Dazed And Confused

Alright, let's do it.

I need to express my apologies first and foremost, for not seeing this movie until I was either a junior or senior in high school. And my opinion has not changed at all, I loved it the first time and love it just as much now. Which is odd because in terms of story there's hardly any. It's the characters or more accurately the performances and overall experience of the film is why people hold it so highly and with a lot of adoration. The story is just about teens in high school and junior high enjoying the last day of school and the subsequent evening in 1976. That's it. It's not even a, well we finished high school so what the hell do we do with our lives, kinda vibe. It's just following various groups of kids as they meander around the real town of Austin, Texas. No sets, no bullshit, just the real deal. And I think that's the perfect way to describe the film, it's the real deal. How the teens talk and act, what they do after finally getting out of school, for all intents and purposes in my head this might as well be fact. But that's what is to be expected, Richard Linklater produced, wrote, and directed this movie so it is 100% his baby and he does such good work with it all. It's such a fun, easily watchable, and highly quotable movie. Most everyone's favorite character is McConaughey, and he is brilliant but the rest of the cast do such great work it's hard not to give them credit. My personal favorite of the bunch is Slater, he just cracks me up and was my favorite long before the George Washington monologue he gives. Christ, it even has the best damn history teacher ever potrayed in cinematic history who flat out explains and gloriously so, the reasons why America even exists. I almost applauded. The soundtrack is also a slam dunk, with a perfect storm of late 60s/70s tracks, from Black Sabbath to ZZ Top to Bob Dylan. It's a soundtrack totally worth buying. I know this is just an unimaginable rainstorm of praise for this movie in all it's facets, but did anything happen that I hated? Yes, actually. Very severely if I can speak plainly. Not about the production but just the, for lack of a better word mentality of this town. It really struck me as a vicious cycle, seeing kids get brutally beat with paddles and sophomores be completely and quite honestly repulsively subjugated. And hardly anyone bats an eye at it. I'm serious man, watching those girls go through so much shit just left a scar on my heart that enrages me to this day and very truthfully makes me feel horrendous. It's f***ed up and there's no reason for it. I detest it with every last vestige of my soul and particle of my body. Which is the only reason why it doesn't get a 10/10! It's a solid 9/10 from me, 4 stars check it out! You're in for a trip man. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Don't do drugs kids.

This is a fascinating yet greatly fun movie to watch, and I'm genuinely surprised I haven't touched it yet. The first time I saw it a friend showed it to me in college and I could hardly believe what I was seeing. It was such an outrageous comedy but what I find infinitely more interesting is it's true. It chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of Jordan Belfort, a man who slowly works his way into Wall Street and completely loses his mind. It was the 80s after all so the excess was real, and the tales of copious amounts of sex, drugs, and sans rock and roll are nearly impossible to believe but if you were alive during that time and perhaps even in such a line of work no doubt you have tales to be told as well. It's odd thinking of this as a Scorsese film because of it's steep comedic material but he did a great job with this. Leo I feel really has only gotten better and more entertaining roles as time went on, and I'm very happy he really shed that romance stuff off and did tons more than just that. But I feel Jonah Hill was the star for me, and I can't even explain why he was just wonderfully cast and attributed good comedy. Friggin' Matthew McConaughey, I feel he was almost criminally underused but really I can never complain when he is in a movie, even if it is garbage. Of course I can't forget the presence of beauty that is Margot Robbie, hey girl, always happy to see her and not just because of the more obvious reason you filthy animal. But the film doesn't shy away from more intense stuff, I mean proper uncomfortable upsetting shit. I mean any time I see parents fight over kids, that's hard to watch. There's so much absurd and downright extraordinary stuff that happens yet it never loses that edge in reality and the downer of it all. It's a very good film, maybe not so much on a technical or storytelling aspect but through sheer entertainment, and I can respect that. I give it 4 stars, 8/10! This and next week will be short of reviews but we'll get back to normal I promise.

The Dark Tower

You know I was kinda dreading this might be another bad Stephen King movie, but thankfully it was only average. Wait....

So The Dark Tower based off the series of books written by Stephen King just hit theaters today, and......it was okay. By no means a bad movie but also it certainly isn't hitting my top 10 films of 2017. So the movie centers around a boy named Jake who's having constant nightmares of a dark tower, a man in black, and a gunslinger. We spend a bit of time on Earth and I have to say, this kid did a good job in this movie! He's a smart kid, he doesn't feel like baggage or some prized item for someone to obtain, I mean yes he is along for the ride but he still sets out to seek help to defend his world! So through a bit of research he finds a totally not stargate, crosses through, and soon finds the gunslinger. They exchange history between one another and set off to take down the man in black. Yeah, not exactly Shakespeare but it's a decent movie with good action scenes, decent characters, and leaves it open to create more movies possibly in the future. The world of the gunslinger is a mesh of magic and technology, and yet the civilizations range from straight out of the old west that just so happens to have a stargate by it, to a very technological base of operations for the villains. Speaking of which, Matthew is a treat in this movie. And surprisingly he does command this presence and danger about him, even though he does have his Matthew McConaughey moments which I love, so that really surprised me but it just shows he's a good actor and can even play a villain. Side note, they straight up tell the audience magic is real, and the man in black is a sorcerer, but I am willing to hedge my bets in the book it's spelled magick. But anyway, Idris Elba is a good lead, and yes he does have lackluster roles (Star Trek Beyond) but in this he does well! You get the sense he's old, tired, but can still put up a good fight and I like that about his character. But The Dark Tower while not a bad movie didn't leave much of an impact on me. If you have a day where nothing is on TV, you're bored, you want to watch a movie, I'd check it out and hell, if you saw the trailer and want to see the movie I certainly won't stop you. You may have a much more better experience than I, but all in all The Dark Tower is a decent movie. Not great, not horrible, but good.

Kubo And The Two Strings

Not only is this one of the best animated movies I've ever seen in my life, but the story itself is one of the best I have seen.

Kubo And The Two Strings is brought to us by our friends over at Laika Studios, the same folks who brought us Coraline and the ghoulish brilliant Paranorman to the big screen, this particular movie follows a story, a tale, a legend of a young boy with a single eye on a quest to reclaim three pieces of armor in an attempt to defeat the Moon God. Not only is this beyond perfection in terms of animation, using the same style of stopmotion and models like The Nightmare Before Christmas and all their other films, not only is the story rich in potential and delivers, not only is the voice acting outstanding with Charlize Theron and Matthew McConaughey, not only is it rooted in a world of magic with a profound basis in Japanese culture and art direction, but this was a film where I had such slight, miniscule expectations and by the time the title popped up I knew I was going to watch a marvellous movie. I love the characters, I love the mythos, I love the magic element, the art is breathtaking considering how they achieved it, the comedy is fun but maybe a bit off in places, the movie just shapes it's own identity and there are no compromises to it. I have no idea if most of the story is original or based in Japanese myth and legends, I don't even care because it is so good. It's been awhile since I had a fun time watching a movie, and been awhile since a movie blew my expectations out of the water. I saw the trailer for it and was fascinated, but never saw it in theater's, and you better believe I am kicking myself in the ass because I missed it. What a wonderful movie, with enough to capture the imagination of a child and intrigue the parents. A grade A+ family film, 4 stars check it out!

Well that's all from the old Duder tonight, and tomorrow we have another venture into the Pixar realm with Finding Dory, so just keep swimming folks. Goodnight everybody!