Choke

I didn’t know that Sam Rockwell existed before I saw this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1LWg1jFp4E . It’s amazing how one video can catapult a guy into near – CDNW territory. In CHOKE, an adaptation of Chuck Pahlaniuk’s novel about a historical reenactor / sex addict / possible cloned son of Jesus Christ who, um, well, let’s just leave it at that, Rockwell seals the deal. Ok, I’ve only seen a few of his pictures, and I didn’t even particularly like his portrayal of Zaphod Beeblebrox, but to hell with it – Sam Rockwell Can Do No Wrong.

Why? Because he takes this tragic, deeply flawed, possibly irredeemable man and makes him the funniest comic character I’ve seen since Jason Segel in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. And he does it not in a comedy that lurches from set piece to set piece, that works the old rhythm of setup – payoff – setup – payoff, but in a quirky and interesting character study of the kinds of people we avoid in real life but are great fun to hang out with on the silver screen. CHOKE is an adult comedy in that, sure, it has sex and profanity and all that kind of stuff; but CHOKE is an adult comedy because it operates with adult and finds its humor in people, places, and actions that it takes a few miles on the odometer to appreciate.

And Rockwell, he knows how to tread the line between villain and rascal. He knows how to be funny while acting dead serious, and here he creates a character so serious that we can’t help but laugh. I rented CHOKE on the strength of his name on the poster, and he doesn’t disappoint. This is my comedy to beat for 2009.

Seraphim Falls

I grew up in the Mountain West. I know how to track, ride, and shoot, and I know that hypothermia can be deadlier than bullets. When SERAPHIM FALLS began in the Mountain West with characters who track, ride, shoot, and nearly succumb to hypothermia, it earned my immediate and total buy-in. When able stars Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson enacted the line, "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed," it pegged my Cool Meter. When Anjelica Huston, in a great bit of stunt casting, intoned, "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do," I thought, 'Now, there's a western!"

The story begins in the High Sierra, where Neeson and his henchmen attack an unsuspecting Brosnan, who barely escapes with his life. Wait a minute - it's Liam Neeson! He's usually a good guy! And so's Brosnan! What's going on here? Those questions provide much of the film's dramatic tension, as we try to figure out what, exactly, is going on and why. But there's no time for that, at first. At first, it's all running and sliding and nearly drowning or bleeding to death or dying of the aforementioned hypothermia, in addition to my beloved riding, tracking, and shooting. Brosnan does career-best work as he gives us desperation, determination, and bafflement. His portrayal of a man at the edge of death brough to mind Jack London's "To Build a Fire," and I completely bought that he was just moments away from feeling warm all over and laying down to sleep.

Cinematographer John Toll does absolutely brilliant work here, as well. He brings to life the mountains, the desert, and places in between with such care and clarity that I could almost smell the pine tar and juniper berries. He creates the mythic West by taking much of the myth out of it, and he made me feel homesick for the first time in years.

SERAPHIM FALLS isn't a big movie. It's a revenge picture, and a chase picture, and a personal picture. But it's also very much a western, and it felt true to the West as I understand it. I'm glad I saw it.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

I like the combination of the real and the fanciful in THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU. Elegance, insight, and grace infuse the (only?) real element of the film, the inner life of Steve Zissou; while the fanciful element shines with vision, creativity, and an edge toward fancy.

Steve Zissou is a man in the process of losing his illusions. His business is crumbling, his partner is leaving, and his crew yearns for the days when he had the energy to make illusions seem real. As the movie pares this character down to his vital core, it creates an increasingly fantastical world for him to inhabit. How fitting that his moment of enlightenment should come in the most fantastical scene of them all.

Holy cow, did I like this movie.