The oldest boy, the logical gaffer in training, has very eclectic tastes in movies. He has a ton of DVD’s at his home base and he has a few here for us to see, including a little known and, I’m sure, easily forgotten gem in which Gary Busey is The Gingerbread Man. I have never seen it and, baring many many large dippers of Jose Cuervo, will never see it. Somehow a movie that touts itself as “out of the oven & into your heart” just does nothing for me.
Gaffer also has classics, from Charlie Chaplin and Red Skelton to Malcolm X, American History X, and Cube.
Cube may not seem like a movie I would get into. It’s not for the squeamish. I refuse to watch things like Chain Saw Masacre forty-seven, but this movie is different, right from the opening eye. No spoilers, but people go to sleep at night and wake up in a giant lethal Rubick’s Cube. You just HAVE to watch to see what happens and why. Would you be smart enough to survive? Why are you in there? You will be sitting on the edge of your seat within five minutes. I was hooked despite the occasional gore. But, then it’s not gore for gore’s sake, it has a purpose and is very much part of the movie.
American History X is one of those movies that should be required viewing for all kids above the age of twelve. Maybe it’s because I have lived in areas of the country where people are less than enlightened, but it’s an eye opener. Edward Norton plays Derek Vinyard, as the leader of a group of white supremist youths. He has grown up with bigotry and pays the price.
Remember when you knew more than your parents, more than ‘the man’, more than anyone? Norton is that young man, who knows he wants a new world order where the white man is king. Of course, I think his parents are part of what put him in that state. It is the process of his re-education and growth that makes this movie so fascinating.
Jail changes Derek Vinyard. His best friend is African American and one of the very people he had grown up to hate all these years. He comes out of prison being tired of feeling “pissed off” and wondering how he bought into it all in the first place. But, that is only part of the story. Watch his Oscar worthy Performance to find out the rest. I highly recommend it.
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