QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #16-20

QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #16-20 gets gritty while working your brain

Quick Fix Movies To Watch is a weekly column of mixed movie suggestions for both the avid film fan and the casual movie-goer. Dive in, swim around a little bit, and come up with a new movie or two you think is worth watching. They’re all great!

This week’s Quick Fix picks takes a look at Chronicle, Gangs of New York, The Man From Earth, Stranger Than Fiction, and The Men Who Stare at Goats.

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #16:  CHRONICLE

Release: 2012    Rating: PG-13    Director: Josh Trank

Stars: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Anna Wood

If you and your friends are even a little bit like my roommate and I then you’ve discussed what it might be like to have superpowers. Aside from invisibility (for obvious reasons) there are a few staples that always come up in our conversations – flying and having telekinetic abilities – and Chronicle genuinely portrayed what I imagine it’d be like to suddenly have these powers. What if your powers grew as you exercised them, like a muscle, and pretty soon you were an Akira-esque demi-god of sorts? Yeah, it’d be awesome. I haven’t genuinely smiled so much during a movie in a long time, and I found myself enjoying the hell out of watching 3 high school-aged guys discovering, exploring, and abusing their new-found power.

HIDDEN GEM: It’d be a shame to reference this movie and not mention Dane DeHaan’s performance as the intelligent, broken protagonist (I’m not sure that’s the proper label for him) Andrew. This is essentially DeHaan’s The Basketball Diaries, and at times the actor looks just like Leonardo DiCaprio from that film. This kid’s going places.

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QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #17:  GANGS OF NEW YORK

Release: 2002    Rating: R    Director: Martin Scorsese

Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Neeson, Cameron Diaz, John C. Reilly, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent

Daniel Day-Lewis is the man. Plain and simple. One of the greatest actors, and arguably the most devoted method actor working today, Day-Lewis essentially becomes the characters he portrays in every venture he takes on the big screen. Here his Bill the Butcher is a force of nature during the conception of modern-day New York. Pair him with a handful of above-par caliber actors like Liam Neeson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brendan Gleeson and you’re in for a real treat. This movie is brutal, dirty, and oh so good. Pitting various rag-tag gangs against each other for control over The Five Points makes for some fine action and drama. Highly recommended.

HIDDEN GEM: E.T.’s Henry Thomas (Elliot) has a nice little role in the film, and I honestly didn’t have a clue it was him until I looked it up afterward. It’s small, given the scope of the movie, but his character is a very honest, sad portrayal of someone who’s always on the outskirts of the spotlight and what can happen when you’re no longer comfortable living in that gray area.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #18:  THE MAN FROM EARTH

Release: 2007    Rating: NR    Director: Richard Shenkman

Stars: David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, Ellen Crawford, John Billingsley

Quite possibly the most compelling people-sitting-in-a-room-talking movie I’ve ever watched (12 Angry Men is up there), The Man from Earth is one of my all-time favorite films for the ideas it sparks. Granted, it’s essentially a 2 hour conversation, which will turn some people away immediately, so if you’re not the type to delve deeply into things like religion, philosophy, or self discovery then this movie is not for you. But, if you enjoy an engaging back-and-forth between intelligent minds, and are willing to think a little outside the box, this movie might just blow your mind. While the performances dip a little into B-movie territory on occasion, the thoughts being tossed around are rich and tasty enough to let the performances slide. Probably one of my favorite movies in my collection.

HIDDEN GEM: I absolutely loved the interpretation of The Bible that this movie digs into. I won’t say any more, but it 100% made sense to me in a this-is-practical-and-not-mystical sense.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #19:  STRANGER THAN FICTION

Release: 2006    Rating: PG-13    Director: Marc Forster

Stars: Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah

For all the critics, film snobs, and average-joe movie-goers who’ve gotten off the Will Ferrell man-child bandwagon, claiming the man is stuck in a one-note symphony of pain, I give you the fantastic film that is Stranger Than Fiction. This is a movie that proves Will Ferrell isn’t simply juvenile screams and half-clothed temper tantrums. The man can act, and is capable of toning it down (strange, right?) when the occasion calls. This is the story of a man whose every-day routine is dictated by the voice of a very real writer who’s writing towards his demise. What would you do with your life if you realized you weren’t the one writing your story?
Heavy concept, but it all works so well here. This is easily one of the best films Will Ferrell has been in.

HIDDEN GEM: Again, the Will Ferrell we see in Stranger Than Fiction is a completely different man than the Will Ferrell we’ve gotten used to. He’s a toned-down tax man who just wants to be happy in life, and it’s nice to see the man and the character evolve like this.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #20:  THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

Release: 2009    Rating: R    Director: Grant Heslov

Stars: George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Stephen Lang, Stephen Root

This movie flew under a lot of people’s radar for some reason, and that’s a shame. I like to think that The Men Who Stare At Goats is the untold story of The Dude from The Big Lebowski and the Jedi school he started  – an adventurous romp through the seldom-explored jungle of the mind, if you will. Complete with champions for both the way of the force (using psychic abilities for good) and the dark side (mining soldiers for their psychic abilities by any means necessary), this is a film that wants you to believe there are real-world Jedi out there. The story follows Ewan McGregor’s reporter character (with more than one opportunity taken to point out the irony of having Obi Wan Kenobi clueless about ways of the force) on a this-will-save-my-career-and-give-me-credibility mission to discover and uncover details of this Jedi school. He soon finds himself exploring the psyche with a crazy George Clooney. Hilarity ensues.

HIDDEN GEM: Man do I love me some crazy-eyed, off-the-wall George Clooney. Here he plays it up so well, and I love every minute of his insanity. Additionally, watching a pre-Avatar Stephen Lang throwing himself (literally) into his psychic training is a lot of fun to watch.