This past week, I caught these two flicks that are high up on the year end lists. Eastern Promises on DVD and Old Men in the theater.

They come from directors that have been my favorites for over 20 years. If I had to pick my top ten favorite films, I'd say that Coen Brothers and Cronenberg are likely the only directors who have more than one film on the list. The former for Miller's Crossing and Lebowski, and the latter for Naked Lunch and eXistenZ. I go see maybe two movies a year in the theater. They have to be ones that I just can't wait for, or ones where the big screen cinematography is gonna be so good that I have to see it on the big screen. Films from Coen Brothers and Cronenberg generally fall into the must see category. in 2007, I saw three films in the theater. The Simpsons movie, Blade Runner, and No Country For Old Men. I saw Spider in the theaters, though I managed to avoid the last couple of Coen Brothers movies, which just didn't seem that appealing. I didn't see Eastern Promises in the theater because it was playing at shitty theaters, and it was hard to get motivation. It's great to have events from both sets of filmmakers in the same year.

Besides being from directors I love, both are films that look to be within a genre, but carry a lot of surprises so that when you think you know what to expect, you're taken in a different direction. Both films are also plot driven, so I won't go into any spoilers.

Eastern Promises has a London midwife (Naomi Watts) who is trying to find the family of a teenager who died during childbirth. This gets her involved with the Russian mafia. Viggo mortensen plays an up and comer in the mafia who ends up getting involved. Viggo's performance is outstanding. The pacing of the film creates a lot of suspense. I think this was better than History of Violence. I should not have rented the DVD, I should have bought it.

No Country For Old Men is faster paced than Eastern Promises, and it seems to be more straightforward about its genre, neo-noir. There's a suitcase full of money, and everyone wants it. That was the premise of the first three John Dahl movies, Fargo, A Simple Plan. It's noir in a nutshell. It starts when a hunter comes across the no-survivor scene of a drug shootout. The hunter's reaction to the money is unlike what I've seen in other movies, and these surprises in how the characters react continues to delight. The caper plot is framed by a weary cop, another noir staple, but again with a new angle.

Both movies have incredible cinematography, dialog, and acting. Viggo and Javier Bardem both deserve best actor nods. Bardem's killer is one of the creepiest killers ever brought to the screen. And viggo doesn't even seem like the same guy as in A History of Violence.

Both of these movies are must see. I think I liked Eastern Promises a little better. That's not to knock Old Men, I just really loved Eastern Promises.