Millenium Actress (2002)

Wonderfully fresh, inventive anime about an aging actress who, while being interviewed about her extraordinary life, recalls, and relives, her lifelong pursuit of a man she only met twice, and in passing. Satoshi Kan, the late creator of the similarly inventive Paprika, makes the narrative intangible and dreamlike, but in a distinctly, and surprisingly, coherent way; the actress' interviewers follow her within her flashbacks, and, sometimes, incorporate themselves into the narrative as characters in her story. This not only makes the ambitious indistinct reality of the piece easier to swallow, it creates a running comic relief, as the two thoroughly modern and bumbling interviewers are nearly always out of place and attempting to properly survey the situation. The animation is stunning, but far more traditional, and less independent of the rules of reality, than Paprika; the period scenes truly evoke the older age of Japanese cinema, which, undoubtedly, was the intention.

The story of the aging actress is touching; it is both simple and detailed, very delicate and feminine, while at the same time creating a strong, resilient survivor out of her character. Her tale is told in broad strokes, with seemingly invisible location and period changes throughout, highlighting the emotional truths over the practical ones. However, coherence is maintained through having her interviewers be just as confused as the audience, and repeatedly attempt to talk themselves through the lack of cohesion in the narrative. A sad irony of the film is that, without giving too much away, one of the actress' secrets parallels the life of Mr. Kan only a few years later; this film stands as a testament to his talent and his strength as an inventive storyteller.

Highly Recommended for fans of animation or of grand (albeit fictional) biopics a la Forrest Gump or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. While not as groundbreaking or memorable as Paprika, this is the stronger, more touching film.

The Power of One (1990)

Lovely, but overly literary saga of a young English boy growing up amongst racist Afrikaners and natives in South Africa. The film starts out with its protaganist as around 7 years old, both on-screen and in narration, and then moves on about half an hour in to him at around 14-15, and then again later to a young Steven Dorff; this sprawling, ambitious storytelling is disconnecting, and stretches ones patience by the time Mr. Dorff attempts to command the picture. The other big marquee name here is Morgan Freeman, and his presence, along with that of Armin Mueller-Stahl, adds a lot of class to the proceedings, but it's limited to the first half of the film, which is actually fairly captivating. It is when the protagonist begins to settle into his role as a community leader that the film begins to grow repetitive, predictable, and stale. However, the locations and cinematography are fantastic, and the action, including some boxing scenes, is well-directed and shot.

Slightly Recommended to fans of lush African tales or the novel it is based on. It is more confident and self-assured than John G. Avildsen's earlier ciassics, The Karate Kid and Rocky, but nowhere near as cohesive and fun.

New York, New York (1977)

Overblown, but handsome musical by Martin Scorcese about two post-war lovebirds trying to make it in the music business, one as a musician, the other a singer, while struggling to maintain their own tumultuous relationship. The films first half-hour is the best, with the slow romantic build up between Robert DeNiro's criminally arrogant saxophonist, Jimmy, and Liza Minelli's guarded USO crooner, Francine. Once their career's begin to soar and the film begins to find its groove, the suspense is kind of deflated; we know these two have problems, and they hooked up despite them, so watching them bend and squirm at each other's mercies (particularly DeNiro, whose nearly sociopathic character is the most magnetic in the film) becomes pretty tasking by the end of the 160 minute running time. The music, mostly big band and jazz, is great, as are the period elements of the piece; the sets, costumes, and hairstyles are all very evocative of a dreamy, blissful vision of post-war America. Scorcese's framing is inventive and lively, and is only restricted by the repetitive quality of the film's script; the greatest success of the film is that, due to Scorcese and DeNiro, the inherently destructive and anti-social Jimmy ends up coming off as likable. Minelli is, surprisingly, stronger off-stage than on; she has an endearing, haunting openness in her acting that does not come through in her comfortable, exuberant stage performances.

Recommended for fans of Scorcese or DeNiro (all 4 of you out there) and really glitzy, old-school musicals with an edge; I'm really thinking of Pennies from Heaven, which this film roughly equals in quality. This is not the bane on Scorcese's filmography that I was let to believe, but rather an interesting experiment (far superior and more inventive than his worst work) that gives DeNiro yet another opportunity to display his mastery of acting for the screen.

Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)

Boring, pointless docudrama about the Manhattan Project, where the U.S. raced the Nazis to build the atom bomb, focusing on General Leslie Groves and Robert Oppenheimer. Paul Newman is Groves, Dutch Shultz from the A-Team is Oppenheimer, and John Cusack, Laura Dern, Bonnie Bedelia, and John C. McGinley are also on hand. The film is well-produced; it is well-staged (save for the actual climactic atom bomb blast) and the cast valiantly tries to inject some life into the proceedings, but only Cusack leaves an impression. The '80s mentality of not giving the audience ANY credit whatsoever is definitely at fault here, for the philosphical and scientific questions on hand (such as SHOULD THIS BOMB EVEN EXIST TO BEGIN WITH) are glazed over like a half-assed Krispy Kreme, and the focus is on domestic horseshit like Cusack trying to get with a nurse and Oppenheimer having an affair with a Commie. Cusack serves as a sort of protagonist for the film, and actually does manage to evoke sympathy for his young, overwhelmed ingenue, but the fact that his character was specifically created for the film decreases much of his arc's overall impact. Despite the talents of Bruce Robinson and Roland Joffe (who also directed) on screenplay duties, the plot is clunky and doesn't go anywhere, the characters are thin and poorly presented, and the emotion is, simply, not there. If you cut out Cusack, this movie's less moving than the goddam Wikipedia entry of the Manhattan Project.

Skip it. I assumed that, given the subject matter, this film would have no choice but to be at least somewhat provocative, intellectual, or moving. Whoops.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Very interesting, if not thoroughly intellectual take on the legendary detective. I liked a number of things that might irk others; for example, the revisionist performance of Robert Downey Jr. as the titular detective. Unlike with Star Trek or the recent Bonds, I like the modern touches he brings to the character, such as his ramshackle, intellect-based fighting style, his dependent and not necessarily hetero obsession with his partner, Watson, and his very fragile sense of the outside world. In our age of Wikipedia and Google Earth, the information that bounces around in our head is sometimes quite distracting and overwhelming, so we can sympathize when the facts that Sherlock naturally absorbs get the better of him, and he becomes a vague, confused mess of a man. Downey absolutely nails this aspect of the character, possibly due to his infamous experience(s) with drugs.

The other performances in the film are not nearly as successful. Jude Law needs to be at a 10 to capture what Downey brings at a 1, and it shows in their scenes together, which he barely survives. Rachel McAdams is a good foil for Downey, but she's trapped by the unfortunate decision to make her character from New Jersey and not a fellow Londoner. The villain is well-played by Mark Strong, but he is overshadowed by his lack of screen time and the unseen presence of Professor Moriarty, whose absence from the film hurts the self-containment of the film; there must be sequels!

The pace is quick, although not quite blockbuster pace. The film contains martial arts fight sequences and well-written dialogue and deduction scenes, which was a pleasant surprise. Sherlocks musings are unorganized, and almost incidental; there is a hint of Jack Sparrow in Downey's performance, albeit with a lost, pathetic undertone that reminds one that while Johnny Depp owned the Viper Room where River Phoenix ODed on heroin, Downey came fuckin' close to ODing himself. Guy Ritchie delivers the film he was hired to make, but not one that matches the energy, originality, and fun of his early gangster pictures, namely his 2 masterpieces Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. However, it is more entertaining than Revolver or Rock n' Rolla, and definitely shows his ability to handle more broad, general audience fare.

Recommended for fans of Downey, detective stories, or big-budget fare on the slightly intellectual side. Can't wait for Sherlock 2: Deduce This.

Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)

Racist fucking Hollywood. The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise. Prince of Persia starring Jake Gyllenhaal (eat me). And this: A movie entitled "Geronimo," regarding the legendary Apache, Geronimo, focused around two white soldiers played by the whitest people alive, Matt Damon and Jason Patric. Sigh.

I expected more from Walter Hill. He's directed movies that give me a boner at their mere mention: The Warriors, Streets of Fire, 48 Hrs., Last Man Standing, and Trespass, as well as Undisputed, Johnny Handsome, and Red Heat. These movies are all stylish pictures with wonderful action scenes and a sense of cinematic scope. However, even with a script from Apocalypse Now/Conan the Barbarian scribe John Milius, this movie fucking draaaaaaags.

The main problem is the focus on the two least compelling characters in the story, two soldiers who were singled out by Geronimo, for whatever reason. While you have Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, and Wes Studi (as Geronimo) running around being badass, the two lame leads (young Damon doesn't have "it" yet and Patric looks bored) spend their time walking around the desert, shooting ruffians and questioning the morality of their leaders. Huge portions of this film are just boring crap as a result. This is a shame, not only considering the talent involved, but also because of the quality of the scenes with the supporting players. One simple farewell scene between Hackman and Duvall, for example, graps Hill's trademark tough-as-nails male camaraderie to the T, and is one of the films highlights. Scenes like that make the film worth watching, but only by traversing large chunks of pretty worthless western scenes.

Strictly for aficionados of Hill, Milius, or the revisionist western drama; yes, in this one the "white-eyes" are the villains, but, man, if only they didn't get so much motherfuckin screen time (except for Robert Duvall and the HACKMAN).