more cinefest

So here I am in between Cinefest gigs and with a bit of time to kill so I thought I'd continue on with some film reviews. I'm afraid that if I wait until Sunday I won't want to do it at all. Last night was finally the night I've been waiting for -- back to back stellar films. For some reason this year I'm having a hard time falling in love with anything and we actually joked that we had yet to find the Run, Fat Boy, Run champion moment of this year.

Started off the day by seeing a movie in the afternoon that I'd prefer to forget ever seeing. It was horrible so let's move on.

The gala for last night was Stone of Destiny directed by Charles Martin Smith. I mentioned yesterday that the director is here for the festival and seeing him you immediately recognize him as Agent Oscar Wallace from The Untouchables and Terry "the Toad" Fields from American Graffiti. Not to mention the million others things he's been in as a character actor. This film tells the true story of four Glasgow University students who plot to retrieve the 400-pound Stone of Destiny - the ancient coronation stone of the Scots that was seized by the conquering English almost 700 years earlier and kept in Westminster Abbey. This film was great and a lot of other movies could take their cue from this one. It was exciting, suspenseful, funny and clocked in at a perfect 96 minutes. This story clipped along at a great pace with nothing superfluous slowing it down and bogging up the plot. Simple characters, gorgeous scenery, and little to complain about.

From there we moved right into the screening of The Brothers Bloom starring Mark Ruffalo, Adrian Brody and Rachel Weisz. One great movie followed another with this one. Your standard con movie, these guys make a living off of swindling millionaires for all that they're worth with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. When Bloom, the younger of two notorious sibling con-artists, announces his plans to leave the business and go legit, his brother Stephen implores him to carry out one last swindle. Despite his plans to leave his criminal past behind, the reluctant scammer finds that his brother has masterminded one last scheme to claim the wealth of an eccentric millionaire (Weisz).

I liked this movie a lot. It was clever and unique, gorgeous to watch with characters you can't help but love. Me, I personally can't stand Rachel Weisz and wouldn't cross the street to see a movie of hers for free. In this movie however, I wanted to eat her up she was so adorable and likeable. Unlike the shiny, glossy, "look at us we're so clever clever" heist movies like all the Oceans 11 garbage, this film really remained quaint and different and actually had something to offer. If I had to pick something to complain about, I'd say this film started stronger than it finished with something said early in the film by a lead character giving away the entire ending (if you were paying attention). Even with that, I still thought this movie was great and I can't say the ending really took away from my enjoyment of the film. On a sidenote, the wardrobe in this movie is to die for and I thought Marc was drooling more than a little bit at the fine tailoring of all the men's suits.

Finally, last night offered the stand-out film moments we've been waiting for!!!