Last year, between the two of us, we watched an average of 317 movies.
This year our goal is to top that by watching at least one a day.
And as an extra special torture, we've decided to write about all of them.

20 February 2008

We Own the Night, dir. James Gray (2007)

NIKKI says:
What the hell happened? It was like I started out watching a movie about brothers and loyalties and drugs in 1980s New York and then suddenly I found myself in the middle of some strange testimonial to the goodness of cops.

I just don't know what to think of this. The first third of the film was interesting and reasonably engrossing, and then suddenly Joaquin becomes a cop, and it's all -- yes, you can help us with this case and just join the academy later. What? Is that really how it happens, that the son of a decorated officer can simply take and exam and join the force in the middle of a case he is peripherally related to? Far-fetched? Then again, it was the '80s.

In the end, I really felt very little for these characters. I understand what I was supposed to feel -- brothers trapped by family loyalty and their chosen directions in life. Still, I find it very hard to believe that the Russian mafia men hadn't researched Joaquin's character enough to find out who his family was -- he didn't appear to be outwardly hiding anything. Convoluted, maybe? That might be the pervading feeling here.

I did enjoy, however, the relationship between Joaquin and Eva Mendes -- I thought they were developed well, and were quite believable. Still, that wasn't enough to keep me interested. Cardboard characters, typical plot turns (the mafioso father figure turns on Joaquin just as his actual father takes a hit), a horribly flawed ending. It's been compared to The Departed, but it comes nowhere close.

2/5

There Will Be Blood, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)

NIKKI says:
I know there was a good movie in there somewhere, something stunning and grand, but -- similar to my first viewing of Magnoila -- I didn'y wholly see it.

What I did see, though, was an engrossing story of a man driven by his deepest personal flaws -- the need to be the best, the richest, to outdo everyone and everything. The challenges that wear down his bravado are interesting, compelling, and sometimes devastating to witness (the revelation that Henry is not who he says he is, for instance). The conflict between Plainview and the young preacher, Eli Sunday, is equally compelling. The scenes here that features just the two of them are great. There are so many great moments here, but I don't know that they piece together as well as I wanted them to.

I thought the time shifts were often too abrupt, and much, as far as character motivations and repercussions of certain events, were overlooked or sidestepped. Still, it was a fascinating watch, especially Daniel Day-Lewis, psychotically brilliant as always. It was interesting, too, to see the continued evolution of Paul Thomas Anderson. The direction and cinematography here were both good.

I might need to watch this a few more times, headphones on, face to the TV screen -- I might come to idolize it as with Magnolia.

3/5