He Was a Quiet Man

And very nerdy too. Do not be fooled by the critic that compared this to Amelie (Steal it), The Fight Club (Buy it) and Brazil (Buy it). If this is like the child of these three others, it certainly feels like the unwanted vicious child. He Was a Quiet Man is stranger than Stranger Than Fiction (Rent it) and somewhat more twisted than Crash (The 1990's movie about prosthetic limbs fetish - Avoid it) (Not to be confused with 2005 Crash - Buy it or Steal it).

Christian Slater comes out of has-been hell in an unredeeming manner, just to barely show his face and most probably go back in. Convincingly nerdish and quiet, he reminds us perhaps of why we haven't heard from him in so long. Elisha Cutberth is under-used as her hotness doesn't go exploited (at least that could have worked) and William H. Macy is on this unending cycle of irrelevant roles after being brilliant in Fargo (Rent it).

I've got to draw the line here, the point of this blog is that I watch many movies so you don't have to, so unless you're watching over 150 movies a year, i think you'll find better things to do for 2 hours than watching this movie. It is not totally despisable, and in the end it does have an interesting twist, so avoid it, but NOT at all cost.

Sleuth

Sleuth is a very theatrical play. For someone who likes movies, (action, not words), this is too much of a play. But of course, why would I expect something too different from Kenneth Branagh. It does bring out a wide range of actors in Jude Law, but nothing too convincing. After watching this, I have a beef with blockbuster for having packed a theater play in a little DVD box. 

OK, my anger apart, the premise is a little interesting and more than Sleuth, I would call it Match, or Duel. Two characters go at each other over the "love" of the same woman, upstaging each other until an unexpected end unfolds. As for the rest of it, there's not much to say, as it is too dialoguey and tries to be somewhat introspective. It sort of reminded me of Frost/ Nixon (Buy it) in that format, but didn't quite achieve its cinematic prowess. 

Sleuth might keep you awake, provided that you don't put it on after 9 PM. Don't buy it, don't rent it (not even off the 99 cent rack), Do Watch it, but that's just if you like the theater A LOT.

After the Wedding

I've lately found a better alternative in foreign movies, or maybe it's just that Australia disappointed me so as to question my loyalty for Hollywood. (Well, if we can call that Hollywood at least). I bet there's a lot of awful foreign films and a lot of slow, low budget stuff that'll put you to sleep, I've sure seen some myself.

As far as European films go, I think they deal with time different than Hollywood does, and in that sense, Hollywood beats them to the punch line, literally. That said, what I mean is, I DON'T HAVE 50 years to watch the Godfather, I'll settle for 3 hours (or 7 if I watch both back to back). So, why try to have lots of scenes in real time? where nothing happens? or at least nothing conducive to the overall premise? That can usually bring me to a yawn in many european films.

So considering After the Wedding is Danish and, of course, it involves a wedding, which directors sometimes treat like it's a wedding video and want to capture a lot of what's happening, this movie is a little slow in this sense, and if only it were 20 - 30 minutes shorter I bet it could have been submitted for best foreign language film on behalf of all its Scandinavian producers.

The premise seems original enough, the characters are well developed with purpose and motivation for their actions, there's no hay filling up the space (again, it's slow, but there's no unnecessary fillers which is good). It touches sensitive issues dealing with family, adoption, etc.

All in all, I do recommend this movie. Rent it. (Remember, that's like 3 out of 5 stars). As far as wedding movies you're better off with this one than with Rachel Getting Married (AKA Bobby Getting Bored) (Watch it), but you'll probably be more entertained by some of its Chinese counterparts. (You figure that one out, I forgot the name... The Wedding Banquet, was it??), as for Danish movies, this one is up there with The Inheritance... slow but good.

Australia

Fans of Moulin Rouge (buy it) Beware! If you thought romantic involvement with Kid Rock was Nicole Kidman's low point, look further down... While watching Australia I felt like I got a two-for-one deal, paid for one movie, got to watch two. I'm the first one to love long movies (Benjamin Button is one of my recent favorites), because when something's good, you want more of it, but when something's bad, more of it just makes you nauseaous.

Australia, to begin with, has a very ambiguous title, it can lure you in out of plain interest or curiosity as to what happens there, you guess there might be a good story lying behind it, and then you figure it can have so many things revolving around it, instead of a story it turns out to be a mixture of stories... as it is ambiguous, it is ambitious.

Australia= Rabbit Proof Fence (Buy it) + City Slickers (Rent it) - the actually funny Academy Awards Show Presenter (Crystal vs. Jackman) + Pearl Harbor (Avoid it) - Alfred Hitchcock's wisdom on how the length of a movie should be less than your bladder can hold. 

So while the first part is a somewhat bearable coming of age comedy, with a musical touch and a teaspoon of romance (and this is the good part), the second part completely takes over another theme of the movie that's not part of the original "cattle drive".  If you want some insight into the Australian policies that took away half-castes from their families, do yourself a favor and watch the aforementioned Rabbit Proof Fence... if you're curious to watch how Nicole Kidman is directed by Baz Luhrman again, watch Moulin Rouge again,(this way you'll also avoid the painful sight of damaging botox, silicone, etc.),  if you want to see Hugh Jackman sans shirt, save yourself three hours and surf the net... if you want to see Australia, a 27 hour flight in coach should be less painful.  Needless to say, I rate this movie with an Avoid it!

Gran Torino

A Hmong among hmongs is just another hmong... It is sad to see that in a still racist America, stereotypes, unfortunately are not fortuitous. So while it's safe to say that many Asian girls will go to college and many African-American boys will end up in gangs, it's hard to single out the top of the crop, from the bottom of the barrel. So why is this relevant? Maybe it's not, but the point is that the White Man, can make a difference, but often chooses not to do so.

As a byproduct of all our xenophobia, America has chosen to forget that our neighbors are our friends, not our foes, and that the cultural diversity that enrichens it, is the very nature of its essence, a country made by immigrants, for immigrants. So while one community or another becomes victim of the violence itself begets, for the rest of us it's easier to turn our blind eye...

Not anymore, Dirty Harry is here to stop you, and will go to the full extent of his abilities to do it, so you better not mess around, because, while it's safe to say that some places in America are no longer safe from gang-related violence, NO Place in America is safe from the retaliation coming to you if you try to "stick it to the man". 

So embrace our diversity and learn from the strength that cultural differences can bring us, and if you need an example don't forget to watch Clint Eastwood at it, breaking down old barriers of ethnical intolerance in an age defying attitude that might bring you an 80's Déja Vu. Although he brings his usual stiff performance along, the movie is well balanced with the fresh unassuming performances of all his supporting actors, whom, might as well live in the very places this film was shot.

Gran Torino... The Movie, Rent it.... The Car, might be worth a spin too.