No Country for Old Men & some others in brief

Spartan -

This came out a few years ago, but I don't remember hearing much about it. Now I find out that David Mamet wrote and directed a war movie with Val Kilmer and Kristen Bell????? We had to find out. This is a very good thriller, with Kilmer as a rogue commando set to rescue the president's missing daughter (Bell), even though the president may not want her back... Pretty damn good for a military conspiracy movie, and more action than I ever expected Mamet to be capable of.

No Country For Old Men -

Finally snuck away to the theater to see the Coens get back in the saddle. They didn't disappoint. This is an awesome combination of western motifs and modern thrillers. Everyone is on their game, but Javier Bardem is downright terrifying as the hitman with no rules at all. I'm calling a nom for him. Has to. I was a little curious as to how they handled the last half hour or so, but it doesn't diminish the accomplishment. Who knew they could get serious again, and not only that, but make one of the more suspenseful movies in the past few years - without resulting to easy scare tactics like so many do these days? The silence and the great cinematography added to this great work.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -

Also managed to grab this little-seen drama before it went out. It's a sad story of two shmuck brothers (Ethan Hawke, in full sad-sack loser Dead Poets / Tape mode, and the great Phil S Hoffman) robbing their own parents' store, and things going horribly wrong. I liked it, but there are a lot of questions about how Sidney Lumet handled this. He uses multi perspectives for everyone involved, but it doesn't always help, and they end up repeating a lot. The main thing to watch in this movie is to see Phil take an unlikable character and just run with it. He's a total heel, and he doesn't care. For a Phil-phanatic like myself, it's nice to see him back doing stuff others maybe wouldn't. But the rest of the film is just okay at best.

The Number 23 -

I waited for this on DVD after being suspicious of it earlier... and I was right. It's got a compelling visual style and the stigma behind 23 is intriguing. It's got a dramatic murder mystery and a Bud Cort cameo. But the story is so weirdly drawn out. Much of the film is a flashback to the book Jim Carrey is reading, which makes sense (I guess?) in the end but doesn't do much for excitement. It's a decent story, but then it ends up being not about 23 so much as one guy's weird problems. Funny, Joel Schumacher is probably the only guy who can offer so much promise and disappointment in the same film. At least Virginia Madsen is still capable.

And they missed the most obvious connection to that number, one that I've suspected for many years: Michael Jordan has the power of Satan. I knew it!