Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) * * * *

Directed by:  Stephen Herek

Starring:  Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headley, Jay Thomas, Olympia Dukakis, William H. Macy, Jean-Louisa Kelly

Mr. Holland's Opus spans thirty years in the life of a music teacher who, in his words, "had to be dragged into it kicking and screaming and then it became all I wanted to do."    The teacher, Glenn Holland (Dreyfuss) takes a teaching job as a way to pay the bills while he writes a symphony which will propel he and his family to riches and fame.    He and his wife Iris (Headley) seem to have a master plan, but the symphony writing takes a back seat to Glenn's attention to his teaching.     He approaches his job at first by doing what is required and nothing further, but after being challenged by Principal Jacobs (Dukakis) to participate more in his students' education, he mentors a student who can't play the clarinet well and has self-esteem issues.     Her growth becomes a source of pride for Holland, who begins to realize that teaching may be his ambition after all.

I may have made Mr. Holland's Opus sound like a Lifetime movie of the week, but it is a film with a strong sweep and moving scenes handled just right.     We become a witness to Mr. Holland's life; watching students, teachers, and friends pass through it over the course of many years.     We witness John F. Kennedy high school move through different eras and be touched by them.     In one instance, Glenn and his football coach friend Bill (Thomas) attend the funeral of a former student killed in Vietnam.    "We know too many of these kids," Bill says with a heavy heart.    

Time rolls by.   Glenn and Iris have a deaf son, which causes dismay to them both for different reasons.    Iris frets her inability to communicate with her son, while Glenn realizes his son will never be able to hear his music.    Glenn seems to be focus his attention more on his students than his own son, which erupts into a bitter argument and reconciliation the day following John Lennon's death in 1980.     Glenn lovingly sings "Beautiful Boy" as a tribute to his son at a concert in a touching scene. 

Being a popular teacher is not without its pitfalls.    Mr. Holland becomes the object of infatuation by a student named Rowena (Kelly), the lead in the school Gershwin tribute.     She sings "Someone To Watch Over Me" directly to him, causing consternation with his wife and confusion with him.     He understands the line that must be drawn between the two, but perhaps he is attracted to her.     This is a tricky subplot that is handled thoughtfully.    A lesser film would've had Holland thrown into an illicit affair with the teenage girl instead of dealing with the feelings involved.

This ranks among Dreyfuss' best work.    We see him evolve and change over the years into a teacher with a passion for teaching and one who also learns from his students.      The Mr. Holland who began his career by making a beeline for the parking lot once the dismissal bell rang grows into a caring, passionate teacher.     Dreyfuss' transformation is never less than compelling.     After thirty years, the school eliminates the music and arts programs which force him into early retirement.     When told by his principal that the school prefers reading and writing to music, Mr. Holland replies, "Soon enough, they won't have anything to read or write about."    

Mr. Holland's Opus ends with a moving finale, although I would've preferred that they didn't play Mr. Holland's "American Symphony", which I assumed was unfinished.     The assembled orchestra plays it so perfectly that I couldn't help but think a score was being played instead of this man's uncelebrated work.   I would've preferred an ending in which Mr. Holland speaks to the assembly celebrating his retirement and references that his love for education caused him to abandon his dreams of being a famous composer.    I would've also loved it more if he said that knowing what he knows now, he would've done it all again the exact same way.  

Schindler's List (1993) * * * *

Directed by:  Steven Spielberg

Starring:  Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall

Oskar Schindler was a failed businessman who saw an opportunity in early World War II Poland to enrich himself and the Nazi regime.     He started a business manufacturing pots and pans for the war effort, using Jews as labor.    By the end of the war, Schindler was flat broke, and saved over 1,100 Jews from certain death.    His biggest lament was that he felt he didn't do enough to save more lives.      At what point did Schindler switch his goal from profit to saving lives?    Was that always his mission or did he simply follow his better nature at long last?     Schindler's List never explains this and its enigmatic hero is a big reason why watching it is a powerful experience.      I think if Schindler were a self-righteous blowhard who preached about doing the right thing to anyone who would listen, he would've been a bore.     He would've been like countless other movie heroes who do things and then explains why he did them, as if the audience couldn't have figured that out for themselves.    

Schindler's List is a study of one person's act of good against an evil Nazi machine.     Certainly Schindler couldn't save every Jew in Poland from death, but he did save 1,100 of them.     He ensured that there would be more generations to come for these people who otherwise would've perished.      How he accomplishes this involves a great deal of scheming, payoffs, and his trusted Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (Kingsley) who understands what is happening while keeping his head down and not asking questions.      He faces little resistance from the local slave labor camp commandant Amon Goeth (Fiennes) because he is being enriched too.     Schindler is taking Jews off his hands for 8-10 hours a day and he's getting paid for it.     Who's to argue with such an arrangement?

Goeth is not enigmatic in the least.    He is a psychopathic killer who shoots Jews from his balcony for sport.    He follows no logic nor reason when he punishes people for supposed infractions.     Stern tells Schindler about Goeth killing 25 Jews randomly because one tried to escape.     Schindler opposes these acts, but knows he needs Goeth's cooperation in order to accomplish his mission.     He manages to briefly talk Goeth out of killing Jews by saying, "Having power, but not using it, is sometimes the real power."     Goeth briefly heeds this advice but his psychopathy takes over and he kills a young boy who is unable to clean the stains from his bathtub.     Fiennes received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work.    He never reaches for effect or becomes a cackling maniac.     We sense his homicidal tendencies are part of his nature and the war provides him an excuse to kill without consequences.      He is conflicted, however, over his feelings for his maid Helen (Embeth Davidtz), a young Jewish woman he loves despite his hatred for her people.     He reconciles his conflict by abusing her, which is all too clear to Schindler.     "If you meant nothing to him, he would just kill you," Schindler tells a frightened Helen.     Goeth's hesitation to release her when Schindler moves his factory to Czechoslovakia reveals his true feelings.

At a crucial point, Schindler instructs Stern to compose a list of the Jews who work in his factory whose lives he will buy.    The Nazis are only too happy to accomodate Schindler because the war is nearing its end and they "will need transportable wealth".     Because Schindler is a great salesman who wears silk suits and is seemingly well-connected, they don't question his veracity or his motives.     "This list is absolute good," Stern tells Schindler.     He understands that all too well.
Liam Neeson was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance.     The power in his performance relies heavily on the early setup in which we seem to know his goals and motives, but then he turns the tables in midstream.     He is a con artist who convinces everyone he is powerful and has the connections to make things happen.     He is always able to provide gifts "as a token of gratitude" to powerful Nazis whenever he needs them the most.    Schindler is like a magician who is able to pull the rabbit out of his hat at just the right time to avoid detection.      It's a tricky balancing act which Neeson pulls off masterfully.      In the opening moments of the film, Schindler secures financing for his factory strictly by showing up at a nightclub frequented by Nazi officers and ingratiating himself with an endless flow of cigars, women,  and champagne for all.      At first, no one knows who he is.    By the end of the night, everyone wants to know him. 

Schindler's List is over three hours long and at no point does it drag.    Spielberg shot the film in black & white, which is appropriate and uniform with practically every Holocaust documentary ever made which uses black & white footage of Holocaust atrocities.     There is one use of color, aside from the film's final scenes, which depict an anonymous little girl finding her way through the streets as the Nazi liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto transpires.     This little girl captures Schindler's attention as he views the scene from afar.    I believe this provides the inspiration for him to do something to help reverse the eradication of Polish Jews.     Spielberg depicts many horrors perpetrated on the Jews, but these act as the catalyst for Schindler's actions.         Who knows how or why millions of Germans became murderers or accomplices to murder and seemingly went against their better natures.    Spielberg doesn't attempt to answer that question, likely because there is no answer.     How could there be?

The final few minutes of the film reveal that the Jews Schindler saved flourished and prospered in the aftermath of World War II.     We see the real Jews, sometimes accompanied by the actors who played them or by their families, placing stones on the gravestone of Oskar Schindler, who died in 1974.     The stones are placed as a rememberance of a man they knew only as "Herr Direktor" who did more to save Jews than entire countries did.      Oskar Schindler resisted the Nazi death machine using all of his financial and personal resources to do so.     He's an unsung hero to most, except for those he saved.  









    

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Don Scardino

Starring:  Steve Carrell, Steve Buscemi, Jim Carrey, Olivia Wilde, James Gandolfini, Alan Arkin

Here's a comedy that contains some of the most inspired humor I've seen in many a moon.      It's not afraid to be outrageous or bold, especially when it comes to Steve Gray (Carrey), a rival street magician to Vegas stalwarts Burt and Anton (Carrell and Buscemi).     Gray isn't really even a magician.    He performs stunts in the David Blaine/Criss Angel tradition which would put a lesser person in the hospital.     Maybe he winds up there, but we never see it.     I would think drilling a hole in your head would at least require an ER checkup or a stay in an institution.  

The film follows the birth of a magician and his lifelong friendship with his future Vegas show partner.     Burt Wonderstone (not his real name by the way) is a child picked on and left alone a lot at home who finds solace in a magic kit he received for his birthday- a birthday where he has to bake his own cake.     He finds a kindred spirit in Anton Marvelton (not his real name by the way) who is a loyal sidekick.      Flash forward 30 years later to present-day Las Vegas, where Burt and Anton perform a magic show in their own theater at Bally's, owned by Doug Munny (Gandolfini), whose eye is so focused on the bottom line he proudly says he doesn't know how old his young son is.       Burt and Anton's act hasn't changed in 10 years.    Tensions mount as Anton tries to persuade Burt to incorporate new illusions while Burt is focused on banging women from the audience.     

Enter Steve Gray, who is the star of a cable show called "Brain Rapist" and performs stunts which even Criss Angel wouldn't dare try.      In one episode, he doesn't pee for a week and the announcer joyously claims that Steve now has more urine than blood in his body.     This is uproariously funny because it satirizes illusionists to a new level.     I'm sure even David Blaine never thought of this stunt.     But the arrogant Gray is becoming popular enough to cause Burt and Anton's audiences to dwindle.     Munny is looking to open a new casino, called "Doug", and proudly divulges his wishes to charge higher prices for everything because "it's new and people like new".    Anton quits the act after a failed hot box fiasco (Burt couldn't even last 10 minutes in it) and Munny pulls the plug on them.      Burt is reduced to performing lame tricks at Big Lots and a nursing home, while Anton tries in vain to introduce magic to starving Cambodians.      "It turns out they really only wanted food and water," Anton confesses later. 

The second half of the movie focuses on Burt's attempts at a comeback and to dislodge Gray as a Vegas headliner.     He enlists the help of a beautiful budding magician named Jane (Wilde), who Burt mistakingly calls Nicole, to help him with this.     Also entering the picture is retired magician Rance Halloway (Arkin), who lives in the nursing home where Burt performs and whose magic kit inspired Burt to become a magician when he was a lonely kid.     Sure, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is predictable and you know it will end happily for our hero, but the ride is hilarious.   

Carrell makes a successful transformation from jaded, spoiled star to a humbled man on the comeback trail.      Carrell is naturally likable, even when he's being a jerk, as is Buscemi, who is many miles removed from his gangster roles in Fargo and Boardwalk Empire.     Jim Carrey has had the effect of fingernails dragging across a blackboard for me at times in his career, but he has never been funnier than he is here.     He is a study in masochistic lunacy.     His character does over-the-top things, but Carrey himself never goes over-the-top.     When he appears on screen, we eagerly anticipate what insane thing he'll do next.     Steve Gray exists in his own plane of reality, which allows him to push the envelope (or even tear it) with wackier and wackier stunts.      I think he even levitates during a bar scene, which leads me to wonder if he isn't actually an alien.   

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone isn't deep or meaningful, but it's very, very funny.    There was one scene which had me laughing uncontrollably.     Someone pointed out to me that he hadn't seen me laugh like that at a movie in some time.     Comedies these days usually contain bodily functions run amok and uninspired slapstick.     Considering the dearth of good ones, he's probably right. 

Good Will Hunting (1997) * * * *

Directed by:  Gus Van Sant

Starring:  Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgard, Casey Affleck

"You're sitting on a winning lottery ticket and you're too much of a pussy to cash it in," says Chuckie to his best friend Will, a working-class mathematical genius on probation for punching a police officer during a scuffle with local tough guys.   You would wonder why a genius like Will would find himself in such trouble, but his issues are rooted in his upbringing.  He was bounced from one abusive foster home to another in South Boston.   He has love and trust issues, except with his very close friends, and defense mechanisms are his way of coping with the world.   Will is rough around the edges, but during Good Will Hunting those edges will be smoothed out by those who grow to care for him.  It's a film made up of many powerful moments.  Sure, the outcome is predictable, but getting to the outcome is an absorbing experience.

Will (Damon) is a genius with limitless potential who chooses to work menial jobs in construction or as a janitor at MIT.    He is smarter than the students that go there and he is able to solve a math formula posted by Professor Lambeau (Skarsgard) which stumps everyone else.  Lambeau posts another impossible formula and catches Will working on it.   Will scurries away, but Lambeau eventually tracks him down in jail after his involvement in the aforementioned fight.  The professor takes custody of him as part of a probation deal, contingent upon therapy sessions with former college roommate Sean McGuire (Williams).   Sean is sad and keenly feeling the recent loss of his wife to cancer, but he is able to reach Will in ways others couldn't before.   He believes Will needs to overcome his defenses in order to discover what he wants out of life.  Lambeau thinks Will should focus on mathematics.   Both recognize Will's genius, but argue over how he should focus his energies.    

Will also begins dating a Harvard pre-med student named Skylar (Driver), who loves Will despite his attempts to push her away.  He loves her, but can't bring himself to let her in because it would mean he would have to let down his guard.   The two have a heartbreaking breakup scene. When he's not with Sean, Skylar, or Lambeau, Will hangs out with neighborhood buddies at the local bar, where he feels most comfortable.   He has no problem wasting his potential away drinking beers and hanging out.    

I enjoyed the authentic, strong performances in Good Will Hunting.  Damon exudes intelligence mixed with a giant chip on his shoulder.   The chip is gradually eroded by Sean, Skyla, and Chuckie (Affleck) via a dose of tough love.  Damon's transformation is never less than convincing.  Robin Williams won the 1997 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this film and it is his best work.   He is shtick-free here, never once lapsing into an unnecessary impression or aside.   His two best scenes are his description of the night Carlton Fisk hit the 12th inning home run in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series (which has an extra special meaning) and the scene where he tells Will "it's not your fault."   Watch his body language as he confronts Will with this truth.  Affleck seems to be just a hard-nosed Boston construction worker, but his scene in which he tells Will he'd kill him if he doesn't do anything meaningful with himself is the key to the film.   I think this scene above all others forces Will to rethink his life. 

Good Will Hunting also won Damon and Affleck the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.    The original script was more of a thriller involving its working-class hero, but thankfully it was transformed into this stirring film.    It's much more interesting to see Will discover himself than it would be to see him outrun bad guys.     I cringe at the thought of the latter.  


  

The Jackal (1997) * * *

Directed by:  Michael Caton-Jones

Starring:  Richard Gere, Bruce Willis, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora, Jack Black, Mathilda May

The Jackal is a thriller that gets the job done, even though it can be preposterous at times like some action films tend to be.     It's anchored, however, by a strong Richard Gere performance in a very un-Gere like role.    He plays an imprisoned IRA gunrunner/assassin who assists the FBI in tracking down The Jackal (Willis), a ruthless killer-for-hire who changes hair color as often as he changes socks.     The Jackal has been pulling off contract killings for many years, yet he remains at large and off the grid.     Gere's Declan Mulqueen has seen The Jackal and could identify him, as could his former lover Isabella (May), who lives in seclusion with a family.   

Gere has a passable Irish accent and Mulqueen is more of a salt-of-the-earth guy than a slick hustler Gere has played many times over the years.     He has personal reasons for wanting The Jackal dead, which aren't made clear until later.      Despite his past links to terrorism, Mulqueen makes for a sympathetic hero, mostly because his only wish is to return to Ireland and start his life anew.     I'm sure the families of those he killed won't be thrilled to see him, but since we don't actually see those deaths, it makes Mulqueen a little more palatable.    Plus, he seems to have served his penance in many ways.  

The Jackal has been hired by the Russian mob to kill a target which isn't made known to the audience until a crucial point, when Mulqueen figures it out.     He is paid half up front and half upon completion, which amounts to about $70 million.     Much of that probably covers The Jackal's personal expenses, which likely include an unlimited supply of hair color, weapons, and other assorted overhead.     He doesn't travel light.     Willis doesn't have a lot of dialogue as The Jackal and is a satisfactory villain, but where does he carry around all of that Just For Men hair coloring?

Looking too deeply into The Jackal is a fool's errand.     If taken on a superficial level, The Jackal is slick, polished, professional entertainment.    If you look deeper, it may not hold up to much scrutiny, so why look deeper if you're satisfied with what you get?    Also along for the ride are Sidney Poitier as Carter Preston, deputy director of the FBI, who helps in tracking down the mysterious Jackal.    Diane Venora plays a Russian KGB agent who smokes an awful lot and carries a hideous facial scar, but she's a pretty tough lady.     She could use the $70 million to pay for all of her cigarettes.  

Despite its inherent goofy plot points, I enjoyed The Jackal anyway.    If a movie works, it works.    Why look a gift horse in the mouth? 

Fight Club (1999) * *

Directed by:  David Fincher

Starring:  Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham-Carter, Meat Loaf

(spoilers present)

Fight Club wastes good performances and an intriguing setup with a second half that flies off the rails.    Does it even know what is ultimately about?    How is the twist supposed to make any sense when what we believed to be two different characters occupy different areas of the same room?      Perhaps in the novel from which the film was based, this idea makes more sense, but in a film it leaves me shaking my head.     After all, we see Edward Norton standing in the crowd of onlookers while Brad Pitt makes a speech, so how can they be ..?  

I may have given more of the spoiler away than I should have, but it's tough to ignore since it is among the big reasons I didn't care for the film.     I also think the concept of the fight club itself went awry.    Its members turn into obedient stooges for Pitt and Norton's anarchic compound, even though Pitt sells the idea of a fight club as a way toward personal freedom.      That's likely the point, but Fight Club belabors it to the point it loses any meaning by the time the conclusion finally comes.      The ending is so far removed from the beginning that I felt like I watched a double feature featuring the same actors.  

Edward Norton plays an unnamed man (billed as The Narrator) in his early 30's experiencing insomnia and angst over his tedious life.     He holds a job of little importance and he is lonely.     He attends twelve-step and support group meetings in order to feel better about himself.     He isn't an alcoholic or have cancer, mind you, but the other members do, so he feels better about himself as they suffer.      He meets Marlene (Bonham-Carter), a chain-smoking brunette who, like him, attends these meetings to boost her own sagging self-esteem.     He doesn't much like her, mostly because she sees he is a fake just like herself.   

His life takes a dramatic turn when he meets Tyler Durden (Pitt), a slickster soap manufacturer who behaves aggressively.     Tyler is everything The Narrator is not and does things The Narrator wouldn't do.     Tyler thinks he can show The Narrator the way to more enlightenment and personal joy through beating each other up and otherwise acting like a creep.     Tyler and The Narrator duke it out outside of a bar one night.    A crowd of onlookers marvels at the sheer brutality of the beating they give each other.     They are encouraged to beat each other up, not in a mob setting, but in one-on-one fisticuffs.    Tyler and The Narrator start "Fight Club".    The first rule of Fight Club, Tyler tells his audience, is "You don't talk about Fight Club."    Apparently, people ignore this rule because at the next meeting, the group has doubled in size.   

What the Fight Club leads to is an uneasy extension.     The group takes part in not only beating each other up, but attacking strangers, bystanders, and wreaking havoc on otherwise innocent people.     It is brutality on a massive scale and this is where I get off the train.     Fight Club goes from odd to just plain unsettling.     Tyler and The Narrator become drill sergeants of sorts; abusing and belittling members of their club who do their bidding without questions.     How do we get from an underground fight club to a mini-fascist regime?    How did one thing lead to the next?     Fight Club is thought-provoking, but not in a satisfying way.     The point of all of this is lost on me.  

Then comes the Big Reveal which, after a few moments of thought, makes little sense.     We now know why The Narrator is unnamed, but I can't get past the other logistical questions it raises.     How is The Narrator able to shoot himself in such a way to kill off his alter ego only, who doesn't even physically exist?     How can Tyler and The Narrator be one and the same, but yet each actor occupies physical space when required?     How come no one looks at them funny when they are talking to each other in public, as if one person was actually talking to himself?     Big Reveals only work if they answer questions, not if they create more questions.    

What's Up, Doc? (1972) * * * *

Directed by:  Peter Bogdanovich

Starring:  Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn, Austin Pendleton, Liam Dunn, Kenneth Mars

What's Up Doc? is a high-energy, ludicrous comedy of mistaken identities which is also very funny.    Explaining the plot is an exercise in futility.    A group of characters try explaining it to a harried judge and causes him to take extra doses of Alka Seltzer.    The plot is convoluted, but in a good way.    It is a great excuse to keep the shenanigans going.  

I'll describe the setup and leave the rest to you to discover.     Four different people check into a hotel.   All own the exact same type of suitcase, but each has something different in it.     One has clothes, one has rocks, one has important papers, and one has precious jewels.     There are many people after the suitcases with the papers and the jewels.     The rocks are owned by musicologist Howard Bannister (O'Neal), a very straight-laced, nerdy man trying to win a grant with a theory that rocks were used by primitive people as musical instruments.     The clothes are owned by Judy (Streisand), who falls in love with Howard at first sight and attempts to win him over.    How?  By posing as his fiancee Eunice Burns (Kahn) at an important function.   Howard's relationship with Eunice lacks any kind of passion and is borderline platonic.   He knocks on her door saying, "This is Howard Bannister, your fiance."     Judy is a free-spirit who follows her heart and unintentionally wreaks havoc on poor Howard and anyone associated with him.    

What carries all of this along is precise timing and all of the fun everyone has here.     Howard is so polite and unwilling to make a scene that he goes along with Judy's deception.     Maybe he even loves her too.    She is certainly a million miles removed from the tightly-wound, shrill Eunice.       Howard tells Judy, "You're different,"   She replies, "I know, but in the future, I'll try to be the same."   He is no match for her.   Neither is anyone or anything else, it seems.    

What's Up Doc? contains a lot of wit and physical gags mixed together, but it all works because it's funny.    Judy's pursuit of Howard destroys a hotel floor, but it still kept me caring.   You would think trying to keep up with who is tracking whom and why is a fool's errand, but amazingly we can.     In the end, everyone gets who or what they deserve.     Streisand and O'Neal are enormously appealing leads.    She's the irresistible force to O'Neal's immovable object, but each may be what the other has been looking for.     O'Neal even kids the famous line from Love Story.  "Love means never having to say you're sorry," says Judy.    He replies, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."     If you're unable to laugh at that, you're watching the wrong movie.  

Midnight Run (1988) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Martin Brest

Starring:  Robert DeNiro, Charles Grodin, Dennis Farina, Yaphet Kotto, Joe Pantoliano, John Ashton

A bounty hunter and his quarry find themselves on the run from bad guys and the FBI as the bounty hunter tries to get back to LA within 72 hours.     That's a simple rundown of the plot, but it's not what makes Midnight Run special.     The movie is special because of its great comic performances and smart dialogue.     It also contains a cheerful undercurrent because the bounty hunter (DeNiro) and his prisoner, a mob accountant  (Grodin) are so likable and, as it turns out, ethical.    They're easy to root for.

DeNiro's Jack Walsh is a former Chicago cop who is now an L.A.-based bounty hunter.     His next assignment is to track down mob accountant Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas who stole money from the mob and is now wanted by the mob boss Jimmy Serrano (Farina) and the FBI.     DeNiro finds Mardukas with relative ease, but getting him to LA is a much harder task.    The Duke claims he is afraid of flying and creates a scene on the plane, so Jack has to find another means of transportation.     The Duke exasperates Jack with his talkativeness, phobias, and his advice to Jack to quit smoking.      "If you don't shut up, you're going to suffer from fist-o-phobia,"   Jack tells him. 

They are in danger, especially since Jack has a history with Cerrano, a no-nonsense mobster surrounded by incompetent underlings.    Cerrano addresses his people colorfully.   ("Moron Number One, put Moron Number Two on the phone.")   Dennis Farina died a couple of days ago and he will be missed.     A former Chicago cop turned actor, he brought authenticity and slick intelligence to every role he played, whether in comedies or dramas.   

Many things happen along the way from New York to L.A., but Jack and The Duke learn plenty about each other.    We learn Jack had to make a difficult ethical choice which forced him into exile from his home and family.     We also learn the true nature of The Duke's embezzlement of mob funds and much of it wasn't self-serving.     If Jack and The Duke were as corrupt as the rest of the bunch, there would be no rooting interest and thus Midnight Run becomes a slog.    Road/buddy movies are tricky.    The plot is so familiar and that it needs a hook to make it stand out.     Midnight Run has plenty of chases, explosions, and shootings, but underneath it all is a movie with heart and a couple of actors in the leads who have wonderful comic chemistry.    

Primal Fear (1996) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Gregory Hoblit

Starring:  Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, John Mahoney, Steven Bauer, Alfre Woodard, Andre Braugher

Primal Fear is an above-average courtroom drama about a hotshot lawyer who loves to defend seemingly guilty clients in high-profile cases.     He won't find any client who fits that bill more than Aaron Stampler (Norton), an altar boy who fled from a gruesome murder scene of a Chicago archbishop with the archbishop's blood all over him.    How does he account for this?    The genial, stuttering, naive Stampler says there was someone else in the room and that he "lost time", (his country way of saying blacked out) and didn't remember anything about the murder.   The lawyer, Martin Vail (Gere) offers his services and may even believe the young man.   

Vail is up against a lot as the case proceeds the trial.    His ex-girlfriend Janet Venable (Linney) is the prosecuting attorney, his former employer DA John Shaughnessy (Mahoney) is seeking the death penalty and was close friends with the slain archbishop, and his investigators are having a difficult time finding evidence that someone other than Aaron is the murderer.   There is talk of a real estate deal involving the archbishop that went very bad, costing important people millions of dollars.     Is this a reason the archbishop was killed?     Vail himself loves the publicity and the hoopla, but is he able to face the truth about his client?     What exactly happens when Aaron "loses time"?    A psychologist working with Vail (McDormand) has an answer that may not be of much comfort.     

The film is wound-up and tense, with an evil pall surrounding the proceedings.   "I just want to go home and wash my hands of you and this case," Janet tells Martin and his client.    The introduction of evidence that the archbishop also had sexual encounters with his altar boys (and a young woman) makes the waters even murkier.    Gere plays Vail as an intelligent, experienced attorney who knows how to navigate the shark-infested waters of Chicago courtrooms and politics.    It's a great performance from an actor who leans toward slick, superficial characters, but possesses genuine charisma and talent on full display here.

The question of Aaron's guilt is later answered and a Big Reveal takes place in the final minutes, which shows the true nature of Aaron and his blackouts.    This was Norton's film debut and he was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor.    He is deftly able to portray someone who appears to be innocent and guilty at the same time.    You'll see what I mean.     It is Aaron who puts Martin in an ethical and professional bind at the end.   We begin to wonder which of the two is actually the prisoner.  

Dog Day Afternoon (1975) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Sidney Lumet


Starring:  Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, James Broderick, Susan Peretz, Chris Sarandon

Sonny Wortzik had it all wired.    He would rob a Brooklyn bank and use some of the funds to pay for his male lover's sex-change operation.     The robbery would take 10 minutes.    In and out, no fuss and no way of getting caught.     Nothing went right.    One of Sonny's two accomplices flees the scene and they mistimed the robbery so the vault would only have $1,100 in it instead of several thousands.      The crooks unintentionally draw attention to themselves and soon enough they are forced to take hostages as the police and a crowd of onlookers descend upon the bank.     

Dog Day Afternoon is a film about inept crooks who are way in over their head.     It's also about the media frenzy that is created by the incident.     Sonny at first becomes a popular anti-hero to the crowd, but they turn on him when it is revealed that he is gay.     Sonny desperately plots their escape, but he knows he has no hope for a getaway without being arrested or killed.      His accomplice Sal (Cazale) has a stunned look of disbelief throughout the ordeal as he holds the hostages at bay with a rifle.     He can't believe he is in this mess, but he is in it up to his eyeballs.     Sal probably realized the cohort who fled had the right idea, especially when the news reports he is also gay, which disturbs him more than anything else.     "Tell the news that I'm not gay," he pleads with Sonny, as if they don't have bigger fish to fry.

Pacino plays Sonny as a desperate man with big emotional needs and a screw loose.     He doesn't want this mess and he doesn't want to hurt anyone.      He announces he is Catholic when the robbery begins and is riddled with guilt and confusion as the hot day wears on.      He also has an estranged wife and two children, but he loves Leon (Sarandon), whom he "married" in an unofficial ceremony and now is hospitalized after a suicide attempt.     Leon loves Sonny, but can't deal with his mood swings.     "I've spent the last six months trying to get away from you and now you're asking me to get on a plane with you,"   Leon tells Sonny in a phone conversation listened in on by the NYPD, FBI, and other authorities.      Sonny's estranged wife Angie (Peretz) also tells police of his rage and unpredictable behavior.     She also doesn't let Sonny (or anyone else) get a word in edgewise during conversations.      She's in denial about her husband.   "Sonny wouldn't do this.    It may be his body, but it's not Sonny doing this."  

Charles Durning and James Broderick play cops who want the situation to end without endangering the lives of the hostages.     They acquiesce to Sonny's demands for a ride to the airport, a jet waiting to take them to "Algeria", and even a pizza delivery.     The delivery man after screams in joy, "I'm a star!" to the crowd.      I doubt Sonny or Sal even know where Algeria is, but it sounds exotic enough to them.     Sal is afraid of flying, though, and when asked what country he would like to fly to, he replies, "Wyoming."   Dog Day Afternoon works best when it allows humor to be peppered in during a long, hot ordeal.     The movie also correctly depicts the media's role in "Breaking News" stories like this one.     Misinformation is announced as fact.     Nowadays, news channels freely report dubious "facts" during round-the-clock coverage of school shootings and other ghastly events.    The media is more interested in being first with new information without bothering to check if the information is accurate.     Anyone watching the recent Boston Marathon or Sandy Hook shooting on TV witnessed that.

Dog Day Afternoon is a forerunner to director Lumet's next film, Network (1976), which depicts TV as a business interested in grabbing viewers in any way possible, even exploiting a demented newscaster and then killing him off when the ratings plummet.      Network expands what Dog Day Afternoon started.     Why are the people cheering Sonny when they know he is a bank robber who is endangering lives?   Because he screams "Attica" and that sound bite is all the crowd hears.     They then hear that he is gay and they jeer him.    Everything else, including the facts, is noise to them.     The same could be said for the TV viewing audience as well.    

The film grinds its way through the day and Sonny barely maintains what little, if any, sanity he has left.      The film ends pretty much the only way it could and it teems with on-the mark portraits of desperate people who want a happy ending to something that couldn't possibly have one.    

Side Effects (2013) * * *

Directed by:  Steven Soderbergh

Starring:  Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum

Side Effects is a thriller with no guns or chases, although there is a murder and the murderer appeared to be sleepwalking under the effects of a new anti-depressant.     Who is to blame?     Emily Taylor (Mara) stabbed her husband several times, but remembers nothing of it.     Her psychiatrist Jon Banks (Law) prescribed the medication Ablixa to help her with her suicidal tendencies, but if the drug is the issue, then he prescribed it.   Is he at fault?    Is the psychiatric profession at fault for creating a culture that pushes pills for profit?     Side Effects is about all of these issues and it is about none of them.     I thought I knew where Side Effects was going, but I was all the more satisfied when I realized I didn't.

The film starts as commodities trader Martin Taylor (Tatum) is released from prison after a four-year term for insider trading.     His wife Emily waited for him patiently, but the effects of their ordeal have left her depressed and suicidal.     Emily was unable to cope with the fact that she and Martin had the perfect life that was taken away when Martin went to prison.     Martin promises that he'll be starting up a new business and they will be prosperous again in no time.     Emily isn't so certain.  

After a suicide attempt in which Emily drove her car directly into a parking garage wall, she is hospitalized and placed under the care of Dr. Banks.     She begins visiting him and he prescribes various medications to relieve her gloom to no avail.     Dr. Banks reaches out to Emily's former psychiatrist Dr. Victoria Siebert (Zeta-Jones), whom Emily hadn't seen in years.     Siebert suggests Ablixa, which Dr. Banks prescribes.    One unfortunate side effect is sleepwalking, which Emily does to Martin's consternation.      During one episode, she stabs Martin with a knife and kills him.     She awakes the next morning horrified to learn she had stabbed her husband.     She remembers nothing about the incident, which shifts unwanted media focus to Dr. Banks.    

I won't go into too much further detail to avoid giving away important plot developments.     Side Effects is suspenseful without resorting to gunplay and car chases which are so prevalent in thrillers anymore.     Car chases haven't been suspenseful since Popeye Doyle chased down an elevated train in The French Connection.     The film works because it deals with its characters and what we think we know (or don't know) about them.     Rooney Mara (from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) has all of her hair and no goth makeup this time, but she is intensely sad, depressed, and hiding a secret or two perhaps.     It's difficult not to sympathize with a woman whose life was torn away from her and she was left alone to pick up the pieces.     Did she have an unconscious desire to kill?    Did the drug simply bring that out in her?   

Side Effects provides a solution, but no easy answers for anyone involved.     Things begin to look really bad for Dr. Banks as he loses his practice and is financially ruined in the aftermath of the media scrutiny into the case.     His wife leaves him, but not because the golden goose is no longer laying eggs.     Law's performance is tricky, yet it works.     He provides as much of a protagonist as can be expected under the circumstances.     As a shrink, he has been pushing drugs for so long that the human connection with his patients doesn't seem to be at the forefront.     The same could also be said for Dr. Siebert, who appears cool and distant.    These are not traits that a psychiatrist should have, but they are perfect for a drug pusher.    That is likely the point.  

Steal This Movie! (2000) * * *

Directed by:  Robert Greenwald

Starring:  Vincent D'Onofrio, Janeane Garofalo, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Troy Garity, Donal Logue, Kevin Pollak

Abbie Hoffman organized and demonstrated against the Vietnam War because that was what he did well.    He referred to himself as "a political organizer", but during the Vietnam War he was viewed as a threat to the government.     He and his associates were kept under surveillance by the FBI, CIA, and just about every other agency.     This was part of a "misinformation" campaign hatched by J. Edgar Hoover and Richard Nixon to target those who were considered dangerous subversives to the US Government.      Hoffman was the ringleader, mostly because of his ability to creatively use the media to get his message out.     He was the creator of the "Yippie" movement, which was the in-between stage of hippie and yuppie.    

Hoffman gained the most fame during the Chicago 8 trial, in which he and seven cohorts were charged with "crossing state lines in order to incite a riot".     He made a mockery of the proceedings and was found guilty, although the conviction was later overturned on appeal.      Following the trial, he became more famous and thus more hunted.     He went into hiding from the law following a drug charge, separating himself from his wife and son.      The film opens in 1977, as Hoffman is in his fifth year of hiding and he contacts a magazine writer to publish his story.    He is scared and possibly paranoid.    The writer doubts the government is even still interested in Hoffman, since Hoover was dead and Nixon resigned the Presidency three years earlier, but he agrees to interview Hoffman and his associates and write the story.  

Steal This Movie! is a play on the title of Hoffman's 1971 book Steal This Book!   It covers Hoffman's prime organizing years and then his descent into drugs and manic depression, which likely was the cause of his early fanaticism and then his later paranoia.       One can not view Steal This Movie! and not come to the conclusion early on that Hoffman suffered from mental illness.     It was what allowed him to fearlessly protest the Vietnam War in the face of government scrutiny.     It is also what compelled him to continue taking on the government long after his friends and associates settled down with families and left their Yippie days behind.     When asked what would happen if everything he fought for became a reality, he says, "I guess I would have to begin organizing closets."     He organized and protested because he knew nothing else.     Even while hiding under the name Barry Freed, he organized a campaign to save building on the St. Lawrence river.     It was an itch he could never finish scratching.

Vincent D'Onofrio fearlessly jumps headlong into Hoffman.    He alternates between anger, peace, rage, and mental instability- sometimes in the same scene.     D'Onofrio is careful not to overact, although with someone like Hoffman, how could you really tell?     He doesn't portray Hoffman as a misunderstood hero.    He's likable sometimes and unbearable at other times.     Garofalo and Tripplehorn play his wife and girlfriend, respectively, both of whom exhibit saintly patience and support in dealing with such a person.     They behave rationally under the circumstances, even if Hoffman doesn't.

Hoffman committed suicide in 1989 at age 52.    Did his inner demons finally get the best of him?   Or did he realize that he had little left to protest that anyone would even care about?    Yuppies were in full force and prosperity had come back.    The Vietnam War was long over, as was "Woodstock Nation", which Hoffman claimed to be from during the Chicago 8 trial.     It is not known for sure what caused Hoffman to ingest the 150 pills with liquor which led to his death.     My guess:   He ran out of things to rebel against.   

Garden State (2004) * 1/2

Directed by:  Zach Braff

Starring:  Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm

I saw this film many years ago and really disliked it.    Nine years later, it's on a cable channel and I decide to give it another shot.    There have been films I didn't like the first time that I enjoyed after a second viewing.      Maybe I was just in a bad mood the first time I saw Garden State.    After watching it a second time, my opinion hasn't changed much.     A film that fails to involve me or care much the first time will, after many years of going through the daily grind of life and gaining wisdom, likely fail to involve me the second time also.     Garden State is 0 for 2 and it's time for a pinch hitter. 

Zach Braff, most famous for TV's Scrubs, wrote, directed, and stars in Garden State.     I think he should've had another actor in the lead.     Braff doesn't have the stuff to carry the heavy load his character shoulders daily.    He speaks many of his lines through clenched teeth.    I don't know if this is simply part of his delivery or a nervous tic, but it's noticable and distracting.      Braff plays Andrew, a part-time actor who lives in Hollywood holding down odd jobs.     He flies home to New Jersey after learning that his paralyzed mother drowned in the bathtub.     He has been in and out of psychiatrist's offices since age 9, the age when he accidentally contributed to his mother's paralysis.    Since that incident, he was heavily medicated from the pain and guilt his father (Holm) didn't want him to feel.     Ian Holm is convincingly angry, yet awkwardly reconciliatory toward his son.     Andrew's scene of reconciliation with his father is muted when it could have been very powerful.    

When he leaves Los Angeles to attend the funeral, he leaves his medication behind, forcing him to face the world without the haze of medication concealing his true self from others.     His friends, including stoner Mark (Sarsgaard) are thrilled to see him, but he's pretty much a dud, whether medicated or not.     He meets a girl named Sam (Portman), who is perky, off-the-wall, and a compulsive liar.     She likes Andrew and he likes her well enough, but Portman and Braff simply don't have any chemistry.     They seem to be following the screenplay and falling in love because they are required to.      Portman puts her all into Sam.    She has so much energy that we tend to forget that Braff is even occupying the same scene.

Things more or less go predictably.    Does Braff learn to live his life without meds?   Does he leave Sam, get on a plane, and then get off the plane to reunite with her?    I'm sure I don't have to answer those questions, especially if you've seen a movie before.    Garden State is a low-energy romantic comedy-drama about a guy who could pass for a zombie who learns to live and love.     Braff earnestly tries to create something here and maybe it has some autobiographical undertones to it, but I ultimately just didn't care.    By the way, the Friends finale aired the same year as the release of this film and it had Rachel saying goodbye to Ross, get on a plane, and then get off the plane to reunite with him.    It was done better there than in Garden State.    Just saying. 

Porky's (1982) * 1/2

Directed by:  Bob Clark

Starring:   Dan Monahan, Wyatt Knight, Mark Herrier, Alex Karras, Chuck Mitchell

Porky's sets most of its action at a Florida high school in the mid-1950's.   It's not particularly funny or sexy.  It's the type of movie I rented as a horny teenager and fast-forwarded to the nudity.  Yes, I did that and I'm sure I'm not alone.   They try to shoehorn a plot in there somewhere, but it's rather inconsequential.   Anyone who watches Porky's isn't doing so because of the story.   Since it has little else going for it, Porky's is pretty close to a non-entity.

Director Bob Clark made some good films in his day (The excellent A Christmas Story, From The Hip, It Runs In The Family) and stinkers (Porky's II, Baby Geniuses, Loose Cannons).   It's amazing the same man can direct such a mish-mosh of films.     There's nothing about Porky's an insightful script couldn't fix.    There is one funny scene, which I will get to later, and it doesn't involve Porky or his nightclub.  

The plot consists mainly of horny teenagers trying to score with teenage girls.    The guys and the girls are entirely too old to be convincing teenagers.     They all look to be in their mid-20's at least.    I kept wondering why they were still hanging around a high school.   I know I'm expected to suspend my disbelief and accept these men and women as teens, but that's an awful lot of suspending you're asking me to do.

The guys find their way to Porky's, a redneck strip club in an adjacent county run by the fat, sleazy Porky (Mitchell), who is forever chomping on a cigar.    Why anyone would want to go there is a mystery, since whomever tries to approach a stripper is accosted by Porky and his gang.    The guys are humiliated by Porky and dumped into the lake surrounding the club.   I guess Porky's isn't interested in repeat business.  The guys plot revenge, which consists of getting their hands on lots of explosives and blowing up the club.  There isn't much funny about this subplot, which seems to be a whole other movie.    

There is another subplot involving a bigot who bullies a Jewish teen, but then the two become friends.    Also in the mix is a gym teacher (Kim Cattrall), who howls like a dog when she's having sex, thus earning her the nickname Lassie.     

The one funny scene involves the notorious Miss Balbricker (Nancy Parsons).  Get it?  Bal-bricker?! As in "ball breaker".   She catches the boys spying on girls in the shower and gets a hold of one guy's penis.  (He was sticking it through a hole at the time).   He frees himself from her clutches and escapes.  She later pleads with the principal to line up a bunch of students so she can ID the penis.   This isn't particularly funny, but the three teachers in the background laugh hysterically and their laughs are infectious.   So I laughed along with them.   I wish the rest of the movie had that effect on me.      

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) * * *

Directed by:  John Hughes

Starring:  Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, Edie McClurg, Jennifer Grey, Alan Ruck

"What's wrong with kids like Ferris Bueller is that he gives good kids bad ideas.    He undermines my ability to effectively govern this student body.- Ed Rooney

"He makes you look like an ass he what he does, Ed" - Grace

It's not necessarily Ferris Bueller's intention to make his principal, Ed Rooney (Jones) look like an ass.   He would rather be able to ditch school and fly under the radar, but since he has played hooky 9 times already, he realizes he would attract attention.    "I'd better make this one count.   Or next time I may have to barf up a lung," says Ferris (Broderick), a smart kid who might be useful one day if he put his energies into something else as much as he does cutting class.      Matthew Broderick's most-famous role in a four-decade long film and stage career is indeed Ferris Bueller.    He even parodied the character in a recent Superbowl commercial.     I wouldn't be surprised if someone accidentally called him Ferris a few times in his life.

Ferris does very well what many students would like to do more often:  Cut class and get away with it.    I once faked sick in high school and I was interrogated by my vice-principal over it.    Ferris has the faking sick part down to an art form.    He even breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience how to do this successfully.    "Lick your palms to achieve the clammy hands effect."    After faking illness well enough to fool his gullible parents, he proceeds to get his best friend out of bed and take him out for a day of fun in Chicago.     "One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second." 

His best friend is Cameron (Ruck) who lives in a house in the forest that appears to be a glass tree house.     He fakes illness for a different reason:  Because he hates his father who worships a classic Ferrari he renovated and keeps in the house under lock and key.    "His house is like a museum," Ferris observes.   "It's very tidy and neat and you can't touch anything."    He recognizes that he will only have a few months of quality time left with Cameron and wants to show him a good time.     Cameron and Ferris also spring Ferris' girlfriend Sloane (Sara) from Rooney's clutches via a rather sophisticated prank phone call.

Rooney, meanwhile, makes it his life's mission to catch Ferris in the act, which leads to some some funny moments and a lot of wear and tear on Rooney.     Jeffrey Jones makes for a satisfactory villain whose day grows continually worse the more he tries to nab Ferris.     Also in the mix is Ferris' bitchy sister Jeannie (Grey), who resents that her brother can ditch school and get away with it.     Maybe she's upset because she's not particularly good at anything, while Ferris is a master at getting people to believe he is terribly ill.    The school even takes up a collection for him.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a fun, sweet comedy with likable people.   Even Ed Rooney gets kudos for being so doggone determined.     The gadgets Ferris uses at home to avoid detection while he's elsewhere are those that could only be available in a Hollywood movie.    They work, however, because people just have a knack for believing him.      The film has enduring popularity because it taps into every person's desire to say "The hell with it, I'm not going to school (or work) today."     Some people don't do it because they feel guilty or afraid they will get caught somehow.     They could use a few lessons from Ferris Bueller.