In fact, there is only one movie that I’d really recommend and that’s only because I’ve HEARD it was decent, not because I’ve seen it at all.

Control (2007 – DVD)

This is a movie based on the true story of Ian Curtis, the singer of Joy Divison who’s personal, professional and romantic troubles lead him to commit suicide at the young age of 23. He was about to embark on a long dreamed about tour in the United States, but instead hung himself from a rope in his apartment.

It stars Sam Riley and Samantha Morton, and has a 8.0 rating on IMDB.com, which is pretty good. (buy)

Blu-Ray Extravaganza

Well, if you love Blu-Ray movies, this is pretty darned good week for releases. In fact, according to Amazon.com, there are 56 total Blu-Ray releases this week alone!

The Dirty Harry Ultimate Collectors Edition – Well, if you love Dirty Harry, this set of all five Dirty Harry films comes on Blu-Ray and complete with all-new special features. (buy)

Cloverfield – If you haven’t seen this viral megahit from earlier this year, Blu-Ray would be the best way to experience it. (buy)

There Will Be Blood – One of the top movies critically from 2007, There Will Be Blood is beautifully filmed with some amazing music. Daniel Day Lewis is superb. (buy)

Patton, The Sand Pebbles – Two of the greatest war movies of all time, now out on Blu. (buy)(buy)

There are a bunch more, including: Face/Off, Signs, The Italian Job, Blades of Glory, Flags of our Fathers, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Tomb Raider, Mission Impossible, Babel, Disturbia and a ton more.

Check them all out on Amazon, buy a few and help pay for our hosting bill *grin*

So let’s get into it before I drink YOUR MILKSHAKE!

There Will Be Blood

I gave this movie high marks in my review of it and it’s definitely something worth seeing if only to check out Daniel Day Lewis’ Oscar winning performance.

There is a two-disc collector’s edition and a normal one. No high-def release though.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

I thought this movie was pretty good for what it tried to do, but it just wasn’t as funny as some of the other Apatow films in 2007, like Superbad or Knocked Up.

It’s out on Blu-Ray for you lucky dawgs out there.

Sense & Sensibility (BBC, 2008)

This mini-series on the BBC got rave reviews and is another re-telling of the classic Jane Austen novel. This story was also done in 1995 in a classic movie starring Hugh Grant, Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson, and even got a Best Picture nomination.

I’m not sure this BBC version can compare, but it does have an 8.2 rating on IMDB.

There is also a collector’s version as well.

Reservation Road

I didn’t see this film, and really didn’t hear much about it, and in looking at the cast, you have to wonder why: Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Connelly and Mark Ruffalo. It didn’t make much money, didn’t create much buzz despite a pretty stellar lineup of actors.

The story is about a hit and run accident where one of the parties flees the scene and a young boy is killed. I suppose the subject matter is heavy enough to deflect most of the average movie going public elsewhere.

Also it got a 6.9 on IMDB and and 36% on Rotten Tomatoes, so that could be another reason.

Lions for Lambs

Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and Tom Cruise make a pretty awfully reviewed film (27% on RT) here and it was pretty surprising. It’s about political activism and the war in Iraq, and perhaps people not really in the mood to watch films about war right now, coupled with Cruise’ low popularity, likely killed this movie.

More

• The Water Horse – A kids story about the Loch Ness Monster.
• Matlock: Season 1 – Good ol’ Andy Griffith…never saw an episode of this show.
• The Cosby Show: Season 7 and 8 – One of the greatest, family-friendly sitcoms of all time.
• I Am Legend (HD-DVD combo) - Cool I guess, but anything still coming out on HD-DVD is strange to me.

Blu-Ray

• The 6th Day (Sony)
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Sony)
• Sharkwater (Warner)
• Space Ace (Digital Leisure)
• Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Sony)
• The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (Sony)
• Yukikaze (Bandai Visual)

I can finally say that with There Will Be Blood, I’ve seen all the films nominated for Best Picture Oscars at this year’s Academy awards.

It only took until February 8th. I’ll be better next year.

There Will Be Blood stars Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano in an epic motion picture based off the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair.

It took me until just now to realize Paul Dano was the kid who didn’t talk in Little Miss Sunshine, so it’s nice to actually hear a voice from that guy.

Lewis stars as Daniel Plainview, which Roger Ebert suggested was likely a made up name, since nothing Plainview does is truthful. Nothing is out there for all to see. Nothing is real.

Where Javier Bardem’s Anton in No Country for Old Men was evil in a violent, psychotic way, Plainview is evil in his unrelenting drive to make money and succeed.

The movie begins with a good 10-15 minutes of no dialog. I think some could be frustrated with this, but I was hooked. You witness Plainview’s mining for silver and the discovery of his first oil well over a span of around 10 years or so in those first silent minutes.

During the introduction, a worker of his caring for a tiny baby dies and Plainview adopts the child as his own, giving him the name of H.W. Plainview.

Like I mentioned above, the movie is an epic, which is a great storytelling form I think that we don’t get a lot of these days.

Paul Dano plays two characters in this film, Paul Sunday and Eli Sunday, twin brothers. Although, you are left wondering slightly whether or not both exist or if there is just one of them?

Paul informs Plainview that there is oil on his family’s land and he just wants a small fee in order to tell them where it is.

When Plainview and his adopted son arrive under the guise of quail hunting, they find the oil leaking up to the surface of the desert due to a recent earthquake.

Daniel makes an offer on the land to the father, while Eli Sunday tries to negotiate for more money, $5,000 of which would help his church.

Needless to say, Plainview starts buying up land and the real meat of the movie begins.

This is definitely a strange tale and one I felt was almost told with a fantasy-like method. Each scene is so focused on either Plainview or Sunday, that you have no clue what is going on in the real world, and when you do get a sense of it, the real world feels so…normal. It’s like you’ve been in another place, the land of Plainview.

Which sort of makes the rest of the movie way over the top. But it works.

There is no lie here when people talk about how great Daniel Day Lewis was in There Will Be Blood. He was fantastic and created a stunningly evil character with such a way of speaking that you can’t help but listen.

Plainview is so competitive that he cannot live with anyone else succeeding or telling him what he should be doing, including not just other companies, but quite possibly people much closer to him.

I don’t know how much of the movie is historically accurate when it comes to showing how oil was first drilled and discovered, but I loved how they told the story of Plainview’s growth as an “oil man.”

And I can’t end the review without talking about the soundtrack. Not everyone will like it, in fact many hated it, but there are others like myself that were engrossed by the unique sound coming from the speakers.

It was all a score of course, no words, but it was so mixed and matched with piano, violin and other instruments that I have no clue about, that it gave such a tension to the movie that it would lack otherwise.

The movie is a long one, lasting around 158 minutes, and in some places it felt long, but it was also such a treat to enjoy Lewis’ performance that I was completely fine with the length.

AML Rating: A

One is the preview to “Rambo“, which just looks funny to me. Sylvester Stallone coming back for the last Rocky movie was bad enough, yet somehow worked…but this just takes the cake. The guy is like 60+ years old or something still playing John Rambo?

The second trailer is for the highly anticipated “There Will Be Blood“, starring Daniel Day Lewis, one of the most underrated actors of our time. The film is set in a western/turn of the century period, centered around greed, oil and religion. Has a dark feel to it. Right up my alley.

There Will Be Blood is already screening in San Francisco this week. It comes out in December.

Click here for the Rambo trailer

Watch the trailer for “There Will Be Blood” below:

[youtube WTiQb2gP9b8]