There's Nothing Like a Forced Confession

It's been a week and a half since I last posted and the movies just keep piling up. I realise now that I am watching movies at a much quicker pace than I am writing about them and certain films have fallen behind and will be left in the dust. There are some I viewed months ago and couldn't write about now if I wanted to (which I don't) because I can't remember a goddamn thing about any of them. The Thin Man? Claire's Knee? Waterlillies? Did I actually watch something called Spring Breakdown? To correct this laziness I am challenging myself to write a review every day this week so let's rock. But before I get started, I just want to comment on how lame James Cameron's new movie, Avatar, looks. Now I know I've only seen the preview but is this what people have been hotly anticipating forever? This is the movie that he had to wait 20 years to make so that technology could catch up to his vision? This is his follow up to the equally flummoxing Titanic?

It looks like Aliens meets Ferngully meets The Dragonriders of Pern. Super lame.

So on to better things. Let's discuss There Will Be Blood. I saw this masterpiece when it came out but liked it even more the second time around. Complex plot lines can easily confuse and overwhelm me and during my first viewing, I remember being a bit lost at times. This was partially due to the fact that I'm not an expert on the finer details of oil well digging and fleecing communities out of their money but it was also because all white people looked alike in the early 20th century. All those dark suits and facial hair make it impossible to tell anyone apart. This time I was able to pay more attention to the interweaving plot lines and the subtle differences in moustaches so my understanding and enjoyment increased immensely.

I too really loved it and give it a 9. Daniel Day Lewis is rightly celebrated for his tightly wound and slightly unhinged performance of a man slowly giving himself over to his inhumanity. The beginning is stunning, the middle engrossing and the ending perfection.

During my first viewing I thought it was a little too slowly paced but the second time I could have taken another hour. I liked Paul Thomas Anderson's previous three films a great deal but this was such a welcome change and an unpredictable left turn.

It's almost a shame this came out the same year as No Country For Old Men because any other year, I would say this would be a shoo-in for Best Picture. In every way, it is an amazing achievement and such a beautiful examination of greed and obsession. I'm a little bit sad it wasn't honored with more Academy Awards because it is so uniformly awesome. Everyone involved with it deserves a trophy.

I would give Paul Dano the Academy Award for creepiest creep of the year.

And quite possibly the decade.