sponsored by:
Million Dollar Baby By Mike Szymanski,
Zap2it.com
It's tough to talk about this movie without giving away some things
that would ruin it, but one thing is for certain, it's NOT absolutely
NOT what you're seeing advertised by Warner Bros. in the theaters.
No, it's not a story about boxing, it's not an action film with Clint
Eastwood, and it's not a thriller.
It has elements of all of the above, but this film that is directed
and stars Clint Eastwood is perhaps his most emotional, most mature,
most heart-felt film of his career. Just before I went to go see the
movie last week, I was on the phone with Roger Ebert who predicts
that it will sweep the Oscar nominations and could possibly be the
only film with double-digit nominations this year. He may be right.
If that's not enough of an endorsement for you, the perhaps this delicate
explanation of the film will suffice.
Eastwood plays Frank Dunn, a grizzled and angry
boxing manager and coach who has been burned by past superstar boxers
who've been nurtured by him, but then skip out for the big long shot
to win a title rather than to wait until he thinks they're ready.
Dunn has held out his boxers for a long time.
He runs a gym with Eddie Dupris played by Morgan Freeman, and the
two look like they are reincarnates from their past liaisons (the
Oscar winner "Unforgiven"), because their manly connection
is so palpable and familiar.
Enter an enthusiastic gal who wants Frank Dunn
to train her to win her own title in female boxing. That's Maggie,
played by "Boys Don't Cry" Oscar winner Hilary Swank, who
for some reason is so much better at playing harsh more mannish roles
than pretty period films.
Swank is enthusiastic, overzealous and passionate
in this role. She chomps into the part like a champion, and she does
more than sweat to make this part believable every step of the way.
Eastwood tries to avoid her interest in boxing,
and her yearning for him to manage her, so he shuffles her off to
Eddie, who gives her tips about how to train.
Not wanting to give anything at all away, some
things happen that make everyone's life change drastically, and the
film takes a totally unexpected direction from the first third of
the movie.
That being said, the third act of the film is
perhaps the weakest because it lacks the dramatic punch of some of
the earlier scenes. It's still dramatic, it's still tender and surprising,
but for some reason it's the least satisfying in the film. It gets
slow, schmaltzy and somewhat clichi, but hey, it's a movie.
Eastwood no longer needs to prove himself as
a director, and after last year's "Mystic River" (which
won Sean Penn and Tim Robbins a best actor and supporting actor nod)
he has proven he can direct well. Rarely does a director like to act
in his own movies, though, so seeing him do both is an exception.
The film is rated PG-13, but not because it's
in the least too sexy or violent, but because some of the themes may
be too adult. It's not a film for the kiddies, so don't expect a female
version of "Rocky." It is much more.
Look for believable nods for the performances
by all of the leads, and this is one of the surefire best picture
contenders of the year.
The Aviator
By Mike Szymanski, Zap2it.com
Martin Scorsese loves old Hollywood, and it's wonderful to know that
he preserves the memories of the grand institution in his biographies,
but now he's doing it with the grand era of the 1940s in this biopic
of Howard Hughes. People may be unaware of Hughes' connection the
Hollywood and how the young billionaire tried desparately to fit in
to the studio system. There's a scene where he's begging Louis B.
Mayer of MGM to loan him a camera or two for his airplane epic "Hell's
Angels," but is pretty much laughed out of the Cocoanut Grove.
The story starts off with Hughes' mother spelling out "Quarantine"
and saying that he knows the typhoid and cholera that he can catch
from others. This is the prelude to what becomes a germ obsession
and a path into obsessive compulsive behavior that becomes his demise.
Leonardo DiCaprio is perfect as the tortured guy born with a golden spoon in his mouth. He takes two hours and 49 minutes to show how the guy goes from being on the top of the world to a self-absorbed hypochondriac who insists on getting his own way all the time.
John C. Reilly plays Hughes' business partner who
runs his affairs, but the greatest portrayals are by actors doing
famous roles, such as: Ava Gardner is Kate Beckinsale, Gwen Stefani
is Jean Harlow, Cate Blanchett is Katharine Hepburn,
Jude Law as Errol Flynn. Blanchett seems a bit over-done as she recreates
some of Hepburn's famous lines and laughs, but the others are beautiful
in their parts. In fact, at one point when Blachett is told "You're
acting" there's an audible laugh in the audience from people
who think maybe she is, and shouldn't be.
Ultimately, it's Hughes' fascination with airplanes, not movies or women, that makes him want to build the fastest and largest jets in the world and fly a few of them himself.
Dante Ferretti is the production designer and it's beautiful, with a recreation of the great Cocoanut Grove nightclub where everyone who was anyone had to go to be seen. The costuming and set design are stellar.
The depiction of the air fight in "Hell's Angels," which cost three stunt pilots their lives and took 24 cameras and years to film is a good example of Hughes' obsessions. He made it in silent black and white and then sound came out and had to re-shoot it all. The sets at the Van Nuys Airport and in Hollywood are as authentic as possible and are actual locations in some cases. Faux newsreel footage shows the fascination of Hughes as he shoots 25 miles of film at a cost of $4 million. Then, he's show at movie premieres and discovering the likes of Jean Harlow and others.
For a director who has four best picture nominations and six director nominations and still has not won an Academy Award, Scorsese seems like he's been robbed. Frankly, if he doesn't win for this one he may be robbed again.
Reviews by Chuck Curry
Team America World Police
3 out of 4 stars
The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, spare no expense in attacking the left, the right and everything in between in this highly imaginative puppet movie that’s rude, crude and savagely satirical. Definitely one of the strangest ‘entertainment’s’ to hit the big screen in quite some time.
The film pokes fun at the mindsets and attitudes in a post-911 world, creating many hilarious moments including the lambasting of top Hollywood celebrity activists like Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin and even Michael Moore. They are all featured prominently in the storyline although nothing is funnier than the movie’s main villain, North Korean leader Kim Jong IL, who steals the film. Every time his puppet figure comes on screen it literally brings down the house.
This film is not for kids. It is profanity laced with a graphic puppet sex scene that had to be trimmed to get the movie an R rating instead of NC-17.
Overall a funny movie going experience for the ‘not
too easily offended’…
Friday Night Lights
3 1/2 out of 4 stars
Friday Night Lights is one of the most interesting and unusually dark examinations of America’s sports culture that I have seen in movies in quite some time.
Very different than many of the ra-ra sports films in recent years, Lights is the true story of a 1988 high school football team in Odessa, Texas, and their up and down journey to win a state championship at all costs. Directed by Peter Berg (The Rundown) the film shows the good the bad and the brutality of the sport and it’s compelling viewing throughout.
While the shaky camera work and grainy film stock the movie was shot on might be off-putting at first, it did draw me in with each frame and I found Friday Night Lights to be a mostly fascinating experience that kept me captivated till the very end.
Ladder 49
3 out of 4 stars
Touchstone picture's new film Ladder 49 is a movie that pays tribute to the fire fighters who put their lives on the line in order to help save others. While there is nothing overly ground-breaking about it's story line, Ladder 49 does mix humor, drama and action to good effect and features a strong central performance by actor Joaquin Phoenix, whose character's life is chronicled during a 10 year span from being a na�ve rookie to becoming a heroic veteran.
John Travolta also turns in a good performance as the companies Fire Chief and relatively unknown actress, Jacinda Barrett, is effective and appealing as Phoenix's caring and always concerned wife. The actors here went through real life training, making the fire fighting sequences very believable. The ending is also quite effective but I won't give that away...
