Movie Review: The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) 

Directed by Justin Chadwick 

Written by Peter Morgan 

Starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Kristen Scott Thomas, Mark Rylance, David Morrissey 

Release date February 29th, 2008 

Published February 27th, 2008 

Where most period pieces rely on class and pomp and circumstance The Other Boleyn Girl, from director Justin Chadwick, and based on the bestseller by Phillippa Gregory, indulges modern soap opera crossed with crackling dialogue, dark humor and an all star cast. It works to create a devilishly entertaining period piece that may just reach beyond the typical fans of the period. In The Other Boleyn Girl Scarlett Johanssen, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana spice up period piece stuffiness with a sexy vibe that even overwhelms the constraints of the PG-13 rating.

King Henry the 8th (Eric Bana) needed a son to continue to project his power. Unfortunately, his wife Catherine of Eragon (Ana Torrent) has once again miscarried and will likely never bear children. This news leaks to the Duke of Norfolk (David Morrissey) who senses an opportunity for advancement. Visiting the family of his sister Lady Elizabeth Boleyn and her husband Thomas, Norfolk has a dangerous proposition. He will entice King Henry to visit the Boleyn home. While he is there the eldest Boleyn sister Anne (Natalie Portman) will find her way to his bed and become his mistress. If she is able to bear him a son, the Boleyn family will be set for life.

The plan goes awry however when the king fails to fall for Ann and instead falls for the slightly younger and recently married Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johannson). Bringing the Boleyn's to the royal court, Henry makes Mary his mistress while banishing her husband (Benedict Cumberbatch) to the outer reaches of the kingdom. Unfortunately for Mary, the king's affections are fickle. Her crowning achievement, becoming pregnant, becomes a problem when the king's eye begins to wander. Now the family turns to Ann. Recently banished to France after a rash, unarranged wedding that the Duke has narrowly been able to cover up, Ann returns changed, more mature and ready to take the king for herself even as her task is to keep his attentions on Mary.

Ann's ambition and cunning beguiles the king and he is ready to tear the country to shreds just to satisfy her. As the king and Ann battle over her wish to be queen, there is still the matter of the current queen as well as Mary and her newborn son, now treated as a bastard and an outcast. And what of Ann's relationship with her brother George (Jim Sturgess) and his marriage to the busybody Jane Parker (Juno Temple).

A great deal of palace intrigue unfolds with all of the sexy twists and melodramatic turns of a great television soap opera writ large for the big screen. Director Justin Chadwick, working from a screenplay penned by the books author Phillipa Gregory, gives this material life by populating it with great actors, biting dialogue, and high stakes chicanery. The Boleyn men, exceptionally played by Mark Rylance and David Morrissey play a high stakes game with these two supposedly teenage girls. The risk is their heads on spikes, dealing with an oafish impetuous king who has already spiked his closest friend for reasons only he understood and called treason.

The future of the Boleyn family rides on these teenage girls ability to manipulate an impulsive, unpredictable and desperate king well played by Eric Bana. With subtle genius, Eric Bana brings about a King Henry the 8th who is both commanding in the presence of men and yet just naive enough to be taken in by the scheming Ann. We learn early on that his true turn on is subservience as he falls for the respectful and bowing Mary. However, he is drawn to Ann by the reflection of his own power. As she becomes the first to deny him anything, he cannot help but wish to conquer her. The plan backfires on all involved and precipitates great melodrama all around.

The Other Boleyn Girl is an exceptional example of the way great melodrama can win over an audience by at once indulging in bad behavior and then standing in judgement of it. The prudishness of Mary is exposed in her falling for the king and then punished when she is forced to watch her sister steal him away. Ann's abhorrent behavior in double-crossing her sister is devilishly fun to witness but just as fun is watching her get what she has coming to her. Portman is better than you might expect as a temptress while Johansson plays the virginal Mary with an edge of sultry sexuality that few actresses could wring from this role.

The Other Boleyn Girl is not a great movie but for pulpy modern soap opera Ala the best of Desperate Housewives, only much smarter, it is top notch entertainment. 

Movie Review: The Other Guys

The Other Guys (2010) 

Directed by Adam McKay 

Written by Adam McKay, Chris Henchy

Starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton 

Release Date August 6th, 2010

Published August 5th, 2010 

The “Saturday Night Live” influence on modern movie comedy cannot be underestimated. Yes, the movies based on SNL characters are, more often than not, miserable failures but that is not where the influence lies. The specter of Lorne Michaels lingers in the careers of those comic actors he plucked from relative obscurity and trained into comic athletes who chase the biggest laughs the way linebackers chase down running backs.

Will Ferrell and writer-director Adam McKay were both borne of the laugh competition environment of SNL and their most successful work reflects the instincts honed in a high pressure, big gag business. In three successful comic pairings, and “Step Brothers,” Ferrell and McKay have perfected their own SNL off-shoot, the sketch movie. It has the same characters acting in a series of context provided big gags that forcefully coalesce to something of a story-line that can be called a movie.

The latest Ferrell-McKay brand sketch movie is “The Other Guys” and while some will call the whole thing a send up of buddy cop movies; its success lies in the strength of each individual sketch that, because they include the same characters throughout, can seem like a real movie. In “The Other guys” the sketch by sketch constants are played by Ferrell as a forensic accountant turned vice detective and Mark Wahlberg as a would be big time detective busted down to desk work after he shot Derek Jeter of the Yankees right before Game 7 of the World Series. 

That's the premise each proceeds from, what happens from there is a lot of improv, some vain attempts at creating a story that exists from sketch to sketch and the energy with which both actors pursue a laugh. Credit Mark Wahlberg for being able to keep up with the veteran Ferrell on his turf. Many other actors would be reduced to tears by Ferrell's astonishing ability to riff on the same sketch idea. Wahlberg succeeds by not caring about what Ferrell does, he finds a beat of his own for each sketch and plays that to its comic height.

The Supporting actors in “The Other Guys,” including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes and Michael Keaton are each given a single beat to play and each succeeds in finding their very particular kind of funny. Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson play the action hero cops whose glorious death scene is a wonderfully dark send up of buddy cops in movies.

Mendes’ joke, not surprising, proceeds from how gorgeous she is and how not gorgeous Ferrell as her husband is. Finally, Michael Keaton plays the oddest beat as Ferrell and Wahlberg’s boss. His joke is that he refers to songs by girl group TLC at random and claims not to know he’s doing it, and what’s great is; the joke works. I wanted to see Keaton from scene to scene just to hear how he would reference another song.

That is the whole of “The Other Guys” each actor taking their cue, finding their particular rhythm and if they happen upon something resembling a story drop it in so we can move somewhat seamlessly to the next sketch. The stuff about corporate espionage and bank bailouts that are jammed in at the edges of “The Other Guys,” that might in another movie make up the story of the ‘movie,’ are mere afterthoughts in “The Other Guys.”

”The Other Guys” like “Anchorman,” “Talledega Nights” and “Step Brothers” before it are movies about comedy. They are feature length attempts to find the most punchlines in the shortest amounts of time. They feature actors and writers whose main goals are cracking each other up and in the process cracking up the audience. Story is an afterthought; something to be picked up in reshoots.

This sounds awful and can be quite bad when not done right. Ferrell and McKay however are pros and they find so many laughs in this sketch movie formula that you can forgive the lack of movie-ness in their movies. “The Other Guys” earns so many big laughs that I forgot about whether there was a story progressing behind it all.

As a movie it's a bit of a disaster but as sketches riffing on the classic Hollywood buddy cop genre, “The Other Guys” is hilarious. Don't ask for anything more than the laughs and you will be just fine.

Movie Review: The Other Side of the Wind

The Other Side of the Wind (2018) 

Directed by Orson Welles 

Written by Orson Welles 

Starring John Huston, Peter Bogdanovich, Oja Kodar, Susan Strasbourg 

Release Date November 2nd, 2018 

Published November 5th, 2018 

Orson Welles is an elusive figure in the film world. He was at once wholly present and missing in action. Welles’ long exile from Hollywood meant that though he worked consistently, his work was mostly ignored in the world of mainstream cinema. If you’re someone like me who lives in the Midwest and doesn’t have unending access to obscure European adaptations of Shakespeare, then there is a large swath of the Welles’ catalog missing from you. 

Naturally, as a film lover, I have seen and loved Welles’ Citizen Kane, the film that though it provides Welles’ legacy with an eternal life, it was a never ending burden to the man. Kane dominated Welles’ career, it created his reputation as a film savant but also demonstrated him as a filmmaker unconcerned by the desires of commercial film-making. He was an artist first and a temperamental one at that, meaning studios didn’t want to work with him. 

These facts inform the making of Welles’ final film, The Other Side of the Wind, a pompously titled art film that was never completed in his lifetime. Like Welles’ Don Quixote, The Other Side of the Wind was a tantalizing artifact of film history. Was it an unfinished masterpiece or some bloated attempt at a comeback by an over the hill blowhard angry at the industry that betrayed him? 

The new documentary They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, streaming now on Netflix and directed by Morgan Neville, director of the hit Mr Rogers documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, examines the making of The Other Side of the Wind and gives us, if not Mr. Welles, closure on this seemingly doomed movie. Or does it? Watching the They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead appears to lead you to a resigned and satisfied place with The Other Side of the Wind. 

Then you get to the end and find, or at least I found it this way, that Netflix has gone ahead and bankrolled Welles’ friends, including Peter Bogdanovich, and Welles’ family, to actually finish The Other Side of the Wind which completed principle photography in 1975 only to be taken from Welles by of all things, the fall of the Shah of Iran. Welles had been financed by members of the Iranian government and when the state fell in 1979, the movie was seized as an asset. 

It remained locked away until recently and now with the aid of Welles’ notes and those of his late cinematographer Gary Graver, the film was completed and is now available to stream on Netflix despite the fact that Welles and a majority of the cast and crew, including star John Huston and co-star Susan Strasbourg have passed away. The Other Side of the Wind is something akin to a ghost of a movie, thankfully not a zombie but an ethereal filmic being. 

They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead appeared to me to be the only way we would ever have closure on Welles’ final film. It was for me, because I didn’t bother to read anything about it before I sat to watch it, such a complete surprise that I could feel the documentary making the turn toward declaring itself the unofficial completion of The Other Side of the Wind. The documentary is about movie making and Welles is even in the documentary discussing how The Other Side of the Wind and the making of it, could easily be a documentary rather than a narrative feature. 

Actor Alan Cumming plays host to the documentary offering rye asides on the travails of making The Other Side of the Wind via the interviews with Welles’ remaining, living friends and collaborators. It is Cumming who appears to make the turn late in the documentary that seemed to me to indicate that the documentary was, itself, the final form of The Other Side of the Wind. I found this to be a lovely and fitting bit of fakery, well in line with Welles' famed F is For Fake, another odd documentary take on reality versus fiction. 

Imagine my surprise then, when the credits began to roll and suddenly Netflix was starting the next feature, The Other Side of the Wind in its completed form. I was shocked and amused and I remained so I could watch it as the two are components of the same remarkable film-making tale. The Other Side of the Wind suddenly existed outside of the documentary and the Welles’ we get to know in They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead would have loved my shocked reaction. 

As much as The Other Side of the Wind was a product of its lack of a budget and the limitations of those involved to remain available to the whim of Welles’ schedule, the experimental nature of the movie meant that it could be recut and re-imagined in a number of different ways. This includes adding or subtracting footage of Welles himself who appears to be making the first meta-textual film/documentary project of its kind. 

The Other Side of the Wind is the story of an aging and failing film director named Jake 'J.J' Hannaford, played by legendary film director John Huston. Hannaford is in the midst of completing his latest movie, a film of which we see throughout The Other Side of the Wind, as a movie within the movie. Hannaford is hoping that his producer will sell the movie to a film producer, modeled after the legendary Robert Evans. If that doesn't work, he needs to convince his young protege, Otterlake (Peter Bogdanovich), to loan him the money. 

Otterlake is successful in a way J.J never really was and this fact has strained their mentor/mentee, teacher and pupil, father and son, dynamic. Sure, J.J has all of the love and respect in the world for his work but next to none of the kind of success that Hollywood celebrates. Orson Welles claimed that this relationship was not modeled on his and Bogdanovich's friendship but that seems impossible to believe, even as Bogdanovich appears to humor him and push that narrative in interviews in the documentary. 

Cameras rolled on the set of The Other Side of the Wind at all times, even when a cut was called. There are characters in The Other Side of the Wind playing film students who’ve been invited to film the lead character’s 70th birthday party and Welles had the extras filming at all times, during and after takes just to make sure he had as much footage as possible to put into a final cut in whatever form that final cut might take. 

The documentary makes remarkable use of the footage especially as the actors playing students were encouraged to engage with Welles between takes and Welles indulged in a one sided conversation with the cameras regarding the nature of cinema, with an extra special focus on mistakes and how mistakes can make a scene seem even more real than even a documentary. 

It’s a remarkable insight into the man, even as it is a strong demonstration of his vast egotism. Welles was unquestionably a blowhard but he was never boring and he is wildly fascinating in They’ll Love Me When I am Dead, a figure of Falstaffian charisma. Like him or not, you can’t take your eyes off of Welles. They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead captures the man and the artist in endlessly fascinating ways. 

I don’t have as much to say about the quality of The Other Side of the Wind. It’s a bloviating, free-flowing art piece that both resembles and appears to satirize the French New Wave and the indie darlings of Hollywood’s post-studio era, many of whom play themselves in cameos including Dennis Hopper, Henry Jaglom and Paul Mazursky. Welles appears to be placing himself above the young directors and among them, both peer and influencer, sage critic and desperate wannabe. 

The Other Side of the Wind couldn’t be further from the patient, deliberate and gorgeous confines of Citizen Kane. The Other Side of the Wind is pure chaos where the story appears almost non-existent amid the free flowing experiment that is being captured and wrangled by the editing team like an unbroken colt. The film appears to be fighting the idea of being formed into something like a mainstream feature film and is finally corralled only when Bogdanovich and Huston manage to get Welles to pay attention to them for just a moment. 

All of this is to say that I recommend you watch both the documentary, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead and the final cut of the movie, The Other Side of the Wind, back to back for the best experience. That’s a big commitment, nearly four hours, but if you are a crazy film nerd like me, it’s an experience you don’t want to pass up on. Both They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead and The Other Side of the Wind are streaming now, back to back, on Netflix. 

Movie Review: Outlaw King

Outlaw King (2018) 

Directed by David Mackenzie 

Written by Bash Doran, David Mackenzie, James MacInnes 

Starring Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Florence Pugh, Stephen Dillane 

Release Date November 19th, 2018 

Published December 1st, 2018 

I had been avoiding watching Netflix’s Outlaw King mostly because I value the director, David Mackenzie so much. The director of the acclaimed Hell or High Water is a director I have high hopes for so when I saw his latest film, Outlaw King, getting less than rave reviews, I decided to keep it sight out of mind. That was easy as my field is, generally theatrical releases and Outlaw King was on Netflix. Eventually, however, my curiosity got the best of me. 

Outlaw King stars Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland. Oddly however, when we meet Robert he is on his knee promising fealty to King Edward. Robert was told by his father that the politics of surrender were better than the bloodshed likely if they continued to resist English rule. This changes however, when the legendary William Wallace is captured and killed and his body parts are hung on the walls of a Scottish border city. 

With his father having recently died, and now Wallace, Robert decides it is time to act. His family has a claim on the Scottish throne and he aims to take it. He is opposed by another Scottish family that also has a claim on the throne. Robert would prefer they unite for now and decide on the throne after disposing of the English but when Robert is forced to murder his rival, he knows the fight has begun and that he will not have all of Scotland with him, in fact, they may be just as dangerous as England. 

As you can tell from the mention of William Wallace, this story is in the same vein as Mel Gibson’s Braveheart. Robert the Bruce was a character in that film as well and he was indeed inspired by Wallace’s love of his country to rise up against the English. This story proceeds as if a sequel to Braveheart in some ways, at the very least a continuation of the story. Wallace is killed off-screen in Outlaw King, but his legend hangs over the story, just as Braveheart casts an Oscar winning shadow over Outlaw King. 

That’s a shame because I happen to think Outlaw King is a better movie than Braveheart. Blasphemy, I know, but I have never cared for Mel Gibson’s epic. I found Braveheart loud and boorish and GIbson’s accent was something that I just could not get over. Outlaw King isn’t that much better, Chris Pine’s Scottish brogue is almost as laughable as Gibson’s, but I enjoyed the violent madness in Outlaw King more than I did in Braveheart. 

Chris Pine may not have a great accent but he has a fearsome presence as Robert the Bruce. I enjoyed his straight ahead performance, he rarely appears to be putting on the airs of machismo, he seems genuinely tough. I liked the battle sequences which are raw and gritty and while they may not have the epic expanse of Gibson’s Braveheart, the closeups and the uptight tension of the smaller scale Outlaw King gives the film an authenticity I feel was lacking in Braveheart. 

Nether Outlaw King or Braveheart are movies I ever plan on watching again as neither one is much fun. Director David Mackenzie however, at the very least, compelled me more with his Robert the Bruce story. I was genuinely invested in his story and while I don’t love the movie, I wasn’t compelled to get on my phone and ignore it. Perhaps if you are a fan of historic epics on muddy, bloody battlefields, Outlaw King is the movie for you. 

Movie Review: The Party is Just Beginning

The Party is Just Beginning (2018) 

Directed by Karen Gillan 

Written by Karen Gillan 

Starring Karen Gillan, Lee Pace, Matthew Beard, Paul Higgins, Siobhan Redmond 

Release Date (No American Theatrical Release) 

Published January 18th, 2019 

As a Karen Gillan super-fan ever since her days as Amy Pond on Doctor Who, I had been anticipating her writing and directing debut, The Party is Just Beginning ever since she announced the project on her instagram. Gillan has been consistently great at picking material, even her short lived sitcom, Selfie, was criminally underrated. She even picks great blockbusters with a co-starring role in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jumanji. Needless to say, I was fascinated to see what she would do with material of her own. 

The Party is Just Beginning stars Gillan as Liusaidh, an unapologetic party girl who enjoys random, anonymous sex and a whole lot of drinking. In other movies the story would be about reforming her, helping her to find a boyfriend, husband or a male savior but that is not what this movie is about. Liusaidh has some deep emotional wounds but she’s not looking for a savior, she just needs a friend. 

Liusaidh’s deepest hurt came from her best friend, Allistair (Matthew Beard). Liusaidh watched as he went into a dead end relationship with a closeted missionary and watched further as Alistair's father died and he kept pushing away her attempts at comfort. The film features seamless flashbacks that you’re aware are flashbacks but don’t feel forced. The flashbacks are layered into the story and it’s clear that the present we are in with Liusaidh, Alistair is not present. 

Death is omnipresent in Liusaidh’s life as her family is plagued by mistaken calls from people attempting to call a suicide hotline. One day Liusaidh decides to engage with one of the callers and they become friends. The caller is an elderly man whose wife died some time ago and he feels that he is now a burden to his children. The caller fears that his children are going to put him into a home so he has considered taking his life. 

Scenes of Liusaidh talking with the caller are broken up by her random drunken hook ups. These include a nameless man, eventually named Dale (Lee Pace), who she comes to see more than once. Dale is just as troubled as everyone else around Liusaidh. I won’t go into that however, I recommend you see that for yourself. It’s not a spoiler or anything, I don’t think I could spoil The Party is Just Beginning, it’s a mood piece more than a traditional narrative. 

Karen Gillan’s direction of The Party is Just Beginning is exceptionally strong. For a first time out, she has a good hand on the basics and some innovation in the way she seamlessly brings the past and present together in the story. She certainly didn’t give herself an easy task with the script which is uncompromisingly experimental in how it weaves the past and present and doesn’t have anything approaching a traditional narrative. 

The film doesn’t have any major dramatics, there are no revelations and Liusaidh as a character isn’t evolving in a classic arc. As I mentioned earlier, The Party is Just Beginning is a mood piece. The film isn’t about anything traditional, it’s about observing this prickly, depressed and unusual character. You are either up for something unusual or the movie is not for you. I was up for every moment of The Party is Just Beginning. 

I’m a sucker for a good mood piece and I found the depressive, slate gray mood of The Party is Just Beginning remarkably engaging. I fought with the movie, my mind tried to cram it into something I recognized until about half way through when I began to settle into what the movie is, an observation of a character we don’t often see in modern film culture. Liusaidh is singularly human, unique and genuine. She feels real, like someone you have seen somewhere in your life. 

The slice of life here may not be to everyone’s palette. The film owns its depressive air and moody atmosphere. Gillan offers no comforts such as sitcom laugh lines or explosive moments of drama. Scenes you think might erupt simply don’t because such recognizable bits of drama would ruin the remarkably curated mood of The Party is Just Beginning. I feel I am not making the film sound appealing but trust me when I tell you, Gillan holds the screen and, if you’re like me, you will be riveted by her work. That’s the appeal here, observing the artful direction and complex performance. 

I had been waiting for some time for this movie to arrive. I had assumed it would be on Blu Ray and DVD soon and I had been looking out for it. What a terrific surprise it was to find the film streaming on Amazon. It’s a little pricier than a DVD rental but it was worth it. The Party is Just Beginning is a terrific film. The film is a an awesome announcement that Karen Gillan is not merely an appealing actress, she is a true artist and budding auteur. I can’t wait to see what she does next. 

Movie Review: The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of the Christ (2004) 

Directed by Mel Gibson

Written by Mel Gibson, Benedict Fitzgerald 

Starring Jim Caviezel, Monica Bellucci, Maia Morgenstern, Sergio Rubini 

Release Date February 25th, 2004 

Published February 24th, 2004 

As controversy swirls about Mel Gibson’s intentions in writing and directing his idea of Jesus’ Passion, you could almost forget about the movie itself. That finally changes on Ash Wednesday when the film hits theaters nationwide and everyone can finally see what it is they have been talking about. What they will see is a spectacularly realized period piece, a moving and evocative piece about the ultimate in suffering. Never before has the suffering of Jesus Christ, the man many believe to be the savior of mankind, been so amazingly and brutally realized on film.

Jim Caviezal takes on the tremendous task of playing Jesus Christ. As we meet him Christ is praying in a forest seemingly unaware that his disciple Judas is at the temple betraying him. Soon Judas, with Jewish soldiers in tow, is standing before Jesus and slowly realizing his terrible mistake. After a brief scuffle during which Christ heals a soldier wounded by his disciple Peter, Jesus is arrested and beaten as he is led to the temple. There, his religious opponents, a powerful Jewish sect called the Pharisees, wait to put Jesus on trial.

Actually it’s not so much a trial as a public lynching where Jesus is once again beaten and not surprisingly found guilty, though of what crime we are uncertain. The Pharisee, led by Caiaphas, wants to put Jesus to death but their religion forbids it. However there is no such preclusion in Roman law and so Jesus is brought to the region’s Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate (Hristo Shopov).

Here is where the film’s most controversial element comes in. The charge of Antisemitism against the film hinges, for some, on the portrayal of Pilate. In the Passion plays of the dark ages, when Jews were blamed for Christ’s death, Pilate was played as an ineffectual wavering leader who tried to spare Christ’s life. After 1968 and the Vatican 2 council, the church made clear their official position that the Jews were not responsible and that it was Pilate, the brutal dictator, who was responsible for Christ’s persecution.

It’s very difficult to parse this fairly because both sides have a fair argument. Gibson’s film does portray Pilate as wanting to spare Jesus while a bloodthirsty mob stands by calling for his crucifixion. However, to say that no Jews, especially the Pharisee had nothing to do with it is also intellectually dishonest. Gibson does go on to portray many Jews who decry Christ’s brutal beating by Roman guards, but whether they are enough to combat the charge of Antisemitism will be up to each individual viewer. Do I think the film and Mr. Gibson are Anti-Semitic? No, but I can see where some people might.

The thrust of The Passion of The Christ is Christ’s suffering, from being punched and kicked by Jewish soldiers during his arrest and trial, to his scourging in the Roman courtyard as Pilate tries to placate the mob without crucifying Jesus, to his brutal bloody walk with the cross on his back to the mountaintop and finally his crucifixion. Some 90 minutes of almost non-stop brutal violence. So brutal that many will walk out and some will become physically ill. This is horror-film-quality violence.

This is one of the hardest films that I have ever watched, but the violence is also very compelling and moving. The scourging and whipping goes on and on and when you think it’s over, they roll Christ onto his bloodied back and continue the beating on his chest. The sequence is nine minutes long and even those with strong stomachs will be hard pressed to watch the whole thing.

Jim Caviezal deserves an Oscar nomination simply for all the punishment he takes. His performance is strongest when he is suffering and praying. His performance in scenes where he is not being bloodied is rather typical of the number of actors who have played the role before, beatific, obtuse, but innately intelligent and spiritual.

Gibson’s direction is strong and steady, his camera witnessing the action, unflinchingly embracing the brutality. Academy Award nominee Caleb Deschanel gives the film a lush and beautiful look with night scenes bathed in blue, the temple scenes swathed in a fiery orange and giving the final walk to the crucifixion bright blue in the sky and clear browns of the sand and walls of the buildings. The period details in costume and production design are flawless.

While I have a great deal of admiration for the film, the artistry of it’s production and the compelling story, I couldn’t escape a feeling of distance from the material that I can only attribute to my religious difference with Mr. Gibson. That I am not a Christian put a distance between myself and the deeply emotional connection that seems to be the intended effect of the film. For the devout, The Passion Of The Christ will be an emotional affirmation of their faith. For others, it’s a remarkable artistic experience but not a wholly satisfying one.

Movie Review: The Perfect Score

The Perfect Score (2004) 

Directed by Brian Robbins

Written by Marc Hyman, Jon Zack, Mark Schwahn 

Starring Erika Christensen, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johannsson, Darius Miles 

Release Date January 30th, 2004

Published January 29th, 2004 

As a director, Brian Robbins has excelled at mediocrity. From Good Burger to Varsity Blues to his latest film, The Perfect Score, Robbins has mastered the kind of mediocre, inoffensive comedy that kept his TV show Head Of The Class on the air for 5 seasons. To Robbins credit, large enough audiences seem to like mediocre inoffensive comedy, but that still doesn’t mean the rest of us have to like it.

Chris Evans stars in The Perfect Score as Kyle, a high school student whose dream is to become an architect. Kyle's dream would come closer to coming true if he could get into Cornell University's School of Architecture. All Kyle needs is a 1430 on his SATs, something that he has failed at once already. He has a second chance coming up but he's not confident he can do any better.

Kyle's not alone, his buddy Matty (Bryan Greenberg) also bombed the first try at the SATs. He needs a score strong enough to get into Maryland where his girlfriend is waiting for him. There's also Anna (Erika Christensen), a straight-A student who freezes up on big tests and did so on her first shot. Then there is Desmond (Darius Miles), the star of the basketball team with a free ride to any college he wants as long as he gets a minimum score. The desperation of these four kids somehow brings them together with a plan to steal the SATs.

Enter Francesca (Scarlett Johannsen) who had no trouble with her SATs but her father does own the building which houses the testing offices where the answers are. When she overhears what the other four are planning she wants in as a way of getting back at her father. And finally there is Roy (Leonardo Nam) who also just happened to overhear the plan. To keep him quiet he is brought in on the plan, his stoner facade hides the fact that he also already aced the test.

With the crew assembled we move on to the mediocre heist portion of the film, full of dull slapstick and forced couplings as the girls pair off by rote with their cardboard cutout boy of choice. The tone of the film is at times melodramatic, at times moderately amusing but often just mediocre. Director Robbins knows how to point his camera straight ahead, he understands three-act structure, he's definitely read books on screenplay writing and knows how to hit his three big scenes. I didn't say they were three good scenes but there are scenes that appear to matter to this story.

Scarlett Johannsen should have known better. She is clearly the best thing about the film, she has the best scenes, but remember, they are the best scenes in a mediocre movie. This role is a good example of what a star Johannsson is likely to become because it shows she can outshine bad material and make the best of a bad movie. That still does not justify having chosen to make this remarkably mediocre film, one exceptionally below her talent and star power. 

It seems that Brian Robbins and writers Mark Schwan, Jon Zack and Marc Hyman wrote this film specifically for test audiences. The Perfect Score hit's it's marks, it's cast has the perfect look to put on a poster, full on Benetton, Colors of the World, test market science, and the story has all the boring relatable qualities of a teen sitcom. Dull, inoffensive, and unmemorable, The Perfect Score is like filmed Muzak. It melts forgettably into the background, not so bad that you get annoyed but not good enough for you to remember the next day.