Usually I just draw a happy face on the window, but to each his own…
Rating: 7 out of 10
There is a time for deep, thought provoking films, and there is a time for light-hearted, slapstick comedies, but once in a while all you really want is some eye-popping, logic-avoiding, probability-jumping horror. When that need rushes up and bites you on the neck, your best bet is usually to run to the local video store and grab the first box with these three things on the cover: a weapon, a silhouette and the name of a holiday/special occasion. But sometimes you might just be lucky enough to look up into the glowing marquee at the nearest megaplex and see the wonderment just waiting for you…
…and this time, it’s in 3D!!!
My Bloody Valentine is a gore-filled romp through a small town trapped in the past. A terrible accident in the local coal mine traps a handful of people in the deep, dark tunnels. When rescuers finally get inside, they find one of the miners has killed the rest in an effort to conserve his own air. The lone miner comes out in a coma, but when he awakens eight months later he continues his killing spree in the most glorified fashion before many believe he was finally killed in the very same mine. Ten years later, a young man returns to his hometown to sell his family-owned coal mine and in the process the killings begin once again. Suspicions burn in the minds of the locals as they try to figure out if the original killer is back or if an incredibly devoted copycat has taken on his predecessor’s passion.
Taking a brave step into the revamped 3D technology, My Bloody Valentine brings all the expected bells and whistles to the table. Numerous shots of the infamous pick axe jutting out towards the audience, blood splatters, fiery explosions, and last, but certainly not least, limbs and other appendages torn off and flopped on the eagerly awaiting crowd. The ads shown for this are a touch misleading with the true effect of the 3D technology, where they want you to think it will be reaching out to grab your soul from behind the silver screen, the newer 3D effect is more about creating depth behind the screen instead of in front of it. Nevertheless, the special effects are as impressive as they are cheesy and provide the perfect boost to make this an enjoyable theater experience. The movie still would maintain a certain sense of horror kitsch without being in 3D, but there would be a lot less giggling by the viewers.
As for the movie itself, there is a beauty that encompasses a film that fully and completely recognizes what it is and doesn’t try to be more. This is popcorn gore at it most picturesque, filled with cheesy dialogue, totally anticipated shock moments and a seemingly unstoppable villain behind a mask (who doesn’t love that one?). To its great credit, Valentine begins with a rather hokey flashback sequence sending out heaps and heaps of exposition onto the audience in order to get us into the bloodfest as soon as possible. Within ten minutes there is a scene in the local hospital which lays out carnage rivaling any zombie movie in recent years. It truly felt like the guys in the prop department laid out every fake body they had, then when they ran out they just started randomly placing torsos, limbs and various free-floating appendages wherever there was empty space. Although that might sound like it crossed the line of necessity, it was a perfect way to set the audience up for the sheer ridiculousness of the movie. People struggling to hold onto some sense of logic from that point forward should please leave quietly.
Normally the acting in these movies is pleasantly atrocious, but the CW network-inspired cast held together fairly well here. Jensen Ackles plays the young man who returns to town ten years after the last major killing spree and becomes the lightning rod for the new one. His time starring on the show Supernatural (Supernatural – The Complete First Season
) set him up well for the tone of the movie. He naturally settles into that protective “stay behind me even though I have no idea how to fight whatever this is” look. Taking on the role of the hometown sweetheart-turned-local trophy wife is Jamie King. She screams well, yearns well and shoots a handgun slightly off target, what more could you ask for? Kerr Smith, of Dawson’s Creek (Dawson’s Creek – The Complete Series (Seasons 1-6 Plus Series Finale)
) fame, plays the bad boy-turned-slightly-less bad boy who steals the high school sweetheart after Jensen bails from town. Kerr has always displayed a talent for playing characters with massive amounts of pent-up anger issues and Valentine offers plenty of that for him to revel in. All in all this post-teen cast holds its own fairly well, hitting all the right consciously bad notes where they need to be. No one watches these for Oscar-winning performances. What we want is attractive people to scream, kill or be killed and go down gloriously, which they all achieve fabulously.
The story follows a tight schlock horror pattern and gives us all the traditional beats along the way, but inside that pattern is the one fault of the film, the twist. The third act reveal is a touch underwhelming and not portrayed all that well on screen. Some nice visual effects are tossed over in an effort to distract the audience from trying to make sense of the twist, but in the end it was a touch disappointing for a movie which otherwise held up an actual sense of possibility throughout. They also decided to leave a window open for a sequel (and that’s not a spoiler if I don’t tell you why, so stop yer’ yelling. 
) and as much as sequels are a cemented part of the horror movie tradition, it’s not one I think is paramount to making a good film. Sometimes the movie studios just need to make an effort to create a good film and let it have whatever life it will without stretching it out into a never-ending deluge of straight-to-DVD tripe. Instead of getting an “it’s not over yet” un-shocking moment in the closing minutes of the movie, I would much rather had a bigger, better and more gruesome climax with the remaining characters. It can be better to go out with a bang than to not go out at all.
Lastly, one tradition which this film relishes in is the deluge of nudity expected in anything under the horror genre and rated “R”. Valentine not only steps up the plate here, but swings a grand slam by successfully filling the quota and mocking it at the same time with a seven-minute long scream queen scene where our damsel in distress is completely nude for the her entire performance. My hats off to actress Betsy Rue for unabashedly delivering this tradition its best example in years.
Recommendation: If you are a schlock-horror fan, this is fantastically perfect in many ways. It is a must-see in the theater for that crowd because of the 3D experience. Without the jawbones flying at you it loses just a little of that…I don’t know…special something.
Coming Soon: Defiance, The Unborn
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Posted 3 years ago at 11:51 am. Add a comment
Do you know how long I have been waiting to duel with someone. Seriously! I have the sword and everything.
For movie fanatics all over the world, this is the morning we wipe our crusted eyelids, roll clumsily out of bed and collapse on the couch to see the live announcement of the Academy Award nominations. It is more than a testament to the passion we have for cinema, it is a statement of how much we want to quickly and violently debate the fairness of the Academy’s choices. So, let the debate begin…
Best Motion Picture of the Year
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Frost/Nixon
- Milk
- The Reader
- Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
What can anyone do to stop the steamrolling power of the Slumdog? Pretty much nothing. Sweeping every category it was nominated in at the Golden Globes, Slumdog has all the momentum and all the passion of an Oscar winner. It’s uplifting, full of hope and adversity, and overall everything the Academy voters love to rally around. When it wins for Best Picture it will also help paint the picture of the Academy as a more international accepting body of voters. I give great credit to Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon for both being incredible films, but I don’t see them climbing over Slumdog for a win. Milk to me is over-nominated and I would have gladly let this one go in favor of The Dark Knight or Revolutionary Road. My disappointment over the snubbing of The Dark Knight isn’t truly due to thinking it would win the category, but because it would have given some validation to the comic book genre and really helped to boost the idea that these are not just costumed vigilantes on a violence bender, they are incredibly complex and moving stories available to be enjoyed by adults as well as kids. As for The Reader, Ricky Gervais must have been right when he told Kate Winslet at the Golden Globes, “See, just do the Holocaust movie and awards just come rolling in.”
Best Achievement in Directing
- David Fincher: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Ron Howard: Frost/Nixon
- Gus Van Sant: Milk
- Stephen Daldry: The Reader
- Danny Boyle: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
This is the first time since 1944 where there is an exact match between the Best Picture category and the Best Director. Commonly the two awards go hand-in-hand, but there is usually one oddball or mismatch between them. Not this year and my feelings remain pretty much the same from the previous category. Danny Boyle will walk away the winner.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
- Richard Jenkins: The Visitor (deserves to win)
- Frank Langella: Frost/Nixon
- Sean Penn: Milk WINNER
- Brad Pitt: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Mickey Rourke: The Wrestler (most likely winner)
Now here is some excitement and tension for the night. The inclusion of dark horse Richard Jenkins throws a distinct wrench in the celebratory plans of Mickey Rourke, who took the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama. Jenkins hands down deserves the nomination and I am pulling for him to win. All these performances were incredibly strong, which could split the voting and leave Jenkins available for the sneak attack. The big money is on Rourke because of his Cinderella-esque return to the limelight, but I’m personally hedging my bets and putting some small change on Jenkins. Sean Penn can proudly stand here as the one thing I agree with in terms of nominations for Milk. He was the lightning rod for this film and it all hinged on his stellar performance. Langella and Pitt both were terrific, but the momentum and buzz are not behind them this year.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
- Josh Brolin: Milk
- Robert Downey Jr.: Tropic Thunder
- Philip Seymour Hoffman: Doubt
- Heath Ledger: The Dark Knight (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
- Michael Shannon: Revolutionary Road
I was thinking about just leaving this area with one word, “Duh”, but that would steal my opportunity to praise and shout for the nomination of Michael Shannon. He was the most outstanding and powerful part of Revolutionary Road and I am thrilled he got the nod here. Yet, with that said, let me now return to my previous thought…
“Duh.”
Ledger takes this.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
- Anne Hathaway: Rachel Getting Married (deserves to win)
- Angelina Jolie: Changeling
- Melissa Leo: Frozen River
- Meryl Streep: Doubt
- Kate Winslet: The Reader (most likely winner) WINNER
Who is Melissa Leo and what is this film, Frozen River? Pulling a repectful Jenkins-like move, Leo throws this semi-strong category into a whirl. Hathaway and Winslet are the two obvious front runners, with Hathaway almost sure to take the Independent Spirit Award the night before the Oscars and Winslet still fanning herself off after the double grab at the Golden Globes for both her roles this year. Holocaust subject matter aside, I think Hathaway was stronger in her role as an ex-junkie struggling with reintegrating herself into her own family, where as if Winslet had been nominated for Revolutionary Road instead of The Reader I would be more inclined to begrudgingly hand it to her. Streep can’t be totally counted out, especially since all four of the main actors from Doubt got nominations, but I think she will fall by the wayside here. Maybe when she lands there, she can bring Jolie a drink, she’s been down there all year.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
- Amy Adams: Doubt
- Penelope Cruz: Vicky Christina Barcelona WINNER
- Viola Davis: Doubt
- Taraji P. Henson: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Marisa Tomei: The Wrestler (deserves to win, most likely winner)
Even though Vicky Christina Barcelona took home the Golden Globe for Best Comedy, I think Penelope is the only one is this category you can count out of the running. The two Doubt women, Davis and Adams, were both sensational, but they might end up splitting that audience in half. This leaves Henson and Tomei to battle it out, with Tomei a touch ahead since I think she only lost out on the Globe because she was battling Winslet on her night-of-all-nights. If Henson pulls it out here, she will most likely be one of very few of the thirteen nominations for Button that will result in a win.
Best Animated Film of the Year
- Bolt
- Kung Fu Panda
- Wall-E (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
I’m still baffled by all the acclaim for Bolt, but it really doesn’t matter this year. Wall-E lost out on a Best Picture nod most likely because everyone just wanted to give it this award and be done with it. Plan on Pixar walking away once again, proud of its tiny trashman.
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Eric Roth: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- John Patrick Shanley: Doubt
- Peter Morgan: Frost/Nixon
- David Hare: The Reader
- Simon Beaufoy: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
There’s a good chance Slumdog will continue its reign here, but it’s a strong category so anything could really happen. The Reader has pulled in lots of support and you can count on a huge studio push for the win, but the rest of the pack are no slouches either. Shanley wrote the play for Doubt as well as the screenplay and he was already heaped with acclaim for the stage version (surprisingly, the same holds true for Morgan with Frost/Nixon). Hare succeeded greatly with taking an incredibly minute starting point, a much loved, but much thinner short story, so his skill and credit comes from the expansion and illumination of tale we are lucky to not have missed. Anyone’s game, but I’ll lean towards the Bollywood train based on sheer momentum.
Best Original Screenplay
- Courtney Hunt: Frozen River
- Mike Leigh: Happy-Go-Lucky
- Martin McDonagh: In Bruges
- Dustin Lance Black: Milk WINNER
- Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon: Wall-E (deserves to win, most likely winner)
Again, this is a category where Milk really doesn’t fit. I don’t see it as an original story since it was a biopic and mostly a dramatization of the documentary, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. It’s a good film, but not what I consider an original story. Then there’s that mystery movie, Frozen River, once again. I really need to see this. Wall-E deserves writing acclaim without a doubt since the first twenty minutes were done beautifully with virtually no dialogue at all. That’s talent, people. Happy-Go-Lucky and In Bruges are getting more acclaim since both movies had their main actors recognized with Golden Globes this year, but I think this one will still end in the incredibly cute storage bin of our friend, Wall-E.
Best Achievement in Art Direction
- Changeling
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
- The Dark Knight
- The Duchess
- Revolutionary Road
The Duchess is a period drama and those tend to do well in this category. As for the rest, they are all incredibly picturesque and beautifully designed films, ranging from the aging, earthy tones of Button to the stark and stunning colors of Road, any of these films deserves the accolade on this night. Just for the sake of picking a winner, I’ll toss my tiny iota of support behind Button. (Sorry, Dark Knight, I still love you.)
Best Achievement in Cinematography
- Changeling
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- The Reader
- Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
Sometimes it can be hard to distinguish the difference between Best Art Direction, which is how the film and its universe looks, and Best Cinematography, which is how the film is shot, which in turn show you how the universe looks. It’s a fine line, but this year I think the inventiveness of movement and pacing coupled with the saturated colors of India are going to bring Slumdog yet one more statue for the night.
Best Achievement in Costume Design
- Australia
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely to win)
- The Duchess WINNER
- Milk
- Revolutionary Road
Except for The Duchess, these are all dramas set in fairly contemporary time periods, so the costume design was more about complementing the world and environment, whereas in Duchess gets to really show off the fashions of its 18th century era; big hair pieces, huge dresses and rib-crushing corsets. I’ll lean towards Button due it sheer volume of nominations and its clarity of vision inside the entire project, but this is truly a toss-up.
Best Documentary Feature
- The Betrayal
- Encounters at the End of the World
- The Garden
- Man on Wire (most likely to win) WINNER
- Trouble the Water
I can’t put “deserves to win” here since I have seen absolutely none of these. I love documentaries, but I happen to miss this grouping completely. I’ve heard amazing things about Man on Wire from both friends and industry readings, so I’ll go with that one.
Best Documentary Short Subject
- The Conscience of Nhem En
- The Final Inch
- Smile Pinki WINNER
- The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306
Umm…[tries to read tea leaves]…uh…The Witness? Yeah, that’ll win.
Best Achievement in Film Editing
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight
- Frost/Nixon (deserves to win)
- Milk
- Slumdog Millionaire (most likely winner) WINNER
Although the editing in Slumdog was sensational, I am happy to announce I think there is actually a better choice in this category. Frost/Nixon tackled a nearly yawn-inducing subject, one last interview with an old and broken man, and turned into a harrowing, sweat-filled ride towed along by brilliant pacing. Do I think it will actually win, nope, but it most certainly gets my vote for most deserving.
Best Foreign Language Film
- The Baader Meinhof Complex
- The Class
- Departures WINNER
- Revanche
- Waltz with Bashir (most likely winner)
Bashir took home the Globe and you can expect it will do the same here. Nothing but praise has been heaped on this oddly animated drama and I am itching for my chance to witness it myself.
Best Achievement in Makeup
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (most likely to win) WINNER
- The Dark Knight
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army (deserves to win)
The real choice here is what you find more impressive, making something look incredibly realistic with a mixture of CGI and practical makeup or making something fantastical come to life with prosthetics and makeup? The former would give you Button as the winner and the latter would give you Hellboy II, while the only makeup worth celebrating in Dark Knight is the insanely creepy and dripping face of the Joker. I would like to see Hellboy win here for the amazing work not only on the main character, but also the underworld villain Prince Nuada and his sister, Princess Nuala.
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
- Alexander Desplat: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- James Newton Howard: Defiance
- Danny Elfman: Milk
- A.H. Rahman: Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
- Thomas Newman: Wall-E
While this might be the happiest group of characters Danny Elfman ever scored for, I think he will lose and quickly return to his gothic roots. Slumdog has a good chance due to its unique international flavor and the Golden Globe A.H. Rahman is already carrying, but the other three are very much in the running.
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
- Peter Gabriel: “Down to Earth” from Wall-E (most likely winner)
- Gulzar: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (deserves to win) WINNER
- A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam: “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire
There is a distinct lack of the man commonly referred to as “The Boss”! Why Bruce Springsteen didn’t get a nomination for the Golden Globe winning song he wrote and performed for The Wrestler is beyond me. Also surprising is the exclusion of Academy golden oldie, Clint Eastwood, and his warbling diddy for Gran Torino. With those two oddly out of the limelight, Gabriel could indeed walk away with it for his heartwarming tune, but Gulzar’s tune is the ending credits number and backs up a huge Bollywood dance number, which helps lift the audience to their feet after all the yearning and struggling they just witnessed. I’m going to put my mark there, while internally wishing I could actually dance like that.
Best Animated Short Film
- La Maison en Petits Cubes WINNER
- Lavatory – Lovestory
- Oktapodi
- Presto (most likely winner)
- This Way Up
Presto is the only one I have seen since it was shown before Wall-E in the theater, but the whole thing is done with no dialogue and is gut-wrenchingly funny. Plus, it’s a Pixar joint, so just give it the gold and be happy they want to make more.
Best Live Action Short Film
- Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
- Mannon on the Asphalt (most likely winner)
- New Boy
- The Pig
- Spielzeugland (Toyland) WINNER
I’ll go with Mannon on the Asphalt because it makes me think of a montage of skateboarders faceplanting.
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
- The Dark Knight (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
- Iron Man
- Slumdog Millionaire
- Wall-E
- Wanted
The fact Wanted can now call itself an Academy Award nominated film just tickles me. There was some great sound work by all the nominees in this category, but here I will lovingly and joyously put my ballot into the box of Dark Knight. From the sounds of the jet engine of the Batmobile to the bone-crushing thud of Ledger’s head hitting the interrogation room table, this was a symphony of audio accomplishment.
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- The Dark Knight (deserves to win)
- Slumdog Millionaire (most likely winner) WINNER
- Wall-E
- Wanted
Evidently Iron Man didn’t mix as well as they edited. Odd. Anyway, I’d still like to see Dark Knight get this, but I think the voting block might split this one up. There might still be enough uber-love for Slumdog to pull this one through for them as well.
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (deserves to win, most likely winner) WINNER
- The Dark Knight
- Iron Man
This is the one category where Button truly deserves to win, hands down. The character of Benjamin was so incredible and adorable, I couldn’t felt any more sympathy and yearning for him if he were sitting right in front of me. The only reason it worked was the sheer realism of this aged and decrepit child, so without any reservations, this one goes to them.
If you made it all the way down here, thanks once again for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts. Tell me I’m right, tell me I’m wrong, make me believe I missed out on something truly great or just let me know what you thought of that box of Raisinets you got at the movies (Were yours stale? Mine were last time, but I can’t stop getting them).
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Posted 3 years ago at 11:33 pm. 4 comments
I was told by a reliable source that black is the new black this year.
Rating: 7 out of 10
There are numerous ways to tell a story. You can paint a picture which conveys one image, but a library worth of emotion. You can write a piece of music which seeps in behind the eyes and speaks even more directly to the heart. Hell, some people can even tell a story through the presentation of a seven course meal with a well thought out menu. Yet two of the most popular ways to tell a story are on stage and on screen and every now and again one story takes that perilous walk from one to the other. Sometimes the results can be fascinating, like opening up a whole new way to think about the characters and the story as a whole, but on other occasions all you do is sit back and wish you’d seen it in its original form. Sometimes, just sometimes, where you’re born is where you’re meant to stay.
As you might guess, that is how I feel about Doubt.
Doubt is a story about a power struggle between Sister Aloysius Beauvier, an overbearing, discipline-driven nun and Father Brendan Flynn, a younger, more socially-forward pastor that the Sister unwillingly works for. Sister Aloysius is alerted to a possible inappropriate situation going on between Father Flynn and a young boy in the church and she goes on a hell-bent tirade to root him out, no matter what the cost or the complete lack of proof she has. With conviction and passion on her side and logic and the absence of proof on his side, these two deeply entrenched personalities battle over truth, what you are allowed to do to get it and finally, if you really need it at all.
The story originated as a play written by John Patrick Shanley and he went on to write the screenplay and direct the film himself. In most cases you don’t get that lucky, to have the original creator still in such control over the new permutation, but Shanley made sure he kept the tone and power of the story intact during its newest transformation. In a certain respect that might be part of the problem. In the original play only four characters were in it: the nun, the father, the younger nun and the mother of the boy in question. With the film, many more people had to be created to fill out the world they lived in and on occasion it worked perfectly, creating fluid movement between the scenes with the major characters, but every now and again you could feel the presence of a band-aid type of moment, only there to hold things together while we got to something actually important. Also, I haven’t read the play or ever seen it on stage, but the character of the boy’s mother only has one scene in the film, albeit an incredibly powerful one, and it feels like she could have been made much more integral to the film. The dialogue is intense, pointed and incredibly crisp, but that much is to be expected coming from such an accomplished playwright as Shanely. As a play, Doubt had already taken home the 2005 Drama Desk Award, a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Not too shabby.
In some of the transfers from stage to screen, the studios and directors will reach out to those actors already familiar with the material and bring in the original cast members (as was done with Frost/Nixon with Langella and Sheen), but Shanely made a specific choice to not invite his stage cast into the film project because he knew with the growth of the world he had to create for the film, those actors would have a harder time adapting to the new version of the story and they would feel out of place with the rest of the cast. So he brought in new blood to the project and I can truly say he chose incredibly well. Philip Seymour Hoffman took on the role of Father Flynn and he attacked it with the passion and sensitivity we have all come to know and expect from him. There is an honesty about him, even when he is playing a villain, that makes the audience side with him on nearly anything. Standing across the religious ring from him was Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius. She channeled every child’s worst nightmare of their Catholic school upbringing into this devout and devious despot. From the moment she lets her brain lock onto the possibility of Father Flynn’s misdeed, she tenaciously grabs hold, sets her head down and barrels over anyone and everything in her path. Like most movies born on the stage, this has some truly amazing scenes and one particular fight between Hoffman and Streep is stunning in the level of intensity, power and outrage they both escalate to. Shyly trying to not impede on the performances of her cast mates is Amy Adams as the young and innocent Sister James. She has the unwanted joy of lighting the match which burns through this entire piece and the second she lights it her face and heart drops knowing it will lead to something awful. Adams is still climbing the ladder of her already illustrious career and few are doing it with such variety and skill as her. It’s understandable that she would feel somewhat intimidated by tangling with Hoffman and Streep, but her talent holds up quite well in such company. Rounding out the original four characters is Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller. Davis only gets one scene in the entire film, so maybe it was the knowledge of that which made her decide to knock it completely out of the park. She shared time in that scene only with Streep, but instead of letting the audience revel in Streep’s already well-known talent, Davis injects herself with bravado, self-righteousness and gives Streep her only ass-whooping of the film. With only words, Streep looks like she has been bowled over by a cement truck by the end of a scene where the two characters simply walk down a small path. Davis went along to be nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama and it was well deserved.
In the end my reason for thinking it most likely works better on stage is due to the rest of the world feeling somewhat forced. The original four are still the only truly interesting characters and when we are away from them, we just end up wondering where they are. Also the tone and pacing is still very much that of a play and the film runs incredibly fast, so the ending feels a touch abrupt in my book. Shanely also mentioned in an interview that he wanted to make sure the audience left with a sense of doubt about whether the alleged event of Father Flynn ever really took place. Unfortunately for me, Hoffman’s performance never gave me too much feeling on his guilt and Streep’s inability to see any logic outside of her own made her seem too oblivious and misguided to be on the right side of the argument. There were some quick shots later referred to in an effort to shed a cracked light on Father Flynn, but it was too little too late for me.
Recommendation: This particular film with lose nothing in the shift from big screen to TV, so feel free to wait on that account. If you are a connoisseur of acting, this is a great example of some true pros at work, but if you’re looking for a more well-rounded plot, this might not fit the bill.
Reviews Coming Soon: Seven Pounds, Yes Man, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and many more…
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Posted 3 years ago at 9:54 am. Add a comment
For the last time, I was not Keyser Soze.
Rating: 7 out of 10
To the oppressed and abused, he was a legendary hero, to those in power, he was a dangerous revolutionary, and to the middle class hipsters in non-third world countries, he was a pop icon. It is truly an extraordinary person who can fill all these roles at once. He was a lightning rod, grabbing the electricity from the air, from the ground and from the people and using it to burn out the injustice he saw all around him. Whether you were a supporter, detractor or fair-weather fan, you can’t ignore the impact of the one they called ‘Che’.
Che is a gargantuan effort on the part of Steven Soderbergh to tell the story of one of the world’s most politically dynamic personalities. This film begins with his introduction to Fidel Castro and his unassuming beginnings in the armed resistance in Cuba, but it continues as we watch his rise in the revolution, his success in Cuba and his willingness and desire to keep the momentum going in other Latin American countries. The man detailed here is the strategist, the uncompromising moralist and a devout leader to his followers . The film follows his continuing revolution all the way to its tipping point and Che’s eventual downfall.
For any actor out there, starring in a four-and-a-half hour epic is a massive undertaking both in endurance and determination. It’s been a while since someone attached themselves to such a quest, but Benecio Del Toro bites into this role as if he knew this was what he had been waiting for his whole life. Del Toro never totally disappears into the character, but he does succeed in playing it with fire and passion which helps bring the audience through the slower sections. He attacks the story with an uncompromising passion for the cause and I honestly believe if Del Toro wanted to take a step into international politics, his charisma and intensity would win him plenty of respect. He also made one of Che’s main issues throughout his life, his battle with chronic asthma, so believable that during one of his attacks I could actually feel my own chest constricting. The only real question here is whether the audiences that see this film are going to be able to follow Del Toro seamlessly into his oncoming projects, like The Wolf Man. Parts such as this have a tendency to become nearly iconic and hard for an actor to shake off.
Although the character of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara is the central focus of the film, there is a plethora of other people introduced throughout the hours-long epic. The problem here is most of them have a tendency to drift into the background and become unrecognizable. This same issue came up with Milk and Sean Penn‘s performance and level of detail leaving all the other characters feeling flat and one-dimensional in comparison. Che is told in Spanish with English subtitles, so there were no discernible accents or patterns of speech for the smaller characters and an overwhelming amount of them were all dressed in the same green army clothes. So in a number of scenes it became a struggle to be emotionally connected to who had just been shot or which captain of a wandering faction had just been discovered. On the flip side, there are two cameos in the film of well known actors which become very jarring since no one else in the entirety of the piece is incredibly recognizable to American audiences. Lou Diamond Phillips steps on as the leader of one of the Communist Parties in Bolivia and his presence is not totally off kilter for the film, but it does snap the audience out for a moment and make them realize the movie in front of them is not a documentary, but a fictional retelling of those events. As much as it hurts me to say this, worse still was the cameo of Matt Damon. Personally I love Damon and think he is one of the best actors out there in his age group. His appearance as a missionary was played fine, but it did nothing to strengthen the film. All it did was make a number of the film goers laugh during Damon’s one and only scene. It felt like a behind-the-scenes gift from Soderbergh to Damon, who worked wonderfully together on all the Oceans movies, but it will go down in film history as one of the worst cameo choices in terms of tone and importance.
I give mounds and mounds of credit to Soderbergh for attempting such a mammoth film, but in the creation of something so large he fails to really capture the dynamism and attraction of its central character. All we receive here is the military man, the up-and-coming revolutionary who will follow his moral code to its inevitable end, but there was so much more to the man who became the godfather of guerrilla warfare. The passionate side of Che, the teacher of not only tactics, but ethics and morals to his followers is missing from this film. Also, Soderbergh has continually defended this film by saying it is not a glorification of Che, but simply a statement on his worldwide impact during those years, but he failed to really explore the backlash, even from the Cuban people, to Che and his guerrilla tactics. Also, in the editing and creation of the two chapters (how most of the movie going audience will see it, not as one four-and-a-half hour piece), Soderbergh stumbles into making the first half about Cuba incredibly more interesting than the second half detailing Che’s efforts in Bolivia. The first half shows the making of the man, the spark which set Che in motion, but the following chapter only serves as more jungle warfare and feels slightly redundant. I feel it would have served the piece better to remove some of the military movements through various countries and slip in more scenes about who Che was underneath the tattered and torn uniform.
Recommendation: When the film does return to theaters around the country in two separate parts, go see the first one and feel if your interest will carry you through the next one. On its own the first one will remain a strong piece, but the second will falter in comparison. Also, if the film truly succeeds in anything, it definitely makes people want to know more about the medical student who went on to try and heal entire countries.
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