Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

How the West was, once. Like another sprawling epic about the nation’s expansion, this movie covers a lot of ground, figuratively and literally, but in this case it does so a bit more reflectively than the gung-ho epics of yesteryear. The story’s disparate threads are indeed so disparate that the viewer must wonder if all these people are ever going to come together, and it is only the promise of at least one more movie that offers hope that it will all eventually tie together. Indeed, it can be difficult to keep everyone straight while watching this flick, as there are so many characters scattered across the landscape—with few of them ever formally introduced—that the viewer must be forgiven for losing track. So clarity of story is not necessarily a strong suit here. Nevertheless, the tales that are being told do mostly make for compelling viewing, especially in the most harrowing scenes (quite a few characters die throughout, starting early on). Added to the stories that hold the interest is a visual feast; this film looks amazing all over. Put it all together and you wind up with a film that’s somewhat flawed, but also very much worth seeing. And one suspects the second chapter, unburdened of the need to perform any backstory, should really start to pull these stories together into a cohesive narrative. Building a cinema epic, much like building a nation, takes a lot of time and effort. 

A Million Ways to Die in the West

This movie way wind up being Seth MacFarlane's Bananas or Sleeper; it is like one of those early Woody Allen vehicles in which its auteur carves out a unique niche for himself and tells a story (and jokes) that no other filmmaker working today would or could. The laughs come consistently--occasionally uproariously--and from such a skewed angle that they're entertaining in their idiosyncrasy alone. The other interesting thing here is the performance by Charlize Theron, who has previously been good but never this likeable and approachable before. This is must see stuff for comedy fans...maybe not so much for the wilting flowers (raunch dominates the humor here; few of the jokes are suitable for "polite company").

Ted

A ‘yeah, but...’ movie. It’s a lot of fun, most of the time; it’s more brazen in its humor than most movies you’ll see, and that’s very respectable. So yeah, it’s good. But, it does start to take itself a little too seriously at a certain point. I might have enjoyed it more if it was just flat out, balls out, crazy shit all the way through, but it kind of pussies out in the end. Still, it would be nitpicking to downgrade it just for that. It’s more than good enough, and we’ll leave it at that.

Boiler Room

So, what's with the heavy-handed use of the hip-hop soundtrack? A statement, perhaps, that the young white males who dominate this movie are not so different from the 'niggas' in the hood? Yeah, we get it: expensive suits and gold chains don't live so far apart after all. That's not exactly an epic statement. And even if it were particularly insightful, the over the top presentation we get here is a turn off. This may be secret knowledge to the filmmakers, but it's something that some of us out here already know. That problem drags down this film, despite a some good moments, and makes it less than it might have been.

Cold Mountain

A story as old as The Odyssey--an appropriate comparison, given the film's occasional forays into something close to lyricism. It's a story that has been told so many times, but the strength here lies in the performances: strong work by leads Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, along with a host of actors in supporting roles. The movie runs long, but the story holds your interest most of the way through. Worth a look.

Lost in Translation

An excellent little movie. The focal relationship, between Bill Murray's washed-up, middle-aged actor and Scarlett Johansson's misplaced, uncertain young woman, always feels perfectly natural and organic. Their interplay is never strained or actorly. And director Sofia Coppola makes good use of the alien city of Tokyo as a reflective backdrop for the main characters' alienation. Oh, yeah--it has some nice laughs, too.

The Gift

A run-of-the-mill mystery thriller, with a little horror thrown in. Not as good as A Simple Plan, the other Sam Raimi-Billy Bob Thornton collaboration (in this case, B.B. merely wrote the thing). It does reaffirm my position that I will never move to the "deep" South.