A Picture Show

Yesterday I went to AMC’s "Best Picture Showcase." Basically, for thirty bucks, you spend twelve hours at the theater, get to see all five Academy Award nominees, and get to enjoy endless free refills. It was a hell of a marathon (with twenty minute breaks between each film) but a good movie experience overall. Of course, by the end I was seriously fiending for anything that wasn’t salty, over-processed, and carbonated.

11:00 a.m. - Michael Clayton (Mmm, popcorn and diet coke for breakfast…)
Four stars
This is great movie despite the fairly typical lawyer-takes-on-big-bad-corporation plotline (à la Erin Brockovich or A Civil Action). The relationship between Michael and his son is one of the most interesting bits of the movie, doubly so because it is only about the two of them: there is no typical, annoyingly controlling mother involved.
The movie does turn a little too John Grisham-esque toward the end, but still good stuff.

Best Line: (To his son as he drops him off at elementary school) “Go teach those people something, will ya?”

1:20 p.m. - There Will Be Blood
Five stars
An absolutely remarkable film. Art. Daniel Day-Lewis is phenomenal – I mean really, wow. He plays an excellent character that manages to be a badass, a family man, and a snarky mofo all at once. It has a fascinating storyline that is not nearly as heavy as I was expecting. I did do a fair amount of wincing (that old-time oil drilling stuff was rough) but most of the dialogue is actually pretty amusing, if not outright funny.
And the score, my god, the score. It adds so much to this film. The music literally reached into my guts and pulled. I went out and bought the CD today and I was shocked (though I shouldn't be) and super impressed to realize Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead's lead guitar) was the composer. Loverly.

Best Line: “One night, I’m gonna come inside your house, wherever you’re sleeping, and I'm gonna cut your throat.”

4:20 p.m. - Atonement
Three stars
This is one of those powerful, sweeping love stories that everyone says are really great, but I never seem to be in the mood to watch. (I skipped The Notebook, The English Patient, et al.) This is a decent movie though; I'm generally glad I saw it. The first half is pretty fun: it is all whimsical and floaty and a little bit… um… naughty.
The second half is sort of dull. It is, however, worth watching this movie just to see the beautiful, uncut, five minute scene of the soldiers on the beach that mixes the horror of war with the whimsy of Ferris wheels and singing.

One small thing that just really got under my skin: I find it hard to believe that the main character would have exactly the same hair cut, which she wears in the exact same hairclip, from age ten to seventy. Did the director think we would not understand the passage of time or who the (only blonde) girl/women was without such an annoyingly clear indicator?

Best Line: “Bite it… You’ve got to bite it.”
There is one other line that is better, but it is never spoken (only written) and frankly, I would blush if I wrote it here for you.

7:00 p.m. - Juno
Five stars
One word about this movie: bitchin. It lives up to all the hype. Granted the dialogue is (rather awesomely) unrealistic but hey, it’s a movie, right – suspend reality for entertainment purposes. Oddly enough, this comedy was the only movie of the five that had me crying. (For those who don’t know me, all bravado aside, I am a softy at times.)
I bought this stellar soundtrack as well.

Best Line: “That little pink plus sign is so unholy.”

9:00 p.m. - No Country For Old Men
Two and ½ stars
This is a bloodbath of a bad movie. I didn’t have high hopes after DCM’s scathing book review, but I thought surely the movie would be better then the novel. No such luck. It has all sorts of potential in the beginning but quickly turns into a nonsensical mess. There isn’t much of a storyline so the shoot ‘um up scenes just trip over each other and don’t actually seem to serve much purpose at all (other than basic bloody action-type entertainment). Really, I could have skipped the middle hour of the movie and not have missed a beat of the tangled plot. The one saving grace: Tommy Lee Jones is entertaining.

Best Line: “Hell’s bells, they even shot the dog.”

101 Things to do (or don't) before you die - #27:
Do see an erupting volcano.
Don't use a flow-restricting shower head.

- lada will agree to disagree