OK, first I really wanted to do a 10WMR for this movie, but after viewing it there was just no way I could condense everything about this flick in just ten words.

First things first lets get you up to speed.

Courtesy of wikipedia:

Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) is a clairvoyant living under an assumed name, Frank Cadillac, in Las Vegas. He has a minor magic show at one of the hotels, but he makes his living at “low stakes” gambling against the casinos. He manages to stay beneath the radar, never revealing his gift: the ability to see two minutes into his own future.

During one of his magic shows, two FBI agents observe him, although he doesn’t realize that’s who they are or that they are even after him. One of them, Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore), is convinced Cris is the key to help the FBI stop terrorists from detonating a stolen nuclear bomb. All the information she has obtained until this point proves Cris has some unexplainable ability to see into the future.

That’s right ladies and gentlemenen, the man can see two minutes into his own future, which in and of itself is a pretty cool ability. I liked the way that they portrayed this on film by letting Chris (Cage) basically walk around and sort of run a scenario for a given situation, see the outcome of it and just keep going until he gets it right. The simple fact that Hollywood hasn’t turned this premise into a bad TV show yet just baffles me.

Now all of that seems cool until you use actors that are either not really trying or walking around the movie ” looking royally pissed off, like she got tricked into making the movie on a sucker bet.” If there was one thing that I could have changed about this movie it would have been the cheesy hair that Nicolas Cage was walking around with. For a man that can see his own future, you’d think he could see that that haircut wasn’t going to work out for him.

One of the other things that really stood out in this movie is the bad guys in it. I call them bad guys because none of them had any names, no country of origin, and no real reason to be terrorizing the US other than the fact that that’s what their roles called for. Apparently when writing this movie, when it came time to cast/write for the antagonists, the writers must have called up either Bad Guys R Us., Terrorists Inc., or Rent A Thug – since all of the “Villains” looked the same and were about as generic as the expendable black guy.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “naNye I thought you said this was a Movie You Should See?”

See that’s the cool thing about this movie, it’s one of those rare flicks that has a decent premise and the overall acting isn’t horrible so what you end up with is a movie that you can just shut your mind off and watch. It’s a film that’s so cheesy that it’s actually awesome. Therefore here at ATE we have now created a new term to refer to these priceless pieces of cinema: Chawesome.

The Big Lebowski came out in 1998 and though not a hit, it has become a cult classic. Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, the film stars Jeff Bridges as The Dude, a California slacker and pacifist that spends his days smoking weed, drinking White Russians (which he calls “Caucasians”), suffering from the occassional acid flashback, listening to Credence Clearwater Revival and bowling on a league.

He has a good friend in Walter, played by John Goodman, who is a Vietnam War vet who easily flies off the handle. The Dude, who’s last name is Lebowski, gets mistaken for a multimillionaire also named Lebowski. A big name Porn Film Producer thinks The Dude is married to a woman named Bunny, the other Lebowski’s wife, who owes the Porn Producer money. Two thugs sent by the Producer break into The Dude’s house demanding the money and rough up The Dude a bit. Not believing him when he tells them they have the wrong guy, one of the thugs urinates on a living room rug which sends The Dude to seek out the real Lebowski to have him replace the rug due to this mistaken identity because the rug “really ties the room together.” A crazy chain of events take off from there in a film that is highly enjoyable if you like quirky characters and humor. Sam Elliott is The Stranger, a cowboy who narrates the movie with style and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers plays Dieter, a nihilist kidnapper. If you liked Fargo or even Raising Arizona you should check this flick out!

“The Dude abides….”

Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine star in this realistic post apocalyptic thriller where the world has become infertile. What is most striking about this amazing story are the parallels it draws between our current politics (ie immigration, terrorism, Homeland Security, Patriot Act). As a fan of Alfonso Curaon’s work (y Tu Mama Tambien) I was excited to see him tackling similar themes in this movie. Flix this movie and make yourself a better human.