Movie – Men of Honor (2000)

Men of Honor is based on the true story of Carl Brashear, who was the first black man to achieve the highest U.S. Navy enlisted rank of Master Diver (E-9).  Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays the main character from the late 1940s to the late 1960s.  It’s the last really good performance I’ve seen from him, although I’ve admittedly been skipping most of his more recent movies.  The film co-stars Robert Deniro and Charlize Theron.

Movie – The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)

On its surface, The Legend of Bagger Vance is just a movie about golf.  If you look a little deeper, though, you will find a film based on a Hindu tale about a man rediscovering his true path in life.  Because of this, and because the plot involves a white man and a black man interacting in 1930, the movie also stirred up some controversy.  I will discuss this below.

The film stars Will Smith as the title character of Bagger Vance.  His co-lead in the movie is Matt Damon as Rannulph Junah.  Charlize Theron is the female lead as Adele Invergordon.  It is her actions that drive the events of the movie.

Movie – The Italian Job (2003)

This film is a remake of the 1969 British movie of the same name.  While there are some nods to the original (most obviously the mini Coopers used for the getaway, as well as the traffic jam) much of the plot of the remake is new.  I have seen both films, and while I’m sure this is heresy for fans of the original, I like the remake a little better.  This is because I like heist films that have brilliant characters in them.  The original featured a group of lovable losers following someone else’s plan, while the remake features smart people who come up with their own plans and can think on their feet.

Movie – Aeon Flux (2005)

Aeon Flux is a movie that critics hated.  Luckily, I rarely listen to professional critics.  They also hated John Carter.  I just watched it last night and found out it was actually a decent movie.  Anyway, Aeon Flux stars Charlize Theron as the title character.  With her coming off her Oscar win for Monster (2003), comparisons to prior Oscar winner Halle Berry’s film Catwoman were numerous (and unfair, in my opinion).  Added to this, the creator of the original animated Aeon Flux Mtv series also disowned the movie.  His series didn’t have any narrative structure or continuity, or even any spoken dialogue, and he was proud of that.  When he found out that this film was going to have plot, continuity, and yes, dialogue, he protested by telling fans of his show to not watch this movie.  Finally, this film opened against the fourth Harry Potter movie.  As a result of all of these things, the film did not get seen by too many people.  I did see it, and while there are certainly better movies, I liked this one enough to recommend it.

Movie – Young Adult (2011)

Young Adult is the second film that Director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody teamed up for.  Since the first was the Best Picture nominee Juno (2007), expectations were quite high for this one.  Because of that this film ended up with mixed reactions from people.  Some loved it, some hated it, and some felt it was a good movie, but not as good as their other work.  I fall into the last group. 

Movie – Prometheus (2012)

Ridley Scott set out to make a prequel to Alien, but then changed his mind.  He instead decided to make an “original” movie.  He then sort of changed his mind back and decided (most likely for marketing and box office purposes) to say that this film is set in the same universe as the Alien films.  Anyone expecting to see the aliens from the earlier films will be severely disappointed, though.  Scott decided people had grown tired of them, so he had new creatures designed.  They essentially do the same things, just not in the same ways.  I avoided all of the viral marketing campaigns beforehand.  I knew that if I went into the film with too many expectations it would ruin it for me.  As a result, I was not bothered by the fact that there are no traditional aliens in this movie.

Movies Where Charlize Theron Does Not Get Naked

“You better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking ‘cause my answer is the same as always.  No threesomes unless they’re boy-boy-girl…or Charlize Theron.” – Harmony Kendall to Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show

The title of this category probably brings one of two questions to your mind:

1.  Why watch one of her movies if she doesn’t get naked?

2.  There have actually been Charlize Theron movies where she doesn’t get naked?

I just watched both Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman.  Prometheus makes the cut as a movie I would recommend, but not Snow White.  If you would like to see my thoughts on the latter, you can read them here.

This category does mean that I will have to exclude what is definitely her best performance in 2003’s Monster, for which she took home the Oscar.  By the way, if you want to win an easy bet then challenge a “movie person” to name the only African actress to win an Oscar.  Theron, not being black, is overlooked by most people.

This category also means some decent movies like 2 Days in the Valley, The Cider House Rules, and The Burning Plain will also need to be skipped.  I’m still left with enough movies I can recommend.  Even for most of these her character is naked at some point, but the movie watcher doesn’t actually see anything, so they don’t count as being nude scenes.  The first movie up will be Prometheus.

As I post the reviews, I will come back and post the links to them here:

Prometheus
Young Adult
Aeon Flux
The Italian Job (2003)
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Men of Honor

On to the reviews…