Archive for the 'Trains' Category

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 5, 2008
in American Civil War, Based on a book, Based on a novel, Based on a true story, Crime, Great Depression, Narrated, Trains and Western
. 2 Comments

This movie is one that I’ve been wanting to watch for a while. I’m a big fan of Westerns and their derivatives.  Other drawing factors were the Oscar buzz surrounding this film and the performances by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.  I’m glad to see Casey getting some recognition.  I think he’s a very qualified actor and it’s good that he’s making a name for himself other than Ben’s brother.

In my opinion, there seem to be two main types of Western films.  I’ve always labeled them in my head as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood when in reality they’re both on the same side.  I think the real line should be drawn at the musicals.  Many old films in this style include lots of singing, and maybe even some dancing.  These are the ones I’m really not a fan of.  I more into the shooting, the bank robberies, the jail breaks, and the action.  The Assassination of Jesse James incorporates a lot of these elements.

If you don’t know about Jesse James, he was an American outlaw during the mid to late 1800s.  As I’m sure you can guess by the title, he was eventually assassinated and then became one of the legends of the “Wild West.”  I think it would be fair to argue most people don’t know much about his life other than he was an outlaw.  I really enjoyed this film because it gave a small peak into his life that most would never know.

As I mentioned before, there were some amazing performances by Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, but it’s fair to mention they weren’t the only stars involved in this film.  Rounding out the cast are Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, and Paul Schneider.  Roger Deakins was even nominated for Cinematography, along with No Country for Old Men, and Affleck was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The only drawback I can think of for this film is the length.  I still don’t understand why some can’t sit through a longer movie if it’s worth watching, but it’s fair to mention just so you know.  I would highly recommend this to any fans of the Western genre.  I would put it on par with 3:10 to Yuma.

Rating: ★★★★½

Paranoid Park

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 27, 2008
in Adolescence, Based on a novel, High School and Trains
. 2 Comments

Gus Van Sant is known for making unique and interesting films. I can’t say I’ve seen many of them. Good Will Hunting might have been one of his biggest money making films, but the most recent I’ve seen, and own, would be Elephant, a fictional story based heavily on the Columbine school shootings. Van Sant likes to go for realism. Elephant is the first movie I’ve seen about high school students that were actually played by people of that age and were believable. I feel like some the same methods were used in Paranoid Park.

This film, involving teenagers, is all about a skateboarder named Alex, played by Gabe Nevins. Alex and a friend of his just started going to a park known as Paranoid Park. This is where all the “real” skate boarders come to hang out and skate around. One night, a security guard is found dead on some train tracks next to the park so Detective Richard Lu, played by Daniel Liu, starts canvassing the local schools in an effort to glean any information about the case.

Alex is trying to deal with the knowledge he has about the security guard, his parents getting divorced, and girl friend problems on top of everything else a teenager has to deal with these days. To cope, he pulls out his pencil and paper and tries to release his burdens through writing.

I mentioned Elephant earlier and I found a lot of similarities between the two. There are times when a particular scene is shot multiple times from different angles and following different characters. Classical-sounding music, including Beethoven, is in the soundtrack for both films. Very real-life actors were used to portray characters. Both films also take place in high schools and include teenagers. I’m sure there are some other similarities you’ll notice if you’ve seen both films.

Even though this is another one of those films one might describe as depressing and dark, there is still a lot of beauty to be found in it. I know some people laugh and make fun of the scene in American Beauty when Ricky Fitts shows Jane the most beauty thing he’s ever filmed, but it’s true, you can find beauty and truth in just about any place you look. Sometimes these places are even those weird, independent movies the masses aren’t clamoring to see.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Paranoid Park

Madame Tutli-Putli

Published
by
Chalupa
on February 25, 2008
in Animation, Canada, Foreign, Puppets, Short, Stop-motion and Trains
. 0 Comments

I don’t think I would have watched Madame Tutli-Putli if I hadn’t noticed it was nominated for Best Animated Short Film last night while watching the 2008 Oscars. Besides being animated and a short, this film is also done with stop-motion and utilizes puppets or marionettes.

The story line was kind of confusing. There’s no dialog, but there is a soundtrack/score to it. We start off seeing a woman waiting at a train station with a huge pile of suitcases and stuff. Next thing we know, she’s on the train and every time she looks up, we are introduced to more people in the train car with her. Eventually it’s nighttime and some weird guys board the train and things get really strange. I figured there had to be some sort of message to this because everything seemed pretty symbolic. I found this description on IMDB.

Madame Tutli-Putli boards the Night Train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past. She travels alone, facing both the kindness and menace of strangers. As day descends into dark, she finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure. Adrift between real and imagined worlds, Madame Tutli-Putli confronts her demons and is drawn into an undertow of mystery and suspense. The National Film Board of Canada presents a stunning, stop-motion animated film that takes the viewer on an exhilarating existential journey. The film introduces groundbreaking visual techniques and is supported by a haunting and original score. Painstaking care and craftsmanship in form and detail bring to life a fully imagined, tactile world unlike any you have seen. Jungian thriller? Hitchcockian suspense? Artistic tour de force? The Night Train awaits you. Written by courtesy of National Film Board of Canada

Hopefully I’ll be able to see some of the other shorts. I wouldn’t say shorts are always great just because, however, they usually pack a punch if they’re done well. They don’t have 90-120+ minutes to beat around the bush while getting their point across.

Rating: ★★★½☆

The Darjeeling Limited

Published
by
nathanshorb
on November 15, 2007
in Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Dysfunctional, Family, Road Trip and Trains
. 2 Comments

When I saw the trailer, I had mixed emotions. Part of me was as completely ecstatic as I always am for discovering any movie in which Wes Anderson is involved. The other part of me was a little disappointed to see that it looked exactly like everything else he does.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m an absolute sucker for his unique style. But I just began to wonder how many more movies he could make with the same actors, plot lines, camera techniques, and any other string of details before getting completely redudant and unoriginal. Again, don’t get me wrong, I would keep watching his redudant and unoriginal movies, but I just began to get worried for him.

Well, it turns out, The Darjeeling Limited is a bit of a departure. In Anderson’s world, it’s a simple movie. But keep in mind, to most directors a simple movie doesn’t involve a film shot entirely on location in the country of India.

Gone is the large cast and multiple story lines. Besides one flashback, gone is the detailed backstory. Gone are the elaborate and detailed sets. Gone is the original soundtrack. It’s considerably shorter, too. Even many of the dry one-liners are gone, and the humor feels more subdued, not as dry or dark. Many things are different, and it gives the movie a simple feel.

It turns out feeling like an EP between full-lengths or a short story between novels.

One friend called it his Punch Drunk Love; a simple, straightforward story that follows an epic like Magnolia.

And all of this allows us to focus on the scenery, the brothers, their stories, and their development on this journey.

When you finish watching, you won’t be blown away, and it won’t make it to the top of your list of favorites. But the setting, the characters, and the story, along with the classic Anderson heartbreaking/heartwarming moments are enough to make it a solid, enjoyable movie that you’ll be glad you saw.

The Polar Express

Published
by
Neville
on December 23, 2004
in Adventure, Animation, Based on a book, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Musical and Trains
. 0 Comments

I just saw this movie tonight and wow, was I missing something. I loved this movie…I loved pretty much everything about it. It was entertaining and beautiful, christmasy and wintery (not the same thing), and a movie I found myself getting way way too into. It’s always very telling when you, the 22-year-old, are thinking the same things as the seven-year-old girl sitting behind you. The only difference is, she’s not afraid to yell out these thoughts at the screen (i love seeing movies like this and having kids talk back sporadically to the movies…it makes me smile).

Anyways, if you haven’t seen it…go see it. I now know what Roger Ebert has been raving about. It’s the first movie I can think of that is based on a children’s book that seems to not lose any of the magic found in the book but rather, on the contrary, brings the magic and wonder of the book to new heights! But then again, maybe I’m just a sucker for a really really good holiday/kid’s movie? Whatever the reason, I loved this movie.

The Station Agent

Published
by
Lij
on July 20, 2004
in Comedy, Drama and Trains
. 2 Comments

The other night I rented both The Station Agent and The Dreamers. The Station Agent was a million times better.

It follows Fin McBride, a dwarf, through a few weeks/months of his life in which his only friend dies, he inherits a train depot in New Jersey, and he moves in. He is content to live a quiet life. He’s one of the most believable loners I’ve seen in a movie. Usually a loner character is either so cool that you can’t understand why they’re by themselves all of the time, or they’re frustrating and you don’t really want them to have any friends. Fin was likable, but you could see why and how he was happy to be relatively alone.

Alas, friendships follow.

Bobby Cannavale died on Third Watch a few years ago, and the episode made me very sad. Watching him in this movie cheered me up a bit. His character’s giddiness was a huge reason I liked the movie so much. Patricia Clarkson is also great, as the woman who almost hits Fin with her car — twice in one day. She’s a mother who is mourning the loss of her son, Sam.

It turns out, all of these people need one another.

Fin is very cool. Peter Dinklage is great. This is a movie I would not only recommend to all of my friends, but to my family, too. Isn’t that nice? A movie you can recommend to pretty much everybody?