In rushing to fill in the holes before Oscar night, we spent the afternoon driving 30 miles to watch Daniel Day-Lewis in
There Will Be Blood We sat for over 158 minutes in a darkened theater with a assorted lot of strangers sharing an experience not unlike scarping the enamel off one's teeth with a butter knife. We endured over 9,480 seconds of over-the-top acting, missed cinematic opportunities and pacing that would come in second to grass growing. Although I have enjoyed Mr. Lewis' acting abilities in the past, he is presented here as a John Houston cartoon character surrounded by an army of wooden cutouts. Director
Paul Thomas Anderson seems to have given birth to a child only its father should love. Read all the ROTTEN TOMATOES comments you want, but in the end it should have been titled: "They Will Be Bored". If you need to watch an amazing western this year, rent
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.