[b.miller]

for me, several of the "best" movies that came out last year were pretty similar in that they weren't really anything new as far as story is concerned but they were done very very well. So as exercises in execution rather than innovation, movies like A History of Violence and Match Point really excel... even if we have seen that story many times before.

For me personally, my favorite part of Violence was the violence. Cronenberg uses the gore like a scalpel in this movie... the gore is SO realistic in the very few times that it appears that it really affected me on a gut level. it's only there when it needs to be but damn if Cronenberg does use every frame to cut into you, using it to constantly re-evaluate Viggo's character. He starts off as such a docile character that, so see little details like brains on the floor and things like that (i know there's more to it than that but it's been a while since i've seen the movie...) really changes your perception of him. Of course the two sex scenes are perhaps the most revealing of the changing relationship between Viggo and Bello, but it's really in every moment of Viggo's acting that does it. From the time the lights went down I already knew how the story would end but i distinctly remember me thinking to myself "damn, there's no way this guy is a mobster" at the beginning of the film... depsite myself even. So hey, if a guy can do that then I have to give it to him.

Still though, I think the movie is more a standard story told very well than anything else. For the amount of hype it got I can see how you'd be underwhelmed with it, Adam. I had the same exact reaction to Match Point.

P.S. if you like psychological thrillers, do not i repeat DO NOT watch the trailer for Hard Candy. Just walk into it cold whenever it opens in your city. The trailer gives away a major twist in the film and while that twist does happen pretty early, I think the movie is maybe 5x better if you walk into it cold. It's a really powerful movie and well worth watching, so if you're interested at all in this kind of stuff, try to avoid the trailer before seeing it. the movie again is Hard Candy.