Classic Movie Review Quiz Show

Quiz Show (1994)

Directed by Robert Redford 

Written by Paul Attanasio 

Starring Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Paul Scofield, Christopher McDonald, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, Martin Scorsese 

Release Date September 14th, 1994 

Published November 7th, 2023 

The erosion of public trust was not simply something that happened as a result of Watergate. The erosion of public trust can be traced to several different historic flashpoints that include such events as the assassination of President Kennedy, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, the McCarthy hearings, and, less historically well known but of a similar importance in tracking the erosion of trust between the public and the media, the public and government, and the public and the intelligentsia, is the Quiz Show scandal of the 1950s. 

Director Robert Redford lays out a strong case that the growth of cynicism toward public institutions began not just with the rebellion of the 1960s. It began with a simple Quiz Show called 21. The game was rigged. Though the venerable NBC network and uber-rich sponsor company Geritol, presented the show as a legitimate competition between everyday folks who happened to be remarkably well versed at memorizing facts, the shows were, in fact, scripted so that certain people would win. When ratings started to fall, that person would lose and be replaced by someone who might raise the ratings once more. 

It's a deeply cynical approach but, one that enthralled an America that was very early into the honeymoon phase when it came to television. It was an innocent time when people wanted to believe they could trust the people whose faces were beamed into their home everyday. People like Jack Berry (Christopher McDonald), the well dressed and affable host of 21 carried a public trust, not unlike a newsman. His integrity and that of the show mattered to the public. The show even played that integrity as a marketing gimmick. 

In the opening moments of Quiz Show we open on a bank where a safe deposit box is being opened. Armed guards remove a package. One guard passes the package to another who climbs inside of an armored car. That armored car then receives a police escort to 30 Rockefeller Center, the television home of NBC and the Quiz Show 21. Inside the package being carried, again, by armed guards, are the vaunted questions, a guarded secret even from host Jack Berry. 21 traded on the supposed integrity of the game. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen (2009) 

Directed by Michael Bay 

Written by Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman

Starring Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro

Release Date June 24th, 2009

Published June 23rd, 2009

As a kid I was a big fan of Transformers. Looking back now as an adult I marvel at the idea: Wow, I was one weird kid. Transformers is one goofball concept. Talking, alien robots come to earth in search of ancient energy and disguise themselves as everyday cars, trucks and electronics.

This concept raises numerous logical questions, not the least of which is: Why would giant alien robots need to pretend to be everyday objects? You're a giant alien robot, why are you disguised as an Ice Cream Truck or a tape player? Identities taken on by a pair of alien robots.

The goofball premise becomes even goofier in the live action movie and sequel Transformers and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. Adding Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox and a couple of wacky parental figures for comic relief, director Michael Bay takes a bizarre concept and makes it even more bizarre.

When we last saw the Autobots, good guy alien robots lead by Optimus Prime, they had stopped the evil Decepticons, lead by the evilest of evil alien robots Megatron, from obtaining something called the All Spark. Now, the Autobots and their human friends are prepping for war with the Decepticons once again, this time over something called Energon. Riveted yet?

The key to finding or rather creating energon, maybe, I'm not sure, is inside the mind of college bound Sam Witwicky (shia LeBeouf). It was Sam's seemingly random purchase of a rundown yellow camaro that lead to mass warfare when it was revealed that his car was really the alien robot protector bot Bumblebee. Sam making this discovery automatically drafted him and the girl of his dreams Mikaela (Megan Fox) into the war between Alien robot races.

Now, Sam has a map imprinted in his brain that will lead to the discovery of energon, or something. The Decepticons want to open up Sam's brain and remove the information while Sam needs to lead the Autobots to the energon to stop them.

If that plot doesn't grab you then you should probably skip Transformers Revenge of the Fallen because at 2 hours and 45 minutes you will have to want to be invested in this plot. You will have to work very hard not to be bored or put off by this exceptionally over-complicated and lame plot.

Worse yet are the juvenile, amateur hour attempts at humor. Sam's parents played by Kevin Dunn and Judy White are used as comic filler, first doing a variation on the comic strip Bickersons and then a really odd stretch where mom is whacked out on drugs. None of this has anything to do with alien robots and yet it's in there.

Then there is the robot who speaks jive. The robot who speaks through classic songs on it's car radio and the robot with giant robot testicles. Yes, testicles. Are you laughing yet?

As much as I loathe most of Transformers Revenge of the Fallen even I cannot deny the technical mastery on display. Director Michael Bay cannot tell a good story to save his life  but his special effects work is some of the best in the industry. Optimus Prime is a mind blowing special effect that in a better more daring story would be the lead character.

Here is a sidekick to a group of forgettable human caricatures and one exceptionally beautiful woman. This relegation to the background makes him bland as a character but still extraordinarily rendered. When he is onscreen, especially in battle with the Decepticons, Prime is the kind of star you build movies around.

All of the alien robots are remarkably works of CGI effects. As characters they mostly stink. That however, they have in common with their human counterparts. Shia LeBeouf is a nice actor with a good deal of charisma but his only real character development comes in being in better physical shape than in the first film, the likely result of having to literally run from one special effect to the next, from one on set explosion to the next CGI green screen robot.

There is no denying Michael Bay is a master of effects. If that is appealing enough for you, then see the movie, you might be satisfied. If however, you require a well told story with your massive special effects forget Transformers. See Star Trek a special effects movie that actually bothers to tell a story in between CGI explosions.

Movie Review: Exodus Gods and Kings

Exodus Gods and Kings (2014) 

Directed by Ridley Scott 

Written by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine, Steven Zaillian

Starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn

Release Date December 12th, 2014 

Published December 11th, 2014 

Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings" is a dull slog through a Bible story too familiar to be of much interest. Putting aside, for a moment, the awful casual racism involved in the film's casting, "Exodus" just simply isn't a very good film. Despite the special effects that render the seven plagues of Egypt in spectacular fashion, the grim story and wooden characters make "Exodus" a dreadful movie-going experience. 

Christian Bale stars as Moses and Joel Edgerton is Ramses, the Egyptian pharaoh, soon to be king. When we first meet them, Moses is Ramses' right-hand man. The two were raised as brothers by the Egyptian King Seti (John Turturro). Moses' origin story, however, is a lingering mystery that will become a definitive part of his life. He is an Israelite, and not an Egyptian. 

In fact, Moses isn't merely Jewish. He may be the Jewish savior who leads his people to freedom in Canaan, which will later become Israel. But first he and Ramses have to go to war. Moses has to prove that he is the greater warrior and more worthy heir to the throne of Egypt than the sniveling Ramses, who will poison his father to make sure his ascension to the throne happens without interruption. 

Ramses' paranoia eventually extends to his feelings for his brother Moses, whom he suspects will usurp his throne. When Ramses is informed by spies that Moses is, in fact, Jewish, he banishes Moses from the kingdom. Nine years pass, and Moses has begun to raise a family. Then he has a vision: A child, a stand-in for God, orders Moses to return to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery. 

If you don't already know this story then you have likely lived under a rock since birth. It's among the most familiar Bible stories in history, thanks to the violence and death unleashed by God in seven plagues. The plagues are the main reason why "Exodus: Gods and Kings" exists. Special effects have advanced so much in the past two decades that making the Nile River run red with blood, the arrival of millions of frogs, and an attack of locusts now can be rendered realistically in CGI.  

There is no denying that the special effects are impressive, especially late in the film, when God parts the Red Sea and then un-parts the Red Sea in even more spectacular and deadly fashion. But special effects alone are not enough to overcome the grim story, dour performances and general tedium of sitting through nearly three hours of this. 

And then there is the racism at the heart of the film. Both director Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox owner Rupert Murdoch have weighed in on the casting of Scottish actor Joel Edgerton, saying that it was a business decision to cast a white actor as an Egyptian king. Scott claims that an actor with a name like Muhammad would not sell tickets, as if the name of Joel Edgerton ever has sold a ticket anywhere outside his Scottish home town. 

Bale, at the very least, has the powerful presence and charisma to render a Moses we can appreciate. Edgerton's sneering, sniveling Ramses is an over-the-top bore who is completely overmatched opposite Bale's imposing performance. Of course, even if Edgerton had delivered an Oscar-worthy turn, it still would not justify his casting over that of an actual Egyptian actor in the role. 

Scott's attempt to mask this racism as a business decision only makes it more insidious and cynical. It's impossible to watch "Exodus: Gods and Kings" and not see the casting of Edgerton – and, to an extent, Bale and Turturro -- as the latest example of Hollywood's historic offhand bigotry that dates back to Al Jolson and D.W Griffith. Nearly 100 years after Griffith, one might think we've evolved, especially with Hollywood's well known leftist politics. Yet here we are with white actors imitating Arabs and Israelites while wearing brown-face. 

In the end, even if "Exodus: Gods and Kings" hadn't been an overly familiar slog made solely to exploit modern special effects, the film still would have stunk because of its blasé’ attitude toward its own bigotry. 

Movie Review Margot at the Wedding

Margot at the Wedding (2007) 

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Written by Noah Baumbach

Starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, John Turturro 

Release Date November 16th, 2007 

Published November 30th, 2007 

Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is getting married and her sister Margot (Nicole Kidman) has relented to come in Noah Baumbach's latest ponderous wade into the world of the over-educated and under-socialized Margot At the Wedding. This oddball little movie about horrible people torturing each other over their shared ugly pasts is one of the more unpleasant movies I've seen in a while, and I've seen two Martin Lawrence comedies in recent weeks. It's not that Baumbach is not talented. Rather it's his use of his gift with words for evil. By evil I mean his characters are constantly manipulative, backbiting. Their whiney self involvement and their constant state of fucked upness.

As he did with his debut picture The Squid and The Whale Baumbach abuses another teenager, young Lane Pais plays Claude the son of the evil Margot and throughout Margot at the Wedding he is treated to abuse after abuse from his mother to a strange neighbor boy to having to hear far too much of Pauline and her fiance Malcolm's (Jack Black) business. This is the kind of mother-son relationship from which serial killers are born. It's a shame because Pais' performance has great potential. That potential is stifled unfortunately by Baumbach's fascination with Kidman's Margot.

Margot and Pauline were abused by their father, abuse that their unseen sister Becky never recovered from allegedly and thus still lives with their unseen mother. Naturally, Margot and Pauline delight in their sisters' misery. Then again, they seem to delight in each other's misery just as much. Margot doesn't just delight in hearing of misery however, she likes to instigate it and watch it unfold. With her own marriage faltering, John Turturro appears briefly as her masochist husband, Margot immediately sets to finding fault with Pauline's soon to be husband.

There is plenty to find fault with. Malcolm is a manchild, quick to bursts of impotent rage. He has no job, music is now his hobby we are told, he's a painter now. Malcolm has zero social skills and tells embarrassing stories. It's actually quite well played by Jack Black who rages in various directions, we assume looking to make us laugh, and occasionally finds a truly funny moment. These moments are rare, squeezed as they are between the palace intrigue of two sisters trying to emotionally decapitate one another. Then you have the poor children thrust into the middle of all of this. Pauline has a younger daughter named Ingrid who somehow manages to remain on the periphery of all of the evil.

There are laughs in Margot at the Wedding and even what passes for insight among these disturbing characters. Unfortunately, the whole thing is so damn repugnant to those who have the will to search for the good in it. Noah Baumbach is a talented writer who has gone over to the dark side. He simply doesn't like people and demonstrates that by crafting characters that reflect how awful he thinks they are. He uses children in his films to reflect that evil and how it is passed on generation to generation. There may be a valuable lesson to be learned there but I can't stand his characters long enough to figure out what that lesson is.

Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 123

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) 

Directed by Tony Scott 

Written by Brian Helgeland 

Starring Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, Luis Guzman, James Gandolfini 

Release Date June 12th, 2009 

Published June 11th, 2009 

Robert Shaw was three years away from his starmaking performance in Jaws. Walter Matthau was a star but certainly no action here when in 1974 the two actors teamed for The Taking of Pelham 123. Based on the bestseller by Robert Godey, the story placed this unique acting duo in an odd action context allowed them to create indelible characters. The film has developed something of a cult following amongst hardcore movie nerds.

Now comes a true action remake of the underrated 74 picture. With bigger stars and a much bigger budget, The Taking of Pelham 123 comes into modern times with bells and whistles beyond anything imagined for the original but with it's premise and highly distinct voice intact.

The Taking of Pelham 123 is essentially two guys having a very important conversation. The first guy is Walter played by Denzel Washington. Graying and rumpled, Walter has worked for the New York City Transit Department for years. He was in fact the boss of the Subway system until he was charged with taking a bribe.

Now, Walter finds himself back behind a microphone as a train dispatcher. It is in this capacity that Walter meets Ryder played by John Travolta. Ryder is a terrorist who takes a subway car full of New Yorkers hostage demanded 10 million dollars in one hour or he will begin executing people.

The conversation between Walter and Ryder takes place within this intense hour as Ryder demands that Walter first listen to him and then explain himself as they wait for the city, lead by the Mayor (James Gandolfini), to come up with the cash. With topics ranging from religion to Walter's corruption charges, these two very different men connect in ways they never imagined.

The idea of two guys talking probably doesn't set your pulse racing as an action movie fan. However, you've never seen Denzel Washington talk to John Travolta as they are filmed by the hyper-kinetic director Tony Scott. Somehow, through carefully choreographed camera whips and pans and an exceptional supporting cast, lead by Gandolfini and John Turturro, working at the edges, the conversation becomes an intense action of its own and The Taking of Pelham 123 flies on the words of Denzel and Travolta.

If the final act that takes Washington into the tunnels with Travolta fails to match the intensity of their conversation, it is still the only way to wrap up the twist that is the essential ending of The Taking of Pelham 123. It's not so much a letdown as things devolve to a rather typical chase scene, but just the way the movie had to play out.

Putting reservations aside, The Taking of Pelham 123 radiates with energy, wit and directorial flourish. The talking is fun, the action is fun and in the end even the dopey chase scene finish cannot take away from the excitement of the first two acts of The Taking of Pelham 123.

Movie Review Secret Window

Secret Window (2004) 

Directed by David Koepp 

Written by David Koepp 

Starring Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Maria Bello, Charles S. Dutton, Timothy Hutton 

Release Date March 12th, 2004 

Published March 11th, 2004

In an interview with Time Magazine, Secret Window writer-director David Koepp wondered aloud why Johnny Depp had chosen to star in his movie. He was grateful but said it's hard to be certain what motivates Depp, it's possible he just wanted to play a guy named Mort. That’s a statement that perfectly captures Depp's unique approach to Hollywood. An actor who does things his own unique way, Depp makes Secret Window a strange and unique Hollywood thriller.

Depp is Mort Rainey, a successful mystery writer whose life is upended when he finds his wife in bed with another man. Cut to six months later and Mort is living in a cabin on a lake in some nondescript small town. The solitude should help him working on his next novel but it's more helpful in providing time for his long naps and general malaise.

The solitude is interrupted by a menacing stranger named John Shooter (John Turturro), an oddball farmer from Mississippi who claims that Mort stole one of his stories. Shooter's story is definitely similar to one Mort wrote years earlier called Secret Window, but Mort is sure he can prove the story is his own. Shooter meanwhile sets about making Mort miserable, including killing his dog and threatening Mort's ex-wife Amy (Maria Bello).

Eventually Mort figures out that there is far more to this story than mere plagiarism and he begins to suspect his wife's new boyfriend, Ted (Timothy Hutton), may have put Shooter up to it. In fear, Mort hires an ex-police officer (Charles S. Dutton) to watch his back. When the cop turns up dead, Mort is on his own in the scary old cabin.

It's a very conventional thriller setup that sounds predictable but David Koepp, the writer of Panic Room, and the director of the underrated Kevin Bacon thriller Stir Of Echoes, has something up his sleeve. Employing camera moves he must have lifted from working with David Fincher, Koepp sails his camera around the tiny cabin in ways that some might call showy but I would say are just cool. He's helped greatly by a classic Philip Glass score and most of all…

…by his star Johnny Depp.

What Johnny Depp does in Secret Window is difficult to describe. It's so delightfully odd and yet perfectly sensible that it defies description. Mort spends the first third of the film essentially in solitude, napping and laying about, talking to his dog or to himself. There is one fascinating inner monologue, darkly humorous, witty, angry and frustrated. Watch the way he reacts while talking to his wife on the phone.

In some scenes you can see that Depp is finding actorly motivation where none is called for, such as a scene where he hides his cigarette from his cleaning lady. There is no reason why Mort would hide his smoking except that Depp assumed that the character would do that. In another scene, Depp and Charles Dutton exchange dialogue while hitting a chess clock as if marking who's turn it is to talk. It's the kind of character shorthand that most writers and actors neglect.

It's as if while the supporting cast was making a typical Hollywood thriller, Johnny Depp was jamming to some totally different vibe. Depp is riffing like a jazz combo and the film is forced to bounce along to his beat. It's safe to say that much of what Depp does in the film wasn't in the original script and certainly not in the Stephen King novella on which the film is based. That it works is a testament to his considerable skills.

Movie Review: Anger Management

Anger Management (2003) 

Directed by Peter Segal 

Written by David S. Dorfman 

Starring Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, Marisa Tomei, Woody Harrelson, John Turturro 

Release Date April 11th, 2003

Published April 10th, 2003 

All the promise Adam Sandler showed in Punch Drunk Love quickly dissipated with his animated disaster 8 Crazy Nights. His producer's credit on Rob Schneider's The Hot Chick showed Sandler's recommitment to the stupidity that made him the idol of the fraternity crowd. I was set to write him off completely until I saw the trailer for Anger Management and the unlikely teaming of Sandler and the legendary Jack Nicholson. Many figured that with Nicholson involved, it could not possibly fail, and in box office terms, it won't. However, the possibility of creative failure was there and indeed realized with a poorly constructed script that even Nicholson can't overcome.

In Anger Management Sandler is Dave Buznik, a put upon office worker shy to the point of extreme introversion. It seems that everyone in Dave's life takes advantage of him except his very accepting girlfriend Linda (Marisa Tomei). While on a business trip Dave is accused of assaulting a flight attendant. Though it's clear that the mild-mannered Dave did not attack anyone he is still convicted of assault and sentenced to anger management therapy with a man named Buddy Rydell (Nicholson).

Dave is sent to Buddy's anger management class with an assortment of crazies including Luis Guzman, John Turturro and cameos by Bobby Knight and John McEnroe. Through more unfortunate circumstances, Dave is involved in a barfight and is sentenced to even more therapy, a new treatment that involves Dr. Rydell living with Dave and turning his life upside down.

The plot machinations that lead to Buddy and Dave living together make a certain amount of sense and to that point in the film the plot seems to unfold logically. However, cracks show throughout as the script by David Dorfman strains to combine realistic characters and over the top set pieces. The relationship between Dave and his girlfriend is sweet, believable and well played by Sandler and Tomei. However, the roadblocks placed in front of them by the plot are too stupid and contrived to be believed. 

There is also the film's strain to make room for unnecessary celeb cameos by the aforementioned Knight, McEnroe, Heather Graham, Derek Jeter, Roger Clemens and former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani whose cameo is uncomfortably tied to the film's plot.

The trailer for Anger Management showed so much promise and was so well done that it makes the film itself all the more disappointing. The promise of the trailer seemed to be a departure from Sandler's past histrionics from The Waterboy and Big Daddy and a move toward a more sensible and smart approach. The appearance of Jack Nicholson only seemed to further imply that. Unfortunately, the film is more of your typical Sandler: fart jokes, dick jokes and other various inanities.

Don't blame Jack for this one, every great actor will occasionally do a picture just to pick up a paycheck. Sandler has been just picking up a paycheck his entire career, save for Punch Drunk Love which as more time passes seems like it's from some alternate universe. On the other hand, maybe it just goes to show what a truly amazing talent P.T Anderson really is.

Movie Review Mr. Deeds

Mr. Deeds (2002) 

Directed by Steven Brill

Written by Tim Herlihy

Starring Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, John Turturro, Peter Gallagher, Jared Harris, Allan Covert 

Release Date June 28th, 2002 

Published June 27th, 2002

In 1934 the legendary Gary Cooper starred in Frank Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Nearly 70 years later the film has been remade with the Gary Cooper role now filled by Adam Sadler. Did someone say the decline of western civilization? Well I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is the film that will destroy our culture. In fact, as much as I hate to admit it, Sandler's Mr. Deeds isn't that bad.

Deeds stars Sandler in his usual dopey earnest character. As Longfellow Deeds Sandler is a pizza shop owner in a small, New Hampshire town. Deed's also happens to be the sole heir to the fortune of his long lost uncle. The fortune is a company worth in excess of 40 billion dollars. Deeds however couldn't care less as he is more excited about the free trip to New York.

Peter Gallagher is the film’s formula bad guy out to dupe our hero into handing the company over to him. Also trying to take advantage of Deeds is a TV tabloid show. The show’s producer Babe (Winona Ryder) goes undercover and begins dating Deeds and secretly filming him for the show, leading to an hysterical cameo by John McEnroe. Well of course the formula dictates all that happens. Babe has a change of heart and falls in love for real, evil will be punished, and the company will be saved. The plot is meaningless.

Well of course it's meaningless, this is an Adam Sandler movie. The plot is merely in place to lend a little context to the jokes. What is most surprising is how funny those jokes are. Sandler and his supporting cast, which includes not only Rider and Gallagher, but also John Turturro and Steve Buscemi, all contribute some very funny moments, A lot of which is great physical humor.

I was honestly ashamed at how much I laughed during this film. I tried not to laugh, but I couldn't. Especially in scenes with Steve Buscemi as the guy with the crazy eyes. And then there is Sandler. He has always reminded me of an old friend of mine named Decker. Decker was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was the guy to call if you ever had a problem. Sandler has that same “give you the shirt off his back” earnestness.

Maybe the key to his appeal is the fact that Sandler doesn't seem like a movie star. Instead he seems like a guy you could actually know. He has a goofy charm and friendliness that is easy to enjoy at least in short bursts.

Movie Review: Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage (2002) 

Directed by Andrew Davis

Written by David Griffiths, Ronald Roose 

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elias Koteas, Cliff Curtis, John Leguizamo, John Turturro, Tyler Posey 

Release Date February 8th, 2002 

Published February 8th, 2002 

Is America ready? I'm not talking about is America ready for a violent action film so close to anniversary of 9/11. I mean is America ready for an Arnold Schwarzenegger that doesn't entirely suck. In Collateral Damage, Schwarzenegger is Gordy Breuer a Los Angeles firefighter who witnesses an explosion that kills his wife and child. Not only did he see what happened but also he saw the man responsible, a terrorist called the Wolf (Cliff Curtis).

Schwarzenegger characters are anything but passive, and Gordy is quick to dismiss warnings from government officials including Elias Koteas, the CIA Agent who was the target of the bomb that killed Gordy's wife and child. It doesn't take a genius to know Gordy is going to Columbia to find the Wolf and avenge the death of his family.

If it were that simple there wouldn't be much of a film. Director Andrew Davis (the lensman behind The Fugitive) expertly builds suspense by keeping the film’s pace clicking along quickly. It doesn’t hurt to use Schwarzenegger's previously established action persona to give the audience the feeling that anything could happen at any moment.

The film's special effects are surprisingly cheesy at times, especially the CGI sequences that look as fake as they are. And at 50+ years old, Schwartzenegger obviously can no longer do his own stunts, so it would help to find a stuntman that looks a little more like him.

Those problems aside Collateral Damage is exciting and suspenseful from beginning to end. The film has an especially good twist near the end that I honestly didn't see coming. Is America ready for Collateral Damage? Well they should be because on video and DVD and it's definitely a worthy rental.