Lots of movies this week, and, believe it or not, many more next week. I am going to be a busy man.
Westworld (1973): A solid satire that morphs into a decent thriller in the final half hour. If you've seen the "Itchy and Scratchy Land" episode of The Simpsons, you know the basic plot of this movie -- two guys go on vacation together to an amusement park called Delos, which has three major zones (WestWorld, RomanWorld and MedievalWorld). The first hour or so is different than I expected; it pokes fun at extreme escapism and the cruelty of people's fantasies. (My favorite part is when some loser tries to seduce an android in MedievalWorld, and when it reacts like any normal woman would -- i.e. slapping the guy -- the scientists watching via security cameras react like, "It turned down his seduction! There's something wrong with the robot!!") Then, of course, everything goes wrong, and Cowboy Yul Brynner hunts down Richard Benjamin and James Brolin (who looks eerily like Christian Bale in I'm Not There in this movie). Fun movie.
Milk (2008): Sean Penn -- kind of a douche offscreen, but the man is a hell of an actor. He is rightly getting all sorts of Oscar talk for his performance as gay activist/politician Harvey Milk; he shows an amazing level of emotional depth in this role, bringing strength, warmth and emotional frailty whenever it's needed. Penn is also quite funny and very charismatic. It is easy to see why everyone in The Castro (the gay San Francisco neighborhood Milk and his friends call home) would flock to him. This movie shows a very interesting period in American political history, and it is completely relevant now, what with the recent battles over Prop 8 in California and other gay marriage propositions in other states. I don't think Milk is just preaching to the choir, though. The real Harvey Milk appealed to just about everyone who fought against state-sponsored prejudice. He took part in the fight so many groups have fought in America's history and the history of nations the world over -- the fight to be recognized and to be accepted. Milk works as a great story, and it works as a message of acceptance.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Slumdog Millionaire is one of the most visually interesting movies I have seen this year. The movie is about the struggle to survive and find success; every angle, and every camera movement reflects that. There is rarely a still shot in this movie -- every scene moves with the urgency and frenetic energy Jamal (Dev Patel) and his brother, Salim (Madhur Mittal), feel every day of their lives. The director, Danny Boyle, wanted to show that despite the often brutal nature of the setting, the poorest areas of India, there is an intense sense of community and a lot of fun to be had. Jamal and Salim grow up in horrible circumstances, but their lives are certainly never boring. Even among exploitation by gangs, Jamal finds the love and excitement that makes him want to live every day. The story is definitely a traditional tale of romance and success in spite of adversity, but the way the story is told is refreshingly modern and a hell of a lot of fun to watch.
Little Children (2006): I was actually expecting this to be a bit more depressing than it actually is. The movie is quite sad at points (and a moment near the end is pretty shocking), but it is also filled with a weird sort of black humor that I enjoyed. The main story -- an adulterous affair between Sarah (Kate Winslet) and Brad (Patrick Wilson) -- is the kind of story that has been told many times before, but what makes it interesting is how the characters develop due to the affair and how their story connects to the struggles of a man, Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley), who has moved into their neighborhood after being released from prison for indecent exposure to a minor. The movie does not always work (what, I am supposed to think Winslet, even in comparison to the very beautiful Jennifer Connelly, is not sexy? Get out of here), but when it does it is pretty effective.
Sense and Sensibility (1995): The movie is shot, written and acted well, but I did not like it as much as I thought I would. I can't really say what is off about it, though. There was just this feeling running through me after it ended like, "That was a good movie ... but ..." There just is not that sense of satisfaction and elation I got after I watched the BBC Pride and Prejudice, or the recent Pride and Prejudice adaptation with Keira Knightley.
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007): Everyone probably says this when writing about this movie, but jeez, it's incredible that Sidney Lumet directed a movie of this quality at the age of 83. Fuck, I don't know if I will even be alive at 83, and Lumet is pumping out a great movie like this. It's a damn good crime movie that is more about the guilt that comes after the crime goes horribly wrong than it is about the crime itself. Both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play different characters than you would expect of them, and by the end it does not even matter, because they've slipped completely into their roles. The nonlinear development of the plot is also interesting; it could easily be confusing, but it's kept in line well and enhances the view of the plot. And just one guy thing I must mention: Marisa Tomei gets better looking each time I see her. Yowza.
The Ladykillers (1955): Alec Guinness really is capable of disappearing into any role. If you've seen him only as Obi-Wan Kenobi, you would not believe your eyes if you saw him here -- he's a slimy, sneaky, snarky brute of a criminal who fights with his mind and prefers to let his accomplices do the dirty work. The plot involves "Professor" Marcus (Guinness) and his fellow criminals (including Peter Sellers in his first major screen role) using the house of an eccentric old woman (Katie Johnson) as a hideout while they plot an intricate bank robbery. The Ladykillers knows how to deliver good comedy. It sets up many people with distinct, clashing personalities, sets them off against each other and lets the good times roll. It's hilarious watching the criminals deal with things like having to retrieve the old lady's parrot when they would rather plot their robbery. Not quite as good as Kind Hearts and Coronets, but it's a dark comedy on the same level.
On the queue this week: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Hollywood Ending (2002), The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007), Short Cuts (1993), Persepolis (2007), Nashville (1975), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and The Player (1992)
Movie Count: 136 (Live Free or Die Hard, Time Bandits, The Hustler, Black Dragon (Miracles), Hollywoodland, Blood Diamond, Animal Crackers, Marie Antoinette, Inside Man, The Fountain, Tombstone, Jurassic Park (Rifftrax), No Country for Old Men, Juno, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Rifftrax), There Will Be Blood, Rize, Born Into Brothels, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Hard Candy, The Matrix Reloaded (Rifftrax), Hot Fuzz, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, Phone Booth, The Dark Knight, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Predator, Ratatouille, Renaissance, Pretty in Pink, Scanners, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, Stop Making Sense, The Killing, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rifftrax), Voices of a Distant Star, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Amadeus, Touch of Evil, Paths of Glory, Gangs of New York, Five Easy Pieces, Perfect Blue, Novocaine, A Fish Called Wanda, A Hard Day's Night, Arsenic and Old Lace, Out of the Past, The Lady from Shanghai, The Wild Bunch, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Bringing Up Baby, Pleasantville, Citizen Kane, They Live, The Terminator, The Adolescence of Utena, The Castle of Cagliostro, The Professional, High Plains Drifter, In the Heat of the Night, Michael Clayton, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Munich, Traffic, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Bug, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, The Maltese Falcon, Rashomon, Big Trouble in Little China, Sleeper, Badlands, Johnny Guitar, Mildred Pierce, Shadow of a Doubt, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Hard Boiled, Targets, Away from Her, Hud, The Hidden Fortress, Seven Samurai, He Was a Quiet Man, Gilda, Borat, Ikiru, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, The Boxer, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, The 39 Steps, The Philadelphia Story, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Adam's Rib, Throne of Blood, Ran, Peeping Tom, Clueless, Shadow Magic, 5 Centimeters Per Second, Children of Men, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Volver, Atonement, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Iron Man, Dial M for Murder, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Emperor and the Assassin, WALL-E, Casino Royale, I'm Not There, Zodiac, 2 Days in Paris, His Girl Friday, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Blow-Up, La Vie en Rose, It Happened One Night, Mean Streets, Venus Beauty Institute, Dirty Pretty Things, A Very Long Engagement, Westworld, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, Little Children, Sense and Sensibility, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Ladykillers)
