Cinemaniac Reviews

Believe it or not, you may not want to see that movie.

Archive for the category “History”

08 May 2013
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Saving Private Ryan

Review No. 466

Deeply poignant.

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DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG. WRITTEN BY ROBERT RODAT. STARRING TOM HANKS (CAPTAIN JOHN H. MILLER), EDWARD BURNS (PRIVATE FIRST CLASS RICHARD REIBEN), MATT DAMON (PRIVATE FIRST CLASS JAMES FRANCIS RYAN), AND TOM SIZEMORE (TECHNICAL SERGEANT MIKE HORVATH). ALSO STARRING ADAM GOLDBERG, BARRY PEPPER, BRYAN CRANSTON, DALE DYE, DEMETRI GORITSAS, DENNIS FARINA, GIOVANNI RIBISI, HARRISON YOUNG, HARVE PRESNELL, JEREMY DAVIES, JOERG STADLER, KATHLEEN BYRON, LELAND ORSER, MAX MARTINI, NATHAN FILLION, PAUL GIAMATTI, TED DANSON, AND VIN DIESEL. DISTRIBUTED BY DREAMWORKS ON JULY 24, 1998. PRODUCED IN ENGLISH BY THE UNITED STATES. RUNS 2 HOURS, 49 MINUTES. RATED R BY THE MPAA, FOR INTENSE PROLONGED REALISTICALLY GRAPHIC SEQUENCES OF WAR VIOLENCE, AND FOR LANGUAGE.

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN WAS WATCHED ON APRIL 26, 2013.

“Like finding a needle in a stack of needles.” –Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks)

Saving Private Ryan is director Steven Spielberg’s followup to 1993′s Schindler’s List. Both are epic dramas that present the tragedies of war, specifically major traumas during World War II. The prior film scoped in on Oskar Schindler, a man who would do anything to liberate the Jews during the Holocaust; he gave his fortune away to the cause and died without a penny of it ever returned to him. Saving Private Ryan, however, wants to differentiate between its hero and its protagonist–two completely different characters.

The film opens with a flashback to June 6, 1944–D-Day, when the beaches at Normandy were stormed. The sequence is an extensive massacre that exceeds twenty minutes, and we are introduced early on to Captain John H. Miller. It’s fitting that he doesn’t stand out, and Tom Hanks–a man who can’t help but stand out in his most minor roles–does an awful good job of tackling the character. It’s representative of later scenes, where we learn his character is only a primary focus. He’s assigned the mission to bring home Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), whose brothers were all killed in action, but all the reason he can gather for completing this task is that he himself can only go home if Private Ryan is home.

Saving Private Ryan is well written. Occasionally, a deus ex machina moment will excuse itself as a plot point, but discount these rarities and the film is a flawless, astonishingly realistic masterpiece. Most of the director’s canon has consisted of works inspired by his childhood. Saving Private Ryan is a clear exception, but it’s difficult to deny the genius that transfers through from his conformities. From films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jurassic Park, it’s rather obvious that Steven Spielberg is a true genius in technical style. Spielberg’s second-in-command here is none other than his cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, who has photographed every film of his since the early 1990s. The film, therefore, has the power to be absolutely gorgeous when it wants to, or harshly brutal–”shaky cam” and all–during the rather grotesque combat sequences. Let’s not forget John Williams’s score, or the unique approach to sound mixing.

All this only builds up on the authentic effect of the film. On one note, that’s horrifying, but once you’ve entered the near-three-hour epic, the only way out is to finish.

A

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The Intouchables (@2:00); Amour (@4:30)

Posted in Drama, Epic, History, War, [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
04 Apr 2013
4 Comments

My Left Foot

Review No. 449

Marked by a strong performance and a tortured screenplay.

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Directed by: Jim Sheridan
Screenplay by: Jim Sheridan and Shane Connaughton
Based on: “My Left Foot” by Christy Brown
Christy Brown: Daniel Day-Lewis
Paddy Brown: Ray McAnally
Bridget Brown: Brenda Fricker
Dr. Eileen Cole: Fiona Shaw
Christy Brown (young): Hugh O’Conor
Also Starring: Alison Whelan, Cyril Cusack, Declan Croghan, Eanna MacLiam, Kirsten Sheridan, Marie Conremme, Phelim Drew, Ruth McCabe

Distributed by Miramax Films on November 10, 1989. Produced in English by Ireland. Runs 103 mins. Rated R by the MPAA–mature themes, violence, profanity.

My Left Foot was watched on March 9, 2013.

“And you typed all of it with your left foot?” –Mary Carr (Ruth McCabe)

A severely disabled man endures years of belittlement, before suddenly finding a grand inner talent for which people can appreciate him. For those who weren’t aware, it’s a common formula that has been used for countless character dramas. But it’s only in the hands of a good director and screenwriter that we get something highly memorable. David Lynch, Christopher De Vore, and Eric Bergren set this in stone with 1980′s The Elephant Man, a rather artistic, unpredictable, and yet human take on the life of Joseph Merrick, a horribly disfigured man. And in 1994, Robert Zemeckis and Eric Roth gave Forrest Gump as an example, going into countless exaggerated territories, all while staying poignant and lovable.

I could keep going, but I’m not sure for how much longer. I expected that upon watching My Left Foot, I would feel the same way: intrigued to a familiar setup as if it were the first time. Unfortunately, the film never managed to take any more than my forced interest. As I am writing this, I have just opened a new tab on my web browser–Wikipedia’s article on Christy Brown. I don’t really want to learn more, but I feel that I need to. That is to say that the movie didn’t really acquaint me with its own main character, and because of this lack of depth, I feel I need more information about him in order to write a review.

Here’s what I’ve gathered from the Wikipedia summary. Brown was born on the fifth of June, 1932, and he died just over forty-nine years later. He was born into a working class family living in Dublin, Ireland. Due to cerebral palsy, he grew up using his left foot to complete the tasks of a dominant hand. Later on, he became a famed painter, at which point he earned the respect of those surrounding him almost immediately. He fell in love some time after and chronicled his life in a work titled My Left Foot.

This is a pretty short outline, mind you, but there are bits of even that that don’t make a solid enough appearance in the film adaptation. We learn more about Christy’s mother–his lifelong mentor–than we do about himself. We learn that he has cerebral palsy and can paint well. Little more.

What saves My Left Foot is Daniel Day-Lewis, the film’s own left foot. The drama drags on like a snail until its timer has reached a little over an hour and forty minutes. Yet Day-Lewis is able to ease the hardship of enduring such a length. The man is a true method actor, and I wholeheartedly understand his Academy Award victory for Best Actor. What’s decidedly unfortunate, however, is that the character he portrays is written for the screen as if he were an empty vacuum. For a film of such subject matter, My Left Foot could have been much more thought-provoking.

C

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What’s New Pussycat

Posted in Biography, Drama, History, [Film Reviews] and tagged
15 Mar 2013

Wild Wild West

Day Five of the Two-Week Torturefest

As lame as that horse Mongo punched in the face in “Blazing Saddles”.

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Directed by: Barry Sonnenfeld
Written by: S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock & Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman
Based on: “The Wild Wild West” (1965-1969 TV series)
Captain James West: Will Smith
U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon: Kevin Kline
Ulysses S. Grant: Kevin Kline
Dr. Arliss Loveless: Kenneth Branagh
Rita Escobar: Salma Hayek
Also Starring: Bai Ling, Frederique van der Wal, M. Emmet Walsh, Musetta Vander, Sofia Eng, Ted Levine

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures on June 30, 1999. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 107 minutes. Rated PG-13 by the MPAA–western violence, sexual situations, infrequent/brief nudity.

Wild Wild West was watched on Sunday, December 23, 2012.

“Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.” –Will Smith
THE IMPLICATION: “Wild Wild West cost a hundred seventy million to make. Director didn’t like it, so instead of revising it, he released it to theaters, tortured theatergoers that way, and earned a profit.”

Poor Will Smith! He’s an increasingly talented actor, regardless of what genre is at hand. I have yet to see him fail, but on several occasions, he has been sorely miscast.

Wild Wild West is not such a case. Yes, Smith is the standout in this otherwise un-watchable film, especially for a role he, himself, picked out. He was initially offered the role of Neo in The Matrix, but turned that film—now considered a modern classic—down for a rather insulting rendition of classic television. Considering that, I guess Wild Wild West does offer one mildly genuine surprise: it didn’t liquidate Smith’s career.

In most cases, it’s pretty bad when a movie wants to be completely serious and ends up failing miserably. There’s essentially only one worse concept: a film that masquerades as a “comedy,” yet the few gags that evoke the most nervous of laughter are thanks to pure luck.

All too many times, Wild Wild West has the strange, pretentious idea that it is playing out humorously. One-liners, double entendres, puns, and sight gags are shot left and right in this highly forgettable excuse for a “steampunk western.” But the film’s frame of mind is so self-confident, it’s a wonder none of the four writers ever came to realize their script was only firing blanks. Occasionally, there’s a goofy joke that manages to crack a smile. But halfway through, the film has worn itself so abusively thin, gunfire has been used more frequently as a wakeup call.

Wild Wild West bears not one kind regard to the art of subtlety. It’s an overly straightforward, loudly exaggerated, completely recycled landfill protruding with tiresome anachronisms. To call this Mission: Impossible meets Blazing Saddles would be one of the most unlawful offenses one could ever commit at the expense of either film. During the 19th century, two men are sent by President Grant to track down a criminal from New Orleans. Something—perhaps everything—about that premise reeks in a lack of originality. Director Barry Sonnenfeld has baked a turducken, but he has forgotten both the chicken and the duck. Wild Wild West is a turkey.

Footnote: With regard to the “Bottom-of-the-Barrel Line,” I’m not sure if the horse in Blazing Saddles was lame. On the other hand, my eleven-year-old sister LOVES horses to death, so I’ll make an effort to have her leave a comment either affirming or negating that speculation.

D

Crossroads – it’s Britney, b__ch, and she’s valedictorian.

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Posted in Action, Comedy, Crime, Fantasy, History, Western, [Film Reviews] and tagged | Leave a Comment
02 Mar 2013
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Hoosiers

Review No. 422

hoosiers

The Bottom Line: Hoosiers: A True Underdog Story.

Directed by: David Anspaugh
Written by: Angelo Pizzo
Coach Norman Dale: Gene Hackman
Myra Fleener: Barbara Hershey
Shooter: Dennis Hopper
Cletus: Sheb Wooley
Jimmy Chitwood: Maris Valainis
Merle: Kent Poole
Rade: Steve Hollar
Buddy: Brad Long
Ollie: Wade Schenck
Also Starring: Brad Boyle, David Neidorf, Fern Persons, Scott Summers

Distributed by Orion Pictures and Hemdale Pictures on November 14, 1986. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 115 mins. Rated PG by the MPAA (mature themes; violence; language).

Hoosiers was watched on February 17, 2013.

“Forget about the crowds, the size of the school, their fancy uniforms, and remember what got you here. Focus on the fundamentals that we’ve gone over time and time again. And most important, don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game.” –Coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman)

It’s difficult to find a sports movie that’s not uplifting, even in the slightest sense of the word. I’ve seen more sports movies than I can physically count, and I can come up with merely two examples that go against this grain. One is Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese’s psychosocial shredding of an aggressive and dedicated boxer. The other, Bull Durham, a goofy but nonetheless straightforward sex comedy about the groupie for a minor league baseball team.

Hoosiers does conform, but it conforms like almost no other movie. In the end, I was left with one small but somewhat meaningful question:

Why were the stadiums so packed? We learn in one scene that there are 63 male undergraduates at the small town high school Hoosiers focuses on squarely, which probably means no more than 130 students total attend. My own high school has something between eleven- and thirteen-hundred undergraduates, yet the stadiums at our basketball games aren’t much more packed than the ones we see in Hoosiers.

Now let’s suppose the head count was lesser. Empty a single seat seat and I can’t imagine being so easily captivated by Hoosiers. The film tells a simple story that we’ve likely heard already, one you wouldn’t so easily cheer for if you didn’t feel the need to cheer. The year is 1951, and a basketball coach, Norman Dale (Gene Hackman), was fired twelve years ago for an aggravated assault on one of his students. Now he’s brought back–temper and all–to coach the crumbling basketball team at Hickory High School. And the team surely isn’t one to instantly skyrocket to the top. The renowned player of the team has left because his father has died. The coach has an anger issue that keeps him from a good number of games. The team can’t function as one unit.

Yet despite all this, there’s no question that Dale will succeed in coaching the team to win, win, win. It’s the plague of nearly every sports movie. Without overly spoiling too many endings: You watch Jerry Maguire, and you know from the moment Tom Cruise lays eyes on Renée Zellweger that they’ll be a couple by the end. You watch Rocky, and every training scene only makes you more sure that he will beat Apollo. Hell, you watch Dodgeball–which I do, deep down, consider a “sports movie”–and it’s always clear the Average Joes will win.

We all know that it doesn’t always happen this way. As I understand it, the majority of sports studies work by handing us weak underdog characters, and then moving forward to show how they are determined to succeed. A sudden loss at the very end would entirely kill off the message.

And despite ending on a predictable note, the climactic scenes in Hoosiers are some of the most dynamic a sports drama has ever delivered. I wouldn’t say I felt inspired by the film in a literal sense, since never would I ever play basketball by choice. I did, however, feel involved during quite a few scenes.

Hoosiers is flawed here and there. It’s not too unconventional in how it tells its “feel good” story, especially when that was “based on a true story.” But I do feel like I got something out of this one, and I did feel good in the end. The alternative is a story so banal and unrealistic that you feel cheated; Hoosiers offered far more slam dunks than technical fouls.

B

A Good Day to Die Hard

Posted in Drama, History, Sports, [Film Reviews] and tagged
01 Mar 2013
5 Comments

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Review No. 421

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The Bottom Line: A landmark with “unforgettable” written all over it.

Directed by: George Roy Hill
Written by: William Goldman
Butch Cassidy: Paul Newman
The Sundance Kid: Robert Redford
Etta Place: Katharine Ross
Also Starring: Jeff Corey, Strother Martin, Ted Cassidy

Distributed by 20th Century Fox on October 24, 1969. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 112 mins. Rated PG by the MPAA (mature themes; profanity; Western violence).

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was watched on February 17, 2013.

“For a moment there I thought we were in trouble.” –Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman)

I could rattle off countless movies like this right off the top of my head. Die Hard 3. 21 Jump Street. Lethal Weapon. Thelma & Louise. The common bond is a hard focus on crime, with two leads and varying levels of comedy. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is essentially no different, and I’m sure there were “buddy flicks” before it for even further inspiration. But when the film’s venerability is taken into consideration, it’s still something we’d love to see more often.

Butch and Sundance are the archetype of the “buddy flick.” Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, Danny Glover and Mel Gibson, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis–they all innovated from the iconic powerhouse starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid blares 1969. The technical efforts aren’t so much as standard, with low-quality sound mixing, cinematography, and photo vignettes (save for the one powerfully used to make the ending unforgettable). On one hand, you could look at this as a trashy low-budget film with no sense of style.

On the other hand, it’s nice to venture back to crime films that entertained without being visceral or explosive. In fact, the film can be bittersweet at times. Just within the first half-hour, we hear B.J. Thomas’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”. The scene is emotional like no other crime movie could ever dream to be.

The style is all dissolved as part of the storytelling regime. Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and a man known only as “the Sundance Kid” (Robert Redford) are outlaws. They pass time with secretive criminal affairs, specifically armed robberies. When they find “business” will be more successful for them in Bolivia, they find that a chance to flee from the authorities in the United States. But how long will it be before the Bolivian deputies discover these two are outlaws?

The tale is almost as simple as a knock-knock joke. We’ve heard it so many times before. This is compensated for, however, with characters we have absolutely no familiarity with; characters we enjoy. Butch is an arrogant fellow. He’s a belligerent, pugnacious guy who often times fails to tolerate “the Sundance Kid.” Sundance, on the other hand, is an inattentive, tall, broad fellow. Most of the film’s humor–not that it’s a full-fledged comedy–derives from Sundance’s inclination to stand as a nimrod.

And now, as I describe Butch and Sundance, I begin to wonder why the characters struck me as so likeable. In any other film, these characters would be detestable protagonists. But this isn’t any other film. This, if I may end on a corny note, is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Postscript: I wasn’t sure where to mention it in my review, but this is a Western. It’s often difficult to tell, especially when it impressively departs from the clichés we know of the genre.

A MINUS

Hoosiers

Posted in Comedy, Crime, Drama, History, Western, [Film Reviews] and tagged
10 Feb 2013
14 Comments

The King’s Speech

Review No. 408

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The Bottom Line: I highly recommend this p-p-picture…“the letter ‘P’ is always difficult.”

Directed by: Tom Hooper
Screenplay by: David Seidler
King George VI: Colin Firth
Lionel Logue: Geoffrey Rush
Queen Elizabeth: Helena Bonham Carter
King Edward VIII: Guy Pearce
King George V: Michael Gambon
Winston Churchill: Timothy Spall
Myrtle Logue: Jennifer Ehle
Archbishop Cosmo Lang: Derek Jacobi
Also Starring: Anthony Andrews, Claire Bloom, Eve Best, Freya Wilson, Ramona Marquez, Roger Hammond, Tim Downie

Distributed by the Weinstein Company on December 24, 2010. Produced in English by the United Kingdom. Runs 118 mins. Rated R by the MPAA for some language.

The King’s Speech was watched on February 1, 2013.

“Waiting for me to… commence a conversation, one can wait rather a long wait.” –King George VI (Colin Firth)

King George VI stammered, not only when he was nervous, but even when speaking to those of lesser authority, or reading a bedtime story to his daughters. This is what plagued his very existence, and his power as the Duke of York. After absolutely bombing his address to the entire country, the king-to-be seeks help from a speech therapist—any speech therapist—and they all introduce some of the worst, most ineffective methods imaginable. He’s now given up all hope, not willing to trust even the greatest therapist in the country. Worse, the therapist begins his sessions by insisting on calling His Majesty the Patient “Bertie” (his full name is Albert Frederick Arthur George), a nickname penned and kept only inside his family. But will this be the man who decides whether the patient—or impatient, if you will—can venture beyond his agoraphobia, and rid his horrible impediment?

I’m a sucker for the British cinema. It’s something that, in an American’s eyes, is constantly achieving the impossible. Brits are so witty with their brilliant, beautiful use of language; so much that they can produce dramas that can warrant as many tears as chortles. And The King’s Speech is a prime example. It is clever, but it’s not a comedy. It’s a rather serious, ultimately uplifting drama. Note the difference in American cinema. We seem to love slapstick, for whatever reason. Such comedians begin at Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler, but God only knows where the long stream will terminate. I’ll admit, Sandler has starred in Punch-Drunk Love, and Carrey in The Truman Show, but it’d take a lot of effort to assert them as non-comedic dramas.

The 2010 Oscars were marked by several outstanding nominations for Best Picture. True Grit, Inception, and The Social Network were each stunning in their respective rights; perhaps if I were to give any of those a watch right now, one or two fleeting, hairline flaws could hinder an easy “A-plus.” Not for The King’s Speech. The film is flawless, as far as I can see. Director Tom Hooper knows how to arrange everything from musicians to cinematographers to screenwriters. There’s much claustrophobic tension to illustrate such fears experienced by “Bertie.” It’s a three-act play in which the king is the lead, the entire audience is staring down at him from the balcony, and the incidentals are selections by Beethoven. The writer of it all (David Seidler) is, in fact, a stutterer (see footnote), which adds even more authenticity and constriction to the tone.

What’s most amazing about The King’s Speech is how well-intended and -realized it is. I’ve seen it three times, and each time I begin picturing it less and less as a historical account. In my mind, it’s a parable about conquering fear. It’s common in all humans. If this were meant to be a historical projection, the screenplay would encapsulate King George VI’s entire life, not just a minor threshold. If this were meant to be historically accurate, not so much of it would have been dramatized, and there would have been chosen an actor that bore more resemblance to the King. Instead, Colin Firth disappears into his stammer. When the production schedule for The King’s Speech ended, I hear, Firth needed a speech therapist of his own to push away the stammer he had acquired as a result of ingenious method acting.

Footnote: Seidler expressed on a few occasions that his stammer is perhaps a result of experiencing grief at a young age: both his parents were victims of the Holocaust. The one scene in The King’s Speech that suggests this is a climactic moment in which “Bertie” and his family are watching a video of Adolf Hitler speaking. “What’s he saying?” asks one of the King’s daughters. “I don’t know,” he replies, “but…he seems to be saying it rather well.”

A PLUS

Monday Movies of the Mind

Posted in Biography, Drama, History, [Film Reviews] and tagged
27 Jan 2013
8 Comments

Zero Dark Thirty

Review No. 396

Print

The Bottom Line: Two and a half hours of a cold sweat.

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: Mark Boal
Maya: Jessica Chastain
Also Starring: Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton

Distributed by Columbia Pictures on December 19, 2012. Produced in English by the United States. Runs 157 mins. Rated R by the MPAA for strong violence including brutal disturbing images, and for language.

Zero Dark Thirty was watched on January 21, 2013.

“You lie to me. I hurt you.” –Dan (Jason Clarke)

Zero Dark Thirty is a near-decade long chronicle of the killing of Ussama bin Laden. The drama commences on September 11, 2001, the tragic day on which bin Laden ordered suicide bombers to attack multiple cities in the USA; the conclusion marks the death of bin Laden on May 1, 2011, at zero dark thirty. That’s CIA jargon for “half past midnight.”

The years in between were filled with harrowing, unending struggle for those at the US Embassy in Pakistan. No one knew bin Laden’s whereabouts. It was next to impossible to discern when al-Qaeda terrorists were actually giving truthful information about where their leader could be found. And on top of it all, the woman who is in charge of the mission is constantly doubted by her fellow agents.

Women's. Rights.

Women’s. Rights.

To retell such a detailed story in a short two and a half hours is a dangerous commitment. There’s much detail that composes this account. As far as what is crucially important, what should be approached with a slightly fictional twist, and what should be ultimately expended, writing this into a script would kill just as much sleep as did the mission itself.

Mark Boal nails it, though. 00:30 is not a didactic recollection; save for the final shots, it is not a slow, emotional drama, either. The thriller entertains mostly from keeping a bit of action on the horizon, but delving headfirst into intrigue. This is especially true for the final half hour. Thanks to what history has informed us, we are already aware of how the film will come to a close.

Ironically, the scenes that lead up to this are by far the most exhilarating. We grow to care very deeply about the characters involved. Even the Navy SEALs, who don’t appear until minutes before the final mission, are given enough depth. Who was the one who killed bin Laden? How many of them lost their lives during the mission? These are just two of at least fifty questions that linger during these tense moments. Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow don’t leave room for surprise, they make room.

Jessica Chastain is the gears of everything that appears in front of the camera. She portrays Maya, the agent who won’t give up on meeting the objective that is has surrounded such a large chunk of her life, no matter who denies her outstanding intellect, no matter how bitchily she must assert herself. Through her eyes, 00:30 is a very meaningful story, one that thoroughly defines a strong female lead.

Although Chastain has done this before on several occasions (her most recent filmography consists of her either leading or co-leading Take Shelter, Coriolanus, The Debt, The Tree of Life, and The Help), watching her deliver is beyond moving. Around halfway through the film, she vociferates a powerful speech, at odds with an agent who would rather give up searching for bin Laden. The scene lasts no more than forty-five seconds, but it slaughters any question about who will win the Best Actress Oscar this February.

00:30 is an intensely visceral look behind the War on Terror, filled with depth and suspense. Think of it just as a manhunt thriller, except set against recent American history. Bigelow’s command is exorbitantly involving and beyond impressive. Again, the film isn’t meant to inform us about what we already know. Zero Dark Thirty seeks to entertain, and entertain it does.

Postscript: A brief note on the controversy the film has generated: a) It’s not “pro-Obama propaganda.” The President appears for no more than twenty seconds on a TV, and he earns no other mention. b) I’m not sure why there were accusations of the film crew using classified information. If that were true, there could have been a whole extra hour for “fleshing out,” and there wouldn’t be any ex-CIA agents noting the film as inaccurate. c) The opening scenes are filled with torture, but for one, the depiction isn’t nearly as brutal as what you might think; and for two, the focus is more on trying to find the truth about bin Laden’s whereabouts, as opposed to the act of torture itself.

A

WINNER
Best Actress (Jessica Chastain)

NOMINEE
Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow); Best Screenplay; Best Quote

Posted in Drama, History, Thriller, War, [Film Reviews] and tagged
18 Jan 2013
15 Comments

Argo

Review No. 388

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The Bottom Line: Argo watch it. Now.

Directed by: Ben Affleck
Written by: Chris Terrio
Based on: “The Master of Disguise” by Antonio J. Mendez; “The Great Escape” by Joshuah Bearman
Tony Mendez: Ben Affleck
Jack O’Donnell: Bryan Cranston
Lester Siegel: Alan Arkin
John Chambers: John Goodman
Also Starring: Bob Gunton, Kyle Chandler, Michael Parks, Philip Baker Hall, Victor Garber

Distributed by Warner Bros. on October 12, 2012. Produced in English and Persian by the United States. Runs 120 minutes. Rated R by the MPAA for language and some violent images.

Argo was watched on January 12, 2013.

“What’s your middle name? What’s your middle name? What’s your middle name? Shoot him, he’s an American spy. Look, they’re going to try to break you, okay, by trying to get you agitated. You have to know your résumé back to front.” –Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez

On November 4th of 1979, members of Tehran’s American Embassy were held in captivity by Islamic students, who were promoting the Iranian Revolution at hand.

Fast-forward to January 28, 1980. The day stands an implausible benchmark in history, marking the successful liberation of six hostages. This was hidden behind a charade: the false production of a science fantasy film called Argo, a low-budget “Star Wars” ripoff from a Canadian film crew. The mission remained classified until 1997, when President Bill Clinton made the story known.

There’s much question as to how accurate last year’s dramatization actually is, but there’s no question it keeps the overwhelming sense of reality lingering, despite the extremely implausible subject matter.

Cheers.

Ben Affleck’s directorial style may not be entirely established yet. His behind-the-camera filmography consists of just three films, the other two being Gone Baby Gone and The Town. Not that that’s a bad thing. Argo gives its director an undeniable guise, as if he were a spectacular reincarnation of Alfred Hitchcock. Character development, cinematography, acting, and writing are all crucial in making this thriller terrifically exhilarating. History expresses the events’ conclusion in a straightforward manner, yet the concentration placed upon each and every happening puts excitement at its apex.

Furthermore, Affleck directs himself impressively. During the end credits, we are shown the likeness of the entire cast to those who were involved. In his appearance as Tony Mendez, the similarities don’t show quite as easily as anyone else billed; but on the other hand, it’s difficult to believe that this is the same Ben Affleck with seven Razzie nominations.

Argo is a monstrously entertaining masterpiece. It represents late 1979 / early 1980 in a highly accessible light, even for viewers who can’t personally recall the time; and while it strictly ratifies the violence in the plot, there isn’t much apparent fear in making light of how a faux film production made history. The two professionals who make the charade seem veritable are the comic reliefs. Their humorous quips are surprisingly necessary, even catalyzing a whole new level of reality from a frame of pure doubt.

Argo isn’t remarkable for its ability to simply entertain, and entertain alone. It’s how everything that makes it so enthralling, is also what establishes it as a rare marvel. Argo watch it as soon as the moment arrives.

A

NOMINEE
Best Director (Ben Affleck)

Posted in Biography, Drama, History, Thriller, [Film Reviews] and tagged
04 Jan 2013
17 Comments

Les Misérables

Review No. 378

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The Bottom Line: Les Misérables is the most beautiful film of last year.

Directed by: Tom Hooper
Written by: William Nicholson
Based on: musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg; novel by Victor Hugo
Book by: Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil
Original French lyrics by: Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel
Translated English lyrics by: Herbert Kretzmer
Jean Valjean: Hugh Jackman
Javert: Russell Crowe
Fantine: Anne Hathaway
Cosette: Amanda Seyfried
Thénardier: Sacha Baron Cohen
Madame Thénardier: Helena Bonham Carter
Enjolras: Aaron Tveit
Éponine: Samantha Barks
Gavroche: Daniel Huttlestone

Distributed by Universal Pictures on December 25, 2012. Produced in English by the United Kingdom. Runs 160 minutes. Rated PG-13 by the MPAA for suggestive and sexual material, violence and thematic elements.

Les Misérables was watched on December 26, 2012.

“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!”

If the moviemaking world were flowing with directors who could attain just what Tom Hooper has attained, Friday nights would be impressive, outstanding, and jaw-dropping displays of innovation and glory. Hooper has done something I cannot recall ever having been done when transforming a Broadway musical from stage to screen. I’m not saying that this the first, sung-through musical adaptation of Les Misérables that has ever been released to the silver screen. I speak of something far grander.

While filming, the actors and actresses all heard the orchestration as it was separately recorded, so that they may express dialogue in a less constricted manner, while still staying with the score. Basically, what is happening is singing sentences rather than musical phrases. This style allows boundless emotion through the dramatic aspects as well as the cinematic aspects.

She dreamed a dream.

The performances are indeed magnificent. What’s even better is that the cast has outstanding an outstanding voice (with the disappointingly noticeable exception of Russell Crowe). Fantine’s (Anne Hathaway) “I Dreamed a Dream” is particularly moving, as is Éponine’s (debuting Samantha Barks) “On My Own”.

Purely for the sake of beauty in speech, none of the cast flaunts a French accent, save for Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen, the two nasty, drunken comic reliefs in an otherwise melancholy drama.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman delivers stunningly as Jean Valjean, the hero in this tour de force. Our story commences in 1815, sixteen years after the end of the French Revolution. Jean Valjean is now being released on parole by Inspector Javert, who had imprisoned him for nineteen years, merely for stealing bread to feed his family, and four righteous albeit failed escape attempts. During his time out of prison, and still at odds with Javert, Valjean breaks parole and utterly redeems himself. He becomes a factory worker as well as the mayor; he cares for and raises young Cosette, after her illegitimate mother dies and two self-absorbed innkeepers abuse her.

This is the story of one man’s (Valjean) risks to promote love over law; and another man’s (Javert) risks to promote law over love. This is a story of love itself, even if it means going as far as criminal acts, even if that means going as far as dying for loved ones. This is a story of redemption, even if there was no definitive injustice in the first place, even if there is a subtly religious overtone that embodies the entirety. This is a story of hope, even if the French Revolution ended up lasting an entire decade, and left a period of despair in its aftermath; even if the lower class never earned any money, let alone respect for their social status.

This is the adaptation of Claude-Michel Schönberg’s 1987 musical Les Misérables, eponymously based upon Victor Hugo’s extensive 1862 novel of the same name. How amazing that Hugo wrote that novel just years after the French Revolution, and as it appears precisely 150 years later, it’s perhaps just as authentic.

Of course, this screen edition runs long, but it doesn’t feel anywhere near the reported two hours, forty minutes.

Acting. Music. Screenplay. Direction. Costume. Cinematography. Makeup. Regardless of whether a minute aspect or a conversely forward one, these are all absolutely astonishing pieces that make the film as unforgettable as it is. In essence, Les Misérables is the paragon, sweeping musical epic.

A

WINNER
Best Director (Tom Hooper); Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway)

NOMINEE
Best Picture; Best Actor (Hugh Jackman); Best Supporting Actor (Sacha Baron Cohen); Best Cinematography; Best Costume Design; Best Editing; Best Ensemble/All-Star Performance; Best Debut/Breakthrough Performance (Samantha Barks)

Posted in Drama, Epic, History, Music/Musical, Romance, War, [Film Reviews] and tagged

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