Cynical Cinema

Paramount Home Entertainment has been coming out with some of the best new TV shows on DVD of late. Dexter, Californication, and many others. And now, on October 7th, they are bringing out another. Brotherhood is amazing. Sort of a Sopranos thing in that it involves mob bosses and contract killings and turf wars and that kind of thing. The main difference here is that the main characters are Irish instead of Italian. Which is fine, except after watching the first disc of Season Two, I started to talk with a bit of an Irish accent. And I started calling my parents “me ma” and “me da”. And my Irish accent is terrible. So my girlfriend got irritated.

After watching the second disc (the next four episodes), I developed a hankering for some Jameson’s Irish whiskey, and headed out to the liquor store. This might be the most effective product placement I have ever seen on TV. In every episode, there seems to be at least one character drinking Jameson’s. Sometimes it’s a cop who’s on duty. Sometimes it’s a hitman having breakfast. And sometimes it’s an old lady who just really needs to get drunk. But at every moment in the world of Brotherhood, someone somewhere is drinking Jameson’s. Thankfully, this got me buzzed for the last two episodes on the third disc, and I didn’t end up acting on my impulse to start killing people. And judging by how bad my Irish accent was, I can only assume I would have been pretty bad at killing people as well, and I would have ended up in prison, and I wouldn’t be here to write this review.

There is just so much going on in this show. There is a cop whose wife has left him, and he spirals downward on a path of self-destruction until finally he’s given but one way out. Inform on his family, or he’s finished. There’s Tommy, a politician whose ties to his own family are just about his only weakness in the political arena. And then there’s Michael, Tommy’s brother. He is the tough guy, bad-ass killer for hire, working for mob boss Freddy. Last season, Freddy attempted to eliminate Michael by having him beaten to death. Of course, Michael didn’t die, and he still doesn’t know that it was his boss that tried to kill him. Now he’s back at work, doing his job, killing folks, while working for the man who crushed in his skull. Because of the beating, Michael has suffered some brain damage, and is prone to blackouts and slightly erratic behaviour.

And then there are the supporting characters. A rich, powerful cast of terrific actors and beautiful women keep Season Two of Brotherhood moving along a a steady, measured, but incredibly compelling pace. Murder, romance, jealousy, whiskey and politics. One of the best shows on television.

That’s it, people. You can stop buying movies for the rest of your life. Because the ultimate movie item is now on sale. As of yesterday, September 23rd, DVDs have reached perfection, when Paramount Home Entertainment released The Godfather Trilogy on Blu-Ray. The greatest movie trilogy of all time is now available in the greatest Hi-Definition format of all time. And while you may not think at first that The Godfather movies are the kind that require Blu-Ray technology, you would be wrong. There are certain classic movies where Blu-Ray is an obvious improvement over the original transfers. Dark City, or Blade Runner. Movies that started out dark and require that crisp, clear picture.

But The Godfather really does change as well. These are three movies that I have seen dozens upon dozens of times, and yet watching them in Blu-Ray was a whole new experience. When you watch the scene where James Caan gets riddled with bullets, it’s like you’re one of the guys holding a machine gun. When Luca Brasi is rehearsing his speech outside Don Corleone’s office, you feel like he’s talking directly to you, the movie watcher, about this, the day of your daughter’s wedding. And when Michael takes Fredo out for a boat ride…well. You’ll just have to see to understand. And then you will agree. DVD movies have attained perfection with the release of The Godfather Trilogy on Blu-Ray. Throw out the rest of your collection. It is ALL now obsolete.

I have seen what might be the best movie made this year. And it’s out on DVD now. Here is a link to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq_M8EOC4zA

David Cronenberg is quickly becoming one of the top five directors in movies today, along with Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorcese, Tarantino and the Coen Brothers. A couple more like this and he will be number one, easily. He was the auteur of last year’s best movie as well, A History of Violence. Viggo Mortensen is in Eastern Promises as well, playing a driver and general thug-for-hire for the Russian mob in London. Naomi Watts plays a midwife who accidentally uncovers evidence against the Russian syndicate. She is one of the most underrated actresses in movies, and a new addition to my “top five actresses whom I would pay to see in a movie” list, now that Hilary Swank has become a motivational speaker. Not that that matters. Really. Go see that movie being advertised just to the right of this post. I’m sure it’s delightful.

But first, rent Eastern Promises. Because the next “new release Tuesday” is actually Christmas day, the whole system gets screwed up for a couple of weeks, and movies are released on Friday of this week. Also Rush Hour 3, and The Heartbreak Kid. Rush Hour 3 might be decent, The Heartbreak Kid will likely be lousy, but Eastern Promises is so worth the trip to the video store. It is such an intense, powerful drama/thriller/crime story/gangster epic that it is, in my humble movie critic’s opinion, the best movie of 2007. The others are Superbad, The Host, Knocked Up, Rescue Dawn, Sicko, Hot Fuzz, Ratatouille and The Bourne Ultimatum. This may be because I have not yet seen No Country For Old Men. But as it stands right now, Eastern Promises is the must-watch, get-it-now movie of the year.