Rabbit Hole (2010)

“The only way out is through.”

That is always the solution to an inevitable situation, especially when you’re trying to get over the death of your four year son. In Rabbit Hole, Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart play a couple who are in a situation like mentioned and are trying to look outside for some comfort.

Kidman’s character is the most distraught of the two. The film starts eight months after the tragedy and she is now staying home after quitting her job at a business. Her performance is really strong and she really gets into it. Her character is really pessimistic, while Eckhart’s character is the one who still misses their son, Danny, and tries to seek comfort, like taking the couple to a support group. Kidman’s character tries to make everything better, but subsequently the plans fall through and she needs to take the hard way out. She then finds solace in Jason, the teenage driver who killed Danny. With the awkward relationship, she tries to find another way to get over Danny, but the only way out is through.

Rabbit Hole really is the film that just makes you think. Its subplot adds more depth to the story as it messes with Kidman’s psyche. Also, the recurring conversation of parallel universes really brings out a new outlook and hopefully can make things better. The film is sometimes hard to watch because it’s painful to observe these two people living alone. The performances are breakthrough and they display a real life family who were put in front of a camera to document their mental escape into an unknown, a rabbit hole.

Rabbit Hole is seriously a must see with a 4.5 out of 5 and if your city isn't playing the movie, then you can wait until January 14^th, 2011.

Blue Velvet (1986)

“…unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.”

That is so fucking true. This film will completely blow your mind. Back in the 1980’s, I bet people were just punching people like crazy because this film is FUCKING CRAZY. The film follows a young college student upon returning to his hometown following his father’s hospitalization, discovers a severed ear in a field behind his neighborhood.

Things get out of hand as he connects the ear to a beautiful but devastated singer and her sadistic sadomasochistic tormentor. From there, the most perfect storytelling takes place and you’re hooked.

Blue Velvet was written and directed by none other than David Lynch. Lynch is most famous for his weird cryptic narrative in Mulholland Drive and for his strange symbolism in his feature film debut Eraserhead. Blue Velvet incorporates strong symbolism and a perfectly structured script to tell a story about murder and mystery. Strong themes pop in, for example voyeurism is used by the protagonist a few times. The film had a dark tone, following a happy introduction. The characters are developed almost like they live in a perfect world where nothing happens. But as the protagonist infamously says, “It’s a strange world.”

A perfect structure that couldn’t be toppled, a great cast that worked perfectly well with each other, and strong rhetorical strategies to develop the story and make closures, make Blue Velvet by far the best film of the 20^th century. I give the film a 5 out of 5 and it is currently out on DVD and I highly recommend you stop what you’re doing and go buy it right now.

Due Date (2010)

“Leave your comfort zone”

I suggest you stay in your comfort zone. Due Date is the 2010 road movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. It’s about a man played by Downey who tries to make it to L.A. from Atlanta in time for his wife’s due date. However, he runs into the most annoying guy played by Galifianakis. Will they make it on time? Yes, yes they will.

The film was funny, yet it had real touching moments that made you want to sniffle. However, Galifianakis didn’t fool me. I wanted to punch him really, really bad, yet I wanted to hug him. It was hard to sit through this, because it seemed like it was going nowhere; just one mishap after another. The director Todd Philips who directed The Hangover, Road Trip, and Old School, which are all good films, didn’t deliver his clever writing and those funny scenes where we talk about at school. My views are actually mixed, but nonetheless it really didn’t turn out like I expected it to.

With only few laugh out loud scenes and a couple of memorable lines, Due Date doesn’t deliver close comedy as does other films despite its director and the cast. I give the film a 2.5 out of 5 and, although it’s in theatres, I highly recommend you wait until it is released on DVD and Blu-Ray.