Andy's Film Blog: 1997

Showing posts with label 1997. Show all posts

Friday, December 15, 2017

Contact

In lieu of a more lucrative career, a brilliant scientist (Jodie Foster) makes her living studying the stars and satellites for signs of extraterrestrial life, partly in an attempt to reach her parents whom she lost in childhood. When she discovers what appears to be an actual message from a star light years away with what appear to be contact instructions, it creates national hysteria over who should pay for the device, who should be the one to make the initial reception, and should we even partake in this particular endeavor. (spoilers) Based on Carl Sagan's book, Robert Zemeckis' Contact lacks the profundity it thinks it possesses in its religion vs science themes (in what is actually cornball philosophy) but the Foster performance is in earnest and her culminating intergalactic journey is remarkable.

*** out of ****

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Tomorrow Never Dies

007 (Pierce Brosnan), with the aid of a Chinese agent (Michelle Yeoh), is summoned to thwart a media mogul (Jonathan Pryce) who generates the news in order to corner the market, currently plotting to instigate war between China and Britain. Tomorrow Never Dies is another solid Bond entry, with Brosnan effectively settled into the role, that is marred once more by overlength and redundant action sequences (although one involving a remote control automobile is outstanding). Pryce is a solid, somewhat offbeat villain and, as for the women, Teri Hatcher makes a too brief appearance and Yeoh is strong as an action star.

*** out of ****

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Deconstructing Harry

A writer (Woody Allen) is being honored by his college (which incidentally expelled him) but can’t find anyone to attend with due to his alienation of friends and family through his work, which is brought to life in heightened, mirrored vignettes. Allen’s reworking of Wild Strawberries is a self-revealing and at times jarring and atypically profane black comedy that employs an irritating jump-cut technique but is still mostly very funny.
*** out of ****

Monday, May 29, 2017

The Edge

While vacationing at an Alaskan lodge during a photo shoot, a pragmatic, solitary billionaire (Anthony Hopkins)--with a steel trap mind when it comes to survivalist tidbits--naturally finds himself lost in the wild with a sleek photographer (Alec Baldwin) who may or may not have eyes for his trophy wife (Elle Macpherson) and fortune and might prove a bigger threat than the 2,000 pound, flesh eating Kodiak bear stalking their every move. Even with its rustic, prepossessing location shooting, exciting action sequences, and rugged subject, The Edge misses the point somewhat by deprioritizing the fact that at its heart this is essentially a two-man David Mamet battle of wills play which is evident in director Lee Tamahori's occasional misdirection of his actors (who are mostly great) and a lack of emphasis on the punchy dialogue.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

L.A. Confidential

Three detectives, a no nonsense enforcer (Russell Crowe), a hated, career driven straight arrow (Guy Pearce), and a devil may care playboy (Kevin Spacey), in the early 1950s, ethically laxed Los Angeles Police Department are thrown into a seemingly disconnected maze involving crooked cops, heroin, rape, mass murder, blackmail, deep seated department corruption and a beautiful high end hooker (Kim Basinger) who falls for but may be playing the Crowe character. L.A. Confidential is one the few rewatchable great films that leaves chills up you're spine whether its for a piece of quotable dialogue, the performance, or the sheer craft. Brian Helgeland drafted one of the premier, labyrinthine screenplays (that miraculously somehow manages to make sense unlike Chinatown, the gold standard for L.A. detective movies) from James Ellroy's novel and director Curtis Hanson stages the picture beautifully with a distinct 50s noir atmosphere and a supreme cast (the three leads doing their best work in my own humble opinion) from top to bottom.

**** out of ****

Monday, January 23, 2017

Children of Heaven

After picking up his sister's shoes from the repair shop, a young boy stops into the market on his way home, sets the pair aside, and finds they have been stolen. Under fear of his father's discovery he begins to share his own shoes with his sister while he attempts to retrieve the purloined sneakers until he learns of a footrace where the third place prize is a brand new pair of footware. Iranian based Children of Heaven is a universal film that anyone can relate to (it took me back to a terrifying incident where I broke the arm off the old man's favorite chair and had to think on my feet while repairing the break and concealing the crime). While seeming to draw from The Bicycle Thief both in set-up, simple emotions, and social awareness it is no less heart rending and contains no fewer than three exciting and uniquely drawn action sequences.

**** out of ****

Friday, April 29, 2016

Lolita (1962 and 1997)

Humbert Humbert, a British gentleman and emigree haunted by a lost childhood sweetheart, falls in love with his landlady's precocious pre-adolescent daughter and dreams of a future with the two of them together. When Vladimir Nabokov's not only highly controversial but literate, layered, and thought to be unfilmable novel was billed to the public as a film adaptation in 1962, it came with the tagline "How did they ever make a movie out of Lolita?" And yet it was remade again 35 years later, though under much more relaxed censoring conditions. Stanley Kubrick's initial version (with a script credited solely to Nabokov) is pristinely filmed in black and white, with James Mason as Humbert and Peter Sellers (whose role in the book as the chameleon like, and equally lecherous Quigley got an upgrade in the movie) both extraordinary. However, the film's ending is soapy and offers too many explanations. Adrian Lyne's 1997 remake is probably (after hesitating to say and again given the times) the superior film version. Although, in contrast, the film is too explicit, it cuts closer to the essence of Nabokov's novel, contains pristine cinematography, and features an ideal Humbert in Jeremy Irons.

1962 version: *** 1/2 out of ****

1997 version: *** 1/2 out of ****

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Little Dieter Needs to Fly

The story of Dieter Dengler, a German born Navy pilot who was shot down by the Viet Cong, captured, tortured, and made a daring, grueling escape. In Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Werner Herzog documents a remarkable man who relays his harrowing story, part of the time in amazing, vivid recreations that are hard hitting and take on bizarre Herzogian elements. With an eccentric, venturesome countryman it is clear to see why the director was drawn to this material (he would tell the story again with Christian Bale in Rescue Dawn) and it is further evident that he would do whatever it takes to avoid cliched, staid filmmaking, a trapping this wonderful doc could easily have fallen into.

**** out of ****

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

A northern journalist (John Cusack) is enlisted to cover the annual party of a Savannah debutante (Kevin Spacey) when his errand boy and reputed lover (Jude Law) lashes out as the eccentric millionaire and later winds up dead. Quickly befriending his host, the reporter becomes central to the murder case and meets several unconventional types during his belated stay in the ghostly city. Clint Eastwood's filmization of John Berendt's novel is dull and overlong, with its murder mystery storyline and subsequent courtroom sequences playing second fiddle to atmosphere and Southern flavor (which are very well handled). Spacey's performance is colorful as are several supporting roles.

** 1/2 out of ****

Friday, May 22, 2015

Princess Mononoke

In feudal Japan, a young warrior saves his village from a demonic presence, which taints his arm giving him herculean powers but slowly withers away his life force. Searching for a cure, he teams up with the title noblewoman and leads a battle against a mining company who has been wreaking havoc on the land. Miyazaki’s Prince Mononoke is the expected blend of fantasy and parable, a strange, silly film meant to be taken seriously as an eco-allegory, but replete with wondrous, imaginative visuals.

*** out of ****

Sunday, February 8, 2015

The Apostle

When a colorful, successful, and well-liked Texas preacher (Robert Duvall) learns of his wife's extracurricular behavior, he makes an impassioned, violent choice and heads for a small Louisianan community where he starts his life and ministry anew. The Apostle was a years in the making passion project for Duvall, who contributes a showy, self-indulgent performance in a simple, well-meaning, but overlong film which is given weight by its Southern flavor, cast members, and landscapes.

*** out of ****

Friday, April 4, 2014

Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

Ken Burns documentary on U.S. Army Officers Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the Corps of Discovery's grueling, prolonged, and monumental explorative 1804 journey, which was initiated by Thomas Jefferson, began at St. Louis, and traversed the Pacific Northwest, does an excellent job of visualizing the participant's journey and capturing their ranging thoughts and emotions, but has a tendency to feel as lengthy and redundant as the journey itself. Uninspired guest commentator expousings don't add to the proceedings but fine photography does help to smoothen the ride.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Thomas Jefferson

The life of the famed statesman, inventor, writer, founder of the University of Virginia, and Third President of the United States is documented in all its brilliance, glory, and controversy by Ken Burns in this extensive two-part PBS feature. Thomas Jefferson features outstanding photography and primary sources, grows wearisome with some of its editorialization and guest commentary, but does its best to faithfully represent a truly adept, enigmatic, and not easily pigeonholed historical figure.

Friday, December 13, 2013

Kundun

Kundun begins with the expansive search to find a child worthy of taking up the mantle of the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, and details his coming of age (where he quickly discovers the immensity of his charge) before having to ward off the encroaching Chinese until his inevitable exile which is still in place to this day. Martin Scorsese's film, which appears to have been a cathartic change of pace following the out of hand violence of Casino, is beautifully photographed by Roger Deakins, features an exemplary Philip Glass score, and contains some extraordinary sequences but is hurt by overlength punctuated by too many storytelling lulls.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Jackie Brown

An aging flight attendant (Pam Grier) working for a low rent airline and running money for a lethal arms dealer (Samuel L. Jackson) is arrested by two ATF agents (Michael Keaton and Michael Bowen) for carrying a large sum of money and a small amount of cocaine. Thus commences a complicated and deadly game of double and triple crosses also involving a bail bondsman (Robert Forster), a beach bunny (Bridget Fonda), and a lackadaisical layabout ex-con (Robert De Niro). Working from Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch, Quentin Tarantino's follow-up to Pulp Fiction is done just about as good as you can do a small crime film. It features the expected violence and heightened dialogue on top of a complex plot structure and features dynamic performances from Grier and Forster, and a menacing one from Jackson. Of all his films, Jackie Brown is the only one that Tarantino developed from a book and I wonder if this isn't a preferable method. Working from someone else's story provides a welcomed restraint that still allows him to incorporate his own flourishes without resorting to out of hand, kill everything that moves culminations that have tarnished his recent films. Jackie Brown proves that going out on a whimper can be just as effective, if not more so.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Life Is Beautiful

A droll young Jewish man (Roberto Benigni) uses humor to win over the woman of his dreams (Nicoletta Braschi) in fascistic Italy and uses the same method to protect their son when they are later imprisoned in a Nazi death camp. Begnigni's immensely successful and popular film, for which he won accolades as writer, director, and star, is an obnoxious and artificial movie whose real message is that no matter how mawkish, buffoonish, or forced your film is, if you set it in a concentration camp you are bound to win several Oscars.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Histoire(s) du cinéma

"Histoire(s) du cinéma" is an ambitious art house project by legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard, made over a period of over ten years, and generally considered to be his greatest work outside of his New Wave period. In a series of eight, 25-50 minute long episodes, Godard offers essentially what the title says, except not only just history of the cinema, but an attempt to explain the 20th century through the history and with images from the cinema...I think. The movie is deliberately vague and extremely obtuse, with Godard meshing images from films as diverse as "Rear Window", "Notorious", "Scarface", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", with pornography and other bizarre imagery while spouting outlandish and sometimes mad declarations, to what end I'm not sure even its esteemed director could explain. The work is intriguing and even hypnotic, to a point but I would only recommend this to the most adventurous viewer of loyal Godard devotee.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Titanic

On April 12, 1912 the "unsinkable" behemoth RMS Titanic departed on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, never to see land again and dragging over 1,500 souls down to the bottom of the ocean with it. 100 years later, we still remain fascinated by the history and takes surrounding the mythical ship. James Cameron's immensely successful telling of the disaster is also celebrating an anniversary (15th), and it is being rereleased theatrically with a 3D update. Although I did not wish to pay for this new version, I decided to rewatch the film at home in honor of the occasion.

What strikes me about Cameron's film is just how bad or off so many elements about it are. The main culprit, which is the case in most of the movies he scripts, is the putrid and insufferable dialogue. Good actors are given just the worst material possible and their characters are drawn in the most broad of terms. Also class depictions are given the most simplistic rendering and we are given only snooty rich snobs and noble peasantry down below. Aside from Kate Winslet, none of the actor's stand out. Leo is too boyish, Billy Zane is a cartoon, Bill Paxton is irritating, and Gloria Stuart, I apologize, is insufferable (there's that word again). Her final scene of the movie is gag worthy. And I didn't even mention the soundtrack yet. Then, about 2/3rds into the film, the boat broadsides the iceberg and the remaining hour or so of the film is absolutely riveting, if not preposterous in Zane's pursuits of Kate and Leo. (I found a sequence depicting the band, the captain, and others involved with the creation of the ship deciding to remain on board particularly touching). "Titanic" moves swiftly and the sinking segment makes it worthwhile, but the film does not live up to its reputation.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Ulee's Gold

Ulee is a powerfully quiet beekeeper and widower raising his two grandchildren in northern Florida receives an urgent call from his estranged son who is serving out a term for armed robbery. Reluctantly, Ulee goes to visit and his son sends him on a mission to Orlando to retrieve his strung out wife who has fallen into the hands of two of his ex-cohorts. When Ulee arrives to pick her up, the two men have something more they want and now he must contend with all of these difficulties right in the heart of the harvest. "Ulee's Gold" is not only an absorbing film from writer/director Victor Nunez, it is also a courageous one as he elects to tell a fleshed out, paced story which to most studios means box office death. I liked the way the story takes its time and draws out a powerful performance out of Peter Fonda, who seems to be channeling the same types of methods his father used. Perhaps the story is too ruminant and contains too many bee metaphors, but the power of Fonda's performance and the lush photography and leisurely pace make "Ulee's Gold" a winner.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Insomnia

A disgraced Swedish detective and his partner, who are based in Oslo, are sent north to a small town in Norway in what is know as the land of the midnight sun to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. While setting a trap for the murderer, the two men give pursuit through the fog and the man accidentally shoots his partner. Deciding to cover up the shooting, he continues to work the case while becoming too involved with the suspect and the victim's best friend and not being able to sleep due to the constant sunlight and his nagging conscience, which in turn cause him to make mistakes and invite the suspicion of a female investigator. Insomnia is the debut film from Erik Skjoldbjaerg and is a very effective psychological thriller that makes great use of its Nordic locations and atmosphere. Stellan Skarsgard does fine work playing an off putting character. This movie was remade by Christopher Nolan in 2002 with Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank in the leads in another effective thriller, but I think think one is superior due to a few changes including a better ending and a sky ride taken between Skarsgard and the suspect which reminded me of the great Ferris Wheel scene in The Third Man (in Nolan's version it took place on a ferry). Either way, this is very good material pulled here by Skjodbjaerg and his company in fine, if disconcerting fashion.