A few years ago, my little hometown in Michigan was thrown into an uproar. Two movies were being filmed in town that summer — American Pie 2 (I saw that one, too — check out .nightsandweekends.com/article.php?acode=NW0200413>the review) and Road to Perdition. Tom Hanks was even spotted at the local movie theater (and someone who spotted him was interviewed for the local paper). It was more excitement than the town had seen in a long time. Road to Perdition was being filmed in a house on Lake Michigan, so my friends and I got in a boat and went to check it out.
It was just a given, then, that I’d have to see this movie when it came out — it was filmed back home. So on my last visit back to Michigan, my family rented it. It probably wouldn’t have been on the top of my list of movies to see if it hadn’t been filmed back home — and I would have missed out on an incredible movie.
Road to Perdition isn’t really my kind of movie. I’m not one for dark, dramatic films. But I loved it anyway. Maybe part of that was because it was just so, well, pretty. It’s a beautifully artistic film — which I wouldn’t normally expect from a movie about gangsters in the 1930s. Let’s just say that it wasn’t a fluke that this film won the Academy Award for cinematography. It deserved it.
The film is about Michael Sullivan (played — somewhat unconvincingly, I’m afraid — by Tom Hanks), a hitman working for John Rooney (Paul Newman). When Sullivan’s son, Michael, Jr. (played by Tyler Hoechlin), witnesses one of his father’s killings, Rooney’s son decides that the Sullivan family can’t be trusted. He kills Sullivan’s wife and youngest son, and the two Michael Sullivans are forced to leave their home together and run for their lives, all the while being followed by hired gun, Harlen Maguire (a strangely balding Jude Law).
Road to Perdition is a beautifully done story about fathers and sons. And even though I had a hard time seeing Tom Hanks as a hitman, I’m willing to overlook that. And I’ll definitely be watching it again.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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