Movie Review Amelia

Amelia (2009) 

Directed by Mira Nair 

Written by Ronald Bass, Anna Hamilton Phelan

Starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston

Release Date October 23rd, 2009

For some the phrase 'old fashioned' has become a pejorative. Somehow it has evolved from a sensibility or way of thinking to be something to reject and rebel against. The biopic Amelia about the life of legendary flyer Amelia Earhart fully embraces being old fashioned and in doing so gains the grace and elegance of old Hollywood.

Hillary Swank takes the lead as Amelia Earhart the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. She didn't fly the plane; she was a passenger or in her words a sack of potatoes along for the ride. It was part of a publicity campaign in 1928 by celebrated showman and publisher George Putnam (Richard Gere).

Just after Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic solo Putnam was looking for ways to cash in after having made money publishing Lindbergh's book. He needed a new hook and found it with "Lady Lindy". All he needed was the right woman. He chose Earhart after interviews with several other women.

He wanted a woman pilot and he got one. Her first book was a hit but Amelia wanted to be more than a passenger. Soon she was planning her own Atlantic crossing minus the other pilots. In one magical night filled with stars and the occasional storm cloud, Amelia Earhart made her solo flight. While she was supposed to land in Paris and ended up in a field in Ireland, the flight was a major success.

George, and the need for publicity, pulled her away from the plane for a time but it wasn't long before Amelia was ready to fly again. And while she became the first woman to fly from Los Angeles to Hawaii and from Los Angeles to Mexico City, there was one goal she had in mind. Amelia Earhart wanted to be the first person to fly around the world.

Hillary Swank's performance in Amelia is a true delight. Her Amelia is infectious, unique, spirited and boyish. Like the characters she played in both of her Oscar winning turns in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby, Amelia is almost asexual. Charming but not inviting in the typical ways of a woman.

It's no wonder then that of the three romances in Amelia the only one that truly resonates is with flying. Swank connects well with both Gere as George Putnam and Ewan McGregor as Gene Vidal, Amelia's flight instructor friend, future head of the FAA and father of Gore Vidal, but when she gets in a plane and looks out at the horizon there is an almost sexual atmosphere.

Director Mira Nair doesn't linger on that nearly orgasmic delight but merely introduces it and moves on. This is, after all, a classic, old fashioned biopic. Nothing too unseemly is welcome here. And that's okay. If you want salaciousness go watch a different movie. Amelia is a charming, engaging old school biopic that gets its juice from great actors delivering strong lines and building characters we come to care about.

There is no need for this film to plod through rumors about Amelia's sexuality. Her only real relationship is with the controls of her plane. The film hints at and wants you to believe that Amelia eventually loved George Putnam after his years of devotion to her. It would like us to believe there was passion in her dalliance with Gene Vidal and we can see the chemistry in each relationship, but watch Swank in the flying scenes and you see true devotion.

That is what makes Amelia Earhart's story so unique. Her love is something that you really cannot understand unless you share her passion for flying. She went for Gene Vidal because he was a flyer, they related on that level. She loved George Putnam because he indulged her flying and through money and publicity, made it all possible. 

That might seem strange or wrong to you but this movie understands it and presents it in a way that allows the audience to come around to it and eventually understand it as well. We all have passions that others may not understand. Amelia's passion was for flight. What a joyous notion that a movie could find a way to understand that so fully.

Movie Review: 28 Days Later

28 Days Later (2003) 

Directed by Danny Boyle

Written by Alex Garland 

Starring Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Christopher Eccleston

Release Date June 27th, 2003 

Published June 27th, 2003

While the masses seek out mindless entertainment in Charlie’s Angels amongst others, real film fans have been anticipating the release of this much buzzed about British horror film that portends the end of the world. Oh yeah and it's got zombies. 28 Days Later, the newest work from Trainspotting auteur Danny Boyle, was actually released some 6 months ago worldwide. Only now reaching the States, it has not lost anything of the buzz and in fact, it's one of the rare films that surpass the buzz to become something even more than expected.

In a scenario that will have Republicans smiling, a group of animal activists break into a research facility and release a group of monkeys who they believe are being abused. Unfortunately, the monkeys happen to be infected with a disease that the doctors call the rage virus. The infection is passed by blood and when the monkey bites a human, it takes little more than 30 seconds before that person becomes a mindless flesh-eating zombie. The zombies can be killed like any normal human being but they are also excessively quick and strong.

Within 28 days, the virus has spread throughout the whole of Britain. Only a few lucky people remain uninfected. One of the uninfected is Jim (Cillian Murphy) who has just awakened from a coma to find the hospital entirely empty. He then finds the neighborhood around the hospital empty, then finally all of London. That is until he stumbles into a church filled with zombies.

Jim escapes with the aid of a pair of survivors, Mark (Noah Huntley) and Selena (Naomie Harris). They give Jim the 411 on what has happened since his coma and then accompany Jim to his parents home where he finds his parents dead. It's not long before the zombies arrive there and Mark is killed by Selena after he is bitten. As she has explained to Jim, if someone is infected you have only seconds to kill them before they turn. She won't hesitate to kill Jim if the same happens to him.

The two then venture out to find new shelter and stumble upon a father and daughter (Brenden Gleeson and Megan Burns) who are hiding out in what remains of their apartment building. Though they have had little to no interaction with the outside world, they have heard what they believe is a recorded message on the radio about some military officers who may have a cure for the virus. Whether that is true or not, the soldiers at least offer protection from the zombies and that is good enough to get them on the road. Once arriving at the military base, they find a ramshackle crew who is no more well prepared than they are.

It's best to stop there because to give away too much would ruin what is a terrifying, brilliant story. The conceit is a frightening one, a virus that could wipe out a large group of people in a short amount of time is a concern right out of our Homeland Security department. In the time of Anthrax and Monkeypox, the story put forth in 28 Days Later is more immediate and frightening. Though the zombie thing gives the film a far-fetched feeling, the reality comes in Boyle's camerawork that has a mind’s eye feeling to it. It's  very unsettling the way Boyle's camera becomes like a dream from your own mind.

28 Days Later is the rare horror film with actual horror in it. There is very little of the camp that marks most modern horror films. There is wit to it, a welcome black humor amidst a sea of jarring horror imagery. Boyle never allows the film to rollover into parody even in it's odd Lord Of the Flies style climax in the military base.

The buzz that accompanied 28 Days Later is well deserved, it's an art house horror film that has real scares and real behind the scenes talent in director Danny Boyle. I wasn't a big fan of Boyle's previous work, but 28 Days Later has me seeking out his other films for re-evaluation of what looks to a great director for years to come.

Movie Review: The Seeker The Dark is Rising

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007) 

Directed by David L Cunningham 

Written by John Hodge 

Starring Alexander Ludwig, Christopher Eccleston, Ian McShane, Frances Conroy 

Release Date October 5th, 2007

Published October 4th, 2007

Why are so many fantasy adventure heroes so whiny and ineffectual? Shoved along by the forces of good and basically forced to be heroes? Take, for instance, Will Stanton, the hero of The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. Will is among the whiniest and most winsome heroes in film history. Constantly slowing the action to complain that his mission is too hard and that he's too young, Will makes The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising a slog to sit through.

Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) did not know, until his fourteenth birthday, that he is a member of a secret society. Will is secretly a member of The Light, a force that protects humanity from the forces of The Dark, led by The Rider (Christopher Eccleston). Not long after Will's birthday, The Rider is set to regain the strength that he has been denied for centuries but before he can do that, The Rider needs the trinkets gathered by The Seeker, to gain his full strength. You can probably guess who The Seeker turns out to be. 

Yes. Will just happens to be the seeker, or so he's told by Merriman (Ian McShane), the cryptic spokesman for the good guys, which also includes Miss Graythorne (Frances Conroy), Dawson (James Cosmo), and Old George (Jim Piddock). Merriman explains to Will that he can travel through time, summon great strength, and control fire as The Seeker. And still Will whines that the task will be too much for him. Nevertheless, it's up to Will to get the six elements that can restore the power of The Light or if the fall into the hands of the rider, bring about the rise of The Dark and the end of the world.

Directed by David L. Cunningham, and based on the popular novels of Susan Cooper, The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising is one of the lamest adventures in a good long while. I can't compare what is on the screen to what came from Susan Cooper's page except that Cooper's books are over 30 years old and the film has been modernized. Also, The Dark is Rising is the second in the 6 book series of The Seeker and thus truncates each of the first two books into this one 94 minute movie.

You can see and feel where corners were cut, even if you haven't read the books, because the plot of The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising is so full holes. The nonsense with The Rider, the characters who work for The Rider, and the motivations of the evil known as The Dark are murky and goofball. Just the fact that the evil of the film is just referred to as The Dark shows how little creative thought went into the evil side of the movie.

Not that the good is all that well defined. Calling the forces of good 'The Light' is certainly no more interesting than 'The Dark'. On the bright side, The Light is represented by Ian McShane and Frances Conroy to terrific character actors who need to take more care in choosing their roles. Both of these brilliant, dignified actors give their all to their work, sadly they are defeated by the poorly crafted script and by Alexander Ludwig's deeply awful performance. 

Whiny, ineffectual and shoved along by the plot, Ludwig's Will Stanton would let the world come to an end if he had his way. Were it not for the forces of The Light forcing him to be a hero, Will would simply accept the sweet embrace of death rather than have to learn, grow, and fight with honor for a cause he believes in. There is certainly nothing wrong with a reluctant hero, that's a fine source of dramatic conflict, but the makers of The Seeker: The Dark is Rising have the character Will Stanton do little more than whine and complain about his reluctance to be a hero. 

The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising fails on a number of levels but most damningly in the creation of its hero. I don't want to be too hard on young Alexander Ludwig, or harder than I already have been, but his Will Stanton is arguably the whiniest hero of all time. Constantly bleating about how it's too hard or he's too young or he can't even find the courage to talk to a girl, Will whines throughout the film and grows into one of the most annoying 'heroes' in the history of fantasy adventure.