2 Films

A quick rundown of two films I've seen recently.
Gus Van sant's Elephant is one of the most original movies I've ever seen. It's unlike anything I have ever seen. A colorful, intriguing, documentary-like, and thoughtful movie shows the lives of multiple highschoolers on moments leading to unspeakable atrocity. As I watched this movie, I am reminded of just exactly how much walking is involved in highschool. This movie is definitely not for everyone, as I would suggest only those who are open-minded about new cinematic techniques to watch it. A film that does not answer questions, does not glorify violence but does provoke us to think, Elephant is truly surprising.
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, on the other, is a silly straight parody of black and white B-movies. It purposely carries some poor screenwriting to be too long for comic effects. Sometimes it works, and I found myself laughing at the pure silliness of the movie. They make sure people know who is serious about science during an alien mutant attack and a plot to revive a dead skeleton by giving those characters a testtube rack and a kid's microscope. They always talk abouting "doing science". A scene about a farmer being horribly mutilated becomes entertaining when it goes on for way too long, when Ranger Brad says "I hope telling folks about his horrible mutilation can prevent other folks from meeting a fate of being horrible mutilation." "Horribly mutilated? That sounds dreadfully horrible." "We take our horrible mutilations seriously around these parts." This kind of repetitive humor is my cup of tea, and I enjoyed the movie, but too much.