4th & Short: 11/29/09

Talk about tough decisions! I spent the better part of an hour this morning just trying to come up with my Top 3 movies this week. There is simply way too much good stuff out there right now and pretty much zero reason for you to see something crappy(*cough*2012*cough*).

I'll cover most of the stuff not listed here in my new column, Snap Judgements, which will basically be a roundup of brief reviews of films I simply don't have the time to write-up in full. As much as I may want to, I simply can't review everything!

3. The Road

In terms of sheer emotional impact, The Road packs an emotional wallop like few others before it. Based on Cormac McCarthy's famed novel, The Road is a post-apocalyptic fable of a father(Viggo Mortensen) attempting to keep his son(Kodi Smit-Mcphee) alive when the world has gone straight to Hell. Don't expect many laughs, or even any truly happy moments. Expect a heavy, gruesome, and wearying experience that you won't forget anytime soon. Viggo Mortensen's performance alone is worthy of Oscar consideration.

2. Fantastic Mr. Fox

I'll have my review of this tomorrow, but Wes Anderson's stop-motion adventure is the very antithesis of Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are. Where that film was often gloomy and heavy, Mr. Fox takes a light-hearted spin some age old human questions, highlighting the importance of family and staying true to one's self. You'll find no more complete animated film this year, and it's perfect for both adults and the kiddies.

1. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

If I ever start to fully understand Werner Herzog's bombastic cop drama, please have me committed to a rubber room. Nicolas Cage does what he does best, cutting loose and ignoring any pretense of restraint, as a dirty corrupt cop working the New Orleans beat immediately after Hurricane Katrina. Bad Lieutenant makes Training Day look positively tame by comparison. Singing iguanas, grandmas getting choked out, a scantily clad Eva Mendes...if that's not enough then just see it for Cage's truly outrageous performance.

DVD Pick: Gomorra (2008)

Mafia movies are a dime a dozen nowadays, right? Wrong. When the author of the novel your film is based on has to go into hiding because the Mafia wants to force him to wear cement sneakers, I think you have the right to call your film special. Gomorra chronicles the depth of corruption perpetrated by the Camorra crime family in Naples, Italy. Taking a multi-faceted approach to storytelling, Gomorra pulls no punches and looks for no heroes. It shows the depth of influence in every facet of society, and even pokes a sharp stick at all those Scarface influenced "thugs" thinking they know the lifestyle. Another film you won't walk away from smiling, but worth it if you have even the slightest interest in the true ways of the Mob.