AMERICAN HUSTLE is the best Martin Scorsese film that Scorsese did not make. The director, David O. Russell has been on a big time role---his last two films received multiple Oscar nominations and won supporting actor Oscars for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo (for THE FIGHTER 2010) and best actress for Jennifer Lawrence (for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK 2012)--all awards well deserved. In the new AMERICAN HUSTLE, I can predict nominations for most of the cast-- Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams, again, and director and script and picture, along with some others. There's punch and drama and style in scene after scene, and the film becomes almost hypnotically compulsive as it follows a complicated plot that mimics the true life ABSCAM scandal in the 1990's. But as with any good drama, the real interest here lies in our sympathy with the characters, and here D.O.R scores with producing vivid characterizations from his large cast, which also includes Bradley Cooper, Louis C.K., Elisabeth Rohm, Alessandro Nivola and Robert DeNiro. Every time a new character appears, we are fascinated by who they are and what they are going to do. The film is punctuated by a sensational musical score that features quite a number of appropriate songs from the 90's. This is a quality film that will stand up to multiple viewings. GRADE-------A
It's low key and charming, but NEBRASKA creates a world of lived in characters and goes in directions that will surprise you. It is much more than a simple story of a demented older man (played with astonishing vacuity by Bruce Dern) misunderstanding his winning of one million dollars. It's yearning for a past time and place, and becomes steeped in regrettable nostalgia as the main characters reconnect with friends and family from the past. The mood reminded me a lot of the Peter Bagdonovitch masterpiece THE LAST PICTURE SHOW 1971--both films share somber yet beautiful black and white cinematography and feature bleak pasts and futures for many in their dying small town culture. GRADE------A-
A lot of the action mimics the earlier film, but HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE creates it's own mood and in many ways is the superior film, especially since the whole new theme of revolution is in the air. I have a similar complaint in that the first HUNGER GAMES used a lot of hand held camera which made it hard to see what was going on---especially in the crucial start of the murderous game itself, as a dozen teens rush to get their hands on their weapons. Well, CATCHING FIRE uses that same stupid hand held procedure again---right when the teens are rushing to get their weapons, but at least most of the rest of the film was easier on the eyes. And this new film has a bizarre ending that really keeps you keen to see the rest of the story. GRADE-----A-
I was impressed with the directorial decisions made by British director Steve McQueen in the harsh, bleak film 12 YEARS A SLAVE. The film, about a Northern black freeman who is kidnapped to the pre Civil War south, does not back away from showing the dismal cruelties of slavery, and the cast is very persuasive. There's absolutely no humor, no luridity (as, for example, in last year's DJANGO) and very little humanity shown, however, and the film becomes quite depressing. In spite of a superior production, fine acting and skillful production, it is a film I never want to experience again. GRADE------B+
Another finely constructed and acted film is also quite bleak (that being the key word here for the week before Christmas) and that film is OUT OF THE FURNACE. An excellent Christian Bale, again, is struggling to overcome a jail experience for vehicular manslaughter, but his younger brother (an effective Casey Affleck) is so disturbed from his time spent in Middle East warfare that he has a nihilistic view of his life, and becomes involved in bare knuckle boxing, eventually with some very unsavory characters. Well done but v e r y heavy. GRADE-----B
DVD CHOICES of the WEEK
I finally caught up with a filmed version of a play PASSING STRANGE (2008) by director Spike Lee, and he captures the energy, music and pathos of the characters very well. He knows exactly where to put the camera without being showy, and he doesn't use much handheld stuff, letting the characters talk and sing to progress the plot. Basically, your standard tale of a young African American teen who leaves his mother's Los Angeles home after high school to find social and sexual
liberation in France and then Germany, discovering sex, love, loneliness, politics, friendship and betrayal in the doing. The music and lyrics were written and performed by STEW and the total cast of five portray many characters in effective and energetic ways. I enjoyed the music very much and found the production to be impressive. GRADE------B
The first version of 310PM TO YUMA (1957) --a Western featuring a sinister Glenn Ford and fascinating Van Heflin was introduced on TCM as featuring a "homoerotic seduction scene on a wedding bed" between a deputized Heflin and the killer he's trying to get to prison in Yuma, played by a sneering Ford. Ya know, looking at it that way, I could see it, and it certainly added an interesting element to the tension. This film was faithfully remade in 2007 with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, and as I recall, it was very effective. GRADE-----B
Set at Christmas time, THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER is a first rate film based on a play, where a cranky man (Monty Wooley) slips on the icy stairs of a local business man, breaking his hip, and is immovable indefinitely, upsetting the household in many acerbic and amusing ways. The cast includes delicious turns by Bette Davis and Ann Sheridan who spar off over the love of a young man. (They apparently didn't like each other in real life, either, so that only enhances their scenes together.). Jimmy Durante and Billie Burke among others also amuse. At times the dialogue and action become frenetic, but it moves along at an funny, clever pace, and constantly makes me laugh.
GRADE-------A-
Filmed in over a dozen different versions over the years, this British version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951) aka SCROOGE is, in my mind, the best. Alastair Sims is the perfect Scrooge, and the supporting characters are splendid. GRADE------A-
A curious film, REMEMBER THE NIGHT (1940) features Fred MacMurray as a lawyer who must prosecute thief Barbara Stanwyck, but first, in a strangely awkward coincidence, takes her home to his family over the Christmas holiday week, where they (naturally) fall in love. This film is an interesting precursor to the classic DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)where MacMurray and Stanwyck work together to murder her husband. I'd never seen this film, but I really liked the play between the leads, and the supporting characters include the memorable Beulah Bondi and a young Sterling Holloway. Preston Sturges who later became a great director with films like CHRISTMAS IN JULY, SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS, LADY EVE, PALM BEACH STORY, MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK and others, made all the mentioned within the next 5 years. REMEMBER THE NIGHT has all the themes of his directed films--strong women, sexual discovery, poverty, humanistic characteristics, etc. GRADE------B+
I'd never seen THE BISHOP'S WIFE (1947) before, but I found Cary Grant, David Niven and especially Loretta Young all quite charming. Set just before Christmas as Bishop Niven is going through a crisis about trying to raise money for a new church, an angel named Dudley (Grant) arrives to help him through his problems with fund raising and becoming a better family man--but not in ways he thinks he needs or wants. There's a bit of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, and CHRISTMAS CAROL, and it's not as good as those, but it manages to be engaging and surprising. Remade as THE PREACHER'S WIFE (1996) with Denzel Washington as Dudley, and Whitney Houston, but that was not very memorable. GRADE------B+
In spite of a strong cast which includes George Raft, George Brent, Randolf Scott, Joan Blondell and Ann Harding, the seldom seen film CHRISTMAS EVE (1947) was so deadly dull and convoluted at the same time, that I kept nodding off in the first hour, and finally I turned it off. GRADE----D
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