trailer break: ‘The Road’

Take a break from work: watch a trailer… I’ve already noted that I’m dreading this — in a good way — because the book is so unrelentingly brutal. And the trailer only intensifies that dread. I fully expect the usual concentrated passion from Viggo Mortensen, and Viggo’s been calling his kid costar, Kodi Smit-McPhee, the … more…

trailer break: ‘Good’

Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer… Nazis! I hate these guys. Oh, wait… some of them were good people caught up in a situation they didn’t realize would get so bad? Hmm. It looks like Viggo Mortensen may be playing the Most Lovable Nazi ever here, just a nice guy, a smart … more…

bias update

obsession: awards season (though I’m kinda dreading the huge quantity of movies demanding to be seen between now and December 31) boyfriend: Patrick Wilson in Lakeview Terrace (and when he’s a big star, remember that I saw him first) psyched: Appaloosa (even though someone’s got a weird idea of what constitutes Viggo Mortensen’s appeal) dreading: … more…

trailer break: ‘Appaloosa’

Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer… It’s Unforgiven meets Shanghai Noon… without the laughs! This is the second movie from Ed Harris as a director (after 2000’s Pollack), and — kidding aside — it looks like my kind of movie, full of action and emotion and, well, Viggo Mortensen. I have to … more…

Eastern Promises movie review: viva Viggo

Movies about gangsters: You expect a lot of noise. Shouting and screaming. Barrages of gunfire. Not here. Here we have somber reflection, the lurking gray peril of an urban underbelly, shifting shifty glances and unspoken threats. ‘Eastern Promises’ is almost silent — even its title sounds like a shush.

A History of Violence and Derailed (review)

I knew nothing about *A History of Violence* before I sat down to watch it, absolutely nothing except that it starred Viggo Mortensen, and that that was enough to make me want to see it. I had even managed to avoid hearing that this was a David Cronenberg film, knowledge that certainly would have colored my expectations about it, as would have the knowledge, which I did not have until just before the movie began, that this was based on a graphic novel.