The Passenger

Rental Review: Any Given Sunday

Had to rent it last night. I've seen this movie before, several years ago, closer to when it came out. Maybe in the theater, maybe on video. Either way, wanted to see it again. First of all, I love Oliver Stone. Platoon, Wall Street, and, Salvador are three of my favorite movies. The first two are basically canonized at this point, and the third is also fantastic. It's vintage James Woods, who also has some of the best lines in Any Given Sunday (the scene when he argues with Al Pacino and Matthew Modine is one of the best in the movie). Second, the Jets are having just a terrible season. My team's in the hunt for Reggie Bush (513 yards against Fresno State, holy moly), or at least the ability to draft him, and I needed some solid football escapism.

Any Given Sunday is notable for several reasons. Obviously the up-close view of the football action is cool. But the sound editing is probably even more impressive than the camera work. Whatever they used to make the rotating/swishing noise for the spirals in flight, it was a good idea. And the Saving Private Ryan-esque moments of total silence and vision coming into and out of focus brought the game home. The movie emphasizes the speed and power of professional football.

I like Jamie Foxx, but I generally feel that he's a little over-rated. He tends to strike mostly one note--a lot of bravado (I thought he was solid in Collateral). But that works pretty well here, since he's playing a star athlete who thinks he's been scorned for several years. In addition though, to him and the big names like Pacino and Woods, and Cameron Diaz, who's takes full opportunity of what is given to her in the last third of the movie, when her character is feeling less certain of everything around her, all do very well. Oliver Stone is into big, epic themes. Football announcing and mythology is filled with well-worn cliches and character types and Dennis Quaid is excellent as the agining Joe Montana/Brett Favre gladiator. The film hinges on how masculinity as defined and fought for, and Quaid alternates between pride, uncertainty, and confidence with a lot of grace. Other actors rise to the occasion. LL Cool J holds his own--in the same year that the regrettable Deep Blue Sea came out. And we can all hope that Aaron Eckhart will be more remembered for his work as Nick Crozier the modern offensive coordinator politicking for Pacino's D'Amato's job than he will be for his role as "Dr. Josh Keyes" in The Core. Also Jim Brown makes a wonderful foil for Pacino as his defensive coach, the two come off as old brothers in arms--which says quite a bit about Brown's acting here. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise is the Lawrence Taylor does as the aging star linebacker (obviously a big stretch). But he's seriously good. I think he does a lot more than just play himself, or even a characature of himself (despite declaring "respect will be paid" after he makes a rather pithy statement about the similarities between the two halves a football team and an SUV). Taylor puts in a lot of work, especially during the scenes when he is forced to deal with his own mortality.

And another thing: If Stone could get a solid performance out of L.T., what is the deal with Colin Farrell? (Here at The Passenger we try to celebrate at least as much as we criticize, let me add that Farrell, who in addition to Alexander, was embarrassing in Phone Booth, Daredevil, and S.W.A.T., was legit in Tigerland. I'm being serious here. I think it was made for HBO or something, but it's a solid movie.)

And also, I guess you can't write about Any Given Sunday and not mention the Ben-Hur cuts. Ok, so some people might take issue with the slightly heavy-handed approach to the theme of sports as life, life as a battle and the battle being made up a constant series of moments in which you must claw tooth and nail for "that inch." Those people are jerks. This is Oliver Stone. The score for Any Given Sunday includes only a small dose of chanting, and the lightning storms are spaced out. If you weren't willing to go on that ride, you should have thought twice about paying the fare in the first place. Also, it occurs to me that some might take further umbrage with Charlton Heston actually acting in this movie even while he appears on reel footage from Ben-Hur. Don't really know what to say to those folks, but they should probably get over it.

Shopgirl

I had pretty high expectations for Shopgirl, and I've got to say, it came in slightly below them. I still enjoyed it quite a lot, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was a smidge off the mark. I saw the movie with sometime co-writer at this site Derek, who liked it a bit more than I did, and he's encouraged to write back with why he dug it.

For me, I found Steve Martin's writing not as good as his acting. The parts where he narrated in the third person were bizarre. Was the voice meant to be that of an omnipresent narrator? The lines were delivered in a tone of voice different from the one used by "Ray Porter" and certainly was privy to information that Ray was not in on. And the movie was more about "Mirabelle," so Martin's narration was kind of surprising. Maybe I should have been able to get passed it, but to me, it felt like it added extra sympathy to Ray and diminished the younger characters in a way that seemed disconnected with what we learned about each one over the course of the movie. Having said all that, Claire Danes was truly fantastic in Shopgirl. She stepped up in a big way. Jason Schwartzman was also very good as "Jeremy." The movie was a good look at multiple sides of relationships, and how people hurt each other without even realizing it--distancing themselves from their own dishonesty, and how they delude themselves into thinking that it'll be all right, and that their intentions are both clear and inoffensive. And of course it was a pleasant coming of age story about young people finding purpose and self-worth.

Beyond all that, I also really enjoyed Mark Kozelek performance as "Luther," the lead singer for "Hot Tears"--the band that Jeremy goes on the road with for several months. All of the scenes with the two of them were awesome, on the tour bus, but particularly when they stop into Best Buy to get new movies for the bus and their choices lead Jeremy to mumble "oh, so we're going to love women now..." The filmmakers made the excellent choice of including the song "Carry Me Ohio" by Kozelek's Sun Kil Moon in an important scene. As a singer playing a rock star in a movie, Kozelek gave a performance that far surpassed previous attempts by fellow musicians, such as Eddie Vedder playing a member of "Citizen Dick" in Singles. In fact, that comparison is probably not even fair, since in Shopgirl Kozelek has a lot more going on for himself, standing in as a sort of older brother for Schwartzman's Jeremy. If you've missed out somehow, get your hands on some Sun Kil Moon or Red House Painters, and check Mark Kozelek out.

David Denby on Elizabethtown

At times, the movie became so boring that I experienced the uncanny sensation that I could physically feel the film passing through the projector. As I counted sprocket holes, my sense of what the movie was “about” simply dissolved, and the projector threw onto the screen meaningless images of children screaming, a memorial service going awry, landscapes unfurling outside a car window.

Don't all rush out to the theater at once.

Oddly, I still kind of want to see this movie.

The American President!

Over the weekend I watched the last third or so of this movie and was reminded, once again, just how marvelous it really is. It's a mash up of two of my favorite things to watch--The West Wing and Wonder Boys. Michael Douglas is fantastic, as is Martin Sheen, taking a turn as a combination of President Bartlet and Leo McGarry. It's wild to watch Aaron Sorkin develop so many precursors to The West Wing in the script for the movie. As in the show, he has the Chief of Staff and President as best friends, there's a situation room scene about "proportional response" that basically makes a reprise in one of the earlier seasons of West Wing. The movie also features future Wingers Josh Molina and Anna Deavere Smith. In both the show and movie, we have a Nobel Laureate in the White House for whom the constant challenge of American Democracy is a higher calling, and for whom righteous indignation is frequently transformed into near poetic evocations of using government for the greater good. The film is a bit lighter than the show. Afterall, it is a romance that makes use of more than a little of that 90s Holiday Season flare (romantic getaway to a snow-capped Camp David, Michael J. Fox as a staffer, perhaps as a thematic second cousin to Bradley Whitford's future role).

And of course, Michael Douglas as President Shepherd, persuing a woman who is hesitant to fall for him--as in Wonder Boys--though here he replaces smoking pot, writing an never-ending book and being generally overwhelmed; with fighting crime, global warming and being generally the most on-top-of-it guy ever, though of course must eventually overcome his relative tactical failings in order to defeat his mud-slinging Conservative opponent and make Annette Benning fall in love with him and not go to Hartford--all of which he does after a climactic scene of brotherly fighting with Martin Sheen.

Will the Italian Stallion have his own lean mean fat-grillin' machine?

Watch out people, Rocky VI is on the way.

The Champ is back in the building:

Stallone has been trying to make a sixth movie for years and has spent time reworking a script. The latest version, which sources said is similar to tone and grit to the first two movies, persuaded the studios to negotiate a deal.

"In many ways, the screenplay really took me back to the original 'Rocky,' " Revolution Studios founder Joe Roth said in a statement. "As a past champion, Rocky Balboa is once again a regular guy who has to find himself and deal with real life. This film brings Rocky's story full circle."

In the new installment, Rocky, lonely and retired in Philadelphia, comes out of retirement, intending to fight a few low-profile local fights. He's approached to fight a match with reigning heavyweight champ Mason "The Line" Dixon, and soon his comeback ignites a media firestorm.

" 'Rocky Balboa' is about everybody who feels they want to participate in the race of life, rather than be a bystander," Stallone said in a statement. "You're never too old to climb a mountain, if that's your desire."

Shooting is scheduled to begin in December in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

One presumable point of divergence from the first two movies is that "Rocky" is fast approaching 60. No offense intended, but perhaps one of the universal themes in the movie is that "you're never to old to climb a mountain" or get knocked the heck out by a guy nicknamed "The Line."

In fairness, for some reason I want to give Sly the benefit of the doubt here. In fact, I'll totally go see this movie. 1997's Cop Land was awesome. But of course that movie had Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Aspen Extreme and Chicago Hope star and Friday Night Lights Director Peter Berg, as well as the unstoppable John Spencer--playing another character named Leo. To say the least, Stallone had some help there. Still, as long as the new Rocky doesn't somehow cast Colin Farrell, I'll remain cautiously optimistic. On that note, if Terrence Malick's upcoming The New World is any good, despite starring Farrell, does that make Malick the best director of all time? It'd be like the film-making version of Kerri Strug sticking the landing on her bad ankle.

____________________

In other news, oh dang, Stallone also apparently has Rambo IV in the works.

The Name's Craig, Daniel Craig

AP reports that Britsh actor Daniel Craig will be the next Agent 007.

Apparently Craig beat out Clive Owen (too fat?), Colin Farrell (too dumb?), Ewan McGregor (too fruity?), Heath Ledger (surf's up dude!), and Eric Bana (too Australian?), among others.

I last saw Craig in the British gangster-fest Layer Cake, where he dispatched himself with the smooth wit we all know, love, and expect from an agent of Her Majesty's Secret Service. 

I give thumbs up.

No Justice for the Fictionalized

Astonishingly, the flight attendants' Unions are encouraging boycotts of Jodie Foster's new movie Flightplan. In solidarity, I will forego seeing it. Ok, I was planning on doing that anyway.

Rush and Molloy report that:

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants and Transport Union Local 556 has called for its more than 80,000 members to boycott the film.

Calling the film, "irresponsible," Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, told us, "There was only one flight attendant who was a terrorist. The other ones were rude, condescending and portrayed as uncaring when Jodie Foster had a problem. There was eye-rolling, there was sarcasm, and that's not right. That's not accurate."

Look, I consider myself a major supporter of flight attendants. Their job is undoubtedly tough, with regard to what they actually do, but more so with their travel schedule and the strain that must place on the other aspects of their lives. But come on, if there was ever an example of over-heated concern. I imagine that the portrayal of flight attendants isn't the only bit that isn't accurate in Flightplan. But who cares? Do they really think that travelers will think less of flight attendants as a result of seeing this movie? Did archeologists boycott Tomb Raider? Did the police unions call for a boycott of Police Academy? Australian children were portrayed horrifically (albeit in limited fashion) in Finding Nemo. I'm not sure if any public grievances have been lodged. I mean come on. Do we really need to walk on egg shells to such a degree?

Apparently, the flight attendants should have asked for AMA-style final approval. The Medical Association used to get the last word on TV shows, like Ben Casey and Marcus Welby, MD.

At any rate, this is a strange move, and one that probably won't be particularly helpful in terms of generating respect for the flight attendants unions as they try and deal effectively with the problems that the airline industry is facing these days. Surely, they have bigger fish to fry than Jodie Foster--talented though she may be.

On the Upside

Nicolas Cage's upcoming movie The Weather Man features a way fantastic song in its trailer. The suspense is probably killing you right about now, so go check out the trailer and find out about the sweet tunes. Hint: the song has an unspeakably cool title.

The Edukators and Aristocrats: the nature of shock in the 21st Century

Much has been made lately of how violent and sex-laden our entertainment has become. Video games are over the top. Movies are filled with inappropriate content. The internet....forget about it. On top of that, we've reached a point of humorless politics and commentary. Pundits constantly call on each other to condemn the wrongs of others in the loudest, deepest voice possible. Politicians distinguish themselves by what they are "pro" and what they are "anti." This is the age of categories. Instead of granting the public greater access and understanding, the 24 hour news cycle has led simple-mindedly and reductively towards a greater number of denunciations.

On top of that, everything feels done before. If anger is constant, what do you do when you actually want to get someone's attention? If all entertainment is over the top, how do you deliver the 21st Century shock?

The Edukators and The Aristocrats both deal with these questions, albeit in very different ways. In The Edukators, three friends and lovers are struggling to rebel in contemporary Germany. They find the broad realities of society unfair and seek somewhat ill-defined social change. They know that they want to change the world. They are frustrated, however, because everything, even acts of rebellion and protest, have been turned into commodities. The performative aspect of leftist revolution is more difficult then ever with Che T-shirts and beads available at any trendy store. The protest kids of the 60s (as they find out in very accute fashion) have grown up and sold out. Leafletting the sneaker shop feels hopeless. So protagonists Jan and Peter up the ante by breaking into wealthy folks' homes, moving stuff around, and leaving a calling-card vague threat along the lines of "you have too much money" signed "The Edukators." Of course, eventually, when they are confronted with a dire situation (without giving away too much, they kidnap a former-revolutionary-turned-industrialist and face down romantic tension), the whole endeavor feels empty. Some people, upon seeing the movie, find it hard to sympathize with the heroes--Jan (played by Daniel Bruhl, who is as wonderful here as he was in Good Bye Lenin!) , Peter, and Jule--because they seem naive and reckless. That's all kind of true, but for me at least, it didn't detract from the movie. Director Hans Weingartner has still built an excellent study in friendship and forging a sense of place and the problem of forging a tenable relationship with an impefect, troubled world. Also, I think the film was shot with only natural light, and there are a number of absolutely beautiful scenes, particularly once they reach the cabin up in the mountains. Both the orange glow of the interior at night and the panoramic mountain views are amazing.

The Aristocrats is out and out one of the funniest movies I've seen in a while. Reviewers heralded Wedding Crashers as the triumphant return of the free-spirited, R-rated comedy, in large part because it included a montage of topless women. (But wait, how can this feel fresh, given the fall of civilization that we're experiencing due to too much sex in the movies?). Now, I enjoyed Wedding Crashers, even the much-lamented romantic comedy-style second half. But The Aristocrats is funny in a whole different way. It is a movie about a joke and the joke is funny because it involves saying the dirtiest things you can imagine. In a period of false moralizing, and while all politicians trawl for support amongst "values voters" who seem to believe that the greatest threats to their families spring from the happiness of others as well as too much gun violence in video games (though not from the sale of actual guns), a movie dedicated to being as verbally raunchy as possible is a relief. There's no nudity, no guts, no gore, and they need to check your ID before they can let you in. It reveals the oft-hidden comic brilliance of Bob Saget. It brings together the old masters--George Carlin--with the new generation--Sarah Silverman. The movie found its inspiration in the night at the Friars Club that Gilbert Gottfried showed New York how to laugh again in the fall of 2001. The Aristocrats is about answering the question: what is still shocking in the year 2005?

The Edukators basically collide with culture and cannot really rupture the status quo. The Aristocrats reminds us that sometimes the most profane thing is not being able to take a joke.

Bob Roberts: Rental Review

Tim Robbins wrote, directed and stars in Bob Roberts, a mockumentary about a right-wing folk singer/Wall Street hot shot running for the US Senate in Pennsylvania. His debut album is "The Freewheelin' Bob Roberts." A hit song is titled "Times Are Changing Back." He sings folk songs about being unapologetically rich, against welfare and immigration, and about lynching drug dealers (and users). Along the way he fences, rides a motorcycle, MCs a beauty pagent, runs attack ads (and releases music videos), debates the aging liberal incumbent (played excellently by Gore Vidal), consults with Oliver North-esque campaign chairman Alan Rickman, and--of course--holds several concerts.

Basically, I highly recommend renting this movie. It's hillarious and skewers everything--politics, the media, the compromised entertainment industry. One of the funniest moments is when a news anchor (Peter Gallagher) can't read the number of homeless people in America off his cue cards, gives up, briefly cuts to Vidal giving a speech about new appropriations for a program focused on helping the homeless, and then they go into coverage of a Roberts concert. A number of other great actors pop up at different moments including: John Cusack, James Spader, Susan Sarandon, Helen Hunt and Jack Black. All are solid, particularly Black, who plays one of three brothers who follow the candidate around compulsively.

It's over a decade old but not close to out of date. The political satire is spot on and Robbins is great.