Review: A History of Violence & Digging to China

A History of Violence is the story of a regular husband and father who behaves heroically during a robbery of a local diner. Unfortunately for him, some mobsters from Philly see the publicity his heroics generate and come to pay him a visit. They believe he is not Tom Stall at all but rather a runaway mobster by the name of Joey.

This has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. There is so much wrong with this movie I'm not sure I can even remember it all. Let me start with the easy things. First of all, it's full of language typical of "mob" movies. Secondly it has tons of gratuitous sex scenes that add absolutely nothing to the story and last entirely too long, even on fast forward. The storyline was incredibly unbelievable, wandering, and finally ended leaving me scratching my head. I seriously just finished saying to Steve, "That can't be the end, it was too easy. Plus it's only been an hour and a half," when the credits rolled. I should have been grateful it was only an hour and a half. It was too boring to be an action movie and too full of gore to be a drama. I have no idea why the critics liked this one.

Please do yourself a favor and just avoid this stinker.

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Ed Harris, Maria Bello and William Hurt


I caught Digging to China on the Independent Film Channel on Saturday. Harriet Frankovitz is an independent ten year old girl during the late 60's living with her mother and her sister in a resort motel complex which was part of her mother's divorce settlement. One day a car belonging to a mentally retarded man, Ricky and his mother breaks down near the complex. Ricky and Harriet become fast friends and together they overcome some major life events.

I bawled off and on during this movie. It was wonderful! The relationship between Ricky and Harriet was so genuine and beautiful there must have been a connection between the actors in real life. There were no great surprises and the movie ends pretty much the way you would expect it to end but this little several-month slice of their lives was a joy to watch.

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Evan Rachel Wood, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Cathy Moriarty