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There Will Be Blood (Review) Holy crap. If you have not gone to see There Will Be Blood in the theatre yet, stop reading. Grab your coat, go to a movie theatre, buy your pack of Junior Mints, sit down, and take the cheapest Master Class in acting, writing, and directing you will likely ever find. more >>> |
Don't Be A Theatrical Tool (Advice) One of the easiest ways to get an acting job in this town is to have someone recommend you for the part. A person's word goes a long, long way around here, but that's a street that runs both ways. more >>> |
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No Country For Old Men
One of the perks of being in the Screen Actors Guild is that, on occasion, the studios will send members free copies of the movies they have up for SAG awards. It's their way of greasing the wheels a bit to get the nod. It's not really payola, but you can smell it if you tilt your head the right way. Whatever their rationale for sending out copies, I just received my copy of No Country For Old Men. Thank you, Paramount Vantage.
No Country For Old Men is the second best movie I've seen this year, There Will Be Blood (also a Paramount Vantage release) being the best. But man, it's by a hair. A split hair. I'm actually kind of looking forward to reviewing a movie that I don't like, only because I'm afraid I'm going to start sounding like a cheerleader for the film industry as a whole. Shitting on a film will have to wait, however, since this movie is a gem.
The Brothers Coen have once again knocked a film out of the park based almost entirely on pitch-perfect casting. They're great directors, they choose great stories, and the visual character of their movies is always somehow subtle and powerful at the same time, but above it all... honey-child!, those motherfuckers can cast them some actors!
Seriously... they have a talent for picking skilled, resumed actors who are drifting just outside of the public eye and giving them star turns. Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Kelly MacDonald. Not exactly names that leap to mind when you're thinking of movie stars or great actors. But they've been around. And I'm certainly not saying that they're not great actors. I mean that their status as such has, until now, flown under the radar.
Let me put it to you this way. If you get cast in a Coen Brothers film in a lead or supporting role, there's a fair chance that you can say that you've made it. It must be like the last generation catching a role in a Coppola or Scorsese or Linklater film. Between the Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Soderbergh (and to a lesser extent Quentin Tarantino), we have our generation's stable of ridiculously talented directors.
Well. I've managed to get through another review without really talking about the movie. But what the hell. You want a book report, go somewhere else. Or go to the movie theatre where, for the time being, you can still see No Country For Old Men. Go bathe in it. It's the only movie about murder that will leave you with a wistful smile on your face.
P.S. If you like this movie, go buy a copy of Cormac McCarthy's
book, The Road
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