W.

I was once told that Oliver Stone is a horrible man becuase of his willingness to twist the truth in order to sway public opinion. Retelling history is an important responsibility, that should not be taken lightly. In order to truly learn from past mistakes and successes, we must have a clear perspective on what really happened, right? Maybe not. Perhaps we can learn something from a fable or an innacurate story just as well. Not to compare the two, but Jesus used parables, which because they were from God were by defenition true, but that doesn't mean that they ever really happened to anyone. And here's my point, if you look at the film "W." like you would look at the parable of the Prodigal Son, then maybe there is a good lesson to be learned. The strongest message I came home with last night was that God's will has protected our Country. Maybe W. isn't the most qualified. Maybe he's not the smartest guy in the room. Maybe he doesn't have the smoothest speech. But, God knew what this Country needed at an important point in history, and President Bush was the right man at the right time. I was suprised how this film portrayed Bush as a man so confident in his faith. His acceptance of Christ was a changing point, and his heart and mind have been guided by that life changing moment. Of course the film as expected makes plenty of fun of all the mistakes, shortcomings, and flaws that this one man has. And it was well done, it was funny, and sometimes scary. It is scary when you realize that our Country is ultimately run by a man, and every man has his faults. It's also scary to see the power-hungry, evil men who attempt to influence the man on top. God has been merciful to us even though we are undeserving. We deserved an Al Gore as President on 9/11. We deserve a Barack Obama in January. Maybe this movie will work an unintended affect and jolt some people into voting for the candidate who would honor God the most.

Appaloosa and Body of Lies

The 'New Western' is here to stay. "Unforgiven", "Open Range" and now "Appaloosa". Although these are thoughtful, unblinking, realistic examinations of what it was like to live in that time and place, that doesn't equal a satisfying moviegoing experience. It's like first there were simple Cowboy vs Indian adventures from Pop's childhood. Then there were the epic soul searching films from John Ford and John Wayne. Then came Clint Eastwood and the Spaghetti Western with the anti-hero and brutal violence. Then the 80's turned the Western into your typical action movie with a Western setting. Finally we have come to the Western of today, which probably started with Eastwood's "Unforgiven". (Of course I must mention "Tombstone", which doesn't quite fit into any of these categories, but deserves recognition solely based on Val Kilmer's performance). That being said, for me if you've seen one Western from each category, you've seen 'em all... Watch "High Noon", "The Searchers", "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", skip the 80's Western, watch "Tombstone" and then "Unforgiven". Once you've checked those off your list, you're good to go. If you are like me and you can't help yourself, and just keep wathing Westerns past the point of reason, then "Appaloosa" isn't a bad choice. It's got great acting, some good character build-up (I mean we hear things about certain characters which builds-up our anticipation for things to happen later) and then of course there's Viggo Mortensen's facial hair. Seriously, if Al Pacino's haircut was a bad prop in the horrible movie "88 Minutes", then Viggo's beard in this film is like an Oscar-worthy supporting actor. He was great in "Eastern Promises" and he shows strength once again here. Ed Harris patiently directs and acts his way through, and Jeremy Irons is as always a great bad guy. All the elements are here, and if you've got the desire to see Cowboys sometimes doing Cowboy stuff, then here's a movie for you.

Nate and I got to talk about "Body of Lies" the day after we each saw it. As I have said before, to have someone to talk with about the movie always makes it better. Ridley Scott and I haven't always seen eye to eye on how his films should go. I could go into detail about this, but I'll try to stay focused on the movie at hand. This time I think his directing style and technique were right on. The premise of the film required that things happen quickly, with lots of detail and technological wizardry. One guy sits in front of a giant monitor watching the events unfold via sattelite, while the other guy is on the ground, having the stuff happen to him. As Nate said to me, these two guys are basically the same guy, just reacting differently based on their current enviornment. These two CIA agents want to protect America. They want to kill the bad guys and stop them from killing us. Simple, right? With Leonardo and Crowe playing the leads, there's no question that the acting was up to the task. Then there was Ali Suliman as the Intelligence Minister of Jordan, who has a very powerful preformance as well. The problem I had with "Body of Lies" was not with what was in the movie, but with what the movie lacked. That may be the same problem I have with Scott as a director overall. It is that he presents a dilemma, then paints a vivid picture of all the contributing factors, and then ends the film with absolutely no resolution. Now you know I'm not looking for a happy ending, but that kind of pessimism is even difficult for me to accept. I think about Spielberg and his "Munich". That film deals with many of the same issues that "Body of Lies" addresses, but it's characters have souls, and ultimately the conclusion is reached that there is hope, even if it is an uphill battle. Now Scott brings us a film, where only Leonardo has a soul, and his answer is to drop out of the picture altogether. Of course as I write this I realize what thought I am putting into Scott's ommision of conclusions, therefore I have to fill in the pieces myself. In this specific case perhaps that was a stroke of genius, so therefore I retract my previous statemnent and admit that this was a very good film.