Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - Music video and commercial director Michel Gondry's second feature length film, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," is really something special. Written by Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation"), it just might start an Oscar discussion nine months sooner than usual.
"Eternal Sunshine" presupposes that a person could, for a fee, have their memories of another person erased from their mind. Joel (Jim Carrey) decides to have ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) erased. Halfway through the procedure, however, he changes his mind. Joel spends most of the rest of the film in his mind running from memory to memory with his own memory of Clementine.
Gondry's penchant for impressionism and visual gimmicks are often substituted for substance in his other works, but not so in this film. His directing both contains Jim Carrey and loosens up Kate Winslet. But the trademark visuals are still there, and in almost every instance, they work splendidly.
The writing, however, stands out above all else. Kaufman's characters are realistically imperfect but still fantastically likeable. The words they speak are interestingly mundane in the way they expose the same every-day revelations normal people have.
"Eternal Sunshine" received a narrow release but is playing in Muncie. Do yourself a favor and drop the six dollars to go and see it.
The Rundown (2003) - The Rock, Sean William Scott and Christopher Walken star in this action-comedy that borrows from dozens of movies, not the least which include "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Desperado," "Shanghai Noon" and "The Deer Hunter."
The plot centers around a bounty hunter (The Rock) sent to a jungle mining town in South America to retrieve a gang lord's wayward son (Sean William Scott) who is searching for ancient treasure. The mining town is run by a madman (Christopher Waken) who doesn't want to lose his grasp on the slave trade.
The action sequences are TOP-NOTCH, the humor is spot on and the film is surprisingly well-shot. "The Rundown" is worth the rental or, if you're a huge Rock or Sean William-Scott fan, worth owning.
Ransom (1996) - Ron Howard's 1996 suspense thriller that starred Mel Gibson receives the "special edition DVD" treatment this week. Of course, the timing has absolutely nothing to do with that little Bible movie Gibson made. "Ransom" unquestionably stands out amongst the crowd as a classic piece of cinema!
In this uninspiring movie, Mel Gibson plays multi-millionaire Tom Mullen. When Mullern's daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom money, Mullen pulls a fast one on the kidnapper: He offers the ransom money as a bounty on the head of the man who took his daughter. How clever!
Director Ron Howard does his best to make the unconventional premise interesting. The problem is such: It is not believable and therefore uninteresting. Mel Gibson is in an average movie? The hell, you say!
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