Reviews Written By: A36EW68H08UOCSprovided by Amazon.com |
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 | Body Double | |
 | "If you're going to rip-off an artiste... may as well be a master" | 2009-10-26 |
| Brian DePalma knows a good film when he sees one. He has made several excellent films (The Untouchables) and some films that are cultural landmarks (Carrie, Scarface). His work borrows heavily from other masterworks. Body Double has plot points and several specific shots that trace their roots directly to two of Alfred Hitchcock's best: Rear Window and Vertigo. Body Double mixes these scenes with a leading man who exists in a world far removed from the world of Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
Craig Wasson stars as Jake Scully, an insecure actor who has the lead in a D-List Vampire movie and a serious phobia of enclosed places, which is established in the opening as poor Jake is paralyzed in his on-set coffin. Like Jimmy Stewart in "Rear Window", Wasson is placed into a position where he views his neighbors through the windows of his apartment. Like Stewart in "Vertigo" he is also positioned to become emotionally attached to a woman who is not who he thinks she is, set up as a witness to a false crime that is meant to disguise a murder. Where Stewart's vertigo paralyzes his character with a fear of heights at key moments in that story, Wasson's claustrophobia does the same here. Body Double shares with Vertigo extended sequences where our hero trails the woman he is becoming entangled with in lengthy scenes with almost no dialogue, as well as a swirling 360 degree camera shot when the hero kisses the woman of mystery. But De Palma falls somewhat short of the master. Let's just say Wasson is not Jimmy Stewart, Melanie Griffith is not Grace Kelly, etc. While most stories require some degree of suspension of disbelief, DePalma puts in a few unbelievable story elements - some add a cheating "gotcha" and some seem to add no purpose other than to linger in a lurid setting. Here are a few questions if you choose to see this film: 1. One character spends a significant length of time in disguise. Consider how long it would take to put on that disguise. Then consider the shot of the character without the disguise and the next time you see that character IN disguise. Without an accomplice this character apparently applies a makeup job in a minute that would have taken Rick Baker hours. 2. One of the key plot points involves the hiring of Melanie Griffith's character, one of the top porno actresses, "Holly Body". Holly tells Jake at one point that she gets $2,000 a day. Holly is hired to perform an arousing dance for a private audience for two nights. Why not just hire some stripper? Why hire "the top porno actress in the business"? Plot holes and sub-par acting keep me from giving a full recommendation, but if you're a film director and you're going to steal from someone, you could do a lot worse than Hitchcock and "Vertigo" and "Rear Window". On the other hand - if you have NOT seen Vertigo or Rear Window, you'd be an idiot to even consider watching this movie first instead. | ||
 | Numb3rs - The Complete First Season | |
 | "Grade "A" Police Procedural" | 2009-10-07 |
| Television has had a love affair with cop and detective shows for decades, from Dragnet through Hill Street Blues to CSI - Large-Metropolitin-City-of-your-Choice.
The best ones endure in memory and frankly make compelling viewing. Not meaning to cast stones, but the mediocre ones are the television equivalent of cotton candy. There are a few (The Mentalist) that almost, but don't QUITE reach the highest heights. Right now there are two "cop shows" that started with a unique angle, then added great casts and writing. In my mind "NUMB3RS" joins "Dexter" at the top of the current police heap. Both have writing - dialogue and storylines - that easily match up with the best cop movies. (Why couldn't someone have provided a better vehicle for Pacino and De Niro than "Righteous Kill", which looks like a high-school production compared to Dexter and Numbers?) But I digress. NUMB3RS is the "genius" drama. (The Big Band Theory is the genius comedy, and it really IS comic genius.) Rob Morrow, from another of our favorite shows, Northern Exposure, shows impressive range. On NE his Dr. Fleischman was a slight of stature New York Doctor transplanted to Alaska. In NUMB3RS he plays Don Eppes, a tough dedicated-to-his-career FBI professional with commanding stature. Almost every episode features Don and a team of FBI professionals storming a room with weapons brandished. On "Exposure" he played the intellectual. Although Eppes is not dumb - he's an observant professional - Don is easily the least intelligent of the leading characters. Don's math genius brother is Charles, played by David Krumholtz. Five years younger than Don, Charles has become an internationally renowned mathematician. The sibling rivalry angle provides many plot points, and we see goes back to the time that Charles graduated in the same high school class as Don - only at age thirteen. Charles, now 30-ish, still lives at home with their father, played brilliantly with heart and intelligence by Judd Hirsch. Don was building his federal law enforcement career away from home until their now deceased mother became sick. The series begins apparently soon after their mother's death, leaving a house with two men, frequently visited by still-single brother Don. Alimi Ballard is solid as a fellow FBI man, and Navi Rawat looks like a young Catherine Zeta-Jones as a graduate student who studies under Charlie. Peter MacNicol gets another hit TV show (after Ally McBeal and 24) as a physicist colleague of Charlie. The show is equal parts brains and heart - contemplation and action. Almost every episode has me at the edge of my seat, and while the scripts sometimes require at least a momentary suspension of disbelief, they are smart and not insulting. As cop shows go - right now NUMB3RS is good enough to spend my time. | ||
 | Entourage: The Complete First Season | |
| "Wouldn't YOU?" | 2009-09-23 |
| A few years ago I heard Bobcat Goldthwait's "comeback" stand-up CD (which is pretty darned funny, by the way...) Part of his routine dealt with the challenges facing middle-aging men. At one point he admits that he tries to keep himself in SOME kind of shape for romance reasons: "If it weren't for women, I'd be fatter than David Crosby!"
I bring this up because women make men do things they wouldn't ordinarily do - some good... some bad. What if you had a group of men - four best friends from Queens ten years out of high school? What if ONE of them became a big movie star, hired the other buddies as "assistants", moved to Hollywood, and generally got every wish of every teen-aged boy? Psychology students learn that the id is the part of the human personality that indulges every selfish desire: the characters of "Entourage" are almost all id. (The show is most interesting when the characters are able to suppress their "manliness" long enough to show the more desirable human qualities: compassion, kindness, etc.) Entourage follows the professional and love lives of four friends from New York. The group's world swirls around Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), an up and coming 30-ish movie star from Queens. Vince is the kind of actor who is competing for roles with Jake Gyllenhaal and Leonardo DiCaprio. Vince's older brother is Johnny "Drama" Chase (Kevin Dillon). In a genius piece of casting Dillon, the not quite as accomplished and good-looking brother of Matt Dillon, plays the not as accomplished and not as good-looking brother of Vince. While Vince walks through a world where he is always the center, with beautiful women and agents and producers constantly vying for his attention, "Drama" was once the star of "Viking Quest" two decades ago, and today struggles with attempts to keep his self-esteem afloat in the shadow of his mega-star brother. Jerry Ferrara plays "Turtle", the least talented and only dumpy member of the group. Turtle knows well that he owes everything to the fame of Vince. He's happy to lead a love-life that consists of girls drawn to the aura that surrounds Vince who are not chosen by the man himself. Kevin Connolly plays Eric "E" Murphy, Vince's best friend. "E" is the character most rooted in the real world, the one most viewers would identify with. Vince trusts "E" enough to make him his manager, and one of the best continuing storylines of the show involves "E" growing from a New York Pizza manager to Hollywood power player. Jeremy Piven plays Ari Gold, Vince's agent. Piven has won several awards as the over-the-top Ari - intense and arrogant and vulgar, but again, some of the best moments of the show come when Ari shows the slightest hint of humanity. Entourage is a behind-the-scenes show, and succeeds in an extremely entertaining way, in the same way that "The West Wing" showed us a glimpse behind the curtain at the White House and "Bull Durham" gave us an idea of what happens in those pitcher's mound pow-wows that sports fans get to see, but never hear. Not quite grown up - and with little incentive to do so - the boys live lives that bounce between parties and restaurants, always surrounded by beautiful women, and usually looking for Vince's next project. What would YOU do if your best friend became the next ten million per movie star and invited you and your other buds from the old `hood to hang out in Hollywood? This show gives us a delicious "what if". | ||
 | Entourage - The Complete Second Season | |
| "I love Yatabe's description: "Sex and the City" for guys..." | 2009-09-23 |
| I have no idea how much women may enjoy "Entourage" - I'm also reminded of my brother's description: it's like a he-man woman-hater's club for grown-ups, for those who remember that episode of the old Hal Roach Little Rascals.
Entourage, like other great shows of the past, starts off strong in season one, then in the second season becomes even more fleshed out as the cast and writers become more familiar with their format. Adrian Grenier's Vinny Chase is coming off filming of the art-house "Queen's Boulevard" and is hoping for another meaty project. He is not particularly interested in donning the glittering suit as Aquaman. Kevin Connolly's "E" continues to grow from former pizza-boy to Hollywood manager - at one point he is recruited by the owner of Ari's agency (played as a magnificent white-haired lion by Malcolm McDowell). Jerry Ferraro as Turtle gets a little more meat - when he recovers their stolen ride from the police pound he finds a hip-hop demo by Saigon in the CD player. Instead of turning in Saigon he thinks the music would sound great on the soundtrack of "Queen's Boulevard" and offers to be Saigon's manager. Kevin Dillon is again miraculous as the bundled mess of anxiety and bravado that is Johnny Drama Chase. Jeremy Piven stands out in an exceptional cast as Vincent's agent Ari - part Andrew Dice Clay, part Tasmanian Devil. Ari percolates along a hair-trigger away from a volcanic eruption of biblical proportion and you get the idea that he'd sell his own grandmother for a good movie deal. Celebrity guest roles remain an important part of the mix and you have to give 'em credit - Bob Saget, Gary Busey, Mandy Moore, James Woods, Ralph Macchio and several others play fictional versions of themselves that are hilarious and self-deprecating. (Saget hangs out at the high-class house of ill repute down the street from the Entourage manse, Macchio is quick to drop into a Karate Kid-like stance when challenged... in other words - the celebrity appearances aren't just cameos - they're actually worked into the story, and they're FUNNY.) | ||
 | Margaritaville Key West Frozen Concoction Maker (DM1000) | |
| "It helps me hang on..." | 2009-09-03 |
| Inspired by the Jimmy Buffet song and the mega-successful restaurant chain that followed - the Margaritaville Frozen Concoction Maker not only inspires awe-struck looks from those who see it's shiny components and just plain "cool" operation, it also makes the best frozen drinks you can imagine right at home.
If you see one in a store it just plain catches your eye - be warned that it's not a teeny-tiny blender. It takes up 3 times as much counter space, which means we zip it up in it's also attractive carrying canvas case between sessions. (After all - we're not downing pitchers of mixed drinks every night, are we?) Then your eye catches the price - Yikes! Can a $200 blender possibly be worth it? My honey caught the gleam in my eye when we'd pass one on display (plus she likes a good margarita as much as the next or last Parrothead), and put her money down for a gift. We're both glad she did. I saw a one star review claiming that it does no better job than a $30 blender.... P-shaw! Just not possible. What makes it better? It doesn't just BLEND (although it would be more than happy and capable to do that...) No - this delectable device shaves the ice first. (Sometimes we use it just to make shaved-ice treats for sweltering summer evenings...) You pour a bowlful of ice cubes up into the hopper. You put the desired amount and type of mix into the pitcher. (For margaritas we use Jose Cuervo Top Shelf - already has the Grand Marnier mixed in!) You set the can-be-read-in-any-language dial to quantity. You push the start button. Sit back and enjoy the brief show: the machine springs to life, shaving your ice cubes into beautiful snow that falls delicately into your mix. After a few seconds the blender starts up. It stops automatically. Pour yourself a salt-rimmed glass of heaven. You can experiment with quantities of mix and shaved ice: if your margarita is too runny (and I love the suggestion of another reviewer that you chill the pitcher first since the shaved ice melts faster than cubes), you can simply manually activate the shaver (a different easily marked button) to put more snow into your mix, then hit a quick blend. The parts that touch mix are definitely as easy to disassemble and clean as any blender you ever saw. You may wonder "hey, what happens to the ice cubes up on the top that are NOT shaved?" Easy my pop-top avoiding friend: as they melt the resultant water is redirected to an easy to empty reservoir on the back of the machine. Okay - it's expensive. But how much would you love a REALLY dreamy and creamy margarita to go with those tacos you're cooking up? When I go through our list of "life's little luxuries" this thing is right up there with our 52 inch plasma. | ||
 | Charlotte's Web (Trophy Newbery) | |
| "E.B. White's Magic Tale" | 2009-07-28 |
| Writers are implored to show... don't tell. As co-author (with William Strunk, Jr.) of the best known grammar text in English, The Elements of Style, Elwyn Brooks White knew a thing or two about writing. With apologies to Stuart Little and Strunk & White, Charlotte's Web is not only E.B. White's masterpiece, it is one of the World's Great Works. Winner of the Laura Ingolls Wilder Medal and a Newbery Honor Book, it deserves a place on the shelf beside Tom Sawyer and Treasure Island and Little Women. Eudora Welty wrote "As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done." White, indeed, shows us. He shows us Fern, a pre-adolescent girl living on a farm, full of youthful idealism, intervening just before her father sends a newborn pig to the great beyond because he is a runt. He shows us that Wilbur the Pig was worth saving, because he is a kind-hearted soul, a friend to all. He shows us selfishness in the rat Templeton. Best of all, he shows us Charlotte, one of the most noble characters ever written, who decides to dedicate her life to the saving of Wilbur, because after the runt pig is spared from his near execution, he goes to Uncle Homer Zuckerman's farm and learns the *reason* pigs are kept. The method Charlotte uses to spare Wilbur from slaughter is wondrous. Zuckerman's farm is populated with other memorable characters - cows and horses and gabbing geese and the rat, Templeton. The story is full of wonder and several times we feel real peril. The ending is both a triumph and bittersweet at a level that feels intense. Let's just say my first real lesson about loss came from Charlotte's Web, and the paragraph where that happens never fails to bring real tears to my eyes. My wife and I are both readers and whilst still in the full bloom of love agreed that one of our activities would be reading books to one another. "What book should we start with?" we pondered aloud, then simultaneously we both blurted out "Charlotte's Web!" This isn't just a good book. It is a cherished treasure. | ||
 | Charlotte's Web | |
| "E.B. White's Magic Tale" | 2009-07-28 |
| Writers are implored to show... don't tell. As co-author (with William Strunk, Jr.) of the best known grammar text in English, The Elements of Style, Elwyn Brooks White knew a thing or two about writing. With apologies to Stuart Little and Strunk & White, Charlotte's Web is not only E.B. White's masterpiece, it is one of the World's Great Works. Winner of the Laura Ingolls Wilder Medal and a Newbery Honor Book, it deserves a place on the shelf beside Tom Sawyer and Treasure Island and Little Women. Eudora Welty wrote "As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done."
White, indeed, shows us. He shows us Fern, a pre-adolescent girl living on a farm, full of youthful idealism, intervening just before her father sends a newborn pig to the great beyond because he is a runt. He shows us that Wilbur the Pig was worth saving, because he is a kind-hearted soul, a friend to all. He shows us selfishness in the rat Templeton. Best of all, he shows us Charlotte, one of the most noble characters ever written, who decides to dedicate her life to the saving of Wilbur, because after the runt pig is spared from his near execution, he goes to Uncle Homer Zuckerman's farm and learns the *reason* pigs are kept. The method Charlotte uses to spare Wilbur from slaughter is wondrous. Zuckerman's farm is populated with other memorable characters - cows and horses and gabbing geese and the rat, Templeton. The story is full of wonder and several times we feel real peril. The ending is both a triumph and bittersweet at a level that feels intense. Let's just say my first real lesson about loss came from Charlotte's Web, and the paragraph where that happens never fails to bring real tears to my eyes. My wife and I are both readers and whilst still in the full bloom of love agreed that one of our activities would be reading books to one another. "What book should we start with?" we pondered aloud, then simultaneously we both blurted out "Charlotte's Web!" This isn't just a good book. It is a cherished treasure. | ||
 | Charlotte's Web | |
| "E.B. White's Magic Tale" | 2009-07-28 |
| Writers are implored to show... don't tell. As co-author (with William Strunk, Jr.) of the best known grammar text in English, The Elements of Style, Elwyn Brooks White knew a thing or two about writing. With apologies to Stuart Little and Strunk & White, Charlotte's Web is not only E.B. White's masterpiece, it is one of the World's Great Works. Winner of the Laura Ingolls Wilder Medal and a Newbery Honor Book, it deserves a place on the shelf beside Tom Sawyer and Treasure Island and Little Women. Eudora Welty wrote "As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done."
White, indeed, shows us. He shows us Fern, a pre-adolescent girl living on a farm, full of youthful idealism, intervening just before her father sends a newborn pig to the great beyond because he is a runt. He shows us that Wilbur the Pig was worth saving, because he is a kind-hearted soul, a friend to all. He shows us selfishness in the rat Templeton. Best of all, he shows us Charlotte, one of the most noble characters ever written, who decides to dedicate her life to the saving of Wilbur, because after the runt pig is spared from his near execution, he goes to Uncle Homer Zuckerman's farm and learns the *reason* pigs are kept. The method Charlotte uses to spare Wilbur from slaughter is wondrous. Zuckerman's farm is populated with other memorable characters - cows and horses and gabbing geese and the rat, Templeton. The story is full of wonder and several times we feel real peril. The ending is both a triumph and bittersweet at a level that feels intense. Let's just say my first real lesson about loss came from Charlotte's Web, and the paragraph where that happens never fails to bring real tears to my eyes. My wife and I are both readers and whilst still in the full bloom of love agreed that one of our activities would be reading books to one another. "What book should we start with?" we pondered aloud, then simultaneously we both blurted out "Charlotte's Web!" This isn't just a good book. It is a cherished treasure. | ||
![Get Smart [Blu-ray]](product_images/4951000/get-smart-blu-ray_t-4951370.jpg) | Get Smart [Blu-ray] | |
| "Thanks, Max. I needed a good laugh." | 2009-05-29 |
| I was a fan of Don Adam's portrayal of Maxwell Smart in the original series, a show that was funny and silly, but also biting and clever far ahead of it's time. One of our daughters saw the new film and said she laughed her head off the whole way through. The Mrs. and I agreed we should check it out. We were not disappointed. Steve Carrell does not try an impersonation of Don Adams, but the writers and performers do a great job of staying true to the spirit of the original while updating it in a way that our daughters, who wouldn't know Don Adams from John Quincy Adams, LIKED it. We liked it too. All of the "great bits" from the old series are weaved in, at least momentarily, and sometimes I was laughing at the subtle homage. But at other times the filmmakers wisely decided to put Steve Carrell in a room and turn him loose. He has a scene in an airplane lavatory with a "special" Swiss Army knife that MUST be seen, although the Mrs. recommends you not have a full bladder when you do. Another scene involving one of those movie laser security systems and a rodent had me howling. My brother and I are big fans of "Chuck Norris Jokes/Facts", and I had to call him immediately after the film to tell him he HAD to see it (after our mutual disappointment at the new Indiana Jones.) The plot is a skeleton on which to hang the multiple hilarious bits, but it works fairly well as a spy movie. Some of the Bond or Flint movies had plots twice as idiotic, and they weren't supposed to be comedies. Carrell is ably supported by Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. She has several great moments - flashing her long legs on a dance floor and saving Max from certain death in a mid-air rescue involving a parachute and a kiss. Alan Arkin brings the perfect pitch to this tale as the Chief, with one foot squarely planted in the "serious spy world" of government, and the other foot ready to observe Smart's silliness. I was ready to laugh at a movie and this one delivered. The last time I laughed that hard in a theater was at "Anchorman". For fans of the old show, or simply someone who could use a good laugh. | ||
![Seven Pounds [Blu-ray]](product_images/4968000/seven-pounds-blu-ray_t-4968317.jpg) | Seven Pounds [Blu-ray] | |
| "Well-made Manipulative Tear-Jerker" | 2009-05-19 |
| There is a profound sadness that permeates every frame of "Seven Pounds". Will Smith stars as "Ben Thomas," a man who is haunted by past demons. Early in the film you see that he is determined to ferret out good in a few fellow humans. Ben shows up in unconventional places, flashes his IRS credentials, then decides whether or not to give people deeply in debt to the government a reprieve or not. You wonder whether or not the IRS makes house calls, but then you know that they don't track their clients to the hospital and silently observe them. In flashbacks we begin to see that Ben had an earlier, happier life. An aerospace engineer, engaged to a beautiful woman and living in an extravagant beach house, you wonder what happened to transform Ben into an IRS auditor, sad and alone and living in a seedy motel. Rosario Dawson is glorious as Emily Posa, a woman who could use a little IRS relief - and a new heart. Ben tells Emily she is being audited in a cafeteria, but she remembers seeing him before. He was watching her while she was in her hotel room, recovering from her latest cardiac crisis. Ben begins to not so much audit Emily as court her, and you can see that their developing romance is one of the first bits of happiness either has experienced in a long while. Woody Harrelson has an important minor role as a blind meat phone salesman, Ezra. In an opening scene Ben phones Ezra to complain about a bad meat order. Ben uses increasingly hostile and insulting language and Ezra takes it with a smile. You wonder about this Ben character, but you also wonder what this first scene has to do with the remainder of the film. Ben also has a brother who phones a few times during the film. Ben has become difficult to track down since moving to the seedy motel. Michael Ealy plays the brother, and with a few cryptic words you know that there is more between these men than their common ancestry. Ben moves enigmatically from scene to scene, and it is not difficult to guess the final destination. For a film like this to work, you have to not mind being manipulated as you reach the final destination. For the most part - this film works. | ||
![Vantage Point [Blu-ray]](product_images/4943000/4943968-vantage-point-blu-ray_t.jpg) | Vantage Point [Blu-ray] | |
 | "Political Thriller with a Gimmick" | 2009-05-18 |
| "Vantage Point" is not a boring way to spend ninety minutes. It has an excellent cast featuring a couple of Academy Award winners, and it has special effects that harken back to the days when car chases really looked hazardous and explosions looked like they happened to buildings rather than in a computer. That being said, all the characters are two-dimensional, and the plot is as well. It just finished raining for about 15 minutes and the puddle outside my door is deeper than this movie. The central story surrounds an assassination attempt on the President of the United States, played by William Hurt, while he is attending an historic anti-terrorism summit in Spain. The film's central gimmick is that the same twenty minute period are shown repeatedly from several different perspectives. The filmmakers insult the intelligence of the audience by "fast-rewinding" each twenty minute segment before starting on the "next perspective", so you know you're going backward in time, you know... Each segment adds new information to what came before, and each segment extends what happened before by a few moments, until finally the "rewinding" stops and enough viewpoints have been introduced to allow a pretty exciting car chase with secret agents chasing bad guys and an ambulance holding the President being driven by more bad guys. The first segment stars Sigourney Weaver as a tv news director covering the summit while choreographing her cameramen and the anchor, played by Zoe Saldana, who wants to cover the anti-American protestors as much as the Presidential summit. After the President is shot there are two more explosions, the second one laying waste to the entire plaza and apparently killing everyone except for the handful of people whose viewpoints we are following. The second segment follows secret service men Taylor and Barnes, played by Matthew Fox and Dennis Quaid. Many are surprised to see Quaid's Barnes there - a year earlier he was shot in another attempt on the President, and this is his first time back in the saddle. Other segments follow American tourist Howard Lewis, played by Forest Whitaker, and the Spanish Mayor's bodyguard, played by Edgar Ramirez. A final segment takes us behind the scenes with the President and his political advisors before rewinding one final time and letting the story play forward. The terrorists behind the attack are shown to be more cunning and apparently better equipped than the forces around the President, but they are also paper-thin caricatures and other than a few throwaway lines about how long the war on terrorism has been going on, motivations are also as shallow as that puddle I mentioned earlier. | ||
 | Rome - The Complete First Season | |
| "Compelling... addictive" | 2009-04-30 |
| You'll find many reviews here discussing the impressive production values in "Rome", and some mentioning that HBO's involvement allowed for things to be depicted that wouldn't be allowed on network television. (And the show is inappropriate for youngsters or those offended by occasional course language and vivid depictions of sex.) Part of the reason for the lavish production was the sharing of costs between HBO, the BBC and RAI (the Italian Public Service Broadcaster). "Rome" benefits from a dedication to hold nothing back. The sets look convincing enough to me to believe I'm looking at the ancient Senate, or Cleopatra's palace or a humble domestic abode or alleyway of 2,000 years ago. The costumes, etc. are equally impressive. The cast is first-rate as well, from the lowliest soldier to Caesar. I read a review complaining about the English and Scottish accents. Since I don't speak Latin the accents didn't bother me a bit. The historical period depicted begins during the reign of Pompey Magnus, while Gaius Julius Caesar and Marc Antony are battling in Gaul. This first season ends with the end of the reign of Julius Caesar. Several plot lines are woven together as expertly as the threads of a fine Persian rug. Ciarán Hinds is featured as Caesar and he is believably regal. Caesar's legions include Kevin McKidd as officer Lucius Vorenus and Ray Stevenson as foot soldier Titus Pullo. Early in the series they are sent on a suicide mission, and both are rewarded after they survive. Noble Vorenus returns home to the family he hasn't seen in years to find a wife surprised to see him. Pullo returns to Rome eager to continue his rough-house ways, drinking and chasing women. Stevenson is particularly effective in this role, making Pullo a kind of barbarian-with-a-heart-of-gold. Back in Rome the family of the Julii are guided by beautiful, scheming Atia, played with delicious claws and fangs and other body parts occasionally visible by Polly Walker. Each episode is a miniature epic and you feel compelled to watch the next episode. Cancelled at the end of the second season because of the costs involved - I was ready for more of this excellent show, but also pleased at the writer's ability to wrap up major story lines. | ||
 | Rome - The Complete Second Season | |
| "Easily one of the most compelling television productions ever" | 2009-04-30 |
| Cancelled due to the titanic costs of production rather than because of lack of quality, this is the second and final season of "Rome" and it continues with the excellent acting, direction, writing, costumes, sets and cinematography seen in season one. To avoid spoilers I'll just say this season begins at the end of the reign of Julius Caesar. Control of the Empire is torn between Brutus and Caesar's great nephew Octavian and his right hand man Mark Antony. Seductress Atia is torn between the two - she is mother of Octavian and mistress to Antony. Atia is also involved in an escalating rivalry with Servilia, the wife of Julius Caesar. This season also deals with the domestication of Lucius Vorenus - his transition from officer in Caesar's legion to local politician. Noble Vorenus spends much of this season estranged from his family for reasons I won't spoil here, but his character arc is one of the most satisfying of the show. We're also treated to the "whatever it takes" actions of Titus Pullo, the former foot-soldier. Pullo is a barbaric brute, but also with compassion and the ability to learn and become more humane and educated. An historic sub-plot occurs in Egypt where Antony and Cleopatra lounge in hazed bliss. The visuals are eye-popping, the storyline broadly historically accurate, and the melodramas, probably mostly fictional, are compelling. The Mrs. and I were sad to see "Rome" end after only two glorious seasons. This ranks among the most addictive television we've ever seen. | ||
 | Tony Rice - Sings Gordon Lightfoot | |
| "A Heavenly Match of Tunes and Performer" | 2009-04-26 |
| Tony Rice is a guitar chameleon - applying his six-string Herringbone to every genre where an acoustic guitar can be used. Vocal chord damage has left him with a voice that sounds like later years Miles Davis. (Harsh and raspy for those unfamiliar.) But in the decades before his voice changed Tony Rice had a rich, emotive voice - the kind that inspired Alison Krauss to try music, and the kind that always served as lead vocalist in bands while talented singers like Ricky Skaggs and Jimmy Gaudreau applied their heavenly harmony to the master's lead. Rice and Skaggs and J.D.Crowe turned bluegrass vocals on their ear. Previously, Bluegrass singers used the Bill Monroe "high lonesome" sound, characterized by an unmistakeable twang as well as keening tones - reaching for and not always finding the right pitch. On Crowe's "The New South" Rice and company introduced vocals that were noticeably smoother and accessible for mainstream listeners, but still firmly rooted in the Bluegrass tradition. Following innovators like the Country Gentlemen, The New South searched for music outside of Appalachia and mining country. Rice frequently brought the work of Canadian Gordon Lightfoot to his projects, beginning with "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder" from that first New South recording. Here Rounder collects a couple of decades of Rice/Lightfoot collaborations and travels the gamut from up-tempo foot-tappers like "Walls" and "Sixteen Miles" to contemplative Lightfoot ballads like "Early Morning Rain" and "Home From the Forest". Tony's version of Gordon's classic "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" is a show-stopper. | ||
 | The Godfather, Part II | |
| "Joins its Older Brother at the top of Film History" | 2009-04-21 |
| Two years after Francis Ford Coppola made an indelible mark on Hollywood with "The Godfather", he returned with writer Mario Puzo to add to the saga of the Corleones. Part II is an ambitious film - it cuts back and forth between two timelines. One tells the story of the original Godfather - Vito. This part relies heavily upon Puzo's original novel. The second part tells about Michael, Kay, Fredo and Tom Hagen starting about seven years after the end of the first film. Essentially the entire cast returned for part II, with the exception of Marlon Brando. The cast for this film is augmented by Robert Deniro, who won the Academy Award for best supporting actor, and Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg, who were also nominated for the same award. Bruno Kirby, John Cazale, Robert Duvall and G.D. Spradlin could all have received the same nomination. Talia Shire returns as Connie Corleone, and she was nominated for best supporting actress. We see in early scenes the young Vito Andolini circa approximately 1900, born in the town of Corleone, Siciliy. His father is murdered after insulting a local mafia chief and his brother Paolo is murdered during his father's funeral procession after vowing revenge. Vito is spirited to a ship headed for Ellis Island and an immigration official assigns Vito the surname of his Italian home-town rather than his father. We see the rest of the family at their Lake Tahoe home about seven years after the end of the first movie, celebrating the first communion of son Anthony. Like the other films, this one opens with a large celebration that gathers the cast to allow the audience to become familiar with them prior to settling down to business with the Don. Michael is planning a large deal in both Vegas and Havana, and he is eager to not let old New York contacts, represented by Gazzo as Frank Pentangili, interfere with his plans with Hyman Roth, played by Lee Strasberg. When an assassination attempt floods Michael and Kay's bedroom with bullets, Michael realizes he had to be betrayed by someone very close to the family. He turns the family business temporarily over to Duvall's Tom Hagen while he takes a trip to try to save the big family deals and discover the identify of the betrayer. The scene where Michael unexpectedly discovers the traitor is one of the most famous pieces of wordless acting in film history. We see scenes of the early Vito, played as a young adult by young Robert Deniro, mixed with the scenes of Michael fifty years later. We see that Vito comes to the business by a sense of necessity, but uses his power as the Don with great human compassion, while Michael, who we know ten years earlier had no intention of joining the family business, becomes a more cruel Mafia Kingpin than his father. The first two Godfather films are not only "The Standard" for films about organized crime: they are among the best films ever made. Period. | ||
 | The Godfather, Part II | |
| "Joins its Older Brother at the top of Film History" | 2009-04-21 |
| Two years after Francis Ford Coppola made an indelible mark on Hollywood with "The Godfather", he returned with writer Mario Puzo to add to the saga of the Corleones. Part II is an ambitious film - it cuts back and forth between two timelines. One tells the story of the original Godfather - Vito. This part relies heavily upon Puzo's original novel. The second part tells about Michael, Kay, Fredo and Tom Hagen starting about seven years after the end of the first film. Essentially the entire cast returned for part II, with the exception of Marlon Brando. The cast for this film is augmented by Robert Deniro, who won the Academy Award for best supporting actor, and Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg, who were also nominated for the same award. Bruno Kirby, John Cazale, Robert Duvall and G.D. Spradlin could all have received the same nomination. Talia Shire returns as Connie Corleone, and she was nominated for best supporting actress. We see in early scenes the young Vito Andolini circa approximately 1900, born in the town of Corleone, Siciliy. His father is murdered after insulting a local mafia chief and his brother Paolo is murdered during his father's funeral procession after vowing revenge. Vito is spirited to a ship headed for Ellis Island and an immigration official assigns Vito the surname of his Italian home-town rather than his father. We see the rest of the family at their Lake Tahoe home about seven years after the end of the first movie, celebrating the first communion of son Anthony. Like the other films, this one opens with a large celebration that gathers the cast to allow the audience to become familiar with them prior to settling down to business with the Don. Michael is planning a large deal in both Vegas and Havana, and he is eager to not let old New York contacts, represented by Gazzo as Frank Pentangili, interfere with his plans with Hyman Roth, played by Lee Strasberg. When an assassination attempt floods Michael and Kay's bedroom with bullets, Michael realizes he had to be betrayed by someone very close to the family. He turns the family business temporarily over to Duvall's Tom Hagen while he takes a trip to try to save the big family deals and discover the identify of the betrayer. The scene where Michael unexpectedly discovers the traitor is one of the most famous pieces of wordless acting in film history. We see scenes of the early Vito, played as a young adult by young Robert Deniro, mixed with the scenes of Michael fifty years later. We see that Vito comes to the business by a sense of necessity, but uses his power as the Don with great human compassion, while Michael, who we know ten years earlier had no intention of joining the family business, becomes a more cruel Mafia Kingpin than his father. The first two Godfather films are not only "The Standard" for films about organized crime: they are among the best films ever made. Period. | ||
 | Meet Joe Black | |
| "Interesting - Occasionally brilliant - Could have used some judicious editing" | 2009-04-20 |
| Death decides that he (she? it?) wants to experience life as a human being. He also wants a good tour guide. Death starts tracking Williams Parrish, an uber-wealthy, but apparently also uber good and moral and ethical businessman. When Bill Parrish's heart starts moving towards the final heart attack, Death inhabits Brad Pitt's body and gives Mr. Parrish the deal that as long as Death is entertained by Mr. Parrish, Death won't take Mr. Parrish to the great beyond. Parrish is played by Anthony Hopkins, just a few years removed from "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Remains of the Day". This performance is critical to the movie, because you have to believe that with Kings and Queens and Captains of Science and Industry to choose from, Death would finally choose a guided tour from Bill Parrish than from, say, Gandhi or Donald Trump or Abraham Lincoln. Parrish has two daughters. Marcia Gay Harden is Allison, the eldest daughter who is married to Jeffrey Tambor as Quince, an executive at Bill's company. Allison is type A and is putting the finishing touches on Bill's sixty-fifth birthday party - the kind of party with hundreds of guests that include the President. Quince is believable both as the kind of man who'd be married to Allison, as well as the kind of man who'd be on Bill's board of directors by merit rather than nepotism. The second daughter is Susan, an Internal Medicine resident played by Claire Forlani. Susan is probably going to marry Drew, who is the Shark at Bill's company, and although Bill likes Drew at his company, he thinks that Susan should wait for lightning to strike rather than marry Drew because it seems a good match. Susan met the man owning the Brad Pitt body at a coffee shop soon after getting the "lightning strike" advice from her father, and in a lengthy, drawn out scene, you get the idea that both Susan and the Brad Pitt Coffee Shop guy think lightning may be striking. When Susan meets Death later on she is taken aback, not because she knows she is speaking to Death, but because the man with the Brad Pitt looks seems different from the man at the coffee shop. After Death tells Bill the "rules" of their arrangement Bill realizes he can't just walk around and say "hello... I'd like you to meet my new friend, Death..." and improvises the name "Joe Black". Many stories depend on the transformation of their characters, and sometimes one transformation is enough for a good story. In some ways "Meet Joe Black" is a little too ambitious because it tries to show Death's introduction to the human experience, complete with kissing and peanut butter, Bill's transformation toward the end of his life, Susan's acceptance of the need for "lightning", Allison's realization that she's not her father's favorite and Bill's Board of Directors learning that some business deals shouldn't happen. Most of the films that run three hours earn that right. Theater turnovers and audience attention spans have made a two hour standard something that is rarely exceeded. Meet Joe Black clocks in at 2:58. The film has many awkward pauses - often in the character's dialogue - that don't advance the plot. A well timed and infrequent pause can heighten the dramatic tension. Too many and poorly timed pauses can make a 2:20 movie 2:58. Still - the Mrs. and I enjoyed it. | ||
![Meet Joe Black [HD DVD]](product_images/4932000/4932372_thumb.jpg) | Meet Joe Black [HD DVD] | |
| "Interesting - Occasionally brilliant - Could have used some judicious editing" | 2009-04-20 |
| Death decides that he (she? it?) wants to experience life as a human being. He also wants a good tour guide. Death starts tracking Williams Parrish, an uber-wealthy, but apparently also uber good and moral and ethical businessman. When Bill Parrish's heart starts moving towards the final heart attack, Death inhabits Brad Pitt's body and gives Mr. Parrish the deal that as long as Death is entertained by Mr. Parrish, Death won't take Mr. Parrish to the great beyond. Parrish is played by Anthony Hopkins, just a few years removed from "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Remains of the Day". This performance is critical to the movie, because you have to believe that with Kings and Queens and Captains of Science and Industry to choose from, Death would finally choose a guided tour from Bill Parrish than from, say, Gandhi or Donald Trump or Abraham Lincoln. Parrish has two daughters. Marcia Gay Harden is Allison, the eldest daughter who is married to Jeffrey Tambor as Quince, an executive at Bill's company. Allison is type A and is putting the finishing touches on Bill's sixty-fifth birthday party - the kind of party with hundreds of guests that include the President. Quince is believable both as the kind of man who'd be married to Allison, as well as the kind of man who'd be on Bill's board of directors by merit rather than nepotism. The second daughter is Susan, an Internal Medicine resident played by Claire Forlani. Susan is probably going to marry Drew, who is the Shark at Bill's company, and although Bill likes Drew at his company, he thinks that Susan should wait for lightning to strike rather than marry Drew because it seems a good match. Susan met the man owning the Brad Pitt body at a coffee shop soon after getting the "lightning strike" advice from her father, and in a lengthy, drawn out scene, you get the idea that both Susan and the Brad Pitt Coffee Shop guy think lightning may be striking. When Susan meets Death later on she is taken aback, not because she knows she is speaking to Death, but because the man with the Brad Pitt looks seems different from the man at the coffee shop. After Death tells Bill the "rules" of their arrangement Bill realizes he can't just walk around and say "hello... I'd like you to meet my new friend, Death..." and improvises the name "Joe Black". Many stories depend on the transformation of their characters, and sometimes one transformation is enough for a good story. In some ways "Meet Joe Black" is a little too ambitious because it tries to show Death's introduction to the human experience, complete with kissing and peanut butter, Bill's transformation toward the end of his life, Susan's acceptance of the need for "lightning", Allison's realization that she's not her father's favorite and Bill's Board of Directors learning that some business deals shouldn't happen. Most of the films that run three hours earn that right. Theater turnovers and audience attention spans have made a two hour standard something that is rarely exceeded. Meet Joe Black clocks in at 2:58. The film has many awkward pauses - often in the character's dialogue - that don't advance the plot. A well timed and infrequent pause can heighten the dramatic tension. Too many and poorly timed pauses can make a 2:20 movie 2:58. Still - the Mrs. and I enjoyed it. | ||
 | The Family Man | |
| "A More than Passable Romantic Comedic Fantasy" | 2009-04-20 |
| "The Family Man" is, at its core, a Romantic Comedy, but it is also a fantasy in the "how your life might have been" genre that includes everything from "Sliding Doors" to "It's A Wonderful Life." Nicolas Cage plays Jack Campbell, an ambitious young man who leaves fiancée Kate Reynolds, played by Tea Leoni, in 1987 to pursue an internship in London. Kate gives him a tearful, prescient speech at the airport about how certain she is that this means the end for them and begging him not to take the flight. The prologue gives way to thirteen years later where Jack is now President of his own firm on Wall Street and Scrooge-ish Jack gives his employees management-speak encouragement for why they are there working late Christmas Eve - and must return to work Christmas as well. (How many blockbuster mergers and acquisitions are accomplished on Christmas? I'm just askin'.) Jack is not only a slave-driver boss, he also makes only the most shallow attachments to any women in his life. His secretary tells him that he has a message from Kate - who he hasn't heard from since you-know-when. That night Jack interrupts a hold-up at the local convenience store, trying to cool off the stick-up man and save those threatened with a gun. The stick-up guy is played by the always good Don Cheadle and... hey, he's not just a stick-up guy! His exact nature is never exactly explained, but there are several obvious similarities with Clarence the Angel Third Class from "Wonderful Life". For one, he gives Jack, against his wishes, a "glimpse" of the alternate reality life. (For another - he gives Jack a bell to summon him, reminiscent of the part of Wonderful Life where bell-ringing accompanies Angels receiving their wings. The next morning Jack wakes up - in bed beside Kate, his wife of these many years, along with their two children in their suburban home in North Jersey, where they moved from New York, because that was no place to raise a family. Since this is a fantasy, no one can say what is the correct way to respond to such a situation, but I'll go ahead and say I found Jimmy Stewart's interpretation better than Mr. Cage's. Jack is not only no longer a wealthy Wall-Street Investment guy, he now works at his father's retail tire shop. He no longer entertains a string of beautiful women in his bedroom. Instead he bowls with his friend Arnie (a good turn by Jeremy Piven). We know, because of the formula, that Jack is going to go through a period of disorientation, and we know that we're going to arrive at the place where Jack will regret leaving Kate back at the airport thirteen years ago. I've said before that my least favorite romantic comedy clichés is the scene where one character goes tearing off to the airport because they made The Big Mistake and to prevent losing The Love Of Their Life, but I'll also go ahead and say that Cage and Leoni do good work in this scene with good words and good direction. | ||
 | Meet Joe Black (Ultimate Edition) | |
| "Interesting - Occasionally brilliant - Could have used some judicious editing" | 2009-04-20 |
| Death decides that he (she? it?) wants to experience life as a human being. He also wants a good tour guide. Death starts tracking William Parrish, an uber-wealthy, but apparently also uber good and moral and ethical businessman. When Bill Parrish's heart starts moving towards the final heart attack, Death inhabits Brad Pitt's body and gives Mr. Parrish a deal - as long as Death is entertained by Mr. Parrish, Death won't take Mr. Parrish to the great beyond. Parrish is played by Anthony Hopkins, just a few years removed from "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Remains of the Day". This performance is critical to the movie, because you have to believe that with Kings and Queens and Captains of Science and Industry to choose from, Death would finally choose a guided tour from Bill Parrish than from, say, Gandhi or Bill Gates or Abraham Lincoln. Parrish has two daughters. Marcia Gay Harden is Allison, the eldest daughter who is married to Jeffrey Tambor as Quince, an executive at Bill's company. Allison is type A and is putting the finishing touches on Bill's sixty-fifth birthday party - the kind of party with hundreds of guests that include the President. Quince is believable both as the kind of man who'd be married to Allison, as well as the kind of man who'd be on Bill's board of directors by merit rather than nepotism. The second daughter is Susan, an Internal Medicine resident played by Claire Forlani. Susan is probably going to marry Drew, who is the Shark at Bill's company, and although Bill likes Drew at his company, he thinks that Susan should wait for lightning to strike rather than marry Drew because it seems a good match. Susan met the man owning the Brad Pitt body at a coffee shop soon after getting the "lightning strike" advice from her father, and in a lengthy, drawn out scene, you get the idea that both Susan and the Brad Pitt Coffee Shop guy think lightning may be striking. When Susan meets Death later on she is taken aback, not because she knows she is speaking to Death, but because the man with the Brad Pitt looks seems different from the man at the coffee shop. After Death tells Bill the "rules" of their arrangement Bill realizes he can't just walk around and say "hello... I'd like you to meet my new friend, Death..." and improvises the name "Joe Black". Many stories depend on the transformation of their characters, and sometimes one transformation is enough for a good story. In some ways "Meet Joe Black" is a little too ambitious because it tries to show Death's introduction to the human experience, complete with kissing and peanut butter, Bill's transformation toward the end of his life, Susan's acceptance of the need for "lightning", Allison's realization that she's not her father's favorite and Bill's Board of Directors learning that some business deals shouldn't happen. Most of the films that run three hours earn that right. Theater turnovers and audience attention spans have made a two hour standard something that is rarely exceeded. Meet Joe Black clocks in at 2:58. The film has many awkward pauses - often in the character's dialogue - that don't advance the plot. A well timed and infrequent pause can heighten the dramatic tension. Too many and poorly timed pauses can make a 2:20 movie 2:58. Still - the Mrs. and I enjoyed it. | ||
 | Meet Joe Black | |
| "Interesting - Occasionally brilliant - Could have used some judicious editing" | 2009-04-20 |
| Death decides that he (she? it?) wants to experience life as a human being. He also wants a good tour guide. Death starts tracking William Parrish, an uber-wealthy, but apparently also uber good and moral and ethical businessman. When Bill Parrish's heart starts moving towards the final heart attack, Death inhabits Brad Pitt's body and gives Mr. Parrish a deal - as long as Death is entertained by Mr. Parrish, Death won't take Mr. Parrish to the great beyond. Parrish is played by Anthony Hopkins, just a few years removed from "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Remains of the Day". This performance is critical to the movie, because you have to believe that with Kings and Queens and Captains of Science and Industry to choose from, Death would finally choose a guided tour from Bill Parrish than from, say, Gandhi or Bill Gates or Abraham Lincoln. Parrish has two daughters. Marcia Gay Harden is Allison, the eldest daughter who is married to Jeffrey Tambor as Quince, an executive at Bill's company. Allison is type A and is putting the finishing touches on Bill's sixty-fifth birthday party - the kind of party with hundreds of guests that include the President. Quince is believable both as the kind of man who'd be married to Allison, as well as the kind of man who'd be on Bill's board of directors by merit rather than nepotism. The second daughter is Susan, an Internal Medicine resident played by Claire Forlani. Susan is probably going to marry Drew, who is the Shark at Bill's company, and although Bill likes Drew at his company, he thinks that Susan should wait for lightning to strike rather than marry Drew because it seems a good match. Susan met the man owning the Brad Pitt body at a coffee shop soon after getting the "lightning strike" advice from her father, and in a lengthy, drawn out scene, you get the idea that both Susan and the Brad Pitt Coffee Shop guy think lightning may be striking. When Susan meets Death later on she is taken aback, not because she knows she is speaking to Death, but because the man with the Brad Pitt looks seems different from the man at the coffee shop. After Death tells Bill the "rules" of their arrangement Bill realizes he can't just walk around and say "hello... I'd like you to meet my new friend, Death..." and improvises the name "Joe Black". Many stories depend on the transformation of their characters, and sometimes one transformation is enough for a good story. In some ways "Meet Joe Black" is a little too ambitious because it tries to show Death's introduction to the human experience, complete with kissing and peanut butter, Bill's transformation toward the end of his life, Susan's acceptance of the need for "lightning", Allison's realization that she's not her father's favorite and Bill's Board of Directors learning that some business deals shouldn't happen. Most of the films that run three hours earn that right. Theater turnovers and audience attention spans have made a two hour standard something that is rarely exceeded. Meet Joe Black clocks in at 2:58. The film has many awkward pauses - often in the character's dialogue - that don't advance the plot. A well timed and infrequent pause can heighten the dramatic tension. Too many and poorly timed pauses can make a 2:20 movie 2:58. Still - the Mrs. and I enjoyed it. | ||
 | The Godfather, Part III | |
| "Only suffers in comparison to the first two films" | 2009-04-20 |
| Some reviews can't blast this film enough: "There's no sugarcoating the magnitude of the cinematic disaster that "Part III" represents." "Let's all hope that there will be no Part IV." I think a bandwagon of bashing gathered momentum, and for those who like to look for chinks in the armor, this film seemed the opportunity to throw stones. I say wait and see: in years to come history will mark part III as a fitting conclusion to the Corleone saga. No, it is not a masterpiece of the stature of the first two Coppola classics, but dear friends, I'd argue neither were "Casino" or "Goodfellas" or "Once Upon a Time in America", and although those mafia-themed films are all highly acclaimed, none of them reach the heights of the first two Godfather films, and that shouldn't be held against them. Neither should it be held against GF III. Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo returned to the characters they know better than anyone, and fashioned a tale that dovetails believably into the Corleone history of the first two films. Al Pacino returns as Don Michael Corleone. Michael has the strength and cunning of his father, Vito, and an almost superhuman ability to foresee future events. But where the great Vito Corleone also had a keen devotion to family and compassion for his fellow man, Michael has a cold ruthlessness that allows him to order the murder of family members. Michael is a tragic character. In the opening of the first film (and we are told in Puzo's original novel) Michael is something of a disappointment to his father and family exactly because he does not want to join the family business. He enlists in the Marines after Pearl Harbor, even though his father has pulled strings to keep him out of the military. He's planning a career as a teacher, married to his college sweetheart, but even the enemies of the family know that Michael is an outsider in the family business. The attempted murder of his father pulls Michael quickly into the inner circle. Circumstances outside his control compel him to become exactly the person he does not want to be. In an early scene in part II wife Kay (wonderfully played by Diane Keaton in all the films) reminds Michael that seven years earlier he had promised her that the family would be "completely legitimate" within five years. Part III opens with Michael receiving a high Catholic honor, bestowed on behalf of the Pope himself. The Church is in trouble. (Based on the real-life papal banking scandal of the early `80s.) Michael is willing to give Archbishop Gilday, the Vatican banker, 600 million in exchange for control of Immobiliare, the largest real estate and construction company in Italy. When the Archbishop tells Michael that it will be difficult to get the Vatican to approve this deal, Michael says that the family has completely given up all illegitimate businesses. This storyline drives the rest of the film. The Corleones have sold their Vegas hotels and casinos and the other families, used to wetting their beaks in the Corleone fountain, feel left behind as Michael tries to move his family completely away from organized crime. Talia Shire returns again as Michael's sister, Connie, and her role is amplified as counselor as well. Women are marginalized and completely outside the family business in the earlier films. Connie is also a mentor and proponent for the next up-and-coming Corleone, Sonny's illegitimate son Vincent, played with intelligence and menace by Andy Garcia in perhaps his first major screen role. (Coppola seems to have a particular genius for finding and using acting giants before they are well known. Pacino, Keaton, Robert Deniro, Robert Duvall and John Cazale were all relatively unknown before appearing in the first films.) Much has been made of daughter Sofia Coppola playing Michael's daughter Mary. The truth is, she has the look, but the romance between Mary and Vincent seems more awkward than passionate, and since Vincent is smart and ambitious, it doesn't make much sense that he would pursue Mary for any reason other than passion since Michael discourages their pairing. Naysayers can't help but mention that Winona Ryder dropped out of this part at the last minute. (To make Edward Scissorhands.) I can't help but be reminded of the critical thrashing Angelica Huston took for playing the lead in an early film of her famous father, prior to an acting career that resulted in an Academy Award. Hopefully Ms. Coppola takes some satisfaction that her career progressed to Oscar nominations as a director herself. In short - she is not so bad that she ruins this film. Robert Duvall is missed as Tom Hagen, and George Harrison is bland as new family attorney B.J. Harrison. The business subplot runs parallel with the plot of the torment of Michael. As he grows older, and makes more attempts to get out of crime, he nonetheless sees death and tragedy in his wake. He wants to make amends. He wants to leave a legacy for his children and to reconcile with Kay, and some of the strongest scenes in the film are when he seems to be succeeding, if only a little. At one point he consults a priest he thinks will have insight into the Immobiliare deal. This wise priest feels that Michael has a need for confession. Startled, Michael admits he hasn't confessed in thirty years. The priest coaxes Michael because "it's never too late", and the work of the two actors in this scene is exceptional. There is a format to the three films: all begin with a large ensemble celebratory scene which includes a few private moments to set the story in motion. All end with a montage of murder as Corleone enemies are eliminated. There is a style and elegance and richness in The Godfather films that exists in this one as well. The first two movies won "Best Picture". The last of "The Lord of the Rings" films did the same, but I don't recall vitriol being spread on the LOTR films that did not. The Godfather part III should be enjoyed not for what it is not, but for what it is. | ||
 | Meet Joe Black | |
| "Interesting - Occasionally brilliant - Could have used some judicious editing" | 2009-04-20 |
| Death decides that he (she? it?) wants to experience life as a human being. He also wants a good tour guide. Death starts tracking William Parrish, an uber-wealthy, but apparently also uber good and moral and ethical businessman. When Bill Parrish's heart starts moving towards the final heart attack, Death inhabits Brad Pitt's body and gives Mr. Parrish a deal - as long as Death is entertained by Mr. Parrish, Death won't take Mr. Parrish to the great beyond. Parrish is played by Anthony Hopkins, just a few years removed from "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Remains of the Day". This performance is critical to the movie, because you have to believe that with Kings and Queens and Captains of Science and Industry to choose from, Death would finally choose a guided tour from Bill Parrish than from, say, Gandhi or Bill Gates or Abraham Lincoln. Parrish has two daughters. Marcia Gay Harden is Allison, the eldest daughter who is married to Jeffrey Tambor as Quince, an executive at Bill's company. Allison is type A and is putting the finishing touches on Bill's sixty-fifth birthday party - the kind of party with hundreds of guests that include the President. Quince is believable both as the kind of man who'd be married to Allison, as well as the kind of man who'd be on Bill's board of directors by merit rather than nepotism. The second daughter is Susan, an Internal Medicine resident played by Claire Forlani. Susan is probably going to marry Drew, who is the Shark at Bill's company, and although Bill likes Drew at his company, he thinks that Susan should wait for lightning to strike rather than marry Drew because it seems a good match. Susan met the man owning the Brad Pitt body at a coffee shop soon after getting the "lightning strike" advice from her father, and in a lengthy, drawn out scene, you get the idea that both Susan and the Brad Pitt Coffee Shop guy think lightning may be striking. When Susan meets Death later on she is taken aback, not because she knows she is speaking to Death, but because the man with the Brad Pitt looks seems different from the man at the coffee shop. After Death tells Bill the "rules" of their arrangement Bill realizes he can't just walk around and say "hello... I'd like you to meet my new friend, Death..." and improvises the name "Joe Black". Many stories depend on the transformation of their characters, and sometimes one transformation is enough for a good story. In some ways "Meet Joe Black" is a little too ambitious because it tries to show Death's introduction to the human experience, complete with kissing and peanut butter, Bill's transformation toward the end of his life, Susan's acceptance of the need for "lightning", Allison's realization that she's not her father's favorite and Bill's Board of Directors learning that some business deals shouldn't happen. Most of the films that run three hours earn that right. Theater turnovers and audience attention spans have made a two hour standard something that is rarely exceeded. Meet Joe Black clocks in at 2:58. The film has many awkward pauses - often in the character's dialogue - that don't advance the plot. A well timed and infrequent pause can heighten the dramatic tension. Too many and poorly timed pauses can make a 2:20 movie 2:58. Still - the Mrs. and I enjoyed it. | ||
 | Meet Joe Black | |
| "Interesting - Occasionally brilliant - Could have used some judicious editing" | 2009-04-20 |
| Death decides that he (she? it?) wants to experience life as a human being. He also wants a good tour guide. Death starts tracking William Parrish, an uber-wealthy, but apparently also uber good and moral and ethical businessman. When Bill Parrish's heart starts moving towards the final heart attack, Death inhabits Brad Pitt's body and gives Mr. Parrish a deal - as long as Death is entertained by Mr. Parrish, Death won't take Mr. Parrish to the great beyond. Parrish is played by Anthony Hopkins, just a few years removed from "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Remains of the Day". This performance is critical to the movie, because you have to believe that with Kings and Queens and Captains of Science and Industry to choose from, Death would finally choose a guided tour from Bill Parrish than from, say, Gandhi or Bill Gates or Abraham Lincoln. Parrish has two daughters. Marcia Gay Harden is Allison, the eldest daughter who is married to Jeffrey Tambor as Quince, an executive at Bill's company. Allison is type A and is putting the finishing touches on Bill's sixty-fifth birthday party - the kind of party with hundreds of guests that include the President. Quince is believable both as the kind of man who'd be married to Allison, as well as the kind of man who'd be on Bill's board of directors by merit rather than nepotism. The second daughter is Susan, an Internal Medicine resident played by Claire Forlani. Susan is probably going to marry Drew, who is the Shark at Bill's company, and although Bill likes Drew at his company, he thinks that Susan should wait for lightning to strike rather than marry Drew because it seems a good match. Susan met the man owning the Brad Pitt body at a coffee shop soon after getting the "lightning strike" advice from her father, and in a lengthy, drawn out scene, you get the idea that both Susan and the Brad Pitt Coffee Shop guy think lightning may be striking. When Susan meets Death later on she is taken aback, not because she knows she is speaking to Death, but because the man with the Brad Pitt looks seems different from the man at the coffee shop. After Death tells Bill the "rules" of their arrangement Bill realizes he can't just walk around and say "hello... I'd like you to meet my new friend, Death..." and improvises the name "Joe Black". Many stories depend on the transformation of their characters, and sometimes one transformation is enough for a good story. In some ways "Meet Joe Black" is a little too ambitious because it tries to show Death's introduction to the human experience, complete with kissing and peanut butter, Bill's transformation toward the end of his life, Susan's acceptance of the need for "lightning", Allison's realization that she's not her father's favorite and Bill's Board of Directors learning that some business deals shouldn't happen. Most of the films that run three hours earn that right. Theater turnovers and audience attention spans have made a two hour standard something that is rarely exceeded. Meet Joe Black clocks in at 2:58. The film has many awkward pauses - often in the character's dialogue - that don't advance the plot. A well timed and infrequent pause can heighten the dramatic tension. Too many and poorly timed pauses can make a 2:20 movie 2:58. Still - the Mrs. and I enjoyed it. | ||
 | The Godfather, Part III | |
| "Only suffers in comparison to the first two films" | 2009-04-20 |
| Some reviews can't blast this film enough: "There's no sugarcoating the magnitude of the cinematic disaster that "Part III" represents." "Let's all hope that there will be no Part IV." I think a bandwagon of bashing gathered momentum, and for those who like to look for chinks in the armor, this film seemed the opportunity to throw stones. I say wait and see: in years to come history will mark part III as a fitting conclusion to the Corleone saga. No, it is not a masterpiece of the stature of the first two Coppola classics, but dear friends, I'd argue neither were "Casino" or "Goodfellas" or "Once Upon a Time in America", and although those mafia-themed films are all highly acclaimed, none of them reach the heights of the first two Godfather films, and that shouldn't be held against them. Neither should it be held against GF III. Francis Coppola and Mario Puzo returned to the characters they know better than anyone, and fashioned a tale that dovetails believably into the Corleone history of the first two films. Al Pacino returns as Don Michael Corleone. Michael has the strength and cunning of his father, Vito, and an almost superhuman ability to foresee future events. But where the great Vito Corleone also had a keen devotion to family and compassion for his fellow man, Michael has a cold ruthlessness that allows him to order the murder of family members. Michael is a tragic character. In the opening of the first film (and we are told in Puzo's original novel) Michael is something of a disappointment to his father and family exactly because he does not want to join the family business. He enlists in the Marines after Pearl Harbor, even though his father has pulled strings to keep him out of the military. He's planning a career as a teacher, married to his college sweetheart, but even the enemies of the family know that Michael is an outsider in the family business. The attempted murder of his father pulls Michael quickly into the inner circle. Circumstances outside his control compel him to become exactly the person he does not want to be. In an early scene in part II wife Kay (wonderfully played by Diane Keaton in all the films) reminds Michael that seven years earlier he had promised her that the family would be "completely legitimate" within five years. Part III opens with Michael receiving a high Catholic honor, bestowed on behalf of the Pope himself. The Church is in trouble. (Based on the real-life papal banking scandal of the early `80s.) Michael is willing to give Archbishop Gilday, the Vatican banker, 600 million in exchange for control of Immobiliare, the largest real estate and construction company in Italy. When the Archbishop tells Michael that it will be difficult to get the Vatican to approve this deal, Michael says that the family has completely given up all illegitimate businesses. This storyline drives the rest of the film. The Corleones have sold their Vegas hotels and casinos and the other families, used to wetting their beaks in the Corleone fountain, feel left behind as Michael tries to move his family completely away from organized crime. Talia Shire returns again as Michael's sister, Connie, and her role is amplified as counselor as well. Women are marginalized and completely outside the family business in the earlier films. Connie is also a mentor and proponent for the next up-and-coming Corleone, Sonny's illegitimate son Vincent, played with intelligence and menace by Andy Garcia in perhaps his first major screen role. (Coppola seems to have a particular genius for finding and using acting giants before they are well known. Pacino, Keaton, Robert Deniro, Robert Duvall and John Cazale were all relatively unknown before appearing in the first films.) Much has been made of daughter Sofia Coppola playing Michael's daughter Mary. The truth is, she has the look, but the romance between Mary and Vincent seems more awkward than passionate, and since Vincent is smart and ambitious, it doesn't make much sense that he would pursue Mary for any reason other than passion since Michael discourages their pairing. Naysayers can't help but mention that Winona Ryder dropped out of this part at the last minute. (To make Edward Scissorhands.) I can't help but be reminded of the critical thrashing Angelica Huston took for playing the lead in an early film of her famous father, prior to an acting career that resulted in an Academy Award. Hopefully Ms. Coppola takes some satisfaction that her career progressed to Oscar nominations as a director herself. In short - she is not so bad that she ruins this film. Robert Duvall is missed as Tom Hagen, and George Harrison is bland as new family attorney B.J. Harrison. The business subplot runs parallel with the plot of the torment of Michael. As he grows older, and makes more attempts to get out of crime, he nonetheless sees death and tragedy in his wake. He wants to make amends. He wants to leave a legacy for his children and to reconcile with Kay, and some of the strongest scenes in the film are when he seems to be succeeding, if only a little. At one point he consults a priest he thinks will have insight into the Immobiliare deal. This wise priest feels that Michael has a need for confession. Startled, Michael admits he hasn't confessed in thirty years. The priest coaxes Michael because "it's never too late", and the work of the two actors in this scene is exceptional. There is a format to the three films: all begin with a large ensemble celebratory scene which includes a few private moments to set the story in motion. All end with a montage of murder as Corleone enemies are eliminated. There is a style and elegance and richness in The Godfather films that exists in this one as well. The first two movies won "Best Picture". The last of "The Lord of the Rings" films did the same, but I don't recall vitriol being spread on the LOTR films that did not. The Godfather part III should be enjoyed not for what it is not, but for what it is. | ||
 | The Family Man | |
| "A More than Passable Romantic Comedic Fantasy" | 2009-04-20 |
| "The Family Man" is, at its core, a Romantic Comedy, but it is also a fantasy in the "how your life might have been" genre that includes everything from "Sliding Doors" to "It's A Wonderful Life." Nicolas Cage plays Jack Campbell, an ambitious young man who leaves fiancée Kate Reynolds, played by Tea Leoni, in 1987 to pursue an internship in London. Kate gives him a tearful, prescient speech at the airport about how certain she is that this means the end for them and begging him not to take the flight. The prologue gives way to thirteen years later where Jack is now President of his own firm on Wall Street and Scrooge-ish Jack gives his employees management-speak encouragement for why they are there working late Christmas Eve - and must return to work Christmas as well. (How many blockbuster mergers and acquisitions are accomplished on Christmas? I'm just askin'.) Jack is not only a slave-driver boss, he also makes only the most shallow attachments to any women in his life. His secretary tells him that he has a message from Kate - who he hasn't heard from since you-know-when. That night Jack interrupts a hold-up at the local convenience store, trying to cool off the stick-up man and save those threatened with a gun. The stick-up guy is played by the always good Don Cheadle and... hey, he's not just a stick-up guy! His exact nature is never exactly explained, but there are several obvious similarities with Clarence the Angel Third Class from "Wonderful Life". For one, he gives Jack, against his wishes, a "glimpse" of the alternate reality life. (For another - he gives Jack a bell to summon him, reminiscent of the part of Wonderful Life where bell-ringing accompanies Angels receiving their wings. The next morning Jack wakes up - in bed beside Kate, his wife of these many years, along with their two children in their suburban home in North Jersey, where they moved from New York, because that was no place to raise a family. Since this is a fantasy, no one can say what is the correct way to respond to such a situation, but I'll go ahead and say I found Jimmy Stewart's interpretation better than Mr. Cage's. Jack is not only no longer a wealthy Wall-Street Investment guy, he now works at his father's retail tire shop. He no longer entertains a string of beautiful women in his bedroom. Instead he bowls with his friend Arnie (a good turn by Jeremy Piven). We know, because of the formula, that Jack is going to go through a period of disorientation, and we know that we're going to arrive at the place where Jack will regret leaving Kate back at the airport thirteen years ago. I've said before that my least favorite romantic comedy clichés is the scene where one character goes tearing off to the airport because they made The Big Mistake and to prevent losing The Love Of Their Life, but I'll also go ahead and say that Cage and Leoni do good work in this scene with good words and good direction. | ||
 | The Family Man | |
| "A More than Passable Romantic Comedic Fantasy" | 2009-04-20 |
| "The Family Man" is, at its core, a Romantic Comedy, but it is also a fantasy in the "how your life might have been" genre that includes everything from "Sliding Doors" to "It's A Wonderful Life." Nicolas Cage plays Jack Campbell, an ambitious young man who leaves fiancée Kate Reynolds, played by Tea Leoni, in 1987 to pursue an internship in London. Kate gives him a tearful, prescient speech at the airport about how certain she is that this means the end for them and begging him not to take the flight. The prologue gives way to thirteen years later where Jack is now President of his own firm on Wall Street and Scrooge-ish Jack gives his employees management-speak encouragement for why they are there working late Christmas Eve - and must return to work Christmas as well. (How many blockbuster mergers and acquisitions are accomplished on Christmas? I'm just askin'.) Jack is not only a slave-driver boss, he also makes only the most shallow attachments to any women in his life. His secretary tells him that he has a message from Kate - who he hasn't heard from since you-know-when. That night Jack interrupts a hold-up at the local convenience store, trying to cool off the stick-up man and save those threatened with a gun. The stick-up guy is played by the always good Don Cheadle and... hey, he's not just a stick-up guy! His exact nature is never exactly explained, but there are several obvious similarities with Clarence the Angel Third Class from "Wonderful Life". For one, he gives Jack, against his wishes, a "glimpse" of the alternate reality life. (For another - he gives Jack a bell to summon him, reminiscent of the part of Wonderful Life where bell-ringing accompanies Angels receiving their wings. The next morning Jack wakes up - in bed beside Kate, his wife of these many years, along with their two children in their suburban home in North Jersey, where they moved from New York, because that was no place to raise a family. Since this is a fantasy, no one can say what is the correct way to respond to such a situation, but I'll go ahead and say I found Jimmy Stewart's interpretation better than Mr. Cage's. Jack is not only no longer a wealthy Wall-Street Investment guy, he now works at his father's retail tire shop. He no longer entertains a string of beautiful women in his bedroom. Instead he bowls with his friend Arnie (a good turn by Jeremy Piven). We know, because of the formula, that Jack is going to go through a period of disorientation, and we know that we're going to arrive at the place where Jack will regret leaving Kate back at the airport thirteen years ago. I've said before that my least favorite romantic comedy clichés is the scene where one character goes tearing off to the airport because they made The Big Mistake and to prevent losing The Love Of Their Life, but I'll also go ahead and say that Cage and Leoni do good work in this scene with good words and good direction. | ||
 | Moll Flanders | |
| "Closer to a Female Oliver Twist than to Defoe's Book" | 2009-03-30 |
| I was about halfway through Pen Densham's "Moll Flanders" when I realized the film I was watching was closer to a variation of Dicken's Oliver Twist with a female "Oliver" than to a story based on Daniel Dafoe's novel. I decided to try to enjoy the film on its own merit, and I didn't hate it. Faint praise, I know, but I like period costume dramas with great production values and skilled performers, so I was mentally comparing this film to productions such as the recent series of Jane Austin based works, and this does not compare well to Emma, Pride and Prejudice -(A&E, 1996) and Sense & Sensibility (Special Edition). Moll has an Oliver-like pauper's birth, delivered by a woman who is saved from the gallows only for the duration of her pregnancy and hanged a few hours later. Instead of a pitiless Dickens orphanage, Moll grows up in a nunnery where she is fondled by priests, and beaten by nuns after attacking a priest who gropes Moll in confession. Tossed into the cruel streets Moll is taken in by a female Fagin stand-in, Mrs. Allworthy, proprietress of a bordello which counts politicians and clergy amongst its clientele. Moll is portrayed by Robin Wright, and there's more of Forrest Gump's Jenny in her performance than in her portrayal of Princess Buttercup. Moll is more than the clichéd prostitute with a heart of gold. She tries to maintain some degree of personal integrity and justice, and she's the kind of woman who will take a beating to protect a friend. Mrs. Allworthy is portrayed by Stockard Channing, and she makes the character a believable upper crust madam, able to move amongst the politically mighty, but also knowing why men visit her establishment. Moll is given food and shelter, but she sinks lower in self esteem in her work. Arriving at the house a virgin, Mrs. Allworthy auctions Moll's virtue for a small fortune. Not long after a man arrives wanting to buy time with the least expensive woman available. Mrs. Allworthy charges half a crown for Moll, then chides them both, doubting that Moll will give the man his money's worth. The man is a painter, played by John Lynch, and he wants a real live woman not for sex, but to paint and learn more about anatomy. This begins a new era in Moll's life. Until the Hollywood ending, the entire movie is told in Forrest Gump-like flashbacks, with Morgan Freeman reading to Moll's nine-year old daughter, played by Aisling Corcoran, from Moll's personal journal. Freeman carries a degree of authority and respect to the proceedings as Mr. Hibble. Moll initially meets Hibble where he is working for Mrs. Allworthy, and she gains his trust and devotion when she discovers him in an indelicate moment and takes punishment herself rather than betray his secret. This film may have been more. But I was pretty satisfied with it as is. | ||
 | Moll Flanders | |
| "Closer to a Female Oliver Twist than to Defoe's Book" | 2009-03-30 |
| I was about halfway through Pen Densham's "Moll Flanders" when I realized the film I was watching was closer to a variation of Dicken's Oliver Twist with a female "Oliver" than to a story based on Daniel Dafoe's novel. I decided to try to enjoy the film on its own merit, and I didn't hate it. Faint praise, I know, but I like period costume dramas with great production values and skilled performers, so I was mentally comparing this film to productions such as the recent series of Jane Austin based works, and this does not compare well to Emma, Pride and Prejudice -(A&E, 1996) and Sense & Sensibility (Special Edition). Moll has an Oliver-like pauper's birth, delivered by a woman who is saved from the gallows only for the duration of her pregnancy and hanged a few hours later. Instead of a pitiless Dickens orphanage, Moll grows up in a nunnery where she is fondled by priests, and beaten by nuns after attacking a priest who gropes Moll in confession. Tossed into the cruel streets Moll is taken in by a female Fagin stand-in, Mrs. Allworthy, proprietress of a bordello which counts politicians and clergy amongst its clientele. Moll is portrayed by Robin Wright, and there's more of Forrest Gump's Jenny in her performance than in her portrayal of Princess Buttercup. Moll is more than the clichéd prostitute with a heart of gold. She tries to maintain some degree of personal integrity and justice, and she's the kind of woman who will take a beating to protect a friend. Mrs. Allworthy is portrayed by Stockard Channing, and she makes the character a believable upper crust madam, able to move amongst the politically mighty, but also knowing why men visit her establishment. Moll is given food and shelter, but she sinks lower in self esteem in her work. Arriving at the house a virgin, Mrs. Allworthy auctions Moll's virtue for a small fortune. Not long after a man arrives wanting to buy time with the least expensive woman available. Mrs. Allworthy charges half a crown for Moll, then chides them both, doubting that Moll will give the man his money's worth. The man is a painter, played by John Lynch, and he wants a real live woman not for sex, but to paint and learn more about anatomy. This begins a new era in Moll's life. Until the Hollywood ending, the entire movie is told in Forrest Gump-like flashbacks, with Morgan Freeman reading to Moll's nine-year old daughter, played by Aisling Corcoran, from Moll's personal journal. Freeman carries a degree of authority and respect to the proceedings as Mr. Hibble. Moll initially meets Hibble where he is working for Mrs. Allworthy, and she gains his trust and devotion when she discovers him in an indelicate moment and takes punishment herself rather than betray his secret. This film may have been more. But I was pretty satisfied with it as is. | ||
 | Moll Flanders | |
| "Closer to a Female Oliver Twist than to Defoe's Book" | 2009-03-30 |
| I was about halfway through Pen Densham's "Moll Flanders" when I realized the film I was watching was closer to a variation of Dicken's Oliver Twist with a female "Oliver" than to a story based on Daniel Dafoe's novel. I decided to try to enjoy the film on its own merit, and I didn't hate it. Faint praise, I know, but I like period costume dramas with great production values and skilled performers, so I was mentally comparing this film to productions such as the recent series of Jane Austin based works, and this does not compare well to Emma, Pride and Prejudice -(A&E, 1996) and Sense & Sensibility (Special Edition). Moll has an Oliver-like pauper's birth, delivered by a woman who is saved from the gallows only for the duration of her pregnancy and hanged a few hours later. Instead of a pitiless Dickens orphanage, Moll grows up in a nunnery where she is fondled by priests, and beaten by nuns after attacking a priest who gropes Moll in confession. Tossed into the cruel streets Moll is taken in by a female Fagin stand-in, Mrs. Allworthy, proprietress of a bordello which counts politicians and clergy amongst its clientele. Moll is portrayed by Robin Wright, and there's more of Forrest Gump's Jenny in her performance than in her portrayal of Princess Buttercup. Moll is more than the clichéd prostitute with a heart of gold. She tries to maintain some degree of personal integrity and justice, and she's the kind of woman who will take a beating to protect a friend. Mrs. Allworthy is portrayed by Stockard Channing, and she makes the character a believable upper crust madam, able to move amongst the politically mighty, but also knowing why men visit her establishment. Moll is given food and shelter, but she sinks lower in self esteem in her work. Arriving at the house a virgin, Mrs. Allworthy auctions Moll's virtue for a small fortune. Not long after a man arrives wanting to buy time with the least expensive woman available. Mrs. Allworthy charges half a crown for Moll, then chides them both, doubting that Moll will give the man his money's worth. The man is a painter, played by John Lynch, and he wants a real live woman not for sex, but to paint and learn more about anatomy. This begins a new era in Moll's life. Until the Hollywood ending, the entire movie is told in Forrest Gump-like flashbacks, with Morgan Freeman reading to Moll's nine-year old daughter, played by Aisling Corcoran, from Moll's personal journal. Freeman carries a degree of authority and respect to the proceedings as Mr. Hibble. Moll initially meets Hibble where he is working for Mrs. Allworthy, and she gains his trust and devotion when she discovers him in an indelicate moment and takes punishment herself rather than betray his secret. This film may have been more. But I was pretty satisfied with it as is. | ||
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