Where the streets are cleverly named ...

My kick-ass fiance recently started her own blog, all about wedding stuff. It's an interesting read, especially for those embarking down the road to matrimony, as we are.

The Road To Matrimony. That's a movie title, right there. Starring J. Lo and Owen Wilson or something.

This weekend is shaping up to be remarkably lazy. There is simply nothing on the docket for today, which is forcing me to raid FYE again, this time with Emily. My feeling is that we'll be aiming for Disney DVDs, ones for our future-spawn.

I also have a review for a movie that Jamie The Lawyer probably won't want to see.

Valhalla Rising


This was directed by one of my all-time filmmakers, Denmark's Nicolas Winding Refn, who made a film so beautifully brutal and majestic, filled with visual poetry, that it basically sealed my adoration of the director for the remainder of his or my life, depending on who goes first.

That movie was Bronson

The same adoration can be heaped upon Valhalla Rising, though, a portrait of life during the Crusades involving One-Eye, a slave/warrior embarking on a trip to "the Holy Land", which is really (spoiler) America, and finding himself in a true version of Hell, along with the child that has fed him and been his caretaker in his years as a slave.

I don't think I could watch another Crusades-era film and regard it the same as I do this one, simply because the level of brutality and insanity in this film most likely matches the level of brutality and insanity as the real time the film is set in. That last sentence was awkward.

Nevertheless, I am forced to give Valhalla Rising five out of five stars, as it's perfect. Brutal, unflinching, bloody perfect.