FilmRoar

The Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winning documentary Why We Fight (2005) tries to shed light on the American drive to constantly be at war. At the heart of the analysis is president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation warning of the rise of the Military-industrial complex. The superb speech by a sharp mind with a clear understanding of both government and military gives a direct and succinct warning to dependency on a military economy. It is really too bad that Why We Fight could not emulate the clarity of message or purpose.

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A documentary about kids going to the national spelling bee, how interesting could that possibly be? As it turns out: Very. Spellbound (2002) introduces and briefly follows eight kids as they obsessively train to become the regional spelling. Through interviews with the kids, their families, teachers and bits of other footage we get a glimpse of the lives of the champions and of the mounting excitement as they draw closer to the national championship.

The first two thirds of the movie are interesting enough, I particularly enjoyed the übergeek impromptu humor of Harry Altman, but the real payoff comes in the increasingly tense moments of the last rounds of the competition. Close ups of the kids faces show the relief of being given a word that was studied and remembered, the panic of hearing a word for the first time, the relief of surviving to see the next round and the inevitable agony of defeat for all but one of the contestants. Inter-cut with commentary by anxious parents and spelling coaches the young faces contorting in concentration speak volumes about inner struggle and closely checked emotion. Caught up in the moment I found myself literarily on the edge of my seat remembering I was watching a short movie about a bunch of kids spelling out words.

I just returned from a matinee showing of the last Star Wars movie, Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and I have some thoughts I would like to share. I may write a more detailed review later:

• George Lucas can be a decent director (he showed he could back in American Graffiti (1973)) but all 3 recent Star Wars movies have suffered from bad directing, this one as much as if not worse than the last two.
• The dialogue still sucks… in a bad way.
• The timing of the movie felt at times to be right on and at other times to be off. Curiously this was happening within scenes. For example the opening space fight had good rhythm and moved right along, however the scenes that take place right afterward felt off beat and lacking in motion.
• That opening fight looked awesome. I want to see that again.
• There is some very poor acting, which is made worse by some very good acting:
• Ewan McGregor and specially Ian McDiarmid did a great job which unfortunately made Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman look all that much worse. I KNOW Natalie Portman can be a very good actress but she seems to require a good director which is absent in these movies. Hayden Christensen does better in Episode III than in II which is to say he does badly but does not make you want to wretch in your seat…. as much.
• Lucas thankfully showed some restraint in using characters (the droids) purely for comedic relief. There are still some hokey and unnecessary scenes but they are shorter and seem to belong more than the ones from episodes I and II.
• I prefer puppet Yoda to digital Yoda. Puppet Yoda looks more real.
• One wonders if George Lucas has ever had a good relationship with a woman because the romantic scenes he writes and directs are gut-wrenching bad. Portman and Christensen show all the screen chemistry of water and oil.
• I was thrilled to hear Vader’s first breath.
• I enjoyed myself.

*SPOILERS BELOW*
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“Chaotic fun” is the phrase that comes to mind when trying to describe the original version of The Italian Job (1969) starring Michael Caine and Noel Coward. The movie is full of odd bits and pieces that barely seem to belong, continuity mistakes, and potential subplots that go nowhere (whatever happened to the Mafia boss trying to track Charlie down, or Charlie’s girlfriend?). The main plot is a simple as it appears: A team of British robbers steal a truck full of gold and drive it away through a traffic jam using mini coopers. The saving grace for The Italian Job is then the charisma of Caine and his co-stars and the fun and frantic pacing of the movie (kudos to editor John Trumper) as well as some pretty exciting stunt driving, even by today’s jacked up standards.

I must admit that I came to this film out of curiosity after seeing the recent remake, The Italian Job (2003) starring Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg and that in comparison I think the remake is the better of the two films. Both movies enjoy good screen chemistry among the principals and a pacing that makes the movies fun from start to finish, however the remake feels a lot more polished and coherent. Both however are worth watching.

Previously on Film Roar:
Film Roar: The Italian Job (2003)

It is regrettable when a “what is really going on” style mystery becomes predictable. Such is the case with The Thirteenth Floor (1999), a noir-style murder mystery told in and out of a virtual reality simulation so sophisticated that the characters in the virtual world do not realize they are figments in somebody else’s story. Still some decent acting from Craig Bierko, Vincent D’Onofrio and Gretchen Mol along with a strong visual style lend the otherwise flat story enough of a spark to make the movie at least watch able.

While most people have compared The Thirteenth Floor to movies like Dark City (1998), The Matrix (1999), and the remarkably similar script for eXistenZ (1999), watching the movie I was reminded more of noir-fi classics like Blade Runner (1982) and Gattaca (1997). This is probably mostly due to the second reality taking place in an impressively richly constructed 1937 Los Angeles. Unfortunately not a hell of a lot happens in the course of the movie. Our hero is accused of a murder and jumps in and out of the virtual world he constructed to try and solve the mystery. Along the way enough hints are dropped to make the thin story easy to figure out. D’Onofrio is as always a pleasure to see act and Moll lends the movie a strong sense of authenticity with her classic beauty (which incidentally has given me new hope for the upcoming biopic The Ballad of Bettie Page (2004) where she is due to replace Liv Tyler in the title role).

What kind of an idtiot am I? The kind that would decide to start watching the Japanese horror flick Ringu (1998) late in the evening while at home alone on a windy and stormy night. Ringu is the kind of utterly creepy, crawl under your skin and fuck with your mind nightmare inducing nastyness that should NOT be watched alone. Even better is Ringu’s newer and more sophisticated US remake The Ring (2002). By now you probably know the premise of these movies: A group of kids watch a weird and mysterious video full of quasi-dada disturbing images and then die exactly one week later. The aunt of one of the kids watches the same video, and then starts to have horrible nightmares as she realizes she too will die in a week.
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Even though I much prefer the satirical “I will never forget that crazy summer” delivered by Christina Ricci in Film Roar: The Opposite of Sex (1998) to the heartfelt reminiscences delivered in kid-meets-the-world flicks like A Christmas Story (1983) and Stand by Me (1986), I cant deny the charm and intelligence of the coming of age tale in My Dog Skip (2000). I think I was curious to see it mostly because of the praise young actor Frankie Muniz (of “Malcolm in the Middle” (2000) fame) had received. Luke Wilson, Diane Lane (I) and Kevin Bacon (who with 52 titles under his belt I am glad to see is still acting) do a good job backing Muniz up, but the kid and the dog really do steal the show. Lets hope that Muniz escapes the drug and money craze that seems to sink most child-stars and that between now and then he gives us a few more performances like this one. I feel that I have filled my cute-kid quota for the year, but do recommend My Dog Skip to anyone looking for a family movie that both the kids and adults can enjoy