The jaw-dropping Australian movie “Chopper” released in 2000 has quickly become a cult classic in America due to the interesting storytelling and weird relationships.
“Chopper” is the extreme story about Mark “Chopper” Read’s criminal life in and out of jail based off of his best-selling autobiography, “From the Inside.”
IMDB categorizes “Chopper” as a biographical crime drama but it is more of a fictionalized biopic with dark humor. One second Chopper’s actions are mortifying and the next second they are funny. It is one those few movies that successfully combine horrific violence and comedy.
The violence is similar to “Natural Born Killers” with Woody Harrelson and the humor is similar to Guy Ritchie’s “Lock Stock and two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch” movies.
In his first leading role Eric Bana knocks it out of the park as Read. Without Bana’s performance the movie would have suffered, he perfectly walks the line between a man with boyish charm and a schizophrenic murderer.
Bana’s supporting cast gives just as good of a performance as he did. Chopper Read’s relationships between his trashy girlfriend, his peculiar dad and his junkie best friend are the best parts in the movie.
In his directorial debut Andrew Dominik did a great job making a witty gritty story translate well to the screen. Before viewing remember that he deliberately made the film look grainy to give it a realistic appearance. Dominik also directed “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” which was pretty good but it lagged at the end and didn’t have enough action.
This movie is given a 70 percent by all critics on Rotten Tomatoes but the top critics give it an 85 percent rating and the audience rating is 89 percent rating.
This particular movie is not recommended for kids, adults over 40 or most women because it has shockingly bloody scenes and humor that people from another generation might think is demented.
Rating: B+
It would have been an A- if it didn’t get a little repetitive by the end.
The 2010 Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Language Film, "The Secret in Their Eyes" has all the right components for a great mystery.
The 2009 movie follows Benjamin Esposito, a retired Argentinian detective, retracing his steps back to a 25-year-old murder case.
Set in 1999 Buenos Aires, this mystery keeps the audience intrigued from start to finish through revealing flashbacks to 1974. The film is only shown though Esposito’s point-of-view, which helps make the murder investigation and other characters more interesting.
Esposito and his department chief, Irene Menedez-Hastings have a bit of a romance but it doesn’t take away from the mystery. Esposito’s loyal alcoholic assistant, Pablo Sandoval brings an essential bit of comedy to this grim tale.
Rating: B+
With a bit of romance and a bit of comedy this dramatic mystery is one of the best international films in recent memory. It's a bit confusing but that is what you should expect from a mystery. The subtitles can also be a little distracting.
The crime film "A Scanner Darkly" from 2006 is a really weird but cool movie that blows minds.
Director Richard Linklater, who's known for "Dazed and Confused," "Before Sunset" and "School of Rock," creates a unique, futuristic world through an animation process called rotoscoping. It takes live-action film and animators trace over the film to make a precise cartoon copy. The intriguing combination of style and story make this film standout.
Reeves breaks into the group by dating Winona Ryder, "Edward Scissorhandd," and participating in a bit of Substance D consumption. The rest of the junkies are brilliantly played by "A" list actors Robert Downey Jr., "Iron Man" and Woody Harrelson, "Natural Born Killers."
Rating: B
This movie is innovative and thought-provoking but the content isn't appealing to everyone. It is intended for sci-fi and drug crime fans.It is based on the science fiction novel by Phillip K. Dick, who wrote the short story that inspired "The Minority Report." This film follows Keanu Reeves, from "The Matrix," as an undercover cop trying infiltrate a group of junkies to cut off the distribution of the brain-damaging drug called Substance D.