Of revenge, love and gangsters: What more could you ask for?

For this week’s Movie Monday, I highlight three movies that I’ve watched within the last week: Munich, Lars and The Real Girl and American Gangster.

Title: Munich
Year: 2005
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds
Time: 164 minutes

I put this in my Netflix queue some months ago and finally I got to it, after a little rearranging. My wife thought it focused on the events of the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but what this movie was really about was what happened afterwards. The story focuses on a group of Mossad agents hunting down the 11 terrorists responsible for the murders; specifically, the movie follows the story of a character played by Eric Bana.

I will not dwell on this movie long, even though, or maybe because, it is a long movie. I also will not dwell on it long, because of the three movies mentioned here, this was my least favorite. At the beginning of the DVD is an introduction by Spielberg, where he makes sure that everybody knows that the movie is not against Israel — as if he didn’t already prove his Jewishness with Schindler’s List? But anyway, the first half of the movie was good, in keeping the suspense as they track down the killers; the second half of the movie, though, gets bogged down in too much dialogue. It’s not that the dialogue isn’t good. With a screenplay written by Tony Kushner, famous for Angels in America (which I have yet to see), it is very good. It is just that you begin to see where this one is heading, and it ends in a strange place that makes you go, “Huh?”

Final analysis: 7/10, because while not as great as many of Spielberg’s movies, it still is decent and more decent than many other movies out there. Just of the three I highlight this week, it is the one you probably can miss.

Title: Lars and the Real Girl
Year: 2007
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Patricia Clarkson
Time: 107 minutes

A video store clerk recommended this to me when I mentioned that I was interested in seeing Juno. He said he liked this movie better than Juno, because it was a little quirkier than that one, so I thought I’d give it a try, because my wife and I like the “quirky” movies that others might go, “WTF?” We were not disappointed: It was one of those “quirky” movies that others might go, “WTF?” and we liked it.

Ryan Gosling is Lars (Lindstrom). The Real Girl is not a real girl, but a life-sized doll that he purchases from the Internet. One might think with this kind of a premise, it would be Rated R or at least NC-17, but thankfully, it is not either, and is only rated PG-13, for some sex-related content, but thankfully, again, not of that kind. The story actually focuses on how society treats those who are different than “the norm,” and, in this case, how a community shows not only its tolerance for someone different than them, but also its love for them despite those differences. At one point, in the movie, when Lars’ brother and sister-in-law enlist a group of townsfolk to not be judgmental about Lars’ new girlfriend, one of them asks the town pastor something along the lines of “Well, you’re not going to let her into the church?” He answers: “What would Jesus do?”

However, the movie isn’t heavy-handed in its message and has some very funny moments, not laugh-out-loud moments, but sweet funny moments. At times, Gosling’s portrayal of Lars makes you want to laugh, but then other times you want to cry because in another way, it’s very sad how deluded he is. But Gosling’s portrayal isn’t the only stand-out performance in this movie, with Emily Mortimer and Paul Schneider as Lars’ sister-in-law and brother, and Patricia Clarkson as the town doctor, shining as well in their roles.

Final analysis: 9/10, because may be a bit too quirky for most people out there and can be a little on the sad side when you think it should be funny.

Addendum: I Googled this movie on Blogs and found it mentioned in several blogs from pastors all around the country. Many referred to the film being on the 10 Most Redeeming Films of 2007 from Christianity Today. I think it definitely deserves that honor.

Title: American Gangster
Year: 2007
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe
Time: 157 minutes

For the longest time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to see this movie or not. I mean, I love Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe (I mean, Gladiatoris one of my all-time favorite movies) but I thought it’s just another Mafia movie. I’ve seen The Godfather movies, Goodfellas and so on and so forth. What more can be done with the genre?

I was wrong. This movie is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, and it was not just another Mafia movie or, as I thought it might be when I first saw the previews “a black Mafia movie.” No, this is not just an African-American epic, but an American epic. The movie is based on the true story of Frank Lucas, a Harlem-grown gangster who built a heroin empire and Richie Roberts, an honest cop whose job is to “bring him down.” Washington portrays Lucas; Crowe, Roberts, and both as always are superb. (Surprisingly, only Ruby Dee, who portrayed Lucas’ mother, was the only actor in the movie nominated for an Academy Award, Best Supporting Actress. While she was good, both Washington and Crowe are in top form.)

On the second disc of the special edition on DVD is an excellent “making of” the movie, which shows Lucas and Roberts in the present day. For many, it may be hard to believe that a black man could be “above the Mafia,” but after seeing Lucas today, you don’t doubt it.

Final analysis: 10/10, especially for the two-disc special edition on DVD, which rounds out the story.