Movies (including the best movie of 2007)

I saw the best movie of 2007 this week: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

An action western surrounding the private life and public exploits of America's most notorious outlaw, Jesse James. As the charismatic and unpredictable outlaw plans his next great robbery, he wages war on his enemies, who are trying to collect the reward money--and the glory--that is riding on his capture. However, the greatest threat to Jesse's life may ultimately come from those he trusts the most.

I'm avoiding watching A Mighty Heart, the story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's kidnapping and murder in Pakistan, because I already know so much about that story and I don't want to have to relive that disturbing story.

But even though I knew that the Assassination of Jesse James will have an ultimately disturbing ending, the story drew me in and the anticipation of the assassination was what kept me interested and on the edge of my seat. The movies 160 minutes long but the story is tight and moves quickly.

Brad Pitt is excellent is his role as a tired-eyed, mentally-unstable Jesse James. Casey Affleck was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Robert Ford. There are other good actors in this film as well, like Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, and Mary-Louise Parker.

I was excited to see Nick Cave, from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, playing a saloon singer near the end of the film. He sang The Ballad of Jesse James, which I had first heard on Bruce Springsteen's album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. I know now that it's a traditional song that many artists have recorded, including Van Morrison.

Anyway, the movie was great and is the best I saw that was made in 2007.


Another film I watched this week was Across the Universe, a musical based on interpretations of classic Beatles songs. I thought there were some obvious similarities to Moulin Rouge!, which undoubtedly inspired this film.

A romantic musical told mainly through numerous Beatles songs performed by the characters. A young man from Liverpool comes to America during the Vietnam War to find his father. He winds up in Greenwich Village, where he falls in love with an American girl who has grown up sheltered in the suburbs. Together they experience the sweeping changes of America in the late 60's.

The main character is a Moulin Rouge! rip off of Ewan McGregor, named Jude (of course), played by Jim Sturgess.

The heroine in the film is Evan Rachel Wood. I really like her as an actress and I just watched in the film King of California with Michael Douglas. I first saw in the TV series Once and Again years ago. She apparently sings her own songs in this movie and sounds great.

Bono from U2 also has a small role in the film and sings a couple songs.

I'm not a huge Beatles fan but I really liked Moulin Rouge!, and I thought this film worked and is worth watching. If you're a big Bealtes or musical fan, you'll probably love it.


The final film from this week was Rendition.

A thriller that centers on Isabella El-Ibrahimi, the American wife of Egyptian-born chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahimi, who disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington. Isabella desperately tries to track her husband down, while a CIA analyst at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. is forced to question his assignment as he becomes party to the man's unorthodox interrogation.

I wasn't expecting too much of this film, but it was decent. The story avoids being predictable for the most part and thankfully puts limits on the torture scenes that, in a film like this, are mandatory.

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal play the good Americans in this film. This is also the first time I saw Peter Sarsgaard play a non-bad guy. The evil people are J.K. Simmons (the great actor from Law & Order and everything else these days) and Meryl Streep, along with miscellaneous Muslim terrorists.

And guess what? This film teaches us a lesson: not all Muslims are terrorists. Thank you film industry, we get it. You can stop making movies about it now.