90s Movie Review - American History X

Director: Tony Kaye
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 119 minutes
Year: 1998
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Avery Brooks, Stacy Keach, Elliot Gould

Description: Former neo-nazi skinhead Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) tries to prevent his younger brother Danny (Edward Furlong) from going down the same wrong path that he did.

Review: After skinhead Derek Vinyard kills two black burglars, he goes to prison, with pride. The so called ideals of the ‘third reich’ can’t save him there, so Derek chooses a different path and doesn’t want to have anything to do with it anymore. His younger brother Danny though worships Derek and is about to follow the wrong path.
“American History X” is a powerful film, with some shocking violent scenes. That one scene, involving a curb, makes me cringe every time.  It’s a drama with a clearly present moral.
The story alternates between the past and present. The part that’s set in the present day, is shot in full color. The scenes where we learn about Derek’s early life and his time in jail, was shot in black and white. By using these two different styles, it keeps your attention at all times.
The acting is excellent and especially Edward Norton shines. This is his best performance to date and he shows how varied he can be. We see him as the relentless and proud neo-nazi, that doesn’t even blink to kill a man and has a strong opinion about people that aren’t white. But also the change he goes through, where he finally realizes what he did. He is no longer proud of his actions and wants to walk away from that life. Norton was nominated for an Academy Award and in my opinion he should have gone home with the statue.
“American History X” is one of my favorite films and gets to me every time. A great film with an extraordinary performance by Edward Norton.

Rating: 5/ 5

Movie Review - The Hunt

Director: Craig Zobel
Genre: Action/ Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 90 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank, Ike Barinholtz, Ethan Suplee, Emma Roberts, Justin Hartley, Wayne Duvall, Amy Madigan

Description: Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know were they are, or how they got there. They don’t know they’ve been chose, for a specific purpose: The Hunt.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2020 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 42: A MOVIE RATED FRESH ON ROTTEN TOMATOES

Review: To start it off: “The Hunt” is not for the faint of heart, since it’s very violent and there is a lot of bloodshed. Already in the opening phase, it becomes clear that a group of rich and influential people with a private jet are on their way to an unknown location to hunt down and kill innocent people. Once on location, the potential victims are dumped in the woods and then, one by one, fall prey to the trigger-happy hunters. The massacres are colorful, explicit and body parts fly all over the place.
Although the story seems to be secondary to all that bloodshed, after a bloody opening phase attention is paid to the characters and the motives of the elite group to hunt down innocent people. In the first part of the film, you’re not really sure who the main character is, because we follow several. When it’s eventually clear who we will stick with, this character is one of the most likeable ones.
“The Hunt” is a satire. I think that’s the reason why the audience is so divided in opinion. I think many people take it too seriously and don’t even get that it’s meant to be a satire. I think the scene where the first people are hunted makes it very clear.
I think “The Hunt” is a lot better than it gets credit for. The runtime is short, never drags and there isn’t a dull moment. The character development does suffer from that short runtime, because other then our main character, we don’t really get to know any of them. Their motives are explained, but only very briefly and not enough to actually care.
“The Hunt” is a very enjoyable action/ horror movie.  

Rating: 3,5 / 5