cary grant 3000

Year One (dir. Harold Ramis; 2009)

2009-06-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

1/10

Scattershot historical comedy, whose 'plot' is so dull and stupid it's not worth bothering to summarise. It's difficult to say how this could have been worse. Very badly written, and not especially well-directed either. Jack Black and Michael Cera do what they always do, except in a less funny way. David Cross is wasted. There are no laugh-out-loud funny moments - not even one. Films that are this infantile usually raise just a few laughs, even if they're not necessarily intentional. Don't expect that here.

I spent a fiver on seeing this.

4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days (2007)

2008-06-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Director: Cristian Mungiu

1980s Romania: Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) helps her friend Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) arrange to have an illegal abortion. An unflinching, relentlessly bleak film, the Palme d'Or-winning 4 Months... is also utterly engrossing - without sensationalising its subject. Writer/director Mungiu nails human interaction brilliantly, and his formal approach - an unshowy, subdued series of long takes - allows the superb cast ample room to display their considerable talents. Marinca is excellent in the demanding central role.

It comes as little surprise to discover that the cinematographer (Oleg Mutu) also worked on Cristi Piui's The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, since the films noticeably share their look and feel. There are strong similarities in content too; Otilia's desperate struggle to obtain assistance from the hotel receptionists, for example, recalls Mioara's encounters with the hospital staff. Each instance makes for a remarkable portrayal of social breakdown.

A Bout de Souffle (1959)

2008-06-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Godard's debut is still captivating. The in-your-face exuberance of Jean-Luc Belmondo's brash bastard and the radiance of Jean Seberg, the liberal use of jump-cuts, the gorgeous b/w photography, the blaring jazz score... Paris...

The Book of Life (1998)

2008-06-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Director: Hal Hartley

Over the course of nine years, Hal Hartley came a long way thematically from his examination of small-town affairs in films like The Unbelievable Truth (1989): the plot of this hour-long feature revolves around the impending apocalypse. Yet in tone The Book of Life is no less intimate, or less characteristic of Hartley, than its predecessors.

For fans, this feeling is perhaps aided by the fact that the roles of Jesus and Satan are filled by Hartley regulars Martin Donovan and Thomas Jay Ryan respectively, and that their personae here bear some similarities to those in previous films. Any fan of innovative American independent cinema, however, whether Hartley admirer or newcomer (as I was when I first saw this masterpiece), can appreciate the intelligent, witty dialogue, which is engaging and thought-provoking without being pretentious; the pitch-perfect performances, which balance eccentricity and poignancy without straining; and the endearingly murky, often slow and washed-out digital camerawork, which works well with the fantastic ambient soundtrack to create a trippy, dreamy atmosphere.

The apparent low budget adds to the sense of intimacy, and shows how a great writer-director can use constraints to their advantage if they are creative enough. Another triumph from one of the most consistently imaginative voices in modern cinema.

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

2008-06-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Director: Billy Wilder

B-movie writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) is drawn into a bizarre state of affairs involving desperate, delusional former silent movie star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Sunset Boulevard is weird, witty, biting, cynical, noir, self-referential, and features uniformly excellent performances. It sits right up there with Wilder's best work, and as such represents some of the very best work Hollywood has ever had to offer.

Lust, Caution (2007)

2008-06-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

Director: Ang Lee

Lee's film follows the efforts of Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei) to infiltrate the security surrounding high-ranking collaborationist Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) on behalf of the resistance in 1940s Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Long story short: things get sexy.

The movie is more than simply titillation, though. It maintains a measured pace, so that the increasingly intimate scenes between immensely impressive newcomer Wei and the ever-dependable Leung are dramatically electrifying. Lee and his actors manage to generate an atmosphere of considerable tension both erotic and dangerous, as the film's title succinctly suggests; and as the story unfolds, it yields some moving moments.

Silent Light (2007)

2008-05-14T13:23:00.000-07:00

Director: Carlos Reygadas

Though it admittedly requires a great deal of patience to get through, Reygadas's third feature is a sensitive, mature film that capitalizes on the virtues of his previous work whilst eschewing its sensationalism and trading its pretentious obscurity for thoughtful complexity and ambiguity.

It focuses on the affair between Johan (Cornelio Wall Fehr), a married member of a religious sect, and Marianne (Maria Pankratz), and its repercussions. As usual with Reygadas, we experience things as the characters experience them, and that simple but affecting storyline means that this quality yields far greater results this time around: in one especially effective and typically understated scene, Johan gives his wife Esther (Miriam Teows) the heartbreaking news during an awkward car journey; the camera stares listlessly from the passenger seat out of the window at the rain as she does.

The meticulous time-lapse photography of dawn breaking in the astonishing opening scene sets the pace and tone: this is a very slow film (virtually static); but rich, and visually considered to a high degree.

There Will Be Blood (2007)

2008-05-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

A mad, disorienting film despite its stately pace, Anderson's superb return to form after the blundering Punch-Drunk Love and the overblown Magnolia is distinguished by excellent writing (frequently funny, sinister and bizarre), rich photography, Jonny Greenwood's remarkable score, and, of course, Daniel Day-Lewis's towering turn as oil prospector Daniel Plainview. His casting certainly builds on his existing Bill the Butcher persona from Scorsese's Gangs of New York, but in Plainview he finds greater depth (and with it greater ambiguity) - and more weirdness.

Grindhouse (2007)

2008-05-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Rob Zombie

A commercial flop, and not faring much better critically either, the Grindhouse project is certainly a bizarre endeavour. It's true that the irony of spending $53 million on recreating the feel of B-movies means that the line between total trash and stylish piece of art is often blurred; and it's not always clear which Grindhouse is trying to be.

The authenticity of Tarantino's feature, Death Proof, is marred by his relentless focus on his trademark features such as "snappy" dialogue (actually not snappy, just irritating, and boring, as in most of Kill Bill), and an obscure, retro soundtrack (here glaringly foregrounded as the boldly labelled record goes on in the bar). As such, it seems more like Tarantino's celebration of his own aesthetic than of Grindhouse cinema. There are moments that fit right in here - the climactic car chase and the fantastic ending among them - but so much more could have been done with his segment.

That said, Rodriguez's segment, Planet Terror, is an absolute scream. Intelligent it ain't, but it is knowing; funny and bloody, and, crucially, unpretentious, it makes for a hugely enjoyable pastiche. Additionally, the fake trailers (from directors Rodriguez, Roth, Wright and Zombie), positioned before and between the features, are uniformly superb.

Though it may not justify its budget, its novelty value may wear thin in places, and it may be too smug for its own good, Grindhouse ultimately provides more than three hours of good (bad) late-night entertainment, regardless of its aims. This is one that should be seen in the cinema, at night, as a whole (not in its extended, individual incarnations, which, taken out of context, don't have anything like the same effect). It's an experience, and that's the whole point of the thing - though this means that as a film with intrinsic value, it isn't necessarily much.

La Vie En Rose (2007)

2008-05-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

Director: Oliver Dahan

Dahan's Edith Piaf biopic opts for a non-linear approach that quickly becomes wearisome. It means that we are offered only glimpses of certain aspects of Piaf's character and of certain stages in her life; even some highly significant events are largely glossed over (for instance, the death of Piaf's child is momentarily shoehorned into the final sequence through clumsy use of flashback).

For all its refusal to embrace straightforward structure, however, the film is far from experimental; mostly it's a by-the-numbers, Oscar-friendly bore. Piaf's parents are little more than two-dimensional evil caricatures, for example; and then there's the highly predictable decision to end the film with a performance of "Je Ne Regrette Rien". Especially misguided, completely unnecessary and just inexplicable, is a saccharine scene in which Piaf communicates with a guardian angel.

Cotillard is undeniably impressive, but since her performance is sliced up and is part of such a mediocre melodrama, it's often difficult to appreciate.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

2008-04-24T15:04:00.000-07:00

Director: John Huston

A superb heist-gone-wrong thriller. The characters are all wryly written and marvellously played, while the robbery sequence itself is absolutely riveting; a masterclass in tension that works without hyperkinetic camerawork, hysterical acting or any music whatsoever. It happens early on, so that the bulk of the film details the subsequent long, painful slide into the inevitably bleak noir ending.

Godzilla (1954)

2008-04-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

Director: Ishiro Honda

Just as Godzilla smashes up Tokyo, the film itself does a pretty good job of bludgeoning its audience into submission. Yes, it's true that subtlety doesn't usually figure highly in any monster movie, but this has a particularly oppressive feel - besides the tight close-ups of a model city being destroyed, there's murky lighting, leaps in the narrative between scenes (especially early on) that mean we're continually plunged into the action, and, of course, the metallic din of Godzilla's roar. If you can withstand all this, the film does provide some strikingly gloomy images to revel in, such as the monster looming over a bridge under a black sky while crowds flee beneath it.

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

2008-04-19T07:22:00.001-07:00

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Essentially an unlikely-love-story rom-com, Punch-Drunk Love is considerably less ambitious in scope than Anderson's ensemble works Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999). Though nicely filmed, and not without its moments, there are several things wrong with it.

For instance, the intrusive, immensely irritating soundtrack aims for 'quirky' with relentless rhythmic clicks, whirrs and beeps; and there's clumsy, pointless usage of one of Olive Oyl's songs from Altman's Popeye. This is representative of the film as a whole, which strives to be unusual and clever, but more often than not just ends up annoying; and incorporates elements (from 1960's comedy pastiche to arty surrealism) that never quite gel.

Also, since it's very rare to see Sandler in a film that doesn't just consist of infantile, throwaway gags, it's difficult to avoid the feeling that his potential for something a bit more substantial is wasted here on a fairly unremarkable role. As in films like Happy Gilmore (1996), his character still gets comically enraged and smashes things up; it's just that here he does it in a more restrained manner with a slightly more morose look on his face.

John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)

2008-04-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

Director: John Carpenter

Jack Crow (James Woods) heads a team of vampire slayers, coming up against a master the likes of which he has never encountered before. A mess of a film, Carpenter's action horror keeps its audience awake with sheer volume and relentless ridiculousness. Creepy suspense is completely out; crazy profanity, carnage and inexplicable visual effects are in.

It's so over the top as to be utterly tongue-in-cheek (Woods is actually very funny), making it reasonably watchable, but overall you're left bemoaning the fact that over the course of that twenty or so years, Carpenter has fallen so far from the heights of such films as Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and Halloween (1978).

Superbad (2007)

2008-04-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Director: Greg Mottola

Staggeringly awkward Eric (Michael Cera), loudmouthed Seth (Jonah Hill) and idiotic but lucky Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) search desperately for parties, sex and alcohol as high school comes to an end. Nothing new in terms of subject matter, but Superbad transcends cliché through its excellent comic performances - each of the leads brings a different brand of humour to the film, which work well together to give it a broad appeal.

In teen movie terms: imagine a smartly written and perfectly played American Pie, concerned with hopeless but likeable nerds rather than with sneering jocks; or perhaps Dazed and Confused with more belly laughs. The film's absolutely hilarious, and manages at times to be affecting without getting too soppy.

Battle in Heaven (2005)

2008-04-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Director: Carlos Reygadas

Marcos (Marcos Hernández) confesses to prostitute Ana (Anapola Mushkadiz) that he and his wife have kidnapped and accidentally killed a baby. Reygadas' follow-up to his flawed but hypnotic debut Japón (2001), Battle in Heaven shares that film's air of pretentiousness but justifies it even less, seeming to go on forever despite a substantially shorter running time.

The most superficially striking thing about the film is that again, Reygadas often chooses to focus on "frankly" depicting sexual acts that are distinctly unerotic and vaguely uncomfortable to watch, but what's the point? Elsewhere, we have long, seemingly inconsequential takes that wander with Marcos around an underground train station, crowded streets, a farm... Yes, perhaps it all "means" something, but what amount of meaning could justify this much tedium?

It's frustrating, because Reygadas clearly has potential - there are flashes of brilliance in Japón and, to a lesser extent, here - but immaturity and aspirations of grandeur simultaneously scupper each of the two works.

American Pie (1999)

2008-04-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

Director: Paul Weitz

Four teenage boys enter a pact to lose their virginity before they finish high school. You know you're in trouble when you end up watching American Pie with your Saturday night. There are a few funny moments, if you're drunk enough.

Seraphim Falls (2006)

2008-04-13T03:02:00.000-07:00

Director: David Von Anken

Until the last 20 minutes or so, Seraphim Falls is an enjoyable, if slight, Western thriller in which one guy (Liam Neeson) chases another (Pierce Brosnan) across the country - and that's pretty much it. After a revelatory flashback sequence, however, the film takes a bizarre, mystical left turn, with the brief appearance of a wise and quirky Native American character that might as well have been nicked out of Jarmusch's Dead Man, and Morticia Addams herself, Angelica Huston.

It's as if Von Anken either a) thought such an approach would lift the film in its final scenes from mediocrity into the realm of rich, symbolic Greatness, or b) panicked when having to come up with a conclusion and thought "I'll just put in a load of weird shit". Whatever, it certainly doesn't come off, though the (fairly severe) failed attempt does lend the film an odd sort of distinction.

Guys and Dolls (1955)

2008-04-12T09:18:00.000-07:00

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

A sheer joy to watch; a gorgeous musical that manages to be both genuinely funny and genuinely touching, with a magnetic performance from Marlon Brando brilliantly complemented by Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Vivian Blaine and... well, the whole cast. Full of energy, blessed with a constantly engaging adapted screenplay from Mankiewicz, and with memorable songs, mindblowing choreography and marvellous sets to boot.

The Blob (1958)

2008-04-11T03:34:00.000-07:00

Director: Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr.

1. Steve McQueen.
2. An oozing, all-consuming, evergrowing gelatinous mass.
3. A cheerful, catchy title song by co-written by Burt Bacharach.

What more could you ever want from a film? This is a work of pure genius. It manages to be corny yet somehow horrific, deadly serious yet deliberately OTT and ridiculous, and it may be an hour and a half of watching a small town being terrorized by a crappy piece of jelly but it's brilliantly entertaining.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

2008-04-10T16:28:00.001-07:00

Director: Adam McKay

From the makers of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy comes another comedy that is just so relentlessly stupid it's impossible not to laugh. Will Ferrell plays top racing driver Ricky Bobby, whose status is threatened by the arrival of gay Frenchman (insert endless infantile gags) Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), fresh from Formula One. He must also contend with his ex-best friend and racing partner Cal Naughton, Jr. (an hilarious John C. Reilly), who cheerfully takes over his home and marries his wife.

In a perfect world the film would have been just that little bit funnier - as with recent episodes of The Simpsons, the film sometimes drifts into straight storytelling rather than pure comedy, as in parts of the plot involving Ricky's relationship with his drunken father, and some of the racing scenes - but as it stands, the laughter quotient is still undeniably higher than many films of its type.

One Night in Mongkok (2004)

2008-04-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Director: Derek Yee

A choppy, frenetic, disorienting opening sequence shows us scenes from a Triad war, with so many characters introduced and so many names flying around that it is difficult to tell at first what exactly is going on. After this inaccessible start, the film eventually begins to focus on one aspect of the war; that is, the hiring of an assassin to kill a gang boss and the attempts of the police to find him.

This Hong Kong thriller has frequently garnered comparisons to Andrew Lau & Alan Mak's Infernal Affairs (2002), but it is nowhere near as assured or sophisticated: for one thing, it never truly decides which characters to focus on; for another, its tone wanders a little too much - through chaotic comic sequences (Cecilia Cheung's hysterical performance grates at times) and pitch-dark scenes of brutality (especially lumped towards the end), for example. The black-and-white photography at the beginning even seems to represent a stab at film noir, but the flashy, boy-racer material being filmed is more reminiscent of movies like The Fast and the Furious.

There are moments of genuine tension and excitement - but really nothing that hasn't been seen before; overall, the film is merely a competent thriller.

The Orphanage (2007)

2008-03-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

Director: J. A. Bayona

This has been described as "the new Pan's Labyrinth" (The Guardian), which, as far as I can see, can only be put down to lazy journalism. Sure, the film's Spanish, supernatural and has something to do with Guillermo del Toro (he co-produced), but there is little similarity beyond these superficial elements, and in any case, The Orphanage arguably packs a greater punch than any of del Toro's work has.

I won't outline the plot, since the gradually building layers of mystery and discovery are one of the great joys of the experience. Suffice to say that, by about half an hour in, almost without you realising it, the film has you gripped like a vice. There are moments of unbearable tension that rely heavily on immediate, sensory devices such as sound and lighting, yet unlike with most horror films, these moments remain with you long after the credits have rolled. This is due in part to a use of implication that really gets inside your head and messes with it, and in part to the devastating emotional weight of the protagonist's plight; the story is a genuinely affecting portrait of loss, desperation and anxiety, with a psychological complexity that recalls Henry James's The Turn of the Screw. To this end, the film is anchored by a superb central performance from Belén Rueda.

It's rare to find a horror film that has the potential for longevity, and value beyond cheap shocks - in short, a good horror film that is also a good film, period. The Orphanage is a good film.

Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)

2008-03-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

Director: Terence Davies

I never would have thought that a film about births, marriages and deaths in a working-class Liverpudlian family in the 1940s & '50s could be unlike anything I'd ever seen before... but Distant Voices, Still Lives is remarkable. A non-linear series of episodes that often seems more like photographs set to music than drama, and yielding some extraordinarily touching moments, Davies's intensely personal, autobiographical film is a lovingly crafted triumph.

Factotum (2005)

2008-03-26T04:45:00.000-07:00

Director: Bent Hamer

Based on Charles Bukowski's semi-autobiographical novels (including episodes from Post Office and Factotum), Hamer's excellent, consistently entertaining film follows writer and drunkard Henry Chinaski (a superb Matt Dillon) through a series of dead-end jobs and relationships. Chinaski is a flawed and fascinating character to watch, and while the film doesn't go into quite as unflinching detail as the novels, it revels in Bukowski's dry humour (it consists pretty much entirely of killer dialogue) and even brings out a surprising warmth.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

2008-03-26T04:15:00.000-07:00

Director: Sergio Leone

The final part of Leone's brilliant Dollars trilogy does its predecessors justice, increasing the dramatic scale to include the American Civil War while retaining strong, outstanding individual characters, a wicked sense of humour, and ingenious plot twists.

The Proposition (2005)

2008-03-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Director: John Hillcoat

This Australian Western is very nicely photographed. Unfortunately, it's also cold, brutal, humourless and ultimately boring. The outlaw Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) is ordered by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) to find and kill his older brother in exchange for his younger brother's life. For a film whose story centres on brotherhood, questions of loyalty and so forth, none of the characters seem close enough for us to care about their relationships and about Burns's central dilemma. Even the relationship between Stanley and his wife Martha (Emily Watson) is drab and unconvincing - most of the scenes the two share seem like a lame attempt on the filmmakers' part to balance out the movie's sadism with a little tenderness. Nick Cave's script aims to tart up the relentless bloodshed with occasional lines of half-arsed half-poetry, but having the guy from Sexy Beast gaze into the mid-distance reflecting, "Australia... What fresh hell is this?" just doesn't work.

Nashville (1975)

2008-03-18T03:28:00.000-07:00

Director: Robert Altman

Like his later Short Cuts (1993), Altman's Nashville is an ensemble drama that juggles numerous storylines - here, the strands are centred around a country music festival in Tennessee. Altman's work remains superior to such descendants as Magnolia, Crash and (argh!) Bobby, due to a lack of heavy-handed, soppy melodrama - though there is plenty of emotional depth.

Blow-Up (1966)

2008-03-18T03:06:00.000-07:00

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

A London photographer (David Hemmings) thinks he may have captured evidence of a murder on film. Nice camerawork and Hemmings's performance as a total bastard make this fairly watchable, but overall it strives so hard to be both ultra-fashionable and deep that it succeeds as neither - coming off instead as dated and pretentious. Sex, drugs and rock and roll are all crowbarred in and poorly executed, completely deadening the film's already slow pace.

Big Time (1988)

2008-03-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

Director: Chris Blum

It would be reductive to call Big Time a concert movie. Tom Waits indeed performs songs from his classic albums Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs and Franks Wild Years, but he does so variously engaged in different roles - manic preacher; soulful crooner; glitzy, wisecracking comedian. Not only that, we see him as the venue's steward, listening to the gigs from outside; the opening scene even shows that he is dreaming the whole thing himself! The stage-show-collage result is utterly surreal, witty, and full of great performances - spoken word narratives such as 'Frank's Wild Years' and '9th & Hennepin' especially benefit from their embellished live renditions, while 'Time' retains its tender poignancy amongst such eccentric company as an hilarious take of 'Straight to the Top'.

The Omega Man (1971)

2008-03-14T08:16:00.001-07:00

Director: Boris Sagal

To date, there have been three screen adaptations of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, none of which have really managed to capture the novel's essence. The Omega Man is the least faithful effort - for some reason, the vampires have been reimagined as a bizarre, hooded cult of pale-skinned mutants - but it's the most entertaining of the bunch, perhaps due simply to its status as early '70s sci-fi.

This film's focus is less on eerie suspense than on badass action sequences, as Charlton Heston lets the mutants have it, usually accompanied by a driving funk soundtrack. Any psychological depth to the character of Robert Neville is completely eschewed, in favour of Heston's relentless quips and trademark blend of the manic and the macho (try counting the number of times he yells/mutters through gritted teeth "bastard", "damnit!", and so on). Though it pulls the film's tone even further from that of its source material, the jarring appearance of a fast-talking Rosalind Cash as a fellow survivor halfway through does inject things with a certain renewed energy, as she starts out by shooting hilarious lines like "if you just have to play James Bond, I'll bust yo' ass" at Heston for no apparent reason. This is before, of course, the two get it together, a process which unfolds in spectacularly corny fashion and carries zero emotional weight when their relationship is threatened later on. Ultimately, then, another missed opportunity, but it's possible to find a few things to enjoy.

Control (2007)

2008-03-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

Director: Anton Corbijn

Former Joy Division photographer Corbijn's feature debut is a biopic of frontman Ian Curtis. Whilst it's a largely subdued affair, as befits its title and subject matter, frequent flashes of humour ensure that it doesn't become the out-and-out angst-fest it could have been. As one might expect, the film is visually impressive, but best of all are the energetic live performances, in which newcomer Sam Riley is astonishingly convincing as Curtis.

The Lives of Others (2006)

2008-03-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

It's surprising to discover that this confident, controlled, sombre thriller - about the surveillance of a playwright and his actress lover by the secret police in mid-1980s East Germany - is von Donnersmarck's first feature. It was the recipient of several prestigious awards, including Best Foreign Language Film at last year's Oscars, and deserves such recognition for its excellent performances, stately camerawork and strong script. Though the final few scenes seem clumsily appended, the film is rarely less than engrossing.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

2008-03-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Director: Andrew Dominik

Since I was fairly exhausted when I saw this, term having just come to an end, I fell asleep briefly a couple of times, which was a real shame, and certainly no reflection on the film itself, because it truly deserves attention. Although my memory is inevitably a little hazy at points, definite highlights include a beautiful and startling opening sequence that recalls the work of Terrence Malick; an outstandingly eerie and cinematic night train robbery; breathtaking photography throughout; a score by Nick Cave (who cameos) and Warren Ellis; and sensitive lead performances from Brad Pitt and especially Casey Affleck. I'm looking forward to the release of the DVD so that I can give it another, more focused viewing.

what the?

2008-03-10T17:48:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to remember to post something here whenever I see a film. Because, well, why not.