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Archive for the category “Crime”

18 May 2013
8 Comments

Pulp Fiction

Review No. 476

As eternally transfixing as Marsellus Wallace’s luminous suitcase.

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A-PLUS

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY QUENTIN TARANTINO. STORIES BY ROGER AVARY AND TARANTINO. STARRING JOHN TRAVOLTA (VINCENT VEGA), SAMUEL L. JACKSON (JULES WINNFIELD), UMA THURMAN (MIA WALLACE), HARVEY KEITEL (WINSTON “THE WOLF” WOLFE), TIM ROTH (“PUMPKIN”/”RINGO”), AMANDA PLUMMER (YOLANDA/”HONEY BUNNY”), MARIA DE MEDEIROS (FABIENNE), VING RHAMES (MARSELLUS WALLACE), ERIC STOLTZ (LANCE), JODY (ROSANNA ARQUETTE), CHRISTOPHER WALKEN (CAPTAIN KOONS), AND BRUCE WILLIS (BUTCH COOLIDGE). ALSO STARRING PHIL LAMARR, FRANK WHALEY, BURR STEERS, PAUL CALDERÓN, BRONAGH GALLAGHER, MICHAEL GILDEN, SUSAN GRIFFITHS, STEVE BUSCEMI, ANGELA JONES, KATHY GRIFFIN, DUANE WHITAKER, PETER GREENE, STEPHEN HIBBERT, QUENTIN TARANTINO, AND JULIA SWEENEY. DISTRIBUTED BY MIRAMAX FILMS ON OCTOBER 14, 1994. PRODUCED IN ENGLISH BY THE UNITED STATES. RUNS 2 HOURS, 34 MINUTES. RATED R BY THE MPAA, FOR STRONG GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND DRUG USE, PERVASIVE STRONG LANGUAGE AND SOME SEXUALITY.

PULP FICTION WAS WATCHED ON MAY 10, 2013.

“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord…when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” –Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson)

Cue up Dick Dale’s “Misirlou”. Or Kool & the Gang’s “Jungle Boogie”. Or Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell”. Writer-drector Quentin Tarantino uses these songs just as he uses every other stylistic element in Pulp Fiction: to add an extra dose of dark, humorous flavor to his quixotic screenplay. Tarantino approaches the project with a simplistic intent of being carefree and fun, and through this, he achieves genius. Pulp Fiction is so carefree, so fun, and so delightfully outrageous, that the urge to play it again is irresistible.

I had the entire movie spoiled for me. I didn’t know it front to back, but I knew how it was going to end and, for the most part, why. And yet Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction still struck me like an unpredictable lightning bolt. Tarantino doesn’t play god with his works, he is god with his works. And as the genius that he is, it’s a harsh understatement to refer to such brilliance as a “comedy” or a “thriller.” He throws both those genres for a wild loop.

Pulp Fiction sets us up with several stories of corruption and, later, redemption. Even if not all at once, these stories have tied together by the end. Essentially, the one connecting the stories is Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), a high-profile mobster in Los Angeles, California. We don’t realize it immediately, but the film’s leading plot focuses around his fabled power: you screw him over, you die; and yet so many of his trusted subordinates are bound to screw him over. He is taking vacation on his own, and he asks Vincent Vega (John Travolta) to take his wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), for a “fun night.” It starts out with dancing, and before she knows it, she’s already overdosed and gone comatose. Marsellus agrees to provide Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), a hotheaded boxing champ, with a large amount of money, so long as he can cheat his way out of a match. Instead, he takes the money and refuses his half of the deal.

Pulp Fiction is your ideal “black comedy.” Its depiction of violence marked revolutionary extremities upon its initial release, and that’s not all there is in this landmark look at depravity. But the through-the-eyes view allows us to see through the eyes of the main characters. It’s an incredibly dark movie, but it’s surprisingly lighthearted. The levity John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson add, via their philosophical debates, is absolutely immeasurable. The villains aren’t their characters or Marsellus or Butch or Mia. If anyone, they’re the characters we don’t see very often. The story progresses due to the mess the characters get caught up in with one another. As Samuel might put it, it’s because of “the iniquities of the selfish,” not “the tyranny of evil men.” I’ve said too much already, and I mustn’t spoil any more. It’s impossible not to rock along with Pulp Fiction; you will know the auteur is Tarantino when he lays his genius upon thee.

Jules (Samuel L. Jackson): “English, motherf___er! Do you speak it?!”
Brett (Frank Whaley): “Yes.”
Jules: “Then you know what I’m saying.”
Brett: “Yes.”
Jules: “Describe what Marsellus Wallace looks like.”
Brett: “What…?”
Jules: “Say ‘what’ again! Say! ‘what’! again! I dare you! I double-dare you, motherf___er! Say ‘what’ one more goddamn time!”

TOMORROW, ON CINEMANIAC REVIEWS…

The Producers

Posted in Comedy, Crime, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
16 May 2013
12 Comments

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Review No. 474

Watch watch “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” now now.

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A-PLUS

DIRECTED BY SHANE BLACK. STORY AND SCREENPLAY BY BLACK. STARRING ROBERT DOWNEY JR. (HARRY LOCKHART) AND VAL KILMER (“GAY PERRY” VAN SHRIKE). ALSO STARRING MICHELLE MONAGHAN, CORBIN BERNSEN, DASH MIHOK, ANGELA LINDVALL, ALI HILLIS, LARRY MILLER, ROCKMOND DUNBAR, AND SHANNYN SOSSAMON. DISTRIBUTED ON NOVEMBER 11, 2005 BY WARNER BROS. PRODUCED IN ENGLISH BY THE UNITED STATES. RUNS 1 HOUR, 42 MINUTES. RATED R BY THE MPAA, FOR LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE AND SEXUALITY/NUDITY.

KISS KISS BANG BANG WAS WATCHED ON MAY 5, 2013.

Gay Perry (Val Kilmer): “Look up idiot in the dictionary. You know what you’ll find?”
Harry (Robert Downey Jr.): “A picture of me?”
Gay Perry (Kilmer): “No! The definition of the word ‘idiot’! Which you f###ing are!”

So here we are in L.A. We have Harry (Robert Downey Jr.), a thief who has been mistaken for a method actor and used that to reach a sudden career pinnacle; Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), the femme fatale who wanted to be an actress, but never earned any recognition for her talent; and “Gay Perry” (Val Kilmer), Harry’s own lifelong friend. The plot is a murder mystery, which is anything but simple: over the course of four days, Harry and “Gay Perry” are determined to prove that they didn’t commit a murder, often times “playing detective” according to the pulp novels Harmony reads in her spare time. Sounds bizarre? Let’s just say there’s a severed finger used as a major plot point, and I couldn’t help but think of the severed ear that set Blue Velvet into action.

A great film can melodically separate style and substance. A work of genius can blend the two with dynamic results. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is in the latter camp. While the story darkly satirizes old-fashioned crime capers, it also feels just like them. There’s atmosphere everywhere, and for nearly two hours, we finally have something definitive of unique: an indie movie that echoes the Golden Age of Hollywood. And as if this isn’t enough, the “fourth wall” seems to be composed of drywall; the movie has Robert Downey Jr., so it’s obvious he’d be the one to break it down. Yes, he is a “bad narrator,” in a sense that he often forgets what to mention (and humorously acknowledges this misstep); he tells us to stop complaining about how he’s ending the film on several notes (could the movie, you know, not end?); etc. But he’s not doing this on purpose–writer Shane Black is, and it’s fully original. Nobody’s really written a “bad narration” before, so it makes Downey’s character even more unique and likable.

I had a blast watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The film toys madly with realism, yet at the same time, I can envision myself quoting it on a daily basis. It’s wild, rowdy, violent, hardboiled, dark, and unforgettable. In any politically correct state of mind, it should be flat-out depressing, but god, does Shane Black give it levity. The film is well-written, well-acted, and well-played. That’s to say it’s the perfect crime, it’s the perfect crime about crime, and it’s the only crime we’ve ever needed. Right?

Harry (Robert Downey Jr.): “I peed on the corpse. Can they do, like, ID from that?”
Perry (Val Kilmer): “I’m sorry, you peed on…?”
Harry (Downey): “On the corpse. My question is…”
Perry (Kilmer): “No, my question, I get to go first: Why in pluperfect hell would you pee on a corpse?”
Harry (Downey): “I didn’t intend to! It’s not like I did it for kicks!”

STAY TUNED FOR MY “EVIL DEAD II” REVIEW @4:30!

Posted in Action, Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
11 May 2013
20 Comments

Shutter Island

Review No. 470

Try and “Shut” it out of your memory.

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A-MINUS

DIRECTED BY MARTIN SCORSESE. SCREENPLAY BY LAETA KALOGRIDIS. BASED ON “SHUTTER ISLAND” BY DENNIS LEHANE. STARRING LEONARDO DICAPRIO (EDWARD “TEDDY” DANIELS), MARK RUFFALO (CHUCK AULE), BEN KINGSLEY (DR. JOHN CAWLEY), MICHELLE WILLIAMS (DOLORES CHANAL), PATRICIA CLARKSON (DR. RACHEL SOLANDO), AND MAX VON SYDOW (DR. JEREMIAH NAEHRING). ALSO STARRING CHRISTOPHER DENHAM, ELIAS KOTEAS, EMILY MORTIMER, JACKIE EARLE HALEY, JILL LARSON, JOHN CARROLL LYNCH, KEN CHEESEMAN, MATTHEW COWLES, ROBIN BARTLETT, RUBY JERINS, AND TED LEVINE. DISTRIBUTED BY PARAMOUNT PICTURES ON FEBRUARY 19, 2010. PRODUCED IN ENGLISH AND GERMAN BY THE UNITED STATES. RUNS 2 HOURS, 18 MINUTES. RATED R BY THE MPAA, FOR DISTURBING VIOLENT CONTENT, LANGUAGE AND SOME NUDITY.

SHUTTER ISLAND WAS WATCHED ON APRIL 28, 2013.

“Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or die as a good man?” –Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio)

I’ll admit that Martin Scorsese’s rendition of Shutter Island fails when compared to Dennis Lehane’s source novel. It’s nothing mind-blowing or remotely unforgettable. Seen as its own work, this is a successfully chilling piece. I’ve always respected Scorsese as one of few directors who can successfully develop a character, regardless of our expectations. He could direct a biopic about Charles Manson and he’d find a way to make us side with the quote-unquote “hero.” Shutter Island gives its hero a unique, somewhat bizarre turn. Let’s just say once we’re submerged in his head, the experience grows much more unsettling.

Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a U.S. Marshal who has traveled to Ashecliffe, a hospital for the criminally insane, on an island at Boston Harbor. The protocol is a part of the investigation for Rachel Solando, a crazed woman who has drowned all three of her children. What unfolds from here on is a psychological tale that studies one paramount question: “Where is the line between sanity and insanity?” It seems obvious to us, but Teddy, in his journey through the asylum, begins to discover that every mental patient thinks of him- or herself as perfectly sane.

Shutter Island is a well acted thriller, set a step ahead by an intriguing protagonist. We know he’s delusional, but we don’t know when he’s experiencing reality, when his hallucinations represent reality, or when he’s just purely delusional. And his delusion could be either because a) he’s insane or b) he’s recently lost his wife and is now experiencing post-traumatic stress. DiCaprio understates his performance incredibly in order to attain the several mysteries that surround his situation.

The picture is incredibly subtle, so much that when we get to the twist ending, it’s perfection: shocking, yet ingeniously sensible. The term “twist ending” has been beaten to a negative connotation; it’s films like this that demand a new word for how sublimely they end. Again, Shutter Island isn’t perfect; a fan of the book (such as yours truly) would expect something with more consistent pacing, as well as the pulp inspiration that was present Lehane’s novel. But if this isn’t a satisfying thriller–dare I say one that echoes the style of Hitchcock himself, with superior results–I’m not sure exactly what it is.

TOMORROW, ON CINEMANIAC REVIEWS…

Parental Guidance

Posted in Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
20 Apr 2013
12 Comments

L.A. Confidential

Review No. 463

The real crime is that it was robbed of all but two Oscars.

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Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Screenplay by: Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland
Based on: “L.A. Confidential” by James Ellroy
Narrated by: Danny DeVito
Det. Sgt. Jack Vincennes: Kevin Spacey
Officer Wendell “Bud” White: Russell Crowe
Det. Lt. Edmund “Ed” Exley: Guy Pearce
Lynn Bracken: Kim Basinger
Sid Hudgens: Danny DeVito
Capt. Dudley Smith: James Cromwell
Pierce Morehouse Patchett: David Strathairn
Also Starring: Amber Smith, Darrell Sandeen, Graham Beckel, Gwenda Deacon, John Mahon, Marisol Padilla Sánchez, Matt McCoy, Paolo Seganti, Paul Guilfoyle, Ron Rifkin, Shawnee Free Jones, Simon Baker

Distributed by Warner Bros. on September 19, 1997. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 138 mins. Rated R by the MPAA–graphic violence, profanity, sexual situations.

L.A. Confidential was watched on April 7, 2013.

“Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.” –Sid Hudgeons (Danny DeVito)

BY “THE CINEMANIAC”
Film Critic

LOS ANGELES ― Sometime in 1953, we find three officers for the Los Angeles Police Department investigating a homicide at the Nite Owl café.

Detective Lieutenant Edmund “Ed” Exley (Guy Pearce) is no one we would imagine to be a police officer, but he is determined solely to live up to the reputation of his honorable father, a former cop. Officer Wendell “Bud” White (Russell Crowe) is an obsessive feminist, but when his volatile mind takes control, havoc tends to unleash itself. Detective Sergeant Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a relaxed, calm narcotics detective who works on the field as the technical adviser for a televised police procedural, known as Badge of Honor.

And when their naïveté takes over their honor, Exley, White, and Vincennes find themselves caught up in punishable scandals of their own–be it realized to their own eyes (i.e. prostitution) or unrealized (i.e. tabloid journalism).

In 1990, crime fiction writer James Ellroy (The Black Dahlia) churned this story out into a novel which he titled L.A. Confidential. The title refers to the 1950s scandal/exposé magazine Confidential, which became the novel’s Hush-Hush, the periodical organized by character Sid Hudgeons.

Seven years later, director-producer Curtis Hanson (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle) and co-producer Brian Helgeland (Assassins) collaborated on a screenplay that would become the adaptation of Ellroy’s novel.

The film is true perfection and a paradigm of the term, “a work of art.” One could only be impressed by a story that takes formula into its hands so well and unpredictably. The writing is fantastic, but in combination with tour de force performances, it soars.

Exley is the generic hero, underestimated by everyone but himself. “Lose the glasses,” he is told on several occasions, with regard to his geeky attire–and he never does, despite his daily work at the less-than-appreciating LAPD. One is led to believe this due to Guy Pearce’s performance, despite having seen it a million times already. White is almost a caricature in his aggressive nature, but Russell Crowe says differently in the façade he uses to cover up any morsel of gratuity in his character. Vincennes the written character seems to constantly say, “Look, I know this was a murder, but calm down.” Vincennes the character, as acted by Kevin Spacey, seems completely serious in his slick role, and yet still likable for his relaxed attitude.

The most outstanding portion of the film, given the choice, is Kim Basinger. The woman represents a femme fatale in this neo-noir drama, in a subtle, unassuming, and seductive manner that only Veronica Lake and Lana Turner–both who earned winning nods in the film–could truly pull off. Ms. Basinger portrays a prostitute, yet even the most morally authoritative viewer would have difficulty not enjoying her performance.

What is meant is that the film is a performance all on its own. And at that, it is not a dash below absolute perfection. ☚

A PLUS

TOMORROW, ON CINEMANIAC REVIEWS…

A Quick Announcement

Posted in Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery, [Film Reviews] and tagged
19 Apr 2013
8 Comments

Taxi Driver

Review No. 462

“Driven” to get you inside his mind.

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Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Paul Schrader
Travis Bickle: Robert De Niro
Iris “Easy” Steensma: Jodie Foster
Tom: Albert Brooks
Matthew “Sport” Higgins: Harvey Keitel
Senator Charles Palantine: Leonard Harris
“Wizard”: Peter Boyle
Betsy: Cybill Shepherd
Also Starring: Diahnne Abbott, Harry Northup, Joe Spinell, Martin Scorsese, Steven Prince, Victor Argo

Distributed by Columbia Pictures on February 8, 1976. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 113 mins. Rated R by the MPAA–graphic violence, profanity, sexual situations.

Taxi Driver was watched on April 6, 2013.

“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the f–k do you think you’re talking to?” –Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro)

Taxi Driver scopes in on a streetwise insomniac who grows insane, acts out his vigilante fantasies, and loses touch with everything he used to be. You’d imagine that a movie like this would disturb, and to think that this gets us so well in its character’s mind, it’s quite a shock that the movie is an incredibly poignant one. We see everything through the eyes of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), as he drives around in a taxi cab, deals with the city’s night timers (whom he thinks are the scum of the earth), endures multiple stabs in the back from the woman he loves, and ultimately, attempts to save the life of Iris (Jodie Foster), a prostitute who has not even turned thirteen.

I loved this character development in Taxi Driver. The film was written by Paul Schrader, who summed it up with one of Hollywood’s most ingenious, yet heartbreaking endings. What is just as heartbreaking is that the movie is overrated. Yes, it is very good, but very over appreciated. As far as collaborations between actor Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver is my least favorite. I don’t know if De Niro was trying to act sleep deprived or if he was just not fit for the character, but if it were the former, he didn’t go far enough.

But realize that when I say this is my least favorite, it’s almost a compliment. The film is Scorsese’s; so much about it simply can’t not impress. Although Bernard Herrmann does prove to have composed many more brooding musical scores, he continues the director’s NYC jazz style effectively. I do much prefer Scorsese’s writing, simply because he’s greatest as a simultaneous writer-director; we don’t get that here, but Schrader’s screenplay is rather effective. The key word is “effective.”

B PLUS

TOMORROW, ON CINEMANIAC REVIEWS…

L.A. Confidential

Posted in Crime, Drama, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
18 Apr 2013
10 Comments

Jackie Brown

Review No. 461

“And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt”…to tell me they didn’t like “Jackie Brown”.

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Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay by: Quentin Tarantino
Based on: “Rum Punch” by Elmore Leonard
Jackie Brown: Pam Grier
Ordell Robbie: Samuel L. Jackson
Max Cherry: Robert Forster
Melanie Ralston: Bridget Fonda
Ray Nicolette: Michael Keaton
Louis Gara: Robert De Niro
Beaumont Livingston: Chris Tucker
Also Starring: Aimee Graham, Diana Uribe, Hattie Winston, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Michael Bowen, Sid Haig, T’Keyah Crystal Keymah, Tommy “Tiny” Lister Jr.

Distributed by Miramax Films on December 25, 1997. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 154 mins. Rated R by the MPAA–mature themes, profanity, infrequent violence, infrequent drug content, infrequent sexual situations.

Jackie Brown was watched on April 5, 2013.

“My ass may be dumb, but I ain’t no dumbass.” –Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson)

Quentin Tarantino is a filmmaker, but first and foremost, he’s a film fan. The man was born and raised by his mother, who had separated from his father before he was born, and exposed to violent, exploitative movies at a young age. He worked a VHS rental shop for several years, before making his now-lost short vehicle My Best Friend’s Birthday, and then becoming one of the most influential (and iconic) modern day indie directors.

Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a stewardess working in California. She can’t afford to lose her job, but she’s come all too close: she’s caught on her way back from Mexico with several hundred dollar bills and a significant amount of cocaine in her luggage. When she is bailed out of jail…let’s just say she tries to use that money–500 grand–to her own advantage.

Jackie Brown shows this all in a two-and-a-half-hour nutshell. The movie is a tour de force full of style, comedy, and mania. Even if you can’t tell that this is an homage to the blaxploitation genre of the 1970s, it’s impossible not to rock along with it. The guy calls shots flawlessly. He could be as blind as anything, and he’d still be feeling the film like Ray Charles feels music, with a cast full of Liberaces. No, this isn’t the role I would expect De Niro in, and it shows–but if this couldn’t garner Samuel L. Jackson and Pam Grier Oscars (let alone nominations) for going so outstandingly over the top, nothing will.

Jackie Brown is a fun movie. Much of the time, we’re so in love with the characters that we don’t really see who could be (or is) “the antagonist.” And at times, it doesn’t exactly explain perfectly, but it’s difficult not to pay endless amounts of attention to. And that’s all you really need in a movie sometimes–but like Jackie herself, Quentin puts a cherry on top. Boo-yah.

A MINUS

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Taxi Driver

Posted in Comedy, Crime, Drama, [Film Reviews] and tagged
17 Apr 2013
4 Comments

Boxcar Bertha

Review No. 460

I’d like to run a boxcar through “Boxcar Bertha”.


Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay by: Joyce Hooper Corrington and John William Corrington
Based on: “Sister of the Road” by Ben L. Reitman
Boxcar Bertha: Barbara Hershey
Big Bill Shelly: David Carradine
Rake Brown: Barry Primus
Also Starring: Bernie Casey, Harry Northup, John Carradine, Victor Argo

Distributed by American International Pictures on June 14, 1972. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 88 mins. Rated R by the MPAA—mature themes, strong sexual content, violence, nudity, language.

Boxcar Bertha was watched on March 31, 2013.

“Thank you. Yes, I’d just like to say this is a holdup. We’ve come for your money and jewels. So, if you’d just line up against that wall there, Bill, Rake and Von won’t have t’ shoot ya.” –Boxcar Bertha (Barbara Hershey)

My biggest question as far as Boxcar Bertha is, “Why?” No need to finish the sentence. Just a flat-out—“Why?” I remember being told that Martin Scorsese was asked by Ellen Burstyn to direct Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, and although it wasn’t his kind of film, it turned out great. From reading the negative reaction this 1972 flop received, I would’ve guessed its star—Barbara Hershey—had asked Scorsese to direct. But geez. It seemed even he couldn’t make her care about the project.

What surprises me the most is that Scorsese does seem to care about the project when no one else does. Joyce Hooper Corrington and John William Corrington wrote this “based on a true story” movie in what feels like no more than a week. It’s a very dumb, overblown, unrealistic, and unintentionally funny B-movie. I don’t know if this is what I should expect from producer Roger Corman, who is known as a god to fans of the exploitation film genre, but if that’s what I’m supposed to expect, he should be ashamed for trashing celluloid like this.

I don’t think Scorsese would have directed with any style whatsoever if this didn’t have any ties with the crime genre (and damn, are they loose). Boxcar Bertha wants to be one of those crime movies that centers in pairs. You know, Bonnie and Clyde, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Thelma & Louise, etc. The film takes the obvious premise and tries to turn it into something creative. I assume creativity is relative, especially when you can end up with utterly dumb scripts like this one.

A woman named Bertha (Barbara Hershey) is stunned when her father dies during the Great Depression. And she witnesses it. I don’t mean to sound like an ass, but I’m sure this happened to a lot of people in the Great Depression; she doesn’t need to resort to what she did (especially if she’s constantly in her nice-girl state of mind). So Bertha allows herself to get caught up in the world of men. Evil, evil men. As if we haven’t heard that cliché before. And oddly enough, she takes up one of these men (whose name I don’t remember off the top of my head; I shouldn’t need to look it up) to take revenge on the railroad workers whom she believes are the ones responsible for her father’s death. Even though the first three minutes made it very clear that he died in a plane crash.

Boxcar Bertha was Martin Scorsese’s second film serving as director. It goes without saying that he learned his lesson early on. I’ve now seen 14 of his 22 films, and of all the grades I’ve given his canon, this is the first to plummet below a solid B. Hell, it’s a D-plus! In a nutshell, this is by far his worst attempt at a movie. Forget that it’s from one of the greatest filmmakers of all-time. Boxcar Bertha is almost unbearably awful.

D PLUS

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Jackie Brown

Posted in Crime, Cult, Drama, History, Romance, [Film Reviews] and tagged
14 Apr 2013
14 Comments

Cape Fear

Review No. 458

A Scorsese film with the word “Fear” in the title means something.


Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay by: Wesley Strick
Based on: “Cape Fear” by James R. Webb; “The Executioners” by John D. MacDonald
Max Cady: Robert De Niro
Sam Bowden: Nick Nolte
Leigh Bowden: Jessica Lange
Danielle Bowden: Juliette Lewis
Claude Kersek: Joe Don Baker
Lt. Elgart: Robert Mitchum
Lee Heller: Gregory Peck
Also Starring: Charles Scorsese, Fred Dalton Thompson, Illeana Douglas, Martin Balsam, Zully Montero

Distributed by Universal Pictures on November 13, 1991. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 127 mins. Rated R by the MPAA–mature themes, graphic violence, profanity, infrequent rape/sexual abuse.

Cape Fear was watched on March 30, 2013.

“Every man… every man has to go through hell to reach paradise.” –Max Cady (Robert De Niro)

Martin Scorsese has himself well-established as a director of crime dramas, usually upbeat and set in urban territory. Cape Fear is somewhat different. This is a crime film, but it’s presented not as a whimsical drama but as an eerie, psychological thriller. Yes, Scorsese has gotten into his characters’ heads several times before, but not like he does here. What’s most perturbing is that the film is easy to relate to: we are told this story through the eyes of the victims, who live in a typical, peaceful suburban area.

Fourteen years before, Max Cady (Robert De Niro) was put on trial for raping an adolescent girl. He was shocked that he was being tried for the crime, as he had assumed that since she was promiscuous, it wasn’t even a crime. What shocked him even more was when he landed in prison. Now Cady has been released, and he still feels as if his lawyer, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte), has betrayed him. Nobody believes the recent ex-con to be a psychopath any longer, and Cady uses that to his advantage: he stalks the house and seduces Sam’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Danielle (Juliette Lewis)–who, like the rest of the town, believes that the insanity is all in the paranoid minds of the Bowden family.

This was the seventh of eight Scorsese-De Niro collaborations; he’s portrayed a sly, likable “bad guy” in most of them. I’ve seen all of these efforts, save for Taxi Driver (1976)* and New York, New York (1977), and I’d have to say that they’re all stellar. Cape Fear is especially stellar as the odd one out. The film is an intensely unsettling thriller, and it’s all due to De Niro’s attitude in the film. It’s ironic that we hate him so much–it’s difficult not to side with the victimized family, even with their flaws–yet his approach so cleverly mimics the evilly seductive appeal of Anthony Hopkins’s Hannibal Lecter (this came a mere nine months later).

It was in 1962 that Cape Fear was first made. On several occasions, it’s easy to tell. I don’t want to use the word “amusing” to describe anything of a movie like this, but it is amusing watching Nick Nolte lovingly homage Gregory Peck (who gives a brief cameo in Scorsese’s remake as Cady’s new lawyer). Furthermore, Elmer Bernstein resurrects Bernard Herrmann’s musical score. It sounds like a lazy, B-movie approach, but god, does it work.

Where the film falters, at times, is in trying to use this score and still seem like a movie from 1991. There’s several clichés in Wesley Strick’s screenplay. Here’s an example: A woman looks out the window and sees “the stalker” standing nonchalantly by the fence. She screams and tells another person within five feet to look out the window. He or she does, and “the stalker” is gone. I’ll advise you not to use that scene to identify any movie. You could land on John Carpenter’s Halloween or you could land on Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear.

Other than these clichés, however, the film is very well-written. Say we compare Halloween and Cape Fear. I do love Halloween, but you can give me a holler when John Carpenter manages to pull off a twist ending like this one.

*As of 4/6, I have seen Taxi Driver. My review is due to appear on 4/19 at 2:00 PM.

A MINUS

TOMORROW, ON CINEMANIAC REVIEWS…

An Important Editor’s Note

Posted in Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
13 Apr 2013
7 Comments

Casino

Review No. 457

The odds of you enjoying “Casino” are four-to-one.

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay by: Martin Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi
Based on: “Casino” by Nicholas Pileggi
Narrated by: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent
Sam “Ace” Rothstein: Robert De Niro
Ginger McKenna Rothstein: Sharon Stone
Nicholas “Nicky” Santoro: Joe Pesci
Also Starring: Alan King, Bill Allison, Dick Smothers, Don Rickles, Frank Vincent, James Woods, John Bloom, Joseph Rigano, Kevin Pollak, L. Q. Jones, Nobu Matsuhisa, Pasquale Cajano, Philip Suriano, Richard Riehle, Vinny Vella

Distributed by Universal Pictures on November 22, 1995. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 178 mins. Rated R by the MPAA–mature themes, frequent profanity, graphic violence, substance abuse, infrequent sexual situations (edited from NC-17).

Casino was watched on March 29, 2013.

“In the casino, the cardinal rule is to keep them playing, and keep them coming back. The longer they play, the more they lose. In the end, we get it all.” –Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro)

Casino is an engaging saga about the blind allure of crime. It’s not an original story in Martin Scorsese’s canon, but it’s one that doesn’t seem to get old, either. This story focuses squarely on a man named Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro). He’s an aggressive, arrogant, ruthless fellow running a casino without any sort of gaming license–and making sure his gang is the one with the money when the night comes to a close. And in the casino area, the question he struggles to weasel his way around is, “What if the authorities find out?”

Yet this is one of several problems we’re told about in Rothstein’s life. Most of his problems he creates himself, something even we don’t realize immediately. He hires Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) as his subordinate. But by the time he realizes how many stabs in the back he’s taken from this impulsive man, it’s too late to try and save himself. He falls in love with Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), a woman about half his age, the moment he lays eyes on her. In a matter of a few years, he’s her possessive husband, and she’s his avaricious wife.

I may as well get my one and only complaint out of the way. You’ve probably heard that Casino is too long or that it drags, but I felt its one flaw was irrelevant to length. Like the previous crime classic from writer-director Scorsese and writer-author Pileggi (based on a nonfiction book by the latter), the film chronicles a long ten years through multiple pairs of eyes. Unlike the previous effort, the effect feels a bit misleading.

Casino is a drama that uses brilliant character development and powerhouse acting to keep a clutch on your attention. It’s difficult to feel these three hours passing by, but it’s even more difficult to realize that Rothstein is the man we’re rooting for, despite his cunning criminal spirit. In fact, he can be identified as Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, one of Las Vegas’s most notorious, villainous men. And yet it’s impossible not to love him. What’s even more stunning is that we begin to side with him as the story progresses. We grow to hate Santoro (who was based on Anthony Spilotro, no more or less a criminal in any sense of the word) as well as Ginger (even though it’s possible her life wouldn’t have sat in ruins if it weren’t for Rothstein).

Let’s just say it comes as a tenebrous surprise that Casino marked the last time Scorsese collaborated with Pileggi or De Niro.

A MINUS

TOMORROW, ON CINEMANIAC REVIEWS…

Cape Fear

Posted in Crime, Drama, Epic, [Film Reviews] and tagged
12 Apr 2013
1 Comment

Who’s That Knocking at My Door

Review No. 456

“Who’s That Knocking” this classic?


Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Martin Scorsese
Additional Dialogue by: Betzi Manoogian
J.R.: Harvey Keitel
The Girl: Zina Bethune
Also Starring: Ann Collette, Harry Northup

Distributed by Joseph Brenner Associates on September 8, 1968. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 90 mins. Rated R by the MPAA–mature themes, violence, nudity, language, infrequent sexual situations.

Who’s That Knocking at My Door was watched on March 27, 2013.

“Well, I’m not used to admitting I like Westerns.” –the girl (Zina Bethune)

I’ve come to notice, recently, that a director’s feature debut rarely represents his or her later work. This isn’t the case with Martin Scorsese. We look at his filmography and notice that a number of the films are all different, but essentially the same.

Many of his films are hardboiled, upbeat, nostalgic dramas; we’re given a likable, male lead and then shown how leading a double-life makes him so easily lose his touch with his surroundings. If you don’t believe me, take a look at Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, GoodFellas, and The Aviator. And, of course, Who’s That Knocking at My Door , the overlooked masterpiece that heads the list.

Who’s That Knocking at My Door centers on J.R. (Harvey Keitel) and an unnamed woman (Zina Bethune) with whom he falls in love the moment their eyes meet. She’s trying to remain unnoticed as she reads a French magazine in a café, despite not knowing a word of French. He approaches her and points out a still of John Wayne in the magazine, leading them to discuss The Searchers. It’s a casual, genuine conversation that makes the couple as lovably amusing to us as they are to each other.

But once J.R. has taken her to his apartment, he finds that he’s hiding something from her. He’s unemployed; he’s a Catholic Italian-American in NYC; he’s taking her money behind her back when he needs it; he’s constantly warning her not to touch his belongings; and yet he has limited spare time with her. Considering the director, a crime aficionado, it may seem obvious that he’s a Mafia member, but it’s shockingly nothing all that obvious.

I thoroughly enjoyed Who’s That Knocking at My Door, and although it’s not as easily recognizable as the director’s later work, it’s a work of genius. The film was independently produced on a minimal budget; it was limited to, most namely, black-and-white footage and lesser known players (this was Keitel’s first appearance on film). Yet the cinematography and performances still manage to greatly enhance whatever J.R. and “the girl” are feeling. Who’s That Knocking at My Door is an authentic psychodrama seen subtly through two pairs of eyes.

Postscript: The film was first released to the Chicago International Film Festival in 1967 as “I Call First”. In 1968, it adopted its most common title, “Who’s That Knocking at My Door”, for its New York premiere. In 1970, a handful of countries overseas began using another alternate title, “J.R.” Regardless, it’s the same movie, and it’s highly recommended.

A PLUS

TOMORROW, ON CINEMANIAC REVIEWS…

Casino

Posted in Crime, Drama, Romance, [Film Reviews] and tagged ,

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