Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Three Burials of Melquides Estrada - 2005

This is a movie about loyalty and honor. About honoring a single life and avenging a single death.

It stars Tommy Lee Jones as the grizzled owner of a small time cattle operation, Pete Perkins. He hires an illegal Mexican immigrant as a hand and a deeper friendship develops. Barry Pepper is the hot head border patrol agent that has no problem with socking a Mexican woman in the face if she crosses him (and the border).

Stir this mix up and you have an emotional western (?) in the mold of a John Huston. Melquides Estrada is the Mexican cattle hand and we get to know him primarily through flashback and story telling. We do get to know him well though, which is skillful on the director's part, primarily because he is, well... dead for most of the movie. [I don't think I'm giving away any plot spoilers here. Look at the title of the movie]. Perkins realizes the ineffective sheriff [played by Diwight Yokum] isn't going to get to the bottom of the murder and decides to take matters into his own hands.

What we get is a journey of redemption bought with gruesome physical labor. Both men learn respect that they didn't have at the beginning of the story. Pepper masterfully portrays the contrition that the part demands and is worth the price of admission right there.

The film is the directorial debut for Jones as well. I'm hungry for more.

This movie made my Top 100 Movie List. You can research the movie at Amazon here.

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10th & Wolf

  10th & Wolf - 2006

Straight up mob drama with no surprises. I TIVOed this movie on the strength of Giovanni Ribisi - I always enjoy the passion he puts into a movie. Giovanni doesn't disappoint here.

The movie purports to take place in Philadelphia, but I'm from Pittsburgh and I'm tell'in ya, this was filmed in Pittsburgh. The Steelers, Wholey's Fish Market, the bridges - these are from Pittsburgh. This is, by the way, the only surprise in the movie. Its the same mob story you've seen dozens of times. Tough kid leaves the neighborhood; tough kid returns to the neighborhood; tough kid's old buds are deep in over their heads in mob trouble; tough kid trys to clean up.... just about everybody but the tough kid gets killed by the end.

But even with that said I did have some affection for the flick. Another stand out (beside Ribisi) was "the wise guy we are supposed to hate"; Dash Mihok playing the creepy Junior. At one point he beats a guy to death with his fake leg. His chilling portrayal of Junior made me hit IMDB to research his other work. Find something else he is in and let me know your thoughts.

I certainly didn't leave this movie satisfied. Everything plays out exactly as you would expect - it is very conventional. The performances by Ribisi, Mihok & Piper Perabo (!) pull this movie on to its inevitable conclusion. But I would have expected something a bit more outside the box from Crash co-writer Bobby Moresco.

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TGIF Morning Walk

Morning walk, Pittsburgh, PA

WW II Memorial European Trip

My father and I are planning a trip to Europe next year through Image Tours. It is a 15 day World War II Memorial Tour. We have talked about doing this for years. Well there has to be a time when you stop talking about doing it - and do it.

Here is the daily planned itinerary. I'll post some later on the the history of these sites as I research them.

1. Fly to Amsterdam
2. Holland - Leusden
3. Holland - Leusden
4. Holland - Arnhem, Nijmegen, Groesbeek, Best, Heerlen
5. Germany - Remagen, Boppard, St. Goar, Rhine cruise, Franconian wine region
6. Germany - Nuremberg, Sauerlach, Munich
7. Germany - Sauerlach
8. Germany - Dachau, Ulm, Bad Herrenalb
9. France - Saverne, St. Avold, Fort Hackenberg, Thionville
10. Luxembourg - American Cemetery & Belgium - Bastogne & France - Thionville
11. France - Verdun, Reims, Compiegne
12. France - Caen
13. France - Normandy,
14. France - Paris
15. Fly to US

[see a more detailed itinerary here]

In addition, there are extra side trips to Hitler's Eagle's Nest and some Bavarian beer stuff.

Let me know if you have any experience with Image Tours and how this trip sounds. I think it might possibly be the trip of a lifetime...

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Book Burning in Kansas City

I have always felt a certain connection to the books I read. So much so that I have trouble parting with them even after I've read them. My book shelves are overflowing with these old friends and contrary to my wife's protests, there they are staying.

So you can imagine my confusion when I read that a bookstore in Kansas City decided to burn hundreds of books to "spark" controversy. I'm finding it a bit hard to believe that in a city the size of Kansas City, there are no takers for the books. Homeless shelters? Libraries? Community centers?

The goal of the stunt was to shock people into a serious discussion about the importance of books in the face of a marked shrinking in reading trends, and staggering waste streams of actual books.

OK - discussions about promoting reading is a good thing. But I'm betting that donating the books to useful organizations would have produced better results.

The Illusionist

  The Illusionist - 2006

* Spoilers included *

Let me start by saying that Edward Norton is one of my favorite actors. His character Derek Vinyard in American History X is unforgettably intense. He often plays characters that skillfully combine intelligence and cunning inside a quiet exterior.

Paul Giamotti is also an actor that I have grown to respect and enjoy lately.

The Illusionist didn't do it for me. I have to say that I expected the very ending from the point of the show where Eisenhim asks Sophie "Look at me. Do you really want to run away with me?" From that point forward we were meant to be tricked by the movie - lead to believe one thing while the reality was something different. Maybe ever since Sixth Sense and The Crying Game I'm a bit wary - but this just slapped me up side the head with "Watch OUT - they're trying to trick you...." The name of the movie is The Illusionist for crying out loud...

I can respect the individual performances here. Paul Giamotti is great as the nemesis as well as the grudging admirer. Jessica Biel hasn't impressed me tremendously as an actress but was surprisingly effective here in this role - believable in the period of the movie.

Norton made The Painted Veil right after this movie. I recommend that movie for the Ed Norton fan. Also a period piece but a much more engaging film.

I'm a fan of magic, all the actors in the movie, turn of the century periods, Vienna.... you would think this movie would have been made for me. Maybe I expected too much...

Research this movie on Amazon

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No Sleep...

Here it is - 5 AM on Saturday morning and I'm at the keyboard. I've been waking up real early all week and I had a feeling that I'd have trouble sleeping in on Saturday. Usually if I can make it in till 8 or so that's doing good.

I hope to find so time this weekend to work on an application that I'm doing for a Christian organization called Love Packages. These people do great work sending literature and books throughout the world. They need some database work keeping track of things so I'm hoping to help out a bit.

So as the family sleeps I'll be on the laptop. This will be a good time to comment on the book I'm currently reading: Maximum City by Suketu Mehta.