Earlier this year I decided to read No Country for Old Men. Boy was I glad I did too. I’ve always loved Cormac McCarthy’s writing but this book was one of the most visual books I’ve ever read. By that I mean that I had really visualized the setting, and characters in my mind while I read it… moreso than usual. Though excited to learn that the Coen brothers had turned it into a movie, I was a little worried that their visuals would be so different from the ones I had already concocted that I wouldn’t actually enjoy it.
I can put that worry to rest. The Coens somehow matched the movie I had in my head. Not only that, but they cast the movie with near perfection. Even “Chigurh” (played by Javier Bardem) was brilliant despite the character being sparsely detailed (on purpose) in the book. The movie is very atmospheric, but not boring. It perhaps took a little bit away from the character of the Sheriff (played perfectly by Tommy Lee Jones) by not having him narrate the way he does in parts of the book – but that is real nitpicking. What I should say is that they simply nailed it.
But of course they did – these are the guys who made The Big Lebowski. They are movie gods.
I was a big fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000 – and I do so miss it. Its not quite the same watching them over again so I don’t have a lot of interest in renting the DVDs for the show. However, the guys who used to do MST3K now have a new deal going that is very much like the old show.
Rifftrax is a service from Mike Nelson where you can purchase and download an mp3 of the guys making comments about current and popular movies. You simply play it alongside the movie – and laugh. The syncing is all by them telling you when to hit play and then having a voice (“disembaudio”) speak a line from the movie every once in a while to let you know if its out. It works surprisingly well actually.
Last night we tried one out and had a good time with it. We listened to the rifftrax for the Matrix and the Keanu jokes were fast and furious. Sure, its a pay service, but its pretty dang cheap so no biggie (and DRM-free). The only drawback is that now I’m going to have to fill my Netflix queue with a bunch of lame-ass movies just to laugh at – what will happen to my Netflix suggestions I wonder?
The other night we watched Jean-Pierre Melville’s The Army of Shadows (L’Armée des Ombres) and its one of those movies that has been sitting with me since it ended. This movie was made back in 1969 but wasn’t released here in the States until last year. For those critics brave enough to include a 1969 movie in their 2006 year-end lists (it was a theatrical release), it was the ranked their number 1 or number 2 movie last year.
There isn’t much more to say about it besides that it’s brilliant. It is about the French Resistance in WWII but its more about being human. Its definitely not an American action flick (as so many WWII films are) its simply art and history. Beautiful.
