Goodfellas and Jaws

I had my new friend Karyn over to watch these two with me. We discussed them, exchanged funny comments and so on. Its nice watching movies with friends, I’ve really missed it! Anyways, I’m going to use Karyn as an excuse for my reviews being short and crap because she distracted me from my note-taking!!! Both films neither of us had seen before which was good.

Raging Bull

A little warning before I start, most of my reviews from now on are probably going to be short and brief because of my limited time [I’m trying to watch 3 movies a day now]. So, in advance, don’t expect and awesome, in-depth review because I simply don’t have enough time now.

Robert De Niro is one of my favourite actors so I’m going to be a little biased and say that his acting in this is phenomenal, maybe not the best I’ve seen but it was still pretty damn good, especially all the breaking-down scenes.

The King of Comedy

This movie is a dark comedy about celebrity obsession. I had to keep reminding myself that it was a dark comedy because I was expecting too much from it from a psychological point of view.

You can tell straight away that Rupert Pupkin [Robert De Niro] is obsessed with Jerry Langford [Jerry Lewis] because he’s wearing almost identical clothes to him. The way he talks to him is as if they’ve been friends for years and, in Pupkin’s mind, they have been. Scary stuff.

He’s 34 and lives with his mum who does the classic shouting from upstairs and ruins things for her son.

I love that we see Pupkin’s fantasies. There isn’t much difference to the way they’re shot to the way reality is shot which emphasizes the fact that Pupkin can’t distinguish reality from fantasy. Its incredibly clever because soon, the audience can’t make out what’s reality and what’s fantasy. At the beginning, its kind of obvious because it cuts between the fantasy and him in reality acting out the fantasy. There’s another hint that its fantasy because everyone always praises Pupkin and ‘beg for forgiveness for being wrong’. Then there’s a scene where he’s in Langford’s house and I thought it was a fantasy because of the way Pupkin and his love interest were talking until Langford comes in and I go “OMG ITS REAL! AH! NO!” I almost want to protect Pupkin because I don’t want him to get hurt but at the same time, I want to slap him and try and get him to understand that they aren’t really friends.

And its not just Pupkin that’s proper obsessed with Langford, there’s a woman called Mashes [Sandra Bernhard]. She thinks that they’re romantically involved and that they should be together. Pupkin and her are originally enemies or rivals because they both think they’re more important to Langford. Bernhard is brilliant as this mental woman.

The ‘date’ between Mashes and Langford was parodied in Family Guy, I recognized the scene straight away. Shame I don’t love Family Guy anymore.

When Pupkin finally gets his moment to shine, I found myself hoping that he was funny and that the audience like him because I felt that after everything he went through to get there [even if it was mentally unstable and illegal], he deserves to be good and loved. I shouldn’t’ feel like that towards him as he’s mental and he kidnapped the guy! He’s a bad guy but then again I know he’s mentally unstable and therefore I feel sorry for him.

The ending… at first I thought it was crap because I was like “what!? That’s it?!” but now I think about it… its all about whether you think the ending is real or fantasy. I love that at the end, the audience can’t tell the difference, just like Langford can’t. Brilliant. I now think it’s a brilliant ending, one of the best I’ve seen. Probably second best ending, first is The Italian Job [original, obviously].

I’d say this is a must watch. And I’d also like to say HURRAH! I’m only 1 film behind schedule now! I’m so glad that I got two films in a row that I really wanted to see.

138/212

Kate
xoxo

The Departed

This movie is about how one can be a rat in two very different ways. You have the police’s informant [DiCaprio] who is put in situations that would make you think he was the bad guy if you’d just walked in on the movie. Then you have the bad guy’s informant [Damon] who is in the Special Investigations Unit and would be, at first glance, the good guy. It sounds weird as I can’t really find the right words to put it but trust me, its incredibly clever.

Jack Nicholson’s iconic voice is one of the first things we here. This man is like Robert De Niro, as soon as you see or hear him, you know its going to be a great movie.

It is very realistic in terms of violence. You see and hear the gun, you see and hear the blood. Be prepared for that if you ever choose to watch this movie. If you faint at the sight of blood, best watch it already laying on the floor.

Its got two people whose names I can’t say properly thanks to Team America which is Matt Damon and Alec Baldwin. Both are great in this movie though Damon pisses me off slightly because there are times when I don’t know whether he’s pretending to be happy or is just doing some shit acting. Leonardo DiCaprio is awesome as always.

DiCaprio is bashed for having a criminal family record after having done nothing wrong himself, Damon just wanders in and gets a job even though he’s been working for Nicholson since he was something like 11; its not fair.

There is one scene that really made me laugh; Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg’s ‘your mum’-esk banter, it was pure comical genius. I can see why Baldwin is praised for comedy [though I’ve never seen 30 Rock or whatever its called.]

I’d say that for two thirds of the movie, Damon and DiCaprio are always linked but never actually interact. Its like they’re always together but never in the same room, if you get me. Damon may be on the screen but there is also the presence of DiCaprio. Hope I’m making sense. It was good, that’s what I’m saying ^_-

Nicholson’s codename is ‘dad’ or ‘pop’. He is the father figure for both Damon and DiCaprio and this is why they trust him so much. Nicholson uses the fact he is older than these men to his advantage and becomes their fathers. Very clever. Sneaky and mentally horrible, but clever.

Oh my God, this film has the most amazing looking desert ever! I’m not entirely sure what it is [and neither are the characters] but it looks kind of like a tower of brownies with chocolate things poking out of it and its at least a foot tall. It looks so delicious and made me want a brownie tower too. It is my birthday soon, actually… mum, you’re reading this, do you remember the desert? I think I watch some of this movie with you? I don’t want a cupcake for my birthday cake anymore, I want a brownie tower!!! OK, I’ve written too much about a desert now. I’m such a girl!

Nicholson is a different gangster leader. He actually gets involved and does stuff himself as well as getting others to do his deeds. There is one scene where he tortures DiCaprio even though his tough guy is in the room. By the way, that scene is very painful to watch. You find yourself wincing and holding onto your left hand and wrist. Ooooooo… so painful…

There is a lot of cross-cutting editing. We see two things happening at once and we also get comparisons between the lives of the two types of rats. We are constantly reminded that we are seeing two sides and two points of views.

Tehehe, there is a scene when Damon calls DiCaprio for the first time and as soon as Damon pressed the ‘call’ button, my phone went off! I jumped out my seat then started laughing; for a moment, Matt Damon was ringing me. [For those who care, it was one of those scam people. Knobheads. Sorry for my language but they are.]

At the end, I jumped and said “OOOOOO!!!!” about 3 times! Its so unexpected! I have seen this movie before but I must of changed the channel over before the movie ended because I never saw the end and now I realize I should of! Its so unexpected and I found myself going [highlight if you want to know the ending] “OH MY GOD, THEY KILLED LEONARDO DICAPRIO! THOSE BASTARDS!” I’m sorry, I watch too much South Park. >.< By the way, the blood spurting out of people’s heads looks freakishly real even though I’ve never seen someone’s head blow off.

Good film. Scorsese never lets you down!

27/212

Kate
xoxo