Another Day in Paradise

Movie title: Another Day in Paradise
Genre: (Melodrama) or Hyper-realistic-junkie-crime-gone-wrong
Director: Larry Clark
Screenwriter: Eddie Little (book); adapted by Christopher B. Landon and Stephen Chin
Main Actors: James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner
Year: 1998
Production Company: Chinese Bookie Pictures
City/Country of Origin: USA; filmed in Norwalk and LA, California; and Oklahoma.

Yeah.  I made a pact with myself to stop watching junkie movies after I watched Requiem for a Dream by myself.  Well, one of my friends (who is a film buff) told me that I had to check out Larry Clark.  I'm not sure that Kids or Ken Park or Bully or Teenage Caveman would have been more cheery, but Another Day in Paradise is a depressing film.  It portrays Eddie Little's "fictional" novel of crime and the drug trade in the 70s very realistically, and reaches a lot of expected conclusions.  It's predictable, but that makes it a bit more real, to me.  It doesn't have a feel-good ending, but it isn't the morass of moral decay that Requiem was. 

I will admit that I like crime/caper movies and this film was all about the hustle.  James Woods and Melanie Griffith give amazing performances, as well.  Just make sure that you're in a stable or decent mood before you watch this one. 

Valhalla Rising

Movie Title: Valhalla Rising

Genre: Violent-High-Followed-by-Almost-Infinitely-Slow-Introspection

Writer/Director: Nicolas Refn

Actors: Mads Mikkelsen

Year: 2009

Short version: WTF.

Long version: Messy, weird, challenging, artsy, violent, and more. I read somewhere that this was the movie to see instead of Inception, kind of the anti-Inception, the kind of movie Hollywood won't make because it's just too independent. I'm not sure that's exactly how it went.

500 Days of Summer

Movie Title: 500 Days of Summer
Genre: Kick-you-in-the-balls/Love story
Director: Mark Webb
Screenwriter: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber 
Actors: Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Year: 2009
Production Company: Fox Searchlight 
Country of Origin: USA 

This movie was tagged as "A movie about love, but not a love story."  I was excited.  Finally, a romantic movie that tells it like it is.

Well, I was raped by 500 Days of Summer.

I get it. I do. But screw you Marc Webb. Screw you Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber. And screw you Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon-Levitt. You can take your all for the best, nothing is predestined bullshit and shove them up your asses with your "gotcha" ending.

I'm of the opinion that if a movie makes you feel like crap by the ending, it was not a good movie.  I sympathize with the main character, but not in a good way.  All this movie did was dredge up bad breakup memories and make me want to shake the Etch-a-Sketch that is my brain, with booze.

To continue with the Swedish theme

Movie Title: Lyckantropen
Genre: I honestly couldn't say
Director: Steve Ericsson
Screenwriter: Steve Ericsson & Mikke Schiren
Actors: Julia Dehnisch, Felix Engström, Elin Klinga, Josefin Adner
Year: 2002
Production Company: Unknown
Country of Origin: Sweden

I discovered this short film because of the music. Ulver, a Norwegian group (I don't know if band is the right word for them) did the soundtrack which reminds me of an otherworldly John Carpenter-esque score. The film itself is entirely in Swedish with no subtitles, so I can only guess as to what it's really about. Based on the title and some of the imagery in the flick, I'd say that it has something to do with werewolves, but in the end, I'm really just guessing. It's interesting to watch a film that you can't understand. Do a Youtube search and you can find the whole thing, broken up into three parts. So sit back, throw on some headphones, turn out the lights, and watch away...

"Let the Right One In"

Movie title: Let the Right One In

Genre: Horror

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Screenwriter: John Ajvide Lindqvis

Main Actors: Kare Hidebrant, Lina Leandersson

Year: 2008

Production Company: EFTI

City/Country of Origin: Sweden

Personal notes: Pat and I were talking about this film at Celebration V, mostly because the US remake had become a topic of conversation.  This moody, gripping vampire film breaks conventions by staying simple.  This isn't a sparkly, super-fast, super-strong vampire movie.  It's a story about a little girl who kills to survive and the boy she falls in love with.  It's a visceral, albeit sweet, vampire-love story.  Even if the rest of this film sucked, you should watch it for the stark cinematography.  Filmed in the North of Sweden in the dead of winter, this film looks and feels like white death.

The best movies...

I'm setting up this blog to share cinematic tastes and treasures with my friends and followers.  I will be calling on my friends at first to share their favorite movies.  However, if you have come across this blog and wish to throw your hat into the ring, just send me an email with your review to tonycontento@gmail.com.

Here's the format:

Movie title:
Genre:
Director:
Screenwriter:
Main Actors:
Year:
Production Company:
City/Country of Origin:
Personal notes: