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Mano a Mano

15 Dec

Much like, say, Gladiator or Rocky, at the core of Frost/Nixon there is a battle. Two men enter a ring, both seeking the respect and admiration of the audience, both trying to make up for past wrongs. On one hand, there is David Frost (Michael Sheen), a celebrity talk show host. On the other hand there is Richard Nixon (Frank Langella), the disgraced former president. The film, an adaptation of the award-winning stage play by its writer, Peter Morgan, documents the legendary TV interview that Frost conducted with Nixon in 1977, and how Frost essentially gave Nixon the “trial” he would never have for Watergate. As directed by Ron Howard, the film is completely engaging. The two leads both give fantastic performances (Langella, in the showier role, especially), but they are only two members of an impressive ensemble that also includes Sam Rockwell, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon.

Howard expands on the play (which I never saw) by adding documentary-style “interviews” with the supporting players. This helps to give the film some context, though it’s not really necessary. The whole thing doesn’t feel stagey, which is great, though I wondered how much more exciting it would have been to see just Sheen and Langella duking it out on stage without the help of a score or any other enhancements. Then again, the big screen helps to showcase what brilliant and subtle performances these are by putting the camera right in the two lead actors’ faces.

I really enjoyed this movie, and thought the early interviews, with Nixon coming off quite humorously as a charmer and totally in control, and Frost totally ill-prepared for how to deal with it, were pretty funny. But I have to say that when we get to the final interview, after Frost has found his cojones, the tone of the verbal sparring shifts so dramatically and almost unbelievably, that it’s a bit off-putting. These interviews are a matter of public record, so it’s hardly a spoiler to reveal that Frost does finally put the screws on Nixon. And yes, it’s thrilling in the film when he does. But till then, Frost has been so out of his element and so unevenly matched that you wish the film had built a little more to that final confrontation so it feels just a little more rewarding. Had that been so, I’d be giving Frost/Nixon a higher grade. Instead, it gets a B+ from me.

She’s Our Only Hope

11 Dec

In the unnecessary remake The Day the Earth Stood Still, a large green orb drops down out of the sky and lands in — where else? — New York City’s Central Park. (Why New York? Well, aside from being a total cliche, why wouldn’t aliens want to visit New York?) Out pops Klaatu, a strange creature who turns out to be an alien messenger in the form of Keanu Reeves. He tells astrobiologist (and of course she’s an astrobiologist) Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) that because the humans have treated the earth so poorly, he is going to destroy them all. How trendy. (In the original 1951 film, Klaatu was there to address nuclear warfare and other Cold War–era concerns.) But this is the Age of Barack Obama, so the good scientist (and really — why are they always scientists?) believes that she can convince Klaatu that the humans can change, and thus, she can prevent Klaatu from accomplishing his mission. Thankfully, you only have to wait an hour and 45 minutes to find out if she succeeds. DTESS feels like it wants to be part horror film, thriller, and action flick, but it never really succeeds as either of those. It’s science fiction, but as mentioned, it’s pointless, ineffective science fiction. Characters — including Kathy Bates’ Secretary of Defense — speak with all the expected gravitas, but none of it seems particularly worth watching. On the plus side, DTESS looks great. But I’m still giving it a C+.

Sister, Sister

8 Dec

Of this I am certain: Doubt is one tough, challenging, and not all that festive movie. The story of a young Jewish boy and his rabbi, Doubt explores what it means to be Bar Mitzvahed when you’re … alright, of course it’s not a Jewish movie. That much is clear from the movie’s poster. Doubt is actually the story of a priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who is suspected by a nun, Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), of having abused a young boy. Does Sister Beauvier have any proof? No. But she has her certainty, and that is all she needs to lead a full-on crusade to remove him from the parish. Caught in the middle is Sister James (Amy Adams), who initially brings the charge to Sister Beauvier’s attention, but has doubts that Father Flynn is actually guilty.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning play, Doubt is one of those awards-bait movies that deal with heavy themes and feature top-notch casts. Sure enough, while it may not be career-best-level, the acting across the board — by those mentioned and by Viola Davis, who plays the young boy’s mother — is good. Streep in particular plays one of the most intimidating figures I’ve ever seen. She’s terrifying just looking at her. Set in 1964, a year after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Doubt explores not just themes of truth and religion, but also ones of change, and how the forces of tradition try to strike down any attempts to move society forward. Despite this seemingly fascinating subject matter, Doubt often fails to be fully engaging. It can also be slow at times. That said, it can also be intimate and not stuck in its theatricality, always welcome with an adaptation of a stage play.

Overall, I can’t say I loved this movie. Perhaps a more intellectual viewer will rate it higher. I’m giving Doubt a B.

They’ve Got the Blues

3 Dec

Cadillac Records tells the story of the influential Chess Records label, founded by Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) in Chicago in the 1950s, and home to such legendary artists as Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), Little Walter (Columbus Short), and Etta James (Beyoncé Knowles).

The film includes all the essentials of the musical biopic, including sex, drugs, and a sketchy manager-type — the title comes from Chess’ habit of paying off his successful artists with Cadillacs, instead of giving them the money they’re rightfully earned.

But it also includes one other very important element: great music. Continue reading →

Seriously Dark

3 Dec

I love this video and this site, and totally agree: The Dark Knight has been the best movie to be released so far this year. This well-made clip certainly backs up that claim. And on a related note, this is bull crap. And on another related note, the movie comes out on DVD this coming Tuesday. I can’t wait to watch it again.

They Come from a Land Down Under

25 Nov

Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! was such a brilliant mix of sight, sound, and story that I paid to see it three times in the theater.

(Really. I thought it was awesome and unlike anything I’d ever seen before.)

His latest film, Australia?

Not so much.

It’s a sweeping epic love story set during World War II, and it’s consistently a feast for the eyes, but the story just isn’t a compelling enough one to make it worth seeing. Continue reading →

Whole Milk

24 Nov

If you want to see tour-de-force acting, look no further than Gus Van Sant’s Milk, which features Sean Penn playing the title role of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States. The film couldn’t really be much more timely, what with barriers being broken in national elections and with Proposition 8 passing in California earlier this month. But modern-day parallels aside, Milk recounts how one man seeking to stop injustices rose up and made a difference, becoming an icon and an inspiration for people everywhere. The movie’s so good that Milk comes off as someone that gay and straight people alike can call a hero.

I don’t know how much more you need to know about the plot given that Milk is about a real person and it’s based on a true story. I’d rather tell you about the excellent cast, which besides Penn also includes James Franco as Milk’s lover, Scott; Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, Milk’s protege; and Josh Brolin as Dan White, Milk’s assassin. Franco especially gives a very moving and sympathetic performance, but all members of the cast are impressive. Van Sant tells the story in a tender and not heavy-handed way, making this a universal story and not a “gay” one or any other kind of marginalization. Milk is undoubtedly a sympathetic portrait of the man, and he comes off as one of us: someone who saw a wrong in his community and sought to make it right through sheer will and in the face of extreme prejudice. By the end of Milk, you’ll not only be cheering for Milk’s accomplishments (and Penn’s performance), you’ll be wondering why the gay community still has so far to go in terms of their quest for equal rights. I love this movie. It’s one of the best of the year, and one that I hope has an impact beyond the box office. I’m giving Milk an A–.

A Winner

23 Nov

Not since Once have I enjoyed a movie as much as I did Slumdog Millionaire.

A story of hope and love, Millionaire is a rare must-see in a crowded movie marketplace. It’s definitely one of my favorites of the year.

The plot of the movie is rather simple: When Jamal, a former street child from Mumbai, appears on the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and gets every question right, he is accused of cheating. After all, there’s no way an uneducated young man who grew up poor and without parents could get questions right that scholars and other brainy people couldn’t, right?

Well, as it turns out, every question Jamal is asked has some kind of tie to something in his life. The film jumps back and forth from the quiz show to those events, but not until the end do you really know whether it was luck, money, cheating, or destiny that lead to Jamal’s success. Continue reading →

Revenge Served Cold

17 Nov

What is there to say about the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace?

To get right to the point, it’s just not as good as Casino Royale, mostly because it’s not as character-driven or fun, and it spends too much time on forgettable action. There’s no scene in the new flick as exciting or cool as the construction site chase in Casino, for example.

But that said, Quantum is not a bad movie. It’s just disposable. Daniel Craig still projects icy cool, and he still makes a very good action hero when given the chance. Continue reading →

Synecdo-what??

10 Nov

Chances are good you’ve never seen a movie quite like Synecdoche, New York.

First of all, about that hard-to-pronounce title. The film takes place (or at least part of it does) in Schenectady, New York, where Caden Cotard (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) is living a bleak existence and is convinced he’s dying. Eager to do something with his life before he goes (“That would be the time to do it,” Caden’s therapist tells him), he seeks to create a monumental theater piece that will document his existence and show that his life has meaning.

Now, according to Dictionary.com, the word synecdoche is “a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special.”

So to that end, the play becomes intertwined with Caden’s life, and soon there are multiple actors playing the same role (in Caden’s life and in his play), and the play becomes a play within a play within a play, with scenes and lines of dialogue repeating themselves. Chronology is blurred, and you never know if you’re watching Caden’s reality or his alternate reality. Continue reading →

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