The New World

2005. Written and directed by Terrence Malick. Starring Colin Farrell, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Christian Bale, and Christopher Plummer.

With the hope of discovering something anywhere close to Badlands, I keep returning to Terrence Malick's films. And I keep being disappointed. To be fair, Malick has made a grand total of three movies since his 1973 masterpiece Badlands, so it isn't that hard keeping track of his career. Each of these three movies, however, is exceptionally long and feels even longer. There's some really good stuff in The Thin Red Line, though perhaps not enough of value to make it worth your time. That is far higher praise than I will give The New World. I couldn't get involved at all and never cared about the characters. The narration is dry and completely unnecessary; it serves only to slow the already slow-moving film down. The acting is unimpressive. I've seen some good work from Farrell and Bale, but what they offer here is far less exciting. The cinematography, always a strength in Malick films, is once again impressive; but certainly not good enough to make me glad I wasted my time with this.

My grade: C-

Munich

2005. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas. Starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Matthieu Kassovitz, Hans Zischler, Michael Lonsdale, Matthieu Amalric, Geoffrey Rush.

"Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values."

Steven Spielberg is an immensely talented artist with the ability to achieve greatness, but he can just as easily make poor choices and offer weak stories. Witness his two offerings from 2005. The extremely mediocre War of the Worlds, with a pathetic ending, and Munich, which will sit atop my top ten list for 2005. This drastic discrepancy is why you never know what to expect from him. You have to see the films he does because when he does them well, you are talking some of the great works of cinema (E.T., Jaws, Schindler's List, Raiders of the Lost Ark). But he can just as easily disappoint you.

Munich offered no frustrations. It is a superb story without a weak spot in it. It tackles a difficult subject and allows us to not only learn a little about history but see the relevance in today's world. Most importantly, it is thrilling. Munich is suspenseful and engaging from start to finish. It deals with consequences on both individual and global levels: consequences both expected and unexpected. It warns of us not only the circle of violence that is feed into by retribution but that our response should be fully thought out. Yet, with all these large scale topics and thoughts, it exists on a small scale - mostly inside the mind of one man as we see the challenges, change, and consequences he endures from what he is asked to do.

Munich is what happens when everything goes right for Spielberg. It can stand with the films mentioned above as his best.

My grade: A

I'll have more soon

Yes, I've been very slow to write of late. Partly because I haven't seen many movies lately. But there are a few that will receive my reviews soon. Most importantly, Munich, which was every bit as impressive and accomplished as I could have hoped and a lot more entertaining than I expected as well. It will likely take over the top spot in my 2005's top ten. Hoodwinked was very entertaining with some hilarious and inspired bits as well as some mediocre stuff. The New World was long and boring, I'm sorry to say, and I couldn't get involved (though I stuck it out to the end). Longer write-ups to come, but that is what has been playing on my dvd player over the past several weeks.