Mike Goes To Movies

Pierrot le Fou (1965) TLDR: Despite being a 'classic' and perhaps one of the quintessential European New Wave films, Godard's Pierrot le Fou is the antithesis to today's contemporary mainstream movie-going experience. It is an entertainingly goofy affair yet also baffling and often indecipherable. It is both an homage and also a commentary on the medium of film, and one that requires a good deal of contemplative afterthought to ponder what exactly it is you've just watched... I will admit that Pierrot is the first film by the legendary Jean-Luc Godard that I have seen. While I knew his status as an auteur and as one of the best of his craft, I didn't quite know his 'style' going into this film. As anyone who has seen some of Godard's will know, within twenty minutes or so, I was taken for quite the turn - I quickly felt like I was part of Ferdinand and Marianne's chaotic joy ride through the European countryside filled with romance, crime, non-se...

Pain & Gain (2013) Even imperfect as it is, Pain & Gain is definitely one of Michael Bay's more successful recent endeavours. To be fair, he has really only had one other non-Transformers film that he has directed since 2007 so there's that to consider... Pain & Gain with its effective mix of action and dark humour takes Bay back to the ilk of Bad Boys, one of his more beloved franchises. This film, remarkably based on a true story, is a classic tale of the quest for the American Dream. Well, in a way, at least. This iteration of the classic fable centres on three incompetent and rather repellent gym rats who attempt a kidnapping of a rich client of the gym that they work at. The job is less than a success though, causing the thugs to use their combined intellect and scheming to save the job and their own selves. If not for the darkly black humour underlying the film, this would be quite the despicable and violent story. However, Bay wisely banks in on the ine...