Finally, a film that seems to have it all together, and it feels like one of the year's best films. Based on the true story of the accounting of missing months (that turned into a year!) that George W. Bush did not spend in the National Guard back in the early 1970's, TRUTH is based on the novel ( TRUTH AND DUTY: THE PRESS, THE PRESIDENT, and the PRIVLEDGE OF POWER) by TV producer Mary Mapes, this tells the story of how she put together an illuminating news story that raised questions about the absences of Bush during his time in the Guard. Presented by stolward Dan Rather on CBS' 60 MINUTES, the film was ambushed by right wing politics that insisted that the documents were forged, and faulty testamony by a crucial witness eventually killed the story and lead to the firing of all the members of the CBS press who worked on the story, as well as Dan Rather's sudden departure from the station. The film is exciting to watch, as the "TRUTH" is slowly and carefully dug up--it works much like a mystery thriller, and it is humanized from the point of view of Mapes, as she becomes the story instead of the AWOL Bush. The ace in the movie is the presence of a superior cast--- especially Cate Blanchet, who is fascinating to watch. She often dominates most films she appears in, but she is working at her peak this year, with this spellbinding preformance. She is also excellent in the upcoming Todd Haynes film CAROL, but she propels TRUTH to moments of greatness. One partisaned movie goer, after reading the coda which proclaimed that Mary Mapes had not worked in television news since 2004 when this story broke, snorted loudly "GOOD!!!" One would wish that all fine films would effectively provoke such opinions (pro or con) and hopefully stimulate national debate. GRADE----------A-
Screened last May at SIFF, the new documentary TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL is a film, based on his biography that came out a couple years back, that skillfully provides an illuminating view of the actor's private and personal life as well as an entertaining look at the many films (and records!) that he made during his long career in Hollywood. As a gay actor, the studio made him go on many dates with actresses that acted as his "beard" but he managed to have long term relationships with men along the way, notably with Anthony Perkins (PSYCHO 1960), which lasted many years until they broke if off over competition from a role that Hunter had preformed for TV, but Perkins got the film---FEAR STRIKES OUT 1957. Many clips and interviews from Hunter and actors and friends make for an engrossing experience. GRADE----------A-
For the first 75 minutes, I loved the gothic, romantic, and eirie sensibilities of Guillermo del Toro's ghost story CRIMSON PEAK. Full of lush, intriguing visuals, the story of a single lonely woman who marries a strange man who lives with his sinister sister in a huge decrepit mansion that is literally falling apart, is compelling, spooky and entertaining. Unfortunately, the slight plot becomes rather predictable, and the ending scenes lack surprise and punch. Still, if you want an elegantly looking haunted house story, this is well done enough to satisfy you. GRADE---------B+
A documentary on the rise and fall of the iconic music/book store Tower Records, the fascinating film ALL THINGS MUST PASS skillfully invokes the pleasures that one had while shopping for favorite music during the 1980's and 1990's. When the end came, it was fast. One year they were making millions of dollars, and the next year they were loosing millions--all because of the change in listening habits and new technologie. The odd thing for me is that hundreds of stores closed quickly, but in the hub of the technology world, Japan, Tower Records is still going strong! GRADE-----------B
You've got to hand it to Bill Murray. He is a comic, sardonic force to be reconed with. He is the saving grace of the new comedy ROCK THE KASBAH. It took me about an hour into the film before I realized that this was a fictionalized version of the documentary AFGHAN STAR(2009), about a TV show that several years ago featured the first female singer in Afghan history, to great controversy and threats of violence. That mixture makes for uneasy viewing here, but Murray saves the film with his asides and energy. GRADE--------B
Sandra Bullock has her moments here, but the film OUR BRAND IS CRISIS suffers from a case of "Who cares." Set in South America, and based on a documentary from 2005, the film features Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton as opponents on different sides of a political campaign. But we don't know or understand the political differences enough to really get involved in the dirty shenanigans, and even though the film has some ethnocentric themes, I've nearly forgotten about it a week later. GRADE---------B-
Viewed on DVD-------------
Director John Woo's epic five hour film RED CLIFF (2008)was viewed all in one night, and it remains a skillful balancing of character, history, and impressively staged battle scenes. Based on the true story of two warlords who band together to defeat a much larger and aggressive "government" sanctioned army, they bravely fight off the encroaching soldiers with unusual and eatherial battle tactics. GRADE--------------B+
BROKEN ARROW (1950) has Jimmy Stewart trying to broker peace between the encroaching white man and the Apaches in the mid 1800's. He falls for an Apache maiden, and deals with Jeff Chandler playing Cochise. The film is engrossing, but I was a bit distracted by the mostly sucessful effort to hide Chandler's vivid blue eyes. Still, Stewart is, as always, very good as the one honest man in the west. The final scene, an ambush, is powerfully sad. GRADE---------B
TAKEN 3 has Liam Neeson in his tough guy mode again. The plot feels recycled, the violence is plentiful, the camera moves around as if the cameraman is on roller skates, and good triumphs in the end. Watchable but forgettable. GRADE---------C
I, FRANKENSTEIN (2014) Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy are featured in this confusing, convoluted modernization of the monster saga, where he must fight off forces of evil (when they are killed, their "light/soul" goes down into the ground) and sides with the (good) gargoyles, who when they are killed, their light/soul zooms up to the heavens! Nothing makes much sense, and the film is dull. GRADE---------------D+
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We just now watched Truth. My mother was very unwell at the time this was happening, but she had already told me some of it because the rumors about Bush's military service were circulating. I would add that Mapes' book, TRUTH AND DUTY: THE PRESS, THE PRESIDENT, and the PRIVLEDGE OF POWER, is absolutely not a novel (which would be fiction) but narrative nonfiction.
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