Category Archives: DO NOT MISS

2007, DO NOT MISS, Violent, Western

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) agrees to transport the captured outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) to the nearest town with a rail station, where they’ll wait for a train to court in Yuma. Holed up in the hotel near the station, Wade wreaks psychological havoc on Evans, while Wade’s henchmen plan their next move. Director James Mangold’s suspense-filled Western is a remake of the 1957 classic starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin.

This western is quite possibly the best western, and perhaps one of the best films, I have ever seen.

Caution: This movie is violent, of course, because it is a WESTERN!

Russell Crowe and Christian Bale do wonderful jobs. But the real treat is Ben Foster playing a homicidal psychopath. The plot twists are clever. I had to suspend disbelief in the last section (in the final town) and would be interested if you felt the same. However, I laughed out loud at the last 5 seconds of the film, which consisted of one of the most surprising and perfect endings I have ever seen.

DON’T MISS THIS ONE!!!!!

2007, Animated, DO NOT MISS, Feel Good For All

Ratatouille (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Brad Bird (The Incredibles) co-directs this Oscar-winning Pixar offering, following the antics of a passionate rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who yearns for a sip of the good life. Growing up beneath a five-star Parisian restaurant owned by a famous chef (Brad Garrett), Remy inherits a taste for fine food. But his culinary ambitions only anger his practical father, who wishes his son could just eat garbage like everyone else.

This Disney film, “Ratatouille”, is just not your mother’s Disney.
Times have changed. I suppose it’s OK for children,
but it is really an adult film. What child cares about
the intricacies of cuisine ? How do you explain to
a youngster why the only female cook in the restaurant
take a can of mace from her handbag when the cook’s
illegitimate son comes on to her ? (“Mommy, what’s in
that can ?”) And to find the real heir to the restaurant
the lawyer uses a DNA search. (“Mommy, what’s DNA ?”)

For me the film started out a bit slow, but stick with it.
The ending is a bit maudlin, but after all, IT’S DISNEY!

The only objections I have to the film are as follow:
o There is NO nudity!
o There is NO explicit sex!
o There is NO violence!
o There is NO profanity!

Considering the above objections, who in their right
mind would want to see such a film ?

1984, DO NOT MISS, Violent

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

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From NetFlix:

Director Sergio Leone’s sprawling crime epic follows a group of Jewish mobsters (including Robert De Niro, James Woods and Elizabeth McGovern) who rise in the ranks of organized crime in 1920s New York. Their story unfolds in flashbacks as ringleader Noodles (De Niro) returns to Brooklyn 30 years later to reunite and reminisce with his cohorts. Nominated for two Golden Globes, this gritty drama was Leone’s last directorial effort.

“Once Upon a Time in America” was made in 1984 by Sergio Leone. It requires 2 disks. The subject is a New York Jewish mob in the time of the depression and later. Before going any farther:

o It is violent
o The treatment of sex is frank, crude, adolescent, and abundant.
There is one no-holds-barred rape scene. Considering the
personalities, it all makes sense.

However, this is an important film which I loved. Most notable for me was the incredibly leisurely pace, which I mean in a constructive way. Conversations are not hurried. Scenes are allowed to linger. Am I wrong or do many of today’s films hurry ? Robert Di Niro, James Woods, and Elizabeth McGovern do a great job.

I have no idea whether this pretends to be a true history, but it doesn’t matter. There are surprising plot twists. Despite the fact that the protagonists are murderous thugs, you can’t help but feel what Di Niro suffers.

Don’t miss this classic!

2007, DO NOT MISS, Redemption, Violent

Eastern Promises (2007)

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From NetFlix:

Viggo Mortensen (in an Oscar-nominated role) reteams with director David Cronenberg in this intense thriller, starring as Nikolai Luzhin, a notorious London gangster. When Luzhin learns that a midwife named Anna (Naomi Watts) has discovered incriminating evidence against his “family,” he finds his normally steely resolve compromised. Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Sinéad Cusack co-star.

Naomi Watts is the midwife trying to find relatives for an infant orphan whose mother was a white slave of the Russian mob. Viggo Mortensen is a Russion mobster. Wonderful plot twists, excellent character development. It is also a redemption movie (often the case with violent movies). If you can stand the violence, this is Viggo Mortensen in one of his many amazing movies.

2006, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, Feel Good For All

Miss Potter (2006)

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From NetFlix:

Blending lush animation sequences with live-action drama, director Chris Noonan constructs this biopic about the personal life of beloved children’s author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. Featuring the Academy Award-winning Renee Zellweger as the title character and co-starring Emily Watson and Ewan McGregor, the film traces Potter’s private life as well as her contributions to literature such as the timeless “Tale of Peter Rabbit.”

Every now and then you see a movie that fits its genre perfectly. “Miss Potter”, the life of Beatrix Potter, is such a film. Renee Zellweger is Beatrix and Ewan mcGregor fits the role of Norman Warne to a tee.

Warning: this movie is a tear-jerker at times.

This movie is for everyone, children invited. No violence, no sex. It is also the blooming of a Victorian protected daughter into an independent creative artist and environmentalist.

Don’t Miss It.

2006, DO NOT MISS, Not Feel Good, Redemption, Violent

Steel Toes (2006)

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From NetFlix:

This intense crime drama stars Oscar nominee David Strathairn as liberal Jewish attorney Danny Dunckelman, who’s appointed by the court to defend Mike Downey (Andrew W. Walker), a neo-Nazi skinhead on trial for the murder of an East Indian man. Confronting religious and racial intolerance, Mike and Danny struggle to form an alliance despite their divergent beliefs and sensibilities in this provocative exploration of hatred and forgiveness.

“Steel Toes” is violent because Andrew Walker as a Nazi skinhead in Montreal kicks a defenceless East Indian to death. As a result liberal Jewish lawyer David Strathairn (CIA Deputy Directory in “The Bourne Ultimatum”) decides to defend the skinhead. What follows is some very tight ensemble acting and I found myself riveted to their give and take. My appreciation of Strathairn has, as a result, grown immensely.

1001BeforeDie, 2007, Biographical, Could Be Hard To Watch, DO NOT MISS, French, Not Feel Good

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

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From NetFlix:

In 1995, author and Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a stroke that put him in a coma; he awakened mute and completely paralyzed. Mathieu Amalric stars in this adaptation of Bauby’s autobiography, which he dictated by blinking. Julian Schnabel was nominated for the 2008 Best Director Oscar and won the Golden Globe in the same category for his poignant film about the strength of the human spirit.

This film (one of the “1001 Films To See Before You Die”) is the true story of an editor of “Elle” who suffered a stroke and descended into locked-in syndrome. All he could do was move his left eyelid. His ultra-patient caretakers devised a method of communication with him. Using that he wrote a small book “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” which Julian Schnabel made into this film.. You might want to read that short book. It might be difficult or unpleasant to imagine how it would be to be trapped in such a manner. Unfortunately I came away disliking Bauby. In the film he is cruel, even in his reduced state, to the woman who loves him even while she is helping him. Any comments on this ?