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Since I just trashed two movies, I should at least throw out some good ones to make a positive contribution. Pulled from my recent netflix history...In America: Jim Sheridan's best film to date IMO, superbly crafted and acted. Sentimental (ugh), but not egregiously so, and the emotional payoff is well earned.
Startup.com: Already posted about this documentary, but saw it again since then. The filmmakers stuck with the main characters for 18 hours/day during an entire year and cut down 400 hours of footage to produce this 107-minute case study and historical document.
Bottle Rocket: Wes Anderson's first. Like other recent debuts by young American directors (P.T. Anderson's Hard Eight, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs), this one is less ambitious than his films to follow (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums), but has a simple freshness. Highly entertaining, and completely unpretentious -- thank you! This was Owen Wilson's acting debut; he is also a co-writer here.
The School of Rock: Talk about pretense -- Linklater finally let it go! I've generally been a lukewarm fan of his sophomoric ramblings (I even liked Tape), but I hope he stays on this new track. Hilarious.
The House of Sand and Fog: What fate and misfortune can do to good people when a weak man enters their lives. Like watching a train wreck, one cannot look away. A mighty attempt not to take sides, my wife and I felt it slanted in favor of the immigrants. But some reviews detected a slant in the opposite direction. Good for post-flick discussion.
Focus: Good adaption of an Arthur Miller novel about wartime anti-semitism in the U.S., starring William H. Macy and Meat Loaf.
Enjoy.
Follow Ups:
Epemere,Yep, this is a good time to won a dvd player! I saw In America over the weekend, and liked it very much...the youngest girl gave a killer performance for one so young, with good acting all around.A bit mushy, as mentioned, but well worth the time.
Ditto House of Sand and Fog, and I liked this one even a bit more than In America. Some of the STRONGEST acting I've seen in some time from Sir Ben and the lovely Jen.
One of my faves of the last few weeks was The Cooler...killer job by Bill Macy and a very fine Alec Baldwin ('bout time, Alec...I've been waitng for this performance from you for about ten years!). The scenes with Maria Bello have to be scene...very hot stuff.
Another film of the month...Big Fish...was fun as well, however...don't we have enough American actors to player American characters? Much as I love Albert Finney and like the work of Ewan McGregor...they didn't quite get it as gentlemen from the American South, imo. This seem to be quite a trend...especially with the actors from "Down Under" (Kidmen, Crowe, Watts, Guy Pierce, etc)...has the American movie star fallen that far from grace?
(You don't really have to answer...it was a rhetorical question).Thanks for the reviews,
Gary
I also enjoyed The Cooler and agree that Alec Baldwin realizes his potential here. As for William H Macy, he is one of the few actors whose movies I will automatically see and always (so far) enjoy regardless of the subject matter. I read in one review that he stayed in shape all these years in case he was ever called upon to do a sex scene.
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