The Hangover Part II (2011)

★★★1/2

The wolf pack is back! Yes, but this time Stu is getting married in Thailand and his friends Phil and Doug pressure him to not only invite Alan but to have one last drink for his bachelor party and things go bad. After waking up in a dingy hotel they soon realize that Stu’s brother in-law (his father-in-law “prized possession”) is missing and might have been kidnapped by a drug cartel. They must now find a way to remember the night before so that they could save Stu’s brother-in-law. This time Alan didn’t do anything… that they know of. It was great to see Mr. Chow in a bigger role and although the film has an abundance of laughs and raunchiness, it literally felt like The Hangover set in Thailand. They didn’t try to do anything new so it felt a little rehashed but it was still great to see the guys fumble over each other a second time.

Schindler’s List (1993)

★★★★★

Spielberg’s epic retelling of Nazi industrialist Oskar Schindler who, after witnessing the liquidation of the Poland ghetto, became concerned with how the Jewish were being persecuted by the Nazi Party. Afterwards he made it his mission to save as many Jews as possible from the Plaszow labor camp as he could, although at first he was reluctant to do anything but as time passed on he saw the evil that was the Nazi Party. Filmed in black and white, this movie was hauntingly compelling with scenes that would even the strongest person get teary. Spielberg doesn’t do justice to all the evils of the Holocaust but he really puts the viewer into the shoes of the Jews, which is something that is rarely achieved. Mixed with a fantastic score by John Williams and brilliant performances, this movie should be watched by everybody just so that they could get a taste of World War II. It really is just the tip of the iceberg.

Jurassic Park (1993)

★★★★1/2

Review here.

Dark Tower (1989)

★★☆☆☆

When a mysterious death occurs on the construction of a vast skyscraper, authorities believe that it was an accident. However, detective Dennis Randall believes otherwise, he believes that the tower is being haunted by a ghost and soon discovers that this ghost is attracted to the architect of the building, Carolyn Page. With the help of a psychic, Dennis must find a way to stop the ghost from killing Page and the rest of the people in the tower. Does it sound bland? It is. The characters are stale, the plot is mediocre and it tries to go for a Kubrickian style mood but ultimately fails. It comes off a being boring with less than a handful of intresting scenes.

Gangs of New York (2002)

★★★★☆

Set in 1863, a young man named Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points district of New York for one thing: to kill the man (Bill the Butcher) who brutally murdered his father years ago in a bloody gang fight. However, things have changed, the allies that his father had are now working for Bill and Bill has become untouchable. So Vallon decides to get on Bill’s good side and inevitably becomes his protégé, without Bill knowing who is really is. However, things slowly come to a boil and Vallon is beginning to resemble Bill himself. Sure it’s not Scorsese’s best film but I think it’s a movie that is overlooked by a lot of people. It has outstanding costuming and set design and the performances are great; Daniel Day-Lewis gives a chilling performance as the film’s main antagonist and I think DiCaprio exceeds in his as well. It’s a compelling story with rich characters and some brutal violence. Highly recommended.

eXistanZ (1999)

★★★1/2

When a famous game designer is marked for death by an unknown group of assassins, a marketing trainee is tasked with making sure that she stays alive. However, they must now play the virtual reality game that she designed to figure out if the game has been corrupted and who and why these assassins are targeting her. The problem is… they can’t trust anybody, not even their closest friends. Though I don’t think it’s Cronenberg’s best movie it definitely has his mark but I felt like the film was lagging in performance, probably because I was trying to keep up with the plot. It wasn’t a bad thing and I still found the film entertaining, I just prefer Cronenberg’s earlier films.

Trinity & Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995)

★★★1/2

Narrated by William Shatner, this documentary dives into the history of the development of the atomic bomb from the Trinity test to the first Chinese atomic bomb in the 60’s. Using restored and declassified test footage from the government, the film really shows just how powerfully mesmerizing that atomic bomb was. It was frightening but at the same time it was beautiful. I felt like it was the Koyaanisqatsi of nuclear testing since the footage was cut so perfectly to the soundtrack. The story is interesting and Shatner does a great job but the scene-stealer here is the footage and the soundtrack of the near-apocalypse.