Monday's Movie and Music Review

Shutter Island (2010)

Summary:

It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity. Written by alfiehitchie



I have to say I really liked this movie. I liked the setting and time period (the 50's) and thought that DiCaprio gave a stellar performance (though I felt his accent was lost from time to time). The beginning (the first 5-10 minutes) were a little slow for me. I think they could have skipped the whole sea sickness thing as it served no purpose to the rest of the film (like a boring unecessary prologue in a book, I guess). What I loved most about this movie was that I didn't see the twist coming. I LOVE a good movie twist. Generally, I can figure things out, but the way they set this movie up allowed me to be pleasantly surprised by the outcome. But what I love even more is they way it left question and doubt in my mind at the very end about what was true and what wasn't. I just don't know. I wonder if the book left you with the same feeling--the not knowing which was the truth. I really enjoyed the dark feel of this movie which occurs from the moment they land on the island to the moment...well, I won't say if you don't know :-) As for the overall acting, I thought everyone played their part well, though I wasn't particularly impressed with Max von Sydow's performance. He seemed the same from some of his other films. I didn't feel his character had much depth for the small parts he had. Ben Kinsley, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams were all very believable in their roles.

My rating system:

1=hated it, just wasted an hour and half of my life and I want it back damn it!
2=meh, not the worst I've ever seen, but I don't ever need to see it again
3=entertaining, maybe I'll watch it again when it comes to Netflix
4=pretty awesome, I'll probably buy the DVD when it goes on sale
5=OMG, this film was kick ass awesome, it is pre-order from Amazon worthy, add to my list of favorites

I give Shutter Island a 3 It's one of those films that I don't feel a need to buy, and since I saw it on Netflix, I probably won't watch it again, but if I was surfing through the channels and there was nothing else on, I would probably tune in to watch it.



Now, for my music video choice of the week. For some reason, Dh and I cannot get over Lady Gaga's Bad Romance song and video (I'm so po'd it's not longer available on On Demand *sigh*) and apparently I'm not the only one who thinks that her video is UN. BE. LIEVABLE!!!

The MTV's VMA show aired last night (grrrr...I missed it!!! Had True Blood's season finale on the brain). But here are the results:

"Lady Gaga swept the night, nabbing eight of the 13 awards for which she was nominated, including Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year. Although she announced the title of her new album, 'Born This Way,' and even sang a sample from it on stage, we weren't surprised to see her take home so many Moonmen. Hello, she got 13 noms!"

I am truly fascinated with her and can't help but think of her as the current day Madonna. Don't hate me for saying that because I know there a lot of people who hate to compare anyone to Madonna. But you can't deny that Lady Gaga is...controversial. However, if you look deep into her work and lyrics she is really quite brilliant. And it's all an act people! Well, most of it anyway :-) The first time I saw her Bad Romance video I was like, WTF? Ohhhhkaaaay. You are a "freak bitch, baby." Then I watched it again and again and again and was like OMG, she's a genius! I am so envious of people who dance like she does and write music and lyrics like she does. I couldn't do it if my life depended on it, which is funny because I've had people tell me that they can't believe or understand how I can write a whole novel. Ha. Guess everyone has their little niches, heh? The thing that really amazes me with her work is that every word in her lyrics and every dance move, facial gesture and miniscule movement has meaning and purpose, which is what we strive for in our writing. Every word, action, and dialogue should count and have purpose and meaning.

Anyway, without further ado, if you haven't seen this video, YOU ARE NUTS!!! If you have, then I hope you enjoy watching it again...and again, and again, and again! And I'm not the only one who could watch this thing a million times. She has over 270 million views on this video on Youtube. Holy shite!