Review: An American Carol

If you are an overly sensitive Obamacult liberal lacking a sense of humor, see An American Carol and get one. Every left-wing interest group gets the skewer, so if you are a neo-con this movie will provide you with affirmation.

Lots of gags. Some better than others.
Personally, as a whole, I didn't think it was all that good. It had some great moments, don't get me wrong. But moments do not make a movie.

It was kinda like they had all these good gags, and struggled for a way to string them together into a coherent whole. I guess I'll just say that it's a good Netflix caliber comedy that can't hold up on the silver screen.

Righteous Kill

You know what sucks? That I waited for this. The opportunity to see two giants of their craft together, I mean actually together, unlike in Heat, opposite each other in scene after scene.

Righteous Kill is a rather generic cop thriller/serial killer movie that burns up more than it's share of cliches.
Turk (DeNiro) and Rooster (Pacino) are two homicide detectives who've been working together for 30 years. Ready to retire, they've got this one last case involving a serial killer who targets some of the worst criminals who've been let off on technicalities.
At each murder, the killer leaves behind a poem explaining the justification for his actions.
A surprise plot twist at the end isn't really that much of surprise if you seen enough of this type of movie.

Along the way, Turk helps an attractive forensics detective, played by the breastigious Carla Gugino, live out some of her quirky bedroom fantasies. I'm not sure this did much to add to the movie, 'cept maybe provide a little eye-candy for a struggling story.

The movie is mediocre at best considering the promise of the lead actors. Both roles are too easy for them, so you don't get too much in the way of the solid character acting they're both known for. It was worth the price of admission, though it tended to drag along in a few places, easily allowing my mind to wonder. Almost like watching an expanded version of Law & Order, with gunfire.

Also stars Donnie Wahlberg and Curtis Jackson as two rookie cops, Brian Dennehy as the angry lieutenant, and rapper 50-Cent as a drug dealing kingpin.

Bangkok Dangerous

(With so many close-ups of his brooding expressions I couldn't help but think I was watching a Kevin Costner movie.)
Not Nicolas cage's finest hour, and may be his worst. This says something about an actor who's one of the best in his craft, but among the least in picking his projects. Hard to accept this was the same Cage who gave us Wild At Heart and Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Bangkok Dangerous is the anti-climatic tale of an anonymous international assassin who travels to Thailand to make a few last hits before getting out of the business.
In Bangkok, he starts up a relationship with a local deaf girl he meets behind the counter in a pharmacy. Sure, pretty Thai maidens just can't help but find an unwashed, depressing white dude with a greasy, goth hairstyle irresistable. Yeah,right. (This whole part of the story is really senseless, but it takes up so much of the film, I had to mention it).

The action is slow to come, and overly overdone when it does. Badly executed on all fronts, I was bored enough to notice Cage getting at least twenty-one shots off a 9mm before any possible chance of off-screen reloading. Pathetic.

Hell Ride

Hell Ride is a blood and sex soaked tale of revenge,retribution and mayhem involving two rival biker gangs, starring a few notables: Dennis Hopper, Michael Madsen and Larry Bishop, who also wrote,directed and co-produced.

I'm still not sure if it was intended to a be a more light hearted take on the 60's motorcycle flicks fused with elements of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti western, or a more serious effort at a real biker movie, but whatever it was supposed to be, it works for what it is. In some respects, it's a near spoof.
In keeping with things 'Tarantino' (and this is), the violence is never ending and personal. And I like that.

The plot offers a few twists and surprises that are easy to keep up with, the action keeps moving, and the characters, though not always nice, are likable.

Warning: if graphic views of the naked female form are offensive to you, stay away from this movie. The flesh parade of hookers and nymphos is as never ending as it is eye catching. I didn't mind, but it is rare (as in: never before) that I leave a theater wondering if 'nipples exposed' outnumbered 'bullets fired' in an action movie, but in this case, it would be a legitimate piece of trivia.

Final analysis: It was fun ride that didn't last as long as it could have because, to it's credit, the mindless drama bullshit that often passes as narrative was kept to a minimum, revealing only what was needed to keep the story moving along. Not boring.

Live And Become

I wandered back to the art house to find something of value after perusing so much-garbage-masquerading-as-cinema, i.e.:our domestic offerings. Sorry, Hulk fan, there's just too many super-hero comic book movies out there. I saw one last week, and that should do it for me for the next twenty years.

Opening with a scene from "Operation Moses", as a 9yr old Christian boy's mother drives him away to 'Live and become' as he is taken in by a Falasha mother who just lost her last child to the famine and disease of the refugee camps.
Secretly, he is passed off as a Jew, renamed Solomon (Schlomo)and told to forget his history, and memorize a whole new (and foreign to him) identity.

Days after arriving in somebody else's 'promised land', he is orphaned again when his new 'mother' dies of disease(TB), which she contracted in the refugee camps. Soon, he is adopted by a left-wing Israeli/French couple with two kids who are not very religious, but assume he is, and enroll him in a Torah school, where the Rabbi soon learns, in a light-hearted film moment, not to call on him for answers.

Soon, Schlomo tackles his studies, get high marks, and masters the French and Hebrew languages. He constantly is pained by his real mother's rejection, and the rejection he faces every day trying to live as a Jew in Jewish land where it seems about half the Jews wont accept him.

Jewish racism is a big part of the story, as he keeps his real identity hidden even from the family that loves him, telling no one, and living in constant fear of repatriation (back to the squalid camps of death).

The film moves along, basically in three parts: The young Schlomo, teen Schlomo, and finally the adult Schlomo who moves to France to become a doctor.
Along the way, he is guided not only by his Jewish family, but also watched over by an Ethiopian Rabbi who helps him write to his mother back in Ethiopia and deal with the challenges of his new world.

As a teen, he falls for a white Jewish girl who chases his affection incessantly while he keeps his love for her to himself, their friendship forbidden by her racist family. The relationship continues long distance through the years.
Eventually, they marry and her family disowns her, and he finally reveals his secret to her.
He joins Doctors Without Borders and heads to the Sudan, and the refugee camps, to help his people, and hopefully find his mother again.

The story ends rather abruptly. Kinda like slamming into a brick wall. It's a shame, for the final scene had so much to offer if only they took the time to develop it.
Brevity, I guess. This film is already nearly two and a half hours long. But the story is rich and deep, the acting sufficient, and the writing is good.
I can see where a story this complex could easily have issues with character development. Gladly, this is not the case. You get to know each character well in the first scene in which they appear. Kudos to the cast,directing, and writing for melding together so well.

There is a bit of a morality play. Who are we? Is our identity a matter of where we were born? Where we live? How we live? Who we love? What our religion is? The answer: all of the above. And is displayed in ever frame of every scene.

An Israeli-French production, filmed in Amharic, French and Hebrew and apparently, largely in Israel. Produced in 2005, I don't why its just now making a showing here. Do not be put off by the subtitles. This an epic story based around rather recent geo-political history. It humanizes the newstories and documentaries we've all witnessed.
And you should see it.

Movie Review: Ironman

Tony Stark is the billionaire playboy-wizkid-frontman-media darling of his family's business building hi-tech weaponry. The whole character itself would seem overblown and over the top were it not for a great, believable performance by Robert Downey, Jr. He handles the character superbly, and brings life and credibility to the part so well that not enough can be said.
Unfortunately, it stops here.
Any comment to the rest of the casts' performance is already saying more than is deserved.

Another in a long line of movies inspired by comic book superheros, Ironman is part Robocop,part Terminator, part Superman,part Giant Robot,part Spiderman, etc.
In other words, you seen everything here somewhere else before.
In a credit to Ironman, though, his superpowers are wit,intellect,hard work, creativity and ingenuity, making him not so super in the superhero kind of way. Instead, he's human. Just like us, only better at it.

Lots of whizz-bang for the buck,the action never really stops for long. Dialogues are clever and funny with lots of light touches.
Like I said, Robert Downey,Jr. carries the whole show and makes it work. Also stars Jeff Bridges and that goofy dame married to the Coldplay guy who named her kid 'Apple'. Her name escapes me at the moment.

Overall, not that great, but good enough. And considering the fare currently being offered at cinemas, it was probably the best I could do this week.

88 Minutes

Seeing Al Pacino on the poster was all I needed to know.
Al stars as a Dr. Jack Gramm, a forensic psychiatrist who works for the FBI and as a college professor. Some years previous, he gave testimony that sent a serial murderer to death row.
On the day of the scheduled execution, Dr. Jack is stalked by a copycat killer, who gives him '88 minutes' to live.
Lots of twists and turns, a new suspect every minute, detailsdetailsdetails, as the movie tries to cram in as much 'thriller' elements as possible 'til it just gets tiresome.

A decent bit of entertainment, it's not too bad of a movie. I've seen worse. It's just that this one doesn't live up to it's potential. Pacino delivers a stellar performance,as usual, but his performance can only go so far.
Actually, the entire cast of attractive actresses was capable. Starring Leelee Sobieski,Alicia Witt,Leah Cairns, and a few other lookers. Another downside, now that I think of it: all these pleasant looking babes, and so little nudity. A little gratuitousness would have been appreciated.
Maybe a different director would have made the difference.

Movie Review: 10,000 B.C.

It's hard to take this one seriously. About some tribe of dread locked and dirty white folk who are attacked by a group of ass-ugly horse riding savages, who run off with vast quantities of the tribal folk as slaves.

Rising from among the tribal ranks, the bravest of the dirty dreadlock people sets out on a mission to track down the ass-ugly horse riding savages, in a heroic quest to reclaim his dirty dread locked woman from bondage.

Along the way, he and his small band of dirty dread locked homies encounter attacks from, among other things, the ass-ugly horse riding savages, a big-as-a-house wild cat, giant-sized mange-infected chickens, and a herd of snuffleupagus, not necessarily in that order, but by this point in the movie, it doesn't really matter any more.

Eventually, our hero befriends a mish mash of African tribes from the National Geographic Channel, unionises the labor force, and leads them to a climatic epic battle against the ass-ugly horse riding people, complete with rampaging snuffleupaguses to make it all that much better.

Of course, in the end he gets his prize: the dirty dread locked white girl, and accidentally saves all of dirty,unwashed, prehistoric mankind from slavery and pyramid building.

Or something like that.

Juno

The title character is a pregnant, do-it-yourself, independant minded girl of (only) sixteen, who heads for the abortion clinic and then quickly opts-out. Despite the subject matter, which is certainly not treated lightly, Juno is short of moralizing and melodramatic handwringing.

Choosing to have the baby and give it to some perfect parents who are childless, she finds an upper-middle class yuppie couple, presented in biting stereotypical fashion. There is a sardonic commentary here, as there is in nearly every situation Juno encounters, as is the title character herself.

The humor is intelligent, the subject matter serious, and the characters are deep. Even the parents, who are seen through Juno's first person perspective, as is everybody else in the story line, are presented as uncool, yet warm and loving, sometimes in the same scene. There's some great writing here.
A great film, richly acted, well written, and expertly directed.
If you havn't seen it yet, I suggest you do. Or add it to your Netflix list when the time comes. Suitable for parents and teens to watch together, or separately. There is nothing offensive here, unless you are a feminist who can't stand the thought of an abortion clinic losing a client. This is totally non-political, non-moralistic fare,where you can read into it what you wish, or read nothing at all.

This may be the success movie of the year. I heard it only costs about $2.5 million to produce, and has been a big seller to date.

Keep an eye out for the lead actress, Ellen Page. She's destined for the A-list.

Rambo

Briefly: Rambo is living in Thailand where he is hired by a group of missionaries to transport them up the river into Burma. Tragedy strikes. Rambo is then contracted to lead a group of mercenaries up the river to save the missionaries.

I saw First Blood the day it opened in 1982. Ever since, I have been a fan of the Rambo character. Now, the fictional superhero returns after twenty years of absence (since 1988,when we last saw him killing Soviets in Afghanistan in Rambo III).

This installment is low on plot (not very much plot was needed,anyway) and big on mayhem. Also, the characters are not given time to develop. This would normally spell doom for a more artistically presented work, but in this case it really isn't a problem. The only character that matters is John Rambo, and he's already been developed quite thoroughly in First Blood. The rest are merely props in the short story line.
Once the story gets moving, and it doesn't take too long, the crescendo of violence begins. More blood,limbs and intestines fly through the air in this chapter than the three previous films combined. I loved every minute of it.

View the trailer here.

An observation: It appears Sylvester Stallone is attempting to write the final chapters in his two biggest character creations. We've already seen the completion of the Rocky series (and Rocky Balboa was a well done film) with nowhere else to take it. Now it looks like he may be doing the same with John Rambo, bringing him around full circle,returning him 'home' after coming to self-realization with just who/what he is. Although the ending does leave some room for taking the character back up again later, I suspect this is the last we will see of him, though I sincerely hope not.

All in all, worth the price of admission. On a downside, all those who bought the DVD trilogy collection will now have to shell out for the fourilogy collection coming soon to a Wal*Mart near you.

In The Name Of The King

I didn't know much about this film as it had just opened this weekend and I hadn't seen any reviews on it, but the poster outside the lobby looked kinda cool. Not knowing what to expect, I went on in.
Briefly, it's a rip off of Excalibur, Krull and any other medieval-based futuristic fairy tale you can think of. Not a scene goes by where I'm not thinkin "I seen this before". You've got the anonymous young dirt dweller, who is unbeknown st to himself the heir to the throne, who leads a rag tag band of commoners to rescue his maiden in distress and avenge the death of his son, all the while a Merlin/Magi character runs interference on his behalf against the evil rebel warlord, who has his own "magi guy" pulling levers against the kingdom. Oh, I and can't leave out the tree dwelling,vine swinging forest nymphs.
You got all that?

Featuring a cast of mid-stars and used-to-be-stars who don't even bother to speak the same dialect as one another. You'd think at least Burt Reynolds would've tried to lose the southern accent that served him well in his "Smokey..." days. But no. The 'king' of the medieval kingdom is obviously just a washed up redneck playing 'dress up' for a paycheck.
"Stars", and I use the term loosely, include the afore-mentioned Burt Reynolds,John Rhys Davies, Ray Liotta, Claire Forlani, Leelee Sobieski, Ron Perlman and a bunch of others who would just as soon rather not be remembered for this job.

Rated PG-13, meaning nobody over the age of thirteen would take this movie seriously.

The Brave One: Movie Review

Staring Jodie Foster, The Brave One is a story about a gal in New York who is victimized by a violent mugging that leaves her fiance dead, and herself almost dead.
Awaking from a coma some time later, she attempts to regain her life and ends up turning vigilante, a la Charles Bronson in Death Wish I thru XX (or however many of them he made.) In a promotional interview I read, Foster claimed it was the best movie she's done in years. Sounded like a winner to me, so I went for it.
Bad move on my part.

This film could have been so much more. Fine performances by the cast. Excellent , and wasted, performance by Miss Foster. But not put together well at all.
The first hour really sucked. It was slow and boring, waaaay too much soul searching and emoting. I almost got up and left, it was that bad. Then I remembered I spent $10.50 to see this turkey, and was determined to see it through.

At about the half-way point of the movie, with all the dramatic chickish stuff out of the way, the pace began to pick up and actually started to get interesting. Tis a pity a guy had to pay full price to see half a flick.
Eventually, Miss Foster gets around to killing some bad guys, but for some goofy- Hollywood-dramatic reason is feeling guilty about it all. I'm thinkin "Hey Lady, that thug just threatened to fuck you with a knife on the subway. What you feeling guilty about?"

Some other problems with the film:
It's rather unlikely that a gal the size of Jodie Foster's skinny character, who's never held a gun before, is going to be able to handle a 9mm with such ease.
Also, considering the level of damage done to this gal's face with a steel pipe during her beat down, she was surprisingly scar free.

I always thought Jodie Foster was better than this, but to describe The Brave One as "Death Wish with Boobs" is a disservice to Death Wish,for the ultra low class Bronson movies were far superior.

My advice: rent a real Death Wish movie.
Or,if you really have to see this film, show up an hour late. You won't be missing anything.

My Ten Favorite Movies

I picked this idea up from RW: To list my ten favorite movies.

In keeping with the idea, please note: these are my favorite movies. The ones I have copies of and actually still watch when I want to.
This is not, and is not intended to be, a list of all time greatest films. Some of these have won awards,while some were never worthy of any. These are just my personal favorites, emphasis on personal. I've left several off the list for brevity. Maybe I should do another posting about them others. Maybe. We'll see how this one goes first.


Rocky: His whole life was a million-to-one shot. You know the story.










There's Something About Mary:I generally avoid comedies, but this one is just too goddamned funny.









A Clockwork Orange: "the adventures of a young man who's principle interests are rape,ultra-violence and Beethoven". Much can be said about this cult favorite, but I especially love the poetry of it. From beginning to end, pure poetry!





The Professional/Leon:Originaly released stateside as 'The Professional', and later known as 'Leon'(I think this was the overseas title), and now they just put both titles together. Inspired by,and based on, a marginal character (The Cleaner) from the classic La Femme Nikita. It's become a Father-Daughter night favorite in my house.


Irreversible: This is pure art house. I've watched it 20 times. The film plays in reverse, opening with the last scene, leaving the viewer wondering just what brought him to this point. It takes you on a journey that is about love,brutality and revenge. And the camera doesn't blink. Not once. I'll say it again. The camera doesn't blink. I saw this in theater, and after the opening(ending) credits rolled over the screen, the audience, myself included, just sat there in stunned silence. This is a powerful film, unlike any other, and NOT for sissies or children.(French, with subtitles.)


Braveheart: You know this one, so you also know why.










Excalibur: The legend of King Arthur, done right, with all the magic and romanticism , with out over done special effects.








Rob Roy: a Scottish themed swashbuckler released at the same time as Braveheart, and unfortunately overshadowed by Mel Gibson's chest-thumping extravaganza. But bigger is not always better. In my view, this is a far better work, both dramatically and artistically.




True Romance:from Tarantino. A wild, romantic, violent ride, without apologies. True romance was never like this. Watch it, and then listen to your inner Elvis.







Unforgiven: my kind of western, where there are no white hats or black hats. Just a whole lotta grey hats.








Before Sunrise/Until Sunset: OK, it's actually two films, the sequel done nine years after the original. About two twenty-somethings who meet on a train in Europe, and spend the day getting to know each other intellectually and emotionally while killing time til the next departure. Shot on location in Vienna, 95% of the film consists of the couple strolling and conversing, baring their souls to each other with the streets of Vienna as a backdrop. That's it. Just two actors. Nobody else. And the sequel lives up to the original.

Pathfinder

Conan The Barbarian meets Last Of The Mohicans,
Complete with dramatic end of story final combat on the edge of a cliff, this time with swords.
If any film screamed "direct to DVD", this was it.
Don't bother.
It. Sucked.

Black Book

Yeah, here's another movie review. Given your responses to previous well-written reviews of some great flicks, I've decided not to waste my time boring you all with my efforts. Let's just say that I've found a new favorite actress, who dominates the screen (she is almost always on camera in this film) and can turn facial expressions on a dime. Black Book has something for both sides of the movie house: romantic tear jerker scenes for the ladies; ample violence and boobage for the menfolk.

View the trailer here.Fair warning: not likely SFW. Un-rated Euro trailer.Includes a couple of boobie-flashes.

Paul Verhoeven turns out a winner with this one.
I like this director for his willingness to not let the 'limits' confine his art, as opposed to others who seem to make their art all about breaking the limits. That, and he possesses a sense of humility. Any director who would actually show up to receive hisRazzie Award(for Showgirls) you've got to respect.

Enjoy the show!

(If you think you notice I have a pattern of foreign film watching, you're right.)

Black Snake Moan

After reading several blog reviews that mostly downed this film, I decided to go see it anyway. Something about a movie flowing with blues guitar,rural southern culture, and ample promise of seeing very much of Christina Ricci is irresistable in it's own way.
By now, you know the story: Young, nearly naked, white nymphomaniac is found beaten on the side of the road by an older black farmer who takes her in, attends to her injuries, chains her lithe form to a radiator... and proceeds to 'save' her through a mix of preaching and music all the while saving himself from his own struggles of depression.
It's more of a "Father finds Daughter" story than the racially charged sexual exploitation flick it's been passed off as.

If the plot seems kinda stupid, it's because it is. Keep your mind at home, and enjoy the mix of drama, comedy, sweetness, southern cliches, and The Blues that meld together in what is really not a bad movie.


And Christina Ricci has never looked better.
Yep, this pretty much sums up her entire wardrobe in this film, more or less. With less taking place more often than more.
Nothing wrong with that.

The Lives Of Others

Also known by the German title Das Leben Der Anderen
This film takes place in the twilite of the East German police state, where the ubiquitous Stasi knew everything about everybody.
A popular East German playwright,Georg Dryman, comes under suspicion for unpatriotic activities. In this case, it is his lack of suspicious activity that leads to suspicion since nobody is, after all, above suspicion. Such is the mental workings of the Stasi agents, who even spy on each other.

When Stasi Capt Gerd Wiesler wires Dreyman's apartment, and personally mans the survelliance station, he is impressed with Dreyman's devotion to his girlfriend, and his close circle of black-listed artist/writer/actor/director friends. Over time, the Stasi agent grows to admire what Dreyman posesses in his life, and how it contrasts with his own empty, loveless, and lonely existence.
Wiesler then assumes the role of invisable fairy godfather: erasing incriminating statements, destroying evidence, and stonewalling the investigation.

Lots of suprising twists in this screenplay. Just when you think you know what will happen next, an unexpected curve in the road of events is placed before you. A great, and very believable, spy thriller without all that 'James Bond' action stuff or exploding ink pens, combined with a morality play and the broken lives that ensue when shattered trust and betrayal become methods of self preservation in a culture ruled by fear, where creativity and passion are devastating liabilities, and those you love are most in danger.

The only 'wrong' thing I noticed: much of the film takes place in the dead of winter(December through March). Isnt there usually snow/ice on the ground at this time in the region formerly known as East Germany? Instead of winter cold, the outdoor scenes look more like cool,moist and gloomy. But none of this detracts from the storytelling.

for more,and to view trailor:.The Lives Of Others

I highly recommend this film to be seen.

Letters From Iwo Jima

I ventured to the theater last night to check out Letters From Iwo Jima. Clint Eastwood delivers a real winner here. Set on the island of Iwo Jima, the movie tells the story of the battle from the perspective of the Japanese soldier.

Its a great movie, with lots of fine acting and special effects. There is a share of blood and gore, but not quite as much as say... Saving Private Ryan had. The blood is there,lots of it, but the camera doesn't center on it, instead focusing on the reactions and emotions of the soldiers.
Eastwood manages to pull the humanity out of the characters and draw you in that direction instead. He drags you right into the caves, and makes you a part of the Japanese soldier's life.
Much of the action centers on Saigo, a young draftee who would rather be back home with his wife and the baby daughter he has never seen. He's more of a survivor than a soldier, but he does his duty, flinchingly, looking for a way to escape the horrors around him, even if that escape is only through his memories and letters.

Parallel to Saigo's story, there are the experiences of the commanding General Kuribayashi, as he prepares the island, and it's defenders, for the final battle-to-the-death against American forces. He knows he will die, and is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in defense of his people. As he says: "Every day we hold out, is one more day my children will live in peace in Japan". This is his motivation for prolonging the inevitable:defeat and death.

I must admit to large level of emotional discomfort while watching the film. I had an uncle,who I actually did get to know, who fought the island hopping campaign in the USMC. He fought, and survived, every battle,every island, before he was 19yrs old. So, whenever I watch a movie or documentary of the war in the South Pacific, I have this emotional cheering inside my soul. Uncle Vic, at barely 5ft 8in, was larger than Rambo. He never spoke about it, but everybody else did. He was real. In our family, he was a hero. (In his mind, he was just another marine.) Knowing he got 'hit' at Iwo conflicted greatly with my connection to the Japanese soldiers I had developed throughout the film.

This movie is pure art-house war drama. I can appreciate that, but may be a reason why many won't be seeing it. That is a shame.

In short, this movie brings out the humanity and goodness of both sides in a bitter struggle. Instead of the politics, you see the victims of the politics. But that is the way of the history,ain't it? Those who pay the biggest price in war are those who are at the bottom of ladder.

In the end, you walk out knowing this movie isn't about what side of the war was right or wrong. Instead, you understand that what is right or wrong for the individual in his circumstances is what really matters. This, I think, is the real message behind the movie.
"Do what is right. Because it is right." This will be the quote you walk away with, and take with you.