Movie Review The Lion in Winter

The Lion in Winter (2004) 

Directed by James Goldman 

Written by Andrei Konchalovsky 

Starring Sir Patrick Stewart, Glenn Close, Rafe Spall 

Release Date May 23rd, 2004 

Published May 23rd, 2004 

When it comes to remakes, I am on the record as disliking them on principle. Why? Because they only attempt to remake films that were already good. No one ever attempts to take a bad movie and improve on its mistakes to make it a good film. That would seem to be a more worthy cause than the “karaoke-version” of a classic film.

There is, however, the very rare exception and Showtime's remake of the Peter O'Toole-Katherine Hepburn classic The Lion In Winter is a worthy take on this Oscar winning work.

Patrick Stewart stars as King Henry the second (Patrick Stewart), father to four sons, none of whom are worthy heirs to his crown. Son Henry may have been worthy but he died in battle some years ago. The next in line would have been Richard (Andrew Howard) but he and his younger brother Geoffrey (John Light) led a rebellion against the King at the behest of their mother Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Glenn Close). When the rebellion is put down, the Queen is imprisoned while the sons were given property and notice from the King that neither would inherit the throne.

10 years after the rebellion, the King is feeling his years and is now ready to name the heir to his throne. He must do it soon because King Philip of France (John Rhys Myers) is calling upon King Henry to fulfill a contract made years ago to marry Princess Alais of France (Julia Vysotskaya) to the future King of England. Alais also happens to be the King's mistress. King Henry plans to name his youngest son John (Rafe Spall) his heir, despite the fact that the doltish John is entirely unworthy of being King.

Though the Queen is in exile, she still has some power. As the former Queen of France, married to King Louis before being stolen by Henry, her voice and appearance has power and she would like her chosen son Richard to be the next King. This battle of wills culminates over Christmas in a French castle where the King will officially name his heir and attempt to placate his other power-hungry sons and maneuver around his malicious wife whose only pleasure comes from making the King suffer.

This is a film that is all about dialogue, verbal jousting matches that manipulate deep emotion. Watching the King and Queen twist and turn their sons with promises, lies and other deceptions is a sport. Shifting alliances and other behind the scenes maneuverings, sons Richard and Geoffrey show they clearly learned a lot from their parents. At times, the verbiage is so confusing, you lose track of who is scheming with whom but it all sounds so smart and witty you can forgive the occasional confusion.

The actors have a very high standard to live up to. Peter O'Toole was nominated for an Oscar for his Henry and Katherine Hepburn won her third of four Oscars for her harridan Queen. The remake’s director, Andrei Konchalovsky, is blessed with a terrific cast but it is too much to expect any actor to live up to the O'Toole-Hepburn standard. That said, Patrick Stewart's stage training makes him an ideal choice for the role of King Henry. Stewart may not escape Peter O'Toole's shadow but he bellows and blusters his way to a terrifically entertaining performance.

Glenn Close is the film’s true star. Her Queen Eleanor must be the top contender for the Emmy's in 2005. What is most amazing is how Close so reminds us of Hepburn. She evokes the cold hard spirit that infused Hepburn's iconic performance. The remaining cast is less memorable than the two leads but none are so overmatched by their roles to be criticized.

It's interesting to note that the actors and director were working from the very same script from the original film. The script was written originally as a play in 1967 by James Goldman who also adapted this screenplay. This is a blessing in that it's a brilliant Oscar winning script but it also makes it difficult for the actors to give their own spin to the material. Regardless of the problems though it's always a delight to hear such wonderful dialogue delivered by great actors, even if you have heard it all before.

Movie Review Lean on Me

Lean on Me (1989) 

Directed by John G. Avildsen 

Written by Michael Schiffer 

Starring Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Robert Guillaume, Tony Todd 

Release Date March 3rd, 1989 

Published August 7th, 2002 

Morgan Freeman is one of the most commanding screen presences in film history. In great movies like Glory and Seven and even bad movies like Along Came A Spider and Deep Impact, Freeman's sharp intense stare gave his characters the respect and dignity that most characters have to earn.

In 1989's Lean On Me, Freeman took on the role of another commanding presence, that of the principle of New Jersey's ugliest High School, Eastside High. Crazy Joe Clark made national headlines with his promise too carry a baseball bat in the halls of the school and chain the schools exits to keep out the drug-dealers.

For over 10 years, Joe Clark was an elementary school principal chafing at his ineffectual position when school superintendent Dr. Napier (Robert "Benson" Guilliaume)offers Joe his dream job as principal at the school where he got his start, Paterson New Jersey's Eastside High School. Oh but things have changed a lot in the near 20 years since Joe had been at Eastside. Drug dealers now run the halls selling their product locker to locker. Gang members fought in class and teachers hid in the teacher’s lounge, too afraid to go to class.

While Eastside's staff is terrified by the students around them, there is no intimidating Joe Clark whose first act as principal is to expel the students who caused the most trouble. The expulsions touch off a firestorm of criticisms lead by Leona Barrett (Lynn Thigpen), the mother of one of the expelled students.

Clark's unusual tactics using bullhorns, baseball bats, and chains on the doors made national headlines in the mid 1980's. Those headlines are what inspired this film and may be the reason why the film feels disjointed at times. The editing of the film jumps the timelines ahead so quick that entire subplots are introduced and quickly discarded.

That criticism aside, Lean On Me is all about Freeman and his perfectly pitched performance. Using his unique vocal cadence, constantly annoyed and always near screaming, his voice and soul crushing gaze create an intimidating but charismatic character that makes you wonder what the real Joe Clark is like.

Joe Clark left Eastside in the early 1990's to accept a position at New Jersey's Essex County Youth Facility where once again his disciplinary style made national headlines. We will have to wait and see if that will be good enough for a sequel.

Movie Review Kill Me Later

Kill Me Later (2001) 

Directed by Dana Lustig

Written by Dana Lustig

Starring Selma Blair, Max Beesley, Brendan Fehr

Release Date September 14th, 2001 

Published June 3rd, 2002 

Actor Max Beesley is a very well respected dramatic actor and sex symbol in his home country of England. Sadly, here in the U.S., Beesley is best known as Mariah Carey's love interest in the horrendous flop Glitter. Beesley may never live that one down, in America anyway, but he is doing what he can to put it behind him and the straight-to-video feature Kill Me Later, co-starring Selma Blair, is a good start on his redemption tour.

Beesley is Charlie, a drummer who turns to bank robbery as a way of providing a future for a young daughter he has never known. Selma Blair is Shawn, a bank teller in a bad relationship with her married boss played by D.W Moffett. After her boss spends the night and explains that he has no intention of leaving his wife or having children, Shawn contemplates suicide. 

Shawn isn't considering suicide because of her jerk boss, but rather her personal embarrassment over getting involved with him at all. Charlie and Shawn's paths cross when Charlie and his crew rob the bank where Shawn works as a loan officer. The robbery may have come off without a hitch if Shawn hadn't been on the roof thinking of jumping, thus causing a neighbor to call the police who accidentally interrupt the robbery.

Charlie keeps Shawn from jumping and takes her hostage. Of course it's not that simple. Being suicidal, Shawn doesn't make for a very good hostage. Charlie cuts her a deal; if she cooperates he promises he will kill her later. It doesn't take a genius to figure where the story is going from here, of course they fall in love and are chased by cops and various other contrived drama about the money and the cops.

What sets Kill Me Later apart from other similar films is director Dana Lustig, who employ's stylish camera movements, music video style editing and lighting to make for a visually interesting film. My favorite technical innovation was the editing. While not groundbreaking, Lustig and her team employ a quick cutting style of shots that last no more than 10 to 15 seconds. Especially effective are the tight close-ups of Blair, backed by bright lighting against her pale skin accentuating her beautiful eyes and jet-black locks.

Selma Blair truly shines as a misanthrope whose hatred of the people around her is only surpassed by her own self-hatred. Blair is wonderful, communicating an innate intelligence and deep sadness with her gorgeous brown eyes. Beesley, for his part, is charming and magnetic. The camera loves him. In Glitter he was flat as a board. Here he shows that if the material is good he can be great.

Movie Review Ju-On The Grudge

Ju-On The Grudge (2002) 

Directed by Takashi Shimizu 

Written by Takashi Shimizu

Starring Megumi Okina 

Release Date October 18th, 2002 

Published July 24th, 2004 

Hollywood loves a good trend, so when Dreamworks invested and got a big return on the Japanese horror remake The Ring, it was not hard to guess that the flood gates were about to open. There are a few more Japanese imports about to get the American touch and one of them is Ju-On: The Grudge -- a haunted house horror movie with a unique story structure that may be it's biggest asset and least translatable element.

The Grudge centers on a home where an old woman is living with her son and his wife. The couple has not checked in with social workers who have been monitoring the old woman's care and so a social worker, Rika (Megumi Okina), is dispatched to the home to check up. What Rika finds is the old woman dying and a strange, gray-skinned boy named Toshio (Yuya Ozeki) locked in a closet. There is a strange presence in the house that eventually reveals itself and leaves Rika traumatized.

The film is broken into chapters ala Pulp Fiction, including title cards. Rika is the film’s only consistent character, popping up in different chapters at different times, before and after her encounter in the haunted house. After introducing Rika, the film goes back in time to show us the husband and wife leading up to their disappearance. The cops investigating their disappearance get a few scenes and another cop who investigated a brutal murder that may be the key to the film’s mystery

The film also veers away from the home to the couple's sister and another social worker who were followed to their homes by the strange specter haunting the couple's home. There is also the teenage daughter of one of the cops who once visited the haunted house with friends, intrigued by the house’s mystery; she left, but her friends stayed and disappeared.

Writer-director Takashi Shimizu does a terrific job of setting his tone. The film is very quiet and then very violent in quick strokes. The violence is quick yet surprisingly, almost disappointingly bloodless. The young boy Toshio is used to maximum creepiness as his gray pallor and large eyes are seen peering at characters from various unusual vantage points. Using a child as a villain is an effective way of lulling an audience into a sense of safety and then destroying our preconceived notions of child innocence. Toshio is not the only villain there is also a smoky black specter that is less effective, even at times a little cheesy.

Ju-On: The Grudge is actually the third film in the Ju-On series, the first two films were direct-to-video hits in Japan and the original has now spawned two sequels and an American adaptation. Each of the films (including the adaptation) has been written and directed by Shimizu, who has built a quite successful career off of creepy haunted house aesthetics. Like Hideo Nakata, the writer-director of Ringu, Shimizu is making Ju-On his career. This will not be easy. Where Ringu had an easily-accessible hook, Ju-On is slightly more esoteric and will likely look very different when translated to American audiences.

Ju-On: The Grudge evokes the creepy haunted house ideas of Amityville, with a touch of The Exorcist and a tone and structure that is unique for a horror film. I’m not entirely sold on Ju-On: The Grudge. As an import desperately crying out for an adaptation, it’s creepier than it is scary and far more atmospheric than gory, thus it lacks much of what American audiences crave from a horror film.

Movie Review Intacto

Intacto (2001) 

Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo 

Written by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo 

Starring Leonardo Sbaraglia, Max Von Sydow 

Release Date January 3rd, 2003 

Published June 2nd, 2003 

Luck is a funny thing. It's defined as a force that brings good fortune or adversity. But what kind of force? Does not the word force imply something can be controlled? Luck is something seemingly intangible that it can't be controlled. Or can it? The characters in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's first full length feature believe not only that luck can be controlled but that the luck of others can be controlled as well, alternately taken away and given to others. It's this unique premise that plays out in Intacto.

In a casino seemingly in the middle of nowhere, high rollers drop big amounts of cash. But underneath the casino, far bigger wagers are being played against the casino's oddball owner known to many as The Jew (Max Von Sydow). With his top advisor Federico (Eucebio Poncela), The Jew manipulates the luck of the players in the casino. If by chance someone gets on a hot streak, Federico is dispatched to simply touch the player. The touch takes the player’s luck and gives it to Federico.

However, when Federico decides he wants to go out on his own, using his abilities for his own gain, The Jew takes his luck away. Some years later Federico is working for an insurance company, or at least, that’s his cover. In reality, the insurance industry is a way for Federico to find people who have the gift he once had. He finds what he is looking for in a plane crash survivor named Tomas.

Tomas happens to be a thief who was on the plane escaping from the pursuit of a police detective named Sara (Monica Lopez). She too has a gift for luck, having survived a car crash that killed her husband and child. As Federico helps Tomas escape from the police, they enter a strange world of gamblers who trade in luck rather than just money. With the help of another of these gamblers, a bullfighter (Antonio Dechent), Sara follows them into the games.

The games are dreamlike in their strangeness. In one scene, regular everyday folks are chosen by the gamblers. They take photographs of these people and then touch them, taking their luck. The photographs of these people are then used as cache for the bigger bets. The goal of it all is to get to The Jew for the biggest chance game of all.

All of this is shot by Fresnadillo with a sharpness that belies the film’s small budget. The crispness and clarity of the DVD is remarkable. The desert landscape that surrounds the casino, shot in the opening from a mini helicopter equipped with a camera at night is striking and attention grabbing.

The story does have its minor contrivances, such as what happens when you beat The Jew? Then what, wait until someone beats you? The Jew's life isn't exactly exciting. As played by the magnificent Max Von Sydow, he is a paranoid old man who spends his days locked in a small, poorly lit room wearing a mask in fear that someone might see his face or take his photo.

That minor quibble aside Intacto is a fascinating and unique picture that combines the cool of modern Hollywood storytelling with the beauty of an art film. For a director working on his first feature, Fresnadillo has an amazing confident style that comes from a kid who doesn't know what can't be done. 

Movie Review In the Time of the Butterflies

In the Time of the Butterflies (2001) 

Directed by Mariano Barroso

Written by Julia Alvarez, David Klass 

Starring Salma Hayek, Edward James Olmos, Mia Maestro, Demian Bechir, Marc Anthony 

Release Date October 21st, 2001 

Published May 5th, 2002 

I had never heard of author Julia Alvarez before I rented In the Time of the Butterflies, a film adaptation of her book of the same title. After seeing the film I'm interested in reading her book which has to be far more and enlightening and textured than the sappy, melodramatic film version of the lives of three martyred sisters.

The story begins in the late 1930's on the island of the Dominican Republic where the Marabel sisters, Minerva (Salma Hayek), Patria (Lumi Cadazos) and Maria (Mia Maestro) have finally been allowed by their parents to attend school. One day during a visit to the school by Dominican dictator Trujillo (Edward James Olmos), Minerva prevents a classmate from attempting to assassinate the dictator. Trujillo promises Minerva he will never forget her and Minerva sets out to make sure he won't.

Flash forward a few years; Minerva and her family are invited to Trujillo's mansion for a party. Trujillo asks Minerva to dance but when he gets a little too fresh with her, Minerva slaps him. Soon after, Minerva's father is arrested and Minerva must once again see the dictator to beg for her father’s freedom.

If you think this plot description is long, wait ‘til you see the film itself that is quite leisurely in pace.

Minerva goes to college and while there meets and falls in love with a revolutionary named Manolo (Demien Bechir). The two begin to try to overthrow Trujillo, fighting mostly on the information front, attempting to educate the Dominican people as to what Trujillo is doing to maintain his power. It's a good idea in theory but as the film later shows everyone is quite aware of what Trujillo was up to they were just to afraid to say anything.

It is informational gaffes like this and odd fast forwards in the timeframe that muddle the film’s narrative and keeps it's characters distant. The movie only gives us the opportunity to get to know Hayek's character while only glimpsing the other characters. From what I've read, the book is focused on all three sisters whereas the film has just one fully fleshed out character - Minerva. This semi-restricted narrative leaves the other sister’s motivations unclear. We the audience are left wondering why they joined the revolution.

Butterflies is surprisingly short at a mere 90 minutes and it's shocking violent conclusion comes almost out of nowhere. If your hoping for some insight into Dominican history and it's most infamous dictator, you won't find it here. The film buries its politics under heaping helpings of melodrama and leaden dialogue. See it for Salma Hayek whose performance is strong, but if your not a fan you can skip this one.

Movie Review: In the Bedroom

In the Bedroom (2001) 

Directed by Todd Field

Written by Todd Field

Starring Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Marisa Tomei, Nick Stahl, 

Release Date November 23rd, 2001 

Published January 15th, 2002 

Sissy Spacek reminds me of someone I know, I can't quite place it but I feel like I know her. That is an excellent quality for an actor or actress to have, it becomes less like acting and feels real. When I watch her, it feels for me like I'm watching a real life in progress, and it's that quality that she brings to In The Bedroom and makes the films actions that much more tragic.

Bedroom is the story of a family in Camden, Maine. Mother (Spacek) is a teacher, Father (Tom Wilkinson) a doctor and their son (Nick Stahl), who is preparing for college. Of course nothing is ever what it seems, the parents are happy but argue greatly over their son's choice to date an older woman (Marisa Tomei) who is divorced with two kids to go with a violent ex-husband. The setup is combustible but director Todd Field never creates an air of inevitability, instead he allows the story to flow to conclusions that are shocking but not all that surprising. 

I'm struggling to avoid giving away too much, though the plot twists are not shocking surprises, they're not surprising if you actually watch the movie. The film is very realistic. How many times in your life has something happened that is shocking and tragic but you said to yourself that you could kind of see it coming? That is how this movie feels.

Director Todd Field is best known as an actor for his role as Tom Cruise piano player friend in Eyes Wide Shut, where Field says he spent a great deal of time studying at the feet of the master Stanley Kubrick. Although stylistically you don't see much influence I think In The Bedroom is a film Kubrick would have appreciated with it's slow studied pacing and desperate protagonists expertly played by Spacek and British character actor Tom Wilkinson.

Of the film's few flaws I would say the lack of chemistry between Nick Stahl and Marisa Tomei is the most obvious. The films glacial pacing works for the most part but drags in the middle. These criticisms are overcome though by the brilliant performance of Sissy Spacek that is the heart of this very good film.