There Will Be Blood

and the amazing sequels: "There is Some Blood Right There" and "There Was Blood" and the incredible finale "Remember the Blood?"

So if you haven't already guessed, this post is about movies I saw this weekend. I started the weekend off with a bang and saw the perfect little gem of a film called "Juno." I can't stop telling people how much I loved this film. Yes, it was hyped to the ends of the Earth by the time I got to see it, but it really lived up to all the buzz. Cody Diablo, aka Brook Bussey Hunt, has written an incredible first screenplay that is almost a shoe-in to winning Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars. I have looked up her memoir as a stripper in Minneapolis and will be buying it and reading it before the week is out. I can't wait to see what she brings to the table in the future. If you can see one film this week and haven't been out to see this one yet, do yourself the favor and check it out.

Sunday I went to see the other highly hyped film, "There will be blood." This film was pretty, Daniel Day Lewis was wonderful and creepy, the mood and suspense of each shot was perfectly done.....but it kind of left me cold. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I couldn't really put my finger on why until the credits rolled and there was my answer: "based on 'Oil' by Upton Sinclair." The main issue I had with this piece, was the fact that we couldn't really get too close to these characters....and that can be due to Upton Sinclair's writing style. I have found his writing to be a bit dry when it comes to the backgrounds, and flushing out of the people who populate his works. Sinclair tends to be more a man about the main idea and less about the intimacy of the lives in front of us. I must hand it to DDL as it must have been hard to fill in the blanks on a character that spends half his time lying, and the other half refusing to divulge anything about how he feels or what his past contains. We are always kept at arms length with these men. The ideas and issues are palpable and clear, but the real interesting stuff for me, would have been to see under these rough exteriors a bit more. My guess is the hype will work, and if "No Country for Old Men" doesn't take best picture, it'll surely go to this film. I think as far as a perfect, well crafted gem I wish "Juno" stood a chance, but those dreams never really come true on Oscar night do they?