Let's Watch "The Kite Runner" and "Lions for Lambs"

On consecutive nights I watched two films about Afghanistan: The Kite Runner which was a story of friendship and loyalty set just before the start of the war with the Russians, and also Lions for Lambs a sorta assessment of the war on terror told from 3 connected storylines.

The Kite Runner is the story of two friends, who live mostly happy lives flying kites in Kabul. The rich friend witnesses a horrible attack on his poor, servant friend but lacks the courage to do or say anything to help him. Unable to live with the fact he is a coward, the rich boy sabotages his servant friend, making his father believe the servant boy is a thief. The servant boy and his father are forced to leave the estate of his friend, and as the Taliban move to control Afghanistan the boys are separated by even more distance as the rich boy and his father flee to America. Years later upon the publishing of his first novel, the rich friend learns that his friend has been murdered by the Taliban and must return to Afghanistan to retrieve the man's son.

I enjoyed this movie because it's just a great human story. There are secrets and lies and imperfections in the characters. It appeals to baser emotions and while offering a setting that you don't often see in Hollywood films, creates a great new take on Friendship movies.

For a film starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise(who I actually like as an actor), Lions for Lambs was a huge disappointment. Redford plays a political science professor talking to a cynical student with lots of potential, about these two other students who enlisted in the Army and are now in Afghanistan carrying out this plan devised by a senator(played by Cruise) who is being interviewed by a once respected journalist(played by Streep). That's pretty much all of it in a nut shell. No new bits of information about the war on terror or anything controversial at all. Just an uncompelling story and characters that you could care less about.

Also watched:
Diner - 7 of 10
The Indian Runner - 8 of 10
The Ice Storm - 7 of 10

and re-watched:
The Cider House Rules - 7 of 10
Mystic River - 8 of 10
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang - 8 of 10

Charlton Heston

When I sat down on Saturday afternoon to watch The Omega Man, I had no idea that I would wake up on Sunday to discover that Charlton Heston had died. It is sad to lose such an iconic figure in American movie history. Perhaps better than any other actor, Heston found the perfect balance between serious acting(Playing Moses in The Ten Commandments and winning the Oscar for Best Actor in Ben Hur), and crowd pleasing, camp films. I never sat down and watched his big studios pictures from start to finish, choosing instead to lose myself in the solitary pursuits of Colonel Robert Neville or crazy discovery made by Detective Robert Thorn in Soylent Green. There was also his role as the title character in Sam Peckinpah's little seen film Major Dundee, where Heston plays a Calvary man leading a rag tag group against a band of Apaches. He was a true Bad Ass. The kind of star that they just don't make anymore.

Let's watch WE OWN THE NIGHT!

Since the writer's strike has ended television shows have begun to pick up steam again and I am seeing myself have less and less time to watch movies. It's upsetting really but it always seems to happen around this time of year anyways. You see, I am one of the people that find myself inexplicably sucked into such shows as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars and American's Next Top Model; all of which seem to air on multiple nights throughout the week. On top of that, I recently downloaded and watched the excellent third season of Weeds. I am however still doing my damnedest to watch as many movies as I possibly can.

While visiting my parents over the weekend I got the chance to watch No Country for Old Men again on their huge Sony Bravia flat panel. It was equally amazing as the first time I saw it. I wasn't as struck with Javier Bardem and his Anton Chigurh character as I was when I saw the film in the theater. However, this time around Tommy Lee Jones' performance resonated even more with me. Giving the film another look, I think he should have received a nomination for best supporting actor for this film. Jones' critics knock him because he always seems to play this sort of grizzled character with a southern drawl, but he added much more to this character. Much like his character from In the Valley of Elah, emotion could be felt in subtle facial expressions and body movement. It was certainly a banner year for Tommy Lee Jones who, as an actor, seems to be aging quite well.


I also managed to squeeze in a viewing of The Robert Duvall, Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix movie We Own the Night. The story basically involves a black sheep brother(Phoenix) whose father and brother are respected cops. When his Dad is killed and his brother is badly injured by his criminal associates, black sheep bro is forced to play for the good guys and become a cop in order to take down the assholes that murdered his Dad. It's a corny story really, and Eva Mendes as Phoenix's love interest is almost unbearably bad. The three male leads pretty much mail in their performances, leading the viewer to believe that they regretted the fact that they were there making this film. If you feel like watching a cop story that has minimal action or you are a huge fan of Phoenix(who gets the most camera time) then its worth it to rent this only marginally good movie.