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WINTER 2005 MOVIE REVIEWS

Dean's rating scale:  **** Exceptionally good, ***Quite good indeed, ** I liked some things about it, but found it to be something closer to average,* Not recommended.

I need to point out that the ratings I give may tend to be lower than what other reviewers give, but I am actually not as critical as my reviews sometimes sound. Generally, anything two stars or better is something I have enjoyed (and could recommend to many folks), and even those to which I only give one star have some aspects I find redeeming, though obviously less so than others.  Anything with less than a star (that is 0 or 1/2) is a nearly absolute thumb’s down.  Four stars are given less often and only to those that have most moved me, most effectively depicted believability and/or given me the most food for thought.

The Aviator	***1/2
Being Julia	**
Beyond the Sea	**1/2
Closer	*1/2
Hotel Rwanda	****
Kinsey	****
Travelers and Magicians	**
A Very Long Engagement	**

The Aviator – (01/02/05) At the currently rate, Hollywood may eventually run out of biographies to do of well known 20^th century characters with compelling personal stories, eccentric personalities, closet skeletons, inner demons, drug addictions and mental illnesses. The public is a sucker for this kind of film, I probably more so than most. This film on the life of America’s first billionaire Howard Hughes, though at times sad and depressing, is probably the most thoroughly entertaining, with the biggest budget, of the recent crop – a crop that includes Ray (Ray Charles), Kinsey (Dr. Alfred Kinsey), Delovely (Cole Porter), Beyond the Sea (Bobby Darin), and Motorcycle Diaries (a youthful Che Guevera). I think that most people old enough to remember the tabloid image of Howard Hughes (since that is all most of us knew of him) went into this movie skeptical that Leonardo DeCaprio could pull off such a portrayal. The fact that we all knew so little of the reclusive Hughes undoubtedly made Decaprio’s portrayal an easier sell, and whether or not he was miscast for the role hardly matters because he gave a worthy performance in any case. It was more than just smart calculation on director Martin Scorcese’s part to focus on Hughes’ earlier go get ‘im years, the period during which he mustered his billions, since all most of us – probably including Scorcese -- knew of Hughes’ later years was this cardboard cutout caricature of a deeply disturbed eccentric man. Though the movie is a bit long at 2 hours 35 minutes, it blessedly ends on a positive note, paying respect to the man’s honor, and giving him some heroic qualities, particularly in his aviation achievements and in slewing the evil dragons of Congress, without prolonging the misery of submitting us to scene after scene of his deteriorating mental illness. Aside from the attention to his obsessive-compulsive disorders, the better part of the movie is a rollicking good time. Cate Blanchett keeps her star rising by putting in a feisty performance as a young Katherine Hepburn, a performance surely to be acknowledged with a Best Actress nomination, though she doesn’t look much like Hepburn, just as DeCaprio doesn’t look like Hughes. I equally enjoyed the greater egghead depth of Kinsey, the shear joy of the music of Ray Charles in Ray and the lyrics of Cole Porter in Delovely. The Aviator, like the others a bit naughty at times, is the most mainstream of this recent crop of bios and the one likely to appeal to the broadest audience. In spite of that, of all of Scorcese’s films, I think this one best shows him at the prime of his craft. (Kids and teens – generally okay, with adult topics lightly spoken about but not portrayed) ***1/2

Being Julia – (02/28/05) A diva actress falls in love with a man much younger than she, and has some tricks up her sleeve for a younger woman who later steals his fancy. The plot is simple and familiar, with a predictable yet still stunning plot twist near the end. The only real attraction is Annette Benning’s Oscar-nominated performance. I’m always amazed when someone like Benning, who grew up in the San Diego suburbs probably with something like a Valley Girl accent, can nail such a solid performance as this in a fully believable British accent. She lost to Hillary Swank for a second time, but it wasn’t for a lack of having earned her nomination. (Kids – probably not recommended) **

Beyond the Sea – (01/14/05) It seems that those who attempt to write, direct and star in their own films run the risk of being branded overly self-indulgent, arrogant or worse. Kevin Spacey’s self-conscious biopic of music legend Bobby Darin seems to anticipate this criticism and half-sheepishly apologizes at some points even as his performance says “in your face!” He expects those who would say “how dare you” think you can capture the Bobby Darin magic, and then he proceeds to nail it. He expects those who would say “you’re too old” to be portraying him, and you can’t sing like him, but he says I don’t care because he’s my childhood idol and this is my dream, so I’m going to do my damnedest to do justice to the man … and to myself in the process. He figures that at the very least people are going to be impressed with his audaciousness. The main attraction of the film is to see Spacey in the unexpected capacity of singing and dancing up a storm. Spacey croons four of Darin’s biggest hits, Mack the Knife, Splish Splash, Dream Lover and the title song, and he probably leaves Darin fans wanting more (e.g. If I Were a Carpenter and Things are notably missing). As for Spacey’s writing and directing, rather than being innovative, he seems to be borrowing from other well-worn movie devices, some of which seem rather contrived. His use of an adult Darin reflecting back on an earlier version of himself parallels in noticeable ways, perhaps not without mere coincidence, the method of storytelling seen in last summer’s biopic of Cole Porter called Delovely. Some have criticized the emphasis the movie places on Darin’s marriage to actress Sandra Dee (Karen Boswick) and the minimization of details about his drive to stardom and other career shaping events, but I think that focus provided some of the movie’s better moments. Darin’s career was rather short-lived and probably overstated as to the impact it played on music, but as with others who died young (Buddy Holly, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, etc.), much of their legend derives from having been frozen in time at such a youthful age. There are revelations and a particularly touching moment near the end. Proving himself a renaissance man of sorts, Spacey is working frantically on his own legend, and he continues to add to an impressive (though not always successful) body of work worthy of earning him his own substantial retrospective shown to a fan club likely to burgeon when, as with others like Darin, he’s no longer around to appreciate it. (Kids – perhaps not interested; Teens – more interested; Adults – aimed mainly at those who remember Darin or his music) **1/2

Closer – (12/11/04) Pretty faces Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Clive Owen join for a pointlessly nasty and mean spirited plot that portends nothing much. Were it not this way, it could possibly pass as a chick flick designed for women who need no confirmation that men are jerks, but continually want it confirmed anyway. Men get similar confirmation about women being jerks, but the emphasis is clearly on watching men squirming and feeling anger over things more commonly depicted as gripes heard from women. Both Jude Law and Clive Owen sometimes sound as if they are reading women’s dialog. Jude Law’s cad performance in Alfie and his rather pathetic wining in this movie probably don’t do much to raise his otherwise high stock with women. In any case, it was hard to feel much empathy or sympathy for any of them, and why should we care? What did we learn? Was it entertaining? Well, only if you need further confirmation. (Kids – no; Teens and adults who like soap operas – if pretty faces and confirmation are enough) *1/2

Hotel Rwanda – (01/23/05) The four star rating I give this is less a reflection of this film being great cinema, for it doesn’t really qualify as that. We don’t really learn a lot from it. It’s more a reflection of my desire that people see the movie. It could be a great guilt trip were it not for how much of a horror story it is. No other movie I’ve seen that tackles the subject of genocide, not The Killing Fields, not Shindler’s List nor any other movie about the holocaust, nor any recent movie about war in the Balkans, captures the palpable sense of fear that this film captures. If you haven’t been too desensitized by movie violence, there will likely be several instances that will take your breath away, not because of graphic portrayal, but because of the anticipation of it. Based upon a true story, Don Cheadle plays a hotel manager who heroically protects numerous people who otherwise would have been slaughtered during Rwanda’s horrific mid-1990’s melee. Like Oscar Shindler, he’s a bargainer, but with his own life more directly at stake. It’s unfortunate the film doesn’t have the constituency in Hollywood that could give this movie its due, but then again, it’s far more unfortunate that the people of Rwanda didn’t have the constituency anywhere to receive their due. Though the film is mainly straight story telling at a pace too frantic to ponder moral quandaries, the subject touches moral chords on many levels. It’s a mark upon all of us who knew of the situation and chose to turn away – and we know who we are. It’s a reminder of the long list of other genocidal places where the world was slow to act or chose to ignore entirely – Cambodia, Uganda, Bosnia, Liberia, Sierra Leone – and continue to ignore – Sudan -- since we first said “never again”. Finally, it may even play into the current debate about Iraq and about what could happen if a military force withdraws and leaves a vacuum that potentially permits anarchy to take its place. However, the main reason this film outdoes others in the genre is its edge-of-the-seat immediacy, and though it is perhaps not something you would be compelled to see twice, it is likely to leave a lasting impression, one likely to affect the way you think about the world’s more weighty matters and your place in them. (All ages – frightening, but for children perhaps too much so) ****

Kinsey – (11/28/04) Wary of delivering too large an audience for this biographical look at one of the principle fathers of the sexual revolution, the religious right are struggling with great difficulty to soft peddle their criticism and keep it to a low boil. It seems some of them can’t contain their defamatory impulses and bear if not false witness then unverifiable witness. Junk science, they say, propagated by a man who cooked the books while encouraging sexual deviates to perform all manner of misdeeds so he could have something shocking to write about to sell more books, a man they claim is principally responsible for the promiscuity of the past half century, higher teen pregnancy rates, and venereal disease rates. Hmmm. And those are supposed to be reasons why we shouldn’t go to this movie? That is not to say we can be confident of writer/director Bill Condon’s interpretation of the record and dramatization of events, but at least we can say, he tells a good story -- more thoughtful, nuanced and credible than can be fathomed from the weight of allegations by the bible-thumping right. Liam Neeson portrays the irrepressibly headstrong sex researcher Dr. Albert Kinsey in ways that reprise his role as Oscar Shindler in Shindler’s List, and he has a similarly touching breakdown moment near the end – albeit a little less compelling in this context -- when he realizes he could have accomplished so much more than he actually did. Kinsey is also the latest in a series of mainstream films examining famous bisexually conflicted characters, along with Cole Porter in Delovely, and Alexander the Great, plus a seemingly endless supply of fictional bisexuals. These days, Hollywood would almost have me believing that I’m the last remaining heterosexual. Be that as it may, Kinsey looks at the question that most people ask sometime in their lives regarding their sex drive, habits and behaviors – “Am I normal?” and finds that normal is much more widely varied than had previously been thought. Not to understate Kinsey’s role in the sexual revolution, but both the film and those who object to it probably give the man far more credit for it than Kinsey himself would claim. It’s not as if it wasn’t an often inadvertent, though at times intentional and collaborative effort by a whole host of folks – people such as Margaret Sanger, Gregory Pincus (inventor of the Pill) and Hugh Hefner, among others, come to mind – and hey, well most baby boomers had a role as well. Still, Kinsey did make his mark, and well, I am grateful for it. The film does include one of the most excruciating consensual sex scenes I’ve ever seen portrayed, but otherwise the sex is generally confined to very frank discussion. Hey, you think you know everything about sex and are no longer afraid to ask; you still may learn something. The acting is exceptional by all principle performers – Laura Linney, Peter Saarsgard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Oliver Platt. If a deeply thoughtful movie about an egghead scientist doesn’t have sufficient mainstream appeal to the action-flick crowd, then at least they may find, as the peanut gallery of my theater did, plenty about which to giggle. (Kids – generally not recommended, but I wonder what Kinsey would say about that; Teens – under 17 permitted accompanied by liberal parents who are not readily embarrassed; Adults – therapeutic) ****

Travelers & Magicians – (Bhutanese with subtitles) -- (02/28/05) – Although I’ve never been there, this first ever international release from Bhutan certainly brought back warm memories of my own travels, hitchhiking along many a lonely rural road. I would like to be able to say that the Bhutanese mountain scenery is a draw of this film, but most of what we see is from a single location, and it ain’t much to speak of. Anybody who has ever hitchhiked and gotten stuck somewhere for a while will be able to relate. And I could certainly relate to the lead character’s dilemma – conflicted by the lure of a dreamland and the possibilities found in a single face. He’s tormented also to find the right pacing. This is a story that repeats continuously in all countries of the world. What drives young people away from rural life? Peace and quiet does not necessarily quiet one’s soul. This is a beautiful little movie that caters less to channel surfers but more to those like me driven to act upon their wanderlust. Director Khyentse Norbu is known for his 2000 film, The Cup, which I enjoyed, but I liked this latest one better. (All ages – for those with patience) **

A Very Long Engagement – (In French, with subtitles) – (01/24/05) Audry Tatou’s mesmerizing brown eyes would alone be worth the price of admission for me. She must have the world’s largest pupils. This epic story of enduring love and hope in the face of a gruesome war is often frantically edited, a bit confusing, and occasionally goofy, but also strikingly touching. Tatou (of Amelie fame) plays a young woman who refuses to believe, in spite of nearly all evidence to the contrary, that her lover and friend since childhood died in the trenches of the war. Basically, it’s a detective story wrapped in a war story wrapped in a love story. The film’s violence, when it occurs outside of the war context, seems gratuitous, and the chaotic splicing of gently romantic or amusing scenes with at times pointlessly gruesome scenes distracts from principle emotions the film tries to capture. The pace of the film leaves the impression that it is much longer than its two hours ten minutes and, distracting qualities aside, may have enough going for it in Audry Tatou’s eyes to be worth it to you as well. (For children and some teens – subtitles may be too rapidly paced; plus sex scenes and gruesome violence). **

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