Lars and the Real Girl

Ryan Gosling can basically make anything worth watching. He could spend his entire career playing the earnest romantic leading man in sappy romantic dramas or romantic comedies if he wanted it. He has the looks for it and he already won the hearts of girls everywhere with The Notebook. But, he was not content to do that. He wanted more. He wanted different. Well you can't get any more different than a movie like this, but how does it work for him?


Lars Lindstrom lives in the garage of a house occupied by his big brother Gus(Paul Schneider and Gus' pregnant wife, Karin(Emily Mortimer) and he is very much a loner. He does not like to be touched and squints his way through awkward and uncomfortable conversations. He enjoys going to church and that seems to be the only thing that he enjoys. Lars doesn't appear to do much sleeping and while everyone seems to like him, he cannot bring himself to open up to anyone. At work Margo(Kelli Garner) tries to talk to him and befriend him but he either runs away from her or virtually ignores her. Then one night Lars tells his brother and sister-in-law that he met a girl on the Internet. He tells them she does not speak much English and she is in a wheel chair, but because of her religious beliefs she needs to sleep in the house. The excitement Gus and Karin have is short lived as it turns out Lars' new girlfriend, Bianca, is a sex doll. Complete with hooker make up and trashy clothes, Bianca sits on the couch vacant with her mouth open as Lars talks to her and pretends to hear her talk to him. When they take Bianca to the doctor, the doctor, also a licenced shrink, examines Lars as well. She concludes he is going through a delusion and that they should play along. Soon, the entire town is playing along with this big weird and twisted story.


This movie should not work as a comedy and it should not work as a drama but it works as both. There are moments of sheer hilarity and moments of deep sadness and at times those moments are one in the same. Gosling is so committed, so good that at times you forget he is "falling in love" with a sex doll. We learn that his mother died while giving birth to him and it appears no coincidence that these delusions started when Karin got pregnant. Yes at times it gets over the top- Bianca "working" at a department store as a mannequin, Bianca getting elected to the school board- but those kinds of moments are forgiven in the moments where Lars is alone with Bianca and we just ache for him. We all want him to get over this delusion but worry what would happen if he did. Watching the entire town rally around this sweet natured young man is a breath of fresh air. I kept waiting for the moment when the movie would take a juvenile turn, but it never did. The main conflict of the movie remain inside Lars and Gosling is just spectacular at every turn. In the moments with the shrink where he has a nervous breakdown or slowly gives pieces of his inner turmoil are brilliantly acted and exceptionally directed moments.


As the movie goes on it is never 100% clear where the movie is taking us, but it stays interesting all the way through. I laughed so hard I teared up and I got so emotionally invested in it that I shed real tears as well. As Gus, Paul Schneider is a very solid presence. His character goes through quite the change as he learns to deal with his brother and deal with the fact that he thinks he is the cause of Lars problems because he left Lars with their heart broken father. Also, Emily Mortimer goes for gold in this movie. There is a scene where just loses it with Lars that is simply brilliant and as the first person to try and embrace Bianca she oozes sympathy and she also gets some of the better laughs. As the movie moves on we also see a shift in Lars in regards to Margo. He becomes more open to talk to her and look at her and with Margo, Kelli Garner is the perfect blend of dorky and adorable. She is infinitely approachable and embodies what Lars needs if he is going to move on in life.


This is a movie about loss and love; it is about growing up and becoming a man. It is about the importance of family and friends and it shows that if you give people the love and support they need that they can overcome anything. Even in its faults this movie remains incredibly charming and surprisingly dramatic. It runs about 10 minutes longer than it needs to and I do not fault those who could not buy into the premise, but I believe with Ryan Gosling leading the way, Bianca feels like a very real character and this feels like a very solid movie.

Into the Wild(spoilers)

For the last 3 or 4 years, every time I went into a book store the book on which this film is based just stared at me, enticing me to buy it and read it. This summer I finally did. At first I did not know it was a piece of non-fiction but it was supposedly a very gripping work. I could not finish the book for a variety of reasons- sloppy pacing, unnecessary exposition, bad storytelling. However, the biggest problem I had was the main character. Like Catcher in the Rye or The Kite Runner the main character is not someone I could like. The biggest difference was that I eventually grew to like the other main characters, but the main guy in this book never grew on me. After reading incredible reviews of the movie and having an interest in Sean Penn as a director, I went in with a sense of guarded optimism. Would the main character still bother me on the screen?


Chris McCandless(Emile Hirsch) graduates from college and has decided he needs to start living. In order to live though, he has to leave everything behind- he gives his entire $24,000.00 savings to a charity, cuts up credit cards, burns his social security card and licence- and he just leaves. He tells no one where he is going and he assumes the name Alexander Supertramp. A "tramp" is a person who travels the country, just living off the land and generosity of others. He hitch hikes, kayaks, walks and runs across the United States. Without looking back, Chris has a dream of living in the Alaskan wild for a few weeks. He occupies his nights by reading London and Tolstoy. Along the way he meets Wayne Westerburg(Vince Vaughn) who gives hi ma job and a place to stay for a little while and he meets a hippie couple, Rainey(Brian Dierker) and Jan Burres(Katherine Keener), who take him in and later in the movie when they re-connect they become a surrogate family for Chris/Alex. Burres has a son of her own and she seems concerned that Chris isn't concerned with his own family. Through the narration of his sister, Carine(Jena Malone) we find out that their parents were horrible to each other and to their kids. Their father, Walt(William Hurt) beat their mother (Marcia Gay Harden) and their mother was actually married to another man when she and Walt got pregnant with Chris. They were out of touch with reality and Chris' trip was like one big screw you.


This is a beautiful movie told in a nonlinear format switching between his journey across the country and his time in the Alaska wild. The script is amazing, the acting incredible and the care with which Sean Penn treats the subject is moving. The cinematography captures how gorgeous this country can be and it makes Alaska looks like the most beautiful place on the planet. Emile Hirsch is picture perfect as Chris. He is charming and likable and it is easy to see why so many people loved him. His physical transformation is extreme and incredible, but his acting is even better. He embodies the restless spirit of Chris, a man looking for his own happiness without a single care for the people he hurt and who cared for him. However, through all of the positives, I had a very hard time sitting through the movie. Where the book left me weeping loudly aching for the people Chris left behind, this movie had me weeping silently in the back of the theater for the same reasons. As his sister narrates the whole story with a sense of sadness, I felt for her as she had no idea where her brother was or what had become of him. Chris and Carine were best friends who only survived childhood because of each other and he just left her with these awful parents. On top of that, Chris quotes Thoreau about truth, but Chris tells no one he meets any sort of truth. They don't know his real name, where he really came from what he is running from and in the end, none of these people will really know what happened.


Towards the end of his journey before he heads to Alaska Chris meets an older man named Rob Franz(Hal Holbrook). Rob has lived alone for quite some time because his family was killed by a drunk driver and he and Chris form a very strong bond. Rob shows him how to do leather carving and Chris gets Rob to try new things and it is incredibly moving. Yet, when Rob is ready to drop Chris off so he can go on his adventure he asks Chris if he can adopt him and be like his Grandfather and Chris unable to admit he loves this man just says "We will talk about it when I get back" and it was the most heart wrenching moment in the movie for me. Holbrook gives one of the most honest performances I have seen this year and his impression will not soon be forgot. And it killed me that this man would not find out Chris/Alex died until nearly a year later. Also mentioned in the book is that Rob followed in Chris' footsteps by selling all of his stuff and buying a motorhome to travel the country in. It was his hope that Chris would come back and they could travel the country together.


Sean Penn obviously envies the journey Chris took because of the care and sincerity in telling his story, but he leaves a lot out and adds a few things as well and I understand why he did it. He wanted to make Chris seem more heroic or less idiotic. For example, in the movie no one ever tells him it is a bad idea to go into Alaska because he is not really a wilderness guy. In the book everyone tries to dissuade his trek. He brushes them off because he figures it can't be that difficult to live off of the land. Penn makes Chris a much better hunter than he really was. Again trying to show that Chris had every reason to believe he would not die up there, but the real guy was not very good and in fact died quicker in the book than in the movie. Obviously things are always changed for movies but as someone who was badly affected by the book, I was put off a bit that Penn decided not to include these important points.


There are many ways to take this movie. I think it is a gorgeous, very great movie, but it was hard for me to sit through because of the people surrounding Chris. Most people see a beautiful journey by a brave young man trying to find his place on earth and that is certainly there too. Penn skews the movie in his direction, but he doesn't put Chris fully on a pedestal so someone watching the movie could form his or her own opinion of Chris, of his journey and of the people around him.

Saw IV

Now usually I review movies here, but I found this thing on-line that is a transcription of two of the writers and thought I would just copy and paste it here because it is an interesting read. I did take the names out to protect the innocent (er..Guilty)


Guy 1: Well we stupidly killed Jigsaw in the last movie. How the hell did we get money to make a fourth one of these things?
Guy 2: I don't know, to be honest, but how do we keep this thing going? I mean our killer is dead.
Guy 1: Well logic has never mattered much before, so we should not let a little thing like death stop us.
guy 2: Good point. Okay, well I feel like we have both grown as writers so I think we should focus more on plot in this movie and less on the whole torture and killing stuff.
Guy 1: I was thinking the same thing. Also, I think we should start the movie at the end and it should be with a really gross exploitative autopsy of Jigsaw
Guy 2: Well duh, I mean we have to get the tape out of his stomach. He did swallow it at the end of Saw III right?
Guy 1: Oh I have no idea, you think I pay attention to what we are writing? You think I am going to see this god awful nonsense we write?
Guy 2: Good point. OK so we have already completely ignored the first movie as we tell this story, so we should continue that theme. Rigg(Lyriq Bent) will be the main guy here. He should have to go through a bunch of crazy games that Jigsaw will have conveniently taped before his death.
Guy 1: hmmm OK I like it. I like it, but we need the F.B.I this time and since we both love Gilmore Girls we should try and get Luke from that show (Scott Patterson).
Guy 2: Alright, well we want Jigsaw to be felt sorry for even more this time out, so not only does he have cancer and survive a brutal car accident, how about we flashback to his pregnant wife losing the baby because of some junky.
Guy 1: Oh totally. That way people will understand that Jigsaw is not a bad guy. he is just like Superman or Batman, he is out for justice and keeping the peace.
Guy 2: You don't actually believe that do you?
Guy 1: God no, but our audience consists of stupid 13 yr olds and stoned 20 yr olds, so who cares?
Guy 2: Alright, so we have a very good foundation for our script now. Rigg will have to run through the entire city, very quickly mind you because he doesn't have a car and he will outrun the F.BI guy even though the F.B.I have cars.
Guy 1: Also, We should kidnap his wife, but never ever once allow her to be seen again. She should not have anything resolved, just in case they have us make a 5th, 6th and 7th movie. We need to not resolve anything, ever. We need to aim for as messy and awful as possible. The audience demands bullshit and we will feed to them generously!
Guy 2: Oh the New Kids On The Block guy wanted to come back as well.
Guy 1: Didn't we kill him in the opening of the last movie?
Guy 2: Well sure, but we could just shoot a flashback scene where we see he didn't die. Man I am so glad Lost made flashback storytelling popular. It really helps us write out of impossible scenarios!
Guy 1: Agreed 100%. Okay well maybe we can have the NKOTB guy hanging the whole movie and have him all gross looking for the entire movie. He shouldn't talk until there are only like 20 minutes left and then he should just shout "Who's coming through the door" over and over and over again.
Guy 2: Wait who is coming through the door!?
Guy 1: See it works! HA!
Guy 2: Oh you sneaky bastard!
Guy 1: Focus dude, we need to finish off this story, but have a ridiculous, out of nowhere, stupid, over-the-top plot twist for the next movie. I mean it should really feel like there was no way it could have actually happened!
Guy 2: Ok well the end of the movie needs to be at the beginning remember
Guy 1: But that isn't possible with what we wrote. The new accomplice can't be alone in a room with Jigsaw because, remember we had him shut the door on the F.B.I guy and in that enclosed room was Jigsaw's body. We don't have an out for the F.B.I agent! Shit, we need to re-think this.
Guy 2: No we don't. You think our audience is going to be clever enough to figure out we had a giant enormous stupid avoidable mistake at the end of the movie? Remember as long as we have some gross traps and we have 5 of them they will believe anything we show and tell them. That is why we keep getting money to write these shitty ass movies. The fans are just too stupid to figure out we are raping art!
Guy 1: Well you do make a few very good points. So I think we are done, right?
Guy 2: Yeah but we should get started on Saw V now so we won't be rushed and that way we will not make these kinds of mistakes again...Nah, just kidding!
Guy 1: Wait I just thought of something, what about the guy who was searching for his daughter in the third movie?
Guy 2: Oh crap you are right! Ummm Oh I know, in the final 10 minutes when everyone is running around the giant warehouse, we will just plug him in there. Then someone can kill him for no good reason whatsoever.
Guy 1: Man you are brilliant!

Gone Baby Gone

Casey Affleck is in the midst of what is known as a break-out year. He stole Ocean's 13 from the bigger name stars and he is getting incredible reviews for his role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. On top of that he grabbed the lead role in one of the better reviewed movies of the last few months, Gone Baby Gone. Of course it wasn't difficult to get the role since his older brother Ben Affleck co-wrote it and directed it. I know Ben's name being attached feels like a kiss of death, but remember he is behind the camera not in front of it. So, maybe, just maybe the man who has been a punchline for so long is doing his best to reshape the opinion people have of him. But, does it work?


The movie open on a press conference of the family of a missing girl. A missing 3 year old girl. Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck) and his significant other, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) are private defectives who specialize in missing person cases. We do learn that normally they find people who just up and left, not kids who were kidnapped. The family hires them because Kenzie grew up in the neighborhood and he can "talk to people who will not talk to police." In this small rural section of Boston, guns are not out of place and everyone has the foulest mouth imaginable. The mother of the missing girl, Helene McCready (Amy Ryan) is a drug mule, a drug user and kind of a slut. She never seemed to care about her daughter until the little girl went missing. Kenzie promises to find her daughter and in order to do so he has to meet with a couple of detectives. Remy Bressant (Ed Harris) and Nick Poole (John Ashton) are the detectives Kenzie teams with and they do the usual interviews, track clues and whatnot. When they think they have figured out what happened they try and do an exchange without the knowledge of the police Captain in charge of missing children, Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman). Doyle had his own kid kidnapped and killed earlier in his life and has made it his life goal to not allow that to happen again. From there the story takes a few twists and veers away from where you expect it to go, so I do not want to give anymore away.


As a director, Affleck is strong, confident and steady. The camera work is very solid and he finds a way to find a tenderness when showing us things of the missing child. In a world where everything is harsh, he finds a way to give us just a glimpse of the innocence of children. In those moments the movie is very heartbreaking and Ben Affleck deserves credit for that. Just as with Good Will Hunting though, he is a co-writer so I do not know how much he had to do with the script, but it is a wonderful script. The dialogue is intense, and multi-faceted and each main character is given a chance for a real depth of character. Affleck captures his city of Boston in the way it was meant to be captured in novel on which this movie is based. The footage of the city and it's inhabitants is very effectively used and the editing between them is seamless. The movie never loses steam as it becomes more of a character driven piece as opposed to a plot driven movie and I believe Ben is responsible for it. Thankfully he never appears on camera in a cameo or anything and he seems perfectly content to let his baby brother get the glory here.


And Casey Affleck deserves every bit of glory he is receiving. While being undersized compared to everyone in this movie, he commands your attention. His quiet voice, his deep confident eyes and his cocky attitude towards the beginning of this movie really set the tone for us to believe this guy is really as tough as he talks. Rarely rising above a whisper most of the time, he does his tough talking with his face, with his attitude and with his body language. His Kenzie doesn't bother with talking the talk, he walks the walk and Casey is brilliant. Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman add their usual solid efforts and Monaghan is equally effective as a woman who did not want to take the case because she did not want to find a dead 3 year old girl. But I think the true standout performance belongs to Amy Ryan. Her portrayal of the semi-grieving mother is a very raw emotional and real performance. It is a supporting role but she really holds your attention on screen, even in a scene where Ed Harris is interviewing her.


I absolutely loved this movie. Incredible, powerful and thought-provoking are all words I have used since watching it. Over 24 hours later I am still pondering some of things brought up by the movie. Patrick Kenzie is a very interesting on screen figure and as he questions everything we begin to internalize these questions. Towards the end of the movie Kenzie has a very big, major decision to make and in a theater of nearly 30 people, everyone was split as to what he should do. Should he make the right decision or the good decision? And when he made the decision the entire audience was discussing it on the way out and even int he moment I could hear those around me actively into the movie. In an apathetic world, it was so refreshing to hear people really going into this decision. I thought the end of the movie was perfectly fitting to the rest of the movie and really brought home the emphasis on the question of whether the right decision and the good decision are always the same thing and could choosing one over the other have ramifications. I really have no complaints about the movie and I imagine this will end up as one of my top 10 movies of the year and with as many movies as I see every year, that is certainly saying something!

30 Days of Night

Vampires are supposed to be sexy. They are supposed to lure one into their den with a charm and with sex appeal. They entice one until that person wants to be bitten in hopes of being turned into a sexy, immortal, beautiful creature. At least that is what the movies usually tell us. That is what books and television tell us. That is the image I have always had of vampires and I think that is the image most of us have of them. We picture Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise or something like that. Apparently no one told that to Steve Niles, the man who created a graphic novel called 30 days of night. And no one told that to David Slade, the director of the movie based on the graphic novel. But, does changing the lore of the vampire work for or against this movie?


At the very top of Alaska there is a town that has 30 days of nightfall. It is a tiny town of 563 people, but on the last day of light before the darkness the town becomes occupied by just 152 people. Sheriff Eben Oleson(Josh Hartnett) is one of those who stays around and just before nightfall weird things begin to happen in town. First off, all of the satellite phones are burned and crushed then all of the dogs are murdered and eventually most of the power in the town is shut down. Stella Oleson(Melissa George) is a fire Marshall who has a history in the town as she is married, yet separated from Eben. On her way out of town to catch the last plane something happens to her car (The first great jump of the movie) and so she must go back into town. When she arrives she finds her husband attempting to arrest a stranger (Ben Foster) who is being charged with the strange occurrences in town. However, people start disappearing and people start dying. The stranger tries to warn Oleson with some creepy foreboding dialogue, but Oleson has to see it for himself. Yes, the town has been overrun with vampires. And like I mentioned earlier these are not your garden variety vampires. These vampires are monstrous, torturous, screeching blood thirsty monsters. They run fast, they pounce and torture their prey before sucking their blood. And they begin by slowly picking off people but it quickly turns into a giant feeding frenzy. The few survivors left spend the rest of the movie trying to survive the month. They move only during giant snow storms and try to find the best hiding places.


With a perfect mixture of creepy intensity and brutal gore, this movie has the best of both world's for horror fans. Those who like things to be on the verge of a scare will really enjoy the first half and those who want blood will really get a kick out of the second half. This is about 30 minutes longer than the typical horror movie as well. The reason being it allows us to get to know some of the characters. We start to care about a few of the people of this town, something most horror movies do not do. It helps when the killing starts that we have some people to root for and cheer when something goes well and be upset when things do not go their way. Hartnett is a formidable protagonist, as a semi-reluctant hero. He has a strong presence and gives Eben a sense of wounded heroism. George adds a little more to the typical horror movie female and it is a welcome touch. The supporting cast of humans do their jobs well enough, but Ben Foster, who is making a career of playing deranged, really steals the show. I only wish he had more to do because he is perfectly delirious, creepy and depressing.


Another Slade does well is he gives the vampires personalities. At least 4 of the main vamps are easily distinguished because of their personalities. The lead Vamp is slow and methodical, but he likes to talk to his prey and wax philosophical in some creepy Vamp language. His eternal mistress will follow his lead but it is obvious she get sexual gratification from biting. The long haired Vampire is like a lion slowly stalking his pretty and just waiting for the right moment and of course the big guy vamp just wants to tear through everything. A lot of the action is told through a shaky camera, as is the common practice these days and unfortunately it does take away a bit from some of the action sequences, which is my only real complaint. So often the attacks are barely caught and at times we only get the bite in clarity. The gore and action really get a boost though when Slade goes to an overhead Aeriel shot roaming through town and capturing all of the mayhem and bloodshed. Even though all you see is dead bodies and red snow it manages to be a very gorgeous shot.


The movie is not perfect as the climax takes itself too seriously for its own good, considering what it is and of course the aforementioned shaky camera work, but it is a very solid movie. In fact, it is a cut above a good majority of horror movies these days. It elicits some very good jumps (it got me 3 times very well and twice decently well) and gives the gore hounds their fill (check out 3 beheadings). Inf act Slade is so good he takes a moment that almost single-handedly derailed the entire movie and turns it on its head and made it one of the best moments in the movie. I do not want to give it all away but it involves a little kid. I am not sure the movie will turn any new fans onto the genre, but it does make Vampires cool again and that is awesome in itself.

We own the night

I am sure everyone can recall that two weeks ago I did a list of the five movies I was most excited about as the end of the year approached and you can recall that this movie was featured on the list. The trailer was very well done and the actors are all very good and Eva Mendes is incredibly sexy, so it would be a slam dunk. However, some reviews started rolling in and they were a mixed bag to say the least. Some loved it and some hated it. Last night on Ebert and Roeper, again they were mixed. I was not too terribly put off by those reviews because remember, my reviews are the only ones that matter, after all. Well tonight was the night for Erik and I to go watch the movie. So, would it live up to my expectation?


Bobby Green(Joaquin Phoenix) is a man on the way up. He is running a big successful night club, he has a gorgeous girlfriend, Amanda Juarez(Eva Mendes) and nothing can stop his party like free wheeling, drug doing 1980's excess life style. Oh and he is part of a family of cops. His brother Joe Grusinksky(Mark Wahlberg) and father Burt Grusinsky(Robert Duvall)are celebrating a promotion and Bobby must attend. At the celebration Bobby is ambushed by his brother who wants information about a drug dealer who has been spotted inside Bobby's club. Bobby tells them nothing and the club gets raided the next day. After a tragic event Bobby begins to think he has been on the wrong side all along. Without telling his family, he hooks up with another cop and goes under cover to try and help catch the drug dealer. The movie goes on, more tragedy happens and the movie takes turns that seem unexpected and not shown in the trailer so I do not want to give anything else away.


Allow me to begin by saying that any movie that opens with Eva Mendes pleasuring herself is amazing in my book, no joke. It is just the way it is. Yet this movie does not rely on its opening sequence awesomeness to make the entire movie. Joaquin Phoenix is an actor I have always wanted to like but have never been able to fully get behind, well until this movie. This guy straight up owns this movie. His character goes through about 3 or 4 total breakdowns and transitions and Phoenix is all over all of them. His steely eyed resolve, his total complete all out bawling fits and his one big giant explosion of emotions all over his girlfriend all come naturally to him and I think he deserves some kind of nomination for this movie. While the trailer may lead one to believe he and Wahlberg share duties, Phoenix has the lions share of the work. That is not to say Wahlberg isn't good because he is. He is very good and no one looks better in police blues. He just fits them. His bristling intensity is always there but there is something more we see of him later in the movie that surprised me. For her part, well, Mendes does well. She gets the feelings of sorrow and hurt right, she looks amazing and she actually adds to the movie. Duvall also lends a veteran appeal to a possible stock nothing character.


As good as all the acting is, the directing is even better. James Grey who is directing only his third movie in over a decade has been saving it all up for this movie. He loves really tight shots focusing on the faces of these characters and it adds a serious level of intensity. he also knows how to create mood by getting rid of all sound except what we absolutely need. There is a scene where Phoenix is just walking down a hall and while it would be intense anyway, the fact that we see almost nothing and all we can hear is his breathing just sets everyone on the edge of their chair. Also, there is a car chase so intimate I got claustrophobic for a few seconds. Where most chases shoot almost all from outside or from the side in the car, Grey turns the camera as if we are seeing or witnessing this car chase as it is actually happening. It was excellent. The climax is also shot incredibly well. Everyone is weaving through these tall weeds and there is no music and the camera moves between first and third person with such ease that you don't even realize it at first. There is a very short section shot in that shaky camera nonsense, but it does not derail the movie because he gets away from it quickly.


The movie does get away from what you expect and I think that bothered some people. Joaquin's character makes such a drastic change that some found it hard to buy, but I think if you put yourself in the shows of Bobby Green and what was raised with, I think it is 100% believable. I could not ask for anything else from this movie except I was hoping for a bigger shoot out, but they made up for it with some seriously awesome shots in the tall weeds. Phoenix really proved himself to me here and that is all that matters right? I am glad this movie lived up to what I hope, but I think I could understand if someone didn't like it. The classic 80's look of the buildings and set pieces added an extra sense of realism for me, but I am not sure most people would notice. I think everyone should go see this movie, and every guy should make sure they are not late!

My ten favorite directors

What follows is a list of the men who really bring movies to life. Their vision, their style and their insight can turn a simple story into something highly gorgeous or can make something incredibly complex easy to follow or even more difficult to follow. Whichever it is each of these ten men (yes men, sorry but I have yet to be mesmerized with a woman director in more than one instance) help to make some of my favorite movies or favorite moments in a movie. You will find old vets, a few in their prime and maybe one or two up and comers.


10. Alfonso Cuarón- Here is one of those up and comers. He directed the best Harry Potter movie (number 3) and he helped to bring Hispanic films into the mainstream with his quietly brilliant Y tu mama Tambien. However, all of that pales in comparison to the brilliance of Children of Men(SEE THIS MOVIE!). He possesses an ability to make something seem a lot more tense than it should be like a car chase featuring a car that doesn't even run and the tracking shot in Children of Men is reason alone for him to be on this list. He gets incredible performances out of actors and while he is still figuring out his style, I cannot wait for 4 projects he has upcoming. His unique visual style sets him apart from so many and his choice of project also shows his good taste. The two movies that best show why he is on this list- Y tu mama Tambien and Children of men.


9. Paul Greengrass- The master of the handheld shaky camera, Greengrass has an ability to put the audience in his movie. His in your face, dizzy style of directing makes movies an active experience, not a reactive experience. He changed the genre of the spy action movie with the final two Bourne movies and that kind of action movie is being copied all over the place. He knows exactly what to capture and knows how to elicit emotions exactly when he wants them. His movies looks stylized but they all have a heart as well. He has less than 10 movies to his credit, but again, I have always liked what I have seen thus far and I have every reason to believe he will continue to wow me. The two movies that best show why he is on this list- The Bourne Ultimatum and United 93.


8. Martin Scorsese- I know it seems sac-religious to put this god of directing so low on the list, but it is my list, so deal with it. Infatuated with the dark violent aspect of life, Scorsese carved a niche for himself directing gangster or mob movies. He started making these small raw bloody movies and has since transformed into creating big raw and bloody movies. He will direct documentaries, music videos for big artists as well, but his bread and butter is a good old fashioned mob movies. He tends to reuse actors, staying in a creative comfort zone with them, but often the gel together so well, I can forgive it. He has pulled a few incredible performances out of Robert De niro and Leo Decaprio. I always know when I am watching a Scorsese film to expect things to happen in abrupt spurts following some great dialogue and I always know to remember that blood will be spewed, usually often. However, he has always done it in a very cinematic gorgeous fashion. He is the king and will always be the king. The two movies that best show why he is on this list- Raging Bull and Taxi Driver.


7. Peter Jackson- Yes he is an arrogant, pompous, self important jerk, but he is an incredibly talented arrogant, pompous, self important jerk. The creator of the greatest trilogy ever (yeah I said it, what!?) Jackson is a visual genius. Long before he created that franchise though, Jackson cut his teeth creating horror-gore epics. His blend of brilliant camera angles with campy, gross out horror really showed his level of skill and when he moved on to less gory projects like Heavenly creatures, he showed his visual flare was good for every kind of movie. Now he needs millions upon millions of dollars to make movies, but I do not blame him because when the end result looks as good as King Kong, it is all good. I am not saying King Kong is incredible but it looks incredible. He prefers to make grand epics, but he finds a way to make them seem small. He is the champion of New Zealand and most of the long epic shots he captured for The Lord of The Rings trilogy show probably every breathtaking view of that country. He takes a long time to make his masterpieces these days so his filmography is not lengthy but he always packs a brilliant punch! The two movies that best show why he is on this list- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Frighteners.


6. Bryan Singer- It would be bad of me not to include the director of my all time favorite movie- The Usual Suspects. The way he weaved that story was brilliant on so many levels and while he has spent the rest of his career trying to recapture that magic, he has made another few excellent movies and helped get House M.D on the air to boot! Singer is a young man with a big vision. He helped bring the superhero genre in the big time with the great X-men movie and the even better X2 movie. In a comic book that features a vast number of characters he found the right blend of personalities and characters in the mutants he chose to bring to the screen. He has pulled a few great performances from acting legends- Kevin Spacey, Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart and he pulled Hugh Jackman from obscurity. Yes, he had a misstep with the Superman movie, but no one is perfect. I also got to attend a lecture/Q&A he was giving and his passion for film was amazing. The two movies that best show why he is on this list- The Usual Suspects and X2.


5. David Fincher- A man in the prime of his film making career, Fincher cut his teeth in the music video genre and graduated to making movies that make you think and keep you guessing all the way through. He also has this following camera tracking like shot that he uses in every movie and it finds a way to be effective no matter what movie it is. He made a possibly bad story (Panic Room) into an absolutely thrilling ride of a movie and of course his masterpiece-Fight Club-is a wondrous work in every sense of the word. A cult like director, Fincher directs interesting projects, but he is not afraid of admitting to mistakes (see Alien 3). He gets down and dirty in his film work, showing some brutally grisly things and always finding a way to keep an edge about each project. I did not enjoy Zodiac at all this year, but with such an impressive resume, it can be forgiven. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't do enough work, but I guess being choosy with projects is a good thing. The two movies that best show why he is on this list- The Game and Fight Club.


4. Quentin Tarantino- The man of the brilliant dialogue, Tarantino is also the man of the brilliant non-linear mind screws. Pulp Fiction is a brilliant twisting genre bending movie and even though Kill Bill sucks in both volumes his visual style is picture perfect. Everyone who loves film knows a Tarantino film when they see it. He loves his long circular shots and boy does he love feet. His movies are more than just pop culture phenomenons they are homages to movies, homages to what raised him. He is also responsible for Reservoir Dogs, one of the best movies ever. The scenes where Tim Roth is bleeding and screaming in the back of the car are so raw an d real, I felt like I was there. Tarantino is a big too self congratulatory at times, but when you created the movie that defined an entire decade, I think you can get away with it. His movies are always oddly paced between incredibly fast and incredibly slow but he find a way to make it work because he gives us time to care about the characters we are meeting. he is meticulous in setting up shots and capturing these amazing iconic shots from his actors. He is always fresh and inventive which makes each movie a fun adventure. The two movie that best show why he is on this list- Reservoir Dogs and Death Proof.


3. The Coen Brothers- Before back to back bad movies- The Lady Killers and Intolerable cruelty, this writer/director brother team hit home run after home run. They tackled the dark world of crime with Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing. They nailed the absurd comedy genre with Raising Arizona and the brilliant Big Lebowski. They also turned a kidnap thriller on its head with the hilarious and dark Fargo. To top it off they created a movie that I think is the funniest movie ever with O Brother where art thou. Their resume is one of the most impressive things ever and they continue to reinvent themselves. With absurd camera shots and even more absurd stories these brothers have carved a place in movie history. They get hilarious yet layered performances from each leading man or woman and even better performances from their supporting casts. They find a way to perfectly capture their madcap characters in just the perfect light and they have a great visual style that makes their movies a treat for all the senses. The Two movies that best show why they are on this list- O Brother where art thou and Miller's Crossing.



2. Chris Nolan- If Tarantino is the man of the brilliant non linear mind screw, Nolan is the man of brilliant non linear, mind rape. He burst onto the scene with backwards playing Memento but before that he did a movie called Following that tells a story in three different tenses and it will mess with you hardcore. He believes in multiple twists in a movie, not on the one big twist at the end and he has created an entire world or dark, bleak tortured characters. His Batman is truly the dark knight and he took a topic like magic and turned it into this brutal tale of ultimate revenge. Basically he took the magic out of magic and turned it on its head. His use of light or lack there of is always exciting and he manages to weave deep elaborate metaphors in his movies as well. Don't believe me, watch Insomnia again. He only has 7 films to his name and I have seen 5 of them and 1 has yet to be released, but I have loved each and everyone of them. And if what I have seen and heard of The Dark Knight rings true, I have no doubt that I will also love it beyond belief. I like a man unafraid to push me, to make me think and keep me on my toes. The two movies that best show why he is on this list- The Prestige and Batman Begins.


1. Steven Speilberg- It may be an easy choice, I know, but no one has done what he has done. No one switches genres as effortlessly as he does and no one can create huge massive big budget blockbusters and still find a way to make movies with serious subjects matters, or theme pictures and be just as successful. A man with an infinite vision of how movies are meant to be made, Speilberg is the god of it all. He has his misses sure, but even in failure he makes brilliant moments in those failures. His Jurassic Park is the reason I love movies the way I do and he keeps making movies that re-affirm my love. He may direct too many movies but when a man has that much vision to give, who can blame him. He can give us big budget (Indiana Jones) Intimate and weird (A.I) Gritty realism (Saving Private Ryan) Heart Wrenching drama (Schindler's list) and even pure escapism (Catch me if you can) and he can make them all feel real and feel wonderful. I can list about 15 movies of his I consider to be great films and of those 15 I can name 5 or 6 that I think are just pure movie brilliance, even if they are just big action movies. I could go on and on about this man, but you all know who he is and what he has accomplished. Picking two movies for this list was virtually impossible, but the two I came up with were Jurassic Park and Schindler's list.


So there you have it. I did not include Kevin Smith or Judd Apatow on this list because their true fgift lies int he writing of a movie, not the directing, although maybe Apatow will end up on this list at some point. I know the number 1 is pretty obvious, but I believe what I believe, so deal with it. Feel free to add any favorites of yours. I know I left some notable names off this list liek Sam Raimi and Tim Burton, so feel free to represent for your choice!

Michael Clayton

George Clooney is the man, plain and simple. He is a T.V star who seemed to luck into a big movie star, without a huge hit to his name for many years. He ruined the first Batman franchise (his words) and seemed destined to be a nobody and then something happened. That something was Steven Soderbergh. They hooked up for Out of Sight and all of a sudden all of Clonney's woes were gone. He was transformed into the coolest guy on the planet. Ladies move him guys want to kick it with him in his Mansion in Italy and we all want to watch him on screen. However, he is something more. He is a man who will take a dramatic pay cut to do a project he cares about. He got paid next to nothing to act in Goodnight and Good luck and even less to act in Syriana. Now he does it again with Michael Clayton. Originally Clooney wanted to act and direct in this but Tony Gilroy (writer for the Bourne movies) wrote a draft of the script and he and Clooney got together and Clooney liked what Gilroy wanted to do so he agreed to just act in it. How did it work out for them?


Michael Clayton (Clooney) is a man down on his luck. He is a gambling addict who also just lost a small fortune on a business venture gone wrong. He is debt due to it and he is covering for his drug addict brother. He is a divorced father of one and he spends his days as a "fixer" or "janitor" for a big law firm. His job is basically to clean up messes so they do not become public. The problem is he is an actual lawyer dying to do trial law again but this is his job. He is good at it too, or so we are told. By the time we get to him he is a broken beaten man. A man at a crossroads of his life. He seems to be tired of walking the line of moral ambiguity but we are not quite sure because the movie doesn't start from the beginning. When we get to the beginning of the story we meet Arthur Edens(Tom Wilkinson) who is a brilliant lawyer, but he is a manic depressive and when he doesn't take his medication he does weird things like stripping down in a deposition and losing his mind. Clayton is brought in to fix the situation but as he gets deeper in it he senses something more is going on. See the law firm they both work for represents a giant garden product business and the client's new product might have actually killed thousands of people. I don't want to give too much else away because I think the movie is better when you don't always know what is going on


From the opening moments of the film I was hooked, even though I wasn't sure what was going on. The film opens on a mostly empty business office and we hear a voice over of Wilkinson's character going on an amazing rant. The rant, full of bristling intensity hooks the viewer right away and really sets this film up nicely. Gilroy may be a first time director but he knows what he is doing. Learning from the rawness of the Bourne franchise, he lights this movie on fire with a burning tense atmosphere. Even when the movie slows down it maintains this sense of immediacy. He is not afraid of letting us get to know Clayton. He get inside his life and it makes the pay off that much better, because we are never sure what side of the fence Clayton is on. Gilroy also crafted a very impressive script, full of great back and forth dialogue and equal intensity to the entire crafting of the film. The not exactly linear movement of the movie really worked for me because it gave us a chance to see where Clayton was emotionally before we knew anything else about him. It puts his mental and spiritual sense right on the forefront of the movie. It lets us know that above everything else, this is a movie about a man who is no longer sure about anything. Someone calls him a "miracle-worker" but we never see that and it lends creditability to where the movie goes.


With Clayton, Clooney does something he has never done before as an actor. Gone is the gleam in his eye. Gone is that charming smile and easy charisma. In its place we find eyes dying to sleep or cry. In its place is a smile masking an unbelievable amount of pain, a smile fighting back years of loss- moral, soul, self and family. Clooney has never been this good, ever. At times I forgot I was watching Danny Ocean because he was Michael Clayton. He owns the movie and it would have died in the hands of a lesser actor. Always willing to do what is best for the movie it is no surprise Clooney knocks it out. Tom Wilkinson is also mesmerizing. He could have easily played the entire crazy guy act way over the top but he finds a perfect blend of manic over the top behavior, a child like stare and down to earth moral righteousness. Tilda Swinton is also excellent as a lawyer for the garden product giant. A woman on the verge of making some of the worst decisions of her life, Swinton plays the aches through these incredibly expressive eyes and this almost limp body language. She is never as strong as she pretends to be and Swinton captures all of it.


The camera work is fairly straight forward but that is the way it needed to be here. This a no frills movie that calls for a minimalist approach to film making. Gilroy knows the money shot is not the an actual shot but the money shot is George Clooney and when the final credits start to role and all we see is Clooney, it becomes crystal clear that Gilroy has a tremendous respect for what Clooney can do. This is the kind of legal thriller John Grisham wishes he could have written and the kind of movie every legal thriller wishes it could be. Even though we are never 100% sure as to what exactly is happening with the legal case, we do know we want Michael Clayton to look his moral crossroads in the face and find a way to make the right decision. However, we never really know whether he will or not because along the way he makes great and horrible decisions, which in the end is what makes him human and is what makes us care so much. In shorter terms, GO SEE THIS MOVIE!

Across the Universe

Allow me to begin by saying I am not a huge fan of the Beatles. I understand it is almost a crime to not be a fan, but whatever, I am not a huge fan. I can count on one hand the songs of theirs I actually enjoy. So, a movie musical set to only the music of The Beatles was not something I was jumping for joy to see. Then I saw the trailer for it and thought it looked brilliant. Well, it looked either glorious or a glorious mess. Either way I was hooked and was very curious about how Julie Taymor(director- Frida and stage version of The Lion King) would handle everything that was going on in the trailer. So, did it turn out to be glorious or a glorious mess?


Set during the Vietnam war this is a mostly plot less movie following the lives of 6 young people living the bohemian lifestyle in New York. Jude(Jim Sturgess) is a "limey" who came to America to find his father and instead found Max(Joe Anderson) and Lucy(Evan Rachel Wood). Upon arriving in New York, Max and Jude meet Sadie(Dana Fuchs), Prudence(T.V Carpio) and JoJo(Martin Luther). Lucy eventually joins them and the six of them live in one apartment. Sadie is a singer looking for her break and JoJo is her guitarist and lover. Prudence is a lesbian with a crush on Sadie and Jude is an artist who is in love with Lucy. Their whole world begins to change as Max gets his draft notice and goes off to join the war. Jude and Lucy fall in love but Lucy's commitment to the anti-war rally cry starts to tear them apart. Sadie gets her big break but she has to leave JoJo behind to get it and does so. The 6 seem to completely separate. But, like I said, the plot is not the point of the movie, the visuals are.


The movie opens on Jude sitting in the sand singing a bit of a prologue and to steal a line from Superbad "looking into his eyes is like the first time I heard the Beatles." Jim Sturgess has the darkest, most mysterious yet honest eyes ever. His eyes are full of a sad passion and hopeless romantic tendencies. His voice is earnest and real and full of an unwavering love for Lucy. But the visuals that accompany the prologue are freaking brilliant. We see basically the entire story we are about to see as told in glimpses as the waves of the ocean move through newspaper articles. It is a stunning opening and really gets one excited for the rest of the movie. Visually this movie is always inventive and exciting and always overshadows everything else. Bono shows up for an amazing rendition of "I am the Walrus" accompanied by these tripped out colors and visual effects that make everyone look blue and then makes every look like radio frequencies, if that is possible. Eddie Izzard has a brilliant little cameo as an emcee at the craziest circus ever. But the sequence that is probably the coolest in my opinion was the scene where Max is being taken into the Army. Set to "I want you" Max enters this weird place where every soldier has a weird mask face and each of the soldiers is doing this is amazing choreography and taking Max through his physical and into his army clothes. It is truly a sight to watch and it is still with me two days later.


Aside from the visual though, I am not sure how much I loved this movie. The voices are all fine, in fact, Dana Fuchs has got this deep raspy soulful voice that blew me away as she ripped through "Helter Skelter" "Oh Darling" and "Don't let me down" and Martin Luther not only sings with a soulful voice but he can straight up wail on a guitar. His rendition of "While my guitar gently weeps" might be the vocal and emotional high of this movie. Even Rachel Wood may not have the strongest voice ever, but it seems perfect for the role and for the songs that she sings. Her best moment comes as she sings "If I fell." Joe Anderson as Max gets most of the best lines as he is a cocky college dropout, but he also gets the most depth as he goes to war (The war sequences are incredibly interesting looking) and when he comes back from war he is a totally different person. Her really has a great soaring voice and it shows during "Hey Jude" and "With a little help from my friends." I already mentioned Stugress' eyes but his voice is also excellent as he passionately proclaims "All you need is love" and goes absolutely bloody crazy with a bass thumping thrashing version of "Revolution." I mention all of this music because it beautifully moves the story along and each song does seem perfectly placed. One of the coolest scenes to me was our introduction to JoJo. He is walking through the street looking as cool as a polar bear's toenails and all around him people are singing "Come together." It really shows how cool this guy is going to be in the film and while it is visually the most simple scene it is still very effective.


Not all of the visuals make sense in the structure of telling a story and often this feels like a bunch of short films/music videos all lumped together in hopes of telling a single story. The movie gets a little long in the tooth by the time it ends and it also gets very predictable, even in its crazy images. Actually the crazy images give way during the final 20 to 25 minutes in favor of trying to finish the story. However, even when it fails it manages to be entertaining to watch as the beautiful colors and images provide a nice different movie going experience. If you have been wanting for another Moulin Rouge! type of movie or if Hair! is your thing, this is a very nice substitute. For fans of The Beatles there are an abundance of references to the band and to songs not included in the movie. If you are looking something different, something beautiful and adventurous, this is a very great glorious mess of a movie that should not be missed!

The 5 movies I am most anticipating for the rest of the year

Robbie asked me for it and he did it on his blog, so I figured I would do it here. It was a tough list to scale down to only five, but here are the five movies I am most looking forward to between now and the end of the year. However, some of these will probably not get to our area until the beginning of January.


5. Charlie Wilson's War- I am not afraid to admit I am an Aaron Sorkin whore. I love his writing and he has yet to fail me. It has been far too long since he wrote something for the big screen (not counting the script doctoring he has done. See The Rock as an example). Tom Hanks is usually solid and Julia Roberts should be fine in it, but it is mostly for Sorkin's script that I am excited about this project. It doe snot hurt that Phillip Seymour Hoffman is in it either. It is not being released until late December which means the studio believes strongly enough to have it open just in time for award season which makes me that much more excited. The movie is about a Texas business man's dealing in Afghanistan, which may not sound exciting but neither did a television show set in the white house and Sorkin turned The West Wing into one of the best shows ever for a few years.


4. Reservation Road- I don't have to wait much longer for this one, as it comes out in only a few weeks. But, I didn't even know it existed until about a week ago. The director of Hotel Rwanda directs this movie that stars Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly and Mira Sorvino. It is about a guy who is on the search to find out who ran over and killed his son. Phoenix plays the grieving father and Ruffalo plays the man who killed his son. It looks like an explosive drama, oozing with tension. I have always thought Ruffalo deserved better than bad romantic comedies and here he is getting another shot to do something deep and dark. I am incredibly interested to see where the story goes and watching Phoenix and Ruffalo go back and forth makes me happy.


3. We own the Night- Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix play brothers in this sure to be awesome crime thriller. Wahlberg is a cop and Phoenix runs a night club where drugs are being dealt. The trailer is bursting with cinematic energy and I always love to watch Wahlberg play the tough guy. Robert Duvall lends a nice elder statesman force and of course Eva Mendes strutting around in a movie is never a bad thing. But, this is not about eye candy, it is about what looks like a total kick ass movie. Wahlberg seems to be riding high off his Oscar nomination from last year and Phoenix looks like he is doing his best work to date in this and my last entry. It is sure to be a sexy, fun, action packed thriller. A perfect way to head into awards season!


American Gangster- Russell Crowe can be a very good actor. I am not always into him but when you pair him Denzel Washington, well DAMN! This movie looks incredible. I am interested in Ridely Scott's first foray into the world of the mob, or gangster lifestyle. Denzel playing a villain is always fun, as he kind of plays up the fun that can be had. A strong supporting cast featuring Roger Bart who seems to be acting his ass off in the trailer. I am not sure how close to the truth the story will be and the long time it took to get this project off the ground should scare me, but just watch the trailer and tell me this thing does not look amazing! Gangster movies are a dime a dozen sure, but when they well made very few things are cooler than them. Scott has always been a solid director and now he gets to try a different genre. I am worried that a studio will dumb it down, but I am still sure the movie is going to rock, hard.


1. No Country for old men- You cannot be a hardcore film fan if this movie is not towards the top of any anticipated list. After a few bad movies, the Coen brothers are going back to what they know best- dark comic tales of murder. They put together an incredibly strong cast- Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson and Javier Bardem- and they put together what looks like a brutal, stunning looking movie. The trailer promises some interesting deaths, some very dark humor and incredible dialogue. The Coen's have done their fair share of darkly comic tales but this one appears to be their darkest yet. Everyone film buff has been waiting for these guys to get back on track and I don't know anyone who is not dying to see the finished product.


I could have easily extended this to ten movies, although a few of the ones I would have included came out recently in one or two screens like Into the Wild and The Darjeeling Limited, but 5 seemed like a good number. I am also waiting with cautious optimism for Sweeney Todd and Lust, Caution, but again, I am still on the fence about whether I think they will be good. In the fun action or horror genres I am really excited for 30 days of night and I am legend as well. In the realm of family movies I think Fred Clause and Mr. Magorium's wonder emporium look good.