In The Valley of Elah : Movie Review

I wanted to see this movie the first time that I saw the trailer, in fact, I was chomping at the bit. Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and written and directed by Paul Haggis… it has awesome written all over it, right? Not so much it seems.

While it took me some time to get to see the movie, I was not disappointed by it, but it really didn’t thrill me at all. I suppose it basically just became “movie of the week” material to me. Charlize Theron’s character was pretty reminicent of her character in North Country, too butch and unfeeling. Charlize has those doey eyes that lend so well to warm tender scenes, apologies to Charlize if that’s too type cast, but it’s what I see. And I’m certainly not downplaying her performance in North Country, which I throughly enjoyed, I just wish that I could say the same about her character in this movie.

Haggis’ story is such a great concept, ‘how do trained killers behave when not in the kill zone?’. There is just too much story missing, not enough back information or character development. It makes for a very lackluster movie, that seems to drag on, with the viewer gagging for an ending to tie it all together.

Jason Patric’s character was decent, but I was surprised to find out that James Franco was even in the movie. I’m still trying to figure out who he was… that does not say much for Franco, even less for his character.

I give this movie 5 ‘blue cars under yellow lights’ out of 10.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada – Review

Produced, directed and starred by Tommy Lee Jones… a triple threat he is not on this one.

I thought that the storyline was fantastic, filled with raw emotions and scenes that would speak to even the toughest cynic.

I’m not sure that I can put my finger on why I don’t feel that this movie is done as well as it could be… possibly it’s that it’s got that country/western feel that I don’t tend to lean towards, or it’s the slowness of the story, or maybe it’s just that it felt too plain. This could have been a blockbuster… not that all blockbusters are deserving of praise, but it just needed something more.

However the story does drag you in… for that alone I’ll give this movie 5 “border crossings” out of 10.