Drive - 2011

Before I dive in to my review, let me say that I never saw the movie poster until this moment, and the sentence "From the producer of 'Wanted'" would have been enough for me to write Drive off for all time, and I would have been robbing myself of a delightful experience.

Drive (or, how to have 100 minutes of movie with only 20 minutes of dialog) was a staggeringly good crime drama about a young man who is, by day, a Hollywood stunt driver and local mechanic and, by night, a getaway driver for area criminals. Upon becoming entangled in the life of his neighbor and her young son, he finds himself in circumstances much larger than he signed up for as his entire world comes crashing down in a deluge of death, destruction and dangerously daring driving.

The style of this film completely blew me away. I am a major nerd for good lighting, and this had some of the best I have seen in years. Add to that the moody soundtrack, moments of insane violence, and a unique dashboard-and-windshield-perspective during the high-speed antics and you have a recipe for a movie that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat.

One thing that may have been overlooked by a casual viewer was that this was, in point of fact, a superhero movie. Our hero has everything you need to fit that mold.

Costume: Check
Power: Check (sort of)
Damsel in Distress: Check
Alter ego: Check (sort of)

The costume in question involves aviator sunglasses, a toothpick, leather gloves, a hammer and the most memorable jacket of all time. I would love to see a sequel or prequel to Drive about the exploits of The Silver Scorpion Jacket.

I even gave you the name of the movie, Hollywood... what's stopping you?

My wife and I, being the amazing people that we are, could not get the this song out of our heads while watching the movie.

If you enjoy ultraviolent, stylized dramas about crime, you should see this movie.
If you think that movies with violence are abhorrent, you should not see this movie.

My Left Foot - 1989

Daniel Day-Lewis can out-act any chump in Hollywood! (with a couple notable exceptions to that blanket statement)

Many of us have come to know, admire, fear, or respect Mr. Day-Lewis for his impressive performances in movies like There Will Be Blood.  But, 22 years ago, he gave an Oscar-winning portrayal based on the real life story of Christy Brown, a young Irish artist/author born in the 1930's with Cerebral Palsy. 

If you have ever known, met, or seen a person with cerebral palsy, you will be absolutely floored by his performance. Told in flashbacks, you get to see his journey from a young man incapable of communicating with his family to an adult who has mastered painting, writing, speech, and the consumption of whiskey(like any good stereotypical Irishman).  He so flawlessly mimics the speech and motion of a person with cerebral palsy that it is easy to forget that he is a healthy man with full control of his faculties.

The pace of the movie is on the slow side, but the amazing acting by the entire cast more than makes up for the occasional lull in the plot. I was also taken aback by the love, acceptance and involvement of his entire family.  Even in today's "enlightened society" there is a whole lot less love to go around for people who are different from ourselves. There are many touching scenes where family members proudly show that Christy is not an incidental member of their family, but a key, critical, loved part of the whole.

If good acting is your cup o' tea, you should see this movie.

If you want a director like Michael Bay to blow up Dublin 6 ways to Sunday, you should watch something else (and kindly don't breed)