True Grit

The original “True Grit” was released in 1969. It was a classical Hollywood Western when Butch and Sundance and “The Wild Bunch” were redefining the genre. The film was a fun throwback, and there are likely no better directors today than the Coen brothers to attempt to revive that same nostalgia.

To belabor the point about Henry Hathaway’s original film, John Wayne, late in his career, was the perfect casting choice as there was no one more Hollywood than he was. His sheer charisma combined with the film’s camp appeal (and not to mention a G-rating) elevated “True Grit” to that of a real “movie” for all those that always loved taking in their old school magic.

So Joel and Ethan Coen had a test on their hands. How do you capture the charm of one of the biggest movie stars of all time, keep the film fun and in the spirit of all the greats from the ‘30s, ’40s and ‘50s and modernize the film to avoid making a shot for shot remake? Continue reading “True Grit”

Midnight in Paris

If Woody Allen were 40 years younger, I can sense him itching to get in front of the camera again for his latest film “Midnight in Paris.”

This time around, he seems to address his critics’ pleas over the last 20 years for him to simply return to the golden age of film making he had in the ‘70s and ‘80s and responds by quelling his own neuroses of nostalgia by optimistically looking towards the future.

He does so in a film dripping with love for his own nostalgic influences and styles. “Midnight in Paris” is classic Allen from the first title card. The opening shots recall “Manhattan” in every detail but the black and white. It stars Owen Wilson as a spot-on Woody Allen surrogate and Michael Sheen (sporting a convincing American accent) in the Alan Alda or Max von Sydow pompous intellectual role common throughout all of his classics. Continue reading “Midnight in Paris”

Rapid Response: Crimes and Misdemeanors

Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors” is one of his finest, yet darkest comedies he’s made. It brings up themes of human morality and meaning in life by dabbling in adultery and other sin, in this case a murder/assassination, which are familiar traits that can be found in one of his other masterpieces, “Hannah and Her Sisters.”

Martin Landau plays a respected ophthalmologist who has been seeing another woman for two years behind his wife’s back. She can’t live without him and wants to reveal herself to his wife, and he can’t deal with her neuroses and threats, so he has his brother, a sketchy con artist, arrange to have her killed.

These scenes are played strictly seriously, and Landau is excellent (he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1989) as he reflects on the religious ideas he sacrificed and forgot, only to have them now gnaw on his conscience as he questions how God judges sinners and what that has to do with his life on Earth in the present. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Crimes and Misdemeanors”

X-Men: First Class

The X-Men are a treasure trove of possibilities. Any superpower you wish you had, one of them has it, thus their immense popularity and enduring capability of this franchise. “X-Men: First Class” is the fifth installment, and fans of the films are very familiar with the names, histories and mutations of every one of them to the point that even Charles Darwin would lose track. So I would expect no less from Marvel than to exploit every miniscule detail as a way of reminding us how respectful they are of their fans and their millions of dollars in revenue.

“X-Men: First Class” is a carefully constructed film that takes no chances in contradicting the franchise that has carried it to this point. If there is a character, mutation, plot point, building, vehicle or costume that was not completely explained in the original three films or the Wolverine prequel, it is here. It is Marvel’s way of ensuring there will be at least a sixth installment, and God knows how many more.

The difference is that director Matthew Vaughn (“Kick-Ass”) is given mild liberties to not take these details strictly seriously. For instance, it has long been a question of why in Bryan Singer’s two films we see little of the classic costume designs the way Stan Lee drew them in the original comic book series. Surely Vaughn is forced to answer the reason behind Lee’s kitschy ‘60s style, but he’s allowed to do so by making his film a psychedelic period piece. Set pieces, dialogue and women’s clothing choices are rightfully emblematic of a comic series that began as campy fun, and split screen montages are goofy departures from a film otherwise focused on the dourness in the Holocaust and Cuban Missile Crisis. Continue reading “X-Men: First Class”

Fish Tank

Andrea Arnold’s tough film “Fish Tank” explores the contradictions between a teenager’s ambitions, emotions, relationships, environment, choices and consequences. Rarely has a film captured as truly the entire roller coaster that is growing up as a bitter, confused 15-year-old girl.

Mia, as played by the unprofessional actress Katie Jarvis, is the jaded and violent British girl living in slummy apartments in London, and as the entire film stems from her perspective, Jarvis is uncompromising in her energy and range as she guides herself through her own urges and uncertainties.

She begins the film in an abandoned blue apartment building. She comes to this refuge as a place to practice her secret ambitions to be a dancer, but when inside, she doesn’t forget her unbridled emotion to the rest of the world. She has no friends, constantly fights to free a horse chained in a parking lot and gets in shouting matches with her mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing) and her younger sister Keeley (Sarah Bayes). All three frequent the “C” word when referring to one another. Continue reading “Fish Tank”

Inglourious Basterds

Unlike “Pulp Fiction,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” pushes no new boundaries in terms of cinema; so it may just fall in at number two on Tarantino’s best list. But this film is a testament to his lifelong passion with movies.
“Inglourious Basterds” displays directing, acting, writing, cinematography and art direction at its finest, and it is the best movie of 2009.

Tarantino’s episodic tale is not a World War II epic but a story set in 1940’s occupied France. His acute obsession with the intricacies and depth of his characters drives the action, and the result is a verbose yet invigorating endeavor. The film clocks in at two and a half hours, but these dialogue riddled scenes each more intense than the last make the time fly by. And yet, the film only has anywhere between 10 and 15 scenes. Tarantino moves the action along through his conversations, and if violence is a consequence or resolution to the scene, it is because his characters have led it to that point.

So any fanboy attending “Inglourious Basterds” may have to wait for the blood to hit the fan, and they will no doubt be praising the beautifully orchestrated violence Tarantino can conjure, but in their patience they will not be disappointed. Tarantino’s screenplay is the crowning achievement of the film, and it’s well deserving of his Oscar nomination. Continue reading “Inglourious Basterds”

American Graffiti

There was a time in American history where all the kids in town could be found at the sock hop or the local drive-up diner or simply driving down Main Street. Everyone was innocent and carefree, and the radio was playing constantly. The year is 1973, and “American Graffiti” was in theaters.

The time I’m actually describing is 1962, which George Lucas’s second film captures so beautifully. “American Graffiti” is a touching, heartfelt period piece and vignette, the kind of American film that simply doesn’t get made anymore. Perhaps Lucas’s own “Star Wars” had something to do with that.

There is not so much a story as the tiny little anecdotes of life about a group of teenagers in this small town, two of whom will be leaving for college the next day. These kids are innocent and happy, but there is truthfully a lot of drama going around. And because they express their thoughts and their problems so lovingly, we enjoy “American Graffiti” because we realize these are people we’d like to know and a time in which we’d like to escape to.

The film was a huge success, nominated for Best Picture for producer Francis Ford Coppola and Best Director Lucas. The film put Lucas on the map, allowing him the resources to actually go out and make “Star Wars,” but it also gave him and the rest of the ‘70s some valuable resources. Continue reading “American Graffiti”

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Martin Sheen said about “Apocalypse Now” that if he knew then all that he would have to deal with over the agonizing 16 month shoot, one that sent him through the Philippine jungle and back and gave him a heart attack along the way, he would have never agreed to it. Today, he has no regrets, because I would imagine that not he, nor any critic on Earth, would think about Sheen having a heart attack while watching this masterpiece of cinema.

Francis Ford Coppola’s film is easily the best of the Vietnam War movies, and in my book one of the best of all time. To watch “Apocalypse Now” is to become immersed and dragged deeper into the horror that is war all while remaining distant, confused and utterly hopeless at the idea of ever fully understanding violence. Continue reading “Apocalypse Now (1979)”

Rapid Response: Dances With Wolves

There was probably a period of time when I could’ve gotten away with not seeing “Dances With Wolves,” the 1990 Best Picture winner, for a little while longer, but the film has gained some attention of late with a Blu-Ray release, comparisons to “Avatar” and Kevin Costner having his first good role in years in “The Company Men.”

Even at three hours in length, the film absorbed me wholly and was quite simple to watch. Its plot is simple and not as poetic or profound as say, Terrence Malick’s Pocahontas story “The New World,” but it’s a gorgeous looking Western with a strong story telling presence. Any comparisons between this and “Avatar” are exaggerated, for while that film is very much a fish-out-of-water parable about Native Americans, the Iraq War and the environment (no intention of overselling James Cameron’s epic), “Dances With Wolves” is very much a story of identity and internal discovery. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Dances With Wolves”

Rapid Response: Children of Paradise

I watched Marcel Carne’s “Children of Paradise” without any prior knowledge to what it was or the history behind it. The 1945 film is a sprawling epic romance from France set in 1860s Paris. The scale of the film is impressive but not distracting, the performances are spot on and the screenplay is possibly one of the best ever written. Although it does not have the cynical bite of the French New Wave films less than two decades later, it is poetic, witty, deep, complex in its painting of even the smallest characters and wholly alive in its portrayal.

I was simply immersed in the dialogue, specifically with how many intelligent and quotable lines about love, life and philosophy presented themselves so effortlessly. And some of the characters are just so well spoken, most notably the Shakespearean actor Frederick Lemaitre, that you wonder how a script so clever could not be a comedy. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Children of Paradise”