April 16 – A Clockwork Orange (1971)

As a psychology major and a fan of mystery/thriller novels, movies dubbed psychological thrillers appeal to me. In forums and general areas of discussion of movies, I’ve read about the cult following this movie has garnered up to this day. Reviews are generally favorable and considered it one of the best films of the 70’s.

A Clockwork Orange was adapted from a 1962 novel of the same name written by Anthony Burgess. The film adaptation was made by the legendary Stanley Kubrick. The story is about a young delinquent, Alex (played by Malcom McDowell), with his group of friends, as they terrorize the cities of Britain. He gets sentenced to jail with the crime of murder and undergoes a new potentially dangerous behavioral modification treatment to reduce his aggressive urges. After being “cured” and released, he is left to face his old enemies and being psychologically unable to fight back.

I’ve read a lot about the artistic style of Kubrick in movie forums. He tends to adapt unusual stories rather than create his own. His also known for his perfectionist attention to detail, all the while adding his own creative mark. The first half of the movie was shrouded with an eerie comedic feel. I didn’t know if I should laugh or feel disturbed with the sex and violence scenes. Usually in the midst of the violence, the gang sings and dances to the tunes of Beethoven, and in one particular assault, the song Singing in the Rain from the musical. It’s quite hard to take the scenes seriously as it was presented in a weird graceful way.

April 15 – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Coming from a week full of comedies, I wanted to get a little serious for this week. I didn’t want to go too serious though. My first encounter with the Stieg Larsson trilogy books was a few years ago during high school. When I have nothing to do in the mall, I always hung out in book stores to see potential good books to read. I came across The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it immediately struck me. Random beat-down journalist meets underground genius hacker investigating a missing person’s case. Mysterious story with twist and turns. I was always into that.

Apparently, as a friend of mine mentioned, this movie showed a few nights ago on HBO. Seeing as I’ve always wanted to see it, so I decided to watch the movie adaptation of the Larsson book for today. As I’ve said previously, the story was about journalist Mikael Blomkvist as he gets hired to investigate the disappearance of Harriet Vanger over 40 years ago. He gets the assistance of a genius hacker vigilante, Lisbeth Salander. As they go deeper into the investigation, they unravel a new layer of mystery every time leading to a very deep family secret. Blomkvist is played by Mr. James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, while Salander was played by a relatively underground actress, Rooney Mara. Craig was his usual broody self and Mara adopted the damaged punk boy look to perfection.

April 2 – Hannibal (2001)

Yesterday, I watched the previous movie of this series, Silence of the Lambs. I wonder why they took 10 years to do a sequel after the first one being so successful. I’ve read some good reviews on the sequel so I decided to watch it too. Fortunately, I had a little sanity still left to be able to watch this. It’s interesting to find out where Hannibal Lecter has been off to after the final scenes of the first movie. It’s nice to be able to find out how Clarice Starling has been all these years. Let’s see what the better movie is.

Hannibal is 2001 film created by Ridley Scott. Yes the Aliens and Gladiator guy! It’s a direct sequel to the 1991 critically-acclaimed movie Silence of the Lambs. The story picks up 10 years after the events of the first movie. It now follows Clarice Starling and her search for the notorious cannibalistic serial-killer Hannibal Lecter after his escape in the first movie. Anthony Hopkins is back portraying his Academy Award winning role Hannibal Lecter. Sadly, Jodie Foster wanted nothing to do with the sequel and did not return. Julianne Moore stepped up as the new Clarice Starling. Hey, she’s pretty hot too. I’m not complaining.

April 1 – The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Since it is after Holy Week, I decided to give myself with a little scare and mindf***ery. After all the gooey romantic movies of the past week, I wanted to go with a movie that really scared people. For this reason, the movie I picked for today was the critically-acclaimed 1991 psychological thriller Silence of the Lambs. I say critically-acclaimed because this movie won 5 academy awards: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). Considering this was a horror movie, this is a pretty big achievement.

The story follows FBI-agent Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) as she helps catch the serial-killer named “Buffalo Bill”. His pattern involves abducting a fat woman, starving them, and later skinning them to complete a costume he is making. The agency decides to let her ask assistance from a former psychiatrist turned serial-killer they have in custody, Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). Prior to their initial meet, Lecter’s character was already established to the audience. Proceed with caution. His background as a psychiatrist allows him to manipulate people. He eats people. Don’t touch the cell glass or else he’d jump at you. Never let him ramble or else he’d go to your head and turn you to stone. These information were all courtesy of Claire’s superior as he briefs her on Lecter’s history and the do’s and dont’s in dealing with him, before their encounter. A picture of sick and twisted man was painted as if to prepare the audience to the horrifying man they were about to meet.