08-07-22 The Dark Knight (2008)

Seen: July 17th, 2008
Format: IMAX
Rating: 9

This review is a cop-out.

I'm way behind in writing about films, and I wanted to get one more out before going to bed.

This one is easy.

GO SEE THIS FILM.

Nah, that's not all.

I hate seeing films on their opening. I hate crowds and try to go when no one else will be there. Tuesday afternoon about four weeks into a run is a good time. I am not a morning person. But I bought tickets weeks in advance, paying a ridiculous surcharge, for a sold-out 6AM screening of this film.

And I couldn't be happier.

I didn't really enjoy this film, it's really not a fun film. At some level, you probably won't either. But I was impacted in a way that can hardly be expressed. This film moved me. On some basic level, this film reached into my psyche and shuffled things around a bit.

There's lots of reasons that this happened. Ledger's performance is definitely one of them, but hardly the only one. Nolan's writing and vision is spectacular. Bale's performance is wonderful, just for the space he gives his own character as well as those around him. Oldman is subtly smooth; compare this role to his others and you hardly recognize him. I'll even give some praise to Aaron Eckhart, the man I love to ... well not like so much. Here again, he surprised me.

The film is a visual gem. Forget the action. Simply look at the pictures that Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister paint. The look of the film itself is a huge part of the way it communicates. And not just in the way it uses dark, but the way it uses light as well.

The soundtrack simply rocks. I generally don't like to be aware of a film's sountrack, but I was aware of this one and actually enjoyed it. It's subtle, complex and avoids being as obvious as what we're feed in most mainstream films.

Enough already. If you haven't seen this, go get in line.

And if you have seen it, please don't spoil it for anyone else.

The Good: Great performances and a smart script
The Bad: Living inside The Joker
The Ugly: The lost potential

08-07-21 Yanke Doodle Dandy (1942)

Seen: July 6th, 2008
Format: DVD
Rating: 9

My girlfriend was the one who talked me into this film. She was born outside the States and moved here when she was nine. This is a favorite film of her family's, which they generally watched together on the Fourth.

If you've read the entries for The Roaring Twenties or The Public Enemy then you know that I'm pretty impressed by James Cagney. Mo had a reverse of my experience. She first knew Cagney as George M. Cohan, the focus of this film. She had great difficulty reconciling this character with the ones she encountered when she sought out his other films.

Talk about shattering youthful delusions.

Basically, this film is a Cagney tour de force. He had a great reputation as a vaudeville man, and he pulls out all the stops in his interpretation of Cohan. He's a dance machine. It's simply stunning to watch the control that he has over his body, and the utter confidence with which he moves. I'm left lacking superlatives. His singing, while hardly iconic, is rich, committed and suits the character well.

Put his amazing performance together with very capable performances from supporting actors, with a thoroughly American tale told in a straightforward manner and you've got the makings of a classic.

What's remarkable about the writing is how unsentimental it is. While it's not completely devoid of nostalgia, it walks a fine line between presenting the story and becoming too involved in it. This is true as well with it's patriotic nature. This is not a patriotic film, but it is the screen biography of a very patriotic man living in patriotic times.

It's a very honest effort which doesn't work to win us over, instead letting the characters tell us their story.If we have any heart at all, we'll do the winning ourselves at that point.

See this film. See it with your family, with your friends, prehaps an immigrant. See it and remember what it is means to really become and be an American, instead of just wearing the label.

The Good: A heartwarming, true, All-American tale with an incredible performance.
The Bad: Being framed
The Ugly: How far we've fallen from this tree

08-07-15 Criminal (2004)

Seen: July 13th, 2008
Format: Broadcast (HDNMV - HDNet Movies)
Rating: 3

If you've been hanging around, waiting for me to slam something, this might be your day.

I watched a great little Argentinian film several years ago called Nueve Reinas. It's a slick and fun little con film. It's real and charming and intriguing all at once. I loved the thing.

And then I saw that it, like so many other great foreign films, was being remade stateside. I cringed. I looked a the cast, felt a little better, then promptly forgot about it.

Imagine my surprise when at the end of this film, I see the credit for Nueve Reinas.

I'm a middle aged guy who watches too much film. I can't remember details and plot points as well as I once did. But it never occurred to me that this was the "same" story. Only at the end did it finally feel familiar.

I'm trying to figure out why.

Criminal is produced by the Section Eight, the Clooney/Soderburgh venture that's produced some outstanding work over the last five years or so. It's got some good talent. Reilly and Gyllenhaal may be at the top of their games now, but they were hardly slouches all the way back in aught four. The supporting cast is competent, at the very least. They're adapting from an excellent source.

So why doesn't it hold up?

One: Diego Luna.

Sorry folks, this is not the guy for this role. He's not tough, he's not smart, he's not crafty, he's not charming. He's a skinny waifish latin dude who can't grow a beard. No way is he any of the people he's supposed to be in this film. I never believed his character. Everything he did and said felt forced and wrong, from the very first scene.

Two: Writing.

Soderburgh had a hand in this, which is a real shame, as I have tons of respect for him. But this didn't pan out. It was too dour. Too fatalistic. Nueve Reinas was dark, but in a sly and amusing fashion, not a maudlin one.

None of these characters have any life. They're dead people going through some strange dance, pulled by whatever strings life has dealt them. The only smiles we see, disregarding Michael, until the final scene, are forced ones. These people have no verve, no love of their lives.

While I don't speak Spanish, the original was full of humor and innuendo that came through in translation, and I've read there was much more before translation. All this seems to have slipped through the cracks.

I've got to attribute this to writing and direction. I know that Reilly can infuse a character with more life than he gave Richard. I know that Gyllenhaal has a subtler range than we see in Valerie. But they, and their compatriots, are so one dimensional, that when we finally get the payoff, we can't believe in them.

Basically, I didn't like a single character in this film, where I liked most of the ones in its progenitor. I really didn't despise any of them either. And that's a problem.

See this one only for comparison or completeness, but the original is highly recommended.

The Good: Stealing from the best
The Bad: And not remotely doing it justice
The Ugly: Choosing your friends poorly

08-07-14 The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

Seen: June, 2008
Format: Broadcast (HDNMV - HDNet Movies)
Rating: 6

I'm a big fan of Jack Lemmon. Though he can and does play over the top, frequently, he's got an amazing range and an everyman quality I find engaging. He was starring, I was watching.

And I got Anne Bancroft as a bonus.

The film is written by Neil Simon, adapted from his play. This is a good thing, because no one understands Simon's work as well as Simon does. This is a bad thing because Simon is a playwright, not a screenwriter. His visual sensibility is for the stage, not the screen.

In this case, for the film to succeed, the director must be particularly strong, lending his vision and style to the material. Simon had good and even great success at this with Herb Ross. But here we have Melvin Frank directing, and the film really never gets its legs.

There's a very static quality to the film. Scenes feel staged, actors tend to move either little or dramatically in a defined space of off-stage. The camera is very static and rigid. Most scenes are played from a single perspective, which makes me feel that they are forced on me, rather than expanding in front of me. With the exception of a few dramatic pans and zooms, there's really nothing for interest from the camera itself.

Editing here seems very static as well. Cuts are simple and functional, and while they don't detract from anything, they really don't add much either.

In all, the presentation of the film is very bland.

Which is a great shame, because there's some very good acting to a very good script here.

While the material may not be as accessible for those not living that particular lifestyle in that particular culture, Mel's problems and the way he transitions through them are material with which we can sympathize, if not directly relate. His shame and slow decline are played quote nicely.

Bancroft's Edna is a great foil. Her own transition is excellently portrayed. It's their ultimate strength in each other that makes the story work, and the dark humor that Simon does so well is in full force.

I can't call it great, but I won't say that I wasted my time either. If you love film, see this one as an exercise. If you love Simon's work, it's a must.

The Good: Tour de Force acting
The Bad: Not the best transition to film
The Ugly: Forced relaxation

08-07-10 So I Married an Ax Murderer

Seen: July 8th, 2008
Format: Broadcast (HDNMV - HDNet Movies)
Rating: 4

Mike Myers is tough for me. I have to give him credit for his uncanny ability to see right to the heart of what make something funny. I also have to admit that his ideas are simply gold.

But it's the execution that really matters.

Myers' film generally fall flat for me. They leave wishing that he'd made different choices, generally about how he lets his other stars participate. Each of his films is really a vehicle for him to ham it up, which sometimes works.

The thing about Ax Murderer is that it's the nascent form of his more modern work. Even at this point, the formula was mostly complete. Pretty girl with a quirk, protagonist with a bigger quirk who mugs consistently, a sidekick whom he upstages and various minor amusing characters. A central theme to riff on, an ethnicity or tradition to riff on to keep things fresh. It's all as present here as it is in his later films.

And it works just about as well.

My problem with all his films is not their subject matter. I'm not easily offended and can take a joke at my expense, especially a brilliant or poignant one. My problem lies in the single note nature that they take on. While the jokes may be spread out, each one is, in turn, beaten utterly to death. Myer's doesn't deliver a punchline, he beats it repeatedly into senselessness.

I believe that some folks actually enjoy this, as some sort of meta-humor. It's beyond the nudge-nudge-wink-wink all the way to laughing at people laughing at something that's simply no longer amusing, much less funny.

The film is OK. It's not the worst thing I've seen by far. Nancy Travis is sweet, funny, and does the slightly psycho turn fabulously. Amanda Plummer is a bit type cast, but serviceable. Anthony LaPaglia is the surprise here, turning in an amusing part without overplaying too badly. His bits with Arkin are truly inspired, though under explored. Phil Hartman is magnificent, and I'm reminded how badly he's missed.

If you think I'm an idiot at this point, go immediately and see this (again). If not, keep looking for it on late night TV, curl up with your beverage and companion of choice and draw your own conclusions.

The Good: A nostalgic look back
The Bad: Seeing it all, then having to wait for it all to happen
The Ugly: Mature women on the make

08-07-08 Quid Pro Quo (2007)

Seen: Jun 24th, 2008
Format: Broadcast (HDNMv-NDNet Movies)
Rating: 6

HDNet is doing a pretty cool thing. They're producing films. Pretty decent ones. And they're distributing them via Magnolia, but previewing them, in HD, right into my media room.

This, I like.

Quid Pro Quo hooked me via trailers on HDNet by having two qualities I look for in film; a twisted and edgy premise, and Vera Farmiga.

Vera's a wonder. She a wonderful actress, a veritable chameleon. She inhabits characters in a rare fashion. I was first struck by her work in a bad Paul Walker vehicle Running Scared, which should have been a disaster, but somehow saved itself. I'll stop now before I get myself in trouble, except to say that she definitely delivers again here.

Nick Stahl delivers as while. His repressed, internalized portrayal. of Isaac is impressive. While some of the places Isaac is required to go are a stretch, he seems to pull them back to the land of the possible.

The subject matter of the film is eerie. We have two attractive people playing in a world of the twisted and even sick. They're outer beauty belies their inner corruption. They are not evil, and we can have compassion for the things they feel, the things they are compelled to pursue.

While brave, this juxtaposition is also the ultimate Achilles heel of the film. It strays to the brink and rather than plunging over, claws it's way back toward normalcy by way of resolution. Our characters are given excuses for the behavior, excusing them from the bizarre frailties that made them interesting. They don't need excuses. They don't need redemption. Allowing them to escape frees us from their confines as well; having invested so much to get to this point, it's quite unfair.

Despite this ultimate foible, the film is well executed. The story is compelling. The characters and their relationships interesting. The style suits the film well. It's interesting and immersive but not oppressive. The rest of the details fall in line as well.

In all, it's more of an interesting exercise than a complete work. There are moments of sheer brilliance here, but in the end, like so many, I felt a little bit cheated.

The Good: Strong acting and design
The Bad: An unfortunate twist
The Ugly: Wanting to give up what someone else hasn't got