No. 84: Fargo

Official confession time. I call myself a movie buff, but of the Coen Brothers’ many great films, I’ve only seen Raising Arizona and O Brother, Where Art Thou? Pretty lame, right? I haven’t seen The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, Miller’s Crossing, True Grit, or any of the rest. Until recently, I hadn’t even seen Fargo (1996) - today’s movie, and AFI film No. 84. Even worse? Fargo has been sitting in its original packaging on our family movie shelf. For at least a year. Oops.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed Fargo, and I regret not seeing it sooner. It was honestly one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, and that’s saying a lot. Any movie directed by the Coen Brothers featuring William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, and Steve Buscemi, a movie with lots of heavy Minnesotan accents and splattering blood, has to be good. I mean, it just has to be.

Fargo begins in snow-covered 1980’s-era Fargo, North Dakota. Cash-strapped Jerry Lundegaard (Macy) pays two petty criminals - Carl (Buscemi) and Gaear (Peter Stormare) - to kidnap his wife so he can collect ransom money from his wealthy father-in-law. They do the deed, but on the road back to Minneapolis, things go wrong, bullets fly, and people get killed. Heavily pregnant - and highly intelligent - police chief Marge Gunderson (McDormand) must investigate the triple homicide. A few more murders later, Marge is just a step behind the criminals. She finally catches up with them – in a gruesomely famous scene involving a woodchipper. Fun! And justice. A surprisingly happy ending to a very gory movie.

Since I loved Fargo, I only have good points to discuss. First things first - the casting is brilliant. Steve Buscemi’s bug-eyed face enhances his character’s craziness, William H. Macy’s Lundegaard is simmering and scary, and Frances McDormand is simply fabulous. I also loved how the sets and locations felt real. The dingy bar, the cramped office, the ice-packed Minnesota highways – I felt like I could walk straight into the movie. The Coen Brothers are known for black comedy, and this script was brilliantly dark and witty. It won only two Oscars (Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay), but in my opinion, it should have won several more.

I couldn’t review this movie without discussing the look. One of the best things about Fargo was how, in some parts of the movie, the Coens chose to downplay all the spurting blood – and in other parts, when they wanted to fully show the gore, they used bright Minnesota snow to highlight the blood’s vivid red. The art direction, down to every gory detail, is amazing.

So, in all, if you like:

* Cartoonish Minnesotan accents (I’m sorry. They’re real!)
* Steve Buscemi discussing hookers and Waffle House pancakes.
* Steve Buscemi wearing a fur coat.
* Steve Buscemi getting shoved in a woodchipper.
* Intelligent, independent female heroines
* The Coen Brothers’ dark and witty dialogue

...then you’ll love Fargo. And I mean, you’ll love it. Would I lie?

Next up: No. 83, Platoon (1986.) The Oliver-Stone-directed epic about the Vietnam War is supposed to be a good one, and I’ve never seen it. Stick around and read about it!

No. 94: GoodFellas

GoodFellas (1990)

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci

Director: Martin Scorsese

Awards: Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Pesci

I was at our local video store the other day, renting GoodFellas. While waiting, I had a conversation about the movie with the guy working the counter. His advice? “Take your vitamins before you watch it.”

That sounded super negative. But they were just cautionary words to make sure my brain was…prepared? After watching it, I can honestly say you do need a little moment of preparation. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty profane and violent. But once you steel your mind to watching it, believe me - you’re going to like it.

Henry Hill (Liotta) has always wanted to be a gangster. The local mobsters take him under their protection, and Hill works his way up the mob chain, starting with petty theft and moving on to bigger heists with friends Jimmy Conway (DeNiro) and Tommy DeVito (Pesci). When a heist goes sour, Hill’s drug-dealing career starts catching up with him and eventually, Hill is captured in a massive narcotics bust. He stands trial, and when he commits the ultimate betrayal by ratting out his friends, he’s forced into witness protection with his family. Oh, such a happy ending.

So why is this movie good? Well, I could just say it’s a Scorsese movie, and not say another word. But I’d rather discuss all the details. One thing I love about the movie is how connected you feel to the characters. You root for the underdogs, you gasp when someone you like gets whacked…you feel like these people are your friends (albeit pretty scary friends).

Another thing Scorsese excels at is carving out a niche for each character. In the mobster movie genre, it’s all too easy to depict gangsters as pizza-eating, machine gun-toting caricatures. And you do see a bit of that in the movie. But the way that it’s done is unlike any other representation. The characters all have their own quirks and temperaments, and by the end of the movie, you’ll never be able to lump gangsters into one mold again.

In short, if you like:

* Martin Scorsese

* Lotsa oozing blood

* The most delicious-looking Italian food ever. Period.

* Multiple types of killing - if you’re into variety

* Really beautiful camera work - freeze frames, insanely long tracking shots, you name it!

* The soundtrack - it's brilliant how the music adapts and changes according to each decade, like the shift from Italian nightclub music to Eric Clapton.

* Shaving garlic with a razor (One of the best scenes in the film.)

…then you’ll love GoodFellas. And if you don’t, well, who needs you? Just kidding. Try it out!

Next up: No. 93, The Apartment (1960), a Billy Wilder film starring Jack Lemmon and Fred MacMurray. I’m really excited for this one - I love both the director and the stars’ other films, so stick around and read about it!

No. 95: Pulp Fiction

Blood splatters the back seat of a car. Brains land in Samuel L. Jackson’s hair. And, you start…laughing? That's what happens when you watch Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. It’s a weird phenomenon, and I assumed it wouldn't be my thing. Well, that’s not true. I know I said I was terrified of this movie, and for some of it, I was. But to my eternal surprise, I really, really liked it.

The gratuitous violence and constant swearing are unavoidable - but once you get past it, and focus more on the characters and their quirky stories, you'll enjoy the movie. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to everyone, because Pulp Fiction is an acquired taste. But there are so many cool things about it, and if you don't mind the gore, you should check it out.

Pulp Fiction features four main stories that eventually intersect. The movie zig-zags around Los Angeles, following shady characters like Vincent Vega (Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Jackson), hired killers with a passion for guns, drugs and burgers. We also see Mia Wallace (Thurman) snort and O.D. on heroin, a bizarre couple's attempt to hold up a diner, an aging prizefighter obsessed with a family heirloom, and a couple of psycho pawnshop owners with some pretty crazy stuff in their basement. While the stories don’t sound similar, they all connect in some way. Trust me - it makes sense after you watch it.

Now, there’s something you should all understand. I’m not a big fan of violent movies, at all. I like comedies. I like Aladdin. Not exactly splattering brains. But I somehow managed to enjoy Pulp Fiction. How? Maybe because Tarantino balances the violence with just the right blend of actors, characters, and humor. I mean, this movie is absolutely hilarious! So many exchanges are just classic, especially between Travolta and Jackson. All the characters in the movie were perfectly cast, and they all have great timing. So maybe that’s why?

In short, if you like:

* Splattering blood

* All sorts of weaponry

* Samuel L. Jackson with an Afro

* John Travolta dancing (but not like nice Danny Zuko in Grease)

* Amazing, graphic camera work

* Hilarious and quotable dialogue

…then you’ll like Pulp Fiction. I know I did. Still, I can’t recommend it for everyone without a label: "Warning: Pretty Freaky." But good freaky.

Next up: No. 94, Goodfellas (1990) – a bloody Scorsese classic. Jeez, they really pile on the blood movies all at once, don’t they? The AFI couldn’t have given me say, a musical or a comedy? Oh well. Stick around and read about it!