Review of The Man Who Knew Too Little

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

This hokey Bill Murray comedy hits me square in the funny bone. I still remember going to see this at a friend's birthday party back in junior high. While everyone stewed that we should have gone to see Mr. Bean, I have never been able to stop laughing at this movie.

In keeping with my goal of reviewing every movie that I watch, I must lavish praise on this comedic masterpiece. Bill Murray lives out the fantasy of becoming a super agent. Regrettably, he doesn't know that he is part of a very real international conspiracy to restart the cold war. Thinking he is just an actor in a live action play, he proceeds to bumble his way through life and death situations with a cavalier demeanor.

Outstanding supporting performances from the whole cast (notably Alfred Molina, Joanne Whalley, and Peter Gallagher) really make the film come alive. The spy plot lends a thriller aspect, while at the same time Bill Murray provides the laughs.

I've never seen it on TV, but if you come across it at Blockbuster then I heartily recommend that you pick it up. It is a solid 90 minute comedy with laughs from start to finish. It's a shame that this film doesn't even have a decent Wikipedia entry and lacks an official plot synopsis on IMDB because it is one of my favorite comedies.

Peter Gallagher went on to become Buddy King in American Beauty. He also went on to do voice work for Family Guy and Robot Chicken.

Review of There Will Be Blood

Rating: 1 Star (Out of 5)

It's a good thing There Will Be Blood because There Will Not Be Dialogue. There Will Be Long Shots, but There Will Not Be Any Reason To Care for the Main Characters.

I could go on. In short, a Western remake of Scarface with a nauseating soundtrack (that one hears far too much of). The movie tells the story of Daniel Plainview, a ruthless man focused on the almighty dollar. By luck, he turns from a silver prospector to an "oil man" and begins to build an oil empire. To go too much farther into the story would be to give it away, but suffice to say, presented with several life choices, he consistently makes the worst possible choice.

I feel my biggest issue with the movie, forgiving its painful soundtrack and long shots (although it's good to know that walking in the old west is much the same as it is today. I think the movie spends at least 20 minutes just showing people walking), is that the main characters show no character development. My high school English teacher once said, a story should be able to be subtitled "The Education of [Insert Main Character's Name]."

Daniel Plainview is always an ass of a man, out of touch with his humanity, a living monster. At least in Scarface (which I don't care for much, either), we watched Tony Montana descend into a vicious coke lord. Plainview's character was born to hate his fellow humans, which he freely confesses at one point. What makes it particularly unbelievable is that he isn't even interested in money other than for wanting to get enough to move far away from everyone else. His antagonist, the reverend of the local church, also displays a consistent hubris and lacks the ability to learn.

The only reason this movie earned a star from me was for the final scene, which was well done. However, it was like the last 30 minutes of Star Wars Episode III; spectacular, but unable to redeem the hours of previous painful movie watching.

In closing, I should address the mounds of praised heaped upon this movie. Movies are the most complex inkblot test of all. Presented with a long, tedious film, the critics all rush to praise it as being a masterpiece, lest they be the ones to say that the emperor has no clothes. I am calling it like I see it; the emperor is completely naked. Insomniacs should get some much needed rest going to see this movie, but I recommend the rest of us to stay far away.

There Will Be Blood was released January 11, 2008. It was filmed on a $25 Million budget.

Review of Eastern Promises

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

It is not every day I get the outstanding pleasure of being gripped by a movie as thrilling as Eastern Promises. The movie has the same addictive grip as a high adrenaline movie like Casino Royale with a fraction of the violence. It simply, from start to finish, tells a gripping story.

Viggo Mortensen finally makes a clean break from Aragorn in my mind in this role, as he plays a scary Russian mob driver named Nikolai Luzhin. Throughout the movie, the character is beautifully played. While he could easily have been a purely ruthless thug or a reluctant killer, Mortensen beautifully bridges the gap, calling to mind (and perhaps ecclipsing) Johnny Depp's role in Donnie Brasco.

Mortensen stands out as the protagonist, but all of the characters in the movie were well played with perhaps the exception of the mob boss Semyon, who was a little too quiet to be scary. Jerzy Skolimowski stole my heart as the mean-softy Russian step-father. The rest of the onscreen family, Naomi Watts and Sinéad Cusack were also excellent.

Besides the gripping narrative, one thing that I absolutely love about this film is that it has a small cast. Sure, it is easy to make a movie compelling when the director has hundreds of extras to toss about. The core cast of the film consisted of eight actors, and the viewer intimately gets to know each character.

There are a few reasons that I cannot give this film a perfect 10. One, as my first review, I would look like a pushover. Two (and more importantly), the film was a trifle gory. I understand in a Russian Mob movie people will die, but when you make me look away from the screen I am going to get a little peeved. Frankly, Sweeny Todd has really just made me adverse to seeing throats be slit.

Additionally, while the story was compelling and brilliantly acted from start to finish, it lacked the magic spark of Casablanca or The Godfather. It's a grim movie about a grim story, and so it is hard to really want to be any of the characters in the film, making it not connect with me on that deeper, 10.0 level.

Eastern Promises was released September 21, 2007. It grossed $17.26 Million in the US.