After taking a short break with kris’ list, I will be posting the last two portions today and tomorrow.  I don’t want to overwhelm the front page with a wall of text so click through after the cut to continue reading.

This is a continuation of Kris’ “favorite movies of 2009″ list.  Part 1 can be found HERE.  Part 2 can be found HERE.

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CASH BACK

I randomly found this movie searching through the Netflix database and ended up really enjoying it. An art student, Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) is plagued with insomnia after a break-up and decides to devote is extra time towards working the late shift at a supermarket. He some how finds a way to be inspired in an otherwise uninspiring job by pretending he has the ability to freeze time whenever he wants and use the frozen people around him for his own benefit. Almost always he targets young women and uses them as subjects in his drawings. I guess the creep factor comes in with the fact that he undresses the helpless women in order to draw them and study the human form.

Despite this, the film treats the nudity of the female subjects delicately and uses it much as an artist would in a painting or drawing. Nudity is not used to be gratuitous or gain the film popularity, but in order to give an inside into the mind of an artist obsessed with portraying reality in his work. Fortunately, this film was produced in Europe where censorship laws are a lot more lenient than here in the United States.

The setting of a supermarket is really interesting when thinking of the themes of art, the human form and the female nude presented in the movie. The blinding white florescent lights used in supermarkets cast overtop the models giving the artist a complete, almost pure view originally meant for the rows upon rows of product. The women almost themselves become products and the female form is almost obviously a desire of Ben and many male artists throughout the history of art. Interestingly enough he never freezes a male subject for his drawings.

I’m not exactly sure how they shot the scenes where the actors were frozen but I’m guessing that it took a lot of takes and holding of breaths.

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DO THE RIGHT THING

Spike Lee has always been a director that I’ve looked up to. He was probably one of the first notable black directors in Hollywood and definitely a huge role model to a lot of the kids who grew up in the neighborhoods that he presented in his earlier films. I didn’t grow up in such a neighborhood, but always went up to New Jersey to visit with my mom’s family and where she grew up in the inner city. I am a straight up suburban kid, but those mandatory family visits definitely gave me an in on city life.

Lee does films his own way and uses his experiences to portray the stories of inner city life that wasn’t being shown in the 80’s. His use of little known and first time actors in his films gave them an edge that is impossible to produce with any well trained cast. In addition, most of his younger cast went on to become big name stars: Martin Lawrence, John Turturro, Rosie Perez to name a few.

Do the Right Thing is simply a day in the life of  Mookie (played by Lee) a pizza delivery boy in Brooklyn along with a variety of other characters in his neighborhood. The film touches on a lot of issues found present in cities to this day, most namely racial tensions. Even though the people in the neighbor eat at the shop Mookie works at (which is owned and operated by an Italian-American and his sons), they still see themselves separate from them and vice versa.

The lessons that can be learned from this still are still pertaining to present day, definitely a must see for anyone living in an urban community.

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FOOD INC.

Anyone who eats food needs to watch this film.  We put so many things in our body each day without really wondering where it came from or the process that it went through in order to become what we are eating. There are so many things that are kept from us about the things that we are eating and how it effects the way that we function daily. Just now are we starting to chip away at the huge problem of child obesity which runs rabid throughout our society.

The film centers around the farming industry and though it does feature some Peta-esque footage of deformed animals, it really isn’t pro-vegetarian. What I thought was great was the emphasis on an all natural/organic farmer who processes meat and treats his animals ethically and to the best of his abilities.

I think you have to take most documentaries which are on any subject lightly and with a grain of salt. Obviously the people who are documenting whatever you are watching are trying to open you up to the subject and hopefully change your mind. The best thing to do (in my opinion) is to watch it with an open mind, digest all of the facts, and then use the information that you learned as a stepping stone towards more education on the subject. DON’T STOP WITH ONE FILM. On film is unable to give you all the information, stories, and opinions on a topic that have ever been said, published, or thought. Do your own investigation, talk to the people around you and then form your conclusions.

Or not, its up to you. Either way this film will open you up to a few things you probably didn’t know about the food you eat every day.

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I LOVE YOU MAN

This was one of the only romantic comedies that I have watched and will say with pride that I enjoyed. Paul Rudd plays Peter, a guy who’s about to get married and realizes that he has no close guy friends because he’s always been the totally devoted boyfriend. In comes Sydney (Jason Segel) , dedicated batchelor for life and all around nut case, who comes into Peter’s life and reminds him how to be a dude and do dude things.

The best part of this movie had to be the commentary between Rudd, Segel, and director John Hamburg. Essentially they just make more jokes about each scene and give you more information about how many takes certain shots took to get because everyone was laughing or when natural laughs were caught on film and used in the final film. The best part has to be Segel’s constant apologies to the viewers that he hasn’t appeared in the film until it’s almost half over.

This movie had me laughing til I was in tears. You’ve probably already seen it but you probably didn’t listen to the commentary, so you should do that.