Civil Defense drills were ridiculous when you think about it. A 100 megaton bombs impact is not going to be stopped by your school desk or even the basement of the local hospital. It made you feel good, I guess. In the 1950's and 1960's everyone waited for the day that "the bomb" was dropped and who would drop it first. There really weren't many media outlets satirizing the whole idea of nuclear combat toe to toe with the Ruskies.
The funny thing is that Dr. Strangelove wasn't going to be a satire either, but a straight account of an Air Force general (Sterling Hayden) that goes mad and orders a Strategic Air Command wing to attack their targets in the Soviet Union and the efforts of the military and government to stop it. Soon it became a satire starring Peter Sellers in no less than three roles. You'll notice I'm not calling this a comedy and this is for reason. I can barely call it a satire because I can believe that people actually thought like this in the ivory towers of government. Gen. Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) trusts no commie and sees a silver lining in all of those that is like a light version of Hayden's characters ideas. I tend to believe this film more than a 13 Days.
Peter Sellers does indeed play three characters in this film. The first is Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, a Royal Air Force officer who is assigned to the base that Hayden's character commands. The second is President Merkin Muffley, a standard die cut American politician that seems to be holding together but eventually falls apart. Finally Sellers plays the title character Dr. Strangelove, an ex-Nazi scientist that still tends to have issues over his former boss. Seller is excellent in each of these roles with this film probably being the apex of his career only equaled by a just as great performance in 1978's Being There.
George C. Scott is probably just as in tune with the film as Sellers as Turgidson. Scott plays the general as a caricature, but it doesn't feel like one. His facial expression flow of the celluloid but they're not forced down your throat. Even his mistakes (such as tripping in the war room) are so in character that they become part of the film, which is an achievement considering this is a Kubrick picture.
Since this is a Stanley Kubrick film you can expect near perfection because the man was a perfectionist. Kubrick knows how to frame a face and this becomes quite evident during Sterling Hayden's two monologues. Kubrick shoots Hayden from below giving him an almost god-like quality as he spouts his gospel, adding more to the scene. The long shots of the war room are also magnificent as they show the grand scale of the room, yet this small amount of men are deciding and working through what could be the end of civilization. The film ushers in the golden age of Kubrick's career since his next two films were just as magnificent and he really never did an inferior film during the rest of his life.
The mark that Dr. Strangelove made on cinema is indescribable. The film gives a bit of social commentary while not being to preachy and entertains you while making you think. There has never been a satire to equal it and I don't see a terrorist type of this film coming very soon. Strangelove is one of those films where everything just gelled to perfection and equaled much more than what everyone put into it. From the stirring performance to Kubrick's direction it stands as a brilliant film and one of the best of all time.
Yes Man is about a guy in a rut (Jim Carrey) who is used to saying No to everything to insulate himself from life. After going to a motivational meeting he makes a covenant to say Yes to everything offered to him for one month. He meets a girl (Zooey Deschanel) and falls for her. If you saw Liar, Liar you realize the hilarity that ensues.
I really had high hopes for Yes Man. This is one of those films where all the good stuff is in the trailer. Sorry to burst your bubble. Carrey is good with the physical stuff and is typical Carrey minus the talking Ace Ventura ass. The script fails the film. The whole idea of the covenant is ridiculous because he does everything! An elderly woman wants to give him oral sex and he says Yes. Someone should have asked him to murder the screenwriters. YES! The relationship between Carrey and Deschanel is ridiculous. Yes, I know it's hip in Hollywood for an older guy to hook up with a young girl but come on. There's 18 years there.
To be perfectly honest, the only reason I'm giving this thing two stars is Terrence Stamp (YES! General Zod) is in this. And he's in Zod mode. That's about it.
So if you want to see a dumbed down version of Liar, Liar go for it.
Adam Sandler has succumbed to the dark side and done a Disney film. Oh the humanity. Bedtime Stories is about a hotel maintenance man (Sandler) who is watching his niece and nephew while their mother is away. He soon learns that the parts of the bedtime stories he tells them that the kids make up ends up coming true in a weird way.
He tries to manipulate this to his advantage in running the hotel that was promised to his father years ago with partially comical results.
To be perfectly honest, the low value of Sandler stock has crashed in the last couple of years ending with that flaming trainwreck that was Don't Mess With The Zohan. Sandler's films have never been great and when he tries to do a drama it's crap. So I have to say that Bedtime Stories is probably the best he could do. Sandler plays the PG Sandler with his usual voices and stupid rants that only make sense in an early '90's SNL skit. He's not the only one to get his balls cut off because Russell Brand is in this, too. He was great in Forgetting Sarah Marshall but is only in this because he's hot right now. His character is only funny once and the rest of the time you're wondering what in the hell he's doing there. Kerri Russell is really the only good thing going for this flick and even she can't work through some of the crap dialogue thrown at her.
But this is a Disney film and all of their magic is thrown into it. It's not meant to win awards and wow its audience it's made to sell tickets and DVD's and Blu Rays. Kids will like it. Adults will be disappointed. But it's still better than Zohan.
There are a bunch of films out there that try to be noir films. Very few succeed with them usually being mediocre cop and robber films. The last great noir film is 1997's L.A. Confidential, a dark and seedy look into the L.A.P.D. of the 1950's. I could give you the plot of the film but it's so layered it would take too long to discuss. It's main storyline follows three cops. One is Ed Exley (Guy Pearce), an up and comer, trying to get all the publicity and promotions he can to get out of his fathers long shadow. He plays by the book, yet knows how the game is played. Another cop is Bud White (Russell Crowe) a veteran hot head who uses force to get to what he wants, especially if someone is harming a woman. Finally there's Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) who serves as the technical advisor on a show that is obviously Dragnet. Under the oversight of their Irish captain (James Cromwell) they sort out various murders, drug deals, and prostitution rings. There's even the femme fatale, a girl far from home who is doing things she never even dreamed of named Lynn (Kim Basinger).Now I know that my synopsis is rather vague. The film is just so full of plots and connections that it needs to be viewed to be appreciated. It is a 1950's noir film released in 1997. The cast is fantastic, particularly Crowe's sadistic Bud White and Basinger's reluctant glamour whore Lynn Bracken. Both seem to have fallen right out of a John Huston film into this flick. Director Curtis Hanson delivers what is essentially a time capsule into the L.A. of yesteryear. I could almost call this a companion piece to Chinatown. One is as good as the other and capture the era and their characters 100%.L.A. Confidential is a member along with Raging Bull, Pulp Fiction, and others of the illustrious club of films that were screwed out of the Oscar. It was beaten by Titanic in a popularity contest of the year. Titanic was also a period piece, but it felt like an over produced day time soap compared to the sleek L.A. Confidential which was a well defined and developed piece of cinema. It stands as a testament of great, pure movie making. A modern classic.
I'm sorry but the guy that was the crappiest Batman in history shouldn't be directing films this good. George Clooney has outdone himself with Good Night and Good Luck. The film is the story of Edward R. Murrow (David Stathairn) and his staff going on the offensive against Sen. Eugene McCarthy's communist witch hunt.
This film is Strathairn's film. As Murrow he is absolutely brilliant, puffing away at camels while trying to be above the mindless bickering and the decline of news and information to the likes of the $64,000 Pyramid. Murrow is the Babe Ruth of TV newsmen and Stathairn's performance captures that on screen. Clooney joins the fun as Murrow's producer Fred Friendly giving us a fine performance.
After watching this film I wonder what Murrow would think of todays television with its partisan tickers scrolling on screen and women impregnating themselves to get on Dr. Phil. Yep, probably a good thing he's dead.
Planet of the Apes is about a U.S. space crew led by Taylor (Charlton Heston) that land on a desolate planet while studying the effects of light speed travel and its relationship to time travel itself. There is a problem with this planet, though. It's inhabited by highly evolved apes and humans are little more than animals that roam the prairie and are used for the apes slave labor and experiments. The crew is eliminated except for Taylor who intrigues the apes due to his ability to talk and higher intelligence than the other humans on the planet, leading to altercations that span from religious to political to scientific.The film boasts landmark make up for the era, leading to an onslaught of make up artists who would exploded to the screen with Star Wars a decade later. The Three Stooges ape costumes wouldn't work in this film- the audience would have to believe that apes ruled the land and it succeeds. Charlton Heston is great as Taylor, mainly from the fact that he is set against type during the first part of the film. Taylor is probably the most cynical protagonist ever to grace a film screen at that point. He hates people and laughs at a fellow crew member planting an American flag upon the new planet. This isn't Moses or Ben Hur, but a cynic even before cynicism was hip. The real stars of the show are the apes, particularly Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowell. You have to remember that these actors and actresses are working through a ton of make-up. They exhibit the emotions even through the layers and layers of plastic and latex giving the apes more personality than they might otherwise have had.
The thing about Planet of the Apes is that it isn't just a kids sci-fi film. There are messages deeper in this film than Charlton Heston running around in a loin cloth fighting apes. The first you get is the whole persecution aspects between the apes and humans expressed in the slave labor and medical experiments of the humans, which in some ways we have done to apes for years. But as a whole the film is a commentary about if man continues on the path he is following he will eventually screw everything up. Even the most powerful species will fail themselves into mediocrity and new races will rise.
Sure, it's heavy stuff for a G rated sci-fi film but Planet of the Apes is a classic fantasy that takes you to a new world sort of. Rich performances and an interesting story radiate in this film that ushered in a new era of science fiction while embracing the old one.
Spinal Tap followed the same path as all of those other British wave bands, starting out as happy disciples of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones only to end up in the 1970's and 1980's a devilish metal gods. They have gone over that hill, fighting for a spot on the charts and a slot on the shelves at K Mart.
Rob Reiner directs this film parody of other rock band documentaries, namely The Last Waltz and the now obscure Let It Be. The film stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer as the core members of Spinal Tap, hamming their way through their Smell The Glove Tour of the United States. They're not as big as they used to be as their venues get smaller and smaller after failures galore. It's the last dance so to speak.
What's great about This Is Spinal Tap is the fact that it's not as far out as you would think, especially looking at todays music scene. Today the parody is now reality. Reiner directs the film in guerrilla style just like a docu film crew lending to the credibility of the film and making people stand in line for imaginary Spinal Tap tickets. The three leads fall into their roles, talking idiotic pretentious talk that we have to wrap around our heads to make sense. That's what rock stars do- make their work seem bigger and more important than it appears.
This Is Spinal Tap is the greatest rockumentary ever made, even though it's a parody of the genre. You can sit there laughing at the eccentricities of the characters, but if you've seen other real films of this vein you'll realize that most of it is not as absurd as it seems. But that's rock n' roll.
