My 2007 resolution to avoid junk food cinema (I don't believe in "guilty pleasures") has paid off in spades this week. I saw three amazing, if not extremely divergent films.
Radiant City is a Canadian documentary about suburban sprawl... don't stop reading! Seriously, the Canadians have the market cornered on producing exciting docs on subjects I would rather drink paint thinner than actually read up on (see also: Manufacturing Consent, the Corporation, Seoul Train).
Radiant City will play later this month as part of the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, full review to come.
Georgia Rule must be the most misunderstood films of the year. An incredibly foolish marketing campaign had moviegoers convinced they were going to see a broad, schmaltzy comedy, in reality this is a searing and truthful family drama that has more in common with Ordinary People than whatever Tim Allen is doing this year (that my resolution will disallow me from seeing).
Maybe in a few years when Lohan has either gotten it together or died from an overdose people will see what she was capable of doing, Jane Fonda makes up for choosing the disastrous Monster in Law to make her comeback and Felicity Huffman brings compassion to yet another pathologically unlikeable character.
Exceeding its box office expectations (to be the top-grossing film) and a massive critical success I imagine the new 3:10 to Yuma will sprout legs able to carry it all the way to Oscar season. Beautifully filmed landscapes, amazing chemistry between Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, a stellar supporting cast and what no western would work without: gorgeous horses! Also director James Mangold reassures us, real dirt. But this film works as much as an intense action film (the opening stagecoach robbery is breathtaking) as it does seething allegory. Mangold has made no apologies for the statements the film makes about the Iraq war, our collective disinterest in torture being committed in our name, ceding justice system to protect corporations' assets as well as the dehumanization of poverty and what it can drive a person to do. Seriously, this film drains away the hate once built up by the abcess of Walk the Line.
Also, between the numerous ass-kickings in 3:10 and the starvation for Rescue Dawn 2007 has been a rough year for Christian Bale and I sincerely hope he will take some cush romantic comedy gigs after this: cash a paycheck, eat a meal, get some sleep. You've earned it, Bale!
And maybe it's petty to even mention it, but thank Heavens Tom Cruise was not in this film as he was originally attached. I'll assume no further explanation is needed, but just in case:
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