Category Archives: Film

AFI #65: The African Queen

Posted on by Len

Humphrey Bogart may be the most well-known and revered actor in American film history, but in his illustrious career he only won one Academy Award. Some might say he was a “popular” actor but not necessarily a great actor — to them I say phooey! He starred in one of my top 10 favorite films of all time — Casablanca — and his portrayal of Rick Blaine has been immortalized. Throw in memorable roles in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo…and on and on…he is one of the greatest actors ever. It seems strange then that he finally won an Oscar for playing a drunk and none too bright boat captain in The African Queen, made just a few years before his early death at age 58.

For co-star Katharine Hepburn, her portrayal as the tightly wound church spinster Rose Sayer was one of her least rewarded roles, having won four Best Actress Oscars in her career (On Golden Pond, The Lion in Winter, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Morning Glory). She did get nominated for The African Queen but lost the Best Actress nod to Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire. By the way, for my money Ms. Hepburn was never better than in The Philadelphia Story, another of my all-time top 10 favorites.

For me The African Queen is simply a vehicle for the two greatest actors of their generation. To be honest, if the film starred anyone else it wouldn’t have made the cut. It’s a bit corny and unbelievable and both Bogart and Hepburn are past their respective primes. But it’s Bogie and Hepburn so you have to forgive the silly plot and the ridiculous love story. What makes the film great is the play between the two icons — they each play over-the-top characters and together they make the film worthwhile. In fact, there are very few scenes in the film that are not simply Bogart and Hepburn together.  There are only nine other actors credited for acting in the film! The rest are African extras.

Next: Network

AFI #66: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Posted on by Len

It was June 1981 and I had just gotten out of school for the summer. Ninth grade was behind me and I was moving to a new school for high school following the summer. I was looking forward to more than two months of riding my bike, going to the beach and just hanging out. Of course, I was also looking forward to summer blockbuster movies. That summer was stellar for films, especially for a 14-year-old. Clash of the Titans. Superman II. Cannonball Run. Stripes. For Your Eyes Only. Escape From New York. Arthur. Heavy Metal. An American Werewolf in London. Even Zorro the Gay Blade! I saw them all and more…but summer 1981 will always be about one film — Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It was the dawn of the summer blockbuster. The year before Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back took in $290,271,960 in the U.S. In 1982 E.T. raked in $435,110,554. In 1983 Return of the Jedi brought in $309,205,079. Prior to 1980 only Jaws ($260,000,000) and Star Wars ($460,998,007) had ever taken in those kinds of numbers. Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas had changed the game forever. You may have a favorite from these great summer blockbusters, but mine was, and still is, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Indiana Jones was the perfect hero for a young teenager. He was smart, capable of amazing physical feats, had a wicked sense of humor and of course the ladies loved him. Not only that, he was fighting the Nazis! This film made Harrison Ford the biggest movie star in the world. Sure, he was Han Solo, but he was just a supporting character in that. In Raiders of the Lost Ark he was the leading man and action hero.

What I love so much about the film is that it’s non-stop action from the moment it begins. The first scene where he tries to steal the idol from the natives is one of the most memorable action sequences ever filmed and the scene with the boulder rolling after him has become iconic. Indiana Jones made archaeology exciting, which let’s be honest is not an easy thing to do. Another iconic scene is when Indy is chasing the ark and is jumping back and forth between the Nazi trucks trying to steal the truck from the driver. When he loses his grip off the front of the truck but slides under and hangs on by his whip it’s pure Hollywood. And of course, the final scene with the ark getting lost in the rows and rows of boxes in that giant government warehouse…spot on political commentary. My favorite scene is when he comes face to face in Cairo with the huge guy with giant Arabian swords and instead of fighting him a just reaches down for his gun and shoots the guy. LOL.

For me Raiders of the Lost Ark is the ultimate adventure film, and while many have tried to imitate it none have captured the greatness of this Hollywood classic. It’s just as cool and exciting today as it was in 1981 and the proof is that my son and I watched it recently and he loves it too. I suspect sometime 20 years or so from now his kids will love it as well.

Next: The African Queen

Extremely Amazing and Incredibly Gifted

Posted on by Len

Earlier this week in my movie discussion group on Facebook we were asked what the best acting performance by an actor under 13 is that we’ve seen. Those mentioned included some wonderful performances including Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, Natalie Portman in The Professional, Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver and even Dakota Fanning in I Am Sam. I added Saoirse Ronan in Atonement. But that all changed for me today — I saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and witnessed a performance for the ages by 13-year-old Thomas Horn…in his first ever acting role…ever…not even a commercial or a school play. Simply amazing.

Yes, the subject matter of the film is difficult and heart-breaking. It’s the story of a boy who loses his father on 911 and who goes on a quest to find the lock to a key that he believes his father meant for him to find. When the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer came out in 2005 many people thought it was too soon for a 911 themed novel. Some are even questioning whether we are ready for it 10 years later. But Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is not a true story, it simply uses 911 as a backdrop for a powerful story of love and heartbreak. I’m sure there are people who were in New York on 911 who won’t see this film because it still hits too close to home, and I respect that, but they are going to miss one of the finest acting performances ever by an actor of any age.

I read the novel in 2007 and was a little disappointed quite honestly, most likely because I was so blown away be JSF’s first novel (Everything is Illuminated) that the follow up was sure to disappoint. I liked the novel, but didn’t love it and now I can say this is one of the rare occasions for me when I liked the film version better than the book. Rare indeed. The film is superb and I would certainly consider it among the best films of 2011. It’s hard to watch, but you can’t take your eyes off of Thomas Horn.

Horn has a very interesting life story himself. He was “discovered” when he was on Jeopardy during kid’s week and won $31,000. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close director Stephen Daldry ( The Reader, Billy Elliot, The Hours) had been looking at literally hundreds of kids for the part and when he saw Horn on Jeopardy he knew he found his Oskar Schell. The role called for a special kid, one who was quirky, maybe even borderline Asperger’s. I don’t know how much like Oskar Thomas is in real life, but he hit the role dead on. If you know any kids with Asperger’s or similar issues you know they are often brilliant, precocious and moody as hell. Horn gave us all of those moments in the film, some of which were so expressive they seemed real. The scene in which he has a mental breakdown was heart-wrenching yet so powerful that he should be nominated for an Oscar based on the one scene alone. I will say, if young Horn is not nominated for a best actor Oscar there is no point in watching the Academy Awards this year because they will be a fraud. The kid stole a film from two Academy Award winners (Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock) and Academy Award nominated actor Max Von Sydow. If George Clooney is the front runner for The Descendants (in which Clooney was very, very good) then Horn is a shoe in!

 

AFI #71: Saving Private Ryan

Posted on by Len

I remember not liking Saving Private Ryan when it came out in 1998 and after watching it again today I remember why I didn’t like it — it’s depressing as hell. To me the plot sort of seems like it’s violence for violence’s sake. And it’s really graphic violence. What was the point of losing nearly an entire platoon to save the life of one guy? I get that Private Ryan lost three brothers, but since when is one life worth more than another?

Don’t get me wrong, I like a good war movie. I can think of several off the top of my head that were way better than Saving Private Ryan, including The Deer Hunter, Black Hawk Down and The Hurt Locker just to name a few. This film just doesn’t do it for me. I like so many of the actors in the film, from Tom Hanks to Adam Goldberg to Giovanni Ribisi…but (Spoiler Alert) they all fucking die. Are they heroes, or was this just a fool’s mission?

I will say this much — the first 30 minutes are intense as hell and some of the best war action ever filmed. I don’t know if it was realistic since I didn’t hit Omaha Beach on D-Day, but it sure felt real. And if it really was like that, holy crap! Spielberg probably earned his Best Director Oscar in those first 30 minutes alone. Talk about blood and guts. This film is not for the feint of heart.

Next Up: A Clockwork Orange

AFI #74: The Silence of the Lambs

Posted on by Len

It wasn’t as scary the second time! I always think of The Silence of the Lambs as being one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen, but watching it again today it didn’t seem so scary and not just because I knew how it ended. I’ve said it a lot during these reviews, but memory definitely plays tricks on you.

What it is, though, is one heck of a great film! Maybe that’s why we remember it as scary — just look at Anthony Hopkins’ eyes! He’s one creepy dude. It’s a great film because it has everything. It has a detailed and complex story. It has memorable characters. It has shock value. It was beautifully shot. It was a thriller unlike any other and it’s one of the best films ever made. But make no mistake…The Silence of the Lambs is all about acting.

Hopkins has never been better and the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter is easily one of the greatest creations in film history. And he did it all with his eyes and his voice. Jodie Foster portrayed a naive but confident Clarice Starling and made us believe that an FBI student could solve the toughest crime of a generation. And the guy who played the killer, Ted Levine, was downright scary good from his voice to his intense close ups (and lest we forget the famous “tuck” scene)!

The Silence of the Lambs was of course rewarded with a handful of Academy Awards including Best Actor and Best Actress, but also Best Director for Jonathan Demme and Screenplay. And it remains one of the only thrillers to bring home the Oscar for Best Picture. Oh, and bonus points for a Chris Isaak cameo as an FBI agent!

Next on the List: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

‘Hanna’ is a Bad Ass

Posted on by Len

I wanted to see Hanna when it came out in theaters earlier this year but didn’t get to it, so this weekend we watched it on demand. Man was it ever worth the $5. I absolutely loved this film.

Hanna is the story of a 16-year-old girl who was raised by her father to be an assassin. As the story unfolds we find out why, and the story is really compelling. The plan is set loose with Hanna out for revenge on a CIA agent with a dark secret. The plan doesn’t exactly go as hoped, so Hanna is forced to journey on her own to meet back up with her father. The action is great as Hanna works her way toward her father with hired killers on her tail.

Hanna reminded me so much of two of my favorite films — The Professional and La Femme Nikita. Like Luc Besson, who directed those films, Hanna director Joe Wright understands how to get the viewers heart racing. The film is exciting from start to finish, and even during the slower scenes Wright keeps the intensity up using heart-thumping techno music from The Chemical Brothers. The music adds to the overall feel of the film — it has a real French feel even though Wright is British. If you’re not familiar with Wright, you might be interested to know his two films prior to Hanna were The Soloist with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. and Atonement, a Best Picture nominee in 2008 (I thought it was indeed the best film that year even though No Country For Old Men took home the Oscar).

Also in 2008 the 13-year-old actress from Atonement, Saoirse Ronan, was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Wright knows a good thing when he sees it, so he cast Ronan as Hanna and she delivers big time. Her portrayal of the young assassin is so intense, but at the same time she can be so tender and reminds you that she is only 16 despite the fact that she was raised to kill. If you remember Ronan from Atonement you’ll undoubtedly remember those searing eyes. Those eyes should get a best supporting actress nomination themselves! The sky is the limit for Ronan, who also starred in The Lovely Bones in 2009 which I didn’t see but will add to my list.

Not to be outdone by the young Ronan, the villain in the film is played to perfection by Cate Blanchett. Always amazing, Blanchett plays a creepy CIA agent with a southern accent who knows Hanna’s secret and must kill her to hide it from the world. Eric Bana plays the father and he does a great job letting Ronan and Blanchett do their thing.

I was really blown away by this film and now I can’t wait for Wright’s next release, a new adaptation of Anna Karenina starring Keira Knightly and Jude Law. Wright is brilliant. Hanna could have been so cliché, but he delivers by creating an unmistakable European mood pumped up by the techno music and the intensity of his actors. Bravo!

‘Super 8′ this Generation’s ‘Stand By Me’

Posted on by Len

Great coming of age films are few and far between, but for guys my age one of the best has to be Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me featuring Corey Feldman, Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix and Jerry O’Connell. The Steven King story is about a couple of boys who go on an adventure in search of a dead body, but it’s really more about the journey than the destination. Stand By Me is a classic.

Super 8 has the same feel. It’s the story of a group of middle school kids who accidentally stumble upon a huge Air Force cover up while making a homemade zombie movie on their Super 8 camera. But like Stand By Me the plot is secondary to the maturation process we witness as these boys learn what it’s like to experience adult issues. And also like Stand By Me, the best parts of the film are the conversations between the characters. Who can forget the great debate in Stand By Me about Goofy? “Mickey is a mouse…Donald is a duck…Pluto is a dog…what the hell is Goofy?”

The boys in Super 8 are all experiencing their own issues — the key one being Joe Lamb who is reeling from the loss of his mother and a “distant” father. His new relationship with popular girl Alice (Elle Fanning) is wonderful and turns out to play a key role in two major aspects of the story. These two young actors in particular were brilliant and believable and I suspect we’ll be seeing much more from both of them in the future.

The relationships in the film are so interesting that we almost forget that this is an action-packed thriller from writer/director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Cloverfield, Star Trek, Mission Impossible II). The action is awesome and the effects are super. It has a Transformers feel with a little Alien and E.T. thrown in. And of course the E.T. feel comes directly from Super 8′s producer Steven Spielberg. It’s hard not to compare Super 8 to E.T., but aside from some plot similarities it’s really the mood of the film that is pure Spielberg. The film is set in 1979 in a small Ohio town and little references and images make the period feel real (mentions of Walkmans and Rubik’s Cubes for example). These kids are just like we were growing up in the 70s — Spielberg/Abrams really delivered on that. Plus the kids were all interesting and probably like your own pack of friends there was a goofy kid and a fat kid and a kid who was afraid of everything. Perhaps the best relationship (the one between Alice and Joe) was the one that hit home for me as there was a credible awkwardness between them. 12 year old boys and girls are strange beasts to each other…they repel and attract at the same time. Alice’s entrance into this boys world captured that awkwardness so well.

I think Super 8 is a great family movie — one of the best in many years. It definitely might be a little scary for young kids, but for a 13-year-old like my son it is a home run. But even if you don’t have a tween or young teen but you liked Stand By Me, go see Super 8. You’ll love it.

AFI #91: Sophie’s Choice

Posted on by Len

Sophie’s Choice was one of the films on the AFI list I wasn’t overly excited about seeing again. To begin with, I’d seen it. But I also have a hard time watching Holocaust-related films because when you grow up Jewish you pretty much have to see it all — from Hollywood films to documentaries to short films about butterflies (my MOT friends who went to Hebrew School will get this reference). But then I started watching Sophie’s Choice yesterday and I was immediately drawn in to this amazing film.

All discussion of Sophie’s Choice must begin and end with Meryl Streep. Say what you want about Streep, but it’s no accident she has been nominated for 16 Academy Awards. She won her second “Best Actress” award for her role as Sophie, and frankly I’m not sure how an actress can perform any better. I didn’t think for one second that she wasn’t a Polish immigrant in this film…she was astonishing.

Sophie’s Choice is an actor’s film, by which I mean the three leading roles carry the action throughout and the film is entirely dependent on those performances. I suspect Streep knew what she was getting into when Alan Pakula cast her, but lost in Streep’s magnificence were two wonderful performances by Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol. Sophie’s Choice marked the feature film debut for Kline and his work as Sophie’s “mad lover” Nathan was very memorable and clearly indicative of things to come for this Oscar winner. And then there was Peter MacNicol in only his second film, playing “narrator” Stingo. MacNicol never did turn into a great film star, but he has won a handful of Emmy Awards for great performances in a whole host of TV shows from Ally McBeal to 24 and Grey’s Anatomy. This acting ensemble was fabulous and it’s quite remarkable that the film didn’t even get nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

That year’s Academy Award for Best Picture went to Ghandi, which was a great film but did not even make the AFI Top 100. Also nominated that year were two films that did make the AFI list (Tootsie and E.T.) along with The Missing and The Verdict. Sophie’s Choice certainly deserved to be nominated…it did get nominated for the Golden Globe.

Sophie’s Choice is definitely worth seeing again if you haven’t seen it in a while. Most people know it because of the horrific “choice” itself that Sophie had to make at her arrival at Auschwitz, but it’s so much more than that. It is funny at times, and heartwarming, but ultimately it’s a tale of man’s inhumanity to man and how difficult “recovery” can be. It’s also a commentary on madness (the Nazi kind and the kind that afflicts everyday people like Nathan). I was glued to the screen this time around and really, really loved Sophie’s Choice.

Next up: AFI #90 Swing Time

‘Inside Job’ a Sobering Indictment of Financial Services

Posted on by Len

“Why should a financial engineer be paid four times to 100 times more than a real engineer? A real engineer build bridges. A financial engineer build dreams. And, you know, when those dreams turn out to be nightmares, other people pay for it.” Andrew Sheng, Chief Adviser to the China Banking Regulatory Commission

In the late 2000s the U.S. financial system nearly collapsed as a result of a runaway derivatives fueled housing market. While Americans were mostly tuned into American Idol and watching extensive coverage of Paris Hilton on the nightly news, a handful of uber-rich bankers brought America to the edge of financial ruin. You may have heard the bits and pieces about Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers and AIG going bankrupt, and perhaps you even noticed when the Bush and Obama administrations bailed out these institutions with your money, or maybe even you knew someone who lost their home to foreclosure or had to get out of their home with a short sale, or maybe they just walked away. Yeah, that financial crisis.

Inside Job is the Academy Award winning documentary that explains how we got to the point of financial Armageddon and what we did (or didn’t do) in response. It’s a scary film, especially since the lesson of the film is that we haven’t made any substantial changes to our system to protect us from this sort of scam again and nobody (seriously…nobody) has gone to jail or even been indicted for crimes that clearly took place. In fact, those responsible have been summarily rewarded with huge bonuses and cushy jobs in the Obama administration.

Frankly I’m tired of politicians and “conservatives” talking about the merits of laissez faire economics. “The market will take care of itself,” they decry and “Government regulation is socialism,” they claim falsely. We got into this mess beginning with deregulation of the financial sector beginning in 1980 with Reaganomics and it has gotten worse under every administration since…up to and including the Obama administration. Deregulation and self-monitoring is the problem and the solution is to go back to regulating what the financial services industry can and can’t do with our money. And it should start with removing the foxes from the hen house. I thought it was awful when George W. Bush installed coal and oil executives to monitor our environment, but this is worse. Nearly every major player in government with anything to do with monitoring our economy has a history of working with, lobbying for, or even being CEO of the very banks and brokerages that they are supposed to be watching over. It seems the only qualification needed to head the treasury or be chairman of the federal reserve is to have worked for Goldman Sachs.

Perhaps the reason we’re so ignorant of what’s going on is that these are complicated issues. None of us can hope to fully understand derivatives and credit default swaps. But all you really need to know to understand them is to follow the money…and the money always ends up in the hands of the wealthiest Americans. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but it’s hard not to imagine there is some boardroom full of rich old white men laughing their asses off over this whole fiasco. Why should we trust the likes of Geithner, Bernanke and Paulson? And Inside Job even makes the case that we can no longer trust academia as these guys are also financially connected to the Goldman Sachs’ of the world.

Inside Job will piss you off — unless of course you are the CEO of Bank of America in which case you’ll probably think it’s a comedy. This issue should be non-partisan, as even the most conservative of us are still probably not part of the top 1 percent. We’re being fleeced and it’s only getting worse. What’s more, the mainstream media isn’t even interested. So far the only decent reporting on the financial meltdown has been by Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi, who for years has been expertly chronicling these crimes. And I have Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short on my reading list as well, which is supposed to be a solid explanation of all this.

If the growing disparity between rich and poor in America isn’t enough reason for you to re-think your love of Capitalism run amok I’m not sure what is. I for one am not afraid to say I think we need to reconsider our financial system and move toward a more socialist system. Electing more of the same politicians isn’t the answer. Anyone else for a revolution?

It’s Not Just What to Watch…But How to Watch

Posted on by Len

It used to be that if you wanted to see a particular film and you missed it in the theater when it came out you could grab it at the video store or wait until it showed up on HBO. Oh how the times have changed. When I decided over the weekend to watch and review the AFI Top 100 films of all time I never realized how many options I’d have to screen them. Technology has changed everything. Here are some of the ways I can watch the films:

  • Rent from Blockbuster (there is still one open in my neighborhood…for now)
  • Have it delivered to me via mail via Netflix
  • Stream it live to my computer via Netflix
  • Stream it live to my living room television via Netflix on my Roku box
  • Stream it live to my living room television via Amazon Instant Video (most titles are about $2.99)
  • Play it via Cox Advanced TV on demand
  • Stream it to my den television via Amazon, Netflix or another service via my son’s Sony PS3
  • Check out the DVD at the library
  • Rent it from Redbox
  • Use a torrent service to steal the film off the Internet (not that I would)

When I was just out of college there was this great little family owned video store on Burlingame Ave. just down the street from my apartment. I walked past a big video store to get to it because the woman who ran the shop knew everything about films and she stocked all the coolest indies and foreign films I liked. One day I asked her if she’d give me some advice on opening my own video store, and she told me I’d be crazy to open a video store. One day soon, she said, we’ll all be getting our movies via our telephone lines. This was before the advent of broadband and the popularity of cable modems, so while we’re not exactly getting our movies via the phone we are getting them directly streamed to our homes. Is it sad that the mom and pop video store is a thing of the past? Yes it is. But it’s hard to be too sad because thanks to technology I can pretty much watch any movie I want, when I want, without leaving my home. For a movie fan like me, what could be better?

Coming soon: I’ll explain all the ways I can listen to the new k.d. lang album without actually buying a CD!