Carlito’s Way (1993) Forget the straight-to-video sequel, this Brian DePalma gangster pic features a still-in-his-prime Pacino as mobster Carlito who, freed from a life sentence on a technicality, is determined to go straight. Mix in Sean Penn as a drugged-up wannabe gangster of a lawyer and one of my favorite chase scenes on film, and you’ve got a poor man’s Scorcese.
Robin Hood (1973) My favorite Disney film. Narrated through speech and song by a Roger Miller as a giant bard of a rooster, the film tells the oft-told tale of Robin Hood and his number two Little John as they steal from the rich to give to the poor of Knottingham. The story is good, but it’s the songs that steal this one and make it a classic.
The Caine Mutiny (1954) Both Fred McMurray and Humphrey Bogart play against type in this WWII-set courtroom drama. McMurray (Father Knows Best) is here a spineless author-turned-GI who convinces an officer on the USS Caine to assume command of the ship from Bogart’s Commander Twigg as he snaps. But it’s Bogey, grasping for courage with nerves shot from too many battles, that truly destroys his carefully-cultivated, anti-hero personae.
Rope (1948) While not among Hitchcock’s greatest, this 80-minute short-story of a film is one of my faves. Two cerebral types determine to strangle (with a rope) a less-intelligent college chum as an intellectual exercise the night they invite his father, fiancé, and other friends to a party in his honor. Their old teach Jimmy Stewart knows something’s up, though, in this meditation on class and evil. The film is shot in eight, ten-minute continuous shots, the length film was sold in in those days.
The Age of Innocence (1993) Although considered a disappointment, I love this story of a young man (Daniel Day-Lewis) who’s engaged to a sweet, simple girl (Winona Ryder) when he falls for a completely unacceptable divorcee (Michelle Pfeiffer) in 19th Century New York City high society. It examines the invisible chains that bind us and the nature of love, happiness, and fidelity.
Holiday Inn (1942) It’s not Christmas for me until I watch this one. A Bing Crosby, Fred Estaire musical about singer/dancers that fall in and out of love with the same girls to original songs by Irving Berlin. The comedy is great, Crosby voice is at its finest, and Estaire is a heck of a mover. But it’s “White Christmas” sung in a sprawling New England farm house with snow falling outside and Christmas tree lit that defines Christmas for millions. Here’s why.
Moulin Rouge! (2001) Baz Luhrmenn’s ADD/pop music homage to the love story distills every sugary-sweet or tragic romantic cliché into one caffeinated, high-fructose ride. Too cheesy for some, it’s the very employment of the clichés that makes Luhrmenn’s point: there’s something true in those songs and stories. The orgiastic explosion of visuals and sound in the opening mirror the beginning infatuation of love even as the ever-increasing darkness foreshadows the inevitable when a guy named Christian falls for a courtesan.
To Catch a Thief (1955) Ostensibly a mystery regarding the re-emergence of a jewel thief (Cary Grant), the third and final Grace Kelly film Hitchcock made was mainly a pretense to photograph his favorite girl in and out of the greatest clothes and locales (around the French Mediterranean) he could find. Grace is stunning; the supporting players, stellar; the cinematography, breathtaking; and the finale, a cliffhanger. Still, lest the true theme be forgotten, Hitch provides an iconic shot of a phallic cigarette thrust out in an egg yolk. Catch it now on the just-released, remastered Special Edition DVD.
The Fog of War (2003) This Errol Morris documentary follows Robert McNamara as he looks back on his involvement as a young statistician in World War I and, under JFK and LBJ, as Secretary of Defense during Vietnam. Over seventy, his mind is still razor-sharp as he speaks on the ethics of war. A must watch for anyone examining the morality of civilian deaths and collateral damage. As voters in a democracy at war, we all should be.
Unforgiven (1992) In Clint Eastwoood’s final western (he stars, produces, and directs), he deconstructs himself and the genre. Breaking a vow to his now-dead wife, he leaves hitman retirement to kill a cowboy who cut-up a prostitute. While the plot feels familiar, there’s no glory in violence or honor in killing here—only the weak succumbing to the strong, with no pretense made at morality. Eastwood introduces the nihilism he explores further in Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, but I’ll take Unforgiven every time.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
20 Movies I Like Better Than Anyone Else, Part 1
Seraphim Falls - C / Apocalypto - B+
Both recently released on DVD. I’ve wanted to review Apocalypto for awhile but couldn’t find the right angle until watching Seraphim Falls. Both films contain sequences where a group of men hunt another man down.In Seraphim Falls, shortly after the Civil War, former Union officer Pierce Brosnan is relentlessly followed by former Confederate Liam Neeson and a posse he is paying. You are drawn immediately into the action in a beautiful snowy sequence in the Rocky Mountains. Brosnan will go on to kill off the posse, one by one. Flashbacks will eventually inform why Neeson is so persistent and hell-bent on revenge despite bad luck and changing odds. The two Irishmen give good performances with respectable American accents. Brosnan continues his strong post-James Bond string of good performances (especially in The Matador).
But the movie gets bogged down in too much symbolism near the end when the Faust plot, magical potions and even more magical Indians make appearances. Furthermore, the event that occurred between the rivals years earlier is both horrific and overly depressing. I felt guilty for not caring more, but zero time was spent with those victims. In the end, the movie is convinced that there are no heroes or villains, but all men are good and bad simultaneously. That clichéd message as well as the lack of character development left me disappointed. C
Apocalypto has a straightforward narrative and takes time developing husband-wife, father-son, and brother-brother relationships. The weakest part occurs early on, as fart jokes and phallic jokes try to make modern-day Americans relate to the Mayan world. Director Mel Gibson seems to be slumming for the first 20 minutes. But strong family connections that will pay off later are formed during this time. Then, the group of peaceful Mayans are attacked and the male population is taken captive so they can be sacrificed. Women are sold into slavery and children are left to fend for themselves.Unlike Seraphim Falls, there are definitely good guys and bad guys in Apocalypto and this gives you a vested interest in the outcome, ultimately drawing you in. The last third of the movie has the protagonist (Rudy Youngblood) being pursued by a posse. Like Brosnan, he begins to creatively kill them off one by one. But Gibson has spent quality time setting up character, props, and plot points – and they all pay off. B+
Medical mistake: Well, at least the sacrificial victims in Apocalypto didn’t live quite as long as they did in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when their hearts were cut out. Oh, by the way, it’s kind of violent.
Donnie Darko - B+
On DVD (Released 2001). Rated R, 118 minutes.
Movies with demonic bunnies aren't my favorite, generally speaking. Donnie Darko, however, was interesting and different enough for me to make an exception. Written and directed by Richard Kelly (this was his debut, he has gone on to make Domino and Southland Tales), this is a hard-core indie that only a small sliver of people will enjoy.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Donnie Darko, a brilliant but disturbed 16 year old in suburban Virginia. The film tracks the month of October, 1988 in his life. He is heavily medicated by his therapist and given no direction by his smart but oblivious parents. 
In his subconscious, he is visited by a demonic bunny named Frank, who coaxes him to do several destructive things that disrupt the town. He is obsessed with time travel and is too smart for his school and the other kids around him. All of the things he does at Frank's behest end up being part of a grand plan to correct a time/space issue that you won't figure out when you watch it.
The best parts of the movie are the mystery that is difficult to unravel (impossible without visiting http://ruinedeye.com/cd/) and Donnie's dialogue. He gets the tone perfect when rightly questioning the simple-mindedness of his teachers and a self-improvement coach (played by...Patrick Swayze). This is a really interesting and dark movie, with shades of The Shining, Heathers, and Blue Velvet. Bonus...Seth Rogen (Knocked Up) as one of the bullies.
The Pianist - B
On DVD (Released 2002). Rated R, 149 minutes.
At some point, movies about a historical event become hard to watch because of redundancy. There is no better example than the Holocaust. No modern historical event has the drama and simple 'good and evil' characters, and nothing compares to the gravity of the death of millions of people based only on their race (Notwithstanding the activities in Africa over the past century). I think it might be time to blow the whistle on Holocaust movies. Schindler's List was such a towering achievement and handled the subject with such depth and unflinching accuracy that any Holocaust movie watched now is unavoidably compared against it.
The Pianist is a good movie, and if it was the first Holocaust movie I had ever seen, I would have been floored by it. This movie is more like a historic "Survivor", as it traces the true-story survival of acclaimed Polish Pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody - won Best Actor for this role) from the eve of war to the end of the war. Director Roman Polanski introduces us to the cocksure and dapper Szpilman as bombs are exploding outside his studio. The next 2 hours are booo-rrrring, not because the movie is bad, but just because we have been there and done that (first a move to the ghetto, then ghetto survival, then avoiding the trips to the concentration camps), and there is no meaningful character progression that occurs.
Until the last 30 minutes, there was nothing remarkable happening and this one was destined for the "C" bin. But, as Szpilman escapes captivity and 
goes into hiding in 1944 Warsaw and ultimately digresses into a homeless man subsisting in the desolate and bombed out ghetto, it turns into a decent story and film. Polanski uses Szpilman's appearance to demonstrate the depths of his struggle. At first he is well groomed and immaculately dressed all the time, but as the movie progresses he gets gradually worse until he ends up literally looking and acting homeless. The best part of the story is Szpilman's interactions with a compassionate Nazi commander that allows him to live and ultimately (via food) saves his life.
Brody (whom I love to hate) does an admirable job, especially in those last scenes. He is able to capture the dehumanizing effect of hunting for food and living like an animal. The remainder of the cast is fine, and the best part of the boring 2 hours is their attempts to rationalize each situation as being okay, until they are ultimately led to their death.
My advice? Watch the first 30 minutes and the last. You'll get everything you need.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Kids and Movies
If you've ever been sick to your stomach watching little kids walk into a horror movie with their idiot parents, here is an entertaining (if profane) "Open Letter to parents who bring their little children to extremely violent horror films" from film critic Anthony Burch:
http://www.filmwad.com/featured-an-open-letter-to-parents-who-bring-their-children-to-extremely-violent-horror-films-2898-p.html
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
5 Songs I Can't Hear Enough (the first in a series)
Wonderwall - Oasis (1995) - The simple guitar, strings and drums combined with Liam Gallagher's sneering yet vulnerable (dumb phrase, but true) voice to create the perfect song. 
Where You Get Love - Matthew Sweet (1996) - I don't like much of Sweet's catalogue, but this is a pop masterpiece. The synthesizer riff is as infectious as anything I've ever heard.
The Gift (acoustic) - Seether (2006) - The unplugged format can reveal either fraud or greatness. In the case of The Gift, Seether shows how strong their music and lyrics are, and Shaun Morgan stakes a claim as the best 20 something songwriter working today.
Tangerine - Led Zeppelin (1970) - Starts out soft and finishes with one of my favorite musical interludes ever. I could listen to the instrumental playing at the end of this song for weeks. The song has several transitions in its tight 3:10 running time, and I can't hear it enough.
Without Me - Eminem (2000) - Eminem's cadence and tone of voice in his songs is aggressive and uniquely rhythmic. This song is funny, aggressive and a perfect rap/pop song.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
20 Movies I Like Better Than Anyone Else - Part 1
Clifford (1994) - Martin Short is genius in his portrayal of a diabolical 10 year old named Clifford. His interactions with the always frustrated Charles Grodin, who plays his uncle, are consistently funny and edgy. Throw in a slimy Dabney Coleman and you've got a masterpiece.
Favorite scenes: Clifford stays up late drinking a slurpee and watching National Geographic and tries to 'smile like a normal boy.'
Bottle Rocket (1996) - Where to begin. The debut for Owen, Luke and Andrew Wilson as well as director Wes Anderson is funny in ways no other film is. The earnestness of the characters, especially Dignan, makes you buy into his fantasies, while Anthony's weariness and good guy tendencies anchor the film. This is one movie I literally have memorized. Favorite scenes: Mapping out the bookstore robbery, Applejack in the freezer, Bob's pitch to Dignan regarding his criminal skills, and 'little banana.'
Affliction (1998) - Written and directed by Paul Schrader (who also penned Raging Bull and Taxi Driver), this film maps the tortured soul of Wade (Nick Nolte). His character is still plagued by his emotionally and physically abusive father (James Coburn), and the failures in his career and family are crushing down on him. The film captures the abusive relationship between the abused, being Wade and his mother, and the abuser, Coburn, in the most raw and honest portrayal I have ever seen. I was lucky enough to have seen this with Paul Schrader and his comments about the film afterward indicate the story comes from his own experiences. Tragic and powerful.
Straight Story (1999) - David Lynch making a G rated movie is remarkable enough, but the resonance and emotion in this film make it one of my favorites. Richard Farnsworth is immobile and needs to get to Iowa to settle a dispute with his brother. Faced with no alternative, he drives his riding lawnmower the whole way. Lynch meshes the blue collar midwestern landscape and Farnsworth's noble quest perfectly. He also captures the decency and values that (tear drop) I grew up with. Farnsworth reminds me of my grandfather in this film, and its quietness is pitch perfect. Sissy Spacek co-stars as a mentally challenged woman who had her children taken away from her. See it, quick.
So I Married an Ax Murderer (1993) - Funny from the first scene, and packed with clever lines and characters, this is a great movie. The soundtrack and location (San Francisco) are both great, as are the role players working with Mike Myers. The final scene drags, but everything else is pure heaven. Favorite scenes: Michael Richards as the calloused newsman, "what this place needs is a really big poster of Atlantic City" (see photo above), Phil Hartman as "Shirley", and Mike Myers as his Scottish dad..."Head, Paper, Now!".
Sling Blade (1996) - Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed and starred in this morality tale which builds upon the themes explored by Harper Lee in To Kill a Mockingbird and Boo Radley in particular. The relationship between Karl and his young friend is touching and real, and Karl's prescience regarding moral issues despite his mental impairment challenges generally held notions of 'competence.' As with Straight Story, I am a sucker for any movie that earnestly explores the inherent goodness of simple people, and the difficulties they face.
Reality Bites (1994) - Ben Stiller's directorial debut is massively underrated. Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofolo, and Steve Zahn are all excellent in their portayal of Gen-X disillusionment. The Hawke/Ryder/Stiller love triangle is the big draw for me, as well as the perfect use of U2's "All I want is you". Funny, true to life and romantic...the best movie out about Gen-X.
Houseguest (1995) - I like Sinbad. I don't care who knows about it. This movie is consistently funny and heartfelt without being (too) hokey. What I like about Sinbad, and this movie, is that he can be funny without being profane and without stepping on other people for a joke. Houseguest is a classic fish out of water story, with Phil Hartman as the straight man. Favorite scenes: dinner party, dentists office (rip-off of Spies Like Us), and drive home from the airport.
Winged Migration (2003) - Winged Migration is a beautiful and peaceful film tracking the migration of several species of birds across Europe. The camera work is amazing, featuring several shots from cameras mounted on certain birds. The music and sound of the birds flying is strangely interesting, and the scenery as the migration proceeds is breathtaking. Environmental issues are explored, but you don't get hit over the head with it. A quiet but effective film.
About a Boy (2002) - I use this movie as a barometer for whether I will get along with someone. The movie embraces a cynical/moral combination and has several funny scenes. Hugh Grant's interactions with Marcus are first-rate, and the sequence where he takes him under his wing is greatness. Favorite scenes: Marcus' mom confronts Hugh in the restaurant, Hugh joins Marcus' family for Christmas, and Hugh visits Rachel Weisz.
Hat tip to Doctor for the post idea and format.
Ocean's 13 - B
In theatres. Rated PG-13. 122 minutes.
With third-in-the-series Ocean's 13, Clooney and Soderbergh extend an olive branch after the overly-smug killjoy Ocean's 12. Is this one as good as the original? No, but it oozes the same understated cool and gives the audience the illusion of hanging out with some of the chillest cats currently residing in Tinsiltown. Ultimately, that was what made the first one so much fun.
The plot has holes the size of swiss cheese, but it is as follows: Casino-maven Reuben (a returning Elliott Gould) is screwed out of a partnership on the biggest new gambling destination on the strip by Al Pacino's Willie Bank. This leads to a heart attack and subsequent depression for Reuben that appears ready to kill him. Enter Danny and the boys (they all return, with the addition of an under-utilized Eddie Izzard to make 13) to save his life by robbing Bank's blind and forcing him to cut Reuben back into the deal. This time, instead of the usual break-in, they plan on fixing every game simultaneously, betting big, and then walking out with the loot. The lengths they must go to to fix the individual games provide interesting subplots, with the best centering on a dice company in Mexico that the Malloy brothers (A priceless Casey Affleck and Scott Caan) are dispatched to, only to lead a worker's uprising over working conditions.
Pacino is good, if a bit over-the-top as Banks. Carl Reiner, back as Saul, is fabulous as ever. Indeed, the entire gang, from Don Cheadle to Bernic Mac appear to once again be having a great time. Still, this show belongs to Pitt and Clooney and increasingly, as symbolized in a nice closing scene, Matt Damon. The secret of this franchise, just like the Sinatra Original they coolly nod to here, is the combined charisma of these men and the way they bring the audience in, for an hour, on their cool. Pitt and Clooney, a modern day Redford and Newman, have become a great movie duo, effortlessly playing off each other. I can't help but wish they'd couple up on something with a little more substance, but I'm sure the asking price for both of them makes that fairly unlikely. Soderbergh adds some very nice flourishes, leaving me to wish that he'd cut a middle ground between straight commercial stuff like this and Bubble, a la his 1998-2001 run of Out of Sight, The Limey, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the original Ocean's.
B+ on cool, B- (at least) on plot, overall this is a B.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Deja Vu - C
On DVD (2006). Rated PG-13, 126 minutes.
With the increase in the quality and production value of TV in the past few years, especially the 'crime drama', many similar films are worse than their small-screen competitors. Deja Vu is a good example.
This crime drama/thriller/sci fi(?) movie features Denzel Washington as an ATF Agent, in his type-cast role as the extremely competent outsider cop with a complicated backstory (see Crimson Tide, Inside Man, Out of Time and Pelican Brief). Denzel is one of the few actors whose presence in a movie automatically gives it the benefit of the doubt for me. Director Tony Scott has a good history with Denzel (Crimson Tide), so this seemed like a safe bet.
The movie starts with a bomb exploding on a ferry in New Orleans, killing 563 people, and the semi-related murder of a pretty woman Denzel seems to connect to on the medical examiner's table. Denzel is assigned to work the case, and is brought into a secret group that is working with new technology. Unfortunately, the secret group included a super-secret time machine and a cramped Denzel being transported, Mike Teevee style (see below) style to the past to solve the murder. Very complicated and stupid time travel/see into the past plot point that they failed to mention in the trailer or movie jacket. I am not a plausibility wet blanket on movies; but I don't need Star Trek technology forced into a present day crime drama. 
(On the left is Mike Teevee, after transport in Willy Wonka. On the right is Denzel, pre-transport, holding his knees.)
Denzel and the team of 'funny' secret techies (including a Serpico-looking Adam Goldberg and a fat Ice-Man) trace the murder and learn lessons about altering the past (hello, Doc Brown). Some of the action sequences were cool, and Denzel can always breathe life into even a tepid story. Jim Caviezel is decent as the wild 'patriot' behind the bombings.
Not worth your time. Any CSI Miami is better.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Knocked Up - A-
In theaters. R-Rated, 129 minutes.
Volver - B+
In the world of Old Testament literary theory, stories are often divided into two types: Stories inside the tents and stories outside them. The second type are the most common in the OT (and on film). They are the stories of David, Moses, and Sampson, Scorcese and Hitchcock—of kings and warriors, battles and conquests—the defeats and triumphs of men. The first type, stories inside the tents, are the stories of the shadowy world of women. These stories are dominated by the struggle for children, acquiring or keeping a mate, and survival. Biblically, these would include the Leah and Rachel narratives, Ruth, and the Song of Solomon. They are rarely portrayed in cinema, but Volver, the Spanish-language film from Mexican director Pedro Almodovar, stands squarely in that genre, peeling back the tent to explore the interaction of the three primary roles each woman plays in a Spanish society: mother, lover/wife, and daughter.
The film centers on Raimunda (Penelope Cruz, always better in her native tongue), wife of Paco, a drunk, and mother to 13-year-old Paula. She lives near her sister Sole whose husband has left her. Their parents died several years ago in a freak fire, but they continue to be in contact with their aunt. Added to the mix is old family friend Agustina, whose hippie mother disappeared several years ago. Her subsequent cancer pushes her to search for the only family she knows, her mother, so that she may die with some sense of peace. Although the plot is a little elaborate, and it would hardly be fair to ruin the twists, Paco’s sudden death throws Raimunda’s family into disarray, forcing her to open a restaurant to keep the family afloat. Meanwhile, her long-dead mother returns to make amends and settle several issues.
While the plot of the film is convoluted and veers at times towards non-sensical, it primarily serves as a device to explore how a woman attempts to balance these three roles (mother, lover, daughter) and, when they are in conflict, how to determine which should prevail. The answer the film suggests is that women are mothers first, lovers second, daughters third. The tension caused by the purposeful or unpurposeful jumbling of this order by force, in the case of incest, and by choice, in the case of a hippie mother, propels the film. Men do not fair particularly well in this film, but neither are they reviled by the women. They are accepted. As lovers, women can tolerate a great deal from them. It is when women must act as mothers that these men are attacked. Either way, there are few charges leveled at men in this story that seem too unfair. A very rare subject explored with deft touch by (oddly) a man. B+
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Pi - C+
On DVD (1998). R-Rated, 85 minutes.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
9 Directors I Just Don't Get
Pedro Almodovar: Guys walking into huge vaginas, Penelope Cruz falling in love with a trannie with implants, and NC-17 gay sex scenes aren’t my bag and never will be. Apparently some people enjoy these things. I’ll admit Almodovar uses color well and his films always go unexpected places and take risks. I just don’t like the places they go to. Exception: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) is funny, featuring a young Antonio Banderas.
Tim Burton: The poster boy for style over substance. His films are 
filled with great color compositions with interesting angles and diagonals – and tons of energy from the performers. His films are frequently humorous, but rarely emotionally affecting. Exception: By taking away his color palette, Burton was forced to focus on character and dialogue and wound up with his masterpiece: Ed Wood (1994). 
Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Tarantino praises him for being prolific.
He made 43 films in 17 years from 1966 to 1982. And I shot 6 hours of video the first week of my first kid’s life. Does anyone but immediate family members want to watch? I didn’t think so.
Exception: None, but admittedly, I haven’t seen – nor will I ever see - all 43 films.Yasujiro Ozu: Critics praise him for his simple style where he
places the camera on the floor and people look directly into the camera. They insist the lack of camera movement makes the audience focus on the character’s emotions. I insist it’s a cure for insomnia. And what some critics call simple and no-frills, I call lazy and unimaginative. Exception: Tokyo Story (1953) actually does have some powerful emotional moments near the end, but you may need to watch it on your laptop at a Starbucks.
Nicolas Roeg: Being weird for weird’s sake isn’t art. It’s just weird. Note to Mr. Roeg: there are reasons why incest, date rape, and sexual perversion aren’t usually the central event in most movies. On the commentary track to Bad Timing (1980), he lamented that Spielberg had good timing and he, indeed, had bad timing. Substitute “taste” for “timing” and you would be correct, sir. Exception: Don’t Look Now (1973) is a very good, very creepy movie about a married couple (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) searching for their lost daughter.
tales. His films are flat and uninteresting and the lessons the people learn in his films are obvious. I’d rather watch a recently painted room dry because there are only 4 walls. Exception: I remember liking My Night at Maud’s (1969) quite a bit, but I had both more time and more patience when I saw it 5-6 years ago. 
Note: I tried to round it up to 10, but the genius of Andrei Rublev and Atlantic City prevented Andrei Tarkovsky and Louis Malle from making the list. Also, Mike Leigh was a consideration with only one near-great film (Secrets and Lies) but the tremendous performances by Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake and David Thewlis in Naked knocked him off the list.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
You Can Count On Me - A
Update - See Doctor's review: http://dlpreviews.blogspot.com/2007/02/you-can-count-on-me-2000.html
After reading the Doc's review, I decided to watch this one. How thankful I am.
The dialogue, direction and performances are all first-rate, especially the Ruffalo/Rudy interaction and all of Ruffalo's scenes. The scenes and dialogue with the priest are some of the best handling of religion and belief I've seen.
A rare full A.
Great Expectations - B+
On DVD (released 1998). Rated R - 111 minutes.
Director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) is one of the few modern directors with an identifiable style. In Great Expectations he applies it to a modern take on the Charles Dickens novel, infusing it with impressive visuals and perspectives typical of his work.
Ethan Hawke stars as Finn, an orphan in love with local rich girl, Stella (Gwyneth Paltrow). He is a talented artist and is flown to New York for a show, only to have his heart broken by the ever distant Stella.
This is a good romance with interesting visuals, music and performances. I am a big fan of Hawke, and in this one Paltrow is attractive, its before she went British. Worth seeing in its own right, especially with the Cuaron factor. I saw it when it came out in 1998 and liked it, and it stood up well with a repeat viewing.
Horrifying Picture of the Week
Correct me if I'm wrong, Priest, but isn't this the first sign of the apocalypse?
First Mace Windu, now this. For those of you with a life, that's John Travolta in the upcoming Hairspray. Stay away from Scientology, kids.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Once - A-
In theaters. R-rated, 88 minutes.
Once is an earnest Irish musical (not showtunes, singer songwriter tunes) that tells an emotional love story. A talented street musician with a broken heart and a dearth of ambition meets up with a cheerful and industrious Czech immigrant woman in Dublin and quickly falls in love through music and shared isolation. Through their own (unspoken) love, they both rekindle their own capacity to love and both independently make decisions regarding their previous loves that are impacted by their new love (no spoiler). The film is a testament that love can be life-changing and fleeting at the same time.
The "guy" in the movie (no character name used) is portrayed by Glen Hansard (The Commitments), in a genuinely raw and moving performance. His face and voice are raw and vulnerable in the lights and dim spaces of Dublin. The "gal" is Marketa Irglova in an equally powerful debut performance; her character's optimism and beauty are infectious for the 'guy' and the audience.
Their shared passion for music allows them to grow together and pour their hearts out about their previous loves while falling for eachother. There is a 2 minutes tracking shot that echoes the Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" video where the gal is singing her just penned lyrics to the guy's music, and it is unique and moving. There are several musical interludes, which I usually despise, but in this film they work and are integral to the progression and tone of the plot and the emotional arc.
67 year old writer/director John Carney (he played a detective in Clockwork Orange!) also includes interesting families around the main characters. Interesting camerawork and shots of Dublin, along with smart and talented writing make this one of the best films to come out so far this year.
The Good German - C-
Recently released on DVD. Rated R!
In July 1945, a military journalist (George Clooney) returns to Berlin to cover the post-war segregation of Germany between the Allies. But he's really there to find a former lover, a married Jew, played by Cate Blanchett. He gets involved in a murder mystery filled with plot twists and double-crossings.
One of the many reasons Steven Soderbergh makes "Ocean" films is so he can make experimental films like Full Frontal, Bubble, and The Good German. The "novelty" here is using the same techniques they used in 1945 for a film based in 1945. This has previously been done (successfully) by the Coen brothers with The Man Who Wasn't There and the classic 1985 Moonlighting episode "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice". Here, Soderbergh mostly rips off Casablanca. In addition to the love triangle plot, Soderbergh directly steals classic shots, camera movements, and utilizes similar swiping and pacing. The trouble is, in Casablanca, you get: "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine." In The Good German, you get: "This whole go#%amn country, she winds up f&#king my f&#king driver."
Finally we get the answer to the questions, "What if Rick Blaine owned a strip club, cursed like Jake La Motta, and got his ear bitten off in a fight?" and "What if we got to see Rick and Ilsa doing the dirty deed?" There are no likable characters (or humor) to be found and the plot is overly convoluted. Tobey Maguire is horribly miscast as the aforementioned driver. Not surprisingly, Cate Blanchett fares much better, channelling Marlene Dietrich. The great composer Thomas Newman can hold his head up high, but this is an unpleasant, misconceived mess. C-
Special note: This completes the trifecta crapfest of 2006 "Good" films (German, Shepherd, and Year).
Bobby - C
On DVD. R-Rated, 111 minutes.
Robert F. Kennedy was murdered on June 5, 1968, the night he won the Democratic Presidential Primary in California, and was poised to win the Presidency on a wave of populism and anti-war rhetoric. You would think a movie about that day would be riveting, give the inherent inertia and dramatic nature of the story. You'd be wrong.
Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Bobby made me roll my eyes same way I do when I see celebrities at an AIDS benefit or a pro-choice rally. Estevez sets the movie up by tracing the day of the shooting from early morning, following several storylines, each a pained, transparent and ineffective attempt to show how much we've progressed since then (or not...tear drop).
The cast is impressive: Martin Sheen, Estevez, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, Shia LeBouf, Lindsay Lohan, Frodo, Ashton Kutcher (worst performance ever, by the way), William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Christian Slater (good), Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence Fishburne, Helen Hunt, Nick Cannon, Joshua Jackson (in a great performance), and last and least, Harry "Chavez for President" Belafonte. 
I'm not going to make fun of each of the storylines, I'll just highlight the best and worst. The best is that of the campaign workers, Joshua Jackson and Nick Cannon. Jackson captures the weariness and cynicism of his role as head of the Kennedy campaign, and as he and Cannon deal with the politics of the day, the dialogue is sharp and believable. 
The worst is hard to choose, but I'll go with Belafonte and Hopkins. They play old buddies that hang around the Ambassador Hotel (the site of the shooting) all day every day playing chess and making the worst old fogey jokes, trying to make some larger racial point that I couldn't even figure out. Estevez tries to make racial points, gender points, drug points, image points, mental heath points, and on and on, all stupidly.
The film is written at an eighth grade level, and without the campaign storyline and the Kennedy quotes and images, this would've been an F. A big disappointment.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Quote of the Week - Noel Gallagher
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