The Oxford Murders

                                                 Rating: 8/10

If you had a brain the size of a goldfish's times a little more like most of us do, yes this is an obvious exaggeration, then you would find this movie a bit of a bore. Between the discussions about philosophy, physics and math, I was almost convinced that I was watching this for a class and not for fun in the beginning. By the twenty-eighth minute mark, fun left the equation and I was sure I had accidentally walked into a class....still trying to figure out what class it is.

The Oxford Murders, a movie staring Elijah Woods, John Hurt, Leonor Watling and others is a movie about a professor and a student, who worked with Scotland Yard to solve a series of murders. They did this by trying to decipher a series of codes or symbols with mathematical equations. 

If you manage to get past the first five minutes of the film, I do applaud you. But after you have gotten up to thirty minutes into the movie, I don't know how, you would feel it is now your solemn duty to complete it. Then you pay extra attention to the movie and discover the brilliance in it. You feel it, can almost see it, then it eludes you. And just when you want to write the movie off as a total waste of time, it creeps back up on you at the final scene, and squeezes out that applause from you in the end. A similar brilliance to the Black Swan's, but this time a bit more coy and evasive. 

Elijah Woods stars as Martin, a young graduate student who is almost overly obsessed with a world renowned Professor Aurthur Seldom, John Hurt, whose brilliance is doubted by me at several points, but proven true by the rap. In order not to give any spoilers, I would say this:

I think the one thing that put the movie together was a statement Seldom made twice in the movie: The butterfly that flutters its wings and causes a hurricane at the other side of the world. 

Remembering this would give any the understanding, or the key, they need to unlock the secrets of this film. I personally found Watling character in the movie, Lorna, like a breath of fresh air each time she appeared. Though her character and Wood's were romantically involved in the movie, her scenes seemed totally out of place for the most part and a bit chaotic with the bulk of the script. Yet this did not come off negatively, but felt more like taking a breath of fresh air once in a while or coming up for a breather. Like commercials during a soap opera.  

Like all things not perfect, this movie was no different. For instance, there was a certain young man who shared a study with Martin, whose name I can't be bothered to recall, whose character still remains a mystery to me. I would guess it might have had something to do with him looking like a suspect for the murders, but this was never truly explained as he was suddenly missing from the movie. I could not decide if he was close to having a psychotic break or just a weirdo. I guess I would never know. 

Then there was the romance.

I believe I can safely say that Woods has some difficulty in portraying fake sex. That being said, the sexual or bedroom scenes in the movie left much to be desired. For some reason though, I also got the vibe that I was watching one of my younger siblings in the act. And believe me, that did not feel too good. 

All the same, I would recommend this movie if you have time and patience and don't mind thinking and mind reading because The Oxford Murders gives you all those are more. I would advise though that if you get to the thirty minute mark of the film, then do watch it to the end, despite the few parts that make your senses plead for you to stop. Because in the end, the last ten minutes of the movie, I managed to change the ratings of the movie from a 4, to a 6, then a 7, back to a 5 and finally settle for the 8 it is. 

The Craig's List Killer

                                                                               Rating: 4/10

I guess this post would be more on the killer than the movie.

If you don't get my stand on the movie from the first sentence, then I would put it simply: I believe the movie was almost a total waste of tv space. Not because of the story it was based on, but because I feel it was poorly put together. Should it have been based off fantasy, I think this review would be the same.

It began as what most thrillers would, portraying the soon to be devastated family and group of friends in their normal lives and daily routine, then soon spiraled into what turned out to be a fiercely summarized series of juxtaposed parts of Mr. Markoff's life, from college till death.

At some point in the movie, I was sure Markoff was having a psychotic break (still wondering), and that this had to do with some things that occurred in his childhood. Say abandonment or abuse at the age of 7 (I simply picked this number because there was a scene in the movie where Markoff failed to answer properly about a child's diagnosis because, as his supervisor put it 'he was getting personal' or something of the sort).... I don't know. Though the movie raised all these questions, sadly, none of them were answered. Leaving me with many holes to fill on my own.

Before I watched this, I had heard nothing about the said 'Craig's list killer' and simply assumed that for a person to get a title in America as the 'bla bla killer' he or she had to be some sort of gruesome murderer or a serial killer. It was based off this assumption I watched this movie, and thus was the reason I was thoroughly baffled when the killer was not as, lets say, 'enchanting' as I thought he would be.  No, I am not infatuated with killing and do not admire the act whatsoever.

Let me state here that I am by no means condoning what he did or undermining the fact that the ladies he attacked were victims, no. But I believe the media and the police force (assuming they reacted as they did in the movie)over escalated what could have been an accident and gone as man slaughter. To clarify why I came to this conclusion, I would write what I believe happened based on what I read online and watched in the movie. I am no expert here, I did not know the man or any of the people so I could definitely be way off topic.

I believe Markoff was a straight A college kid with all the expectations of all around him for him. He was, as stated before, the American dream. This would put pressure on anyone. Now having a bondage fetish or 'S and M' fetish is really not part of the 'lifestyle of the American dream' and he needed a way to, lets say, get off. Granted his choice would not win an award for 'World's smartest', but humiliating women, i.e, making them masochists psychologically was what he did. Taking their underwear was part of his sick fetish too I guess. To each his own. Unfortunately for him, since his victims were not masochists, they did not find his acts as much fun as he did. Miss Brisman panicked and so did Markoff (I believe) who shot her. From what I gathered, prior to this, what I choose to call an accident, all Markoff was, was a thieving pervert.

But being tagged as the 'Craig's list killer' by the media, put him on the same page as the BTK, The Zodiac and all the other names in the 'killing industry'. To be honest, I think that put even more pressure on this 'American dream now turned bad boy'. Yes he was a murderer because he did commit the crime, but I don't believe he was a killer. That, to me, requires a plural body count at least. This is because the definition for a killer is someone who kills. That of a murderer can go two ways: Someone who commits murder or someone who murders. I think if he was treated as the 'thieving pervert who killed a girl' that he was, things would have gone down differently.

But hey what do I know right? I never met him or any of his victims. All I did was watch a movie and read the news. Things could have gone down, in reality, differently from how the rest of the world saw it, and this website is not for court cases but a movie review site. So as a movie, I think the 'Craig's list killer' was really not on the list of 'Top ten Birthday presents I got this year' (Yes, it came out on my birthday). It turned out to be a tragedy for both parties: offender and victim. Not even the chance to be 'happy when the villain is caught' like all 'good guy-bad guy' movies are meant to go in fantasy world. And boy, do I hate tragedies.

That's all folks.