Top of the week is a cracker-jack of a documentary--CLIENT 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer--and before you think you know all you need to know about this movie, the tag line, which is quite accurate, reads "You don't know the real story..." To his credit, Spitzer, who is interviewed thoroughly in this film, takes full responsibility for the sexual escapades he became involved in, which ended his political career as New York governor. But the big picture paints a whole other side of the story. He started out as NY attorney general and became obsessed with stopping the rampant corruption and carelessness with which Wall Street did their business. He sued many financial companies for bad business practices--this was several years before the fall of Wall Street firms that led to the crippling effect on our current economy---and he had many successful results. When he became governor of NY he alienated many powerful (mostly Republican) people, and guess what!?--they all seemed to have a finger in his fall from grace. There are many telling moments as the heads of AIG and other institutions gloat over his disgrace, all the while stealing BILLIONS of dollars at the expense of the average American tax payer, you and I. It seems that the masses and the media care more about the sex lives of those in power, than the outrageous greediness and fraud that is perpetrated upon us by the rich and powerful of Wall Street. This film made me angry and disgusted. GRADE--------A-
When a young chef is bypassed for promotion at his high end restaurant, he quits and ends up helping out at his father's run down, greasy-spoon east Indian restaurant, and by doing so, finds his cooking inspiration and a girlfriend to boot. This is a very familiar story, with every plot point predictable from the onset, and the actors play it very broadly. While it's heart is in the right place, most of the jokes fall flat and the film lacks energy. TODAY'S SPECIAL doesn't live up to it's title. GRADE-------C+
The new thriller starring Russell Crowe, called THE NEXT THREE DAYS, is a major disappointment. The plot is the main culprit, since the film starts off with the arrest of his wife (Elizabeth Banks) but we aren't sure what for until later in the film, and that confuses us from the start. Then we never know what really happened until the very end of the film, and by that time I didn't really care. Here is an ordinary man whose wife is in prison for murder--somewhat of a mild-manner Everyman, who manages to track down and interview a famous felon who managed to escape from prison many years ago and is happy to spill the details (!?!) and then decides to break his wife out of prison because he loves her so much (?!?). The plotting didn't make much logical sense to me. He ends up paying a deaf motorcycle hoodlum (!?) to create new passports for his family, and creates a whole map with pictures and charts on the kitchen wall of his plan. (Apparently he had no friends or family who would drop in to visit, even though he has a son in elementary school who must have been suspicious, and he acts strangely towards his in-laws--but they must never go to the house, either.) And don't get me started on the scene where he single-handedly steals money from a meth-lab house BY SETTING THE HOUSE ON FIRE (!!!!!!!!!) and then tries to be heroic by pulling a drug dealer out of the flames and putting him in his car (!!!!!!) When the break out plan does start into motion, he seems to turn into James Bond, with everything seeming to fall his way. I didn't buy it for a second. The drama is manipulated in every possible manner (suspense, drama, tears, love), sort of like the ickiness I felt when I watched director Paul Haggis' earlier film CRASH in 2005. Sometimes his writing works as in CASINO ROYALE and MILLION DOLLAR BABY, but when he's off, he's really off. GRADE-------D+
______________
This was a busy week for DVD's and some TCM selections. Now over 25 years old, the made-for TV film THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN (1974) still holds up incredibly well, especially the career capping performance of Cicely Tyson, who won the best Actress Emmy for her role as a woman's remarkable life from age 12 as a slave through age 110. The final simple scene in front of the courthouse is one of the most memorable moments captured on film in any medium, and has haunted me since I first saw it on TV long ago. It still carries a big BIG punch. GRADE-----B+
An early Bette Davis film I'd never seen turned out to be an excellent example of the soap opera/three hankie melodrama---THE OLD MAID (1939)--and that year was what many consider to be the golden year of Hollywood films. (Great films from 1939 include GONE WITH THE WIND, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, STAGECOACH, DARK VICTORY, NINOTCHKA, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, and the amazing WIZARD OF OZ.) Add THE OLD MAID to that incredible line up. Davis and Miriam Hopkins play cousins who compete for the affections of the same man--a rivalry which spans many years. The biggest fireworks seem to come on the day of some important event--usually a wedding, where some lurid secret must be revealed at that very moment---just minutes before the ceremony!!!!! Set in the 1860's-thru the turn of the century, this story based on the Edith Wharton novel, is an engrossing, and entertaining bit of Americana. GRADE------B+
I think the recent SEX AND THE CITY II (2010) got a bum rap when it opened to scathing reviews last May during SIFF, so I missed it then. I realized early on that the (very) few laughs in the first half hour were actually very serious--the opening scenes features an over-the-top gay wedding, complete with a full men's chorus and Liza Minnelli, but in lieu of the current political (gay marriage) climate, it is actually rather enlightening as the characters reflect on love and marriage and change. The film seems to reposition itself into out and out drama by the end. Fans of the TV series were bound to be disappointed by the lack of smart, shocking sex comedy antics, and I know I had to reset my expectations differently, but I think there were some very clever, sly, shocking and moving moments in the story that sees the four best friends reconnecting in a trip to Abu Dhabi and discovering that their lives had all changed drastically. Their shallowness becomes truly appalling to themselves, as they grapple with restrictive customs of the Middle East and issues dealing with their changing bodies and more adult relationships. Do I wish there were more laughs? Sure, but I was never bored, and the writers keep the faith by exploring sides of the women we didn't really get to see on TV. Except maybe Samantha, who's still a wanton slut obsessed with sex. Yeah. GRADE------B
An early, episodic George Stevens film, ANNIE OAKLEY(1935) features a sparkling Barbara Stanwyck as the most famous sharp shooter in the world, who joins Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and has a romantic relationship with another sharp shooter. The Wild West show seemed portrayed very authentically. Another charming bit of Americana. GRADE-----B
I saw my first two Brigitte Bardot films this week. The first is a comedy mystery called COME DANCE WITH ME! (1959) which has Bardot joining a dance studio to try to solve the murder of her husband's blackmailer. The plot is nothing special, but Bardot is a revelation to the uninitiated. There are several homosexual characters that are treated with natural grace, so it comes as a bit of a shock when some nasty stereotypes are dragged out towards end of the film. GRADE-----B-
An earlier Bardot film, NAUGHTY GIRL (1956) aka MAM'ZELLE PIGALLE has a younger teen Brigitte staying with a famous entertainer friend of her father while he's away, and she innocently wrecks havoc on all concerned. She is delightfully charming, the best thing in the film, and clearly a star in the making. GRADE------C+
Cary Grant and Betsy Drake (who were married at the time) star in a sentimental comedy called ROOM FOR ONE MORE (1952), about a kind hearted couple who keep adopting kids and pets. Grant keeps complaining that he can't get any (sexual) attention because their house is full of five kids, a large dog, and a litter of kittens, and that running joke becomes rather tiresome, but I have to say that it seemed very true! GRADE------C+
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Wasteland, Unstoppable, Morning Glory, Boys Are Back
The best documentary at SIFF last May was an amazing film that illustrates how art can affect and possibly change the lives those who make it and view it. In this case, the art can empower the people living at the bottom of society. WASTELAND chronicles Sao Paulo born artist Vic Muniz (now living in Brooklyn) as he goes back to Sao Paulo to a land fill dump, and creates some astonishing works of art out of the garbage that is collected there, with the help of some local garbage collectors and sorters. The film has great emotional power as it shows how subjects become overcome when they realize that even their humble lives can have great beauty and dignity. The film doesn't flinch or sugar coat--there are some tragic ramifications, too, as it raises that decades old question--if you offer a poor, disadvantaged person a way out of the ghetto through art (or acting or a taste of some sort of celebrity, etc.) then how responsible are you to keep them out of poverty? Indeed, how do you keep them out of poverty without supporting them totally? GRADE--------A
UNSTOPPABLE is a runaway train thriller starring Denzel Washington, and it works about as well as this situation can work itself out. Fortunately, the camera work is not as chaotic as other thrillers (the dreadfully jerking camera work drove me crazy in the recent FAIR GAME and BOURNE films) and the actors are all game. It is a popcorn movie--loud enough to drowned out the chomping of kernels, but smart and swift enough to keep most people from feeling the need to chomp in the first place. Satisfyingly and realistically grounded. GRADE-----B
The script is witty and fast, and the leads, especially Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford add some charming gravitas to the familiar story of a young naive girl (a flighty and sweet Rachel McAdams) who gets a dream job as an executive producer for a struggling early early morning TV talk show in NYC and struggles to raise it up in the ratings. The film, MORNING GLORY actually gets better at the half way mark, when she tries to convince the higher executives and her cranky co-hosts (Keaton and Ford) to try to lighten up and stop taking things so seriously, and there is a lot of humor in seeing these old pros try to be civil while acting like fools for the cameras. We do know where it is all headed, however, but it is an easy watch.
GRADE-------B-
The remaining films of the week are all from the public library's DVD collection. Released just last year, THE BOYS ARE BACK (2009)stars Clive Owen and was directed by Australian Scott Hicks who created the wonderful SHINE over 10 years ago. Based on a true story and book, the film creates a world where a widowed man must build a relationship with his young son after the death of his wife and then also with his older teen son who lives in England with his ex-wife. He does this by giving them a lot of freedom, and things don't always go very well. There is a strong sense of sadness and grieving in the early part of the film, but the film centers on the love and humanity of this damaged family, and transcends the circumstances of losing a loved one. The two sons are played with extraordinary skill by two unknowns and the film looks gorgeous, with beautiful scenery of southern Australia. The music is moving and technically this is one quality movie-- an under appreciated GEM...... GRADE-------A-
Samuel Fuller's NAKED KISS (1964) is a lucid, sometimes lurid melodrama of an ex-prostitute who is trying to go good in a new small town, but of course, many folks, especially the town cop who beds her when she first arrives, think she can never change. The opening scene is most memorable, as a bald woman pummels a drunken man unconscious with a very large and heavy purse. This is our first glimpse of the heroine, played with striking authority by Constance Towers, who reminds me a great deal in this film of the beautiful,icy cold but humane presence of Tippi Hedren (THE BIRDS and MARNIE). Towers has appeared on quite a number of TV shows over the years (including Perry Mason, Young and the Restless and Frasier just to name a few, and currently she's a regular on General Hospital) but this film and Fuller's SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963) are her most memorable films. She is so watchable and likable in this potboiler that it is a shame she hasn't made it bigger in movies. This is the performance of her life and she will mesmerize you. GRADE------B+
The British spy thriller THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966) reminds me of other classy, down and dirty (and subtle) spy films from mostly the 1960's which include IPCRESS FILE, FUNERAL IN BERLIN (both with a young Michael Caine as spy Harry Palmer), and THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and others, which were sort of an antidote from the glossy, noisy Ian Fleming/James Bond extravagances. George Segal is in Berlin trying to find the headquarters of the continuing neo-Nazi presence of this post WWII city, and a dashing Max Von Sydow is his nemesis, with Senta Berger and Alec Guiness in support. Intriguing, if a bit underwhelming, with an economical script by Harold Pinter. GRADE-----B.
UNSTOPPABLE is a runaway train thriller starring Denzel Washington, and it works about as well as this situation can work itself out. Fortunately, the camera work is not as chaotic as other thrillers (the dreadfully jerking camera work drove me crazy in the recent FAIR GAME and BOURNE films) and the actors are all game. It is a popcorn movie--loud enough to drowned out the chomping of kernels, but smart and swift enough to keep most people from feeling the need to chomp in the first place. Satisfyingly and realistically grounded. GRADE-----B
The script is witty and fast, and the leads, especially Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford add some charming gravitas to the familiar story of a young naive girl (a flighty and sweet Rachel McAdams) who gets a dream job as an executive producer for a struggling early early morning TV talk show in NYC and struggles to raise it up in the ratings. The film, MORNING GLORY actually gets better at the half way mark, when she tries to convince the higher executives and her cranky co-hosts (Keaton and Ford) to try to lighten up and stop taking things so seriously, and there is a lot of humor in seeing these old pros try to be civil while acting like fools for the cameras. We do know where it is all headed, however, but it is an easy watch.
GRADE-------B-
The remaining films of the week are all from the public library's DVD collection. Released just last year, THE BOYS ARE BACK (2009)stars Clive Owen and was directed by Australian Scott Hicks who created the wonderful SHINE over 10 years ago. Based on a true story and book, the film creates a world where a widowed man must build a relationship with his young son after the death of his wife and then also with his older teen son who lives in England with his ex-wife. He does this by giving them a lot of freedom, and things don't always go very well. There is a strong sense of sadness and grieving in the early part of the film, but the film centers on the love and humanity of this damaged family, and transcends the circumstances of losing a loved one. The two sons are played with extraordinary skill by two unknowns and the film looks gorgeous, with beautiful scenery of southern Australia. The music is moving and technically this is one quality movie-- an under appreciated GEM...... GRADE-------A-
Samuel Fuller's NAKED KISS (1964) is a lucid, sometimes lurid melodrama of an ex-prostitute who is trying to go good in a new small town, but of course, many folks, especially the town cop who beds her when she first arrives, think she can never change. The opening scene is most memorable, as a bald woman pummels a drunken man unconscious with a very large and heavy purse. This is our first glimpse of the heroine, played with striking authority by Constance Towers, who reminds me a great deal in this film of the beautiful,icy cold but humane presence of Tippi Hedren (THE BIRDS and MARNIE). Towers has appeared on quite a number of TV shows over the years (including Perry Mason, Young and the Restless and Frasier just to name a few, and currently she's a regular on General Hospital) but this film and Fuller's SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963) are her most memorable films. She is so watchable and likable in this potboiler that it is a shame she hasn't made it bigger in movies. This is the performance of her life and she will mesmerize you. GRADE------B+
The British spy thriller THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966) reminds me of other classy, down and dirty (and subtle) spy films from mostly the 1960's which include IPCRESS FILE, FUNERAL IN BERLIN (both with a young Michael Caine as spy Harry Palmer), and THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and others, which were sort of an antidote from the glossy, noisy Ian Fleming/James Bond extravagances. George Segal is in Berlin trying to find the headquarters of the continuing neo-Nazi presence of this post WWII city, and a dashing Max Von Sydow is his nemesis, with Senta Berger and Alec Guiness in support. Intriguing, if a bit underwhelming, with an economical script by Harold Pinter. GRADE-----B.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Hereafter, Fair Game, Life As We Know It, Jolene
Clint Eastwood keeps churning out a movie a year, and they are predictably smooth, entertaining, engrossing and watchable. This is equally true of his latest film HEREAFTER, which despite the fact that there are a lot of this type of topic on TV and theatre and movies (think MEDIUM, The MENTALIST, The SIXTH SENSE to name just a few), Eastwood makes this film very serious and contemplative, and because it is so well acted and produced, our attention is held raptly for the whole two hours. Afterwards we might complain that we've seen it all before, but at the time it works well. There is a particularly rapturous and frightening early segment that is awesome in its technical skill and special effects---a tsunami hits an Indonesian coastal village---but the rest of the film is more concerned with feelings of loss and loneliness, and sadness permeates most every scene. GRADE------B
There is a good, complex political story in FAIR GAME (a lame title) by director Doug Liman, which is based on the true story of Valerie Plame, the ex-CIA spy who was outed by the Bush administration in retaliation for articles written by her husband writer Joe Wilson about the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the political lying and coverup. Unfortunately, the film is nearly undone by a busy camera style that feels like the camera-person is a 12 year old dyslexic boy filming while on roller skates. Watching such a film makes a lot of people nauseous and can give you a headache. It is certainly annoying, and instead of creating tension (the plot has plenty of that anyway) it makes you want to escape to the exit. Fortunately, the plot has a lot of surprises and irony, and the actors, especially leads Naomi Watts and Sean Penn create a very human side to these protagonists. GRADE--------B
I kept avoiding SECRETARIAT because it seemed to be promoted as a generic Disney-fied film, and I was partly right. (I saw it this week because AMC theatres have now added early matinees before noon on Fridays in addition to Saturdays and Sundays for just $5 and I was desperate to see something to show my support. I ended up with a PERSONAL, PRIVATE screening, and enjoyed myself for it.) The film plays like a very safe, gentrified version that many Disney dramas fall in to. But the story is very engrossing, and the ace in this film is Diane Lane's strong performance as a wife and mother of four who against the odds (and her husband's wishes) takes over her dying father's horse ranch and raises and trains the remarkable big red horse who went on to win the very rare triple crown of horse racing. A colorful near-hammy performance by John Malkovich is also quite entertaining, and by the end I was won over. GRADE------B-
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT is a predictably plotted comic filming of a sad and serious subject. When a young couple dies in a car crash, they leave the care and upbringing of their baby to their best single friends---two people who tried to date once, disastrously, and who now hate each other. They are forced now together to raise this one year old. Thankfully, Kathrine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy) and Josh Duhamel (TV's Las Vegas) are charming together and create some interest in the obvious plot trajectory. GRADE---------C+
One of the first creators of the Seattle International Film Festival, director
Dan Ireland's latest film was screened several years ago at SIFF, and has just now started opening around the country. To be fair, the film has almost faded from my memory and I have not seen this latest version which may have been tweaked or reedited, but what I remember most was that the film seemed to be a hodge podge of adventures as the young main character called JOLENE (played nicely by newcomer Jessica Chastain) grows up from her teen years from a neglected orphan to a manipulative young adult, the result of abusive relationships and an unloving family base. The most distinctive episode has her under the care (in prison) of a lonely guard (Frances Fisher) who has sexual designs on her, and later she becomes involved with a Las Vegas mobster, with tragic results. The film ends enigmatically. I didn't really care too much about her. Yes, it was a hard knock life, but she is also portrayed as an amoral, mixed up human being who makes a lot of bad choices, too. The film was a let down for much of that SIFF audience, who mostly walked out in stunned silence, even though the film makers were present in the audience. GRADE------C
This week the DVD choices were not so hot. My wife and a good friend Curt are both fans of THE LONG LONG TRAILER (1954) which is based on a popular novel at the time, but played to me like an extended version of an I LOVE LUCY episode, where Lucy and Ricki get married and leave for an extended road trip/honeymoon pulling a very (dangerously) long trailer across the country. There are the typical jokes about trying to control a trailer that large (can't pull over easily, can't stop too fast, can't back it up without some catastrophe, etc), and Lucy has a hobby of loading up on canned goods in the already overloaded rig, as well as collecting huge rocks (mini boulders the size of sea turtles) that add tons of weight. I don't think I laughed once, but smiled a few times. Strictly for lovers of I LOVE LUCY. GRADE-----C+
A film noir that seemed rather flat to me was CRISS CROSS (1949) with a strong cast including Burt Lancaster, Yvonne de Carlo and Dan Duryea. It is very watchable (especially de Carlo, who I haven't seen much of except for The Munsters), but raised a lot of red flags for me, and the ending (Shakespearean, with everyone lying dead) left me feeling rather tired instead of inspired. GRADE------C+
Guy Ritchie's film before SHERLOCK HOLMES(2009)--- which plays like another version of LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS--is called ROCK N ROLLA (2008)which features some amusing performances by Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkenson and Tom Hardy. But is it just me or has he remade the same film some 4 times now. (Also see REVOLVER and SNATCH.) London gangsters with strong accents, lots of humor amidst the violent outbursts, plenty of gun play, plot twists, revenge, murder, torture and corruption and a scene or two of kinky sex. Seen it all before, Guy. Let's try a different genre. (In fact, SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 is coming soon.) GRADE------C+
A British film that was hardly released, CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA (2005) wants so hard to be a BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM or BRIDE AND PREJUDICE or THE WEDDING BANQUET, but it is most definitely not in every aspect. When a young man returns from medical school he moves in with his male lover and his aunt and cousin. Immediately his East Indian family plans for him to get married to a long time family friend, and arranges a wedding party. The young man is so passive that he cannot tell his family that he is gay, so ends up going along with the plans so as not to hurt any one's feelings (?!--what about his boyfriend?!) There are a couple of funny characters, including the abrasive, drunken auntie, her precocious daughter, and the grandmother who loves to give the evil eye to the auntie. After several amusing twists, the truth comes out in a potentially very moving scene, but the film is so poorly filmed and photographed and leisurely directed that even that scene is blown. If ever a film needed to be remade, this one could be improved about 200 percent. GRADE--------C-
There is a good, complex political story in FAIR GAME (a lame title) by director Doug Liman, which is based on the true story of Valerie Plame, the ex-CIA spy who was outed by the Bush administration in retaliation for articles written by her husband writer Joe Wilson about the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the political lying and coverup. Unfortunately, the film is nearly undone by a busy camera style that feels like the camera-person is a 12 year old dyslexic boy filming while on roller skates. Watching such a film makes a lot of people nauseous and can give you a headache. It is certainly annoying, and instead of creating tension (the plot has plenty of that anyway) it makes you want to escape to the exit. Fortunately, the plot has a lot of surprises and irony, and the actors, especially leads Naomi Watts and Sean Penn create a very human side to these protagonists. GRADE--------B
I kept avoiding SECRETARIAT because it seemed to be promoted as a generic Disney-fied film, and I was partly right. (I saw it this week because AMC theatres have now added early matinees before noon on Fridays in addition to Saturdays and Sundays for just $5 and I was desperate to see something to show my support. I ended up with a PERSONAL, PRIVATE screening, and enjoyed myself for it.) The film plays like a very safe, gentrified version that many Disney dramas fall in to. But the story is very engrossing, and the ace in this film is Diane Lane's strong performance as a wife and mother of four who against the odds (and her husband's wishes) takes over her dying father's horse ranch and raises and trains the remarkable big red horse who went on to win the very rare triple crown of horse racing. A colorful near-hammy performance by John Malkovich is also quite entertaining, and by the end I was won over. GRADE------B-
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT is a predictably plotted comic filming of a sad and serious subject. When a young couple dies in a car crash, they leave the care and upbringing of their baby to their best single friends---two people who tried to date once, disastrously, and who now hate each other. They are forced now together to raise this one year old. Thankfully, Kathrine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy) and Josh Duhamel (TV's Las Vegas) are charming together and create some interest in the obvious plot trajectory. GRADE---------C+
One of the first creators of the Seattle International Film Festival, director
Dan Ireland's latest film was screened several years ago at SIFF, and has just now started opening around the country. To be fair, the film has almost faded from my memory and I have not seen this latest version which may have been tweaked or reedited, but what I remember most was that the film seemed to be a hodge podge of adventures as the young main character called JOLENE (played nicely by newcomer Jessica Chastain) grows up from her teen years from a neglected orphan to a manipulative young adult, the result of abusive relationships and an unloving family base. The most distinctive episode has her under the care (in prison) of a lonely guard (Frances Fisher) who has sexual designs on her, and later she becomes involved with a Las Vegas mobster, with tragic results. The film ends enigmatically. I didn't really care too much about her. Yes, it was a hard knock life, but she is also portrayed as an amoral, mixed up human being who makes a lot of bad choices, too. The film was a let down for much of that SIFF audience, who mostly walked out in stunned silence, even though the film makers were present in the audience. GRADE------C
This week the DVD choices were not so hot. My wife and a good friend Curt are both fans of THE LONG LONG TRAILER (1954) which is based on a popular novel at the time, but played to me like an extended version of an I LOVE LUCY episode, where Lucy and Ricki get married and leave for an extended road trip/honeymoon pulling a very (dangerously) long trailer across the country. There are the typical jokes about trying to control a trailer that large (can't pull over easily, can't stop too fast, can't back it up without some catastrophe, etc), and Lucy has a hobby of loading up on canned goods in the already overloaded rig, as well as collecting huge rocks (mini boulders the size of sea turtles) that add tons of weight. I don't think I laughed once, but smiled a few times. Strictly for lovers of I LOVE LUCY. GRADE-----C+
A film noir that seemed rather flat to me was CRISS CROSS (1949) with a strong cast including Burt Lancaster, Yvonne de Carlo and Dan Duryea. It is very watchable (especially de Carlo, who I haven't seen much of except for The Munsters), but raised a lot of red flags for me, and the ending (Shakespearean, with everyone lying dead) left me feeling rather tired instead of inspired. GRADE------C+
Guy Ritchie's film before SHERLOCK HOLMES(2009)--- which plays like another version of LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS--is called ROCK N ROLLA (2008)which features some amusing performances by Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkenson and Tom Hardy. But is it just me or has he remade the same film some 4 times now. (Also see REVOLVER and SNATCH.) London gangsters with strong accents, lots of humor amidst the violent outbursts, plenty of gun play, plot twists, revenge, murder, torture and corruption and a scene or two of kinky sex. Seen it all before, Guy. Let's try a different genre. (In fact, SHERLOCK HOLMES 2 is coming soon.) GRADE------C+
A British film that was hardly released, CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA (2005) wants so hard to be a BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM or BRIDE AND PREJUDICE or THE WEDDING BANQUET, but it is most definitely not in every aspect. When a young man returns from medical school he moves in with his male lover and his aunt and cousin. Immediately his East Indian family plans for him to get married to a long time family friend, and arranges a wedding party. The young man is so passive that he cannot tell his family that he is gay, so ends up going along with the plans so as not to hurt any one's feelings (?!--what about his boyfriend?!) There are a couple of funny characters, including the abrasive, drunken auntie, her precocious daughter, and the grandmother who loves to give the evil eye to the auntie. After several amusing twists, the truth comes out in a potentially very moving scene, but the film is so poorly filmed and photographed and leisurely directed that even that scene is blown. If ever a film needed to be remade, this one could be improved about 200 percent. GRADE--------C-
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