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'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'

'There Will Be Blood'

This weekend was one of those rare occasions where it didn't actually work out for me to go to the movies. I could come up with a million excuses: I was behind in work, besieged with "honey-do's," the baby was crying, the dog was depressed, there was snow on the ground ? take your pick.

I do, however, recognize the inherent hypocrisy in the suggestion that I was "just too busy" to go the movies, considering that when there's something I really want to see, no amount of inconvenience can keep me away. "It's my job!" I like to whine as I leave the house despite a million other responsibilities that need taking care of. Believe me, I heard that echoed back at me several times this weekend, from friends and family who've listened to me inflate the importance of my weekly column just so I won't miss the premier of the latest "Batman" flick or gladiatorial epic.

This weekend at the movies saw at least two new flicks, one of which, "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," I think I'd rather sit through a "Dude, Where's My Car" marathon than give my hard earned money to see. The only thing funny about the first movie, "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle," was Neil Patrick Harris playing a druggy, boozy, psychopathic version of himself, so I'm not sure how it warranted a sequel. The other movie of the weekend was "Baby Mama," starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, two very funny and talented comediennes. But the wacky antic plot, about a classy career woman who employs a blue-collar nitwit as a surrogate mother, just seemed played. After "Juno," "Knocked Up," and "Waitress," not to mention my own life for the past year, another pregnancy movie just wasn't enough to get me out of the house. With all that said, I decided to give some recommendations on a couple of recent DVD releases: one epic and awe-inspiring, and the other, well, not quite.

"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is a movie I'd read about, and which looked like a can't miss proposition. Ethan Hawke, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Albert Finney in a movie about two brothers, desperate for money, who decide to arrange a robbery of their own parents' suburban jewelry store. You can probably imagine that what is supposed to be a simple take-the-money-and-run operation instead goes horribly wrong, sending what pathetic lives they have spinning wildly out of control.

This movie, which I'd expected to be gripping, suspenseful, and exciting is, instead, exceptionally top-heavy. The story is good, but the characters are too pathetic. I didn't like anyone, aside from the father, played by Finney, but he's not in the film enough to help much. Most of the acting is good, top-notch even, but it was hard to get into the performances because I just didn't care very much about them. Am I supposed to feel sorry for two mid-level real estate executives who had mildly dysfunctional childhoods and then aren't happy with the five- and six-figure salaries they are making? Child support payments, drug habits, and an unhappy wife will drive men to do a lot of things, I guess, but I just couldn't feel much sympathy. The movie, kind of a David Mamet knock-off, is really only notable for the fact that Oscar winner Marisa Tomei is naked in nearly every scene she's in. Her acting wasn't particularly good, but I guess that's worth the price of the rental.

Grade: C+

"There Will Be Blood," on the other hand, contains no Marisa Tomei nudity but is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Daniel Day Lewis embodies the character of oilman Daniel Plainview so completely as to render the rest of the movie almost inconsequential in comparison. Rarely have I seen a film that was such a brilliant character study. As far as the plot goes, there's not a lot to it. Plainview is a man of few words ? he's an oilman, that much is clear. In the earliest oil boom days of California, he bought up land and drilled for crude, a small fish compared to Standard Oil and the rest, but still very successful.

The story, however, is really about how a man can change over time, given the ups and downs of a life, and how a person's relationships forever follow them. There are two major relationships in the film, the antagonistic one between Plainview and a fiery young preacher played by "Little Miss Sunshine's" Paul Dano, and the beautiful and tragic relationship between our hero and his young son, H.W. The hype surrounding the film suggests that the more important is the battle between preacher and oilman, an allegory for the battle between good and evil, though who's who isn't always clear. However, I found the father/son relationship to be moving and sad and ultimately revelatory.

"There Will Be Blood" isn't a perfect movie ? it's a little slow at times and slightly disjointed. But as a character study of a good man in slow decline, I've never seen it's equal.

Grade: A

Both films are rated R; "Devil" for graphic sexual content, nudity, language, and violence; and "Blood" for mature themes and limited but disturbing violence.

Chris Jenness is a freelance graphic designer, artist and movie buff who lives in Nikiski.