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No Country for Old Men, American Gangster, Atonement, Hitman, We Own the Night
Posted under Movies
Here are five films that I saw recently, and as usual I set my scores between 6 and 9.5/10. Below I will not mention them, or, if not…then that means I didn’t see them. It happens ; -)
And as usual, this is my personal opinion only. You may agree or disagree. Express yourself in the comments section.
My Panasonic wireless sound home theater system is quite nice, but I am not very sure about my 32-inch LCD TV. Too small. In fact, I preferred my big 48-inch projection TV I had 2 years ago. I would willingly sacrifice image quality to size now that I have a good sound system. OK, that’s enough. I will wait, that’s all.
No Country for Old Men 8/10
Frankly, regarding the style of the film itself, I like it at 100%. I love it. One recognizes the Coen brothers’ style, in that it is similar to “Fargo“. It takes place in America in the vast, deep desert (Texas) and shows the inevitable imbalances that can arise between money and social differences. Javier Bardem plays a really fascinating character, with a haircut no one can compete with.
In my opinion, this film deserves its 4 Oscars: Best Film, Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay. I think the end is rather abrupt…but it doesn’t matter. Here we do not have a story with a beginning and an end, but a piece of living, regional history.
Note: that this film is No Movie for younger audiences, due to its violence.
American Gangster 7.5/10
This is a very good movie, inspired by the true story of Frank Lucas. It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s excellent. Denzel Washington plays the character very well, as usual.
Atonement 7/10
The trailer was so good that it raised the expectations of the film, leaving one to expect excellence. But it was deceiving ; I never saw excellence. What a disappointment. I expected a masterpiece, and I just saw a movie. British films are usually better than this, to me. It was quite the same style of movie as the 1993 “Remains of the Day” which borders on excellence. About Atonement, my rating fluctuates between 4/10 and 8/10, depending on certain sequences in the film.
Hitman 7/10
I was pleasantly surprised. I expected an unpretentious action movie, not so credible. But the final result was really fun. Inspired by the video game “Hitman: Contracts“, it’s a little like a Jason Bourne movie. Yet in contrast, the actor who plays Hitman is not as good as Matt Damon. It is just a different style. Bold as Bruce Willis but not as much virility as Bruce himself.
We Own the Night 6.5/10
What can I say? I like the script and the story, but the actors’ interpretation did very little for me. The parts played by Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg were not very convincing. Likewise for the police parts in the film.
