Movies
"Over-long" and "wordy" rarely enter the lexicon of Scorsese films. Even his lengthier pieces tend to move quickly, punctuated by action, drama and flourishes that prompt us to suspend our imaginations along with our observation of the progression of time. "Shutter Island" plods along deliberately dwelling on concepts of perception and misdirection, but on balance rewarding moviegoers for their patience.
The film continues two trends readily apparent in the second half of the great director's career. He renews his collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio as the star performer in the film. The previous work has paid off with what may be the actor's best performance to date.
In addition Scorcese once again tumbles back in time to examine life as it once was. The curiosity to revisit the past showed up in his dramatic as well as documentary work, and will be seen with his next major project, a biopic of Frank Sinatra, set to star (wait for it) Leonardo DiCaprio as old Blue Eyes.
But first let us tackle the curious case of Shutter Island. Mr. Peabody's way-back machine lands us in 1954, aboard a ferry in Boston Harbor. Our introduction to Marshal Teddy Daniels shows him weakened by the rolling waves, struggling to keep from retching. The film works like the waves to keep both us and Daniels off balance and frequently spinning.
A prisoner disappearance has prompted the trip on the choppy harbor waters. On the ferry Daniels meets his new partner, deputy Marshal Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo). Aule is quietly deferential to his senior, calling him boss and working at every opportunity to gain a greater understanding of both his new partner and the situation they investigate.
The obvious barriers to their investigation are John Cawley, the head doctor at Ashecliff Hospital (Ben Kingsley) and Dr. Jeremiah Naehring - Max von Sydow in a delightful turn as a man barely capable of restraining his sense of self-satisfaction that he has all the answers.
Naehring serves as the lightning rod for Daniels initial expressions of rage, focusing on Herr Doktor's German accent in a scene that mingles with Daniels' recollection of his role in the liberation of Dachau. Their mutual enmity sparks the perception of obstruction in the investigation. Cawley, as Naehring's foil, presents the model of outward cooperation that belie their combined attempts to hinder Daniels and Aule.
Dream sequences filled with smoke and ash, death and destruction introduce us to Daniels dead wife, Dolores (Michelle Williams), victim of a firebug that Daniels is convinced is held on Shutter Island. A prisoner/patient named Andrew Laeddis whose existence is denied by all those questioned.
The quest to find Laeddis has been Daniels obsession, one coupled with his desire to blow the lid off the terrible things he's heard are being done on Shutter Island. Throughout, the pacing allows us to chew over the elements we've just observed and judge their veracity. The fantastical events prompt us to ask the same questions that Daniels and Aule ponder. Could Rachel Solando escape her room without anyone seeing her? Who would have helped her break out? And more critically why?
With exceptional performances throughout, Shutter Island entertains and provokes thought. While it cannot touch the fine works that earned Scorsese his reputation as one of film's finest directors, "Shutter Island" exceeds most other works that currently inhabit the multiplex.
no comments[The bowling green. Enter THE KNAVE, WALTER and DONALD, to play at ninepins]The clip below is a snippet of dialog from whence this passage was born. Savor it.
THE KNAVE
A strike, a very palpable strike! O, but Quince can roll straight and true.WALTER
That he rolleth true, I cannot deny’t, but the man rolls not straight, for he is not a man to stand upright. I have it on good authority that he is one of perversions. Two seasons has he idled in prison for exposing his manhood to a pageboy.THE KNAVE
My lands!WALTER
When first he came upon the holy wood, he was made to stand in public gallows, and in such great letters as they write “Here is good horse to hire”, it was signified on his sign, “Here you may see a pederast.”DONALD
What manner of man be a pederast, Sir Walter?WALTER
Hold thy tongue, Sir Donald.—Knave, what measure of moneys were thou offer’d?THE KNAVE
Twenty pounds for mine own, and the matter of the rug forgiven. They may summon me at any hour day or night.WALTER
An they should call for thee in time of ninepins, and that would hang us.DONALD
What is like to happen in time of ninepins, Sir Walter?WALTER
Peace, miserable Donald; life will neither stop nor start at thy command.THE KNAVE
My purse is as good as filled; here is money found with ease. I submit that the subtle lady may well indeed be her own kidnapper.DONALD
I’d know thy mind further, Knave.THE KNAVE
This be not the traffic of hardened thieves,
Nor rug-pissers, nor ruffians o’ the night.
Look well upon a lady fair, so happy fair,
Who spurn’d her love for money, glitt’ring gold,
Where, much deprived of ample gifts and treats
Did scheme to steal a greater sum from some.
In owing much to much of men about
She sought devices to discharge her debt.
WALTER
O contemptible shrew!
HT-TJIC. no comments
Just once I want an explanation for the dreck that Hollywood creates. And the above trailer is just what I am talking about. Kevin Smith is smart and has tremendous credibility as a filmmaker. Everyone knows the tale of Clerks his indie flick that he made by maxing his credit cards and in turn made him.
The appeal of Smith's style is a brutally profane and wickedly sharp sense of humor that propels his films. Take his name away from the screenwriter credit and there's not as much there, there. At least that's what the trailer looks like. The flap between Smith and the studio over the original title ("A Couple of Dicks") may in part explain the trailer. What little hope for the film, from a script by Robb and Mark Cullen that was on the 2008 Black List of best unproduced screenplays, seems to be dashed by the distance Smith is putting between himself andthe movie. His Twitter feed has much, much more.
H/T-Christian Toto
no commentsAmong the favorite things to review and in this case revile are cinematic bombs. Films that were unintentionally funny, frequently awful, occasionally unwatchable make the list. Sometimes it's a case of a good director doing nothing with a good concept or a nice cast. Sometimes the cast and concept are woeful as well. Increasingly Hollywood is churning out films that are timid at exploring themes of life and settle instead for an exploration of CGI and how to best create an alien universe without leaving terra. Without thematic elements to which we can relate, and characters with whom we can identify, movies are reduced to spectacle, much like Depression-Era Musicals inserted long choreographed dance numbers in place of scenes that served to advance the plot, much modern film overwhelms the eyes rather than engaging the mind. In other words, we have a target rich environment for the assembling of a list illustrating all that is wrong with cinema.
Scott Mendelson, writing for the Huffington Post does choose some exceptional clunkers, but in skipping two of my favorites - the vapid Land of the Lost, which I have re-christened Land of the Losers, though since I ponied up for a pair of tickets, who's the loser here? (me I still have my dignity, Ferrell, not so much) and the New Moon, which is just a mess, shows how much he was spared from the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad in cinema of 2009.
It's not his misses that I take issue with, though plainly, had he endured the horror of Land of the Lost he would have likely omitted the film to whose defense I rise. Public Enemies had high expectations and with good reason. Michael Mann, director of such films as Heat, The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans and Collateral consistently produces fine films. Even those considered misses upon release, as Heat was, grow in reviewers estimation as time progresses. Public Enemies may not be so fortunate, but there is much in the film that redeems it.
Start with the principles. Depp was a good choice for John Dillinger. But Mann in his focus to stick with Dillinger and his descent ignores much of what made him appealing. We see him tell a bank clerk to put his money away, they're there for the bank's money, you see. And the rather excellent impromptu press conference in Indiana were captivating moments. As was Dillinger's visit to the Chicago Police Department's Dillinger Unit. Those moments were too few.
Opposite Dillinger was Christian Bale's Melvin Purvis. We meet Purvis has he hunts down Pretty Boy Floyd. Bale's Purvis is tight lipped and correct. His eyes flicker and flare with despair and despondency that he cannot reveal otherwise. His performance is challenging, but fits a character conflicted by the methods he had to use and who later took his own life.
Mann's sin is the scattered focus on elements that easily could have stood separately as their own pictures. Dillinger's gang. Purvis qualms. The romance of Billie Frechette. Hoover's FBI. The challenge of grappling with real-life is it is messier than fiction, and that messiness translates to the film, much like the messiness of Muhammad Ali's life infected Mann's biopic of the great fighter.
Perhaps Public Enemies suffers because we as an audience expect a historic crime picture to be dead-center in Mann's wheelhouse. I suspect his enthusiasm to explore each thread prevented the compelling narrative carry the picture. I'd rather a film challenge me to keep up, as Mann's do consistently than to be babied with sight gags and insipid plot moments, Old Dogs springs to mind. Failing to execute a challenging task carries more merit that producing dreck in the proper manner.
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When your ship comes in,
And you've go the stock market beat.
But the man worthwhile,
is the man who can smile,
When his shorts are too tight in the seat.
It's just three words - "ship comes in" - that invariably bring a smile. Fearless leader (a.k.a. da boss, el queso grande - I know correctly it is el gran queso, I care not) used them in reference to the job today. I have no idea what prompted the line, if anything, except that it made me laugh. Like it always does as my brain, programmed by late nights of Caddyshack quoting is wont to do, fled to Judge Elihu Smails aboard the Flying Wasp as Al Czervik motors toward the smaller craft. Then the anchor drops.
My boss of course expects things to get better, that our ship will come in. And maybe it will. The corporate environment is glum, layoffs, reductions in hours, pay cuts. We're still alive. Stumbling and bumbling like a lineman who almost has gathered the fumble near the goal line. And when I hear our ship will come in, I laugh, partially because I am conditioned to, and partially to mask the certainty I feel about what will happen when our ship does come in. That's when the anchor will fall and hit us all.
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