Summer of Film #29 of 100
Wonder Boys is a screenplay written to convince the writer that being a writer is actually a very cool thing. And while this is noble enough- the mistake it makes is in what it defines as coolness. I can the writer’s thought process now… Read More »

Summer of Film #28 of 100
But for the machismo, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull could be described as a ballet or an opera. It is a strange dance all men dance to a certain extent; one that we don’t like to talk about and would rather that it stay hidden behind the facade of who can grunt louder or spit farther or generally be more macho than his pears. Read More »

Summer of Film #27 of 100
Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories is the film equivalent of a mid-life crisis; I guess the appropriate description would be a mid-career crisis. However, instead of the flashy extravagance, Allen opts for moody instrospection as a character not unlike himself- a director who is trying to look for deeper meaning in his career. Why does he make films? Why does it matter that he does? Will it matter more if he make serious ones? Read More »

Summer of Film #26 of 100
The Deer Hunter, starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage and John Cazale, uses Russian roulete as an allegory for the war in Vietnam. While this is an engaging and harrowing ploy that makes for an engrossing second act, the crutches that it rests on- i.e. act one and three- do not provide adequate support. We do not know the characters well enough and when we do, their actions contradict what we would expect them to do. Considering the fact that it is a 3 hour film, this is a significant inadequacy. Read More »

Summer of Film #25 of 100
Before Night Falls reminds me of the old Einstein line

“If my theory of relativity is proven successful, Germany will claim me as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world. Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and Germany will declare that I am a Jew.”

The gay community all over the world have been subjected to the same brand of hypocrisy in modern times. In Before Night Falls, the Cuban poet Reynaldo Arenas (played by Javier Bardem) goes from a wide-eyed, young artist to a decaying middle-aged man before our eyes. We sense that but for a different sexual predilection he would have been a national hero. Read More »

Summer of Film #24 of 100
The Jacket, starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley, suffers from two problems: First, it had a trailer that gave too much up. If you’ve seen the main trailer for this one then you know what happens well into the second act. For many films this may not be a problem, but for a deliberate movie like The Jacket that revels in its mysteries, it is fatal. There were no mysteries for me. Second, it is a movie in the category of already well-made, iconic films such as 12 Monkeys, Frequency and Dead Again, assuming you’ve seen those. And even if you haven’t seen them, I would recommend them before I would this one. And once you’ve seen them, The Jacket wouldn’t seem all that special anyways since it adds nothing new.

The story involves a Gulf War vet (Brody) who suffers from amnesia and is falsely accused of murder. He is pronounced insane and is placed in a asylum where Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson), who must be a close relative of Dr. Crane of Arkham asylum , conducts dubious research on inmates. Inexplicably, this experimentation (which involves the titular jacket) allows Brody to see his own future- of course, leaving out the parts that would render the rest of the film pointless. He meets a girl in his future who has a link to his past- and in the tradition of the great movies mentioned before, they solve a mystery of the past through the future, and yet making sure that the future remains inevitable.

Like I said before- 12 Monkeys, Frequency and Dead Again.

Summer of Film #23 of 100
If people in the future ask, “Who was Steven Spielberg?” the answer is this: He is the man who made Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year. And maybe after this year, you will be able to say he’s the guy who made The War of the Worlds and Vengeance (or the Untitled 1972 Munich Olympics Project) in the same year. But that remains to be seen. Read More »

Summer of Film #22 of 100
Alfred Hitchcock, like Spielberg in modern times, had the ability to take any material and change it into a ‘Hitchcock-movie’ with his craft. Many times the material was mediocre- where the movie was the MacGuffin – but he would dazzle you with his craft so that if you weren’t paying attention you would think the craft was the movie. Read More »

Summer of Film #21 of 100
Was 48 Hrs original in its time? It is hard to say- it has not aged well. The pace, action and humor expected of a film like this has risen to a level so frenzied that while 48 Hrs doesn’t feel like a bad film, it feels incomplete. We feel there are many action sequences, many more jokes and a lot more of a climax still to come; which is probably while a sequel was made. Read More »

Summer of Film #20 of 100
I know, I know. I’m cheating. This is not a movie and it has no place among movie reviews, much less among the revered 100 for the summer of film. But consider this- I spent 13 hours watching what is better than 99% of all films and I believe two things because of that. One, I deserve credit for the time I spent. Two, for those of you hiding under a rock- yes, you under the rock there- who have never been recommended The Sopranos yet; this is for you. A recommendation. Read More »