Shutter Island:
It’s a Scorsese film. Â It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earl Haley, Ted Levine, and Elias Koteas. Â It’s a horror, thriller, mystery movie. Â I’ve just listed a whole mess of reasons why I should want to see this film, but for some reason I’m just not excited. Â Perhaps it is because I’m worried it is going to be crap despite all the promise. Â Scorsese’s The Departed was the same way, tons of reasons why I should rush out and see it, but I didn’t, and when I finally caught it on DVD I was disappointed. Â I mean, I enjoyed the movie, but I thought it fell apart at the end. Â So here I am looking at the trailers for Shutter Island and all I can think is “I bet it doesn’t end well.” Â I probably won’t see this one this weekend, but I’ll be sure to catch it on DVD when it inevitably comes out later this year. Â But who knows… if the reviews are good enough, I might make time to see it next weekend.
Saint John of Las Vegas:
Technically, this movie doesn’t release this week. Â It had been making the festival rounds and it had a limited release back at the end of January (probably in two theaters), but if you look around you might find a showing (in LA) or a screening somewhere. Â I saw it at a free screening this week thanks to the people at FilmMetro. Â Anyway, it is the story of a man (Steve Buscemi) who has a gambling problem (he loses a lot) who works as an insurance claims adjuster in Albuquerque that asks for a raise and gets promoted to fraud investigator and has to head to Las Vegas to look into a claim. Â I’ve been told this movie is inspired by the book Dante’s Inferno. Â Having never read that book, I can’t be sure. Â This movie isn’t splashy or action packed. Â It is a slow film about a guy trying to deal with his vices and make his way in the world. Â At times it is funny, other times it is sad, and overall I can’t really say the movie is good, but I don’t feel like I wasted my time. Â I wouldn’t go out of my way to pay for this one, but if you can find a free screening or catch it on Netflix at some point in the future, maybe you might enjoy it.