Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Grand and lavish, Sergio Leone's final film has almost everything you could hope for. It is beautifully produced, perfectly paced, wonderfully acted, and expertly scored. It's a damn shame the final cut, and the uneven writing, cut the legs out from under it all. Robert De Nero and James Woods turn in career performances, pouring in all they have at their considerable disposal, and yet even at almost four hours the number of loose ends and awkward jumps in time undermine the incredible good will brought on by virtually everything else. Watching the brutal rise of a group of street punks grow into their own brand of organized crime is incredibly fascinating, but even when the film is at its height there is always a sense that so much more is being missed. Ultimately, too many threads are begun and built up over several hours, only to be abandoned with no closure. The characters at least get their own sense of resolution, but too much is left unsaid. The dour finale unfortunately comes off as awkward. And yet there is still more than enough here to grip, to celebrate. It takes a story far to big to be a movie in the first place to finally topple Leone, but while it falters it still does so with undeniable style and care. This is a masterpiece, but a fatally flawed one.

6 out of 10.

Tombstone (1993)

Westerns tend to fall into two camps. Either they present a difficult message about the morality of a time gone by, wistful recollections of lives and loves lost and a country that still had some mystery to it. Or they are simply about the a bunch of the manliest men doing the manliest thing a man could do in the manly Wild West: killing folk with six-shooters. Unfortunately, this falls into the later category. That doesn't mean it's a bad film, per se, but if you're going to show off famed lawman Wyatt Earp's handiwork at the O.K. Corral, it seems a waste that the lasting impression the movie tries to shove around is “look how awesome this was!” Still, the frontier town vibe, the optimistic, if simplistic, motives of everyone involved, and the presence of some of the most impressive facial hair in cinema history make this worthwhile if you're after a solid no frills western. Watching Val Kilmer chew on scenery as Doc Holiday for two hours is worth the price of admission alone. While it seems hard not to knock the film for what it ain't, what it is is generally pretty good.

7 out of 10.

City of God (2002)

Also known as Cidade de Deus.
Liked Goodfellas and don't mind subtitles? Then you absolutely need to see this. Detailing the life of a boy living in the slums of Rio de Janeiro as those around him grow up into a life of crime, each step forward in this twisted narrative shows off more fascinating wrinkles while the scope just keeps expanding. It's a film that enjoys taking frequent detours from the main plot, cleverly charting their way back to the core, and treats the unbelievable violence going on throughout almost with a kind of nostalgia. For these people, the chaos and danger is just a way of life. The result is epic yet intimate, and incredibly focused on its characters and culture. By the end it feels significant and essential, it's harsh realities shockingly relatable, and effectively unforgettable.

9 out of 10.

Monty Python: Almost the Truth – The Lawyers Cut (2009)

Let's go ahead and assume you're already a fan of Python. Because if you are not, there is nothing in this documentary series that will change your mind nor, frankly, is their story remarkable enough to stand on its own. With that unpleasantness out of the way, it's probably safe to call this six-part documentary series absolutely essential for the fans. Covering everything, from each Python's early childhood, through college and meeting up, to Flying Circus, the films, Graham Chapman's death, and what they've been up to since it all came to a close, no stone is left unturned. Each sordid detail, every little anecdote, and the extremely candid nature of criticism and nostalgia that comes spilling out is utterly delightful for the devoted. Where available, it seems that almost anyone of significance in putting together and supporting the phenomenon makes an appearance. In other cases where it tries to show people who were influenced by the Pythons' work, it perhaps comes up a bit short. Despite this, for the pure breadth and scale of information provided, and for just being an excuse to geek out in remembrance for such an awesome pile of comedy, this series should not be missed.

8 out of 10.

Downfall (2004)

Also known as Der Untergang.
Of all the World War II films to come along over the years, so very few of them deal directly with Adolf Hitler, and rarely do they make any attempt to show the opposing force as much more than faceless targets, deserving of every bullet and explosive hurled their way. That is the very thing that makes this film unique and interesting. Depicting the final days of Hitler himself, as well as his closest military advisors and National Socialist Party leaders, the movie treads carefully. Every attempt is made to seem even-handed about its subject matter. Hitler himself is portrayed not as a monster but as a man, frustrated and frequently unreasonable, slowly caving to the stresses around him. Meanwhile some of those nearby are unwaveringly devoted to his ideals, while others seem less certain. The result is a conflicting set of emotions. You feel sorry for a lot of these people not because of what they are and what they did, but because of who they affected and the lives that it cost. For me, at no point did I feel asked to pity the Nazis (it's safe to say that they are beyond redemption), but I did pity the German soldiers and the German people, and the senseless waste that so few people ultimately caused. This is a challenging film because in some ways it humanizes one of the most arch enemies the world has ever known, yet in doing so it highlights just how absurd World War II was.

9 out of 10.

Defiance (2008)

At this point, it's probably safe to say that World War II has more cinematic coverage than all the masses of fantasy wars combined. And yet, there are still a few untold stories out there that stand apart from the myriad gung-ho, war is hell majority. In this case we have the tale of two brothers, both Jews on the run from the SS, slowly building a home and society for themselves and other refuges in the woods of Belorussia. Schindler's List by way of Walden. And for the most part it attempts to tug on the right strings, showing the heartbreak and bleak reality of the struggle. Where the film's failings lie, unfortunately, is in how familiar most of the stories here feel. At every turn is another character or situation that feels liberally borrowed from other, better films. The whole comes off very predictable, with little deviation from expectation. Ultimately, it lacks danger and desperation. There is certainly merit and interest in the remarkable true story being told, but as a movie there just isn't much you haven't seen before.

6 out of 10.

Maus (Graphic Novel - 1986 - 1991)

Mixing biography and autobiography, Art Spiegelman tells the story of his father Vladek's life as a Polish Jew as the Nazis ground a nation into dust, intermingled with Art's own difficulty relating to his overbearing father. Smartly, Speigelman chooses the graphic novel as his format, and draws with an effective style: all the Jews are mice, and all the Germans are cats. It's simple, it's effective, and it lets the author create his own take on the horrible reality, and not become weighed down by what has already been seen in pictures. It is incredibly potent, and crosses the line between merely being told about history, to truly relating to it. Maus doesn't just provide an incredible account of one of history's greatest crimes, but presents it in a way that is simple, personal, honest, and appropriately devastating. A masterpiece.

10 out of 10.

Band of Brothers (TV Series - 2001)

Yes, war is hell. But it takes a lot more than two hours to explain why war is hell. Conceived of in the aftermath of the production of the iconic war film Saving Private Ryan, and serving as an adaptation of the Steven Ambrose biography “Band of Brothers”, this series tells the true story of Easy Company, a group of paratroopers known as much for their unbelievable bravery as for their unimaginable losses. Each episode is written and presented as a tribute to these men, showing as best as cinema can provide the triumphs and the failures, the beauty and the warts, of Easy Company's incredible trip through the war. Absolutely no expense is spared in creating as authentic a presentation as possible. Hundreds of extras in authentic costumes march and fight and drink and deal with their own realities of the war. Forests detonate with mortar fire and buildings explode into the countryside with genuinely frightening realism during the frequent battle scenes. And the cherry-picked cast is perfect down to the last man, giving each soldier their story and their struggle. And as each of its ten episodes opens, you hear it in interviews from the real men who the series is based on, who traded gunfire behind enemy lines on D-Day, who fought in Operation: Market Garden, and dug in during the Battle of the Bulge. It's heartbreaking and painful just as it is uplifting and enlightening, dramatic and intense, and for such a tremendous production as the series is, there is knowledge that watching it is only a fraction of the full tale. War is hell, and this provides some idea why.

10 out of 10.

Adaptation. (2002)

Right, so the script is by Charlie Kaufman and the plot is about a screenwriter named Charlie Kaufman writing the script for the movie Adaptation. Yea, the same one you're reading about. As in, it's a movie about itself. Take a sec and let that sink in. No rush, I'll wait. Now, the real miracle of this film isn't just that it has an ending (which, logically, it shouldn't!), or the way it breaks every rule it sets itself up to have, but that it's actually quite good. It has this kind of clever, unashamed, narcissistic whimsy to itself that's easy to get caught up in. And it makes you ask all sorts of bizarre questions: is this really all true? If not, how much of it is? And what do the real people behind the (alleged) farce think of this? It's twisted, it's confusing, and yet it all makes sense by the end in the most peculiar ways. That said, the final act, where it caves to its own ideas, lacks the fun spark of the earlier bits of the film, and as good as the cast is (headed up by a surprisingly good Nicolas Cage), there's just enough going on underneath to yank you out of the non-fantasy. But maybe that's intentional? That's something the viewer will have to figure out for themselves. All you need to know is that by the time the credits roll, it's very likely you will be delightfully baffled.

8 out of 10.

Shattered Glass (2003)

Sometime between recording the awful love dialog in Star Wars Episode II and becoming a one-man jedi barbecue in Star Wars Episode III, actor Hayden Christensen put in what was probably the best performance of his career. Shattered Glass depicts the downfall of real life reporter Stephen Glass, whose career ended in 1998 when it was discovered he falsified parts of, or outright created entire stories, which were then published as truth in the prestigious New Republic magazine. His was one of the most high-profile instances of journalistic fraud the industry had seen. The movie shows this eventual collapse with an unexpected air of objectivity. The way the narrative moves, it's difficult to blame any one person for wrongdoing, leading to a judgment call on the part of the audience. As far as drama goes, there's an air of tension and nervousness to reflect the characters, but the star of the show is really the plot itself. The few things that work against it mostly revolve around the objective nature of the film—if you're the kind of viewer who likes hand holding, this may not be for you—and there's an odd editing choice toward the end that is somewhat baffling. Still, in managing to make the viewer ask how such lies could filter through to publication in an industry that prides (prided?) itself on endless fact checking, this becomes a fascinating examination of how so much could have possibly gone so wrong.

8 out of 10.

Persepolis (2007)

Heartbreaking and poignant, with an emotional and life-affirming sense of humor, Persepolis is a beautiful tableaux of survival and optimism in times and places of incredible civil strife. Telling the autobiographical story of Marjane Satrapi, the film depicts life for a woman in both pre- and post-revolution Iran as well as education abroad, done in an animated style that recalls French cartoons of the 1950s. The animation style helps accentuate the surreality of a world and idealism crumbling into dust, while a melancholy sense of humor proves a most endearing highlight. It manages to punctuate endless atrocities and the increasing awareness that comes with maturity with a sense of perspective that, despite everything, is fiercely unafraid. The result is uplifting, tragic, funny, endearing and hauntingly personal.

10 out of 10.

Note: In the spirit of revisionist history, I have posthumusly placed this film at number eight on my Top Films of 2007 list.

The Thin Red Line (1998)

Terrance Malick isn't known for making bad movies, which is just one of the reasons why The Thin Red Line is so surprising. This intensely introspective World War II drama isn't really about war at all, but about the internal dialogue and mid-traumatic stress disorders folks get while in the thick of a firefight. The problem is it's so laboriously paced and thoughtfully meandering that most of the film is taken up by copious amounts of the beautifully shot scenery. Still, it's got a ridiculously great cast, which includes at least a half-dozen household names (George Clooney, Nick Nolte and Sean Penn, for example), and a good ten other folks that any film geek could easily recognize (such as John C. Reilly, Thomas Jane, and Adrien Brody), almost all cast as mere extras or single-line, single-scene characters. That such a huge amount of talent and money was used on a film that is at least an hour too long by a director who many consider one of the eccentric greats is such a shame. While I give some credit to the gorgeous scenery, and even a fantastic performance by Nolte, the majority of the movie seems to just drag on and on and on. If you're wanting a thinking man's war film, go ahead and slop another point onto my score. Otherwise, there are far better ways to look inside a soldier's head than this, both figuratively and literally.

5 out of 10.

A Mighty Heart (2007)

Forgive me, but before we begin I'd like to express a personal note. This film is based on a very well covered story from 2002, and what I am about to say spoils the end of a movie based on a true story. I am sorry for that. I'm not sure when exactly I saw it, but the tape described (but mercifully not shown) of journalist Daniel Pearl's gruesome beheading was shown to me on a friend's computer some months after it had happened. I was 21, and for the first time in my life I saw real, honest-to-God violence of a level that even experienced minds would find nauseating. To say it gave me nightmares for weeks is an understatement; it rattled me down to the bones. For all the talk of violence-as-entertainment that gets done on this site, I would simply like to say that if nothing else, seeing true death, true evil is a totally different realm. If nothing else, it taught me that despite whatever violent videogames, or violent movies I may enjoy and call great, that there is a genuine difference between what is played for entertainment and what is real suffering. I wish I had never seen the tape—I really do. And for what little it's worth, my heart goes out to the widow Pearl and her family. Please have a look at http://www.danielpearl.org/ and see the ongoing work of a man and a family upholding ideals to bring about peace so that such evil may hopefully someday never be known again. Thank you.


Hopefully this review is not too biased, and my apologies if it lacks my usual spark, but to travel back (even if it's only five years) to such an galvanizing moment in my life was personally cathartic in ways maybe others won't experience. As a film, this is a very competently made crime drama with the fat trimmed and the pace brisk. Angelina Jolie is nearly unrecognizable as Mariane Pearl, the wife of journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped in Karachi, and her performance is both strong-willed and fittingly vulnerable. It has some issue with it's latter moments; much of the final breakdown is overlong and drawn out. The supporting cast is well picked and honest, though except for the police captain they don't really stand out. As a whole, this is a smartly told story of a heartbreaking tragedy.

8 out of 10.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

Also known as Le Scaphandre et le papillon.
Just at the surface, the true story told here is genuinely remarkable: Jean-Dominique Bauby, an editor for Elle magazine, has a stroke which renders him completely and permanently paralyzed except for one eyelid. He then goes on to write a critically acclaimed novel describing what everyday life is like for someone unable to communicate, move, eat without tubes, smell, or feel. Just as a concept it's staggering, and certainly a tale worth telling. This film, based on his memoirs, offers a beautifully rendered and deeply heartfelt story of depression and mania, and eventual acceptance of a condition nearly too horrible to imagine. Director Julian Schnabel moves this tale around with a sense of time and progress, but also an almost balletic sense of imagination, reflecting the mind of the protagonist. Much of the film is done from a first-person perspective, showing things through our Jean-Do's eyes, and the effect is a crushing level of sympathy. It's frequently a difficult film to enjoy simply because it's basic structure is so sad. But like many difficult things, there is catharsis here, and if you're looking for something different and powerful and meaningful, you will find it all here.

9 out of 10.

The Hoax (2007)

Had 2004's The Aviator not been made, would yet another movie whose antics center around Howard Hughes have been greenlit? With The Hoax, we get Richard Gere and Alfred Molina as real life authors Clifford Irving and Dick Suskind as they try to manipulate their way into publishing a biography about the eccentric and reclusive billionaire, but along the way the film seems to lose itself in its own lies and obscured truths. By that I mean precisely the self-defeating confusion that the characters experience also occurs to the film. In trying to adapt Clifford Irving's autobiographical book to the screen, important details seem lost or poorly elaborated on. I expect that if you were around and paying attention when a lot of this was actually happening you'll get a lot more out of it, but the rest might be left scratching their heads on a few bits. Still, Gere and Molina do a fun job portraying their grand-scale con. While it never pays off the way it feels like it should, there's little to directly poke holes in. If you know the story then chances are you'll be intrigued; if not it could go either way for you.

6 out of 10.

Rescue Dawn (2007)

Mixing elements of The Great Escape and Platoon, this is a Viet Nam War flick that never really finds its footing but is interesting nonetheless. While it gets its setting and story from the experiences of real life war pilot Dieter Dengler, there are simple missteps in both plausibility and characterization. Christian Bale plays Dengler with such air-headed bravado that it's difficult to gain any sympathy for his exceptional plight beyond the general disgust Viet Cong torture merits. His plausibility is constantly chipped away due to his never-ending supply of brash optimism. Meanwhile the supporting pile of fellow castaways are all varying combinations of Stockholm Syndrome and dysentery, played either with broad character strokes or no personality at all. The second half is fairly dramatic however, though still a bit scatter shot. All told this is a take-it-or-leave-it film. If you're interested in the struggles of POWs it's worth a cursory inspection, but past that there isn't a lot worth going out of your way for.

6 out of 10.

The Great Debaters (2007)

Formula films can be a tricky lot, especially with the dreadfully overused “underdog sports movie” template. Every time you step into one you pretty much know how it's going to work out, who's going to triumph, and when each of the various character setbacks are going to occur. But it's when you take formulaic tenets and apply them in unique ways that you can come up with an exceptional film. Here the creed is applied to my favorite of college bloodsports: debate. And it's not just debate here; it's debate as an allegory for civil rights circa 1935. Director and star Denzel Washington's second effort behind the camera is a finely paced, relevant, and uplifting film. The casting and acting are uniformly excellent, and the underdog struggles of African Americans in the film are depicted with just the right balance to be honest but never preachy. The argument isn't all perfection, though. While the debates and discussions and the intellectual food for thought brought to the table are wonderfully enthralling, like all movies of the template the personal issues around the players can be hit or miss. Thankfully the majority of the movie is on the good stuff, leaving the gristle to pop its head up from time to time to break up the pace. While it has the same failings as (by now) hundreds of movies of its ilk, this is the rare movie that applies its modus operandi to great effect, becoming a touching tribute to the struggles of a people.

8 out of 10.

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

Charming might be the best adjective to describe this movie, and honestly it's a wonderful and wonderfully dirty little political drama through and through. As usual, Tom Hanks does a great job playing a likable bastard while Julia Roberts does her duty as a feminine force to be reckoned with, but it's Phillip Seymor Hoffman who winds up stealing every scene he's in as an exceptionally gruff and foulmouthed CIA agent helping the leads. The slow end to the covert side of the Cold War is depicted with a fantastic sense of whimsy mixed with hard-forged alliances that, while lacking punch in any visceral sense both emotionally and physically (it's a war movie fought from behind a desk), still manages to be satisfying. With great characters, and a heaping dose of Texas pragmatism, this light-hearted look at the business of war remains both relevant and fun on its own terms.

8 out of 10.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006 Ireland, 2007 USA)

The ridiculously protracted occupation and war(s) between the British and it's neighboring states, in this case Ireland, is barely taught in American schools, so I hope I can be forgiven for going into this movie improperly armed to judge it on historical grounds. What's here is a sometimes-stirring, always interesting, but strangely distant look at the Irish Republican Army's struggle to win Ireland some level of independence in 1920. Cillian Murphy (the guy from 28 Days Later, and Scarecrow in Batman Begins) does a decent job creating an idealistic, sympathetic guerrilla fighter, and the rest of the cast each do well in their parts. But while the story itself is fascinating in its scope and gives equal time to internal politics as much as battle tactics, it lacks a certain something to really draw in the audience. It seems to assume intimate knowledge and emotional sympathy with the struggle, rather than bringing the unaware into the fold. That said, it's still a well-made movie worth watching. If you're up to date on your Irish history, feel free to add a point onto my judgment.

7 out of 10.

Note: I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but the Irish accents and interspersed Gaelic were so thick I had to watch this with subtitles on. Just putting that out there.

Into the Wild (2007)

Alternating between being an purposeful and thought provoking meditation on society's many ills, and being agenda driven snobbish tripe, this is a movie that's extremely difficult to love, but easy to admire. It's clear that a lot of passion and dedication went into the making of this film, but despite its real-life trappings, much of it comes off as a bit too idealistic. Director Sean Penn paints his scenery and characters in fairly clear black and white: Nature and hippies = Good. Cities and people with jobs = Bad. This is absolutely backed up by the score by Eddie Vedder, with folk tunes about wilderness and the supposed joys of being penniless. There's certainly merit to the thinking, but as it's portrayed here it comes off as too simplistic. On the other hand, Emile Hirsch puts on an amazing performance as the brash, and very real, Christopher McCandless. Likewise, the location scouts did an outstanding job of finding gorgeous locales to set the film in. While the central conceits of the film are a bit too basic, the excellent settings and great acting make this an interesting example of what happens when idealism crashes head-on with reality.

7 out of 10.