Movies I Watched Over the Weekend

     I know some of you are sad that I didn't do a Thanksgiving-genre movie collection review...it's coming for Christmas, so don't worry.  In the meantime I watched films that span from foreign and depressing to John Travolta in cheesy and revolting 80s clothes.

1. Treeless Mountain

     

   I am becoming a pretty big fan of Korean cinema.  They have some quality productions, from the scary and ridiculous to the dramatic and touching, Treeless Mountain being the latter.  This film follows two young girls, Jin and Bin, adjusting to life without their mother after she leaves to find their estranged father.  They are dumped into the hands of a strict, verbally cruel aunt who would rather drink in bars with her friends than feed the girls a decent supper.  Their adventures, from befriending a mentally-handicapped boy to selling roasted grasshoppers for snack money, are chronicled in a slow but methodical drama.  The lack of music or a soundtrack, along with strong, natural acting and minimalistic but engrossing dialouge primed the film for a very "real-life" feel.  The characters, almost all women, were flawed but likable.  As the older sister, Jin is brave and determined, but also rash and occasionally cold; Bin is young, innocent, flexible and kind, but very naive and easily lost without the watch of her older sister.  Their relationship takes on a new mold as they realize life without their mother may be more permanent than they initially thought, and that the roller-coaster ride of emotions is all a part of growing up.
2. The Experts
     
This 1989 flick is absurd and stupid, but also, to its credit, entertaining while taking a few jabs at the Cold War era mindset.  The ''experts" in this movie are two down-on-their-luck loser friends Travis and Wendell (John Travolta and Arye Gross, whose last name actually describes every outfit and hairdo he flaunts in this movie).  Travis and Wendell work the bottom rungs of a New York nightclub, dreaming of better things besides a life in a studio apartment and their ladies leaving them.  When a mysterious man offers them a chance to start a nightclub in Nebraska, they jump at the opportunity and are relocated to a small-town resembling America not on the cusp of the 90s, but the 50s.  What they don't know is that a) They are in Soviet Russia, not Nebraska (the town is a replica in the middle of nowhere), b) everyone in the town is a Russian spy, and c) they were only brought in as "experts on American culture" so that the spies would blend easier into American society across the ocean.  Obviously humor, adventure, and romance with the local girls ensue.  There's nothing too deep or realistic about this film at all - just a lot of it is clever one-liners, decent, amusing acting by Travolta, Gross, and Kelly Preston, and some bad fashion.  Watch it if you don't care about losing 90 minutes of your life, or if you're stoned.  It's written by one of the guys that wrote Hardbodies for God's sake.
3. Running on Empty

     
     As I'm sure you know by now, what with all the Stand by Me posts, references, links and such, that I am slightly obsessed with River Phoenix.  In fact, I'm going to take this time to educate you: Leonardo DiCaprio owes his career to the death of River Phoenix, because if Phoenix was still alive and breathing today DiCaprio would be a nobody.  All of DiCaprio's roles would've easily gone to Phoenix, because, you know, River Phoenix is cooler.  And more talented.  And better looking.  But I digress.  
     This movie was such a breath of fresh air for me - slow, but not dull or boring; realistic but pleasant; with such great acting, great writing, and great direction, I'm surprised it wasn't nominated for more than two Oscars (River Phoenix lost Best Supporting Actor to Kevin Kline and Best Screenplay Written for the Screen went to Rain Man instead).  Running on Empty is, in a sentence, about a family fleeing from the mistakes of their past, and one son's brave decision to stop and take hold of his future, no matter what the cost.  River Phoenix is Danny Pope, a high school senior whose parents, Annie and Arther Pope (Judd Hirsh and Christine Lahti, who are amazing in their roles), are wanted by the FBI for a bombing they carried out in protest of the Vietnam War.  Danny is certainly used to picking up and moving, changing his name, and keeping the family secret, but that proves difficult when Danny falls for a quirky girl (Martha Plimpton, one of Phoenix's real-life partners), and a music teacher at his new school nurtures his talent for playing piano and offers him a chance to go to Juilliard.  Siskel and Ebert named this film on their "Best of 1988" list, River Phoenix stars in it, and 1988 was also the year I was born.  If those aren't reasons for you to get off your ass and see this movie, I don't what are.

(img souces=bryanschutmaat.squarespace.com/3.bp.blogspot/4.bp.blogspot.com)