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Reviews
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Great film-not because of loose end
I love this movie, not because the ending was ambiguous but because of the great characters; Llewelyn's endearing resourcefulness, Sheriff Bell's growing pessimism, the killer's frightening, socio-pathic logic and finally Carla Jean's way of deflating the killer's grandiose logic. Yes, the killer wins in the end. And the final speech (Jones' dream about his father) is so poignant and touching and epic, that final speech makes the movie great. The glimmer of hope (fire waiting for us ahead in the coldness of a winter night)...then we all eventually wake up.
Another note: Chigurh is an extension of long line of Coen bros. 'monsters'. Beginning with Blood Simple's P.I., Raising Arizona's Killer biker (a film that is closest to No Country...in terms of plot and themes), Barton Fink's Charlie the salesman, Fargo's Gaear, a sociopath who is not as invisible as Chigurh. These characters all share a trait of being overly-grotesque, otherworldly, almost supernatural. Their grandiosity rises above mere human traits and move into metaphors of moral decay of civilization. In Raising Arizona, the movie suggests that H.I. has created this biker killer out of his nightmare and the killer even shares the same woodywoodpecker tattoo with H.I.
This movie is the Coen's most pessimist film but it is as if all the films before it had been working towards this masterpiece.
Danjeogbiyeonsu (2000)
Great Adventure
Not, I repeat, not a sequel to Gingko Bed. Great sense of a fully realized world where young men must go through a life and death trial to be a warrior and evil lurks in the forest just outside the peaceful compounds of the village. Great performances by all. Especially Yoon-jin Kim who plays the female warrior / archer, Yun. She also played the North Korean agent in the movie Shiri. Don't miss it!
Happiness (1998)
Joy and Pain
Joy, the adult version of Weiner from "Welcome to the Dollhouse" sings a song that captures the movie's essence. All the characters in this film (and Weiner from the previous film, who also sings a "happy" song in the midst of suffocating depression)are longing for that elusive happiness. The pedophile father is the most striking example of someone that is miserable in a "happy" environment. Instead of getting help from a shrink (he himself is a shrink, one of many ironies in the film), he has no one to go to. If the film has one true villain, it is not the pedophile father but his wife. Her happiness derives from seeing others suffer beneath her well constructed foundation of upper-middle class living. Solondz bangs away the point whenever something substantive appears to creep up on the conversation the wife interrupts with a "Have you seen Leno last night?" This recurring phrase from the wife echoes the older brother from "Welcome to the Dollhouse". Whenever something occurs that requires discussion or understanding he would remark, "That would look good on my college application" Solondz truly has sympathy for these pathetic people and he even seems to offer some answers. One answer is to not turn blind eyes to people who suffer around us. Again going back to the pedophile father, he does not turn his son away whenever he comes with embarrassing prebuescent sexual questions. He listens and offers honest, frank advices. This extends to the devastating climactic scene between the father and son when the father reveals his sickness. In the end Solondz seems to be saying that perhaps the son is all the more healthy for the honest conversation (The son's gleeful smile towards the end of the movie is the ONLY genuinely happy emotion in the entire film). This is the best film of 1998 by far and I completely disagree with the comment criticizing the Ben Gezzara and Louise Lassar scenes. Instead of pointlessly trying to define what "effective" means, he/she should have at least try to understand the sadness/loss of will one might encounter in anyone's twilight years. Solondz has made a film that is touching yet spiced with deadly satire and even some that are laugh out loud funny.
The Waterboy (1998)
Dumb as a mule, but funny
I get a kick out of Adam Sandler's odd, slowly timed delivery that all of a sudden becomes vicious. My favorite scene is when the psychotic Bobby Boucher, out of nowhere, responds to the voices in his head by saying, "NO!!" and the football player to be smeared, replies, "No What??" SLAM! This incomprehensible, bordering on psychotic behavior is what drives this film's irrisistible humor (OK so it's low-brow, so sue me) Kathy Bates was awesome (Brain pain, aauuuggghh!), and the girlfriend was awesome too but I forgot her name (Should I kill them for you?) But Rob Schneider's "You can do it!!" was funny the first time but not the tenth time. Also a question: Was that Adam Sandler from the back whenever he ran down the field with that goofy, shoulders raised too high up, stride?