TWO EXCELLENT FILMS

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

I don't know what it is about the end of the year (Oscar season, for one), but excellent movies abound. I've seen two great movies in the last few weeks. Two classics.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE [8.5/10]

This is Danny Boyle's new film ("Trainspotting," "28 Days Later") and watching this really made me want to check his other stuff more in depth. I also saw his recent "Sunshine" this year, which was a total surprise as it wasn't released widely in the U.S. Everyone, check that one out too.
So "Slumdog Millionaire" centers around the life of Jamal, a young street kid (or 'slumdog') of Bombay, India. His upbringing is brutal and obscene but somehow light moments shine through, and Jamal develops a remarkable percevierance. He's got spirit.

Through a series of crazy events Jamal ends up on the set of the Indian version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire,' a total smash-hit television show. When he begins answering the questions correctly and progressing further in the game show, no one can believe it, including the corrupt police of Bombay. Soon we see though, question by question, how Jamal knows these seemin

gly esoteric bits of trivia, and more importantly, why he is what he is today. And did I mention this is a love story?

This is an excellent plot, interesting, culturally rich, suspenseful, and poignant. It's seriously got a bit of everything. It is unapologetically cheesy at points, but never sappy and never contrived, somehow. One of the few movies out there that will have you leaving the theatre hopeful and happy about life, and not ashamed to admit it. A+.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN [8.5/10]

Q: What do you need to know about 'Let The Right One In?"

A: Swedish Vampire Movie

Yes it's true. This is a swedish vampire movie and it's the shit. Most great horror movies are really talking about something besides blood, and this is no exception. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is about anarchy, "Night of the Living Dead" about capitalism, "The Shining" about isolation.

"Let The Right One In," like Steven King's "Carrie" is about bullying. Here lives Oskar, a young boy in rural Sweden (presumably before the end of the Cold War) who is kind of a loner, a loser. He is neglected/ mismanaged by his family and constantly picked on by his schoolmates.

When a young girl who only ventures out at night moves into the town, and people start dying, you know what's going on. She becomes friends with Oskar and their relationship becomes the focal point of the movie, even as the town searches for the killer and the kids' personal lives become more dire.

This is straight arthouse, complete with psychoanalysis to the core, cinematography that at times is so artful it could be out of a music video, and enough unanswered questions to leave you arguing with your friends after the movie. And the story is told with extreme discipline. And it's original. A+ work. Can't wait to watch it again.