Movie Review The Boston Strangler

The Boston Strangler (2023) 

Directed by Mark Ruskin 

Written by Mark Ruskin 

Starring Keira Knightley, Carrie Coon, Chris Cooper 

Release Date March 17th, 2023

Published March 16th, 2023 

The Boston Strangler takes the perspective of the two real life reporters who put together the story of the killers behind The Boston Strangler. Keira Knightley stars as Loretta McLaughlin, an experienced reporter tied to the Lifestyle section of her paper. When her mother mentions the murder of an elderly woman in her neighborhood, Loretta's instincts take over and she begins to investigate, even before she's managed to get herself assigned to this story. In order to keep the story once it starts to get bigger and more complicated, Loretta is teamed with Jean Cole (Carrie Coon), a more experienced and connected Crime Reporter. 

Together, the duo of reporters follow disparate leads to multiple suspects all the while watching as the Boston Police Department fumbles the investigation. How bad are the cops on this case? The lead detective, Detective Conley (Alessandro Nivola) begins telling Loretta how poorly his bosses are handling the case. The film avoids making it appear that the reporters are better at investigating the case than the cops by simply being honest about the challenges that the cops were facing and the politics behind the awful decisions they were making. 

One cliche the movie cannot avoid is the spouse who gets upset when their successful wife/husband is spending too much time at work. Loretta's husband begins as an incredibly supportive and forward thinking, for the 1960's, guy. Then, when the movie needs to force some drama and deal with the fact that Loretta's marriage did end in real life, the script resorts to scenes that feel deeply forced and perfunctory about Loretta not being home for dinner a few times or missing a bedtime or two for their kids and blows these things up into world ending dramas. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review Imitation Game

Imitation Game (2014) 

Directed by Morten Tyldum 

Written by Graham Moore 

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance

Release Date November 28th, 2014 

Published November 25th, 2014 

"Sometimes it is the very people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine."

The above line is a lovely bit of inspirational sentiment. I ask you to say it aloud to yourself. Now, imagine that line used by an actor in a movie as a bit of dialogue. It's clunky. Even in the sonorous tones of Benedict Cumberbatch in "The Imitation Game," the line sounds like someone banging a gong rather than speaking; it thuds loudly and is exposed as sentimental claptrap. 

Too much of writer/director Morton Tyldum's take on the life of legendary mathematician Alan Turing in "The Imitation Game" lands with the same kind of thud. This conventional biopic about a highly unconventional man spends a great deal of time playing at being a military thriller when it should have been a subversive, rebellious story of a complicated and tragic anti-hero. 

The failure of "The Imitation Game" cannot be laid at the feet of star Benedict Cumberbatch, who enlivens Alan Turing with great vigor and offbeat tics that are fitting with the picture of a man few people liked or understood. Cumberbatch could very well have given us the Turing biopic the world needs. "The Imitation Game" just simply is not it. 

The movie skirts Turing’s life. We see him as a World War II codebreaker, who personally earned the approval (NOT SURE BECAUSE I HAVEN’T SEEN IT YET) of Winston Churchill himself. We flash back to one of Turing's formative relationships as a closeted homosexual, and flash forward to Turing's arrest for indecency that eventually led to his alleged suicide.

There is a rich amount of story to tell here. Sadly, director Tyldum gets caught up in only the most audience-friendly aspect: World War II. 

Yes, what Turing did during the war is a remarkable and important piece of history. In short order, Turing created a machine that won World War II by cracking Germany's legendary Enigma machine. And he invented what would come to be the very first computer. Turing was the first to create a machine which, independently of human manipulation, solved equations and produced data. It's completely astounding. Yet, in "The Imitation Game," it is reduced to the function of a thriller plot involving double agents and MI6. 

The greatest injustice of "The Imitation Game" is saved for Turing's personal life. Turing was a homosexual in England when homosexuals were persecuted. In 1954 Turing was arrested for indecency after a male prostitute admitted to having been with Turing and attempted to rob Turing's home. Turing was forced to agree to chemical castration to avoid jail time. The subsequent treatment is said to have led to his depression and eventual suicide. 

Turing's death is a grotesque tragedy. But the film tosses it off in the final minutes with barely a comment. Why? My feeling is that the filmmakers and the studio lack conviction and fortitude. The thriller stuff, the World War II heroism and Sheldon Cooper-esque comedy about Turing's lack of social skills were an easier sell to a mass audience than the far bleaker but more interesting tragedy of Turing's death. 

In the end, "The Imitation Game" takes the easy way out. The filmmakers set up the most audience-friendly take on Turing, depicting his homosexuality and tragic death as inconvenient plot points on the way to the box office. What a shame. Here's hoping we get the Turing movie we deserve someday instead of this pale “Imitation.”

Movie Review The Duchess

The Duchess (2008) 

Directed by Saul Dibb

Written by Jeffrey Hatcher, Saul Dibb, Anders Thomas Jensen 

Starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Hayley Atwell

Release Date September 5th, 2008 

Published October 25th, 2008

Georgiana Spencer is a long time relative of Lady Diana Spencer who went on to become Princess Diana. They were destined to be related. The Duchess of Devonshire was the Diana of her time, a celebrity diva with the eyes of a nation following her every move and copying her every dress and hairstyle. They had even more in common in private where the Duchess and the Princess lived with cold hearted husbands whose dalliances were humiliating blows especially as any challenge to that behavior were so hypocritically decried.

Keira Knightley stars in The Duchess as the legendary Georgiana. At 16 she was married off to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes). They had only met twice but when assured by her mother that she would produce a make heir, the Duke snapped her up. The wedding was elaborate and celebrated across London. Georgiana was blown away by the opulence suddenly thrust upon her but her wonderment didn't last. Soon she finds her husband taking the help to his bed. When he finally takes Georgiana the moment is awkward and workmanlike.

Her role in his life is nothing more than broodmare and when she doesn't immediately offer a male heir, the duke becomes cruel and reviled. With a maid he fathered a daughter, Charlotte who then becomes Georgiana's responsibility. Her first two children are girls and the tension in the house is ever worsening. Then Georgiana is blessed with a friend named Bess. She has just been abandoned by her husband who has taken her two sons. Georgiana offers to let Bess stay with her while she fights for her boys, in the meantime Bess is convinced to sleep with William in exchange for his help, the humiliation drives a wedge between the women that is nearly irresolvable.

Soon the Duchess herself has found someone else. His name is Charles Gray and he happens to be a candidate for Prime Minister and a childhood friend of Georgiana. She offers to help his political career, with her awesome ability to draw a crowd but his interest goes far beyond her useful celebrity. He has loved her since before she was married and hopes that he can run away with her one day. The love story is a little rushed and forced but it's not bad. 

The Duchess was directed by Saul Dibb an heretofore unknown director who also co-wrote the script based on Amanda Foreman's novel. Dibb has a strong sense of the period, the hot house melodrama of the Duke and Duchess's home and an ear for the way these characters may have talked. I thoroughly  enjoyed the presence of Mr. Fox and his obvious lover Mr. Doyle. Together they are the perfect gay best friends for the Duchess though she longs for a real girlfriend. She had found it with Bess but the relationship ended badly, as did most of Georgiana's relationship.

So what of the Oscar buzz for Keira Knightley? Much deserved. Ms. Knightley is feisty and pouty and sexy and glamorous, everything we need in a grand, mid-centuries celebrity. Even as she indulges, the Duchess has a deeper intellect than the men in her life give her credit for. She earns the respect of her friend Mr. Fox by questioning his take on freedom, a line that will become ironic in her own life, "Freedom is an absolute, you either are or you are not".The publicity for The Duchess plays up a reputation for her being a great conversationalist. That example is not in The Duchess. Aside from her thoughts on freedom, the Duchess is not demonstrated as a great thinker.

Quick on her feet? Street smart? Yes, but no Nobel Prize winner.

A strong performance from Keira Knightley is the life blood of The Duchess but beyond her the film relies on the conventions of the period piece. There is nothing in Georgiana Spencer's life that is as compelling as Eliza Bennett of Pride and Prejudice, a demonstrably witty and intelligent character. A better correlative of The Duchess would be Marie Antoinette from Sophia Coppola's biography. The Duchess has a lot more juice than that overwrought melange of pop music and pop history. The juice comes from Knightly and the immaculate period setting. Set your expectations for the movie as a whole low and you will find yourself satisfied with The Duchess.

Movie Review: Colette

Colette (2019) 

Directed by Wash Westmoreland 

Written by Wash Westmoreland, Richard Glazier, Rebecca Lenkiewicz 

Starring Keira Knightley, Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson, Denise Gough

Release Date January 11th, 2019

Published January 12th, 2019 

Colette is a sexy, smart and informative story about a real life figure who deserves a proper remembrance. Sidonie Gabrielle Colette was incredible, a writer, an actress, a pure iconoclast in a time when iconoclasts were some of the most brave people on the planet. Those willing to stand up and be different faced jail, poverty, even death in Colette’s day, even in the supposedly freewheeling Paris of the 19th and early 20th century. 

Keira Knightley portrays Colette as a young woman who had the luck of actually falling in love with the man she was promised to. At the time, most people in Paris loved Henry ‘Willy’ Gauthier Villars (Dominic West). He was a massive personality. Willy was a cultural gadfly, a charming, thoroughly gregarious man of means who never failed to pick up a check and make eyes at every woman in the room, all part of endless cycle of marketing himself as a brand name writer. 

Willy wasn’t really a man of means however. He was actually mostly broke due to his dedication to drinking, gambling and his many attempts to impress women, including his beautiful, much younger wife. Desperately in need of more writing product in the pipeline, Willy finally turns to Colette, the one writer he doesn’t have to pay and won’t hold him up for a payday. When Colette delivers an immediate smash called “Claudette,” their problems should be solved. 

Colette however, isn’t interested in writing, especially in writing something that Willy would eventually take credit for. She wants to have her own life and as their two lives chafe against each other’s needs and desires, the story picks up into a whirlwind of sex and recriminations. When Colette falls for an American woman, Willy encourages it as a way to justify his own infidelity and as a cudgel to get Colette to continue writing. When he decides that he to must sleep with this woman, things begin to get nasty. 

Colette is an exceptionally well told story about young country girl, slowly becoming the woman she was meant to be. Keira Knightley is wonderful with her huge, expressive eyes and effortless wit, she brings forth a Colette that you could never doubt was meant to be a star. If there is one issue with Knightley’s performance it is that she is so much better than co-star Dominic West, an actor inferior in every way to Knightley. 

West’s performance works only in particular context. Willy is intended to be portrayed as a spineless shell and West definitely portrays that aspect. Unfortunately, he’s so lacking in every other aspect that I found it hard to believe that he was this beloved society gadfly. I especially found it hard to believe a woman as incredible Colette could stand this guy for more than a minute. We’d be talking about one of the best movies of 2018 if an actor half as talented as Keira Knightley were playing opposite her. 

Colette was directed by Wash Westmoreland whose previous film was also a showcase for an incredible leading lady. Westmoreland directed Julianne Moore in her remarkable Alzheimer’s drama, Still Alice in 2014. That film could not be any more different from Colette but, what they share is a dedication to showcasing a leading lady in a remarkable performance. Westmoreland has a tremendous eye for moments and both Still Alice and Colette have moments of remarkable power. 

Colette features a moment in which Keira dresses down West’s Willy so much you feel like the actor might not survive. Knightley’s fury is righteous and the emotion is a wallop. Knightley has been accused of being slight as an actress, a shot at her body type more than her acting in my opinion, but here, wow, she is ferocious. Her acting power is devastating and even though West is giving her little to work with, Knightley’s power still resonates. 

Colette is a brilliant showcase for an actress too often underestimated. I can’t claim to have always valued her but in looking back, I can’t think of a single film where she hasn’t impressed me. Even in her best known role, the Oscar nominated Atonement, I didn’t like the movie, but Knightley, I absolutely adored her. She makes movies less than her better and great movies like Begin Again or the criminally under-seen Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, she makes transcendent. 

The real life Colette was a remarkable woman, a brilliant bestselling writer and openly gay at a time when such things weren’t safe. In England she could have been prosecuted for living openly with the woman she eventually came to fall in love with and the two struggled in France, though less than they would have in other parts of the world at that time. Colette persisted and her talent won the day and the movie based on her remarkable life is a loving tribute. 

See Colette for Keira Knightley and appreciate Wash Westmoreland, a director who doesn’t work all that often but when he does, he knows to work with the right leading lady. 

Movie Review Official Secrets

Official Secrets (2019)

Directed by Gavin Hood

Written by Gavin Hood 

Starring Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans

Release Date October 18th, 2019

Published October 18th, 2019 

Official Secrets is the kind of sturdy, unassailable drama that director Gavin Hood is good at making. Dispassionate and a little dull, longing for colorful characters to liven up the presentation, but filled with factual interpretation that is true to the subject and dramatized well enough to hold your attention and earn most of the feelings intended by the story being told. Call it the church of being just good enough. 

Official Secrets, a title I struggle to remember even as it is a title that fits well in the context of the story, stars Keira Knightley in the true story of Katherine Gunn,  a worker bee at a British intelligence agency in the midst of the most recent Iraq conflict. The American government is pushing hard for war and Tony Blair has become George W Bush’s go-to ally for getting the pro-war message out. Everyday, the case for war is growing and it will take a revolutionary act of defiance to slow it down. 

That was the act of Katherine Gunn, an act of revolutionary defiance. Gunn stole a memo from her work interpreting and transcribing intelligence drama for the GSA. In the memo was proof that the Americans were spying on members of allied countries in hopes of pressuring those countries to vote in favor of going to war against Saddam Hussein. Releasing this explosive memo to the public would be an embarrassment to British leadership and turn the British public further against the war. 

With the help of a war protesting friend, the memo goes from Katherine, through to a reporter at the Observer newspaper, Martin Bright who, with the help of his editor, Peter Beaumont (Matthew Goode) and a fellow reporter working in America, Ed Vulliamy (Rhys Ifans), manages to confirm the information and print it in the newspaper. You assume from here that this is an inspiring story of a whistleblower but Official Secrets doesn’t seek to inspire as much as it strives to tell what really happened. 

The reality was that it took weeks before the memo was published and enough time passed that Katherine began to think it would never be printed and she was okay with that. Rather than being single mindedly obsessed with getting the truth out, Katherine is frightened and resigned to the fate of the world going to war even as she knows it should not be happening. When the memo is published, Katherine becomes exposed and rather than being inspired to the fight, she is dragged into defending herself before finally buying into her own cause. 

That’s pretty much as it happened in reality as well. Katherine Gunn became a revolutionary almost by accident. She wanted to stop the war but she was plagued by doubts and was even willing to forget about the whole thing and go on with her life while the war that she knew was illegal and unjust raged on. Katherine is a hero but a complex one and Keira Knightley does well to play that conflict and allow that to drive the narrative nearly as much as exposing the war as a fraud. 

Of course, this movie doesn’t do us much good now. Movies like Official Secrets feel obsolete in the wake of all that has happened, including the Iraq War, Afghanistan and the conflicts we appear to be readying for around the globe today courtesy of a President seemingly spoiling for a fight. It’s great to have a historic document like Official Secrets but the film doesn’t escape from the futility of the history that inspired it. 

You have a duty to stand against tyranny is a good message but not one that Official Secrets makes all that memorably or forcefully. 

Movie Review Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Directed by Mark Romanek

Written by Alex Garland 

Starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Sally Hawkins, Charlotte Rampling 

Release Date September 15th, 2010

Published November 4th, 2010 

The wonderful thing about “Never Let Me” Go is how its languorousness invites the viewer to project a meaning onto it. Yes, that projection requires ignoring a few things about the characters and what is happening on screen but there is something valuable and even entertaining about a movie that gives the viewer so much room to move around. Some have found parallels to the holocaust. The great Roger Ebert finds a modern equivalent in the sad fate of workers at big box stores like Wal-Mart. Other critics acknowledge a philosophical truth in the film that is just out of their grasp but somehow knowing it is there is enough for them.

Strangely, I find myself somewhere within that last group. I too want to believe and have searched for various philosophic or metaphoric meanings in Mark Romanek's gorgeous direction and Alex Garland's teasing screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's moving if also vaguely interpreted novel.

Kathy (Carey Mulligan) fell in love with Tommy when both were young students at an out of the way private school somewhere in the English countryside. Kathy was a self conscious introvert with the soul of an artist. Tommy was an outcast prone to violent rages that only served to make him even more of an outcast.

The center of their world is their relationship with Ruth (Keira Knightley) a popular girl who befriended Kathy in search of a worshiper and fell in with Tommy as a way of preventing that worship from being cast elsewhere. It's clear to us and especially clear to Ruth that Tommy and Kathy should be together but her insecure need for their attention supersedes her ability to let her friends be happy.

This is especially tragic because Hailsham is not merely a country boarding school and the students are not really students at all. As explained in excruciating detail by one of the teachers, Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins), Hailsham students will have painfully short lives in which they will donate their organs until they complete, a nicer way of saying they are spare parts until they die.

The brilliance of “Never Let Me Go” is not in setting up a life or death situation but in the real human ways that these characters take in this extraordinary information and assimilate this knowledge as part of who they are rather than the going concern of some sci fi story of survival.

The arc of the average life is played out with a timeline in mind that lasts a lot longer in our minds than in reality. For Kathy, Tommy and Ruth the arc of birth, life and death is compacted into a mere 30 years at most yet they grow and age and live as if a full life were lived.

They cram their short lives with experiences of love and compassion that a longer life no doubt takes for granted. When Kathy finally gets the opportunity to be with Tommy she doesn't spend much time lamenting, they get right to loving and while there is temporary hope for more life, Kathy is not so concerned about prolonging love as she is about enjoying what she has.

Ruth's is the saddest of all of the stories. Her life is marked by pettiness and a greed for attention. She found weaker kids and forced herself on their attention and in her fight to remain at the center of their world she destroyed them and herself, robbing all of them of the little life they could have had.

Carey Mulligan deserved an Oscar for her work in “Never Let Me Go.” The heart, the love and the compassion she portrays is the heartbreaking force of the film. A soul as wide and as deep as Kathy's deserved more than to be an organ bank and yet that is not what the film is about, it's about what life she brings to what little life she has and much of that is played on Mulligan's wonderfully expressive face.

Mark Romanek captures the essence of Ishiguro's novel in ways that most directors likely would not. Like Ishiguro, Romanek is not really interested in the grander political points about breeding humans for their organs. Rather, that is the setting for telling human stories about what real people would do in these circumstances. The fate of these characters lends a certain tragedy to them but that tragedy is compounded by what unique, fascinating and thoughtful beings these characters are.

The political points, the metaphors and meanings are ours to bring to the film. What Carey Mulligan, director Mark Romanek and screenwriter Alex Garland are focused on are the human beings and the lives they live against this unique and tragic background. It's a wonderfully experimental ploy and it works brilliantly as a movie that makes you think for yourself and moves you deeply.

Movie Review Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End (2007) 

Directed by Gore Verbinski 

Written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio 

Starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Naomie Harris, Chow Yun Fat, Bill Nighy

Release Date May 25th, 2007 

Published May 24th, 2007 

The first Pirates of the Caribbean looked at first blush like some Disney, corporate synergy deal. After all, we are talking about a real life theme park ride made into a movie. Thankfully, however, thanks to the brilliant, Oscar nominated performance of Johnny Depp and the lighthearted direction of Gore Verbinski, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl was a breath of fresh air in a sea of stale blockbusters.

The second Pirates movie, Dead Man's Chest, sadly suffered from sequelitis. Bloated to over 2 and a half hours, the film spun it\'s wheels far too often before its twist ending arrived to turn things around.

Now comes Pirates 3, At World's End which gives the series the kind of coda it deserves. Yes, it is nearly as bloated as the second film, but it is also has equal to, or even more thrills than the original and even more plot twists.

When last we saw Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) he was staring down the gullet of the Kraken, looking death in the eye and cackling like a mad man. Soon after his death his 'friends' Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Will (Orlando Bloom) and the remaining crew of the Black Pearl realize they need Jack Sparrow back if they are going to fight the new alliance of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and the East India Trading Co. headed up by Lord Beckett.

With the aid of the sorceress Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), who raises Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) from the dead for extra help, they must sail to the world's end, to Davy Jones' locker to retrieve Jack. Once they have him they must convene the nine pirate lords and decide whether to run or to fight as one for the pirate way.

There are a dozen other minor subplots in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World\ 's End, not counting the number of twists and turns and shifting character allegiances that boggle the mind. If you have recently seen the second Pirates sequel, Dead Man\'s Chest, you might want to bring some cliff\'s notes on that film so you can follow some of the twists of At World\'s End.

On one hand, the script by Terry Rossio and  Ted Elliott, the writers of all three Pirates movies, has a great deal of depth and complexity. On the other hand the long bits of expository dialogue that attempt to explain the shifting sands of this plot can tend to bog down the movie, as they did to almost deathly effect in Dead Man's Chest.

Thankfully, Director Gore Verbinski rescues At World\'s End from ponderousness by delivering a quicker, funnier film with a strong visual sense and better, more spectacular special effects than anything in either of the first two films.

The centerpiece of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a spectacular final battle scene set inside a swirling watery vortex. This scene features not merely a massive battle but also the tying of a few major plot strands, a couple of character twists and more than one major... well I\'ll leave you to see it for yourself. All spectacular stuff.

Even with the improved effects, more sure handed direction and all of those plot complications, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is once again the major draw of Pirates of the Caribbean. If you, like me, felt his Captain Jack was a little hemmed in by the plot in Dead Man's Chest, there is no such worry in At World's End. Captain Jack is now even crazier and more paranoid, even schizophrenic at times and it all works to grand comic effect.

Wait till you see Captain Jack's return to the screen in ATW. What a hoot. Trapped in purgatory aboard the Black Pearl in some desert oasis, Captain Jack goes all multiple personality and starts imagining hundreds of himself. Imagine a ship's crew worthy of Jack Sparrow's, full on Being John Malkovich, Charlie Kaufman style bizarre. Absolutely wonderful moment.

And I haven\'t even mentioned the crabs.

Not all is well in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I am sad to report, for you Chow Yun Fat fans, the great master of Asian rock'em sock'em cinema is underutilized in what really amounts to a cameo appearance, not what were promised from trailers and commercials which seemed to give him equal billing with the other supporting characters.

The only really great moments for Chow come in his introductory scene in a steam filled underground lair in Singapore. Facing off with Elizabeth and Captain Barbossa, with Will Turner trapped in a Han Solo moment, water tortured in a barrel, this is Pirates Return of the Jedi moment and Chow Yun Fat makes for an exceptional Jabba the Hut.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a terrific coda for a series that began life as an ugly exercise in corporate synergy and morphed into a truly rollicking adventure series worthy of our exultation's, our huzzahs. Yo ho ho, indeed, this final Pirates film, until someone can convince Disney to spend the 200+ million necessary for another sequel, is a wonderful adventure, a high spirited comedy and most importantly, a grand stage for the great Johnny Depp.

As his Captain Jack slips into icon status, here\ 's hoping Mr. Depp is once again considered by the good people at Oscar. His At World\'s End performance is the most entertaining thing you\'ve seen on screen thus far in 2007 and likely will see all year.

Movie Review Prates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest (2006) 

Directed by Gore Verbinski 

Written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio 

Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Bill Nighy, Stellan Skarsgard

Release Date July 7th, 2006 

Published July 5th, 2006 

2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a major surprise. Here is a film from the Disney formula factory, based on a theme park ride of all things, produced by mainstream dress meister Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by an unproven talent in Gore Verbinski. With all of these factors the film should have stuck to high heaven. Instead, Pirates of the Caribbean was a high spirited, high seas adventure that features arguably the best performance in the career of one of our greatest actors, Johnny Depp, and a pair of rising stars just ahead of the peak of their talents.

Naturally sequelization was a no-brainer, especially after the film began breaking the bank at the box office. Students of the Hollywood game are well aware that surprise hits like Pirates are once in a lifetime events. So it comes as no surprise that the sequel, subtitled Dead Man's Chest, suffers a case of sequelitis. It's the disease that strikes most, if not all attempts to recapture one time magic; see The Matrix and its sequels as the prime example.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is nowhere near as dreadful as Matrix Revolutions, but it does fail to recapture the swaggering, daggering fun of the original film by being bloated, overwrought and incomplete.

When last we saw Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) he had escaped the gallows and was back as captain of his beloved Black Pearl. Aided by the lovely young couple Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), Jack escaped the villainous Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and was free to return to his scalawag ways and get on with the business of pirating.

Will and Elizabeth have since returned to port to be married. Unfortunately a new man in charge of the English port, Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), has decided to arrest them for aiding Jack's escape. Beckett is willing to make a deal. If Will can convince Jack to give up his precious broken compass and bring it to Beckett then Will, Elizabeth and Jack himself will have their freedom.

The compass is not actually broken. Rather it is not in the hands of its rightful owner and thus will not point in the direction of its intended destination. The compass points the way to a buried treasure that is not merely gold or precious metal. It points the way to a chest containing the still beating heart of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) an accursed pirate who sails the seas as an undead sea creature for eternity. Whomever possesses his heart controls Jones and his undead crew.

Jack will not be easily convinced to give up the compass. You see, Jack owes a debt to Davy Jones. It was Jones who gave Jack the Black Pearl some 13 years earlier in exchange for Jack's soul. With Jones now ready to collect the debt, with the help of a monstrous sea creature called 'the kraken', Jack needs to find the heart of Davy Jones to save his own life.

That is plenty of plot and yet barely enough to fill the movie's overlong two hour forty minute runtime. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest suffers from the Hollywood 'bigger is better' syndrome. The idea that because something is bigger or longer that it is somehow better is something Hollywood has practiced but never proven. Dead Man's Chest is further proof of the exact opposite.

Stuffed to the gills with filler scenes of Will's search for Jack, Jack's dalliance with native islanders and a subplot for Jonathon Pryce as Elizabeth's father are all examples of places where director Gore Verbinski might have tightened up the film's narrative.

About the native scenes, not nearly as offensive as those in King Kong, I would hate to lose the rolling cage scene featuring Will and the crew of the Black Pearl inside a giant globe made of human bones being chased downhill by angry natives. The scene is well shot, exciting and quite funny but also quite superfluous to the plot. The scene exists simply to exist. Losing the native portion of the film would cut more than a half hour out of the film's bloated 2 hour 40 minute length and narrow the plot in a more concise manner. Of course, length is not the film's only problem.

Director Gore Verbinski managed a miracle in the first Pirates film corralling a career defining performance from Johnny Depp into what is essentially a factory picture made from a very typical Disney/Bruckheimer formula. For the sequel, unfortunately, Johnny Depp seems to be doing an impression of himself as Jack Sparrow. His heart simply isn't in it this time. Depp does manage more than a few classic moments, especially in his last scene, an instant classic of grand guignol, but for the most part he is going through the motions of recapturing what we remember of Jack Sparrow. There is simply nothing new or energetic about the performance.

Orlando Bloom at least looks more the part of an action hero than he did the first time. Bloom is maturing into a fine actor whose fine features are no longer overshadowing his talent. As written however, his Will Turner does not have a great arc. His part is not nearly as juicy as Jack Sparrow which tends to leave him looking bland but worse yet writers Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott now have him fighting for the love of Elizabeth with Jack Sparrow which only further serves to expose the characters blandness.

As many issues as I have with the film as a whole, I did not truly dislike Dead Man's Chest. The film has some grand adventure wrapped up in its overlong runtime. Watch for the three way sword fight inside a giant wheel, an extended bit of action that actually has something to do with the plot. Especially good in Dead Man's Chest are the special effects that transform the brilliant Bill Nighy into the sea creature Davy Jones.

Essentially a man with a giant squid on his head, Davy Jones is a remarkable feat of CGI creature creation. Nighy's entire face, including the very expressive eyes, is the creation of CGI. This is cutting edge stuff used to very gross but also grand effect. It is not only Nighy's Davy Jones but a whole crew of CGI sea creatures including a pirate with the head of a hammerhead shark and an unrecognizable Stellan Skarsgard as a pirate covered in barnacles and with a secret that becomes an important plot point for Dead Man's Chest and likely for the third installment of Pirates, subtitled At World's End, due in 2007.

Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is the middle child of this major franchise and yes it does feel like it. Though plenty is resolved a lot of unanswered questions are necessarily left open for the next sequel. The unanswered questions aren't quite as annoying as those of the second Lord of The Rings or Matrix films but still irritating.

By the standards of a movie sequel based on a theme park ride, from the Disney/Bruckheimer film factory, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is a fun picture. By the standards of great movie making? The film suffers from Superman-itis on top of its sequelitis. Superman-itis is an affliction that affects films expected to be culture defining moments of pop history that turn out to be less memorable than the hype that surrounds them.

I am recommending Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest for the special effects and occasional flourish of it's grand action scenes but lower your expectations Pirates fans this is not the Curse of the Black Pearl just a pale photocopy.

Movie Review King Arthur

King Arthur (2004) 

Directed by Antoine Fuqua 

Written by David Pranzoni 

Starring Clive Owen, Keira Knightley, Stellan Skarsgard, Hugh Dancy, Til Schweiger, Ioan Gruffaud 

Release Date July 7th, 2004 

Published July 5th, 2004

Jerry Bruckheimer’s slavish devotion to commerce may satisfy capitalistic business plans, but as for making enjoyable films, those have been few and far between. Okay, I can’t deny that Pirates Of The Caribbean was a slick, exciting bit of entertainment fluff but I cannot forget the nightmare that was Kangaroo Jack or the most dreadful blockbuster in history, Armageddon.

Bruckheimer’s latest film, King Arthur, combines the commercial slickness of Pirates with the dreary sadness of most of the films that carry his name. King Arthur is an attempt at an authentic historical epic, the so-called “real” story behind the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of The Roundtable. However, the film has no answer to the question “Why would anyone want a history lesson from the man who brought us Con-Air?”

Clive Owen stars as the legendary British/Roman King, Arthur, the greatest warrior in all of the land. Arthur’s legend has grown as he and his loyal band have helped to secure Roman rule in Britain. However with the slow decline of the empire and the encroachment of a warrior horde called the Saxons, the Romans have decided to pull out of Britain. Though Arthur and his knight were to have completed their service, they are asked for one more battle while Rome runs for the hills.

Arthur’s knights include his loyal second Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd), Tristan the lookout (Mads Mikkelson), childish Galahad (Hugh Dancy), brave Daganet (Ray Stevenson) and tough guy Boers (Ray Winstone). Together they have never lost a battle but this mission is more dangerous than ever before. The final mission, saving a family whose son may be the next Pope, takes them not only toward the vicious Saxons but also into the midst of Merlin and the Britons whom the Romans had been fighting for control of the country.

Once they reach the family they are to save, Arthur finds these religious people may not be as pious as they seem. As the Saxons quickly advance, Arthur and his men rescue a number of abused slaves and captive Britons, including the lovely Briton warrior Guinivere (Keira Knightley). With the slaves and the family in tow, they must outrun the Saxons and eventually form a tenuous pact with the Britons to fight the common enemy.

Jerry Bruckheimer and director Antoine Fuqua have a number of surprises in store in King Arthur but few of them are welcome. Most shocking is the outright overt hatred of religion, specifically Christians. Every religious authority in the film is corrupt to a disturbing degree. The Knights despise religion and as for Arthur, he considers himself loyal to the Pope but also follows a man who is considered a heretic.

When his religious superiors are exposed as bad people, Arthur doesn’t just question his faith; he abandons it with little inner turmoil. As an atheist, I am sympathetic to the film’s looking down at religion but this blatant hatred of religion will turn off a number of everyday filmgoers, and worse, it’s entirely unnecessary.

Another controversial element of King Arthur is its PG 13 rating. Jerry Bruckheimer, the commercial whore that he is, somehow wrangled a PG-13 from the geniuses at the MPAA for a film filled with R-rated violence. Just because there is very little blood actually seen doesn’t make the film less violent. Those are still piles of bodies lying on the ground, those are still guys catching flaming arrows in their chests.

I’m no prude, in fact I wish the film had been more blatantly violent, the punches pulled are purely commercial in nature. The film would have been helped by some honest bloody violence instead of trying to pretend no one really got hurt. Families who go to see King Arthur thinking it’s appropriate for 13 year olds will get a disturbing surprise.

Director Antoine Fuqua is a competent technical director who films action with a professional flair. His actors, especially Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, and Ray Winstone, are pros that easily sell you on their character’s heroism and toughness. It's a shame that they are given a script by writer David Franzoni that is amazingly scattershot.

The script ricochets from staid drama, to well-conceived violence then tosses in cheesy dialogue bits and the unnecessary religion bashing. Director Fuqua and his actors actually hold the film together pretty well. Well enough to give the film the conventional blockbuster look that is portrayed in the film’s advertising. Watching the film however, you will be surprised at how unconventional, or if you’re so inclined, offensive, the film is.

This is definitely not your father’s King Arthur. Forget what you know of the mythic Knights. This is a grittier, more realistic telling of the legendary story. Obviously liberties are taken, I doubt Guinivere was really the kind of girl-power heroine she is portrayed as here. As played by the gorgeous Keira Knightley, Guinivere is the kind of post-feminist heroine that is badass, politically correct and easily marketable.

Of course anyone relying on the producer of Kangaroo Jack for a history lesson gets what they pay for. Bruckheimer’s approach is all about the Benjamins, which probably means that history occasionally took a backseat. Of course Bruckheimer’s commercial approach makes the film all the more curious considering how non-commercial much of the film’s content is. Did he read this script or just commission the poster?

Movie Review Pride and Prejudice

Pride & Prejudice (2005) 

Directed by Joe Wright 

Written by Deborah Moggach

Starring Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Dame Judi Dench

Release Date November 11th, 2005

Published November 10th, 2005 

My initial reaction to hearing that Pride & Prejudice would once again be adapted to the big screen was a massive groan. How many times can filmmakers tap this same material for a movie; I whined. I was rather surprised then, in my research, to find that Pride & Prejudice had been adapted for the big screen, in its original form and setting, only one other time. In 1940 Greer Garson essayed the role of romantic heroine Lizzy Bennett opposite Sir Laurence Olivier's stolid Mr. Darcy.

The familiarity that induced my groan of reluctance and apathy was actually related to the various attempts to update Pride & Prejudice over the years. In 2003 Lizzy became a New York college student and in 2004 a Bollywood style song and dance romantic. And let us not forget the many offspring that, while they are not straight adaptations, owe their various romantic cliches and complications to Jane Austen's seminal work.

Movies such as Bridget Jones' Diary, the multiple pairings of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and really any attempt Hollywood has made at creating romance on the big screen owes a nod, in one way or another, to the conventions cemented by Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen.

How this brand new adaptation of Pride & Prejudice overcomes this over-familiarity is extraordinarily simple. The film, directed by big screen novice Joe Wright, remains as faithful as possible to Austen's work and casts exceptional actors to bring the already stellar material to life. The result is a movie that does not redefine Austen's masterpiece on the big screen, but rather allows it to exist anew for audiences who may never have experienced it before.

Keira Knightley stars in Pride & Prejudice in the role of Lizzy Bennet the 2nd of five daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn). As we join the story Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with marrying off at least one of her daughters, preferably her oldest Jane (Rosamund Pike), because, with no male heir to take over the family land, when Mr. Bennet passes, the family stands to lose all of the land and their wealth upon his death.

Only a rich husband who can provide for the Bennet woman until each is married off, can save the girls from destitution. Thus it is big news when a new neighbor, a moneyed young nobleman, Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods); announces his intention to appear at a formal occasion the next weekend. Each of the Bennet women will have to be on their best behavior to help Jane attract Mr. Bingley whose wealth is far more attractive than his slight and awkward appearance.

At the party Mr. Bingley arrives with his sister Caroline (Kelly Riley) and a fellow nobleman Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen); a stuffed shirt with an air of superiority that surpasses mere arrogance. Darcy clearly feels everything and everyone is below his standards and even after meeting the spirited and lovely Lizzy; he scoffs that she is not handsome enough to tempt him. Regardless of Darcy's attitude, Bingley is smitten with Jane Bennet and it is Bingley and Jane that keep our antagonistic lovers, Darcy and Lizzy in contact.

The dislike expressed by Darcy for Lizzy is mutual. She overheard his 'handsome' quip; and has vowed to loathe him for all eternity. However, after a number of paths crossings and numerous misunderstandings and missed intentions it's clear that Darcy and Lizzy are meant for one another. The plot, adapted by Deborah Moggach, throws in some well reasoned roadblocks to keep our two lovers apart but it is Austen's shrewd dialogue and the performances of Knightley and MacFadyen that make Pride & Prejudice rise above typical romantic cliches.

Keira Knightley is absolutely radiant in the famed role of one of literature's shining lights of romantic optimism. Helping us forget her misanthropic turn in the ugly and forgettable Domino, Knightley reestablished herself as a star of the future and an actress to be reckoned with.

Matthew Macfadyen, in his first major international role, essays an aristocratic, measured, and intelligent Mr. Darcy whose romantic side is cloistered in a wall of self defense. Darcy's money has made him suspicious of romance and looking toward marriage as an arrangement of interests and not in any way related to destiny, fate or love. Macfadyen, like his character, comes to life in Lizzy's presence and his wall of defenses crumble in a beautifully acted scene where Darcy and Lizzy argue in the rain.

The supporting cast of Pride & Prejudice is equally as delightful as its two leads. Brenda Blethyn is the standout as Lizzy's busybody mother. Her desperate need to see her daughters wed to wealthy men is the film's driving force. Is she annoying? Yes. But, it's part of who this character is and if you accept this story you have to accept her. Each of the remaining Bennett sisters make lesser impressions but not so much that they hurt the rest of the picture. Best of the rest is Jena Malone as the impetuous Lydia Bennett who runs off and marries the foul soldier boy Mr. Wickham.

A period romance is a tough sale to modern audiences, even one with the literary cache of Pride & Prejudice. Look at Shakespeare, his plays have been successful in movie theaters only when updated with modern reimagining's or in the case of Romeo and Juliet, a bumping soundtrack and some cool looking guns in place of Shakespearean-swords.

Pride & Prejudice itself has been reimagined with modern trimmings but as this new film version shows, the original is an untouchable masterpiece. That is because; more important than her romantic ideals, Jane Austen's words are her true subject. It is the way her characters communicate their feelings that is as much or even more entertaining than how they act on those feelings. You can update the plot; it is a clever romantic plot -especially by modern romantic comedy standards- but without the words the impact is lost.

The words of Jane Austen, only slightly altered here by screenwriter Deborah Moggach, are smart, funny, warm and witty. Every word has its own sub-textual joy. There is joy and pain in every syllable, a deep meaning in every phrase and a romantic sigh in every pause. The words of Jane Austen have stood the test of time for a reason folks.

One of the great things about the written word is its ability to last forever. The words of Jane Austen in Pride & Prejudice will, no doubt, last forever because of their beauty, wit, and romance. Now those words are also immortalized in a cinematic form that also can last a lifetime in DVD collections of millions of romantics and fans of great words.

Movie Review Love Actually

Love, Actually 2003 

Directed by Richard Curtis

Written by Richard Curtis 

Starring Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley

Release Date November 7th, 2003 

Published November 4th, 2003 

In Hollywood, the romantic comedy has been beaten to death by clichés and predictable, cookie-cutter plotting. For fans of the genre, our only solace comes when Working Title Films out of Britain releases yet another ingeniously witty, romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis. The man wrote Four Weddings and A Funeral and Notting Hill, and adapted the screenplay for Bridget Jones's Diary. Now, stepping behind the camera for the first time, Curtis shows he could be an industry all to himself writing and directing hit romantic comedies forever. His seemingly endless wit is once again on display in Love Actually, an epic romance if only for the names in its cast.

There are so many different actors and plots in Love Actuallythat it's difficult to condense, so I will lay out the best of the numerous plots individually. Hugh Grant has the best part as the newly-elected British Prime Minister. The film is set apparently sometime in the near future and there are some very funny moments where the script takes loving shots at current real-life Prime Minister Tony Blair. 

As the new prime minister prepares for the arrival of the American President, he begins a flirtation with his tea server Natalie (newcomer Martine McCutcheon). Curtis does an excellent job in balancing the job of prime minister with the script’s flights of romantic fantasy. When the American President arrives, a priceless cameo that I won't spoil, Grant's Prime Minister is allowed to have a point of view on world politics, especially Britain's perceived position as America's bitch, where less courageous directors would have glossed over any actual politics.

Laura Linney has another terrific part as a shy American transplant who is constantly glued to her cell phone. She is nursing a serious crush on one of her co-workers, a crush that everyone in her office from her boss (Alan Rickman) to the bitchy secretary knows about. Even the object of her affection knows about her feelings but is waiting for her to act. This subplot is bittersweet because Linney has a secret that is linked to her constantly ringing cell phone. It's another great piece of work by Linney who has long been one of my favorite actresses.

The most romantic of all the plots involves Colin Firth as a writer who moves away to France after finding his wife cheating with his brother. After moving into his French villa, he hires a maid named Aurelia (Lucia Moniz). The two have an interesting working relationship because Aurelia is Portuguese and doesn't speak a word of English. Their attempts at communicating are sweet and funny moments of misunderstanding. This plot shouldn't work but it does because of the subtle complicated work of Colin Firth. The plot is rushed and predictable but Firth is so winning you can't help but cheer for his happiness.

That is only a minor brushing of the characters in Love Actually, each of the characters I already mentioned have connections to other characters who have their own subplots. Emma Thompson plays Rickman's wife who wonders if her husband is cheating on her. Liam Neeson shows up as a widower left to raise a 10 year old stepson. Keira Knightley is a newlywed who has a secret admirer who happens to be her husband's best man. Bill Nighy plays an aging rocker, modeled on Mick Jagger, whose awful Christmas song plays throughout the film. The song, a holiday reworking of the pop standard “Love Is All Around '' is intentionally bad and Nighy's character freely admits it and his honesty makes the song defiantly a hit.

And there are still more plots I don't have the time or patience to describe. The cast is unwieldy but Curtis finds an almost awe-inspiring way of giving each time to develop and be resolved in ways that are satisfying and funny. Towards the end, just when you think there is no way to resolve all of these plot strands Curtis returns to a piece of dialogue from Hugh Grant's opening voiceover and uses it to unite the entire cast and make a grand point about the nature of love and life. It's a work of subtle brilliance that will cause audience members to leave the theater smiling at the conclusion of the film.

This is a wonderfully exuberant film filled with music, love, and romance that is never saccharine. That wonderful British wit is always in place and keeps the plot from spilling over into super sweetness. Something about the British accent that makes even the most wildly over-the-top flights of fancy seem smart and meaningful. This is one excellent romantic comedy from the last group of producers, director, and actors that can do it right.

Movie Review Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl

Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) 

Directed by Gore Verbinski 

Written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio

Starring Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Jonathan Pryce 

Release Date July 9th, 2003 

Published July 8th, 2003 

It's quite clear that Disney has run out of original movie ideas. Forget the sequels on their slate (The Santa Clause 3 et al). Forget the remakes of the rich Disney backlog (Freaky Friday). Disney is now down making movies of their theme park rides. Last year, they quietly dumped The Country Bears into theaters to critical and audience indifference. Later this year, it's Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy. Surely it can't be much longer before we see the Hall of Presidents and Epcot Center on the big screen, provided they can find a star to put on the poster.

That said, Disney has mined one of their theme park rides into a quite successful film. Pirates of The Caribbean may be a super lame theme park ride, but as a movie it's a rollicking adventure story made all the more interesting by awesome performances of two of the industry's best, Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush.

While the thrust of Pirates of The Caribbean is set in motion by the love story between blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Governor's daughter Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightly), the story doesn't really kick off until the appearance of the rapscallion pirate Jack Sparrow (Depp). The former captain of the Black Pearl, Sparrow floats into this British Caribbean seaport on a sinking ship with hope that he can steal a ship to chase down the Pearl and its mutinous crew. Sparrow is unable to capture a ship on his own and is captured but not before he discovers Elizabeth in possession of a legendary piece of pirate booty.

Once Jack is aware of the gold medallion that Elizabeth has, somehow so is the crew of the Black Pearl who is led by Captain Barbossa (Rush). They steam to the British port to recapture the gold which legend says can lift the curse that afflicts the crew. After plundering the British, the crew takes Elizabeth and the gold and retreat to their hidden pirate island to lift the curse with the gold piece and Elizabeth’s blood.

While the British military plots its course of action to rescue the Governor's daughter, Will Turner hatches a plan of his own. Spring Jack Sparrow, steal a boat and save the woman he loves. With the help of Sparrow's daring swordplay and cunning piracy, they capture a military boat and set off to find a crew and capture the Black Pearl.

There are a number of twists and turns from there that I won't spoil, but you already know from commercials that the curse on the crew of the Black Pearl is that they are dead but cannot die. Nor can they feel anything, pleasure or pain, rendering them unable to enjoy their plunder unless they can lift the curse. The skeletal pirates, only seen while bathed in moonlight, are a spectacular special effect, well choreographed by Director Gore Verbinski. The effects are done with amazing precision and no doubt will be honored come awards season.

Of course, as impressive as the effects are, they are nothing compared to the performance of Johnny Depp, who is his own special effect. Topped with scraggly dreads, beads and an unruly goatee, Depp minces, preens, and manages to evoke rock star attitude in an 1800's pirate. That according to Depp was exactly what he was going for. In interviews, he claimed to have modeled some of Jack Sparrow on Keith Richards. Actually, it was Keith Richards and Depp's favorite childhood cartoon character Pepe LePue. Whatever the inspiration, the performance is truly inspired and even if the rest of the film had stunk I could recommend Pirates on the strength of Depp's performance alone.

Not to be outdone, Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush preens and hams it up as much as Depp, and to as much success. Being the bad guy, Rush is allowed to growl all his dialogue and chew every bit of scenery that isn't nailed down. Rush appears to relish the freedom of playing a Pirate Captain and his excitement is part of the fun of Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl. 

Knightley and Bloom are quite a bland pair in comparison, but how could they not be? Compared to Sparrow and Barbossa, the characters in La Cage aux Folles are bland. Bloom and Knightley are saddled with the film's two most conventional roles of hero and heroine, and though their love story is sweet, it doesn't carry much weight. It’s made even less weighty by a cop out ending that is a little too tidy for a pirate tale.

Director Gore Verbinski shows here, as he did in The Ring, that he hasa steady hand and a strong eye for strong compelling visuals. Verbinski and his team creates an entire pirate universe for the film to exist within, a lively, vibrant and yet lived in place right out of dream conception of where Pirates existed. Creating such a coherent story without having to reign in his over the top performers is another remarakable balancing act that demonstrates Verbinski's talent, he makes his performers comfortable and gets the most out his crew. The best directors can do that. 

Movie Review: Bend it Like Beckham

Bend it Like Beckham (2003) 

Directed by Gurinder Chadha 

Written by Paul Mayeda Berges

Starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Juliet Stevenson, Archie Panjabi 

Release Date March 12th, 2003 

Published March 12th, 2003 

In the recent British release 28 Days Later, a virus spreads across Britain turning people into mindless zombies. We here in a America have known that virus for years, it emanates from Hollywood in the form of banal crowd-pleasing comedies that are all things to all demographics. Family friendly without a trace of irony, these films exist solely as cash machines and appeal to moviegoing zombies who can't take the time to think about why they are laughing as long as they are not offended. 

Sadly, the British import Bend It Like Beckham, shows this virus is spreading globally from Britain where the film is set, to India, where the film’s director Gurinder Chadha is from.

Bend It Like Beckham is a reference to worldwide Soccer superstar David Beckham and his impressive ability to make a soccer ball twist in midair and sail around a goalie. Beckham is the hero of the film’s star Jesminda Bhamra, a soccer player in her own right who hopes to play professionally someday. Unfortunately, Jesminda's traditional Indian family has already mapped out her future. She is to attend a university close to home, get a degree, learn to cook Indian food, and marry an Indian boy, just as her mother did and just as her sister is about to do. Jesminda however, has a dream that is much stronger than any familial tradition. 

The call of the soccer field however is unavoidable and after meeting a new friend, Juliet played by Keira Knightley, Jesminda finds her way onto a competitive soccer team with a chance to play for college scouts. This opportunity then opens the door to go to America and perhaps, a chance to play soccer professionally.

Of course, this plot is loaded with contrived roadblocks from Jesminda's numerous lies to her parents about her playing to the soccer team coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who both Jesminda and Juliet are attracted to. The film throws up so many roadblocks that it stops and starts like rush hour traffic. The one funny subplot in the film involves Juliet's mother played by Juliet Stevenson and her mistaken belief that her daughter and Jesminda are more than friends. The subplot is sitcom level but well executed by Stevenson, a veteran of British comedy.

The rest of the film is a lifeless set of clichés that never amount to much more than plot contrivance. There are no stakes in the film. One never senses that Jesminda's goal is in jeopardy. Obviously there will be happy ending, it is after all a comedy, but the film still has to have something interesting happen to get to that happy ending, but it never does. Nothing more than recycled cliches from better and worse films.

The comparison to My Big Fat Greek Wedding is obvious, the setup is almost identical and both films are generic, inoffensive crowd pleasers. However, some have also compared it with the Indian film Monsoon Wedding, a comparison that Bend It Like Beckham does not hold up to. Films like Monsoon Wedding and another woman on the verge movie, Real Women Have Curves, are exactly the movies that expose Beckham's worst qualities. Both of those films are daring and emotional and have humor that comes not from contrivance but from real life experience.

The most disappointing element of Bend It Like Beckham is that it was directed by the very talented Gurinder Chadha. Chadha's previous effort, the extended family drama What's Cooking, was a lovely, intelligent film with real characters with real problems. The characters in Bend It Like Beckham are pleasing archetypes that are easy to like because they have no sharp edges. They are inoffensive, easy on the eyes and completely unchallenging. In other words, they're exactly what Hollywood is looking for.

Movie Review: Atonement

Atonement (2007) 

Directed by Joe Wright 

Written by Christopher Hampton 

Starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Saorise Ronan, Romala Garai, Vanessa Redgrave

Release Date December 7th, 2007 

Published December 25th, 2007 

Everything about the toney new feature film Atonement screams LOVE ME to the film lover. It has that classy British setting, those classy English accents, and it arrives with more fawning praise than Mike Huckabee on a Fox News show. Critics absolutely adore Atonement with more than 86% positive notices on Rotten Tomatoes, the ultimate tracker of critical opinion. And yet, I'm unconvinced. Everything tells me I should love this picture and yet I don't. I watched it and I was unmoved. Atonement is remote, emotionally distant, and disconnected.

Atonement features highly self involved characters acting in their own self interest with little to no reason for us to care for them. It begins when one character, young Briony (played as a youngster by Saorise Ronan and later by Romala Garai and still later by Dame Vanessa Redgrave), mistakes a bit of unusual flirting between her sister Cecilia and the family gardener Robbie as some sort of violent encounter. Later, when Briony interrupts a private tryst between the two her suspicions become dangerous. Another incident, this one involving a female cousin, offers her just the opportunity to compound her misunderstandings into a criminal matter that finds Robbie off to prison accused of assault.

Avoiding a jail sentence by leaping into the war effort in France, Robbie and Cecilia remain in love as he fights to clear his name and survive having been left for dead on the French countryside. Meanwhile, Briony has grown up and come to understand her misunderstanding and all of the pain she caused. She attempts to ATONE, ho ho, for her sins by leaving the life of privilege's to follow Robbie and Cecilia into the war effort, Cecilia is an army nurse having shunned family and privilege's for the love of Robbie and a shabby flat in the city.

It's quite a story and writer director Joe Wright is quite a storyteller. The problems come too often from how the story is told. Multiple flashbacks taken from different characters points of view are meant to illustrate the many misunderstandings going on. However, as filmed these elements feel like the filmmakers way of fucking with the audience. Twists and turns basically jerk you around until finally you just don't care anymore, or at least I didn't care anymore. I can definitely see where some might not be as ticked off by the many plot machinations of Atonement, but I was irritated.

I was also irritated by these self involved characters. Whether lounging in the idyll of British upper class malaise or suffering in silence during the war these characters are so astonishingly self involved that one can't help but be turned off by them. First you have Briony who even after growing up and understanding her own foolishness. Even after willingly giving up everything to atone for her sins, she remains amazingly self involved. She doesn't give up everything to make it up to her sister and Robbie, it's all about relieving her own guilt. And she is the emotional center of the film!

As for McAvoy and Knightley, they craft a shabbily threadbare romantic pair. These two are also all about themselves with little care for each other or those around them. It's all about their sadness and their suffering. Even as war and death mount about them they show care only for their immediate self interest. How am I supposed to care about them when they care about themselves enough for all the rest of us. The supporting characters only make things worse, especially the young cousin played by Juno Temple and a sleezy family friend played by Paul Marshall.

What is truly unfortunate is that irritation was the only feeling I had throughout Atonement. For as opulent, lush and beautiful as Atonement is, it's also remote and emotionally distant. The characters emotions are mostly interior and self referential and we are outside with little ability to identify or care about these people. Given all of the big emotions in play, love, betrayal, heartache, desperation and hope, we should be invested here. But we are not.

Atonement is far from being a bad film. Joe Wright's skill as a director is well demonstrated with the gorgeous, sweeping cinematography and grand settings and costumes, Atonement  is one of the finest looking, well crafted pictures in this decade. It's the emotion and the style of storytelling that I fail to connect with.

In the end, if you are going to watch the Oscars in February you will want to have watched Atonement. Given that my detachment from the film was far from the consensus I am convinced the film will be a major contender. I however, will not be rooting for the film. I will observe any nominations with the same distant appreciation these characters seem to have for each and inspired within me as I watched their stories play out.

Movie Review: Nutcracker and the Four Realms

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) 

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom, Joe Johnston

Written by Ashleigh Powell 

Starring Keira Knightley, Mackenzie Foy, Eugenio Derbez, Richard E. Grant, Helen Mirren 

Release Date November 2nd, 2018 

Published November 1st, 2018 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms isn’t bad if you’re under the age of 10 perhaps. If you can see it through the eyes of a child it has a lovely, safe, message about self-empowerment and a bright, shiny visual style that is impressively busy. If you can get over how simple the movie is and remember that it was made for children, you might be able to find a way to enjoy it more than I did.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms stars Mackenzie Foy as Clara, one of three siblings, children of Mr. Stahlbaum (Matthew McFadyen) whose wife, and the children’s mother, has passed away not long ago. Nevertheless, the family is to attend the party of Clara’s Godfather, Mr Drosselmyer (Morgan Freeman) and attempt to put their grief aside. This won’t be easy as before they leave for the party, Mr Stahlbaum hands out Christmas presents from their late mother. 

For Clara, the gift is a complex mechanical egg with a keyhole but no key. There is a note with it that reads “All you need is inside” which makes it more frustrating that she does not have the key. Thankfully, at the party, Mr Drosselmyer reveals that he has the key and the key is waiting for Clara at the end of a string which leads her to a magical place called the Four Realms. The Four Realms are an entire fantasy land that her mother had built and populated with fascinating characters. 

Up first is a toy soldier who guards a bridge into the 4th Realm. He is the Nutcracker of the title, real name Phillip (Jayden Fowora-Knight). Phillip warns Clara not to go into the 4th realm because it is inhabited by the dangerous Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren) and her army of mice. Unfortunately, Mother Ginger’s mouse army has made off with Clara’s key and she needs to get it back to open the egg and unlock its secrets. 

Before Clara can try to get her key back she must first see the rest of the cast including the leaders of the realms including the leader of the Flower realm, Hawthorne (Eugenio Derbez) and the leader of the Ice Realm, Shiver (Richard E. Grant). And finally, there is the leader of the candy realm, known as Sugar Plum (Keira Knightley). Sugar Plum is the most outlandish of the group and begins to explain to Clara that her mother was their beloved Queen and how the realms are now at war with Mother Ginger because of the Queen’s absence. 

Sugar Plum lays out the plot, she too needs the key being held by Mother Ginger so that she can turn on the machine that can make toy soldiers that can then battle Mother Ginger’s mouse army. Eager to open the egg and get at the secret her mother left behind, Clara offers to take a contingent of Nutcrackers to the 4th Realm and go head to head with Mother Ginger. She will come back with the key or all will be lost. 

No points for guessing that Clara gets the key back. The plot requires that she open the egg and we find out what her mother’s cryptic message was about. You can probably guess, just as I did, rather easily, what is inside the egg that has all the answers. It’s a mirror of course, because everything Clara needs is inside herself. Get it? It really is as if the movie were good-naturedly elbowing you in the ribs to see if you understood this, not all that deep insight. 

Indeed, the filmmakers appear quite pleased with themselves for rehashing this old cliche. But, in fairness, it’s a cliche to us jaded adults who’ve seen this kind of empowerment cheese before. For kids, especially those seeing movies for the first time, this may indeed be a revelation and it is pitched in such a simple, easy to consume fashion that it may resonate with children in a powerful way. It was groan inducing for me and perhaps most adults but I get what the movie is going for here and I understand that it is not intended to impress ME. 

There is a harmless, charmingly disposable quality to The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. There is nothing terribly wrong with it as a movie for grade school audiences. It has a broad beauty to it in cinematography and design that children will find enchanting and the empowerment message is fine, not exactly subtle or well crafted, but it’s fine. The part of how Sugar Plum comes to represent the angry, childish aspect of Clara’s grief is, again, not subtle, rather over top, but I can see the message reaching a child and I can’t say that’s a bad thing. 

Do I wish that we would not condescend to children at the movies? Yes, I don’t believe movies have to be dumbed down to reach a young audience. The Toy Story movies are a great example of reaching children and asking them to rise up to meet the movie rather than talking down by assuming children don’t get complex relationships and metaphors. I would argue: how will a child ever fully grow up if we keep speaking down to them? 

That said, Nutcracker and the Four Realms is not the worst example of movies talking down to children. There is a strong attempt by the filmmakers to be on the level with children even as it is patently condescending in its simplicity. But, for the most part, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is a harmless empowerment fantasy with a nice look to it and deeply committed performances from Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley. 

I don’t love this movie by any stretch and if you are not the parent of a very young child, I don’t recommend The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. That said, if you are the parent of a young child, grade school and younger, you could do far worse than having your child watch this movie.