movie review

Film Review: OFF THE RAILS (USA 2016) ***

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off_the_rails_poster.jpgOFF THE RAILS (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Adam Irving

Starring: Charles Bilal, Courtney Brown, Sally Butler

Review by Gilbert Seah

OFF THE RAILS is the story of a black man who has spent a majority of his life on the NYC subway and buses. But he is not an employee but a transit worker impersonator who has landed himself in jail 32 for criminal impersonation of NYC Subway workers, hijacking trains and buses, endangering the lives of the public and a whole lot of assorted charges.

Why make a documentary of such an unimportant person and who would want to watch a documentary on such a person? Co-writer and director Irving makes it a point to make his documentary on Darius McCollum one of the most intriguing and entertaining documentaries that it won the prize of the top 20 Audience Popular docs at Canada’s Hot Docs Festival.

Irving has clearly done his homework. He has assembled everything about Darius and has shown him to be a most unfortunate victim of the U.S. system. One cannot help but feel both pity for the man yet wanting to punish him for his deed. But there is more……. Darius McCollum is revealed as a man with Asperger’s syndrome who cannot help himself.

A patient with Asperger’s is one who can deal with objects better than human beings. But Irving includes two human beings that affect Darius the most. One is his mother who is interviewed on film. Their letters of correspondence while Darius is serving sentence are read aloud. The other woman in his life, an immigrant from Ecuador who can hardly speak a word of English is also interviewed. Here, the audience sees that even true love cannot alter Darius’s obsession with the NYC Transit System.

Like many a successful documentarist, Director Irvin know how to rally his audience’s emotions. Irving has as his target the U.S. judicial system. Darius is an unfortunate sick man who has not done anyone any harm, though it is made clear that he could have, given the opportunity. Darius offers the police information on the weaknesses of the transit in order to better protect citizens from possible terrorist attacks on the subway. Yet because of fear of being contacted by terrorist while incarcerated, Darius is put into solitary confinement. His lawyer clearly states that no system would punish a man who has helped them in this way.

OFF THE RAILS is not without humour. Irving parodies jail with the transit system. “The doors are closing,” is heard in voiceover as the jail doors automatically close shut. The way in which Darius manoeuvres his way around the system is quite hilarious.

OFF THE RAILS is a very thorough examination of Darius McCollum. The origin of his sickness is shown to be catalyzed from a stabbing by a pair of scissors in school when he was a kid during a snow day. Asperger’s experts also explain Darius’s behaviour in impersonating transit personnel and his comfort within the transit system.

An obvious solution is to have Darius hired by NYC Transit. But Transit has replied that Darius is a risk and Transit cannot have the safety of the many millions of riders lie in the hands of someone who never obeys the rule book.

OFF THE RAILS finally emerges as both an entertaining and absorbing documentary about an ordinary person with a problem. The doc is tremendously effective because that ordinary person that is the subject in OFF THE RAILS could be any one of us.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/160158306

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Film Review: THE AGE OF SHADOWS (South Korea 2016) ***1/2

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the_age_of_shadows_poster.jpgTHE AGE OF SHADOWS (South Korea 2016) ***1/2
Directed by Kim Jee Woon

Starring: Byung-hun Lee, Yoo Gong, Kang-ho Song

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE AGE OF SHADOWS (original title SECRET AGENT) marks the second hugely successful patriotic South Korean film released this summer. The first OPERATION CHROMITE was far too serious failing to convince audiences with its plausible plot despite having Liam Neeson as General McArthur in the cast. THE AGE OF SHADOWS is a much better film because it improves in the credibility department.

Asian patriotic films are often a problem with western audiences. For one, westerners are unfamiliar with Asian history such as the Japanese/South Korean conflict in this film. Asian patriotic films are often confusing. This one is a little at the start, and runs a little too long (2 hours and 20 minutes) for its own good.

THE AGE OF SHADOWS thankfully, contains lots of intrigue, like the best of spy movies. The beginning segment has an exciting chase amidst rooftops that ends dramatically with the victim’s big toe being taken off.

If one wishes to complain that audiences may be aloof at the film’s historical content, there is a full torture scene with a red hot iron that will will make anyone wince.

A crucial portion of the plot involves Captain Lee (Song Kang Ho from THE HOST), initially a spy for the Japanese switching to the Korean side. A fair amount of screen time is devoted to this important subplot. Captain Lee is shown with the Resistance Leader drinking a whole barrel of liquor before taken night fishing. Important words are exchanged: “You can’t trust words; you can only trust in deeds…..To which side (country) will you write your history?… etc,” do the trick efficiently.

As for espionage suspense, the train sequence is one of the best that even Hitchcock will be proud off. The Resistance fighters are on board carrying the explosives, followed by the Japanese and Captain Lee who has jet switched sides with the Resistance. As the Resistance changes plans, the new plans are immediately known as there is a rat among them. Included is a standoff that ends with a shoot out in the train carriages with the wind blowing right through the train’s broken windows.

One problem this film might incur is its inherent racism. Besides the Koreans played as good looking (the men) and pretty (the women), the Japanese are portrayed as evil and creepy. The torture segment would be deemed too effective that it might incur more hatred by the Koreans towards the Japanese.

Of all the actors, supporting actor Tae-Goo Um stands out as the super creepy (complete with pencil-thin moustache, crooked nose and over high cheek bones) Japanese agent ordered to bring in the Resistance. His tongue-in-cheek performance perfectly compliments Song’s seriousness as Captain Lee.

The film also benefits from an authentic period atmosphere together with costumes and vintage cars, trains and other props. The landscape of the Korean countryside also adds to the film’s rugged beauty.

THE AGE OF SHADOWS emerges as a film several notches up from OPERATION CHROMITE. Despite a non-white cast, the film should appeal more to western audiences as well.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iII68QCGEDo

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Film Review: TRANSPECOS (USA 2016) ***1/2

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transpecos_poster.jpgTRANSPECOS (USA 2016) ***1/2

Directed by Greg Kwedar

Starring: Johnny Simmons, Gabriel Luna, Clifton Collins Jr.

Review by Gilbert Seah

Co-written and directed by Greg Kwedar, this thriller/drama has the odd setting of the desert surrounding a makeshift U.S./Mexican border control post. It begins as a drama about the three stationed patrol agents that turns into a thriller once trouble starts. The set-up seems so ideal for a superb thriller that one wonders why no other filmmaker has ever made a film with this setting.

The film stars three excellent unknown actors Johnny Simmons, Gabriel Luna, and Clifton Collins, Jr. as border patrol agents Benjamin Davis, Lances Flores and Lou Hobbs respectively. The film begins with the three buddying around, making jokes about their job and talking trash. It is a good way to start the film where the audience is introduced to the 3 characters. It turns out that Hobbs is the senior no-nonsense guard, willing to put everything into the job. Davis is the youngest and most immature while Flores the most level-headed. It is Flores that the story concentrates on. Gabriel Luna is nothing short of perfect in his role as Flores and the film succeeds primarily from his performance. Luna is able to bring the audience at any time to tears or to draw them to the subject at hand.

The trouble in paradise starts when a car is stopped by Hobbs. The car is carrying a hidden stash of cocaine and in the process of stopping the car, Hobbs is wounded by Davis. The driver of the car is shot and killed. It is revealed that Davis is in with the drug smuggling as the drug cartel has his family at ransom. “They know everything,” Davis tells Flores, “even when my sister goes to the grocery store.” But how Davis got into trouble with the cartel is not revealed. Though it does not really affect the rest of the film, one is still curious to know. Now, Davis pulls out his gun on Hobbs and Flores and decides to do the drop off off the cocaine himself to protect himself and his family. But Flores has to deal with both the wounded Hobbs while trying to save his buddy Davis.

It appears to be a lose-lose situation. There is no way out, with jail appearing to be the best alternative and the cartel killing them to be the worst scenario.

The rest of the film has the two of them, Flores and Davis dealing with the cartel. Though TRANSPECOS is not an action film, the necessary action segments are accomplished with sufficient expertise.

The desert setting is used to its full potential. The most beautiful segment, courtesy of Cinematographer Jeffrey Waldron has Flores crawling up a hill of sand silhouetted by the sun, his body shown in shadows. The segment in which the Hobbs is brought to an old Mexican medicine woman deserves mention. It brings the culture and beliefs of the people of the area into the picture completing the atmosphere of the story.
The film works best as a character study of patrol guards in the desert setting. It succeeds less as a suspense film trying to sort out a solution. But as an absorbing film in which the audience can identify with its characters, TRANSPECOS definitely succeeds with full marks.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osD5DjWnLXE

 

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THE GIRL KING (Sweden/France/Canada/Germany/Finland 2016) ***

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the_girl_king_poster.jpgTHE GIRL KING (Sweden/France/Canada/Germany/Finland 2015) ***
Directed by Maki Kaurismaki

Starring: Malin Buska, Sarah Gadon, Michael Nyqvist

Review by Gilbert Seah

Though one might initially shrug at a costume period film on European royalty, this true story of a queen from age 6 might instead, turn heads. THE GIRL KING paints a portrait of the brilliant, extravagant Kristina of Sweden. She fights the conservative forces that are against her ideas to modernize Sweden as she begins her sexual awakening and her love for women. The film is also a Canadian co-production that went on two win two awards at the 2015 Montreal World Film Festival – for Best Actress Malin Buska in the lead role and for the most Popular Canadian First feature.

Maki Kaurismaki (Aki’s older brother) introduces certain controversial segments that question whether they actually happen. One of these is the one in which Descartes is summoned to Queen Kristina’s court to perform an incision from the brain (open surgery) where he removes what he claims is the seat of a man’s soul. It is a gruesome scene where many of the court leave and also one that will make many an audience wince.

Kaurismaki shows the two sides of Queen Kristina – her strong willed side as well as her weak one. The audience will both take her side and the side against her at different points in the film. Her romance with the countess (Canada’s own Sarah Gadon) is displayed less than a love story than Kristina’s weakness leading to her downfall.

Kaurismaki’s GIRL KING is not the first film made on the controversial Queen Kristina.
Besides several stage productions, the most famous was Greta Garbo’s portrayal in Rouben Mamoulian’s 1933 classic QUEEN CHRISTINA which totally ignored her gay romance with her lady-in-waiting. Given the modernity and freedom of today’s times, THE GIRL KING is the most open in the gay treatment of the material, including a scene with a roll in the bed.
But Kaurismaki’s film surprisingly lacks real drama, despite many dramatic confrontations the best being the one between Kristina and her mother. But most of the film often feels like history lesson, bumped up a bit with emotions that do not affect the audience.

During the Coronation speech when Queen Kristina is opposed after she quotes French philosopher Rene Descartes and imposes peace for the sake of learning, her Counsellor stands up and declares ; “This is Queen Kristina, and when she speaks, she commands!” But she is often opposed by the court and does not always get her way. The end of the film has titles that heard her victory in achieving academia for Sweden, tough how this come about is not explained. The only thing she did was to bring philosopher Descartes to her court.

THE GIRL KING is one of Kaurismaki’s most dramatic features. He as a credit of 35 directorial films. His other films have been slight and mostly forgettable. Though not in any means the best 10 films of the year, THE GIRL KING is a worthy effort and will well be remembered as one of Maki Kaurismaki’s better films.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxL0S78DZfc

 

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Film Review: QUEEN OF KATWE (USA 2016) ***

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queen_of_katwe_poster.jpgQUEEN OF KATWE (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Mira Nair

Starring: Madina Nalwanga, David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong’o

Review by Gilbert Seah

The film is based on the book entitled “The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster” by Tim Crothers. The title itself tells exactly what is going to happen in the Disney film – Disney Studios the one being most famous for making formulaic films. Do we need then to watch this movie?
Apparently a lot of people think so. QUEEN OF KATWE has already been selected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and the London Film Festival later in November.

QUEEN OF KATWE is directed by Indian American Mira Nair. She is an odd choice for the job having taken on controversial projects like THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST. But she has directed crowd pleasers like MISSISSIPPI MASALA and SALAAM BOMBAY! The public will likely be quite pleased with QUEEN OF KATWE as Nair hits as many right notes as she can in this biographical sports drama.

For sports dramas where the sport involved is football or soccer or boxing, whoever watching the game knows what is happening and who might be winning. The same cannot be said for chess. Even at the crucial moment of a checkmate, by looking at the pieces on the board, no one can tell what is happening. This is a challenge for the director who needs to incite excitement in the game. This is achieved in one vey funny part when one character asks another during a match. “What does it mean?” The answer is jubilantly shouted: “It means she is winning!”
The film begins in 2011 when Phiona is playing in the chess championships. The rest of the film is told mainly in flashback – how Phiona has reached this point in her life and the film carries on from here.

Once can hardly complain about Nair’s direction or William Wheeler’s script. The film is thorough to include everything that an underdog has to go through to become a champion. The girl Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) and her family are evicted form her home; Phiona comes into conflict with her uneducated mother (Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong’o) who understands little of the importance of education; she loses an important game; she learns humility etc. etc. etc. By the time the film gets to the last reel with the climatic crucial chess game, the story has stretched out far too long. But for many who love getting their right buttons pushed. QUEEN OF KATWE will likely have them reaching for their tissues. David Oyelowo plays her coach Robert Katende, who always has the right advice for everyone and cannot do the wrong thing.
The best and most important part of the film is the one in which Phiona grows too proud after winning a game and decides she is too special to wash the vegetables for her mother. Her mother pulls her out of bed in the important scene screaming that maybe Phiona needs her feet washed as well.

The film ends well with each actor standing beside the real character their portrayed. There are no photos here, real people with real actors.

The film will be screened with in conjunction with a delightful and inventive animated short called INNER WORKINGS (director Leo Matsuda) – a sort of alternative take on INSIDE OUT. Running just over 5 minutes., this terribly funny film outshines QUEEN OF KATWE. But QUEEN won the runner-up prize for the People’s Choice Award at the recent TIFF.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4l3-_yub5A

Film Review: KICKS (USA 2016) ****

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kicks_poster.jpgKICKS (USA 2016) ****
Directed by Justin Tipping

Starring: Jahking Guillory, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Christopher Meyer

Review by Gilbert Seah

KICKS is the ‘nigga’ term for shoes and refers to the pair of red Jordan sneakers Brandon (Jahking Guillory) bought and lost within the same day. The film brings a new look to the term ‘red shoes’.

“Get your nigga ass over here.” are words used instead of “Please, come here,” in the film. This is one example of the common black slang used in KICKS. KICKS is a spirited African American film that puts the audience right in the hood. The hood in this case is Richmond of East Bay, California. Similar to Vittorio de Sica’s classic BICYCLE THIEVES, the protagonist gets his prized possession, his KICKS stolen. Updated to the present, the victim, unlike the Italian who got the bike quietly stolen, Brandon is beaten up, insulted and has his beaten ass photographed on a cellphone and uploaded on to YouTube.

Justin Tipping’s film has a simple premise. 15-year old Brandon longs for a pair of the coolest sneakers that money can buy, assuming that merely having them on his feet will help him escape the reality of being poor, neglected by the opposite sex and picked on by everyone – even his best friends. His best friends – good-looking Lothario Rico (Christopher Meyer) and wisecracking Albert (Christopher Jordan Wallace, son of the Notorious B.I.G.) – are hilarious, making fun of Brandon half the time, while trying to get it on with the chicks. Working hard to get them which he eventually does, hilariously from a street hustler (he is too naive to question if they are genuine), he soon finds that the shoes have instead made him a target after they are promptly snatched by Flaco (Kofi Siriboe), a local hood. Brandon goes on a mission to retrieve his stolen sneakers, even stealing a gun in the process.

Tipping has plenty of style on display. He makes good use of slow motion from the car spinning competition (making the sequence look like a majestic symphony), to the rap music to the upbeat titles that precede each segment. It also helps that his characters are interesting as well as funny. Brandon learns a few life lessons on the way. Though Brandon finally gets his sneakers back, the question that finally bogs him, is whether all the effort is worth it. He is now on the watch for Flaco who he knows will hunt him down to get the shoes back. And his best buddies are hurt in the process.

Another feature of Tipping’s film is the depiction of Flaco’s character . Flaco, though first shown as a tough thug, is later shown giving the shoes to his young son (Michael Smith Jr.). When the sneakers are taken by Brandon, Flaco drags his young son on a mission to teach Brandon a lesson. The narrative sacrifices a portion dedicated to the character of Flaco with effective results.

2016 will be remembered for some fine black low budget films. At the Toronto International Film Festival, highlights were MOONLIGHT, I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO and BIRTH OF A NATION. Though KICKS did not play at the festival, it is the most original and entertaining of the lot.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rci4qxqcooA

Film Review: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (USA 2016) ***

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the_magnificent_seven_poster.jpgTHE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Antoine Fuqua

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Haley Bennett

Review by Gilbert Seah

This 2016 version that opened the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival is a western film remade from John Sturges’ successful 1960 version that itself was a remake of the 1955 Samurai film called SEVEN SAMURAI by Akira Kurosawa. Those who have seen either of the remakes know that either one was much superior. But Fuqua’s updated version is true to its source, still fun and pays loyal homage to the classic western in every department.

The story, simple enough is one that most are familiar with. A band of 7 misfits are recruited to save a town from an evil land baron. They succeed with some losses no doubt.

The original 7 spawned a sequel and this one should as well, as this film seems destined to be a hit, helped by the fact that there is no competing action film out right now.
THE MAGNIFICENT 7 are played by:
Denzel Washington as Sam Chisolm, a bounty hunter, the leader of the Seven
Chris Pratt as Josh Farraday, a gambler with a fondness for explosives
Ethan Hawke as Goodnight Robicheaux, a sharpshooter
Vincent D’Onofrio as Jack Horne, a tracker
Byung-hun Lee as Billy Rocks, an assassin[9]
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Vasquez, a Mexican outlaw
Martin Sensmeier as Red Harvest, a Comanche warrior

The cast is excellent though a few like 2-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington has nothing much to do but grit his teeth. Director Fuqua has directed both Washington and Hawke before in TRAINING DAY and it is of no surprise that they play the two lead characters in the story, though the dullest of the 7. The most interesting of the 7 are the asian characters, Red Harvest who eats a raw heart and Billy Rock a Japanese with a hidden history though played by a Korean star.

Peter Sarsgaard plays the main villain Bartholomew Bogue, a corrupt industrialist well enough for an audience to hiss and boo at him.

For all that this remake is worth, Fuqua appears apt at setting up the action set-pieces, right from the very first scene when the town is taken over by Bogue. The mid-section when the 7 rid the town of Bogue’s men and the final showdown are all expertly setup from the camera angles, to the close-ups, to the fights right down to the way the sun shines through the camera lenses (cinematography by Mauro Fiore), as is seen so often during the old westerns. The screen also saturates to red like the old 60’s credits of the spaghetti westerns.

Just as the confrontational shootout at the climax is riddled with bullets, the film is also riddled with cliches. When Robicheaux is reprimanded by Chisolm after turning chicken and taking off the night before, one knows he is going to show up the next day to help the fight. When another Red Indian is shown as one of Bogue’s new recruits, he and Red Harvest will face off in a hand-to-hand combat fight. The Mexican and the gambler throwing insults at each other will end up saving each other’s lives. And the villain and the hero, Bogue an Chisolm eventually meet for a gunfight draw in the true western tradition.
Fans of westerns will not be disappointed with THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. The only surprise in the movie is that the entire film, directed by Fuqua has only one black character, throne played by Washington.

There is no credit mention of Sturges’s MAGNIFICENT SEVEN or Kurosawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI in the end credits though Elmer Berstein is credited with his MAGNIFICENT SEVEN score which was used in Fuqua’s film. But the film is dedicated to James Horner, who partly did the music for the film and passed away before the film’s completion.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anyMa2gN6uw

Film Review: MILLER’S CROSSING, 1990

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Tribute review as it’s Ethan Coen’s birthday today.


millers_crossing_posterMILLER’S CROSSING, 1990
Movie Reviews

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Gabriel Byrne; Marcia Gay Harden; John Turturro; Jon Polito; Albert Finney
Review by Tom Coatsworth

SYNOPSIS:

A gangland war erupts; one mobster falls from power as another rises; a lover’s triangle tears two friends apart. The one man owes the other — to repay him he must go undercover and join the enemy, forsaking love and friendship – he must go to Miller’s Crossing.

REVIEW:

Oh for the days when the talented brothers Coen knew how to finish a film. With ‘Millers’ Crossing’ they hit the sweet spot — a complex tale set in Prohibition – a tale of love, betrayal and redemption; featuring a gangland war between Irish and Italian mobs, and two lover’s triangles – one straight, one gay. It springs from the Dashiell Hammett style of crime story; plays with the genre, masters it, and then transcends it altogether to become something greater.

Tom Reagan (Byrne) is right hand man to Leo’s (Albert Finney) gang leader. Tom sees all the angles. Its 1929, an Eastern city. (Filmed in New Orleans.) Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito) wants to rub out Bernie Bernbaum but he needs Leo’s permission. Bernie has been tampering with the fix. Every time Caspar fixes a fight the odds go straight to hell – this on account Bernie (John Turturro) has the inside scoop from Mink – Eddie Dane’s boy – and the Dane works for Caspar. Love triangle number two.

For Tom it’s simple: Leo should let Johnny bump off Bernie. Johnny’s too valuable for business and too strong to ignore, whereas Bernie is a worthless grifter who will bring no good to anyone. The catch is Leo is seeing Verna (Harden), Bernie’s sister. The double catch is that Tom is also bedding Verna on the sly: love triangle number one. But he won’t let bedroom politics interfere with business. Leo tells Johnny to dangle – he’s not selling out Verna’s brother.

Writers generally introduce their theme in Act 1. The Coen’s tell us on page one, line one, in Johnny Caspars’ ironic speech to Leo: ‘friendship, character, ethics’. It’s funny that a mobster is concerned with ethics and character when it comes to the fix and laying a bet, but that is the central issue in the film. Tom can barely live with himself for betraying his friend and boss. His desire to make good is the driving force in the narrative. But he’s a complicated character, expertly played by Byrne, and you’re never quite sure what his motivation is.

So Leo puts a tail on Verna for protection. The man winds up dead in an alley; Leo blames Johnny and orders a police crack down — a huge mob war ensues. In a remarkable sequence that took weeks to shoot we see Leo at home enjoying a cigar in bed while ‘Danny Boy’ plays on the phonograph. Downstairs his bodyguard lies dead, his fallen cigarette starts a fire. Two thugs with Tommie guns and trench coats move ominously up the stairs. Cut to Leo enjoying the tune and his stogy – but something catches his eye – smoke rising through the floor boards.

He moves to the side of the bed. Cut to the assassins walking down the hall. Leo watches the door, puts out his stogy. The door bursts open, Leo reaches for his bedside pistol and hits the deck, ducking beneath the bed — a spray of bullets splintering floorboards. Leo caps one in the ankle; the man falls, catching another bullet in the brain. The other punk flees. Leo has a Tommie gun now – he jumps from the second story window and as the house goes up in flames he makes the bad guy do a little dance as he pumps him full of lead. (It is completely gratuitous violence and we are bad bad children for enjoying it.)

Suddenly a getaway car bursts from the shadows spewing machine gun fire. Leo turns with authority and takes out the car; it hits a tree, bursts into flames. Leo brings the stogy from his pocket and plants it in his mouth as ‘Danny Boy’ finishes — astonishing.

His victory is short lived however as the momentum and power move to Caspar. Tom tries to get Leo to see the truth of his situation – that Bernie is the heart of the problem and not Caspar. But Leo is blinded by love and wants to marry Verna; so Tom comes clean and admits to the affair. Leo throws Tom and Verna out of his life and she ends up at Toms. There is some talk of going away together but Tom makes a grim decision.

Caspar is king now. Tom goes to his office, offering his smarts – despite a weakness for booze and horses he’s the wisest guy in a town full of wise guys. So Caspar takes him on if he’ll sell out Bernie and Tom goes for it. But he doesn’t expect to find himself at Miller’s Crossing, a dark forest where the weak go to die, a gun in his hand — a tearful Bernie begging for his life — with orders to put one in the brain. How far will he go to help his old friend, Leo? And what will it cost him?

Is there a finer film composer than Carter Burwell? Ummm…maybe. But you had to think about it. He’s one of the best. Every film he touches plumbs hidden depths in his hands. Marcia Gay Harden makes her film debut with a stellar performance and some of the greatest dialogue: Tom: “All in all not a bad guy — if looks, brains and personality don’t count”. Verna: “You better hope they don’t”.

Byrne is magnificent as Tom Reagan, and John Turturro makes his reputation with this one performance. Barry Sonnenfeld is cinematographer; Dennis Gassner, production design. We’ve come to expect exceptional writing from the brothers but this is just ridiculously good writing.

The Coen’s will sort out their performance problems one day; I envision a late return to form. In the meantime we have this early masterpiece – completely ignored at the 1991 Oscars – it stands today with the very finest films of that decade, indeed of any decade.

 

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millers_crosing.jpg

Film Review: RAISING ARIZONA, 1987

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Tribute review as it’s Ethan Coen’s birthday today.

RAISING ARIZONA MOVIE POSTER
RAISING ARIZONA
Movie Reviews

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter
Review by Andrew Rowe

SYNOPSIS:

When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family’s quintupelets, their lives get more complicated than they anticipated.

REVIEW:

10 minutes, that’s how long Raising Arizona rolls until the title card hits. If this sounds odd it is, but so is everything else about the Coen Brothers’ second film. As they’ve often done throughout their career, the brothers normally follow-up a serious film with a comedy. Fargo led to The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men led to Burn After Reading. With Raising Arizona the brothers had just come from the neo-noir Blood Simple, their first ever film. Where as that film dealt with deception and murder in the shadows of Texas, Raising Arizona basks in the sun with non-stop slapstick, silly fun.

Nicholas Cage stars as Hi, or H.I. if you’re talking to his friends. He’s a petty criminal who has a thing for robbing convenience stores with ammo-less guns. Because he doesn’t use armed weapons his jail sentences are always small in length, which allows for multiple visits. During these multiple visits he meets Ed, a policewoman played by Holly Hunter. Ed’s fiance leaves her, which opens up the door for Hi to reform and win her heart. This is when the Raising Arizona title card hits.

The unlikely couple moves into a trailer in the desert and realize they need something more in their life because they have too much love to give. After multiple attempts of conception, they learn that Ed is unable to bare children and due to Hi’s criminal record, unable to adopt. Devastated, hope arrives in the form of the ‘Arizona Quints’, 5 boys that are born to a locally famous unpainted furniture storeowner, Nathan Arizona.

Hi and Ed decide that abducting one of the boys for themselves is a good idea and do so. After welcoming the child into their home, Hi and Ed are greeted by two of Hi’s friends from prison, Gale and Evelle, John Goodman, and William Forsythe. The two inmates have broken out of prison because the institution no longer had anything to offer them. Against Ed’s wishes, the two fugitives stay at their home where they begin to influence Hi.

At this same time a heavily armed bounty hunter by the name of Leonard Smalls, “My friends call me Lenny… only I ain’t got no friends”, is on the hunt for the child. Blowing up bunny rabbits with grenades, Leonard is fear itself. Gale and Evelle eventually learn of the child’s actual identity and decide to turn him in for the reward money. Everyone collides on a strip in the middle of the desert highway that involves a bank robbery, gunfire, hand-to-hand combat, screeching tires, and a large explosion.

The script, written by the Coens possesses their trademark tongue-in-cheek dialogue as well as an explosive climax and slow burn denouement. No one writes stupid characters like the Coens do. These people that inhabit the film aren’t very bright, and it’s hard to believe anyone in the world could be of this level of intelligence, but the Coens draw you in, first making the world they live in real, then the characters, then the silly things they do. Besides the charming dialogue, there are so many ridiculous sight gags that you may not even catch them all the first time around.

Raising Arizona is arguably the craziest movie the Coen Brother’s have made in their three-decade career, and that’s saying a lot. The film acts as a live-action Saturday morning cartoon. Working for the second time with cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld who had shot their debut film Blood Simple, the visuals on screen are closer to a Dr. Seuss book than any of the current film adaptations. Using his trademark wide angles, everything remains in focus allowing the viewer to fully appreciate the immaculate Art Direction. The camera also moves with the action at the right time giving certain scenes a feeling that the camera is a character in the film, namely a chase scene through a house, and a fistfight between two characters.

The actors do a tremendous job of bringing these cartoon characters to life. John Goodman who would go on to work with the Coens several more times is perfect as Gale, the harder of the two brothers and number one bad influence on Hi. Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter have great comedic chemistry and give weight to characters that otherwise wouldn’t have much soul. Hi may just be a dummy, but he’s a dummy with a large heart that wants nothing more than for his Ed to be happy. He is like Bugs Bunny mixed with Wilde Coyote, he’ll get away from Elmer Fudd only to celebrate and have an anvil fall on his head. Randall “Tex” Cobb is a towering inferno on wheels, and makes lighting a match look almost as cool as Clint Eastwood.

It’s of course the Coens that bring it all together. The characters all seem real in this colorful world they’ve created. The slapstick is done wonderfully and gives you a nostalgic feeling of when these Buster Keaton-style comedies were king. It’s just a really fun movie that’ll have you laughing and shaking your head in tandem. This film is also the Coen’s most family friendly; it is almost Disney-like in some aspects.

The film’s innocence is something rarely seen in today’s crop of comedies as well as in the Coen’s filmography. It doesn’t feature as dark of humor or the violence that comes with most Coen Brothers’ films, but here that’s a good thing. The film is a great little gem that shouldn’t be missed.

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Film Review: WONDER BOYS, 2000

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Tribute review for director Curtis Hanson who died today at the age of 71. 

wonder_boys_posterWONDER BOYS, 2000
Movie Reviews

Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Starring: Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Tobey Maguire, Katie Holes, Rip Torn
Review by Jarred Thomas

SYNOPSIS:

English Professor, Grady Tripp, tries to deal with his wife leaving him, the arrival of his editor who has been waiting for his book for seven years, and the various problems that his friends and associates involve him in.

REVIEW:

Struggling Professor Grady Tripp (Douglas) is writing his second novel coming off the success of his first novel, The Arsonist’s Daughter. However, suffering from writer’s block, Tripp is unable to complete the second novel, and continues to add more pages to the already two thousand page novel. Meanwhile, he is having an affair with Sara Gaskell (McDormand) the wife of chairman of the English department, Walter. He struggles between confessing his love for Sara while also resolving issues with his current, and third wife Emily.

One of Tripp’s students, Hannah Green (Holmes) has a crush on him while another promising and talented student, James (Maguire) is having personal problems that are beginning to affect his work. To make matters worse, his editor, Terry Crabtree (Downey) arrives looking for information on Tripp’s second novel. There are many characters in Wonder Boys, all with unique and appealing personalities, but each one is given enough time to develop and the actors do an excellent job in fleshing the characters out.

The films eccentric dry humor is refreshing and captivating as the story unfolds and the quirky nature of everyone comes to surface for some entertaining moments. Crabtree in particular, played to perfection by Robert Downey Jr., is certainly one of the most complex individuals in the film. His frivolous and sarcastic nature only masks his depressed and insecure feelings towards himself. Tripp realizes that Crabtree is seen as a joke over at the company where he works because Tripp has yet to finish his book. So, everyone looks at Crabtree, Tripp’s editor, as a failure and company joke.

Katie Holmes does a nice job as well. Early in 2000 it seemed as if Holmes was appearing in a few indie pictures to boost her acting credits, and it worked. Three years later she was the lead in Pieces of April, a film about a woman preparing dinner for her family coming to visit her in her new apartment. Although it was quietly released, Holmes received critical praise. Another actor however with a stand out performance comes from Toby Maguire as the troubled James desperately seeking acceptance from his peers and more importantly his mentor Tripp.

The quirky and eccentric nature of James hides the mysterious parts of his life, which he keeps concealed from others despite their interests in trying to know him. James accompanies Tripp on his adventure to speak with Emily, and the pair bond over pot smoking and murdering the chairman dogs, but to be fair it was self defense; one of the funniest moments in the film. Maguire is an exceptional actor and it’s great to see him in films that allow his to show his talent. The relationship Tripp and James develop throughout the course of the film comes off sincere and genuine as the two connect on past circumstances that led them to where they are now.

The film during its release was well received with critical praise however it’s not well known despite the rave performances and excellent storytelling. Wonder Boys is one of those hidden gems that only a select few seemed to be aware of. Michael Douglas is not in a lot films these days and to see him in Wonder Boys is a reminder of his prowess as one of America’s greatest actors. Don’t forget, his father is Kirk Douglas.

While Wonder Boys may not be on the list of talked about or popular movies of the decade, it is certainly one of the best. Serious issues related to life are addressed but in a humorous dry manner with witty and quirky characters that are exciting and engaging to watch. Douglas and Downey play off each other perfectly as they become embroiled in a strange tale with comedy twists masking the serious ideas of the story about life. An excellent and well done film that deserves more attention for its engaging storytelling and compelling characters, Wonder Boys is a film that everyone should see at least once.

 

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