MovieWatch

"As for myself, I think he made it all up and never killed anybody. Having been involved in a weekly television show myself, I know for a melancholy fact that there is just not enough time between tapings to fly off to Helsinki and kill for my government."

DUH!? As if we need Roger's TV experience to know that Barris obviously made up the spy stuff.

It didn't work for me, the only saving grace is George Clooney's direction, a great debut. 

Roger is a lonely jerk, but he is a very clever jerk, he has a way with words that works at his job as a marketing copy writer, but fail him in life. 

NOTE: the title is based on the perception of the amount of time the first scene takes to unfold. 

It tells an incredible story, not so much of the  pianist himself, but rather the events that he was surrounded by.  He wasn't a hero, merely a victim.  He survived; but not by force or ingenuity, merely through the good graces of others and a bit of luck.  He was a pawn in a game that we can only hope never gets played again.  We were all shocked on 9/11/01.  During World War II, everyday was September 11th.

Roger feels the ending is weak, but I think it offers us two and allows us to make the choice.

I wonder what this movie would have been like without Nicholson in the lead role.  Not that it wouldn't have been as good, it might have even been better, but it would have been so different.  Jack is such an icon that he overwhelms every scene he is in, even when he is silent.  

Written by Antwone Fisher and based on his life, it proves the adage that everyone in Hollywood has a screenplay.  Antwone was working as a security guard at Sony Studios when director Denzel Washington "discovered" his story. 

The story is simple, six year old Amsterdam Vallon watches his father die at the hand of  the notorious Bill "the Butcher" Cutting in a brutal gang fight.  Amsterdam  is raised in an orphanage and returns as an adult  (now played by Leonardo DiCaprio) to, according to Ebert, "begin a scheme to avenge his father".  But that's the problem with the story, he doesn't scheme to do anything, he just shows up and hangs around.  We all know he is going to kill Bill, but Scorsese takes forever to get there.  

A redeeming quality is the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill, he is the highlight of every scene he is in and is sure to get an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor (but he will lose to Gollum, see review of The Two Towers, below).  

The star of the show is clearly Gollum, a fully realized, authentic character that makes Jar-Jar Binks look like a sock puppet.   And therefore, this is the official kick-off of my "Gollum for Oscar Campaign".   The obvious question; How can a computer generated movie character be nominated for best supporting actor?  Of course he can't, winners have to be human (semi-exception for Roberto Benigni).  But what really contributes to an Oscar winning performance?  Obviously it's not just the work of the actor.   What about the contribution of the screenwriter, director, editor, make-up artist, and special effects crew?  Actors have stunt men perform some of their scenes, voices are dubbed by other actors (Mecedes McCambridge for Linda Blair as Regan in The Exorcist), and  body parts are removed (Lieutenant Dan's legs in Forrest Gump).    So why not Gollum, he showed more emotion than Clint Eastwood has in his entire movie career (and Clint HAS been nominated!).  

Despite the repetition, there are funny scenes, and the outtakes during the credits are hilarious. 

But what makes the film interesting is how the backdrop of white bread, Leave it to Beaver, "perfect" America is layered with real problems and how suddenly the characters start to act in a non-50's manner.  

One thing I realized about Bond, he never does anything to figure out who the bad guy is, or to really investigate the "plot to rule the world".  Someone else points him to the evil one's lair, he shows up, sneaks in, get captured, escapes, then does it all over again.  In the last escape all the bad guys get killed.   Another day, another Bond movie. 

NOTE: an increasing popular trend in films these days is the "puke scene".  It doesn't seem to matter if it's a comedy, drama or period piece, screenwriters seem to find vomiting oddly essential.  My wife finds this trend especially annoying.  While watching Moonlight Mile, a lead character doubles over, grabs his gut and we looked at each other because we knew what was "coming".  But he took a deep breath and got over it without any expulsion.  Before we could finish our sigh of relief the camera swings over to the family  dog, who at that moment decides to wretch (Exorcist style) all over the leg of an innocent bystander.  The "puke scene" taken to a new low; pet projectile vomiting. 

Writer director M. Night Shyamalan's third film displays his signature style once again, he has a great way of creating entertaining, yet thoughtful films. 

Roger really hated it, he picked apart the premise, apparently thinking that a sci-fi flick about giant creatures attacking earth needs to make sense (unless it is one that he liked, such as Eight Legged Freaks).  I ignored the scientific improbability and found that the action scenes were enough to justify the cost of ticket and corn.  It had a bit of Mad Max flavor and the effects were almost good enough to put this into the three star recommended category.   

Minority Report succeeds where A.I. failed, this is an amazing film that has everything going for it.  A thriller, who done it, special effects masterpiece with early lead on best movie of the year. 

 Although it borrows a theme from one of my all time favorites, Fail Safe, it wasn't able to duplicate the tension, the interaction between the president and his advisors wasn't credible (I enjoyed the Russian interaction more).   

MEANINGLESS COINCIDENCES:  

1) Two movies in two days, both with six letter titles beginning with the letter "E".  

2) I ran into a co-worker at the show, told him I was seeing Enigma, he said he hadn't heard of it.  I explained that it was a WWII movie about codebreakers.  He said "Oh, the one with the Navajo Indians", I said "No, that's another WWII movie about codebreakers called Windtalkers".  

  The first two acts in the two films are  similar, the conclusion is so far over the top that it the campiness almost makes it one I can recommend.  

Just kidding.  This movie features the only hotel room in the western world without thick curtains to keep out sunlight, especially odd because of the Alaskan 'midnight sun'.  That's what keeps Pacino awake for five days.  (Also, his guilty feelings about the murder, and the fact that he has walked through his last five movie roles without changing a thing about his character)

Anyway, an fairly interesting thriller with the obligatory ending. 

 Although a bit implausible at times, I was engaged the entire time, it is scary (and yes a bit violent at times, imagine the sound of sledge hammer slamming into the bad guys skull, I hate when that happens).   

 I really enjoyed the intelligent banter between the lead characters, sort of a West Wing feel.  Although it follows a traditional romantic comedy pattern (meet, fall in love, fall out of love, will they get back together?), the twist in KJS is that leads are women, one a confirmed bi-sexual, the other not so confirmed.  

The second view this film takes is more compelling, as we get an inside view of the urban warfare and atrocities committed by both sides.  War is still hell. 

Despite an excellent opening act, strong performances and an intriguing premise, Hart's War fades in the final 30 minutes as it tries too hard to set up conflicts that can only be resolved with honor and courage that is written in the script, but not believed on the screen.  

Via several silly plot maneuvers, Arnold manages to find the terrorist in a rebel camp in the jungles of Columbia.  Arnold is holding a grenade and can see his victim through a window about 15 feet away.  Does Arnold:

A)  Pull the pin and throw the grenade through the window, killing the murderer of his family.

OR

B) take five minutes to set a very fragile fuse on the grenade and place the device on a conveniently located fuel tank just outside the window, then run away and scream at bystanders to get out of the way, his screams are of course heard by the victim who manages to escape just before the fuel tank explodes.  

Naturally B is the answer, which gives Arnold enough time to get captured twice, escape twice and of course save America from certain demise in the end.