their comedy, and found instead a "triumph of the human spirit" movie. Tragic yet uplifting. The characters these two actors created were compelling and sympathetic.
The Truman Show was more than movie about a guy who's life is on TV 24/7, or about the phenomenon of the public's facsination with him (although it's about those things too). It questions what makes us individuals. How much does personal identity depend on circumstance and upbringing? And it also brings up (more obviously) the impossibility of containing and controlling a human being. I thought this movie was very delicately handled and Carrey's acting was restrained enough to make a well-developed character with depth.
I don't know if I missed something in Three Kings, but I was not impressed with this movie very much. Perhaps I've read too much literature dealing with this issue, but the whole thing about the negligence of a country against its own soldiers has been done (read The Wars by Timothy Findley). I was also unimpressed with the movie as an artful construction. I watched it on DVD, and so had the opportunity of seeing deleted scenes and the director's commentary, etc. It seems to me that the director did not have a clear sense of the movie as a whole. He tried to put together too many elements, too many scenes he had worked out in his head, and when faced with time constraints, was forced to cut certain scenes. The only reason for their deletion was that there was no time - not because the scene detracted from or did not contribute to the overall form and meaning of the work. But like I say, perhaps I've missed something.
I enjoyed your comments about all the other movies...particularly Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I've watched this movie countless times, and it never really occurred to me to look more closely at Cameron Frye. I love to see something old with a fresh perspective - thank you.
I thought Three Kings was a very effective indictment of Operation Desert Storm. Sure, I've seen articles on our real motivation for the war, and how we incited rebellion and then hung the rebels out to dry, but 3K did a great job of actually capturing that. In addition, it was very well acted (Mark Wahlberg surprises me again and again - when will I finally accept that he really can act?), with good characters that develop naturally. I have to imagine that it's hard to depict realistic character growth in just two hours, but thought that 3K did a nice job of it; it didn't rush to make our heros Do The Right Thing.
You make some very valid points. However, I didn't really find that the character development was strong enough to overcome my disappointment with the aspects I previously discussed. You're right about the acting - I have consistently been impressed with Wahlberg and with Ice Cube (I think that's who that was). On the DVD, however, I got to see Ice Cube's backstage attitude, and it stank. I lost some degree of respect for him after seeing that (I loved him in Surviving the Game). I guess I entered that movie with high expectations because people had told me good things about it, and so was prone to being disappointed.
Thank you for giving me some insight into why others would like this movie.