Bar Stool Review Of SHUTTER ISLAND

From the juiced-box and the soundtrack: Dinah Washington & Max Richter - This Bitter Earth

[Press 'Play' for something that's nowhere near rock, but will be the most beautiful thing you hear today]

Ramblings: Shudder Island

Final Proof: 4 Shots

You know how you get drunk on Jägermeister in some back alley bar in the bad part of town? The bar is sinister, the people are ominous, the Jäger is dark and a somber buzz descends down on you beautifully, settles into you with macabre intensity that feeds the nightmares running rampant across the vista of your dreamscape. The visions are intense hallucinations as stunning as they are scary, as graceful as grisly, as magnificent as menacing. You're frightened but not afraid because the boatman leading you down your stream of subconsciousness steers with a deft hand and shows you all the stupefying sights before gently guiding you home. Shutter Island is like that.


Just like those magic bar nights that seem to come together serendipitously, all the key elements needed for perfection came together to make an incredible film. Based on a book by Dennis Lehane, a writer who takes thrillers to a whole new level by placing rich and developed characters in extreme situations, the movie was directed by a Martin Scorsese who has been able to hone the edge of his early work into something sharper and more brilliant. Add to the mix Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, two solid actors who sweeten the pot, and you end up with a Jäger bomb that is.

With incredibly shot landscapes and striking images that spark the slowburn intensity into open flames, it's hard to find things not to like about this movie. If you're looking for a foreboding Jäger buzz without the hangover but with all the hallucinations, Shutter Island deserves a shot.

Buzz Kills (Watch Out for Spoilers)

Sex: 2 Shots

The good nudes is, there was nudity. The bad nudes is, it wasn't Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, or Nellie Sciutto---it was crazy ass people in an insane asylum and let's just say there aren't any hotties in the nut house 'cause hot people drive us crazy.

The first hottie on my list is Michelle Williams (29). She plays Dolores, Teddy Daniel's (Leonardo DiCaprio) flashback wife. The nice thing about her portrayal is she doesn't push it over the top, a mistake it woulda been all to easy to do with this role.

After that, we got Emily Mortimer (38) as Rachel 1. She's Rachel 1, because she is #1.

There was also a Silken Butterfly (a beautiful vision that flies too briefly across the silver screen) in the form of one Nellie Sciutto who plays Nurse Marino. Here's to hoping we see lots more of her.

For those of you who prefer bars to padded cells [get it? padded "cells"---ah give me a break, like you pay for this crap] i got some Leonardo DiCaprio (35) who played Teddy Daniels.

Leo Drinking With Tom Collins

Here's Mark Ruffalo, who looked sharp as Chuck Aule, Teddy's 'partner' (not in the gay way).

Drink: 2 Shots

• [Ben] Kingsley [as Dr Cawley] drinks cognac at home
• Ruffalo drinks Rye
• Leo doesn't drink
• [Max] Von Sydow [as Dr Naehring] drinks whiskey
• Leo was an alcoholic in a dream sequence
• Dicaprio is a cool smoker
• Great cigarette movie
• Smokin' Luckies

Rock & Roll: 1 Shot

Yeah, OK, this movie wasn't a "rock and roll" movie. No rock in the soundtrack and not really in the attitude, but maybe one of the things that impressed me the most about this movie was that it didn't need rock and roll to be cool.



Boring Technical Crap

Written by:

Dennis Lehane (Book)

Laeta Kalogridis (Screenplay)

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Starring

Michelle Williams - Dolores

Emily Mortimer - Rachel Solando 1

Nellie Sciutto - Nurse Marino

Leonardo DiCaprio - Teddy Daniels

Mark Ruffalo - Chuck Aule

Bottom Line

This will become known as a major film in Scorsese's works, don't miss it.

A Bar Stool Review of: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

i saw Where The Wild Things Are with the director, Spike Jonze, and the lead kid, Max Records:

Let The Wild Rumpus Start

Final Proof: 4 Shots

You know sometimes you drink alone? When it's that time of night, when the music is just right and you're as low as the lights the reminiscences visit like familiar ghosts who want to know if you can come out, come out, wherever you are. You chain smoke your cigarettes and play hide and seek with your soul, feeling around the hole where your innocence lived before you lost it, and it aches like a cowboy & indians war wound that throbs when the rain goes away or comes again another day. Then, for a moment as fleeting as a lunch box dessert, you are young again with all of the fierce goodness, the ripe immaturity, the painful joy of childhood. Until suddenly it's gone, like a birthday candle in a hurricane. That's what Where The Wild Things Are is like.

Where The Wild Things Are is a beautiful movie.

i gotta give credit to Spike Jonze and David Eggers for pulling off the screenplay as well as they did. There are feelings the book only hints at and when you see them onscreen, you understand things maybe Maurice Sendak didn't even see himself. i get this movie in a profound way. i felt what Spike Jonze meant. Where The Wild Things Are is a movie that reaches out and touches you in ways you forgot you could feel.

Here, i'm tempted to go into detail about the symbolism and the message and the characters but that isn't important at all. What is is important is that i can take my twelve-year-old to see this and she won't 'understand' everything that i did but she'll sense it and probably know what's going on even better than i do. Because Where The Wild Things Are is a treat for everyone to appreciate.

Thank you, Spike.

Buzz Kills (Watch Out for Spoilers)

Sex: 0 Shots

Unless you have a fetish for big fat hairy men and women, there's no sex here. No big surprise when you consider this was based on a freakin' kids' book. So, am i gonna leave you high and dry? You know me better than that.

To begin with, Catherine Keener is in this movie. i think i first noticed her in 40 Year Old Virgin and found her very attractive. Then, while not a sexy role, she rocked as a hippy Alex Supertramp meets on the road in Into The Wild. Anyway, she's got the coolest voice, like smoke over a razor blade, just on the right edge of raspy, and i'll give you a shot on the house if you can name any woman hotter than her at age 50 (!). The proof is in my pudding:

And then we get Lauren Ambrose ('member her from "Six Feet Under"?) who is a 'wild thing'.

For the women out there who patronize me, Paul Dano was a wild thing. He may not be as wild as Lauren Ambrose, but if you like twinks and geeks:

Mark Ruffalo also made a brief appearance as The Boyfriend:

Drink: 0 Shots

Mom (Catherine Keener) and Boyfriend (Mark Ruffalo) share a bottle of red wine before dinner. It may not sound like much but remember, it's more than Twilight 2: New Moon.

Homegrown Photo

Rock & Roll: 2 Shots

Ok, what we got here isn't really rock but still, it's acoustic that can approach rowdy at times. i think the thing i like best about it is that Karen O and the Kids' soundtrack sniffs that same line that runs between kid stuff and adult stuff that the movie does.

Boring Technical Crap

Written by:

Maurice Sendak (book)
Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers (screenplay)

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Starring:

Max Records - Max
Catherine Keener - Mom
Lauren Ambrose - KW (voice)
Paul Dano - Alexander (voice)
Mark Ruffalo - The Boyfriend

Bottom Line
See it and then see it again.