Films 20-16
Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers was a terrible disappointment. He felt the need to honor the men who fought and died at Iwo Jima by portraying them as hapless tools of an uncaring government. Eastwood avoided delving into the details of the horrific fighting and decided to unravel a long, relatively pointless story of how the iconic image of the men lifting the flag at Iwo Jima came into being. Eastwood luckily made two films about the battle. Flags of Our Fathers was meant to show the American side of the war. This film was intended to show the Japanese side of the conflict. As American forces close in on the island of Iwo Jima, the Japanese forces face near certain annihilation. They are the last thing that stands between the Americans and the Japanese homeland. In the minds of the soldiers, if they lose their positions it is their families that will pay the price.
This grim situation is shown through the eyes of two men General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) and lowly foot soldier Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya). The battle sequences are hard to watch at times but, like Saving Private Ryan, are worth the effort. Eastwood captures the horror and confusion of war as best as he can.
This is the kind of thoughtful, detailed film the Americans deserved to receive.
Caution: Excessive violence
Director Rian Johnson's debut is one of the strongest introductions since Bryan Singer released The Usual Suspects. His gritty, intelligent film takes a huge risk. Johnson shoehorns the elements film noir into a high school setting. His strenuous combination succeeds in part because Johnson is aware enough to wink at the audience the whole time.The plot is about about a teenage boy who is tries to unravel the mystery of his ex-girlfriend’s murder. The teenage boy Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a classic film noir anti-anti-hero and is adorned with all of the cliche trappings of the form. His dialog is surreal and snappy. His demeanor is aloof and he does well when cornered. Gordon-Levitt provides a well-tempered performance in a film that could have made him look like a fool.
The risk Johnson takes could have fallen on it's face but he pulls it off and the result is a very enjoyable, quick witted feast for film lovers.
Cautions: Violence, language
Clint Eastwood employs his craggy face and low grumbling voice to give life to Walt Kowalski, a bitter, racist Korean War vet who has seen his once flourishing neighborhood fade into a trashy ghetto. Walt slowly warms up to the Hmong family living next door and protects them from a Hmong gang that terrorizes the community.
The script by Nick Schenk is the real star of the production. He has written a marvelous character piece that patiently plays itself out. Schenk doesn't simply put all of his best work into developing Walt but also works to humanize the supporting cast. Schenk's sense of humor, and disregard for political correctness in favor of telling the truth is refreshing.One element of the script that is often ignored is Walt's racism. In the beginning of the film he spits racist barbs at his neighbors to keep them at bay. As he befriends his Hmong neighbors he continues to drop racist remarks but now they are tossed out as signs of affection. The transformation in Walt isn't necessarily in how he acts, but the intention in his actions - very powerful.
Cautions: Language, violence
This film about a man with no short term memory who is hunting down the killer of his wife is truly unique and brilliantly laid out. On top of the complicated concept of keeping up with a guy who forgets everything about his life every five minutes, Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) raises the directorial stakes by telling the story in reverse.The use of the forward moving hotel phone conversation (in black & white) as a buffer between the backward moving scenes of the rest of the film completely makes me geek out. Even though the film delivers a horrid existential message, the brilliance of the plotting and the intelligence of the script make this well worth suffering through the low philosophy.
Caution: Language, strong violence
Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a despondent Swedish boy, befriends a new girl in his apartment complex. The girl, Eli (Lina Leandersson,) is a strange sort. Given to appearing out of nowhere and being short on the small talk, Eli is not like the other girls Oskar's age. This is probably because she's not his age. She's over 200 years old. Oh, and a vampire as well.
The two form an odd relationship. He finds a anchor in his drifting life, she lands herself a dutiful servant. Director Tomas Alfredson's haunting film is more than a simple vampire flick. Alfredson creates a mesmerizing character piece about relationships, coming of age and past sins.
Alfredson's delivery is as perfect as it could possibly be with one exception. In an unfortunate choice, the Swedish director chose to reveal Eli without her pants, facing the camera. Now, this is done for a reason and technically what we see is a dummy, not the underage actress. This said, I have a firm rule about child nudity in films such as we see here - it is pornographic by default. My stance has caused a number of mouth-breathing dimwits from Facebook to gnash their teeth and tug out their hair (see the comments section from the full review for the troll-fest).Why would I put this on the list with this outstanding issue? Because despite this issue, this is one of the best films of the decade and one of the best horror films ever made. I strongly recommend you watch the movie but I also strongly recommend you skip over the scene where Oskar slowly opens the door to find Eli undressing. Its a few seconds of detestable decision making in an otherwise pitch perfect film.
Caution: Excessive violence, nudity
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