Musical Harmony: "Once" Revisited

I just wanted to be clear as I'm not sure if I was in my review of this extraordinary film. "Once" is a masterpiece, it is a great film, I am quite certain another film won't come along this year that is better than this one. It filled me with so much emotion and has ruined my Halloween. Instead of wanting to watch a scary movie I just want to watch this again and again. This is a special movie for me, I think it is destined to become a classic in years to come.

Do you know what I did today, I was at work humming songs from "Once" in my head. Sometimes the songs made me think of scenes from the movie, sometimes the songs made me think of my own life. I listened to the soundtrack again and again. Is it the songs in this movie that make it so special? Partly, it's the whole love story between the guy and the girl, it's something we should all be so luck to have. Do yourself a favor and see "Once" as soon as you can. Do what I do and mark December 18th down on your calender cause that's when it comes out on DVD. Once is not enough to see "Once" if I could be so punny.

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen period.

The Devil's Plaything

There was no love for Norman Bates but the other three got votes. In the end it was not much of a surprise as "The Exorcist" was chosen as the main scary movie of choice in my latest poll. Happy Halloween everybody!!!

They Make Beautiful Music Together!!!

The moment I left the theatre after seeing "Once", I couldn't help but go to the first music store I saw and buy the soundtrack. As I listened to the songs again in my car, the images of the film came flowing back, images I'm sure I won't forget as I'mI think this is one of the greatest love stories ever made.

"Once" begins with a busker on the streets of Dublin (Glen Hansard) singing his heart out. One night a girl (Marketa Irglova) stops and listens to him play. She's impressed by his singing and his songs. They make small talk like strangers sometimes do, she asks if the song he sang was to a girl, it was but he doesn't get into that. He mentions that he has a day job at a vacuum cleaner repair shop owned by his father. The next day she returns to his street corner with her broken vacuum cleaner, but he doesn't have the tools to repair it, so instead she takes him to a music store where the owner there lets her play piano. She plays for him a little, he likes it, and they decide to try a song he wrote together.

What I described above is the set up for a beautiful song, and a beautiful scene. The two begin to play "Falling Slowly" which is the trademark song to this film and as the two begin the duet you snese this is the beginning of something very special. Despite the fact that the two hardly know each other, they have a certain undeniable musical chemistry.

As the two get to know each other, he tells her about the love of his life who inspired many of his songs and in a wonderful flashback we get a glimpse of how happy he was with her. She left him and is now living in London, but he still pines for her.

The girl then shows him her lifestyle, she lives with her mother and daughter in a crowded apartment with only one television that all the tenants have to share. She's married but her husband is living far away.

The busker gets the idea that he wants to leave Dublin and move to London to find the girl he left behind, but before he does he wants to record songs with the girl.

Despite both of their lost loves, we the audience feel there are no two people in this world as perfect for each other as they are. The music speaks volumes and in about 80 minutes we live an unforgettable romance with this un named man and woman.

The writer/director John Carney has made a perfect film, I found nothing at fault with it. It screams joy and depicts the life of young love, unrequited love, artists striving to be heard, and those unforgettable moments that make life worth living. There are movies that speak to a generation, this film sings to it and it's a song of joy. I've seen many cynical movies that can leave people jaded, this film seems to make an argument that movies can move you again in new and unique ways.

I couldn't help but relate to this guy and girl, in a perfect world they would be together probably on stage singing somewhere, and even though there are realities that prevent this it doesn't crush their spirit.

There were moments that (If I could use a cliche) made me laugh, made me cry, but mostly it was a film that inspired the artist in me, at the end I didn't know if I wanted to pick up a camera or pick up a guitar.

4 stars out of 4

Change of topic: Television

Keeping in mind that the name of this blog is "Jeremy and the Movies" I just wanted to sidetrack away from the big screen for a tad and talk about television for a moment. Now I don't watch much of the new shows out there, and maybe that's a bad thing, I used to watch "24" all the time till I was deemed a recluse and decided to join the rest of society again.

I haven't sworn off telelvision all together but it just seems like every show out there have these cliffhanger all-season story lines that last forever I just get tired of paying attention. I like shows that don't demand my undivided attention for its full season. I'm happy with just watching "The Simpsons" most weeks since I believe despite it losing a bit of lustre over the years it's still consistent and hilarious.

However despite my best attempts I have found myself falling under the spell of one new show. "Pushing Daisies" was getting so many great reviews at the beginning of the year that I decided to watch the the premier episode. This was my first mistake because I've found myself ever since having to be home every Wednesday night by 9:00 to catch the next episode. "Pushing Daisies" is as if Tim Burton just took a bunch of happy pills and decided to make a bright and colorful set design piece with characters that are as sweet as sugar. The basic premise involves a pie maker (Lee Pace) who has a magic gift of bringing dead things back to life but the only draw back is if he touches them again they go back to being dead. This comes in handy when solving mysterious murders, the pie maker along with a private investigator (Chi McBride) make a business in which every time a murder takes place he just has to touch the murder victim in the morgue and asks them who the murderer was.

Things get complicated when the pie maker finds out his childhood sweetheart (Anna Friel) is killed and he selfishly brings her back to life, they can be together but he can never touch her.

So begins a very creative and entertaining premise. After having reality TV, police procedural dramas, and hospital shows jammed down our throats, it was nice to see something very different and sweet come my way. "Pushing Daisies" still has to prove itself as a classic television show but so far I am enjoying it. One of the main creative forces behind it happens to be Barry Sonnenfeld the director behind "Men in Black" and who was also the D.O.P. of many of the Coen Brother's best early films. Sonnenfeld directed the first couple of episodes and has set the tone for what is a very entertaining fantasy show

The show is bright and colorful with out of this world sets. Kristen Chenoweth who plays the love sick Olive is I think my favorite character in the show. She sometimes has the habit of breaking into some kind of Broadway showtune which no doubt is a wink at her stage success. It's a charming show and a nice way to escape reality for an hour and apparently I'm not the only one who agrees so unlike the last show that I fell in love with ("Arrested Development") this one may stick around for awhile.

New on DVD

I don't usually talk DVD's in this blog but maybe I should. I couldn't help but notice that this week has some prime stuff for the movie buff. First there is a new box set of films by Stanley Kubrick. The box set includes films that were released a few years ago but this time they are all special editions. The films here include "2001: A Space Odyssey", "A Clockwork Orange", "The Shining", "Full Metal Jacket", "Eyes Wide Shut" and the documentary of Stanley Kubrick "A Life in Pictures". All of these films are classics in their own right and I particularly think "2001" is probably on the short list for the greatest films ever made.

But that's not all this week folks, for you French New Wave fans out there, a new definitive version of Jean-Luc Godard's influential film "Breathless" also comes out by those folks from Criterion.

And if that weren't enough, Kino is presenting a newly restored version of Eisenstein's silent classic "Battleship Potemkin". Can you imagine, are you sure it's October cause it certainly feels like Christmas here to me.

Favorite film maker

In a blatant attempt to get more people interested in my blog I'm proposing a new series starting in November. Each month I will spotlight my blog on a certain film maker and each week either write about their bios or their work or their technique or anything else that applies to them. I would like to hear from you readers out there who you think the greatest film maker is and why and also list your favorite movie from that film maker, it can be anyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Michael Bay. So let's have some fun!

Film hits you with heart

"Rendition" is a protest film against torture. We know during the Iraq war and since 9/11 torture has been going on in order to gain information against terrorist groups, but this film asks does it really work?

This is the story of what happens when an innocent man is mistaken as a terrorist and is then tortured for information, when he is tortured enough he tells the people what they want to hear simply because he can't take it anymore.

The film takes different points of view, there's the man who is accused and tortured against his will (Omar Metwally) we see his wife (Reese Witherspoon) try to find out what happened to her husband, the man who is charge of torturing the suspects (Yigal Naor) the Senator who ordered the torture to be done (Meryl Streep) and the C.I.A. man who witnesses the torture being done first hand (Jake Gyllanhaal).

The wife soon goes to Washington to ask a favor of an old boyfriend (Peter Sarsgaard) who is now a Senator's aid to find out what happened to her husband. Evidence comes back to suggest he was in fact a suspect in a terrorist plot and was sent to a prison. Meanwhile Gyllanhaal's character who was in fact present at the attack and saw a colleague sitting beside him die must now act as an observer to the interrogation of the suspect. Gyllanhaal becomes our everyman we are suppose to feel what he feels as he sees this innocent man subjected to inhumane treatment.

The man in charge of the torture himself is trying to find his daughter who ran away and may be involved with one of the main men responsible for the terrorist plot.

There are in fact two men who are tortured in this film, one man is innocent and has no information to give and but another man who is guilty of terrorism does. Perhaps the director is showing us that torture is a double edged sword yes it does get information but how much of it is true and how much of it is made up in order to escape anymore pain?

These are the questions this film asks and it has the courage to ask them rather than to be coy. It does so in bold a bold melodramatic tone, for me perhaps sometimes it does go over board but at times I was swept up in the emotion and the heart of the film I was overcome with emotion.

The most powerful scene for me is near the end when we go back to how the terrorist plot that caused all this avoidable pain came to be.

The acting is also very powerful, Gyllanhaal is making a name with himself as being a great everyman type and along with his other great movie he did this year "Zodiac", he really gets us to understand this character and as an audience gets to understand what he's going through. Another performance that stuck out for me was Sarsgaard playing a man who wants to do the right thing but is caught in the middle of his loyalty to Witherspoon's character and his bosses. It's a tricky role and he could've played it without any heart but we do care for him.

The director of this film is Gavin Hood who directed the Oscar winning foreign film "Tsotsi" which is another great practice in melodrama.

This film is an open criticism of the things we know went on and is still going on today. It's hard to know exactly how much information is retrieved from torture and how this really helps us. The ending is in a way a happy one but in another way it isn't. What it does tell you is the experience of torture will stay with you no matter what.

3.5 out of 4 stars

Deborah Kerr Dies

Being out of the loop for most of today I was shocked to learn that one of our great leading ladies from the golden age of Hollywood past away today. Deborah Kerr was known best for such films as "From Here to Eternity" (Probably the most famous screen kiss in history with Burt Lancaster) "The King and I", and "An Affair to Remember". I actually caught the tail end of "An Affair to Remember" a couple of weeks ago on TV and had to gain my composure.

My favorite Kerr performance is probably not considered one of her most glamorous performances, it's as Sister Clodagh in one of the best films ever "Black Narcissus". It's what happens when a group of nuns led by Kerr's character try to establish a religious community in the mysterious regions of the Himalayan mountains. The film works as part thriller, part drama, and part horror with wonderful color photography. I recommend everyone to see "Black Narcissus" and if you haven't already watch any number of Deborah Kerr's classic films.

Still The Offer We Can't Refuse

It was back and forth then back and forth again but despite the huge cult following of sci-fi and fantasy favorites Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, the public chose "The Godfather trilogy" as the best of the bunch. Albeit it was a small public (4 including me) but it still counts in my book. Let me just say come on people I have a pretty good blog, I mean I got movie reviews and polls and stuff about old movies what more do you need? Come over and see my blog and take part in the polls. My next poll will be the best one yet, I just have to think of it first.

Legal Thriller with Brains

At the very first moment when we hear the voice of Tom Wilkonson's character Arthur Edens doing a monologue into an answering machine I was completely drawn into the world of "Michael Clayton" and was not let go till the last long shot in a taxi cab ended.

"Michael Clayton" grips you with the its flawless screenplay that should get serious Oscar consideration and the actors who play desperate people.

The main desperate character is the name in the title: Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is what is called a "fixer" in a giant law firm, he fixes messes that are left by either the clients or the lawyers themselves so the firm is able to save face. Michael is shown at the beginning as a compulsive gambler who needs to raise 80 thousand dollars to pay off debts to a failing business, he's a single father who seems too busy with work to even take interest in his son. Although Michael is described as a miracle worker with his job he sort of cynically considers himself more of a janitor.

Michael is soon called in to clean up a recent outburst that may cause the firm a major multi-million dollar lawsuit. When their expert litigator Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson) has what looks to be a nervous breakdown in a litigating room with camera's rolling the company the firm is defending UNORTH wants this embarrassment taken care of. Michael's job is to take Arthur and get him back on medication and back to performing his duties. Arthur seems to have different feelings however, he claims to have evidence of a cover up then begins to sympathize with one of the victims on the other side of the case, and wants to switch sides to help bring UNORTH down.

This does not sit well with one of the heads of the company Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) who wants to make this situation just go away.

"Michael Clayton" does seem like a set up to a lot of legal thrillers we've seen in the past mostly cooked up by John Grisham, but what makes this film different is how much more intelligent it is. The film doesn't try to make the heroes and villains one dimensional, they are all wounded in a way. We see Michael as a sad case going through his own personal crisis, Arthur who is obviously unbalanced is sometimes hard to believe. Swinton does an excellent job of showing the inner workings of Karen Crowder, she is a very frightened person too and someone who is so obsessed with getting ahead it nearly makes her sick.

In fact all the acting is top notch. Not many movie stars are like George Clooney, he's suffering from Cary Grant syndrome where when we see him we sometimes forget he's a great actor. Unlike some movie stars, Clooney is always willing to take risks and go to where ever his character takes him. In Tom Wilkinson's case he is given many chances here where he could just over act but he doesn't, everything he does is something in tune with the character and it's a brave performance that dominates a lot of the scenes. I think the best scenes are in fact with Clooney and Wilkinson, there seems to be a battle of wills between these two men who obviously have a close friendship but are now representing opposite ends of a legal spectrum, the scenes were just riveting.

The other star of this film is writer/director Tony Gilroy who helped write the screenplay for my favorite action movie of the year "The Bourne Ultimatum". This is however his first directing job and seems to hearken back to the classic seventies era where movies like this were being made all the time, back then Michael Clayton would've been played by Robert Redford, Karen Crowder would've been Faye Dunaway, and Arthur Edens would've been Peter Finch. Gilroy doesn't treat the audience like idiots and his plot though hard to follow in the beginning all comes together flawlessly in the end with a wrap up that seems to go one way but ends another, and a truly inventive final shot.

"Michael Clayton" is definitely one of the smartest films I've seen all year, it doesn't let go for a moment. It's a film about what is being said and the power of the acting and dialogue punctuates the importance of every word.

4 stars out of 4

A Vision to Behold

As I was watching Julie Taymor's visionary Beatles musical "Across the Universe" something came over me that lays dormant many times when I go to the movies, I was moved in a way very few films have done in the past few years. While I was watching the film all the images and music came together that overcame me and opened up my hopeful, optimistic, youthful sensibilities in full force. This is a hippy film, it's meant to bring about ideas of love, youth, revolution, and peace, and I loved this movie for that, I loved it so much that I was able to forgive its short comings.

"Across the Universe" is a fairly routine plot about youthful intellects and artists who all come together in New York and live in one of those big studio apartments run by a to good to be true lady landlord who is also a nightclub singer.

The main character of the film is a named Jude a kid from working class Liverpool who comes to America in search of his real father who abandoned him and his mother. After he finds his father he meets Max, a bit of a slacker who goes to university but doesn't take his studies seriously. Max invites Jude to thanksgiving where he meets Lucy, Max's' sister. When the action moves to New York Jude and Lucy fall in love, Max is recruited to Vietnam, the sexy landlady Sadie falls for her guitarist boyfriend Jo Jo and Prudence a young love sick lesbian comes through the bathroom window and won't come out to play.

Ok so let's not pretend these people are real, I found these characters are mostly representations of either young love, rebellion, unrequited love, passion or anything else along those lines. Sometimes it seemed like the situations are staged just to be able to get into a song, but I soon forgot all about that when the songs began to play, I was soon transported into a unique, bizarre, magical world that only the spirit of the 60s and the music of the Beatles could inspire.

Taymor herself seems to have been inspired by not only The Beatles and the 60s but also New York as a vibrant creative place. I was kinda reminded of "RENT" in a way watching these young idealists trying to survive in New York as the world is changing around them. The difference between the two was the era. "Across the Universe" takes place in the sixties during political strife, assassinations, and Vietnam. Taymor makes some bold choices in representing what this time was like to live in.

In probably my favorite sequence, we see Max going to the Vietnam recruitment office where we see the poster of Uncle Sam singing "I want you". Suddenly Max is sent through an assembly line and put in with all the other young recruits. The Army men all look like living dolls doing a very unsettling marching choreography. It's all very weird and wonderful to see.

There is another scene involving Max in a hospital bed, he has become addicted to drugs and needs his fix "Happiness is a Warm Gun"begins to play and suddenly we see in a very creative way the hospital becoming what Max is seeing and what he is feeling.

The film goes back and forth from very high concept ideas like the ones I just described to more simpler love songs such as Lucy singing "If I Fell" as she is becoming more and more in love with Jude or Prudence singing a rather bitter sweet rendition of "I wanna Hold your hand" as she's picturing a girl she has a crush with.

It's these interpretations of Beatles songs that I found interesting and suddenly when the lyrics are put the context of the film they have a deeper meaning. When Lucy, a girl who lost her first boyfriend in Vietnam sings "...Cause I've been in love before and I found that love was more than just holding hands" I felt more connected with the song than I have before.

I can understand people's negative opinion of this film, it is definitely one that will polarize an audience, but I can't speak for those who have mixed feelings about it, I dived into "Across the Universe" and it held on to me with its boldness, its charm, and its spirit. I hope when people go to it they'll be able to see what I see.

4 stars out of 4

Catch Him if you Can!!!

My summer movie viewing is finally finished, I have now seen "The Bourne Ultimatum" for that matter I have now seen all the Bourne movies. I have familiarized myself with Jason Bourne this past week viewing both "Identity" and "Supremacy" for the first time only now realizing what I've been missing. I wish someone sat me down and told me I was missing probably the best action movie franchise since Indiana Jones.

The thing I've noticed about all the Bourne movies is all the things that happen whether it has something to do with Bourne forgetting his identity or having his girlfriend killed, it all ends up the same thing, Bourne finding out what happened and having a hell of a time to get to the bottom of this. This usually includes several rather long and inventive car chases that puts us the viewer in the car with him, or sometimes it has some chases on foot in crowded streets, or big fist fights involving Bourne and another professional hit man.

"The Bourne Ultimatum" takes place right at the tail end of where "Supremacy" left off. This time Bourne is starting to remember the place where he was first trained to become an assassin for the government. The film takes us to England first where Bourne must meet up with a journalist who has been writing about who exactly our hero is and may hold the key about where it all began.

The enemy here is played by David Strathairn as CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen who was involved in the secret program that created Bourne and wants him put down. One of my favorite actresses Joan Allen returns as Pamela Landy another CIA type who is on Bourne's side and wants to get him in. Also returning is Julia Stiles as Nicki the expert pro filer who may know Bourne better than we thought.

The intensity is turned up a notch in this film, I was on pins and needles through every turn. It doesn't seem that Matt Damon does much in this film and that's not an insult to his acting talent. What I mean by that is it takes a certain talented leading man to make a character who's major motive is to run, jump, dive, drive, or punch sympathetic. Damon is the perfect everyman and lets us know as much about Bourne as we are suppose to. Bourne reminds me very much of Keiffer Sutherland's Jack Bauer in that little television show about a hero who runs, jumps, dives, drives, and punches.

The chases here are expertly done by director Paul Greengrass, the master stroke happens in a crowded train station where Bourne is trying to guide his reporter fellow out of harms way, it reminded me of a similar scene in a mall in Spielberg's "Minority Report", the editing is right on.

I can go on and on about another intense chase in the streets of Morocco ending in an intense fist fight or another great climactic car chase but I think people know what they get into when they come to the theatre.

This is the action movie to beat all action movies this year, it is top notch Hollywood entertainment in every sense, I was blown away by how much I love Bourne and root for him. I know this is the third entry but I feel like I'm just getting to know him.

4 stars out of 4

Brave Till The End

"The Brave One" is a frustrating film, on one hand it has two great performances by Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard who can are able to take the film into dark territory and but on the other hand the film itself lets them down.

"The Brave One" stars Foster as Erica Baine a radio host who's show focuses on the various myths of New York. Erica couldn't have a happier life, she's in love and about to be engaged to the man of her dreams, but suddenly all that is lost in an instant when they go for a walk one night and are attacked by a bunch of brutal thugs. Erica barely survives and when she wakes up a few weeks later in a hospital bed, she learns of her fiancees' death.

Erica has awakened a totally different person, she no longer feels safe in this city. She wants to buy a gun, but when she goes to a gun store, the owner tells her it takes a month to get a license. "I won't last a month!" yells Erica. She soon is able to acquire a gun from off the streets, and soon she is roaming around the city at night fearlessness. When Erica kills a man in a convenient store in self defense, she runs off without waiting for the police taking the surveillance tape with her, she has become a vigilante.

Enter Terrence Howard as the police detective who knows of Erica by listening to her program. He was in the hospital when she was brought in after her attack and takes an interest in her and her case. Howard soon takes charge of the vigilante case as more and more victims are found on subways and cars, and it's not soon before he puts the pieces together.

So here's where the film worked for me, I enjoyed the scenes between Foster and Howard the best. There are moments when they are alone in a coffee shop or Foster is interviewing Howard's character for her show that really let us get to know these characters, they are both people we learn to care about and who learn to have deep feelings for each other, it's a great relationship where each seems to understand where the other is coming from.

The film itself has some strong scenes usually involving Foster alone and transforming from a good hearted woman into a vigilante.

But the film seems to be losing its way somewhere near the end. There is an important scene between Foster and Howard which sets up the action of the climax, but when we get there, the finale is a complete betrayal of the scene and especially Howard's character.

That being said I don't think a bad ending should disrupt what is for the most part a very good movie. I am mostly recommending this on the performances, Foster and Howard are two actors willing to go where ever their characters take them, I just wish the movie let them do that.

3 stars out of 4

The star rating

I've decided to steal an idea from my friend Matt's blog and well every other film critic and decide to add a star rating to all the films I've reviewed. So I'm going to attempt to rate every movie I have reviewed this year so far starting from my last film "In the Valley of Elah", then starting as of now have star ratings at the end of all my reviews. In the tradition of Roger Ebert I will set my highest rating to 4 stars so if I remember correctly here are all the films I've seen this year and reviewed on.

"In the Valley of Elah" 3.5 stars

"La Vie En Rose" 4 Stars

"The Kingdom" 2 stars

"Feast of Love" 1 star

"Zoo" 3 stars

"Becoming Jane" 2.5 stars

"Eastern Promises" 4 stars

"Waitress" 4 stars

"Away from Her" 4 stars

"Shoot Em Up" 3.5 stars

"3:10 To Yuma" 4 stars

"Rescue Dawn" 4 stars

"Halloween" 3 stars

"Knocked Up" 4 stars

" Superbad" 3.5 stars

" The Simpsons Movie" 4 Stars

" I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry" 1 star

" Hairspray" 4 stars

" Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" 3 stars

" Transformers" 3 stars

" Die Hard 4" 2.5 stars

" Ratatoullie" 4 stars

" Ocean's 13" 3 stars

"Surf's Up" 3 stars

"Lucky You" 3 stars

" Pirates of the Carribean" 3 stars

" Spiderman 3" 2.5 stars

" Shrek the Third" 1 star

" Grindhouse" 3.5 stars

" Hot Fuzz" 4 stars

" Fractured" 2 stars

" Disturbia" 3 stars

" Zodiac" 4 stars

Tough in the Valley

I suppose the amazing thing about Paul Haggis's Iraq war drama "In the Valley of Elah" is the fact that it was made while the war is still going on. The film very much reminded me of the great Vietnam films of the late seventies like "The Deer Hunter" where it depicts what happens to soldiers when they come home and how it has effected them, but it took years after Vietnam for that film to happen.

"In the Valley of Elah" begins when a father (Tommy Lee Jones) learns that his son who was serving in Iraq has gone AWOL. The father soon decides to go to his son's army base to find out what happened. After going through his son's stuff he finds a cellphone with some scrambled video on it, this cellphone may be the key to why his son disappeared. But we soon find out his son was killed. In a sort of a ritualistic killing, we learn he was burnt, stabbed several times, and decapitated. Jones soon shows the part of the grieving father wanting desperately to find answers. He soon sets out on his own investigation to get to the bottom of this. A police officer (Charlize Theron) who fights to work on the case takes pity on the father and together they form a bit partnership to solve the case together.

The three main suspects are thought to be three army buddies of Jones' son who were with him on the night of the murder. Jones believes the soldiers wouldn't kill one of their own but thinks they are hiding something instead. As the story becomes slowly uncovered we learn the murder does have something to do with the son's time in Iraq and the soldiers who were witness to what was going on over there.

It's safe to say "Yes this is a message movie" which may make some people steer clear of this film, it's a film that has a point of view but what Haggis does sometimes brilliantly (Like he did with "Crash") is show everyone as human beings even the criminals, I think that's the making of a good writer. Since 2004 Paul Haggis has either written, co-written, and or directed many of the best American films that have come out, he seems to be able to do no wrong. He's the type of person who aims for the heart and he wants you to feel something, he tends to say it better more with his words than with his camera lens but it can be just as powerful. In "Crash" he was able to show how some people could overcome their prejudice or hatred and do a decent thing. We were shown how one person could maybe have hateful feelings towards one person.

In this film we learn how a war could change a fairly decent kid into a drug addict or a ritualistic killer.

The acting here is also very powerful. Tommy Lee Jones can add this to one of his very great performances, he has the perfect face to show this man's sadness and inner rage at what happened to his son. Very rarely does he ever raise his voice or shed a tear but he never has to go there to let us know what he's feeling.

Charlize Theron is one of those intelligent smart young actresses who also happens to be gorgeous, but she's able to make her character believable and also with a sense of sadness. She has her own demons she's fighting and her own feeling of guilt.

That being said I did not think this film was a perfect one, it works more as a war drama and missteps a few times when it tries to be a police procedural, some actors like Jason Patric who plays the head army investigator is only there to be some kind of foil for Theron's character. The biggest flaw was underusing Susan Sarandon as Jones' grieving wife, she does have a couple of great scenes but she suddenly disappears and I would've liked to see more of a relationship between her and Jones.

But the power of "In the Valley of Elah" is the subject matter it brings up and the "Message" behind it. It asks some tough questions, questions that we unfortunately have to face again. It's a reminder of the consequences that perhaps weren't thought about hard enough before entering a war and also a reminder on why it should only be the last option.

We Love The Tramp!!!

Well it was a tight race with everyone getting at least one vote, but Charlie Chaplin edged out Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd in my recent poll as the greatest of the silent comedians. Well done Mr. Chaplin, well done. Tune in next time when I think of something else to put on my poll.

Viva La Vie En Rose

We all know the song, the melody is something we would know even if we didn't know what it was called. I myself never thought of the voice behind the song "La Vie En Rose" just thinking it was just a standard french song sung by many artists. But there was a songstress behind it, a very troubled soul like most bios about singers are but what makes her story different from others is it was a life not full of many inspirational or life affirming moments, it was mostly sad and tragic, but it was a life that was lived with no regrets.

"La Vie En Rose" is about the such life of famous french singer Edith Piaf, someone who had it hard from the very beginning. Edith begins life on the streets, her mother a singer herself sings on street corners for money as her daughter stands by. When Edith's father returns from the war, he finds her abandoned and takes her to local whore house to be looked after. The prostitutes take good care of her and treat her as if she were their own child, but her father returns and takes Edith along with him to the circus where he is a contortionist. Edith and her father don't stay there for very long until he hits the streets with his act and Edith is forced into the spotlight for the first time. Not knowing what to do she starts singing La Marseilles and thus begins her life long singing career.

The film then goes into Edith's humble beginnings where she is supported singing Cabaret's by a wealthy financier (Gerard Depardieu), but when he is soon murdered mysteriously a scandal is surrounded around her and she must start at the beginning again. She is later introduced to singing teacher who trains her and pretty soon she is singing to sold out crowds.

What I know about Edith Piaff is what my friend who I went to the movie with knows. She was a sensation during the second world war where she would tour around the world and seemed to have a very gifted singing voice. She was born the same year as Billie Holliday a singer who's tragic life also parallels Edith's.

The film goes back and forth in what seems to be three different moments in Edith's life: Her early years leading up to her success, her final years of singing where painkillers take hold of her, and then when she becomes an invalid only in her early fifties practically crippled by arthritis.

There are many stunning scenes in the film including the moment where Edith sings for the first time in front of a sold out auditorium and we hold our breath as we watch the audience reaction, then a very inventive use of camera movement done in one shot as Edith learns the death of one of her lovers.

The technical achievements aside the real star of the film is the wonderful french actress Marion Cotillard playing Edith. Catillard makes a wonderful screen presence going through over 30 years of the singer's life, she is completely believable as Edith from the beginning as tom boyish street girl, to the diva like larger than life singer, right to the dying arthritic creature in the end. Unlike some young actors who sometimes lose believability in the later years, Catillard had me riveted to the very end, she should be given an Oscar nomination for sure.

My only slight problem with this otherwise perfect film biography were the songs themselves, I loved them all it was just a shame they were all in french and the subtitles were not there, but I suppose the beauty and the pain of Piaf came through her voice you didn't need to know the words, so scratch that, this was a perfect movie through and through. The story of Edith Piaf is a hard one to take, it's tragic with little moments of happiness, when it came time she could sing no longer, she lost the will to live, I knew nothing of Edith Piaf going into this film, but when I left the theatre I knew her name was a name I would not soon forget.

1927-2007: The Years Best films

I'm bored so without further adieu here's a list of films according to me are the best films of their years starting from 1927 (I thought 80 years was a nice round number). So here are the best films as I see it (Remember I haven't seen everything and when it comes to my favorite I'm biased.) I guess what I'm just trying to do as with all lists is show you my tastes and showing you what films I think you should all see. So here we go.

1927: The General (Keaton/Bruckman)
1928: Pandora's Box (Pabst)
1929: The Cocoanuts (Santley)
1930: All Quiet on the Western Front (Milestone)
1931: City Lights (Chaplin)
1932: Horse Feathers (McLeod)
1933: Duck Soup (McCary)
1934: The Thin Man (Van Dyke)
1935: Top Hat (Sandrich)
1936: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (Capra)
1937: Grand Illusion (Renoir)
1938: Bringing Up Baby (Hawks)
1939: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Capra)
1940: His Girl Friday (Hawks)
1941: Citizen Kane (Welles)
1942: Sullivan's Travels (Sturges)
1943: Casablanca (Curtiz)
1944: Double Indemnity (Wilder)
1945: Brief Encounter (Lean)
1946: It's a Wonderful Life (Capra)
1947: Black Narcissus (Powell)
1948: Red River (Hawks)
1949: Late Spring (Ozu)
1950: Sunset BLVD. (Wilder)
1951: Strangers on a Train (Hitchcock)
1952: The Quiet Man (Ford)
1953: Tokyo Story (Ozu)
1954: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
1955: Pather Panchali (Ray)
1956: The Searchers (Ford)
1957: The Nights of Cabiria (Fellini)
1958: Vertigo (Hitchcock)
1959: The 400 Blows (Truffaut)
1960: The Apartment (Wilder)
1961: Jules and Jim (Truffaut)
1962: Lawrence of Arabia (Lean)
1963: 8 and Half (Fellini)
1964: Mary Poppins (Stevenson)
1965: Doctor Zhivago (Lean)
1966: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Leone)
1967: Play Time (Tati)
1968: 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
1969: The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah)
1970: MASH (Altman)
1971: Bananas (Allen)
1972: The Godfather (Coppola)
1973: Mean Streets (Scorsese)
1974: The Godfather Part 2 (Coppola)
1975: Dog Day Afternoon (Lumet)
1976: Taxi Driver (Scorsese)
1977: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Spielberg)
1978: Superman (Donner)
1979: Manhattan (Allen)
1980: Raging Bull (Scorsese)
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg)
1982: E.T. The Extraterrestrial (Spielberg)
1983: Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (Jones)
1984: This is Spinal Tap (Reiner)
1985: The Purple Rose of Cairo (Allen)
1986: Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen)
1987: The Untouchables (De Palma)
1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis)
1989: Do the Right Thing (Lee)
1990: Miller's Crossing (The Coens)
1991: JFK (Stone)
1992: Malcolm X (Lee)
1993: Schindler's List (Spielberg)
1994: Red (Kieslowski)
1995: Toy Story (Lasseter)
1996: Fargo (The Coens)
1997: As Good as it Gets (Brooks)
1998: Shakespeare in Love (Madden)
1999: Magnolia (Anderson)
2000: O Brother Where Art Thou (The Coens)
2001: Spirited Away (Miyazaki)
2002: The Pianist (Polanski)
2003: Lost in Translation (Coppola)
2004: The Terminal (Spielberg)
2005: Crash (Haggis)
2006: Pan's Labyrinth (Del Torro)
2007: Stay Tuned.....

Anyway that's it. I'm sure I left a lot out and some years were difficult to think of what was good but in my opinion all these films deserve a look at if you haven't already seen them.