Movie Links:
Let me know if you have been influenced by movies on this page or give me your thoughts on any of the following.
The Emperor's Club (Theatre) I know, Robin Williams got there first with Dead Poets, but I really enjoyed this. Watch it after finishing Western Civilization.
About Schmidt (Theatre) Or, About Emery, it works on many levels.
The Quiet American (Theatre) Michael Caine can turn it on or turn it off, here he is "on" big time. I remember thinking how stressed I felt while watching this one, always a good sign.
The Hours (Theatre) Ed Harris could have easily won an Oscar, but so could everyone else involved.
Catch Me If You Can (Theatre) Chris Walken scares me. If he walks into a bar and I'm there, I walk out!
Adaptation (Theatre) Cute, but also very good. Chris Cooper has long been one of my favorites since a fictional-historical (huh?) movie called Matewan (1987): Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, John Sayles. Oh yes, I loved Matewan.
The Gangs of New York (Theatre) Gritty, and took a lot of courage for Scorsese to do this movie.
Frailty (Theatre) A father must convince his two sons that there are among us very bad people that need to be murdered. If not, Dad gets whacked by God. Roger Ebert says; ""Frailty" is an extraordinary work, concealing in its depths not only unexpected story turns but also implications, hidden at first, that make it even deeper and more sad. It is the first film directed by the actor Bill Paxton, who also plays the father..."
Far From Heaven (Theatre) Good, but I think many others liked it more than I did, although I certainly was entertained.
The Man From Elysian Fields (Rental) Mick Jagger, along with the rest of the cast make this movie a real "sleeper." Whatever that means. Also, a very good movie.
The Good Thief (Theatre) Nick Nolte always underrated, here, VERY underrated. a character that was tailor-made for him; a heroin addict who happens to be a degenerate gambler. He has admitted to taking "a little" heroin every day while on the set to get into character.
The Italian Job (Theatre) Suspend all belief and this is a very good movie. Very entertaining, and I now think that Edward Norton is Steve Buscemi's little brother. Edward Norton is also a very good actor.
Seabiscuit (Theatre) Anyone who makes a movie with David McCullough narrating is on to something good. Throw in Chris Cooper and it's good as gold (with apologies to Joseph Heller).
The Good Girl (Rental) Maybe the best thing I read about this film was that if you expect to see Jennifer Aniston from "Friends," then your apt to be disappointed. I (not a fan of Friends) came away VERY impressed with her acting abilities. John C. Reilly and Tim Blake Nelson (Brown grad) are both terrific in supporting roles.
White Oleander (Rental) Very well done movie about a girl who gets shuttled between foster homes while her mother serves time for killing her boyfriend because "He made love to me and then said I had to leave because he had a date."
Y tu mamá también (2001) (Rental) I watched it twice and was much more rewarded the second time. A coming of age tale of two high school graduates and one older woman. I needed to watch this after reading several reviews and feeling that I was missing something by not allowing myself to see movies with subtitles, I'm so glad I did.
Sunshine State (2002) (Rental) First, I love John Sayles movies and this is no exception if for the writing alone. A tale about corporate America trying to buy up a beach in Florida but rebuffed in their attempts from some very persevering folks. But, that doesn't mean that all current owners are on the same page. Where I expected to find racism, none existed; where I expected to find greed over the little guy, again it didn't exist. Sayles tries his hand at some (limited) black humor here as well and I didn't know quite what to make of it, but it works nonetheless, especially as I still want to watch Gordon Clapp die for his role in Matewan.
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) (Rental) Very good (true) movie about three girls who walk across Australia to escape an official government program where they are to be trained as domestic help because they are "half-caste," children of (absent) white fathers and aborigine mothers. The government feared that they would become "white" over the course of many generations if allowed to mate and that would have given them rights the Australian government wasn't comfortable giving.
Lovely & Amazing (2001) (Rental) Catherine Keener is one of my favorite actresses so I had high expectations when renting this one. She, along with Emily Mortimer, are the daughters of Brenda Blythyn and the three of them are pathetically low in the self-esteem department. Throw into this mix that Blythyn has adopted an African-American child to raise in the "same feel like crap about myself" mode she raised the older ones in, and you get the idea. Critics liked it much more than did I.
Roger Dodger (2002) (Rental) Campbell Scott is a lady's man who "scores every night" and is suddenly burdened with his nephew from Ohio who wants to take lessons from Uncle Roger. Thus begins a night of fun and frolic in New York City where they sneak into bars, underground brothels, and crash parties in search of a woman who will be Nick's first "girlfriend." It is not a comedy and I was left disappointed that Nick didn't see his uncle as the audience should, but what do I know.
Igby Goes Down (2002) (Rental) A cross between Harold and Maude (1971), Portnoy's Complaint and The Catcher in the Rye is about the best I can describe this as. The relationship between a kid and his mother is examined from several sides without any of the characters being overly sympathetic. Indeed, Susan Sarandon is pathetic as the mother, while the middle Culkin kid shows considerable talent as the son. Bill Pullman may have the most convincing role of his life as the mentally unbalanced father and his parts are all the more endearing as they seem to show up when least expected when his character has been all but forgotten. Claire Danes, Amanda Peet and Ryan Phillippe are very good as well.
Matchstick Men (2003) (Theatre) Nick Cage is a con-man who discovers he has a daughter. She moves in with him for short spells (after fighting with her mother) and he tries his best to make the adjustment to being a "father" to this newly acquired 14 year old. At the same time he tries to balance his ill-gotten career with his newfound status as parent, while convincing Alison Lohman White Oleander (2002), not to follow in his footsteps. Cage is terrific in the role, especially as the Obsessive Compulsive, as well as the other neuroses he takes along for the ride. Ebert has suggested that an Academy Award may be in order for Cage.
Lost in Translation (2003) (Theatre) A movie actor (Bill Murray in a good role for him) past his glory days visits Tokyo to film a whiskey commercial and finds a “soul mate” while there. She (Scarlett Johansson) is much younger, and both are married and, yet, they develop a sense of friendship untainted by the constraints of preconceived notions and expectations (or something like that). They both hope to save their marriages, but he finds solace in muting her expectations of her cold husband, but I left thinking hers would end, while his would continue. This is the second week in a row (Matchstick Men (2003) that the final scene is the key to the whole movie, and here, they share a scene just between themselves that we are not privy to. Read Ebert’s take on the scene and then have yourself a good cry.
Mystic River (2003) (Theatre, Warwick Mall) Three childhood friends (Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon) reunite after one's (Penn) daughter is murdered. Along the way we learn one was abducted (Robbins) while playing street hockey with the other two, and was subsequently abused for several days before escaping. Once in adulthood he is a man who has never forgotten his ordeal, and his loss of childhood. On the night of the murder he comes home covered in blood and in due course, his wife (Marcia Gay Harden) suspects he may have committed the murder. Penn is so good it's scary, and he hires thugs to find his daughter's killer as the police (Bacon) work too slow. He says he will kill the person who did this and we believe him as he has done time in jail on a robbery charge and now is still something of a small time hood despite running a small corner store. All in all, Penn gets Best Actor, Robbins gets Best Supporting Actor, Harden gets Best Supporting Actress, and the movie is the best I've seen all year. Run, don't walk to see this one.
Station Agent, The (2003) (Theatre, Avon) I've always had a fascination with trains, and if I lived near a railroad, I would certainly be a train chaser, or some other kind of lesser "groupie." Fin McBride, a dwarf, works in a hobby shop (not unlike one I used to frequent in Appanoag) and when his boss dies he inherits a train depot in rural New Jersey. Once settled in he meets Joe who sells hot dogs in the parking lot of the former train depot. He also meets Olivia shortly after when she almost runs him over... TWICE!!! The three then develop a friendship that seems to revolve around Joe in that the other two would rather be left alone. Fin is angry, Olivia is depressed over the death of her child and the break-up of her marriage, and Joe is just as "happy-go-lucky" as one could be. Most centers around Fin and along the way we learn about dwarfism and how adults are (mostly) the ones who make the world a tough place. Having said that, Raven Goodwin Lovely & Amazing (2001) shows up and develops a nice one-on-one relationship with Fin whereby she seems to get to his core before others as she is an understanding child, but not a cruel one, like some of her classmates. When I left the theater I felt as though the three main characters were still sitting somewhere in Newfoundland, New Jersey contemplating life. The acting was superb so as to make me feel as though I were allowed a peak at the lives of three people who I had no business looking in on.
Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, The (2002) (Rental) This movie immediately conjured up images of Stand by Me (1986), a classic by Stephen King. Four teenage boys try their best to learn about life (vices, especially) while doing their best to also torture their favorite nun, Jody Foster. Intermixed in the movie are snippets of animation as one of the teens is an aspiring artist. These snippets deal with a budding relationship (tragic) between one of the teens and the sister of one of the others, as well as the ongoing rift with Foster's character, but serve as a bizarre interlude in the movie. The ending, hinted at earlier in the movie, was so hard to believe that it destroyed any credibility for me. In fact, when the ending was first proposed, I was relieved when they moviemakers seemed to give up on the specter, but disappointed greatly when they resumed an ending I thought was too easily telegraphed.
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) (Rental) I rented this one and the second in the hopes of being better able to understand the last installment in theatres now. I quickly realized I am not one for science fiction or fantasy. Although the set was beautiful, I found the whole movie drawn out to the point that it lost me. I quickly admit that I am in the decided minority here, but... Also, I took the second one back unwatched.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) (Rental) Johnny Depp is a pirate in need of a ship, and a crew since he was overthrown from his ship, The Black Pearl by the man who is now his archenemy, Barbarossa. Depp must not only recapture his ship, he must also end the curse that has befallen the crew-- that of the Undead-- they cannot be killed because they are already dead. In order to bring them back to life the blood of a former crewmember's offspring must be dripped over a box of medallions. This was the first one I watched on my new Surround Sound system and, although it could have ended much earlier, it kept my attention throughout-- explosions coming out of all six speakers are too cool.
Mighty Wind, A (2003) (Rental) By the same people who brought us Best in Show (2000) (which I loved) it is the story of a folk reunion in New York City to honor the death of a folk promoter. Again, they subscribe to the "mockumentary" method but this time it doesn't work as well as in Best... because this one makes the mistake of taking the story a little too seriously. Case in point is the relationship between Mitch and Mickey which has gone south-- in what should have been solely comedic relief, the tension between the two was acted in such a way as to have the effect of creating too much caring on the part of the audience, at least this audience member.
Chicago (2002) (Rental) After much delay, all of it intentional, I rented this in the hopes of being pleasantly surprised at what I have been missing. Musicals scare me. After watching this I figured out what it is that turns me off. Although this was the best musical I ever saw, I can't take the plot seriously as character development seems to be replaced by singing and dancing ability, which was first rate, however. Renee Zellweger has dreams of singing on the big stage and carries on an affair to reach those goals but then has to kill her lover when he turns into a cad. She then is interred in a women's prison with a bunch of other murderous young ladies who all break into song and dance. Along the way the story develops quite nicely, albeit not seriously :-) and the one place it seemed to fail was with the immigrant woman who too was being tried for murder. Had her role been better developed it may have led to a more sympathetic rendering of the entire story. Catherine Zeta-Jones is excellent as is Richard Gere, and John C. Reilly plays the hoodwinked husband of Zellweger nicely actually garnering some sympathy along the way.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) (Rental) Chuck Barris claims to have been a CIA hit-man. He was also the founder of The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and the world’s worst, The Gong Show (until Fear Factor). According to Barris the CIA (George Clooney) recruited him as an operative to accompany his winners to exotic locales, such as Helsinki, West Berlin, and Mexico to name but a few. While there acting as a chaperone, he could also carry out the assassination that was the real reason for each location having been picked. It’s an entertaining script but looking closer leads one to find too many signs of mental illness. Barris is recruited at a particularly low point in his life, and the personalities that he has manufactured begin to show themselves in the most unlikely of places, a la A Beautiful Mind. Apparently when pressed Barris refused to answer when asked if the screenplay (based on his autobiography) was true—to do so would have led him to confront having been raised by his mother as a girl for the first three years of his live, as well as leading many to believe that is/was mentally ill during the most creative period of his life. Having said that, no one is taking Charles Kaufman’s screenplay seriously either, especially since he has invented portals into John Malkovich’s head (Being John Malkovich) and a non-existent twin brother in another (Adaptation). There are some precious outtakes and flashbacks from the former game shows, as well as some fine performances by Julia Roberts, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and George Clooney.
Calendar Girls (2003) (Theatre, Seekonk) Based on a true story, Julia Walters and Helen Mirren belong to the Women's Institute, a popular community group for older ladies. Walters husband is diagnosed with leukemia and eventually dies leading the two women to organize a fundraiser to buy a piece of furniture for the local hospital where John was treated. Using John Walters poetry (poignantly describing the attributes of older women) as a pretext for their endeavor, they decide on a nude calendar with the "bits" tastefully hidden from view. That the driving force behind the scheme is Mirren leads some potential volunteers to more than a little consternation at first, with some remembering her "vodka-tasting" event hoisted upon the W. I., but Mirren redeems herself nicely when the calendar is a smashing success, eventually landing the "models" on the Leno show. Interesting subplots include how some of the members handle the fame and fortune and the press, and how the fame effects individual relationships, even marriage. The village where most of the film is shot is absolutely stunning.
Bubba Ho-tep (2002) (Theatre, Castle) An ancient mummy (redundancy counts) is touring Texas in the 1930s and is stolen by a group of people with a bus. The bus crashes in a river and the mummy's possessions (very important to the mummy) also wash away. As a result, he comes back to life and now needs to "eat" human souls to continue to survive. How he sucks the souls from the living is better left unsaid as Ossie Davis will explain in due time. Lucky for him the stream is hard on the side of a nursing home in East Texas. Problem is.... hang on now... Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy are patients there. Elvis, it seems, tired of the star-status and switched places with an impersonator. Now Elvis is the impersonator and the impersonator, who has a drug and alcohol problem is, oh, never mind... Elvis had a lot of fun as an impersonator but fell off the stage one night and broke his hip, that's how he wound up in the nursing home. Former President Kennedy (Ossie Davis in a terrific role) had his brain replaced with a bag of sand (presumably while in Dallas) and he has the scar to prove it. Together, they are going to have to battle Bubba-Hotep (Bubba is the same term used for Southern Red-neck, and Hotep is the last name of the Egyptian pharaohs; he has become a Bubba by living under the bridge in Texas) to protect the rest of the human souls still residing in the nursing home. I can't take musicals seriously, but I can sit through this, go figure.
In America (Theatre, Seekonk) An Irish family illegally comes to America by way of Canada and settles in New York City in a drug invested run-down apartment building. After settling in, the father seeks work as an actor while the mother (formerly a teacher) finds work underemployed as a waitress in an ice cream parlor. All the while, the family carries the scar of a deceased child with them with each family member trying as best they can to cope with their grief. The father probably has the most trouble letting go but the eldest sister puts her own grieving aside in order to help the rest of the family through the trying time. Enter into this experience the Africa artist neighbor and together they will share the American experience as well as a much deeper relationship with regard to the dead child. Be prepared for an emotional waterfall at the end.