Auto Focus (IMDB) (Netflix)
That a German World War II prison camp could be the setting for a highly successful TV sitcom (Hogan's Heroes) has stood out as an entertainment industry oddity, but but that strangeness is surpassed by the troubled private life of its star, Bob Crane (played by Greg Kinnear). He was a sex addict before there was a term for it, and enabled by hipster John Carpenter (Willem Dafoe), makes a long trip down the behavioral rathole.
Paul Schrader has made a career of writing or directing about people's dark sides, notably Taxi Driver, Hardcore, Cat People, American Gigolo and Affliction. Auto Focus extends that vein, and is a powerful comeback to the smirk that comes to some peoples' faces when they hear that someone suffers from sex addiction. From the cheesy 60s and 70s decor to the watery black-and-white videos Crane and "Carpie" make of their exploits, there's nothing glamorized about the lifestyle, and Dafoe is the poster child for "the wrong kind of people" you could meet along the way. If you go to see skin, you'll get it, but you're much more likely to be repelled than aroused.
Sunday, October 27, 2002
The Truth About Charlie (IMDB) (Netflix)
A Jonathan Demme remake of the 1963 Grant/Hepburn (Cary/Audrey) vehicle Charade, with the two lead roles going to Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton. Newton's cad of a husband, Charlie, gets done in, and Wahlberg runs into Newton suspiciously often all over a very rainy Paris while some bad guys (and a gal), an American government official (Tim Robbins) and an aggressive police detective (Christine Boisson) each manipulate her for their own ends. What's a widow to do, and who's she going to trust?
Demme brings an energy and style to the film that I suspect the successful original didn't have, and the score/soundtrack nicely supports that sensibility, but Marky Mark's no Cary Grant (some vocal cord stretching might help bring his voice into adulthood) and the relationship between him and Newton generates less heat than the autumnal Parisien skies. On balance, watchable, but a good rental alternative would be The Thomas Crown Affair remake with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.
A Jonathan Demme remake of the 1963 Grant/Hepburn (Cary/Audrey) vehicle Charade, with the two lead roles going to Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton. Newton's cad of a husband, Charlie, gets done in, and Wahlberg runs into Newton suspiciously often all over a very rainy Paris while some bad guys (and a gal), an American government official (Tim Robbins) and an aggressive police detective (Christine Boisson) each manipulate her for their own ends. What's a widow to do, and who's she going to trust?
Demme brings an energy and style to the film that I suspect the successful original didn't have, and the score/soundtrack nicely supports that sensibility, but Marky Mark's no Cary Grant (some vocal cord stretching might help bring his voice into adulthood) and the relationship between him and Newton generates less heat than the autumnal Parisien skies. On balance, watchable, but a good rental alternative would be The Thomas Crown Affair remake with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo.
Saturday, October 26, 2002
Barbershop (IMDB) (Netflix)
What was the fuss all about, that brouhaha about one of the characters saying that Rosa Parks didn't do anything special that day on the bus? It was a barbershop for Pete's sake, a free speech zone where any nitwit can have an opinion, like the corner bar, the op-ed page or a sports call-in show.
Fortunately, the movie is more than the controversy it engendered, and more than guys spouting uninformed opinions. There's a story here, about one of the rapping Ices--in this case, Cube--who owns a struggling South Side Chicago barbershop and makes a business decision he soon regrets, and a couple of mooks who steal an ATM devoid of money. And while the characterizations aren't always the most imaginative, and a little too much explicit telling instead of just implicitly showing, there's plenty of heart. Cedric the Entertainer is also such a font of slightly outrageous opining that the film chugs along to a satisfying conclusion. Not destined to be a comedy classic, but an endearing little movie that gently humanizes a part of society that's closer than we sometimes want to admit.
What was the fuss all about, that brouhaha about one of the characters saying that Rosa Parks didn't do anything special that day on the bus? It was a barbershop for Pete's sake, a free speech zone where any nitwit can have an opinion, like the corner bar, the op-ed page or a sports call-in show.
Fortunately, the movie is more than the controversy it engendered, and more than guys spouting uninformed opinions. There's a story here, about one of the rapping Ices--in this case, Cube--who owns a struggling South Side Chicago barbershop and makes a business decision he soon regrets, and a couple of mooks who steal an ATM devoid of money. And while the characterizations aren't always the most imaginative, and a little too much explicit telling instead of just implicitly showing, there's plenty of heart. Cedric the Entertainer is also such a font of slightly outrageous opining that the film chugs along to a satisfying conclusion. Not destined to be a comedy classic, but an endearing little movie that gently humanizes a part of society that's closer than we sometimes want to admit.
Sunday, October 20, 2002
The Good Girl (IMDB) (Netflix)
Friends' Jennifer Aniston goes indie, with this morality tale of a bored, restless wife in a small Texas town. She gets caught up with a younger co-worker who insists on being called Holden (as in Caufield), and you know there's going to be trouble. Everything that could go wrong with this fling in fact does, creating an ever-stickier web that Aniston seems unable to untangle.
Fellow viewers liked the relaxed pacing, Aniston's performance and less-than-Hollywood ending, but I had trouble with some broad, unflattering portrayals of small-town Americans, some too-easy laughs and the I-see-where-this-is-headed storyline. Aniston does have some acting range beyond what's required in a sitcom, and Tim Blake Nelson's role of the husband's best friend displays edge and texture, but overall it's less than special.
Friends' Jennifer Aniston goes indie, with this morality tale of a bored, restless wife in a small Texas town. She gets caught up with a younger co-worker who insists on being called Holden (as in Caufield), and you know there's going to be trouble. Everything that could go wrong with this fling in fact does, creating an ever-stickier web that Aniston seems unable to untangle.
Fellow viewers liked the relaxed pacing, Aniston's performance and less-than-Hollywood ending, but I had trouble with some broad, unflattering portrayals of small-town Americans, some too-easy laughs and the I-see-where-this-is-headed storyline. Aniston does have some acting range beyond what's required in a sitcom, and Tim Blake Nelson's role of the husband's best friend displays edge and texture, but overall it's less than special.
Punch-Drunk Love (IMDB) (Netflix)
If you were a guy with seven sisters who liked to call you "Gay Boy," you might be a lot like Adam Sandler's character, Barry, a struggling, lonely entrepreneur with a torqued-up psyche and a few anger management issues. In an effort to connect with someone, anyone, he gets caught up with some predatory criminal types, and the girl he doesn't deserve (played by Emily Watson, who was very affecting in the recent Red Dragon and last year's Gosford Park).
This is not your typical Sandler, the comedian-writer-producer whose patron saint can only be H.L. Mencken, but a deft romantic comedy from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights and Magnolia). The offbeat story and score, plus Barry's mix of mostly affable pathologies, create this not-unpleasant tension that's broken periodically by small eruptions of violence between Barry and the bad guys, and sweetness between him and Watson, who wisely underplays her part to balance off the manic Barry/Sandler. A small movie that plays big.
If you were a guy with seven sisters who liked to call you "Gay Boy," you might be a lot like Adam Sandler's character, Barry, a struggling, lonely entrepreneur with a torqued-up psyche and a few anger management issues. In an effort to connect with someone, anyone, he gets caught up with some predatory criminal types, and the girl he doesn't deserve (played by Emily Watson, who was very affecting in the recent Red Dragon and last year's Gosford Park).
This is not your typical Sandler, the comedian-writer-producer whose patron saint can only be H.L. Mencken, but a deft romantic comedy from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights and Magnolia). The offbeat story and score, plus Barry's mix of mostly affable pathologies, create this not-unpleasant tension that's broken periodically by small eruptions of violence between Barry and the bad guys, and sweetness between him and Watson, who wisely underplays her part to balance off the manic Barry/Sandler. A small movie that plays big.
Sunday, October 13, 2002
The Transporter (IMDB) (Netflix)
OK, let's go slumming. Jason Stathan (from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) is the ex-special forces operator and titular courier of sensitive cargo who violates one of his three self-imposed rules, "Don't Open the Package," and unleashes a Pandora's box of complications that, ah, drives the movie to its conclusion.
"Drive" might be a little generous. The first half is promising, with a decent chase scene through Nice, a damsel in distress with moxie and a we're-not-taking-ourselves-too-seriously puckishness. It all goes pear-shaped, however, when at the end of Act Two, the screenwriter apparently chucked the typewriter at the stunt coordinator and said "My work here is done. Bring it home, Philippe." The girl's role is reduced to squealing in the back seat of Daddy's car and Stathan's character, bucking to be the British Jackie Chan, bores through a panoply of Euro-thugs with mind-numbing ease.
Martial arts buffs might get off on this one, but few others.
OK, let's go slumming. Jason Stathan (from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) is the ex-special forces operator and titular courier of sensitive cargo who violates one of his three self-imposed rules, "Don't Open the Package," and unleashes a Pandora's box of complications that, ah, drives the movie to its conclusion.
"Drive" might be a little generous. The first half is promising, with a decent chase scene through Nice, a damsel in distress with moxie and a we're-not-taking-ourselves-too-seriously puckishness. It all goes pear-shaped, however, when at the end of Act Two, the screenwriter apparently chucked the typewriter at the stunt coordinator and said "My work here is done. Bring it home, Philippe." The girl's role is reduced to squealing in the back seat of Daddy's car and Stathan's character, bucking to be the British Jackie Chan, bores through a panoply of Euro-thugs with mind-numbing ease.
Martial arts buffs might get off on this one, but few others.
Monday, October 07, 2002
Red Dragon (IMDB) (Netflix)
The prequel to Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, and a remake of Manhunter. Anthony Hopkins returns as Dr. Lecter, with Edward Norton as the former FBI agent pulled back into the profiling harness. This time Ralph Fiennes (the commandant in Schindler's List) is the psycho, and Emily Watson is a blind woman who unwittingly befriends him.
"Dragon" starts fast and steadily rachets up the squirm factor, and Hopkins is as creepy as ever, but what distinguishes it from the rest of the series is the relationship between Fiennes and Watson, which generates a host of strong emotions. The last big scene will be anticipated by many, but is fresh enough that it works.
The prequel to Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, and a remake of Manhunter. Anthony Hopkins returns as Dr. Lecter, with Edward Norton as the former FBI agent pulled back into the profiling harness. This time Ralph Fiennes (the commandant in Schindler's List) is the psycho, and Emily Watson is a blind woman who unwittingly befriends him.
"Dragon" starts fast and steadily rachets up the squirm factor, and Hopkins is as creepy as ever, but what distinguishes it from the rest of the series is the relationship between Fiennes and Watson, which generates a host of strong emotions. The last big scene will be anticipated by many, but is fresh enough that it works.
Saturday, October 05, 2002
Moonlight Mile (IMDB) (Netflix)
We open with parents (Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon) and a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) preparing to attend the funeral of a young women; their daughter, his fiance. She was in the wrong place at the worst time, and now everyone is coping in their own way with the aftermath. Complicating matters is that Jake is living with his in-laws, was about to go into business with Dad, and has additional burdens placed on the hell he's going through.
On paper, this seems to contain enough melodrama potential to gum up every gear in the projector, and there are most definitely those kind of moments, but good writing and great acting, plus a relationship Jake strikes up with newcomer Ellen Pompeo, are able to break free from the sticky bits to move the story along. Gyllenhaal, the brother of Secretary's Maggie, has the goods, as does the rest of the cast, although Sarandon's part seemed written a little too hip for credulity, and the movie's title seems to be the concoction of a publicist favoring alliteration over relevance and meaning.
On the whole, well-conceived and executed.
We open with parents (Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon) and a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) preparing to attend the funeral of a young women; their daughter, his fiance. She was in the wrong place at the worst time, and now everyone is coping in their own way with the aftermath. Complicating matters is that Jake is living with his in-laws, was about to go into business with Dad, and has additional burdens placed on the hell he's going through.
On paper, this seems to contain enough melodrama potential to gum up every gear in the projector, and there are most definitely those kind of moments, but good writing and great acting, plus a relationship Jake strikes up with newcomer Ellen Pompeo, are able to break free from the sticky bits to move the story along. Gyllenhaal, the brother of Secretary's Maggie, has the goods, as does the rest of the cast, although Sarandon's part seemed written a little too hip for credulity, and the movie's title seems to be the concoction of a publicist favoring alliteration over relevance and meaning.
On the whole, well-conceived and executed.
Wednesday, October 02, 2002
Spirited Away (IMDB) (Netflix)
The latest animated feature (or as aficionados of the genre say, anime) from the "Japanese Walt Disney," Hayao Miyazaki, who also wrote and directed Princess Mononoke. Our protagonist is Chihiro, a timid and slightly spoiled 10-year-old who becomes trapped in a spirit world of anthropomorphized frogs, radishes and assorted tubers. Her parents are stuck in this same world, but they've been transformed into pigs, and desperately need saving before they become breakfast bacon. With a little help from the friends Chihiro makes along the way, she transforms into a plucky "you go girl" hero and it's no surprise that everything turns out just fine at the end.
The animation is spectacular (it's difficult to tell if the digital projection in the theater contributed to the quality) and the level of creativity far exceeds what you'd see in any American animated feature. On the other hand, it's clearly a children's movie, with plenty of made-up-on-the-spot logic and personality shifts (reminiscent of a lucid dream state) that kids will let slide and grown-ups might find tiresome. It's also a bit long for an animated feature at 124 minutes, but judging from the army of animators listed in the credits, that may be an effort by the Japanese government to boost the employment rate. Some great messages about conquering one's fears and fulfilling your responsibility to others that parents will appreciate.
The latest animated feature (or as aficionados of the genre say, anime) from the "Japanese Walt Disney," Hayao Miyazaki, who also wrote and directed Princess Mononoke. Our protagonist is Chihiro, a timid and slightly spoiled 10-year-old who becomes trapped in a spirit world of anthropomorphized frogs, radishes and assorted tubers. Her parents are stuck in this same world, but they've been transformed into pigs, and desperately need saving before they become breakfast bacon. With a little help from the friends Chihiro makes along the way, she transforms into a plucky "you go girl" hero and it's no surprise that everything turns out just fine at the end.
The animation is spectacular (it's difficult to tell if the digital projection in the theater contributed to the quality) and the level of creativity far exceeds what you'd see in any American animated feature. On the other hand, it's clearly a children's movie, with plenty of made-up-on-the-spot logic and personality shifts (reminiscent of a lucid dream state) that kids will let slide and grown-ups might find tiresome. It's also a bit long for an animated feature at 124 minutes, but judging from the army of animators listed in the credits, that may be an effort by the Japanese government to boost the employment rate. Some great messages about conquering one's fears and fulfilling your responsibility to others that parents will appreciate.
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