The last three weeks have absolutely flown by, but for some reason, this week has just dragged and dragged. Maybe it's because it was gray and cloudy all week and it's supposed to be 65-70 and sunny all weekend. Maybe it's because I had some very hectic moments at work interspersed between streches of boredom. Maybe it's because I just like weekends a little too much and when I start planning them on Monday afternoon, it becomes a long week. anyway. It's moot now, because it's Friday and it's just about go time.
I saw A History of Violence last night and it was quite a show. It's a film that's hard to describe (but getting a lot of critical acclaim). It has lots and lots of, at times gratuitous, sex and violence. To steal a quote from a review at the imdb page linked above, this movie kind of crawls all over you. The plot is straightforward, Viggo and Maria Bello are pretty good, Ed Harris and William Hurt play the gangsters and are pretty good as well. It's one of those movies where no matter what you are expecting, it's probably not going to be what you expect. And Gate made a good point when he noted that the movie sort of languishes at times because there aren't very many scenes, they are just really long. There are lots of silences and shots of people moving around instead of cutting to the next scene. Pretty well done. I give it a B/B+. Better than Mr. and Mrs. Smith, worse than Crash.
What are you up to this weekend? I don't have a lot going on so far, except the standard Iowa Hawkeye Victory Routine starting tomorrow at 7:30 AM sharp. I'm hoping to get in one more round of golf on Sunday if I can, we'll have to see about that. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous all weekend, and this may be the last one. So let's get out there and make the most of it.
Have a great weekend. Go Hawks.
3 comments:
well I haven't weighed in with comment in a while so I thought this would be a good time. I have to totally disagree with you on A History of Violence. If you had asked me before you went I would have told you to see something else.
First of all the end leaves a lot to be desired. I dig the supensfull, unknowing ending just as much as the next guy but when you end a film with the possibility of a family reuniting, which was very heartfelt and emotiotional there should be some sense of closure which was absolutely lacking. Furthermore, there are just too many holes in the set up. Ok, Stolls is Joey but why was he forced to flee his gangster life, why did he try to kill and blind a made-man with barbed wire. We get very unfulfilling glimpses of his old life and what drove him to his new life; we never get the whole story. This was very unfulfilling for me. In addition, I would have like to see a closer examination of Mrs. Stoll. We are made to feel bad for her and her son in the end but we don't get the insight into her life and sacrifices that would give us the ammunition to feel fully for ther and her plight in the end.
In general the film was unfulfilling
I will give props to the sex, violence and everthing else in the film that makes it a guy movie(gangsters, revenge, etc.). So I am not a complete hater but this film could have been a lot better.
Finally, I enjoyed both MR. and Mrs. Smith and Crash more than this film although I didn't care for the Smiths so much, outside the good action and off and on wit.
That is it from this critic.
S
well then. what did the five fingers say to the film A History of Violence? SLAP.
That's what the world wide web is all about. differing, reasonable opinions.
For the record, however, I believe there was closure as symbolized (quite ham-handedly) by the dinner table scene. The resolution was tenuous acceptance, or just a lack of a better way to live. Tom Stall was there for good. That's my .02.
well after a battle like that I shall invite you all over for ....
PANCAKES!, BITCHES
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