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The Age of Commercialism

Such a frustrating disappointment

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It so happens that whenever I see a movie that resembles imbecility, I feel this massive urge to get it out of my system. So here it goes:This is the story of a young man(Shia LaBeouf) whose mother(Melissa Leo) just passed away and while talking to her spirit, she suggests he should go to Bucharest. And so he does. Needless to say, everyone he talks to about his trip asks him if he doesn't actually mean Budapest (But it's an American movie, of course they would present Americans as people who actually know the difference between Budapest and Bucharest). On the plane he meets a man who happens to die on that plane, but wait! - his spirit also communicates with the main character asking him to deliver a present he had bought for his daughter(Evan Rachel Wood). As you can imagine (or not), the dead man is let alone there. On his seat. Dead. Until landing. When LaBeouf arrives in Bucharest a bunch of aggressive officers immediately approach him (one of them with a stun gun even) questioning his relationship with the dead man. He then meets the daughter, whose English accent is that of a drunk Russian in the Soviet era (You should know, we speak English pretty damn well around these parts). He very soon falls for her, while she seems to be in a dubious relationship with an apparently dangerous man(Mads Mikkelsen) who's constantly after her looking for a mysterious video tape (you heard me - VHS video, in case I wasn't clear) her dad had been using to keep him away from her. And so it evolves into a VERY POOR cat&mouse game (not that it was any good to begin with), with very idiotic characters and a very uninspired chain of events, peppered with, what they would like you to believe, Romanian details. And I would like to insist upon these "details": first we have the daughter driving a trabant, cause she's Romanian, of course she wouldn't afford a real car...or at least one they still made after 1991... then we have gypsies pushing the trabant, cause it's not a real trabant if it doesn't have engine problems. And it's not Romania without the gypsies. Cause we invented them and then programmed them to invade all of you. we have the taxi driver who takes more money than he's supposed to - probably a gypsy too. we have the ambulance drivers smoking hash and acting like total teenage scum WHILE driving the ambulance (I mean hell, we're well aware of the shortcomings of our medical system, but putting two potheads in charge of an ambulance - not to mention a very old model - is just offensive).there's also the hipster hostel, a dump where everyone's on ecstasy. (So that's what they did to flower power, made an essence and fixed it in a hostel...in Romania...). then we have a hit-and-run. But by this time, nothing comes out as a surprise anymore.And, of course, in the end we have Melissa Leo saying she actually meant Budapest, not Bucharest, but that she always mixed them up. Don't worry, lady, ignorance is tolerated when you're dead. But not when you're alive and make such mediocrity some call a movie.

I've heard so much bad mojo about Charlie Countryman it pisses me off. For me it's some of the most fun I've had at the movies that year. Experimental? Yes. Choppy? Yes. Perfect? No. Entertaining? Oh hell yes. It's an odd, random film that takes chances and is a bit off the wall, and if that's not your thing then skip her, but it's by no ones standards a bad film. It's just too beautifully made and unique to be written off. Shia Lebeouf plays a young man who's mother has just died. Her ghost (Melissa Leo, perfect as always) tells him to make a sporadic decision, and go to Bucharest. He meets a Romanian man on the plane, who dies next to him. He is ghost as well talks to him, and tells him to deliver a message to his daughter once he lands. He finds the girl, a gorgeous cello player named Evan Rachel Wood, and immediately falls in love. Wood struggles a bit with the accent but is excellent in the role. The only problem with their idealistic romance is her ex boyfriend, a psychopathic gangster Nigel, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Mads shows menace and plays with his spicy dialogue as he plays with poor Shia, like a cat with a ball of yarn. Tensions run high and violence ensues, as it does in these type of stories. I've heard so much hate for this one, including the claim that it's style over substance. Well what's wrong with that? It's made like a music video, and indeed the director got his start with that. If the images, sounds and aesthetic is beautiful to look at and to hear, who cares if it's not the most intellectual treatise or statement on the human condition? High horses, people. For its a kick ass, unique adventure romance story set in a beautiful town with a great cast, wicked writing, and generally just a great time at the movies. Ron Weasley shows up as drug addled tourist, and there's cool work from Vincent D'Onofrio, and a hilarious, perfect cameo from Til Schweiger as well.The soundtrack is great too, with m83 and providing some gorgeous tunes that give the film a huge part of its alluring, lurid atmosphere. If you're not too big on picking movies apart like a Debbie downer and looking for things wrong with them, this is a great piece of entertainment with a solid cast and a supremely stylish vibe. Check it out.

I've seen this movie floating around on Netflix for months. One morning, 5am, I put it on hoping it will be a decent movie to pass out to. Needless to say... I didn't sleep. This movie actually woke me up, perking my curiosity in the opening scenes and demanding my attention 25-30 minutes in. I've always liked Shia LaBeouf a decent amount. His character in this flick is different, interesting and a little unpredictable. Then there is the always great Evan Rachel Wood. I have adored her in countless movies and this one is no exception. She does A great job and looks just as stunning as ever. The protagonists also executed wonderfully by their actors. The dialogue, amazing, every word said wiggled its way to my brain and just suspended there. Maybe I look to deeply into things but it felt like everything I heard I could morph into something that had to do with my life, it all just resonated with me. By the end of the movie I had chosen to fall asleep to, I was standing up, smoking a cigarette and watching very intently.I didn't have to say all that but I felt the need to. When it boils down to it though, I think any average movie goer could enjoy this film and its definitely worth a try to anyone. And if you see it like I do, you'll find it a masterpiece.

It's a comedy with a clear theme which is about love and romance, though the content is not very concrete, but if you can view it in a way which is kind of like surrealism, you'll find it totally worthwhile to watch. Actually, we are all like Charlie, when something bad happens, we try to escape from it, sometimes we buy drinks to numb our brains, sometimes we run away from the life that we are familiar with, we travel abroad, far, far away to experience a different world and life-style. I think people do that mostly because when we travel abroad we can find that compare to the rest of the world, how small individuals,as we are, in the whole wild world are. And when we meet new people from different culture with different stories, we find that none of our problem and sorrow is alone in the world, we can somehow relate to other people. Anyway, it's a good film made in a artistic style, abstract in content but brilliantly delivered its message about the theme, lost and love. Plus, with LaBeouf and Mikkelsen in the film, why not?