Konsum: Turkey Parade
November 27th, 2007
The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford
Dullsville and then some. Artfully shot, for sure, but ripping off Malick isn’t as easy as it looks. The voice-over narration, always describing what we already saw, doesn’t create openings but locks the movie down even more than the airless, repetitive scenes between paranoid outlaws. Sam Shepard disappears much too early, and soon thereafter, the drama completely stalls. After thirty minutes, I was begging for Casey Affleck to shoot Brad Pitt in the head already, but there were two more hours to go. Andrew Dominik, 2007. *
3:10 to Yuma
Now, this is how you do a western: engaging, exciting, and steeped in sepia tones. Russell Crowe plays a bandit who has to be brought to justice; Christian Bale is the one-legged stand-up guy to do it. Together with his performances in Rescue Dawn and I’m Not There, Bale is one of my favorite actors this year. James Mangold, 2007. ***
The Bucket List
The trailer for this movie is so hideous, we just had to check it out. Also, we might have been drunk. If Jack Nicholson throwing up in a hospital gown or jumping out of airplanes is your idea of fun, go right ahead. Sanctimonious Morgan Freeman is starting to get on my nerves. Rob Reiner, 2007. *
In Between Days
We had high hopes for this unassuming coming-of-age story about a Korean immigrant. I’m perfectly willing to stomach a slight story, mannered direction, or uncommunicative main characters — but if you heap them on top of each other, I’m probably already asleep. 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. So Yong Kim, 2007. *
The Brave One
Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard have what they call “good chemistry” in this surprisingly gripping tale of New York City revenge. Neil Jordan, 2007. ***
In the Valley of Elah
Worlds better than Crash, but that’s not saying much of anything. Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron try to solve the murder of his son, an AWOL soldier on leave from Iraq. In the process, they discover all sorts of truths about important issues. See Redacted instead. Paul Haggis, 2007. **
Once
Every bit as lovely the second time around. I finally discovered the title in the film, and I have a new favorite line: “Can I bring my mother?” Marcy’s review. John Carney, 2007. ****
No Country for Old Men
Wildly overpraised. Yes, I can see the expert filmmaking here, but all the sumptuous cinematography and vivid attention to detail is lavished on a story full of walking cliches and a lousy third act. On second viewing, the glaring problems with both plot and character — what Marcy called “lack of soul” — are impossible to ignore. Llewelyn’s too foolish to care for, the Coens avert their gaze at the crucial moment, and Bell’s defeatist retread of Marge Gunderson leaves us with a dire moral: “you can’t stop what’s coming.” Oh well then. No Country wastes a lot of hard-boiled effort on a tale that ends with an Old Testament shrug. Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007. **
Tears of the Black Tiger
January 8th, 2007
It sounded like a good idea: a retro Thai western, a pastiche of long-forgotten styles that’s part melodrama, part over-the-top gunslinging, all bathed in madly oversaturated colors. The tears of a waiting lover blur the inscription on a photograph; sad cowboys play forlorn melodies on their harmonicas; villains with pencil-thin mustaches laugh hearty belly laughs. Duels begin with Sergio Leone super close-ups, and then the gun barrels flare in staccato edits. Body parts go flying, and the heartthrob hero can shoot around corners. Even if you’ve never seen a Thai western in your life, most of this will seem mighty familiar from somewhere. (John Woo, Douglas Sirk, George A. Romero, and Lash La Rue have all been rightfully fingered as influences.)
But good looks and a wealth of allusions only get you so far. The pleasures of Tears of the Black Tiger lie exclusively in its winking, high-camp evocation of older movies and styles; there’s not much worthwhile beneath the ironic postmodern attitude. No matter how many lotus-decorated flashbacks and Bangkok beach walks the lovers take, their woes aren’t gripping enough, and scenes without emotional connection stretch out long past their welcome. The shootouts amuse but don’t thrill, and the few attempts at low humor fail–probably because everything is a meta-joke already. Opens Friday.
Fah talai jone. Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000. **
Rotten Tomatoes
[tags]wisit sasanatieng, film, thailand, western, pastiche, postmodern, 2 stars, melodrama, sergio leone, douglas sirk, george romero, lash la rue, john woo[/tags]
For a Few Dollars More
November 20th, 2006
Not enough Kinski.
Per qualche dollaro in più. Sergio Leone, 1965. ***
[tags]sergio leone, klaus kinski, clint eastwood, film, 3 stars, italy, western, lee van cleef[/tags]
Once Upon a Time in the West
November 10th, 2006
Once upon a time in Wiesbaden, back in the dark days before VHS, a kid in my class came up with a business scheme involving this movie. He got hold of an abridged 8mm version of Once Upon a Time in the West (aka Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod), invited us over to watch it in his bedroom on a whirring projector, and then asked that we pitch in five Marks since buying movies was very expensive. The rub: the little scammer had only rented the film–apparently there used to be places that rented Super 8 movies through the mail. Later, he showed us a catalog and wanted to know what we wanted to see next (”Krieg der Sterne?”) But we all felt lied to and the butchered 45-minute version of Once Upon a Time in the West didn’t satisfy, so the scheme dissolved. Soon after, Jochen got the first Grundig Video 2000 recorder, Super 8 became a distant memory, and we watched and rewatched Once Upon a Time in America religiously.
At any rate. In all its unbutchered three-hour gory, Once Upon a Time in the West remains a shamlessly great epic, full of outrageous set pieces and carried along by the sweeping Morricone score. Marcy and I particularly enjoyed Claudia Cardinale’s character who, as the Voice quipped, puts the ho back into “Westward Ho!”
Once Upon a Time in the West. Sergio Leone, 1968. ****
[tags]wiesbaden, jochen, western, video 2000, super 8, sergio leone, film, 4 stars, charles bronson, henry fonda, claudia cardinale[/tags]
The Proposition
May 7th, 2006
Nick Cave wrote the screenplay for this tough Australian western starring Guy Pearce, Danny Houston and Emily Watson. Serious moral decisions, blood, grit, and sand. The story’s gripping; some people are hailing it as one of the best movies of the year so far. I think I concur, even though it’s not a pleasant experience.
Down in the Valley
April 20th, 2006
Ed Norton and Evan Rachel Wood in a love story that’s Badlands by way of Koyaanisqatsi. He’s a cowboy, she’s a valley girl, and David Morse is her pissed-off daddy. This takes an unsuspected turn about half-way through, so don’t read too many reviews & ruin it. I’m not sure I like the second half as much as the pitch-perfect beginning, but it’s definitely interesting. Gotta digest a little more; review will be forthcoming by the time this opens.
