The Sunset Limited

Primacy.

It is always a trick to adapt theater to a feature film. Easier to do so for television, though that's probably a gross overstatement. HBO might be the best place to do it; they harbor independent film. Even trickier, maintaining a swift and watchable pace with only two actors and heavy religious dialog. Thankfully, Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, and Cormac McCarthy have no problem with this. The Sunset Limited is engaging, thought-provoking, and sincere. 

Of course, being a McCarthy work, there is a sense of boundless eternity that is tinkered with throughout, and the ending is more of a truce than anything else, but this is usually so of his writing. Things happen, we talk about why, and then we go home. It doesn't matter which side wins, just so long as each side is heard. 

More after the cut --

The Company Men

If Ben Affleck keeps this up, he'll never have to look for work.

When critiquing a film, there are a handful of things you have to consider - the tone of the film, the depth of the performances, how it flows as a whole, key moments that help the film develop an emotional resonance, so on and so forth. At least, that's how I do it. One should judge the story presented, and how it fits into the world the film assumes. The Company Men, for all intents and purposes, is a perfect film. Nothing is out of place. But, even though the film sets out to do what it achieves and has no sense of pretense about it, there is something in the mix that just doesn't ring true. 

More after the cut --

In Theaters This Weekend

Reason #412 why I hate Ashton Kutcher

Two wide releases (The Company Men and No Strings Attached), and a "wider" release of Peter Weir's The Way Back hit cinemas this weekend. Which are you going to see? 

A closer look at all three after the cut --