Welcome to FSR’s newest weekly feature in which I break down the good, the bad, and the ugly of what Hollywood has to offer. In this article you’ll find my recommendations and caveats for movies and DVD’s. Then I’ll move on to my favorite and least favorite news stories of the week.
The Good
The Counterfeiters (Now Playing): It took two months, but I finally got to see what all the hype was about and why this film deserved to win the Academy Award over films like Lust, Caution and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (who weren’t even nominated! (no, I will never let this go)). Okay, it’s not quite as good as those films but it’s close. The film is like a cross between Schindler’s List and The Bridge on the River Kwai with a gloomy portrayal of Jewish war camps like the former and an intriguing plot like the latter. If this turns out to be a weak year in film (thinking back to 2006), The Counterfeiters is good enough that it may sneak into my top ten list.
There Will Be Blood (DVD): I think Paul Thomas Anderson’s one weakness as a director is that he seems to have trouble with tying up a masterpiece. I still don’t get the point of the frogs in Magnolia and I don’t see why the ending to There Will Be Blood is necessary either. In fact, it’s almost just plain silly. But with the amazing performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, there is about two hours of an awesome movie to be found here.
Enchanted (DVD): Easily one of the year’s most surprising films, Enchanted is a family delight from beginning to end. Take my advice and do not miss what could be the career defining performance for Amy Adams.
Judd Apatow: Earlier I reported that Apatow was selected to be named the Comedy Person of the Year at the Just For Laughs comedy festival and I would just like to further my congrats to the man who is revolutionizing comedies as we speak.
Javier Bardem: What a lucky bastard. If winning an Oscar gets you a threesome scene with Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz, then sign me up for a drama class.
Babylon A.D.: This was originally supposed to be 160 minutes long? Really? Let’s thank the film gods that it was trimmed to a reported 90 minutes. 160 minutes of Vin Diesel? Yesh!
The Bad
Lions For Lambs (DVD): I probably wasn’t tough enough on this loquacious film in my original review. Seriously Mr. Redford, people go to the movies to be entertained, not to be talked to death.
Valkyrie: The WWII sub-genre is one of my favorites but I am quickly losing anticipation over this film and I’m becoming more skeptical every minute. First, I got my hopes high when it was pushed back to October, thinking that the studio thought it was good enough for Oscar consideration. Then it was moved to February of next year. What the hell? Maybe that’s where it belongs after all.
Charlton Heston: Another month, another well-known and respected actor/filmmaker taken from us.
The Ugly
Uwe Boll: It’s bad enough that the guy turns out one half-assed pile of shit after another, but then he has to go and make us believe that he’ll stop making movies with some publicity stunt. Hate to have to break it to all who signed the petition, but this is just some sort of nefarious April Fool’s joke to him.
Sound Off: What do you think of this feature? Would you like to see it every week here on FSR?
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