Thoughts: My Weekend in Film 11/9

Here it is, a week into November, and I'm finally making my return to weekend writing! It's been an interesting few months. Interesting... There has been a lot going on with work and life. Last week I transition from one job to another and it now seems like I may actually have time for a life again. Yay!

I like having a life.

Friday PM:




After a late night at work I decided to relax with a couple of episodes of Dexter. After friends have been recommending it to me for years, I finally started watching season one. I only planned on watching an episode or two and then going to bed.

I curled up in bed, hit play on my laptop, and... nine episodes later my roommate was leaving for her Saturday morning marathon training and I thought it might be a good idea to hit stop. So much for one or two episodes. I guess you could say it sucked me in.

While there are a few moments where the production values took me out of the show (what was up with the sound design in the hockey arena???), overall this show is awesome. Hey Netflix, can you mae Season 2 available for instant watching? Thanks!

Also, Netflix making it's streaming video watcher available for Mac users is one the best things that's happened for my movie watching in a long time. It's what got me to finally return to Netflix after I put my account on hold several months ago. I missed my Netflix.

Saturday:

After finishing Dexter I decided that it was time to catch up on some Gossip Girl. I missed all of October so I had a few episodes to catch up on.




GG is one of my guilty pleasures. It can be so bad but it tastes so good! Season two has had its ups and downs. I loved the Shakespearean flavor to Chuck and Blair's plan to humiliate Vanessa but was disappointed in the subplot's execution. Dan's been kind of annoying but I'm loving everything Jenny. Tomorrow's episode looks to be pretty hot.

And who knows, maybe I'll actually be out of work early enough to watch it! Imagine that!

Saturday PM:



Saturday night I passed on party plans and instead committed my evening to finally watching David Fincher's True Crime thriller Zodiac. Burritos, Sangria, and serial killers, what more could you ask for in an evening?

I'm still a little torn on how I feel about the movie. It had moments that really got me but overall I found it lacking. The pacing at the beginning is awkward and I didn't really get into it until at least a third of the way into it. I did enjoy it though and L and K seemed to like it a lot so there you go.

On The Slate:

Quantum of Solace baby! Need I say more?

Thoughts: No Country For Old Men

Since I mentioned No Country yesterday while babbling about Paul Thomas Anderson, I feel like it's only fair to give it a bit of time as well. Yes, it's true my preference is for There Will Be Blood. However, that doesn't really have anything to do with my feelings towards No Country For Old Men.

I was a fan of the Coen brothers long before I came to appreciate PTA and I feel like I'd be a bit of a traitor if I didn't give them their due. While I might find PTA's work more inspiring in the moment, the Coen brothers are hugely responsible for my love of film. The Big Lebowski is still one of my favorite movies. And the summer that Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? came out they hijacked my movie watching and every night became an attempt to see Oh Brother. (A comedy of errors of sorts, it took me over a month to actually see the film. After it was released on video).



So yes, I bought No Country For Old Men the night it was released on DVD. My roommates had yet to see it so last night we burned a bunch of food, grabbed some comfy blankets, and settled in for the cinematic adventure that is No Country For Old Men.

It's a hard movie. It's violent, harsh, and unforgiving. While the violence can be slightly over the top, I don't feel like it's ever really campy. It just is. There are moments so tense I found myself clutching the pillow on my lap. And this was after I'd all ready seen it once, all ready knew what was coming.



It's well crafted, well told, and certainly well acted. The most complaints I've heard have to do with the ending. While I can see where people may be coming from, I think the ending is great. For me it brings the story full circle. People are dead, the ghost disappears, and we're left with an old men who can do nothing but accept what's coming.



Call it fate, call it destiny, call it what you will. Even though it feels like it, we are not the centers of the world, even our own world. There are events that happen outside of our control, outside of our awareness. We can look for what's coming. But rarely will we see it until it's there.

Anyway. No Country For Old Men is a great film. The Coen brothers continue to make me a very happy girl while they continuously reinforce my love of film. I watch the movies they make and I remember why I am in this industry.

Review: Double Jeopardy

Originally posted at
Epinions



A word of advice: If you ever find yourself trapped in a confined space, wasting oxygen with your lighter may not be the best plan.

That being said, if you find yourself sitting on the couch on a Sunday morning with no particular plans for the day, there are worse things you could do than watch Double Jeopardy.

The 1999 thriller starring Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones isn’t incredible but it’s not terrible either. Libby Parsons (Judd) is sent to prison after being accused of murdering her husband Nicholas (Bruce Greenwood). While serving her time she realizes that her husband is, in fact, alive. This sets her off on a six-year plan to track him down and find her son, Matty. When she skips out on her parole, her parole officer Travis Lehman (Jones) chases her cross-country in an attempt to bring her back. This eventually leads them all to a big show down in New Orleans.

Realism is not this movie’s strong point. While I’m not a lawyer, I’m going to go ahead and guess that the movie’s premise isn’t quite how the law works. The whole plot of the movie is built around the title idea of Double Jeopardy, which states that a person cannot be tried for the same crime twice. Which is true. However, I’m not convinced Libby would get away with murdering her husband a “second” time. Technically, it wouldn’t be the same crime.

But Travis is a lawyer and he says it would work. So it must be true.

Plot is also not this movie’s strong point. It’s filled with formulas and clichés, not too mention holes. And I’m pretty sure we’ve seen Tommy Lee Jones in this role before. Perhaps in a little film called The Fugitive? The plot is not terribly original, it’s pretty contrived, and you more or less know what’s going to happen when you watch the trailer.

Why should you watch this movie then? Well, if you’re looking for something thought provoking and intelligent you might want to skip it. But if what you want is entertaining filler for a lazy morning, Double Jeopardy works. Sure it’s silly but it’s also fun. With a little suspension of disbelief you’ll be okay.

What really makes it work are the performances, especially Ashley Judd’s. I really like her and she’s once again solid as Libby Parsons. She brings the right mix of vulnerability and strength to the role. Her transformation from the wife she starts as to the ex-convict she ends as is believable (even if the prison segment is not). Also good is Tommy Lee Jones. His character isn’t incredibly interesting and, like I’ve already mentioned, not a far departure from the character he played in The Fugitive. Jones is fine though. I think he’s a great actor and he is always at least watchable. Even when he isn’t given much to work with.

As silly as the plot is, it is still fun to watch Judd and see what her character is going to do next. How exactly will she track down Nick and Matty? Once she gets to New Orleans, how will she make her way into the glittering upper-crust world Nick now inhabits? What will she say to get that skeazy guy in the library to stop hitting on her?

Fun and entertaining are the key words for this film. It’s not great but it’s not completely awful either. There’s some action, there’s some suspense, and the main characters are at least likeable. This might be a movie that appeals more to a female audience than a male one, with the whole lead character being a woman and the motherhood thing and all that, but I think it has enough action that men won’t be completely bored.

Hey guys, at least it’s not Dirty Dancing again. This movie has guns!

I might be inclined to go with a two and half star rating if that was possible. As it is I’ll go ahead and bump it up to three. I’m in a giving mood today.

I wasn’t watching the DVD but from what I know about it, I don’t believe there is all that much in the way of special features or anything. I think it’s one of those things that if you like the movie, the DVD is cheap enough for the buying. Personally, it’s one I would pass on.