my movie binge

In the past week, I've suddenly been hit with an explicable urge to watch movies. This might be because I sit on my chair for 14 hours a day and need a proxy for the physical, mental, interpersonal, spiritual, and all other types of stimulation that I seem to be lacking. I've made my way through an impressive stack of stories and actors and have come to several conclusions:

1) There's no way I can go back to TV shows.
2) I need to hit the gym.
3) I need to talk to real people.
4) James McAvoy is absolutely amazing.
5) Edward Norton is ten times more articulate than my english professors in college.

Where do I begin? The most rational place would be the two that I actually saw in theaters: In Bruges and The Counterfeiters. Before I start critiquing, it seems to me that all movies I've seen (perhaps by coincidence) have a surfeit of acting genius, solid though unremarkable dialogue, and a less than stellar storyline. It's very puzzling. Moreover, the American actors are getting upstaged by their better trained, more sensitive, and deeper counterparts.

In Bruges is one of those movies that had potential until you noticed that it was limping on its three legs, much like the bloodied and bullet-ridden half-dead people that drag themselves over the cobblestones at the end of the movie (that was obvious from the very beginning). The story was semi-interesting, but the scenes just didn't flow. The pace was bad and the action just dragged and dragged.

Many aspects of the story line seemed disjointed and rather pointless, especially the midget/dwarf. The dwarf jokes were just gratuitous. In fact, the entire storyline seemed pointless, and directly contrasted the fact that the scenes were crafted very carefully. My main problem is that the movie was self-conscious of its own cleverness (or non-cleverness).

So that this movie doesn't get thrown into the same bin as Martin and Orloff (which is the absolute worst movie I've seen in my life. I don't remember anything about it except that it was utterly abominable), the acting is exceptional, especially the scenes and Ralph Fiennes as a delightfully assholish type of bastard with a slight anger-management problem. Colin Farrell is also not bad as the conscience-stricken hitman who never left adolescence. If anything, he was a bit overly emotional. And Brendan Gleeson blended into his role so naturally that I didn't even notice his performance.

Another great thing about the movie is its unflinching use of racial slurs and some virtuoso swearing (with words that I wouldn't even say). There might be fear lurking inside every character (except for Ralph's character, who's imbued with 110% bastardness), but the movie is unflinching in showing us its rawness, which is quite spectacular in a few terse scenes, not to say that the rest of the movie isn't sparse, because it certainly is. There are a few twists and turns, but everyone ends up exactly where you think they will. Overall, I wouldn't watch the entire movie again, but there are a few bright bits that I might be willing to see just for the sheer talent contained in a few raw moments.