can i count the many many ways that i appreciate tilda swinton?

Plot:

The story of a mysterious loner, a stranger in the process of completing a criminal job.

Status: post-production

tilda swinton is one of my favorite actresses so any project in which she is featured is alright by me.  also good is that this is a jim jarmusch project.  i loved down by law and definitely enjoyed dead man, stranger than paradise, and mystery train.

Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Release Date: 2009

A black comedy set in 1967 and centered on on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him because his inept brother won’t move out of the house.

Source

i always enjoy coen brothers films (almost always.  we can pretend the lady killers never happened) – they have a formula, they stick to it, the viewers are pleased.

yojimbo is about as great a samurai film as you are likely to find that is both true to the style and spirit of the genre yet has appeal to mainstream audiences.  the atmosphere and imagery of this tiny town in feudal japan are memorable in spite of their simplicity.  for all intents and purposes, the entirety of yojimbo unfolds along one single stretch of road.  at either end of this road are two rival gangs and standing squarely in the middle (high above the dusty blood stained road, enjoying the carnage from a comfortable vantage point) is the quintessential man-with-no-name, the two-bit samurai portrayed by the legend toshiro mifune.  comparison to akira kurosawa’s other work is inevitable.  i’m in the process of working through his filmography and yojimbo is only my second kurosawa film (for shame, for shame).  the other of his films that i’ve seen is, of course, the epic seven samurai.  having seen both films, i will say yojimbo is not better than seven samurai, but it is much more digestible and accessible to casual movie goers.  watching seven samurai is an undertaking (a worthwhile undertaking that i encourage everyone to pursue).  watching yojimbo was just fun.

a review from a professional with which and whom i mostly agree

my rating:  4.5 out of 5

Director: Cary Fukunaga

Director: Clint Eastwood

Plot:

Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possesion: his 1972 Gran Torino.