Dr. Jackman (talking to the Hyde in his head): “Just once —seriously, just bloody once — could you tell me where you parked?!"
JEKYLL
Dr. Jackman (talking to the Hyde in his head): “Just once —seriously, just bloody once — could you tell me where you parked?!"
JEKYLL (2007) Classic tale deliciously modernized
British TV's "JEKYLL" is an inventive and exquisitely entertaining updating of Stevenson's classic, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” available on two DVDs at Netflix. In modern-day London, Dr. Jackman and Mr. Hyde (James Nesbitt, playing both brilliantly) coexist in an uneasy relationship predicated on an agreement that if Hyde kills anyone, Jackman will turn himself in – and if Jackman tries to find a cure, Hyde will put a bullet in his brain. The two "change" potionlessly at more or less designated times and communicate through a pocket recorder. Sane, somber, slightly boring Jackman is married with children, and spends much of his time away from the family he adores, trying to keep them safe from the fiendish yet funny, furiously flamboyant Hyde. Jackman constantly wakes up to find blood on himself (rarely his own), yet his alter ego never seems quite to murder anybody, just occasionally snatch body parts. To complicate matters, there's a shadowy agency intent on capturing Hyde for its own reasaons. Prepare yourself for shocking visual jolts, plot twists, flashbacks and forwards, and lots of wickedly humorous repartee in this darkly funny, sometimes violent and always surprising 6-episode series. The final episode provides several big surprises and ties up some loose ends – but also leaves behind a few threads that might portend future episodes. (Trivia note: Jackman’s wife is played by the lovely and talented Gina Bellman, who is currently co-starring in an excellent TNT series called “Leverage.”)Trailer
IN HER SHOES (2005)
Maggie and Rose are sisters and best friends, yet polar opposites in their values, goals and personal styles. Sexy Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is a party girl who barely made it through high school, can’t hold a job, and attracts men like flies. Dowdy Rose (Toni Collette) is Princeton-educated attorney at a top law firm in Philadelphia who suffers from rock-bottom self-esteem, has no social life, and consoles herself by buying shoes that she never wears. After a calamitous falling out, the sisters travel a bumpy road toward true appreciation for one another – aided by the tough love of their recently discovered maternal grandmother Ella (Shirley MacLaine) whom they thought was long dead. Through that re-connection, Maggie and Rose learn how to make peace with themselves and with each other. A pleasant little chick flick even a man can enjoy. Diaz, Collette and McClain are marvels.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951) The magnificent mellowing of a miserly misanthrope
Charles Dickens' classic Victorian morality tale about the redemption of bitter old Ebenezer Scrooge has been filmed for movies and TV many times, many ways – drama, musical, comedy, parody, animation – including a saccharine-laced 1938 version by MGM. But the adaptation that best captures the dark spirit of the novella is the 1951 British one – for us baby boomers, none other quite measures up. And of all the actors who have portrayed the miser-turned-mensch – including Reginald Owen, Albert Finney, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart, Bill Murray, Donald Duck and even, G*d help us, Vanessa Williams and Susan Lucci – none equals Edinburgh-born character actor Alastair Sim for making him a three-dimensional personality and whose face, for me at least, is Scrooge's. A CHRISTMAS CAROL is the best yuletide story of all time – Christmas Past, Present and Future included. It's 166 years old, but the universal lessons on love, forgiveness and social consciousness it reminds us of each Christmas are timeless.
THE LAST HIT MAN (2008)
After veteran assassin Harry Tremayne (Joe Mantegna) bungles a hit, life deals him another blow when he learns that he has inoperable brain cancer. Though he manages to temporarily conceal his illness from his getaway driver – who happens to be his daughter – they (and we) are in for some surprises when a young contract killer is sent in to mop up Harry’s mess. Not your ordinary hit man movie, THE LAST HIT MAN is a low-key drama about the interactions of people, with a great script, top-caliber acting and entertaining touches of black comedy.
CITY BY THE SEA (2002)
Robert De Niro plays a veteran NYC cop who, having overcome the stigma of being the son of an executed killer, has forged a long and distinguished career on the force. Intensely committed to his work, he now finds himself investigating his own homeless and drug-addicted son (James Franco) for the killing of his partner. The father has long been estranged from the boy since walking out on his family years earlier, and now he must choose whether to be a cop or a father. De Niro, older, heavier and slower in late middle age, still commands the screen. But the star of the show is Franco, whose lined and tortured face makes us feel every ounce of his pain and dispair as he races from one crisis to another, digging himself into an ever-deeper hole.
THE SENSATION OF SIGHT (2006)
THE SENSATION OF SIGHT is an offbeat drama about the search for meaning in a world of why’s. Finn (David Straithairn), an introspective English teacher, is suffering through a crisis of guilt triggered by the suicide of one of his students. Having voluntarily exiled himself from family and career to "work things out," he's currently living on the streets. Day after day, he drags a wagon through his small town selling encyclopedias to the town locals, each of whom is suffering his or her own crisis, each connected to another character in a way not immediately apparent to us. The film is a mesmerizing, funny, moving, frightening and exhilarating. But be forewarned, you must be willing to take the time to let it draw you in – it’s a jigsaw puzzle, and it takes awhile to see the whole picture. Straithairn, one of our finest and most versatile American actors, gives a remarkable performance. Every conceivable emotion, thought, confusion, amusement, and pain registers in his worn face. His story is the focus of the film, but around him is a marvelous, amusing, touching gallery of characters and performances – male and female, old, young, children, even a sad, mute ghost who, like the living characters he follows around, carry a burden that only Finn’s direct or peripheral assistance can help lighten as he struggles to heal his own withered soul.
THE CHASE
Randy housewife (Janice Rule): "Hiya Sheriff. Wanna join our party? All you need is a pistol (looking him up down), and you surely got one."Sheriff (Brando): "With so many pistols around here already, it don't look like you'd have room for mine."
THE CHASE (1966) Worth catching
THE CHASE invites into a small Texas town filled with prejudice, violence, and frustrated love. The A-list cast includes Marlon Brando, E.G. Marshall, Robert Duvall, James Fox, Jane Fonda, Janice Rule, and Robert Redford. Local bad-but-not-really-bad-boy Bubber Reeves (Redford) escapes from prison, and the news he’s headed home throws the townsfolk into mob mode. The straight-arrow sheriff (Brando) sets out to round up Bubber before things get out of hand. Meanwhile, an oversexed housewife (Rule) cheats in public on her cowardly husband (Duvall); Bubber’s overwrought mother runs around town in hysterics; an over-protective father (Marshall) schemes to bust up the affair between his son (Fox) and Bubber's wife (Fonda); middle-aged men lust after teen girls and racists run rampant; and the sheriff has a fight off not only the town baddies, but Janice Rule as well - and director Arthur Penn skillfully weaves these and other subplots together, setting up a finale both tragic and inevitable. A social critique of the late 1960s, THE CHASE touches on gun control, abuse of power, sexual promiscuity, jealousy, greed, justice, and mob mentality. Plus, there’s the bloody "crucifixion-by-beating" scene that had been S.O.P. in Brando films ever since ON THE WATERFRONT. This is considered one of Marlon's last great performances (the others being, LAST TANGO IN PARIS and THE GODFATHER) and makes THE CHASE worth catching.
THE ASSIGNMENT (1997)
A ruthless CIA agent (Donald Sutherland) and hard-as-nails Israeli counter-terrorist (Ben Kingsley), allied only in their common obsession with catching an international terrorist (Aidan Quinn), train and deploy a lookalike American Navy man (also Quinn) to trick the vicious mercenary's employers to believe that their man is also working for the CIA. This violent psychological thriller moves at break-neck speed – and the keen characterizations by these three compelling actors, especially Quinn who is so different in each role you think he’s two different actors, make THE ASSIGNMENT assigned viewing. Based on a true story.
INNOCENCE (2000)
After more than 40 years and one marriage each to others, two childhood lovers reunite in their 70s, their passion picking up right where it left off. Filled with flashbacks-and-forths that allow us to observe the affair in both the past and present, this quiet, slow-paced film is a calm and bittersweet reflection on love and mortality – a poignant pronoucement that youth and love are not wasted on the young.
THE GAMBLER (1974) and THIEF (1981) Caan men
In real life, James Caan is an itsy bitsy guy, but in reel life, he often plays the roughest of tough guys. Everybody remembers him as the hot-tempered Sonny in THE GODFATHER (1972), but in two smaller films he wears equally tough skins. In THE GAMBLER, he’s a college prof who bets on the side. Actually, teaching is what he does on the side – gambling is his life and his addiction. He lays huge bets on anything, no matter how long the shot, and he just keeps getting in deeper and deeper until no one can save him – not his mother, girlfriend, bookie or wealthy uncle. In THIEF, Caan's character is also addicted – to mining diamonds from safes (on the side, he owns a used car lot and bar). Life is good – until he gets himself wedged between the Mob and the Law and is forced to take drastic action that includes bullets, bombs, and in the end, the will to walk away from his cushy life.
Watch these two films back to back for an evening of highly Caan-centrated entertainment. (Trivia note: Is the never-explained scar on Can’s cheek in THIEF perhaps homage to the face-slashing he got in THE GAMBLER?)
WE OWN THE NIGHT (2007)
In WE OWN THE NIGHT, Joaquin Phoenix plays a nightclub manager who walks a thin line between the blood family he disavows (a long line of committed police officers) and his chosen family of friends and business partners (international drug dealers). Aware if his son's connections, his father (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg) ask his help in their investigation, but the wayward son resists – until the conflict takes a tragic turn and forces him to make a choice. The familiarity of the cops and crooks tale dilutes its impact – and it's hard to suspend the disbelief that Wahlberg, Duvall and Phoenix are blood relations – yet the suspenseful plot takes surprising turns, and the gritty performances and moody visual style are powerful. Phoenix is superb in his role, sifting through layers of guilt and familial resentment, and Wahlberg and Duvall, though playing parts they've played before, are interesting and believable.
PAUL NEWMAN (1925 - 2008) R.I.P. Hud, Butch and Basil
You needn’t be a cinephile to easily picture Paul Newman as Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy, and Basil. Wait! Who the heck is Basil ??? Basil was the fictional Greek slave and silversmith in the story about the making of the silver cup that held the Holy Grail. And the role of Basil was Paul Newman’s Holy Grail: his first studio role.THE SILVER CHALICE (1954) was a toga epic – pretty much an epic stinker – which Newman oncetook out an ad in Variety to apologize for – yet the classically handsome, blue-eyed actor went on to play major roles in 50 films. He played cowboys and Indians (BUTCH CASSIDY, THE LEFT-HANDED GUN, HOMBRE); cops, detectives and convicts (FORT APACHE THE BRONX, HARPER, THE DROWNING POOL, COOL HAND LUKE); lawyers and hustlers (THE VERDICT, FROM THE TERRACE, THE HUSTLER, THE STING); heroes and anti-heroes (EXODUS, HUD); and in dramas and comedies (THE LONG HOT SUMMER, CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, A NEW KIND OF LOVE, NOBODY'S FOOL). He even played a jazz musician (PARIS BLUES) and a few real-life guys (SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME, FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY). Along the way Newman became one of the world's most popular and enduring film stars. Admired by his peers and fans alike, he was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honoraries. Over the years, he also found time to do a “little” work on the side as a political activist, race car driver, food peddler, major philanthropist, and, for 50 years, husband to actress Joanne Woodward, who co-starred with him in several films.
ROAD HOUSE (1948)
Jefty Robbins (Richard Widmark), owner of a popular road house, hires a sulky chanteuse named Lily (Ida Lupino), clearly to entertain him as well as his customers. Jefty's manager and best friend Pete (Cornel Wilde) is reluctant to add yet another of “Jefty's girls” to the payroll, but is told in no uncertain terms, "this one is different." This creates instant mutual hostility between him and Lily. But when she actually does make a big hit with the customers, repulsion turns to mutual attraction, and the two fall in love. Jefty is enraged and devises a maniacal plan of revenge. First he frames Pete and gets him convicted of grand theft. Then he convinces the judge to parole Pete into his custody. Finally, Jefty engineers a series of sadistic mind games, pushing the lovers to the breaking point, which naturally leads to a noir-style movie climax. All three actors are terrific, and Lupino, who went on to become one of filmdom's first female film directors (she directed, among others, the nour classic THE HITCH-HIKER), sings passably, and looks a whole lot better than passable!
MARRIED LIFE (2007)
A married man in love with a younger woman decides to kill his wife because he doesn’t have the heart to hurt her (she has her own lover, by the way). Foolishly, the man (Chris Cooper) introduces his lover (Rachel McAdams) to his best friend (Pierce Brosnan), those two start an affair, and when he finds out he goes back to his wife (Patricia Clarkson) and saves her just in time from the poison he's mixed with her stomach medicine. At the end, we see all the characters years later at a party playing (tellingly) Charades, all fences apparently long mended. Though I mostly liked MARRIED LIFE – it is full of suspense and dotted with black humor – I felt the ending was weak. The three alternate endings on the DVD are more interesting – and one of them is perfect, wrapping the story up on just the right ironic note. I just don't get why they didn't choose that ending.
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (1992) Unreal estate
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS is about the machinations of a real estate office. It's also an allegory in which two land developments – one that never got off the ground (Glen Ross) and one that probably never will (Glengarry) – represent the failed dreams of men who peddle them and the suckers who buy in. When a yuppie asshole from the home office (Alex Baldwin, in a brief scene that was written for him) appears in the seedy sales office late one rainy night to berate and humiliate the salesmen, it's clear that in David Mamet’s bleak world, even the winners are losers. You'll never see better acting by a better ensemble cast, including Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon. Watch them closely in the scene when Lemmon tells Pacino about his big sale (which turns out to be a bust). It’s some of the best acting by one actor and listening by another you'll ever see.
HARRISON FORD
Like other contemporary actors whose careers were built on youth and media hype rather than on strong and evolving acting skills, Harrison Ford has apparently hit the wall in late midlife. He’s only 63 but looks worn-out, and worse, bored. In the past, aging leading men often re-invented themselves and worked into their ‘70s and even ‘80s, maintaining their onscreen energy by tackling new acting challenges. But despite several such attempts, Ford keeps making "action" films. I recently saw him in two movies separated by a decade, and what a difference that decade made. The less said of the movies themselves the better (THE DEVIL'S OWN is pretty good; FIREWALL is atrocious), but here's what I thought of Ford. In THE DEVIL’S OWN (1997), playing a righteous NY cop, he actually does some acting. He's no Olivier or Gielgud, mind you, but he does show some emotional range – even smiles once in a while. But in FIREWALL (2006), he plays a bank security specialist blackmailed by baddies into making a large cyber-withdrawal. Now in a situation like that, who would smile, but all Ford does in every scene is scowl. And it's a scowl that doesn't say, "Boy, am I worried about my family;" it's more like, "What the hell am I doing in this awful movie." It was said that Katharine Hepburn's acting ran "the gamut of emotions from A to B” – in FIREWALL, Ford's range is even narrower! INDIANA JONES? I refuse to see it. I prefer to remember the earlier ones. I’ve never been much of a Ford fan – always thought he was a mediocre actor at best. And now that he’s in a sixties, whatever talent he once had (yes, I know we all the big movies he’s starred in over the years) seems to have disappeared.
HEAT (1995) Pacino and DeNiro, mano y mano
It has that uniquely stylish Michael Mann look, and the two big stars' wardrobing, make-up and haircuts were never cooler - but otherwise, HEAT is mostly a fairly predictable cops and robbers flick. But ... after one hour, 28 minutes and 49 seconds, there is one unforgettable scene, moviedom's first shared screen appearance by DeNiro and Pacino. It takes place in a coffee shop for seven minutes, and every second is electrifying: a larger-than-life cop and a larger-than-life criminal on opposite sides of a small table and the Law, each with obvious respect for the other, each dedicated his chosen life, each knowing that to survive he may have to kill the other. More interestingly, the scene showcases the larger-than-life charisma and talents of two of America’s greatest living actors, each with obvious great respect for the other, and each knowing that he can – and at any moment almost does – blow the other right off the screen. It's like watching an acting class. (Trivia note: Pacino and DeNiro were filmed in the same scene but with separate cameras, so that the entire conversation could unfold in real time with minimal editing. It took about a dozen retakes.)BTW, you might want to avoid their latest movie, together, RIGHTEOUS KILL. It's a righteous disaster.
WHITE HUNTER, BLACK HEART Clint Eastwood delivers the Mother of all putdowns
John Wilson, a movie director patterned on John Huston, artfully insulting an anti-semitic woman ...
Wilson (Clint Eastwood): “I would like to tell you a little story.”
Mrs. MacGregor: “Oh, I love stories.”
Wilson: “Well, you mustn't interrupt now, because you're way too beautiful to interrupt people. When I was in London in the early ‘40s, I was dining one evening at the Savoy with a rather select group of people, and sitting next to me was a very beautiful lady, much like yourself.”
Mrs. MacGregor: “Now you're pulling my leg.”
Wilson: “Now, just listen, dear. Well, we were dining and the bombs were falling, and we were all talking about Hitler and comparing him with Napoleon, and we were all being really brilliant. And then, suddenly, this beautiful lady, she spoke up and said that was the thing she didn't mind about Hitler, was the way he was treating the Jews. Well, we all started arguing with her, of course. Though, mind you, no one at the table was Jewish. But she persisted. Are you listening, honey?”
MacGregor: “Mustn't interrupt Daddy/”
Wilson: “That's right. You're way too beautiful for that. Anyway, she went on to say that that's how she felt about it, that if she had her way, she would kill them all, burn them in ovens, like Hitler. Well, we all sat there in silence. Then finally, I leaned over to her and I said, ‘Madam, I have dined with some of the ugliest goddamn bitches in my time. And I have dined with some of the goddamndest ugly bitches in this world. But you, my dear, are the ugliest bitch of them all.’ Well, anyway, she got up to leave and she tripped over a chair and fell on the floor. And we all just sat there. No one raised a hand to help her. And finally when she picked herself up I said to her one more time: 'You, my dear, are the ugliest goddamn bitch I have ever dined with.' Well, you know what happened? The very next day, she reported me to the American Embassy. And they brought me in for reprimand. And then when they investigated it, they found out she was a German agent. And they locked her up. [smiles] “Isn't that amazing?”
Mrs. MacGregor: "Why did you tell me that story?"
Wilson: “Oh, I don't know. It wasn't because I thought you were a German agent, honey. But I was tempted tonight to say the very same thing to you. I didn't want you to think I had never said it before. You, madam, are the … well, you know the rest.”
Wilson (Clint Eastwood): “I would like to tell you a little story.”
Mrs. MacGregor: “Oh, I love stories.”
Wilson: “Well, you mustn't interrupt now, because you're way too beautiful to interrupt people. When I was in London in the early ‘40s, I was dining one evening at the Savoy with a rather select group of people, and sitting next to me was a very beautiful lady, much like yourself.”
Mrs. MacGregor: “Now you're pulling my leg.”
Wilson: “Now, just listen, dear. Well, we were dining and the bombs were falling, and we were all talking about Hitler and comparing him with Napoleon, and we were all being really brilliant. And then, suddenly, this beautiful lady, she spoke up and said that was the thing she didn't mind about Hitler, was the way he was treating the Jews. Well, we all started arguing with her, of course. Though, mind you, no one at the table was Jewish. But she persisted. Are you listening, honey?”
MacGregor: “Mustn't interrupt Daddy/”
Wilson: “That's right. You're way too beautiful for that. Anyway, she went on to say that that's how she felt about it, that if she had her way, she would kill them all, burn them in ovens, like Hitler. Well, we all sat there in silence. Then finally, I leaned over to her and I said, ‘Madam, I have dined with some of the ugliest goddamn bitches in my time. And I have dined with some of the goddamndest ugly bitches in this world. But you, my dear, are the ugliest bitch of them all.’ Well, anyway, she got up to leave and she tripped over a chair and fell on the floor. And we all just sat there. No one raised a hand to help her. And finally when she picked herself up I said to her one more time: 'You, my dear, are the ugliest goddamn bitch I have ever dined with.' Well, you know what happened? The very next day, she reported me to the American Embassy. And they brought me in for reprimand. And then when they investigated it, they found out she was a German agent. And they locked her up. [smiles] “Isn't that amazing?”
Mrs. MacGregor: "Why did you tell me that story?"
Wilson: “Oh, I don't know. It wasn't because I thought you were a German agent, honey. But I was tempted tonight to say the very same thing to you. I didn't want you to think I had never said it before. You, madam, are the … well, you know the rest.”
The scene
THE BANK (2001)
THE BANK is a thinking man’s bank heist tale. A math whiz (David Wenham) invents an algorithm that can forecast with near-absolute certainty the ups and downs of global financial markets. He pitches it to a mega-bank, whose corrupt manager (Anthony LaPaglia) hires him to perfect, then implement the software to manipulate the market for profit, regardless of the consequences for investors. The software winds up working like gangbusters, but the result turns out to be far different from the manager's expectation. This suspenseful Australian thriller features several mysterious subplots including one about the true identity and intentions of the math guy, all of which come together neatly with the punch of a keyboard key. LaPaglia, whose face can turn from calm to fierce on a dime, is powerful as a banker you most certainly don't want tending your account.
REDBELT (2008)
In David Mamet’s latest film, Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a small-time jujitsu instructor with an unyielding sense of honor that kicks in when a jittery lawyer (Emily Mortimer) inadvertently causes a ruckus at his street-front dojo. From there, the plot unfolds in several directions, with an oppressive sense of inevitability overriding a clear, linear plotline. Mike's business is failing, as his wife (Alice Braga) curtly informs him, and the problems caused by the dojo incident puts the redbelt into deep red. A chance encounter with a drunken, slumming Hollywood star (Tim Allen, in a surprisingly fine dramtic performance) brings financial relief, but unfortunately, that turns out to be only a brief allusion. The instructor's brother-in-law, a sleazy fight promoter, tries to get Mike involved in a pro mixed-martial-arts tournament, but Mike's scruples again come into play. As with the best of Mamet's scripts, it’s initially unclear where any of this is going, but then all the threads suddenly, thunderously collide. The film unravels a bit in the last few moments amid unanswered story questions and a simplistic, ROCKY-style climax. But until that moment, REDBELT is Mamet's richest film of the decade and worth a look, whether you're into martial arts or not.
ALEXANDRA'S PROJECT (2003)
Directed by Aussie auteur Rolf de Heer, this psychological thriller takes place on what begins a very good day for Steve. It's his birthday, and later he gets both an office party and a big promotion. In high spirits, he arrives home expecting a surprise party, but what's waiting for him in the dark, deserted house is gift-wrapped videotape. Making himself comfortable in his easy chair, he plays it. It starts out pleasantly enough with his wife offering a toast and doing a strip. Steve is pleasantly surprised and titillated at first. But when his naked wife abruptly switches to a bitter diatribe about how desperately unhappy she is, and suddenly points a gun first toward him and then at her own temple, Steve's hopes for a fun evening turn to shock and fear, especially when he discovers all the light bulbs are missing, and all the locks have been changed, trapping him inside the inside-locking, burglar-proof house. And those are just the first in a series of jolts, revelations and mind games Steve is subjected to as his wife as she ennerates in her ever-nastier TV monologue all the sins he's committed during their marriage and which have driven her to this revenge. Basically one long real-time scene between a woman on a TV screen and her husband watching her, this is not a particularly good movie, but its intensity will hold your attention and make you think twice about cheating on your spouse and surprise birthday parties.
REVERSIBLE ERROR (2004)
A well-made TV movie based on Scott Turow's novel about an attorney who is handed a death row case in the 11th hour and then discovers his client, a semi-retarded man accused of a triple homicide, is innocent. The film story is lengthy and complex but never boring. But engaging as the plot is, it's the characters and their relationships that keep us interested. The four main characters are totally different, non-stereotypical personalities: the inexperienced but overly ambitious prosecuting attorney (Monica Potter), the introverted and ethical defending attorney (William H. Macy), the erratic but well-intentioned ex-judge (Felicity Huffman, Macy's real-life wife), and the experienced, well-intentioned but not totally ethical cop (Tom Selleck). We get to know each character in depth as they interact each plot twist and with each other in a complex and evil web. (Trivia note: A reversible error in law is an error by the trier of law (judge) or the trier of fact (the jury or the judge if it is a bench trial), or malfeasance by one of the trying attorneys, which results in an unfair trial.)
YOU KILL ME
Tom (Luke Wilson), commenting on Frank's admission to his AA group that he is an alcoholic and a career hit man: “Actually, it went better than you think.”Laurel (Tea Leoni): “How do you know they won't tell the police?”
Frank (Ben Kingsley): “It's Alcoholics Anonymous.”
Tom: “Somehow I don't really feel that's what they had in mind when they came up with the name. But you never know.”
_____
Stef (Marcus Thomas), Frank’s cousin: “Look, I know you think you know Frank pretty well, but there's probably a few things you're not gonna wanna hear.”
Laurel (Leoni): “Like that he came back to Buffalo to kill Edward O'Leary so he could stop him and the rest of the Irish from getting into bed with some Chinese sugar daddy and wiping your family off the map? Oh, and he's a really big drunk.”
Stef: “Wow! He's really opening up.”
YOU KILL ME (2007)
Movies about hit men who grow on you are as easy to find these days as an unregistered gun. In YOU KILL ME, Frank (Ben Kingsley) is a grumpy, Buffalo-based contract killer with a taste for gin as well as whacking for dollars. Tapped to make a hit that will ensure the power of Mob his boss-uncle (Philip Baker Hall, the hyper library cop in "Seinfeld"), he winds up falling asleep on the job. Displeased, to say the least, his boss sends Frank to San Francisco with orders to join AA and get sober, or risk getting fired permanently. Frank goes, but not gracefully. At first it's rough going, but over the course of his "vacation" he finds a sponsor who becomes a friend (Luke Wilson), stops drinking (most of the time), excels in a respectable job (sort of – preparing corpses in a funeral home), and falls in love with another AA-er (Lea Teoni) who learns to overlook his peccadilloes and even helps him fix the mess he created back in Buffalo – none of it without complications, of course.
IN BRUGES (2008)
Novice hit man Ray (Colin Farrell) bungles his first job in the worst possible way. As punishment, Ray's high-strung, foul-mouthed boss Harry banishes him and his senior partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) to the quaint Belgian city of Bruges, ordering them to wait for further instructions (which shall not be revealed here). For Ken, Bruges is a quaint place for sight-seeing and R&R. But for Ray, it's just 'fucking' Bruges, the last place on earth he wants to be. Morose, withdrawn and guilt-ridden, Ray contemplates suicide, but then he meets a beautiful young woman ... but that's another subplot. Bruges is the capital and largest city in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, but it’s far too small to contain all the problems these two schlubs create for the locals and for themselves. This well- acted, dark comedy-tragedy is a treat to eyes and ears, but be prepared to hear the f-word and its derivatives 126 times, an average of 1.18 times per minute!
NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950) Noir place to hide
Film noir is often about guys who are dead – they just don’t know it yet. Take Hary Fabian, the poor doomed schnook in Jules Dassin’s classic.
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle), who died of heart failure at 39, was one of America’s great stage and film actors. He's especially good in this highly literate exposé of the New York City numbers racket written and directed by Abraham Polonsky. Joe Morse (Garfield) is a Mob lawyer working for a crime boss hell-bent on consolidating the city's numbers rackets into one large "legal" lottery. Defying the big boss’s wishes is Joe's older brother Leo (Thomas Gomez), an "honest" small-time, independent bookie who cares more about his employees than profits and refuses to sell out to the Mob. What follows are tragic events that force Joe, a man with a buried conscience, to realize just how low he's fallen. It's noir as good as it gets. (Trivia notes: Be sure to check out the wonderful performances of Garfield in in BETWEEN TWO WORDS, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT, and BODY AND SOUL.)
NIGHT AND THE CITY (1992) Good. But noir way good as the original
As remakes of classic noir films go – and for my taste, most of them can’t go away fast enough – Hollywood's version of NIGHT AND THE CITY is entertaining enough, due mainly to snappy acting by veterans Jack Warden, Cliff Gorman and Alan King (sadly, now all deceased) and some role shuffling and plot simplification. But it ain’t noir or even particularly noirish. Jules Dassin’s 42-year old version hit the noir nail right on the head in mood and setting, but this version's director, Irwin Winkler, clearly toadied to '90s tastes and probably committee pressure by turning Harry Fabian, originally played by Richard Widmark and in this version by Robert De Niro, from a rat into a likable and well-meaning rascal, and switching the original ending from tragedy to just this side of comedy. The black-and-white original you'll never forget – the Technicolor remake, fuhgetaboutit!
THE HITCH-HIKER (1953)
Two average Joes (Edmond O’Brien, Frank Lovejoy) on weekend R&R make the mistake of their lives when they pick up a psychotic hitch-hiker (William Talman), who takes over their car and their lives at gunpoint. In a creepy noir touch, the creep's right eye doesn't close – even when he sleeps! – so the guys never know for sure whether their abductor is watching them, which makes escape rather dicey. Family men at home, the hostages are forced to make some hard decisions on the road. All three actors are excellent, and the suspense runs high from start to finish. (Trivia note: William Talman, with both his eyes intact, later starred as District Attorney Hamilton Burger on the long-running TV series Perry Mason.)
SECONDS (1966) Rock rocks!
Famous for breezy ‘50/'60s comedies, Rock Hudson gives the best dramatic performance of his career in this Twilight Zone-ish parable about man's search for identity. A bored banker (character actor John Randolph) buys a totally new identity from a mysterious organization (headed by '40s noir star, Jeff Corey). After various surgeries and procedures, middle-aged Randolph turns to a youthful-looking Rock. Enthusiastically plunging into his new existence, he falls for a beautiful, free-spirited woman; takes up painting; and starts partying. All seems well. But then he finds he has no talent for painting, misses his wife, goes around blabbing his secret to others. The final blow comes when he discovers that his youthful lover has secrets of her own. which forces the "organization" to get rid of Hudson in a most horrifying and depressing way. Though not billed as a film noir, SECONDS certainly feels like one with its stark black and white lighting, off-kilter camera angles, and an average Joe duped by Fate and his own weaknesses. Not to be missed. (Trivia note: Watch for the party scene when Rock and others are drunkenly stomping grapes in a large wine barrel. Hudson, an extremely fastidious man, strongly resisted doing this scene but was persuaded by director John Frankenheimer to do it for the integrity of the story. In the first part of the scene, Hudson is obviously uncomfortable, but soon you can see him really getting into it. And according to reports on the set, he really did.)
SCARLET STREET (1945)
Fritz Lang’s SCARLET STREET is classic noir laced with patches of black humor. Retired and retiring bank clerk Chris Cross (Edward G. Robinson) has a gold watch and little else to show for his 25 years of dutiful service. Unappreciated by his shrewish wife, he falls for an enticing woman named Kitty (Joan Bennett) and leads her to believe he's a wealthy artist, though actually he's only an amateur painter. Kitty's sleazy boyfriend Johnny (Dan Duryea) gets her to maneuver lovesick Cross into setting her up in an apartment (with his wife's money). There, away from dull married life and fueled by his passion for Kitty, he begins to paint masterpieces, which unbeknownst to him, Johnny sells to galleries under Kitty's name. The results are both disastrous and ironic – in other words, totally noirish. Robinson, famous for playing sadistic hoodlums throughout the ‘30s and ‘40s, is fine as the cultured Chris Cross – and beautiful Joan Bennett, who had co-starred with Robinson and Duryea the year before in another noir thriller directed by Lang, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, makes a fetching femme fatale.
LIGHT AND SHADOW
Film noir is characterized by chiaroscuro lighting (the dramatic use of light and shade); night scenes, sometimes in glistening wet streets, blocks of shadow on the face hinting at an unrevealed “dark side”) and bars of shadow from Venetian blinds or windows, conveying a sense of being trapped; and claustrophobic or unbalanced camera framing.
SUDDEN FEAR (1952)
In SUDDEN FEAR, Joan Crawford is Myra Hudson, a wealthy heiress-playwright who at first rejects the advances of the romantic lead in her latest play, then falls in love with him. They marry, and all seems cozy … until a sexpot (Gloria Grahame) shows up, the actor's ex-partner in crime and under the covers. Resuming their affair, the two plot to get hold of Myra's money (which, ironically, Myra has already bequeathed him). Myra remains blissfully unaware of this … until she discovers a recording on her dictation machine of the pair's plans. This scene is both fascinating and painful to watch. We see Crawford's Myra, often in extreme close-up, reacting first in disbelief, then confusion, then grief, all of which culminates with her running to the bathroom to throw up. Imagine the skill and bravery required for such nakedness! Requiring a similar range of emotions is a breakfast scene between Myra and and her faithless husband after she has laid awake all night planning revenge. It starts with duplicitous, lovingly inane "good mornings," and then he asks, "Aren't you going to kiss me?" Myra does, and then says, the irony perhaps lost on him but not us: "I was just wondering what I'd done to deserve you." She then smiles at him, and as she turns and walks toward the camera, out of his view, her smile fades to grim disgust. It's a classic Crawford moment. What makes this film ultimately so memorable is not necessarily the plot (which can occasionally seem implausible) nor the camera tricks (which, especially in the fantasy sequence, looks dated today), but rather Joan Crawford's performance. And as a well-deserved acknowledgment of her acting talents, she was nominated for her third, and final, Oscar for FEAR, a movie which almost makes me the Crawford fan I never was.
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS (1950) ...trouble begins. Noir-turally
Otto Preminger directed four noir films at Fox, all terrific. Setting aside the peerless LAURA as more psychological mystery-romance than noir, there's plenty of evidence for judging WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS the best of the lot (the other two being FALLEN ANGEL and WHIRLPOOL). This is a hard-edged tale of a borderline-vicious New York police detective, Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews), with tortuous personal reasons for overzealousness in pursuing the bad guys. Much of the story unfolds in one night, when the murder of a high-roller from out of town precipitates a string of events that lead to Dixon's becoming an accidental murderer. True to noir tradition, an innocent man is implicated, and Dixon's moral and psychological torment kicks in. Tightly scripted by Ben Hecht, who provided noir scripts for many directors, Preminger's film isn't up to the quality of Nicholas Ray's ON DANGEROUS GROUND, another 1950 noir about a cop (Robert Ryan) addicted to ultraviolence, but it's first-rate. Tight-lipped and taciturn, Andrews is a sort older and rougher version of the cop he played in LAURA. In fact he's reunited with his co-star from LAURA, Gene Tierney, who plays a woman caught in the sidewash of sordid goings-on, and LAURA cameraman Joseph La Shelle, whose gives the film a luster beyond the accustomed semidocumentary look of Fox noirs. Gary Merrill, usually a bland nice-guy, chews scenery as as Dixon's nasty gangland foe Tommy Scalise, a homoerotic villain with a menthol inhaler as fetish object. Their encounters are brutal and fun to watch. The ending is pure Hollywood, but with a nice noirish twist.
IN BRUGES (2008)
Ray (Colin Farrell), in the movie's opening voiceover:
“After I killed him, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly thereafter the instructions came through – ‘Get the fuck out of London, you dumb fucks. Get to Bruges.’ I didn't even know where Bruges fucking was. [pause] It's in Belgium.”
“After I killed him, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly thereafter the instructions came through – ‘Get the fuck out of London, you dumb fucks. Get to Bruges.’ I didn't even know where Bruges fucking was. [pause] It's in Belgium.”
"I was misinformed." CASABLANCA
Renault (Claude Rains): "What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"Rick (Bogart): "My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
Renault: "Waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
Rick: "I was misinformed."
PANIC
Sammy (Alex’s son): “Dad... When can I get a guitar?”Alex (William H. Macy): “When you've mastered the harmonica.”
Sammy: “When can I get an electric guitar?”
Alex: “When you've got your own house.”
PANIC (2000)
How many times have we heard a midlife crisis-sufferer say he'd kill for a better job? In PANIC, Alex (William H. Macy) really means it. He's a contract killer indentured to the man who taught him the business, his dad! (Donald Sutherland). Trying to work up the nerve to quit, Alex starts seeing a psychologist (John Ritter). Of course, in Alex's line of work, spilling one's guts to outsiders is drastically career-limiting, so now Alex has been ordered to bump off the hapless therapist. PANIC treats us to a few smiley face moments such as when Alex and the young son he adores share bedtime bonding time, and when Alex, seeking a bit of excitement outside his dull marriage, falls for a young fellow therapy patient (Neve Campbell). But when Alex’s father, looking to add future head count to the family business, gives his six-year old grandson his first lesson in killing (a squirrel) – the same lesson Alex got at the same tender age – things turn very, very dark. Macy, portraying a man struggling with 40 years' worth of suppressed rage, and the patrician-looking Sutherland, seemingly the perfect Grandfather until we see him violently lose his temper over some spilt model plane glue, make each of their characters too real for comfort.
THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB (1970)
Harley (Henry Fonda): “Did I ever tell ya how my Uncle Charlie got stoved up?"John (Jimmy Stewart), sighing: “No, Harley.”
Harley: “His home set right out in the prairie. One day he went in the outhouse and got caught right in the middle of a stampede. When he went in there wasn't a cow in sight. A few minutes later, 365 longhorns ran over him. Broke him up something terrrible. That was 19 years ago and he's still constipated.”
__________
Harley: “I've eaten mighty good food in my life, but this weren't part of it.”
Cook: “Yeah, well, I ain't heard no complaints from none of the others.”
Harley: “Yeah, well, they ain't as well-bred as I am.”
TWO RODE TOGETHER
Jesus: “Senor, the widow Gomez has delivered a son this morning, a boy.”Marshal Guthrie McCabe (Jimmy Stewart): “Bully for the widow Gomez!”
Jesus: “But senor, it has been more than a year ago since Senor Antonio Gomez has been buried in the church house.”
McCabe: “Well, there are some men you just can't trust to stay where you put 'em.”
"I don't want you to kill him, Jack, I just want you to bury him. If he dies in the process, that's his problem."
Mona, tossing a shovel to Jack, in ROMEO IS BLEEDING.
THE THIRD MAN The famous ferris wheel scene
Lime (Orson Welles): "In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed — they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. S' long, Holly."
ROMEO IS BLEEDING
Jack Grimaldi (Gary Oldman), talking to Mona in his rear-view mirror: “So you're the big hoodlum? Personally, I don't see it.”Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin): “Keep lookin'.”
ROMEO IS BLEEDING (1993) Quentin Tarantino meets Raymond Chandler
In '40s noir flicks, you don't often see blood, both because they were shot in black and white and because of Code restrictions. But in the colorful neo-noir ROMEO IS BLEEDING, you get lots of the red stuff. You also get lots of Chandler-esque twists as in, say, THE BIG SLEEP (1946), with Bogart playing private eye Philip Marlowe. In ROMEO, Jack Gramaldi (Gary Oldman) is no straight-up dick; he's a corrupt cop who splits his time between guarding state witnesses and ratting out their secret whereabouts to the Mob on their secret whereabouts, while building a sizable nestegg and keeping his double life hidden from his wife and teenage mistress. It all begins to unravel when Jack is blackmailed to displatch Mona Demarkov (Lena Olin), a statuesque female Russian assassin who oozes sex, danger, and more than her share of testoserone. Trouble is, he can’t decide whether to kill her ... or drill her. Oldman and Olin are terrific in their roles, and it's dandy fun watching a bad cop you can't help but like trying to survive (though we know from scene one that he will).
THE GENE KRUPA STORY (1959)
In the otherwise bio-degradable bioflick THE GENE KRUPA STORY, Sal Mineo’s energetic portrayal of the iconic, gum-chewing drummer is noteworthy, especially for his drumming, which the 20-year old actor learned for the film! Look at the clips below, and see how Krupa-like Mineo is – from his mouthing of the beats as he bangs, to hair flying and face blurring during his solos, right down to the little twirls he gives his sticks high in the air. It's Krupa on the soundtrack, but Mineo is channeling his style. (Trivia notes: In the early '60s I saw Krupa in person playing at Birdland in Times Square. As far away as I was from the aging star, I was dazzled. Sadly, the man who captured that energy in THE GENE KRUPA STORY was killed in a 1976 robbery gone bad. Mineo was only 37.) Mineo playing Krupa playing
The real Krupa playing
THE 4th DIMENSION (2006)
The big question in THE 4TH DIMENSION is – what's up with Jack? Is the eccentric, OC-disordered young man a genius headed toward solving the mystery of time – or – is his head simply rattling with loose screws? The answer comes in the final, frenzied 10 minutes when, a la WIZARD OF OZ, the film morphs from black and white to color (though the landscape Jack enters is no place for Dorothy and Toto!). You'll need stamina to stick through the often confusing narrative with its repeated flashbacks to Jack's traumatic childhood, but if you're up for German Expressionist-like cinematography and intense acting, it's worth your time.
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
Lars (Ryan Gosling): “You don't care.”Karin (Emily Mortimer): “That is just not true! God! Every person in this town bends over backward to make Bianca feel at home. Why do you think she has so many places to go and so much to do? Huh? Huh? Because of you! Because - all these people - love you! We push her wheelchair. We drive her to work. We drive her home. We wash her. We dress her. We get her up, and put her to bed. We carry her. And she is not petite, Lars. Bianca is a big, big girl! None of this is easy - for any of us - but we do it... Oh! We do it for you! So don't you dare tell me how we don't care.” [walks into house and slams door]
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (2007)
Lonely and emotionally stunted Lars Lindstrom (Ryan Gosling) develops a close, loving relationship with a beautiful young woman from South America, with one small hitch: she’s a life-sized plastic doll! His sympathetic doctor soon figures out that “Bianca,” whom Lars takes everywhere in a wheel chair, is a substitute for a real girl that he both yearns and fears opening up to. The plot of LARS AND THE REAL GIRL could have been played for sleaze or cheap laughs, but thanks to a sensitive script and fine direction and acting, it's a sweet, gently humorous journey of self discovery for our repressed hero, as well as for his friends, family, and most notably, a young co-worker, a real doll, who adores him from afar, idiosyncrasies and all, and whom we knew right from the start was a far better match for him than the inflated one.
THE FUGITIVE KIND
Carol (Joanne Woodward), mischievously: “Jukin'? Oh! Well, that's when you get in a car, which is preferably open in any kind of weather. And then you drink a little bit and you drive a little bit, and then you stop and you dance a little bit with a jukebox. And then you drink a little bit more and you drive a little bit more, you stop and you dance a little bit more to another juke box! And then you stop dancing and you just drink and you drive. And then, you stop driving.”
THE FUGITIVE KIND (1959)
THE FUGITIVE KIND, based on the Tennessee Williams play, takes patience to get through the often molasses-slow pacing and soliloquy-tinged dialogue. But the high-calibre of acting rewards your patience. Drifter Val(entine) 'Snakeskin' Xavier (Brando) lands in a hick country town where the sadistic sheriff (R.G. Armstrong) takes an instant dislike to him upon learning that his wife (Maureen Stapleton) has helped the stranger get a job. Val’s new boss lady is Lady Torrance (Anna Magnani), who is tending the general goods store while her tyrannical husband Jabe (Victor Jory) lies dying upstairs. Town tramp (Joanne Woodward) lusts for virile Val, but rejects her in favor of lonely Lady, who then becomes pregnant. The outcome of all this is, to say the least, quite unpleasant. Never was there a better cast. Brando. At 35, was starting to show a bit of the extra weight that would eventually get out of control. But if he wasn't quite so lean as he had been in his film debut 10 years earlier in THE MEN, in no way does this detract from his weighty performance as the sexy, sultry, moody, macho Val. Woodward, as the wayward woman, delivers an incredibly sensual performance without ever taking off a stitch! Jory plays the snake to a tee. And Stapelton, the original Lady on Broadway, is touching in the less flashy part of the sheriff's bedraggled wife. Only Magnani, magnificent actor as she is, is a problem. Her gravy-thick Italian accent is difficult to understand, and in fact, sometimes sounds looped. Fortunately, her expressive face tells us all we need to know.
BEYOND SUSPICION, aka AUGIE ROSE (2000)
BEYOND SUSPICION (originally titled AUGIE ROSE but nonsensically retitled for video release) is an exploration of one man's external and internal journey into a new and wildly different lifestyle. John Nolan (Jeff Goldblum), a well-off yuppie insurance salesman, witnesses the death by gunshot of a deli clerk, an ex-con named Augie Rose, and then fixates on learning all he can about the man's life. Bit by bit, Nolan assumes identity, even to the point of falling for the young woman (Anne Heche) who had corresponded with him while he was in prison and now is in town to hook up. Nolan's new life becomes increasingly complicated, but increasingly we understand his obsession. This is thanks to both the script and Goldblum's sensitive. And Heche strikes just the right note as a sweet, kind, but not altogether naive woman who loves the man she believes is Augie. They, and an excellent supporting cast of quirky characters, make this a intresting film.
STEEL TOES (2006) Sparks fly when Jewish attorney defends neo-Nazi murderer
None too gingerly, STEEL TOES explores the clash of wills and ideals between a court-appointed Jewish attorney and the heavily tatted prisoner he reluctantly agrees to defend, a neo-Nazi Skinhead on trial for a racially motivated murder. Confronting religious and racial intolerance, the conflicted Jewish liberal humanist and the fanatical racist struggle to form an alliance despite their wildly opposing beliefs and sensibilities in this thought-provoking exploration of hatred and forgiveness. As the lawyer, David Strathairn, an exceptional but undervalued actor, once again demonstrates his remarkable talent. Andrew Walker fills the lethal steel-tipped boots of the Skinhead role superbly. Like another film on the same brutal subject, AMERICAN HISTORY X, (1998), STEEL TOES should be required viewing in schools, for as the Skinhead tells the judge at his trial, not only is he to blame, but also society. Trailer
THE WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN (2005)
After more than 100 movies, plus stage roles and TV appearances too numerous to count, Anthony Hopkins, like that energetic battery hare, just keeps goin’ and goin’. One of his most pleasant recent roles is Burt Munro (1899-1978), the legendary speed bike racer from New Zealand who also kept goin’ and goin'. THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN tells how, in the early '50s, the likeable if eccentric 67-year old finally realized his lifelong goal of speed-testing his then-46 year old “Indian” motorcycle at the Bonneville Salt Flats – and wound up setting an under-1000 cc world motorcycle land speed record, unbeaten to this day. Sure, the film is syrupy enough for pancakes, the number of lucky breaks and coincidences an assault on credulity, but who cares? – it's inspirational as all get-out. Munro defies the sour sentiment of Bette Davis' quote, "Old age isn't for sissies;" likewise, Hopkins, now older than Munro was when he clocked 200-plus mph at the Salt Flats, is still blessing us with one lovely performance after another. In this, he's simply wonderful, as is the large supporting cast of colorful characters Munro meets and who befriend him in his quest to be the best, although the script makes it clear, for this speed demon, speed was less important than never stopping – a lesson for all of us.
EASTERN PROMISES (2007) You don't want to f**k with the Russian Mafia
If throat slicing leaves you cold, skip David Cronenberg's crime drama/mystery thriller, EASTERN PROMISES (2007), about life, death, debauchery and betrayal in the treacherous world of the Russian Mafia. But if you admire fine acting, promise you'll see it for Viggo Mortensen's tightly coiled portrayal of a mob boss’s driver, an enigmatic man with both a hidden agenda and many tattoos. Naomi Watts co-stars as a British midwife who crosses paths with Mortensen's character. (Trivia note: Ms. Watts gets her genes from Miv and Peter Watts, she an antiques dealer and costume and set designer; he, a road manager and sound engineer who worked with the Brit group Pink Floyd. That's Peter's maniacal laugh and Miv's line, "Cruisin' for a bruisin,'" that you hear in the group’s classic “The Dark Side of the Moon.”)
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