The Aviator
January 12, 2005 | Leave a Comment
Martin Scorsese is great. Is he great because he always makes 5 star movies? No, that’s not the reason. He is great precisely because he *doesn’t* always make a 5 star movie. Some of his projects have been real stinkers, in fact. While he makes gems such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas, he sometimes pushes out drivel like Gangs of New York and Bringing Out the Dead.
Why does this make him great? It’s because he dares to reach where other directors are too timid to go. When you do that, though, sometimes you reach too far and the inevitable fall occurs. You look at his pinnacle achievements and his rotten failures and then when you say, “Now *that* is Scorsese,” everyone knows exactly what you mean.
But now I’m a bit perplexed and disappointed. His current film, The Aviator, is perhaps the first Scorsese film I’ve ever seen where I just felt blah afterwards. It just doesn’t seem like he was reaching very far at all and, dare I say it, he was just going through the motions. Yes, it’s well done and the performances were quite good and there was top quality treatment given to every part of the movie, but it just didn’t grab my nads and make me want to cheer/curse aloud when the lights came up.
The movie stars Leonardo Dicaprio (yuck) as billionaire moviemaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes. Most folks who know who Howard Hughes was are aware that he went bonkers in the latter part of his life and left a huge fortune to squabbling relatives that is probably *still* tied up in courts today. What most people don’t know, however, is the brilliance and daring of his youth that made him the near mythical figure he is today.
With The Aviator, director Scorsese set out bring to light these early days of Mr. Hughes and has succeeded to a point. We learn that Hughes’ passions were aviation, movie making, and fine Hollywood starlets (not necessarily in that order). We also learn that during these great years, Hughes began to suffer from some serious psychological problems.
The performances here are very good, though I have to disclose that Cate Blanchett’s work as Kate Hepburn grated on my nerves and seemed just a bit too over the top. They say that this is really how Kate Hepburn was so she may have it spot on. If this is the case, though, I’m glad I never met her in her younger years or else I might have had to show her my pimp hand.
I think my big problem with the movie was in the structure. There seemed to be so much emphasis on the performances of the primary actors that the story took a back seat for a while. Perhaps Scorsese just took the attitude that this was history and it’s already written and all he had to do was just follow it step by step. This doesn’t always make for good storytelling, however. Especially when you are cutting out huge chunks of that history for the sake of time. Like a rock.
Oh, did I just mention time? This is a LONG movie. At nearly 3 hours long, it grows tedious in many places. Part of this problem is Scorsese’s tendency several times to kind of pause the movie and let his lead spend a few minutes emoting and working a scene that’s aimed squarely at the Academy Awards committee. If the movie had given that time over to filling in some of the time gaps, then perhaps the final product wouldn’t have seemed so overly long.
In any event, unless you’re a hardcore Scorsese fan, this is one that can easily wait for DVD or cable. Hopefully by the time it ends up in stores or on the TV schedule, we’ll have a much better film from the master in theaters that will make us forget about this somewhat lackluster anomoly.
Popularity: 7% [?]
White Noise
January 9, 2005 | Leave a Comment
What can I say about this movie that hasn’t been screamed from the rooftops already? Not much because it is quite un-noteworthy to say the least. I hate movies that do not know what they want to be and they jump around for the 90 to 120 minutes I am forced to watch it, until finally the credits roll and I realize I saw NOTHING. White Noise is one of those movies… not a horror movie, or a psychological thriller as described; Heck it isn’t even a good drama or a passable mystery; well it could be a mystery because I kept asking myself “Isn’t there something else I could be doing right now?”. I don’t really know how to categorize it other than to call it a sucky Michael Keaton movie.
Keaton was king in his prime and I guess I was holding out hope that he had some of that left in him… Is it time for Mike to turn in his S.A.G. card? No, but if he makes another stinker like this it will be.
Jonathan Rivers (Keaton) is married to succesful author and full blown hotty Anna Rivers (West) and as far as he is concerned his life is perfect… I am pretty sure this is one of the “Hollywood rules”, and everyone knows those rules always end in tragedy. (Happy man kisses wife goodbye and she says she will be a little late don’t wait up)Do I need to go into details? We already know she dies or else there would be no movie.
Yes I do need to tell you so I will. Anna kisses him goodbye one morning and never comes home. He waits for days as the police search for her until 3 weeks later they find her body. Jon goes to work to get his mind off his loss and he notices a guy below his office window that he saw in front of his house earlier that morning (also a Hollywood rule)… Confronting said dude by the name of Raymond Price (McNeice) he discovers his wife is reaching out to him from beyond the grave using EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena)… Too easy make your own joke if you choose; It is beneath even me.
Rivers becomes obsessed with E.V.P. after in my opinion very little coaxing from Price, and spends every moment watching snow on 5 different TV’s. This goes on for about 45 minutes and I know fell asleep at least once but ,I was assured by my lovely wife that I had missed nothing and could just pick up where I left off. She was wrong, I missed my chance to watch Shaun of The Dead again on DVD by being there. Crap, I am getting sleepy just remembering this hazy attempt at horror so I will stop now. Before I go I will say this much; The ending was pretty cool but it did not fit the rest of the movie and it came about 98 minutes too late for me to really dig it. So that explains the 2 stars instead of the one it actually deserved.
If you want to see a good thriller about ghosts and stuff rent Stir of Echoes and wait for cable on this one… Or don’t. You could probably avoid this one entirely and still live a full happy life just the same.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Meet The Fockers
January 3, 2005 | Leave a Comment
The best way to describe this movie is to say it is funnier than its predecessor and the best comedy of the year, Period. That may seem like a cop-out considering it is the last comedy of the year but who’s counting. Let those fears slip away into la-la land because I assure you it could have come out in March and still would have been hard to beat.
Deniro, Hoffman and Stiller are great. Danner and Polo are funny and dare I say it, Streisand didn’t make me want to vomit. Not a negative in the bunch.
The laughs are just as non-stop as the first one, with the sight-gags and toilet humor fully represented this time even more than the first. Writing is top notch and the acting is perfect. Most of the performers having worked with each other on Parents got a chance to really ham it up and have fun with it this time. Deniro, Stiller and Wilson owned last time and to fill in for Wilson is Hoffman so there isn’t a weak character in the bunch. We here at MFG have a hard time watching movies that Stiller has involvement in other than acting but if he is just a character he is funny as hell and this is no exception. Some real good stuff from him.
Above you noticed the vomit comment associated to Babs and I stand firmly by that. She is the El-Gigante chick-flick abomination, ultra liberal in Hollywood so, that means she stands for all I hate in the world. But, she made me laugh so I was able to ignore her as a person and only see Rose Focker… And she was the perfect person to play her. Ickkk, don’t freak out I still loathe her soul and wish it to burn forever in the fiery mouth of the 7th plain of Hell. Even though I felt the need to buy a quilt after seeing her in this movie I know that comment still makes me ALL-Man. Whoo, How bout the Falcons.
Greg and Pam head to Miami along with her parents Jack and Dina in Jack’s RV from hell to meet Greg’s parents. Jack is mentoring his grandson LJ (Little Jack) while his parents are away in Thailand setting up a business so he gets to go too, YAY. I know what you are thinking, baby crap to help the sequel. Not exactly, since Little Jack is a Funny kid that brings a different brand of humor, not cutesy crap that changes the pace. (Some other movies with kids in them should pay attention. You know who you are)… Back on track. Tangent over; Jack and Dina are the typical ultra-conservatives that I admire and aspire to become and Gaylords parents are throw-back hippy liberals that should be crushed under tank treads. These 2 worlds collide in the odd couple, fish out of water storyline we have seen a hundred times but, with Hoffman and Deniro making this the 3rd time charm working together they make this tired concept seem brand new.
Go see this movie, you won’t be sorry.
Popularity: 6% [?]
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Gun Play
Blood & Gore Car Chases T&A Chuckles |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
