In the Valley of Elah

I hate it when important films are overlooked and this is an important film. Although it was marketed by Warner Independent, they must not have tried very hard, cuz I sure hadn't heard of it until Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for Best Actor. But I suppose in our current climate of "don't ask, don't tell" regarding the Iraq war and it's cost in human misery, this film, with it's implication of no unharmed soldiers returning, is ... inconvenient.

In the Valley of Elah is loosely based on the true story of Richard Davis, a GI who returned from Iraq only to be murdered by members of his own company. In the fictionalized account, Jones plays Hank Deerfield, a tough ex MP who goes looking when his boy turns up AWOL four days after returning from his tour. When the body turns up, Hank is desperate for answers and goes looking with the aid of a local detective (Charlize Theron) who just doesn't like the look of the whole thing. As this dedicated military man tries to piece together what happened only to find his son further and further implicated in less than honorable behavior, all that he holds sacred comes into question.

Tommy Lee Jones is always impeccable, especially when playing the "everyman," and the rest of the cast more than hold their own. What makes this movie important however, is the story. This war is different and the war wounds our young vets come home with, including Post Traumatic Stress, we will be living with for some time to come. Paul Haggis (Crash) wrote and directed this film to suggest we take a look. There's no official website for the film, but check out the Richard Davis story here.

Juno

This was one of those films that I earnestly resisted just because everybody I knew was gushing about how "cute" it was. Yuck. But then it turned out to get that sort of honorary Best Picture nod that odd films are given by the Academy to acknowledge that everybody seemed to like them... you know, like Little Miss Sunshine last year. And the decidedly different Diablo Cody actually won Best Original Screenplay for the film. sigh. Okay, so I decided to suck one up for the team and watch it. What's an afternoon for the sake of enlightening you, and saving you from the horror yourownself?

SO, Juno is cute. In case you were on Mars or something, this is the story of nine months in the life of Juno MacGuff who finds herself preggers in high school after that one time of recreational sex with her not-boyfriend Bleeker. She wimps out of an abortion and gets on a mission to find the perfect parents for her little bundle of someone else's joy. Now neveryoumind that REAL teenagers don't talk or act like her, REAL parents seldom react to this kind of news in this kind of way and in REAL life, nothing, and I mean nothing, ends up tidily. The movie is cute.


Okay, that was harsh. Even if it is terribly contrived it was entertaining, primarily because of a good cast. Michael Cera was delightful with a complete deer-in-the-headlights sensibility as Bleeker and then of course there's Ellen Page and although she far more deserved a Best Actress nomination for Hard Candy (my review here,) Ellen is a rising star. We'll see more of her, mark my words. See the website here.

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

I hate, Hate, HATE that Robert Downey Jr. is so flippin' talented. Just when I think I can safely put him on the short list of actors I will NOT watch, he does something brilliant and my righteous ethical distaste for him as a human being is slapped silly by my movie lovin' darkside. Saints is yet another one of those films in which Downey plays a role made for Downey. Damn it.

This is based on the memoir written by Dito Montiel about life growing up on the mean streets of New York. I mean 'based' as in Dito wrote the book about his youth, and then wrote the screenplay and directed the film (Trudie Styler produced.) This isn't a pretty story about coming of age - this is a real story about real, flawed people trying to make a life in a hard place. It's full of family crap, and fear based violence and love and taking care of your own. Senseless things happen. There's a lot of pain. It's quite brilliant.

Downey plays Dito the adult, but the ever impressive Shia LaBeouf fleshes him out as a punk kid with an eye on escaping the life he sees bleeding all around him. Channing Tatum is amazing as his doomed best friend Antonio. The story takes a while to get going, but you'll get hooked early on as you can only guess what finally makes Dito bail. There are some great special features including a scene from the film played out by the real Dito. It takes a lot of courage to take this kind of look at your life... Dito makes it worthwhile for all of us. See the website here.

Atonement

Well, we all know and accept that "the Academy" has an unrequited love affair with the serious film. Best defined as a period drama, complete with lavish settings and costuming; bonus points if it's based on something loosely described as literary, and starring really pretty people - Atonement fits the bill perfectly. Based on an Ian McEwan novel (that I loathed,) beginning at the gentrified country home of the well to do Tallis family and inevitably spreading to include the horrors of World War II and the beaches of Dunkirk; reeking with class disparity and sexual innuendo... this just about squeals, "Watch me - I AM EPIC!" It's little wonder that it was nominated for Best Picture.

Too bad. The story, set to the ingenious tapping of typewriter keys, is about the typical star crossed lovers - she's rich, he's the help - who are thwarted by the little sister who tells a rather unfortunate lie at a rather significant moment and spoils every one's fun. Then it's all a rather sad downhill slide into the abyss, of guilt and war. Uplifting stuff here. James McAvoy does a fair job as the noble servant, Keira Knightley looks stunning in 1940's attire (helps having no boobs to speak of,) and Saoirse Ronan rightfully deserved the nomination for Best Supporting for her Briony at 13. Vanessa Redgrave has a cameo near the end, and I dearly love Vanessa, but not even that could save this dismal mess.

So if you've just been too giddy and need a downer, enjoy this lovely little depressant and skip the cocktails. Unusually for an Oscar nominated film, Atonement has no official website, but you can check out Ian McEwan's here or another review here.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

There is one certain kiss of death in the film industry. Don't lead the public to believe that your film is one thing, when in fact it is another animal altogether. Classic examples of this error can be found in films like Vanilla Sky which was a decent sci-fi flick masquerading as a Tom Cruise thriller, or My Girl, an excellent and poignant drama marketed as comedy by someone who probably became unemployed a full ten seconds after the film tanked. Unfortunately, this film has the kiss right along with the unmanageable title. You hear Jesse James, you think this is a western about a train robber. You would be wrong.

What this film is, is a really well done character study of a sociopath careening merrily down the road of suicidal paranoia and a rabid fan. Brad Pitt's Jesse is tortured and merciless, and he lays down a characteristically complicated and fascinating performance as a man who's not only out of control but knows it and wants it to end. But the real joy is watching Casey Affleck. Affleck imbibes history's hated Robert Ford with no end of nuance - the ignored little brother, a man accustomed to humiliation with dreams of grandeur - Robert Ford is all ego and id - too immature to see that the man he worships is sick and tired of all that ill earned fame. By the time he figures it out it's too late for both of them.

This movie's title isn't the only thing that's toooo long, but even so, writer/director Andrew Dominik gives it a grace and elegance rarely visited on a period piece. It seems more documentary than fiction; the language is refreshingly accurate to the time, the cinematography epic, the acting sublime. I'll admit I took an intermission midway, but I still felt it worth the watch. See the website here. PS - Brad continues to remind me of Robert Redford and see if you don't think RR would have relished this role in his younger days.

There Will Be Blood

Once every great while Hollywood makes some art. There Will Be Blood is such a film; epic, and masterfully crafted, it is destined to be a classic in the genre of Citizen Kane. Paul Thomas Andersen, who wrote the screenplay (loosely adapted from Upton Sinclair's Oil!) and directed this masterpiece, was robbed. This was Best Picture and Best Director hands down in my book. Nothing could have improved it.

Blood is at it's core a character study of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis who earned his Best Actor statuette in every moment of this film) set against the oil boom in California at the turn of the century. Our first glimpse of Plainview is of a man pitting himself solo against a hole in the ground with a pick axe and some dynamite and, in the first ten minutes of the film, the man is defined - indomitable is just the beginning. Over a thirty year span we watch him acquire - a son, and oilfields and wealth and a nemesis in a preacher (Paul Dano) as slick and dangerous as himself. Plainview despises humanity, and we watch him lose his tenuous grip on his own. I left the theater feeling bruised.

Day-Lewis is said to be a method actor, so feel some pity for those poor souls who had to share the set with his firebrand Plainview. Dano was a perfect counter score. The story is spartan and let's you puzzle about the missing details later. Cinematography was worthy of the epic scope - the black, burning oil derrick silhouetted against the raging fire sort of stuff. And the score...! Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead wrote a score that ratcheted up the tension till you could feel it in your belly. Keep your No Country For Old Men.... this was my favorite this year. See the website here.

Into The Wild

Okay, y'all know my opinions about taking a good book and making it into a crappy movie. Into the Wild was a great book; Jon Krakauer always comes at his research from personal experience - he is diligent and insightful and brings characters to a rare kind of life. Sean Penn isn't quite that talented as a screenwriter, and since he also took to directing his adaptation, well, let's just say I think Sean should stick to acting.

Into the Wild is the story of Chris McCandless who, days after his college graduation, walked away from a life of promise to become a wanderer and ultimately ended up starving to death in the Alaskan wilderness. While Krakauer wrote Chris' tale from a deep desire to understand the "why" of it all - Penn chooses to romanticize and turn Chris into some kind of patron saint of Ain't it Awful. From the book it is apparent that McCandless moved every person that he came in contact with, which makes it all the more a mystery why he always stole away in the night, leaving the people who cared about him bereft. The film makes him seem a Noble Savage - too fine for all these folks - on a vision quest that no one could possibly understand.

Emile Hirsch as Chris gave this film his best - losing 41 pounds in the process - and with his sweet, boyish charm and noble sensibilities he makes for a fine martyr. William Hurt, Vince Vaughn and Hal Holbrook all give outstanding cameo performances. There is some beautiful cinematography of some extraordinary wilderness. But in the end, Mr. Penn made a film that oversimplifies and sensationalizes rather than giving insight into the loss of this amazing young life. And that's a real tragedy. See the equally self important website here.