——The Great Silence——

(A)

This is definitely probably the bleakest Western you’ll ever see, spaghetti or otherwise, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a damn fine film. Let it be known that the ending is extremely depressing, but its brilliance is only made more apparent after you watch the “happy” ending made for North African audiences (they loved spaghetti Westerns; who knew?) that makes absolutely no sense, as pretty much every character that dies in the movie mysteriously rises from the dead to save the day. It’s pretty funny.

One of the really notable things about this movie is that there is snow. I don’t know why, but the genre seems to forgotten about the stuff, which makes its inclusion in this movie all the more striking. A bounty hunter named Loco is tracking down outlaws hiding in the wilderness waiting for amnesty while another man named Silence (because he can’t talk, obviously) is taking out bounties on the bounty hunters by the families and outlaws affected by the slaughter. Both men take out the same price to kill a man, a both men won’t fire unless it is self-defense, so you know a big showdown is going to take place. It just doesn’t end quite the way you think it will.

Anyway, before I start giving away major plot points let’s just say the movie is really well made, and the score by Ennio Morricone (a genius of spaghetti Western soundtracks) is fantastic. About the only really bad thing I can say about it is that the voice acting doesn’t always quite give the proper dramatic impact to some of the lines, but as that really isn’t that big a deal you should all check this movie out.

——Sisters——

(A)

This might be my favorite Brian De Palma film so far. It moves along like a well-oiled Hitchcock thriller, and yet the ending is so bizarre and macabre that you know you’re not just in for a crappy remake of Psycho. I think this is a really excellent movie to watch to see the power of a split-screen shot, as in one sequence it perfectly ups the tension in a part where cross-cutting could have been done, but wouldn’t have been nearly as powerful. And wow, the ending has to just be seen to be believed. It’s a whole new level of fucked up. It will definitely have you squirming in your seat.

The soundtrack by Bernard Herrman is just perfect and, notably for a De Palma film, the acting is solid and the writing and dialog work great. This is a wonderful, tight thriller that is just bizarre enough to perhaps merit cult status and definitely merit repeat viewings.

——Once Upon a Time in Mexico——

(A)

This is one of my favorite films of last year and the good news is that after having seen it twice before, the plot makes total sense, making the film just THAT much more enjoyable. No longer are you scratching your head trying to figure out who this new character is and you can just enjoy the movie for what it is: fast, well done action tied together with fantastic acting. Johnny Depp was good in Pirates of the Caribbean, but he really should have got his Oscar nomination for this film. He completely makes this movie and has so many classic lines that I just lost track long ago of how many there are. Nothing is greater than the section where he is talking with Antonio about how good the pork is and how he has to kill the cook because it is so good. So many great lines AND he actually kills the cook. For me this is a Must See movie.

——Dark City——

(C)

While I respect this movie for what it is trying to do, it just doesn’t work. The production design, camera work, editing, cinematography, and costumes are all top notch, and the idea behind it is a good one, but it all falls apart under the weight of its good idea. While the good idea is extremely interesting it doesn’t lend itself well at all to a compelling story. It’s all plot and no character, because no one really HAS a character. Thus you are left with outstanding visuals propping up a barely there short story idea. And plus, the Strangers have just about the shittiest concept design ever. They look so lame! Although you might want to watch this movie to see how cool it looks, like Metropolis, the movie it steals heavily from, it is all visuals with not much heart, and I have to give it a pass.

Bonus: For all Alias fans who like Melissa George, check out this movie to see her back in the day, playing a prostitute who gets naked! I have to say, she’s got a nice body.

Special Bonus: Check out the shot at the end where Jennifer Connelly is standing at the end of a pier in a sundress that looks exactly like the shot in Requiem for a Dream. But wait, there’s more! Apparently in The House of Sand and Fog there is another very similar shot. None of the directors claim to have known about the coincidence until after they made the film, and all three shots contain Jennifer! Weird.

——Big Trouble in Little China——

(C-)

While I definitely have to give this movie so major points for trying (it’s uber-wacky, just how I love them) that still doesn’t excuse the fact that this is a pretty crappy movie on the whole. Things just happen for no reason, and characters rush off into danger with little to no motivation whatsoever. It’s just mind-boggling how little anything is thought out.

I know some might take offense to the things I’m saying, as this is a personal childhood favorite of theirs, but in all fairness the next day I happened to catch Ernest Goes to Camp on TV. It was definitely one of my very favorite movies when I was a kid (possibly explaining why I went off on some crazy rant on summer camp movies when I was high this one time, but that’s another story), but while I was grinning watching it reliving childhood memories, that didn’t really mask the fact that it is a really crappy movie. I mean, it’s really bad. But whatever, this was fun enough to tide me over while I was watching, but I doubt I’d recommend anyone go see this if they haven’t already.

——Suicide Kings——

(C-)

This movie starts off promising enough, but it doesn’t take you long to realize this is just a pale Tarantino rip-off film, filled with dialog about nothing, but dialog that unfortunately does nothing to advance the plot. So there is that strike against it. And then there is the fact that just about every character is EXTREMELY annoying. Like, I want to hit them annoying. That’s pretty much everyone except for Christopher Walken who is great as always and Dennis Leary, who has a great part, but unfortunately for the movie as a whole doesn’t have shit to do with shit. His subplot just goes off into La-la Land. And then, just to top it all off, the ending SUCKS. It really sucks. Definitely not worth seeing.

Bonus: The girl that is “kidnapped” is none other than Evil Marie from Season 2 of 24!

——Monster——

(A)

I’m not really the biggest fan of beautiful actresses getting ugly for movies and then winning lots of awards for being so “fearless” with their acting. The last two Best Actress Oscars went to women who went this road (Nicole in the Hours and Hallie in Monster’s Ball) and honestly I thought those two performances were subpar at best. It was with great reluctance that I saw Monster (not really, it was an indie playing at my local theater! Whoo hoo!), since it is pretty obvious that this year’s Oscar is going to go to yet another pretty actress getting herself ugly. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to see that Charlize’s acting in this movie was amazing, and the film was excellent to boot too.

The writing for this is excellent, the acting top notch, and the story is perfectly balanced so that you see Charlize’s character as both the monster of the title and as a sympathetic victim of circumstance. It’s powerful stuff, and as my dad said, “it wasn’t half as depressing as I was expecting”. I’m not really sure I know what that means, but it must be a good thing. I think he was probably referring to the fact that the movie isn’t all killing and depression, but actually has a pretty great love story with Christina Ricci as its heart. I totally love this movie, and think it is one of the best of 2003.

——The Secret Lives of Dentists——

(B+)

This is a pretty decent movie that’s well made and has Dennis Leary in it to boot (score!). The story is about a dentist whose marriage is starting to fall apart when he realizes that his wife is having an affair, but instead of confronting her on it he talks to his imaginary patient (Dennis Leary) in his head. The movie also deals a lot with his family though, which is where I think the movie starts to drift off course, as though it is well done it also distracts from the focus of the film, which is never properly resolved. It’s still a pretty good film, and worth seeing I think.

——American Splendor——

(A)

This wasn’t really a movie I was dying to see or anything. It didn’t sound too appealing to me, nor did the idea behind it really excite me. I thought the use of the real Pekar might be lame. Turns out I was completely wrong about all of these things, as the movie was a joy to see and the multimedia worked together perfectly. The dialog is just perfect really. Some of the lines are just great examples of excellent screenwriting. And the use of the real Pekar with the actor Pekar gels perfectly, as the story is about a man who created a comic that was really just about his real life, and the movie is a perfect mirror of that relationship. It’s as if the story is fictional and autobiographical at the same time, and the structure reflects that with the narrator being the real Pekar taking about what the fictional Pekar is about to do. But then you see the real Pekar in an almost documentary fashion adding yet another layer to the story, making it all that much more poignant. Fantastic.

A wonderful movie I think is one of the best of 2003.