Movie-going

We went to go see "There Will Be Blood" over the weekend at the Rio Theater in downtown Overland Park, so I have two things to review for you today.

"There Will Be Blood": Now, I know this was a darling of the awards people-who-know-things, and it definitely did have its strong points. On the whole, though, I did not like this movie. It starts out strong, in silence, with high emotion and drama. But here's what I expected from the movie, based on the previews: A drama based on the politics and power struggles between the Oilman and the Preacher, centered on the effects that the Oil Boom has on this small town.

Instead, it was a series of snapshots from Plainview (the Oilman)'s life -- which again, could have been really good, and did make for a great character study. So let's talk character for a moment Plainview is, from the start, less than entirely honest, but he's shrewd and seems fond of his boy. Not your good buddy, maybe, but someone you can respect, if not admire. By the end, he's pure, twisted evil. And I felt - perhaps I'm a lazy moviegoer - that the reasons for this descent were never explained. Suddenly he just does these horrible things, seemingly for no reason at all, leaving the viewer going, "Oh. Well I guess he's just a bad person?" Great study of a character as he collapses, but it's hard (for me, at least) to spend 2.5 hours studying the character of a person I don't like or understand.

My second criticism is a lack of continuity between these snapshots. We see moments from Plainview's life spread out over 25+ years, and while they paint a story (events happening in sequence) there's no traditional plot... no particular conflict that overarches everything, no particular development. We see these fascinating (and very well done) moments, but we don't see causes for the moments, motivations leading to them, or the effects of them. Again - maybe I'm being a lazy movie watcher, but even as I thought about the movie later, as you will be forced to do, I couldn't fill in the gaps.

There's more, but if you read some of the less favorable reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, you'll pretty much get it.

Cinematography was beautiful and talented, score was freakin' sweet.

Now for the Rio itself -
That place was fun! Smelled a bit like Liberty Hall, but smaller and no beer. Seats were more comfortable, though. It was an "old-fashioned" movie experience, but without the bad parts of old-fashioned. They only have one screen, so if the movie they're showing isn't what you want to see, you'll just have to wait. But next time they get a show in that you want to see, check it out!