In the Land of Blood and Honey (#79)

I am truly impressed by how bad this is. Alright, so my judgement may have been initially impeded by all the bad reviews out there but I actually believed that there might be a diamond in the rough. Oh how naive of me. Because this is terrible. Not only does Angelina Jolie do a poor job directing - the woman couldn’t light a scene if her life depended on it - but the script is atrocious and borderline offensive - nay, offensive - to anyone familiar with the complexities of the Bosnian War. Characters are one-dimensional - even Danijel, who is played as well as could possibly be expected by Goran Kostic - and uninteresting. And don’t think I’m going after Angie as a scapegoat - she wrote, directed and produced so the blame is well laid at her feet. A more apt title would be In the Land of Rape and Maybe-Consensual Sex because that is really all this movie is about and it bestows neither justice nor criticism on the people who lived through the actual events depicted. I found it to be an atrocious excuse for a story and am truly offended by the way the Bosnian people were depicted.

Beyond Borders (#51)

I thought this was terrific. First off, it reminded me how much I love Clive Owen and how I need to get back into the habit of watching everything he’s connected with. No one does rugged-good-guys-with-compromised-morals-but-really-making-an-effort-all-the-same better than he does these days. This movie also served to remind me that hate Angelina Jolie as much as you want for being a gorgeous superstar and whatnot, she’s also a damn good actress and there’s an actual reason she’s so well respected in the industry. Supporting actors Noah Emmerich and Linus Roache round out the film beautifully (particularly Emmerich). I also always forget about Martin Campbell when I’m thinking about directors I’d like to work with, but he’s really great. (Even though I have to ask who thought it was a good idea to use Papyrus as the credits font. Papyrus? Really? Were those made by a 6th grader?) Great story both in terms of love and wider international themes. I completely loved it.

I don’t really like her, but I do like this.