Solitary Man (2009)

By -
This one has been sitting on the shelf for a while now.  It's another one of those movies that I set aside primarily due to the boring cover (a terrible habit, I know).  Everyone kept telling me to check it out though, so I threw caution to the wind and rented it.

"Solitary Man" definitely has an interesting story, and that's about it.  This isn't a bad thing though; the story is done really well.  Unlike most movies that focus 100% on the story (e.g. The Ghost Writer), this one actually keeps you interested.  A famous and successful car dealership owner (Ben) decides to take a massive risk and ends up nearly being thrown in jail, and losing everything.  The story follows his struggles from this point on, and all of the trouble he gets himself into.  Every time Ben nearly breaks free of his slump, he throws it all away again due to his tendencies to sleep with everyone. That is pretty much it...

The acting in this movie is top notch, and probably the primary reason why anyone would stay interested.  The actual movie box is honest (which is becoming rare these days) in that it literally is just the story of Ben's life.  There is no humor at all anywhere in it, the tone is completely serious throughout.  You might find some comedy in how badly he fails over, and over, but for the most part its straight drama.

I am not usually a big fan of this style of movie, but it did a good job with what it was trying to accomplish.  Seek it out for a story, but don't expect anything else, and even then, expect it to be pretty forgettable (I watched it last night and am already having trouble recalling it!) The Shawshank Redemption this movie is NOT.

Solitary Man earns a 3/5 for showing me how limited my 1-5 scale is, and how I really should add some 2.5 category or something..

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 10, 2010 at 8:55 PM

    The principal actor is a well-known face, so I think that movie couldn't be so bad, besides, perhaps the style of that movie is not the most popular among the people. The only good thing of this kind of movies is that makes you recap about the "LIFE" lol, (I'm getting deep) I think I'll watch it, thanks for the review =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. SethistoOctober 10, 2010 at 10:02 PM

    @Gansita

    Its not bad at all, its just...average I guess ;p

    I like to reserve 3/5 for good movies that don't really stand out, but are worth watching.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joel C AnatoliOctober 10, 2010 at 10:25 PM

    Its pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 10, 2010 at 10:42 PM

    (Ie. Ghostwriter)

    you mean e.g. Ghostwriter

    i.e. is "that is to say"; e.g. is "for example"

    ReplyDelete
  5. SethistoOctober 10, 2010 at 11:02 PM

    @Anonymous

    Changing that right now! Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book of Eli (2010)

By -
Image
It's not very often that a good post apocalyptic film shows up.  After having to deal with crap like The Road,  it's refreshing to see a quality one like Book of Eli.  The movie takes place in the year 2042, and something unmentioned has managed to completely decimate the world.  Eli is crossing the wasteland on a religious journey to deliver one of the last remaining bibles to someone way over on the west coast.  Along the way he runs into gangs, madmen, starvation, and all sorts of other nastyness. A man named Carnegie, the leader of a small settlement of brigands and thieves, discovers what Eli is carrying, and lets lose the hounds.  This leads to some awesome action sequences.  Eli must have been trained by Les Stroud himself, because even after being shot, he still manages to find a way to continue. Fans of the Fallout series will feel at home here.  The director really did an awesome job of portraying the wasteland as a horrifically dangrous place where only the mo
Read more

City Island (2009)

By -
Image
Another movie I thought would be lame when I first saw it; but just like with books, you can't judge a movie by it's DVD box.  City Island was one of the few drama movies that really keeps the story flowing. The film is all about the convoluted, lie-filled lives of the Rizzos.  Every single family member has a massive secret that no one else knows about.   The daughter is a professional stripper, the dad goes to acting lessons under the guise of playing poker games; and everyone secretly smokes whenever no one else is looking.  When the father discovers that a new in-mate at the jail he works at is his 24 year old son from a wife he ran away from years ago, everything spirals into complete and utter chaos.  The movie is primarily drama, but the director did such a good job with pacing it really keeps the ball rolling.  Every 10 minutes another twist or lie is built up or knocked down.  It really is a fascinating look at how quickly lies can overwhelm even a small group of p
Read more