unscathedicarus Reviews

To Have and Have Not (1944)

Good, but in great company

[8/10 · 14 June 2004]

To Have and Have Not just didn't sit well with me because of its neighbors. It's a good film with good acting, good dialogue and good direction. But, it right between two of Bogie's greatest appearances. I think more than anything, I got the feeling that To Have was a transitional film.

In one respect, it tries to emulate Casablanca quite overtly. It takes place in a kind of City-of-the-Damned port like Casablanca where refugees and criminals hide from the Nazis. The presence of the French resistance is another factor in this atmosphere. Henry Morgan's disposition definitely plays off of the I-don't-stick-my-neck-out-for-nobody and subsequent reluctant hero of Rick Blain. The presence of Dalio (here known as Frency) and of Dan Seymour (Capt. M. Renard, extremely reminiscent of Sidney Greenstreet's Gutman of the Maltese Falcon and Ferrari of Casablanca) are another factor. Finally, the rescuing of the French resistance leader seals the deal. All of these elements are still well handled, but not as well as Casablanca (but what is as good as Casablanca anyway?).

At the same time, To Have and Have Not is setting up the on and off screen relationship between Bogie and Bacall. I don't think that it was cemented until later in The Big Sleep, another landmark for the pair.

On its own, To Have and Have Not is definitely excellent, one of Howard Hawks' best.

Igby Goes Down (2002)

A bit cliched, excellent acting, offbeat and funny

[9/10 · 3 January 2004]

A very strange comedy with touches of sentiment, flamboyant characters and clever dialogue. Igby Goes Down didn't really leave me with a strong feeling after I flicked it off, but along the way it was very amusing. The characters are sort of cliched: the older achiever brother, the younger scamp troubled troublemaker brother, the pernicious mother who tries to force her son back on the "right track." But the actors and the acting are wonderful, so it all works out in the end.

Definitely worth checking out.

Hard Boiled (1992)

Thoughts on Hard-Boiled - Insanely Violent, Well Made

[8/10 · 3 January 2004]

It's amazing how much sheer violence John Woo managed to pack into this rough and quickpaced gangster film. And how many squibs, explosives and blanks the production must have consumed. I don't think I've ever seen a film before that more successfully wades through such a gratuitous amount of carnage without batting an eye. I didn't keep track, but I'm sure that at least 200 gangsters, cops, innocent bystanders, SWAT team members, doctors and hospital patients were gunned down mercilessly in the film. And yet none of them really matter, except for Chow Yun Fat's slain cop partner and the head villain in the end. Perhaps the silliest/most awful moment was when Fat's character was mowing down goons while carrying a baby in his arms (two cotton balls in the ears make the infant oblivious to the awful bloodshed of course) - the renegade cop apologizes to his child ward and wipes the spattered blood off of his gurgling sweet face.

All in all, a fairly engaging action movie and despite the wanton destruction and lack of interest in the value of human life, Hard-Boiled is well written and directed. However, it doesn't have the soul or wit of Woo's earlier film The Killer, which I highly recommend.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Images, Story and The Lord of the Rings

[10/10 · 19 December 2003]

*SOME SPOILERS HERE, CAREFUL PLEASE*

Sublime and mindblowing were the two words that reverberated in my head after stumbling out of the theater at 1 am. Two days later, I've decided to try to make sense of the trilogy and think a little instead of simply raving (which of course I was doing the entire night after the movie).

I still feel that The Fellowship of the Ring remains truer to Tolkien's series of books, simply due to the fact that as the flagship for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, director Peter Jackson was required to meticulously and beautifully paint a portrait of Middle Earth and establish the character of various peoples. The realms of Hobbiton and Rivendell receive wonderful treatment and illustrate the distinctive qualities of the inhabitants of the two places.

While The Fellowship of the Ring functions as an exploration of Middle Earth, The Two Towers begins the actual conflict of Middle Earth, the Great War between good and evil. It expanded the tale of a small group of people (primarily the Fellowship) into the epic story of an entire world. As the scope of The Lord of the Rings increases during this middle chapter, Peter Jackson's ability to concentrate specifically on its protagonist's struggle naturally diminishes to a degree, as he now must also tell the story of the rest of Middle Earth. Tolkien's heroes are sucked into a whirlpool of battle and conquest, their original goal of the destruction of the One Ring swept aside for the moment as external conflict blocks their paths. The original quest of Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas, their search for the hobbits, transforms into the greater goal of saving the land of Rohan. Far from their role in the first film of companions to Frodo, Merry and Pippin find their purpose in convincing the Ents to siege Isengard Tower in order to aid their friends. Even Frodo and Sam's much more direct goal of reaching Morder is diverted when Faramir drags them to the battle of Osgiliath.

Cinematically The Return of the King finds itself with more stunning material, wonderfully crafted and tailored to Jackson's particular sensibilities. It strikes a balance between the epic and the dramatic, taking some of each of the first two films. Because Frodo and Sam have escaped the War into Mordor at this point, Jackson is able to focus tightly on their journey now and the impending dangers and doom that await them. The presence and mastery of his earlier horror work expresses itself very strongly here, both in the rapid camerawork and cutting and the art direction. Specifically the Stair to Cirith Ungol and the den of Shelob reflect the director's love of frightening and creepy atmosphere and the monsters that lurk in the back of our minds. Aragorn's quest to enlist the Dead army of the mountain are very visually reminiscent of Jackson's Dead Alive (the trail through the mountains seems to be the same canyon that he used in the opening sequence of Dead Alive as well).

While battle still runs rampant in The Return of the King, it yields to specific and more personal moments in the War. Eowyn's battle with the Witch King and Denethor's growing insanity punctuate a vast and somewhat static epic battle, bringing the story back to its heroes rather than expanding it to the whole of Middle Earth. Return of the King seems to take the reverse strategy of The Two Towers, sidetracking the War with the personal quests of the film's protagonists. It seems that director Peter Jackson tires of dealing with the material on a large scale (for the point is made that many have sacrificed and lost in this war after several minutes of carnage), most apparently when Aragorn's Dead Army ravages the hordes of Mordor in a split second, neatly cleaning up the rest of the battle to allow the film to progress to its smaller-scope climax on Mount Doom. Ultimately it is the characters that represent the races of Middle Earth that interest us (primarily the Fellowship of the first film), not the actual masses of people themselves, as Aragorn clearly enunciates with his cry of "For Frodo" as he charges the ranks of Mordor.

The Rosebud enigma in Citizen Kane allows Orson Welles to explore the deeper puzzle of the identity of Charles Foster Kane. In the same right, the story of the destruction of the One Ring, while compelling and wonderful in its own right, is a device that allows Tolkien's characters (and thus the film's audience) to traverse the whole of Middle Earth and sample its wonders. The Ring becomes a concrete metaphor for evil in general and the struggle of the small hobbits is a specific manifestation of the theme of the weak struggling against great adversity.

While the films' detractors criticize Jackson's inability to remain true to the original books, I believe that he has more than adequately illustrated the world of Middle Earth. Subtleties that are readily available in the printed medium may be impossible to transpose onto the silver screen. The three films carefully balance an energetic storyline with lush, imaginative and breathtaking visuals that represent the world of Tolkien to the audience. Imagery and visual splendor have always been the strength of the cinematic medium more than anything else and it will be the beautiful images that Peter Jackson created in the Lord of the Rings trilogy that remain with us for years to come.

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

Another weak Dumas adaptation

[3/10 · 16 January 2002]

During the course of this truly mediocre rendition of The Count of Monte Cristo, my favorite book of all time, I kept wondering where the fault lay.

Was it in the incredibly flawed script that took major liberties with the work for no apparent reason, condensing key plot events to meaningless sound bytes and drawing paper-thin characters that lacked any real relationship with the title character, including the spiteful archvillian rivals and the long-lost love interest? Probably.

Perhaps it was the atrocious cinematography, which although darkly stylized tended to obscure the images rather than enhance them.

Terrible editing which actually staggered away from some of the films' beautiful shots definitely helped to shorten my attention span.

Thoroughly mediocre performances, at least with the case of Luis Guzman due to poor and ill-suited casting choices, further ruined the beautiful story.

All in all, I would say that this medley of flat and trivial filmmaking backed by its impressive budget and loud advertising will prevent any chance of a good adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo from surfacing for quite some time.

Cast Away (2000)

Paradoxical and Beautiful Filmmaking

[9/10 · 23 December 2000]

As I left the theater after seeing Cast Away, I had a strange mixture of emotion in my mind. Perhaps this was due to the disappointing quasi-Hollywood ending that followed the terrible yet surreal ordeal of a man who grasps at hope of escape from the island he has been physically imprisoned on after a plane crash. But I have a feeling that Robert Zemeckis, an accomplished and innovative director, inserts this incredulity for a purpose. And the more I consider it, this weakness complements its powerful central segment in which actor Tom Hanks grapples with the forces of Nature. Upon his return to civilization, he finds that his former life dissipated and thus the audience's hollowness resulting from the film's frail ending analogously parallels the protagonist's tumultuous emotions and uncertainty about how to proceed. I recommend Cast Away because it is a wonderful film in many respects; these achievements far outweigh any regrets about its finale. The lavish photography of Tom Hank's solitary struggle against his island prison and the beautiful yet harsh Pacific Ocean brings a humanitarian spirituality to the film. This brought me an appreciation for the seemingly petty elements of civilization that we frequently see and ignore (in a manner quite similar to American Beauty in my opinion). The hidden element of film of sound really contributes to Cast Away by pounding each and every wave that hits the protagonist's weak little raft deep into the audience's mind, expressing the brute power of the ocean wonderfully. And of course, the darkly humorous acting of Tom Hanks plays the key role, seeking to mask his desperation by introducing Wilson the volleyball, a "character" that he converses with freely. Enjoyable and intriguing, Cast Away has been quite possibly the best Hollywood film of the year, in my opinion.

The Boondock Saints (1999)

Really disappointing

[7/10 · 1 August 2000]

I was really looking forward to watching this film when I rented it. I had read the synopsis on the back and the plot seemed very solid and interesting, and I really felt that this would be an enjoyable film. And it started out pretty well I thought. But by the time it reached it conclusion, I found myself agitated, not paying attention, not caring.

I see the major problem as being not enough character development; I didn't feel anything toward the title Irish vigilante brothers whose parts in the film flipped between merciless killer to God-serving Angel of Death with little to no transition (and little and mainly ambigious background on them). And the manner in which Willem Defoe's character "converts" from FBI detective to vigilante is ludicrous and stupid. All in all, I was very disappointed in what could have been a very excellent film that fell apart due to a lousy script and mediocre acting.

Being John Malkovich (1999)

It's Out And There's Nothing Like It

[10/10 · 1 December 1999]

Being John Malkovich leaves you astounded. What happened in that dark theater? Twist and turn, one thing more fantastical than the next, this movie is 100 % UNIQUE. Even the introduction and the setting of the film are outlandish to say the least. The movie develops quickly, plummetting viewers into the warped world it creates; while the surroundings are strange, they are presented without leaving the audience convinced and I found that my questions about Malkovich's mysterious portal, such as "What happens if John Malkovich goes into his own portal?", were answered.

The directoral work in John Malkovich is quite interested at times as well. Seeing the world through John Malkovich's eyes is not an easy feat to accomplish, but is done tactfully.

However, it is the interactions between the characters that fortifies this film. Cuscack, completely smitten by Catherine Keener's character, finds that his love is unrequited. There are more twists in this story, but that's for you to find out, now isn't it? So be John Malkovich!

American Beauty (1999)

Brilliant . . . A Tragedy With A Happy Ending

[10/10 · 24 October 1999]

American Beauty starts out slow. Normal family, normal neighborhood. And then it starts for real. The illusion of normality is blurred and fades like invisible ink. Kevin Spacey, one of my favorite actors, is a corporate nobody that cracks, quitting his number job and fantasizing about his daughter's best friend. His wife, played by Annette Benning, is a failing real estate broker whose business is as shakey as her marriage and her sense of security. The daughter, completely ignored by her parents, falls in love with a boy who has just moved in next door that deals drugs for money he uses to buy film equiptment so he can film "beautiful things" such as a dying animal. His father, an ex-Marine Colonel asks for a urine sample every six months. Nice happy family, isn't it?

Kevin Spacey does an amazing job narrating and playing the lead. What seems to be a horrible ending (at the beginning you find out that he will die soon) is transformed into something wonderful and truly beautiful . . . American Beauty.