Bronson

2011 was one of my favorite years in movies that I can remember, and it was filled with some great years for both director of Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn and arguably the hottest new face in Hollywood the past two years Tom Hardy. Bronson is a film featuring them both, and helped bring these two faces into the light so they could reach the status they have today.

Hardy plays Charles Bronson, Britain’s most dangerous and notorious prisoner. Bronson longs to be a famous and recognized face, and after being arrested and put  in jail for seven years for robbing a post office, he becomes so by being wreckless and careless, assaulting prisoners and prison guards alike. Bronson is released for a short period of time, where he starts a bare-knuckle boxing career, but he lasts only 60 odd days before being thrown back in, where he continues his past behavior.

Synecdoche, New York

A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.

IMDb [7.2/10]

RottenTomatoes [68%, 61%]

Writer/director Charlie Kaufman is a man with a very specific and recognizable style of movies. Mostly, that style is you have no idea what his movies are about and need to watch them at least twelve times to come to a conclusion that you think could be legitimate. His other three films that he has both written and directed are Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation.. They all deal with different types of plays on reality and self, and are all very unique and extremely intriguing. I have really enjoyed all of these previous works. But after seeing Synecdoche, New York, my idea of the Kaufman style has been brought to a whole new level.