No Country for Old Men

The Coen Brothers' latest film is a richly layered thriller filled with memorable characters that, unfortunately, leaves the viewer wanting much more. Set in Texas in the year 1980 (the year isn't made explicit until near the end) it centers on a bag of money from a heroin deal gone bad and the people whose lives it affects. Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) stumbles across the bag while hunting out in the middle of nowhere, and things are further complicated when he comes back later that night to bring water to a dying man who was apparently part of the deal, only to find the man dead and a new truck pulling up next to his own. Llewelyn barely escapes with his life, and a psychopathic killer-for-hire named Anton Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem) is set on Llewelyn's trail. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is soon after sent to investigate the scene of the drug deal/shoot-out, and he figures out the trouble that Llewelyn has gotten himself into. The basic plot is only half the movie, and after the major climax the film goes into more contemplative territory, finishing with an ending that had many viewers confused and frustrated.
This movie was apparently very loyal to the book on which it was based, and that's what's caused some of the negative feedback by viewers and critics. The problem is that devices that work in a book don't always work in movies; people expect closure and a familiar type of plot. Even though I too was disappointed with this film's ending, I would absolutely recommend it to my friends, and I'll see it again if I have the chance. The characters are well-developed, and the villain is absolutely chilling, one of the best movie villains of all time. Like an earlier Coen brothers film, Fargo, No Country for Old Men paints a vivid picture of a unique part of America at a certain point in history that feels familiar, but still somehow foreign.

Here are some reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

A great site you should know about by now

Rottentomatoes.com is a great site for finding out about old, new, and upcoming movies. They've got critic reviews that are compiled to give a composite rating for each film in the form of a percentage, which is a convenient way of summing up a movie so any casual user looking for something to watch doesn't have to go far to make their decision. While I don't always agree with the average critic ratings (who in the real world does?) I find myself coming to this site almost once a week just to find out what's playing and if it sounds like it's worth seeing. Anyone who enjoys movies should know about this site; it's the best thing on the internet, and unlike movie previews and reviews on TV and in newspapers, you, the user, can choose what movies you'd like to find out about, including more obscure, independent titles.

Stephen King's The Mist

This was a good, incredibly intense horror movie. It centers not only on horrific monsters shrouded in fog terrorizing a group of people, but also how people themselves can become monsters when placed in an impossible situation.
Set in a small town in Maine (like most of Stephen King's stories) The Mist follows the aftermath of a violent summer storm, during which the art studio of protagonist David Drayton (played by Thomas Jane) is crushed by a dead tree belonging to his neighbor Brent Norton (played by Andre Braugher). David and his son Billy (played by Nathan Gamble) then go to the local supermarket to pick up some supplies, where they find the power out and a sizable amount of the town's population there with the same idea as them. All at once, a thick white mist rushes in off the lake, and one of the townspeople, his face covered in blood, runs into the supermarket from the street, screaming about something in the mist. The plot takes a frightening turn from here all the way until the the end, hardly letting up for more than a minute or two at a time. The mentally unstable religious zealot Mrs. Carmody (played by Marcia Gay Harden) is an amazing antagonist, and in many ways she is almost scarier than the bizarre monsters that come out of the mist.
If you like to be scared, you should see this movie. A word of caution, though: the ending is almost gratuitously horrible, and doesn't even match the ending of Stephen King's original story. I suggest you follow the advice of one of the user reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes and just walk out the minute the people in their car run out of gas. I don't want to give away any details in case you do want to hang in there until the end, but I know that you will be shocked and disgusted, and not in a good way.

Check out some reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

The Golden Compass

This is probably the biggest movie around right now. With a huge budget ($180 million) it's in a position to blow all of its mediocre box office competition out of the water. Now, that isn't to say that this is a great movie, but compared to everything else coming out this holiday season, it's at the top (at least until Juno gets a wide release).
Since everyone who's likely to read this post is Christian, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the controversy surrounding this film and the book that inspired it. Philip Pullman, the author of The Golden Compass (Originally published in Britain as Northern Lights) wrote the book, and its two sequels, with the intention of it being a sort of secular Chronicles of Narnia. There is a character called the Authority (who doesn't appear in the first book/movie) who is essentially Pullman's idea of God: a selfish, petty creature who wants to control all life in the universe(s). The Magisterium, which in the universe of The Golden Compass is a sinister mirror image of the Catholic Church, serves the Authority's interests by attempting to eliminate free thought and the questioning of authority in their world (and, as the plot unfolds, other worlds as well). While this is a pretty offensive notion if taken a certain way, it's important to remember the real moral of this story, and it's got nothing to do with whether you believe in God or not. People should always think long and hard about their beliefs, and accepting the word of authority figures unquestioningly is not always a wise choice.
That being said, I thought this was a decently made movie. The special effects were amazing, and blended seamlessly with the real life characters. Beyond that, the acting was good for the most part, with Dakota Blue Richards ably playing her role as the tough, clever young protagonist Lyra Belacqua. Nicole Kidman is chilling as Mrs. Coulter, the Magisterium stooge who first takes Lyra out of her small world at Jordan College and into the larger conflict in which she is destined to play a central part. There isn't enough of Daniel Craig to be worth mentioning, unfortunately, but he does a passable job when he is around.

Check out some reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.