Angel Eyes

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jim Caviezel, and Terrence Howard
Directed by Luis Mandoki
Year: 2001
IMDB / Wikipedia

Before you lash out and swear you won’t read this because it’s about a J. Lo movie, let me say this: it’s the last interesting thing she made. This was pre-J. Lo and at a time when she still had a foot in the movie world and in the music world. It’s more Out of Sight than Gigli. Starting to get the picture?

To be honest, this is one of those movies that cannot well be defined. I put it under Drama because, well, that’s what it is. I think some people might get the feeling that it is just another RomCom but it’s much more that even a simple drama. There’s elements of mystery, crime, psychology, and torment that really sets it apart from the other films around that time.

I think the best way I can describe it is like one of those contemporary novels where the events and characters are not to be taken literally and the message is meant to be the star of the show. That’s how this movie is. The story revolves around Chicago cop Sharon Pogue (Lopez) who, while chasing a suspect, loses her weapon to the criminal and is saved at the last moment by a mysterious man named Catch (Caviezel). The two of them get together in a way that is more organic than we’re used to seeing in a film but, at the same time, the movie does not wholly center around the two of them.

Sharon’s story revolves around her tension with her family that spills over into her work and it concerns everyone from her partner (Howard) to her family. At the same time, Catch’s world is a mystery but he is well illustrated as a simple person with good intentions shrouded by a dark cloud. I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say that the character resolutions found by each of them coincide with each other and make for a surprisingly satisfying ending.

If I have one problem with the film it’s the scoring and soundtracking choices made. I’m sure there were people who saw this movie expecting something completely different and, knowing this was a possibility, there were some odd music choices that tried to capture a RomCom feel that broke the great mood of the film. To be honest, the best music in the film–the music that should have been used throughout–was good old Chicago blues.

So, you may laugh at this film being included in my collection, but there’s more than meets the eye with this film and it is definitely worth watching.

Most Valuable Actor: Jim Caviezel’s ability to act small is a rare talent in an industry that implores everyone to be larger than life. Seeing the role for what it was and how it fit into the story, Caviezel made Catch the man who was good, kind, and shrouded in a mystery that only the right person could unlock. Only Caviezel could have done this role without any pretension.

Trailer:

Goon

Starring Seann William Scott, Alison Pill, and Liev Schreiber
Directed by Michael Dowse
Year: 2011
IMDB / Wikipedia

Every now and then, I will find it necessary to break protocol to tend to my extremely large Netflix queue. This is one of those times. 

Rather than despair about the real possibility that professional hockey may not be back until Gary Bettman dies a slow, painful death in a Dumpster full of fire ants, I decided to bump up this movie in my Netflix queue. You may not have heard of this movie despite its great cast and stellar writing staff because, like many great movies, it wasn’t seen as marketable. Probably because American’s care about hockey as much as they care about the amount of truth in their political ads. It’s sad, but it’s true.

I first heard about this movie a while back when parallel stories about parallel movies about hockey goons: this one and another to be helmed by Kevin Smith that’s based upon the song “Hit Somebody,” penned by Mitch Albom and performed by the late-great Warren Zevon. I love the song so I started following these stories with great interest. As of right now, Goon got made while Smith’s Hit Somebody is stuck in development hell (it’s not even listed under his own IMDB page).

But, if only one of these movies got made, I’m glad it was Goon. Despite it’s low score on IMDB, this movie is a wonderfully funny and irreverent sports movie that scores because it’s not like every other sports movie out there. This isn’t like Slap Shot, though a comparison can be made with the adult themes; it’s not like Mystery, Alaska because the ending isn’t as obvious; and it’s not like The Mighty Ducks because there’s lots of blood, violence, and tons of swearing.

In short: it’s a real fuckin’ hockey movie!

The movie follows Doug (Scott), a simple-minded guy who is living in the shadow of his successful parents and brother until one night, while attending a small-town hockey game as a spectator, he fights a visiting player who jumps out of the penalty box and knocks him cold. From there, the movie develops into a very plausible tale of a guy taking a shot to do something he’s good at to try and achieve a better station in life.

Trust me, it’s not really as sappy as I made it seem, but to dive into every great plot detail would take too long.

One plot point that was good, but I wish they had expanded upon more, was the rivalry he had with another respected hockey fighter at the end of his career (Schreiber) and how the two of them came to a place of understanding and respect before their eventual face-off on the ice. The build up to that moment was so amazing and the crafting so good that I was out of my seat jumping around with excitement the way I do whenever there’s an actual hockey fight on TV.

But the best part of this film was the fact it didn’t center on the guy who scores a lot of goals or the coach or someone dying of cancer, it was on the guy who is villified in the media but glorified by the fans. The role of the hockey enforcer is trying to be toned down by the NHL and other leagues and it’s kind of a shame. Some may contend that fighting is the best part of hockey anymore but, as this film points out, the fighting is just a means to an end of keeping the peace on the ice among the civilized players. There’s a pile of respect to be won and lost with every fight and hard hit and that’s the part of hockey that is only understood by those who have played and those die-hard fans.

If I haven’t convinced you to see this film then go watch the Red Band trailer below (totally NSFW so don’t watch it at work) and if you’re not laughing or excited to see it then you are probably not a fan of sports, and it stinks to be you.

Most Valuable Actor: Seann William Scott gets this distinction again for the opposite reason he got it for his role as Stifler in the American Pie movies. He plays a great role that is opposite of the loud-mouth, raunchy persona he has trademarked for the past decade or so and brought a performance full of feeling and warmth. Not an Oscar contender but a lot of respect due for an actor that is truly more than meets the eye.

Trailer (Red Band):

The Andromeda Strain

Starring: Arthur Hill, James Olson, and Kate Reid
Directed by Robert Wise
Year: 1971
IMDB / Wikipedia

One of the reasons Michael Crichton‘s books were so popular and so good was that they were rooted in reality. They used current events, real places, and sometimes real people to help tell the story. When I read The Andromeda Strain for the first time in middle school I was transfixed by how real it was; like I was reading a historical account rather than a novel. But, that’s what Crichton did and did so well. The events in his books were so profound because of their plausibility and their attention to detail. However, what made for a great book made for a lousy movie.

I’ll be the first to say that, by-and-large, movies based on books betray the source material and leave an empty husk of a story filled with violence, special effects, and bad acting. However, the reverse is not always a good thing. In this film, director Robert Wise saw to keep as close to the source content as possible which, unfortunately, led to a film that was more like a documentary than a science-fiction thriller.

The story is of a town in New Mexico whose population is wiped out after a satellite touches down with an unknown disease. The military is sent in to investigate and loses two of their own. After finding two survivors, it is up to a covert team of scientists to get to the bottom of things in a secret underground laboratory named Wildfire. The balance of the film (almost 100 minutes) is devoted to the meticulous scientific research and problem-solving tasks to find out what they’re dealing with.

It is as riveting as that last sentence made it seem.

If you’re a fan of people looking into microscopes, poring over data, and growing things in petri dishes then this is the film for you. The suspense and the danger is supposed to be concocted in your mind knowing that the organism can kill everything on Earth if it ever escapes the compound. But in a visual medium like this, where broad strokes are taken to tell the story, it is hard for the viewer to feel that pressure the way a reader does with the novel. By the time they find an answer it seems like an inevitability rather than a life-saving solution.

The redeeming factor of this film are the character interactions that, for the most part, stay pretty true to the book (so far as I can remember). None of the actors are A-list names but they do an adequate job of filling the shoes of pretty unremarkable people put into a perilous situation and allowing the character to surface organically. Nonetheless, this movie is a poor excuse for a thriller and would have been better left on the page. I have hope that the relatively recent TV mini-series did a better job despite taking  taking major detours from the source. I guess, just this once, an exception could be made.

Most Valuable Actor: Kate Reid as Dr. Ruth Leavitt is the only character with a pulse during this entire movie. Her dark humor and her emotion is polarizing with the rest of the characters but it also creates the standard against which every other character is tested. Reid did an outstanding job trying to breathe life into this film but, in the end it wasn’t enough.

Trailer:

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, and Steve Carell
Directed by Adam McKay
Year: 2004
IMDB / Wikipedia

When you hear a film referred to as a “sleeper hit” it means that the movie grows on you later down the line. You may not understand all the lines, you may not get all of the jokes, or you may not initially follow the storyline but once you let it sit in your head for a few days, you come back and realize you do like it.

Anchorman was a sleeper movie for many people. I remember seeing this one in the theater with a friend and, for a great deal of the movie, I was the only one laughing. Most of the people didn’t get what was supposed to be funny and what was supposed to be satire but, the script and the actors did everything so seamlessly that the two became one-in-the-same. I found it funny on a personal level because, as a Journalism major in college I knew a lot of people who thought they were gods because they worked at a newspaper. I remember a professional reporter yelling to someone, “Fuck you! It’s news when I say it’s news!” For me, doing a film like this needed a main character that was larger than life and Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy was just that.

But the joy of this movie is found in the supporting players, especially Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and David Koechner who play Ron’s news team. Many of the best lines in the film belong to those guys and they provide the unstable yet fiercely loyal compatriots who enable his ego at every turn. Then there’s Applegate–who plays Burgundy’s love interest and professional rival as she bucks for a position behind the desk as San Diego’s first female news anchor–who turns in a splendid performance of a strong-willed woman because, in real life, she is one. Everyone in this film seemed to be cast to play to their strengths and that is a huge reason why this film works.

Truth be told, I could have skipped this film because I have seen it so many times I could parrot most of the lines (and I did because I was alone and no one cares) but I watched it because it holds a special place in my heart. It is infinitely quotable, hilarious, and the jokes have staying power. If you were hesitant about this film, or if you saw it and the sleeper effect hasn’t hit you yet, give it another shot and maybe, you too, will love lamp.

Most Valuable Actor: Will Ferrell is the only person who could have played this part the way it was meant to be played. His hubris and ability to play large characters is his calling-card and this one was right in his wheelhouse. My only question is whether or not that was actually him playing jazz flute. And why didn’t he get that ESPN job?

Trailer:

Analyze This / Analyze That

Starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, and Lisa Kudrow
Directed by Harold Ramis
Years: 1999 & 2002 (respectively)
Analyze This: IMDB / Wikipedia
Analyze That: IMDB / Wikipedia

I have been known to be frugal. When I began collecting movies I had one rule: I only buy what I’ve already seen and loved. When a friend of mine came to me raving about this movie and how it was an unsuspecting comedy classic, I had to listen. This is a guy who doesn’t get excited about movies (music is his bag) so to hear this I was immediately intrigued. Since this was in the days before Netflix, and I’m not a fan of renting movies, I decided to take the plunge and buy a DVD of a movie I had never seen. Besides, Best buy had it on sale one day.

To this day, I feel I broadened my horizons making the purchase. This movie is an outstanding example of how you can take a unique idea, load it with cliches, and still make something funny, witty, and original. I never thought I would write such a thing, but it’s true.

The story centers on gangster Paul Vitti (De Niro) and a psychiatrist, Ben Sobel (Crystal) whose paths cross when Vitti starts having panic attacks. Sobel reluctantly takes Vitti on as a patient after he learns his life may be in danger but is unaware at the lengths Vitti will go to get treatment and what kind of danger Sobel will be introduced to along the way. It’s funny, it’s vulgar, and it’s everything a movie about a mobster in therapy should be.

Then, a few years later, a sequel was made. This was during the time when Hollywood was making unnecessary sequels to movies (I think we all would like to forget The Whole Ten Yards) so I didn’t know what to expect. I know De Niro and Crystal have each made their own respective crappy movies, and following up a film like Analyze This could only spell disaster.

I remember watching Analyze That for the first time and thinking it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t anything to get excited about. Re-watching it the other day gave me a whole new appreciation for the movie. It re-hashed jokes from the original but did so in a thoughtful way. It had a more complex storyline than most comedies should. Plus, there was a sense of bullshit in the air about the entire plot but that only added to the humor and the playful nature of the film. It was a well-crafted story, delightfully acted, and well-written–so many sequels should be so lucky.

And then I step back and look at these movies as a package. Was a door left open for another sequel? I don’t think so. Thought Hollywood screenwriters can pull any sort of plausible plot extension out of their collective ass to create sequel foundations, it’d be hard to do it here and I think that’s why I enjoyed That so much. You know when you see a movie and, at the end the door is left wide open for a sequel, it makes the movie seem incomplete? I didn’t get that here with either movie. The first movie can stand on its own and the second is a welcomed and unlabored extension. It is refreshing to see this kind of movie collection come out when the demand for sequels, prequels, remakes, reimaginings, and reboots are so trendy these days. Keep it simple and, if I go fag, you die.

Most Valuable Actor: the late Joe Viterelli as Jelly, Vitti’s loyal man who delivers many of the best lines in the movies. his character is set up to be the slow gangster sidekick but he turns out to be a very complex character thanks in no small part to Viterelli’s acting ability.

Trailer (Analyze This):

Trailer (Analyze That):

Amistad

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Year: 1997
IMDB / Wikipedia

Films like this one conflict me. On the one hand, it’s a very important story and one of the truly defining moments of the abolitionist movement in the United States. It’s a story that is wrought with emotion, political intrigue, and the efforts of the few for the sake of the many put to the test by evil, greedy people. It’s a story that everyone should know and everyone should appreciate.

On the other hand, it’s a movie that seems to be crushed under the weight of it’s own gravitas.

Spielberg tries to paint a masterpiece using every color on the palate it seems and encourages every single actor to play up to the moment. Because of this, the portrayals of almost every character are over-the-top, unbalanced, and almost too black-and-white for an accurate historical drama. This is not to say that slavery is not a black-and-white issue (pardon the god-awful turn-of-phrase) but the politics surrounding it in America at the time of the story have many shades of gray that are glossed over for the sake of a polarizing drama.

But, more than that, Spielberg seems to want every emotion and every sense tingling during this film. There are times where even the score is so syrupy-sweet and so pronounced that the dialogue (heavy-handed as it is) gets lost in it.

The problem is that the story itself, the actual events that took place, don’t need any dramatic massage to make them more profound. The struggle of slaves to gain their freedom by overthrowing the slave ship (La Amistad) and then being brought to justice for that act of rebellion is one that boggles the modern mind but it actually happened. The debate as to whether these slaves were people or property was enough to get my blood boiling and that’s all it should take. I don’t need the likes of Matthew McConaughey destroying his office when a courtroom decision doesn’t go his way to grasp the gravity of it all. But, I guess I’m not everyone.

Casual movie-goers probably wouldn’t want to sit and watch this film recreationally. To be honest, I don’t see this film having too much value outside of a high school history classroom. If anything, this film brought the memory of the events of this landmark event back to the forefront of our minds and reminds us to not forget even the minor parts of the past.

Most Valuable Actor: Djimon Hounsou as slave-rebel leader Cinque was the only actor not chewing the scenery in this film. Though his character only speaks a handful of English words in the entire film, his portrayal is so moving and so touching you might think he was truly snatched from his home and sold into bondage.

Trailer:

Full Movie: