Let off some steam, Bennett.

Hello I am the movie encyclopedia and if no one else will see it, I will.

Well as a lot of my close and personal friends know I am a huge fan of The Nostalgia Critic. And in fact he is one of the reasons I created this blog. So when I started having trouble figuring out what would be my next movie review (or reviews) I turned to him for advice. Doug Walker (the Nostalgia Critic) has declared it Arnold Schwarzenegger month and that's great for me because I love me some 6'2 mumbling Austrian (that came out wrong). Whether you want to admit it or not we all love Arnold. He is the reason we love action movies. He is loud, abrasive, no holds barred, spews out one liners like nobody else can and is arguably one of the best worst actors of our time. If that confused anybody let me explain:

Arnold is NOT a good actor. Put him next to Daniel Day Lewis or Edward Norton and its pretty obvious who the better actor is. His delivery is spotty, his only emotions are pissed off and WAH WAH WAH goofball, his accent makes him almost incoherent, he looks the same in every movie he chooses horrible films and his one liners (while awesome in their own way) are almost cheesier than Horatio Cane.

But the thing that makes Arnold great as an actor and one of my personal favorites is that he is TRYING. I can't tell you how many movies I have seen where perfectly good actors phone it in or just BS a part for a paycheck. That's not Arnold. Whether he is a pregnant man, a military commando or a business man he always puts his heart and soul into each and every film. Granted its not very good in comparison to other actors but Arnold always TRIES. So I guess in tribute to Arnold as well as the Nostalgia Critic I will review my top 10 Arnold movies of all time starting first with one of my favorite guilty pleasures: COMMANDO.

Commando is the story of John Matrix (Arnold) a single parent with a daughter Jenny (Alyssa Milano) who is also a former Colonel who once led a special forces team. One day he is approached by his old friend who tells him his former teammates are being killed. Not soon afterwards his house is ambushed and Jenny is kidnapped. Unless he wants Jenny to die he must assassinate the president of a foreign country to help out a guy named Arius. Matrix complies but since this is a Schwarzenegger film that means he will comply for two seconds and then blow everything up and kill everyone.

If you are expecting an Academy Award winner you aren't going to get one. But what you are going to get is a totally kick ass 80s action flick. The one liners are great, the action is over the top and awesome and Arnold is just in top form. Granted there are nine other Arnold films I prefer over this one but this is still an amazing movie. It's textbook action movie. In fact I think this film wrote some pages for the action movie textbook because I have seen plenty modern day action films rip off Commando.

So if you love action movies, cheesy one liners, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or just want to watch a movie where stuff blows up (Michael Bay fans I'm looking at you) then check this picture out. Classic Arnold.

MY VERDICT: SEE IT

Enough of symbolism and these escapist themes of purity and innocence.

Hello I am the movie encyclopedia and if no one else will see it, I will.

Fredrico Fellini was quite the director. Yes he had his issues with fidelity and drinking (then again so did most of the "greatest" authors of our time) but he was a brilliant visionary. Whether you were a devout fan of his older work and a scoffer of his ladder work or were just a casual fan, his films captured you with their creative style and a subtle flair that made his films quite entertaining to watch. Fellini has inspired many modern directors and most of his films now are considered art and a major part of Italian culture. But when you think of Fellini what do you think of? Non film buffs are probably like "Who the hell is he?" and even some film buffs say "Who the hell is he?" But considering most of his work was IN Italian and had no (sometimes brief) run in American cinemas I don't blame a lot of people. In fact I will be one to admit that the first Fellini film I ever saw was this: 8 1/2.

8 1/2 is a semi autobiographical film starring Claudia Cardinale and Marcello Mastroianni dealing with Guido Anselmi. Guido is a director suffering from director's block. He is in the middle of making a science fiction film that hints at potentially personal problems that Guido himself faces when he just becomes apathetic. He loses interest and can't seem to focus long enough to finish it. As he half heartedly attempts to make the film we are seen flashbacks of his life and what led up to this moment.

8 1/2 is called 8 1/2 because it is Fellini's 8 1/2th film. He made 6 previous films, 2 short films (which he considered halves) and collaborated with another director (another half). This is an allusion to the autobiographical tones in this movie. Its very self reflective and, in my opinion, a recursive film. Its a film about making a film. And despite posting on his camera lens "Ricordati che e un film comico (Remember this is a comedy)" the film comes off more serious than funny although to Fellini it MAY actually BE funny.

I think my major gripe with the movie is that it is too deep. I know that sounds weird coming from a Blade Runner worshiper but this film requires a LOT of analysis and double checking and watching again and again to understand it. I think its due probably to the fact that (like its musical counterpart Nine) it lacks in the coherent plot department. Its more of an umbrella plot with events happening in between. That's not a bad thing per se but it does make it hard to sit through the film as a casual viewer instead of a film scholar who would get the most out of the movie.

If you haven't seen this film I would definitely recommend seeing it. Its an experience and really does capture the idea of the creative struggle and while it lacks a truly coherent plot and may be a bit too deep for casual viewers, its a film that really does deserve to be watched.

MY VERDICT: SEE IT

You're a world class liar, darling. Go out there and lie for Italy. Lie for Italia.

Hello I am the movie encyclopedia and if no one else will see it, I will.

I am a true sucker for musicals. Even if the movie is dull, unoriginal or juvinile, if the music is good I will give it 5 stars on the spot. And most of the time if a movie has the description musical on it I will be there for its first showing. This is most of the time. Not for Rob Marshall. I don't know what it is about him but I can't stand any of his movies. On top of that I thought Chicago was a piece of crap. I love the musical and so I was ecstatic to see the movie. After I got out of the theater I was like "That was horrible." I see I am the minority in my thinking but I don't think Rob Marshall has got the idea of how a musical is supposed to work. And for some reason he hasn't learned that because, while wonderfully acted, Nine fails because of Marshall.

In this paragraph I would tell you the story or the plot of Nine. But honestly I can't: there is none. That is the saddest part of the whole movie too, the lack of plot. I guess if I had to throw out descriptions than it would go like this:

Fredrico Fellini's 8 1/2-the musical....

Not good enough? Fine. Guido Contini (Daniel-Day Lewis) is a movie director. He is trying to make a new movie called Italia but is struggling due to romantic complications, a midlife crisis and worst of all writers block. His wife (Marion Cotillard) is bitter towards him because he is cheating on her with Carla, his mistress of many years (apparently..never explained). Meanwhile he is dealing with reporters, one being Stephanie from Vogue (Kate Hudson), his film muse demanding a script (Nicole Kidman) and trying to figure out how to get over writers block by venting to his best friend and costume designer Lilli Le Fleur. While all this is going on he has flashbacks of his mother (Sophia Loren) and a whore from his childhood (Fergie)

I know that sounds like a decent plot but its really disconnected. While it could have just been a really well acted look at or remake of 8 1/2 they had to put musical numbers in it. Its because of these musical numbers that the film becomes disjointed and confusing. Its like they are having musical numbers for the sake of having musical numbers. They randomly break out into song for no reason other than to break out into song. And the sad part? Only two of the songs are good...and oddly enough the film knew that since the two songs it played over the credits were the two good ones.

What are they? Cinema Italiano by Kate Hudson and Be Italian by Fergie. This is hilarious since these two have almost the least amount of screen time (Sophia Loren having the least) of all the characters in yet they blow everyone else out of the water.

So is it a good movie? That's really hard to say. All the actors are amazing in this movie and provide a lot of great emotions and have great dialogue with each other. The only problem is the music. Its like if they took a really well acted and well made movie and threw music in there. And because of this the film is brought down.

Its still a good enough movie though and if you like musicals or just want to see a well acted Daniel Day Lewis movie than give this one a look.

MY VERDICT: SEE IT