Movie Review: The Bridge (2006)

The Bridge (2006)

The Golden Gate Bridge is the suicide "capitol of the world". Documentary filmmakers filmed it for a year, capturing actual suicide footage and then interviewed the friends and family members of the deceased to learn their story. The film is the fullest exploration of suicide I've ever seen - it explores mental illness, the causes of suicide, the warning signs and the pain that's left for the living.

The most harrowing story (and the one that made me watch the movie) is a man who decides to kill himself and realizes he's made a huge mistake the second his hands let go. It's absolutely chilling. But he survives to tell others his experience.

Obviously, with this subject matter, the movie is extremely intense. It's an experience that's not for everyone... and it's not something that I'm going to watch on repeat... but it is well made and powerful.

8.5/10.

2014 Cardboard Classic

Preston and Steve's tradition continues... the 2014 Cardboard Classic. People create sleds out of nothing but cardboard, tape and glue and then ride them down a ski slope.

IMDB 250 - Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

This movie is 3 hours, 44 Minutes and 29 Seconds long. Feel free to stop reading the review now because that pretty much tells you all you need to know.

"Lagaan" is a movie about an Indian town in colonial times who challenges the Evil British to a game of cricket. If the villagers win (in a game they don't know anything about) they will not have to pay the back-breaking taxes levied on them. If they lose, they'll have to pay triple.

I say "The Evil British" because the movie makes sure to avoid all nuance and subtlety. The Good Guy is good all the time and is never not good. The Bad Guy is a mustache twirling baddy who has no redeeming qualities. In one of his first scenes, the main bad guy ("Captain Evil") meets a vegetarian and makes him eat meat. But it's against his religion, the man protests, and besides what does Captain Evil even get out of it? Nothing, but he's just pure evil and, as we need to keep the movie under 4 hours, he needs to be established as pure evil.

Following the Good Guy everywhere is the terrifically attractive Love Interest who makes her affections obvious. The Good Guy doesn't seem to notice or care. What is he thinking? Will they ever be together? Then mid-way through the movie he declares that he loves the Love Interest. Why did he not say anything before this? Because that wouldn't be contrived enough for this story.

Of course the movie ends with the climactic BIG GAME... The Big Game... of Cricket. In between song and dance numbers, the movie packs in every cliche from every terrible sports movie ever made by humans. Heightening the action slightly is that it's cricket and I have no idea what's going on. At the midway point of the match the score is 273-3 and it's not looking good for our heroes but there's always a chance that they'll make a miraculous comeback. And at that point in the movie, I knew I was nearing the end and looked at the time... still an hour left. Have you ever "neared" the end of a movie and there was still an entire hour left to go?! I have.

4/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 380.

Freestylin' with The Roots #1

For the first time on The Tonight Show, it's time to freestyle with The Roots:

Randy Newman & The Roots

Randy Newman was on the Tonight Show and used The Roots as his backing band. With a nod to the fact that The Tonight Show has moved from L.A. to New York, they performed "I Love L.A."

Randy Newman's songs are famously sarcastic but "I Love L.A."

Embedding doesn't seem to work but you can see the video here.

IMDB 250 - Underground (1995)

Underground (1995)

My first impression watching "Underground" was that it reminded me a lot of "Black Cat, White Cat" and it turned out that it has the same director. So that's a private victory for me.

"Underground" is a Yugoslavian film that follows a group of characters from the beginning of World War II, to the end of the war, through the Cold War until the Yugoslav Wars. It doesn't play the comedy as comedy or tragedy as tragedy, it simply presents life as a series of strange, chaotic and unpredictable events.

I feel I've been saying things like "it's not a bad movie, it just didn't do anything for me" way too often lately. So, I'll skip that. It doesn't help that as charming as some of this movie is, it's almost 3 hours long. I remember liking "Black Cat White Cat" though.

5/10.
Total "Top 250" Movies Seen: 379.