The Good, The Great, and the Ugly

Okay, I was out for the weekend workin' on mastering down the new SouthBound album, but I got three new reviews for ya'll today................

Zodiac

2007
Directed by David Fincher

David Fincher is one of a handful of current directors who consistently prove the theory that in the right hands, a less-than-great actor can become great for a couple of hours. We've seen it a million times (think Travolta in Pulp Fiction, and then anything he's ever done besides Pulp Fiction). In this case, I think it's safe to say this was one of the best roles of Mark Ruffalo's career. It definitely shocked the hell out of me, for one.

Robert Downey Jr., on the other hand, didn't shock anything out of me. He's just a cool soda.

Zodiac is Fincher's sprawling procedural about the real-life crimes of one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. Nobody was ever charged with the actual murders, but there were plenty of suspects. It's in this uncertainty of the killer's identity that Fincher is able to inject a very realistic sense of paranoia among the different men attempting to solve the case in their own ways, from the detectives on the hunt to the journalists riding the tail of a sensational story. You can read it on their faces everytime they cross paths with a new suspect, "Am I sitting right next to a serial killer, or does he just seem more like a monster because I already think he might be one?"

This isn't Se7en. There is no moment of clarity during the last shocking 10 minutes that leave the killer's motivations exposed, or even the killer himself for that matter. Instead, the real theme of this movie is less about the crimes, and more about obsession and how all the people around the case slowly fall into it. Most notably the main detective leading the investigation, David Toschi (Ruffalo) and Robert Graysmith, the young San Francisco Chronicle journalist (Gyllenhaal) who attaches himself to the Zodiac mystery the way Amy Winehouse attaches herself to a hot spoonful of black tar heroin. We already know that the case was never solved, so we follow the frustration in these characters as they build up solid evidence only to watch it fall to pieces again and again.

Robert Downey Jr, playing Colonel

Sanders in his early years as a gay English professor

In my opinion, this was the great underrated movie of 2007. Beautifully shot and acted, with a tone of anxiousness that really gets under your skin. When it came out early this year, it wasn't a big success at the box office at all. You could probably blame that on opening the same weekend as 300, but you could also make the case that simply put, it just didn't have a hook to bring people in the theater. Whatever the excuse, for a fairly big budget film ($60-70 million), the studio barely made their money back on it. And on top of that, it got mixed reviews to say the least. Some critics loved it, others thought it was too long, which as I mentioned in my review for American Gangster, is not a worthwhile critism as long as you enjoy everything you see on screen during that time.

Interestingly enough, looking at the details for both movies I just noticed that they share exactly the same running time at 2 hours 40 minutes. If anything, we might take this is a sign of the major movie studios becoming more flexible with their talented directors, allowing them to put out the film they want instead of forcing them to leave half of it on the cutting room floor. I hope so.

The Limey

1999

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

"There's one thing I don't understand...............and that's every motherfuckin' word you just said."

Out of Sight was a mainstream crime flick that managed to be surprisingly intelligent. Traffic was a mainstream epic mosaic of the drug war that took over the Oscars in 2000. You might have missed it, but in between those two great films, Steven Soderbergh made another movie, a very un-mainstream and psychologically grounded neo-noir thriller.

At it's core, The Limey is the story of a father with regret. Terrence Stamp is Wilson, a British ex-thief fresh out of prison after a nine year robbery bid. While he was serving time, his daughter moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting dream. She is dead as the film opens with Stamp whispering the words, "Tell me about Jenny". At that point we don't know quite how she died, but it's clear that Wilson doesn't believe it was an accident. For the next hour and a half we follow Wilson as he delves deeper and deeper into the mystery surrounding his daughter's death. He meets up with Eduardo, one of Jenny's friends from acting school (played by the extremely underrated-due-to-ugly Luis Guzman) and with Eduardo's help he soon discovers that his daughter was living with a wealthy record producer named Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda), a man with a shady past of his own.

The quote at the beginning of my review is in regard to the fact that through the whole movie, Stamp is laying on the Cockney slang/accent thick. Some people like that little quirky touch, but personally I felt that it being played for comic relief just took away from the authenticity of the film, and frankly, made for some very bad pieces of dialogue in an otherwise well-written script. We're supposed to believe that not one character in the movie can understand what he's saying, while we the audience understand him just fine. But you know, one small gripe.

Back to a positive note, one of the great surprises of this film is it's use of flashbacks. We've all seen flashbacks in movies where the actors dye their hair and put on some cheesy 60's attire, and it never feels like anything more than a forced plot device. Well, call Soderbergh whatever you want but you can't call him uncommitted, because in order to acheive the authenticity he wanted from the flashback scenes with Terrence Stamp and his daughter, Soderbergh actually bought the rights to one of Stamps early films (Poor Cow, 1967, coincidentally directed by the same Ken Loach that made The Wind That Shakes the Barley) and cannibalized scenes from it for The Limey. It works incredibly well.

Even as you read this review, it still might sound as if The Limey is the same run-of-the-mill revenge thriller that we've seen a million times. But what separates this movie from so many others is Soderbergh's stylishly contemplative hand on the source material. The music, the dialogue, the way he shows us a character's face while they speak from another part of the conversation. It all gives the story more surreality than it would ever have by itself. And even though we only see Jenny in flashbacks, the unresolved relationship between the father and daughter is fully developed, leaving the final revelation of the truth about the girl's death just as poignant as it is satisfying to the plot.

Find it and rent it.




And now for one i didn't like......................

Tape

2001
Directed by Richard Linklater

Okay, here we have a 2001 film by Richard Linklater, a man who I owe a huge thanks to for establishing the Austin Film Society. The film collections that are put together by that organization at local theaters here in Austin have given me way too many hours of enjoyment, watching everything from lost French classics to African cinema to Hitchcock on the big screen. So I'm almost tempted to not say anything bad about the guy, especially since I love most of his other films. Don't you?? "It'd be a lot cooler if you did."

Sadly, I do have to say something bad. Very bad. This movie is just painful to watch, although admittedly less so if you don't spend the whole 90 minutes punching yourself in the neck like I did. I just wanted to feel SOMETHING, since I damn sure wasn't getting any help from the screen. But regardless, it's an equally hard film to get through with or without the throat abuse.

Essentially, this movie is a stage play. Three characters, one location, lots of talking. While I'm not opposed to this set-up in general, Tape becomes the ultimate example of how disastrous such a set-up can be in the wrong hands. In order for this kind of experiment in setting to succeed, it has to rely on a real sense of tension and intelligent writing, neither of which can be found here.

The three characters in question are Vince (Ethan Hawke) and John (Robert Sean Leonard), best friends from high school, and Amy (Uma Thurman), the girl who they both dated back then. John is in Lansing, Michigan showing his debut film as an up and coming indie director, and Vince came along to support his friend.....or at least that's what he claims. It soon becomes clear that he has other reasons for the reunion, something he has to get off his chest. It just so happens that Amy now lives in Lansing as an Assistant District Attorney, and what John doesn't know is that Vince has invited her to the reunion as well. What secret does Vince know about the other two? What horrible event happened 10 years ago??

"Ain't you that dude from House?"

I won't give away any of these thrilling developments that make up the meat of the plot, but I will say that the basic conflict that is revealed actually did have the potential to be extremely interesting, and well worth a film treatment. But not this one. Every action by every character is irrational and unrealistic. Every plot twist is weakly transitioned. And most importantly, every single piece of dialogue is horribly written and just plain irritating.


"Well, fuck you then, I'm gonna leave!"

"Fine, leave!"

"Tell me this, why do you want me to leave this hotel room?"

"I don't. You're the one that wants to leave because you can't take the truth!"

"What if I stay?"

"How?"

"By not leaving."

"Why?"

"Because I want to ask you one more thing before I go!"


It's seriously that bad. I do good impressions.

And just as icing on the (urinal) cake, Linklater's direction is amateurish at best. You get the feeling at times that he's doing it on purpose, perhaps to add some realism (which would be forgivable), but at others it just seems like failed attempts at "cool" camera experimentation (unforgivable). Either way, the result is something near student film-ish. This is one of my least favorite movies ever.

War on Terror (now with potatoes!!!)

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

2007
Directed by Ken Loach

"What we've done here today is sent a message to the British, that if they send their savagery over here, we will meet it with a savagery of our own."

For once, a movie that is tangled and imperfect on purpose. Violent revolutions are never clear or comprehensible, and this film most definitely mirrors it's own subject matter. Bloody, chaotic, and challenging.

Our government would call them "insurgents" today. Back in the 1920's, they just kept it simple and called themselves revolutionaries. The Irish Republican Army. The story of the IRA's early years are told here through the eyes of two brothers, Damien (Cillian Murphy) and Teddy O'Donovan. After British colonial soldiers murder one of their innocent friends for refusing to give his name in English during a random search, the young men in the village vow to take up arms and fight against the occupation. Teddy steps up as a leader, but Damien is hesitant to join the fight at all. He has plans to go to London to study medicine, and at this point his political views are hinted at being of the non-violent socialist variety. But his views change quickly after seeing one too many attacks on innocent countrymen first-hand. He chooses to stay and fight alongside his brother and friends.

The rest of the film follows Damien and his "regiment" through their successes and failures, captures and escapes. At 2 hours, it is filled with everything from brutally realistic torture scenes to difficult political debates between the characters. There are more than a few battle scenes, but it never feels like an action movie. It's clear that director Ken Loach has no interest in making the violence too entertaining.





I'd be lying through my gapped teeth if I claimed to have understood everything that was said in the movie. I honestly didn't. Some of the thick Irish accents here make Trainspotting look like Blue's Clues. At times I just said "fuck it, I get the gist of it, let's wait for the next scene." But I want to stress that even in those few moments where you may get lost in the language, the overall plot points never drift or lose their significance in the drama. I think that's a great testament to Loach's power as a filmmaker, and his long-since-proven ability to make lucid what seems impossibly ambiguous and abstract, including even dialogue in this case.

Cillian Murphy is off to a somewhat slow start in his career. He's been in a handful of very good films (Breakfast on Pluto, Girl with the Pearl Earring, Batman Begins, etc) but no truly great ones. And even in those he has yet to have anything resembling a real moment of greatness. That being said, this is his strongest performance yet as far as I'm concerned, and I predict that he has that greatness in him somewhere. With his character, he holds a kind of quiet alertness that really strengthens not only the tone of the movie, but the positions he represents in the political spectrum compared to his comrades. The rest of the all-Irish (obviously) cast is solid as well.

Beautiful cinematography. Just in case you never knew why Ireland is always associated with the color green, this movie will leave no doubt.

To sum it up, this is a fiercely political film that is always sympathetic, but never romantic. Well-acted, perfectly paced and confidently directed by a veteran. Realistic and devastating. It won the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year, and for what it's worth I've already watched it twice in the last two months. Definitely worth the rental if you can find it.

Across 110th Street..........

I was lucky enough to get into a free screening for the much-anticipated Ridley Scott crime epic American Gangster. I guess this blog is finally good for something. Here's my early review:

American Gangster

2007
Directed by Ridley Scott

Despite what many critics say, Russel Crowe is not our generation's Steve McQueen. He's not the new Paul Newman, or Richard Burton, Nicholson, Caine, or even Pacino. No............the fact of the matter is that Russel Crowe is our Russel Crowe, and as much as it shames me to type those incredibly hammy and cliche words, it's the honest truth. There's no other way to put it. The man is in his prime, the type of prime that builds legendary actors. He has starred in not one, but two of the best films of 2007 (3:10 to Yuma), and in both he overtakes entire ensemble casts of great actors. The same can be said about Denzel Washington, the real focus and star of this movie, as there is probably nobody else that could have done this character justice quite like he does.

Frank Lucas was the right-hand man to Bumpy Johnson, one of the most famous black gangsters in American history, the man who ran prohibition-era Harlem. Lucas learned everything from him, and when Bumpy died, Lucas took his spot in the New York City crime underworld. And then some. Through a cousin in the military during Vietnam, he managed to secure a heroin supply straight from Indonesia. The purest of the pure, while the rest of the flashy Harlem drug kingpins (Nicky Barnes most notably, portrayed in this film by Cuba Gooding Jr.) sold weak product, diluted and cut to shit. And he sold his for half as cheap. He gained a monopoly fast, putting everyone else out of business, and eventually going over the heads of even the most prominent New York Italian mafia families, to whom he paid no dues. But he did offer them a deal to buy their product from him. It was unprecedented. On the other side of the law, there was Richie Roberts (Russel Crowe), an almost inconceivably honest cop surrounded by crooked ones, who is assigned to lead the efforts to take Lucas down.

This film wastes no time, in true Ridley Scott fashion. From the moment the first images hit the screen with a thundering bass and string score, you know you're in for a visceral visit to a surreal and gritty version of an already gritty reality. And however inconsistent Scott has been throughout the years, that's one thing you can count on from him. A unique experience.

This movie works on many levels. An intelligent drama. A 1970's period piece with immutable authenticity. A dual character study of two men devoted to principle in their own opposite ways. A truly exciting and fluid action movie, which by the way is nice to see after the frustratingly unwatchable action sequences we've seen in Transformers and other films this year. But most impressively, it is both a nuanced noir and a big-budget gangster shoot-em-up at the same time, a formula that really makes me happy to see done right. It also works as a kind of drug dealer procedural (yeah, I just made up a genre. Credit me damnit) with a myriad of heroin schemes reminiscent of The French Connection. And just incase you had any doubt, one of the Italian mobsters actually makes that same comparison by referring to one drug operation as, and I quote, "This is the French Connection dope". Not exactly subtle, but it reminds you that many of the greatest fictional crime movies from the 70's were based on real life events, and that the story of Frank Lucas is a gripping one in that mold. Almost everything about Lucas's story is exaggerated here for effect. For example, Bumpy Johnson died at a nightclub, not in an electronics store while giving a dramatic speech about the "good ol' days". And I highly doubt all of Lucas's cocaine baggers were really supermodels (believe me I'm not complaining). But as film is an exaggerated medium by nature, I really don't think anyone is going to give a damn. I sure don't.

".......then you just throw in
some parsley leaves and BAM,
turkey noodle casserole."

The supporting cast is sprawling and superb. Every role is filled with talented actors and actresses. We get to see more of Chiwetel Ejiofor, who as I said in my last review, had a breakout role in the Petey Greene biopic Talk to Me earlier this year. He's solid here as well, playing Lucas's brother. Another one of the better minor characters is Josh Brolin (star of the upcoming No Country for Old Men) as a crooked detective with his own drug and shakedown operation. The great Ruby Dee plays Lucas's mother. Wu-tang don RZA plays a cop on Crowe's team. We also see two other rappers, Common and T.I., playing father and son in Frank Lucas's family-staffed crime syndicate. And we see them like we should always see rappers in films............in 2 minute increments. But seriously, I have to point out, with so many rappers getting face-time in this movie, and with an unnecessary but always welcomed cameo from Fab 5 Freddy that comes out of nowhere, one might jump to the conclusion that Ridley Scott is a, *gasp*, hip hop head?!? Well, probably not, but just for the sake of my own entertainment I'm gonna keep imagining him bangin' out to Sean Price in his Lamborghini while sipping green tea. It's just better that way.

I also really enjoyed seeing Idris Elba (Better known as Stringer Bell from The Wire) in a great, if brief, role as a rival Harlem gangster threatening Lucas's control of the neighborhood. Idris doesn't always choose the best scripts (The Reaping, etc), or maybe he's just not offered the best. But when he is given a chance with a strong character, he consistently proves that he has a very powerful presence on screen. Top billing presence, if you ask me. There is a scene between Denzel and Elba in this film that is truly unforgettable. I'll just leave it at that. The kind of scene that people tend to remember in movies like this.

You know, one major advantage to the gangster movie genre in general, is that it appeals to the masses. Always has, always will. So you know that when a great one comes along, it will get all the recognition it deserves. It definitely won't be overlooked. And just as it was with another of my favorite films from 2007, David Fincher's Zodiac, I'm sure the biggest critical complaint we will hear about American Gangster will be in regard to the 2+ hour length of the film. For the most part though, this is just a half-ass method of writing a "balanced" review. You have to find SOME flaw, right? But trust me, when the only real complaint from critics is that an amazing movie is amazing for too long, you're in safe territory.

As for me, I can't recommend this movie enough. I believe it's Ridley Scott's best film since Blade Runner, exactly 25 years ago. It comes out November 2nd, so definitely go check it out.

Microphone Fiend

Talk To Me

2007 Directed by Kasi Lemmons

After Talk to Me was over, I got the same distinct feeling I remember getting while watching the great 1984 documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk. I know, it's a strange comparison, but what they both make you ask is "Why the hell haven't I heard more about this guy before now?"

This is the true story of Petey Greene, a man who develops a love for being in front of a microphone while in prison, where the warden allows him to use the PA system as a kind of one-man soul station, with his own brand of shit-talking in between songs. He's a hit inside the walls, and once released he almost obsessively clings to a dream of getting a real job as a DJ at a major radio station in his home of Washington DC. His struggle to get on air is no easy task, especially living in the 70's when the concept of opinionated "shock jock" call-in shows weren't exactly established in the medium. But once he finally gets his shot, the response is overwhelming. He becomes a local celebrity almost immediately, a voice for the people saying exactly what everyone else is afraid to say, for better or worse.

And imagine, that's only the first 20 minutes.

The rest of the film follows his rise right to the edge of national stardom, and his infamously self-destructive refusal to take that last step. And while we've basically already seen the first act of this movie damn near shot-for-shot many times before in Good Morning Vietnam and other similar films ("Did he just say that?? I want him off the air because I'm an uptight old man!!!" yadda yadda), it never feels redundant of those films, mostly because of Greene's real life persona and opinions.

Let me be very clear on this point though, this is not a well-written movie. Not by a longshot. In fact, it borders on ridiculously formulaic at times. But what it lacks in design depth, it makes up in being genuinely funny and consistently beautiful to look at. Every cliche is handled with a certain cleverness that makes them easily forgivable, but damnit there a lot of cliches to forgive. For starters, director Kasi Lemmons clearly has some kind of unhealthy fetish for montages. There are support groups for less.

What really saves this movie from the depths of mediocrity is the acting. At this point in his career, It can be too easy to instinctively credit Don Cheadle for carrying a film. And for good reason, since he has done exactly that more than a few times in recent years. But the truth of the matter is that as electric as Cheadle is on the screen, the show is completely stolen by a breakout performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the role of Dewey Hughes, the clean-cut black program director at an all white radio station who takes a huge risk in putting Petey on the air. He really is great here. In fact, it's hard not to notice that as the movie flies in it's many directions, we eventually start spending just as much time watching the Hughes character on screen as we do the actual main character of the biopic. The reason for that becomes pretty clear when you find out that the idea for this film was pushed and pitched by Hughes himself, and that one of the two screenwriters for the film is Hughes's son. As a result, instead of him being just portrayed as a supporting character in Petey's life, the main focus of the movie quickly becomes the friendship between these two men over the years. This is far from a bad thing, though. It really works. Maybe even moreso than if it was just a straight-forward character study of Greene alone, as the tension between Greene and Hughes is one of the strengths of the drama.

The Real life Petey Greene and
Dewey Hughes, laughing
at the way you dress

Now, if I could just take a minute to speak about the beautiful Taraji Henson without dribbling spit like Troy Aikman after his 9th concussion. No really...........if I could do that, I would. I'll just type through the moist keys. She shocked a lot of critics with her incredibly vivid performance in Hustle and Flow two years ago, especially after a more or less throwaway role in Baby Boy. I can imagine the name of her character in the script she read for Baby Boy just saying "black female who is alive with two legs". History repeats itself because the thing about her presence in Talk to Me, as wonderful as she is playing Greene's longtime loyal girlfriend, is that she is perfectly cast for a far too broadly written role. Her character is basically a walking stereotype for the first 2/3rds of the movie, but she mines as much potency out of it as she possibly can, and it miraculously manages to balance out thanks to her efforts. At least enough so that you do believe her at the moments when she becomes the voice of reason for the film. Just barely.

This is not a perfect film by any means. The final scenes want desperately to be the standard climactic tear-jerkers, but because of impatient pacing and empty dialogue, they really pack no punch at all. But that matters much less than it should thanks to the fact that there is one VERY powerful and effective sequence in the middle of the film, pertaining to the death of Martin Luther King, that already satisfies that demand. But that may be more of a testament to the worth of King's life than any movie's ability to dramatize it.

I opened this review with a comparison to The Times of Harvey Milk, and I'll close it with another one. They both tell stories of real men that ultimately remind us that from time to time, a person can still become famous for telling the truth, and not just for fucking Bret Michaels in the garden tub of a rental house. As far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty hopeful message. Good stuff.

Goddamn trains.........never can rely on 'em

3:10 to Yuma

2007 Directed by James Mangold

"I don't believe you. You're not all bad."

"Kid, I wouldn't last five minutes leadin' an outfit like that if I wasn't as rotten as hell."


You like that line?? I sure as hell do. Let's just skip the foreplay and say that I loved this movie even more than spitting on people's heads from the second floor of the mall. I had a great time. At the movie, I mean.

Next month (jumps up and down like a japanese schoolgirl) we will see the release of No Country For Old Men, the new Coen Brothers film adaptation of the book by the same name by the great novelist Cormac McCarthy. In a way, you might consider that McCarthy's second assist on screen this year, because if you look close enough, it's obvious that Russel Crowe's portrayal of ruthless and sardonic outlaw Ben Wade owes a great debt to the similarly murderous character of "The Judge", from that author's dark masterpiece Blood Meridian. If you've read the book you'll see it just as fast as I did. The perfect mix of traveled wisdom and insanity, expounding philosophy one minute and stabbing someone in the neck with a fork the next. Nice. And of course, that familiar sketchbook.

But that's just an example of how inspired the characters are in the movie. More importantly, Wade is an infamous gunman who, after robbing a stagecoach with his posse, is on the run from the law again. He's a little too overzealous with his escape plan and is captured in a small town after taking way too long to finish sexin' up a green-eyed barmaid, proving my long-held theory that being a minute-man is actually a good thing. Take that, every woman I've ever known.

Standing behind the hand-cuffed Wade with a gun to his head is Dan Evans (Bale), a disgraced one-legged rancher whose lack of success, charisma, ambition, and bravery has left it difficult for even his own sons to respect him anymore. So when he accepts an offer to help escort the captured outlaw Wade to the train station where he will be taken to Yuma prison, it becomes more than just an opportunity to earn some much needed quick cash. It becomes his last chance at a respectable legacy, however small. If only they can make it to the train station before Wade's gang catches up to set him free.

With bullets! Dum dum DUUUUUUM!!!

There is no part of this movie that can be said to be anything less than a complete upgrade from the original 1957 film, which I admit I was never particularly a fan of. The man behind the improvements is director James Mangold, who has a knack for getting deep inside the head of the imasculated male struggling to regain respect. We've seen that in previous films on his resume, most notably Cop Land, which was a cowboy flick in it's own way. It might be time for this filmmaker's name to be more recognizable because he has struck just the right note once again, there is not a boring second in this film. And likewise, not a boring character. There is a rare overflow of talent at work here, from the two amazing lead performances down to every single minor supporting role. Peter Fonda as an aging bounty hunter, Ben Foster as Wades psycopathic right-hand man. But one of the big surprises for me in the movie was Dallas Roberts playing the role of the sheriff who arrests Wade and leads the transport to Yuma. We saw Roberts in Mangold's last movie, the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, where he played Sun records CEO Sam Phillips. Here he plays his character of Sheriff Butterfield with a certain restive nervousness that really serves as a huge part of the tension and constant fear surrounding their journey. You may have also seen him in the HBO show The L Word, but I doubt you would admit it in public, you silly goothe.



As consistently intelligent as the screenplay is, one major flaw is that you will definitely be asked to suspend your disbelief at Crowe's choices and motivations during the last, say, 20 minutes of the film. In that respect, it might have been better served staying truer to the original Elmore Leonard short story, instead of making the same mistake that the 1957 film does in softening the third act. But if you are able to let it slide, then you will be rewarded with one of the most entertaining movie experiences of 2007. And although I easily still consider this one of my personal favorites of the year, and truly hope that Bale is considered come oscar time, I have to say that with a more logical resolution it could have been more than just one of the best of this year. It could have been one of the greatest westerns of any year, period. Oh well.........like our sickly friend Roger Ebert always says, you can't judge a film for what it isn't. But he says that through a tube nowadays so maybe it just sounds more profound.

Either way, see this movie immediately. If you end up liking it even half as much as I did, I would also recommend a great (and greatly overlooked) western from Australia last year called The Proposition. And with two more supposedly superb westerns rounding up the last leg of 2007 (Brad Pitt's Assassination of Jesse James, and the aforementioned No Country for Old Men) I think it's safe to say that it's a great time to be a fan of the genre.

Open Letter to Michael Caine

RE: The Sleuth remake


Dear Mike,


Really? You sure??


Love,
Sandman


P.S.- You're not gettin' any younger, that's all I'm saying.

DAA First Movie Marathon: Spy Thrillers

Dirty Ass Aisles Presents- The Spy Movie Marathon!!


Here's the deal...........I love a good spy thriller, but I hate Bond movies. All of 'em. I can definitely see why it's such a popular franchise, but it just ain't my cup of tea. At all. But fortunately, I promise I would never stoop to the level of boring/angering all of you with some long pretentious diatribe laying out all the specific (and obvious) reasons why I don't like the Bond films. No, I would rather be constructive, and offer my own suggestions for some spy films that I feel go above and beyond. So without further dumb rambling, here is a list of 8 of my most favoritest secret agent flicks ever, to be watched back to back in a spy movie marathon like a good meth binge. Consider it an anti-Bond marathon, full of (mostly) realistic characters and situaitons, and above all, just good filmmaking.

Let's get it started with.................

1. The Spy Who Came In From the Cold

The Spy: Richard Burton
Who's Trying to Kill Him: Witty Communists

Maybe one of Richard Burton's best roles ever. Maybe the best spy movie of the 60's, period. A couple months ago I was flipping through the TV, and I noticed that it was playing on the Turner Classic Movie channel, and even though I've seen it many many times, I just had to sit my ass down and watch it again. Don't have to tell me twice.

Simply put, you can't have a decent spy movie discussion without this one in the mix. It's essential, and so I had to make it the kick-off.

2. Munich

The Spy: Eric Bana
Who's Trying to Kill Him: Palestinians

A very rare accomplishment, an homage that actually manages to outdo many of the films it honors. This was Speilberg's love letter to the 70's spy thriller. It's the true story of small group of Israeli assassins sent on a mission to hunt down and kill the people responsible for the terroristic kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli olympic athletes in 1972. Can a movie possibly have a more polarizing subject as it's focus??? I submit........*clears throat*.......that it cannot.

But at the end of the day, the real subject of this movie is patriotism, and all the conflicts (inner and public) that come along with it. And for what that's worth, I've rarely seen any movie handle that better than this one.

And as far as spy movies go in general, there's always been somewhat of a bias from movie geeks towards the 60's and 70's. But I really think there have been some great ones coming out in recent years, and this is probably the best of that crowd.

3. Three Days of the Condor

The Spy: Robert Redford
Who's Trying to Kill Him: Watch and find out.............

This is the Robert Redford I like to see.........back before he had the charming cabin-in-the-mountains speech patterns of my grandmother in every movie. The whole time I was watching The Last Castle, I just kept thinking about Christmas cookies and hugs. And we won't even talk about the yawn-orgy that was Spy Games.

And while this one isn't much of a masterpeice compared to some of the others we've been talking about so far, it's probably one of the most purely thrilling thrillers on the list. The pacing is great, action is always happening, story is always unfolding piece by piece. And if you didn't already know, this is just one of many great political thrillers from director Sidney Pollack, who these days would rather act in excellent thrillers (see: Michael Clayton) than make them much anymore. And even when he does get back behind the camera, the results are extremely underwhelming, almost take-offs of his past work (see: The Interpreter). Not a good look, Sidney. You're doin' just fine but seriously, come on back home where you belong.

4. Army of Shadows


The Spy: Lino Ventura
Who's Trying to Kill Him: Nazis in occupied France

Melville's masterpiece about the French Resistance. Just mentioning this movie makes me want to scrap this whole spy-marathon idea and just start a Lino Ventura marathon right now. He can't not be amazing in any movie he's in, and this particular movie itself is amazing in it's depiction of the imperfect world of espionage, as opposed to the perfection that we usually see with superhuman heroes who know all, see all, kill all, and hump all without getting chlamydia. DON'T LIE TO ME!!! The spies in this film are clumsy at times, flawed in not only their execution but in their motivations as well, and they rarely succeed in their missions. I mean, talk about flawed characters, we can clearly see that the main character has an unhealthy kind of blind hero worship devotion towards his "chief", a radical leftist writer turned resistance-leader. And I won't get into it in detail, but the ending is heartbreaking in it's moral ambiguity.

5. Eye of the Needle


The Spy: Donald Sutherland
Who's Trying to Kill Him: The Allied Powers circa WWII

Donald Sutherland plays a German spy, one of the cold-bloodiest assassins ever to be put on film. I know what you're thinking........."Donald Sutherland as an assassin?? Cold-bloodiest?? I don't think that's a word, Sandman."

Well, you know what, get off your damn high horse, hypothetical reader!! Because Sutherland is surprisingly believable in this movie. I love that so many of his violent actions are open to some level of interpretation, because you never really know just how much he hates or loves his job of killing people. Especially since during the course of the movie, he's forced to kill multiple people who just happen to cross his path at the wrong time and see too much for their own good. It's implied that he's somewhat reluctant to do them in, but really, how reluctant can you be?? His job is way better than mine any day of the week.

Botton line, this is just a beautifully shot film from the early 80's, and one that just might change the way you look at Donald Sutherland forever. Check it out.

6. Our Man in Havana

The Spy: Alec Guiness
Who's Trying to Kill Him: Cuban authorities, among others

I'm a huge fan of Graham Greene novels, almost dick-rider level of fan if we're being honest. He could do no wrong. The adaptation of The Quiet American a couple years back was like heaven in a sex sandwich glazed in satisfaction sauce as far as I'm concerned. And while I still think that was the best Greene adaptation on screen, this 1959 flick directed by Carol Reed comes a close third after The Third Man, which was also directed by Reed. Kinda makes you wonder if maybe he wasn't on dick-rider status, too.

The Plot? Obi-wan kenobi is a clueless british salesman in Cuba in need of money, so he takes a job selling "intelligence" to the British intelligence agencies. The problem is, his "intelligence" deserves the quotation marks I'm putting them in because it's all entirely made up. Complete bullshit. But the British agents don't know this, in fact they take it VERY seriously, as do all the other covert agents of all affiliations lurking around Cuba. And they all have questions for our hero the salesman.

Nice synopsis, right? I don't know why Amazon keeps turning down my applications to be a synopsis writer for their site. Apparantly, they consider it "unprofessional" to write film descriptions while sniffing paint at a public library.

At any rate, Our Man in Havana has the perfect combination of suspense and comedy, and the fact that this movie isn't out on DVD yet almost makes me believe the crazy homeless guy who stands on the corner by my apartments warning people that Satan is roaming the earth causing "many troubles". That's the real conspiracy here.

7. The Lives of Others

The Spy: Ulrich Mühe
Who's Trying to Kill Him: His own job

If I could go back and re-do my Best of 2006 list, I would have to slip this one in somewhere in the middle. I caught a late-pass, but better late than never for a film like this. Essentially, the story is about a German spy having a change of heart, in both his outlook on the world and his moral stance on his own position in that world. Even though it won the Oscar for best foreign film last year, it seems like everybody needs the same late pass that I got because it's completely unknown to most people, as far as I can tell. Which sucks because it deserves all the notoriety that Munich got that very same year.

8. Casino Royale

The Spy: Daniel Craig
Who's Trying to Kill Him: The "evil-doers" (c) George Bush

You know what, fuck it. I said this was supposed to be the anti-Bond list, but truth be told, Casino Royale still fits just fine in that category. A perfect end to the marathon.

What an undeniably great movie this is. I'm almost glad that Tarantino handed this project off to someone else, because who knows what it might have looked like if he didn't (The New Bond: Henry Winkler?). To be fair though, I'm sure we would've got some outstanding Bond girls out of that deal.




And there you have it. That's what I would consider THE perfect spy-thriller movie marathon. Looking back over the list now, this wasn't intentional but it reads more like a list of some of the greatest leading men of all time at the top of their collective game. I hope you take my advice and check out at least..............well, 8 of these films. At least. They are all well worth the rental/download.

I hope you enjoyed the suggestions. I'll probably do this kinda thing a lot on here, when I have the time. More regular reviews coming soon. And I've gotten alot of comments about how people love this blog, and one suggestion to organize it a little better, so look out for some basic categories in my reviews. New films (still in theaters, new this year, etc), general rental suggestions (older movies that are great), and movies I feel are TRASH (similar to what I did with Bully). But really..............thanks for the comments, but fuck ya'll for sending them privately. I still have a whopping 0 comments so far and I'm already 4 posts into this thing, so I would appreciate some feedback on here since ya'll "love it" so much.

Yep.

Don't Believe the Hype: Bully

Every once in a while there's a movie that I missed, that has a certain level of hype or cult following behind it. It gets to the point where so many people are recommending it to me time after time, that I decide to search it out and see it immediately. Most of the time this kind of situation ends great, and I find a new favorite. But sometimes the masses are wrong, the hype is unworthy, and I just want my time back. That's exactly what happened with.........................

Bully

Directed by Larry Clark
2001

Just for the record, I liked Kids. I never thought it was a masterpiece like some people did, but I have to admit it was pretty unforgettable and original in it's own way. There was some good acting here and there, and actually some worthwhile cinematography to be seen. I have seen two other Larry Clark movies as well, Gummo and Wassup Rockers, both of which made me want to drink 8 bottles of cranberry juice and eat 3 whole cabbages just to take a nice big stinky piss on the DVD's before returning them to the store. So needless to say, I'm not what you would call a Larry Clark fan. But everyone kept telling me that I was missing the boat, saying "you have to see Bully. Forget all those other ones, that's his best. If you liked Kids, you'll LOVE Bully".

Like I said, I did enjoy Kids for what it was. So I took their word for it and expected to like this one on a similar level, just based on the recommendations of more than one person whose taste in movies I respect. RespectED, that is.

What a worthless experience.

After watching Bully, I realized what I hate about Larry Clark movies the most, pedophilia aside of course. It was a tough decision. So many things to choose from, but I finally did it. What I hate most is the fact that he's so great at capturing how kids really talk in real life. That might sound like a compliment, but it's definitely not, because it just makes you remember that listening to real kids talk is like nails on a chalkboard, if the chalkboard was inside your head and the nails were a shotgun. It's something you usually avoid at all costs in your daily life, or at least you would if you valued your short time on this earth. In other words it's just irritating dialogue, and not worth filming or watching. Only in rare cases can that kind of teen-talk realism be pulled off with any watchable success (Elephant), and even then, it has to rest on some pretty amazing cinematography, mood, and tension, all of which Bully just doesn't have.

Besides all of that, this movie contains what is probably one of the worst cases of bad camera-work that I've ever ever EVER seen in a (non-student) hollywood movie. I'm talking about the scene where the gang of would-be murderers are all in a circle outside the "hitman's" house discussing the plan, and the camera is panning around while they talk. That is easily one of the shittiest miscarriages of direction I've seen on film in years. It was frustrating to watch. I literally had to pause the movie and get a glass of water. Why? I couldn't even tell you. I can only imagine how fried on peyote the editing team must have been to decide it was a smart move to leave that shot in the movie, instead of re-shooting it, or just cutting it out completely for that matter. But more importantly, the fact that Larry Clark can be THAT weak of a technical director at times, and still receive neverending praise from critics and movie geeks alike, just proves that people don't watch Larry Clark movies for the direction, or the acting, or the screenplay. They watch his movies to see people get raped and murdered. Period. They know it's going to happen sooner or later, because they've heard it from 10 other people just like I did. So they watch these 2-hour movies just to see maybe 10 minutes worth of vaginal and head trauma. And that's fine with me, I won't judge anybody. That's just not my thing.

Because I'm mentally stable.

This movie definitely has some kind of muddled message, and above all, it obviously does want to be a psychological study of these admittedly fascinating characters, but it's painfully clear that those ambitions are far beyond Clark's capabilities as a filmmaker to reach them. As usual.

10/15/07 Reviews

The Lookout

Scott Frank made a career in the 90's out of adapting Elmore Leonard novels for the screen, as he did with Get Shorty and Out of Sight. When it came time to cash in that clout and finally push his own first original screenplay for The Lookout, the early word was that David Fincher was slated to direct it. But Frank decided to helm the project himself and go for a directorial debut. And while the movie falls short of where it could have been in the hands of a more seasoned director, Frank still handles his own and turns in an incredibly understated noir with overstated characters.

The great Joseph-Gordon Levitt plays Chris Pratt, who we first see in a beautifully surreal and tense opening scene with him and his friends in their tuxedos and dresses, Chris at the wheel driving them all away from Senior Prom. He wants to show his girlfriend how driving with the headlights off, the fireflies will illuminate the road and it's as if you can literally reach up and touch the stars. As Chris drives faster and faster with no headlights on a country road, fireflies dotting the sky above their heads, his passengers become more nervous by the second and you know exactly what is coming next. This scene is so well-crafted, that it almost threatens to set the bar too high for the rest of the movie. And in a sense it does.

After the crash, which kills two of his friends, Chris is left with short-term memory loss and less-than-perfect motor skills. He's forced to leave little notes around his house to remind him of how/when to carry out even the most mundane daily tasks, a-la-Memento. Just making dinner is a daunting task. What's worse, damage to his frontal lobe leaves him unable to control his anger and curse words at times, and at other times he just tells women he wants to fuck them straight out. Some might call that freedom, but for Chris it's a pretty frustrating handicap in his daily life. Either way, "sorry, my frontal lobe is damaged" has become a new favorite excuse of mine at the clubs.

Chris lives with a blind roommate (Jeff Daniels) who he met in physical therapy after his accident, and works as an overnight janitor at a small local bank. He has ambitions of moving up to the position of teller, if only he can prove to the bank manager that he is capable of remembering what money is, much less handling a lot of it. But his ambitions are met with little interest by the boss. Levitt does a solid job of convincing us that his character Chris is at the end of a certain type of rope, tired of being pitied and dismissed because of his handicaps, which makes it all the more believable when he decides to take an offer by a group of criminals to be the lookout in a heist on his own bank. It's believable because Pratt is thirsty for responsibility and power of any kind. Thirsty to prove his competence at something, even if that includes a little getback at some of the people who held him incompetent. But as the day of the heist draws closer, the morality of his decision weighs on him and he becomes unsure of whether or not he even wants a part of the plan anymore.

Levitt is on point, as usual, but we should expect no less after great performances in movies like Mysterious Skin and Brick. But for my money, the show-stealer here is Matthew Goode as Gary Spargo, the mastermind behind the bank robbery. He creates a strong, charismatic, intimidating character who you could easily see convincing anybody to be a lookout on the heist, much less Levitt's weak character.

This isn't a masterpiece by any means, and to an extent it isn't even as good as the critical acclaim it has already been showered with this year. The biggest flaw for me was that this was not Levitt's best performance. But at the end of the day, the Lookout is an undeniably well-made, suspenseful, above-average heist flick with far-above-average performances from the entire cast. It works best as a character study, and the fact that we never fully know which two friends died in Pratt's car crash allows director Frank to play some subtle mind games with the audience without resorting to an overplayed hand of gimmicks. See this movie. I can't recommend it enough, and although it won't be on my top ten list for the year, I'm sure it will be on many others.

Tsotsi

In my opinion, one of the funniest developments of the last 10 years or so in the movie world is the rise of the "non-actor". Especially in films from South America and Africa, where the method seems to have become somewhat of a new standard. Ya'll know what I mean............in movies like City of God, where the main characters are played by non-actors, regular people from the actual cities and slums that the movie is set in.

The reason I find it funny is because it takes all the air out of this bullshit myth in Hollywood that acting is this exacting craft that takes years and years of school and training to perfect. America is the home of the actor who takes himself/herself too seriously. The dirty little secret is, and always has been, that virtually ANYBODY can give a great performance in a movie as long as they are able to connect with the character and live in the moment when the director says "action". And to their credit, some of our greatest actors have admitted this point for decades, including Dustin Hoffman and others.

At any rate, Tsotsi works as a movie because of a non-actor, the lead character. It works because you have never seen a character like him before, he is as unique as anybody you would just happen to meet on the street. His emotions, his fears, even down to his mannerisms, it's all mesmerizing. Without him in the role, it's possible that the storyline would not have been believable at all. It all rests on his insecurities, because without those his motivations would have been forced and false.

Great movie. I don't know if it quite deserved the Oscar win against so many other great foreign films last year, but it's still amazing.

A Mighty Heart

Another one from early this year, A Mighty Heart is just a great piece of filmmaking. It's the true story of the terroristic kidnapping and eventual beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, as seen through the eyes of his wife, Mariane Pearl (Angelina Jolie).

I've only seen one other movie from this director, and that was 2004's highly flawed Code 46, which I watched on a friend's recommendation and wasn't impressed at all. I admit I loved the tone, but it was so sloppy that I actually remember specifically thinking that the movie would have benefited greatly in the hands of a different director. But A Mighty Heart caused me to second-guess myself on that presumption, because it is so well done, so perfectly woven within itself from scene to scene. I have to assume that Michael Winterbottom finally found his own style with this one, or at least returned to it. This movie has such a distinct style, especially in the way he handles flashbacks and the contemplative scenes where most other directors would beat you over the head. For instance, there's a scene after Daniel Pearl is kidnapped, where Angelina Jolie (playing his pregnant wife) is in a bathtub and you can see her pregnant belly pushing out of the top of the water, and this is inter-cut with quick shots of an ultrasound of the unborn baby. The film is full to the brim with similarly nuanced scenes. It's all very intelligently done and understated, which is a rare thing to see these days. It doesn't insult the audience's intelligence.

One of the best parts about this movie for me was that the true story itself provided an overwhelming amount of sub-text. Almost every scene is flooded with clashing cultures............American authorities talking to Pakistani police talking to Indian journalists talking to Mariane Pearl, a French woman, who is trying to find her Jewish husband captured by anti-Semitic Jihadists. It's an amazing accomplishment for ANY director to translate all of that coherently and make it realistic, especially without depending on hyperbole to shape the minor non-American characters to make them more digestible for an American audience. But here it all comes together beautifully.

I won't even mention the whole "racial controversy" around the casting of this film, because it's beyond silly and not worth anyone's time. It was a non-issue even when it was an issue, and even more so after you actually see the movie. Jolie BECAME Mariane Pearl, case closed. I have seen many interviews with Mariane Pearl, I followed the story when it happened, and it was amazing to me how much Angelina Jolie looked and sounded like her. Even the mannerisms. It still didn't really sink in for me until I saw an episode of Charlie Rose months later, where Jolie and Pearl were sitting side by side promoting the film, and it gave me a new appreciation for the film to see Jolie's real life personality next to the woman she became. Very striking. I would guess that she will get an Oscar nomination for this.

"You's fancy pantses................all a you's"

I need a second job. Shit, I need a fifth job. Somebody told me the other day that I would be a great movie critic, blahzay blahzay catfish yap yap yap ralph nader. I admit I wasn't really listening until he said that occasionally movie critics get paid. That part I remember. Sounds great!! But where would I start?? I don't have a journalism degree.......or even a goddamn botany degree for that matter. No respectable publication would ever hire me without any experience no matter how good I write, unless it's not a respectable publication, in which case I'm not comfortable goin' back into THAT line of work. So I asked a friend of mine who is an actual journalist with a degree and experience and a job to give me some advice on where to start. He told me to start a blog. I called him a homo (no homo). I told him blogs were for soccer moms and serial lames. But then he explained that if I started a blog, I could write reviews and use that to show any newspaper or magazine that was dumb enough to ever consider hiring me to their staff.

So here we are.............Dirty Ass Aisles, my new blog named after the lovely health hazards they call movie theaters on the southside of Austin Texas. Here I will review as many new movies as I can afford to, but mostly just great movies from all genres and time periods that I love and think everyone should check out because I said so.

In conclusion, I already feel like a febreeze-scented soccer mom for creating a blog in the first place, but many people said that they would love to read a movie blog if I ever made one, so if I don't have at least 12 comments on this intro post by noon this sunday, I'm gonna pull a Yakuza-move and cut off my pinky in shame. Thank you.