No Country For Old Men

The first theater movie I have taken in this year, and I was not disappointed. Having wanted to see this film for at least 3 months now, I was psyched that I got to see while it was still out. Needless to say, I was blown away. Javier Bardem is terrifying as a murderer with arguably one of the oddest moral codes seen on screen in awhile. Josh Brolin also delivers as the fortuitous blue collar Texan who finds $2 million out in the West Texas scrub brush.

I guess you could say I'm a film buff, and I know my movie trivia fairly well, but I'm certainly not a fanatical fan of one director or actor or genre. I watch a lot of movies, I pick up on directors and whatnot, but I wouldn't last very long in one of those snobby conversations about how brilliant the Coen Bros are and how the plot nuances in Fargo clearly continue into their latter day work, blah, blah, blah...
That said, I have to say No Country for Old Men is my favorite Coen Bros offering since Lebowski. It certainly felt like one of their films as far as quirkiness and moments of dark humor go, but at other times it was something completely different than I have seen from them. Better storytelling, better plot flow, and really just an intensity that was present from the onset.

While I haven't seen too many of the other probable Oscar candidate flicks yet, it would take something extraordinary to knock this one off as my favorite thus far...

The Queen

The Royal Family doesn't really fascinate me that much, and I grew weary of Princess Di stuff long ago, but despite that, The Queen was a nice movie. It is easy to see why Helen Mirren won the Oscar for her performance. Completely convincing as Queen Elizabeth II. The story revolves around the aforementioned Royals during the week following Diana's death in 1997 (I remember it well; I was at Burning Man), and how the Queen deals with the public anguish over the event and the ensuing backlash at her apparent cold reaction. It is a very intimate and fresh perspective on the Royal Family's tenuous relationship with Diana (and with one another). I remember reviews of the film when it first came out described it as more of a TV movie than a theatrical release. That would perhaps be a fair assessment if not for Mirren's performance.

On a personal note, the same actor that plays the Queen's personal aide (Roger Allam - he looks a hell of a lot like Christopher Hitchens) also plays a crucial role in The Wind That Shakes the Barley. I will try and point out these small things I notice, not because I think I am being especially perceptive, but just to try and draw threads that can extend through my movie-watching. Hopefully I can make more connections.

The Hitcher

So far, so good...2 days in, 2 movies watched.

When you think of "scary" movies, or "horror" movies, what should realistic expectations be? There are so many of these put out these days, that the line sometimes becomes crossed from just thriller into horror. In my mind, there are various subcategories within the genre. First, the gory horror flick, like Hostel or Saw. Not necessarily scary frightening, just kind of disturbing and demented. Next are thriller types that are more psychological scary, like The Ring or anything in that Japanese horror category. These, to me, really stick with you and are much more haunting (if done correctly...there have been loads of crappy rip-offs of this genre as well). Then there are movies that try to be scary/thrilling/gory/suspenseful, but are too manic and end up being none of the above. The Hitcher falls into this category. Creepy roadside serial killer chases down two teens on Spring Break. Wow this sounds familiar...oh yeah, it's a remake of a 1986 version of the flick, duh.

Nevertheless, the suspense is never suspenseful. The plot is dull and as a viewer you just can't really commit to it. Even when it tries to go gory by basically drawing and quartering (truck stop-style) one of the main characters, it falls flat. Thank god it clocked in at under 90 minutes, making the pain minimal. I hate when horror moves aren't scary. I hate it worse when they aren't scary and suck on top of it. Not one of Sean Bean's best choices, but to his credit he was semi-convincing as a serial killer, just not really that scary. Sorry Boromir...

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

I am going to be absolutely diligent this year about this blog. I think the main mistake I made last year was approaching it as a way to review movies, instead of a way to actually chronicle how many films I saw. The result was I have no idea how many movies I saw in 2007 because I gave up on keeping track after not even a month. Then I made a lame attempt to try and compensate with those last few '07 posts, but that was really like shooting fish in a barrel. I easily saw over 100 movies last year if not more, only a fraction of which made it onto the blog. So, now I will write at least something about every movie I see. The posts may be long or short depending on how inspired I am to write about them. I will include all films, be they DVD/Blu-Ray, theater or cable. I will even throw in films I have already seen, just to keep the count straight.

Ok, so The Wind That Shakes the Barley was the first movie of the year on January 1st, 2008. Set in 1920, it tells of the Irish struggle for independence against Britain, which was desperately trying to keep the Empire together. From my history classes, the Brits were probably embroiled in the Boer Wars in South Africa around that same time, and were also dealing with Egypt and India to boot. Therefore, keeping Ireland in line was probably of utmost importance to the Crown, lest it risk losing the loyalties of its other imperial conquests.

Told from the Irish perspective, the film chronicles how two brothers struggle for Irish independence, but ultimately fall on different sides of the conflict when one accepts an truce with Britain while the other continues his armed resistance. Good film, visually pleasing to me at least with all the green Irish landscapes. The accents are a bit tough at times, especially when the actors occasionally venture into Gaelic (although this certainly adds an extra level of authenticity to the film). Overall, I really enjoyed it, but it probably won't appeal to a wide audience due its theme and art house feel. The cast is all Irish, with the only recognizable actor being Cillian Murphy of Batman Begins fame.

The Rest of the Films I Saw This Year Pt. 2

As I try to recall at least some of the movies I watched this year, I have realized exactly how many movies I watch...that is WAY too many. I realize that I may not even get to half of the 2007 total, but there really is no way to know. I'll be more diligent in '08 (I think)...

11. The Hillz - Not the crappy 'reality' show but an actual (very crappy) movie about rich white kids who start killing each other for shits and giggles. Oh yeah, this appears to be Paris Hilton's non-porno acting debut, which alone tells you about the overall quality of the film.
12. Alpha Dog - white trash Cali drug dealer teens kidnap brother of dude who owes them money and took a shit on their living room floor. Maybe it was based on a true story?
13. This Film Has Not Yet Been Rated - interesting and harsh critique of the MPAA ratings system. Shows how subjective and unfair it is, and as an added bonus shows all the best sex scenes from the last 25 years or so of movies...
14. Shooter - Marky Mark is a former military sniper; Danny Glover tries to pin assassination on him; Marky Mark goes John Rambo...
15. Superbad - teen sex, drinking romp which wasn't nearly as funny as everyone said it would be but was entertaining nevertheless
16. Knocked Up - same director and cast (almost) as last film, but the jokes seem a bit fresher and the plot more original. Rare combination of chick flick mixed with juvenile gross-out humor that seems to work
17. The Prestige/The Illusionist - Same movie with different actors. I hate when they do this, like when Deep Impact and Armageddon came out the same summer. Can't Hollywood at least wait a year or so to rip off each other's ideas? Oh yeah, and the Prestige was actually an excellent flick with a unique plot. I would say this even if I had seen the Illusionist first, because that movie was just drab.
18. Spider Man 3 - I always think I will like these Spidey films, and I never end up being wowed. This one was the same way...I forgot it as soon as I left the theater. The PS3 game was much cooler.
19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Not my favorite of the series, but then again this was probably my least favorite of all the books as well. Nothing will compare to Cuaron's Azkaban, because that one just broke the mold stylistically. Phoenix felt a bit cartoonish again...
20. Hostel 2 - I hate horror movies that aren't scary. Gore doesn't equal scariness in my book. Just makes me cringe but not in fright, just disgust. This movie lacked any suspense at all...was just plain stupid.

The Rest of the Films I Saw this Year

Since I have taken about 10 months off from posting, I will attempt to remember all the movies I have seen this year, which will be all but impossible, but I'll try to fill them in. Here's the deal; normally I have only HBO, so I don't watch that many movies since they tend to cycle the same ones over and over. However, for the last 3 months I got a special cable promo package that gives me all movie channels for almost free (Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, TMC, etc). Thus I have been Tivoing and watching a lot of movies lately. Many have been crap, many classics (trying to watch the whole Dirty Harry series), and loads of random documentaries among others. So, I will now just list them, and give a one sentence review. Which wont allow for much analysis or substance. Mostly just a record to look back upon in 20 years and wonder why the fuck I wasn't reading more books...

1. All In - shitty, shitty movie about poker that should have at least had nudity
2. Quinceanera- 15 year old Mexicana lives in L.A., gets pregnant without having sex
3. The Puffy Chair - some loser road trips from NY to Atlanta to give dad a La-Z-Boy
4. Gone Baby Gone - Mystic River ripoff, exaggerated Boston accents, twist ending that fooled no one
5. Into the Wild - excellent, sad, emotional, wanderlusty flick with great Eddie Vedder soundtrack
6. Michael Clayton - confusing but good take on corporate greed and lawyers kind of like a much better "Civil Action" but with Clooney instead of Travolta (thank god)
7. Highlander - Asskickery at its best; the original that includes Queen soundtrack
8. Highlander: The Final Dimension - Mario Van Peebles cheesy but kind of scary as bad guy; should have ended series here as title kind of indicates
9. Highlander: The Source - Oh Jesus this was so bad; not only was it awful, but it undermines a lot of the key principles that made the Highlander series so great in the first place like the fact they can never have kids (there can only be one, duh!); I saw this on the Sci-Fi channel if that gives you any indication of how crap it was.
10. Primeval - Lincoln Burroughs goes to Africa with Orlando Jones and the hot chick from 'The Net' (TV series, not movie) to capture killer crocodile...take all cliched elements from Anaconda, Jaws, and any slew of horror flicks, then take out anything remotely scary or suspenseful, add some corrupt, murderous African officials, and Voila!

I think I'll take these 10 at a time

Volver

When it comes to Almodovar films, film enthusiasts are fairly polarized: they either love them or hate them. Initially, I must say I fell into the latter category, trying to suffer through the confusion of films like Kika and Carne Tremula. Granted, I saw these films before I knew any Spanish, and probably missed a lot of nuance as well as cultural aspects that don't really come through in subtitles. Lately, though, I have immensely enjoyed the last few films Almodovar has made, including Hable Con Ella and La Mala Educacion. This trend continues with Volver, a subtle story based around the lives of two sisters and the puzzling return of their mother, who was thought to be dead. Penelope Cruz is excellent, wholly deserving of the Oscar nomination she received, as the mother of a teenage daughter who is struggling to make ends meet in modern-day Madrid (although most of the film takes place in La Mancha, the place where Don Quixote mistakes giant windmills for monsters).

My description of the plot is way over-simplified, but the payoff for following the plot of this film is great, so I won't give anymore away. Almodovar keeps you guessing throughout the film, and you never really know what is reality and what is not...that's the fun of it. The story itself is touching, and deals with broken families, relationships between mothers and daughters , etc, etc.

Cruz probably gets a bad rap due to her questionable body of work in Hollywood (Vanilla Sky, Sahara, that shitpile with Matt Damon and some horses...), but she really is an excellent actress, albeit when speaking her native tongue. Which is normal..how many Hollywood actresses ever try and make films in other countries? Hell, most can't even pull off a decent British accent, much less speak a foreign language believably. So, that's my two cents on her...she should stick with Spanish films, they suit her much better