stephenhr Reviews

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Astounding Cave Art

[9/10 · 18 June 2011]

First a thanks to the director for bringing this to the public eye. It's a very recent find of prehistoric art, significant art, that predates all existing finds. The director takes his crew into the company of scientist in the intense early processes of mapping, documenting, analyzing, protecting, and preserving the find.

It as much a view of the scientists and they provide a grounding for the experience. They expand the appreciation. Yet the art itself is presented to camera simply as it is without embellishment or editorial. It is beautiful. Effort is made to present it as it would appear to a person walking in the midst of it.

I wish an art historian would offer a fitting place for the best of this find. At least one of these artists could be placed far into our historical period and could compare well with the best illustrators of today. There is a sense of art and artist that reached to me across this long span of time. The director's voice-over makes that point, too, but I felt it. Thanks.

Awake (2007)

Love Story / Thriller / Medical

[10/10 · 11 December 2007]

***The very last sentence of this comment may be considered a spoiler for some. It's a statement about the positive or negative outcome for the viewer. It answers the question, "Might I feel uplifted or empty at the end?" Nothing more than that.

Awake works on some very interesting levels. I commend Joby Harold, the first-time writer-director, for writing it. It takes a lot of time and focus to weave this kind of tale, to pull all the threads together into an effective experience.

It takes a little effort to reconstruct the story in my mind even though I've just seen it. It's not disjointed storytelling in the recent fashion. It has levels or maybe perspectives that are woven effectively without drawing attention. I expected the story to fall apart, but it didn't. I expected to be let down several times because the story seemed to display ambitions, but I was not let down. Maybe I'll see it again.

I saw it on a Tuesday night in the second or third week in release here in Nashville. There were a hand full of folks. Two folks began clapping at the end and I joined in. It was brief, but when was the last time that happened? I don't remember.

This is a first-film and it's on par with the major releases that I've seen lately. I've seen three or four films a week for the last few weeks, everything in wide release except the family fare and chick flicks, and this stands up to everything. It was way down my list, but Awake was lurking as a possible and was a pleasant surprise.

The film has complexity, thrills, mystery, and love. Although there is real tragedy we are not left out in the cold.

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Reality is Back

[10/10 · 28 July 2006]

I believe the spoiler caveat does not apply to this film. It's obvious what it's about and the position it takes. If you have no clue, then this review has spoilers and you might want to stop reading now.

There are two necessary objectives in this documentary. One is building the credibility of the speaker, Al Gore. The other is building the case for recent global warming being the result of human activity. Both stories are necessary to make the case. You have to believe the presenter in order to believe the case he makes.

In the end I believed him as a person and I believe he has his facts in order. However, something else happened to me in the end. I made a similar journey. I incorporated these facts into my story, my history, and my future plans.

Those of us who were teenagers or older in the 1960's saw a glimpse of this 45 years ago. It took a lot of money and drugs, but we were able to ignore it. Well, reality is back. Double talk is dead. How do I accommodate this into my life, my choices? That is the question Mr. Gore raises for himself and, in the end, raises for me.

This "film" is really performance art. It's like the concert tour movie: Gore travels the globe giving the same slide show from his laptop. The presentation is filmed and edited with B-Roll footage. He makes a case for being a real human being himself and does it much more effectively than he did while campaigning. It's not about him, though. It's about us, each of us.

One last note. He has compassion for us and does not raise our anxiety. He raises our awareness and nudges us toward a necessary acceptance in a loving way.

See it.

Red Eye (2005)

Not as Advertised... Better

[10/10 · 19 May 2006]

I guess Wes Craven has done good horror, not that I watch horror. Evidently for "Red Eye" the marketing monkeys decided they should make Cillian Murphy's eyes glow red in the trailer as if he is some literal demonic being. This is a thriller / drama not supernatural / horror. That's why I never saw it until I rented it. It's a fine thriller! Rachel McAdams is very watchable as the woman in jeopardy and carries the tension nicely. Cillian Murphy is right for his part and keeps the story together. The character roles all work. This is not a big budget film, but it's well balanced and these rising stars are given a solid story and good direction. The marketing attracted the horror audience who were disappointed, no doubt, and the thriller audience like me, a much larger audience, just let it pass to video. There are lessons here: Be honest in marketing and pull in the right audience; trust the director; trust the audience because we know what we want. Red Eye is a good rental . At PG13 it's a good date flick, too. Nice work everyone except the marketing duds.

Munich (2005)

A Balanced View from a Human Perspective

[10/10 · 25 January 2006]

Very fine piece. I read from several semi-trusted sources that it glorified the Israeli position over the Palestinian. Wrong. It was a balanced, personal perspective that was, at heart, anti-war. I think, any viewer would feel compassion for the Palestinian's also from this piece. However, I can see how Palestinans would not be satisfied, but trust me, the point was made several times, very explicitly, that they both share the same story. Displaced. No home. Brutal tactics. Fight or die.

I spent a month in Israel in '73. I was 19 and sleeping on the beaches at Eilat on the Red Sea. Golda Mier came to town and they used fire hoses to get us off the beach but it was all good natured. So we built hippie shanties out of cardboard in hills. I slept in city parks all around Israel and the occupied territories. Stayed in several kibbutz settlements where goats like to eat passports. I hiked alone and camped in the mountains above the Dead Sea. Played chess in open-air, dive bars drinking beer till the wee hours.

I went there to see what it was like to have your back against the wall and see what war cost you, does for you and to you. It was like going back in time to our own American Revolutionary War. I was not disappointed. That's what "Munich" accomplishes. War is not tidy.

I took a ship from Haifa to Cyprus. You couldn't go directly from Israel to an Arab country, so Cyprus was the stepping stone. Israel doesn't stamp the passport directly, but gave me a sheet to hold their passport stamp. That way you can toss it and get into the Arab countries. The night I got to Cyprus 30 bombs went off in the capital. It was unstable, but more from the Greeks and Turks who both claim Cyprus. I got the next ship out to Beirut.

Beirut was beautiful in '73. This was a few years before Lebanon started to melt down, but I was in the city right around the time of the para-military raid they depicted in the movie. I spent a few weeks in the Beka Valley near Syria exploring the Roman ruins. The hash oil trade was the main line of business in village where I stayed, but I declined to buy into it no matter how attractive and safe the dealers made it appear.

When I saw "Midnight Express" five years later in 1978 it made my butt pucker. I took the same path as the main character over land through Syria and Turkey to Europe. Syria was full of Soviet goods like the very heavy, clunky cameras that, nevertheless, worked pretty well. Turkey was full of 1956 Chevy's. I ate some bad sausage in Turkey and almost died for a few weeks. Beautiful land.

My point is that being around there a few months gave me good feel for the very complicated, intractable situation and a love for all the people involved. Steven Spielberg does an honorable job with "Munich." Well, maybe the last speech by main character's mother was a bit much, but just a bit. The movie depicted what I saw in the eyes of a young Israeli women soldier in '73. It's the same look I saw in eyes of a young Arab man who played a game of chess with me and shared some beer.

Kiss of the Dragon (2001)

Well cast and well fought fight flick with something special.

[10/10 · 17 January 2006]

You are reading this because you like fight films, no doubt, and you will be happy with Kiss of the Dragon. Watch it.

As good as Jet Li is at holding up his end, Bridget Fonda shines brightly as a low-end hooker which does not sound promising. Amidst all the guy talk, guns and fist fights, Bridget carries her story moment by moment without dead air. It's curious. The role is not especially rich, but it is big. On paper it must reek of cliché, but you would not know it.

Hair, costume, and makeup are commendable and seem as sleazy as they must be, but actor and director do not play to the sleaze. This is not the "Pretty Woman" fantasy hooker. How could she carry dignity as a failed hooker? It's interesting. Bridget let's her character succeed at failing.

The real story is about something else anyway that makes her situation desperate, but you don't see desperate. As most writers position their characters to be in such situations, actors get sucked into playing the desperation. Bridget does not play desperate. She plays someone trying very, very hard not to appear and not to feel desperate.

As a hooker, she needs to be attractive in the hookerish' fashion, but she just can't seem to succeed in that role in life. Being a failure as a hooker ends up being very attractive for a desperate mother as long as it's all well acted.

I remembered a discussion I once had about Marlan Brando dying in the GodFather trilogy. Most actors would die. That's what the text says happens, but Marlan's Godfather fought to stay on his feet, to stay alive. He pulled the tomato plants down trying to stay up.

Bridget's Jessica seems out of place as a hooker, yet believable as mother who has to focus, who has to be present, and honest and courageous. In the end she is as amazing as Jet Li which says a lot. He had all the amazing fights, smashing, head busting action scenes as the title and genre promise. Together they feel just right. You can't help but love her and root for her, too, even though she is "B" story, or is she?

The Life of David Gale (2003)

It's not about the death penalty...

[10/10 · 6 January 2006]

It's a well told story of contemporary people in our society, actually a handful of stories interwoven. That each character has a reality that plays true and something actually happens for each of them is a credit to the production. The music is very well suited to the themes and a fine track to own in my opinion. It is easy to see that some reviewers were confused by the visual treatment. It's a mystery-thriller not an issue film, but the shooting style is more like a news story. Some reviewers stated that a position on the death penalty issue was not really taken or if it was taken the case was not really made. That is true because it's not a position film, it's a drama and a very good one. The characters make their own cases and fight their own battles. Excellence is in the original script, casting, acting, music and direction.

The Polar Express (2004)

SEE ONLY IN 3d-IMAX !!!

[10/10 · 10 December 2004]

An experience. The 3D treatment supports the experience of the story not the other way around. I was involved on a different level. I relaxed and enjoyed the spectacle, came out thinking it was well done, tasteful, and memorable. The adapted story is first rate. The animation has a unique style that works and is pleasant. It's not a frenzy of action in search of a soul, but a story well told.

This will play for years and years during the holiday season and is the first truly narrative feature quality and length I-MAX presentation that I've seen. In the hands of a master story teller, 3d-IMAX is experienced as a more total immersion into the story. 3d as a feature of the medium is blended into the other elements that support the telling of the film story and becomes another almost unnoticed element of film. SEE ONLY IN 3D IMAX !!

Strange Relations (2001 TV Movie)

A man discovers the world and himself just in time

[10/10 · 28 March 2003]

See this beautiful, loving drama. Every character a gem. A super script. Rich and excellent acting. Laugh, love, cry. This is what it's all about. Movies can enlighten us and release us. Sometimes they actually do.

Harrison's Flowers (2000)

Love and war

[10/10 · 9 March 2003]

In Yugoslavia 1991 a Newsweek photojournalist is declared dead without proof. His wife journeys into the heart of the war to see if she can find him.

A painful and beautiful story; great actors, direction, and production value. I can see why it had such a tough marketing job. The title is not descriptive although apt. I'm awed. A brilliant film of our United States, our world and our times. Thanks to all.

Stalingrad (1990)

Fine anti-war film!

[10/10 · 2 March 2003]

Captures the war the Germans took to Russia. The discipline the Germans began with slowly falls apart. Overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Russian soldiers, the duplicity of their own officers and the incredible winter weather, the 400 soldiers we follow are reduced to nothing.

Memorable characters.

Space Station 3D (2002)

Must see!

[10/10 · 3 October 2002]

Narrated by Tom Cruise, this is a fine documentary on the building and flying of the space station. Long takes of zero gravity work. Coverage of the Russian launches. It is a well put together piece in I-Max in space come on!

Dark Blue World (2001)

Czechoslovakian pilots fly for the Brits in WWII

[9/10 · 22 March 2002]

A fine history lesson for us in the U.S.A. and an excellent drama. Made me ponder how fortunate we are in north American in 2002 because so many people's fought in WWII in the 1940's. The film makes the pointed statement that the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia was thin improvement over the German Nazi regime.

A good chick flick, too.

Amélie (2001)

Joyous! The best of things feature film has to offer.

[10/10 · 30 November 2001]

I saw by myself on Wednesday and took my wife on Friday. As the credits rolled she said she wanted to stay and see it again. Wonderfully shot, acted, written, edited. On par with "It's a Wonderful Life." A celebration of existence.

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Lonely madness in Hollywood.

[10/10 · 31 October 2001]

A beautiful pair of femme fatales find and lose each other and so do we. There's a mystery story you can piece together within the madness of one of the women. I suppose you could figure it out eventually if you wanted to pursue it. Nevertheless, the unexplained mix of fantasy and reality provides a satisfying experience. What is clear is the story that Hollywood is about power and people. Even talented people can get chewed up for good.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

4 nice folks find self destruction in drugs

[10/10 · 21 September 2001]

Anyone who toys with drugs or thinks they are harmless should see this movie. It's a movie peopled with folks who do not have much going but they are pleasant enough and attractive. Each brushes up to drugs in a different way.

Slowly they hollow out their lives and descend into the anti-world. The world is populated with the dregs of humanity and there are no redeemers. I will not forget it. Very lonely and powerfully told tale with an energy uncommon in film. The editing and cinematography are superb. A complete telling of the story of using drugs.

Himalaya (1999)

A remote mountain village struggles for food

[10/10 · 3 September 2001]

Having been to Nepal, I was so impressed with this film. It shows life as it is or was for the mountain villages. They are economically poor but rich in tradition and belief. The film is beautiful. There is no technical compromise even though it was shot on location and there simply are no roads.

The story is about succession of leadership in the village and passages of generations. The characters are well developed. It's a well told tale.

I got more out of my trip experiences having seen this film.

Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man (2000)

An artistic interpretation of the human journey through life.

[26 October 2000]

This is an art film that works for the over 45 age crowd. We have been around long enough to see our lives go through phases each with it's own sense of wonder. Look at the ratings by age group and you'll see the over 45 age group is the most appreciative. It may also be that we have waited long to see the promise of an art film realized in this sumptuous format.

If you can go see this film with a relaxed, open mind it will touch you and it will linger. Journey of Man has a solid concept in writing, excellent art direction, and the I-Max format is well utilized with it's amazing image and sound quality and the traditionally shorter runtime. The film exploits the latest 3D technology that has to be experienced to be appreciated.

The Limey (1999)

A career criminal searches for the truth about his daughter's death.

[10/10 · 2 September 2000]

An excellent crime drama with stylized editing and an understated musical score. There's enough action and tension to keep your interest. The story is a good example of what a script should be: The why of things not the what. The ending reveals something to the main character and to the audience. The meaning lingers in your mind.