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Reviews
We Are Marshall (2006)
Ian McShane is outstanding.
I was in Huntington in 2000, the 30th anniversary of the tragedy. I wasn't aware of the history of the school nor of the crash, I was there to visit a friend who was in her first year residency at Marshall School of Medicine. We were walking through the town when church bells began to toll and people stopped walking and stood, some with their head bowed. Only then did I begin to comprehend the profound loss and sadness that the town had endured and continued to feel, despite the 3 decades that had passed.
I say that because We Are Marshall captures the loss and sorrow in a way that isn't maudlin but sincere and heartfelt. The despair and confusion of what to do and why should it be done is done quite well. But somehow it gets done. Ian McShane does an amazing job, portraying a father of player killed in the crash but unwilling to succumb to the tragedy, trying to come to terms with his loss by having others yield to his demand that no more football be played. His journey to his acceptance of the need to go on is wonderfully done.
Some clichés are evident, but despite that, the performances are still outstanding and overcome the falloffs in the writing. Very good movie.
Greendale (2003)
Self indulgent nonsense.
My commentary has nothing to do with the political sentiments found in the film. In fact, they're quite congruent with mine. What gets me is the fact that in terms of a movie, it is stupid and devoid of any semblance of story, motive or dialogue. Maybe someone should tell Neal that substituting lyrics of songs which are failing to inspire anyone outside of a dwindling audience isn't the same thing as creating characters who are motivated to speak because of events created by the writer or director. A silly narrative remains as such despite the iconic legacy of Neal Young. The most childish scene is the one where the devil dances his way into a bar, slips a tonic to an unsuspecting hero, who then finds his way onto the dance floor to mouth the words to Young song to the heroine, who is unaware of what's taken place. Somehow these two dream up a scheme where they will go up the West Coast in search of????? Sorry Neal, stick with music and leave film making to Steven Stills.
Fun with Dick and Jane (2005)
Not dark enough...
The subject matter this movie is hitting is quite timely and provocative and could have made a much bigger impact if, let's say, it had a smaller budget and been geared to the art house crowd. Nevertheless, the writers really do attempt to bring a very complex message to an audience which probably will never truly understand or appreciate the type of corporate malfeasence which is destroying their lives. This movie attempts to be a polemic on what it means to live in a post Enron/Tyco world, where customer, employee and stockholder considerations are ignored, or worse, abused to make an overpriced buck. When Carrey's character fights off a former fellow employee for what they both believe is a legitimate job interview, after months of unemployment, only to find that hundreds of other displaced workers are desperately trying for the same job, you realize you aren't dealing with a standard Hollywood film. The underlying tone of desperation, the sentiment that all could be taken from you, within a matter of months, that no matter your work ethic or support of the status quo won't get get you anywhere when you aren't wanted, was so close to my life and so many others that I know, that I realized part way through that this movie was attempting something few big budget movies have attempted in last few years. The film does a very effective job of describing, in layman's terms, the kind of corporate financial ledgermain which will leave millions without the pensions or savings which was the safety net they had worked all their lives for. BIG kudos for the writers and producers in attempting to broach this subject. Where the film fails is in attempting Carrey to be Carrey in a movie such as this. I understand that humor/satire is an effective way of trying to push a political message, but some of the devices and scenes were simply trying too hard. And that to me is the downfall, it simply tried to hard in places to wrench humor out of situation in which it didn't flow and in turn became forced and ineffective.
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Demanding movie.
This movie has a certain expectation level of it its viewers. It demands that you know or have some understanding of the 50's and the political and sociological sentiments and tenor of the era. If you don't know or care to know, you won't get far with this film. For those that do, then this movie is outstanding. Great performances, coupled with a taut, almost austere script, makes this film engaging and powerful. Having worked in a newsroom, the writers artfully re-created the passion and mechanics of putting together a newscast, along with the tension of how to make news viewable and correct at the same time. More to the point, the inital story of the Air Force serviceman being summarily expelled from the military for his supposed political beliefs set the tone for the entire movie probably better than any narrative the writers could have invented. I may not accept the political slant which the movie is trying to deliver necessarily, but that still doesn't disqualify it, in my view, from being regarded as an excellent endeavor.