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"Come See The Paradise" - It's hard to look at this film and still
feel like an enthusiastic cheerleader for The Golden Era, hoping to
revive the style and the substance of those decades and hope that Big
Band Swing and fedora's come back into the main stream. At the same
time, this motion picture is both stark and beautiful in the way it
demonstrates that in the dark times good people can over come hardships
and obstacles.
Enigma:
One of the best World War 2 stories not yet told on screen was that
of the German “Enigma” code machine –until now. This is the ultimate
spy story, the stuff that James Bond movies are made of… secret code
machine, teams of eccentric geniuses (few who are on the brink of insanity)
feverishly searching for the master codes for the encryption machines,
cloak and dagger, double agents and double crosses, and other intrigue.
What also makes this the ultimate spy story is that it really happened
– while civilization and millions of lives was at stake.
Hoodwinked isn’t a bad film, nor is it unfunny… there are some great
laugh out loud moments at the expense of some of the characters such
as the Austrian actor turned woodsman, the diabolical rabbit (a nod
to "Monty Python And The Holy Grail?") and many of the blundering animal
police men. But just as I’ve said before, "Hoodwinked" feels tired and
already played out. There are a few salutes, tributes and just plain
satires of classic and vintage movies scattered through out… but when
the movie ended and there was a door open for there to be sequels or
even a whole "Hoodwinked" franchise… I can’t say that I was excited...
Last Man Standing is supposed to be
a remake of Akira Kurosawa's samurai classic “Yojimbo”, which
I can only assume is correct be cause I’ve never seen it... But what
I can say is that there are times when I’ve watched this I’ve thought
that maybe the makers of this film had more “Raiders Of The Lost Ark”
(but with out any treasure) in mind. That's either ironic, coincdence
or , since George Lucas has said on countless occasions on how Kurosawa
inspired him in the past (If anything, Star Wars- Episode IV: A New
Hope is a remake of Kurosawa’s “Hidden Fortress”.)
"The Pianist" - There are strong and powerful scenes
and exchanges between Szpilman and the German officer that Illustrate
the good a man can do when powered by guilt and shame and perhaps in
a search for redemption..."
Power, Passion & Murder.” It’s a frustrating, chaotic mess. The
best way to describe it would be to imagine a second or third rate film
crew following behind a top-notch movie company as they were filming
a beautiful period film, and picture a second-rate writing team hammering
out the script to correspond with what sets were available with no regard
towards the greater narrative...
Red
Gold - Just read the book before a studio buys the rights and "dumbs"
it down...
 Road
to Perdition clearly illustrates what all good fathers know,
that doing what ever they must do to help their children becomes second
nature the day they are born. Children add an extra dimension to the
lives of fathers, making their offspring’s well being far more important
then their own. Tom Hanks does a brilliant job to portray this concept
as his character moves from villainous hit man with heart to the near
perfect father struggling for the right words to convey how he loved
both son equally but differently.
 Snow
Falling On Cedars (Revised July 2007) This movie isn’t for the faint
of heart, nor is it a blockbuster. But Cedars is so perfectly filmed,
perfectly catching the life and atmosphere of living up north, capturing
the essence of a wintry twilight between afternoon or evening when the
snow is knee deep and the roads are impassable. It’s also another “Slice
of Life” movie that illustrates what happened in America around the
time of World War II and is essential for every Vintage Aficionado and
history enthusiast for that period...
 The
Untouchables: "... The Untouchables is a fictionalized account of
how Elliot Ness and his group of Untouchables were able to bring Chicago’s
biggest bootlegger to justice Elliot Ness was assigned to the Chicago
area to break the back of the mob and bootleggers during the prohibition
era. Once he discovers the greed and corruption within his team, he
enlists the help of Malone played with sheer brilliance by Sean Connery.
The two recruit George Stone portrayed with utter coolness by Andy Garcia
and Charles Martin Smith as Oscar Wallace, the accounting genius who
finds the secondary means of getting at the crime boss Al Capone."
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Years ago I started this column on The
Indy Experience, it was with a goal.
