Ah, back to the days when you could go to the movies and enjoy a double-feature. Yep, that meant two movies for the price of one.
That's what's going to happen today, on this blog. I'm writing about two movies...two movies full of drama, excitement, and... lots of blood. Ah, but what would a dramatic movie be without blood, today? Right now I have the soundtrack of one movie playing in the background. It's not comforting.
So, pay attention...and write in and disagree if you like. I don't plan on changing your mind, or anyone else's, and you can't change mine. Both of these movies were blockbusters...and for the life of me, I can't understand why.
Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen. Sub-titled "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" the movie is overwhelming in its presentation. Mind you, I watched it on DVD...perhaps in a movie theater it would have been... better.
Not that it's bad. It's astonishingly good...but, really now, a bloody horror movie made into a musical? I can't bloody stand it! Except that it has Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, who almost make it okay. I found the storyline predictable (ok, ok, it wasn't meant to surprise us...but, really couldn't Tim Burton have taken some creative license? I mean, it's not like he's never done THAT before. Of course, there are those who would say that this movie is full of creative license, but I'm not buying it.) I have to say I enjoyed the black humor, to a point. Then, it got boring...like twenty minutes into the movie.
There is no doubt - if you're a Johnny Depp fan, as I am - that you should have this DVD in your collection. There is no doubt, Johnny pulls the whole thing off admirably. But, there is also no doubt that the singing could have been left out...and the movie would have been better for it.
And, some of the blood could have been left out. Puh-lease... slit throats gushing blood for the sake of... I don't know what, it's been done. It's cliched, it's overkill. If you get my drift. But, again, others will tell you it's all part of the plot. So be it. It felt like a remake of Dawn of the Dead, or something, to me. As of today, I believe I'm in the minority... hence, I expect you'll eat this movie up, if you buy the DVD and watch it. Chew away.
So, on to the next movie...
No Country for Old Men... a Cohen Brothers production. I was really eager to see this movie, and I think I need to see it again, and again, in order to really appreciate it. The trailer here, from YouTube, leads you astray...you do not get the true nature of things from it.
In the synopsis from IMDb, we don't learn much. Whoever wrote it was too busy being descriptive to delve into the heart and mind of the film. I do give Tommy Lee Jones credit for his dry portrayal of the Sheriff. But, the best actor award does have to go to Javier Bardem and his bad haircut, for truly and thoroughly depicting a psychopath...or is it a socio-path? Dictionary.com does not distinguish between the two very well, so I'm not sure which anti-personality trait to ascribe to the character of Anton Chigurh. At the very least, he's a killing machine. At best, two steps below the Sweeney Todd barber, at least Sweeney Todd had a REASON for killing people.
This movie is more intense that the Tim Burton movie. It requires some thought. The Why, why, why??? will never be answered, because...there is no answer to Why. Message boards have been sounding off about Sheriff Bell's dream (at the end of the movie the sheriff who has been trying to get to Jones's character, reveals a dream...and I know what it meant to me, but you have to figure out what it means to you...and most people don't like that, oh well) and they are also mystified by the plot. If there is a plot.
Here's what I think, for what it's worth - this movie is about life. Life happens. Sometimes it's good, other times it's bad, and you can't predict it, either way. You do one thing to make good stuff happen and it backfires. You do bad things, and you're rewarded. Life just goes on. Like the sun coming up in the morning. People live and die and there is little to explain for why some are rich and some are poor.
Not very helpful, is it? Well, this movie has undertones that will mean different things to everybody. It has drama and worry and questioning and good and evil and all the "why did this happen?" whining of everyday life. For the most part, Jones's character should have, I say should have, died in the end. The fact that he didn't...and that the Sheriff decides to retire, regardless of advice to the contrary, tells me that... the Cohen brothers weren't trying to create a nice, neat package of a movie. They were trying to get you thinking...and they succeeded. A much better review can be found here, at Eric Snider's site. He says, "[Anton Chigurh] embodies the film's general view of life: It's random, it's often unfair, and everyone is subject to its whims." The comments are especially good...hop over and see for yourself.
So, in the end, recognize that the world is a scary place. If some guy gets in a car accident on your street corner, and pays you $100 for your shirt, and then walks away... well, I think a call to 911 is in order. Couldn't do it in No Country for Old Men. Didn't have 911 then... did they?
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