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Martin Paule's Micro Movie Reviews:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z-
Erin Brockovich
Julia Roberts exhibits
a range that her previous vehicles haven’t permitted her in this film
directed
by Steven Soderbergh. She plays a twice-divorced mother of three small
children
who talks her way into a file clerk job with the small-time lawyer who
lost her
car accident injury case. Told in an uncharacteristically
straightforward (for
Soderbergh) manner, the screenplay is based on actual events in the
early ‘90s
in which Brockovich uncovered the culpability of Pacific Gas and
Electric in
poisoning ground water in a California desert town. The well-wrought
screenplay
spends as much time dealing with Brockovich’s struggle as a single
mother as it
does with her investigation. The lawyer, played by stalwart Albert
Finney, is
her perfect foil; their scenes together crackle with energy though
there is no
sexual attraction between the two.
Dispensing with the speechifying and big courtroom scenes that
are the
usual ingredients in this sort of story, Brockovich
depends on humor and overriding humanity to make its points.
L’ennui
(1998)
A 40-something philosophy
professor who is recently separated, mildly depressed, and apparently
going
through a midlife crisis, meets a simple, plump, 17-year old girl and
becomes
obsessed with possessing her physically. She is a cipher. He plies her
with questions
about her emotions, her opinions, her life, before and after the rough
sex that
is the keynote of their relationship. Her simple, artless responses
madden him
and he grows increasingly more jealous and obsessed with her. Based on
an
Alberto Moravia novel, this is a raw, primal look at sexual possession
with a
passing resemblance to Last Tango in
Elephant
Gus Van Sant's
film is a speculation about what it might have been like the day the
two boys
at
Eye of
the Needle
A solid suspenser starring
Donald Sutherland as “The Needle”, a Nazi spy with a penchant for
knifing
people who get in his way. Carefully constructed, the tension ratchets
up all
the way through to the final half that occurs on a desolate island off
the
British coast. The Needle finds himself
marooned there while holding vital information for Hitler. Well adapted
from a
Ken Follett novel, most impressive is the way in which the Sutherland
character
is depicted as an unstoppable force who refuses to be daunted in his
mission.
Easy
Rider
It’s a great deal of fun to
revisit this ‘60s hit that ushered in a wave of indie films that made
it big at
the box office. A making-of documentary that is included in the DVD
version
recounts how Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda set about making the film by
going
to
The
Eyes of Tammy Faye
For
those who may not remember, during the 1980s Tammy Faye Bakker and her
then-husband Jim parlayed their Christian TV show into a huge
enterprise that
included the third-largest theme park in the U.S. — Heritage USA.
Investigations into questionable finances as well as revelations about
a
one-night stand Jim had brought the empire toppling down. This
documentary
catches up with the now-remarried Tammy Faye and instead of being the
amusing
hatchet job I expected, portrays her in a rather sympathetic light
reserving
the role of villain for Jerry Falwell who appears to have been
instrumental in
the Bakkers downfall. A fascinating piece of
Enemy
of the State
This
breathless
thriller concerns a
Emma
Gwenyth
Paltrow is
fine as Jane Austen's matchmaking heroine who fails to be in touch with
her own
heart. Hr performance is supported with a top-notch cast with Alan
Cumming
especially good as the priggish Reverend Elton. Among the best versions
of this
much-adapted novel.
Entre
Nous
This
beutifully-wrought French chick flick recounts the relationship of a
pair of
women as they seek to assert themselves in an often unfriendly world.
Miou Miou
and Isabelle Hupert demonstrate superb chemistry. Director Diane Kurys
based
her screenplay largely on her own mother's life.
Eraser
File
this one
under fluff. Arnold Schwartzenegger plays a Federal agent who goes to
extraordinary lengths to protect a woman enrolled in the
government's
witness
protection program. Mind-boggling special effects and relentless action
are the
main attractions here.
Escape
from
Don
Segal's highly
detailed account of a prison break from the now-closed penitentiary
located in
the middle of San Francisco's bay is involving and blessed with
the
presense of
a couple of hard-nosed actors: Clint Eatwood and Fred Ward.
Electra
Glide in
Blue
Robert
Blake plays
a bantam rooster of a motorcycle cop whose lack of height is an abiding
concern. The story is a routine one in which the cop becomes embroiled
in a
murder investigation. What distinguishes this film is its flashy and
influential design which at the time of its release in 1973 was quite
revolutionary.
East
is East
I have a
special weakness for
films that deal with cultural collisions, hence this comedy-drama set
in 1970s
Eating
Director
Henry Jaglom is
Tim
Burton's
portrait of the
grade-Z movie director is clearly made with a lot of
affection for its subject, a man whose
ambition far exceeded his grasp. Johnny Depp is very good as the
cross-dressing
Wood and Martin Landau is even better playing the down-and-out Bela
Lugosi who
is reduced to eking out an existence by working in one of
Wood's
near-zero
budget movies.
Entre
Las Piernas
If
you like your
storytelling convoluted and sexy and if you tolerate David Lynch movies
well,
this Spanish import should fill the bill nicely. A radio talk show
producer
(Victoria Abril) and a screenwriter Javier Bardim) discover each other
at the
meeting of a support group for sex addicts. They have sex in a car in
which a
murder later takes place; a crime that is investigated by
Abrila's
detective
husband. With massive helpings of eroticism and violence, the plot
grows more
mystifying as it moves along. Whether sense can be made of it all is
debatable.
But the ride is a lot of fun for viewers of a certain persuasion.
A
serio-comic film
from
Cate
Blanchett
turns in a strong performance as the Virgin Queen in this nicely
detailed
historical drama focusing on the palace intrigue that lead to
Enchanted
April
Lushly
romantic
and well cast, this is the story of a pair of cloistered British women
who uncharacteristically
decide to rent an Italian lakeside villa then take on a pair of
roommates who
are very nearly their polar opposites. Originally made for British TV,
it
enjoyed a reasonably successful theatrical release in the
Earth (1998)
Deepa Mehta's tragic film is an adaptation of Bapsi Sidhwa's autobiographical
novel "Cracking India" and is the second in a trilogy of fire, earth and
water. The story is told from the viewpoint of Lenny, a young Indian girl
from a Parsee family who witnesses the implosion of Indian society when
Muslims and Hindus go to war following Britain's India-Pakistan partition
initiative in the late 1940s. By using a child's perspective, the idiocy of
the two sides is drawn in sharp relief. But the child-like perspective is
also a drawback in that the more subtle issues of the conflict are lost.
Much of the tumultuous history is reported through the conversations of
adults that Lenny overhears, and indeed, the adult characters, as seen from
the little girl's point of view, are not as subtly drawn as would be optimal.
As Parsees, Lenny's family are effectively neutrals in the religious war
providing a relatively even-handed treatment of the issues on both sides.
With scenes of intense brutality and destruction, this film is a reminder
that the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has old,
knotted roots. I recommend reading the novel before seeing the film if
possible as it provides historical context, although reading the book also
reveals severe truncations of Lenny's story on film brought on by the time
constraints of the medium.The End of the Affair
Having only recently read Graham Greene's novel on which this is based, I
was intrigued to see how a film adaptation of this very interior work could
be made to work on the screen. Happily, it works very well thanks to a
creative adaptation by director Neil Jordan. Concerned with the struggle
between religious faith and carnality, it is the story of an illicit love
affair in war-torn London. Ralph Fiennes plays a novelist who becomes
intimately involved with a casual acquaintance's (Stephen Rea) wife
(Julianne Moore). Unstrictured by mid-20th century mores, the film is far
more erotic and explicit than its autobiographical forerunner. Jordan also
shows the same events from different perspectives to mine the innermost
concerns of the characters. The three leads are fine with Rea doing an
especially solid job with a tough part as the mousy, cuckolded bureaucrat.
Ian Hart also deserves mention for his superb turn as a Dickensian
detective who seeks to unravel the deceit.
Election
Tracy Flick is a nasty piece of work. We all knew someone in high school
like her-a compulsive overachiever who ruthlessly kisses ass and schemes
her way to the top. In this dark, acidic teen comedy Tracy (Reese
Witherspoon) is intent on being the next class president and when a
counseler who loathes the girl (Matthew Broderick looking very middle aged
and frumpy) convinces a jock to run against her, all hell breaks loose.
Eyes Wide Shut
Stanley Kubrick's swan song, completed just before his death in 1999, is a
fitting finale to a remarkable career. As was often the case, Kubrick chose
to work with less than stellar performers here (Tom Cruise and Nicole
Kidman) whose public visibility as a Hollywood couple may have been a
calculated decision in telling this story of jealousy, eroticism and
imagination. Cruise plays a shallow but charming Manhattan doctor whose
wife one night makes a pot-fueled confession of erotic longing for a naval
officer she briefly encountered. Cruise goes off the deep end emotionally
as chances for illicit sex crop up at every turn leading him into a dark
series of events that rather reminded me of Scorcese's "After Hours". As
always, Kubrick shows complete mastery of the mise en scene cannily using
lighting, tawdry Christmas decorations and dead on music selections to
propel his story to what, for this director, is a rather hopeful
denouement.Speaking of taste, here's a a kinky black comedy about a couple who want to
open a gourmet restaurant but have no funds. They run personal ads in sex
magazines promising plenty of perversion to lure people to their lair where
they murder and rob them. The director Paul Bartel was forced to
self-finance this project and many of the victims he depicts are the same
Hollywood-types who blew him off in his search for backing.
From the early 20s until the end of WWII, Chinese men emigrating to the
U.S. were not allowed to bring their wives with them creating a community
of lonely bachelors. Wayne Wang's charming story concerns the time when the
ban was ended and focuses on an American-born Chinese man who brings his
Chinese-born wife to the U.S. Though the narrative loses its way
occasionally, this is a fascinating look at a little known part of our
history and of a culture largely hidden to mainstream America.
There's a new, 25th anniversary print of this big-budget horror classic now
making the rounds. Not having seen the movie since its original release, I
was pleasantly surprised by how well it holds up today despite countless
fright nite successors which have relentlessly upped the scare ante. For
the three or four of you out there who don't know the story, it is the tale
of a 12 year-old girl who messes about with a ouija board and ultimately
becomes possessed by a demon. A pair of catholic priests attempt to
exorcise the demon with horrific results. Director William Friedkin and
writer Peter Blatty joined forces to create a very effective shocker using
some clever techniques. For example, in an early scene, the girl's mother
wanders around in the attic with a candle looking for the source of some
mysterious noises. Suddenly, a puff of air snuffs out the candle to the
accompaniment of a scary chord on the soundtrack. But nothing much comes
of this moment and we breathe easy thinking, "well, this isn't so scary".
Once he's lulled us into thinking this is just another run of the mill
horror flick, Friedkin cranks everything up by a factor of ten and suddenly
we find ourselves gripping the arms of our chairs. The soundtrack too is an
important element in raising our hackles . There is an angry, almost
subliminal drone present through much of the film which was derived from a
complex of sounds including angry bees, all designed to reach the
primitive fear center in our brains. A suggestion: the anniversary edition
(which offers a very fine print in letterbox format) includes some
fascinating footage about the making of the picture. But fast-forward
through that and watch the movie first, then go back and check out the
behind-the-scenes story. I think MGM was nuts for putting that material on
the front end of the tape as it serves to undermine a lot of the tension in
what follows.A lovely little movie about a nerd from Wisconsin who heads to the Big
Apple when his girlfriend dumps him. Though he's only in his 20s, Ed
Brodsky is so organized that his cemetery lot is bought and paid for-one of
his erstwhile girlfriend's complaints. Once settled into digs with a
roommate who is a bit of a lothario, and with his geneticist job working
out fine, there's only one thing missing: a love life. He pursues Lee, a
folky musician with a Liz Phair approach to the banal. But he hasn't got a
clue. Their first date includes Ed deep-sixing a pair of trapped mice and
his cat hurling up a hairball into Lee's lap. His roommate philosophically
intones after the fact, "First dates go better when nothing dies." With a
good ear for dialogue and more than a nod to Woody Allen generally and
"Annie Hall" specifically, minus the heavy neuroses, this is a fine first
outing for the writer-director.
This is David Lynch's most straightforward film; the story of an English
Victorian doctor who becomes fascinated by the case of a man with horrible
congenital deformities. After rescuing the freak from a sideshow, the
doctor, played with icy calculation by Anthony Hopkins comes to discover
the man hiding within the twisted body. Rich black and white photography
and superior production design create a breathtaking experience.
An engineer spends ten years searching for his son who has been kidnapped
by Amazonian Indians. Though the plot is a bit overcooked, the magnificent
photography and the theme of cultures in collision make this worth a look.
The director's son, Charlie Boorman, plays the abducted boy in a strong,
naturalistic performance.
Perhaps Fellini's greatest accomplishment, this is the story of a director
attempting to get a film made in the face of innumerable distractions,
dreams, subplots and all manner of craziness. It is a difficult film to
absorb in one sitting, packed as it is with dozens of dream-like ideas and
overwhelming technical brilliance. Marcello Mastroianni plays the Fellini
alter-ego director character to the hilt.
A great movie for book lovers, this is the story of a decades-long
correspondence between a spirited woman in New York and a refined British
rare book seller played respectively by Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.
A fine reflection of the times in the two cities involved.
Laurence Olivier is a threadbare vaudevillian actor with a seamy
extracurricular love life and pressing financial difficulties. Set in a
tacky British seaside resort of the early 50s, the film has a sterling
supporting cast including Alan Bates and Albert Finney who debuted here, as
well as Joan Plowright who went on to marry Olivier.
Enormous Changes at The Last Minute
Three Grace Paley short stories are the basis for these portraits of three
New York women, each facing immense problems. Though none of them is a
heroine, each in her own way manages to struggle through the challenges
that life hurls at her and finally takes some control over her life. A
standout cast including Ellen Barkin, Maria Tucci and Kevin Bacon with a
literate script by John Sayles and sure handed direction by three women,
each of whom handled a separate character and segment.
A Jewish intellectual who has survived WWII in Europe plays it fast and
loose as a bigamist during the early 50s in NY. Juggling his two wives,
things really get complicated when his original, first wife who he thought
was dead, turns up. A lovely mixture of wit, sadness and irony with stand
up comic Alan King doing a great bit a as a wheeler-dealer rabbi.
An infinitely quirky and lavishly filmed fantasy about a regal grandmother
who forces her lovely and obedient granddaughter into a life of
prostitution in a strange, desert land. The screenplay was written by
Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
A German-Jewish boy escapes a pogrom in the ghetto by changing his identity
only to find himself first in a communist Russian orphanage then later in
Hitler's army where he must disguise his Jewishness at all costs.
Incredibly tense and moving, the story is based on the recollections of an
actual survivor.
A wonderfully surreal film by one of my favorite directors, Luis Buñuel.
Guests at a lavish dinner party find themselves mysteriously unable to
leave when it is over and gradually sicken and starve over several days. As
in many of his films, Buñuel has great fun tearing a new asshole into the
bourgeois and their pretensions.
Some other great Buñuel flicks to check out if you haven't seen them:
"Belle de Jour" (which was recently reissued in video with a sharp print
and legible subtitles), Phantome de Liberté, and "The Discrete Charm of The
Bourgeoise".
Don't try to watch this one hungry; the cooking scenes will drive you to
the fridge for a snack that will only seem pallid when compared with the
sumptuous fare offered in the film. A Taiwanese chef has lost his taste
buds and has also become a stranger to his daughters. Though the plot's a
bit predictable, the story is lovingly told, and then there's that food...
(If you enjoy this one, check out the director Ang Lee's "The Wedding
Banquet" which shares a lot of similar elements.)
A Guatemalan brother and sister escape their oppressive village and after a
terrifying journey manage to smuggle themselves into Los Angeles where they
find under the table work. We see the exploitation that undocumented
workers face and how they form an important yet invisible part of the
economy. Extremely well acted and very moving. The director, Gregory Nava
went on to make the recent epic, "My Family", which is an altogether
slicker account of a Mexican family's trials and tribulations in Los
Angeles over the course of three generations. But it too, despite a
glossier look and feel, offers rewards.
Containing one of the most offputting meal scenes recorded on film, David
Lynch's underground classic is, roughly speaking, the story of a social
outcast, his disturbed girlfriend and their monstrous child. Half freakshow
and half nightmare, this is only recommended to those with an appetite for
highly experimental cinema.
The utterly charming story of a rural Chinese woman who undergoes great
hardship in order to earn the immense sum needed to buy a big color TV. The
scenes in which she kneads dough with her feet to make the twisted noodles
she sells in a nearby town are fascinating as are dozens of other closely
observed details of life in the Chinese hinterlands. The naivete of these
peasants is wondrous: as they watch multilingual satellite broadcasts, Ermo
wonders how the TV can know so many different languages. A neighbor replies
that its not the TV; it's the people at the TV station who are so
linguistically gifted! Don't miss this one.
Though the plot becomes a bit lumbering in spots, Marcello Mastroianni once
again delivers a powerful performance as a doddering Sicilian who travels
across Italy to visit his five children, each of whom is having problems in
their lives but is feverishly covering it up.
A wave of Southern-Gothic films has appeared recently with the vastly
overrated "Sling Blade" being among the most visible. "Eye of God" while
sharing some of the ambience of the former, is a far more satisfying effort
by first-time director Tim Blake Nelson who adapted his stage play to the
screen. The film also employs the fractured timeline approach that "Pulp
Fiction" popularized, but unlike many other movies that have jumped on this
bandwagon to offer an appearance of being cutting-edge, the zigzag time
structure here serves the story well. Ultimately concerned with the
question of God's existence, it tells the story of Ainsley, a bright but
hemmed-in woman treading water in the oil bust town of Kingfisher,
Oklahoma. She begins a relationship by mail with a prisoner, who upon his
release and a brief courtship, marries her. Overlooking Jack's
unwillingness to discuss the reason for his imprisonment and accepting his
profession of born-again Christianity, she quickly sees that she has made a
grave mistake as Jack's controlling personality emerges. Meanwhile a
parallel story is developed in which a young boy is found wandering near
the town drenched in blood. We learn that his mother recently gassed
herself and that he is one troubled adolescent. A sense of impending
tragedy infects every frame as the two storylines inevitably merge leading
to a dark and sad conclusion. Martha Plimpton, cast against type as
Ainsley, is excellent as the victimized fast food waitress. This is a
disturbing effort that is not easily dismissed from one's memory.
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