Movie Monday: Nightcrawler & Gone With The Wind

Recently, I was thinking about movie reviews, and movie critics, and how they are typically negative and seem to always be looking for what's wrong with a movie, and virtually ignoring what is right. I always find it hard to write about movies because I read so many of these reviews and feel like that's the only way you can talk about a movie is to talk about it's flaws. I have a pretty open mind when it comes to movies, and it takes quite a lot for me to think that a movie is bad. I believe that even if a movie isn't perfect, as long as you enjoyed it, you haven't wasted your time. So I decided, rather than let that keep me from writing about movies I enjoy, I'm going to embrace it and write the way I want to. Thus, I'm starting a new regular feature called Movie Mondays! Here we go!

Nightcrawler

I had the opportunity to see an early screening of Nightcrawler last Friday at Beyond Fest. Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this thriller/drama about a creepy guy who gets involved in the surprisingly crazy world of video-taping accidents and crime scenes and then selling them to news stations.

Jake Gyllenhaal's incredibly creepy portrayal of an amoral guy trying to find his way in life is amazing. If there were an Oscar for Best Creeper, he would for sure win it. Seriously though, I don't see why he couldn't be an Oscar contender for this role. He does such a great job at being an overly friendlyish creeper, which is the worst kind of creeper. With his bug eyes, and over-earnestness, you both kind of hate him and kind of root for him. The lengths to which he goes to to secure good footage is chilling, and even more chilling is how matter-of-factly he does them. The world of crime scene journalism is really interesting and one that I'd never really considered before. You just don't really watch horrific accidents on the news and think about how they got the footage. I really hope that this film does well when it opens wide on October 31. It's such a great, original film, and it deserves to find an audience.



Gone With The Wind

OMG this is my favorite movie of all time. OF ALL TIME. Cinemark is doing a Classics series this summer, and Gone With The Wind was thankfully included. I haven't seen it on the big screen in either a long time, or never, I can't remember which. Though I have it on DVD and Blu-Ray, I actually hadn't watched it in a long time, so I was seeing it with somewhat fresh eyes this weekend. I realized that it was STILL AMAZING. Even at four hours long, my attention never wavered, I didn't wonder how much longer; I just sat there, entranced.

It is as much Scarlett and Melanie's story as it is Scarlett and Rhett's. Both women must figure out how to survive in the post-war South, and despite being very different, they both do. Scarlett is manipulative and ambitious, willing to do anything (before the war) to land Ashley Wilkes as a husband, or (after the war) to never be hungry and powerless again. Melanie may appear weaker than Scarlett, but her quiet strength holds everyone together.

Anyway, Gone With The Wind is amazing and everyone should see it. I read the book several times when I was much younger, and now I have a hankering to read it again. I wonder how different it will seem 10/15 years since I last did.