MASTERPIECE, best work of 07 and beyond

“No Country for Old Men”
Starring: Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Kelly McDonald
4 stars out of 4

With “No Country for Old Men” the Coen Brothers have not only made the best film of 2007, but have crafted there best film as a whole, even surpassing there 1996 masterpiece “Fargo.” This film may solidify there spot as two of the greatest American directors working in the business, they made a few un-memorable films after “Fargo”, but have smoothly landed on there feet with this haunting and suspenseful work of art.

The film takes place in Texas in the 1980’s; the rural lands have been rid of ranchers and instead have been filled with drug runners. One day a good-ol boy named Llewelyn Moss played by Josh Brolin is hunting antelope near the Rio Grande; instead of catching game he stumbles upon a half dozen dead bodies and a drug deal gone wrong. He also finds 2 million in cash, and takes off with it. He makes the mistake of returning later that night to lend one of the wounded some much needed water, but this time there are men waiting for him, and the chase begins. Not only do the Mexicans want the money from him, but so does a psychopath named Anton Chigurgh played eerily by Javier Bardem, in an award winning performance. Chigurgh has his own motives, and will kill anything that comes between him and the money that Moss has. Moss is a savvy and knowledge welder who experienced two tours in Vietnam; he’s married to a younger girl named Carla-Jean played by British actress Kelly McDonald. Without giving too much away, the cat and mouse game that takes place between Chigurgh and Moss is brilliant, as soon as Moss stumbled upon the money he knew his life would change that instant, but he didn’t know the nature of what was chasing him. Javier Bardem has made his career in foreign, and independent films, this is truly his breakthrough performance. His character Anton Chigurgh may be the best villain to appear on screen since Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lector. Chigurgh’s character is invincible, psychopathic, and un-relentless all at the same time.

I haven’t even mentioned the performance turned in by the reliable veteran Tommy Lee Jones, who plays Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Ed Tom is having a hard time fathoming the amounts of violence that are taking place, and can’t understand how it snuck up on him so fast, he comes from a family of cops, his father, and his grandfather were cops also. Tommy Lee Jones graces the screen in each of his scenes as he is always one step behind the doings of Moss and Chigurgh, he’s set to retire soon, as he feels out of place and out of time in this chaotic and violent world. All of the performances turned in are top notch, Brolin and Bardem don’t miss a note in there respective roles. After seeing the film, it was hard to get Bardem’s performance out of my head, extremely scary and chilling. “No Country for Old Men” isn’t for everyone; it’s truly for those who can appreciate the finer elements of film. The Coen Brothers do many things in this epic crime tale, but one thing they do not do is wrap everything up in a pretty bow for the audience at the end. There are many underlining themes that one must grasp in order to appreciate the film as a whole, themes of death, redemption, and fate just to name a few.

Even though the film season isn’t over yet, I can’t imagine seeing a better film the rest of the year, “No Country for Old Men” is as good as it gets, this is one film you don’t want to miss, as it reaches levels of philosophical commentary, and a vast meditation on violence and death. The effective use of cinematography in the lonely desert, the brilliant use of no score, only relying on sounds the characters create to build tension and suspense creates a Hitchcockian feel to much of the film. This movie is truly mind-blowing; it hits you right in the gut and doesn’t let up. I have heard many complaints of people saying they enjoyed the movie up until the ending, let me just say that I had no problem with it. This film was too deep to only see one time, I can’t wait to pick it apart and analyze more with repeated viewings. Javier Bardem has the statue in the bag for best supporting actor, and the film will be nominated for Best Picture, Director, Editing, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography.

Solid crime drama with great performances

“American Gangster”
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejifor, Josh Brolin
3.5 stars out of 4

Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster” is the crime saga of two flawed and hard nosed men. Denzel Washington in a great performance plays Frank Lucas, the main distributor of Heroin in Harlem in the early 1970’s. Russell Crowe plays detective Richie Roberts, an honest cop, who is also a deadbeat father and husband. The whole film plays as an epic buildup until these two men collide. Scott directs with style, and gritty detail.
When Lucas was up and coming, he looked up to an older businessman who then died of natural causes. Lucas saw an opportunity to get ahead, and started his own business. He would fly to Bang Cock during Vietnam, buy 100 kilos of heroin and have it shipped to the U.S. through Vietnam caskets. From there Lucas would name the drug Blue Magic, and have his family help him organize his product. His right hand guy is his brother Huey, played by Ejifor, in a solid but plain role. Lucas stresses family, hard work, and sees himself as the definition of a true American.

“American Gangster” is supposed to be Denzel’s film, but Crowe has no problem stealing some of the much deserved attention. Both men dominate the screen more than anyone else, and when we see them at work its like watching two men in there actual real job. We believe Denzel as Frank Lucas, a smart and ambitious businessman who brings the best product to his people and neighborhood. Crowe as a by the book cop Richie Roberts, who stumbled upon $1 million in untraceable money and turned it into the cops, without even blinking. Roberts is looked down upon for doing the right thing, as most of the cops he knows are corrupt or crooked in some way, most notably Detective Trupo, played by Josh Brolin. Trupo is sleazy and arrogant and will find anyway to make sure he gets his handout from all the top guys, straight or crooked. Trupo sticks his nose into Lucas’ business demanding $10,000 on his doorstep on the first of each month; instead he gets a rooster in a cage and his fancy car blown up. This is how Lucas works, is orders are barked at him in a demanding and disrespectful way, he’ll come after you. Denzel plays this character with control, but we see his crazed psyche at times of frustration and anger. While Lucas stresses family, Roberts family life is completely out of whack, he sleeps with a different girl every night, and isn’t around for his kid, but he’s an honest and hard working cop, assigned to bring down the big sharks. He soon gathers a team of street smart guys who are tough and mean, and are likely to bring down Lucas.

The film is 2 hrs and 40 minutes in length, but doesn’t feel that long. We watch Lucas earn a name on the streets and build his empire from the ground up, he sells his product cheaply and gets rich, he owns the cops, and the mafia, and has the city by the balls. Meanwhile Richie and his crew are shaking everybody down to find out who in fact the big distributor in town is. When Roberts attends a real life Ali-Frazier fight dressed as a photographer, he notices Lucas having better seats than the main mafia guys, and even the corrupt Trupo. Roberts is a tough guy from Jersey who is as honest as they come, if its turning down bribes, he doesn’t care. Roberts’s character is just as important as Lucas’s

Director Ridley Scott comes close to a great crime epic, but ultimately falls short, he has a great cast but doesn’t use everyone to there fullest potential. Although I must say I did enjoy Josh Brolin as Detective Trupo, a true prick. There are a few rappers cast like Common and T.I. who don’t really do much, but just add there own gangster and hip hop vibe to the film, which doesn’t require any. The film has some great and stunning moments, but overall Scott falls short of greatness. The ending is a bit rushed and unpolished, and unsatisfying, those are just some of the minor flaws. Don’t get me wrong though, “American Gangster” is one of the best this year, and sure to be the best gangster movie of this year.

Another horror film undertaken by cliches

"30 Days of Night"
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster
2 stars out of 4

Very recently someone sat in a room, and undeniably thought the success of graphic novels, in this case a scary graphic novel would translate to a solid big screen genre horror picture. This, however isn't the case. Most good horror movies have to establish characters we care for. I can say that I didn't care for 1 person in this movie.

"30 Days of Night" is about the northernmost town in Alaska, which sees night for 30 days, hence the title. The town of Barrow is home to a population only reaching the hundreds, among the population, we meet the local Sheriff Eben Oleson played by Hartnett, also his divorcee Stella played by Melissa George. Also a stranger to the town, played devilishly by Ben Foster, who looks dirty and slimy in almost every role that he's in. This stranger leads the ancient Vampires to the city as they arrive on ship. When the last sun goes down for a month, they will prey on the city. This is the story in a nutshell, pretty original huh? Quite the contrary, the film is filled with horror movie cliches, all of the remaining alive characters hide in attics, diners, anywhere to wait and buy time until the 30 days end. The film actually jumps from day 1-7-18-27.

The film has no good beginning, we don't even know where the vampires have come from, they have no backstory, all we know that is that they speak another language and make an annoying shrieking sound whenever they're mad. They're led by the actor Danny Huston, who is usually used in good films, I don't know what he saw in this script. Getting back to the cliches, the broken couple of Eben and Stella somehow start to love eachother again, I guess if vampires attack your town, it's the right medicine for any broken relationship. The vampires, of course are destroyed by any bright light, gun, the usual. It seems that there is actually enough light in the town during the blackout, but it doesn't hurt them one bit. This movie could have been better if nearly all of the town was pitch dark, making it more eerie, and haunting. No such happenings occur here, the characters run and drive through the snow, get in fights with eachother, and you guessed it, when one of them is bitten, they ask someone to "take them out." One has to wonder when Josh Hartnett is going to wise up and start accepting some good roles, he has appeared in this, and "The Black Dahlia" recently, two bombs.

I can't recommend "30 Days of Night" even for a mediocre Halloween film, it's bad writing, some bad acting, and un-original. Try passing out treats instead of spending $8 on this movie.