It's A Wonderful Life

It's been a couple of years since I've seen "It's A Wonderful Life". I saw it for the first time when we were living on Mare Island, and it's one of those movies that stirs up memories every time I watch it. This was the first time that I watched the movie and realized how amazing the performances are. Perhaps it comes from actually experiencing life, and having a little bit of adulthood under my belt, but I felt a connection to Stewart's character so much more this time. In my previous viewings, I had great admiration for the character, but it was that distant, recognizing that the character is admirable, not the knowing what he's going through kind. Many people have pointed out that "It's A Wonderful Life" wasn't intended as a Christmas film, but because it takes place in the hours leading up to Christmas, it kind of has been hijacked as a Holiday movie. Although I love to watch it this time of year, on this most recent viewing I see how great this film is, it works in so many ways, and is probably one of the best films ever made. I would for sure put it in the same category as "Casablanca", and that's saying a lot.

Blood Diamond

I hesitated seeing this movie when it first came out a few weeks ago. Edward Zwick has come so close in his last few movies, that I realized that any hopes or expectations I might have would probably be too high. "The Last Samurai" was an awesome film, until the last ten minutes. Zwick can tell a great story, and capture with rich detail his characters and their motivations. But when it comes to sending us on our way, he doesn't seem to know how to end his movies. Unfortunately I felt almost exactly the same at the end of "Blood Diamond". There was a very good performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, as a very Bogartesque bad-guy/good guy. As was true in the great Bogart films, there is a main character who is focused unwaiveringly on doing what is right. There are side characters along the way that either hinder or aide in the mission of the first character. And then there is the Bogart character, who is in it for himself, he'll be an whichever side is winning, regardless of morality. Of course Bogart always came around, and shocked everybody by actually doing what was right, even if it meant risking his own life. What Zwick doesn't realize is that is the end of the movie. We don't need Bogart to explain himself, and we don't need a political message preached from a pulpit, especially if the whole movie already was a political message. If you didn't know that racism, rape, profiteering, mutilation and murder were wrong before you saw this movie, I don't think a speech at the end of the film is going to help you. My suggestion, go see this movie, and when you think that Leo has pulled his "Bogart move" then get up, find your cell phone and keys, and quietly exit the building. Now that was a good

The Good Shepherd

Sometimes I see a film, enjoy it, but I don't really feel like writing about it. "The Good Shepherd" is one of those films. Now I've decided to muscle through this review mostly to see if I can understand myself what makes some films great, just not good enough to want to write about.

The first thing I think about is the title, and the timing of this film's release. It opened on Christmas weekend, and I just saw it on Christmas Eve. There is a good shepherd, but there weren't any good shepherds in this film. There were some shepherds who were better then others, but I must say it was kind of a lesser-of-two-evils kind of shepherding. Robert DeNiro directed this film, and he has been in his share of films that take a very pessemistic view of the human condition. Perhaps this film, being released at Christmas can remind us of how far we have come from the principles that our country was founded on. Pilgrims thought Jesus was a good shepherd. Durring World War II and then the Cold War, who were our shepherds? Who are our shepherds now?

Of course I'm making some connections that were never explored in the film. Obviously I think that no other shepherd can compare to Jesus, and therefore he should be our example. I really don't know if DeNiro had a deeper purpose in mind when he made this film. At it's most basic, it is a film about corruption, how none of us are immune, and how it's amazing that our country has survived with the fact that everyone in positions of power is corruptable. From my point of view it is a blessing from God that our county has survived. God has allowed the lesser-of-two-evils to be in power at certain times. Sometimes of course the worse-of-two-evils may be in power, and maybe even there have been some good shepherds.

The reason it's hard for me to write about I guess is that I still haven't completely formulated my opinion of the film. I am somewhat dissapointed that DeNiro didn't outright come to the conclusion that I thought he should, at the same time I'm glad he didn't, so that I can take time to think, write and talk about it. It was a good film.

Rocky Balboa

I don't really like boxing movies. The first Rocky movie is my favorite and least favorite boxing movie, both happening at the same time. The Rocky series represents the first time I saw a movie in the theater and realized that I has just seen a bad movie hoping to cash in on a brand name (whichever Rocky movie had the big Russian). I can't stand seeing people getting thier eyelids cut open so that they can go back in the ring, actually I can't stand that image period. What I do love about Rocky is Rocky, and the music, and Philadelphia. In this the newest and final film in the series, I got everything I like, without having to endure the eyelid slicing. If you don't already know the basic premise of the film, wht would I ruin it for you, and if you do why would I be repetetive? What I will say is that I enjoyed the whole film because it was about Rocky, as a man, as a fathes, a husband, a champion, growing old, but mostly dealing with life as a man. The strength of the first Rocky film was that you beleived this character was real and wanted him to succeed. Stallone recreates that chemistry in this film, and I think it is one of the best movies I've seen this year.

Apocalypto

I was going to begin this review by saying that Mel Gibson made his movie a few years ago, when he made "Braveheart". I was going to go on by saying that he poured his heart into that project, and that emotion made the movie more powerful. I decided that it would be best not to begin that way, because it might lead you to believe that "Apocalypto" is a lesser movie, without fairly explaining myself. So, I'm going to break down what I thought about "Apocalypto" and just leave "Braveheart" out of the discussion.

"Apocalypto" is great at what it tries to be. It is a simple story of a man, who loves his family, is faced with some rough situations, but is determined to triumph against all odds. What I really liked was how Mel Gibson places us in the jungle, with the tribesmen, and the story unfolds smoothly, naturally, right in front of us. We are in the jungle from the first moment, no subtitles explaining what the deal is. There are tribesmen, men who act like men, who have families, annoying relatives, barking dogs. The story doesn't seem forced or scripted, we feel as though we have joined these people in the middle of their lives, and the turning point that comes is unexpected to them and we understand that. Without giving away too much of the story, I will say that the main character finds himself alone, seperated from his family, outnumbered by enemies bent on killing him. This is where Mel Gibson as the director takes a little liberty, and intervenes on his hero's behalf. It sort of rminded me of "Signs", where the details by themselves may seem random, as a whole it is undeniably Divine intervention. Gibson uses some pretty heavy symbolism, which I must admit that I'm not completely sure on all the meaning. Good symbolism is interesting even if you don't get it though, and I like what he did here. There is also an amazingly well choreographed chase scene, which I won't talk about too much except to say that I love when you can see what is happening, know what is going to happen next, and everything is shot so well and put together so beautifully, that you actually feel satisfaction when the scene is over. The scene I just refered to does include what I'd like to talk about next, and something I know my mom has a concern for Mel Gibson over; violence. Gibson's previously mentioned film, this film, and "The Passion of the Christ" all have graphic, realistic violence. Before Gibson was a director, of course he made the Mad Max movies and the Letahl weapon movies, which all had some pretty intense "action" violence. Is Gibson attracted to violence? I can see my mom's concern. I think there's somewhere in the Bible that warns us against such behavior and people. But what about "The Passion", doesn't that in and of itself make up for a multitude of sins? I believe, thus far in his latter career, Gibson is taking on meaningful projects that do show a maturity that most likely reflects a change of heart. As far as I know, Mel has never killed anybody, or even given anyone a good beatdown. Perhaps he is not violent, and the use of violence in his most recent films is actually beneficial. Braveheart recognizes the ultimate sacrifice for one's beliefs. "The Passion" attempted to give an account of what Jesus really went through as a sacrifice for us. And now, Gibson has used violence to comment on the downfall of a civilization, and that to live in peace is good. I still think that mom's concern is valid. Perhaps Mel should direct the next Pixar movie, and let whoever directed "Happy Feet" make the next Roman war epic or whatever.

The Fountain and The Pick of Destiny

You may have noticed that I've been allowing some movies to share space in my reviews. Sometimes movies deserve a stand alone review, but more often than not, they can share.

I went to see "The Fountain" with my friend Rob. He gave it the review rating of 3 yawns, which was better than Soderbergh's "Solaris" which recieved his 4 yawn rating. We pretty much agreed that there were some amazing visuals, and the story was interesting, but once you've seen 20 seconds of a cool visual, you don't really need 25 more minutes of the same exact thing. Also, once you get a point the film is making, like that the main character is obsessed with finding a cure, we don't really need 10 more scenes to drive that point home. I had talked recently about Darren Aronofsky (the director of "The Fountain") being a anti-Hollywood director. He was rumored to be in line to direct a gritty Batman movie, but got bumped because he wasn't going to sell enough lunch boxes and action figures. Well, I'm not going to go back on my enthusiasm about his Batman project, but he should avoid stories about people who live forever, because it kind of felt like we were along for the ride. Maybe that's what he was going for, just like Ridley Scott was trying to make us all feel the fustration in "Black Hawk Down". There just are certain things you don't want to feel in a movie theater, and for me bored and fustrated are at the top of the list.

"The Pick of Destiny" starts out with Jack Black as a kid in a Chistian home playing a metal song for his family. As Edwardo would say, it was smurfing funny. This film falls into the category of "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". Personally I though Jack Black was best in the film "High Fidelity", he was a side character who was well written and full of enthusiasm. Since then his roles have been funny (mostly) but usually shallow and missing great oppurtunities. I would say that this movie comes closest to breaking that trend, but not quite. Black is on a quest to write and perform his "masterpiece" yet the film never delivers. Perhaps that is part of the joke. Black and his partner are stoned so much that the believe they have made their masterpiece, but unfortunately can not remember how it went. Wouldn't it be better for the audience if they actually performed their masterpiece, yet because they were stoned didn't realize it themselves. Tenacious D. is a cool concept and a funny band, but they are no Led Zeppelin, which with Jack Black as the lead singer would be really cool and funny and great.