The opening scene of Christine Jeffs’ (Sylvia, Rain) 2008 Sunshine Cleaning shows a man purchasing a shotgun at a gun shop and proceeding to blow his head off by reaching into his pocket and pulling out a shell that he brought into the store. Steve Zahn (Rescue Dawn, Sahara) plays police detective Mac, who, when ending his investigation of the suicide, meets the crime scene cleanup crew and learns of the above-average wages that this profession brings. Rose Norkowski, played by a convincingly good Amy Adams (Doubt, The Fighter), is Mac’s mistress.
About Schmidt (2002)
I would have been highly disappointed if I had seen 2002’s About Schmidt in the movie theatre. I like character-driven movies, and while About Schmidt is one of those, I think I would have needed more patience to get through the first 45 minutes (perhaps longer). But watching it on the comfort of my couch, with little else going on, I went into this movie knowing very little about it and was willing to give whatever the movie offered a chance. As a result, I found the film to be a highly rewarding movie that had me reflecting on my life and those of other important senior figures who have since left me.
Frankie and Johnny (1991)
To say that Frankie & Johnny capitalized on the success of When Harry Met Sally would be an understatement. While When Harry Met Sally was new, fresh, and celebrated, Frankie & Johnny felt played out, stale, and sometimes tiresome. This movie has all of the cliches that a romantic dramedy should have. A middle-aged woman is down on her luck after a number of failed relationships. Off the street comes a man who enters her life. She doesn’t want to like him. She doesn’t want to be involved because she knows she will inevitably be hurt again. So, instead, she spends her nights alone. He keeps pressing, and eventually, she lets him in. They have complications. She questions why he likes her. He responds with the “just let life happen” type response. We’ve seen this movie a million times and will see it a million more.
Buried (2010)
There were two movies released in 2010 about a single individual trapped in a circumstance that most of us cannot even fathom, much less be able to endure. One of those was the Danny O’Boyle/James Franco Best Picture Academy Award nominee 127 Hours. The other was a much lesser known and slightly lesser received effort by director first-time director Roberto Cortes and Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, The Amityville Horror) called Buried. It’s hard to to know how Buried would have done if it had been released in any other year. Unfortunately for Cortes and Reynolds, it was released just months before the true story 127 Hours came out. It felt like there wasn’t a market for both movies in 2010.
The River King (2005)
Though I had never heard of 2004’s The River King, the DVD case piqued my interest when I saw it in the under $5 bin at Walmart one day. I purchased the movie, but it sat on my shelf for a couple of years before I picked it up again when looking for something to watch. The case once again got me interested. The movie hooked me within its first five minutes. While this was not a great movie, it was worth watching. The opening scene’s setting, a dead body discovered buried underneath a transparent sheet of ice in a narrow winding river in the middle of a desolated forest in the dead of winter, was perfectly shot by director Nick Willing.