Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Eyes Wide Shut was originally rated NC-17. Therfore, there is an edited R-rated version, but the NC-17 version is recommended for a more realistic experience.

Continuing on with Stanley Kubrick, there's Eyes Wide Shut. The movie is one of the strangest known to mankind. Erotic and suspensful, the director's last film is misunderstood for obvious reasons and not many critics liked it originally. Now, people have looked past the reviews and began to enjoy it.

Eyes Wide Shut starts out as a free form plot, but then finally starts to begin about 40 minutes in. Bill (Tom Cruise) and Alice (Nicole Kidman) are happily married. One night, Alice admits that she had a fantasy about cheating with another man. Bill is thrown into the idea of hatred and decides that he is going to cheat on her. Little does he know that he has just delved into the odd world of secret sexuality in New York.

The film, which was originally rated NC-17, is extremely sexual. After a certain point in the movie, just about every woman is topless or shows a full frontal. Whether this is necessary or not is a common argument, but I personally feel that it is. The film is notable for the scene in which Kidman dances nude to a Chris Isaak song. Also, the orgy scene is beyond wild and seems to stretch on forever. I think it does actually clock in at about 15 minutes all together (the movie is 159 minutes long).

Another thing that stands out for the whole movie is Stanley Kubrick's direction. It is hard to hold an audience for two hours and 40 minutes, but it is even harder to keep the erotic mood of the film for that long. Every scene seems to have this eerie lingering sexuality to it. Not only this, but the shots are also composed very well. Everything is very appealing to the eye.

Stanley Kubrick's final movie is good end to his career. A great director left us with a great fantasy-or nightmare depending on how you look at it. The actors are great, the scenes are too explicit, and the movie is a great mystery. Creepy and satisfying, Eyes Wide Shut is good cult classic.

Inside (2007)

This film is also known as A L'interieur. In French, with English subtitles.

The genre of French shock cinema has produced some of the most strange and disturbing films in it's most recent years. Inside is just another even more disturbing addition to it. Chilling and creepy, Inside manages to work it's way into your mind and never crawls out. You will surely be disturbed by it for a while.

Inside is the story of a mother named Sarah who has recently survived an accident that she was in. At the time, she was pregnant, so luckily for her, the baby survived, but her boyfriend didn't. On a lonely Christmas night that she spends at home, she is visited by an odd woman who won't leave her alone. The plot then descends from here into a gory and twisted story.

Inside is not a movie to be seen if you're at all squeamish. The film went direct to DVD in America probably due to it's violent content. There's tons of scissor violence and unrealistic gore that is all over the walls of Sarah's house by the end. These acts include stabbed testicles, eyes being gouged out, and exploding heads.

The end of the movie leaves some to be desired. Although it may be a pretty good twist, it seems like one can tell what's going to happen from the beginning. When it does happen, it's bloody and incredibly effective, but it seems to be a little expected. Also, some elements of it are open to interpretation by the viewer.

Inside is one of the few movies that actually scares me. Not only am I somewhat afraid of it, but it also manages to gross me out, which is something I don't usually care for, but I did like it in this movie. The gore just makes it even more insane and twisted. It is probably unlikely that I'll ever see another film like this one.

WARNING: This film includes extreme strong graphic violence. Many audiences may have a problem with it.

Irreversible (2002)

Gaspar Noe's torturous movie Irreversible is cinematic and also groundbreaking. The film is Memento-esque in the way that it plays backwards as the tragic events unfold in Paris. Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and Pierre are looking for Le Tenia for the reason, which is later revealed, that Alex (Monica Belucci) has been brutally raped and murdered.

Noe's direction and Monica Belucci really shine in this movie. Although it would be hard to say that the direction is beautiful, it is for sure that of an expert. Monica Belucci is great in the role of Alex. In the sick and perverted ten minute rape scene (I'm not even exaggerating), she gives a very believable performance.

Although Irreversible may be hard to watch at times, it does require one's full attention. As confusing enough as it is, things can easily be missed. It is sick and twisted, but worth more than one viewing.

Irreversible falls under what would be called shock cinema and it truly is shocking. The tragic story of rape, murder, and fate is the most disturbing film ever. Many people left the theater originally because it is just too much. Try to watch this movie because it actually is very good.

Warning: This movie includes graphic, extended scenes of rape, violence, and nudity. You've been warned.

Movies You Shouldn't See: Shortbus (2006)

Let's just face it. Shortbus is a full length, artful porn film. Even though it has cinematical value, there is just way too many sex scenes! The plot and movie are meant to be groundbreaking, but it is almost a failure.

Shortbus is about a sex therapist named Sofia (played by Soo-Yin Lee). Sofia is possibly the most ironic character to be seen on film. Why? Because she can't achieve an orgasm. Big whoop. Aside from her, the film also follows a gay couple on the verge of a breakup, a dominatrix, and Sofia's boyfriend. All the characters' stories eventually collide at a club called Shortbus where they experience a sexual awakening.

The thing that draws many people to this film is its long and overwraught sex scenes. Well, I should probably warn you that there is not a scene of simulated sex in this film. Egad! The autofellatio, the masturbation, the gay anal sex. It's all real. Whoever came up with this idea failed. Epically. The sex scenes aren't even erotic.

Be it not for John Cameron Mitchell's direction in non-sex scenes (which there are very few of) and Soo-Yin Lee's performance, the film just falls flat on its face. A porn could be better than this movie, only there is no direction from Mitchell in it. There are better sex movies around that aren't porn, and this just isn't one of them.