Sex Changes, Outlaws, and Murderers

Good movies sometimes run in streaks, and I've been on one lately. Here are the latest, though, I admit my reviews may not be quite as coherent as I usually try for. Hey, it's one o'clock in the morning, cut me some slack.

Orlando: When I read the description of this one, I thought it sounded like it might be interesting. It also sounded like it might be too slow and overly artsy. But, hey, with Netflix's new instant viewing feature, there was no committment whatsoever, so no harm in trying. A bit slow, yes. A bit artsy, yes. There are some scenes which are quite surreal, not even counting the one where Lord Orlando becomes Lady Orlando. A handful of times Tilda Swinton looks directly at the camera in a way that could've been hokey, but they manage to pull it off to great effect. They're these moments of her saying, "Okay, you're with me now, right?" when things get odd. I also am impressed by the premise of immortality as a result of royal decree. That's one I hadn't heard of before. Kudos to Virginia Woolf. Definitely an interesting story. Luckily, Billy Zane's part is very small. Dunno what exactly it is, but he just looks overly strange to me, to the point of distracting. Bonus: Queen Elizabeth being played by a man.

3:10 to Yuma: I've been looking forward to this one for a while now, ever since I saw that it not only was a neat looking western, but it also featured Russell Crowe. Then Ebert & Roeper actually liked it, too. I was totally set up to be let down, but it didn't happen. Christian Bale does a good job as a rancher down on his luck who takes the job of escorting the outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) to meet the train featured in the title. Crowe does a fantastic job as said outlaw. A lot of westerns tend to glamorize the outlaws, they're really good guys, they just rob banks/trains - I mean, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the prime examples. However, in this one, Russell Crowe plays a genuinely ruthless, manipulative, merciless killer. Well, except it's not quite so cut and dry. This flick is one of my favorite Crowe performances ever, the ways he plays with the character impressed me to no end, and I don't know if anyone else could have pulled off the ending so well. Man, he was at the top of his game. Even if you're not a fan of westerns, this is a great movie to see for pure character value. Bonus: an appearance by Alan Tudyk as the doctor.

Perfume: Story of a Murderer: It says right in the title what you're getting yourself into, so it's no surprise that Ben Whishaw's character turns out to be a serial killer. What is a surprise is how well the film makers create sympathy/empathy for him despite the fact. Yes, he's killing people, but... Great acting jobs all round, and Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman make appearances as supporting characters. I heard there was a twist ending, and I kept trying to figure out what, but still ended up surprised. Not all that common, so they get extra points for that. Also wonderfully done was the twisted, macabre humor that snuck in here and there, and the visual experience itself. Talk about using shadows to their fullest extent, seeing Whishaw's face slowly emerge into the light is a truly creepy experience. It's not the fasted moving film, nor the most action packed, but for story and character development, it's among one of the top movies I've seen lately.