By Comingsoon.net, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18648491
The Brothers Bloom - (2008)
I'll come right out and say it - when I got to the end of The Brothers Bloom I suddenly realised that I had very little idea of what was going on during the whole thing. I was kind of assuming it would all be explained at the end - it's one of those movies where a con is being perpetrated, and then things go wrong, and then it's revealed that things going wrong was part of the con all along! You know, like that Ocean's number-whatever movie where the heist going wrong was part of the heist. This happens over and over during The Brothers Bloom as we keep learning what's part of the con, what's really going wrong - and at what point we depart from the con, and get diverted into Russian gangster territory. Watching the extras after the film finished, I was presented with 40 minutes of deleted scenes. Go figure. One of the deletions was that end-of-movie explanation - but Rian Johnson thought, dramatically speaking, the thing should end at a certain moment of revelation. I mean, who cares what happened, or at least why what happened happened. What was real, or what wasn't.
A shame, this one - Rachel Weisz has never been as good as she is here, and Adrien Brody along with Rinko Kikuchi add some character and punch respectively. A pair of con-men, brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Brody) decide to pull off one last scam. Bloom is tired of playing roles that his brother creates for him - he wants a real life. The mark is Penelope Stamp - wealthy, but lonely, and in need of adventure. The brothers play the part of antiques smugglers, and bring in Maximillen "The Curator" Melvile (Robbie Coltrane - I knew someone once who took theatre/acting/something like that classes with him once) to...I don't know. Something about an old book - I don't even know if it's real, or what's real - I got confused guys. The con is only revealed to us bit by bit - and so many things go wrong, things that are both part of the con, and not, that it got too twisted. Bloom falls in love with Penelope - the end. Too confusing.
5/10
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37272630
American Pie - (1999)
This was made in the late 20th Century - I think everyone who was involved with American Pie might get cancelled if it was made today. I have to admit though - for this movie, Jason Biggs was perfect, and pretty funny. I might be part of a different clique, or something, but my schoolfriends and I never discussed who was a virgin, or was losing their virginity, during that period. I mean, it became obvious as relationships started, and unfortunate walk-ins exposed goings-on during shared accommodation during our university days. But we didn't talk about it. We talked about music, movies, drugs, books -- if one-on-one then relationships. Sex just seems private. Not to these guys though. They share the nitty-gritty - the minutiae with each other. The only person who knew I'd lost my virginity when I did was myself - not even the person I was with at the time knew it. The culture I see portrayed in American Pie seems a little troubled - and I suggest that if there's more education coming from school and parents, this weirdness surrounding sex might not be as problematic as it seems.
6/10
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