Logging

Film: Drive

At the risk of overstating it, I fail to see how Drive isn't the best film of the year. I was in a fugue state after watching it. It, along with In Bruges, are the two best small crime movies since the 1990s heydey of early Tarantino, the Elmore Leonard trilogy, Hard Eight, The Usual Suspects, etc. Unless I'm totally forgetting something (oops. I did forget Collateral). Do not say The Town or I will come stomp your head. One has to go all the way back to Thief to imagine a more stylish, more austere, more poetic, tight crime movie. It is not as good as Thief. But it can be in the same discussion. The problem with the film, as I see it, is that it doesn't have the great 3rd act of Thief. And perhaps you want to say something against the level or style of violence, which is usually jarring. Also, Gosling's character is more a mythological creature than an actual person and there is an emotional distance one feels for his mission toward the end. But fuck if the movie isn't cool. I mean, I'm a Melville fan, and those movies don't work perfectly all the way through, and I'd put this up with any of his films. Los Angeles is freaking awesome in this movie. I was ready to like the movie, and I ended up really, really liking it. In some ways I'm blown away. This is easily the best movie Gosling's ever been in. So consider the compliments I've laid on the film - best movie this year (so far), best movie Gosling (our best young actor since Heath Ledger is dead) has done, and a movie that can be put into a discussion with Thief. The movie won't be for everyone, that is for sure, but if you like neo-noir, if you like Thief, if you like Melville, if you like Gosling, if you like Point Blank, Donald Westlake, these types of things interest you, finally, after a long time, there is a movie to watch.

UPDATE: The Atlantic reviews Drive - and I must say - I agree. I think it he sums it up well here:

Now and then, though, you see a film that jumps off the spectrum altogether, one that reminds you that novel possibilities exist even within the most well-worn cinematic conventions. In the most extreme cases—Annie Hall, say, or Star Wars or Pulp Fiction—such a movie possesses enough gravity to realign the spectrum altogether. And while Drive, the stunning Hollywood debut of Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, is unlikely to have such an impact (it is a triumph of execution more than formula), it is nonetheless a minor revelation.

TV: Breaking Bad. Finished season 3. WOW. Show is awesome. Comparisons to Sopranos are now fair game.

I am unusually enthusiastic about the movies and shows I've been watching recently. I'm on a hot streak. Breaking Bad, Louie, Party Down, Warrior, Drive, Contagion, My Idiot Brother, The Debt, Crazy/Stupid/Love. There hasn't been a miss in the group. At worst, Contagion just merely met my expectations and My Idiot Brother wasn't good, but at least surprised me a bit. The Debt was mediocre, but I don't regret seeing it. I support the Israel-gets-revenge subgenre of thrillers. I suppose I left out Entourage as a blip on the screen, but that's like including Jersey Shore, which doesn't really count.