Movie Reviews, April 14

Razor’s Edge (Printable Version , E-mail to a Friend )
Still in love with the dream factory, but . . .

Back before I was a movie critic, I was a Bruce Willis fan. I’d watch anything the guy was in. And probably thought I liked most of them.
 
I mean, Bruno was in Moonlighting, Die Hard and Pulp Fiction. He was golden, far as I was concerned.
 
Nowadays, I’m really not a fan of any actor. They’re irrelevant to me.
 
A movie is a collaborative project. Writers, directors, set-designers, costume designers, gaffers, stunt men, producers, and yes, actors, all play a part in a movie. Sure, the actors are the “face” of the film, but they are by no means the reason for the film’s existence.
 
Sure, bad acting can ruin a film, just as good acting can make one. And this is in spite of the other contributions.
 
But acting still just represents one part of a film, one part of the experience.
 
I’m a fan of films now, not actors. I want a movie to be good. I get interested in a particular movie because of the total package--cast, directors, but most importantly, the story. More than anything, I want a good story.
 
If the story sucks, more than likely, even if there’s the greatest acting performance ever, I’m not going to have enjoyed the film.
 
Which only makes sense.
 
Movies are just another form of storytelling, something we’ve had since the dawn of man. Every decision made about a movie should revolve around one thing: does it serve the story?
 
Actors, sorry to say, are just a cog. But here’s the thing. Most actors, the majority I’d say, make their living doing variations on a theme. They play the same kind of character over and over again, which means they’ll be in the same kinds of stories over and over again.
 
Which brings me back to Willis. I generally like the kinds of movies he chooses to be in. Does that make me a fan of his, or do we just share taste in subject matter?
 
Think about it.
 
There is one thing I’ve always appreciated about yeoman Willis. He doesn’t mind playing a supporting character. He doesn’t have to be the man.
 
And in Lucky Number Slevin, he’s not the man. The man is Josh Hartnett, who plays a dude who’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 
Here’s the “set up,” which in the case of this film, is actually what it is.
 
Snake Eyes
 
Slevin (Hartnett) comes to the big city to visit his friend Nick. Slevin’s had a bad time of it lately. He’s lost his job, caught his girl with another man and got mugged.
 
But that’s not the beginning of the story. The story actually starts 20 years earlier when a middle class working stiff gets a tip on a horserace. The guy places everything he’s got and plenty he doesn’t have on the horse. He does this with a bookie who, because of the size of the bet, passes the marker up the food chain to some real gangsters.
 
The horse, Slevin, leads the race right up until it drops dead. Guy loses his money. The gangsters are upset he had the information in the first place and decide to make an example of him. They kill not only him but also his wife and kid. After all, the gangsters are newly to the power in the town and the right tone needs to be set for their reign.
 
So, back to Slevin.
 
Guy gets out of Nick’s shower, Nick’s nowhere to be found. Instead, Nick’s neighbor, Lindsey (Lucy Liu) drops by to borrow some sugar. She’s the inquisitive type. She wants to know what happened to Nick. She also does a bit of flirting with Slevin, who still happens to be in a towel.
 
She leaves. Then a couple of guys bust in and tell Slevin they think he’s Nick and that they have to take him to see The Boss (Morgan Freeman).
 
Once there, The Boss tells Slevin, who he thinks is Nick, that he has to pay up the $96,000 he owes him, or… he has to kill the son of The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley), the Boss’ arch nemesis.
The Boss’ goons take Slevin back to Nick’s where he has just enough time to see Lindsey again, get dressed and answer the door. At the door are two Jewish guys who take him to see The Rabbi. It would seem Nick also owes The Rabbi some cash and he gives Slevin, who he thinks is Nick, a couple of days to come up with the money.
 
So it would seem Slevin is pretty much the most unlucky guy in the world. But he’s pretty upbeat about it. He’s got some kind of condition where he doesn’t feel stress or worry.
 
He’ll figure it out.
 
If you’re like me, you’ll figure it out too, probably within the first 10 minutes of the movie. Maybe not.
 
That isn’t to say isn’t any good. I actually kind of enjoyed it. It’s always fun to see these caper flicks play out. And I liked how stylized it was. No wall went un-funky-wallpapered. The characters were kind of caricatures. The violence was over the top. The whole thing was perhaps a little too clever, a little overdone.
 
But I still liked it. I’m not calling it good, I’m calling it entertaining. I think if you’re into these kinds of movies, you’ll have a good time. And that, after all, is the name of the game.
 
Plus, you know, Bruce Willis plays a hitman, which is always a good time.
 
Anyone for some ballroom dancing?
 
Rumba Fish
 
Last year, I reviewed Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary about a ballroom dance program for inner city kids. And when I say inner city kids, I think they were all Junior High age, not high schoolers or elementary school students.
 
It was a pretty cool doc. It really dug in and told the students’ stories, at home, at school, and most of all while dancing.
 
Take the Lead, the Hollywood version, isn’t as good as the documentary. For one, it doesn’t have the documentary’s heart. How could it? In the documentary, there are real kids having real experiences. You can’t help but empathize with them.
 
In Take the Lead, you’ve got a roomful of carefully selected inner city archetypes, and pretty ones at that. They aren’t real kids. And their after-school activities are typical of what you’d expect in these kinds of movies. Same stuff you saw in Lean on Me way back when.
 
I’m not saying there’s nothing here to like. I’m saying you should go watch the documentary. First. Or as well. Or instead of. Whatever.
 
Here’s the Hollywood version…
 
Pierre Dulaine (Antonio Banderas) teaches ballroom dancing. He’s pretty good at what he does. He’s a throwback as well. He’s got manners and everything.
 
Meanwhile in the inner city, Rock (Rob Brown) just wants to go to his high school dance. He’s refused entry because his ticket got wet and he’s got a history as a troublemaker. So he runs off with some of his old hoodlum buddies.
 
And ends up beating the crap out of the principal’s car with a gold club. He’s witnessed by Dulaine.
 
The next day, Dulaine shows up at Rock’s high school and volunteers to teach the kids ballroom dancing. The principal, trying to run him off, gives him all the troublemakers in semester-long detention.
 
They, of course, want nothing to do with him and his weak, white-bred dancing. And the music! An insult to their ears!
 
No one thinks he can do it. The kids don’t want him there. But he’ll succeed and in the process teach them about manners and respect. Yo.
 
Yeah, I know, I’m making fun of it. When it says based on a true story, it means “we sort of took the subject matter, borrowed a couple of names and then made up all the rest of it.” The characters mostly aren’t believable as real people. The extracurricular activities of the kids are so over-dramatized they might as well be ABC Afterschool Specials.
 
But, as it usually the case, there’s nothing to downright hate about the movie. Thing about these kinds of films, as long as there’s a competent director behind the camera, the movie will at least be entertaining.
 
I think it’s nothing more than an over-budgeted Lifetime Network movie, but I can’t direct any hate at it. It’s a matinee or a renter, nothing more. And don’t go paying full nighttime price for it. Ya with me?
 
Cross Generational Dressing
 
Okay, lastly, we’ve got Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, which plays at The Circle through April 27.
 
I gotta tell ya, the first 20 minutes of it are sad. Mrs. Palfrey (Joan Plowright) moves to London and into The Claremont hotel. She’s expecting it’ll change her life.
 
She’s a widow, you see, and lonely. And perhaps lost. Not geographically lost, mind you. The other kind.
 
Her grandson lives in town. She invites him to lunch at the hotel on Sunday, but he doesn’t come. And never calls.
 
She begins to feel kind of hopeless when she takes a trip to the post office and the library, and then on her way back, she . . . trips.
 
She’s rescued by a young, struggling writer named Ludovic (Rupert Friend). He patches up her leg, fixes her up a spot of tea and gets her a cab. She invites him to dinner at the hotel and they’re off, so to speak.
 
They end up figuring out they have a great deal in common with each other. They both love the same poetry. They both have trouble relating to people their own age.
 
I’m being simplistic, of course. But here’s the thing, this one’s about the characters. And it’s about being friends.
 
Geez, that sounded cheesy.
 
Pieces of Mrs. Palfrey are kind of cheesy, but it’s also a touching film. It’s just a cool little heartfelt movie about two people connecting.
 
I could probably pick away at it, but that first twenty minutes really got to me. I liked the characters right away. Therefore, I’m not going to pick at it. It’s a cool little movie. Go check it out. It’s not going to be around long.
 
And with that… I’m out. Check you next week.