"Life is Beautiful" and the film is better

"Life Is Beautiful"/"La Vita è Bella"
Overall Rating: *****


The year before last was a heck of a year if you like good films. Never mind "Titanic;" I thought it was good, but way over-hyped. "Good Will Hunting," "Contact," and "Seven Years in Tibet" were better; on a technical par with "Titanic," but more interesting. I thought "Gattaca," a very well made science-fiction film that questions what impact genetic engineering will have on our lives, was easily the best film of that year. Of course, I didn't know "Life Is Beautiful" was being shown in Italy.

Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni) is the type of man who can laugh at anything. If he weren't, he might not be able to survive--for he's Jewish and lives in fascist Italy. His jolly attitude helps him woo Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) away from the bureaucrat she's engaged to (the man who denied him a permit to open a bookstore, no less). The question ultimately comes down to whether his happy demeanor is enough to carry him, Dora, and their young son Joshua (Giorgio Cantarini) through the horrors of World War II.

"Life Is Beautiful" is wonderfully written. When it tries to be funny, it is hilarious. In one very pointed scene, Guido, hoping to find someone who opposes the fascists, quietly asks another man what his politics are--before the question even registers in the man's head, he addresses his children by name: Benito and Adolpho. Still, not everything works against Guido; the scene where he finally wins over Dora is absolutely perfect. All this comedy works very much in the film's favor. I have no qualms about saying "Life Is Beautiful" is better than "Schindler's List;" and it boils down to the comedy. Guido's clownish nature makes it even harder to watch what happens to him in the concentration camp--but by the same token. it gives him a defiant air that's very satisfying, and helps relieve the oppressiveness of the totalitarian state that looms over everyone in the film.

Just watching the film, you can tell that it was a labor of love for the actors. Two stand out in my mind: the first is Giorgio Cantarini, who plays Joshua. Though he's a little old for the very early scenes, he carries off the later scenes beautifully--it's really hard to believe so young a child can act so effectively. Roberto Benigni, however, is the true creative genius who pulls the film together. In addition to his masterful work co-writing and directing "Life is Beautiful," he also stars in it; he won my heart within his first minute on screen.

If "Life Is Beautiful" has a weakness, it's the translation. There were several places where the subtitles seemed a great deal shorter than the spoken lines--and one where I thought I caught a name that didn't make it into the subtitle. Despite this problem, the subtitles are preferable to a dubbing. Beyond the traditional arguments regarding the value of hearing the original actors--which I'd say apply more to "Life Is Beautiful" than any other foreign film I've seen--there would be a thorny translation problem with the fact that some minor characters speak English or German--languages not understood by the characters they're addressing; it would become confusing if the other characters spoke English instead of Italian--as would happen if the film were dubbed.

The PG-13 rating seems strong for "Life is Beautiful." The main basis is the strong thematic content relating to the holocaust. The worst violence is all off screen--in a way, it's more jarring than most films' depictions on screen; the big exception is a scene involving a stack of corpses. I didn't catch any nudity or coarse language--though I don't speak Italian, so the latter may have been lost in translation (but I doubt it). The real problem for children is they'll probably will lose patience with the subtitles. That's a shame, since all else being equal, I'd say the film would be a good family film: the film's moving depiction of some of the worst events in history, and the depiction of Guido and Dora's great--even heroic--love for each other and their son, both weigh heavily in its favor.

Still, calling it a family film doesn't do "Life Is Beautiful" justice. One often thinks of family films as bland. "Life is Beautiful" will make you laugh plenty, cry some, and think. It's uplifting, charming, and creative. I honestly can't think of a word against it.


Title: "Life Is Beautiful"/"La Vita è Bella"
Release date: 1997 (Italy)/1998 (USA)
MPAA rating: PG-13
Overall rating: *****
Aprox. run time: 116 min.
Director: Roberto Benigni
Writers: Vincenzo Cerami, Roberto Benigni
Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini


Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/VitaBela.htm
Added to blog site: 7/28/09

Ship this one out of town

"The Out-of-Towners"
Overall Rating: **½


This week, I wanted to catch a couple of films that I've missed in the preceding weeks; after all, the summer movies start coming out in May, and will be pushing out anything and everything that's been out a while. ("Star Wars: Episode 1:" I'm predicting eight theaters out of the multiplex's 24.) So, this week's selections are "Life is Beautiful" and "The Out-of-Towners," I have nothing but kind words for "Life Is Beautiful." As for "The Out-of-Towners"--did I mention that "Life is Beautiful" is still playing?

Henry and Nancy Clark (Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn respectively) are from Ohio. Their conservative life has been turned upside down, since Henry has recently been fired by his company, their son is moving to London, and their daughter has dropped out of medical school to become an actress. When Henry has a job interview in New York, it seems like the perfect opportunity to revitalize his career--and possibly his marriage. The trip to New York for the interview, however, quickly proves Murphy's Law--if not that Murphy was an optimist.

Not having seen the original 1970 movie, written by Neil Simon, I can only hope, being a Neil Simon fan, that "Based on the screenplay by..." really means "Based very loosely on the screenplay by;" it would be hard for me to take that Mr. Simon--whose plays and movies I've enjoyed so much in the past--could write such a clinker. "The Out-of-Towners" is just plain stupid. Not stupid like Beavis and Butthead, or stupid like slapstick--either of those could be funny. This movie isn't funny, just stupid. For instance, at one point, Henry takes an "aspirin," given him by someone he's in jail with; of course, it isn't aspirin, and Henry starts hallucinating. With jokes like that, the movie has a few laughs here and there, but it's not very funny. A good production of "Hamlet" has more laughs; but the only tragic aspect of "The Out-of-Towners" is they were trying to make a comedy. In the end, it's just trying.

As the ludicrous situation with the "aspirin" makes clear, it's very difficult to sympathize with the characters, since they often cause their own problems. They didn't cause New York to be fogged in, but Henry and Nancy cause just about every other problem they have to deal with. They're even partially to blame for getting mugged, in a way; Henry doesn't want to help the man who accosts them on the street, but Nancy becomes convinced he's Andrew Lloyd Webber--and, wanting to help a famous person, they follow him to a more secluded spot, and he mugs them. They meet with plenty of other calamities like that; so many that the plot doesn't strain credibility--it can't because it never gets close enough to credibility to strain it.

Beyond a truly terrible screenplay, "The Out-of-Towners," doesn't have much against it. I have no particular love for Goldie Hawn or Steve Martin, but they played their parts well. John Cleese is also good in his smaller part--a hotel manager with a dirty little secret. The cinematography is also good--the camera manages to capture the glamour and the grit of New York as needed. But with a nothing screenplay behind it, the film as a whole falls flat.

"The Out-of-Towners" is probably not a very good choice for children. It has a great deal of sex and drug-related humor, the reasons why it earned a PG-13 rating. There is some very slight violence (specifically, two separate armed robberies), and much less bad language than most recent Hollywood comedies, but no redeeming factors that would make it a good choice for kids.

"The Out-of-Towners" is simply not interesting. I watched the film, and I really didn't care what happened to the characters. If you haven't seen it yet, take comfort: it will probably be gone by next week, and you haven't missed much.



Title :"The Out-of-Towners"
Release date: April 2, 1999

MPAA rating: PG-13
Overall rating: **½

Aprox. run time: 90 min.
Director: Sam Weisman
Writer: Marc Lawrence, Neil Simon (1970 Screenplay)
Stars: Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn, John Cleese

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/OutTown.htm

Added to blog site: 8/3/09

Hello movie review...

"Goodbye Lover"
Overall Rating: ***


"Goodbye Lover" should probably be rated XXX. Not for the sex scenes; while about every third scene could be called a "sex scene," "Goodbye Lover" shows almost no nudity (though the characters do plenty while fully--or at least partly--clothed). No, it's only that no other rating is appropriate for a movie with so many double-crosses in it.

There isn't much to like about Ben Dunmore (Don Johnson). When we first meet him, he has sex with his sister-in-law, Sandra (Patricia Arquette)--in a church no less. Subsequently, we learn he is an executive for a public relations firm--his job consists mainly of making a senator look like a good family man after that senator was caught with a prostitute. If it's possible to cheat on someone you're having an adulterous affair with, then that would be a good way to describe his other affair with co-worker Peggy Blaine (Mary-Louise Parker)--whom he treats like dirt. As for his alcoholic brother, Jake (Dermot Mulroney), he also treats him like dirt--beyond having an affiar with Jake's wife. All in all, it shouldn't be surprising that murder will find its way into Ben's life.

"Goodbye Lover" has several key problems. There are no truly likeable characters. After the first murder, the question of who's having sex with whom and who's trying to kill whom quickly becomes very complicated--I found myself somewhat hoping the protagonist would get away--but only somewhat. The movie also starts off slowly; it tries--only somewhat successfully--to hold the audience's interest with several extremely steamy scenes, but it never quite makes up for the slow start. These two flaws are very serious.

That's a shame, because the rest of the film holds its own. Most of the actors are adequate; while there aren't any glaringly bad performances, there are a few noteworthy good ones. Ellen DeGeneres and Ray McKinnon are particularly good as the police officers trying to unravel the case--but with radically different views of the world (DeGeneres' character is the most cynical cop you could imagine, while McKinnon's is a hick who blames every problem in the world on alcohol); the result is an interaction that gets many laughs and steals every scene they're in. The real star is Patricia Arquette. Her character must shed both crocodile tears and the genuine article--and Arquette does both convincingly. She is perfectly cast.

The story also holds the audience's interest, despite the slow start. The plot makes twists that you'll never see coming, but make sense when they happen. As the characters scheme against each other, their plans form an intricate plot. Small details work to reveal characters' traits. For instance, Sandra's apparent piety is just a hoax (as the church scene demonstrates)--but if she can lie to her minister, who else can and will she deceive? There are also a number of small details that work well, such as the appropriately named Dunmore family and the TV set in background playing--what else in a crime film--an episode of "Dragnet," On a technical level, the film is generally well done--for instance, the first scene in the church is filmed in such a way that we see the oblivious choir interspersed with the sex scene--one of them commenting on Ben, who is the organist (not realizing the music is actually recorded), even ironically says "boy, he's good."

As the title probably hints, "Goodbye Lover" is not suitable for children. There is pervasive, strong sexual content, copious strong language, and on-screen violence, including murder. Many parents will probably find the cynical attitude towards church extremely inappropriate for children, as well.

I have a feeling of déjà vu writing this review. As with last week's review of "Go," I'm discussing a semi-comedy crime film, and as with "Go," you won't go wrong seeing "Goodbye Lover" if you already want to see it, are going out with friends who want to see it, or have already seen everything else. It's good, but by no means the best thing playing.

Title: "Goodbye Lover"
Release date: April 16, 1999

MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: ***

Aprox. run time: 102 min.
Director: Roland Joffé
Writers: Ron Peer (story and screenplay), Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow (screenplay only)
Stars: Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Don Johnson

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/reviewsbyjohn/ByeLover.htm
Added to blog site: 7/28/09

"Go" to the movies

"Go"
Overall Rating: ***

This week's review was a toss-up when it came to my deciding what to review. As a die-hard Neil Simon fan, I wanted to see the remake of "The Out-of-Towners," but highly unappealing previews and competition on its debut weekend worked against it. On the other hand, while I was only slightly curious about "Go;" I had heard good things about it, and it came out this week making it timelier review material. Ultimately, the decision came down to the the fact that a free pass I have will be good for "The Out-of-Towners" on Monday. This convoluted decision-making method actually paid off.

"Go" is a comedy revolving around the underground economy. Specifically, Simon (Desmond Askew)--a grocery clerk who is also a small time dope dealer--asks his cash-strapped friend Ronna (Sarah Polley) to take over his shift at the store so he can go to Las Vegas with some friends. Ronna, however, desperately needs $380 to pay her rent, so she also takes over the dope dealing. The results of both the dope deal and the Vegas trip are chaotic to put it mildly.

"Go" is good, but not great. As a general rule, characters get what they deserve: there's an unanswered car theft (somebody gives his keys to a man who clearly isn't a valet), but as a general rule, if characters do something wrong, something bad happens to them. The movie is very funny in a couple of places (such as one where a group of partygoers are getting high on chewable aspirin because they THINK they're taking the illegal drug Ecstasy), and mildly amusing in a few more. Further, despite being slightly confusing in a couple of places, most of what happens happens for a reason--and the three subplots are brought together nicely.

The strong point is the cast. I'd have a hard time picking out which of the stars was the best, Desmond Askew is excellently cast as Simon, the buffoonish drug dealer who goes slightly nuts when he gets to Vegas. Sarah Polley's character is cool and calculating in a devious, but matter-of-fact way; her whole look and attitude are perfect for the role. The supporting cast is also wonderful, though three deserve particular attention: Timothy Olyphant as Todd Gaines, who is suitably sleazy for his part as the drug dealer; William Fichtner, who is a vice cop with ulterior motives; and Katie Holmes, who plays the stand-offish Claire in a very sympathetic manner, and is probably the best of the cast.

The downside of "Go" is that the movie is about the downside of life. Crooked vice cops, dope peddlers, and pimps do not make the most appealing characters. The film is funny and interesting, but not what I generally look for in a movie. The movie is also desperately trendy, and some jokes will almost certainly elude non-Generation-Xers: one joke depends on you knowing Alanis Morissette lyrics, for instance; beyond limiting the audience almost exclusively to the 18-to-30 crowd, in about ten years, "Go" will be so horribly dated that no-one will want to even look at it.

"Go" is also, definitely, positively, not for families. No clear moral message, pervasive coarse language, frequent drug references and on-screen drug use, plentiful strong sexual content including full frontal nudity, and occasional though significant violence not only make "Go" a movie to leave the kids home for, but probably put it on the Pat Buchannan burn list.

"Go" was intriguing more than appealing based on the previews and commercials. In the end, it was better than I expected, though with far superior films such as "The Matrix," "True Crime," and "October Sky" still playing, my advice would be don't "Go" unless you already wanted to see it and/or have seen everything else.

Title: "Go"
Release date: April 12, 1999
MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: ***
Aprox. run time: 102 min.
Director: Doug Liman
Writer: John August
Stars: Desmond Askew, Sarah Polley, Taye Diggs (plays Marcus)

Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/reviewsbyjohn/Go.htm

Added to blog site: 7/28/09

Six impossible things before breakfast

"The Matrix"
Overall Rating: ***½


What makes little sense as a philosophy class conversation topic can work as an action/sci-fi film. "The Matrix" is a good case in point; in my Introductory Philosophy Class (and to quote Dave Barry--"I am not making this up"), the teacher asked the question, "How do you know the world you think you perceive is real?" Putting aside Descartes, as a disembodied philosophic problem, this "what if" is a bit too absurd to go very far--I think someone asked the obvious "Well, why would someone create such a deception?" two seconds in the discussion. Yet with a sci-fi dress-up to provide a few explanations, the premise provides an interesting movie.

Early in "The Matrix," we see a woman being cornered by dozens of police officers. She is able to easily kill about half-a-dozen officers--but worries at the sight of the Men in Black who have shown up. Fleeing from these mysterious secret agents (both they and she are able to leap from building to building, for example), she seeks out a pay phone. When she gets there, she can see a garbage truck preparing to ram the phone booth. Committing a seemingly irrational act, she races to answer the pay phone, despite the truck bearing down on it. Yet, when the MIBs arrive on the scene, her body isn't in the rubble. All this seems to have little bearing on the hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves)--who soon gets cryptic instructions to "follow the white rabbit;" but in "The Matrix," what seems to be ain't necessarily so.

The world of "The Matrix" is a strange cross between Art Bell and Alice in Wonderland. It's not fair to call it original. "Dark City" had a very similar plot, but where "Dark City" simply scored high on the weird quotient, "The Matrix" is an interesting movie. In addition to the frequent, overt references to Alice in Wonderland, numerous--and generally appropriate--classical references add some dimension; Morpheus, the Greek god of sleep and dreams, is a perfect hacker name for Laurence Fishburne's character, for instance. Throw in an internal conflict for Neo, specifically, his own disbelief of the situation he's in, and you have a movie that's certainly better written than most action films.

Not perfectly written, however. There are still many unanswered questions when the film is over. I could ask several regarding "the Oracle," another enigmatic character in the film. The end also falls somewhat flat--resorting to a "rabbit out of the hat," then leaving a major point of the plot open--specifically, the film only implies that humanity will be saved from the threat it faces in the film. Considering the 2+2=5 world depicted, these problems are not as severe as they sound--but in an action film more dependant on writing than most, they are disappointing points.

Still, the stunts and special effects will not let down any action film fan. Nor will Keanu Reeves' performance, which is better than his performance in "Speed," since he has to pull off an internal conflict in dealing with a very confusing situation. The best performance, however, easily is delivered by Laurence Fishburne--who is enigmatic and imposing--just as his character demands. Fishburne is in command of "the Matrix."

It probably goes without saying that "The Matrix"--an R-rated action film--has a great deal of violence, along with plenty of strong language, and some references to sex and drugs.

"The Matrix" is a much better film than I expected it to be. It's strange without being too strange. It's also entertaining. My advice would be to follow the white rabbit--if it's going to see "The Matrix."

Title: "The Matrix"
Release date: March 31, 1999

MPAA rating: R
Overall rating: ***½

Aprox. run time: 135 min.
Directors: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Writers: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss (plays "Trinity")


Original URL: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/7045/Matrix.htm
Added to blog site: 7/28/09