Blog: bretflet

In an era of Michael Bay and a tired Eddie Murphy, a great film is hard to find. One exception is the Cohen brothers' masterpiece No Country for Old Men, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel. Fortunately, filmmakers have realized that McCarthy's novels possess great possibilities, and have begun adapting more of his novels in hopes of future Oscar winning masterpieces. Here's a quick peek at the hopefuls:

The Road: October 2009 The Pulitzer prize winning and bestselling novel about a father and son-- Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee-- trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world. With supporting performances by Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce, The Road has great potential.

Blood Meridian: April 2009 (BS, 2010 at the earliest.) Considered by Harold Bloom (the Roger Ebert of novels) as the greatest American novel since As I Lay Dying (1930), the ultra violent Blood Meridian follows an unnamed Kid who joins a gang to scalp Indians in the wild west. Who knows how this movie will turn out? With violence that makes A Clockwork Orange look like G-Force and a main villain that could kick Chuck Norris's ass, BM could be The Wild Bunch of our era.

Cities of the Plain: 2012 A weird choice to film considering this is the third part of a trilogy-- Billy Bob Thornton's All the Pretty Horses (1997) was the first part. While Pretty Horses suffered from Bob's manic direction, its story propelled the film towards redemption. Essentially, CotP follows John Grady Cole as he falls in love with a prostitute in Juarez and plans to marry her; much to the chagrin of her pimp. Fortunately, the loose story gives will solve Thornton's problem of cramming too big a story in too little a film. Consequently, Cities of the Plain is one to keep an eye on.