POST #500!!!!: Blacker Than The Blackest Black Times Infinity

500 posts!!! Ma Ha Nei Bu, Eebowai!!!
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That's a Book of Mormon reference! Look it up!

Anyway, to commemorate this, the 500th post on Films From the Supermassive Black Hole, here's a review of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Last year, I named Let Me In my favorite movie of the year. And you can imagine the comments I got on that one. I stick by it though. I think Let Me In is a wonderful movie, and superior to Let The Right One In. Part of my sentiment came from the fact that I saw Let Me In before Let The Right One In, so the story, characters, and motifs were all new to me. And now, in 2011, I find myself in the exact same position with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I know, it's kind of unforgivable that a movie nut like myself hasn't seen the Swedish versions of Steig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy yet or read the books, and I don't really have an excuse; I'll get around to it eventually. But, this approach, I think, offers me a unique viewpoint from my contemporaries. Rather than judging the film based on how well it adapts the book, or how it holds up against the other version, I can just sit back and critique the film purely on it's own merits. And let me tell you, this American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is incredible!

Setting the standard of not to be messed with!

Cattle Rustlers From Another Planet

Now that the BIG movie of the season has dropped, the time of transition has begun, from Summer to Oscar. This is the time where we start to see a decrease in the explosions and an increase in drama and carefully planned character development. Usually, this is the time where we say goodbye to the likes of Transformers, GI Joe, and other dumb, action movies of that ilk, and we say hello to the likes of District 9, (500) Days of Summer, and films that, while maybe not the sort that will be recognized come the Academy Awards, nicely allude to the level of quality to come. Cowboys & Aliens is such a film, a truly masterful character study of men pushed to the edge, up against overwhelming odds, with wonderful redemption to be found and... 


Haha, had you going there for a minute, didn't I? No, what Cowboys & Aliens really is, is a a rip-snorting, action packed, genre mash-up that has an awesome concept, but fails to actually live up to it. Performances are passable at best, and the action doesn't do any more than it has to. The whole project seems like it came out because one studio head said, "Pourquoi pas?", which is never a good sign. 

Six shooters vs. lasers. We can do that.. right?