Dogs Bark

As Bad As It Gets - - Something’s Gotta Give - - 15 June 2007

Not recommended. This one snuck up on me. In the first third, Frances McDormand's character pops an older man-younger woman tirade that's supposed to be funny. As the movie unwinds we discover, no, that's what director/writer Nancy Meyers really thinks. Her resolution of Jack's sprightly grin in the first reel, is marriage and impregnation (in that order) of the younger girlfriend to a proper age equivalent, while Grandpa Jack gloats over the kid. Oh. .my. .god. How creepy! Along the way, the initial charm passed between Keaton and Nicholson degenerates into Diane's 15-minute, post-menopausal sob storm, neither funny nor affecting. Myers gives us an irrational plot that drops Keanu Reeves like a used rubber, TWICE. We are left as the credits role, with Jack singing La Vie en Rose, a public humiliation that I hope gave him something from Ms. Myers more than a glimpse of her naked and screaming.

 

Night for Day - - The Good German - - 28 Sept 2007

Not recommended. From 1939 to 1966, the Academy offered a separate award for black and white cinematography and these were the glory years, the age of James Wong Howe (7 nods), Charles Lang (12), and Gregg Toland (6). Any current B&W film is measured against these masters and The Good German never comes close. The arrogance of attempting to photograph and direct movies was obvious to Jack Warner but repeatedly escapes director Steven Soderbergh. Because of the film’s pointlessly harsh contrast, facial expression disappears in shadow and the plot gets needlessly muddied. But maybe that’s good. Sensitive viewers should be shielded from the glare of overacting, principally Cate Blanchett and Tobey Maguire, and the over-the-top score slobbers for our affection. Finally, the quote of Casablanca in the final scene is just mean spirited; this ain’t Rick and Ilsa. Soderbergh should have listened to Harry Lime. He's in over his head.

 

Acting Up - - Little Children - - 12 June 2007

Recommended. Why do people cheat? Fear of death, some say. Fear of growing up, says Todd Field in this well-made, thoughtful movie. For indeed, the real 'little children' are the adults of this conventional yet complicated Massachusetts neighborhood, from the competitive young mothers in the park, to the bully turned cop turned drunk, even the town pervert, who's really more sexually retarded than threatening. In this Oscar nominated role, Jackie Earle Haley is splendidly sordid. And Kate Winslet is sublime; her face is a lightening field of tension and ambiguity. Her semi-clothed scenes are lit with pure adoration. Poised in opposition, is an equally nuanced Jennifer Connelly, and their wordless duel at a dinner party is actress heaven. There are no pure good or bad characters here. And over their frailty the narrators voice, reflecting his day job (Nova on PBS), simply observes -- not praise or censure needed.

Brief Candle -- Iris - - 7 July 2007

Recommended. These people who populate our history do not last. They, or we, die, get sick or float off downstream and their departure breaks the flow of life. I can't say if this film is an accurate portrayal of Iris Murdoch and John Bayley's collective journey; but it is a wonderful story about someone's romance, and the submerged realm of couples. Jim Broadbent deftly demonstrates the sadness when Iris's decline into dementia clouds these waters. Kate Winslet creates an intelligent and sensual younger Iris, heightening the pathos. As the older, damaged Iris, Judi Dench has the most difficult job, only hinting at the power that Winslet gets to flaunt. Director Richard Eyre assembles this montage into an affecting experience. This movie is about the tomography of loss. Not the organic decline of function but the loss all must face who build a life around a love.

The Sour and the Sweet - - Ace in the Hole - - 22 Sept 2007

Strongly recommended. Kirk Douglas made two excellent movies in New Mexico, this one a classic Billy Wilder offering. Both show the talented range Douglas had when paired with great scripting and direction. He plays a cynical reporter but, despite the oft claim, the movie is not - - just totally absent sentiment - -and Wilder’s (w/Walter Newman and Lesser Samuels) unrelenting script is clearly apropos the greed for misery of journalism. His only indulgence was to write a several of the most delicious lines in history, giving them to Jan Sterling in an Oscar-worthy performance. Many of the supporting cast are superb; look for Iron Eyes Cody, uncredited, in the first 15-minutes. The camera work, located in red-rock Gallup, was supplied by the great Western d.p., Charles Lang (The Magnificent Seven, Gunfight at OK Corral) and compliments the expansive, circus-like atmosphere perfectly.  If you love Wilder, this is an essential.

The Other Leathernecks - - Letters from Iwo Jima - - 12 July 2007

Recommended.  There seems to be a collective wisdom in Hollywood that all wars are bad  . . .  soldiers good. Particularly the soldiers that think their own war is bad. This attitude is thick in Letters From Iwo Jima and while it may be correct, it provides comfort without much insight. Paul Haggis’s scripts have skated on this thin surface before. It’s troubling that the two characters that show the most sensitivity, played by Ken Watanabe and Tsuyoshi Ihara, are also the most 'Westernized' Japanese soldiers. However, these are both wonderful performances and the movie is another strong directorial turn by Eastwood. The action sequences are effective although the high-contrast, unsaturated photography is difficult to follow. Perhaps a bit over ambitious, the basic concept and execution of the film is worth the few flaws.

Fort Red Hook - - On the Waterfront - - 25 July 2007

An essential. It may be that too much importance is assigned the connection of this movie to 'naming names.' That was Schickel's argument in Kazan’s 2005 biography. After all, Brando had nothing to do with that and it is his pairing with Eva Marie Saint and Rod Steiger that defines the universal moral heart of the work. Kazan claims he didn’t even direct Brando, just let him soar. Perhaps John Ford better informs this movie, a Western moved to the Brooklyn docks, with the redemption of a modern-day Ethan Edwards by a sweet girl's love. The high-contrast, black and white photography of Boris Kaufman and big Leonard Bernstein score also evoke Monument Valley. At the end, the closing door contains Terry Malloy, in contrast to Edwards. From 1951 to 54, Brando made five movies that changed acting forever. This is the best of them.

Upstaged by a Hemi - Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry - 19 July 2007

Not recommended. This is pretty borderline. The car stunts are really phenomenal to anyone who understands such things. This kind of filmmaking is just not done anymore. And the script has the endearingly ragged look that died with the first Mad Max movie. However, that movie and many other 70's classics had a charm and sly wit evincing the great directors that often emerged from these muscle cars. Not Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry. Although Vic Morrow and Adam Roarke do a good job, Peter Fonda is too low octane for this part. As Mary, Susan George has a weird and appealing toothiness, but I'd of put her on the curb after the first screech. The '69 lime-green, Dodge Charger (had one!) is the real diva and any 'chemistry' between Fonda and George was just sugar in her gas tank.

Very Bad Fellas - City of God - 17 Aug 2007

Recommended. But this will ruin Black Orpheus for you. The brutal gangster life of City of God has been likened to Scorsese's New York but that's only skin deep. The Brooklyn good fellas grew up and got a life but the child gangsters of the Rio de Janeiro slums die as teenagers. Unlike Henry Hill, several of the characters try to escape a vida louco, their mortality left to chance. Unfortunately, the movie is sometimes hard to follow. The script gives us some interesting characters, but with a development that is brutish and short. The dialogue is dense, requiring a sharp eye for the subtitles, and the rapidly cut, jazzy effects inconsistently support the story. However, this serious film is worth the effort. One is left hopeful for the prospects of the real-life journalist hero. But for the remaining 99.99% of these desperados god has left town.

The Rake's Regress - Carnal Knowledge - 28 Aug 2007

Recommended. It's interesting to contrast this with Closer, if only to watch how director Mike Nichols changes his take on sex between his 40's and 70's. The dialogue well uses the black humor of screenwriter Jules Feiffer, whose New Yorker cartoons covered the same battlefield. Cartooning and stand-up, Nichols's first gig, beget the stagy, but effective, blocking. This is also the movie that beefed up Jack Nicolson's bad-boy charmer shtick. Candice Bergen finally got to play Elaine Robinson here and her triangle with Nicholson and Art Garfunkel is done well. But Ann-Margaret is simply wonderful. Look for a medium close, ultra-long take, her face refracting a spectrum of romantic pain. The really awful thing is that there has been so little change in the 30-year gender war mapped herein. Tactics may have quickened, the weaponry may be more surgical, but the carnage remains poignantly the same.