Home at the End of the World (2004)

This is an interesting movie, but not a particularly good one. It was adapted from a novel by Michael Cunningham, and I bet the book is fantastic. It has a soap opera feel to it, with a great central character and a love triangle. That's good stuff.

In the opening of the movie we watch a young Bobby with his adored older brother, who introduces Bobby to male / female relationships, drugs, philosophy. When his brother dies tragically, Bobby seems to get stuck in time as a lost 9 year old, looking for family. When his mom and dad also die, he moves in with his friend, Jonathan, and adopts Jonathan's family as his own.

Jonathan and Bobby love each other and experiment sexually. They drift apart when Jonathan leaves for college and reconnect as adults. Jonathan is now openly gay, but Bobby is not gay, not straight. He cannot be alone, and seems to be in search of family rather than romantic love. Anyway, that's how I interpreted Bobby.

The acting is fantastic, especially by Colin Farrell as Bobby and Robin Wright as the third wheel.

Nevertheless, the tone of the movie is off. Colin Farrell does a great job of capturing Bobby's childish nature, but the tone is too lighthearted for the topic. Also, the motivations of these characters are not explained or resolved, which I found difficult here.

I would only rent if you love Michael Cunningham, Colin Farrell or Robin Wright.

Lonesome Dove (1989)

This is my fav book, so I was really prepared to dislike the miniseries. I had seen parts, but not all, and I had a chip on my shoulder about this. I was wrong. It was almost prefect. I didn't like Tommy Lee Jones as Call at first, but he got better. And the most important thing - Gus - was pitch perfect. Robert Duvall nailed this.

This also followed the book closely, which was good for a huge fan like me. You should watch this. If you've never read the book, don't worry. It's a great story.

Blackmail (1929)

This is early Hitchcock. It's not a silent film, but the first 10 minutes or so are silent, with action shots of police chases - old police vans and Morse code.

The movie is slow at times, but I wasn't bothered because the sets, costumes, lights, makeup are all 20's vintage and fun to watch. For me the novelty of watching the behavior and scenes of the times made up for a dated movie.

The characters held up - the careless boyfriend, shallow girlfriend looking for fun, the blackmailer. The rapist. These were all well done. My fav tho, was the ending. Great ending. The fun thing about watching a director's early work is watching it evolve.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

This is just too much fun. It has Angela Lansbury, Donna Reed, George Sanders, Peter Lawford. The story is classic Oscar Wilde: the young Dorian Gray wishes that he could stay forever young and let his painting do all the aging for him. And that's what happens. He lives a life of the most extravagant debauchery (that we are left to imagine - it is NEVER described), while the painting hides in his old schoolroom turning more and more monstrous. This is an unusual horror film, and really good. It has amazing cinematography with great lighting, shots filled with symbolism, and the acting is fantastic! What more could you want?

The Apostle (1997)

Robert Duvall wrote, directed and starred in the Apostle; he was also nominated for Best Actor for this role. He plays Sonny, a preacher who is likable without necessarily being a good person, particularly to his family. The acting here is top-notch, with June Carter Cash and Farrah really delivering. The problem is the story. The pacing is off, and some of the characters / motivations are trite at best. In particular Billy Bob's story line is so predictable it really lessens the film.

Nevertheless, this is a must for Duvall fans. It's a great role.

Talk to Her (2002)

Pedro Almodóvar is without a doubt one of the best directors out there. He is also a bit crazy. I would say that's what makes his movies so incredible to me. They have a soap opera / telenovela quality that is delirious fun, but behind it all is serious shit. Like a soap opera.

This is about a dancer who ends up in a coma and the man who cares for her in a high end care facility. One day the nurse is at the ballet and happens to sit next to a man who eventually dates a female bullfighter, who eventually ends up in the same care facility. All four lives are intertwined forever more. It's really a cool story, and quite disturbing.

And the film is also a bit nuts. The giant claymation vagina is particularly unusual, but not out of place in a film by Almodóvar.

Double Suicide (1969)

This is Japanese New Wave - how cool. I'm not sure I've seen Japanese New Wave before. Maybe some later Kurosawa? Like that dream movie?

This was good and bad for me. The good was the sets and setup of the movie. It starts with people working on the set of a Japanese puppet play and discussing how difficult it is to translate the suicide in the plot to a play. Then the puppets are gone and we have live actors in their place. This is seamlessly done and not jarring in any way. However, the sets are are still set up for the play - not a movie. Therefore, we see set changes. These are done by a type of narrator - men in black with shrouded faces. These guys change the sets, watch the action, and even freeze the actors. It's cool. IMDB says that they're the puppet masters. That makes sense, and it's great.

The bad to me was the plot. This is the most incredible sob story of all time, and not my type of thing. But please remember it's an old play. Think of a Shakespearean tragedy (also not my thing). A married man - a merchant - with two young children falls in love with a courtesan (a prostitute, which is an ok profession in Japan). They are very much in love, but he cannot afford to buy her out of servitude. He and the prostitute agree to kill themselves together rather than be apart. That is established in the beginning of the movie, and then there is two hours of crying and wailing and protestations of love and forgiveness. And oral sex. I was not expecting that! Interesting.

All big movie fans should watch this one. Masahiro Shinoda directed, and he is skilled.

Take Shelter (2011)

This is a freaky psychological movie. It rests on the shoulders of two actors, Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain. Michael Shannon plays Curtis, a husband and father who starts having apocalyptic nightmares and then visions. He risks his marriage, his friends, his job; basically his life to prepare for the coming storm. Is he going crazy? Are these just dreams, or could they be premonitions? The director ratchets the tension as Curtis loses control. His wife, Samantha, has to play against this - scared, frustrated, angry, perplexed, sad. The two leads do an amazing job.

And the ending is GREAT.

Jeff Nichols wrote and directed this, and I recommend it highly. And for a What the Fuck moment, after you watch, please consider that Brad Pitt got nominated for an Academy Award for Moneyball, but Michael Shannon did not get a nod for this. Want another one? Jessica Chastain got nominated for The Help rather than for this. Those awards are just stupid. Why do I watch? Why do I care?