Movie Time

I watched three movies over the weekend, and forgot to blog about em :)
I'll keep this short...

Bug> (imdb)
One of the things I really like about netflix is that it offers a rating system based upon the movies that I rate. In other words, It looks at all the movies that I have a 5 start, compares that to what other customers gave 5 stars too, then compares my ratings to their ratings. I sometimes ignore netflix suggestions, as in the case of "Bug". When I saw the trailer for this when it first came out, I was curious. It looked like a typical horror movie, so I wasn't gonna slap down $9 for a ticket, but when I saw it on netflix, I checked it out. Netflix suggested I wouldn't like it. It only had a 2 star rating out of 5. But again, I thought, I'll give it a try. Ugh. I should have listened. It was horrible. The acting was over-the-top, the storyline was confusing, most of it too place in a small cramped hotel room. But most of all the acting was horrible. I'd say skip this one at all costs.

Tibetan Book of the Dead> (imdb)
A documentary that I had high hopes for, but was kinda let down. I think I gave it a 3 outta five rating. There were parts that I found very interesting. Simply seeing how another culture lives is interesting to me. But it was also a bit depressing to me. It was about... Dying. That was part of the point actually... we (in the west) see dying in a negative light, sorrow, loss, pain, etc... But what the movie was trying to point out was that the "book of the dead" teaches that life is just a cycle and that death is just another step in the journey. They also believe everything is reincarnated (which I don't), so it was supposed to be a joyful thing of passing on, so that you could be reborn into a new life. Some of the things that struck me though... they followed the death of one man in the Tibetan village... There was still a LOT of sorrow and crying around his death. Whether they were Buddhist or not, they still felt sorrow for the passing of a loved one.
I think the movie could have been better overall, but again, there were parts that I liked so I gave it the middle of the road rating.

Lastly...
Ten Canoes> (imdb)
I probably would have NEVER found this video. A Friend of mine (who is also into movies), asked me to put this on my netflix queue for him. He heard about it somewhere and wanted to see it. I'm not even sure how to describe it...
It's a foreign film... Australia. It's partially subtitled and partially narrated in English.
It is fillmed in modern day (I think) but talks about an ancient aboriginal story. During the telling of the story, the film fades back to tell it (in color). When it fades back to modern day, it's in black and white. Kinda original and clever the way that worked.
Again, I really enjoyed the movie in the sense that it showed me a glimpse into another culture's lifestyle. SO different than mine! As a story though, it just quite didn't make it for me. It was a little long winded (the movie actually joked about that) for me. I can't really recommend it to anyone, unless you have an interest in aboriginals, or tribal stories. Again, a middle of the road rating for me.
I have to say, there was one line in the movie that made me laugh out loud... It was so unexpected, it took me by surprise...
Warning - graphic description below :)
So in the movie, these tribe members are mostly naked. The men had some sort of string thing, that I had no idea what it's purpose was, other than it looked very annoying to me. But lets just say they were all "commando" :)
At one scene, there are about 7-10 men walking through the outback on a hunting trip. As they are walking, they happen upon another stranger. A lone man from another tribe. He doesn't speak the same language at all. He's also mostly naked but is wearing a loin cloth. The tribe of 7 are talking amongst themselves as to who he might be and where he came from. Then out of the blue, one of the tribe members says, "look, he's covering his prick"... Then the next guy says , "maybe he has a small prick"... Then one of the elder tribe member says "Never trust a man with a small prick." - Maybe you had to see the movie to get the funny here, but I'm glad I didn't have a mouthful of milk, cause it would have come out my nose :)