The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada / Kill Bill: Vol. 2

Finally, a movie worth writing about! As you may have noticed, February is what those in the distribution biz call "the dumping grounds"; the time when Oscar-nominated films get re-released amidst cutesy children's fare and movies that should have been direct-to-video.

So, if you're over the age of six and have already seen all the Academy Award nominated pictures, here's a film for you. If your Spanish is a bit rusty, here's a helpful hint to pronouncing the title: it's mel-kee-YA-dis Estrada....practice it a few times before you get to the box office, you'll look like you know what you're talking about. It's a bit of marketing disaster to have a title that's hard to pronounce, but the title has an Edgar Allen Poe feeling that sets up the tone of the movie very well.

The film is directed by and stars Tommy Lee Jones, and was written by Guillermo Arriaga, who wrote the disturbing and intense film 21 Grams. It's a border town drama about a man's quest for justice when his Mexican friend is killed by a border guard and the crime is covered up by the local authorities. Watching Tommy Lee Jones in this role made me less perturbed about his undeserved win of the Best Actor award for The Fugitive-this is the role of his life. No one could give such a convincingly chilling delivery of the line: "You killed him. Now dig Ôim up." This is one cowboy no one would want to mess with.

Although the film is set in modern times, the vigilante justice is convincing- in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's secrets, it makes sense that they might look the other way when the time is right. Barry Pepper, as the border guard who tries to cover up the murder, takes a literal and figurative journey to redemption. I couldn't help but think that if everyone who carried a gun knew that they'd be personally responsible for delivering the body to its final resting place, people might be a hell of lot more careful.

For a kitschier version of Old West revenge and justice, check out Kill Bill: Vol. 2. A lot of people, myself included, were initially disappointed with the slower pace of Tarantino's latest flick. After another viewing, I gained more of an appreciation of it as an homage to classic Westerns. You can't beat Michael Madsen's portrayal of Budd, who gets all the good lines: "That woman deserves her revenge... and we deserve to die. But then again, so does she." It's the emotionless calculation that is more disturbing than the violence- there's no anger, but there's also no mercy. Justice will be done.
Selina frequents movie theatres and video stores so often that she is often misateken for an employee. She actually works at the Epcor Centre and also organizes a monthly performance event. For details, go to http://spaces.msn.com/members/redmilerevenge/. Please send questions, comments and offers of fame and fortune to sechebib@gmail.com.