"No Country for Old Men" and other recent DVD releases

"No Country for Old Men" is about the arrival of the apocalypse and how one part of mankind tries to flee from it, and another part—the old men of the title—try in vain to prevent it. The apocalypse and the those directly in its path are personified by some of the most haunting characters I’ve ever encounted in film. There’s Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) as a West Texas rancher who stumbles upon a drug deal gone bad and leaves the scene with the millions that were supposed to be used for the purchase. There’s Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) who sees what’s coming but is always one step behind And finally there’s Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), the devil incarnate, the force that heralds the end of civilized behavior and, thus, civilization itself. As played by Bardem, Chigurh is the most unforgettable screen villain since Hannibal Lecter. The plot of the movie has to do with Chigurh’s pursuit of Moss and the money and Bell’s pursuit of a sense of justice but, as critic Roger Ebert points out so often, great movies are about more than just their plot. For example, there is no hint of what Chigurh plans to do with the money if and when he recovers it, but it doesn’t matter. The Coen Brothers, who wrote and directed this masterpiece, have elevated their brand of story telling, which usually deals in archetypes, to grand poetry. Every frame of this film proves they are in complete control, something I never sensed in their earlier works with the possible exception of their very first film, "Blood Simple." "No Country" is a film I never wanted to end. Every single scene in this film is a wonder and there are some, such as a chilling bit at a motel, that create a sense of tension and suspense that would make Alfred Hitchcock envious. Every single shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins adds to overall impact of impending doom and annihilation (aided immeasurably by landscapes in and around Albuquerque, N.M., which stand in for barren West Texas). The film is based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy whose latest, "The Road," is set in post-apocalyptic America. There is a stunning final scene in this film in which Bell tells his wife Loretta (Tess Harper) about he dream he had that foretells the coming of this apocalypse and the entire movie is a brilliant telling of how he was powerless to stop it. Grade: A

"Dan in Real Life" is a smug, lightweight comedy that has absolutely nothing to do with real life. It revolves around one of those families you only find in the movies—the generations all coming together for days of touch football, charades, mealtimes, fond reminiscences, talent shows all in a big beautiful house on the sea shore. It’s like the Kennedy clan without the tragedies and the scandals. Ah, if only life could be this idyllic. There are some tensions to be sure. Dan (Steve Carell) is an advice columnist who can’t follow in his own advice, especially when it comes to his daughters, Jane (Alison Pill), Cara (Brittany Robertson) and Lily (Marlene Lawston). Dan’s wife died four years earlier and he is still in such a state of eternal funk, his parents (Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney) order him out of the family compound. He winds up in a neighborhood bookstore where he meets Marie (Juliette Binoche) and it appears she is someone who can re-kindle that spark of love. He rushes home to tell his family the news only to learn that Marie is there as well, as the new girlfriend of his brother Mitch (Dane Cook). Writer/director Peter Hedges is apparently going to specialize in family reunion pictures—his last one was the much superior "Pieces of April." This one has its moments, especially when it directly confronts the issue of a brother falling in love with his brother’s girlfriend, but, for the most part, this "real life" is fairly pedestrian. Grade: C

"Bee Movie" begins well but early on makes a tragic mistake from which it never recovers. Interestingly enough, the mistake is one an elderly bee warned about early on "Bees should never talk to humans." Once one of them does, this animated movie goes into a nose dive that sends it crashing. The story takes the concept of "worker bees" to its most illogical Orwellian conclusion—the notion that a bee will be assigned a job in the honey production cycle and will hold that one single job for the rest of his life. One of these bees, Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld) rebels against that notion, especially because he admires those bees who fly out of the comb, into the real world and gather pollen. So one day he contrives a way to join them. These early scenes with Barry flitting around the interior of the honeycomb and then the ones of the "pollen jocks" zooming through the streets of Manhattan into Central Park are expertly done and gives the movie an early promise that is never fulfilled. Because then, through a series of antics I won’t go into here, Barry winds up in the apartment of florist Vanessa (Renee Zellweger) who soon helps Barry file a lawsuit against the human manufacturers of honey. Now there’s a real thrilling idea for an animated tale—a lawsuit. But the whole idea of the bees and the humans interacting on a level playing field is an insult to both species because it robs each of their own characteristics. And then when bees start piloting jumbo jets, I’m really thinking this movie has stung itself to death. Ten years ago, two similar animated films, "Antz" and "A Bug’s Life," worked marvelously because they imagined a fascinating insect universe. That’s also the case with the first 10 minutes or so of "A Bee Movie," but when this move leaves that universe it imagines a world the viewer knows couldn’t possibly exist. As a result, we don’t care about any of these creatures—human or otherwise. But worse than that, the film loses its humor and evolves into as dull an animated feature as I’ve ever seen. Grade: D+

It’s a shame that "Nancy Drew" couldn’t have been made by someone who really cared about the books that inspired this film, or even the people responsible for the old television series "Veronica Mars." Then we wouldn’t have a movie written by adults that insults the young audience the film is aimed for. The one thing the books are known for is their carefully crafted plots and how, once the extremely smart heroine becomes absorbed in one of them, she gets closer and closer to actual danger. There is none of that in the film. Instead we get this rather irritating teen-aged girl who lectures the school principal about courses that should be taught in her high school and, one day in wood shop (a girl taking wood shop?) fashions a replica of the Cathedral of Notre Dame while all the boys are cranking out lame bird houses. The film starts out promisingly once it gets past the cliches of Nancy (Emma Roberts, who, for some reason, plays Nancy as plucky instead of smart) and her father (Tate Donovan) moving from Hollywood’s concept of small town middle America to Hollywood’s concept of Hollywood. They occupy a house that has been vacant since the death of its last occupant, a film star, 25 years earlier. Nancy sets out to solve the mystery of the actress’ death. Good concept, ruined by bad execution. This movie should have been called "Nancy Doo," because it seems closer in style to those featuring Scooby. Grade: D+

"Awake" proves one thing: There might not be a better actor to play a patient under anesthesia than Hayden Christensen, but then those who sat through Chapters 1-3 of the "Star Wars" saga already know that. It also proves that no matter how tedious or how ridiculous a film might be—and "Awake" is as tedious and as ridiculous a film as you’ll ever see—the mere presence of Terrence Howard brings it some semblance of credibility. Christensen plays Clay Beresford who apparently is the richest man in all creation or least his family has untold wealth, what there is of his family. His father (Sam Robards) died one Christmas Eve when Clay was but a lad and Clay doesn’t remember any of the details. His has an overly protective mother Lilith (Lena Olin) and an all-too-enticing girlfriend Sam (Jessica Alba). He also has a weak heart and is scheduled for a transplant as soon as a suitable o-negative donor can be found. It just so happens one is found on Clay’s last minute wedding day. He is rushed to the hospital where the transplant is to be performed by Dr. Jack Harper (Howard), much against his mother’s wishes (she has a more "respectable" doctor in mind). At the beginning of the film we are told that each year thousands of people are anesthetized, but they are not put to sleep. Instead the go into a state of paralysis during which they can feel everything that has happened to them. Clay turns out to be one of these people so right at the beginning of the operation we get to hear Clay screaming in pain to himself as the doctors cut open his chest and then saw through his rib cage. Midway through the operation another development comes to light which I won’t reveal so that the one or two masochists out there who insist on renting this DVD can’t say I spoiled it for them. Needless to say, we don’t get any more of Jack’s pain, only his anguish. The pain is left entirely to those who sit through this one to the end. Grade: F