I'll be honest - seeing the name of Spielberg attached to this film should have been enough of a warning - I despise that guy's work... but I thought the Coen name was perhaps some assurance of quality. Little did I know.
The first red flag went up in force before even the first screen - it was the music...
Oh... that horrible, horrible, boring, always the same music of American films! It seem to have been written by the same talentless Julliard dropout who has also written all Celine Dion's featureless songs. It is intellectually irritating, empty and void of any sparkle, foggy like ten day old, stale urine. No zest, no drama, no desire to taste it.
The movie is pathetic. The plot is nothing but a bunch of old cliche's hastily put together, the over-the-top dialogue we have heard, only better, hundreds of times before, acting is taken from the high school drama class.
How could a pair of respected (whatever that means) directors produce such a trash? Notice - I am not even asking how is it possible for the film to have all the recognition and high imdb rating - some public obviously is dumber than the movies they watch. I don't know the answer, but I am closing my book on them.
Be it as it may, the night was still young by the time that monumental pile of crap ended, so I flipped to another film on my Action Thrillers list - the Australian Red Hill.
Now... the first shots, the first scenes had all the elements of fine movie making. Mind you, I didn't even know it was Australian, but the opening scenes told me that... clearly and much to my pleasure! It was like coming home, like a sudden breath of cool and fresh air! Considering this is the young director's first full-size film, it's got to tell you something about the local cinematographic climate in that country.
At this point I have only watched about 20 minutes of the film... make it 20 enjoyable minutes... and I am looking forward to tonight. Not a great masterpiece, mind you, but an honest piece of artwork.
