Memento

Next Week: Rounders

Even though the film can be very confusing, it truly is a stroke of genius. For anyone out there who enjoys psychological thrillers that tie your brain in knots and leave a lot to be interpreted and figure out, this movie is perfect. Like I said, the composition of this film really does simulate the character’s disability, which makes you sympathize with the character and actually puts you inside the film. More importantly, it leads to a truly enjoyable film experience.

The direction in this film is very well done. Nolan also wrote the film, so his vision was expressed twofold. Seeing as how it was inspired by the aforementioned short story, some ideas were already there. But, the way the film was written and was shot went very well with the concept of the film. Again, Nolan’s vision for this movie was to simulate the character’s struggle and disability through the telling of the story. He actually wrote the film in the exact way the film is shown. This concept, and the way it was carried out is genius. I know I mentioned that genius is an overused word in the film industry, but this one really deserves it.

The acting is fairly good. Really the only thing I can pick on this movie for is the character. Teddy really is the only character with a quirk, a substance to him. Leonard is obviously fueled by revenge, but it’s not really shown through the writing of the character. Teddy is presented as a very shady individual, and the actor needs to bring out that aspect of their personality, as Pantoliano does. Natalie is also a strange character. She’s supposed to be a sympathetic character, who feels for Leonard because of his condition and his situation and mission. However, you really don’t see much of that either. She has a very normal feel to her, like anyone could have played her. However, her character takes a big turn and she seems to be another person trying to manipulate Leonard. But, the substance isn’t there. It seems that the greatness of this movie lies on the plot and delivery of said plot through the filmmaking and story telling aspects. As I said in the Fight Club review, when you have a superb story, any actor can be decent in the role. I’m not implying that the actors in this film were bad, they did the best they could with the characters with which they were presented.

Based on the short story entitled Memento Mori (I really couldn’t tell you what that means) by his brother Jonathan Nolan, Chris took his brother’s idea and basically put it on steroids. He transformed it into a dense, layered piece of material. Nolan stated in an interview that through the writing of the script, he planned on taking the idea of the memory loss of the Leonard character that his brother came up with, and imposed it on the audience. He wanted the audience to feel exactly what Leonard felt. Basically having your consciousness reset and being thrust into a situation without remembering how you got there. But, like I said, this is very dangerous. Like many films with crooked chronology (Pulp Fiction being a great example), the audience can get very confused and might not even finish the film. They may grow angry and too confused to watch any further. Chris Nolan uses black and white and color scenes to tell his story. The black and white and break up color scenes at various times during the film. The audience can’t really be sure if the black and white scenes are flashbacks in terms of the film’s timeline, or when the color scenes occur in relation to the flashback scenes.But, if you’re able to figure out the timeline of the movie (which I accomplished through a number of viewings well into the teens) you’ll be able to figure out where they occur. You’ll also be able to figure out the distinct timeline of the film and will be able to piece the film together and will have a good handle on the chronology. But, for those with very little movie patients, this might already be a lost cause.

Memento is, on the surface, easy to explain. But, like any great film, there are layers. Layers that can’t be tangibly explained and are not concrete. The facts of the story are these: Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) and his wife were attacked. The attack left him with a medical condition known as Anterograde Memory loss. This means he cannot form new memories. He remembers everything leading up to the attack, such as his wife being raped and murdered during it, and who he is, where he’s from, etc. He decides to take vengeance and find the man or men who killed his wife and messed up his memory. However, he must also battle his memory condition. To combat it, he writes himself notes, he takes pictures of the people he needs to know so he can remember who they are, he tattoos useful information about the guy he’s chasing on his body so he doesn’t forget. Along the way, he seeks help from a man named Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) who knows many things about the attack, but never tells Leonard how he knows them. Leonard also depends on a woman he meets at a bar named Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss) who also provides him with information about his wife’s killer. She claims she has “connections”. The only things he has to work with are a police report with 12 pages missing that he obtained containing some information about his wife’s murder, and he knows the killer is named John G. He encounters problems when the he thinks he can’t trust the people who he’s depending on to give him information. He doesn’t know if he’s ever met them, so he must really trust himself. He must trust his instincts and believe himself on who to trust and who not to.

In the ocean of cinema, the word “genius” floats around very lazily. People throw it out any time they encounter a good movie. As soon as they decide it’s good, it instantly becomes genius. This really dilutes the term, and inflates the film that is undeserving of the title. Memento, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), is, in my opinion, deserving of this title. Carrying over from the Fight Club review, the element of rewatchability is priceless in this movie. Because of the way is it is presented, the film offers countless views with it still being a new film. The movie is very unconventional, and is actually dangerous from a writing/viewing standpoint. I’ll get to this in a little bit. So, let’s get to the review, shall we? In the spirit of the film, this review is going to be backwards.

“We all need mirrors to remind ourselves who we are. I’m no different”

- Guy Pearce, Memento

Fight Club

“It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything.”

- Brad Pitt, Fight Club

Any filmmaker or screenwriter will tell you that the goal of any film is to make you think. They want you to think about anything that the movie touches on, the plot, the plot twists, the theme of the film, the main characters, whatever. In my opinion, while making you think is a great trait for a film to have, the most important trait is rewatchability. Because of the story and plot of Fight Club, this aspect of filmmaking is beautifully exploited.

Based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahnuik, Fight Club is actually a simple story to boil down. It stars Edward Norton (my personal favorite actor) as the unnamed Narrator, who struggles with insomnia. This leads him to attend support groups for people with diseases, sporting fake names like Rupert, Travis and Cornelius. It is there he meets Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter). She too is a faker, going to the groups because “it’s cheaper than a movie and there’s free coffee”. Since he’s in the presence of another faker who can expose his lie, he can’t sleep once again. On a plane during a business trip, he finds himself seated next to Tyler Durden, a slippery soap salesman with a mind for useless knowledge (like how to make homemade dynamite from household items). Through an explosion at his condominium, the Narrator ends up shacking up with Tyler. There, they realize they receive some peace and gratification from fighting. They form a fight club, and it grows in popularity. So much so that Fight Club gets out of hand and becomes Project Mayhem, a terrorist organization run by Tyler himself. The Narrator finds himself as a spectator and becomes angry at Tyler. While trying to stop project mayhem, The Narrator realizes the situation between he and Tyler is way more serious than he thought and has much more work to do to fix things.

This movie is famous for its plot twist. Many people call it a twist ending, but if you think about it, it’s really not. It’s a twist, no doubt about it. But it’s not the ending. Once the audience finds out the twist, too much happens afterward to consider this twist the ending. Still, if you haven’t read the book, the twist can be blindsiding. Because of this twist, the movie has numerous re-watches to its life. You’re constantly picking up clues and nuances you never saw the last time you saw the film. Another great thing about this movie is the whole philosophy of it. The movie is filled with philosophical statements that really do make sense and aren’t being said for effect of having quotable lines in a movie. For instance, the quote at the top is my second favorite movie quote I’ve ever heard. There is also a whole scene where Tyler is “initiating”, shall we say, the Narrator into Project Mayhem with a dash of lye. He goes on this entire speech and makes a parallel between their fathers and God that really does make sense. Tyler is saying throughout the film that worldly possessions and luxury items do not need to define the individual. To me, the house the two live in is a perfect example of this. It’s a run down, dilapidated shack. This symbolizes the bare essentials, the very least a person needs to survive.

Being in the process of reading the novel myself, I was surprised at how faithful the movie is to the book. I obviously saw the movie first so I’m able to pick out the lines in the movie while I read it. Much of the narration in the film is made up of the prose and imagery in the book, and rightly so. Speaking of the narration, I have to point out how perfectly executed it is. The narration in the film is so boring. Edward Norton’s pitch perfect, droll, monotone voice hits the nail right on the head. The character has a droll, tedious life so it’s perfect. If you were being read a story made up solely of this narration, it would put you to sleep. But, in the context of the film, it works. It’s one of the few times an actor can put absolutely zero emotion into his voice-overs and actually be successful because of the method of story-telling the film employs. Brad Pitt perfectly contrasts Edward Norton’s monotony with his spontaneous and mischievous portrayal of the slippery and resourceful Tyler Durden.

The film is shot fairly nicely. It really isn’t much to brag about. Films that are based on novels are more plot driven than anything else. I’m no director, so I could be wrong but the film isn’t very special in terms of visuals. The greatness of this film lies in the plot and story more than the visual presentation of the plot and story. If you have a good story, as this film does, you really don’t need to try that hard to make it translate well to film. I don’t mean to knock David Fincher, he did a great job with the story he had, but I wasn’t blown away. The talent of the cast brings a great story to life, which is more than enough to make the movie great and really cancels out the need for mind-blowing visuals.

Even though the film is two and a half hours long almost, it does what every good movie does. It grows. It escalates. The movie builds to a crescendo which keeps the viewer guessing and wanting to figure out exactly what’s happening to Fight Club and how it became Project Mayhem, and just how to stop it. The re-watch factor plays heavily into why this movie is considered by many to be a masterpiece. Four out of five stars. If you like plot driven thrillers with action thrown in at the exact right times with tension throughout, then watch this movie. Watch this movie anyway, but if any of the aforementioned description tickles your fancy, then it’s a must see.

Next week: Memento

The Usual Suspects

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”

-Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects

There are very few movies in the cinematic world that truly make you feel like you’ve been had. The writer of this film, Christopher McQuarrie, said in an interview that he had one simple goal when writing this script. He wanted readers and eventually the viewers to not be completely sure what was happening until the very last moment. He was immensely successful. I remember watching this film and being so deeply confused at the convoluted storyline and events that I almost hated the film and didn’t finish it. Man, was I glad I did.

First off, this film was one of the first that started the whole ensemble cast crime flick. There was Goodfellas before it, so that movie helped pave the way for The Usual Suspects. Films that came out after such as Snatch in 2000 and The Departed in 2006 featured very talented ensemble casts. The difference is, those films were packed with stars. The Usual Suspects, in retrospect is packed with stars. But they weren’t stars in 1995. Kevin Spacey plays Roger “Verbal” Kint, the films narrator. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role, which propelled him to stardom. Spacey provides the narration while being interrogated by Special Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), who wants to know how Verbal got out of the heist that he and the suspects conducted that went bad. Massapequa’s own Stephen Baldwin plays the volatile McManus, and for a brief 100 minutes, he leaps out from his more talented brother’s shadow. However, while Kevin Spacey rightfully owns this movie, he yields the show to Benicio Del Toro. The now Academy Award winning Del Toro (Best Supporting Actor, Traffic, 2000) was truly brilliant in this film. He played Fenster, the incomprehensible, mumbling comic relief of the felons. The character was originally written for an older, 50 year old type actor. Benicio was originally asked to audition for McManus, but asked for the role of Fenster because he had an idea for the character. On the page, the character of Fenster was extremely poorly written. No real significant quirks, no depth. If you read the script, you can tell that he really has no purpose. On the screen, it’s a completely different story. Del Toro breathes life into an originally dead character, making the acting choice to mumble his character’s lines to give him sort of a flawed and human feel.

The plot of the film is easy to explain, but deceptively easy due to the many things that are going on. The 5 main characters are assembled in a police lineup in the beginning of the film and this is how they meet. Through idle prison chit chat in a holding cell, McManus tells the suspects of a job he heard about. They all get in on the job and realize they make a great team. They conduct a few heists, but then a scare is put into them. A lawyer corners them and says he works for the notorious crime kingpin known as Keyser Soze. Soze was supposedly an urban legend, but most criminals have heard of him and were afraid of him. The catch was that each of the suspects are guilty of stealing from Soze earlier in their criminal careers way before they all met each other. It is then they realize that Soze used his power to assemble these criminals in order to have them carry out a task for them. He sends them onto a boat to destroy cocaine that is headed to one of his competitors. However, when they are carrying out the job, things go awry. This part of the story brings us back to Verbal Kint.

Throughout the movie, Spacey’s voiceovers tell the viewer what is going on. Spacey is in reality talking to Dave Kujan in his office, but he is really talking to us. However, Kujan gets wise to Verbal’s story and begins to ask questions. He rattles Verbal and tries to look for answers. Once he gets the answers he wants, he is satisfied. This starts one of the most shocking and well constructed endings in cinematic history. I have seen the movie many, many times and I still get chills at the last moment. One of the pep talks that the director, Bryan Singer (Mr. X-Men himself) and Chris McQuarrie gave to the cast and crew was their mission statement. Their goal for the movie was to create a 100 minute long visual magic trick. It’s almost as if when the credits roll, you can hear Singer and McQuarrie yell “Viola!”.

The film gives the regular Joe a firm look at the criminal element and pulls them onto the heists with the suspects. Once the element of Keyser Soze is introduced, you become just as confused as they are. You want to figure it out just like the criminals do. The rest of the movie, you can’t help but think, “Who is Keyser Soze?” If you enjoy mind bending movies that kick you in the face time after time, then this is a must watch.

“And like THAT!... He’s gone…”

Next week: Fight Club

The Shawshank Redemption

“Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’. That’s Goddamn right.”

- Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption.

The above is one of the most iconic movie quotes in film history from one of the (if not the, arguably of course) most iconic movies of all time. The Shawshank Redemption was nominated for 7 Academy Awards in March of 1995, and it walked out with none. It was up against Forrest Gump in almost every category in which it was nominated. In fairness, there was no beating Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump, so sorry Morgan. You’ll just have to wait another 10 years for Million Dollar Baby to come along before they hand you the famous statue.

Forrest Gump is a great movie. That being said, I do not believe it’s a better movie than the Shawshank Redemption. A friend of mine and I have had this conversation many times about the “better-produced” movie over the better all around movie in terms of Academy Awards. Now, the Academy is obviously not the end all, be all of great cinema. In fact, it’s far from it. The Academy is responsible for numerous instances of highway robbery over the past 10 years. Come on, Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules over Haley Joel Osment in the Sixth Sense? Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful over Edward Norton in American History X? Come on!! Did the Academy even WATCH those films? If they did, it would be clear. But, I digress. There have been several cases of the better produced movie edging out the actual all around better movie for Best Picture. For instance, Best Picture of 1997, Titanic, beat Good Will Hunting, which in my humble opinion is the superior film. But, Titanic (which is great, don’t get me wrong) was awarded the Oscar do to its stunning special effects and overall superior production value. Same goes for the Best Picture of 2003, Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King over Mystic River, a far better film. But, back to the ‘Shank.

The Shawshank Redemption is widely considered to be the best movie ever made. In the court of public opinion, it is. However, the voters of IMDb.com rank it second, under the original Godfather. The ‘Shank is about 2 and a half hours long, but you don’t notice it until you see the credits roll. The story is about a man, Andy Dufresne (played masterfully by Tim Robbins), who is seemingly wrongfully accused and convicted of the murder of his wife and is sentenced to life in prison. It is there he strikes up a conversation with the prison’s general store, a man who’s known to locate certain things from time to time, “Red” (portrayed flawlessly but Morgan Freeman). The two come to bond over the time of their sentences, and become very close friends. They find ways to pass the time and do favors for each other and try to live out a normal life in prison. Along the way, Andy becomes entangled in the warden’s money laundering scams, which the warden blackmails Andy into continuing with these scams or else he’ll lose all of his protection from the guards, and other terrible prison related things. Andy finds a way to keep the warden out of trouble by inventing a person for all the paper trail to lead to so the warden doesn’t get into any trouble for laundering the money. This becomes very significant towards the end of the film.

The acting is phenomenal. The story is told through Red’s point of view through a series of voice-overs, and it truly feels like Morgan Freeman is sitting in your room reading you a bed time story. He plays the part of the elderly, observant, quiet character to perfection. Tim Robbins is spot-on with the distant, aloof portrayal of Andy Dufresne, and that’s just the two leads. Every supporting and bit part is performed flawlessly. Bob Gunton, the man who played the warden, plays a heartless, greedy, drill sergeant character with relative ease, and Clancy Brown plays Capt. Hadley, a sadistic, power hungry, evil prison guard as if he were the devil himself.

From a filmmaking standpoint, this movie is very story driven. It has many deep layers in the screenplay, and wraps everything you need to know in a nice, neat little package. Pleasant visuals provided in the shots of the prison and the exteriors are masterfully contrasted with the seedy images of the cell blocks and individual prison cells. Frank Darabont, the director and screenwriter of this film truly was on a mission to bring life to the Stephen King short story

In short, this movie is truly flawless. The ending, in my opinion, revolutionized the cheesy Hollywood ending as we see it today. Yeah, it’s cheesy, but back then it was just what we wanted to see. And even now, we want it. The shocking twist before the ending definitely makes you think about what was really going on during all those years of prison time. Just genius writing, genius acting, and genius filmmaking. Take that, Forrest Gump.

5 out of 5. Definitely a must watch before you die.

The Dark Knight

“Why so serious?!

- Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight


For my inaugural post, it's only fitting to review the biggest movie of the year, the record breaker that is The Dark Knight. So, here goes.

We haven’t heard from Batman since 2005. Before that, it was 1997. When Christopher Nolan took over the franchise, it was obvious he had plans for a bit of an overhaul. Batman Begins was hailed as a reboot of the legendary superhero saga, when in terms of the storylines, it was indeed a prequel. Nolan had stated that it had no connection to any of the Burton/Schumaker films. However, there was no stopping the loyal fan from making this connection, and comparison. Batman Begins did respectable box office business and was a decent movie. But everyone knew what it was for. They knew its purpose. Batman Begins was merely a prelude, a warm-up.

Now, since Begins was a success, everyone was clamoring for another Batman movie. Once one was announced, then those interested in the movie started their ritual speculation. Who would be the villain? Who would play them? Who would be returning? Which other characters would be used? All of these questions would be answered over time. Of course, it was almost a given that Christian Bale would be returning as the Caped Crusader, and this was confirmed early on. Then, Christopher Nolan announced the inevitable. The villain. When you think of Batman villains, you can name a few. But, when you ask many people to make that list, nine times out of ten, the same name will top them all. When it was announced that the Joker would be the villain, everyone knew the stage was set. Then came the big question. Who would play him? A lot of loyalists of the 1989 film said it doesn’t matter who would play the new Joker, because there’s no topping Jack. In fact, they are right. However, not because Jack Nicholson was unbeatable. It just for the fact that Nolan took the new Joker in such a drastically different direction that the two were incomparable. This led to the bombshell to end all bombshells. Heath Ledger would be playing the Joker.

When asked why he chose Heath Ledger for the role, Christopher Nolan said it was because he was fearless. I remember reading the confirmation of Ledger as the Joker and being so upset that I planned to boycott the film. Many of my friends knew this, as I made it as public as possible. For many months, I kept my word. I thought Heath would be terrible and was an abysmal casting choice. There aren’t enough eggs in the world to match the amount on my face when I saw the first teaser in August of last year. I heard him speaking, and that psychotic cackle that the Joker must have, and I was hooked. Heath Ledger converted me with a single laugh. So, having heard this, I was pumped. Trailers would be released, only making it worse. July 18, 2008 was the Batman fan’s equivalent of Christmas Day.

Of course, the story of this film is Heath Ledger. Having tragically passed away months before this film’s release, all eyes were on him. This is with good reason. Ledger breathes new life into the Clown Prince of Mayhem. For the first time in quite a long time, as I was viewing the film, I found myself thinking about what the Joker was doing when he wasn’t on screen. Every time the Joker left the screen, I was waiting for more. This is the power of an actor that only shines through once in a while. Ledger was in rare form in this film. Instead of the cartoony, laughable Joker that Nicholson was, Heath was psychotic, but not laughable. They were both delightfully insane. However, the difference between the two is that it seemed clear that Ledger’s Joker knew that he was nuts. He accepted it. He had fun with it. Throughout the film, The Joker kills many people. Nothing too shocking, it’s the Joker. We know it’s coming. However, the way Ledger played the character, he made killing people look like fun, because it was clear how much fun the Joker was having. The Joker was humorous, but not over the top. He didn’t make jokes like his name suggests. His humor stemmed from how psychotic he was, and how he chose to exhibit this psychopathic nature. Many audience members found themselves chuckling at the glee the Joker got out of killing someone. This wasn’t the Joker trying to be funny. It was the Joker doing his thing, while eliciting a humorous response. I don’t know what his combined screen time was, so let’s say an hour. For those 60 minutes, Heath Ledger provided a brilliant seminar on acting to perfection.

Christian Bale was actually the weakest link in the cast. He was a perfect casting choice as billionaire Bruce Wayne. He has that pretty boy, rich guy look. He can act like an upper-crust stiff. However, Bale’s Batman left a bad taste in my mouth. What truly irked me was the voice. His growling, snarling voice was a bit too much. It interfered with his speech and showed that he was trying to hard to be frightening. It didn’t frighten, it annoyed. I believe that no actor has truly nailed the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman. Some have played one part better than the other. They could be a great Batman but a bad Bruce Wayne and vice versa. While Christian Bale was not bad by any stretch, he just was behind the pack in terms of performances.

The smaller roles, such as Harvey Dent and James Gordon were interesting. Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent was a marvel. My favorite Batman film is Batman Forever. This film featured Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent/Two Face. He was perfect, for what they intended for the character. The Batman movies are all about unfair comparisons. Since so many actors have played Batman, they were all going to be inevitably compared to one another. Now that the films are being redone, we are seeing different incarnations of the villains as well. Without fail, comparisons are going to be made, and I myself am guilty. Tommy Lee Jones will forever be Two Face to me. However, he is no longer Harvey Dent. The way Nolan chose to use Dent was very interesting. He portrayed him as a likable guy. A politician, but he could also be that uncle who gives you money every time he visits. That’s why the public loves him so much. He’s charismatic, and very savvy when it comes to the criminal element. This makes him the perfect criminal when he turns to Two Face. It’s no secret that Harvey Dent becomes Two Face in this film. My only disappointment is that there isn’t more of him. As with the Joker, Two Face is much more sadistic than what we had previously seen. But, he’s also human still. He still has a bit of control over who he once was. This provides for an interesting spin on the split personality angle. As for Commissioner Gordon, I can’t say much. Gary Oldman is so talented that even a supporting role like this one is not to be touched. Gary plays the part of the seasoned cop who’s beginning to lose hope to perfection. That’s all I have to say, and I know I don’t need to compliment him any further. He knows how superb he really is. However, I couldn’t go any longer without mentioning Morgan Freeman. Arguably the smallest of the principal roles, Morgan is easily the most talented and most respected actor in the bunch. But he doesn’t ham it up like you’d think. Everyone knows how great Freeman is, so he doesn’t need a big part to be awesome.

In terms of filmmaking and storytelling, the movie is groundbreaking. Christopher Nolan, the visionary director of Memento, does a fantastic job. Director Kevin Smith, a die-hard comic book fan until the end, commented on the film saying that it transcends the comic book genre into full blown crime drama. This astute evaluation could not be more correct. Comic book movies as we know them are toy movies. They are focused on thrills and nothing more. Explosions, special effects, computer animation. The Dark Knight has its share of explosions and effects, but they are meticulously real. Most comic flicks make the effects and explosions over the top to compensate for relatively weak story and lackluster acting. Nolan knows the type of talent he has on this film, so he was obviously aware that he had no reason to overdo the theatrics of the effects. The movie is thrilling even when things are not being blown up or when eighteen wheelers aren’t being flipped tail over top. He creates a riveting storyline through the writing of the screenplay and his attention to detail and picky directing. Nolan cited Michael Mann’s Heat as a big influence, which accounted for the deep criminal relationship between the villains and Batman. Christopher Nolan doesn’t just create another summer blockbuster comic book film. He creates an engrossing crime film that laughs at comic book movies.

Critics are already clamoring about an Oscar for Heath Ledger. The sadness to this is, while a nomination is undoubtedly deserved, a win will always have that cloud of sympathy over it. Even if he does win because he turned in the best performance, nobody will believe this is true. It truly is a shame. It’s very tragic that Ledger died so young, but it’s even more tragic that he will never get to see the work he’s done. He’ll never get to see the immortal character he created. The only solace I can offer is I’m glad that this was his last film. I’m comforted knowing that he went out on his best work, instead of spending the rest of his career failing to top it.

4 and a half stars out of 5. A must see for a comic book fan, a must see for a film fan or an aspiring actor/actress, and a definite must see for people who like watching things being blown up.

Next Week: The Shawshank Redemption.