D*mn, D*mn this Traffic Jam

6/22/13, Traffic, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, 2000

Sigh. I have 732 movies to watch, and I re-watch one unintentionally, that I didn't even like the first time (or apparently even remember seeing it). ARGH. Traffic is an adaptation of a British mini-series that I do vaguely remember seeing many years ago. I do like the self-inflicted irony of watching one movie called Crash and the other Traffic; that made me laugh. Don Cheadle was in both, and he never disappoints. Traffic is about drug trafficking between Mexico and the US, and features the soon-to-be-appointed US Drug Czar, Robert Wakefield (Michael Douglas), his wife, Barbara (Amy Irving - can someone please find some more movies for Amy Irving? I'm begging you), and his drug-addicted daughter, Caroline (Erika Christensen, who can now be seen on NBC's Parenthood, and who normally strikes me as very wooden, but she was good here); two Mexican cops, one played by Benecio del Toro (Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor (my pick was Joaquin Phoenix; who knows, maybe winning would have prevented him from getting all weird); Don Cheadle and Luis Guzman as two DEA agents; Catherine Zeta-Jones as the wife of a US-based drug dealer. I like the idea of telling a story and having all the different players on screen, and I think something like this should be a mini-series, not a 5 hour movie (sorry, mild hyperbole, it just seemed like that, maybe because I fell asleep and had to watch some of it over again, damn it). When I watched Crash earlier today, I didn't notice how long it was, but this one, oh, I noticed. I am surprised that Michael Douglas didn't get a nomination because this seemed so against the roles that he has become associated with, especially the Wall Street series. The movie follows several different story lines, the Mexican Cartel story, the Wakefield family story, and the Catherine Zeta-Jones/Cheadle & Guzman story. I got very annoyed at the little effect that was used in filming and that was using this grainy, yellow/amber filter or something for Mexico scenes; a blue filter used in the Wakefield family scenes; and normal filming for the remainder. Maybe on a big screen it was subtle, or perhaps there is some subliminal message we're supposed to get (cool blue, hot desert?), but it annoyed me. I am in the minority in my opinions on this film, but there you go. I would say watch Crash and don't get stuck in traffic. I am ending what has become the most parenthetical post thus far