Day Three: Meet Joe Black and I'm Not There

I failed miserably in my desire to write an in-depth review of Meet Joe Black and I'm Not There. I'm going to have to forgive this small error, for two major reasons: the first being that nobody is here to read it anyway (lol) and secondly, because at least I put it off to get some more writing done that was a bit more productive in the overall scheme. For anyone who happens to stumble across this blog or these writings for whatever reason, here's a blitz on what these two films are like:

1. Meet Joe Black is, in my opinion, a beautiful film. It's faults arise from the feeling that it occasionally overreaches it's goals. There's a haunting sort of magic that pervades the first half of the film, and in the second half, that darkness comes dangerously close to becoming repetitive, which would be probably the biggest travesty...ever. Think Lord of the Rings if Frodo and Sam almost shared a kiss every 10 minutes. (With the same music.) That being said, Meet Joe Black is a clever, unique sort of love story in which Death (Brad Pitt) decides that he wants to experience life as a human. He picks a multi-gazillionaire played by the wonderful Anthony Hopkins who he decides has lived life to it's fullest to act as his guide during his time on earth. As if this wasn't enough to put on Mr. Hopkins' shoulders, his daughter (played by the beautiful Claire Forlani) falls madly in love with Death in the most non-emo way imaginable. I loved this movie, I found it both touching and thought provoking, and I'd suggest it to anyone who's looking for a great story well told. (P.S. Bring tissues.) My rating: 8.9/10

2. I'm Not There is a film that I had been looking forward to for quite some time, ever since the strange and catchy trailer premiered on Apple Trailers. I wasn't exactly familiar with Bob Dylan going into this film, which in some ways hindered my viewing experience, and in others enhanced it. The problem with going into the movie stone cold is that Todd Haynes assumes that you know at least the groundwork about Bob Dylan's life; an assumption that becomes painfully clear as the movie progresses, since the story of his life is told in a manner that makes pretty much no sense whatsoever if you aren't an expert on Dylan mythology prior to your watching this film. My Dylan ignorance played out some winning cards as well, because knowing what I do know about the music legend, I see that there's not really a way to tell Dylan's story in all of it's zany absurdity except the way Haynes and Co. did. The movie is told out of order, starring various actors who play different characters that are apparently inspired by Dylan at different points in his life. The performance of Cate Blanchett is especially notable; watching her perform proves to be such a memorable experience that the rest of the film ends up being worth watching. My overall rating of I'm Not There is an 7.5/10, kept out of the 8-9 range by of the same insanity that makes it interesting at all.