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daddyofduke
Reviews
Game Change (2012)
Game Change Doesn't Change Anything
Game Change on HBO shows us why Sarah Palin, after all is said and done, really hasn't changed much of anything. She wasn't elected Vice President. She has chosen not to run for President. She resigned as governor. She has made a ton of money. And she is a celebrity. And after seeing the movie, I suppose that those who love her will still love her, and those that hate her will still hate her.
The movie, based on a book by the same name (which I have not read), recounts the Sarah Palin saga of 2008, when she went from a nobody to a hero (at least to some) to a punchline. The film recalls why she was chosen to run with McCain, how and why she was not vetted by those who should have known better, and the consequences of her selection.
So, in short, there are no surprises in the film. But there is excellent acting, particularly by Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson. Moore's incredible mirroring of Palin's looks and mannerisms, combined with the depth of her performance, is sure to generate Emmy nominations. Ditto for Harrelson, who plays McCain's campaign manager, and who apparently decided that Palin was needed by both McCain and our country. She was to McCain's game changer in the 2008 Presidential election.
Ed Harris' performance is a bit problematic. Don't get me wrong. His acting is, predictably, outstanding. He is, after all, a gifted actor. But from what I've read, McCain has an explosive temper that often is out of control. Not according to Harris' portrayal, which is a picture of a kind and sensitive candidate who is sympathetic to Palin's plight.
What Game Change shows us, to the delight of her detractors and to the dismay of her defenders, is how utterly unqualified Palin was for the office she sought and, more importantly, for the office she could have inherited. This is the candidate for vice president who couldn't tell Katie Couric what newspapers and magazines she read, and whose foreign policy was based on the fact that she could see Russia from her perch in Alaska.
Game Change was directed by Jay Roach, who directed Recount, the dramatization of what took place in Florida in the 2000 Presidential election. Game Change is a good film. Although it isn't a great film, it is definitely worth seeing, even if you don't believe what it has to say.
The Cooler (2003)
When the Cooler Gets Hot
The Cooler is the movie "Casino" with heart.
Bernie Lootz, the main character in The Cooler, has such bad luck that he can make your great luck instantly go bad. All he has to do is touch a hot gaming table to make it go cold. Really cold. Lootz lives by himself at the cheap in every way Better Life motel where his cat runs away, his flowers always die, and he has to listen to the guy next door screwing a hooker. The poor guy can't even get cream for his coffee when he works.
Bernie gets paid to spread his miserable luck to the gaming tables at the Shangra-LA Casino, an old school, downtown casino that is out of touch with the business plan, and profits, of the contemporary Disneyland, family vacation style of Las Vegas. Shangri-La is run by Shelly Kaplow, a ruthless, mob-linked manager whose utter lack of ethics has no bounds.
Things change because Bernie is going to leave Las Vegas in a few days. Turns out Shelly and Bernie go back decades, all the way back to when Shelly broke one of Bernie's knees over a gambling debt. They have remained partners and as close to friends as either man can stand. Shelly hires Natalie, a cute cocktail waitress and once in a while hooker, to lure Bernie to continue to work at Shangri-La.
The performances in this film are extraordinary. William H. Macy as Bernie offers as brilliant a performance as an actor can achieve in any role. I had never head of Maria Bello until I saw this film for the first time a few years ago. Her Natalie is stunning, absolutely stunning. It includes nuances few actresses can accomplish, plus she has that smile, that gorgeous, gorgeous smile. Alec Baldwin gives perhaps his best performance ever as the thoroughly amoral casino manager who has no qualms about breaking knees or serving fatal doses of heroin to his lounge singer. He deservedly achieved an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor. Ron Livingston, who gained fame as Capt. Nixon in Band of Brothers, plays Harvard educated Larry Solokov, a whiz kid who is going to transform the Shangri-La into a Steven Wynn type casino.
The Cooler is a special film, in part, because of the themes it successfully addresses, and the manner in which it addresses them; friendship, child abandonment, the true definition of luck, and what constitutes love. The lighting, cinematography, and music all contribute significantly to the film's essence. The screen literally lights up when Bernie and Natalie feel their connection.
There is a scene in which Shelly catches Bernie's appalling son, Mikey, convincingly played by Shawn Hatosy, cheating at the craps table. Shelly violently maims Mikey the same way he permanently injured Bernie. It's as brutal a scene as it is effective. But there is also a very touching love scene is which Bernie and Natalie connect in every way lovers can.
Moneyball (2011)
It Doesn't Mean A Thing If You Don't Win the Last Game
I have been a Dodger fan since I was five years old. And I have the emotional scars to prove it. And because I'm a fan of baseball I've seen a ton of baseball related movies, everything from "Fear Strikes Out" and "The Stratton Story" to "Bull Durham" and "The Natural". Moneyball is right there with the very best of them.
But Moneyball really isn't about baseball; rather, it is about business. The film uses baseball as a parable, much like Peter Brand, marvelously played by Jonah Hill, uses a video of a player who doesn't know that he has hit a home run to make a point for the Oakland A's general manager, Billy Beane, portrayed, in case you haven't heard, by Brad Pitt. The f
The film skillfully and poignantly demonstrates that, in business, if something doesn't work, you should try something else. And then tweak that something else until you get it right. And don't be afraid to challenge prevailing thought. In fact, this film encourages everyone to challenge the status quo and business as usual concepts on a regular basis. And it does so with an exclamation point. It also makes clear that you have to have a standard by which to judge your success. In Moneyball, Beane states that if the A's don't win the last game of the season, meaning the world series, then anything else they accomplish is meaningless.
Moneyball's storyline is simple enough. The Oakland Athletics lose three key players. The team subsequently has a lot of holes in its lineup and little money to fill them. Brand convinces Beane that he can get better players at rock bottom prices by properly analyzing the right statistics. No other team in the sport had ever engaged in such analysis. Beane ends up challenging over a hundred years of "sound" baseball scouting practices that consist primarily of instincts and gut feelings.
All of the performances in the film are extremely believable. Brad Pitt, gives a quietly effective performance. I admit that the first time I saw Jonah Hill in this movie I laughed. I mean you can't help it if you have seen him in "Knocked Up", "Super Bad", or the "40 Year Old Virgin". But I shouldn't have because I saw him in "Cyrus" and was impressed by his non-comedic performance in it. In Moneyball he does a commendable; but as it turns out, not an Academy Award winning job of playing a computer nerd who, in his first ever job, implements theories he discovered as a undergraduate student at Yale.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as usual, is excellent as manager Art Howe. Has Hoffman ever not been stellar? Even in a movie like "Along Comes Pollly" he was effective. You would think that he would no longer accept supporting roles. But, to his credit, he did. And Moneyball is better for it.
The A's don't win a world series with Beane as its general manager. But the Boston Red Sox, using the business model Beane developed, do two years later.
As a die-hard Dodger fan, I hope the people who make personnel decisions for the Dodgers have spent the money to see Moneyball. But knowing its soon to be ex-owner (I hope), Frank McCourt, I doubt it.
Margin Call (2011)
Greed Isn't Just Good. It's Essential
The tag line for Margin Call,, spoken in the film by John Tuld, the CEO of a prominent, unnamed investment company, is, "Be first, be smarter, or cheat." The film is neither first nor smarter, but it definitely doesn't cheat.
A margin call occurs when an investor has purchased stock on credit, and the value of that stock has declined below the minimum level allowable. The investor has to put up more money to cover the loss, and if he/she doesn't, then stock in the investor's account will be sold. In other words, a margin call is a very bad thing. And what is happening at the financial company is extremely bad.
Because of its huge leveraging of mortgage back securities that precipitated our painfully real financial crisis, the firm in the film is facing losses that exceed its market capitalization. Another very bad thing. The film focuses on the personal and professional impact of the CEO's decision to sell its inventory of those securities to its usual customers, knowing that as soon as the purchases are completed the stocks they just sold will be worthless. But the firm will probably survive, even if the customers it sold the securities to don't.
The performances given are chillingly true. Jeremy Irons plays the CEO who is as amoral as he is brilliant. Kevin Spacey, in his usual Academy Award winning style, is the tortured head of the trading department that will sell the securities. The analyst who discovers that the firm could fail within 24 hours is played with subtle excellence by Stanley Tucci. Zachary Quinto is the analyst who brings the situation to everyone's attention when Tucci's character is fired. Indeed, the entire cast is excellent and includes Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore, and Mary McDonnell whose contribution is, sadly, exactly one scene. My guess is that the Demi Moore character is at least partly based on Erin Callan, the momentarily high profile chief financial officer at Lehman Brothers who was fired immediately preceding the legendary firm's collapse.
Margin call is not the first film to focus on Wall Street's failures. One of the first films on the subject was the excellent documentary "Inside Job", narrated by Matt Damon. "Too Big to Fail", the HBO film starring William Hurt and Paul Giamatti, more effectively captured the intensity of the events. And maybe the best film of the lot actually preceded The Great Recession. "Wall Street" which starred Michael Douglas and Mr. Hedonist himself, Charlie Sheen, warned us there were those out there who were driven by their affirmation that "greed is good". But Margin Call definitely doesn't cheat us in the acting performances it offers.
At one point in the film Paul Bettany's character explains what he did with the two and a half million dollars he made the previous year. Although no charitable organization benefited from his pay, some, shall we say, professional women certainly did. And it is that very amoral insensitivity to the public's good that got us into trouble in which we are now mired.
Das Leben der Anderen (2006)
Heartlessness Can Be So Heartbreaking
East Germany. Secret Police. Spies. Surveillance. Not the things you would normally associate with love, requited or otherwise. Yet The Lives of Others features all of these things, and more, and does so softly, harshly, suggestively, and profoundly. It is a brilliant film that certainly deserved the Academy Award it won in 2007 for best Foreign Film.
Ulrich Muhe plays a humorless, loveless East German secret police operative, Hauptman Wiesler, directed to spy on a noted playwright, Georg Dreyman, played by Sebastian Koch. Dreyman seems to be unwavering in his loyalty to his country and its socialist system of government. Dreyman lives with his talented and revered actress girlfriend, Christa- Maria Sieland, brilliantly inhabited by Martina Gedeck. Ms. Sieland stars in Dreyman's most recent play. The drama is well received by all, including the members of the government hierarchy and bureaucracy. Nevertheless it is decided by the highest levels of the secret police, known as the Stasi, that it would be best if Wiesler overheard everything that is said, done, and most importantly, thought, inside Dreyman's home.
Because he has no personal life whatsoever, Wiesler is adept on spying on those that do. Because of his work lovers can't love, purists can be pure, and thoughts are never private. Wiesler exists so that his superiors can exist, indeed prevail. And, as a result, freedoms are lost and lives simply vanish.
Muhe's silent, subtle, evocative performance clarifies Wiesler's personal torment and conflict. It is an indelible performance that depicts the disciplined restraint required of a non-life dedicated to infringement and intrusion. But for me, it is Gedeck's haunting performance that crystallizes this film. Her demons are those of her country's; her conflicts are the conflicts of the society in which she lives She is vulnerable in the way a soul searches for its essence in a world that does not seem to have one.
All of the performances in this film are strong and convincing. Even minor characters have a significant in the film. There is the young boy who asks Muhe if he really is the bad man that the boy's father says he is. There is the lowly lieutenant whose untimely joke at the expense of the government momentarily causes him to believe that his career is suddenly over. If Koch's performance as Dreyman is the least memorable, it is because his role serves to provide the experiential expanse for the film's other characters to impress their elements. Every character is carefully crafted and expertly delivered.
Wiesler ultimately challenges the very authority he embodied, acts upon a love he never had, and gravitates towards freedoms he never possessed. Tragically, Sieland's personal legacy is the exact opposite; she surrenders to an authority she never accepted, flees a love she embraced, and casts aside the freedoms she craved.
I will indeed contemplate this outstanding film often. And when I do, I hope my inner most private thoughts stay private.
Pirate Radio (2009)
More Like A Ship of Fools
Pirate Radio refers to a ship at sea that plays banned rock and roll on British airways. The iconic-like DJ's who play the music are presumably the facilitators of the music's social significance and relevance. But I don't see them that way, not as they are presented in the movie. Rather, I see one of them as a rape suspect who induces an 18 year old virgin to have sex via false pretense, another as an irresponsible sex-about who failed to live up to parental responsibilities, and another who thinks having "just a little pop" with another DJ's wife of 17 hours is as harmless as hitting on a marijuana cigarette.
Don't get me wrong. I don't expect rock and roll DJ's to qualify for sainthood. Nor do I want them to. But I don't want them to be the very argument for why rock and roll is evil when, in fact, rock and roll is a legitimate culture and lifestyle.
That said, Pirate Radio does have its entertaining moments. It just didn't have enough of them for me to be enamored by the film. I love Bill Nighy's acting talents. Here is an actor that played, with equal effectiveness, a Nazi general in Valkerie, and a drug crazed, over the hill rock and roller in Love, Actually. As a the boss of the crew is equally adroit. Chris O'Dowd, who would later be one of the many highlights of Bridesmaids, does a great job in his role as the victim of the 17 hour marriage. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is actually quite brilliant, as usual, in playing an American celebrity DJ who finds his inner place aboard, above, and below Pirate Radio. My personal fantasy woman, Emma Thompson, has an effective couple of scenes in the film. In fact, the entire cast does a good job of acting.
The question, though, is acting as what? A bunch of felons?
The movie certainly starts well in defining what I think is the film's central theme. Nighy's character states emphatically, "Government's loathe people being free." Juxtapose that quote with the line from Kenneth Branagh's character, a government minister set on destroying the Pirate Radio, "You see, that's the whole point of being the government. If you don't like something you simply make up a new law that makes it illegal." So, I thought, we were going to be a witness to a battle between free thought and social will.
Instead we got free will run riot.
The Hours (2002)
An Incredible Film in Every Respect
Several years ago a dear, dear friend of mine committed suicide, very publicly and very violently. Those of us who loved her were, and are, of course, devastated by her death, and the manner in which it was conceived, might find some solace and insights for her actions by this outstanding movie. I did. The film, directed by Stephen Daldry, is a brilliant adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham
The heart of The Hours is the novel by Virginia Woolfe, Mrs. Dalloway. In preparation for watching The Hours I began to read the novel. Doing so provided some backdrop to the film, but it is certainly not necessary to read the novel to appreciate the magnitude and the dimensions of this film's brilliance. There are touches of that novel that are obvious, like Meryl Streep character's first name of Clarissa, references to flowers, and, of course, death. Kidman's narrative, similar to the stream of consciousness that radiates within the novel, is a little less obvious, but no less effective.
The soul of The Hours are great performances by great actors, including Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman (who deservedly won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Virginia Woolfe), Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Miranda Richardson, Jeff Daniels, John C. Reilly, and Stephen Dillane. Each one of their performances deserves acclaim after acclaim after acclaim.
There is a simultaneity to the film that underscores its transcendence. The films actions focus on 1923, 1941, 1954 and 2001. What one character does in one decade is similar to what another character does in another decade. I suppose that the choice to include the year 2001 in the film's timeline is not incidental.
The film opens with an accurate account of Virginia Woolfe's actual suicide, which involves walking into a river with rocks in her pocket. Narrated aloud is a haunting love letter to her husband explaining why. It begins with the words, "I'm going mad again."
In addition to Virginia, the film's central characters include Clarissa Vaughn, an editor who once had a love relationship with Rich Brown, a poet dying of AIDS, played by Ed Harris,. Clarissa now lives with, and loves, Sally Lester, played by Allison Janney. Laura Brown, portrayed by Julianne Moore, is a troubled woman who lives the prototypical life of homemaker in the 1950s. Her husband, played by John C. Reilly, loves Laura, but Laura is conflicted about her feelings towards him, and towards her son.
All of the characters I've just mentioned, and those that I haven't, as offered in The Hours, provide a tapestry into the conscience of emotional torment. Outlined in this film is the logical irrationality of suicide.
I must also commend the film's dialog. At one point Ed Harris character states, "No matter what you start with, it ends up being so much less." Streep's Vaughn comments to her former lover, "That is what we do. That is what people do. They stay alive for each other."
My favorite quote came from Virginia Woolfe in that final letter she wrote to her husband, "To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then, to put it away..."
Can it be that suicide is sometimes, in some way, actually an affirmation of a life lived?
Pulp Fiction (1994)
What Is Crazy Anyway?
There isn't a single normal person in Pulp Fiction. Not a one. And that is what makes the film so memorable. There a ton of things going on, including a bizarre couple robbing a diner, a couple of hit men avenging a rip off of a mobster boss, a boxer who is supposed to take a dive but doesn't, and a mobster's wife being entertained by one of the hit men.
I admit it. I saw Pulp Fiction for the first time a couple of nights ago. Why it took me 17 years to see this very special movie is known only to God. To think I could have spent all these years seeing this movie countless times, like I do The Godfather, Casino, GoodFellas, and Love Actually is a bit disappointing. But at least I've seen it now, and now I understand what all the fuss has been all these years.
John Travolta made his comeback with his performance as one of the loopy hit men, and deservedly so. He is off kilter enough to be interesting but not so extreme as to be insane. He just kills in his worldly sort of way. Samuel L. Jackson, a killer who obsesses about sin and absolution, is his partner. Uma Thurman is the mobster's wife who Travolta's character is supposed to entertain. Take a look at Steve Buscemi as their waiter.
Directed brilliantly by Quentin Tarantino, all of the performances are memorable. The list of stars who shine in this movie are as endless as the subplots that they play in; Ms. Thurman, Messers Travolta and Jackson, Bruce Willis, Christopher Walken, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, and Harvey Keitel. Keitel's ability to play twisted in such a straight sort of way is astonishing.
The dialog in this film is classic, as I was warned it would be. I was enthralled with the well crafted dialog that comes out of the actors so seemingly effortlessly, and with such entertaining effect.
Everyone who sees this film will interpret its meaning differently, especially the ending. As for me, I will never use the bathroom when I am supposed to be knocking off a double crossing boxer.
And remember, "Just because you are a character doesn't mean you have character."
Criminal (2004)
A Very Enjoyable Film
I liked Criminal. Almost a lot. This is a good film about the art of the con. Not a great film, but a good one. The Grifters, The House of Games, and, of course, The Sting, are great films about the con. Criminal is a peg below them, but still very enjoyable.
The film stars two standard bearers, John C. Reilly and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and an actor I had not previously known, Diego Luna. Reilly plays Richard Gaddis, a professional con man who thinks he is something special. Gyllenhaal plays his sister, Valerie, a concierge at a swanky hotel in Los Angeles, who is more cunning than she lets on. Luna portrays Rodrigo, Gaddis' seemingly compliant understudy. All three give solid performances.
The film is well crafted in every respect. I understand now that the film is basically a remake of a foreign film, Nine Queens, which I didn't see. Maybe if I had seen that film I wouldn't have enjoyed this one as much. Since I didn't see it, I don't really know. But since you probably haven't seen that film either, I recommend you see Criminal.
I have yet to see a film yet in which Reilly puts in a bad performance, so I wasn't surprised that he did well in Criminal. As a good con man, and as an accomplished actor, he doesn't tip his hand, he's polished, and he is credible. Actually, that goes for the other cast members as well.
Unlike The Sting, where you know who is getting stung, and by whom, and even why, in Criminal you think you do, but you don't. It's more like The House of Games, where you don't know what you think you know. Suffice it to say, I didn't see the curve coming.
One thing I didn't like about the film is its title. Its bluntness undermines the skill of subtlety with which this film was made. So enjoy this film and find out what you know. And what you don't know.
Casino Jack (2010)
Corrupt or Corrupted?
Do political systems corrupt their participants or do the participants corrupt the systems? Casino Jack, while not resolving this issue, certainly does a commendable job of exploring it.
This excellent film examines the Jack Abramoff scandal, this political era's answer to Watergate. Abramoff, as you know, extorted clients, bribed congressional representatives, and lied to just about everyone, including loved ones. The movie uses real names, actual incidents, genuine dialogue, and an apparently liberal dose of cinematic license to capture the abject greed of Abramoff and his criminal cohort, Michael Scanlon. The scandal ultimately resulted in House Majority Leader, Tom De Lay, Congressman Robert Ney, and Abramoff falling from grace and into criminal courts. Scanlon, according to the film, has copped a deal that has at least delayed his imprisonment and probably mitigated its length.
Kevin Spacey is effective in portraying Abramoff's seemingly devout Judaism juxtaposed against his obsessive greed. Barry Pepper's intense portrayal of Michael Scanlon highlights in compelling fashion the depths to which some people will go to accommodate their insatiable lust for money. On the other hand, Jon Lovitz' performance seems to reflect an indecision oh his part whether to play the role of a mob linked businessman either straight or comical, and as a result he essentially does neither.
De Ley, played by Spencer Garrett, whose performance as one of John Dillinger's fellow robbers in Public Enemies was so effective, is exposed as cynically and unrepentantly corrupt. In real life De Ley was convicted of corruption and sentenced to several years in prison. Ditto for Mr. Ney. And even more ditto for Abramoff.
The film is taken from the vantage point that the viewer is watching the events as they unfold, as opposed to other political scandal films such as All The President's Men. That movie showed us Watergate through the eyes of reporters. I think you know their names.
What is so galling is the fact that all of the key players in the Abramoff scandal were heartlessly immune to what was in the public's best interest. This film makes that fact clearly and convincingly. Spacey's Abramoff is so cunning and cynical that he doesn't see the disconnect in using the millions of dollars that he extorted from his Indian tribe clients to donate to charity. Scanlon doesn't pay back his student loans, but he can afford to purchase a luxury home in Dubai.
You can't have a system without people. And let's face it, in any system there will be corrupt people. Casino Jack show us just how corrupt some of those people can be.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Why I Am In Love with The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo
I love the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've read all three of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo novels, seen all three Swedish films twice, and have recently seen the American version of the first film. I understand that the two American sequels are well on their way. I'll see them as well. All of the films are excellent, and I enjoyed them thoroughly.
There has already been a ton of discussion about the films' merits, defects, perspectives, intensity, violence, etc. I don't think I could add any meaningful insight to what has already been written. So, I will do what I do best and not even try.
With the exception of my second ex-wife, I like women. I enjoy being around them. Despite my two divorces, I prefer long term relationships, although I do fantasize about 20 year sexpots. Those fantasies are laughable considering my three heart attacks, but I have them nonetheless. I say this just so you know where I'm coming from in terms of women.
I have always found women who think on their own very attractive. There is no question that the character, Lisbeth Salander, thinks, speaks, and more often doesn't speak, without reservation. Because I would like this essay to be published, I won't repeat the wording of one of her t-shirts in the American version of the film. Suffice it to say it uses the f-word a lot. That's how she is, take it or leave it.
As you have probably heard or read by now, Lisbeth suffers a particularly grotesque rape. She is indeed a victim, but she is not victimized. She gets even, simply. My God, does she get even. But her revenge is so straight forward and business-like that she would make Michael Corleone proud. She does not expend much energy feeling sorry for herself, even though she is more than justified to do so, considering what she endured.
Indeed, to paraphrase William Faulkner, Lisbeth Salander does not merely endure, she prevails. Her life is ultimately better emotionally and financially after her rape than before it as a direct result of what she elects to do. Her revenge is well designed, well planned, and brilliantly executed. And as you will see in the future movies, Lisbeth is not at all selfish for whom she seeks revenge.
And yet Lisbeth doesn't gloat. Or complain. Rather, she is and she does. Period. I wish I could be like that. Take a look at what she does when she is attacked by some street thugs. They sure won't attack her anymore. And, after a fleeting moment of angst because her beloved computer is ruined in the violent assault, she immediately get back on track and does what she has to do to get a new computer.
Lisbeth Salander is courageous. Consider what she does in Martin's basement when she rescues Michael (Blomqvist, not Corleone.) I also very much appreciate what she didn't do when Martin crashed his SUV. And she certainly isn't afraid to initiate sex, as evidenced by what she does with Michael and with Miriam Wu.
There is no question that Lisbeth is intelligent. In fact, she is a genius. She analyzes as well as processes information instantly. It's one thing to have a photographic memory, which Ms. Salander clearly has. It's quite another to be able to decipher, collate and correlate information precisely, and that is exactly what this young woman can and does do. She is extremely organized in a disheveled sort of way.
As anti-social as Lisbeth appears to be (but really isn't, in my opinion), she is loyal to those she loves. Consider her relationship with her original guardian, Palmgren, or her mother, or for that matter, Michael.
Incidentally, I've read that the character Lisbeth Salander is based on what the novels' author, Stieg Larrson, thought an adult Pippi Longstocking would be like.
For all these reasons I love Lisbeth Salander.
Plus she looks great in black.
The Sugarland Express (1974)
A Well Done Drama Based Upon a Real Life Incident
I saw this film, based on a true story, for the first time in a theater while I was in college. I remember the film well for two reasons. One was because I was on a date with Cindy, whom I liked a lot. The second reason was because I felt sorry for the film's hapless husband, Clovis Poplin, quite ably brought to life by William Atherton.
Thirty seven years later I still see the film from time to time. I can't say the same thing about Cindy. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever what happened to Cindy. Hopefully only good things because she was, and hopefully still is, a very special person.
The movie showed up on cable the other night so I watched it yet again. I still enjoy the movie, but for different reasons than I did back when I was learning how to think. Atherton is effective as the husband who loves his wife so much that he is willing to do anything for her, including getting shot. And Goldie Hawn is equally successful in portraying the wife who can no longer distinguish fantasy from fact, or need from want.
Atherton's character, a good old kind of guy who isn't the shiniest bulb in the box is inspired by the life of Robert Dent. His wife, Lou Jean Poplin, inspired by the very real Ila Fae Holiday, is trashy in a cute sort of way and has an overwhelming desire to get back her baby from foster parents. Lou Jean masterminds Clovis' escape from prison, and then commence to reclaim their baby.
During their escape, the lovebirds carjack an old, cranky couple, and later kidnap Texas trooper Maxwell Slide, believably played by Michael Sacks, and steal his patrol vehicle. The character is based on the life of Texas Department of Safety Patrolman John Kenneth Crone. Coordinating the ensuing police pursuit is the life weathered and compassionate Captain Harlin Tanner, effectively dramatized by Academy Award winner Ben Johnson of The Last Picture Show fame.
As a retired police officer, I tend to judge critically the accuracy of films regarding police procedures. I don't know how much of the police work portrayed in this film really happened, but I hope not much. The police pursuit in this case involved at least 100 police cars, all with their lights and sirens on, many which crashed, often into each other. People lined up along the road to watch the chase as news media hovered about ground. As the happy couple drives through one particular town they are celebrated as heroes. In another town they are the target of a reckless vigilante ambush that doesn't succeed.
Trooper Slide has 9 months on the job. His actions are not, shall we say, text book, and his conduct surely suggests that he was not ready to do police work on his own. So let's give everyone the benefit of the doubt and say the lapses were based on cinematic license.
This was Director Steven Spielberg's first theatrically released film. Prior to the Sugarland Express, he had directed the made for TV movie, Duel, an effective drama involving a trucker versus a road salesman. I like action as much as the next guy. Really. But the pursuits portrayed in Sugarland Express are ludicrous. I would have preferred watching less pursuits and delving with more depth into the lives of the people involved. Cindy and I probably enjoyed watching the pursuits when we saw the film in the theater. Of course, I wasn't such a brilliant analyst of police procedures back then, or the lover of thoughtful biographies.
According to the Texas Monthly, in real life Crone worked for a few more years for DPS, and then went on to become a director of security for the U.S. Department of Energy. He died February 10, 2011. Holiday was sentenced to five years in state prison, did 5 months, and cared for her mother and children. She died in 1992 as a dietitian at a Holiday Inn.
This is a fine movie well worth seeing. As you will see, even Spielberg's early work was distinctive, compelling and thoroughly entertaining. They just were not police training films.
The Company Men (2010)
Speaking of the Great Recession
We are in economic despair not experienced since The Great Depression. That goes without saying, but the media keeps saying it nonetheless. The Great Recession, the name of the economic era in which we are now so firmly and so sadly mired, has ravaged the lives of millions of people. Bobby Walker, Gene McClary and Phil Woodward, the lead characters in The Company Men, are three such people.
The film focuses on these three Caucasian, upper middle class men who work for GTX, a corporate conglomerate whose existence began as a ship building business. GTX evolved into the manufacturer of luxury pleasure boats and cruise liners and subsequently expanded into unrelated businesses including health care. The film does not address even slightly the effects our economic malaise has had on minorities or blue collar workers.
That doesn't mean The Company is irrelevant. Far from it. But it does mean, I think, that there are lots of people who won't relate to the characters. That's unfortunate because the characters are inhabited by excellent actors who give outstanding performances. The film focuses primarily on Bobby Walker, played by Ben Affleck, a yuppie kind of a guy who seemingly has the perfect life. Gene McClary is brought to life by Tommy Lee Jones and Phil Woodward's pain is exemplified through Chris Cooper.
Phil is a marketing executive who is laid off in the aftermath off the company's restructuring brought on by the failing economy. Phil's employment demise quickly follows. Gene McClary is one of the company's founders, so he is richer than the other two, but he gets axed as well. To add salt to Gene's economic wound, he learns of his termination from another executive, Sally Wilcox, convincingly played by Maria Bello, with whom he sleeps when he is not at home with his wife.
Each character has distinctive, and presumably symbolic, issues to deal with. Bobby's cockiness makes it difficult time for him to realize that he is teetering on financial ruin. His sense of superiority makes it impossible for him to accept construction work from his brother in law, portrayed by Kevin Costner, who actually bothered to act in this role. In fact, he acted well. Phil's sense of self is defined exclusively by his employment. He is what he does. Working against Phil, as a career guidance counselor tells him, he is old and he looks like hell. Gene's struggle is based upon his belief that the company's employees should be more important to its CEO, played by Craig T. Nelson, than its share value to investors.
Unlike our current recession, the film does conclude. Phil's suicide is as tragic as it is predictable. My criticism of the film relates to the disposition of Gene and Bobby. Gene figures out a business plan that he thinks will resurrect the ship building business that GTX has abandoned. To that end Gene hires Bobby and other people laid off by GTX.
Many reviewers feel the film's ending provides hope for a positive future. I don't. I think it offers us an unrealistic expectation that we can make things better if we simply think better and work harder. If GTX can't make a go of its ship building business what makes us thing Gene McClary can? And it is that premise which the movie uses to make us feel good about tomorrow.
Don't get me wrong. This is a good movie. It is well directed. And as I said earlier, the performances are excellent. No one disappoints. I have been a fan of Maria Bello since she starred in The Cooler, one of the best films ever about the new versus old Las Vegas. I was wowed by Ben Affleck as the head of crime crew in The Town, and this performance is right up there with that. Tommy Lee Jones is more than convincing in his portrayal of a man matured in both age and wisdom whose moral essence is challenged.
My criticism is that the film's implicit message that, like the little train, if you think you can, then you can. But ask the millions of people now out of work. They thought they could and they can't.
Hugo (2011)
Martin Scorsese Scores
When I think of Martin Scorsese I think of violence, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and a ton of profanity. I think of brilliant films about gangsters and one about a psychotic taxi driver. But now I think about Hugo, Martin Scorsese's latest directorial effort. In fact, I think about Hugo a lot. It is a brilliant film. Not perfect, but brilliant.
Hugo is brilliant on a multitude of levels: as a fable, as an interpretation of film history, as a venue for stellar acting performances, as a triumph of cinematic photography which involves 3D imagery, and as a vehicle for wondrous entertainment. That Hugo is directed by the same guy who directed films in which two men are savagely beaten by men with baseball bats and then buried still barely alive, a boxing ring's ropes drip the blood of a combatant, a taxi driver becomes a revered mass murderer, and a police captain is thrown off a roof, is testament to the genius that is Martin Scorsese.
The story involves an orphaned waif named Hugo Cabret (played tenderly and effectively by Asa Butterfield) who steals to survive and lives among the gears and levers of the enormous clocks in a train station. His life is tormented by the owner of a toy shop ( Ben Kingsley at his best) in the train station and his freedom is in jeopardy due to the efforts of a weirdly pathetic police officer, played by Sasha Baron Cohen (who was the "hero" of Borat). Hugo dedicates enormous effort to repairing an automaton his father (played briefly by Jude Law) found in disrepair at a museum. During the course of his travails, Hugo meets a young lady named Isabelle (touchingly brought to life by Chloe Grace Moretz) who is the same age as he is.
Turns out that Isabelle is cared for by the toy shop owner. And it also turns out that the toy shop owner is Georges Melies, the onetime director and star of some of the first movies ever made. Melies, in case you don't know, is a real person who did in fact transform movies into the medium we now know. The film also accurately references the Lumiere brothers and their camera. The skills with which fantasy is weaved with fact alone compels watching this film.
In the film, and in fact, when Melies' success fades, partly out of depression and partly in need of money, he melts his films for the cellulose he can sell. Largely as a result of Hugo's efforts to repair the automaton, Melies stature is dramatically and appropriately resurrected.
As I said, the film isn't perfect. The police officer who harasses Hugo is played competently enough by Cohen, but the character just doesn't fit into the film's contextual essence or tone. Picture Gilligan taking the place of Ugarte in Casablanca and you get my point.
Visually, Hugo is a miracle; its cinematic imagery, nuanced by 3D technology, merits a thunderous standing ovation. The film's cinematographer, Robert Richardson, has helped fashion a film that has set new standards to be emulated for years to come.
I recently read that Martin Scorsese obsesses over every detail, no matter how minute, of every facet of his films. Annoying as that trait may be to those who work with him to make a movie, it has resulted in sustained artistic excellence spanning more than four decades. Any list of the best directors ever inevitably includes Martin Scorsese. Consider just some of his films, Casino, The Departed, Good Fellas, Taxi Driver, The Last Waltz, Raging Bull, Gangs of New York, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and you understand why.
As for all time great films, add Hugo to the list.
Rosewood (1997)
Well Intended
Rosewood, directed by John Singleton, is one of those movies that you should have seen when it first came out in 1997, but you didn't. In fact, you probably never even heard of it. I know that I didn't. Totally by accident, I saw it the other night. Fortunately.
The film is based on an actual race riot that erupted in Rosewood, Florida in 1923, fueled by a false claim by a white woman living in the near by town of Sumner that she had been beaten by an African American man. Rosewood was a town owned primarily by its black residents. The woman was definitely beaten, but by her Caucasian lover who was not her Caucasian husband. She never did claim rape; the white vigilante mob did that for her. The horrific violence, and the mass murders that ensued, left the town burned to the ground, never to be rebuilt or inhabited again.
There are excellent performances here. Jon Voight plays John Wright, a conflicted store owner, and one of the white few white people who lives in Rosewood. Although married to a loving, church going woman, he enjoys nailing his 17 year old black female clerk. He would later help scores of black people escape the catastrophic dimensions of hate portrayed in this film. Don Cheadle, as Sylvester Carrier, is his usual brilliant self, portraying a reasoned and reasonable man who ultimately endures. Esther Rolle, equally poignant, plays Carrier's Aunt Sarah, who does not. Bruce McGill, whose performances I always enjoy (and who you may remember as the motorcycle hood in Animal House, and more recently as the fight promoter in Cinderella Man, among other fine roles) is one of the primary racist instigators of the film. His evilness allows him to teach his son how to tie a noose.
Michael Rooker plays the sheriff who never really believed the victim's story to begin with, and who tries to mitigate the tsunami of hate and the enormity of damage it extols. Rooker is a great actor. He had searing performances in Eight Men Out and in Mississippi Burning, in which incidentally, he played a racist murderer of civil rights workers. He also excelled as the murderous husband in Sea of Love. He does an excellent job in this film as well, although I do wish there were a couple of less scenes where he wasn't struggling so with his chewing tobacco.
Ving Rhames inhabits a character whose name is simply Mann, suggesting a commentary on the conduct of man in general. At least I think it does. The real problem is that Rhames' character is totally made up. There is no such person. Never was. Of all the horrors outlined in this well intentioned, and for the most part well executed film, Director Singleton and screenwriter Gregory Poirer apparently felt the need to create a character, and a major one at that, who never existed. To me, that seriously undermines the film's essence and challenges its credibility. What happened at Rosewood was unspeakable. Do we really need an imaginary person to utter the unspeakable when there were real people whose real perspectives would have been more compelling?
Mann is someone we really don't get to know very well. We do learn that he is a veteran of World War I and has some money. We know he has scars around his neck but we don't know how he got them. We learn that he is brave and has a good heart. Unfortunately, Rhames' performance is stilted and muffled. He speaks his lines at times as if he had just memorized them. No nuance. No believable emotion.
According to the film, and to subsequent histories of the incident, the official version of events documents eight deaths. The film suggests a far more likely number, as high as 100 or so. The problem is, incredibly, after the initial national coverage of the riot, the event ceased to exist. Survivors refused to discuss what happened. Consequently, the riot was never formally documented as part of our history, not until the 1990s when members of the media began to resurrect the events. A law suit eventually ensued, resulting in Florida being the first state ordered to pay reparations to survivors and their descendants for a race riot.
I suppose it is predictable that Rosewood did not make much money. People just didn't go see it. They should have. I know I should have. I'm glad I finally did. Even if it was by accident.
Biloxi Blues (1988)
Better Than You May Have Heard
Full Metal Jacket it definitely is not. Nor does it intend to be. Biloxi Blues, a 1988 film directed by Mike Nichols and starring Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken, is a meringue of light laughs. It doesn't offer profound insights into military life, but it does allow us to laugh at it.
The film, the second of an autobiographical trilogy by Neil Simon, chronicles a group of young men enduring Army basic training during World War II. Their drill sergeant, Sgt. Toomey, played by Walken, engages an intersection between eccentricity and madness. Broderick plays private Eugene Jerome, a smart ass from New York. His fellow trainees include the whiny but weirdly courageous Private Epstein (Corey Parker), Private Wykowski (Matt Mulhern), Private Selridge (Markus Flanagan), Private Hennessey (Michael Dolan), and Private Carney (Casey Siemaszko), all of whom have the usual foibles. Absolutely no surprises here.
Many reviewers have criticized this film because it didn't provide anything new. And it doesn't. But I enjoyed this film for what it was, an entertaining lark. The performances were credible and breezy. Not every film dealing with the military has to be emotionally searing like The Deer Hunter or Platoon. Sometimes we dine at four star restaurants and sometimes we dine at Denny's. Sometimes we watch a movie in which a marine private shoots his drill sergeant to death, and then himself, as in Full Metal Jacket, and sometimes we watch a movie that has an army private ordering his drill sergeant to do 200 push ups, which is the case in Biloxi Blues.
I laugh every time I watch Biloxi Blues, particularly at the scene in which Jerome, while popping his cherry, is reminded by a good humored and patient prostitute named Rowena, played by Park Overall, to keep breathing. Keep in mind I also enjoyed watching The Hangover and The 40 Year Old Virgin. I enjoyed less Jerome meeting "the perfect girl", played competently by Penelope Ann Miller. I chuckled at Private Jerome, during an arduous march, hoping for a subway, and upon arriving at Biloxi commenting that Biloxi was Africa hot, and if it stayed that hot he may not be able to stay. But, of course, he does stay. If he didn't, he would have ended up in Leavenworth, along with Private Hennessey, who is arrested for a crime that is no longer a crime.
I suspect that Neil Simon's actual experience in boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi, wasn't a light hearted romp. But, then again, my military experience consists of exactly one semester of ROTC. Still, I think If Neil Simon can laugh at his training in the army so can we.