Pi by Darren Aronofsky
Ugh, I don't know, I didn't really like this. It's interesting to look at with its beautiful black and white cinematography, but I didn't like what I saw as an exercise in editing that came of dangerously close to music video aesthetics especially coupled with a 'cool' soundtrack. The ideas presented are interesting, like is there a pattern to everything around us, can a number be a key to universe secrets etc, big themes that weren't explored, just thrown in a pot, undercooked. What could have been even more interesting is the exploration of how constant search of this mathematician (or humans in general) for a pattern, a number, trying to give a meaning to the senseless world can make him a madman or a genius. Now, it's fairly obvious that Aronofsky went for this, but, imo, he didn't really show it. The end result is all flash, very little substance. I felt this film was pretty pointless. Ha...maybe that's the point, but since Aronofsky is very literal (judging by this and Requiem for a Dream), I highly doubt it.
Oldboy
This was pretty good, but not really mindblowing as I expected. The whole twist, a revelation was somewhat contrived when you think about it, bit it's rendered with such intensity that I can overlook it. The premise is very strong, but barely touched beyond surface. But, since this film doesn't pretend to be anything more than basically a revenge flick, I can forgive it and enjoy it for what it is.