A Seaside Scoop Recap Through Million-Dollar Baby
Somewhere in the midst of this, Critic's Corner was born:
MOVIE REVIEWS FOR PEGGY’S SEASIDE SCOOP ENEWS: A representative smattering. Not into popcorn boxes yet: sorry.
1/24/05
Georgina’s Million Dollar Baby Review
Million Dollar Baby: I read in an editing book somewhere that one's supposed to be able to encapsulate any story into three sentences. Herewith is the plot of Clint Eastwood's latest masterpiece, Million Dollar Baby:
1) A crusty old curmudgeon of a trainer (Eastwood) and his gym manager, a one-eyed, former contender (Morgan Freeman), are eking out their less than fully satisfactory lives.
2) An eager, enthusiastic, full of spit, fire, and life contender in the making shows up, asking to be trained as a fighter; there's one catch, however: she's a girl (Hilary Swank).
3) The manager -- and, reluctantly -- the trainer, take on the girl; however, the student ultimately becomes their teacher.
At the Golden Globes last Sunday, Swank referred to Eastwood's performance as "the finest of his career." Perhaps so. Clint Eastwood's come a long way since his spaghetti Westerns, but he's never wavered in what he seeks: redemption. This time, he directs, produces, acts, and writes the sparse, yet haunting, score. It is extraordinary to imagine he found the time -- and energy -- to immerse himself into his role as Frankie. But he did. To the hilt.
All three of them did: whereas Eastwood's intensity bubbles closer to the surface, and Swank's erupts, Freeman delivers an understated knock out punch, akin to the one he delivers to the long-standing bully of a mentally challenged boxer whom the old manager has taken under his wing.
And Swank shines with a rough-hewn kind of polish, in the midst of all her grittiness. No wonder she won The Golden Globe as Best Dramatic Actress.
No wonder Eastwood won for Best Directing.
What'll happen come Oscar time is anyone's guess (they won), but, given the accolades that have already been heaped on this picture, I think it's a sure bet Clint Eastwood won't walk away empty-handed at the end of February (he didn't).
This movie was so moving and gripping in its intensity that I was left with no tears. It's when I don't cry that I know it's hit deep.
1/17/05
Georgina’s Movie Reviews
Bad Education (La Mala Educacion): even the title of Pedro Almodovar's latest has so many layers of meaning that you quickly realize you're caught up in a tangled web of a maze. This movie deliberately steps in and out of the present and past, keeps you guessing to the point that when you're ready to say, Aha!, you realize that you're not, after all, getting it. Almodovar's story about two thirty-something men, their relationship with each other in the present and in the past, and with the small circle of intimates that surrounds them, is a surrealistic, yet in your face, depiction of life: love, lust, greed, hate, revenge. In one word: passion. Gael Garcia Bernal -- who most recently portrayed the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries -- is nothing short of extraordinary with his multidimensional performance. The rest of the cast also delivers excellent performances -- the boy who plays Ignacio as a child has the exquisite soprano of the prepubescent: tremulous yet sure, both here, and there. This is a very strong movie: not for the faint of heart. Not seriocomic as Almodovar's other vehicles, you have to be ready to watch, to listen, and to learn. The cinematography teaches you a lesson, in and of itself: as the movie fades away, you see only one word on the screen. Pasion (Passion). That's Almodovar's ultimate message to you via La Mala Educacion. Brilliant.
1/14/05
Georgina’s Movie Review
Hotel Rwanda: It is at the end of very few movies that I find tears silently -- and uncontrollably -- streaming down my face. The last one I can recall was Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful (1997), and then it occurred when he was trying so hard to be funny in the midst of the unimaginable sadness of a concentration camp. This time around, there is no humor. There is no time, no place, for humor. A hotel manager's placid life, in a placid setting, becomes a nightmare overnight (although the signs are there from the beginning). This is the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan, member of the dominant Hutu tribe, who helped shepherd over a thousand of his oppressed Tutsi countrymen to freedom during the horrific genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994. Don Cheadle takes his role very seriously, and transforms quiet, unassuming Paul into a forceful hero. A hero by default: but that's the way it often occurs in life, isn't it? Nick Nolte is believable as the Canadian UN peacekeeper caught between a rock and a hard place. The ultimate burden, however, falls on the Rwandans' shoulders themselves. As the end result of the genocide was unimaginable -- over 800 thousand dead -- it was very difficult to depict it in its entirety. However, writer/director Terry George's decision to focus on Paul and those whom he was trying to actively assist leads to very effective filmmaking. As the movie was partially shot in Rwanda, with Rwandan extras, it makes it all the more poignant. A very serious -- and, in many ways, sadly timely -- effort, Hotel Rwanda has been nominated for three Golden Globes.
12/27/04
Georgina’s Movie Review
The Aviator: In this, the year of at least two other great biopics (Ray, Kinsey), Martin Scorsese's latest is sure to be a contender in the Globe/Oscar race. Leonardo DiCaprio grows into his role as Howard Hughes, from daring young mega-entrepreneur, through his middle age, by which time he was both engrossed with and battling his inner demons, and subtly, yet definitively, hints at the darkness that would ultimately engulf this brilliantly eccentric man toward the end of his life. Simply put, Howard Hughes was a visionary. He was a multifaceted genius with many talents, and many passions. His greatest passion, however, was to fly. DiCaprio captures this spirit, and embodies it more and more strongly as the movie progresses: by the end, I felt as if it were Hughes on the screen. The rest of the cast was also superb, especially Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, the great love of Hughes' life, complete with Miss Hepburn's flippancy, New England reserve, and, yes, that Connecticut twang. The lovely Kate Beckinsale, as Ava Gardner, provides the other female interest. The scenes with Blanchett and Beckinsale, notwithstanding, Scorsese does not let us forget that Hughes was a man's man, too: DiCaprio's interactions with the great character actor, John C. Reilly, as Hughes' business manager, Noah Dietrich; with Alec Baldwin, as Hughes' competitor, Pan American founder Juan Trippe; and with Alan Alda, as the insatiably greedy Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, are rife with emotion, both poignant and riveting at the same time. The Senate hearing showdown between Hughes and Brewster toward the end is downright bombastic: it was by this point that DiCaprio had me totally convinced. Although Hepburn never fully leaves him, and Gardner lends a helping hand at a point when he sorely needs it, Hughes is, at the end, surrounded by only a tiny group of fiercely protective employees. His impending solitude, at the end, is palpable. This projection into the future is augured by so many obvious -- yet subtle -- signs, that you don't mind when Scorsese brings the (two and a half hour) movie to a halt: Howard's back with his mom. He makes three predictions about his future. They all come true. It takes a very special individual for this to happen. Leonardo DiCaprio captured Howard Hughes' fire, his intense zeal for life. It's going to be a tough call come February, but I feel Leo will be a strong contender.
Not my shortest. Could say so much more. Read Rodriguez review: he stressed Hughes/Hepburn connection. Very, very important, indeed, but so were his business relationships with men. Above all else: Scorsese stressed Hughes' passion for aviation. Remember trips to Europe in the '60's: New York/Newfoundland/Ireland/Paris? Think TWA. Thank Howard Hughes.
12/25/04
Georgina’s Movie Reviews
Meet The Fockers: This is the end of the story, folks, but what a sendoff. And in our own back yard: Coconut Grove. Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand appear to have had tons of fun playing Gaylord Focker's sixties holdout parents. Pair them with DeNiro and Blythe Danner and you get... bedlam. Prepare yourselves for Moses, the dog that (well, that does that constantly... and it's not the that that you're necessarily thinking of), a paw flushing toilet, a signing baby, a psychiatrist's dream/nightmare of a breast surrogate, and the usual assortment of CIA-inspired high jinks. It's the face, however. The DeNiro face that we've all been waiting for. Bobby doesn't disappoint. Nor does Ben, playing it straight. I guess it takes a Stiller or a Crystal to bring DeNiro's comedic side to the surface. Whatever: it's worth it. And Hoffman & Streisand play it right on the edge -- right on, baby! Be on the lookout for a fun cameo at the end.
12/20/04
Georgina’s Movie Review
Spanglish: Adam Sandler's come a long way since The Waterboy. Pair him, Tea Leoni, Cloris Leachman, and Paz Vega with James L. Brooks (of As Good As It Gets fame), and you get a bilingual, bicultural melodrama full of poignancy, pathos, tears, laughter, understanding, and acceptance. Brooks is a master at depicting the human condition through many eyes at once. This ensemble cast is no exception: Sandler's calm to Leoni's manic; Leachman -- as superb as ever -- is a wise old soul who rocks and shakes you at the same time; and Paz Vega, as the Mexican who comes to live with the gringos, evolves, yet remains the same. The children in the cast also add enormous depth to the movie. Shelbie Bruce, as Vega's daughter, has a marvelous scene in which she serves as a translator for her mother: gesture for gesture, word for word. How -- and why -- can she do this? Because she is her mother's daughter. Does anyone ever really win the battle of relationships? Brooks both leaves us in limbo, yet answers the question, in a disturbing -- yet comic -- way. One to think about. By the way: no subtitles.
12/6/04
Movie Review & More
From Georgina in Coral Gables: Closer: Mike Nichols is known for his pioneering films on the sexual mores of the day. The Graduate this is not, nor Carnal Knowledge, nor even his last year's HBO blockbuster, Angels in America. Presenting a young man being seduced in 1967 was both timely and timeless. Presenting four people lusting after each other's partners, indulging their passions, and then anguishing about it: this isn't new. What's good about it, however, is Nichols' famous tight directing, which leads to crisp, clean acting on the part of the actors at his command. In this case, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen. Julia was understated, Natalie was both coy and sly (the movie has a slight misogynistic tinge to it), Clive was boorish, brutish, and Jude was... well, I felt he stole the show. He played the proverbial schlemiel to the hilt. He loses everything in the end: I ended up almost feeling sorry for him. Who came out ok out of this sorry mess? I don't think you'll be too surprised. Are relationships really, truly this confusing? Not -- and, I repeat -- NOT a date movie.
You have to hand it to Jude Law: he's having a banner year.
11/29/04
Movie Reviews
From Georgina in Coral Gables:
Kinsey: Or, perhaps, let's call it, "What Does Love Have To Do With It"? Liam Neeson subtly, yet effectively, plays Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the moth specialist who subsequently devoted his observation, categorization, and cataloguing skills to the subject of human sexual behavior, and thus revolutionized this delicate subject in ways that are and will continue to affect generations to come. Laura Linney is equally understated as his wife, Clara, and there's an equally effective supporting cast (including Chris O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton, and Peter Sarsgaard). Last but not least, John Lithgow delivers a performance as Kinsey's minister father that I think will place him in Best Supporting Actor contention come Golden Globe and Oscar time. As for Neeson: what are the Academies to do? Alfred Kinsey and Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx)? This is clearly the year of the biopic.
11/22/04
Movie Reviews
From Georgina in Coral Gables:
Finding Neverland:
Johnny Depp affects a Scottish accent to play J.M. Barrie in this quasi-historical account of the origins of Peter Pan. His boy child quality, present in "Edward Scissorhands," and, more recently, in "Pirates of the Caribbean," leads to a plausible portrayal of a man caught between a reality not of his own choosing and a much more alluring fantasy world. Kate Winslet has a Dame Aux Camellias-type role as the mother of four boys in whose lives Barrie plays a more and more prominent role. And they, in turn, ultimately provide him with the background for his play, Peter Pan. A way too aging (and I know she's not that old yet, for she's looked glorious in other recent roles) Julie Christie plays Winslet's controlling mother. The four little boys are winsome, especially Peter: when asked, at the play's opening night party, if he's Peter Pan, he points to Depp, and says, he is. Slightly heavy-hitting psychological touches notwithstanding, the movie is enchanting and magical, as befits the concept of Neverland in the minds of the young at heart.
11/15/04
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason:
The joke's been stretched a little thin in this slightly disappointing sequel. Bridget still has her wonderful putty-like Bridget face, plus she's a little plumper. Darcy's as sweet and patient in that marvelously English way, as is her dad: no wonder she's fallen for him. Her mum's as wacky as... well, she is. Her friends are as eccentric, there's a (post) modern twist to a love triangle, and some marvelous pratfalls involving skydiving, pigs, and a ski holiday. There's also an exotic misadventure in Thailand... with Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, who is at his best playing a roue of the first order). And then there's the showdown... one more time. And that's the problem: it's one more time. However, the turkey curry jumpers and Uncle Jeffrey -- who's not really Bridge's uncle -- were fun to watch -- one more time... for the sake of a squeeze.
Being Julia: The Oscar buzz already surrounds Annette Bening's performance as a British stage actress at her zenith, who briefly wallows in a mid-life crisis, yet comes out swimmingly at the other end. The movie, which is based on a W. Somerset Maugham novella, captures late 1930 London's hypocritically staid character and cautious pre-WW II optimism. Julia is an actress's actress: Bening keeps you guessing as to whether she's onstage at any given moment. Is the dazzling smile real, is she shedding crocodile tears? You be the judge. A multinational effort, including a primarily Hungarian crew, collaborated on this movie, whose director, Istvan Szabo, was also responsible for the searing epic, Sunshine.
Sideways: Now for something totally different. First of all, be prepared to gain exposure to probably almost every winery in the Santa Barbara area. Paul Giamatti plays an English teacher novelist wannabe who accompanies his neurotically libidinous friend (played by the very handsome Thomas Haden Church) on a one week, two-man bachelor party before the lech is supposed to get hitched. One thing leads to another, and, before you know it, Church has a broken nose, and Giamatti finds himself breaking and entering into more than he bargained for. Virginia Madsden and Sandra Oh (of Under The Tuscan Sun fame) also give very effective, realistic performances. Why Sideways? Try to stand upright, just watching all the wine consumption. There's more, but you'll have to find that out for yourself...
10/31/04
Ray: Ever since I was a child, I've felt a tingle up and down my spine every time I've heard the music of Ray Charles. Feeling: there's no other name for it. Feeling. And Jamie Foxx captured that feeling in his performance (which, I've heard, Ray himself sanctioned). This biopic very effectively goes back and forth in Ray's life, trying to give meaning to the whys behind the life and times of this extraordinarily gifted, yet tortured, performer. It's been criticized for being a bit long, for dragging in the middle: perhaps. And it rushes to tie things up at the end. Ray Charles' life was so multifaceted it would have been impossible to capture it in its entirety. Jamie Foxx is headed toward a Golden Globe and/or an Oscar nomination. Ray Charles must be very proud.
Birth: No one can deny that Nicole Kidman is a multifaceted actress. This strange, yet engrossing, little vehicle probes issues surrounding reincarnation in an effective, thought-provoking fashion. The movie is shot in an ongoing series of shadows, and yet the closing credits have a lilting tune in the background. It's almost sunny. This touch added even more fuel to the questions brought up during the movie itself. A little gem of an enigma, but you have to keep a close eye on it to reach your own conclusions. It was a pleasure to see the venerable Lauren Bacall in the role of Kidman's mother. And Anne Heche's character takes some interesting twists and turns, in sync with her surroundings. Be prepared to think.
10/18/04
Shark Tale: Underwater movie star impersonators? And good ones, too. Don Lino The Mobster Shark (Robert De Niro, mole included) and Sykes The Excitable Blowfish (Martin Scorsese) prove there IS life after driving a NYC taxicab (and winning a few Oscars). Highly enjoyable entertainment for big and little fish of all ages, sizes, and shapes.
I Heart Huckabees: Must quote Rene Rodriguez, here: this is "an intellectual screwball comedy." Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin are over the top as a husband and wife "existential detective" team, Mark Wahlberg continues to impress me with his choice of offbeat roles, and Jude Law and Naomi Watts effect a fairly convincing American accent (though they -- especially, he -- slips into U.K. territory a few times). The story's more than a bit convoluted, and the final message is, perhaps, driven home a bit more strongly than is necessary. Might lead to a minor "cult following" among the younger set. Also, if you want to get a feel for what Melanie Griffith is going to look like twenty-five years from now, take a good look at her mom, Tippi Hedren (of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" and "Marnie" fame).
MOVIE REVIEWS FOR PEGGY’S SEASIDE SCOOP ENEWS: A representative smattering. Not into popcorn boxes yet: sorry.
1/24/05
Georgina’s Million Dollar Baby Review
Million Dollar Baby: I read in an editing book somewhere that one's supposed to be able to encapsulate any story into three sentences. Herewith is the plot of Clint Eastwood's latest masterpiece, Million Dollar Baby:
1) A crusty old curmudgeon of a trainer (Eastwood) and his gym manager, a one-eyed, former contender (Morgan Freeman), are eking out their less than fully satisfactory lives.
2) An eager, enthusiastic, full of spit, fire, and life contender in the making shows up, asking to be trained as a fighter; there's one catch, however: she's a girl (Hilary Swank).
3) The manager -- and, reluctantly -- the trainer, take on the girl; however, the student ultimately becomes their teacher.
At the Golden Globes last Sunday, Swank referred to Eastwood's performance as "the finest of his career." Perhaps so. Clint Eastwood's come a long way since his spaghetti Westerns, but he's never wavered in what he seeks: redemption. This time, he directs, produces, acts, and writes the sparse, yet haunting, score. It is extraordinary to imagine he found the time -- and energy -- to immerse himself into his role as Frankie. But he did. To the hilt.
All three of them did: whereas Eastwood's intensity bubbles closer to the surface, and Swank's erupts, Freeman delivers an understated knock out punch, akin to the one he delivers to the long-standing bully of a mentally challenged boxer whom the old manager has taken under his wing.
And Swank shines with a rough-hewn kind of polish, in the midst of all her grittiness. No wonder she won The Golden Globe as Best Dramatic Actress.
No wonder Eastwood won for Best Directing.
What'll happen come Oscar time is anyone's guess (they won), but, given the accolades that have already been heaped on this picture, I think it's a sure bet Clint Eastwood won't walk away empty-handed at the end of February (he didn't).
This movie was so moving and gripping in its intensity that I was left with no tears. It's when I don't cry that I know it's hit deep.
1/17/05
Georgina’s Movie Reviews
Bad Education (La Mala Educacion): even the title of Pedro Almodovar's latest has so many layers of meaning that you quickly realize you're caught up in a tangled web of a maze. This movie deliberately steps in and out of the present and past, keeps you guessing to the point that when you're ready to say, Aha!, you realize that you're not, after all, getting it. Almodovar's story about two thirty-something men, their relationship with each other in the present and in the past, and with the small circle of intimates that surrounds them, is a surrealistic, yet in your face, depiction of life: love, lust, greed, hate, revenge. In one word: passion. Gael Garcia Bernal -- who most recently portrayed the young Ernesto "Che" Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries -- is nothing short of extraordinary with his multidimensional performance. The rest of the cast also delivers excellent performances -- the boy who plays Ignacio as a child has the exquisite soprano of the prepubescent: tremulous yet sure, both here, and there. This is a very strong movie: not for the faint of heart. Not seriocomic as Almodovar's other vehicles, you have to be ready to watch, to listen, and to learn. The cinematography teaches you a lesson, in and of itself: as the movie fades away, you see only one word on the screen. Pasion (Passion). That's Almodovar's ultimate message to you via La Mala Educacion. Brilliant.
1/14/05
Georgina’s Movie Review
Hotel Rwanda: It is at the end of very few movies that I find tears silently -- and uncontrollably -- streaming down my face. The last one I can recall was Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful (1997), and then it occurred when he was trying so hard to be funny in the midst of the unimaginable sadness of a concentration camp. This time around, there is no humor. There is no time, no place, for humor. A hotel manager's placid life, in a placid setting, becomes a nightmare overnight (although the signs are there from the beginning). This is the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan, member of the dominant Hutu tribe, who helped shepherd over a thousand of his oppressed Tutsi countrymen to freedom during the horrific genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994. Don Cheadle takes his role very seriously, and transforms quiet, unassuming Paul into a forceful hero. A hero by default: but that's the way it often occurs in life, isn't it? Nick Nolte is believable as the Canadian UN peacekeeper caught between a rock and a hard place. The ultimate burden, however, falls on the Rwandans' shoulders themselves. As the end result of the genocide was unimaginable -- over 800 thousand dead -- it was very difficult to depict it in its entirety. However, writer/director Terry George's decision to focus on Paul and those whom he was trying to actively assist leads to very effective filmmaking. As the movie was partially shot in Rwanda, with Rwandan extras, it makes it all the more poignant. A very serious -- and, in many ways, sadly timely -- effort, Hotel Rwanda has been nominated for three Golden Globes.
12/27/04
Georgina’s Movie Review
The Aviator: In this, the year of at least two other great biopics (Ray, Kinsey), Martin Scorsese's latest is sure to be a contender in the Globe/Oscar race. Leonardo DiCaprio grows into his role as Howard Hughes, from daring young mega-entrepreneur, through his middle age, by which time he was both engrossed with and battling his inner demons, and subtly, yet definitively, hints at the darkness that would ultimately engulf this brilliantly eccentric man toward the end of his life. Simply put, Howard Hughes was a visionary. He was a multifaceted genius with many talents, and many passions. His greatest passion, however, was to fly. DiCaprio captures this spirit, and embodies it more and more strongly as the movie progresses: by the end, I felt as if it were Hughes on the screen. The rest of the cast was also superb, especially Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, the great love of Hughes' life, complete with Miss Hepburn's flippancy, New England reserve, and, yes, that Connecticut twang. The lovely Kate Beckinsale, as Ava Gardner, provides the other female interest. The scenes with Blanchett and Beckinsale, notwithstanding, Scorsese does not let us forget that Hughes was a man's man, too: DiCaprio's interactions with the great character actor, John C. Reilly, as Hughes' business manager, Noah Dietrich; with Alec Baldwin, as Hughes' competitor, Pan American founder Juan Trippe; and with Alan Alda, as the insatiably greedy Senator Ralph Owen Brewster, are rife with emotion, both poignant and riveting at the same time. The Senate hearing showdown between Hughes and Brewster toward the end is downright bombastic: it was by this point that DiCaprio had me totally convinced. Although Hepburn never fully leaves him, and Gardner lends a helping hand at a point when he sorely needs it, Hughes is, at the end, surrounded by only a tiny group of fiercely protective employees. His impending solitude, at the end, is palpable. This projection into the future is augured by so many obvious -- yet subtle -- signs, that you don't mind when Scorsese brings the (two and a half hour) movie to a halt: Howard's back with his mom. He makes three predictions about his future. They all come true. It takes a very special individual for this to happen. Leonardo DiCaprio captured Howard Hughes' fire, his intense zeal for life. It's going to be a tough call come February, but I feel Leo will be a strong contender.
Not my shortest. Could say so much more. Read Rodriguez review: he stressed Hughes/Hepburn connection. Very, very important, indeed, but so were his business relationships with men. Above all else: Scorsese stressed Hughes' passion for aviation. Remember trips to Europe in the '60's: New York/Newfoundland/Ireland/Paris? Think TWA. Thank Howard Hughes.
12/25/04
Georgina’s Movie Reviews
Meet The Fockers: This is the end of the story, folks, but what a sendoff. And in our own back yard: Coconut Grove. Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand appear to have had tons of fun playing Gaylord Focker's sixties holdout parents. Pair them with DeNiro and Blythe Danner and you get... bedlam. Prepare yourselves for Moses, the dog that (well, that does that constantly... and it's not the that that you're necessarily thinking of), a paw flushing toilet, a signing baby, a psychiatrist's dream/nightmare of a breast surrogate, and the usual assortment of CIA-inspired high jinks. It's the face, however. The DeNiro face that we've all been waiting for. Bobby doesn't disappoint. Nor does Ben, playing it straight. I guess it takes a Stiller or a Crystal to bring DeNiro's comedic side to the surface. Whatever: it's worth it. And Hoffman & Streisand play it right on the edge -- right on, baby! Be on the lookout for a fun cameo at the end.
12/20/04
Georgina’s Movie Review
Spanglish: Adam Sandler's come a long way since The Waterboy. Pair him, Tea Leoni, Cloris Leachman, and Paz Vega with James L. Brooks (of As Good As It Gets fame), and you get a bilingual, bicultural melodrama full of poignancy, pathos, tears, laughter, understanding, and acceptance. Brooks is a master at depicting the human condition through many eyes at once. This ensemble cast is no exception: Sandler's calm to Leoni's manic; Leachman -- as superb as ever -- is a wise old soul who rocks and shakes you at the same time; and Paz Vega, as the Mexican who comes to live with the gringos, evolves, yet remains the same. The children in the cast also add enormous depth to the movie. Shelbie Bruce, as Vega's daughter, has a marvelous scene in which she serves as a translator for her mother: gesture for gesture, word for word. How -- and why -- can she do this? Because she is her mother's daughter. Does anyone ever really win the battle of relationships? Brooks both leaves us in limbo, yet answers the question, in a disturbing -- yet comic -- way. One to think about. By the way: no subtitles.
12/6/04
Movie Review & More
From Georgina in Coral Gables: Closer: Mike Nichols is known for his pioneering films on the sexual mores of the day. The Graduate this is not, nor Carnal Knowledge, nor even his last year's HBO blockbuster, Angels in America. Presenting a young man being seduced in 1967 was both timely and timeless. Presenting four people lusting after each other's partners, indulging their passions, and then anguishing about it: this isn't new. What's good about it, however, is Nichols' famous tight directing, which leads to crisp, clean acting on the part of the actors at his command. In this case, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen. Julia was understated, Natalie was both coy and sly (the movie has a slight misogynistic tinge to it), Clive was boorish, brutish, and Jude was... well, I felt he stole the show. He played the proverbial schlemiel to the hilt. He loses everything in the end: I ended up almost feeling sorry for him. Who came out ok out of this sorry mess? I don't think you'll be too surprised. Are relationships really, truly this confusing? Not -- and, I repeat -- NOT a date movie.
You have to hand it to Jude Law: he's having a banner year.
11/29/04
Movie Reviews
From Georgina in Coral Gables:
Kinsey: Or, perhaps, let's call it, "What Does Love Have To Do With It"? Liam Neeson subtly, yet effectively, plays Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the moth specialist who subsequently devoted his observation, categorization, and cataloguing skills to the subject of human sexual behavior, and thus revolutionized this delicate subject in ways that are and will continue to affect generations to come. Laura Linney is equally understated as his wife, Clara, and there's an equally effective supporting cast (including Chris O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton, and Peter Sarsgaard). Last but not least, John Lithgow delivers a performance as Kinsey's minister father that I think will place him in Best Supporting Actor contention come Golden Globe and Oscar time. As for Neeson: what are the Academies to do? Alfred Kinsey and Ray Charles (Jamie Foxx)? This is clearly the year of the biopic.
11/22/04
Movie Reviews
From Georgina in Coral Gables:
Finding Neverland:
Johnny Depp affects a Scottish accent to play J.M. Barrie in this quasi-historical account of the origins of Peter Pan. His boy child quality, present in "Edward Scissorhands," and, more recently, in "Pirates of the Caribbean," leads to a plausible portrayal of a man caught between a reality not of his own choosing and a much more alluring fantasy world. Kate Winslet has a Dame Aux Camellias-type role as the mother of four boys in whose lives Barrie plays a more and more prominent role. And they, in turn, ultimately provide him with the background for his play, Peter Pan. A way too aging (and I know she's not that old yet, for she's looked glorious in other recent roles) Julie Christie plays Winslet's controlling mother. The four little boys are winsome, especially Peter: when asked, at the play's opening night party, if he's Peter Pan, he points to Depp, and says, he is. Slightly heavy-hitting psychological touches notwithstanding, the movie is enchanting and magical, as befits the concept of Neverland in the minds of the young at heart.
11/15/04
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason:
The joke's been stretched a little thin in this slightly disappointing sequel. Bridget still has her wonderful putty-like Bridget face, plus she's a little plumper. Darcy's as sweet and patient in that marvelously English way, as is her dad: no wonder she's fallen for him. Her mum's as wacky as... well, she is. Her friends are as eccentric, there's a (post) modern twist to a love triangle, and some marvelous pratfalls involving skydiving, pigs, and a ski holiday. There's also an exotic misadventure in Thailand... with Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, who is at his best playing a roue of the first order). And then there's the showdown... one more time. And that's the problem: it's one more time. However, the turkey curry jumpers and Uncle Jeffrey -- who's not really Bridge's uncle -- were fun to watch -- one more time... for the sake of a squeeze.
Being Julia: The Oscar buzz already surrounds Annette Bening's performance as a British stage actress at her zenith, who briefly wallows in a mid-life crisis, yet comes out swimmingly at the other end. The movie, which is based on a W. Somerset Maugham novella, captures late 1930 London's hypocritically staid character and cautious pre-WW II optimism. Julia is an actress's actress: Bening keeps you guessing as to whether she's onstage at any given moment. Is the dazzling smile real, is she shedding crocodile tears? You be the judge. A multinational effort, including a primarily Hungarian crew, collaborated on this movie, whose director, Istvan Szabo, was also responsible for the searing epic, Sunshine.
Sideways: Now for something totally different. First of all, be prepared to gain exposure to probably almost every winery in the Santa Barbara area. Paul Giamatti plays an English teacher novelist wannabe who accompanies his neurotically libidinous friend (played by the very handsome Thomas Haden Church) on a one week, two-man bachelor party before the lech is supposed to get hitched. One thing leads to another, and, before you know it, Church has a broken nose, and Giamatti finds himself breaking and entering into more than he bargained for. Virginia Madsden and Sandra Oh (of Under The Tuscan Sun fame) also give very effective, realistic performances. Why Sideways? Try to stand upright, just watching all the wine consumption. There's more, but you'll have to find that out for yourself...
10/31/04
Ray: Ever since I was a child, I've felt a tingle up and down my spine every time I've heard the music of Ray Charles. Feeling: there's no other name for it. Feeling. And Jamie Foxx captured that feeling in his performance (which, I've heard, Ray himself sanctioned). This biopic very effectively goes back and forth in Ray's life, trying to give meaning to the whys behind the life and times of this extraordinarily gifted, yet tortured, performer. It's been criticized for being a bit long, for dragging in the middle: perhaps. And it rushes to tie things up at the end. Ray Charles' life was so multifaceted it would have been impossible to capture it in its entirety. Jamie Foxx is headed toward a Golden Globe and/or an Oscar nomination. Ray Charles must be very proud.
Birth: No one can deny that Nicole Kidman is a multifaceted actress. This strange, yet engrossing, little vehicle probes issues surrounding reincarnation in an effective, thought-provoking fashion. The movie is shot in an ongoing series of shadows, and yet the closing credits have a lilting tune in the background. It's almost sunny. This touch added even more fuel to the questions brought up during the movie itself. A little gem of an enigma, but you have to keep a close eye on it to reach your own conclusions. It was a pleasure to see the venerable Lauren Bacall in the role of Kidman's mother. And Anne Heche's character takes some interesting twists and turns, in sync with her surroundings. Be prepared to think.
10/18/04
Shark Tale: Underwater movie star impersonators? And good ones, too. Don Lino The Mobster Shark (Robert De Niro, mole included) and Sykes The Excitable Blowfish (Martin Scorsese) prove there IS life after driving a NYC taxicab (and winning a few Oscars). Highly enjoyable entertainment for big and little fish of all ages, sizes, and shapes.
I Heart Huckabees: Must quote Rene Rodriguez, here: this is "an intellectual screwball comedy." Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin are over the top as a husband and wife "existential detective" team, Mark Wahlberg continues to impress me with his choice of offbeat roles, and Jude Law and Naomi Watts effect a fairly convincing American accent (though they -- especially, he -- slips into U.K. territory a few times). The story's more than a bit convoluted, and the final message is, perhaps, driven home a bit more strongly than is necessary. Might lead to a minor "cult following" among the younger set. Also, if you want to get a feel for what Melanie Griffith is going to look like twenty-five years from now, take a good look at her mom, Tippi Hedren (of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" and "Marnie" fame).
posted by Ninina Mameyez at 11:41 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home