Sean Penn film festival

When he's not protesting wars or lending a helping hand to Hurricane Katrina victims he's acting the hell out of any movie he stars in.

Movie Review: Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

I had never heard of this movie until I came the DVD in my brother's collection a few years back. I saw that it starred Sean Penn and was directed by Woody Allen so figured it would be worth copying; boy was I right. Penn stars as the self-admitted 2nd best guitar player in the world, Emmet Ray. He is supremely adept with the guitar but not so with the rest of his life. He can't manage his money at all and spends it on drink, cars, drink, women, drink, and maybe a few more women in there. Samantha Morton is great as his mute wife, Hattie, who is probably the only person in the world who could really love this talented jackass. Allen appears briefly throughout the film along with other music historians giving their takes on various stories about Ray. This film is presented as a documentary and I took it as such. It was only after reading about the film afterwars on IMDB that I realized it was all fictional. Kudos to the filmmakers for doing such a believable job. I really liked this movie. The acting is top notch and the music is fabulous. I've read some reviews where people say Penn's 'air-guitaring' is horrible but, being a non guitarist myself, I thought it looked like it was Penn strumming the strings. 7/10

Movie Review: 21 Grams (2003)

The 2nd in Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu's trilogy which also contains 'Amores Perros' and the recent hit 'Babel'. Wow, what a flick. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro turn in breathtaking performances. The 3 tragic characters play very different kinds of people who are thrust together because of a chilling tragedy. This movie is completely non-linear in respect to time and many of the 'earliest' scenes are only shown towards the end of the film. After watching this masterpiece I can't wait to see 'Babel'. 10/10

Movie Review: Mystic River (2003)

2003 was a great year for the Penn. Here he stars with Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne as a grieving father looking to extract vengeance on his daughter's killer. Robbins and Bacon play two of his friends since childhood. They all have something they'd like to f0rget about their childhood though. Penn picked up the best actor award and Clint Eastwood was also nominated for best director. 9/10

Movie Review: The Interpreter (2005)

Unfortunately Penn only has a supporting role in this movie, and it's a rather forgetable role. This movie follows Nicole Kidman as a U.N. interpretor who just may have overheard a plot to assassinate an African head of state. Things get sticky because she is a former political radical from the same African country and would like nothing better than for a change of leadership back home. Penn plays a Secret Service agent who is trying to both protect her and figure everything out. I was hoping for some linguistic fun in this movie but there's really none to be found. 6/10

The best movies I saw in 2006

Unlike the crap in my last post, these movies will be duly honoured in the 'Best of' column on the right.