Drama – Page 11 – Splatter: on FILM

THE GREAT GATSBY (2013) movie review

May 14, 2013October 25, 20158 Comments

Baz Luhrmann revives Gatsby for a new generation of readers. The screen glosses over every few seconds with another coat of fresh paint in vibrant colors. Every perfect string of Tiffany pearls pales only in comparison to the brilliant custom cars and beaded 20’s gowns. For those of us who fell for Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), this is his newest moveable feast.

I tried a new experiment. I hadn’t read the book yet, so I picked it up one morning, absorbed it, and drove straight to the theater once I’d finished it. Fitzgerald, Zelda, Gatsby, Daisy. I was a-whirl with the graspable metaphors as they came alive before my eyes. The billboard’s God-eyes, the green light of envy from across the harbor, the luminous drops of sweat, the clock that drops from the mantle. Solid adaptation. Spot on, as they say.

Leo DiCaprio is back in full Gatsby glory, and that smile once thought lost on the icy bow of the Titanic shines with fresh vigor. He feels type-cast as Gatsby, as though he is acting out his own charmed, affluent, carefree, secretive life. Gatsby’s glossy disguise masks a past of pain and the obsession of a singular dream for true love as he once knew it. All other characters dance on and off-screen in glimpses of likable Chaplin-esque chop and charm.

Fitzgerald’s tale is tragic. The sin-centric storyline allows for rare moments of reflection admitting to itself that our sins will surely find us out. The adulterous are painted no worse than the greedy or gluttonous, and only in the eyes of God are we the same and forgivable as we meet on common ground in that shadowed valley of death.

42 (2013) movie review

April 20, 2013October 25, 20151 Comment

Stop what you are doing. Don’t waste another second. See this beautiful film.

Harrison Ford has always been a favorite, but now I’m in awe. He’s got gumption – that confidence that shines on-screen. And, he keeps secrets worth decoding, joy and sorrow resident in his eyes.

Young Chadwick Boseman, Jackie Robinson‘s true doppelgänger, fulfilled his role with the honesty and swagger of the legend himself.

There is honor in this film. It speaks of doing right all alone, of standing still against oceanic pull.

Racism obviously disgusts on every level. This film chooses to go beyond the black versus white question to pierce the heart of hate being hateful and the soul of letting skill speak for skill alone. It reminds me that people are capable of great love or brutality, but that they can also change.

Who has your heart? What keeps your feet steady? Jackie Robinson was just a man playing the game that he was born to play, a game that so many love. People fight in many ways for what is right. Robinson allowed himself to become a symbol. He walked in silence allowing his skill to speak for him despite screaming threats on an angry current.

He played baseball and let God fight for him.

ROBOT & FRANK (2012) movie review

March 24, 2013October 25, 20151 Comment

It’s sweet. I did see it right after dental surgery, so I was on some strong pain medication. Perhaps this changed my perceptions a bit, but I walked away wishing I had a robot friend like the character coyly but simply called “Robot.”
Out the door with Data from the Next Generation, with Johnny 5, with the Small Wonder. This little guy never made 3-PO quips or pulled the stunts and whistles of the little R2 unit. The voice of Peter Sarsgaard will not awaken AI to allow the machines to scorch the sky. It will not instigate the murder of the one who could destroy Skynet. It has no dream of humanity. It doesn’t dream.

So what does it do?

It listens. It cooks & cleans. It assesses quality of life, becomes a daily companion, and verbalizes only curiosity, encouragements, and suggestions to the one human to whom it is assigned.

Wow. Bianca from Lars and the Real Girl may have been upstaged by Robot in this little indie film. Newbies Jake Schreier and Christopher Ford wrote and filmed a version of this in college, then got the green light to make it with much bigger budget this last year.

The acting cast is stellar. No complaints. I love Marsden, Tyler, Sarandon, and especially Frank Langella as the cantankerous retired cat burglar suffering from dementia.

Slower moving but not without its twist endings, Robot & Frank is worth a watch.

DOWNTON ABBEY Season 3

March 11, 2013October 25, 2015Leave a comment

Beware of spoilers.

I believe that writers can develop what I like to call a god-complex. They become so intimately involved in the practice of creation, of breathing life into characters, that they can become calloused and begin to enjoy the act too much when the pen doubles as the Reaper’s sickle, wielding the duel power to take life as well as give it.

Julian Fellowes is the brilliant writer / creator of the globally renowned television show called Downton Abbey. What Fellowes has done in this third season is make us care. Well done. We are like sled dogs, he holding the mushing reins. When he gives we rejoice, and when he removes we mourn. That is good writing.
When this season ended in the UK, Americans had barely had time to dream over Lady Mary’s would-be wedding clothes. And I had to wait until March to see what Britain calls its “Christmas episode.”

Screenwriters are taught to add “gap” or elements of surprise into scenes. No amount of gap could compare to the final moments of this third season. Matthew who has seen so much death on and off the battlefield, who finally marries his dearest love, who accepts his title and position and saves the estate he is to inherit, and who meets his very own son is suddenly wiped from the storyboards. Matthew gone. Matthew immortalized as Mary’s perfect love.

Ah ha! The writer, a British Lord himself, playing dice with his universe?

I heard once that “fame is secular man’s grasp on immortality.” In Greek mythology, the true hero tests the fates and moves to make a mark on history in order to become legend, for only in legend can he become immortal. Matthew was in this sense immortalized before he could be deemed less lovely.

n the special features of Downton III, the writer claims that he allows Mary to have her perfect love. Is it divine punishment to offer true love and then take it away in its prime? I suppose it fits, mythologically speaking, but the true test here is how much an audience can take.

My theory is simple. Despite the ensemble drama, Mary is the main character, the hero of this story. She is central. She is fixed. All others play foil to her tale. Certainly she could die and the role of hero would be replaced, but for now she is left to carry on through tragedy. Great heroes have great dreams unfulfilled, great flaws to overcome, and and great hurdles to cross completely alone.

We shall see how it plays out for this hero despite the looming thunder of Downton’s Zeus.

LIFE OF PI (2012) movie review

February 25, 2013October 25, 20152 Comments

Even as a small boy growing up in India, Pi was hungry for religion.

This film is gorgeous. It is also disturbing and heart-wrenching, but gorgeous. Ang Lee directs beautifully this tragic survival story.

Most of the film takes place on a lifeboat with two characters. It’s very Hemingway meets Tom Hanks that way. You miss Wilson.

The point is, you never feel safe in this film. Death waits for Pi at every turn.

A child behind me in the theater was crying through a lot of it asking her mom to take her home. The mom kept saying, “it’s not real. It’s ok.” That mom was wrong. It is real. And this movie is not okay for small children. Though he is telling the story and we know that he lives, the tiger called Richard Parker remains a wild animal with raw instincts, and many many die.

This film is packed with life lessons.

Pi is ever grateful to whatever gods he chooses to thank. I am not grateful enough to my creator God daily for my life, my very breath.

I forget that the very people and things I am most afraid of still need to be cared for. It is this care that fuels his drive to survive. If we are to survive the pitfalls of this life, we must learn to care for one another.

LINCOLN (2012) movie review

February 23, 2013October 25, 20154 Comments

Steven Spielberg usually goes for gimmick and glory over text and tone. This film, however, is a talkie. It’s not an action flick or a sci-fi. It’s not shocking. There is no product placement. It IS, however, perfect lighting in brown rooms, it is fluttering curtains and conversation. These conversations mattered. They carried historical weight.

The film centers around the passing of the 13th amendment, ending slavery in our country. President Lincoln so obviously bore the burden of that charge, pressing despite political implications, with a goal to do more than just end a war. He wanted to end it having changed the world. He wanted the war to matter.

This is not our fight today, but would it be had not this captain lived and died making this his fight?

Watching this was like piecing a puzzle together. It was methodical, thick with names and faces, strategic, messy, then somehow quite beautiful – a wonder to be cherished.

Watching Daniel Day-Lewis portray the man Lincoln was rather existential. He became Lincoln. Lee Pace jeered crowds against the amendment while Sally Field broke her husbands heart daily. Tommy Lee Jones regaled as the artful dodger and lovable curmudgeon.

When Lincoln spoke, all stilled to listen. Lincoln must have been a storyteller who wooed masses with his gentle reverberance. His words felt weighted. He was called to that great purpose.

O Captain my Captain.

On ELIZABETHTOWN (2005), GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997), and grief

February 4, 2013October 25, 20151 Comment

My storyteller Grandfather passed away suddenly this week, and somehow movies have always helped me grieve.

In Elizabethtown (1995), Orlando Bloom conquers grief after the death of his father with the help of ever-present, amiable Kirsten Dunst. No, it’s not the best film ever made, it’s coated in velveeta moments and oddly flinched out lines, but it’s about family and it’s kindred . “This is your blood.”

Blooms character rides through seasons of discouragement on his road trip to freedom. Today I had to pick out an urn, but I didn’t fear that new unknown because I’d watched Bloom pick one out for his father.

In grief, I’ve noticed that time stands still, then speeds up to catch up. Isn’t that a line from the movie Big Fish (2003) ?

It feels like yesterday that my friend Erin drove me to my first Rated R movie called Good Will Hunting (1997). Shocked at the vulgarity, I almost missed the point. Later, I drove home and crawled onto the top of my rusty Nissan Sentra to watch the stars and ponder the lives I’d just infiltrated for 2 hours or so. Will, his best friends, his girlfriend, his mentor. He had to go see about a girl. It wasn’t his fault. How did he like them apples? I cried then for the first time in a month since my great uncle‘s sudden passing.

It was odd crying so hard after a happy ending in lives I could barely relate to. But it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t anyone’s. It wasn’t. It wasn’t. There is no pocket for death, and this cantankerous relative who lived behind us and had made my life sort of miserable through pre-teen years was gone. How can you stay mad at a dead man? How can you miss a dead man you’re mad at? I don’t know, but I was and I did.

So, I sobbed under stars and release washed over me in what many poets would call my baptism of tears.
New days do come. Tears are good. And tonight as I go to bed, I plug in Elizabethtown, a comfort film, for the third night in a row to fall asleep to scenes of goodbyes, great music, and a kindred awareness that I am not alone, even in grief.

LES MISERABLES (2012) movie review

January 28, 2013October 25, 20154 Comments

This year I won front row tickets to see the Broadway show Wicked in Seattle. Precious gift from God. I felt spoiled for productions ever after having seen costumes, makeup, and expressions up close.

If you’ve even had an incling of appreciation for stage productions and musicals, you will appreciate the film Les Miserables. It IS almost 100% sung, so walk in aware. I love musical theater, but operetta styles can still feel awkward, every word sung not said. The reality of the sets and scenes, as well as the very felt emotions from the characters make this element more memorable than unbearable, especially when paired with the fact that they all sang it live on set with the music in their ears rather than prerecording and lip syncing for camera.

Some friends were amused by Crowe’s “attemp” at singing. I disagree. Russell Crowe is a professional. He is a risk-taker with his roles, versatile, considerate, and brave. And, from a vocal standard he was a bit nasally but his pitch, tone, and interpretation was savvy. I loved him.

So many character actors…so little time….

I was stunned by Anne hathaway. I haven’t loved her for any role truly since Devil Wears Prada, but this was stunning, brilliant. She deserves the accolades she’s been piling up.

Hugh Jackman stands alone as the one Hollywood actor who could have tackled his role. He breathed the redemption story of forgiveness and love with the presence of one who kneels to receive the grace he knows he can’t earn. And I believe he has and will accept the honors associated with this job well done with the same humility.

I love the forgiveness tale beneath this twisted, sad story. I love it when people stand for truth, when love rescues and forgiveness resounds.

Now every cinema stub is a winner of front row tickets. Don’t miss the up close, the make-up and costuming, the sets and the singing. Don’t miss all of my favorites performed expertly by Samantha Barks as Eponine, or tenor Eddie Redmayne (who was also wonderful in My Week with Marylin).

Experience Les Miserables. Feel like a front row winner.

BROKEN CITY (2013) movie review

January 21, 2013October 25, 2015Leave a comment

The conflict: the city is broken.

In her young adult book of vignettes, Sandra Cisneros writes partly autobiographical glimpses into growing up on the poor side of a big city. A short chapter near the end is called “Alicia and I sitting on Edna’s steps.” In it, the main character laughs when Alicia discusses whether the Mayor will stoop to “fix” the city.

This film, Broken City, is about just that: mayoral re-election, and whether Russell Crowe is willing to stoop to fix anything.

Promises made and broken. Vows questioned. Lives taken. For Mark Wahlberg’s character, fixing the city involves finding himself, his real purpose, his moral compass. In his search for self he gets mixed up in the Mayor’s fight.

The language is as profane as it gets and as unnecessary as the suggestive scenes, but somehow the writer also offers complex characters and scenes to be solved. Russell Crowe is allowed to murmur an actual soliloquy. This feels like a writer’s film. Brilliant hints, bread crumbs really, are dropped along the way. Films like this train you to pay attention. Forget Pavlovian laugh tracks for a moment and enjoy hunting on your own for clues in radio and TV announcements, painted murals, and scenes of baptism.

“Who’s going to fix it? Not the Mayor.”

ZERO DARK THIRTY…ARGO …Dark Thirty (2012) movie reviewS

January 19, 2013October 25, 2015Leave a comment

Dear Katheryn Bigelow ,

I am writing this to thank you and more so to apologize for missing approximately 1.5 hours of your film. Please see the following ad addressed to Mr. Affleck.

Dear Ben Affleck,

I hope you’ll understand that I did not intend to cheat you out of a ticket sale for your recent film Argo, of which I caught approximately 1.5 hours of its 2 at full length.

You see, the introduction, or hook, if you will, of the film Zero Dark Thirty (2012) contains scenes of torture in which likable characters repeat, “You lie to me, I hurt you.” These only increased with intensity on an already suspense-laden plot. So, I took a walk in order to miss the climax of an opening sequence. My jaunt led me to the candy counter and oddly, into your film, Sir.
70’s quaffs and mustaches greeted me there, as did you yourself.
Your character never smiled as he shook hands with Hollywood types and CIA agents alike. He maintained the sullen composure as he met, instructed, and ushered his charges through busy middle eastern markets and streets.
I was amazed to find myself in the same desperate, fearful tone as the film two doors down, as well as the same part of the world. They somehow complimented one another. I augured well despite the tenor of both films and, recognizing the timing and opportunity, boldly reentered Zero Dark Thirty after your film ended.
The timing felt serendipitous. The vivacious and lovely Jessica Chastain had taken her place as the lead and had begun her window count of days til Bin laden’s death. She carried the weight of the mission and could do nothing else. Tenacious.
She ate alone, swore like a sailor, and stalked each premise undaunted in her quest.
The final scenes took place through night vision lenses. We in the mask and on the man hunt. Effective.
The final scene is my favorite. The sunset, tears, and a question: now what?