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Jan. 24, 2007 Night Listener with Robin Williams and Toni Collette. Director- Patrick Stettner. “A popular radio host, still reeling from an emotional break-up, begins to find comfort in long distance conversations with a young fan. Further conversations with his adopted mother reveal true revelations about the boy’s past and threaten to throw the host’s life into chaos. 2006/ 91 min”- from the cover. This is interesting. Someone is thinking, but couldn’t pull it through. Personally, I got the feeling in the past ten years that Robin Williams, though everyone knows whom he is, is underrated as an actor because he did so much comedy. I think he is a giant. Toni Collette is perhaps the best living female actor working right now. The story is inspired by true events. It is a strange set of events to be sure. The film only comes off as a B- grade thriller drama though. All the ingredients were there, but that something extra, that movie energy of magic, was mostly absent. Dark films should have some redeeming qualities, offer some hope or light. This one just leaves you having witnessed a bunch of bad and crazy events. Lady In The Water with Paul Giamatti and Bryce Howard. Director- M.N. Shyamalan “An apartment superintendent named Cleveland Heep makes an unusual discovery when he rescues a woman from the complex swimming pool he maintains. Now, he must protect this mythical ‘narf’ so she can complete her quest and save the world from a species coming to destroy them. 2006/ 110 min”- from the cover. Here is a story thought out and delivered with grace and style and wit. There are plenty of characters, and most every one of them is interesting. The special effects are done well, and the charm of the film is that it mixes fantasy with reality. Apartment complexes might be a bore in real life, but whoever wrote this film saw that they also hold many possibilities for story lines and interacting characters and groups of characters. The mythical narf has to come in contact with a human who is to write a special book. The super goes around looking for all the people who write. He is also a writer or sorts. He finds the special writer (the director appears in this role). He is writing something called The Cookbook, and is told that one day, someone will read his book and be inspired by it and goes on to be a great leader in the world, effecting great change. A lot of the second half of the film is about how to free the narf, and everyone has to dig deep and do some soul searching by the end. This would normally be sappy, but its done crisply and soulful things are presented pragmatically by the director, and it all works. That is, it works for what it is trying to do. Whether it is your cup of tea or not is not the maker's fault. His only challenge is to make his vision come through. Munich with Geoffrey Rush, and Daniel Craig. Director- Steven Spielberg “Inspired by actual events, Munich is the dramatic story and recollection of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down the people who assassinated Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. 2006/ 164 min”- from the cover. On my DVD there is an opening with the director interview. I don’t know if Spielberg is usually so articulate or not, but he is in it. He knows he is dealing with sensitive material and explains what is known- this person was killed, and this person was killed. Then he says that he is trying to present events from all sides best he can, based on the book he used. Then, after that, he does say that he fills in a few blanks, because it is not a documentary, but a movie, inspired by true events, and to remember the difference. It looks as if a squad was assembled to seek revenge on the organizers Munich hostage event. The film shows numerous killings from both sides, and it’s the conversations about the Israeli- Palestine drama that are provocative. We follow the main Israeli squad leader undercover as he goes around killing people with his team. Sometimes they use guns, sometimes bombs. It seems like they are unsure if they are killing the right targets at times, and innocents almost get killed along the way. The movie is tricky, because it is shot so well. This means that when a talented director with millions of dollars covers a subject like this, no matter how serious it is taken, we are still sheltered from the material. When someone gets a knife stuck in their head with full force (which happens in a scene), it is horrific, but still only in movie standards. We have seen too much killing in Terminator movies and so forth. But since this is based on actual events, the director is going to have to find another way to cover the material. As a movie, it probably rates eight or nine out of ten. But a movie is not what should have been made. Perhaps the director should have made a documentary. A movie reaches more people perhaps, but does it stay with them? Do they really care about a movie? A documentary might reach fewer people, but those who watched would be more serious, and the material would not sit well. The material should not sit well. If you are talking about killing, you and your audience should be disturbed, off centered, upset. This film is too centered, too digestible, because it is done too well. The project should have been given to a beginner. Things don’t work that way though. There is plenty of material on the subject at wikipedia- Wikipedia-Wrath of God ------------ Email Brian Michael Barbeito: Brian1750@Hotmail.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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