McGonigle Reviews

Renaissance (2006)

A feast for the eyes

[29 August 2007]

This is one of the most visually stunning movies I've seen in a long time. The production stills and poster really do the movie a disservice by emphasizing the "pure black and pure white" nature of the animation. While the characters are, in fact, animated in only black and white (no greys) the backgrounds are rendered with an amazing level of detail in various shades of grey as well as pure black and white.

There are too many breathtaking shots to name, but some of my favorites were (1) The "magical forest" where the Ilona wakes up, (2) the Avalon president's office, which is in a grey glass cube overlooking the city, and (3) the car chase that climaxes at the foot of Notre Dame. While there is an obvious (and superficial) visual resemblance to Sin City, I found that I was most often reminded of the original V For Vendetta: the combination of high-contrast, photo-based backgrounds with more "cartoony" foreground characters is very similar to the look that David Lloyd achieved in that classic comic book.

In a movie like this, the animation style could easily become just a gimmick, but the makers of Renaissance have managed to keep the visuals interesting without distracting from the storytelling.

The story itself is your typical futuristic sci-fi mystery. Nothing great, nothing terrible. The acting is well-done. The real reason to watch this movie (preferably on a big screen) is to be blown away by the graphics. While the technologies in use here (3d rendering, motion capture, etc) are nothing they are used in this movie to make one of the most original and creative visual statements I've seen in years.

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Fairly weak Bond film

[22 August 2007]

In the 70s, all of the Bond films made regular appearances on Sunday night's "Movie of the Week", and I saw this one two or three times as a kid.

This was the first time I've seen it as an adult, though, and I have to say that unlike Goldfinger or From Russia With Love, this one didn't hold up very well.

The whole thing seems somewhat dispirited, like everyone is just going through the motions. The plot is completely nonsensical -- even more so than most Bond films. The setup is that SPECTRE is using a rocket ship to steal Russian and American space capsules out of orbit, in order to provoke a war. So it goes without saying that the Americans play along perfectly, even though a Soviet space capsule has been captured as well as an American one. Obviously, it's just those sneaky Commies capturing one of their own ships to throw off suspicion! But that plot weakness would be forgivable if the whole movie were a little more exciting. Unfortunately, it isn't. Towards the end of the movie, we have to endure a long sub-plot in which Connery is made-up to look Japanese(!), undergoes ninja training(!!) and has a phony marriage to a Japanese woman which is supposed to help him sneak onto the island which is of interest to the Secret Service.

Fortunately for Bond, the phony marriage lasts for about two minutes of screen time before he and his faux-wife are chasing the villains again. It's fortunate for him because his Japanese makeup (and accent) are particularly awful, but it's unfortunate for the viewer because it renders the entire 20-30 minute sequence we've just sat through completely meaningless. They could have just as easily skipped the whole thing, and had Bond and the girl go straight to the island to start fighting the baddies, and the movie wouldn't have felt like all the energy was lost in the second half.

The climax is an uninspired and unexciting shoot-out. Overall, this is definitely one of the weakest Connery Bond films.

300 (2006)

Historical Epic as Auto Commercial

[26 March 2007]

As pure an example of de-evolution as you're likely to see on screen this year, 300 takes the grand tradition of Hollywood historical epics and reduces it to the level of a TV commercial.

The filmmakers have reduced one of the seminal tales of western civilization to a bunch of stale catchphrases and lovingly photographed, slow-motion violence. Philosophically, this is a good movie for those who found the "Star Wars" movies to be too subtle. Virtually everyone who opposes our noble heroes is portrayed as, quite literally, an inhuman monster, while visually, the only tricks the director and editor seem to have brought to the table are (a) color everything bronze and (b) the old slow-fast-slow routine, a digital effect that was thoroughly played at least five years ago.

Add in some endless fields of softly swaying wheat, and all that was missing was for the latest Dodge SUV to come sweeping majestically around the mountains.

Gorky Park (1983)

Great thriller; they don't make 'em like this anymore

[17 March 2007]

Watching this with a friend of mine, he commented "I was just saying the other day, even the 'B' movies from the 70s are better than the best movies today." Even allowing for the fact that this came out in 1983, that's an excellent point.

They rarely make movies like this anymore. It's an exciting spy thriller, but it's realistic, and it's got some brains behind it as well. There are no idiotic "Air Force One" acrobatics, no gigantic explosions (with a character jumping towards the camera in the foreground) and no snappy catch-phrases. Just a good mystery and a boatload of great performances.

One thing that's interesting about this film is that in the end, the mystery turns out to be about commerce, not politics, which is unusual for this sort of cold-war Soviet thriller.

Another exceptional feature is the great script by the legendary Dennis Potter. This sort of thing makes me wish he had done more movie scripts for hire. While it's certainly not a personal project like Pennies for Heaven or The Singing Detective, Potter still turns in a top-notch script, filled with typically Potterian touches (like frequent references to losing your skin, and the smart, snappy, hilarious dialogue in general).

Another Potter touch (also used in Christabel) is the way all the characters (except the Americans) use British accents. This is a little disconcerting at first, but once you're used to it, it works really well. First, an actor playing a Russian and speaking English with a British accent is hardly any more "unrealistic" than an actor speaking English with a Russian accent. More importantly, the use of British accents (as in Christabel) allows Potter and the actors to indicate the characters' relative social status, by the type of accent they have. Intellectually, it doesn't make any sense to have the Soviet administrators talk in an upper class British accent, and the regular cops speak with a Cockney accent, but artistically, it induces an immediate emotional response in the viewer that makes a real difference between the two characters instead of just presenting us with two indistinguishable "Russian cops".

All in all, this is an under-appreciated thriller that holds up extremely well, over twenty years later.

Grace Is Gone (2007)

Melodrama

[8 March 2007]

This movie won the Audience Award for dramatic film at Sundance 2007 (and a screen writing award), but I found it to be the most disappointing and shallow of the films I saw at the festival. John Cusack gives a great performance as Stanley, a father who's trying to figure out how to tell his two daughters (8 and 12) that their mother has been killed in the Iraq War. The movie is a big-time tearjerker, but aside from the broad-stroke melodrama, I found it to be emotionally vacant.

We're never given any real indication of what's going on in Stanley's head. At one point, his hippie dropout brother (Stanley is a conservative war supporter) provides some helpful exposition about Cusack and his late wife, but the writer/director never seems to have heard of the "show, don't tell" rule. The only concrete demonstrations of Stanley's distress we ever get are a series of shots of him staring into space. We never find out if Stanley's political beliefs have been challenged (or strengthened) by his experience, or whether his belief that his wife died fighting a just cause made it any easier (or harder) to cope with his loss.

In fact, the movie seems to have decided to portray Stanley's emotional confusion by not having him express any emotion at all, and the only insight we gather is that it's really, really, really, really, really hard to tell your children that their mother has died.

And in the end, any tears generated are not due to any particular skill in writing or directing, but simply because of the audience's reaction to how horrible it is for ANY parent to have to tell their young children that their other parent has died. To me, that's a cheat; the movie doesn't provide any sort of insight into Stanley's feelings and relies on the audience to provide all the emotion.

Cusack supplies a fine performance with the limited material he's been given (as do the two daughters), but this movie doesn't supply much else besides cheap tears. Watch for it to become a monster hit and pick up a basket of Oscar nominations.

Slipstream (2007)

A classic "mess with your head" movie.

[20 February 2007]

Sir Anthony Hopkins writes, directs and stars in a good old-fashioned "warped reality" movie. Hopkins plays a screenwriter who's revising the script of a movie called "Slipstream" as the movie is being shot. Needless to say, the line between fiction and reality swiftly blurs as characters from the movie start appearing in his real life, and we keep reliving the same scenes from different angles. It's nothing we haven't seen before in the works of David Lynch or Dennis Potter, but Hopkins keeps the action from flagging and provides a surprisingly emotional climax. Definitely worth a look if you like this sort of movie, but I don't expect to see it at too many theaters besides the hardcore art-houses.

Interview (I) (2007)

A fun little movie

[31 January 2007]

The premise here is that Steve Buscemi is a washed-up political reporter who is assigned to interview a tabloid-fodder actress known for her direct-to-video horror movie sequels (played by Sienna Miller). Neither one of them wants to do the interview but they wind up spending the entire evening together and (maybe) revealing a bit of the real person behind their defenses. The whole thing is a little contrived -- it's the sort of piece where both characters spend the first half complaining about how much they dislike the other, but neither one is willing to leave or ask the other to -- but the snappy patter and excellent performances sucked me in and I happily went along for the ride. Of course Buscemi is great, but Miller was surprisingly good as well, digging into the part of a sex symbol who isn't taken seriously with a lot of enthusiasm and self-confidence.

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten (2007)

Great documentary

[31 January 2007]

Julian Temple -- who filmed the Clash at one of their earliest rehearsals -- has assembled a truly impressive array of footage, including 8mm family films from Joe's childhood and a performance from the 101ers, his pre-Clash R&B/pub-rock band. There are interviews with Joe's squat-mates from the early 70s, Mick Jones and Topper Headon of the Clash, and numerous other people (musicians and other) who either worked with Joe or were influenced by him. My only reservation is that the movie might be overwhelming to someone who was unfamiliar with Strummer's work, or the broad outlines of his history, but I think even a complete novice would have to come away impressed by the sheer scope of Joe's legacy, both in terms of music and the influence he left on his friends and admirers.

Joshua (2007)

Smart and creepy

[31 January 2007]

This is a smart psychological horror film. An upscale NYC couple bring home their new baby and their older child -- a nine-year-old boy prodigy -- starts acting extremely creepy as suspicious accidents and odd behavior increase. Director George Ratliff creeps you out without any significant blood or gore, making this movie a lot more like Rosemary's Baby than, say, The Omen. With a smart script and great performances by everyone, including Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga and the kid playing Joshua, the only downside to this movie is a rushed "and-then-it-ends" anti-climax that I found unsatisfying. Still, this is worth a look if you like scary movies.

Waitress (2007)

Funny and touching

[31 January 2007]

Waitress is a great, funny movie starring Keri Russell as a small-town waitress who discovers that she's pregnant just as she's planning to leave her jealous, controlling husband. The typical Hollywood approach for a movie like this would be to film it in ultra-serious "movie of the week" mode, but writer/director/actor Adrienne Shelly chose to tell her story in an extremely stylized, almost fairy-tale style. The stylized dialogue, super-sharp photography and primary-color palette even reminded me of the movies of Joel & Ethan Coen at times, but in the end, this movie packs an emotional punch that the Coen brothers have rarely achieved. It also features a brilliant (and brilliantly human) performance by Andy Griffith as the horny old geezer who owns the diner where Russell works.

This movie has a good chance at achieving a Little Miss Sunshine-style breakout this year. It's funny, quirky and honestly touching. Waitress stands as a fine legacy for Adrienne Shelly, but if things had been different, it could have been the movie that launched her into the mainstream instead of her swan song.

Thieves' Highway (1949)

Bravo

[4 December 2006]

This is one of the most emotionally affecting film noirs I've seen. Bravo to Jules Dassin for another great movie.

It starts out as fairly standard Hollywood fare, but by the end, Dassin and screenwriter Bezzerides have thrown in a lot more explicit (and unpredictable) violence, and explicit sexuality, than is found in most movies of this era.

The penultimate scene is particularly shocking and "modern". At one point, Dassin actually transforms tough guy Lee J. Cobb into a feminine character visually, with a kerchief (or napkin) around his neck and his hands in a classic gesture of female helplessness as he is (finally) emasculated by Richard Conte. At the same time, Conte's level of out-of-control violence is notable, even for a noir, because his character has been so sympathetic up until then. While "moral ambiguity" is one of the textbook characteristics of film noir, this is one of the few examples I've seen where we truly don't know what to make of the character; rather than the standard anti-heroes (e.g. Double Indemnity) and hapless lovers (e.g. Out of the Past, Criss Cross) of noir, Conte portrays a man who has been genuinely wronged, and who deserves our sympathy, until he snaps at the end and appears ready and able to commit murder.

Of course, the final climax was watered down for mainstream consumption, but nevertheless, this is one of the most powerful and emotionally honest film noirs I've seen, and should be on the short list of movies to see for any fan.

Not a Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story (2006)

Solid documentary

[22 November 2006]

A previous poster wrote that this would not be a good movie for someone who didn't know the band already. I'm not sure that's the case. Although I am a long-time Burma fan (and thus, can't really judge how this film would impact on a newcomer), I thought the film did a good job of presenting the band's history, music and influences. Short of traveling the world to interview all the musicians who have been influenced by Mission of Burma, I think the filmmakers did as good a job of presenting them for neophytes as could be expected.

The film does a good job of walking you through the history of Mission of Burma, starting with Roger Miller moving from Ann Arbor to Boston to join the group Moving Parts (with Erik Lindgren, later of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic). It even includes archival footage of Moving Parts performing (with more in the DVD bonus features), some early Burma rehearsal footage, and some early live performances. Of course, as a fan, I would have been perfectly happy to see every song complete, but I think the film struck a good balance between interviews and letting the music speak for itself.

There are lots of interviews with the bandmembers (except for their erstwhile tape-looper, Martin Swope), and their friends and families, and lots of good performance footage from before and after their 1983-2002 hiatus (and plenty more on the DVD). While it's hard for me to imagine how this would come across to a newcomer, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this movie (along with an album or two) to anyone who was wondering "what all the fuss is about".

My only reservations about the movie concern some odd technical choices that were made. The music is not mixed very loud in relation to the interviews, which makes it very frustrating for those of us who want to CRANK IT UP. Most oddly, the director chose to conduct a lot of the interviews in extreme closeup -- almost approaching Sergio Leone territory -- which was quite disconcerting.

But aside from those minor quibbles, this was a fun and informative documentary about one of the most massively influential rock bands of the 1980s.

The Departed (2006)

Brilliant Scorcese Movie

[27 October 2006]

Martin Scorcese returns to the top of his form with this one. This is a movie that will undoubtedly be spoken of as one of Scorcese's all-time best in years to come. He's done the street-level mob story more than once in the past, but the Boston setting (very well represented) and the absolutely stellar cast insure that this movie never threatens to become "Mean Streets III".

The entire cast is wonderful, including Leonardo DiCaprio, who is in no way outclassed by the legendary actors he's surrounded by. Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg insure that there are authentic Boston accents, and most of the accents in the movie are pretty good (possibly a first for a Hollywood production set in Boston).

It's also worth noting that this may well be the most tightly-plotted Scorcese movie I've ever seen. While his previous mob movies have been more character-based, the action in this one crackles from start to finish, but never overwhelms the well-drawn characters.

In summation, a masterpiece, and one I can't wait to see again.

King Kong (2005)

Could have been great

[24 September 2006]

Sadly, this movie represents great opportunity that was missed. Peter Jackson obviously has the talent and the love for the original to make a truly definitive "King Kong" remake. Unfortunately, while this movie has many flashes of pure brilliance, it ultimately fails to become anything more than a time capsule, like the 1976 version. Perhaps if he had kept the running time down to around 120-150 minutes, Jackson would have eliminated all the unnecessary elements that bog this story down, but as it is, this is a brilliant two-hour movie padded out to three hours' running time.

The main problem is that too many sequences go on too long, and go from exciting to ludicrous. This happens again and again and again, from the brontosaurus stampede, to the tyrannosaurus fight, to the giant insects in the "spider pit" who somehow get shot off of Jack Driscoll's body with a tommy gun without giving him so much as a scratch. It happens in the non-monster scenes, too; the first time Ann Darrow does her vaudeville routine for Kong, it's cute. The second time, it made me groan.

And speaking of Darrow, while it was obviously Jackson's intention to show how much she cared for Kong (once she stopped being terrified), their whole 'relationship' seemed very forced. One minute she's running desperately away from Kong, then he saves her life, and suddenly he can do no wrong. The whole thing seemed forced -- brought on by the demands of the script, rather than the character herself -- both because the transformation happened too quickly and completely, and because of the be incredibly vicious way he treated her earlier in the film. In the original film, it's obvious that Kong means Darrow no good, but it's not blatant. Once he takes her to his cave and starts undressing her, it's easy for us to forget that he's probably killed dozens of sacrificial women before her.

In this movie, Jackson makes this quite explicit, by having Kong take Darrow to a boneyard littered with the skeletons of his previous victims. That, combined with the truly brutal way he treats her at first (running at full speed with her in his fist... it's a wonder she wasn't crushed to pulp) made too hard for me to accept the transformation that comes later.

Also, unfortunately, I feel that the special effects were, in the end, something of a failure. As with other aspects of the film, they suffer from excess, e.g., in the brontosaurus stampede, when there are just one too many "nick of time" escapes. In the end of that sequence, as the characters run in front of a virtual wall of dinos who are stumbling all over each other, the effect was, ironically, a lot like a rear-projection shot. The special effects and the live action had become so disconnected from each other that the entire false reality was destroyed.

My other big complaint about the special effects is that in too many CGI shots, the "camera" is moving all over the place while the animated characters move within the frame. Far too many CGI movies use this trick, and they all wind up looking the same as a result. In the original movie, obviously, the limitations of the technology required that the camera remain still for most effects shots, but that also had the desirable effect of giving the viewer time to soak it all in. In these new shots, the camera keeps moving so much that you don't really get a chance to see what's happening on screen. Used sparingly, that technique can add to the suspense of an action scene, but overused, it's just frustrating and annoying and serves to take the viewer OUT of the picture, because we are not given the option (which we would surely use in real life) to simply "stand still" and observe the action.

It's a shame, too, because this movie contains many flashes of pure brilliance. The scene where the crew encounters the natives is genuinely scary, as is the spider pit sequence, before it becomes ridiculous. If anyone was capable of making a Kong remake that deserved to be spoken of in the same breath as the original, it was probably Peter Jackson. With a little more self-control, this movie could have been it. As it is, my main impression when the movie finished was of the many over-the-top sequences, and not of the sense of wonder that the film should have produced.

Frenzy (1972)

R-Rated Hitchcock

[14 September 2006]

The first thing I saw on my DVD was a large MPAA "Rated R" card. And boy, is it. This is the most explicitly violent movie I've ever seen from Hitchcock (I believe it is his only R-Rated film), and the psychological and sexual violence that he portrays is pretty shocking, even today.

We shouldn't be surprised, though; this was ten years after "Psycho", and even before that, Hitchcock had never been shy about pushing the limits of what was acceptable on screen. The limits were just a lot higher now, that's all. Also consistent with his past work were the bizarre touches of sick humor. They seem kind of awkward now, maybe because we've seen so many films in which this sort of explicit violence is played completely straight, but they make sense in terms of Hitchcock's style.

It would be a mistake, though, to consider this film simply a historical curiosity or an example of "extreme Hitchcock". This is the work of a mature artist fully in command of his medium. Hitchcock is out to shock, and shock he does in a rape/murder scene that's as harrowing as anything coming out of "New Hollywood" at the time, then shows the young turks how it's done the next time the serial killer strikes, in a virtuoso sequence that doesn't allow us to see or hear a single second of the second attack but still manages to be almost as upsetting as the first.

This film really underscores how much the modern "thriller/horror" genre owes to Hitchcock. His entire body of work laid the foundations for the modern thriller, and in "Frenzy", we see that he was fully capable of keeping up with modern trends, if not staying ahead of the curve: the way he reveals the killer's identity early on is reminiscent of much more recent films like "The Silence of the Lambs".

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976)

Interesting, like all Altman films, but not his best.

[11 August 2006]

This movie is certainly worth watching if you're an Altman fan, or a fan of revisionist Westerns. The performances are great (as per usual when Altman is at the helm) and the movie is entertaining enough on its own merits.

The two biggest flaws, though, are these: Compared to most of Altman's films, much of the dialogue in this movie is very "stagy" and theatrical. I suppose it's supposed to be that way because of the questions of "myth" and "legend" that the story concerns itself with, but my impression was that such theatrical-sounding dialogue didn't mesh well with Altman's typically naturalistic style of filming.

The other problem I had is that the whole subject matter -- myth vs. reality, history vs. reality, show business vs. reality, etc. -- isn't really explored with any depth or subtlety. We're constantly being reminded that Buffalo Bill is a man who created his own legend out of lies, and that that is the basis of modern show business to this day, but really, that just didn't strike me as being a particularly insightful observation. This is hardly the first movie to point out that lies are often more "real" (or more attractive) than the truth, and Altman doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table.

Still, it's Altman, which means it's well-made, entertaining and beautiful to look at. I don't think this will ever be considered one of his major works but it's certainly worth a look.

Sin City (2005)

Juvenile Revenge Fantasy

[28 November 2005]

This movie is a violent revenge fantasy for adolescents. You've got hot babes, you've got lots of blood. If that fills the bill for you, have at it. If you enjoy watching movies whose characters resemble actual human beings, stay far, far away.

Since the enormously-influential "The Dark Knight Returns", Frank Miller (along with many other comic creators) seems to be in a race to the bottom to see how much filth and depravity he can throw into each story. Unfortunately, that's all he throws into each story. There isn't the slightest shred of human motivation, or characterization. Every single character is a bizarre caricature of extreme violence or perverse sex who bears not the slightest resemblance to any actual, live human being. I can only guess that this appeals to adolescent boys who imagine that they're watching an "unflinching" portrayal of the evils of the world (while they're really getting off on the hot babes who kick ass). For the rest of us, it comes off as an extreme parody that would be laughable if it didn't take itself so very seriously.

Too bad, too, since the visuals are quite impressive. But they can't make up for the complete and utter emptiness that forms the center of this movie.

Roots Rock Reggae (1979)

Excellent overview of mid-70s reggae

[28 May 2005]

This video contains a great overview of the Jamaican reggae scene in the mid-70s. It features interviews with reggae greats like Jimmy Cliff and Joe Higgs along with some great performance footage and "man on the street" footage of the slums of Kingston where reggae was born. Although little (or none) of the performance footage comprises complete songs, it's still a real treat to see some of the biggest names in reggae (Heptones, Third World, Inner Circle, Gladiators, Lee Perry) performing and recording during one of the most creative periods of reggae's development.

The information on Haile Selassie I and the ghetto scenes provides a good overview for anyone who wants to learn the background of reggae, beyond the palm trees and dreadlocks.

My only complaint is that it's too short! I could easily have watched a 2-hour version of this documentary, but as it is, it stands as a good, early documentary on reggae music that works either as an introduction for neophytes or a chance for hard-core fans to see some of the legends in action.

The Kids Are Alright (1979)

One of the Best Rock Movies ever

[11 February 2005]

While "The Last Waltz" is usually the critics' favorite rock movie, "The Kids Are Alright" has always done it for me. Basically, we have a career overview of one of the greatest rock bands ever, with numerous characteristics that make it truly exceptional.

Here's what makes this movie really unique: First, it was made by a fan, which gives it a fan's perspective (often more perceptive than a band's own self-image or, needless to say, the perception of a record company employee). But more importantly, the Who, always one of the most "down-to-earth" (and self-critical) rock bands, were willing to co-operate with the filmmaker (Jeff Stein), even going so far as to perform two exclusive concerts for the purpose of filming.

The movie thus comes together as a fan's dream: a comprehensive selection of live clips that span the band's career up to that point (including brilliant early footage and such career-defining performances as Woodstock and the band's appearance on the Smothers Brothers' TV show), along with truly insightful interview footage.

One comes away from this movie with a genuine appreciation for the combination of creativity and humility that really made the Who unique among "superstar" rock bands. Can you imagine Led Zeppelin referring to their own work as crap in the middle of "The Song Remains The Same"? The Beatles created their own career-spanning retrospective 15 years later with "The Beatles Anthology", but that film, made 25 years after the band broke up, seems much more concerned with defining and cementing the band's place in history (especially the McCartney interview segments) than with presenting the band "warts and all".

Even in "The Last Waltz", while much of The Band is somewhat disparaging about their early careers, there is still a real sense that Scorcese and Robertson are attempting to define a historically significant moment in time rather than just capturing The Band as it was (I've read that the rest of the Band members didn't even know Robertson was planning to break up the Band until after the concert!).

By contrast, "The Kids Are Alright" provides us with a refreshingly honest portrait of a band who have always tried to be honest with their fans. By combining the perceptive eye of a true fan with a cooperative band who weren't concerned with protecting (or defining) their "image", we are left with a true rarity: a documentary on a "superstar" that is neither concerned with deifying nor tearing down its subject, but instead gives us a truly satisfying (and entertaining) portrait. Plus, some of the best "70s Arena Rock" ever recorded! All in all, it adds up to a minor masterpiece.

Streamers (1983)

Good, hard-hitting drama

[31 December 2004]

Following on the heels of "Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean", Altman brings another play to the screen. Like the earlier movie, this is an intensely serious drama about issues of sexuality and denial. Like the earlier movie, parts of it are extremely strident and/or "stagy", and like the earlier movie, much of it is redeemed by the excellent performances.

Although set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the film is mostly about what goes on inside the heads of a small group of soldiers who are waiting to get shipped out. Much of the story's development is psychological, and not related to the specific period in history... if anything, the characters occasionally seem "too modern", but it's impossible for me to say whether this is actually the case (perhaps done intentionally by the director and screenwriter) or whether my impression of how they "should" have been behaving in the mid-1960s is colored too much by mass-media images from that time.

In any case, Altman and screenwriter David Rabe do a good job of confounding the audience's expectations and providing us with multi-faceted, complex characters, and there are some moments of chilling beauty, as when two older sergeants tell stories of paratroopers who didn't make it. While the issues involved and the serious tone will probably turn a lot of people off, this is a "worthy" member of the Altman canon, and well worth seeking out by anyone who is interested in his "filmed plays" of the 80s or in seeing him work on a small scale.

This Gun for Hire (1942)

Great early Noir

[28 December 2004]

This is a great, compelling crime thriller that stands the test of time quite well. This would be one of the first movies I'd choose to show to a fan of recent movies who wants to explore classic thrillers but doesn't know where to start (along with "The Maltese Falcon" and one or two others). While many period pieces are "appreciated", this one still provides a jolt of adrenaline right from the opening scene, when Alan Ladd rips the maid's dress and slaps her. He's a bad man, no doubt about it, and his portrayal throughout most of the movie is surprisingly dark, even by today's standards. His character, Raven, is a man whose sole act of human compassion is not to murder a crippled orphan in cold blood, and Ladd's performance is underplayed just enough to make him chillingly believable.

This is a relatively early feature in the cycle that would later be called "film noir". A few films had begun to establish the new look and feel for the new generation of gangster movies, but the archetypal noirs were still a couple of years off. This movie is an interesting example of the early style because it visits the typical noir territory (culturally and emotionally) but avoids the stereotypical noir cast of characters. Rather than a flawed, weak man and a femme fatale, "This Gun For Hire" gives us a coldly amoral killer as the male lead and a tough, streetwise woman as the main "good guy" (her cop boyfriend spends most of the film running around frantically and accomplishing nothing).

Visually, this film is pure noir. It's directed by Frank Tuttle, who made the first version of "The Glass Key" in 1935, combining a hard-boiled gangster story and expressionist-influenced lighting. "This Gun For Hire" fits firmly into that mode, and shows that many of the stylistic trademarks of the supposedly "post-war" Noir style were firmly in place before the US had even been in WW2 for a full year. More importantly, it provides thrills, and a great dose of "the good stuff" in a neat, 81-minute-long package.

Revengers Tragedy (2002)

Lots of fun

[6 December 2004]

Alex Cox brings us a gleefully over-the-top adaptation of a Jacobean revenge play. Where Shakespeare was the high culture of his day, this piece (originally performed anonymously, presumably to shield its author from any repercussions due to its distinctly anti-authoritarian slant) plays out more like a 17th-century Leone movie. In this version, the action has been transferred to a vaguely-defined post-nuclear-war Liverpool, ruled over by an amoral Duke and terrorized by his violent sons.

The cast is great (especially Derek Jacobi and Christopher Eccleston) and the whole film is characterized by an intense spirit of fun. My only problem (as a yank) was that -- in spite of years spent enjoying British TV -- I found the combination of archaic syntax and scouse accents to be incomprehensible at times. Fortunately, the subtitles on the DVD made it much easier to follow the dialogue and plot line.

This certainly won't be to everyone's tastes, but it's a good one.

Bob the Gambler (1956)

Pure cinematic pleasure

[1 December 2004]

It just doesn't get much better than this. Visually, this is one of the most stunning and sumptuous feasts your eyes will ever experience. From the early-morning streets of Paris to apartments, nightclubs and bars, Melville captures a moment for all eternity. It doesn't hurt either that the acting is great and the leading lady is beautiful. Simply stated, this is one of the most enjoyable movie experiences one can have.

If I wanted to get all analytical, I might write about the way Melville has taken the conventions of the American gangster movie and humanized them by populating his movie with sympathetic, emotionally-rich characters. But what really matters, in the end, is that this movie is enormously fun and should not be missed.

The Maltese Falcon (1931)

Interesting version of a classic

[20 November 2004]

As everyone knows by now (at least if they're on this IMDb page!), this was the original film version of "The Maltese Falcon". And, of course, it (being pre-code) is a lot sexier than the Bogart version, which is to say, comparable to a racy 1970s TV movie. We see Miss Wonderley sleeping in Spade's bed, and actually see her naked in the bathtub (from the shoulders up) at one point.

As in "Satan Met a Lady", the detective is made out to be a sleazy ladies' man in this movie. When we first see him, he's kissing a woman goodbye; we never actually see her face, but we see her adjusting her stocking, and when Sam returns to his office, the pillows from his couch are in disarray. He seems to be getting some from Effie as well (and I must point out that Una Merkel, as Effie, is hot, hot, hot in this movie; quite a contrast to the matronly Lee Patrick in the 1941 version).

Overall, though, this movie is still somewhat unsatisfying. I suppose if we had never seen the Bogart/Huston version, this would stand as an acceptable adaptation of Hammett's novel (by the standards of the time). It follows the novel fairly closely, but skimps on the plot somewhat. The subplot where Wonderley disappears, and then reappears (as O'Shaughnessy) because she realizes Gutman is in town is missing, as is all the great interplay between Spade and Wilmer ("Just keep riding me, buster", "This'll put you in solid with your boss", etc.) that was such a treat in the later version. True, this movie is a little more explicit about the relationship between Gutman and Wilmer, but Wilmer is such a minor character (with literally only a few minutes of screen time) that their relationship still seems more fully-developed in the 1941 movie. There's also a very odd change at the end (just before the prison scene) that seems like something of a cop-out.

And, finally, it must be pointed out that Ricardo Cortez really stinks in this movie. He spends most of the movie with a smirk plastered on his face, and his performance in general is extremely stiff. I suppose that's to be expected in such an early talkie, but, combined with the general aura of sleaziness that his character exudes, it makes it impossible to really care what happens to him. In the end, this is an enjoyable movie, but mainly for reasons of historical curiosity, and it never comes anywhere near the "classic" status that the later remake has achieved.

Dr. T & the Women (2000)

Not for the simple-minded

[2 August 2004]

Like most of Altman's movies, this is more about characters than plot.

People complain that the characters are "stereotypes" as if there aren't actually shallow upper-class women in every city in America. The main characters in this movie are real, with real emotions and real needs, but since Altman (as always) doesn't feel obligated to work with broad brushstrokes, it goes right over most people's heads.

The hearts of every character (Dr. T, his daughters, Bree) are suggested, not spelled out. In short, another great Altman character study, with great performances from (in particular) Gere and Hunt.

Buy your copy now while you still can, before this one disappears from the video store shelves forever.