Doubt
Adapted from his play, and screen written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, his movie, ‘Doubt’, can occasionally reveal its stage background. However, this is not to deny the extraordinary power of the movie’s story, which concerns the Principal of a Catholic school, who has doubts about the conduct of their priest with a young boy student. Meryl Streep is absolutely amazing as this vindictive nun, who doesn’t have a shred of evidence, but conducts a ruthless campaign to have the priest expunged from their parish. Included in the cast are Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis, who also give outstanding performances, with much emotional depth.
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood produces, directs and stars in this extremely good movie. Clint portrays a cranky, ailing, and aging Korean War veteran, who finds himself the only white man living in his neighborhood, which has been over taken by a variety of immigrants. Clint is to strike up a friendship of sorts with the Asian family living next door to him, but, this, eventually, is to have tragic consequences. Clint directs at a leisurely pace, allowing for much character development, along with a slowly building tension. The movie does occasionally skate around sentimentality, but, Clint never allows it to become maudlin. It is a masterly movie, made by a master film-maker.
Igor
Fans of the classic Hollywood black and white ‘monster’ movie, like ‘Frankenstein’ (1931) and ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ (1935), are going to love this computer-animated cartoon. Within the genre, the ‘mad scientist’ always has a hunchbacked lab assistant called ‘Igor’, whose job it is to “pull the switch”. In this cartoon, this Igor has dreams of becoming a ‘mad scientist’ himself, and hopes to win the coveted first place award at the Annual Evil Science Fair. The monster, ‘Eva’, which Igor creates, is the best ‘new actress’ to hit the silver screen in a very long time. The cartoon is really not for children. It is old movie ‘buffs’, like me, who will enjoy it the most. Getting pleasure from the intentional clichés and historical movie references. John Cusak, Myleene Klass and John Cleese provide the voices.
What Just Happened
Directed by Barry Levinson, this movie depicts a typical week in the life of a Hollywood producer. On one hand he has to cope with a drugged-out movie director, who will not change the end of his latest movie, even though instructed to do so by the studio head. And, on the other hand, the producer has to deal with a temperamental movie star who will not shave off his beard, even when threatened with the closure of his movie. The producer also has to find time to raise money for his next production, maintain cordial relationships with his ex-wife, and make a flying visit to the Cannes Film Festival. It seems a pretty hectic lifestyle, and quite a lot to get through in one week. However, it is probably a fairly accurate depiction of a typical Hollywood lifestyle at this level of success, for the movie is based on Art Linson’s book ‘What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Frontline’. The movie, however, is not bitter. It is more ironical. Barry Levinson directs with a certain amount of realism, and the movie contains a phenomenal cast, which includes Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Bruce Willis, John Turturro, Robin Wright Penn and Stanley Tucci.
Appaloosa
‘Westerns’ have been with us almost as long as the cinema itself. Although a number of international countries now make passable ‘Horse Operas’ or ‘Spaghetti Westerns’, it goes without saying that all ‘westerns’ should come from the USA. Early Hollywood was instrumental in establishing the conventions of the ‘western’, which have now become the traditions. In his movie, ‘Appaloosa’ , director and star Ed Harris sticks pretty much to the tried and true Hollywood formula, all-the-same, he creates a marvelous ‘western’ which should keep you entertained throughout its running-time. A professional ‘gunman’ is hired by a town council to bring law and order to their city. Ed sets about his task quite cheerfully, and succeeds admirably.
The Reader
Set in Post-WWII Germany, a teenage boy has an affair with an odd and formidable woman twice his age. In later life, they are to meet again under some very straining circumstances. Written by David Hare and directed by Stephen Daldry, the film studies how one generation of Germans comes to terms with the crimes of an earlier generation. In the first part of the movie Kate Winslet gives a good performance, but, she starts to look a bit corny in the second half, when old age make-up overtakes her role. Ralph Fiennes really only appears in the last twenty minutes, tying up some loose plot ends.
Australia
Baz Luhrmann’s latest movie is full of American clichés, and Australian half-truths and myths, situated in an Australian ‘Outback’ location. Nicole Kidman is terrible as an English aristocrat, who drives a herd of cattle across the Northern Territory ‘Never-Never’ land. You keep getting the feeling that you have seen it all before in some old 1950s Hollywood classic. Even so, Luhrmann directs with his usual flair, throwing in everything from romance, to cattle stampedes, fisticuffs, and the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese during WWII. The movie features superb photography, and the mysterious Australian Landscape has never been captured before so well in the cinema.
