I had the extremely lucky fortune to see not one, but two movies this weekend, both of which were pretty damn good.

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Cloverfield

Produced by JJ Abrams (of LOST fame), written by Drew Goddard (of LOST fame), and directed by Matt Reeves (of...Felicity??? fame), "Cloverfield" is kind of a post-modern take on the classic monster-attacking-the-city motif that started with movies like "King Kong" and "Godzilla." Instead of being told from the perspective of numerous people throughout the city, or from the perspective of the government sent in to stop the monster, "Cloverfield" is told from the perspective of a single person carrying a video camera around. Think of it as "The Blair Witch Project" meets "Godzilla."

That's the format anyways. But in some ways, this movie also resembles "Jaws," in that you don't really get to see the monster until the end of the movie. You get little glimpses throughout, but it isn't until the end that you get the reward. I also liken this movie to one of those Disney rides where you're slowly being escorted through a disaster area. "Here we have a yuppie's apartment. What's that loud rumbling? Let's go to the roof. Lots of things flying out of the sky. Let's run down to the street where...is that the Statue of Liberty's head rolling down the street?"

The movie was rather intense and about as "real" as a movie like this can be. People get killed off in unceremonious ways. Characters you think will survive to the end die early.

I could have done without the Statue of Liberty's head roll scene. It's a minor scene and it only really notable because it's the only major NY landmark that gets destroyed in the movie, but it seemed a little hokey to me.

But yeah, an overall good movie. It was scary, had moments of genuine humor, and was just straight up creepy.

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No Country for Old Men

What a brilliant movie this was. I loved nearly ever single frame of this movie. The Coen Bros. really nailed this one. It's probably their best overall movie and certainly their best movie since "Fargo."

All of the actors in this movie were great. Everyone from Tommy Lee Jones to Woody Harrelson to Josh Brolin. But this movie really belonged to Javier Bardem. He was truly a monster of a villain and someone that you wouldn't want to meet in a darkened alley. Javier Bardem added a lot of great little character quirks that brought the character to life. I particularly liked his relationship to his boots. And his haircut was just super bad ass. Who would have though that evil incarnate would have a Prince Valiant haircut? Yet it worked perfectly.

Thematically, the movie is *very* strong. I like that the movie points out that there's good and there's bad, but that it's never as bad or as good as it seems. That we all meet in the middle somewhere between good and bad.

What's interesting is that both "Cloverfield" and "No Country for Old Men" are devoid of music in the form of a score. It's hard for movies to work without a score, but these are two movies that it seemed to work in.

It was just a great movie. One of the best I've seen in quite a while.

- Matthew