HAPPY X-DAY!
[IMDB link] [Netflix link] So after watching and greatly enjoying War, Inc., I was told that it was an unofficial psuedosequel to Grosse Point Blank. That the movies were very similar. So I decided to check Grosse Point Blank out, since it was released on bluray.
PEOPLE: John Cusack as a professional killer, and Joan Cusack as his manager/assistant. Just like War, Inc. Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) as the love interest. Alan Arkin (Gattaca, The Last Unicorn) as John Cusack‘s shrink. Dan Aykroyd as his frenemy, just like War, Inc. Hank Azaria (The Simpsons: Professor Frink / Comic Book Guy / Moe / Chief Wiggum / Lou / Carl / Cletus / Bumblebee Man / Male EPA Worker / Dome Depot Announcer / Kissing Cop / Carnival Barker / Counter Man / Apu / Drederick Tatum / Sea Captain / EPA Passenger / Robot / Dr. Nick) as a cop.
PLOT SUMMARY: A hitman attends his 10-year high school reunion, while trying to decide if he should stop being a professional killer.
UNCOMFORTABLE PLOT SUMMARY (inspired by this): Hitman’s highschool reunion leads to complications.
QUIRKS: A comedy, but with some dark [murder] elements.
This movie references a lot of movies, but most of them went unnoticed. I’d love to know how it referenced Dr. Strangelove.
They had an arcade version of DOOM 2 in this movie! That never even existed! That would have been so awesome, but we all just played it on our PCs anyway. But it was awesome seeing DOOM in a movie!
SOUNDTRACK: A great soundtrack actually! Lots of songs that I know and like! I’m glad I waited until the last 2000s to watch this, or I never would have appreciated The Pixies “Monkey Gone To Heaven” song used in this film. But throwing in Violent Femmes “Blister In The Sun” almost automatically makes this soundtrack better than any one I will hear this year. (I usually hate movie music.) Throwing in some Clash, Live And Let Die, Motorhead’s “Ace Of Spades”, Faith No More’s “We Care A Lot”, A-Ha’s “Take On Me”, The Bangles’ “Walk Like An Egyptian”, Nena’s “99 Luftballoons”… Thigns just get better … Hell, I even recognized a Cure song, and I hate the Cure. I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie that used 7 songs I like.
MORALS: Something about not being a hit man…
GOOD STUFF: Mixing a high school reunion with murder? I haven’t attended a reunion that awesome since I watched Cabin Fever 2 :)
CONCLUSION: Oh wow. This movie was way quirkier than I thought it would be; the title had always made me think it was some dumb gun movie. I’m glad that the comments on my War, Inc. review pursuaded me to check this out. This was actually pretty funny — and I have a soft spot for 10-year-reunion movies, because I skipped my own 10-year high school reunion.
RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 4/5 stars. IMDB: 8/10.
Same rating that we gave War, Inc.
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 7.4/10 (compared to 5.7 for War, Inc.), Netflix: 3.8/5 stars (compared to 2.7/5 for War, Inc.).
Netflix’s predicted rating for us was 3.6/5 stars, which tipped things in the wrong direction; we liked this slightly better than average, not less.
I think War, Inc., scored so much lower because it was political. Making fun of the Bush Administration can drive half your audience away.
RECOMMENDATION: See it! Don’t let the title throw you off like I did! I thought it was some dumb gun movie and avoided it for years.
SIMILAR MOVIES: War, Inc. – Bush administration political satire + high school reunion = Grosse Point Blank.
THERE IS AN ANIMATED PILOT TO A GROSSE POINT BLANK CARTOON! IF ANYONE CAN FIND THIS, PLEASE CONTACT ME!!!
MOVIE QUOTE: Marty: They all have husbands and wives and children and houses and dogs, and, you know, they’ve all made themselves a part of something and they can talk about what they do. What am I gonna say? “I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How’ve you been?”
FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Other people definitely had a lot of positive things to say about this movie. Walter: “I think you may have been better off watching them in the order you watched them. While I enjoyed War Inc. I felt it was weaker in comparison to Grosse Point Blank which lessened my appreciation.”Mood: annoyed
Music: Sepultura – Inner Self
Claire's blog 
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