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Across the Universe (2007)
Beatles are the soundtrack of the times
I have waited for this film to be released on DVD, it seems like forever and played it as soon as Netflix came through. Although I felt that the film started a very bit slow, it did pick up nicely. My friend Roger is much better at analysis and criticism of films than I, so this is more of a consumer reaction than a real review.
When I saw clips for this, I kept thinking of Moulin Rouge, but I could never really get my head around Moulin Rouge. The use of Beatles songs is a soundtrack for the times, which is where Moulin Rouge broke down for me: the juxtaposition of the era and the modern songs came off as too arbitrary for my taste.
The musical arrangements and performances for Across the Universe were stellar and beautiful. For me, one of the true highlights of the film came when the plaintive and pure voice of Timothy Mitchum began singing Let It Be in that very moving sequence, with Carol Wood. It was somber, breathtaking and heartbreaking.
Seeing Joe Cocker pop up was a delight, though I'd have been even happier had he sung With a Little Help From My Friends. The musicality of the I Want You/She's So Heavy number, and the symbolism involved, was wonderful, and captured the zeitgeist of the counterculture viewpoint of US involvement in Vietnam.
I didn't mind Bono, though I've read some criticism of him in this (yes he was well disguised). His semi-Dennis-Hopper-Easy-Rider-meets-Doctor-Hook character was appropriate for its purpose. What I wasn't in love with was the Eddie Izzard-Mr. Kite sequence. It was a bit too dark for me, and the Monty Python-ness of it seemed a bit out of time synch for me, though I confess I can't recall whether Python was well known in the US prior to the 1970s, but if the time line of the film was in the least bit adhered to, this film was set in 1967-1968 (Martin Luther King was killed in the film), the summer of love giving way to more violent war protest and confrontations. I suppose that's being too picky. I really liked the rooftop concert nod and I wonder why Dana Fuchs wasn't being considered to play Janis Joplin.
All notes aside, I was loving this film, it was an honest look at the era, with all its warts, and how a generation could move from hopefulness and idealism to cynicism and disillusionment. I'm fairly certain when I can, I'll buy it for my collection.
The Chamber (1996)
Hackman's performance is stellar
For me, this is the best role of Hackman's career, and one of Oscar's most overlooked roles. His character was as revolting, cold, and repugnantly racist as a human being could be, but Hackman played Sam Cayhall as a person with a surprising depth and emotion that, although you couldn't exactly like him, you find yourself quietly hoping his death penalty will be overturned as he plumbs the depths of his evil deeds and confronts his past.
The scene when Fay Dunaway's Lee Cayhall Bowen comes to see Sam in the hours before his execution is as good as it gets. Lee asks if Sam would have killed Joe Lincoln when she was young had she spoken up, Sam tells her yes. You KNOW, you SEE, that he wouldn't have, but in seeing the toll that the guilt of a lifetime of believing it was her fault had exacted from his daughter, Sam lied. Sam redeemed her sanity in that lie, gave her life the peace she never had and, in many ways, redeemed himself.
Although Dunaway is only 11 years younger than Hackman, she handily pulls off the role of Cayhall's emotional, conflicted and alcoholic daughter Lee. She has spent her life hiding from whom she is, both from the community and herself, the crimes of her father, and the stigma it has brought.
Chris O'Donnell is just as good as Sam's grandson, Adam Hall, who is now a lawyer. Hall's father had changed the family surname to also escape the stigma of being the son of the murdering Klansman Cayhall. Apparently by design, Hall works for the firm who handles his grandfather's case, although he keeps his grandfather's identity a secret until he requests to take on the final death penalty appeal. Along the way, Hall learns the unpleasant reality of who he is, the bitter hate and ugliness bred into his grandfather, and insight into the truth of why his father had committed suicide when Hall was a young boy.
This film, although unpleasant in theme, is full of stellar performances and by far the most nuanced and conflicted character Gene Hackman has ever played. If you haven't seen The Chamber, get it, it's worth the watch.
10.5 (2004)
This is vaguely familiar....
Funny, I'd swear I've seen this movie before.... wait, I HAVE. But it was in outer space, the earthquake was an asteroid, and instead of the world, it's the west coast. But this lacks the intensity of Armageddon and the majesty of the special effects. Warren Christie just isn't Liv Tyler, Fred Ward isn't Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck didn't nearly die a dozen times, Aerosmith didn't do the theme song, and Steve Buscemi is conspicuously absent. On the other hand, it was ambitious for television, some of the effects were interesting, and I hardly recognized John Schneider. I'm none too sure about the science of it, but fortunately, I can suspend disbelief on the short term..*sigh* Oh, well.. nice try.
For Love of the Game (1999)
This Film Is About Life
This film is much more than a beautiful film about baseball. It's about life....about the continuity of life... about moving on... about taking stock of who you are, and who you are going to be. Billy Chapel stands there, quietly, introspectively, doing what he has always done, what he wants to always do, but knowing at the same time, through his reflections and his actions, that things change nevertheless. At the crux of the pennant game for the Yankees, this Detroit pitcher stands on the pitcher's mound, knowing, seeing, the flow of life. His team sold, knowing his days for the Tigers are over, that his catcher will likely not be there again, that his great love is leaving, that her daughter has grown, his friend playing now for the Yankees, even the last pitcher he faces - who began as a Tiger bat boy for the team his father played for, the Tigers - a boy whom the announcers say has no idea of what this moment is, although he does, his team owner watching the last great game of summer... deciding... about the rest of his life. Through his comments, his thoughts, and his reflections, he evaluates not only where he is going, but who he is and what he will be. And at the precipice of the rest of his life, a perfect game in the balance, he finds it... what his life means. This film never fails to make me cry.
Blast from the Past (1999)
What a wonderful thought
I wish I *was* in the Webber's fallout shelter. Imagine being sheltered from all the pain, trials and heartaches of growing up in such a shallow, cynical world as the one we live in. To be so innocent, naive, and free, and not have to suffer for that. To always live in a happy time....without the grief of the last 40 odd years. Yes, please, protect me from it too.