Gideon58's Reviews

→ in
Tools    





Locke
The well worn theme of actions having consequences is given a squirm-worthy and surprisingly riveting overhaul in a fascinating little piece of cinema from 2013 Locke, a film whose title assumes we're about to get a rough and tumble action movie, but what we get is anything but.

Ivan Locke is a workaholic construction manager who lives in Birmingham, England with his wife, Katina and his two sons and is on pins and needles as the biggest construction job of his career is set to commence in the morning. He has planned to spend the evening before watching an important soccer game with his neglected family. Instead of going home, we meet Ivan in his car driving to London because a woman who he had a one night stand with almost a year ago is about to have his baby and he feels obligated to be with her.

Director and screenwriter Steven Knight, whose previous screenwriting credits include Eastern Promises, Allied, and Burnt takes a real risky approach to telling what seems like a conventional story on the surface. The entire film takes place inside of Ivan Locke's car driving to London and he is the only character who appears onscreen. Ivan is provided interaction through other characters through his car phone, and has calls keep coming into the car through the other people in Locke's orbit, it slowly becomes clear that this man is about blow up his entire existence to be with this woman with whom he created a child.

Knight's screenplay finds the viewer going back and forth regarding Locke and his very delicate situation. We understand that Locke wants to be with this woman, who has no one else in her life. Her situation garners her further sympathy when it is revealed there are complications with the pregnancy and she must have a C-section. On the other hand, a lot of Locke's sympathy factor goes out the window when we learn that his wife knows nothing of this affair and learns of it when we do. He is so calculated about what he's doing, evidenced in the fact that when Katina answers the phone for the first time, he makes sure she's on the upstairs phone so the kids don't hear her side of the conversation.

Locke must also deals with calls from his boss, who when he learns Locke won't be at the construction site, promptly fires him, but that doesn't stop Locke from offering final instructions to his assistant Donal, while reading him the riot act for being drunk. I would have loved a glance inside this guy Locke's brain, because his thought process and his sense of priorities seems really out of whack. We also get the sense that this is a highly intelligent man who is a genius where his work is concerned and doesn't sneeze without writing out a plan on how and when to do it.

Obviously, the film has a claustrophobic feel because Locke is alone onscreen, but for some reason it only intensifies the sadness and awkwardness of his situation. Tom Hardy's performance as the title character is intense and understated and I also loved the off screen work of Oscar winner Olivia Coleman as Locke's momma-to-be, Ruth Wilson as the voice of Katina, and Andrew Scott voicing Donal. A unique motion picture experience that provides equal doses of nervous laughter and knots in the stomach.



Harper
First rate production values, a terrific all-star supporting cast, and a deliciously charismatic performance from the star make the 1966 noir-ish drama Harper viable entertainment after all these years and was one of the biggest hits of Paul Newman's career.

Newman plays Lew Harper, a world weary Los Angeles private detective who is hired by a disabled and wealthy socialite named Elaine Sampson (Lauren Bacall) to locate her missing husband, a seemingly simple assignment that leads to an elaborate kidnapping scheme that finds Harper tripping over suspects every five minutes and alleged allies in the job that might not be as trustworthy as Lew thinks they are.

William Goldman, who would win his first Oscar a few years later penning another Newman classic, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, adapted the screenplay from a novel by Ross MacDonald that is an affectionate throwback to the crime noir dramas of the 40's that sets up a believable story that might be overly complex, but not enough to cause viewer interest to wane and with just the right touch of tongue in cheek that never allows the film to get to dark. A lot of the lightness of the story has to be credited to Paul Newman's breezy interpretation of the central character.

Goldman and director Jack Smight are discriminating with the clues that are offered along the way, for those who pride themselves on figuring out who did it before the credits roll. Our first clue is during the scene where Harper is hired by Mrs. Sampson...she doesn't seem terribly distressed about her husband's disappearance, makes it clear that her marriage is not a happy one, but has no intention of filing for divorce either. The blueprint for the mystery is effectively laid out in this scene and we suspect that the Sampson conspiracy is partly an inside job, but we are pretty well kept in the dark until the final reel.

The film is expensively mounted, featuring superb cinematography, art direction/set direction, and Johnny Mandel's great bluesy music, which perfectly scores the story. The supporting cast is uniformly splendid with standout work from Janet Leigh as Lew's ex-wife, Robert Wagner as Mr. Sampson's driver, Shelley Winters' as Sampson's boozy ex-mistress, Julie Harris as a frightened junkie, and Arthur Hill as Lew's lawyer buddy who got him the job. Pamela Tiffin is a bit much as Sampson's horny and spoiled daughter, but she was a small distraction in what was an otherwise solid little crime drama.



The Aristocats
The 1970 Disney confection The Aristocats is an overly cute charmer that stills provides entertainment for kids thanks to its international cast of animal and human characters, where the animals are the good guys and most of the humans are the bad guys.

The setting is Paris where a wealthy aging socialite named Madame Adelaide who, because she has no other living family, has decided to revise her will and leave her entire fortune to her cat, Duchess and her three kittens and then reverting to her loyal butler, Edgar upon their demise. Realizing that cats have nine lives, Edgar is not about to wait that long for Madame's fortune, so he decides to drug and kidnap Duchess and her kittens. He plans to drive them out to the countryside and abandon them, but he gets into an accident with a couple of hound dogs and loses track of the cats,

Duchess and her children awake from their drug-induced coma trying to figure out how they're going to get home when they happen upon O'Malley, a free-spirited alley cat and confirmed bachelor whose instant attraction to Duchess motivates him to help the cat family return to Paris. As they begin their journey, Edgar realizes he left his hat and umbrella in the country and returns to cover up the kidnapping ad eventually deciding to ship Duchess and her kittens to Timbuktu.

It's interesting viewing animated films that I loved from my childhood and noticing so many things that as a 12-year old boy I didn't even notice. If it weren't for a shot of the Eiffel Tower about halfway through the film, I never would have known the setting was Paris. It's also hard to to tell where we are since almost every character in the movie is voiced by actors with varied accents. Madame and a pair of geese that the cats meet on their journey are voiced by Brits, Scat Cat, O'Malley Cat, and the dogs Napoleon and Lafayette are voiced by Americans, and, of course, a Hungarian is providing the voice of Duchess, but kids don't really notice and won't really care. Despite the setting, I don't think a single character was voiced by a French actor.

The animation is colorful and detailed and there is some interesting camera work. There is a lovely shot of the camera closing in on Madame in her mansion through her window showing how much she misses her cats that had a haunting quality to it. Eva Gabor is lovely as Duchess (her singing is dubbed) and Phil Harris is fun as O'Malley. Pat Buttram and George Lindsey are fun as Napoleon and Lafayette and I loved the goose sisters, voiced by Monica Evans and Carole Shelley, whom you might remember as the Piegon Sisters in The Odd Couple. With the advances in animation since 1970, this might seem a little dated and corny, but there's still some fun to be had here.



42
The tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman motivated me to check out 42, an elaborate if predictable look at baseball legend Jackie Robinson and his breaking of the color barrier in major league baseball. The screenplay is a little cliched and predictable, but the performances are so top-notch it's easy to overlook.

The 2013 film opens in 1945 when Branch Richey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, decides to draft Robinson for his Canadian team in preparation for an eventual move to the Dodgers. We watch Robinson face racism from all sides, not just the rest of the league, but from some of his own teammates as well, but keeping his cool eventually earns him a place as the first black member of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Brian Helgeland, who won an Oscar for writing LA Confidential, provides a slightly melodramatic and cliched look at the racial tension that Robinson brings to the league. His time in the Canadian league features the kind of racial conflict that we would expect from any biopic about "the first black" anybody and presents it with a sledgehammer approach. The second half of the film, after Jackie becomes an official dodger, has a little more realistic feel to it, but never forgets the importance of what's being presented here. The scene where the Phillies coach is taunting Jackie with the N word crackles with tension.

Helgeland's direction is a little heavy handed though. At some points, every emotion that every character is feeling is shoved in the viewer's faces. Then we have the scene where the National Anthem is being played at Jackie's first dodger game and the camera does a shot of just about every character in the movie and we're not sure why, because none of the characters are showing any kind of emotion about the moment. He gets a little indulgent as the finale approaches, bringing a pretension to the proceedings that slows things down just when they should be picking up because the film is walking the fine line of being a bit overlong.

The performances are superb right down the line and make up for a lot of the film's problems. Boseman's underplaying has an undercurrent boiling beneath that is every effective and Harrison Ford is Oscar-worthy in his first genuine stab as character actor, with a charismatic and fascinating performance as Branch Richey. Ford completely loses himself in this role, burying all images of Hans Solo and Indiana Jones. Christopher Meloni as Leo Durocher, Lucas Black as Pee Wee Reese, TR Knight as Branch's assistant Harold, and especially Alan Tudyk, in the performance of his career as the nasty Phillies coach, all make the most of their screentime as well. It takes a minute to get going and weighs itself down at the end, but it's well-worth watching and a sad reminder as to what we just lost in Chadwick Boseman.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
The Aristocats
The 1970 Disney confection The Aristocats is an overly cute charmer that stills provides entertainment for kids thanks to its international cast of animal and human characters, where the animals are the good guys and most of the humans are the bad guys.

The Aristocats was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid, but I haven't seen it in many years. It might be time to watch it again. It's been so long that it will probably feel like I'm watching it for the first time again.
__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.



It Happened at the World's Fair
Even hardcore Elvis fans will have a hard time getting through 1963's It Happened at the World's Fair, an unimaginative and tiresome musical whose only real selling points are its setting and a tuneful score for the Pelvis.

Elvis and Gary Lockwood play Mike and Danny, crop dusting pilots who get their plane repossessed because of Danny's gambling debts. Reduced to hitchhiking, Mike and Danny accept a ride to the 1962 World's fair by an Oriental man traveling with his 7 year old niece. Upon arrival at the fair, the Uncle has to work and asks Mike to take the little girl around the fair. After spending the day with the little girl and trying to get to know a pretty nurse who works at the fair (Joan O'Brien), the little girl's uncle seems to have disappeared.

This is typical Elvis fare where Elvis is assigned a random occupation which has nothing to do with singing, but allows the guy to whip out his guitar and sing a song every ten minutes. Sadly, 1963 movie audiences and Elvis fans in particular, didn't require a lot from Elvis.

For those who are too young to remember the World's Fair, it was a large international exhibition of industry and arts from all over the world that also featured carnival rides and refreshments. The first World's Fair was held in 1851 and was held every three to six years for a couple of centuries in a different location each time My parents actually took me to the 1968 World's Fair, which was in Montreal. I was ten years old. Using the fair as a backdrop is the only thing that sets this film apart from a dozen other Elvis vehicles.

If the truth be told, there were story elements that, in 2020, definitely had a bit of an "ick" factor. When Mike and Danny get their ride to the fair, the old Uncle actually allows the little girl to sit in the back of the truck with our heroes, which probably didn't have 1963 audiences blinking an eye, but it just seemed weird today as did Elvis' crooning of a love song meant for the nurse, but he's sitting next to the little girl while he's singing it...very strange. The whole idea of the little girl's Uncle just disappearing on her was odd as well.

This film has earned a page in movie history as it marks the film debut of a 12 year old actor named Kurt Russell, who is billed in the credits as "Boy Kicking Mike". Otherwise this is definitely one of Elvis' more forgettable outings.



Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
Put your brain in check and watch as the 80's teen comedy, the time travel adventure, and the fish out of water comedy combine pretty smoothly for the 1989 cult classic Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, a comic fantasy that provides a fair share of laughs before it starts to run out of gas.

The setting is the year 2688 and our film's interplanetary host, Rufus (the late George Carlin) is explaining to us how his planet was actually saved by a pair of bonehead surfer dudes who headline a band called Wyld Stallyns. Rufus then takes us back to 1988 where we meet Bill S. Esquire (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves), best buds who think they head a band called Wyld Stallyns, even though they don't know how to play or read music. Bill and Ted are also flunking history and have been informed that if their final history project doesn't earn an A+, they will flunk history and Ted has been told by his father that if he flunks history, he will be sent to a military school in Alaska.

Since Bill and Ted must stay together in order to save is planet, Rufus travels back in time and offers Bill and Ted a time machine where they can go to any historical period bring back any real life historical figures for their report they want. Before receiving some final instructions from themselves (don't ask), Bill and Ted enter a time machine that looks like a phone booth and somehow manage to get Lincoln, Socrates, Beethoven, Sigmund Freud, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Billy the Kid, and Genghis Khan back to San Dimas California in 1988.

Screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon have come up with a clever story that has a little more substance to it than appears on the surface. The opening is a little mind boggling as we realize that what we are seeing is a flashback inside a flashback with the appearance of the second Bill and Ted, but once Bill and Ted are in the time machine and off to get their report subjects, the movie is a lot of fun, despite a serious overuse of the words "dude" and "excellent". Loved the way the first Bill and Ted assist the second Bill and Ted with their mission as well as the hysterical subplot of Bill's stepmom being three years older than him who Ted asked to prom.

The scenes of our heroes getting the guys out of their respective historical periods were kind of fun, but the fun of the film really comes when they return to San Dimas but the guys lose track of our historical figures and have to rescue them from the local mall and from the police (one of whom is Ted's father). I also think the historical figures are played a little too straight-faced and Bill and Ted's final report goes on a little too long.

Stephen Hereck's direction is energetic and Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are a lot of fun as the title characters. Ironically, this film would be instrumental in making Reeves a big star while Winters' career basically went nowhere. The film was followed by an animated series in 1990, a sequel called Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and this year, Winters and Reeves have incredibly reunited for a third film called Bill & Ted Face the Music, but I thought I better watch the first two first.



There Will Be Blood
Daniel Day- Lewis won a second Outstanding Lead Actor Oscar for his blistering performance in 2007's There Will Be Blood, a dark and thunderous epic of family, greed, the oil business, and redemption that is probably the most ambitious work of director/screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson.

Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, a miner turned oilman who works very hard at fulfilling his eventually dream of building a pipe dream. He clearly takes advantage of his employees and neglects his business partner, his young son, H,B., whose relationship with his father is truly an enigma. Daniel crosses path with a young man named Paul Sunday, who has learned that Daniel is interested in purchasing his family's farm because he believes there is oil on the land. Upon arrival at the farm, Daniel immediately butts heads with Paul's twin brother, Eli, who sees right through Daniel and the evil inside him and is willing to work with him as long as Daniel is willing work with Eli's church.

Giant meets Elmer Gantry in Anderson's long-winded screenplay, based on a novel by Upton Sinclair, that takes an unflinching look at business ethics and religion and how it is virtually impossible for them to exist in perfect harmony. Anderson's crafting of this Plainview character is disturbing and mesmerizing, presented as a man who wants to have control of everyone and everything he comes in contact with and yet live as a complete hermit as well. He's all abut work and he only talks about what he wants to talk about and it becomes clear right away that his relationship with his son is clearly off limits.

Anderson allows this story to unfold slowly, utilizing arresting visuals to keep this story moving. It's almost fifteen minutes into the running time before any dialogue, which was extremely effective in establishing the dark atmosphere of the story; however, it also seemed to be a major contribution in making the film a lot longer than it needed to be. The shots of the oil gushing from the derricks were almost hypnotic, thanks to Anderson's cinematic eye and the Oscar-winning cinematography of Robert Elswit.

The other really squirm-worthy aspect of the story is Daniel's relationship with his son. The child doesn't speak more than three words during the entire movie and he appears terrified of Daniel most of the time. Daniel's treatment of his was more like a pet than like a child and during a scene where he is holding the child down for a doctor's exam, it is clear that this relationship is not what it should be. Daniel's lack of familial bonding is even further explored when a reunion with a brother he never knew he had finds him crossing lines even he never expected.

Day-Lewis completely commands the screen and his second Oscar win was no surprise and Elswit's cinematography was a worthy win as well. In addition to these wins, Anderson received twin nominations for direction and screenplay, as did film editing, art direction, and sound editing. Paul Dano should have been nominated for his unhinged work as the Sunday brothers, but it is the work of Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis that keep the viewer riveted to the screen, even if the screenplay could have used some trimming.



Under the Yum Yum Tree
Jack Lemmon's terrific performance playing a completely smarmy character makes the 1963 comedy Under the Yum Yum Tree worth a look, despite some uneven characterizations and a lot of unsavory politically incorrect behavior.

Lemmon plays Hogan, the womanizing owner/landlord of an elegant apartment complex who only rents units to beautiful women. He becomes completely obsessed with a new tenant named Robin (Carol Lynley) a pretty and serious minded college student who plans to live there with her boyfriend, David (Dean Jones) in a totally platonic relationship. Hogan doesn't care whether the relationship is platonic or not, he pulls every dirty trick he can think of to get Robin to dump David and be with him.

Lawrence Roman's screenplay is adapted from his own play, which premiered on Broadway in 1961, running an unimpressive 173 performances. Onstage, Gig Young played Hogan and Dean Jones played David, the role he played in this film. A standard romantic triangle is hard to stay invested in here thanks to this really slimy Hogan character....God, where do I start? First of all, Hogan is about 15 years older than Robin, giving the relationship its initial "ick" factor. The opening scenes reveal that Hogan is a 24 hour party boy who sniffs after all the women in his complex, but once he meets Robin, all his other tenants disappear. He also breaks all landlord/tenant etiquette, entering Robin's apartment without knocking and when it was locked, just used a passkey to let himself in. Worst of all, this guy doesn't think he's doing anything wrong.

It's also a little too convenient the way the brains of the other two principal characters are removed and returned to their original places more than once to suit the machinations of Hogan. For most of the running time, Robin is completely clueless to the fact that this guy is trying to get romantic with her and watching Hogan's moves, it makes the character look like a complete idiot, though the opening scenes do take time to establish that this girl is no dummy. As for David, during one scene he seems completely on to what Hogan is doing and is completely oblivious the next. The inconsistencies in the characters of Robin and David seem to be fashioned to protect this Hogan character, who is so not worthy of it.

The Hogan character goes to ridiculous lengths in his mission, which include a lot of Jerry Lewis-type physical comedy that seemed a little out of place for Lemmon and detracted from the artificial sophistication initially presented. By the final third of the film, the only reason I kept watching was to make sure Hogan didn't break up David and Robin.

The film's production values are first rate. The art direction/set direction deserve a special shout out because the apartment complex that serves as the setting for this comedy is absolutely gorgeous. Lemmon definitely had his work cut out for him keeping Hogan likable, but he was up to the challenge. Carol Lynley was bubbly and effervescent as Robin and Dean Jones is an uncanny combination of sweet and sexy as David. Edie Adams, Imogene Coca, and Paul Lynde make the most of supporting roles, but the star trio make this one worth a look, even if the central character doesn't deserve the affection he's looking for.



The Great Santini
The iconic Robert Duvall received the third of his seven career Oscar nominations for his powerhouse performance in 1979's The Great Santini, an often compelling family drama that provides moments of high drama but cops out during the final act,

Duvall plays Colonel "Bull" Meacham, a career marine army fighter pilot who, as the film begins, is starting a new assignment, moving his wife and four children out of their home at 3:00 in the morning. The story slowly reveals that Meacham is an abusive control freak who treats his family like soldiers. His treatment has had the most profound effect on his eldest son, Ben, whose resentment of his father has caused him to act out in myriad ways.

Director and screenwriter Lewis John Carlino adapted the screenplay from a novel by Pat Conroy, that efficiently establishes the kind of man this Bull Meacham is and establishes almost immediate sympathy for his family. Carlino's screenplay manages to set us up, initially making Meacham a likable guy with a sense of humor, but before we even realize it, we see him referring to his kids as "hogs". bullying Ben on the basketball court, and ignoring older daughter, Mary Anne,

This is where Carlino really scores, presenting an abusive central character who is abusive in more ways than one. We see the expected physical and psychological abusive that we've seen in other films. We get to see another kind of abuse here in one of my favorite scenes in the film, where daughter Mary Anne, is just trying to get her father to pay attention to her for five minutes, rambling on and on about anything shocking and improper enough to get a rise out of her father, but to no avail. We get to see two totally different kinds of abuse here and I'm not so sure which was worse. There's also a subplot involving the stuttering son of the family maid, that just seemed to pad running time and cloud the film's initially promising premise.

Carlino also has assembled a solid supporting cast behind Duvall to serve his story. Blythe Danner, an actress incapable of giving a bad performance, offers one of her stronger turns as Duvall's wife, and Michael O'Keefe's Ben earned him Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. I was also very impressed by a terrific performance from a young Lisa Jane Persky as Mary Anne. Other familiar faces that pop up along the way include Stan Shaw, Paul Gleason, Theresa Merritt, and David Keith. The film gets an "A" for effort, beginning what could have been a fascinating drama; unfortunately, this story lets Colonel Meacham off way too easy.



Detroit Rock City
Fans of films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dazed and Confused, and Airheads might want to take a look at 1999's Detroit Rock City, an energetic and slightly raunchy teen comedy that delivers pretty consistent laughs, backed up by the most amazing soundtrack of classic rock and roll that I've ever heard.

The paper thin story revolves around four 70's teenage stoners, who worship the ground rock group KISS walk on and are on pins and needles about an upcoming KISS concert in Detroit for which they already have tickets. Thanks to one of the guys' puritanical mother, they lose the tickets but win four more tickets on a radio call-in show. They lose those tickets too, but our heroes are not deterred as they jump into a Volvo and drive to Detroit, determined somehow, someway to see their musical idols.

Carl V. Dupre's screenplay quickly establishes the relationship between these four guys by revealing that they have a KISS tribute band, but once they hit the road, the story takes a little while to get going. Their highway encounter with a couple of Guido bullies was a waste of screentime, except for the introduction of a girl named Christine. Once the guys get to Detroit, the fun, such as it is, kicks in as the guys decide to go their separate ways and figure out their own ways to get tickets, which include a male strip club, a convenience store sting, and an attempt to pass off as a roadie for the group.

These antics provide enough laughs to hold viewer attention, but the real attraction here is one of the most amazing soundtracks for a movie I've heard in years. This one rivals the soundtracks for Saturday Night Fever and American Graffiti. In addition to KISS, other artists featured on the soundtrack include Marilyn Manson, Ted Nugent, T.Rex, UFO, Sweet,The Runaways, Edgar Winter, and Black Sabbath.

The performances serve the story with a solid performance from Edward Furlong as one of the fearsome foursome. Other familiar faces that pop up include Sam Worthington, Natasha Lyonne, Kevin Corrigan, Steven Schirripa, Shannon Tweed, porn star Ron Jeremy, and Joe Flaherty, but the real star of this film is the music, that makes the movie seem better than it is.



The Cowboy Way
A pair of engaging performances from the leads help to make 1994's The Cowboy Way, an action comedy mixed with a fish out of water story, worth a look.

Sonny (Keifer Sutherland) and Pepper (Woody Harrelson) are a pair of rodeo cowboys from New Mexico who have been friends since they were kids, but had a falling out a year ago when Pepper didn't show up for an important rodeo. They learn that a good friend of theirs named Nacho Salazar who has gone to New York to find his daughter, Theresa. Theresa has found herself part of a white slavery ring and Nacho has turned up missing. Sonny and Pepper temporarily decide to put their differences aside to find out what happened to Nacho.

William D. Witliff's screenplay is a humorous take on a not unfamiliar theme already explored in films like Midnight Cowboy where country and city sensibilities clash in an attempt to co-exist or fight a common enemy. Love when Pepper and Sonny arrive in the city and decide to pick, of all places, the Waldorf Astoria, to have dinner. Pepper's reply to the waiter's query as to how he would like his steak prepared couldn't possibly be repeated, but
Director Gregg Champion (Short Circuit, Stakeout) gives the story a nice pacing while providing detailed focus to the action. The care he puts into the photography of the rodeo scenes at the beginning of the film are a perfect counterpart to the one-of-a-kind finale which finds our heroes chasing a subway train on horseback. Champion's direction must also be credited for clearly establishing the friendship between Sonny and Pepper, which is rock solid, but also fraught with tension, a tension that keeps the viewer wondering if these two can keep it together long enough to get the bad guys.

Harrelson and Sutherland are terrific together and are really what makes this movie worth watching, though I have to admit that Dylan McDermott made a smooth and slick bad guy. The supporting cast is peppered with familiar faces like Ernie Hudson, Luis Guzman, Marg Helgenberger, Matthew Cowles, and if you don't blink you'll catch Oscar winner Allison Janney in a tiny role. It's a little schmaltzy and predictable, but it does put the viewer behind the heroes back and behind "the cowboy way."



First Position
Ballet fans should find rich entertainment in a 2011 documentary called First Position, an informative, fascinating and occasionally heartbreaking look at young dancers from all over the world participating in an international competition that not only focuses on this particular competition but offers insight into the passion that drives ballet dancers and takes effective swipes at some of the stereotypes associated with ballet as well.

This film focuses on six young dancers, all under the age of 18, who are preparing to compete in the Youth America Grand Prix, an international ballet competition where 300 young dancers compete for 30 scholarships to ballet schools, medals, and contract positions in ballet companies. This film focuses on six entrants from all over the planet: Eleven year old Aran is from Rome and has been dancing since he was four; Joan Sebastian is a sixteen year old who left Columbia to study; Twelve year old Gaya is from Israel and seems to have a crush on Aran; Miko and Jules are siblings not only competing in the contest but with each other; Rebecca is a statuesque California blonde, blossoming into a prima ballerina at 17, but I was most moved by the story of Michaela, a 14 year girl from South Africa whose parents were killed in war times and was adopted by a lovely Jewish couple.

Director Bess Kargman actually uses this competition as a canvas to springboard a lot of what drives dancers, not just the obvious work that goes into it. The movie provided a refreshing look at boys and ballet, something that most boys quit by the time they're in junior high because of the stigma attached to it regarding sexuality. I'm pretty sure that the three male dancers focused on here were heterosexual and really don't care if people might think otherwise. One aspect of this life that surprised was the expense that goes into being a ballet dancer. In addition to classes, most dancers also have a personal coach who works with the dancers privately. Then there's classes, travel, shoes. and costumes...Michaela's mom actually shows us a tutu she made that cost her $2500!

Needless to say, there is lots of dancing in this film, beautifully showcased by Kargman, that often defies the laws of physics, but what I loved that Kargman did was during the actual competition, the camera actually went back and forth between the dancers and their parents and teachers in the audience, allowing us to see exactly how well they were doing by the reactions of their parents and coaches. There's even an unexpected piece of drama thrown in when it is revealed that Michaela, three days before the finals, has developed an injury of her achilles tendon that could not only destroy her chances in the contest, but her entire career,

Fans of the 1977 film The Turning Point will be delighted as well because several of the dances performed here were performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Leslie Browne in that Herbert Ross classic. Fans of the ballet will be in heaven here.



Deliverance
A 1972 Best Picture nominee, Deliverance is an often harrowing and heart stopping tale of man against nature that turns into so much more, anchored by brilliant direction and performances.

Lewis, Ed, Drew, and Bobby are four Atlanta businessmen who decide to take a weekend canoe trip on a legendary Georgia river before it is damned up and turned into a lake. Despite an air of foreboding around the whole idea of what they're doing, the men begin heading down the river, but during a respite on the journey, an encounter with a couple of demented mountain men changes the course of the trip and the lives of these four men forever, in ways they never could have imagined. Will try to review this film without spoilers.

John Boorman's Oscar-nominated direction is the true genius here as he employs exquisite care and respect to James Dickey's screenplay, adapted from his own novel. The screenplay cleverly provides small doses of backstory for these four men, while foreshadowing some of the events coming in the story. Especially loved the opening showing the men in their vehicles driving to the entrance of the river, with their voices on the audio discussing exactly what they're planning to do this weekend. This opening effectively foreshadows a lot of what's going to happen later, without really giving anything away. The other thing that I loved about this story is that, except for these four guys, no one will ever know exactly what happened on that river.

Dickey's screenplay is also adept at setting up backstory for the principal characters. Though it's never stated outright, Dickey's screenplay manages to establish that Lewis and Ed have experience at this kind of thing and Drew and Bobby have nearly none. It's also made clear that these guys are not lifelong friends...as a matter of fact, I've always been of the school that either Drew or Bobby were a last minute substitute for someone else and that Lewis is not happy about it. It also comes shining through that Lewis, who implies that he's living very comfortable life in Atlanta, only really feels alive when he's challenging nature.

Boorman's camerawork is exquisite, making this river and the mountains surrounding it absolutely breathtaking. With a strong assist from Oscar-nominated film editor Tom Priestley, Boorman keeps the viewer in these canoes right at the center of these often dangerous rapids, especially during the quartet's escape from the mountain men. And it might seem like a little thing, but I do have to applaud Boorman and his crew for one thing: A lot of time in films where the majority of the action takes place in the water, there is always a moment or two where the viewer sees a drop of water hit the camera lens now and then. No such nonsense here. Well done.

Though it was hardly his first film appearance, Burt Reynolds became an official movie star with his 100-megawatt performance as Lewis, but for my money, the acting honors in this film have to go to Jon Voight, whose full-bodied and emotionally charged Ed should have earned Voight his second Oscar nomination. Kudos to Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox for never allowing these acting powerhouses to blow them off the screen. Cox is especially impressive in the scene where he forces his friends to deal with consequences of his actions. And you can't help love him in the classic "Duellin Banjos" scene where Drew thinks he's connected with an albino who plays the banjo. An instant classic that is still just as powerful as it was in 1972.



I Am Chris Farley
On December 18, 1997, Hollywood lost one of its brightest lights and his way-too brief but amazing career is the focus of a 2015 documentary called I Am Chris Farley, a performer who had such an impact on everyone who knew him that some might be in denial that he's gone.

Farley was an exhausting hurricane of comic insanity that defied logic and physics and managed to draw everyone in his orbit like a moths to a flame. His flame had been ignited since his childhood, vividly recalled by his mother and three brothers in the opening scenes of this film (his baby brother Kevin is also a comic and a dead ringer for the late star). The joy with which his family spoke about his outrageous childhood was so infectious. There actually seemed to be a sense of them talking about Chris in the present tense, as if he were still with us.

This feeling wasn't restricted to Chris' family either. As the documentary moves into interviewing people Chris worked with, we get the same feeling, that Chris is still alive. There was such an exuberance as actors shared their experiences about working with the man and every specific incident they talked about, they remember it vividly, like it happened yesterday. Mike Meyers still remembers trying not to lose it when Chris did his famous Chippendales sketch with Patrick Swayze. The recollections of David Spade and Christina Applegate regarding the introduction of Chris' classic Matt Foley Motivational Speaker character were so much fun because we get to see the audio as they were describing what they were feeling. Their memories perfectly matched what we were watching. We were also privileged with clips of Chris doing the character at Second City, where the character originated and where he blew everyone off the stage. We even got to meet the real Matt Foley

There were a couple of things revealed that surprised me, most notably that Chris did little or no writing of the sketches on SNL. Mike Meyers reveals that Chris would find out what other cast members were writing and beg to be in it, no matter what it was about. Meyers also shared about a weekly ritual on tape night for SNL that he found richly embarrassing, but fell for it every time.

In addition to Spade, Applegate, and Meyers, commentary is also provided by Dan Aykroyd (who starred with Chris in Coneheads), Bo Derek (his co-star in Tommy Boy), Molly Shannon, Lorne Michaels, Jon Lovitz, Jay Mohr, Will Sasso, Tom Arnold, Bob Saget, Pat Finn, and, of course, Adam Sandler. Most everyone involved here agreed that the real essence of Chris Farley was in that segment of "The Chris Farley Show" where he interviews Sir Paul McCartney. This was the real Chris and the Chris we'll miss most of all. RIP, Chris.



A Soldier's Story
Despite a sluggish quality to the direction, 1984's A Soldier Story is the emotionally charged film version of a stage play that was basically In the Heat of the Night with a dash of A Few Good Men that was so well acted it did receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

It's Louisiana 1944 when a black military attorney from Washington DC (Howard E. Rollins Jr.) is sent to the Bayou state to investigate the death of a black sergeant (Adolph Ceasar) who, as the investigation progresses, is revealed to be hated by just about everyone on the base. Our attorney finds all kind of motive during his investigation, but his job is to find means and opportunity.

The film is based on a play by Charles Fuller, who was allowed to adapt his own stage work into a viable screenplay. It's likely that Fuller chose to change the format of the story to make it more interesting onscreen. I've never seen the play, but I suspect the first act focuses on the character of the evil Sergeant Waters and the second half on the investigation. The film open with Waters' murder and as the attorney, Captain Davenport arrives, the Sergeant's behavior that made him so hated is revealed in flashbacks as Davenport begins questioning suspects.

As one might suspect, racism is part of the story here, but it is a different kind of racism than what's seen in films like In the Heat of the Night or Do the Right Thing. This story takes place at a time where blacks weren't really fighting for civil rights yet, but wanted them just the same. Despite the soft peddling of the racist angle here, also due to the fact that most of the principle characters are black, there is a racial tension bubbling under the surface here that helps to make up Norman Jewison's surprisingly pedestrian direction. I loved the reactions of the soldiers on the base during Davenport's arrival, not expecting a black officer, since most blacks in the military in 1944 were NCO's.

Jewison is no stranger to this kind of material, but if the truth be told, he doesn't bring a lot of imagination to his direction and the movie moves like a tortoise. The performances are first rate though, headed by the late Howard E Rollins Jr, who brings a real Poitier quality to his intrepretation of Davenport and Ceasar's flashy performance as Sergent Waters earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The supporting cast is solid, with the standout work from Trey Wilson, Robert Townsend, Larry Riley, and a young guy you might have heard of named Denzel Washington, who received ninth billing. It could have had a quicker pace to it and I imagine it probably worked better onstage, but the actors do manage to sustain interest.



An American Werewolf in London
Director and screenwriter John Landis almost knocks it out of the park with a contemporary thriller from 1981 called An American Werewolf in London that is meticulously directed, featuring some first rate visuals, but suffers from a fuzzy screenplay that isn't sure if it's a lampoon of classic werewolf films or an homage.

David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are American college students hitchhiking through London when their are attacked by a rabid wolf, that bites David and murders Jack. While recuperating in the hospital and attracting the attention of a pretty nurse (Jenny Agutter), David begins having a bizarre series of nightmares, climaxing with a visit from Jack's spirit, warning him that the bite he suffered will turn him into a werewolf the next full moon and that the only way to save himself from this fate is to kill himself.

Landis' concept of a contemporary horror thriller is okay, but he could have gone a couple of different ways with it. He could have presented a serious valentine to classic werewolf movies, which would have worked if he had committed to it completely. Production values and the direction are detail oriented and seem to imply an homage is coming. On the other hand, certain storytelling elements imply an almost lampoon feeling to the proceedings...most notably, a song score consisting of every song ever heard of with the word "moon" in the title, that seems to imply a more tongue in cheek story coming our way. The uneasy mix of both kinds of movies never really gels into common ground, making us wonder whether or not we're supposed to be laughing. This reviewer found some humor in this story that I'm not sure was intentional.

There were other things that went on here I found troubling and illogical. That opening scene in the pub where the locals are clearly aware of the dangers these guys were going into yet they were all trying to cover it up. Or when authorities actually believed that Jack was brutally murdered by a man and not an animal? No unarmed man could have caused the carnage to Jack's body that occurred. Not to mention the fact that this nurse was dumb as a box of rocks. It took her way too long to figure out what was going on, leading to that silly finale, which I have to wonder might have played differently if she had been alone instead of her being backed up by the torch wielding villagers.

Landis' direction is taut and detailed though, with grand assists from his editing, visual effects, and makeup teams. That first transformation of David into the werewolf is flawlessly executed, genuinely frightening, and just a little heartbreaking watching poor David try to fight it. The makeup effects in this movie were so spectacular that the Academy created a new category that resulted in this film winning the first Oscar for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup. The film is technically very competent, but the story should have been more committed in its style of execution.



Private Life
The creative force behind The Savages knocks it out of the park with 2018's Private Life, a poignant, funny, heartbreaking, and achingly real look at a situation that millions of couples are going through, but no one ever talks about, anchored by a pair of brilliant performances by two of the industry's most underrated actors.

The Netflix production stars Paul Giamatti as Richard, a theater director and Kathryn Hahn as Rachel his writer wife, who is about to have a book published, who have been going through their own version of hell trying to have a baby. They have spent years dabbling with in vitro fertilization and adoption in attempts to start a family, sadly, to no avail. A light at the end the infertility tunnel finally seems to be appearing when Richard's unfocused, college dropout niece agrees to donate an egg so that Richard and Rachel can be parents.

As she did with The Savages, director/screenwriter Tamara Jenkins has focused on a squirm-worthy subject and dissects it with microscopic intensity, offering a look into the process of in vitro fertilization unlike anything I have ever seen. The film efficiently chronicles the physical, emotional, and financial ramifications of taking this painful journey. The doctors, the waiting rooms, the medications, the forms, all those things that can not only take toll on a couple's finances, but, more importantly, on a marriage as well. As solid as Richard and Rachel's marriage is and their commitment to having a family is, we can't help but see this marriage beginning to crumble under the surface. The scene about thirty minutes in where they are waiting to meet a young girl who was planning to give them her baby and never shows up was a heartbreaker.

Another layer of tension brought to the story, at least in this reviewer's eyes, is the possibility that Richard is tired of this and is not as committed to it as Rachel is. Richard does his best to disguise his doubts to Rachel, but we can see it and keep waiting for our suspicions to be confirmed and to see Rachel's reaction to the revelation. The reveal of another effect this journey has had on the marriage in the final act was jaw-dropping.

Jenkins also manages to bring a lightness to the situation through an angle I didn't see coming. I was simultaneously amused and annoyed by the character of Rachel's doctor, beautifully played by Denis O'Hare, who spends a lot of time with the couple making light of the situation, trying to bring levity to a situation that really isn't funny. It reminded me of dentists who try to have conversations with patients while they have drills and picks stuck in their mouths.

Jenkins' s direction includes some clever camerawork that gave the story the voyeuristic quality it has and why the title of the film is so perfect. This is a very private story. These people are going through something so private and would love emotional support but just can't talk about it. This is beautifully manifested through every moment where Rachel announces that part of their infertility issue is the fact that Richard only has one testicle.

Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn, actors known primarily for supporting roles, are finally given a chance to be center stage and give Oscar-worthy performances where you never catch them "acting." Kayli Carter is lovely as the niece, Sadie, as are John Carroll Lynch and Molly Shannon as her parents. A unique motion picture that had my emotions all over the place, right up to the gut-wrenching finale.



Liz & Dick
Lifetime just bit off more than they could chew when they attempted to bring to the small screen what was, arguably, Hollywood's greatest love story, with a lavish but hastily put together 2012 TV movie called Liz & Dick, an alleged up close and personal look at the romance of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

The film opens with Burton writing a letter to Elizabeth on the final day of his life and then reverts to the stars narrating their own story talking about their first meeting and their first impressions of each other. The film then follows the pair and their first meeting on the set of Cleopatra through their tempestuous 12 year marriage full of passion and fighting and ego bruising that eventually led to divorce, even though they were still in love, evidenced in a remarriage that lasted until Burton's death.

Having always been a huge fan of Elizabeth Taylor, I was hoping for some insight into the star but quickly realized that wasn't going to happen when I learned this movie was made by Lifetime, and made with all the care of a fictional movie with Lifetime queens like Markie Post or Connie Selleca. Christopher Monger's sketchy screenplay seems to be based on basic facts regarding the Burtons' life and building imaginary drama around them. I was impressed that it was mentioned that Burton was not the first choice for Marc Antony and that Sophia Loren was the first choice to play Taylor's role in The V.I.P.s, but the story just skips around too much and doesn't really teach us anything that we didn't know about the Burtons already.

One thing I feel this story nailed was Burton's bitterness about never winning an Oscar, though nominated two years in a row, once with Elizabeth, who won that year. The movie clearly establishes the kind of shallow and flighty person Elizabeth was and how easy it was for Burton to get Elizabeth in line with a shiny bauble. Richard's heavy drinking was also well documented here, starting on the set of Cleopatra and how Elizabeth never could keep up, Where the movie lost me was trying to recreate real parts of the Burtons' story, like a scene from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? that only those who have the movie memorized like me, will know was absolutely dreadful.

Needless to say, casting was an issue as well. Lindsay Lohan did not provide one convincing moment on the screen playing Elizabeth Taylor. Clearly, Lifetime didn't have the budget to offer this role to a more appropriate actress. Grant Bowler was better as Burton, but not much. He at least had the voice down, which is half the battle with Burton. I also liked Ifor Jenkins' as Burton's brother and Theresa Russell as Elizabeth's mother, but this movie was just above Lifetime's pay grade. I hope a big studio film will be done on the Burtons someday because their story deserves to be done right.



The Longest Week
Despite handsome production values and exceptional performances, 2014's The Longest Week is a smug and pretentious black comedy with a talky screenplay, uneven direction, and one of the most reprehensible central characters I've seen in recent memory.

The film chronicles one week (complete with large annoying movie cards as documentation) in the life of one Conrad Valmont (Jason Bateman). Conrad is a spoiled manchild who has never worked a day in his life, living a glamorous hotel owned by his parents. When Conrad's parents decide to divorce, Conrad gets thrown out of the hotel, without a clue about surviving on his own. He appears on the doorstep of his best friend, Dylan (Billy Crudup) who agrees to take him in no questions. Conrad pays back Dylan's kindness by romancing the woman that Dylan is interested in (Olivia Wilde).

Director/screenwriter Peter Glanz has provided us with a pretentious screenplay that seems to be fashioned after artists like Woody Allen and Wes Anderson, but his screenplay contains little of the subtlety associated with these other filmmakers. The actors almost seem to be fumbling with this overly wordy screenplay that seems to work overtime trying to talk above the viewer. He spends a lot of time pontificating over this really nasty central character who has little or no moral compass who actually is offered redemption in the final act which is completely unbelievable.

Glanz direction is a little better than his writing. He paints his story on a gorgeous Manhattan canvas and employs some inventive use of slow motion and the closeup. Unfortunately, the film moves at a snail's pace that makes it hard t stay committed. It should have been called "The Longest Movie."

Despite all of this, Jason Bateman turns in one of the most dazzling performances of his career as this truly hard to like guy Conrad and works well with Crudup, offering his accustomed crisp characterization as Dylan. Also enjoyed Tony Roberts as Conrad's shrink and Barry Primus as the family chauffeur, but this film is too impressed with itself to impress the viewer.