The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Bella and Lisbeth – NPR's John Powers

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“Two Ladies:  Are You Team Bella, or Team Lisbeth?”  NPR’s Fresh Air’s John Powers has written a very insightful essay on this year’s two most popular – and contrasting – female role models – Bella of the Twilight series and Lisbeth of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy.  An excellent read.

Note to Patricia:   The only reason that I haven’t yet seen The Girl Who Played With Fire, is that I’m waiting for my wife to finish the book before we go; she assures me that we’ll make it to the theater this weekend.  I’m glad that you found Played With Fire gripping.

Movies To See Right Now

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The “must see” films in theaters remain Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3.  Winter’s Bone has been out for a while, so, if you haven’t seen it in a theater,  you’d better see it soon.  For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

It’s summer vacation, so I am letting people catch up with my most recent DVD recommendations:  Eight Men Out, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl on the Train, John Adams and The Deep End.   For the trailers and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.

 

 

The Crying Game

 

 

Movies on TV include The Crying Game and Before Sunrise on IFC this month.  Freaks, Soylent Green and 12 Angry Men are coming up on TCM.

Tod Browning and his cast for Freaks

 

This week's Movies To See

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Toy Story 3

 

The “must see” films in theaters remain Winter’s Bone and Toy Story 3.  Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is good, too.  For trailers and other choices, see Movies to See Right Now.

My DVDs of the week are Eight Men Out (for the MLB All-Star Game) and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (because its sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire has been released.   For the trailers and other DVD choices, see DVDs of the Week.

 

 

Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Before Sunrise

 

Movies on TV include The Firemen’s Ball, The Crying Game and Before Sunrise and on IFC this month.  Freaks, Soylent Green and 12 Angry Men are coming up on TCM.

Freaks (1932)

DVDs of the Week: Eight Men Out and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

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This week, I have two recommended DVDs.

At the All-Star break, it’s time for a baseball movie, so I recommend John Sayles’ 1988 Eight Men Out, which tells the true story of the Black Sox Scandal – the Chicago White Sox players who fixed the 1919 World Series.  Sayles used actors, not baseball players, but the baseball scenes are totally authentic.  The characters of star players Eddie Cicotte, Buck Weaver and Shoeless Joe Jackson and owner Charles Comiskey vividly come alive.

Also, because its sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire is opening in theaters, there’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, one of my Best Films of 2010.  It’s a rock-em, sock-em feminist suspense thriller built around the very original character of damaged, angry, master hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace).  Lisbeth makes Dirty Harry look like Bishop Tutu.  The Swedish title was Men Who Hate Woman, and there’s lots of violence against women in this film, satisfyingly avenged.  This is a whodunit with layers of romance, suspense, and sex, with even some Nazis thrown in.

Lisbeth Salander returns July 9

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Spanish poster for the Stieg Larsson trilogy

 

Noomi Rapace reprises her portrayal of Lisbeth Salander in The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second part of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy.  It follows one of my personal favorite films of the year, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Lisbeth Salander is the best new crime drama character since Helen Mirren’s Inspector Jane Tennyson.  And Noomi Rapace creates a Lisbeth Salander who is a lethal mix of damage and drive.  Noomi Rapace’s Lisbeth, as a tiny fury of a Goth hacker, is only 90 pounds, so she will lose a fistfight with a man; but she prevails with her smarts, resourcefulness and machine-like  relentlessness.  Lisbeth is always mad AND always gets even.

When Hollywood remakes the film, it will not cast Noomi Rapace in the lead, so you’ll miss the film’s essential performance if you wait for the American version.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo only has about one more week to go in theaters, so you should see it now.

Scandanavian poster for the first film in the Stieg Larsson trilogy

This week's Movies To See

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Gene Evans in Sam Fuller's The Steel Helmet

 

Click here for this week’s recommendations.  Scroll down this blog to watch trailers.  My top recommendations are Toy Story 3, The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), Micmacs and Iron Man 2. You can still find The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.

My top picks on DVD is The Deep End. Last week’s pick, Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains and The Messenger are also good choices on DVD.

To Kill a Mockingbird and The Steel Helmet are on TV.

Movies to See This Week

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Click here for this week’s recommendations.  Scroll down this blog to watch trailers.  My top recommendations are Toy Story 3, Micmacs, The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), and Iron Man 2. You can still find The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.

My top picks on DVD is Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains. The Messenger, Crazy Heart and Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos) are also good choices on DVD.

Monkey Business, All The King’s Men, The 400 Blows and The Shootist are all on TV.

The Shootist

Movies I'm Looking Forward To

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Here’s my new Movies I’m Looking Forward To page.  Click to get the buzz on promising films and to see trailers.

If I were programming a theater, I would make sure I had locked up Toy Story 3, The Kids Are All Right, Another Year and Inside Job.  I would take a flyer on The Certified Copy, Poetry and Uncle Boonmee.  And I would try to track down The Locksmith, Everyone Else, The Square and Cane Toads.

On July 9, I’ll be watching for The Girl Who Played With Fire, which follows my personal favorite film of the year so far, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as the second part of Stieg Larssen’s trilogy.  

This post is for you, Paula.

This week's Movies to See

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Click here for this week’s recommendations.  Scroll down this blog to watch trailers.  My top recommendations are The Secrets in their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), Iron Man 2 and, of course, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

My top picks on DVD are still The Messenger, Crazy Heart and Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos).

Some Like It Hot, Diabolique and Monkey Business are all on TV.

Movies to see right now

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I’ve updated of the Movies To See Right Now page.   La Mission is now in theaters (see post below).  Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is new on DVD  Gran Torino, Strangers on a Train, Pan’s Labyrinth, Bob LeFlambeur and Airplane! are on TV.

My top recommendation is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters.  Now is the time to catch Broken Embraces (Abrazos Rotos) and Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains on DVD.