TNMC Recent Reviews

We saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, and nobody else you’ve probably ever heard of).

DDL plays a turn-of-the-century (1900, that is) oil man who is driven to create wealth at all costs. He has a son, of sorts, but does his son measure up among his needs and interests? That has yet to be determined.

Daniel Day-Lewis creates a great character; driven, intense, and amoral. Roger Ebert compares his vocal style to John Huston, and I would tend to agree. Larry thought he sounded more like Hugo Weaving or Jack Palance. I guess those would work, too.

The movie itself is very interesting and compelling. Interesting, yes, but was it good? That proves to be an excellent question.

I really loved the first two hours (it was about two and a half hours long). Great storytelling, fluid directing and wonderful acting and awesome scenery. I can’t say enough about the FLUIDITY of the story; how one scene rolled into the next in such a wonderful, fluid, beautiful, continuous way, scene after scene, hour after hour. Each scene fed into the next with a smooth rolling effect that felt like it was ordained by the gods. I felt like I was in the presence of genius. If you like creative directing and editing, SEE this movie, if only for this great creative technique that brought it to life and to the screen.

But then, the last half hour or so, it all just fell apart. Maybe it was brilliant and it just went over my head (it wouldn’t be the first time). Or maybe it really sucked. I guess you’ll just have to decide for yourself! I really don’t want to condemn a great movie because of a shitty ending, but it is very tempting in this case. But I did have a great time watching it, despite my misgivings regarding the last half hour.

All I can say is, I’m glad that I saw it…….Jake

P.S. - despite the title, there is very little blood. But lots of violence, hate, and ugliness! Yayy!!!

P.P.S. - If I had to pick a movie to compare it to, I might pick “Citizen Kane” or better yet, “Giant,” for the way that they compare and contrast monetary success with emotional happiness, or lack thereof.

Jon Turteltaub’s “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” (Nic Cage, Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger, Jon Voigt, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris, Helen Mirren, Bruce Greenwood). This sequel (by the same director, by the way, and largely the same cast) was very much like the first one: a high-tech treasure hunt across the globe, with a silly and unbelievable but always fun plot based on dubious factoids that you may or may not remember from history class. Check your left-lobe at the door and just enjoy the ride, and remember that it’s a Disney movie! And one other major positive: no cute kid like you see in so many sequels these days.

From Netflix: We saw Rian Johnson’s “Brick” (from 2005) (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lukas Haas, and Richard Roundtree). This was a nice little murder mystery, set in a generic high school, and populated almost exclusively by high school students. On that level alone, it was worth watching for the tangled plot, good performances, and interesting dialog. What makes it even better is when you realize that it is a transplant: it is basically a Mike Hammer or Humphrey Bogart or Dashiel Hammett “film noir” type of story, transplanted into a modern day high school. The minute you realize that, it is brilliant! I liked it a lot.

We saw Tim Burton’s “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and several other Harry Potter refugees.

This was the story of a Goth-looking barber, sent to prison on trumped up charges, now back in Victorian-era London, hoping to reclaim his life. But his wife and child are gone, and all he has left is revenge against the evil judge who set him up.

Depp is quite good as the moody, brooding barber with little to live for. Helena Bonham Carter is wonderful as the Cockney cook, selling “the worst meat pies in London,” at least until they get better. Burton films the proceedings in a dark, muted palette that almost looks like black and white…. except for the blood! In fact, I suspect his dark look was chosen to make the blood (and there is plenty of it) stand out all the more.

This movie is based on a Sondheim musical, and that means it is mostly sung: not the Rogers and Hammerstein sort of musical where they act normal most of the time and then occasionally burst into song. In this style, most of the dialog is sung. If that bothers you, stay away.

Basically, it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it a lot. Dark, macabre, funny in a chilling sort of way, and no pulling punches on the grisly stuff. Definitely Grade-A Tim Burton. Go see it!!…….Jake

We saw Francis Lawrence’s “I Am Legend” (staring Will Smith and a bunch of extras). A remake of a remake (“The Omega Man” was a childhood favorite of mine), this is the story of a man who is afraid he is the last person alive on the planet. He certainly is alone in Manhattan, except for the thousands of people who have been turned into flesh-eating monsters by a virus, who thankfully have an aversion to sunlight and only come out at night. He hunts for big game and canned goods during the day with his trusty canine companion, and at night locks himself into his tastefully furnished townhouse. Also, he is working on a cure for the disease that has wiped out most of mankind. He himself, for some unexplained reason, is immune, and he is trying to use his own blood to find the cure.

Sounds like it could get pretty monotonous, but it doesn’t. Partly because they use flashbacks to add some other characters, and partly because a few other people have survived and pop in. But mostly because Will Smith is so good.

For example, there is one scene where he has to do something that he really doesn’t want to do, but knows he must. It is breaking his heart. The camera focuses on his face, and his face is so contorted that you feel his pain in your gonads. I’ve never seen an actor contort their face that much! I was impressed. There was lots of good camera work and subtle, sly directing, too.

The first half is kind of slow and eerie, but the second half is full of action, so there is something for everybody. Also, the main character is a huge Bob Marley fan, so there is lots of good music, too (I think this is sort of a subtle joke on the filmmaker’s part, since Marley’s greatest hits album is called “Legend”).

We saw the Coen Brothers’ “No Country For Old Men” (Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Woody Harrelson, and Stephen Root). I can’t say I loved this movie like I do most Coen films.

Basically, it is the story of a regular guy who finds a satchel with $2 million at the site of a “drug deal gone bad” in the desert. He takes it. Soon, he finds the drug dealers’ enforcer, a ruthless, psychotic killer, is tracking him down. Most of the movie is a cat-and-mouse game between the regular dude and the killer.

But, and this is the part I didn’t like, it is framed within the sad tale of an aging sheriff who is thinking about retiring. Dude, you’re boring! Retire or not and leave us out of it!

This was another movie that was unnecessarily set in the past; 1980 to be precise. Why? It would have made just as much sense in today’s world.

Some good kills and some very grim violence, and a decent enough story, but basically pretty boring. Also, the ending was so anti-climactic that it left me feeling unsatisfied.

Tonight we saw Xavier Gens’s “Hitman” starring Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, and nobody else you are likely to have heard of. This was a not great, but not horrible, shoot-em-up. Olyphant plays a man who was born and bred to be a hitman for a shadowy international organization that hires out to governments around the world. He has a shaved head with a bar code on the back, which must make it tough to blend in with a crowd. He is “the best” of his breed, we are told. For reasons that are never made particularly clear, his own organization sets him up for elimination, so it becomes him against a legion of his fellow hitmen, as well as Russian and Interpol cops trying to bring him down. Lots of violence ensues.

Although I heartily approve of all the mindless violence, there are few things to raise this movie above the mediocre. The few that do add to it include: Blood! Lots of movies with millions of bullets seem to skimp on the blood. Not this one. It splatters everywhere! Also: Nudity! There is a cute chick (of course) who doesn’t mind showing off her nude body. And finally, it is one of the few movies I’ve seen lately that has the courtesy to give us opening credits! For some reason, I like those. Oh, and amusingly, this movie was produced by Vin Diesel. Maybe that’s why all the hitmen shave their heads.

We saw Robert Zemeckis’s “Beowulf” tonight for a delayed Thursday Night Movie Club on a Friday. It is animated from motion capture, and “starred” Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Crispin Glover, Brendan Gleeson, and of course Angelina Jolie.

This is set in Scandinavia during the 600 or 700s A.D. A monster, Grendel, is terrorizing a small kingdom. The king calls for a “hero” to come and slay the monster. Beowulf, hero, braggart, and old friend of the king, comes to do the deed, along with his posse. Turns out the monster isn’t all that tough to deal with, but his enchantress mother is another story all together.

You can’t help but draw comparisons between this and “300,” except that this movie wasn’t nearly as good. It had some good violence and some good graphics, and the climactic dragon fight was awesome, but overall it kind of left me cold. The acting was pretty flat, but that might have been the fault of the animation, as the voice work was good.

Another part of the problem might have been that we saw the 3-D version. I’m not a huge fan of 3-D movies in the first place, unless they totally suck; then the gimmick can salvage it. But if it’s a movie that I’m trying to take seriously, like this one, it is more of a distraction. This is certainly the best 3-D I’ve ever seen, and was impressive for its technical accomplishment, but I would have to recommend that you find a normal version if you are planning to see it.

Overall, I’m not giving this a Thumb Up (meaning “see it”) or a Thumb Down (meaning “skip it”) but just a neutral (meaning “rent it”).

Tonight we saw James Gray’s “We Own The Night,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall, and Eva Mendes.

This was your basic “reluctant hero” type story. Set in Brooklyn and Queens, NYC, during the 1980s, Joaquin manages a large, drug-fueled night club, which is owned and largely patronized by Russian gangsters. Unknown to his compatriots at the club, Joaquin’s brother (Walhberg) and dad (Duvall) are cops, attached to a special anti-drug unit. When they approach Joaquin about helping them get inside information about the Russian mob and their drug connections, he refuses. Lots of old family tensions are dragged out of the closet. This is a family with issues.

Whenever someone refuses to “do the right thing” in the first act of a movie, you know they will eventually come around. It takes a family tragedy to get Joaquin on board with the plan. What follows then becomes a fairly normal cops-and-drug-dealers story. Normal but, I thought, very well done.

Joaquin is always good, in my opinion, and he has never been better than here. He has to show a wide range of emotions, not least of which is a love and devotion to his girlfriend, which I found very believable. I might also note that Eva Mendes, as the girlfriend, just gets hotter looking in every movie! And she helps this movie earn its R rating. Say no more.

A couple of other random notes: this movie is getting fairly tepid reviews, and Larry thought it was boring. But I thought it was good, tense, and gripping. Also, and this might be a negative for some people, it was very grim. Not a scrap of levity or comic relief. Even the music during the ending credits (you do stay for the credits, don’t you?) sounded like a dirge! I never did buy Wahlberg and Joaquin as brothers; they just look too different. And finally: I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why they bothered to set this film in the eighties. The story would make just as much sense today, and they wouldn’t have had to dig up all those old cars, uniforms, and computers (I haven’t seen an IBM AT in a long time).