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.