I saw an interview with James Cameron and he had stated that he urged his ex-wife Kathryn to direct this film. And it’s a good thing that she did. This is a really good war movie film. Shot in the Middle East, “The Hurt Locker” is about set in the early stages of the post-invasion period in Iraq in 2004. It follows a group of soldiers in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit; these guys are called in if someone finds a bomb and it is their job to disarm the bomb.

Jeremy Renner’s performance as Sergeant First Class William James is really good. I can understand now why people are surprised that he got snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press and didn’t receive a nomination for Best Actor – Drama. His character is a reckless soldier who doesn’t take into account that his actions could ultimately affect him and others around in, but in his recklessness he is a great soldier and he gets his job done. His recklessness and disregard for following protocol is why he has bee nable to disarm over 800 bombs.

This movie is unlike any war film I have ever seen. It follows three members of this EOD unit and it just depicts why the way they are due to the intense job that they do and the surroundings that they are in.

What kills me about this movie is that Guy Pearce (Memento) *SPOILER* dies at the beginning of the movie. He’s a great actor and I would love to see him in more films or at least survive the first 15 minutes of the film. Also Lord Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes in his this movie for like 10 minutes and he also dies. I guess he couldn’t work his magic on this one. The one thing that bugged me in the film (which prevented me from giving this film a perfect review) was Evangeline Lilly. First of all, I can’t stand her in “Lost” but she is barely in this film. She’s at the end and plays Renner’s wife and mother of his baby boy. What purpose does she have in this movie? I have no idea. The baby boy has far more purpose in this movie than her. “The Hurt Locker” received a Best Ensemble Cast nomination for the Screen Actors Guild. Evangeline Lilly’s name is included, but Guy Pearce’s isn’t. They are both in the movie for the same amount of time. Pearce’s death in the beginning of the movie impacts both Mackie and Geraghty’s characters and shapes how they treat Renner’s character, yet Pearce was not included in the nomination.

All in all, I think this movie will do extremely well at the Oscars. I think it has a chance of winning Best Original Screenplay. The only other film I can see standing in its way (if they get nominated) is “District 9″. I also think this film has a great shot of winning Best Picture, but a little film call “Avatar” could potentially stand in its way. Bigelow also has what it takes to win Best Director at the Oscars. If she is able to do so, she will be the first woman to ever win that award which would be amazing and well-deserved.

In my opinion, “The Hurt Locker” is a superior film than “Precious”. Just due to the imagery, the concept, the script and the overall direction of the movie. It’s extremely intense and Jeremy Renner’s performance along makes it better.

I give this movie 4.9 body bombs out of 5.

Set in Iraq in a post-invasion time The Hurt Locker follows a group of American Soldiers who spend most of their time trying to locate and dissuse bombs or IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). It seems also to be another film with a terrible title, but then maybe you’ve got to be down with the military lingo to get it.

It starts with a quote: “The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug” which sets the tone for the whole film. It’s about the psychological affects on the individuals in the situation and as characters come and go for various reasons the focus shifts to Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) who is the most gung-ho and ballsy in terms of actions (but in a calm and collected manner) of all the soldiers. He also displays all the symptoms of an addict – ignoring the people around him and seeking out greater hits.

The film sucks you into the warzone and ratchets up the tension and for the most part I was completely there. One scene in particular where the Americans come across a British team of soldiers and are attacked from afar out in the desert is fantastic and very Western-esque with long drawn out shots and an almost unseen enemy. It’s an ideal film for a Cinema setting, with a big screen and dark surroundings adding to the atmosphere.

The only parts where I drew back were the needlessly macho ‘Hell yeah!’ chest-thumping ‘U-S-A’ scenes of the soldiers bonding between the battles which for me were a bit too American, but then it is film about Americans by an American director. And a lady-director at that since you mention it.

4 on 5

Info:

Director – Kathryn Begelow
Starring – Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes
UK Release – 28 August 2009

The idea that a cultural movement begins or ends with the flip of a calendar is, of course, fallacious. ”60s Music” is an identifier of a specific strain of popular music that really refers to the time period, between 1965 (mid-career Beatles) and 1976 (The Sex Pistols). What we think of as the Golden Era of 70s movies began, arguably, with The Graduate in 1967 (or Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? the year before) and ended with Raging Bull in 1980.

For now anyway, the 2000s can be called The Netflix Decade, a time when, in theory, more movies were more accessible to more people than ever before. That doesn’t necessarily mean everyone took advantage of this opportunity. Still, the idea that a movie, even one from say, Romania about abortion, can have a second life on video is encouraging. If you’re a stickler for lists, consider this the 90 (or so) best movies of the last ten years. What this era in film will ultimately be called is anyone’s guess, but, many films in this list, particularly those made in the US, reflect life in the Age of Terror, where the country was led by a man whose ambition far exceeded his abilities.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days – Over the last ten years there has been a rush, in relative terms anyway, of films from countries that were formerly behind the Iron Curtain. The best of these was a heartbreakingly frank film about the moral and practical dilemmas of abortion while Eastern Europe crumbled in the late 1980s. A movie of unflinching honesty. (2007)

8 Mile – Don’t laugh. Yes, Eminem played himself, but great movies put the viewer in a time and place and Curtis Hanson’s impeccable direction gives life to the hopelessness of Eminem’s Detroit ring of despair. The performances of Kim Basinger and Mekhi Phifer are first-rate.  The movie looks even more authentic now that Eminem has faded from the limelight. (2002)

21 Grams – The title refers to the amount of weight we lose after we die. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s follow-up to Amores Perros brought together a math professor (Sean Penn), a grieving housewife (Naomi Watts) and a re-born convict (Benicio Del Toro). The story isn’t arranged chronologically and the morality of what’s taking place is apparent before the full impact of the plot.

The 25^th Hour – Spike Lee’s least bombastic work. Three men (Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper) one of whom is preparing for a prison stint, re-assess their lives in New York City while terrorist occupied planes still echo in the background. The request made late in the film by Norton will make you gasp, but then nod in agreement with his logic. (2002)

About Schmidt – When Jack Nicholson’s wife dies he decides to rent an RV and drive around trying to avoid the realization that he’s a selfish creep. Alexander Payne’s portrait of aging shines even brighter when compared to the emptiness of another Nicholson film about old age released several years later—The Bucket List. Hope Davis is brilliant as Nicholson’s estranged daughter. (2002)

Almost Famous – The best fictional account of the rock and roll life this side of Spinal Tap. Billy Crudup hits every note as an ambivalent guitar hero. Philip Seymour Hoffman is hysterical as rock critic Lester Bangs. Cameron Crowe’s movie also launched the career of Kate Hudson, who plays a groupie. Don’t hold that against it. The “Tiny Dancer” sequence on the tour bus is sure to put a lump in your throat. (2000)

Amelie  – Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s fable starring Audrey Tautou is certain to become a beloved classic if it hasn’t achieved that status already. Jeunet and Tautou occupy a world that looks much like our own yet is eminently more just, hopeful and full of love. Engaging from any number of perspectives. (2001)

Amores Perros – The three-pronged story about how lives have been irreversibly altered by a car accident can only be described as awe-inspiring. It introduced the world to the massive talents of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Gael Garcia Bernal and the progenitors of Latin American Cinema. Much as Amores Perros is a child of Pulp Fiction, it is also the father to the acclaimed City of God. (2001)

Away From Her – This tiny movie about a woman (Julie Christie) coming to grips with Alzheimer’s raises challenging questions about the true nature of love, honesty and companionship. That Sarah Polley was only 27 when she directed this counts as a miracle. (2007)

Babel – Whereas Amores Perros’ and 21 Grams’ centerpiece were a singular event, Innaritu’s Babel centers on a singular feeling brought on by a digital, wireless age. It’s one of mutedness. We can speak to more people in more places than ever before, yet we still have no clue what to say. The characters’ eyes tell us everything we need to know about their hollowed-out existences. In Babel, continents are little more than land masses that separate people trying to cope with this new world. Brad Pitt has never been better. (2006)

The Beat That My Heart Skipped – Romain Duris dreams of becoming a concert pianist conflict with his father’s desire that he follow his footsteps into a life of low-level street thuggery. Director Jacques Audiard brings together the disparate physical and emotional universes that Duris occupies. Paris, probably the most-filmed movie locale in the world after New York, is presented in a new, fresh way. (2005)

Before Sunset – Nine years after Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy fell in love on a single night in Vienna they meet again. Except now they’re in Paris. But time has passed and things have changed. Or have they? A great idea executed to perfection by director Richard Linklater and the two leads. (2004)

Black Hawk Down – Mark Bowden’s searing chronicle of the US Army’s disaster in Somalia. Ridley Scott and a strong ensemble cast capture the frantic efforts of well-intentioned men in one impossible situation after another. (2001)

Bigger Faster Stronger* – A straightforward documentary about steroids and American culture by a first time director and former devotee of the weightlifting/bodybuilding scene. (2008)

Bloody Sunday – Made prior to United 93 and The Bourne movies, Paul Greengrass’ re-creation of the events of January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland seethes with anger. (2002)

Borat – Far and away the best comedy in recent years. Although it dutifully serves its  function as a biting social satire, it’s the bar which other comedies strive for: “Yeah, (title) was pretty funny. But it’s no Borat.” (2006)

Bowling for Columbine – With the school shootings still fresh in the public mind Michael Moore’s film about America’s obsession with guns is a tour de force of filmmaking. It’s become the template for countless other issue-driven documentaries, but the original is still the best. Who could forget Moore emerging from a bank, gun in hand as gratitude for opening a new bank account? (2002)

Capote – I tend to resist portrayals of historical figures little more than overwrought imitations, but there are some performances that just throw you back in your seat. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s depiction of the caustic, gifted, tortured Truman Capote is such a performance. (2005)

The Dark Knight – One of the major secular features of Bush Era was rampant self-involvement. Facebook has turned the personal into the global scale. In a landscape where fame goes to those who are willing only to be more extreme than their predecessor, Heath Ledger, as the sadistic Joker tapped perfectly into this pathos while living up to unprecedented pre-release hype. Everything, onscreen and off, about The Dark Knight reflected the culture of entitlement. Mostly though, The Dark Knight delivered on all its promise.  The movie has flaws; Christian Bale’s smoky (or is it gravelly?) voice is an unneeded prop and the stunt make-up of Aaron Eckhart’s character is unnecessary. That said, it performs the near impossible—a summer blockbuster whose story and message stays with you for days, if not weeks. (2008)

Darwin’s Nightmare – A documentary about the perch in Lake Victoria that shows the social and political effects of an ecological nightmare. While An Inconvenient Truth was the environmental movie that bagged the awards and attention, Hubert Sauper’s movie chilled and moved. (2005)

Eastern Promises –  David Cronenberg re-emerged with A History of Violence, but its follow-up was far more entertaining. Naomi Watts’ London midwife stumbles across the Russian mob, as personified by Viggo Mortensen, cultures clash, mayhem ensues–including a grisly fight in a steam bath. (2007)

Edge of Heaven – The best movies of the decade made outside the US addressed the blurring of boundaries among class, race, ethnicity or sexuality. Fatih Akin’s film about a German Turk who moves to Istanbul in order to find his half-sister makes you wonder if maybe boundaries aren’t such a bad thing. (2008)

Elephant – Gus Van Sant’s take on school violence is haunting. The impending carnage looms over the characters to such a degree that, as an audience member, you want to shake them by the shoulders and tell them to run before the bullets start flying. (2003)

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room – The best of its type. A traditional talking-heads documentary that harnesses the national outrage of the Enron collapse and the subsequent dominoes that fell. Names are named and we’re given plenty of reason to hold those mentioned in absolute contempt. (2005)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – I resisted this as too gimmicky at first and I don’t buy Jim Carrey doing anything serious, but on a second viewing it struck me as a thoughtful consideration of how memory relates to romantic longing, especially considering it’s a major studio release. The rare instance of  when a blend of a potentially toxic mix of artists–Carrey, Kate Winslet, Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman results in a coherent final product.  (2004)

The Fall – A suicidal stunt man, an eight year old Eastern European immigrant girl who speaks accented English, Charles Darwin, Alexander the Great and many, many others people populate Tarsem Singh’s follow up to The Cell. Reportedly made without CGI, it’s unlike any film ever made. (2008)

Finding Nemo – A father clown fish loses track of his son clown fish. In desperate need of help in finding him, he is assisted by a pang fish with short-term memory. That the movie somehow takes a parent’s worst nightmare and turns it into something cute is a testament to its many charms. Edged Ratatouille and Up for a spot behind WALL-E on this list. (2003)

Garden State – While it’s easy to dismiss the movie as a tool for Zach Braff’s navel-gazing, Garden State appealed to people of a certain age, pre mid-life, who wondered, “What’s it all for?” It owes massive debts to The Graduate and the work of Wes Anderson but it’s a movie of and about its time. (2004)

George Washington – David Gordon Green’s somber sketch on poor black children in North Carolina plays like a Miles Davis number. The movie is all mood, but by the end, you feel like you know the kids in this movie intimately. (2000)

Gone Baby Gone – This may be a blasphemy in some quarters, but Ben Affleck’s directorial debut does Clint Eastwood better than Eastwood himself. It confronts many of the same issues as Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River the difference is the performance of Amy Ryan, as the world’s worst mother. (2007)

Good Night and Good Luck – George Clooney’s paean to an era gone by was meant to be a body blow to the modern media, where rumor and innuendo flourish. More than David Straitharn’s uncanny impersonation of Edward R Murrow, most the high points are the elegant singing of Dianne Reeves that served as a bridge scenes of increasing tension. (2005)

Goodbye Solo – Souleymane Sy Savane is  Solo, a Senegalese cab-driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (the Tar Heel State is a new hot spot for American Indie Cinema). He picks up a weary, southern man who asks that a few days from now Solo take him to Blowing Rock National Park, no questions asked. Ramin Bahrani’s movie is so loaded with symbolism it’s easy to overlook what an assured, confident piece of filmmaking it is. If there’s any justice, Savane will pick up an Oscar nomination this year. (2009)

Happy-Go-Lucky – How far does attitude go in life? At first glance Sally Hawkins’ Poppy is gratingly optimistic, but as Mike Leigh’s small masterpiece unfolds we see that Poppy is far more sophisticated than we’ve given her credit for. Furthermore, I can think of no film of this or an era that so lovingly presents a friendship between two women—Hawkins and Alexis Zegerman. They’re co-workers and have each other’s backs in ways that the girls from Sex and the City would never understand. (2008)

The House of Flying Daggers  – Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon set a standard that Zhang Yimou’s exhilarating epic set in the Tang Dynasty surpassed. That’s Ninth Century kids. Two police officers, with differing motives, force a gorgeous dancer to go undercover and infiltrate The House of Flying Daggers, a group of militants who steal from the rich and give to the poor. There’s a sequence where…ok forget that, watch it and you’ll instantly recognize why this movie is on a “Best of” list. (2004)

In America – After WALL-E this was the movie that stole my heart. Jim Sheridan directed a script he wrote with his daughters about a family a lot like their own. It’s the magical story of a family overcoming the loss of the youngest child through great sacrifice and a move to Hell’s Kitchen. Sarah and Emma Bolger, who play the precocious daughters, will steal your heart too. (2003)

In the Bedroom  – Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek have a son (Nick Stahl) who gets involved with an older woman (Marisa Tomei) estranged from her husband. When Stahl gets killed by the husband in a jealous fit Wilkinson must face his own thoughts of revenge in this wrenching drama directed by Todd Field. (2001)

In the Mood for Love – It’s 1962 Hong Kong and Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are neighbors who suspect their spouses of infidelity. Wong Kar-Wai’s film is in the grand tradition of a love story set against a society in upheaval, but simmers with a lust and eroticism all its own. Runner-up to Y Tu Mama Tambien for sexiest film of the decade. (2001)

In the Valley of Elah  – When Tommy Lee Jones’ son goes missing shortly after returning from a tour in Iraq, he sets out to find him. In the course of his quest he’s aided by Charlize Theron and the movie becomes a layered treatise about the war in Iraq, the military and family. In his best roles, Jones face says far more than any word could and that’s certainly the case in this movie, which takes its title from the site of David’s biblical battle with Goliath. (2007)

Into the Wild  – After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, Chris McCandless, the child of well-to-do parents, gave away all his possessions and hitchhiked across America en route To Alaska. A wonderful companion to Jon Krakauer’s elegiac account of McCandless, Sean Penn’s movie brings together sweeping natural panoramas, marvelous supporting characters (Hal Holbrook especially) and a pitch-perfect score from Eddie Vedder. (2007)

Junebug – So many films about the clash between urban and rural ways of life resort to easy stereotypes, but Phil Morrison’s movie strikes just the right tone. Now living in Chicago, a son brings his art gallery-owning wife (the stunning Embeth Davidtz) to meet his parents in rural North Carolina. He re-acquaints himself with his brother whose wife (played by Amy Adams in the breakthrough performance of the decade) is pregnant. New conflicts arise as old wounds are re-opened. Celia Weston is delightful as the family matriarch. (2005)

Katyn – The legendary director Andrzej Wajda may have made his best film in his 80’s. It’s the heretofore untold story of the slaughter of thousands of Polish soldiers at the beginning of World War II by the Russian Red Army. Wajda focusses on how the Russians lies about the massacre left a permanent stain on the Polish psyche. The final twenty minutes of Katyn put your heart in your throat. (2008)

Kontroll  – Nimrod Antal’s film about life in the Budapest subway system defies easy description. Every scene and piece of dialogue seems loaded with literal and metaphorical interpretations. And the metaphor can apply just as easily to the main characters as to life in Hungary after the fall of the Soviet Empire. (2005)

 Lilya 4-ever – Abandoned by her mother, 16 year-old Lilya must fend for herself in bleak, gray Estonia. She meets a young man different from the abusive thugs in her neighborhood. He is kind to her and promises to pull her out of her dire circumstances. Hopeful and desperate, she trusts him. Thinking they will run off to a slice of heaven, Lilya is instead lowered into a kind of Hell that can only be borne from the minds of the truly evil. Lukas Moodyson’s film muscles its way into the pit of your stomach and stays there for days.

Little Children  – The decade’s best movie about suburban dystopia and arguably Kate Winslet’s best performance. She plays an educated mother whose marriage is passionless. She begins an affair with Patrick Wilson –The Prom King, as he’s dubbed by the neighborhood mothers—whose marriage is  deteriorating while he attempts to pas the bar exam. Most memorable, however, is Jackie Earle Haley, a sex offender trying to start a new life while under the watchful eye of self-appointed moralist. (2006)

The Lives of Others – An engrossing film about the horrors of life on the front lines of the Cold War. Ulrich Muhe is a member of the Stasi in 1984 who listens in on the conversations of a playwright and his lover. His own life being one of boredom he becomes increasingly engrossed in those of his subject. Florian Heckel von Donnersmarck crafted a film of personal destruction while addressing contemporary issues of privacy in a time of unparalleled freedom. (2006)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – It will be hard to explain to future generations the impact that this series of films had on a populace put on perpetual edge in the age of terrorism. Thousands of people lined up to watch the entire trilogy, nine hours in total. It did not take much imagination to see the similarities between Peter Jackson’s sprawling epics and the state of world affairs. The stories of honor, mysticism, fellowship and duty in the face of an indefatigable enemy bent on an engineering an apocalypse resonated with millions of people who had never even heard of JRR Tolkien. (2001-2003)

Memento  – How Christopher Nolan began the decade. The taut Guy Pearce is covered from head to toe with tattoos. He’s also written himself hundreds of notes. The ink on both the paper and his skin is critical because he has no short term memory. In normal circumstances this would be quite the conundrum, but it’s worse because Pearce’s wife has been murdered and he’s trying to figure if he did it or if someone else did. Memento was that rare, visceral movie that left the audience in their seats after the house lights came up, catching their collective breaths. (2001)

Michael Clayton  – Where Good Night and Good Luck was a clarion call to a lazy media elite, George Clooney got back in front of the camera in this tightly written drama about corporate malfeasance. He’s a fixer who keeps small problems from becoming big ones. He must prevent an old friend gone crazy (a manic Tom Wilkinson) from jeopardizing a billion-dollar project while keeping the company lawyer (a scathing Tilda Swinton) at bay. Tony Gilroy’s movie recalls 70s classics like The Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor. (2007)

Minority Report - The back end (after Artificial Intelligence: AI) of a Steven Spielberg double-dip on the dire possibilities of the near future, blisters with energy. Tom Cruise plays a pre-crime officer—criminals are arrested before they commit their crimes—who finds himself caught up in agency politics that have far-reaching implications. Watch it again just to see how prescient it is, based on a Philip K. Dick novel. (2002)

Monster’s Ball  – An extremely graphic sex scene featuring Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton (ick) generated buzz, but Marc Forster’s depiction of troubled lives in the south is harrowing. Heath Ledger, Sean Combs and Peter Boyle are excellent in support of Berry’s raw performance. (2001)

The Motorcycle Diaries – Before he became a face on a t-shirt, Ernesto Guevera was called “Fuser” by his friends. As a student, he and a buddy traveled through South America on a beat up Norton 500. Gael Garcia Bernal is Che in Walter Salles’ exquisite travelogue about idealism colliding with reality. The Machu Picchu sequence is breathtaking. (2004)

Moulin Rouge! – Unapologetically over the top, Baz Luhrman’s was the best musical of the past ten years. A courtesan (Nicole Kidman) falls in love with a would-be poet (Ewan McGregor) much to the chagrin of a duke. This triangle is resolved in a splash of song, color and double-entendres. Jim Broadbent won an Oscar the following year in Iris, but he deserved it for his role as the ringmaster here. (2001)

The New World – Terrence Malick’s lyrical, contemplative rendering of the affair between John Smith (Colin Farrell) and Pocahantas sweeps you up and carries you off to a place that only he seems to be able to construct. When the duties of colonization become too much, the stability of their relationship is threatened. (2005)

The Notebook – The moment you say, “Oh, come on! That would never happen!” you’ve missed the point. Every character in the movie is of a type and that very broadness is what makes the film such a timeless love story. (2004)

No Country for Old Men – Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh immediately joined the pantheon of cinematic psychos but Tommy Lee Jones is outstanding as sheriff trying to make sense of killer whose weapon of choice is a cattle prong. Josh Brolin is up to Jones’ lofty standards as Chigurh’s main target. Kelly MacDonald turns a potentially forgettable role as Brolin’s wife into the moral center of the film. While the movie may have caught fans of the Coen Brothers off-guard, it fits nicely in the canon of the makers of Miller’s Crossing, Fargo and Blood Simple. (2007)

Once  – Set in modern day Dublin, Glen Hansard is a Hoover repair man and Marketa Irglova is an immigrant caring for her mother and daughter. They are both amateur musicians and gradually they write songs together that reflect their growing feelings for each other. A small treasure. (2007)

Pan’s Labyrinth – In order to escape her sadistic stepfather in Franco’s Spain, a ten year-old girl imagines a secret world where she must perform three tasks to prove that she is, in fact, a princess. Fashioned by Guillermo Del Toro, who spent the decade creating worlds that exist just beyond the reach of our own. (2006)

Requiem for a Dream — Four disparate characters succumb to drug abuse. Most frightening in Darren Aronofsky’s film is the descent into madness of a woman collecting social security played by Ellen Burstyn. Far from a lecture, the movie shows in explicit detail how different people become addicted for different reasons.  (2000)

Sideways - In celebration of his philandering pal’s upcoming nuptials, Paul Giamatti takes him on a tour of California wine country. Like any good road movie, Alexander Payne’s film contrives one scenario after another in order to reveal something about the characters. What made Sideways different was the intensity of Giamatti’s portrayal of a man consumed by his own self-loathing. (2004)

The Station Agent – A thoughtful independent film from Thomas McCarthy about a dwarf (Peter Dinklage) who inherits an abandoned train station after his best friend dies. He’s subsequently harangued into friendship by a chatty hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale). The unlikely friends then encounter a woman (Patricia Clarkson) who is in mourning. Well-deserving of the many awards it picked up on the festival circuit. (2003)

Taxi to the Dark Side – Of the many righteously indignant documentaries criticizing the Bush Administration Alex Gibney’s was the best. It’s the story of an innocent Afghan cab driver who was tortured and killed while in US custody. He’s not a casualty of the madness of war, but rather, the victim of carefully vetted policy.  (2007)

There Will Be Blood  – P. T. Anderson’s sprawling epic of greed, oil and religion has a problematic ending but who could forget the opening scene, where Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, without saying a word, grunts his way into our psyche. He plunges one hole after another into the ground through the force of his personality, creating to a fortune but and future that will, most certainly, be bloody. An instant American classic. (2007)

Traffic  – The War on Drugs from the peripatetic camera of Steven Soderbergh. In his most complete film, he inspects many, if not all, aspects of the struggle and concludes that the effort has been a colossal failure. Sturdy performances by Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Quaid, Don Cheadle and Michael Douglas anchor a somewhat chaotic enterprise. (2000)

Waking Life – Richard Linklater’s mind-massaging meditation on truth, reality, dreams and just about everything else washes over you like a hot shower. The fact that it merges animates live action characters pushes it to the stuff of legend. An exponentially better “alternative reality” film than Mulholland Drive. (2001)

WALL-E – The other major secular strain brought on by the reign of error that was the Bush presidency was conspicuous consumption. Remember that he suggested we go shopping in the weeks after planes were crashed into the financial and political capitols of the country. And we did. Boy did we spend. The magicians at Pixar presented the down side of this approach to calming our collective nerves, while telling a tender love story. If you didn’t go “awwwww” at least once while watching WALL-E may God have mercy on your soul. (2008)

Waltz With Bashir  – Perhaps the first and last of its kind. An animated documentary about an Israeli soldier’s memories of a battle that occurred some twenty years earlier. Ari Folman’s autobiographical story of The Lebanese War had the unique distinction of reminding you of several other films while still being thoroughly original. (2008)

Y Tu Mama Tambien – The sexiest movie of the decade. Maribel Verdu joins Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna on a road trip from Mexico City to a mysterious beach with no strings attached. Much steaminess follows. (2002)

You Can Count on Me  – Before starring in Kenneth Lonergan’s movie Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo had minor roles in minor movies. They play a brother and sister who are connected by a tragic event from their past. Each day is a struggle as they to overcome their flaws and make something out of their shiftless lives. Linney was nominated for an Oscar as a single mother trying to build a life out of perpetual setbacks. The soundtrack features several songs from Steve Earle, who knows a thing or two about turmoil. (2000)

Zodiac  – David Fincher’s story of the serial killer that spooked the Bay Area in the 1970s. Jake Gyllenhaal is a newspaper cartoonist who starts out trying to decode the murderer’s cryptic messages and ends up more obsessed with finding the killer than the police officer (Mark Ruffalo) assigned to the case. Fincher gets the grisliness out of the way early and delivers an unsparing crime procedural; the inclusion of Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man on the soundtrack is inspired. (2007)

They barely missed the cut: High Fidelity, Oldboy, Adaptation and Up

Best Releases Three or Four Decades Late

Army of Shadows – Jean-Pierre Melville’s classic of The French Resistance, released in Europe in the late 1960s made going underground heroic and cool. It ushered in a much-deserved reassessment of Melville’s place in The French New Wave. (2006)

Killer of Sheep – the life of a Los Angeles slaughterhouse worker in black and white with one of the best scores in film history. Charles Burnett’s film sat in a vault at UCLA for 30 years until it was released on video by Milestone/New Yorker Video. (2007)

Underrated, Forgotten or Worth a Second Look

24-Hour Party People – Steve Coogan nails it as the riotously self-possessed Tony Wilson, the television host who sired the Manchester music scene in the late 1970s. Michael Winterbottom adeptly recalls a flowering cultural moment that was both depressing and inspirational. (2002)

The Bridge – Eric Steel’s documentary about why the Golden Gate Bridge has become Ground Zero for suicides. More than that though, it’s about those left behind and trying to make sense of the profoundly tragic. (2006)

The Cell – The acting isn’t much (Jennifer Lopez playing a psychologist and Vince Vaughn playing it straight) and the plot machinations are absurd but Tarsem Singh’s movie about the subconscious of a serial killer is loaded with visual explosions from start to finish. (2000)

The Claim – When you sell off your wife and baby daughter for a gold mine it’s just a matter of time before it comes back to bite you, even in the pre-Information Age. There’s no escaping karma on that one. Michael Winterbottom’s version of Thomas Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge is unforgettable. The icy turn-of-the-century Canadian landscape is the ideal backdrop for this morality tale. (2000)

The Dish – What role did Australia play in the first moon landing? Well, the country put up a satellite interface in a remote desert. Sam Neill plays one of the technicians who helps the locals prepare for and cope with their day in the, uhh, sun. Patrick Warburton is winning as the American liaison. (2001)

Everything is Illuminated – The movie based on what might be the best novel of the decade barely registered at the box office. Eugene Hutz steals the movie as Elijah Wood’s linguistically-challenged guide and Liev Schreiber’s debut behind the camera is extremely faithful to Jonathan Safran Foer’s source material. (2005)

Heaven – It came and went in the blink of an eye, but Cate Blanchett is a bald vigilante aided and abetted by police-officer Giovanni Ribisi. Impossible to categorize as an action pic for the art house crowd (or is it vice versa?), Tom Tykwer’s movie merits another consideration. (2002)

Idiocracy – Mike Judge’s futuristic comedy about what happens to a society that spends decades rewarding impulse and hubris over intellect and honesty. Sound familiar? (2005)

The Illusionist – In pre-World War I Vienna Edward Norton plays a magician who astonishes and taunts royalty (Rufus Sewell) and law enforcement (Paul Giamatti). It was overshadowed by The Prestige which was released the same year, but it is better shot, better acted and without the cop-out ending of Christopher Nolan’s film. (2006)

Innocence – After his wife dies a man looks up his lost love from over forty years ago. She has married and is living a comfortable life. Now in their 70s, they try to pick up where they left off. Paul Cox’s film of hope, death, loss, regret and risk tugs at your heart and never lets go. (2001)

Last Orders – A London butcher (Michael Caine) instructed his best friends (Tom Courtenay, David Hemmings and Bob Hoskins) to throw his ashes into the water at Margate beach. His son (Ray Winstone) joins them as they make the journey, recollecting about what was and what might have been. The type of small, touching film that big stars don’t seem to make anymore. (2001)

LIE – Paul Dano, in a pre-There Will Be Blood role plays a teenager who sits on a bridge above the Long Island Expressway. He has nothing, so when a dubious character, the slimy Brian Cox, offers him some semblance of normalcy, he takes it. (2001)

Made – Jon Favreau’s comedy is a follow up to Swingers which again features him and Vince Vaughan. This time they’re playing wanna-be mafiosos hired by Peter Falk to cut a deal with Sean Combs. The repoire of the castcast is terrific and the movie is even funnier with the audio commentary on (by Favreau and Vaughn). (2001)

Our Daily Bread – A dialogue-free documentary about the mechanized, industrialized nature of food production. Make sure you eat before viewing. (2006)

The Proposition – Set in late 19^th century Australia, the underappreciated Ray Winstone is magnetic as a frontier lawman determined to bring peace to his town. A group of four brothers has terrorized the locals and Winstone urges two of them to turn in the oldest, who is the ringleader. This sounds like a traditional Western but Nick Cave’s bloody and depraved script is accompanied by a setting that invites comparisons to Antonioni. (2006)

Reign Over Me – Almost all of Adam Sandler’s comedic characters are emotionally-stunted man-boys. His character in Mike Binder’s film is also a shell of a man, mumbling his way around New York City on a scooter, donning headphones to keep the outside world away. Don Cheadle is his usual superb self playing a dentist, trying to find out what’s gone wrong with Sandler, his old college roommate. In the course of reaching out to Sandler, Cheadle must face problems in his own life. (2007)

Sweet Land – In 1920s Minnesota a beautiful German woman arrives to marry a Norwegian farmer. He speaks little English and she speaks none. This is the least of their troubles as her ethnicity, in light of World War I, gives the rest of the community pause. Ali Selim’s feature debut is quiet, elegant and assured. (2006)

The Widow of St. Pierre – Patrice Leconte’s tale of redemption set in the (then) French colony of Newfoundland in the 1850s. Emir Kusterica plays a drunk sentenced to death for a murder. But time passes before the guillotine can arrive from France. Slowly, the community, represented by Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil, comes to see the murderer in a different light. (2001)

The Yards – James Gray’s story of corruption in the Queens rail yards was unjustly ignored by audiences on its release. Perhaps it was because the star, Mark Wahlberg, was an unproven quantity as a dramatic actor (Ok, some might say he still is), but he more than holds his own among James Caan, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Charlize Theron and Joaquin Phoenix. (2000)

A Double Feature About Women Living on the Margins

Frozen River and Wendy and Lucy -  Melisso Leo and Michelle Williams try to save their son and dog, respectively, while staring some hard truths in the face. (Both released in 2008)

Actors of the Decade—Gael Garcia Bernal and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Actresses of the Decade – Cate Blanchett, Laura Linney and Kate Winslet

Directors of the Decade – Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Christopher Nolan

Overrated

Brokeback Mountain – A movie more concerned with its message than advancing the story in a cinematic way. The script is clunky (saved by Heath Ledger’s performance) and for a movie intended to bust stereotypes, it’s comprised of supporting characters who are exactly that.

Knocked Up – Where The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a sweet, bromance about the complexities of dating, this was self-indulgent. A stoner who lives with other porn-living potheads hooks up with a successful television producer? That’s a shaky premise to begin with and impossible to ignore whenever the two leads start talking about child rearing. Why weren’t women insulted by this movie?

Lost in Translation – Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson are displaced Americans in Tokyo. It’s a Jim Jarmusch movie done by Sofia Coppola. One Jarmusch is plenty thank you very much.

Mulholland Drive – What’s this movie about? No, really somebody tell me.

Movie that’s aged the worst – Crash. Only five years old and the tale of race and circumstance in Los Angeles already feels quaint.

And what of Wes Anderson? – His four films (three live-action and one animated) are entertaining, but they’re all riffs on a similar theme—highly stylized portraits of fractured families done to great soundtracks. They all made my best of the year list when released, but Anderson, so far anyway, has been content to have his characters talk about their struggles rather than show them.

Television (Still a vast wasteland)

The conversation begins and ends with The Wire. If you haven’t seen it you have deprived yourself of storytelling on par with Charles Dickens, but more visual. There’s no point in spilling more cyber-ink on it as countless others have extolled its virtues. So watch it. Now. You’re welcome.

The two best documentaries of the past ten years originally aired on television. Martin Scorsese’s No Direction Home revealed every available side of Bob Dylan including a few that Mr. Zimmerman would rather have kept under wraps. Scorsese seemed to talk to everyone who ever had anything to do with Dylan.

The other great doc was Spike Lee’s agonizing, thorough, poetic story of the debacle and failure of our government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. It’s not hyperbolic to call When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts an act of public service.

OK…if I must choose…a baker’s dozen…(I actually already tipped my hand above by adding a clip after the summary)

WALL-E, Amelie, The Dark Knight, Memento, Amores Perros, In America, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Moulin Rouge! There Will Be Blood, The Lives of Others, Waking Life, You Can Count on Me and Lilya 4-ever.

I’m not really much of a movie-goer. I just don’t seem to have the patience to sit down and watch a movie for 2 hours. I can’t seem to stay focused, or keep quiet long enough. If one of my friends wants to watch a movie with them, its quite a hassle. About two or three years ago, however, I heard about “Factory Girl” and really wanted to watch it. For whatever reason, I didn’t get a chance to. Last year though, my roommate told me that she was going to the Factory Girl on, and that I was going to watch it. I was pretty excited, because I had been meaning to see it for about 2 years. I was multitasking with homework when I watched it, but that didn’t matter, I was in love. After that first night that I watched it, I watched it five more times over the next two days. No joke.

Anytime someone came over, my roommate and I would have Factory Girl playing. We just seemed to always keep it on, as background noise, while we did our homework and what not. I now live by myself, and have bought my own copy of Factory Girl, and continue to watch it three times a week. I cannot get enough of it. Hands down, my favourite movie.

It’s basically about the life of Edie Sedgwick, who was Andy Warhol’s muse in the 60’s. I don’t want to reveal too much, because I want you guys to watch it for yourself. The depiction and portrayal of Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol are very well done,  and accurate.

After watching the movie, I did extensive research on the two of them, which made me appreciate the movie that much more. Sienna Miller makes a wonderful Edie; I read about how, to get into character, Sierra Miller and Guy Pearce (who plays Andy Warhol) watched original films of Sedgwick and Warhol over and over again. The same way I watch Factory Girl over and over again.

Even if you don’t care for Sedgwick and Warhol, I would recommend watching it simply for the fashion and aesthetic. Sedgwick wasn’t an “It” Girl for nothing. Leopard furs, ridiculously oversized earrings, amazing. Fashion sense, bang on point. The soundtrack is also phenomenal. I’ve been meaning to pick it up for a while now. Maybe that’ll be my next purchase…

The following DVD’s are currently on sale at Books From A Rose:

VERDICT:
9/10 Flame Bearers

Is it as good as the book? No. But it’s a damn good adaptation all the same.

The Road is about a father and son trying to survive in post-apocalyptic America as they make their way down to the southern coast, hoping to find a place where they can live and start anew in a world seemingly devoid of “good guys”.

So this review is being written from someone who absolutely loved Cormac McCarthy’s source material and still counts it as one of the best books he’s read in a good long while. The main reason I mention this is because I can see how this movie might be a bit much if you’re going into it blind, completely unfamiliar with what’s in store. This isn’t the apocalypse in 2o12, nor is this a Greenpeace PSA about the inevitable dangers of global warming, The Road is about hope in the face of doom, the depths of the human soul (and it goes pretty darn deep), and a father’s love for his son.

After seeing the trailer a couple times – which unfortunately sucked – a few months back, I was left very concerned about a couple liberties I thought director John Hillcoat was going to take with this story. But rather than go on and make this a book vs. movie review, let me just say that the trailer is wildly misleading in regards to the feel and overall context of the movie, straying in very few aspects – which all happen to work out for the better – and following the novel’s plot pretty religiously for the most part. Being that there isn’t anything that really needed changing to begin with, this was a relief.

Alright, back to John Hillcoat.

Don’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of Hillcoat as this is only his sophomore effort, but hopefully this will serve as a launching pad of sorts for him. Despite his brief rap sheet, I couldn’t think of a better person to capture the look and feel of this grim-as-death story after I went head-over-heels for his debut film a couple years back, The Proposition (the best Westerns of the past ten years – check it out). The guy’s got an incredible eye for the gritty, dirty side of life and does wonders in somehow managing to turn a grey, barren wasteland into a thing of awesome beauty. It’s one of those things that needs to be seen to be fully understood, but the scenery here is just unreal, rivaling even that of Alfonso Cuaron’s England in Children of Men - and that’s saying something.

He keeps the pace up without turning it into The Road Warrior and does well not to beat his audience over the head with the subtle tone and message of the script. It can be a tough movie to get through, but Hillcoat keeps it at a nice shade of dark without taking things overboard. But like I said, you might not be thinking likewise if you don’t already know what’s coming.

And for those of you who read the book and were wondering, no, “the baby” does not make an appearance. That would be taking it overboard.

Thankfully, the acting here is also just as subtle and powerful as the technical aspects of this movie are. Viggo Mortensen is great as the father, going from protective parent to vulnerable husband at the flip of the switch and bringing it home as the real driving force of the cast. He’s got a couple of strong scenes where he breaks out the waterworks, but it’s not overdramatic and it’s very, very convincing. Good job, Viggo. Way to break away from Aragorn.

The son is played by newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee. For the most part I thought he was pretty good, maybe a little too whiney and a little older than I initially imagined him looking, but he gets a lot better by the last half-hour as his character starts to fully develop.

But probably the biggest surprise here is Charlize Theron as Viggo’s wife/Kodi’s mom. She ends up playing a pretty substantial role, which was surprising considering she’s more or less a footnote in the novel, but it actually works out for the best. She’s pretty solid and her presence really helps to flesh out the father’s and son’s characters in turn. Thought this was going to make the movie lose points, but hey, everything worked out.

There’s also a great cameo by Robert Duvall and a good cameo by Guy Pearce – both of whom are totally unrecognizable. Definitely wasn’t expecting to see them, but since they’re both A-okay in my book, I’m not complaining.

Now for those out there who saw the trailer, be forewarned – or relieved – that this is not a disaster movie. You’re never told why or how the end of days finally came around, but that’s the way it should be. The Road is about morally sound, yet morally struggling, human beings that have been placed in these dire circumstances and as the audience, we’re just along for the ride. It doesn’t matter what caused it, because to focus on that would be to misunderstand this movie altogether. You want answers, go ask the Mayans.

And while it doesn’t entirely carry the same emotional weight of the novel, The Road is still a fantastic movie that captures a lot of what made the story so incredible to begin with. Maybe I’m just a sucker for the book, maybe I just love me a good riff about the apocalypse, but I didn’t go into this with very high expectations and I came out a total convert.

My suggestion: read the book if you haven’t already – it’ll only take you a day or two – then go see the movie. It’s not a make-or-break thing, but it helped for me. Man, read the book even if you’re not gonna see the movie. You’ll thank me later.

There’s also a great, eerie score by Nick Cave (of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) – the same guy who did the score for The Proposition. Really complements the movie well and since the guy’s a badass to begin with, had to throw that in there.

3 weeks without watching a single movie was the equivalent of torture. Thankfully I put an end to it by finally seeing The Road today as a bit of a 3 months in NY anniversary. (such a short time and yet it still feels like I’ve been here for years now)

As you know, I’ve been dying to see John Hillcoat (director of The Proposition, excellent Australian western movie) adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s quiet, simple, riveting masterpiece of a novel, which I read a handful of months back.  The movie has been highly expected by many, fans and critics alike, and so far it has gotten mixed to good reviews but nowhere near the universal acclaim of the last McCarthy adaptation: No Country For Old Men. The Road as a movie doesn’t work quite as well as the novel, and in all fairness, I don’t think any movie adaptation could ever do with visuals what the book does with words.  It may not be Oscar bait, but it isn’t anywhere near terrible; it’s a competent, pensive slice of independent filmmaking.

Some critics have gone after the fact that John Hillcoat uses flashbacks of  the wife way too much, as the reason the movie doesn’t quite lives up to the book.  I don’t particularly think so.  First off, not much happens in the book and therefore in the movie.  That was the biggest challenge the director had: a book like The Road is the type of meditation on the good vs evil of the world and humanity, our complete disregard for saving our future and therefore damning ourselves, and then showing us hope and salvation in the bond of a father and his son and the fierce length said father would go to protect his child and secure his survival at all cost.  All done through narration and the simplest of dialogues.  A movie has to be able to show us, not tell us, and with no much to work with, it falls short. This is most evident on the editing and pacing, though it isn’t jarring and it doesn’t take you out of the movie, you just sense how a certain scene didn’t quite connect with the next, here and there.  They could have very well added action sequences or disasters a la 2012 but that would have been a betrayal of the novel.

The movie works in two ways: as a good, just not outstanding version of the novel, and something of its own creation.  What unites this two versions is Viggo Mortinsen’s quiet, emotional, and plain stunning oscar-worthy performance as the father.  As in the book, he is the heart and soul of the story.  As the person you feel the most for, you focus all your attention on him; he’s our connection with this apocalyptic world. We sense, smell, see, and feel through him.  By adding those extra scenes of his interaction with the mother (Charlize Theron) the movie let us see even more clearly into the heart of the man and his fierce determination to see his son through it all, and also his pain and everything lost.  These flashbacks do not distract or take away from the movie but add.  In the novel, Mr. McCarthy used the mother very fleetingly, almost in passing. By featuring her more strongly in the movie, John Hillcoat was simply trying to make the visuals resonate more with an audience that may not have read the book and let them understand the father and his intentions more, and he succeeds at that.

There are other liberties taken here and there, some scenes were shortened from the book (as any adaptation does) which also robs the story a bit of its central point which is the father/son bond.  It’s there and yet not quite as touching and emotional as in the book.  Overall, the movie remains a good companion to the book, see it as the abridged version.  Grade: B.

Good book service, good performances, perfect casting. Almost there. 9/10 [IAN]

Buy it

Hurt Locker, The, (2008) – Direção: Kathryn Bigelow – Elenco: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, David Morse, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, Evangeline Lilly

Enquanto filmes de terror pra adolescentes tomam o espaço e lotam cinemas do mundo todo, um filme contundente sobre a guerra do Iraque é lançado estupidamente somente em DVD no Brasil. Mas engana-se quem acha que é mais um filme de guerra com ação incessante, heroísmos, maniqueísmos e sentimentalismo barato. The Hurt Locker é um filme que não se preocupa em promover a ação bélica, e sim mostrar o que ela pode fazer com os homens que ali estão, todas as conseqüências do dia-a-dia de soldados na linha de frente em situações que beiram a morte à cada passo que eles dão. Aqui o perigo é mais perceptível, pois ao mexer com detonação de bombas, a impressão é que tudo e todos irão a qualquer momento pelos ares.

Um esquadrão anti-bombas formado pelo persistente Sargento William James (Jeremy Renner, de O Assassinato de Jesse James pelo Covarde Robert Ford), o Sargento JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie de Menina de Ouro) e o inseguro Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty de Soldado Anônimo), soldados que estão diariamente lutando contra o terror que se resume aos passos mortais, um clique fatal, o inimigo sem rosto. A diretora Kathryn Bigelow (Caçadores de Emoção, K-19: The Widowmaker) é experiente em filmes tensos, e aqui, com uma câmera nervosa que não pára, ela registra como numa espécie de documentário, a angústia de homens que não vêem a hora de voltarem  pra casa vivos.

Podemos dizer que o coração do filme é mesmo Jeremy Renner, aquele que tem de encarar o suor frio da morte todas as vezes que precisa desarmar uma bomba. Renner está ótimo, num papel que pode lhe render uma indicação ao Oscar de melhor ator. Aliás, muito se fala sobre esse filme estar entre os principais finalistas ao Oscar ano que vem, nas categorias de filme, direção, ator, ator coadjuvante (Mackie), e os prêmios técnicos: montagem, fotografia, som, etc…, mesmo que seja do ano de 2008, ele só foi lançado nos Estados Unidos nesse ano, por isso sua chanche em concorrer aos principais prêmios é muito grande.

O filme traz rápidas participações de atores de peso como David Morse, Ralph Fiennes e Guy Pearce.

O final é fantástico, não há uma grande batalha nem grandes explosões, e sim uma reflexão profunda acerca de um dos combatentes, de uma guerra puramente insana.

4/5

Based on Cormac McCarthy’s best-selling and Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “The Road is the epic post-apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father and his young son across a barren landscape that was blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed civilization and most life on earth.

OLD DOGS

(Disney) John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Ella Bleu Travolta, Conner Rayburn, Lori Loughlin, Matt Dillon, Bernie Mac. Directed by Walt Becker

From the director of Wild Hogs comes this new comedy that similarly involves older men in a younger man situation. In this case, two successful businessmen on the verge of closing the biggest deal of their careers are derailed by the revelation that one of them is in fact a father and at one of the most critical junctures in their negotiations, will be babysitting his newfound brood. As will happen around kids, chaos ensues.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for some mild rude humor)

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

(Apparition) Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flannery, Clifton Collins, Julie Benz. This is the sequel to the cult classic penned by Troy Duffy (the making of which was the subject of the acclaimed documentary Overnight). The brothers MacManus who have been taking it easy in Ireland since the events of the first film find themselves compelled to return to the mean streets of Boston when a priest is brutally gunned down.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for bloody violence, language and some nudity)

Fantastic Mr. Fox

(Fox Searchlight) Featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzmann, Bill Murray. From the minds of the late novelist Roald Dahl and director Wes Anderson (Rushmore) comes this animated feature that pits a clever, tricky fox against three brutal but not-so-bright farmers.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: PG (for action, smoking and slang humor)

Ninja Assassin

(Warner Brothers) Rain, Naomie Harris, Sho Kosugi, Rick Yune. Taken from the streets as a child by the legendary but lethal Ozunu Clan and trained as an assassin, Raizo becomes one of the deadliest killers on the planet. However he butts heads with the clan and is forced to vanish. Now, he finds an Interpol agent who has stumbled upon one of the secrets of the Ozunu Clan and is marked for death. He must protect her – and himself – from the world’s most skilled assassins and try to find a way to bring the clan down for good. This stylized anime/video game hybrid is from V for Vendetta director James McTeigue.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for strong bloody stylized violence throughout, and language)

The Road

(Weinstein) Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Kody Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron. After a global catastrophe kills nearly all life on earth and ends civilization as we know it, a father and his son make their way across a barren, dangerous landscape trying to avoid predators of the natural and unnatural kind in an effort to make it to the coast and survival. Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy, this post-Apocalyptic thriller boasts an all-star cast.

See the trailer here.

For more on the movie this is the website.

Rating: R (for some violence, disturbing images and language)

Production Weekly ha anunciado de que Guy Pearce estará en la cinta del director Roger Donaldson denominada “The Hungry Rabbit Jumps”.

Esta película se trata de un hombre (quien será Nicolas Cage) cuya esposa (January Jones) es la víctima de un horroroso crimen. Poco a poco, el se involucra con una organización de vigilantes para tomar venganza.

“The hungry Rabbit Jumps” comenzará a filmarse en diciembre en Nueva Orleans.

At last: The long-delayed, ambivalently-anticipated, Viggo Mortensen-intensive adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-winning novel, about a man and his young son wandering through a glumly gritty post-apocalyptic world, will be playing at a theater near you. And just in time to kick off the holiday season! Here’s a movie with a few suggestions about what you might want to be thankful for.

“Each day is more gray than the one before,” Mortensen’s nameless character solemnly narrates early on. He’s not lying. Unless, that is, you consider it a lie of omission that he doesn’t say each day is also, relatedly, more brown than the one before. If “The Road” is not a fully original vision, it does at least seem like a contender for distinction as the grayest and brownest movie ever made.

And it is starkly beautiful, in just such a way as to warrant the mention here of cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe prior to the mentioning of screenwriter Joe Penhall or director John Hillcoat. Not that those two obvious reticence appreciators should mind: Probably aware that movies have by now rendered trite the notion of coping with life after an apocalypse (partly through requisite flashbacks to before the apocalypse), Penhall and Hillcoat seem to have determined in advance that theirs will be the one spelling absolutely nothing out.

McCarthy set that precedent in his book, of course, and it seemed like both a stylistic hallmark and a political stance: If mankind must insist on besmirching its own dignity, his novel suggested, the noticing author seems therefore magnanimous when allowing at least for the dignity of narrative restraint. The movie agrees, and so we see a ruined city, and some vestigial carnage (not to mention a couple of off-screen butcherings), but the details of how the end of it all got started will remain artfully (grayly, brownly) obscured. As cinematic cataclysms go, it is rather proudly the opposite of a Roland Emmerich film.

All we really know is that earthquakes are involved. And that most of our species — in America, at least — didn’t make it. And that Robert Duvall, with his soulful, turbid eyes, saw it coming. But of course he did. He’s Robert effing Duvall. In “The Road,” small roles are like foodstuffs: precious, perishable, savored. There’s one for Michael Kenneth Williams, whom you may recall as Omar from “The Wire,” and one for Guy Pearce too.

As for the big role, it might be called the performance of Mortensen’s career, if only because he seems most in his element when a) greasy-haired, b) occasionally nude, or c) both. In these regards, “The Road” is always there for him, as he is for it. And it’s very much to his credit that the overall one-noteness of the thing absorbs more than it irritates. Give this man a gun with two bullets and a kid to look after, and just watch him go. Even if he’s going nowhere.

Here’s another Cormac McCarthyish thing Mortensen’s character says: “All I know is the child is my warrant. And if he is not the word of God, then God never spoke.” God here is played by Himself, with characteristic taciturnity (all told, maybe not enough of a stretch). The child is played by Kodi Smit-McPhee — quite well, given what might be the most potentially traumatizing role for a young actor since Danny Lloyd was cast in “The Shining,” and very feasibly the offspring of Mortensen and Charlize Theron, who in a brief and lambent spell plays the boy’s mother. She’s appropriately cast too, in the sense that even her absence has presence.

Absence, after all, is supposed to be par for this course. With that in mind, and for all of “The Road”’s reserve, maybe there’s a tad too much talk of what it means to be “the good guys,” namely, “carrying the fire.” Ah yes, and just look what we’ve done with that gift from Prometheus, whose reward for giving it to us was protracted torture. Well, if this road really is the one ahead for humanity, maybe he can consider us even.

Just in time for the Holidays is John Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Road. Which, at its heart, is an incredibly touching story about the love between a father and son. Still, it’s incredibly depressing and should be avoided at all costs. Just kidding. Well, except for the depressing part. That’s all true.

We don’t know much about what’s happened to the world. Everything is covered in a blanket of ash. Very few people are still alive. Those who are are forced to eke out a living, scrounging for food, which sometimes includes the unlucky others they run across. In the middle of all this are a father and son who make their way across the ruined landscape, desperately searching for something better than this. Better than where they are now.

If there was ever an author who’s work lent itself to adaptation, it’s McCarthy. Whether your reading The Road or No Country for Old Men, you almost get the feeling that his novels are one giant storyboard, strung out in front of you. The hopelessness and despair are translated perfectly in The Road. Actually, it’s translated a little too well. The film’s message seems to be that love endures. But after watching Viggo Mortensen (who I think is beginning to approach that Daniel Day-Lewis level of immersing oneself in their role) and Kodi Smit-McPhee run out of a basement full of people who are being harvested as food, I ask myself, who the hell would want to endure this?

That’s the question asked by Charlize Theron, who plays Mortensen’s wife in a series of flashback sequences. I remember being annoyed by her character in the book. In the movie, I felt I understood where she was coming from. Theron is one of a very small cast. Aside from the Man and the Boy, there are only a handful of characters, none of whom spend very much time onscreen. This means that Mortensen and Smit-McPhee are carrying a lot on their shoulders, and both do it very well. Mortensen makes you believe that the only reason he’s carrying on is because of his son.

One reviewer described The Road as a story about a kid who doesn’t understand the situation he’s in. It seems like that would be obvious, considering this is the world he was born into and the only one he’s ever known. That’s exactly how Smit-McPhee plays his character. He’s sheltered but slowly coming into his own. He looks to his father as a seeing-stone, someone who can interpret the world around him and put it all into perspective. He puts forward a very good performance and I think he’s setting himself up for some good stuff in the future.

Like I said before, the issue explored in The Road is whether or not love can survive in the face of complete hopelessness. Obviously it isn’t anything that’s going to be settled anytime soon, and I’m not sure McCarthy himself feels settled on the issue. If The Road’s message is that love endures, the message of No Country for Old Men seems to be that, sometimes, evil screws you over, and that’s it. Well, food for thought.

The Road is one of the most powerful movies we’ve seen this year. It screams out, “Oscar!” but I’m worried that, in the end, it’ll be skipped over in favor of something more mainstream. You don’t see many post-apocalyptic dramas win awards these days. Then again, you don’t see many post-apocalyptic dramas with such a touching and pure story at its heart, after you’ve peeled away all the dreary scenery and special effects. A

Racconti incantati è un film del 2008 commedia diretta da Adam Shankman che ha come interpret principale Adam Sandler

Leggi altre notizie su: | Adam Shankman | Adam Sandler | Keri Russell | Guy Pearce

After the Oscar-winning success of the adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, another of the author’s works arrives on screen. Viggo Mortensen stars in THE ROAD, a thriller that is set in a bare, post-apocalyptic America, where a father and son struggle to survive. Director John Hillcoat previously teamed with star Guy Pearce on the critically acclaimed Western THE PROPOSITION.

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi McPhee, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall
Director: John Hillcoat
Screenwriter: Joe Penhall
Producer: Nick Wechsler, Steve Schwartz, Paula Mae Schwartz
Composer: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
Studio: Weinstein Company

MOVIE TRAILER :

ASV kinoteātros 25.11.2009,  Igaunijā – 29.01.2010,  Datums Rīgā – nezināms!

The Road ir amerikāņu vesternu un apokaliptiskā žanra rakstnieka Kormaka Makartija 2006. gada romāns, kas 2007. gadā apbalvots ar prestižo Pulicera balvu. Noteikti pazīstamāks mums visiem ir autora darbs No Country for Old Men (”Kur sirmgalvjiem nav vietas”), ar šādu nosaukumu uzņemtā filma 2007. gadā ieguva četras Kinoakadēmijas balvas, ieskaitot nomināciju gada labākā filma.

The Road ir režisora Džona Hilkouta jaunākā filma, scenāriju adaptējis Džo Penhāls. Pēdējais režisora darbs The Proposition („Priekšlikums”) apbalvots ar neskaitāmām balvām. Arī jaunākā fantastikas drāma The Road veiksmīgi startējusi dažādos kinofestivālos, septembrī Venēcijas kinofestivālā režisors par filmu nominēts prestižajai Zelta Lauvas balvai, izrādīta arī Toronto, Londonas, kā arī citos kinofestivālos.

Galveno lomu atveido Ņujorkā dzimušais Vigo Mortensens, kurš redzams Pītera Džeksona triloģijā „Gredzenu pavēlnieks”, kā arī Deivida Cronenberga perfektajā krimināldrāmā Eastern Promisses („Austrumu Solījumi”) un par lomu tika nominēts Kinoakadēmijas Oskaram kā labākais aktieris.Jāpiemin, ka lomās ir tādi Oskaroti aktieri kā Šarlīze Terona un Roberts Duvāls.

Episkā piedzīvojuma notikumi risinās apokalipses izpostītajā Amerikā, kur kāds tēvs ar dēlu dodas bīstamā ceļojumā, lai rastu glābiņu. Pilsētas ir drūmas un gruvešos, un acīmredzami, viss dzīvais ir iznīcināts. Ceļā nākas konstatēt tikai vienu, ka no civilizācijas līdz pagrimumam un zemākajiem dzīvnieku instinktiem ir tikai viens neliels solis…

Režisors: John Hillcoat
Oriģinālromāns: Cormac McCarthy
Scenārijs: Joe Penhall
Lomās: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce

Yılın en sevdiğim zamanlarından biri Oscar için ismi geçen büyük filmlerin teker teker karşımıza çıktığı dönem.Özellikle geçen sene öyle denk gelmişti ki Slumdog Millionaire ve Benjamin Button‘ı arka arkaya izlemiştim.Çok da keyifliydi ya neyse.Şimdi bahsedeceğim film The Hurt Locker da 82. Akademi Ödülleri için şimdiden adını aday adayı listesine yazdırdı.Özellikle filmin yönetmeni Kathyrn Bigelow‘dan beklentiler oldukça fazla.Her eleştirmenden tam not aldığını düşünürsek tahminlerde pek de yanılmadığımızı söyleyebiliriz.

Gelelim The Hurt Locker‘ı eleştirmeye…Filmin konusu tamamen savaş üzerine kurulu.William James isimli kabaca gözünü kan bürümüş vahşi Amerikalı’nın ekibe katılış süreciyle başlayan dehşet operasyonları izliyoruz.Her operasyonda bir kat daha geriliyor, bir kat daha kafayı yiyiyorsunuz! O bombaları buldukça siz ondan daha çok geriliyorsunuz.Özellikle bu atmosferi yarattığından dolayı filmin yönetmeni Kathryn Bigelow‘u kutlamak gerek.Bana kalırsa yılın en çarpıcı filmlerinden birine el atmış.Yani etkileyiciliği tartışılır ama kadın bir yönetmenin elinden The Hurt Locker‘ın çıkmış olması fikri yeteri kadar insanı düşündürüyor sanıyorum.

Senaryo açısından da herhangi bir metne bağlı kalmadan, özgün bir şeyler çıkaran Mark Boal‘a göz atmak gerekiyor.Onun senaryodaki başarısının filmin sadece son dakikada hissedilen kurgusuyla ön plana çıktığını düşünüyorum.”Neden bu kadar vahşi bu adam?” sorusunun cevabını çok güzel bir şekilde sona saklamış ve harika da bir kurguyla önümüze sunmuşlar.Buradan da tam not verebiliriz.

Oyunculardan ise yine adı Oscar için geçen Jeremy Renner‘ın performansı gayet iyi.Hakikaten denildiği kadar varmış.Yardımcı rollerden ise Anthony Mackie ön planda.O da yarışın haklı galiplerinden olabilir kısa zaman içerisinde, ki bunların hepsi bildiğiniz üzere filmin yüreteceği iyi bir kampanyaya bağlı.Bu iki ismin dışında kısa kısa Ralph Fiennes, Evangeline Lilly ve Guy Pearce performansları izliyoruz.Ama üçünün de pek gözüktüğünü söyleyemeyeceğim.Hepsini yaklaşık 5 dakika görebiliyoruz filmde.Konuk oyuncu bile diyebilirsiniz…

Genel olarak ben filmi beğendim.Ama “Yılın filmi” değil açıkçası.Bir savaş filmi olması açından Amerika’yı savunmasını beklerken yorumsuz kalması iyi tabi.Ayrıca yarattığı gerilim de hakikaten harika.Fakat bir şeyler eksik.Sanki bir dizi bomba imha operasyonu izliyor gibisiniz.Bir bütün gibi, ama aynı zamanda değil gibi de…Kısacası izlenilmesi gereken, çok da ölünüp bitilmeyecek filmlerden diyerek konuyu kapatayım.

B+

By Nickie Wang

There have been debates whether the Australian film industry still needs the control and support of the government or not. The cinema of Australia can thrive without any assistance and the industry can do more in terms of global competitiveness if it is not controlled by the government’s funding body, Screen Australia.

The Black Balloon director Elissa Down

The films from Down Under have done more in making people around the world become aware of the country, thanks mainly to the success of actors like Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, Naomi Watts and Cate Blanchett who have become synonymous to modern filmmaking.

Australia’s world-class facilities, state-of-the art digital and visual effects production services, acclaimed cast and crew and spectacular locations also make it a sought-after location for foreign films including Superman Returns, Matrix Trilogy, Charlotte’s Web, Ghost Rider and The Ruins. It is, of course, something that our local cinema lacks.

This month, six critically-acclaimed films from Australia are going the rounds of cinemas in Manila and Cebu as the Australian Embassy presents the 7th Australian Film Festival. It runs until Nov. 14, and the last leg is the Ayala Centre Cebu.

“The embassy is pleased to continue its tradition of providing Filipino moviegoers the opportunity to experience Australian film excellence and learn more about Australian popular culture, history and contemporary values,” Australian ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith said at the opening of the festival.

The festival is opened by visiting Australian director Elissa Down with the premiere of her film The Black Balloon. The Los Angeles-based director arrived in Manila for the screening of the film and to conduct master classes at the University of the Philippines Film Institute and Mowelfund Institute.

“Down’s visit will further strengthen ties between the Australian and Filipino film industries which have developed through the film festival and Cinemanila during the past few years, through workshops for student film producers and directors conducted by visiting Australian actors and directors,” Ambassador Smith said.

The Black Balloon, starring Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actress Toni Collette (Sixth Sense, About A Boy), follows the story of 15-year-old Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) who tries to fit in his new life as his family moves to a new home while taking care of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford, The Mummy-Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) and nurturing a budding romance with new girlfriend Jackie (Australian supermodel and actress Gemma Ward). Charlie takes Thomas on an emotional journey in a story that is funny, confronting and ultimately heart-warming.

“This film is about unconditional love. It’s a dramady [drama-comedy] inspired from the story of my own family,” Down told Standard Today. “I’ve got two brothers who have autism so if you could imagine, growing up with them was a little crazy. Making this movie was really a therapy on my part.”

Down, who also co-wrote and co-produced The Black Balloon, said that the film was awarded by the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival Crystal Bear for Best Feature-Length film last year. Back in her hometown, it received the Australian Film Institute awards for Best Direction, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing.

“It won numerous awards abroad and it’s inspiring in a way that it motivates me to write stories and make more films that talk about families, real people. The Black Balloon, as I’ve said, talks about love that knows no limit and everyone can relate most especially to the lead character,” the director said.

Also featured in this year’s festival are Unfinished Sky, a romantic drama about the nature of loss and the language of love; The Bank, a political thriller set in the world of high finance; the romantic comedy Danny Deckchair; Garage Days, a story about a teenager’s dream to be a rock star; and The Hard Word starring Guy Pearce (Memento, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, LA Confidential) and Golden Globe winner Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under, Brothers and Sisters).

Last night we had the chance to catch a pre-release screeening of The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen. Following the screening, Viggo, director John Hillcoat, and screenwriter Joe Penhall participated in a Q&A, which brought further clarity to the film.

The Road is the best film of 2009 (so far), in large part due to its emotional density and characters. The film has its flaws, but no other film (The Lovely Bones, Invictus, and Brothers could be exceptions) will reach the emotional levels of The Road.

There is no way we can discuss the density of Cormac McCarthy’s masterful story in just one post.

Therefore, over the next week we will take an in depth look at the various astounding elements of The Road.

First up: The Characters of The Road – The Man, The Boy, and The Earth

- Nolan Wilson Goff

p.s.

Trevor snuck a picture of Viggo, from the 3rd row.