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'Bloody Sunday' (2002)

Paul Greengrass uses his shaky, handheld suspense to show the chaos that followed the town of Derry, Ireland's failed attempt at joining the civil rights movement in 1972. In the end, 13 unarmed people were killed in the riots that were supposed to be a peaceful demonstration against the oppression of the British government. The film is a total success at putting the viewer in the middle of the madness: the madness of trying to organize a march, of trying to keep order amongst angry young men, of trying to approach dealing with a mass of demonstrators as a military operation, and of being shot at while you're running for your life.

Given the charged, crowded atmosphere Greengrass creates here, it's easy to understand how the actors became so emotional throughout each segment. They're enraged, devastated, utterly confused. Even the actors portraying the British troopers deserve kudos for illuminating the total confusion of how to deal with masses of angry, yet innocent people. We're taken out of each locale with a swift fade to black, which makes the preceding scene feel like a polaroid from the day. 'Bloody Sunday' is a masterfully put-together scrapbook of a horrible day, but one that nonetheless makes the day come very alive.

'Stroszek' (1977)

I friend of mine recently recommended this - one of Werner Herzog's earlier films. He said it was probably his second favorite of all time after Wim Wenders' 'Paris, Texas'. This would get funnier every minute I was into 'Stroszek', as the similarities are unbelievable. Like Wenders, Herzog films 'Stroszek' with the eye of a foreigner in love with the new terrain. He takes us into trailer home living rooms, along the sides of country roads, and into truck stop diners. The film's pacing is so natural, so gradual; it feels invisible. The soundtrack is organic. It feels like any time something catches his eye, he puts the camera on it. Damn Germans.

Unlike 'Paris, Texas' though, 'Stroszek' is the story of three marginalized characters looking to leave an almost impossible life in Germany and start anew somewhere as far away as possible: Railroads Flats, Wisconsin. At first, everything about their new home is amazing. But they then quickly realize that surviving there is about as hard as anywhere. It's such a bleak tale set in such bleak environments that you can't help feeling a warm buzz over the comedy of it all. Most of this comes from Bruno, who doesn't want to do much more than drink and play music that it's hard to feel too sorry for him. He refuses to learn the language and assimilate to the environment, which makes his "conversations" with the locals all the funnier.

Like all great comedies, it's a tragedy of the highest order. The film's ending is as much of a downer as you could expect. But as hard as life is here, 'Stroszek' is so full of life it's hard not to enjoy watching every minute of it. 'Stroszek' is not as good as 'Paris, Texas', but it's good. It's damn good.

'Bloods And Crips: Made In America' (2009)

Stacy Peralta made his post skate-star name bringing his love of riding waves and concrete to the big screen. It seemed an obvious subject matter for him to make his leap into feature length documentaries. But he nevertheless succeeded admirably with two dizzying docs that were both great eye candy and endlessly entertaining storytelling. I was more than excited when hearing about his first real foray away from skating and surfing and oddly obsessed with hearing the history about the 40 year rival between LA's crips and bloods. Though Peralta is about the whitest man on earth, he is nonetheless LA to the bone; and the endless gang war is something he grew up near.

Peralta's stamps are all over 'Crips And Bloods...': computerized maps pinpointing the story's exact location, colorful and animated interviewees, pop music, slick editing, old photographs, archival footage, and a voice-over narration. The film is as much eye and ear candy as his previous works. Unfortunately though, it feels just as self-congratulatory. Peralta and Co. favor generalization over more personal stories. Gang members are all products over their society - the end. Unlike his previous efforts, 'Crips and Bloods...' falls victim to an unnecessarily spliced up timeline. The beginning of the film takes us back in the day, shoots us to the present, then right back again. Like the rest of the film, there is merit to it, but it doesn't quite work.

'The Thomas Crown Affair' (1968)

It's always funny watching a film that was probably very cutting-edge at the time of it's release. Norman Jewison's 'The Thomas Crown Affair' opens with a multi - screen bank heist that turns the frame into a grid of action that is constantly shape-shifting and dancing around. It's a gimmick that's still a lot of fun to look at, and Jewison was smart enough not to over-indulge in it. The rest of the movie's stylizing include sequences that come off like music videos, and maybe the most sexual-tension filled chess game ever. But mostly, the story plays out naturally and the bulk of the style comes in the form of Steve McQueen's three-piece suits and Faye Dunaway's swinging-'60's outfits.

McQueen plays a bajillionaire-investment banker who organizes multi-million bank heists from behind the scenes. Dunaway is the crackpot insurance investigator who gets called in when the Boston police are at their wits end. Her ego, and attraction to McQueen compel her to let him court her; all the while assuring him she will put him away. It's a fun plot, that would later go on to be the blueprint for dozens of 'Basic Instinct''s; but still a ridiculous one. The plot's central failure is the lack of suspense over McQueen's safety. Jewison is so hell-bent on keeping McQueen impossibly smooth that we never really feel like he's in any danger. This seems like it would be a masterful setup for a payoff that never really comes. All this suffers Faye Dunaway in a big way. For all her carefree, over-confidence; she never seems in control at all.

Like 'Bullit', which came out that same year, the film is so concerned with looking cool that the story and characters end up taking a back seat. Oh well, I guess classics are classics for all sorts of reasons.

'Lone Star' (1996)

I still remember my mother trying to push this on me. It had just come out on video and she was in love with it. I did get through maybe a third before I decided that nothing was "happening" and gave up. At some point in the last ten years, I gave it a second visit and decided that it was pretty good. But revisiting it recently has made me think that maybe my mother DOES have something to offer (just kidding, mom).

The setting is a small, Texas border town where there is still serious unrest between the white, hispanic, and black populations. Sheriff Sam Deeds is sick of living in the shadow of his father, who is still considered the greatest sheriff ever to govern Rio County. No matter where Sam goes, he is reminded of how Buddy Deeds made that town a better place. But Sam could never forgive the things his father took from him, and is now in a peculiar position when he finds the remains of his father's long-since disappeared predecessor in a nearby desert. The film treats the town as one haunted by it's own memories. John Sayles plays out the flashbacks with a real feel for good, old fashioned storytelling. As Sam interrogates the surviving locals, the camera pans over to reveal the story being told played out. The scenes in which Kris Kristofferson's brutal Sheriff Wade terrorizes the town in 1957 are all excellent.

But this is not so much a crime story as it is a story about race, changing times, and forbidden love; and Sayles weaves it all together with a real feel for the town and a great taste for Mexican culture. 'Lone Star' boasts an early lead performance by Chris Cooper, who brings a natural air non-Hollywood charisma that would finally get the attention it deserved a few years later. Matthew McConaughey scores as Buddy Deeds' no nonsense deputy in the little screen time he has. But you could say that about every actor who brings this quiet masterpiece to life.

'The Tenant' (1976)

Its no surprise that this psychological thriller from Roman Polanski didn't become a classic in the way his previous films had - it's way too weird. I know, what could be weirder than 'Repulsion' or 'Rosemary's Baby'? Well, for starters, this film about a timid, single man's descent into madness takes place in a Paris where everybody, except Polanski, is American. Though not as memorable as his swan songs, it shares a lot of their themes. Like 'Repulsion', 'The Tenant' is a film about the deterioration of the mind that is played out in a confined space. Like 'Rosemary's Baby', ordinary people are treated as modern day monsters and the protagonist becomes an increasingly unreliable narrator as the film goes on. Like all Polanski films, there's just an over-arching sense that something isn't right.
Polanski moves into a flat where a young woman just took her own life in a building where everybody demands absolute silence. The slightest movement after hours is met with knocking on the walls and the other tenants petition to have louder neighbors removed. Everyone stares out their windows late at night, and there are random acts of vandalism. Strange indeed. And it only gets stranger. Polanski made his mark making films that all lead to some big, sinister conclusion. This one may be his most outrageous.

'Ghost Town' (2008)
David Koepp's 'Ghost Town' is just a liiiiiittle too reminiscent of 'Ghost', another film where ghosts follow around the bumbling living around with hopes of solving their unfinished business. But the film mostly avoids 'Ghost's Righteous Brothers-soaked, overwrought romance and finds itself way more in the company of 'Heaven Can Wait', where death is treated as an obnoxious setback that takes way more work than our protagonist is really willing to give. Here, it's Ricky Gervais's misanthropic dentist, who's favorite thing about his job is that 90% of the people he comes into contact with have cotton stuffed into their mouths. He is so tightly wound, in fact, that he undergoes a colonoscopy, during which some insisted-upon anesthesia stops his heart. After he's unknowingly brought back to life, he can see and hear the dead all around him. Tuxedo-clad, Blackberry clutching Greg Kinnear is the only of dozens of ghosts that convinces Gervais to help him by promising him that he will keep the competition at bay. His request: break up his widow's engagement.
When it is funny, the comedy is somewhere between mockumentary-style (probably due in no small part to Gervais's background) and sitcom. Gervais, once famous for playing the most annoying person on earth, does well here as the most annoyed - and the most despicable. Seeking advice, he asks his Hindi-American co-worker, "So, you're from a scary country, aren't you?" Kristen Wiig, drops in as a surgeon and makes the most with her brief screen time, much in the way she did in 'Knocked Up'. Like any movie shot in New York, there's lots of proud shots of skyscrapers and sidewalks, but the real view is Tea Leoni's smile-starved widow. She's so...nevermind. Sorry. For a story about letting people into our lives and letting them go once they die, this is a pretty breezy ride.

'Pootie Tang' (2001)
At this point, "Straight to Video" should be a legitimate genre in its own right. Looking at the cover of 'Pootie Tang', one could argue that it was tailor-made for the video store. Happily, I'd heard enough buzz to finally dig through the shelves and open my ears to the genius dialect of 'Pootie Tang', one quarter english, three quarters ghetto-fied jiberish. The movie opens with the superstar Pootie being interviewed by Bob Costas (surprisingly funny as himself). He expresses his gratitude with "Sepatown", and attributes his success to having his "dillies on a pepa tane". The movie is then introduced by Costas as a clip of Pootie's forthcoming blockbuster, "Sine Your Pity On The Runny Kine".
The movie's "straight to video"-ness is due to its homage to the exploitation flicks of the '70's. Pootie's invincibility comes from a magic belt given to him by his late father, with which he whups lots of asses in a few Grindhouse-style fight scenes. Pootie's larger than life image is targeted by gangsters and white, corporate heads who are determined to get Pootie's wholesome name on their unwholesome products. Half the movie is narrated by an unneeded Biggie Shortie, a sort-of omniscient hooker who's waited for Pootie to marry her his whole life. The other half by J.B. Smoove, who's voice-over is pretty much unnecessary and feels designed for an audience with pretty serious A.D.D.
'Pootie Tang' seems to be saying something about corporate America's exploitation of artists' virtues and the notion that those who say less are often respected more. But the only real treat here is watching Lance Crouthers' as Pootie. He owns the rock star clothes and has the dialect down to a science. Some actors are just feel born to play characters that come their way. This is one of them.





'Hamlet 2' (2008)
There's just something about Steve Coogan, something really funny. For all his comic chops, it makes one wonder if he even realizes how funny he is. His bumbling, limey charm is reminiscent of Hugh Grant, if Hugh Grant were less attractive and suffering from stoner paranoia. Coogan is nothing short of the ideal lead in Andrew Fleming's 'Hamlet 2'; an enjoyable jab at actors, high school musicals, "inspirational" high school dramas, and Tucson, Arizona.
The film opens, brilliantly, with Coogan reciting a voice-over narration on the virtues of the actor; juxtaposed with clips from his more humiliating acting jobs (including a commercial for a herpes suppressant). Coogan plays Dana, the definitive new-age theater teacher. He roller-skates to work to save on fuel costs, sports shoulder-length long hair, and wears hippie robes; minus underwear with the hopes that he can soon procreate. Dana's two-student drama class soon explodes as school budget cuts force the troubled kids into his class. These cuts soon force Dana to cancel his class and productions of popular Hollywood movies ('Erin Brockovich' for one). Inspired by his former nemesis, the freshman theater critic for the school paper, he sets out to put on his one original opus, Hamlet 2: a mismatched epic involving a sexy Jesus, a time machine, and characters from the original Shakespearian play (who all died at the end of it). Forced off of school property from the short sighted Principal Rocker (a weary and missed Marshall Bell), the class sets up their masterpiece at an abandoned warehouse where the community of Tucson eagerly awaits to praise or protest. Dana's trials extend home as well, where his wife can't conceive and money problems force them to take in a roommate in the form of a thoughtless (and finally funny) David Arquette. This play could be his only hope.
Co-written by Pam Brady, the film has the same resentful satire she must have brought to or taken from 'South Park' and 'Team America: World Police'. Tucson, Arizona is painted as hell on earth, and all the school thugs are Latino. The "white teacher civilizing and changing minority students" feels like a swipe at movies like 'Dangerous Minds' (which is even referenced at one point) and the jab at the short-sighted community's response to the play feels like an homage to 'Footloose'. The '80's and '90's also step into the movie in the form of Elizabeth Shue, who has a cameo as herself (and Dana's favorite actress of all time) retired from acting and now a nurse in Tucson. Catherine Keener again proves she could be the coolest lady on Earth as Dana's hilariously bitter wife (watch for the scene where she berates Dana and Tucson, drunk on over-sized margaritas at what looks like a T.G.I. Fridays - VERY Arizona). But the real comedy here is watching Coogan's Dana act like someone who deserves better. His-self absorbed, high school arts teacher is reminiscent of Paul Dinello's Geoffery Jellineck in 'Strangers With Candy'. And 'Hamlet 2' is an equally unforgiving setting for a hilariously botched shot at redemption.

'Gone Baby Gone' (2007)
Ben Affleck's debut in the director's chair is almost as good as it is surprising. He rarely stars in genuinely good films and has spent his post 'Good Will Hunting' glory being famous for being famous. With 'Gone Baby Gone', he may be joining Sofia Coppola in the redemption club. Here he adapts Dennis Lehane's novel in his native Boston and wisely points the camera at the porches, hard-ass locals, and dive bars to bring the story alive. Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan play a couple who's small potatoes detective business is hired to investigate the disappearance of a local girl. They team up with two local cops and use Affleck's neighborhood connections to find the trail; which constantly unravels more every time we think it's finally resolved itself. It's a refreshing alternative to the usual detective story and boasts an ending as quiet as it is big and thoughtful.
Affleck succeeds totally at knowing how to tell a story with effective camerawork and seamless pacing. The few moments of action are dizzying while the rest of the film makes us feel quietly seated alongside the characters. In the end though, 'Gone Baby Gone' is still a good film with a lot of bad movie moves. There's unnecessary flashbacks to help over-explain the sequence of events and a score that's rarely more than "movie music"; but it's great to see Affleck become a filmmaker who knows how to bring a terrific story alive and use a phenomenal cast well. Good to see John Ashton again.

'The Son' (2002)
Quivering strings, dark hallways, and flashy cuts are so synonymous with suspense they are quick to come off as redundant or cliched. Its a relief then to see a film that breaks down all these conventions and keeps the viewer riveted with no non-diagetic music, limited editing, and almost no obvious sense of lighting. 'The Son' opens with Olivier, a carpentry instructor who is disturbed by the new boy who is trying to enroll in his class. After initially turning him down, he lets him join the class; after which we slowly realize that he is the boy resopnsible for his son's death. It takes almost all of the duration of the movie to find out what happened to his son, but watching the two bond over carpentry is excruciating as we don't know what Olivier is going to do to him.
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne use the camera masterfully. The frame is always so tightly centered on the characters that we never get a comfortable sense of their surroundings. The result is a claustrophobia that heightens the overall uncertainty that we get from Olivier. It also feels like at least half of Olivier's close-ups are centered on the back of his head, which never allows us to see what's on his already deadpan face. There's so much to cinematic elements that are fun to get absorbed in; but when their all removed you feel as if you're right there in the room with the characters - and you want to get the fuck out! See also the Dardenne brothers' 'L'Enfant'.

'Miracle Mile' (1989)
A perfect example of a cult movie if you ask me. I'll never understand how this managed to slip through my fingers all these years. Anthony Edwards is the everyman who happens to walk by a ringing pay phone outside a diner in the early hours of an LA morning. On the other end is a panic-stricken man calling the wrong number in an attempt to warn his father of an impending nuclear war. Gun shots and an ominous second voice telling him to "forget everything he just heard" and "go back to sleep" weaken his skepticism, as does a coffee shop patron who quickly discovers her connections to such information are all headed to the deep south pole.
What follows is a pretty smart and compulsively watchable unfolding of real time paranoia and sudden survival desperation. The film distinguishes itself with a dream-like feel that's created by another classic Tangerine Dream score, a strangely rich supporting cast, and the overall ghost town feel of LA in the early morning hours. The giant rotating clock outside the diner, the empty ruins of the department store, and the sharply-lit fitness center are two strong images to take away.
Its a real treat to spend the film wondering if the whole thing is a sort of hoax or false alarm, but maybe even more so to watch a sparsely cast film slowly evolve into a dense carnival of human paranoia as the city explodes into terrible chaos. Though its a wonder why Anthony Edwards was ever cast as a leading man (though he's fantastic in last year's 'Zodiac'); the film is a totally engaging, 90 minute fable about the nature of destiny, panic, and paranoia.

'Malice' (1993)
Though Gary's love for Alec Baldwin in 'Team America: World Police' was a welcome satire, I couldn't help but feel a little dissed myself. As I get older, I fall more and more in love with that man's oily charm and gravelly voice each time I see him. This was all solidified as I discovered '30 Rock', a show which he makes easily the funniest on network TV. Since then, I've been going through his back catalogue to see the movies that I may have missed growing up. 'Malice' put his deep voice and charming smirks to work as Dr. Jed Hill (my god), whose arrogance insinuates him into the lives of a benevolent, small-town couple (much like Baldwin and Geena Davis in 'Beetlejuice'). A medical emergency tears everyone's lives apart and they slowly become unraveled. From here, the plot keeps thickening and thickening, and we're not sure who's who.
Though we are all sure how the film will end, the plot does keep us engrossed. The scene in which Bill Pullman completely turns the tables on Nicole Kidman is especially satisfying (as it always is - with the exception of 'Michael Clayton'). But the overall feel can't help coming off a little too soap opera. Baldwin's doctor is a little too much like his Saturday Night Live caricatures, though his 'god complex' speech does feel right on. But the worst performance award goes to Bebe Neuwirth's detective. Her east-coast, tough girl accent is so exaggerated and out of place, it feels as if she wandered over from a neighboring production of 'West Side Story'. Putting salt on the wounds is Jerry Goldsmith, who's cheeseball scores must be responsible for squandering every other '90's thriller with potential. If you never got around to finding Nicole Kidman hot, this will easily take care of that for you.

'30 Days Of Night' (2007)
Brilliant premise for a movie: Barrow, Alaska, a town infamous for losing sunlight for 30 days in the winters, is discovered by a band of vampires. What follows is a feeding frenzy made all the more bloody by the contrast of the blood with the white of the snow. '30 Days Of Night' falls victim to overly-theatrical vampires, a romantic subplot, and 29 year-old Josh Hartnett cast as the town sheriff. Still fun as hell to watch, the best suspense is left to the end when the remaining townspeople are forced to hideout where they can for the remainder of the month. Great cameo by Ben Foster.

'Running With Scissors (2006)'
The last time I saw Annette Bening she convinced me that she's maybe the best actress of her generation. That was almost a decade ago with her desperately hilarious performance in 'American Beauty'. In 'Running With Scissors', she again plays the mother on the verge of insanity. This time however, she's not trying to hide her selfishness or maintain a cool facade. Bening plays Deirdre Burroughs with the same kind of desperation that's too hilarious to be easily painted black. Even as her insanity progresses, she keeps insisting that she's destined to become a famous poet. Her only son Augusten is no match for her narcissism and it's heartbreaking to watch him try to be the perfect son as she slowly destroys his life.
The insanity really begins as Deirdre sends Augusten to live with her psychiatrist Dr. Finch, played with the usual mastery by Brian Cox. Finch eventually drugs Deirdre into oblivion and insinuates himself into her life; financially, emotionally, and sexually. The Finch home is a '70's commune from hell where every child is a mess unto themselves, the mother is almost completely ignored, and the Christmas tree never comes down. Augusten is hilariously forced to call the Finch house home, where Dr. Finch rules by credos like "Because I'm the patriarch. And when I say "jump", you jump goddamn it"! Like DeNiro in 'This Boy's Life', Cox is too funny to make Dr. Finch purely evil. But unlike DeNiro, he's charming and manipulative enough to help us understand how he could make all these people look up to him.
'Running With Scissors' is blessed with amazing performances. Joseph Cross manages to center the film as Augusten (the author of the memoir that the film was based on). An unrecognizable Joseph Fiennes blends humor with horror as the volatile object of Augusten's teenage affection. And Jill Clayburgh breaks your heart as the mother of the Finch family and the oldest victim of Dr. Finch's manipulations. The cheeky, 70's pop music score may overkill a little, but you'll still feel the pain and hope of a nightmarish and hilarious childhood.

'The Day Of The Jackal' (1973)
Everybody loves a little cat-and-mouse, action suspense. But it never feels more rewarding than when it's genuinely smart, flawlessly paced, and still feels gripping after 35 years. Released in 1973, the film parallels the tireless work of an assassin hired to murder French president Charles DeGaulle and the detective hired to stop him. Almost two and a half hours long, the film never feels redundant. Director Fred Zinnemann combines the documentary-style realism of French-New-Wave, with the sort of epic scope that comes with political thrillers. The investigative work and identity theft are given very detailed attention that constantly raises the stakes and the score is low-key and patient enough not to detract us from it.
The film is very reminiscent of the "Bourne' series. The focus on the hunters and the hunted feel evenly split and the man being hunted feels genuinely dangerous enough to need the highest resources of intelligence to get him. This is due in no small part to Edward Fox's steely performance. His 'Jackal' is a jack of all trades and is too charming and dapper to be seen as a sociopath. He's everyday-looking enough to not be noticed but is attractive enough to be seductive when he needs to disappear for an evening.
All this isn't to say that 'The Day Of The Jackal' isn't a little dated. The government's "surveillance" footage is pretty hilarious and the ending wrap up feels like the editing team just wanted to get the fuck out of there. But when you feel like the ending of a two-and-a-half hour movie is a little rushed, that usually means you're watching a great movie.

'Thunderbolt And Lightfoot' (1974)
Michael Cimino is mostly remembered as a one-hit-wonder after his sprawling epic, 'Heaven's Gate', failed to out-epic his 1978 swan song, 'The Deer Hunter'. Afterwards, Cimino quickly fell into obscurity and is remembered for little other than 'The Deer Hunter'. This is a shame considering his directorial debut, 'Thunderbolt And Lightfoot', is essential viewing of the 1970's. Clint Eastwood steps down from his iconic, Hollywood throne here and plays a wayward thief who inadvertently befriends a wild, but hopelessly sweet young drifter (A very young Jeff Bridges). Together they reassemble Eastwood's old crew to pull off the same caper that failed them once before.
The film feels like a valentine to the idealism of the era: easygoing criminals living outside of society among the beautiful Montana country. The relationship between the hardened, middle-aged Eastwood and the reckless, carefree young Bridges comes off like a rare and all-too-short bridge between generations. In one particularly nice scene, Eastwood awkwardly offers Bridges his watch as a token of appreciation. To this, Bridges replies, "I don't want your watch, man. I want your friendship. God damn it, I like you, that's all. We're good together." Eastwood replies, "Kid, your ten years too late". They do end up being good together, until the bitter end.
This may sound like your typical road movie/crime caper, but Cimino distinguishes himself nicely. The opening scene, the hillbilly with the trunk-full of rabbits, and the film's finale are three sequences that feel particularly unique. But even without them, this is still one of the funniest, most interseting directorial debuts you'll see.

There Will Be Blood

'There Will Be Blood' opens with a shot of a trio of desert mountains set to a horrific barrage a nightmarish strings. Given the film's title and the sense of feverish anticipation regarding the director, star and composer; it suits the film well. 'There Will Be Blood' tells the tale of a battle for oil-rich land around the outset of the 20th century. As with his last opus, 'Magnolia', director Paul Thomas Anderson again has the Altman-esque feel for the epic. He shoots it like an epic, favors people over plots, and puts only the best actors in front of us.
Daniel Day Lewis plays the oil barron, Daniel Longview, with the kind of conviction and attention to detail that makes him maybe the greatest actor of his generation. He's a violent misanthrope with the same kind of classic, American wasp feel that made his work in 'Gangs Of New York' so fresh and hypnotic. His voice is strong, pronounced, and has an air of authority that still never feels exaggerated (as so often happens with actors using dialects foreign to their own). Longview is the classic antihero: alcoholic, cruel, selfish, struggles with feelings for his son, and cares about little else other than bringing oil up from the ground. In spite of his violence and cruelty, Lewis manages to make Longview endlessly watchable and, at times, hilariously funny. The scene in which he puts himself through a religious exorcism in order to secure rights to dig on a religious man's property manages to come off as hilarious in spite of the sea of unfunny emotions all over his face.
Paul Dano, who's been the indie 'it' boy as of late, really steps up here as the over-zealous young preacher whose religious fanaticism becomes at odds with Longview's cold logic. His absurdly round face and quivering rage make for a scarily convincing performance. Its hard enough for any actor to stand up to Lewis, let alone such a young one. But Dano's deadpan delivery and unnerving gaze succeed at driving Longview crazy. Anderson wisely rounds out the rest of the cast with unknowns, which makes it easier for us to go out into the desert a hundred years ago. It may not be the most hospitable world to spend over two hours in, but with such talent at the helm, you can't take your eyes off it.

King Of California

It's nice to see a film not take itself too seriously; especially when there is so much dramatic potential. In 'King Of California', Charlie is released from a mental hospital and placed in the care of his teenage daughter, Miranda, who has had to drop out of school to support herself at the local McDonalds. For Miranda, its always been this way. Charlie has been in and out of hospitals and her mom has long since spilt. Now that Charlie is out, he's no where near as concerned with what she wants as he is with his latest adventure: finding a long lost Spanish treasure underneath their ever-developing California neighborhood. Being abandoned time and time again has made Miranda wise beyond her years, and her resentment seems destined to blow up in his face.

Fortunately, Charlie is just too charismatic and director Mike Cahill wants us to have fun; which we do. Whenever Miranda is at the end of her rope, staring at Costco's dishwashers to help clean up after Charlie while he pinpoints the exact location of the alleged treasure underneath the children's section, the next scene just keeps the sense of adventure rolling. The soundtrack explodes with Spanish trumpets and whistling, and the (inevitable) montages show them more as determined treasure-seekers than estranged father and daughter. This is made much easier by the two leads. As Charlie, Michael Douglas here proves that he can do anything. He's made a career playing classic leading men and cold millionaires. But not since maybe 'Falling Down' has he made such a rock bottom character so endlessly watchable. His gnarly beard and hoodie fit him as nicely as his childlike determination and musings on the world around him. Evan Rachel Wood seemed destined to play Miranda. Like Miranda, Wood has a talent and wisdom that far exceeds her years. As good as she is, it feels as if she's just warming up to go on to be the greatest actress of her generation.