What good is my insatiable appetite for film if I cannot let everyone know what I believe doesn't suck? Exactly. So here are a few movies I've watched this year thus far that make me happy all over. (Note: These are movies I've SEEN in 2008, not necessarily movies that came out in 2008, so this will include many a Netflix-ed bunch)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
There is no better summary for this movie than: Boys behaving badly. Anything you can think a grown man can do to take away any wisdom or good nature he has acquired throughout the years is shown here. Cheating? Yep. Cheating with your brother's wife? Yep. Stealing? Yep. Stealing from your parent's business? Yep. Murder? Yep. Murdering........Ah! You will have to watch to know the rest. Basically, this is a movie that reminds you how messed up America can become, when money trumps everything, and stupidity comes a close second. Ethan Hawke, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Albert Finney are amazing in this movie. Sidney Lumet is great at directing this very interesting and entertaining look at the dark side of family and greed.
Iron Man
So Robert Downey Jr got chosen for this role. So what? Did that surprise you? By now, you should know serious, gifted dramatic actors make the best superheroes. Toby Maguire, Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, Eric Bana, George Cloon...err, well, almost always. And now Robert Downey Jr, the chameleon that has the heart of a bratty kid and the liver of Keith Richards. He IS Iron Man, and I don't only mean the character, but the movie itself. His joy and fascination with the character is evident from the first scene. The movie is not tedious in its introduction of who this guy who becomes Iron Man is, but instead focuses on how he toys with the idea of having already become Iron Man. The only drawback is the kinda cheesy fight scene at the end, which is riddled with good guy-bad guy cliches (the bad guy who talks to much, and the good guy who is hanging from a something or other an inch away from his death). But that doesn't take away from the fact that this movie is a great and deserving blockbuster. A smart and funny script along with Robert Downey Jr's gift for boyish charisma and Jon Favreau's palpable hard work make Iron Man a summer movie in the best way possible.
Lost In Translation
I fell in love with this movie again. There are so many personal attachments to this movie it is not even funny. But the movies is! Well, not ha-ha funny, but a sweeter, relaxed sort of funny. I had this movie, then someone stole it, then I rented it, then I bought it. The best thing about Lost In Translation is how simple it is. There is no fancy dialogue, no special effects, no ground-breaking performances, no beautiful, sprawling cinematography (although it is essentially a love letter to Japan), and no head-spinning twists and turns. It is just a movie about an aging actor who does not like his life, and a young girl who does not know what she wants to do in life, and how they meet and create a great connection in a foreign land. That is it. But Sofia Coppola's direction and script are so well-tuned that no scene feels unnecessary and no feelings feel forced or untapped. Bill Murray does a great job at portraying the aging actor with actor's guilt (going for the money, not the art) and injects enough humor into the movie to make it even more organic. This movie is about looking and finding, and that is why it is so universal.
Gone Baby Gone
I was surprised to hear the Affleck boys were teaming up to do a movie, one as the director and the other in the leading role. How even more surprising to find out that it didn't suck? Now, Casey Affleck is an actor I've often felt is way underrated, but I honestly did not think he had this in him. As for Ben, well, he's had enough down arrows next to his name to make anyone squeamish about a project he is involved in. But both deliver. And this movie does also. It is gritty, and haunting, and very human. The plot involves a little girl that was kidnapped, and the family that hires Casey's character and his wife to help them find her. The police are bother by both of them, as are other members of the little girl's family. Soon, even they are at odds with each other. The twists this movie has are very logical, but as a show of how well Ben directs this Baahstan movie, the movie is always a step ahead and keeps you guessing, even though you eventually guess right. The dilemmas are important ones, and hard to solve, since they are so personal. Casey does a very good job, and Ben is right there to help his little brother deliver the goods. Don't be surprised Ben and Casey will soon become the new Ben and Matt (Damon).
Bringing Up Baby and Charade
I pair these two because they both feature a Cary (Grant) and a Hepburn (Katherine and Audrey, respectively), and because they both work in very similar ways. Also, because my hands are growing tired from all this typing. In Bringing Up Baby, Cary plays the loof to Katherine's intrepid Susan, convinced that she is in love with him and makes every attempt to have him with her. In Charade, Cary plays the statuesque bon homme to Audrey's intrepid Reggie, who falls in love with him and can't keep her hands off the goods. It is interesting to see Cary Grant's progression throughout his years in Hollywood. Bringing Up Baby was one of his first movies, while Charade was his third to last. You see how he develops his unwavering, iceberg like confidence and demeanor. He moves away from the flailing, lovable fool in Bringing Up Baby to the cool and calm sneak in Charade. The Hepburns are a hoot to watch also. They both have an endearing, capricious girly quality to them. They can be sweet when they need to be, and flamboyant when they ought to be in order to get what they want (Cary). Charade has a drawback, though: It can settle on what it wants. It wants to be a romantic comedy, which works, but it also wants to be a thriller (not so much), a love letter to Paris (well done), and a murder mystery (meh). The dialogue in it is sharp and Cary and Audrey's chemistry is red-hot. As for Bringing Up Baby, Katherine steals the show and has trouble giving it back to Cary, who manages well on his own because of his natural likeability. If there was ever a reason to look back at why classic movies are so important, here are two.
I will add more later. Any movies you suggest?
lhp
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