Day 21: Money Makes the World Go Round

Sunday, May 8, 2011

DAY 21, MOVIE 1:

Slumdog Millionaire (2008), directed by Danny Boyle. I remember when I saw this at the theater, this movie left me with such high feelings, there was no way I couldn’t love it. Slumdog Millionaire is easily my favorite Danny Boyle film. The premise is great, a poor Indian man goes on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and thinks back to his life experiences to answer each question. Danny Boyle uses this film to show us what energetic direction is all about. From the fast pace, to the bombastic sound design, and to the music, right down to even how the subtitles are displayed. There is not a single moment where I am not entertained, thrilled, or moved. And that right there is what makes a movie great.

DAY 21, MOVIE 2:

Casino (1995), directed by Martin Scorsese. For crime movies, you can’t do much better than the works of Martin Scorsese. But out of all of his crime films, I would say Casino is the only one that screams the word “epic.” While movies like Mean Streets and Goodfellas take on the task of delving into the characters, Casino’s goal is to show how an entire city once operated. Using two mobster friends as the narrators, Scorsese paints the story of mob rule in 1970s and ‘80s Las Vegas. As usual, Scorsese is a master craftsman when it comes to constructing a scene. The most effective sequence comes early on, only a half hour into this three hour mammoth of a movie. As two guys run a cheating scam in the casino, the camera takes us through the process that Ace (played by Robert De Niro) uses to catch them, and deal with them. The use of guitar music builds tension right up to when Ace asks the cheater if he’s right handed. And then there is a brief silence from the characters as everyone processes everything that had just been said and done. Finally, that silence is broken by the most memorable use of a hammer I have ever seen in any movie. It’s scenes like those that places Casino in the ranks of the great crime epics. And somehow, the constant narration doesn’t bog down the quality of the storytelling. Most times I hate excessive narration, but Scorsese is one of the few directors that make it work.