“Son, I’ve played sick, drunk, divorced, and on the run. Bad Blake hasn’t missed a goddamn show in his whole fucking life.” — Jeff Bridges as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart (2009).
If you think I’ve been posting a lot of DVD reviews lately, you’re right. I’m doubling the frequency of DVD review posts in an effort to catch up with movies I’ve watched, cataloged, and previously reviewed on Facebook. Trouble is, I can’t stop watching movies and the backlog keeps growing!
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A Serious Man (2009) This movie underscores how important the stories we tell each other are to understanding life and the world we live in . . . and this movie itself is one of those stories. My first reaction, as the closing credits rolled on the screen, was that the Coen brothers had told a very black joke, but with time I realized how much more they’d packed into the movie. From the 18th century dybbuk tale that opens the movie (and perhaps explains the curses that are about to befall Larry Gopnik, serious man), to the story-within-a-story told by Gopnik’s rabbi, to the startling stories told in Gopnik’s dreams, to the unfinished story of the looming tornado in the final shot, there is menace behind the gallows humor. This is not an easy movie to watch, but it is a movie to watch twice, a movie to savor. |
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The Lovely Bones (2009) If you believe in the tooth fairy, you’ll probably also believe that a little girl who is raped, murdered, and dismembered by a serial killer not only gets her reward in heaven, but first gets to hang around for a while to heal the bereaved and wreak vengeance on her killer. It’s a sweet and very human notion, conveyed well by this beautifully-crafted, visually stunning movie. I liked it in spite of myself. |
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Tenderness (2009) Quite honestly I rented the DVD because Russell Crowe was in it. But it is the two young leads, Jon Foster and Sophie Traub, who make the movie — they’re great. Russell just sort of schlubs around, speaking in a ludricrously fake American accent, and doesn’t seem to have his heart in it. It’s a good tense movie, with serious violence just under the surface (hinted at but not very graphically shown), but in the end I didn’t understand Sophie Traub’s character’s motivation. Why did she sacrifice her life? Just to nail the serial killer? Because the men in her life were assholes? Either way, it didn’t make sense to me. Still, this is a movie worth watching. |
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Precious (2009) I dreaded watching this. Not just because of all the Oscar/Oprah hype, but because it’s about the worst life has to throw at us — poverty, abuse, incest, hatred, ignorance, homelessness, hopelessness — and it fully lived up to my fears, for every one of those reasons. And yet, and yet . . . I did not think I’d develop a scrap of feeling for Precious, much less any hope, but by the end I was not only rooting for her, I was proud of her. Good thing, too, because otherwise the movie would have driven me to commit seppuku. |
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Sherlock Holmes (2009) So as it turns out, the much-ballyhooed “Holmes for the 21st Century” is a comic book superhero with depression and world-class martial arts skills . . . just like every other goddamn movie hero out there. And Robin . . . er, sorry, Doctor Watson . . . is practically indistinguishable. This was Transporter without cars. This was Iron Man without Robert Downey Jr. Oh, wait. . . . |
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The Messenger (2009) A quiet but powerful story about injury, death, grief, loss, and recovery. Come to think of it, I guess it covers all the bases, because you can throw in love as well, and regret, and alcoholism. Damn fine acting by everyone in the cast. There’s not much action, and the first half-hour really drags, so if you’re afflicted with ADD this may not be your cup of tea. The power comes over the course of the last hour, and there is some real power here. It’s a moving, thoughtful story. As with most movies about the military, the details are distractingly wrong: one, Army officers never drive if there’s an enlisted man available for the job; two, casualty notification teams don’t drive their personal cars when they go out on notifications. How hard would it have been to ask the Army how these things are really done? Quibbling aside, I’m glad they made this movie (and rather surprised they found the financial backing to shoot it, with such an intrinsically sad and non-blockbusterish subject). And I’m glad I watched it. |
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Crazy Heart (2009) Jeff Bridges does a great job in this film, as do the other actors, but how hard can it be to play a drunk? The story is an old one, often told, and though unsentimental on the surface, pretty damn sugary underneath. Bad Blake’s life ain’t that bad, and compared with far too many real lives, lives with ruined careers, destroyed marriages, and estranged children, better than most. Even when Bad Blake decides to quit drinking, he does it all in one shot with no relapses. It’s just a Hollywood movie, after all. Kudos to Jeff Bridges for that Oscar, but I wish he could have earned it doing something original. |
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Defendor (2009) This is an absolutely great movie. I expected a tongue-in-cheek superhero spoof, but it’s much more. What I mean is, if comedy is all you’re looking for, you’ll love this movie. If you’re looking for a great story, you’ll love this movie. It has action, it has bad guys and good guys, it has hookers with hearts of gold, it has Woody Harrelson, it has Sandra Oh — it’s thoughtful, entertaining, touching, even uplifting. It reminded me of 1984’s Night of the Comet, another low-budget movie I fell in love with and will never forget. You need to see Defendor! |
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Flame & Citron (2008) I’ve long been a fan of noir novels of Alan Furst, who writes about the everyday European men and women who became spies and resistance fighters during the dark days of WWII. How great it is to learn that Furst’s characters are based on real-life figures like Flame and Citron, Danish resistance fighters. This fascinating movie also owes much to a 1969 French film, Army of Shadows, which I now must see. Flame & Citron tells a tale of shadows, of never knowing quite who you’re taking orders from, quite who you’re fighting for, quite who you’re fighting against, quite who to trust. Very well done, very intelligent, well worth watching. |
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Bowling for Columbine (2002) Michael Moore does great documentaries, and this is one of his best. His films are consistently entertaining, even as he poses uncomfortable questions and puts himself in uncomfortable situations to try to get answers (his hostile interview with Charlton Heston near the end of this film literally made me squirm, and I bet it will have the same effect on you . . . personally, I think Moore came out second best in that segment, and he was brave to include it in the finished movie). One of Moore’s great insights in Bowling for Columbine is the connection between American media’s constant fear-mongering and white fright, which has led to huge increases in gun and ammunition sales (and this years before the election of Barack Obama). Moore makes a convincing cast that these factors — fear-mongering and white fright — explain the huge difference in gun violence and murder rates in the USA and Canada, two nations with few restrictions on gun ownership and similar levels of gun ownership. Moore might piss you off, especially if you’re an NRA member or supporter (as is Moore himself), but he’ll make you think. |