Movie Review (DVD): Half Nelson

What is a "Half Nelson"? After finding out that no one was named "Nelson" in the movie, I seriously wondered what the heck "Half Nelson" meant. So I quickly ran to the internets to look for answers.

According to this forum entry, a "half Nelson" is a wrestling term "when a wrestler who is behind his opponent, passes one arm under the corresponding arm of his opponent and locks the hand on the back of his opponent's neck. A struggle between two opposing forces ensues". It's a wrestling term? How did I not know that?

Anyway, in the movie, Dan's (Ryan Gosling's character, who is a middle-school history teacher) class lectures were pretty much about "half Nelsons", and I think really, he's just talking about himself. He is battling his own "half Nelson", so to speak. LOL. How long can I go on with "half nelson-ing" this entry to death, I don't know... but me likey. And you know who else me likes? Super-cracked-up hottie Ryan Gosling.

OK back to the movie review: I like this movie. It was kinda slow, but I did not find it dragging. The whole movie was like prepping it's audience for some kind of payoff at the end (i.e. some sort of redemption), which never came. I think this made it more raw and realistic (but then, who wants/expects movies to be realistic nowadays?). The movie was unlike most movies with the "teacher of inner-city kids" tag on it --- no contest was won against the private school, the school didn't get prettier, no special award from the city was given. He was the cool teacher, he taught outside of the prescribed curriculum, his kids seem to like him but that was it. He pretty much left it to the kids if they want to make something of his class. I thought his purpose was more self-serving, teaching was his therapy, the school was his rehab. He found an ally in Drey, one of the kids in school and a budding crack dealer herself, if anything, she needed someone who could help her get out of the crack-dealing cycle in her life. What she got is a crack-using mentor. In the end, all the half nelson-ing within Dan pretty much made him give up. How can he talk someone into leaving Drey alone, when he has nothing better to offer Drey?

Like I said, I'm not much of a "thinking" movie-viewer, but this made me think (at the risk of making my head explode). In the end, I was rooting for Dan and Drey, that they may find a better path for themselves.

Ed's note: The pic posted is very self-serving. Me happy.

Movie Review (DVD): Eastern Promises

I love movies. I think I've mentioned that a couple of times but I just realized that I've never really done any thorough review of movies (or films, if your one of those types) that I have seen (and I have seen quite a few). The reason is this: I don't know how. I mean, maybe I do, but I do not know how to go about doing it. I'm not a thinking-type, I'm more of the "take-it-as-I-see-it" type. I know it's good when I think it's good (i.e. "think" used here very loosely). So, for my first-ever movie review, I'll keep it simple. OK, here it goes... (the following may contain spoilers)

I like Eastern Promises. Good acting all-around. If not for Naomi Watt's and her mom's (in the movie) English accents, I wouldn't have known that they were in London, which was great because it gives us a London that is seldomly seen. Despite the tatoos and the awful hair (which was researched), Viggo Mortensen is still hot. Favorite scene: the bathhouse scene! I had to laugh at myself for being such a juvenile, but every time some bits of Viggo was shown on-screen, I just had to stiffle a giggle --- I guess I'm no different from those pre-pubescent kids who saw their first boobies in American Pie. Also, it reminded me of my childhood in that scene in Blue Lagoon where the guy (all grown up) was swimming and you could see the shadow of his bits in the water --- but I was actually a kid when I saw that, so that's my excuse for giggling back then. Back to the movie, from the very start, it gave you the feeling that Viggo was a nice guy and he was different from all the other vors. As it turns out, he was working undercover. My issue with the movie is the ending was that it was sort of abrupt. That was it??? The baby (the evidence, pretty much) was saved, Semyon got charged for rape and went to prison, Nikolai took over everything (like he knew he would) since Kirill is a big buffoon... and it was an ending worthy of a "happily ever after"? I wanted more.

So yeah, good movie. Saw the special features and apparently David Cronenberg is into existensialism and other philosophical stuff. He's a "deep" person, that's probably why I didn't get the ending.