the kling klang king of the rim ram room

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

There is no denying that this is a great movie with an amazing performance by Nicolas Cage. You can practically Feel his pain as you watch him physically degenerating.

Ok, that said, I have three problems with this one. First and foremost, THE MUSIC. It is sooo loud, and the same songs play over and over and over. It's incredibly distracting and odd and the songs themselves (sung by Sting, Don Henley, and Michael McDonald) just do not date well.

Second, I don't understand why Sera kicks Ben out after she finds him with the hooker. Seems to me like the whole premise of the movie is how they accept each other as they are...but then, she doesn't really. I don't know...maybe I'm missing something, but every time I watch this movie I always feel like that part is just there to add some drama...drama that I don't really think is necessary for the story.

Third, the sex scene at the end. I mean, it's definitely portrayed as sick and sad, as it should be. However, I just don't think that it's realistic to think that it could even happen at all. I mean, in real life I have a hard time believing that he could even come close to, er, performing...not to mention if he was really that far into the dt's he'd probably be pretty gross, personal hygiene-wise, and sex would probably be the last thing on either of their minds. I know, I know, it's a movie, not reality, but up to that point it is a pretty darn realistic movie, and then there is that scene and i just think "oh, Hollywood."

All that said, it's a very well done movie, and I'm glad Cory got to see it (I can't believe he hadn't already).

cory says... I'm not joking here... I didn't really feel depressed watching this (other than the rape scene). I found it to be somewhat playful in a twisted way. I thought the acting was excellent, and it seemed like they had a good time making this. I agree the music is fucking terrible.

Hmm.

I really want to read the book now. Did you know that the author was an alcoholic too, and killed himself two weeks after learning his book was going to be made into a movie? Sad stuff.

By the way, whatever happened to Elisabeth Shue?