Here’s a little trick. What can we say about these films that we haven’t already? Honestly, we sort of hate writing reviews, so here’s some capsule reviews for some recent films we’ve seen. [ed. we haven’t written about all of them].
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
(dir. Andrew Dominik. Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck)
A moody, thoughtful anti-western, the lost in limbo (it was shot two years ago and has been tinkered with ever since) ‘Assassination’ illustrates the best and worst of wandering, Terrence Malick-like pictures – it’s meditative and is angelically shot, but it also lasts almost three hours and could stand some serious editing. Both Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck will likely garner Oscar nominations, but it isn’t neccesarily their best work (moreso in the case of Pitt than the mostly-excellent Affleck). There’s a ton of great side actors, “All The Real Girls” Paul Schneider and Sam Sheppard in particular are great, but their roles are generally too small to make for a major impact. Similarily Mary-Louise Parker might as well be wallpaper she is so ineffectively used (a strange cameo by political strategist James Carville takes you right out of the film too). Zooey Deschanel has a weird cameo at the end for what amounts to all of two minutes, playing a cabaret singer that naturally, sings on screen (the old-timey, early 20th century song “A Bird In A Gilded Cage“). Strong, but meandering at times. Trailer [B+]
Into The Wild (dir. Sean Penn. Emile Hirsch)
Sean Penn’s fourth directorial effort about wanderlust hippie Christopher McCandless, is powerful and affecting, but also heavily flawed in spots. Let it be noted, we’re not too cynical and love life affirming anything, but Penn’s heavily idealized protagonist’s story is a bit hokey at times. Perhaps because the character which the story was based on was a hokey, idealist, but you can’t help but snicker at this extremely selfish and naive kid (who’s also incredibly passionate, and has a wondrous quality to him). Excessive voice-over and scrawled onscreen diary entries are ultimately unfortunate aesthetic choices, but as the film rolls on, its problematic decisions lessen and ‘Wild’ finally starts to achieve the life-affirming profundity it’s been aiming for all along.The supporting cast, which includes Hal Halbrook, Vince Vaughn and Catherine Keener, is flawless and much needed respite from just solo Hirsch on his own (Halbrook’s scene are particularly touching and the 82-year-old is fantastic). Oh yeah and clocking in at almost three hours the film tends to overstay its welcome slightly. A.O. Scott couldn’t have been more right in his review. There’s too much goddamn Eddie Vedder in the film and his voice is distracting and does a disservice to the film. Occasionally instrumental versions of his songs are used and they’re much more effective, but Kaki King and Micheal Brook really know how to heighten visuals with musical emotion. Kristen Stewart plays a leathertramp kid who performs the Bonnie Raitt hit written by John Prine, “Angel From Montgomery.” Trailer [B-]
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly (dir. Julian Schnabel)
A lock for Best Foreign Oscar nomination (that is unless France is stupid enough to not enter it as their country’s choice), “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly” might be the best movie we’ve seen all year. The painterly and gorgeous cinematography is graceful, moving and lush, the acting is top notch (the film features two “Munich” actors – Mathieu Amalric and Marie-Josée Croze), and former artist turned film director Julian Schnabel can make painterly, poetic images out of curtains lilting on a window pane or a skirt blowing gently on a bare female leg. ‘Diving Bell’ is based on the true story of ex-French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who at 42 suffered a debilitating stroke that left him entirely paralyzed save for his left eye. He learned how to communicate via a blinking method with his eye and painstakingly wrote an entire memoir about his “trapped-in syndrome” experience dying from pneumonia about a week after the book was published. Profound, radiant, and affecting. Trailer [A+]
Eastern Promises (dir. David Cronenberg. Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts)
A companion piece to “A History Of Violence”, Cronenberg’s reteam with Viggo M is pulpy, dark, noir-ish and seemingly from another graphic novel. The acting is stellar (especially Mortensens and Vincent Cassell‘s closeted character), the fight scenes (particularly the brutal and much-discussed shower sequence) and violence is sometimes more disturbing for what’s implied than what is shown onscreen, but the film seems to give up on itself in the last 15 minutes and wraps-up rather rapidly in a seemingly neat and tidy bow of many unresolved story threads. We’re all for ambiguity, but the conclusion feels like someone said, “hey, your editing time is up, sorry,” which makes it feel episodic and almost cheap. Trailer [-B]
3:10 To Yuma (dir. James Mangold. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe)
Of all the films we just mentioned ‘Yuma’ felt like it would easily be the most disappointing, (in fact we saw it only on a lark) but in fact, it was probably the most overall enjoyable and entertaining (which probably made it a pleasant surprise). Christian Bale is always outstanding, but Crowe’s personal behavior can sometimes overshadow his work and he goes toe t0 toe with Bale in this terrific Western remake. Crowe stars as an infamous outlaw and Bale plays a down-on-his luck small time rancher who in a desperate attempt to save his farm and family agrees to transport the captured bandit to a train that will ship him off to prison. Mangold’s direction is understated, classic and he lets the story and actors shine. Trailer [A]
