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Friday, February 22, 2008

Michael Clayton

Woot this is a good film. I think it takes some guts to make such a film. Prolly George Cluny's best work ev4r!

Sunday, February 17, 2008

There Will Be Blood

I had wanted to see this film for a month or more. I finally went and saw it. Got there a few minutes late of course. Sat next to this suburban cow with frosted hair who didn't stfu the whole film. Actually I felt worse for her husband than I did for me. Here I was sitting in a 5:30 PM Sunday screening in West Newton and the place is PACKED. WTF!?

The final scene involves the anti-hero Daniel Plainview, played by Daniel Day Lewis, hurling bowling balls at his former nemesis the preacher Eli Sunday in the bowling alley built into the basement of his mansion. When I started laughing and the cow with the frosted hair says, "why are you laughing?" These are the times when you wish you could share something like the influenza with your fellow man or cow, as the case may be. This is why I rarely go to see films in theatres. All it takes is one jackass who can't shutup to ruin the experience and no matter where you sit, there she/he is.

Good movie though. Solid seven of ten. The soundtrack almost 100% No Commercial Potential material. Jonny Greenwood done it. He's a Radiohead dude. But Radiohead doesn't sound like NCP so hmm. Study that up?
I'll watch this one again on DVD and enjoy it more sitting alone in my room.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Darjeeling Limited

Horrible piece of crap. Should be called, "The Caliphoneya Express." I actually thought it might be about India. NOT. It's about three brothers bonding while being typical, dickhead tourists. Sure the director found a few picturesque locations but hardly ever do they say where they are. I'd rather watch a Michael Palin travel show. For most of the movie the characters act like rich, spoiled teenagers. When I'm traveling in a foreign country I try to be on my best behavior, especially if I can't speak the local language. Except when I'm in Georgia, (US) where I let it all hang out.

The three brothers rescue some Indian kids from drowning in a river. One of the kids drowns so they carry his body back to the village. Eventually they are invited to attend the funeral of the drowned boy. It's every liberal's wet dream (PUN INTENDED); going to an exotic country and not being a regular tourist but "giving back," having "cultural exchanges" (not just bodily fluids) with the natives. Hell, these guys are budding colonials, rescuing the natives who can't take care of themselves. The movie depicts no beggars, corpses or filth; India has been sanitized for our viewing pleasure. Thank you very little for this pile of vacuous drivel!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, The

It was neat to see Sondra Locke in this role. She never got a role this good again. She ended up in movies co-starring Clint Eastwood and his pet orangutan.
Alan Arkin plays the deaf guy brilliantly. Stacy Keach plays a down-and-out war veteran who lives for drinking beer. Percy Rodrigues is great as the black doctor who eventually comes to trust Arkin's character despite his being white. Cicely Tyson works well as a black power firebrand. Quite a touching story. The final scene is shot in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery, a place I once knew well.

Third Man, The

You need to watch this move or maybe you just need to hear it. The soundtrack alone should earn it nine or ten stars. No wonder this one is a classic. I never knew a zither could sound so good. Whoever did the sound editing on this film needs to have a 100 ft tall marble statue carved in their likeness installed somewhere in Burbank or Hollywood just to remind the industry how it can be done.

The movie is filmed in post-war Europe where huge rubble heaps are still standing. I'm glad the director Carol Reed chose to film on location. I can still hear the peculiar squeaking sound the bricks made when the actors climb over a piles of them.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Night Moves (not Bob Seger's song)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073453/

Pretty darn good. Want to see how gorgeous Melanie Griffith was when she was about 18 years old? Want to see her nekkid? Rent Night Moves.
A young James Woods appears in a small role as a squirrely hoodlum type and does a good job. One character says of another, "he'd fuck a woodpile on the chance there might be a snake in it." Heh.

Even without Melanie's physical charms on display this would be a good film. Six and a half stars. Maybe seven.

Down in the Valley

Pretty good stuff. Recommended. Edward Norton as a seemingly harmless nut case falling obsessively for the lovely, much younger Evan Rachel Wood.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

King of California

Good film. Michael Douglas in an unusual (for him) role. He plays a burned-out jazz musician, pot-head and general fuck-up who has just been let out of the nuthouse. His daughter played by Evan Rachel Wood has been holding down the fort all alone while he's been getting therapy for the past two years. He comes home with a plan to find some burried Spanish treasure in the hills beyond the sprawl. I guess this film is about being able to trust and having faith in loved ones who don't seem to deserve any faith or trust. Anyway it has some sweet moments. Both of the main characters are easy to like and there are several good laughs mixed in. I think it's an sincere movie.