Castaway on the Moon (2009)

Title: Castaway on the Moon (2009) (NR)

Starring:   Min-heui Hong, So-yeon Jang and Jae-yeong Jeong
Director: Hey-jun Lee
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rotten Tomatoes: Critic: No Ratings, Audience: 80%
IMDB: 8.1/10
Language: Korean 
Runtime: 1 Hour 56 Minutes



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Subtitled
Recommended
Available on Netflix
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Wow, here's a nice random one for you. This is the type of movie that I come across from randomly browsing Netflix's library. The premise of this movie is something that I haven't seen before and because the movie is so hilarious it just adds to that.

So here's a basic plot outline, this guy is depressed over debts and his life just generally being crappy. So he decides to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. (Wow.. getting heavy and sad.. I thought this was a comedy?) Well, hold on hold on. So he jumps from the bridge, but he doesn't end up dying. (Oh.. one of those.) He ends up on a little island in between the shores of the city.

Okay.. so why doesn't he just swim back? Well, that's the tricky part, apparently he cannot swim or has a fear of swimming. Since the water is too deep to walk across, he is effectively stuck on this island with no way of getting off the island. We see his feeble attempts to try to signal people and so on to no avail. Then the movie kind starts reminding me of Castaway ala Tom Hanks. He starts making the island his home and becomes really effective at living on this little island.

Okay, so the whole movie is like Castaway? Well, no the movie adds another nice angle. So the romance part comes from this girl who is kind of a shut in. Read like a Hikikomori who spots this guy trapped on the island from her window (she uses a telescope to look at people). Throughout the movie we see her attempts to break her own isolation because she becomes interested in this strange fellow living on this little island in the middle of a waterway. The basic feeling I get is people trying to break free from their own comfort zones of isolation.

The movie overall is very funny. It gets a little emotional (tear jerky) hear and there, and is a fun movie to watch. This is what I would call one of those hidden gems on Netflix, so be sure to check it out if you think you'll like it. Enjoy!

Harry Brown (2009)

Title: Harry Brown (2009) (R)

Starring:  Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, David Bradley
Director: Daniel Barber 
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime
Rotten Tomatoes: Critic: 63%, Audience: 74%
IMDB: 7.3/10  
Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes



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I'm a little torn on this movie. On the one hand I loved Michael Caine's character. On the other hand there is no hand. Michael Caine makes this movie work. This is your typical former military serviceman (now old guy) gets pissed off by the lack of justice in his neighborhood and goes vigilante. So, Michael Caine's character lives in this rotten place and he feels like the police aren't getting things done. So he takes matters into his old.. hands.

Is this movie watchable? Absolutely. In fact it's very watchable. Is it astounding cinema destined to be remembered forever? Probably not. In fact within a few years nobody will probably remember this movie.

One thing I appreciate that they did with Caine's character the balance they gave him. Sometimes in these "turned vigilante" movies they make the main character relatively invincible throughout the whole movie. However, this movie takes into account the fact that Caine's character is an old guy and he struggles with his physical incapacities throughout his attempts to garner justice.

Really, the only reason I even watched this movie was because it has Michael Caine in it, and I am a fan of Michael Caine in general. Really, not much about this movie is worth watching, except for Michael Caine. So there you go.

As of this posting the movie is no longer available on Netflix, but I believe it's available on Crackle.

Enjoy.