I am remiss in reporting on the movies I've seen. Saw three films in the last couple of weeks, and really liked all of them:
First order of business was American Gangster with Denzel Washington as a Harlem drug lord, and Russell Crowe as the stubborn cop who catches him in the end. The film reminded me of Blow, in that it was a great business study - both dealers had a good idea on how to get good product for a lower price than the competition, by cutting out middle men and finding unusual ways of transporting the goods. Well played, although the end was a bit anticlimactic. Still, great work from Washington and Crowe, and interesting story.
Last weekend I went to see a double feature. Michael Clayton played together with Gone Baby Gone, both films that had been sort of on my list. And then I realized that Tom Wilkinson was in "Michael Clayton", and elevated that to a Must See. I like The Clooney, but Tom Wilkinson just has me riveted - and he was brilliant and manic and sad and crazy and clever all at once. I rooted for him, and I shook my head over his out-of-control antics. I liked how the film was set up - it started with a frantic Wilkinson talking over white-on-black opening credits, then three vignettes from the end of the story, then it looped back around and explained the whole thing. I like that, being presented with things without being given the entire explanation all at once. It lets me enjoy the visuals (and the voices) more. And having read so many thrillers lately, I was very pleased with the two hitmen who dispatched a guy quickly, cleanly, and quietly. THAT was a great scene! I admired them greatly, even though they were the bad guys.
Gone Baby Gone is a thriller about a disappeared child, set in Boston. It's based on a novel by Dennis Lehane, who wrote Mystic River. The movie is directed by Bostonian Ben Affleck, and his brother Casey Affleck is the leading man. And I have to agree with the critics: really well done! The neighborhood and its people looked more real than anything I have seen in cinema in a while. They were not polished and cute and made-up. They were dreary and tired and not nice, and they lived in drab places, leading drab lives. I read the novel a few years ago, but I couldn't remember if it ended like I thought it did, or if I was thinking of another book's end, so it kept me guessing, which was nice. But the best thing about the ending (for me, anyway) is that leaves a question open: Did he do the right thing in the end?
No, I don't know the answer either. I like it when it's not so cut and dry.
PS: I am pleased to see that Roger Ebert also liked American Gangster, Michael Clayton, and Gone Baby Gone. And of course he lays out his opinions much more eloquently than I do.
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