Good Oldies Tuesday - Shutter Island

This is an R rated movie

Do you know those movies that you have to pay a lot of attention in order to understand it? Well, such is the case with Shutter Island. And even if you do, you will still be a little bit confused for the most part lol. And this is precisely what makes this movie so good, because you end up having to solve the mystery :)

This movie is about two U.S. Marshals played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo. They are assigned to solve a case where a woman went missing on a psychiatric hospital/prison.

This hospital only treats people who have committed horrible crimes and have been declared insane. So what happens is that this female patience simply disappeared from the hospital facilities, even though it was a maximum-security hospital on an Island where people can’t really escape from, unless they had a boat or could swim for hours in freezing waters.

When the two Marshals get there, everybody looks suspicious and no one knows or can explain how the woman could have escaped. Meanwhile all this crazy things start happening there and you don’t really know whom to believe in anymore.

This is an excellent movie, the kind that makes you think and think but still doesn't help you make sense of what’s going on. And the best part is, you may be very, very smart, but I don’t believe you can guess what’s going to happen in the end.

I remember that towards the end, when the mystery is finally solved, I went ‘NOO, I can’t believe it!!!!’ So, expect lots of surprises throughout this movie. All I can say is that it’s really, really nice, not predictable at all and a little bit scary.

If you like the kind of movies that make you think a lot and keep you on the edge of your seat, you will really like Shutter Island… trust me ;)

Good oldies Tuesday - Coach Carter

I don’t really like watching sports on TV but strangely enough I love watching movies about it. I don’t really understand American Football, but really enjoy watching movies where they show it, the same with baseball and basketball… go figure.

This is a movie about a High School Basketball Team that after losing most of their games in their past season, decides to hire former basketball player Ken Carter (played by Samuel L Jackson).

Carter has very different tactics to train his players and one of them is by teaching them respect. Respect towards others and themselves. After months of practice and really hard training, they learn how to play well and sure enough their team start winning all the games.

Although this is a very interesting part in the movie, it’s not what I liked the most. What I liked the most in this movie is that the coach didn’t want to only have a successful basketball season; he wanted to teach his players that there’s more to life than the here and now.

Most of the students of his school either dropped out, went to jail or ended up dead and he wanted to change that, at least for the players on this team. He does everything in his power to show them that if they chose to, they could have a better future, they could be someone in life; they could go to College and do things they never believed they could.

And the whole school really admired him for that… well, not really.

You see, whenever you are trying to make a difference, you will face opposition. You are misunderstood, misinterpreted, judged and even criticized and that’s exactly what happens with Ken Carter. He was trying to help but people didn’t understand it that way.

Coach Carter is based on a true story and that’s probably why I like it so much. 

So, if you haven’t watched this movie yet, you should. It’s really inspiring and definitely one of my favorites.

Good oldies Tuesday - The Mirror has Two Faces

I watched this movie quite a while ago. I had always heard of how good it was and so one day I prepared a snack, bought ice cream, invited a couple of friends over to watch it in my house and we had a very pleasant afternoon together.

This is what I remember every time I think about this movie :)

The movie tells the story of a woman and a man. Both are professors in a University. She is very smart and very good at what she does. He is very smart but his students don’t really like his classes.

When he saw how everybody seemed to like her teaching methods, he asks for her help and from then on they develop a friendship.

She is the type of person everyone wants to be around and although she has family and friends, she never really found someone to love.

He is the more loner type of man but has had many experiences with women who left him heartbroken.

She believes in true love, the kind that makes your heart race and takes your breath away.

He believes true love doesn’t exist and that you don't need love to get married. All you need are two people who are friends and enjoy each other's company.

So after a few months he makes a proposition to her. What if they got married so they could be each other’s companions? They would get married, live in the same house but sleep in separate beds. They would enjoy each other’s friendship but would not have any kind of physical contact.

She accepts it and that's when the story really starts… Can’t really say any more, otherwise I’ll give the whole plot away.

I recommend it 100% and would watch over and over again if my dear, dear friend Aline Munhoz hadn’t borrowed it  a few years ago and kept the DVD for herself (you still owe me for that by the way) lol.

This movie is very funny, very entertaining and truly a nice movie!

A romantic comedy like you don’t see nowadays anymore. 

Introducing... Good Oldies Tuesday!

Watching movies and reading books are things I've enjoyed doing since I was a little girl. I remember being really happy whenever we had to read a book in school. Most people would complain about having one more thing to study, but to me reading stories wasn't studying at all. It was having fun :)

But going back to the subject I want to talk about today... There are many movies I've watched throughout the years that I've been meaning to write about here on my blog but never really did. I usually post my movie reviews on Fridays and so there's never enough time to write about them all. So, I have decided to create the Good oldies Tuesday!

Every Tuesday from now on I will be posting a review about an 'old' movie I've watched and liked. You know... just in case you haven't watched them yet.

Do you have free time but don't really want to leave your house? 

Do you want to entertain yourself but have no money to go out? lol

Are you planning to spend the night over your best friend's house and are looking for ways to entertain yourselves? 

Good oldies Tuesday is here to help you! Just pass by here every Tuesday to see my recommendations, rent the movie, get some popcorn and you are good to go!

Here's a list with few movies I'll be posting from next week on (not necessarily in that order):

The mirror has two faces

Freedom writers

Soul surfer

The Notebook

A Walk to remember

The devil wears prada

Pride and Prejudice

Bourne Trilogy

Beastly

Remember the Titans

Invincible

The Great Debaters

Fireproof

Training Day

The Pursuit of Happyness

Shutter Island

American history X

The Illusionist

Primal Fear

And many others... Some of these are so old I will have to watch them again just to write the review hehehe.

Which others do you think should be included in the list? Write your suggestions in the comments below.

P.S.1: If you never have free time, you should take part on the Time Challenge here every Monday.

P.S.2: If you never have money, here's something that could help you: Tips for your finances with Patricia.

P.S.3: If you don't have any friends... well, then you have a problem. Forget about the movies, let's talk about it and see if I can help you in anyway. You can write to me here: Talk to me.

P.S.4: How on earth am I ever going to find the Portuguese titles for all these movies so I can post it on my blog in Portuguese?! Gulp...