Kalifornia

Hud warned me I wasn't going to like this movie and for once he was wrong. His warning made me worry that this was going to be as awful as something like Silence of the Lambs (saw that in the theater in high school and it freaked me out so bad that I promised myself I would never watch it again) but, despite all the killings, it was nowhere near as bad as SoL, and I think I know why. See, there was kind of an excuse for the killings in this movie; Brad Pitt played an inbred hillbilly (is that what they call them in Kentucky? I thought that was more of an Arkansas thing) who was obviously not right in the head, and who murdered for money or "necessity" rather than "enjoyment." On the other hand, in SoL we have Hannibal Lecter who is highly intelligent and cultured, and very methodical and matter-of-fact in his killings, just the way a normal person would select a wine to go with their meal. It is much harder to understand why such an outwardly normal-seeming person would end up as a murderer, let alone a freakin' cannibal.

Anyway, this movie was nowhere near as horrifying as Silence of the Lambs, which makes me wonder if I should actually watch one of the Godfather movies. Hud warned me away from those too, knowing I really dislike movies that portray people at their most heartless and cruel, but I've heard so often how great all of those movies are.

I am still trying to decide if Brad Pitt did a good job with his character and accent or if it was more of a caricature. I think most of the time he did pretty well, until he would make one of his Beavis & Butthead grunting noises. One thing's for sure, I really didn't notice the pretty about him much in this flick.