Take Five

By George Rose

October 7, 2009

They are all within one degree of Kevin Bacon.

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Welcome to Take Five, your weekly list of five random movie recommendations. Most people don't have time to watch five movies in a week. Most people don't even have five minutes to take a break and relax. Take Five is here to quicken your search for reliable entertainment (or at least movies that I deem entertaining) so you can enjoy what little free time you have. And really, who reading this article doesn't want to spend their free time watching movies? It's not like you're on sports Web site.

Though sports aren't my thing, watching them sure is a better use of my time than going on dead-end job interviews. That's right, as a recent college graduate, I am forced to partake in the post-grad job hunt. About a year ago, I was thrilled to be graduating. I had several internships under my belt that all pointed towards a well-paying first job. That was until, you know, the recession hit. Now jobs are scarce and I'm forced to search through all the crap in hopes that something – anything! – will come up and help me pay my college loans. Unfortunately, watching movies on my big screen TV doesn't pay squat. But hey, at least I get to watch some movies and recommend the few that don't completely suck. If only someone could do the same for me but act as more of a job-filter instead. No? Nobody wants to go on my job interviews and tell me which ones are worth the call-back? Fine, I guess it's back to watching movies for me. Here's what I dug up this week.




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The Midnight Meat Train (2008)

Friends of mine – the kinds of friends that actually have jobs – just moved into a new apartment. After envying their new place and having a beer, we decided we'd watch a movie. These friends had just rented a few from Blockbuster (don't worry, I'm already in the process of converting them to Netflix) and I was enormously surprised by one of the selections: The Midnight Meat Train. I had heard of the movie's buzz prior to its release and wanted to see it badly, mainly because I was in love with Bradley Cooper, but then it fizzled out of theaters before I had the chance. This was of course before The Hangover came out and made EVERYONE love Cooper. I don't like being in love with the mega-mainstream, so I went back to loving Clive Owen instead. After the box office returns of Duplicity, I think it's safe to say nobody is watching his films. Regardless, we decided to watch Midnight Meat Train so we could see what all that buzz was about.

As it turns out, the plot is pretty simple, which I did not expect given the buzz. Cooper plays a photographer named Leon, who happens to stumble onto a series of murders that occur on the last subway train of the night. It's safe to say the train leaves around midnight. Because nobody believes Leon, he must try and take pictures of these murders to prove his sanity, while at the same time benefiting his career as a photographer. Things get a little trippy and after awhile I thought the movie was going into the territory of American Psycho or High Tension; either he was making the murders up in his head or Leon himself was the killer. Neither prediction was right and, in all actuality, the end is nothing – I repeat, NOTHING – you can possibly guess. It's so absurd and unfathomable that it's actually the perfect ending, because nothing bothers me more than being able to guess the end right from the start (which I was trying to do).


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