Beed-e majnoon (The Willow Tree)

In the lobby of the theater, one of the employees said that folks coming out of this movie thought it would be lighter and beautiful, but most were surprised to find that it was intense and depressing. "That's my kind of movie!" I said, suddenly much more excited to see it.

It was intense and depressing. Somewhat hard to watch at times, but in many ways really beautiful and haunting. The director stayed away from the cliches that might have been easy and obvious way to illustrate what Yusef was going through. Instead we get a evocative look at his psychological life before and after this sight is regained.

Cassandra's Dream

Oh Woody...it seems that you don't even try sometimes now.

This story was almost exactly like Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (which I didn't really like either), which begs the question, why take a tired storyline and put actors that seem totally wrong for their roles and have an awkward chemistry together and rehash it half-baked into a poorly named movie? Sometimes Allen seems to make movies just to have one each year, whether or not they are well-conceived, constructed or executed.

I have to admit, I was sucked into the drama a few times, but this was despite, not because of the acting, the dialog or the characters. Ironically, only one of the minor characters stuck out as realistic and believable. Sally Hawkins who played Kate hasn't been in much but British TV before, but she is the one who Woody got a great performance out of.

Finally...why is the boat called Cassandra? Was the one regretful brother's half-baked, drunk reservations before they do the deed supposed to call up visions of the Greek Cassandra whose fierce portents were ignored by all? Hardly. The more I thought about this, the more I disliked the whole film.

It's Fine! Everything is Fine

Part two in delightful freakshow Crispin Glover's "It" trilogy. He opened the movie with a slideshow and dramatic reading of pages of eight of his books. That part was weird, funny, enjoyable. The movie, however, was none of that. I am certain it's art. I'm sure some of the equally-as-weird-as-Crispin audience enjoyed it (I actually saw a guy in Grateful Dead MC Hammer pants!), but the point of scene after scene of graphic elderly Cerebral Palsy patient porn was lost on me. I understand the main character wrote the screenplay and he played himself in this psycho-sexual fantasy of his own making, but there are just some things I just don't want to see. Thanks, Crispin, but no thanks.

There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day Lewis gives the performance of a lifetime in what basically amounts to a one-man show -- he is in every scene and in every scene he recites what might as well be monologues. Really -- there are other characters, but they are there to support his lines, his character development and the story, which is him. But it's completely gripping. His character is so gritty and dark and single-minded that I was drawn into his drama as it unfolded. Shakespearian in its tension, bloodiness and morals -- think Hamlet or King Lear.

P.T. Anderson crafts the perfect environment for Lewis' character Plainview. The landscape is dusty and dry and the scene is desperate. Tensions between religion, family, community and money are clawed by dirty hands to the surface for us to pick through and find our fortune.

I'm finished!

El Orfanto (The Orphanage)

We were lured in by reviews which said that this is a spooky movie, and not for people with a short attention span. I guess we expected a smart, scary film, but it wasn't really either. It ended up being slow and somewhat predictable in the end. I did enjoy the few major jolts that started happening about halfway through. I like a good suspenseful moment with great payoff. One of these moments, caused several people to actually scream in the theater, so you do get some bang for your buck. I liked some things about it (the story and the main child actor) but truthfully, it's not much more than a mainstream horror movie.