QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #36-40

QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #36-40 are part depravity and part virtue

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 takes a look at Fight Club, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Kick-Ass, The Divide, and Equilibrium.

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #36: FIGHT CLUB

Release: 1999    Rating: R    Director: David Fincher

Stars: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto, Meat Loaf

Oh Fight Club, you are so awesome. One of the movies that introduced me to the cult-tastic underworld of gritty, honest, twisted, experimental cinema, Fight Club is also easily one of my favorite films of all time. The concepts at play, the frantic yet confident directing style of a younger David Fincher, and just the “this movie was made for all young, angry men who are fed up with the status quo” attitude on display are all so raw and powerfully enticing. Brad Pitt is probably at his coolest, and the dude’s never looked so ripped, so there’s some fantastic eye-candy for the ladies. That said, this is a man’s man type of movie through-and-through, undercut with a very thick layer of gritty surrealism.

HIDDEN GEM: The very last scene of the movie is, with accompaniment by a killer Pixies cover of Where is My Mind, just great. Thinking past that last scene, and imagining the world that was just created, is a conversation worth having with some imaginative friends. Also, Jared Leto’s Angel Face is kind of the 3rd wheel wedging his pretty face in between Pitt and Norton’s characters. He has a very brutal moment of clarity regarding just how Norton’s nameless protagonist feels about him.

~~

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #37: THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS

Release: 2009    Rating: PG-13    Director: Terry Gilliam

Stars: Heath Ledger, Andrew Garfield, Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Verne Troyer, Tom Waits, Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp, Jude Law

So, technically, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is Heath Ledger’s final film. From what I understand, director Terry Gilliam respectfully didn’t want to take anything away from Ledger’s performance as the Joker, and unfortunately this film was widely under watched because of that. The mad man that Terry Gilliam is is on full display here, so fans or foes of the director can take that for what they will. The imaginative scenery is beautiful, and delving deep into this landscape through Doctor Parnassus’ Imaginarium is a wild ride indeed. Supporting roles from Jude Law, Johnny Depp, and Colin Farrel (filling in where Ledger was not able to finish) blend flawlessly into the overall themes playing out, and honestly the movie wouldn’t be the same without this odd twist of fate.

HIDDEN GEM: It’s passed by so quickly that I don’t think I caught it upon first viewing, but towards the end of the film we’re told (yawn and you’ll miss it) what exactly it was Heath Ledger’s character did to warrant the devil wanting his soul, and if it’s what I think it is the revelation casts a very, very dark shadow over this mysterious man.

~~

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #38: KICK ASS

Release: 2010    Rating: R    Director: Matthew Vaughn

Stars: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz, Jason Flemyng

Kick-Ass came out in the midst of the disgruntled regular-Joe donning a costume and beating up bad guys heyday a few years ago, but in my opinion it was one of the few that stood out as a lot of fun while still being a pretty great film. Based on the comic book of the same name, this movie takes a balls-to-the-wall approach with some of the violence while playing light at times for the laughs. With a terrific cast, and a lot of heart, Kick-Ass saw the brief return to form of Nicolas Cage, the always-intense tenacity of Mark Strong, a very surprising violent and fowl-mouthed turn from Chloe Moretz, and let protagonist-playing Aaron Johnson make his way to center stage for one of his first big roles.

HIDDEN GEM: Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy character is so nuanced and strange, and I dug the hell out of him. There’s a scene in particular where he’s screaming instructions to his little Hit Girl in a dark room that gives me goosebumps every time.

~~

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #39: THE DIVIDE

Release: 2011    Rating: R    Director: Xavier Gens

Stars: Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Eklund, Ashton Holmes, Lauren German

This would make a pretty great, yet so deeply depraved, double-feature viewing with the film Blindness in that they’re both dark dissections of what might happen if a small piece of humanity were trapped and left to unravel. As with Blindness, I have to let you know this movie is definitely not for everyone. It goes to some very disturbing places, never shying away from the evil that man can unleash, and by the end you’re pretty sure there’s no hope of a normal, continued existence for anyone involved. Unfortunately, this is one of those films that seems plagued by a bland, almost angering at times performance from a lead female character, but the depth of the supporting cast keeps her from sucking the life out of an otherwise multi-layered apocalyptic thriller.

HIDDEN GEM: Michael Eklund and Milo Ventimiglia dive head first right into the deep end and continue swimming deeper in their embodiment of the slime that would surely emerge in this type of situation. As much as you want to hate their characters, you can’t help appreciate their performances and the depths they wade through.

~~

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #40: EQUILIBRIUM

Release: 2002    Rating: R    Director: Kurt Wimmer

Stars: Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs, Angus Macfadyen, Emily Watson, Dominic Purcell, William Fichtner, Sean Pertwee

Before Christian Bale was Bruce Wayne donning the Batman cape or John Connor fighting to save mankind from robots he was a sword-fighting monk of sorts enforcing a bent futuristic justice system using gun kung fu. You heard that right – gun kung fu. Equilibrium is a post-90’s sci-fi film focusing on a world where expression of emotion and a lust for creativity is subdued by a government-administered drug, and those who choose not to take the drug are hunted down and punished. What happens to a violently oppressive society that suppresses expression? When those who aren’t supposed to feel start feeling how do they keep on living a lie?

HIDDEN GEM: The gun kung fu is flat out some of the coolest gun fighting you’ll see in film. Where great gun fights usually involve handfuls of baddies going up against a hardened hero with a big gun, Equilibrium’s gun fighting style is a mix of martial arts and an almost jedi-like conviction to the craft that’s uniquely entertaining. It’s awesome to see the Clerics who practice this gun kung fu wipe out a room of people or battle head to head.

~~