Donnie Darko

During the presidential election of 1988, a teenager named Donnie Darko sleepwalks out of his house one night and sees a giant, demonic-looking rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days. When Donnie returns home, he finds that a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom. Is Donnie living in a parallel universe, is he suffering from mental illness - or will the world really end?

Donnie Darko is one of those movie's I've heard so much about, yet never got around to seeing it until just recently. After watching it...well, for once I'm not sure exactly sure how I feel about it. It touches on so many subjects, from schizophrenia/mental illness to time travel and alternate dimensions. There's so much to unpack that it'll probably take me watching it multiple times to really understand. What I can say, from the time travel/alternate dimension angle, is whenever I see a movie or tv show have a story involving it I get pretty worried. It's far too easy to tackle such a subject and get so lost in its own ideas that it's almost like a chicken running around with its head cut off. With Donnie Darko, I'm going to have to watch it multiple times before I can determine whether or not that happens here.

As far as everything else, I love practically every role Jake Gyllenhaal takes on, but I believe he's at his best when he takes on these dark, mysterious roles. His best role to date is his turn as an unhinged freelance reporter in Nightcrawler, but for me Donnie Darko is up there among his best. I might have been confused with the rest of the movie, but that is one thing I'm sure of.

I can't really give a true "I recommend it" or "I don't recommend it" just yet, but if you enjoy darker tales, or ones that tackle subjects such as schizophrenia/mental illness or time travel/alternate dimensions, chances are you might like this one.

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

As the cruel captain of the HMS Bounty, a ship bound for Tahiti, William Bligh wins few friends. When the crew members finally tire of his abuse, Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny, resulting in Bligh's unceremonious removal from the ship. While Christian and the remaining crew sail on to Tahiti, Bligh becomes intent on exacting revenge, and he targets Roger Byam, a sailor who had actually tried to stop the mutiny.

An adaptation of the book of the same name, the 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty is great for the most part, with the personality of screen legend Clark Gable's calm and collected character of Fletcher Christian perfectly balanced in contrast to the ruthless, brash personality of Charles Laughton's Captain William Bligh.

The only thing that keeps me from saying "I loved it" is how much the story drags in the middle once the actual mutiny occurs and the mutinous crew head to Tahiti to live among the natives. Some of the scenes - though they were important in order to convey some growing animosity between Fletcher Christian and one or two crew members who didn't take part in the mutiny yet stayed on the ship as pseudo "captives" - in my eyes didn't quite get that feeling across very well, and as such they felt forced. Thankfully, it was only a couple of scenes, so by the time the story came close to the end where (MILD SPOILERS) a handful of the mutinous crew were caught and put on trial for their crime, everything feels more natural and effective overall in creating a good story.

It's been a long time since I've read the book version of the Mutiny on the Bounty, but from what I can remember this film adaptation is a quite good adaptation. I would definitely recommend people seek it out if you get the chance.

Rampage

Primatologist Davis (Dwayne Johnson) shares an unshakable bond with George, an extraordinarily intelligent silverback gorilla who has been in his care since he was young. When a greed-fueled corporation's genetic experiment goes awry, George and other animals across the country are mutated into aggressive supercreatures who destroy everything in their path. In this adrenaline-filled ride, Davis tries to find an antidote, not only to halt a global catastrophe but also to save the fearsome creature who was once his friend.

Based on the video game of the same name, Rampage fully lives up to its name by bringing non-stop high-octane action and excitement. I remember playing the game a few times as a kid, and the movie brings back those fond memories in full force. There are, of course, some changes from the game to the movie, but none of the changes take away from the overall experience. For instance, one of the biggest changes is that in the game, the monsters that wreak havoc on cities are actually people who were transformed by an energy drink (and if I'm not mistaken, in later games it changed to some sort of diet pill) gone wrong. In the movie, the monsters are animals whose DNA has been infused with other species through genetic editing in order to breed more dangerous cross-species (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom anyone?). Other than that, it's still the same stylized action & mayhem as seen in the game. Dwayne Johnson's been busy lately, with audiences already seeing him this year with the excellent action thriller Skyscraper, and last year had three movies (Moana, Fate of the Furious, and Baywatch) all come out. Not to mention starring in his own TV show Ballers. As long as he comes out with more projects like Skyscraper and Moana, then I say more the merrier.

Rampage is simply your stereotypical summer blockbuster popcorn flick, and for those who can turn their brain off for a couple of hours and enjoy some good action, it's not a bad way to do so. Same goes for fans of the video game(s). I'm not sure I personally would ever watch it again, unless it was on tv and I was bored, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Grand Hotel (1932)

At a luxurious Berlin hotel between both World Wars, the once-wealthy Baron Felix von Gaigern supports himself as a thief and gambler. The baron romances one of his marks, the aging ballerina Grusinskaya, and teams with dying accountant Otto Kringelein against his former boss, crooked industrialist Preysing, and his ambitious stenographer, Flaemmchen.

It is quite a feat to take a popular Broadway play and turn it into a successful feature film, especially one which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Grand Hotel does a great job at balancing humorous moments with more serious, somber moments. When a film has more than two or three main characters, it can be difficult to balance the intersecting stories, and keep the flow of the overall story consistent. Fortunately, Grand Hotel succeeds in this regard. There's a line stated by a doctor staying at the hotel, Dr. Otternschlag, which helps to set up the pacing of the film: "Grand Hotel...always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens."

At first glance, Grand Hotel comes off as cheesy, with several of the characters acting in a much more grandiose scale than what is normally seen, especially from a film made early on in the 1930's. Part of the reason is most likely due to the time period still being so close to when silent films were popular, when actors relied on actions and facial expressions to tell a story instead of dialogue. If one takes a deeper look however, then Grand Hotel can - and should - be considered a classic, plain and simple. In some ways it is a little dated, yet it still retains a certain charm seen even to this day.