Year in Reviews 2012: Movie Edition - Part Two

Blooger's Note:  Don't forget to check out Part One if you haven't already.

Last time we took at quick look at Lincoln, The Shootist, Army of Crime, Four Christmases, and The Ox-Bow Incident.  Let's dive into part two.  Once again, these are in no particular order.

Tree of Life (2011 - Terrence Malick) - About a month ago I wrote up a full blown review of Tree of Life on my phone, only to have it inexplicably erased for reasons that are still not entirely clear to me.  I have no idea what life lessons Malick was trying to convey in Tree of Life, but he is indirectly responsible for teaching me one valuable lesson:  don't compose posts on your phone unless you are prepared to save every two minutes.  As the movie actually goes, if you've seen a Terrence Malick movie before you know what you're going to get, more or less.  If you haven't here's what you're going to get:  a non-linear, amorphous "plot", lots of shots of the sun and leaves and hands running through tall grass, and possibly dinosaurs.  The movie is "about" the life and times of a 1950's family in Waco, Texas.  Growing up and domineering fathers (Brad Pitt), and childhood and loss and Sean Penn wandering around looking like he's got IBS and...dinosaurs.  It's not for everybody, but it's worth seeing if for nothing else then its incredible visual beauty.  Just don't expect to have any idea of what's going on for at least the first hour.  Then the dinosaurs show up.

The Old Man and the Sea (1958 - John Sturges) - A straight forward visual retelling of Ernest Hemmingway's famous novella.  Spencer Tracy stars as the Old Man.  Not really much else to say about it.  Considering the vast majority of the movie is the Old Man sitting alone in a boat thinking to himself, Tracy does a good enough job of keeping you interested, but the movie doesn't really add anything to the story and the book is, of course, much better.

Gone with the Wind (1939 - Victor Fleming) - I had never seen Gone with the Wind before, but as an amateur film buff had always wanted to.  However, it's quite a commitment at 238 minutes.  I could watch a few other movies I'd also like to see in that same time frame.  But, when you're laid up on the couch with the flu you've got nothing but time on your hands.  Such was the case this past Thanksgiving weekend.  Like a lot of classic movies, it's one I'm glad I saw and can certainly appreciate it's achievements, but it's not a movie I see myself watching again for a very long time.  It's romantic celebration of the Old South seems juuuuust a touch out of step with today's sensibilities.  Slavery is actually mentioned very little, which might seem odd for a movie set in and around the Civil War.  And though it isn't really meant to be about slavery, it is about the antebellum South and to sort of whitewash the peculiar institution almost completely out of the picture, some may find of-putting.  I didn't, only because it should be viewed as a product of it's time (which is not the same as saying the attitudes of that time are ok just because they were the attitudes of that time, if that makes any sense at all).  I imagine a sort of parallel study of slavery as seen through the history of film making with Gone with the Wind and modern films such as, oh I don't know,say, Django Unchained, would be pretty interesting.  Again, worth seeing for it's place in movie history, and because it is a good movie, but also because you'll recognize a lot of well known lines that have been repeated, copied, and spoofed that you never knew originated from the mouths of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.

The Dust Bowl (2012 - Ken Burns) - As a history buff, I'm a huge Ken Burns fan.  His latest offering chronicles the experiences of those who lived in a few small towns in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, right in the heart of the dust bowl during the Depression.  If you're unfamiliar with what the dust bowl was, see this movie.  But in a nutshell, for a good part of the 1930's the Great Plains were struck by an ecological catastrophe, caused both by man and by nature.  The combination of drought and over exuberant plowing, left the land barren and windswept.  Giant dust storms became the norm, blowing mountainous clouds of dirt into the air and causing "black blizzards."  You know in dry, dusty areas when you get those nasty black boogers in your nose?  Imagine having that experience for half a decade or so.  In typical Ken Burns style, The Dust Bowl comes to life through photographs, interviews with the regular folks who survived it, and letters and correspondence from those who have since passed away.  Another edutaining look at American history from Mr. Burns.  This Mr. Burns, not this one.

Red Tails (2012 - Anthony Hemmingway) - I gave this plane wreck a full scale review several months ago.  It still makes me angry that the Tuskegee Airmen might not ever get the film treatment their story deserves thanks to this debacle.  Sigh.

***TRAILER REDACTED***

Stay tuned for Part Three.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Author's Note:  This is a review I wrote back in 2008 for my old personal blog, with a few minor modifications.  I present it here for your edification.

I’ve really been into westerns lately.  My lastest viewing is the recently released The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.  This movie is quite a contrast from 3:10 to Yuma.  It’s a much slower pace than 3:10 and while that movie was almost as much a psychological thriller as action movie, TAoJJbtCRF takes the psychological element to another level.  There are some thrilling scenes and some action, but at it’s heart it’s a character study of two pretty fascinating individuals.

The first is the famed gunslinger Jesse James played by Brad Pitt, who you may recognize from the Ocean’s ## movies and countless grocery store tabloid magazine covers.  Pitt plays James as a dangerous man living on the frayed edges of sanity.  In a few scenes he lets out a freaky laugh I don’t even know quite how to describe.  It’s not exactly manical, but it’s very effective in conveying James’ seemingly unstable grasp on self-restraint.  The glory days of the Frank and Jesse James gang are in the past and Jesse is looking for one last score before retiring into full time family life with his wife and two children.  Unfortunately, most of his former conspirers are either in prison or dead, some by his own suspicious hand, and his only resort is to bring along second string outlaws Charlie Ford and his brother Robert.  A decision that would prove fateful.

Robert Ford is played by Casey Affleck in an Oscar nominated performance that makes his older brother look like a hack.  Bob Ford was only twenty when he and his older brother hooked up with the James gang.  For most of his life he’d idolized Jesse James, reading stories of his exploits in dime novels and newspapers.  He knew just about everything there was to know about Jesse James, to the point of obsession.  His other great passion was his pursuit of personal glory and recognition.  He tells Frank James that he honestly believes he’s destined for great things…despite the fact that he has no special talents or abilities.  Affleck hit the role out of the park.  His Robert Ford is a cross between childlike admiration of James and a burning desire to be known, even if the path to notoriety is to cross his idol.

Through a series of interconnected events, the Ford brothers become involved in a murder that they fear will draw James’ wrath should he discover their involvement.  Knowing their days may be numbered they cut a deal with the authorities.  Whether they can pull it off is another matter.  The scenes surrounding the title event are excruciatingly tense and lend themselves to much post-viewing discussion.

**POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING**

If you aren’t familiar with the events of Jesse James’ death and would rather learn of them from the movie, don’t read this next section.

Why did Jesse take off his guns?  Was he really trying to set the Ford boys’ minds at ease after reading about the arrest and confession, a confession that could connect them with the aforementioned James-ire-inducing murder, of Dick Liddle in the newspaper, as Bob claimed?  Did he really not suspect that Bob and Charlie intended to kill him?  And if he did know, why didn’t he beat them to the punch?  Was it really because he wouldn’t kill them in the presence of his family?  Or was he a man at the end of his own rope, not willing or able to continue his increasingly paranoid life on the run?  Maybe he just wanted out?  The movie, and history, doesn’t always answer these questions clearly.

**END OF SPOILER**

Besides Affleck and Pitt, the rest of the acting is phenomenal.  Sam Shepard left me wanting more of his Frank James and Sam Rockwell is great as Robert Ford’s older brother Charlie.  It’s a pretty slow moving movie and it is long, but I never found myself getting bored, thanks in large part to the stunning photography of Roger Deakins.  Some have criticized it for being a bit self-indulgent at times, but it was such nice looking self-indulgence I guess I didn’t notice or care.  The soundtrack is simple and haunting and adds weight to every scene.  All-in-all a very worthwhile movie, for its cinematic qualities and the fascinating questions it raises about America’s foremost outlaw.  Here’s a trailer: