Saw ‘Appaloosa’ last night, the story of a small town where ruffigans shoot the sheriff and replacements (Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen) are called in to restore law and order. Amazing flick!
Perfect pacing, fascinating characters, an oscar worthy performance by Mortensen, beautiful landscapes, and unexpected twists. Definitely among the five best of 2008, right up there with Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt, and Dark Knight.
Recently I watched the entire ‘Band of Brothers’ series for a second time. It’s been years since I’ve seen it, and this time I brought my wife along for the ride. She had never seen it before.
Re-watching movies is a lot like re-reading books, it really tests the quality of the content. Oftentimes what seemed so striking at first, is lost the second time around. Things aren’t as impressive as you remember.
Incredibly, BOB was everything I remembered and more. I laughed, cried, and felt the terror of war all over again. My wife did the same. What an incredible piece of film making. What an incredible group of guys. Such a troubling war.
If you’ve never seen BOB, go directly to your local video store and rent it tonight. Required viewing for all Americans.
This overlooked film comes out of nowhere and sucker punches you were it counts. Joan Allen plays a mother of four teenage daughters who is abandoned by her husband when he runs off to Sweden with his secretary. She and her children struggle to cope with the subsequent chaos while Allen becomes increasingly angry and slips into a deep depression. It’s a really well done study of the stranglehold which anger can put on human life and of the importance of perception. We saw this in the theatre and folks were so moved that they actually clapped out loud when the credits rolled. That doesn’t happen often. A must see!
