Hey folks, Harry here, and ol E. Lurio here is the machine! He's been out in force knocking back the rest of the holiday scene in short order here. Like I said before, he's a long timer and a straight shooter. Let's take a look now shall we? Here we go...
Bicentennial Man
Directed by Chris Columbus
I went to this film with a great deal of trepidation. The trailer wasn't that good, and the resulting buzz was awful. Had Chris Columbus, and Robin Williams destroyed Isaac Asimov's grand novella? The happy news is no. This film is actually very good.
The film begins in the "not too distant future" where everybody wears contemporary clothing and the middle upper class Mr. Martin(Sam Neill) has bought an expensive new present for his wife (Wendy Crewson) and two daughters(Lindze Letherman and Hallie Eisenberg). The gift is the latest thing in household appliances: an android(Robin Williams), which the younger daughter(Eisenberg) mispronounces as Andrew. So it is to be called Andrew, and there is something wrong with it. It's creative, and without having it's personality chip being turned on, soon develops one.
Mr. Martin is intrigued with this situation, and after checking with the company if this sort of thing is common with their robots, he gives Andrew the opportunity to grow as a "person." The younger Miss Martin and Andrew become true friends, and by the time she's about to get married(and played by Embeth Davidtz) real platonic love has developed between the two.
One thing "little miss" discusses with Andrew is the concept of freedom, and demanding it from Mr. Martin, he is given it and told never to come back. So he settles down, before going on a quest to find others of his kind. After a decade or so of searching, he meets a human named Rupert Burns(Oliver Platt), who owns a repair shop and becomes Andrew's confidant and helper in his quest to become human. Soon Williams doesn't need all that prosthetic makeup.
He returns to his original home to find "Little Miss" a grandmother with grown grandchildren, one of whom, Portia, is also played by Ms. Davidtz. Romance develops between Andrew and Portia.
Now, on it's face, the idea of a romance between a human and an android with no parts for it is kind of sick, and it is. But it works, and the ending of the film gave your reviewer a lump in his throat. This film is everything a good film should be. It's entertaining, emotional, good acting and an interesting story. This is Columbus' best film since "Mrs. Doubtfire."
The Green Mile
Written and Directed by Frank Darabont
One would expect the movie version of Steven King's "Green Mile" to be long. After all, it was published in installments. The question is is it worth the three hour plus slog.
The film begins with the crime. Two girls are missing and a search party is on the trail...cut to many years later, and we're in an old age home. Paul Edgecomb(Dabbs Greer) is in the TV room watching a tabloid talk show when one of the inmates decides to change the channel. Coming apon Fred Astaire in that old chestnut "Top Hat," He stops. When "I'm in Heaven" is sung Paul begins breaks down and has to leave the room, and his girlfriend Elaine(Eve Brent) follows, and in the dining room, Paul begins to explain....cut to 1935.
A police van is driving up to Louisiana's Cold Mountain penitentiary, where that state has it's electric chair. In it is a huge black fellow named John Coffey(Michael Clarke Duncan) and a guard named Percy Wetmore(Doug Hutchison). Coffey has been convicted of killing those two little girls and has been sentenced to die. The supervisor for death row, which is called "the green mile" on account of the color of the floor, is Paul Edgecombe(now played by Tom Hanks). Wetmore is a bit of a sadist, and he and the other guards don't get along.
So, the next act is a bit of a soap opera. Paul has bladder problems. The Wardon's(James Cromwell) wife(Patricia Clarkson) has cancer, and the other guards: second-in-command, Brutus "Brutal" Howell (David Morse); sensitive greenhorn Dean Stanton(Barry Pepper); old pro Harry Terwilliger (Jeffrey DeMunn) are feuding with Percy. There's also a mouse who tended to disappear prior to becoming the companion of a prisoner named Delacroix(Michael Jeter). After one prisoner(Graham Greene) executed, another comes on the mile. He likes to call himself Billy the Kid(Sam Rockwell), but everyone calls him "Wild Bill" because he's nuts, proving this by nearly killing one of the guards.
For most of the movie, there is nothing supernatural. The guards go about their lives outside the prison. Paul's wife Janice(Bonnie Hunt) tries to get him to go to the doctor, and there's a chilling rehearsal of the execution process using a comical trusty(Harry Dean Stanton). Then Coffey grabs Paul and cures him. Then Percy stomps Delacroix's mouse and Coffey brings it back from the dead. Yeah, this is Steven King alright.
Frank Darabont's first film in five years [the last was "The Shawshank Redemption"] is a doozy. His script is sharp as a knife and he elicits first-rate performances by just about everyone. While it is true Hanks is very good indeed, he is not the best thing in the movie. The two villains: Rockwell and Hutchison give by far the best performances. Rockwell especially brings a stench of pure evil to the role of Wild Bill. He chews the scenery without making it campy. Hutchison is delightfully slimy as the sadistic guard with connections. Duncan's Coffey is a bit simpleminded, but very sympathetic. Gary Sinise has a memorable cameo and the rest give good solid performances.
This is one of the best films of the year.
Magnolia
Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
This is a curious picture. But then Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed "Boogie Nights" and "Hard Eight" specializes in those. The film begins with the narrator(Ricky Jay) describing a couple of strange coincidences, the second of which is described and analyzed in detail. Then there's a discussion of baby geniuses on television, particularly 'Wiz Kid' Donnie Smith, who grows up to be played by William H. Macy. We are given a weather report and the narrator disappears for hours on end[the film is three hours long], and the movie begins to get far stranger than we had begun to believe possible.
Earl Partridge(Jason Robards) is dying of cancer. His trophy wife Linda(Julianne Moore), who married him for money and is now racked with guilt is going from doctor to doctor collecting prescriptions. Earl asks Phil(Philip Seymour Hoffman), the nurse sent by the hospice, to get in touch with his son Frank T.J. Mackey(Tom Cruise), who is a guru giving seminars on how to pick up chicks. This is far more difficult than it seems.
Donnie goes to work and gets fired. His bosses(Alfred Molina and Miguel Pérez) explain that his celebrity isn't worth his poor performance. Meanwhile Game Show host Jimmy Gator(Philip Baker Hall) visits his daughter Claudia(Melora Walters), who despises him for reasons that aren't immediately apparent and tells her he is dying, the fight that ensues causes complaints from the neighbors that causes Officer Jim Kurring(John C. Reilley) to come and investigate.
Jimmy's game show pits whiz kids against precocious adults, one of the former, Stanley Spector(Jeremy Blackman), arrives a bit late because his father Rick(Michael Bowen) had a previous appointment and Stanley was unable to relive himself.
....And thus it goes, seemingly forever. This is an ensemble piece with a huge cast and a leisurely pace where each and every one of the dozen or so major characters is given a chance to chew the scenery and give Oscar-worthy performances. There's even a musical interlude where everyone joins in a song playing on the radio.
The problem is, is that three hours plus is too long, and a subplot about bladder problems doesn't help two thirds the way through, but parts of the film are genuinely enthralling, one is never bored, even though one begins to wonder how and when it will end.
Tom Cruise gives the performance of his career and most of the major characters come close, Robards has a really effecting monologue and young Blackman will be someone to watch if he decides to make a career out of this. The special effects are pretty nifty too. If you've got the time and a cast iron butt, you should definitely take this in.
Girl Interrupted
Written and Directed by James Mangold
"Borderline personality disorder" is one of those terms that could mean just about anything. Susanna Kaysen spent two years in the loony bin back in 1967-68 after a feeble suicide attempt. and she wrote a book about it. From the film version at least, it would seem that borderline personality disorder is an excuse to incarcerate an inconvenient person who has some problems.
When we first meet Susanna(Winona Ryder), she's in a room somewhere with some druggies, then we cut to a hospital where she's having her stomach pumped. The film goes back and forth in time, as she talks with a shrink(Larry Jameson) whom she's never met before as her mother(Joanna Kerns) skulks outside with a suitcase. Suddenly, she's dispatched to the McLean Psychiatric hospital, where she signs herself in for a "rest." This is the first of many lies she's told.
So after meeting the head nurse(Whoopi Goldberg), Susanna gets to know the inmates(Brittany Murphy, Clea Duvall, Elizabeth Moss, Jillian Armenante and Angela Bettis), all of whom are in far worse shape than she is. Then her nemesis shows up. Lisa(Angelina Jolie) is brought back to the hospital in handcuffs, having escaped a few weeks before. The film revolves around these two, the suicide and the sociopath.
With little in the way of scenery or plot, the film focuses on character studies. Each of the girls in question have their problems, wrestling with boredom their inner demons and moronic doctors (Jeffrey Tambor and Vanessa Redgrave), as well as each other. This gives the ensemble of ingenues a chance to actually chew the scenery in a way that they couldn't find elsewhere.
Jolie steals the movie. Her Lisa is an over the top character, and she gives it everything she's got. She's having a much better time here than in such recent fare as "The Bone Collector" and it clearly shows. Ryder's performance a understated. It would have to be as she's depressed for most of the film, but she's the only person in the film who actually grows, and the process is interesting to watch.
This is the kind of thing that is better watched on the small screen, and as such is worth a rental.
E. Lurio
