B- | A New England couple deals with the aftermath of a family tragedy. Directed by Todd Field Starring Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, and Marisa Tomei Initial Review by Lane Davis |
Oh, the New England grief film. With “Manchester By the Sea” garnering all the acclaim it did this year, perhaps this film type deserves its own genre category. It’s a good bet that if you’re a filmmaker and if the premise of your film is that two parents face the untimely death of their children while living in MA, CT, NH, VT, or ME, you’re going to get funding and maybe even a few nods from Academy members who grew up on the North Shore and are still working through their repressive Yankee childhoods.
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I've probably seen Chicago near a dozen times. I saw it in theaters and bought the DVD when it was released, though it's actually been a a number of years since the last viewing. It's not a perfect movie, but it's great and there are definitely portions of it that I Iove. We'll start with the cast... which was phenomenal. Our theme is Best Actress, and this is pretty much a female powerhouse cast. Zellweger got the nom for Best Actress... and while she was great in the lead I think she was actually outdone by both Zetz-Jones and Queen Latifah. Zeta-Jones took home the Oscar, though I probably would give the edge to Queen Latifah for overall performance. Regardless, all three were amazing in their parts. Richard Gere was a fine flashy silver-tongued Billy Flynn. My favorite casting and character, however, was Amos as played by John C. Reilly. He got a well deserved supporting actor nomination, but unfortunately not the win. (Interesting enough, Reilly was in three of the five 2002 Best Picture Nominated movies) Taye Diggs as the Bandleader was more important than I'd imagine most people notice on a single viewing. We also got some nice scenes with Mya and Lucy Liu. I actually forgot all about Dominic West, but he stood out this time around since I just started watching The Wire for our upcoming podcast series.
Watching this movie in 2016 for the first time is a bit hard because since this movie came out, at least 40 more movies have dropped with the exact same premise and even some of the exact same scenes. None of them were particularly good so I wasn’t expecting much from this movie except good acting and I believe that’s what I got. The movie starts out showing the Gallagher family as they get ready to go to a party and that’s basically all we get of them being a family. There are a few quick 2-3 minute scenes throughout that show them together, but none of it really does anything. It doesn’t really show them as a happy family rather than a group of people that are together. Glenn Close is the highlight of the movie. She takes a slightly boring character (Crazed woman) and makes her intriguing, but all that Glenn does for the character doesn’t fix the movie. Alex has no real backstory or reason given as to why she went so crazy. What was it about this one night stand that made her snap? Was this built-up over years of bad relationships? There’s just nothing more given to us than she had a miscarriage and her father died of a heart attack. Overall this movie is not great. I’m sure it was good and people loved it back when it came out in the 80’s, but watching it now it’s pretty mediocre with some really good acting. I’m giving the acting an A-, but the movie at most can get a C+. I’ll give it a C. Also I think the alternate ending was much better: https://youtu.be/GY_NQK7rJrY
A film that persists in the culture due to its upset win at the Oscars over presumptive favorite Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love is one of those works that Oscar voters love. Featuring a romance between one of history's great playwrights and a co-lead who'll put her life and position to risk if only to get on the stage, John Madden's film flatters the work of producing and staging theater, something plenty of Oscar voters are going to be far more familiar with than fighting in heavy combat. Combined with the aggressive marketing and lobbying of Harvey Weinstein, the big win becomes less surprising. If it makes sense that Shakespeare in Love could win Best Picture almost twenty years ago, that leaves whether or not it's one of those winners that is largely forgotten as soon as the envelope's opened (The Artist, Million Dollar Baby, A Beautiful Mind, Driving Miss Daisy) or a film that holds up and lives on long after its release date (Unforgiven, Titanic, The Silence of the Lambs, Amadeus). The latter is a much smaller group, and alas, Shakespeare in Love isn't making it any bigger. Madden and company are able to depict the creation and production of a primal work of art, but the greatness of Romeo and Juliet only serves to remind the viewer how mediocre the film surrounding it is.
The first thing that jumps out to me about Brooklyn is the lack of famous movie stars. This makes for a better movie because the characters don't appear to be acting. The second thing that jumped out to me was how clean the Brooklyn streets were, that's bullshit. New York City and its surroundings have dirty streets. They are way worse than any other large city in the United States. Brooklyn fits into the Mediocre Movie Club's 'Best Actress' theme for Round 4.2. Saoirse Ronan has three vowels in a row in her first name, and did a splendid job playing Eilis in Brooklyn. Her range of facial expressions and general look made the movie feel like something actually happening, not a movie star portraying an actual person. The next best character was Julie Walters playing Miss Kehoe, the old cranky-hilarious-honest lady at the boarding house. Her comedic lines helped lift the spirits of the movie. I felt for Eilis through her highs, lows, and tough decisions throughout the movie. Anyone who has left their hometown in spite of a parental guilt trip will love this movie. Side tangent brought up in our most recent podcast - we need more immigration movies from white characters if we want to expose "middle America" to an immigrant tale to which they can truly relate. Empathy is hard, but it's important. It's the most important moral quality in a person. Brooklyn helps us all with empathy. Great show. A- |
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