365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 351 - Lilies Of The Field

Today Lilies of the Field is mostly remembered for being the movie that won Sidney Poitier an Oscar for Best Actor. It was 1963 and it was the first time the Best Actor Oscar was awarded to an African American man (an event that would not be repeated until 2001 when Denzel Wahinton won).

But the movie is much more than Poitier's award. It is an uplifting film about having faith and belief that God will provide and in the meantime work hard and do the best you have with what you've got.

Poitier stars Homer Smith as an itinerant handyman traveling across the Arizona desert. He stops at a small, rundown convent run by nuns from Germany. He needs some water for his car radiator. The head of the convent, Mother Maria (Lilia Skala), convinces Homer to patch the roof while he is there and then stay for a meager supper. The next day, while hoping to get paid for his labor, he does some more work. While at the convent Homer also helps the German nuns learn English and teaches them some Baptist revival songs.

Homer and Mother Maria continue to but heads until they use the Bible to resolve their conflict. To win the argument Mother Maria reads a passage from the Sermon on the Mount and that is where the title of the movie comes from.

Afterwards Mother Maria reveals her true plan. She believes God has sent Homer to build them a chapel to worship in. Currently Sunday mass is held by the side of the road, and the back of a station wagon, driven by a traveling priest Father Murphy (Dan Frazer), serves as the alter. Homer is resistant at first but soon agrees to build the chapel. But a building can't be built without supplies and the nuns have no money. Without money the project stalls and Homer departs for parts unknown. But Mother Maria's belief that Homer is the man to build the chapel never wavers and she prays for God to supply the solution.

Based on the best selling book by William Edmund Barrett the film was a big hit in 1962 and received multiple award nominations in addition to Poitier's Oscar.

At the Movie House rating **** stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 350 - Chocolat

Chocolat is one of my favorite films. It is also the only film I know that feature Lenten sacrifice in the plot. The movie is a delight to watch in the weeks approaching Easter as it tempts you with the most delectable treats while exploring the themes of piousness to the point of zealotry and tolerance for all.

The movie is told as a fable and stars Juliette Binoche as Vianne Rocher, a nomadic woman with a daughter Anouk, who travels from town to town based on the whims of the North Wind. She arrives in the small repressed French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, and much to the dismay of the Mayor, Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), she opens a chocolate shop during the Lenten season. His dismay quickly turns to anger when he learns she had her daughter out of wedlock and does not go to church. He makes it his mission to run her out of town.

But some are not afraid of Vianne and her chocolate shop and through unseen influence their lives are transformed through her. Judi Dench stars as a cantankerous old woman who is estranged from her daughter (Carrie-Ann Moss) and barred from seeing her grandson. She is Vianne's landlord and soon becomes her friend. She also befriends Josephine (Lena Olin) a woman who suffers the abuse of a drunken husband (Peter Stormare).

A battle of wills grows between Vianne and the Comte de Reynaud and things come to a head when a band of gypsies come to down led by the rouge Roux (Johnny Depp)

It is a rare movie that can combine themes of paganism and Christianity and tie it all together with the golden rule to make a delightful confection that can be enjoyed over and over again.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 349 - Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Steven Spielberg took three years off between 2005 and 2008 in order to develop the fourth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. Working with buddy George Lucas the duo pulled together a script and reunited most of the team from the original film seventeen years earlier for another adventure.

It's around 1955 and this time Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is fighting the commies. Indy does not look a day over 60, which is how old he is considering he was born around 1895 give or take a year. The commies have snuck into America and are searching for a mysterious relic. When the film opens we find Indy a prisoner of these Reds along with his buddy Mac (Ray Winstone). They are at a secret army base in Nevada outside a big warehouse that seems very familiar. The action kicks into high gear very quickly and the film asks the audience to follow along as we race from Nevada to Connecticut and then to Peru and finally deep into the Amazon jungle where the secrets of the Crystal Skull and the fabled city of Eldorado are revealed.

The movie has a lot of energy and some fun nostalgic moments that make me reminisce for the two best films of the series Raiders and Last Crusade. There is a moment when Indy looks at a photo of Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) and Henry Jones (Sean Connery) and when you see the picture you are reminded how sorely missed they are.

New characters are introduced. Shia Lebouf as Mutt a young man who helps Indy on his new adventure, Jim Broadbent who works at the University with Indy (and replaces the Marcus Brody character) and John Hurt as Harlod Oxley and old friend of Indy's. Returning is Karen Allen as Marion, Indy's one true love. And Kate Blanchett stars as the evil Soviet agent Irina Spalko. She plays the character straight out of the Boris and Natasha cartoons from the old Rocky & Bullwinkle Show. 

The film is fun and fast paced, but lacks the great comic energy of the first and third films of the series. All the Spielberg trademark production values are there and besides re-teaming with Lucas he also teamed up with his creative collaborators. 

Some of the stunt work and special effects appear distinctly computerized and take away from the authenticity that the other three films had. if I had to rank the film in the series I would say it is number three because even though it's not great it is still better than Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

The film suggest that the mantle of further Indiana Jones adventures will be handed off to Shia LeBouf as a new adventurer.  We shall have to wait and see.

This end my retrospective on the films of Steven Spielberg who is, easily one of the greatest directors in the history of movies. On December 26, 2011 he will be returning to the box office with two new films, released on the same day. I am looking forward to both.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

Here is what Wikipedia says about both films:

War Horse

Here is the official synopsis for the film was released by DreamWorks Studio on 14 December 2010:

"From director Steven Spielberg comes “War Horse,” an epic adventure for audiences of all ages. Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land. The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. “War Horse” is one of the great stories of friendship and war—a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is arriving on Broadway next year. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history."

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn

 is an upcoming 2011 American motion capture 3-D film based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Georges "Hergé" Remi. It is directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Peter Jackson, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. The script is based on three of the stories: The Crab with the Golden Claws, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure. 

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 348 - Munich

Steven Spielberg repeated his double header release pattern in 2005. For July he released a remake of the sci-fi classic War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise. (I watched War Of The Worlds on day 33 and you can see my review here. 365+ Movies in 365 Days: Day 33 _War Of The Worlds) and then in December 2005 he released Munich.

Munich is about the Black September terrorist attach on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics and the aftermath. It is Spielberg's most controversial film. many saw it as a condemnation on Israeli instead of a commentary of the fruitless cycle of violence that has gone on for decades. In making Munich Spielberg was commenting on the escalation of violence in every struggle and how it never leads to peace. he was also drawing a line directly from the mid-east trouble in the latter half of the 20th century to the attack on 9/11.

The film stars Eric Bana as Avner Kaufman, a Mossad agent, and the man assigned with leading the group that is charged with killing all the Black September members involved in the Munich massacre. Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz and Hanns Zischler play the rest of the members of the Israeli hit squad. Geoffrey Rush is Ephraim, Avner's contact inside Isreali.

The film is a designed as a thriller as the hit team tracks down the various Black September members using information purchased from a mysterious French man named Louis (Mathieu Amalric) and his papa (Micheal Lonsdale) a former French resistance fighter.

Avner and his team soon realize they are being hunted because some one is selling information about them. As the killings escalate so does Avner's paranoia and realization that blood begets more blood and that retribution does not seem to be the solution.

As a thriller the film works. the pacing is excellent and there are a number of edge of your seat moments. There is one scene where Avner is making love while he envisions the massacre at Munich that I felt didn't work. It felt forced trying to combine violence and sex. Is he having flashbacks or memories of the event? How could he, he was not there? Throughout the movie with the use of flashbacks we have seen the events at the Olympics take place, but the interjection of the final murders at this juncture felt manipulative.

I won't argue the controversy or politics of the film. See it and decide for yourself. But, whether you agree or disagree it is still a film worth seeing.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars

The Journey Begins Again

If you are a fan of The Lord Of The Ring's trilogy and are eagerly anticipating the release of The Hobbit next year, then you will want to clear your calendar this June.

For three days only Fathom Events and AMC Theatres will be bringing the complete Lord Of The Rings trilogy back to the big screen. These will be the director's cut with over an hour of additional footage in each movie.

The films will open with an introduction by Peter Jackson from the set of The Hobbit in New Zealand. The films will play on consecutive Tuesday nights starting June 14th.

Tuesday June 14, 2011

Tuesday June 21, 2011

Tuesday June 28, 2011

Watch for more details at FathomEvents.com 

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 347 - The Terminal

The Terminal is a unique failure by director Steven Spielberg. It tells the story of a man with out a country trapped at JFK International Airport and it's neither especially dramatic or funny.

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) arrives in the U.S. from his home country of Krakozia. While he was en route a civil war occurred, the Krakozian government toppled and his passport and travel visa are no longer valid. Without proper papers he is refused entry into the United States and takes up residence inside the International arrivals and departure terminal at JFK.

The movie tells of Viktor's attempt to go to New York City to fulfill a promise to his father, and of Frank Dixon's (Stanley Tucci), the head of Customs and Border Protection, attempts to get Viktor out of his airport.

Everything that happens is at the contrivance of the script. Hanks gives a strong performance as fish out of water foreigner, but everyone else, especially Tucci is written as a two dimensional character. The film has comments to make about American consumerism, but mostly falls flat in its attempt at comedy.

As I have said befog even Spielberg's worst films are better than most directors good stuff and the recreation of an entire functioning airport terminal is something to be seen. Every store and restaurant was fully functioning with properly trained crew members.

Worth a look but not Spielberg's best.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 346 - Catch Me If You Can

In 2002 Spielberg released a second pair of films. For the summer blockbuster season he released Minority Report a thrilling sci-fi crime story starring Tom Cruise. I watched Minority Report in April of last year so I am skipping it pat it in my Spielberg retrospective. Maybe I will revisit it and review it at a later date.

The other film in 2002 was Catch Me If You Can. The true story of Frank Abagnale (Leonardo DiCaprio) the youngest forger in the history of the FBI and agent Hanratty (Tom Hanks) whose relentless pursuit brought Frank to justice.

Catch Me If You Can was quite a change of pace for Spielberg after the epics of Schindler's List, Amistad and Saving private Ryan and the special effects laden films of Jurassic park, A.I., and Minority Report. While still a drama the movie is quite funny and that seems to be the tone Spielberg was going for. From the beginning we admire this 16 year old kid who impersonates a teacher, brazenly kites checks and soon moves on to impersonating airline pilots. But we also feel for him as he struggles with a disintegrating family life and the discovery that his dad is not the man he thought he was, yet still tries to live up to the ideal of him.

his type of role is perfect for DiCaprio. It doesn't require the gravitas needed of the characters he portrayed in Inception or Aviator. And Hanks has matured perfectly into the role of a frustrated, overworked FBI agent.

The film has crisp opening credits with a new jazzy score by John Williams. Spielberg's other collaborators, Micheal Khan on editing and Janus Kaminski as cinematographer are both present and turning in beautiful work. Once again the attention to detail is exquisite and Spielberg brings to life the "jet-set" age when flying was still filled with mystique.

At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 345 - Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

On Sunday April 10th Turner Classic Movies held a retrospective of Elizabeth Taylor's films. I chose to watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Taylor's last great performance and a film I had always been meaning to watch.

Based on the successful Broadway play by Edward Albee, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is not a pleasant movie to watch. It is two hours of drunken people shouting at each other and spewing hatred and vitriol. The fact that it is so well done is a tribute to Albee's script and the perfect combination of Taylor and her husband and partner Richard Burton. The two were so adept at working together that they played these two people trapped in a drunken marriage perfectly.

George is a washed up History professor at an un-named University. His career has petered out and he will never be head of the department. His wife Martha is a brash, drunkard, with a roving eye, whose father is head of the University. One Saturday night after a late dinner party Martha invites a new handsome teacher (George Segal) and his wife (Sandy Dennis) back to their home for an after hours party. What ensues is a verbal duel so intense that the audience squirms while watching.

Time has aged the film. Society does not tolerate such drunkeness so openly. But while the film has aged, the performances have not. Taylor received an Oscar (her second and most deserved) for her outstanding work as the drunken Martha. 

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a hard movie to watch, but very much worth the effort.

At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 344 - Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth is a landmark film from the creative mind of film maker Guillermo del Toro. It is a unique melding of a war film and a fantasy film, two genres that do not usually go together, but here become a masterpiece of film making.

This 2006 Mexican Spanish language film is a fairy tale for grown-ups. It is about a little girl and her pregnant mother who go live with her step-father, a captain in the Spanish army. His troops fight a small resistance army that still remains after the Spanish Civil War. The little girl Ofilia, explores a garden labyrinth where she encounters a faun who tells her she is a long lost princess who must accomplish three tasks in order to return to her kingdom. As Ofilia slips in and out of this fantasy world the ravages of war take place all around her.

Pan's Labyrinth works on so many levels that it transforms itself as you watch it. From heartfelt drama to cold sadistic war film. From terrifying fantasy to thrilling espionage the movie unfolds itself and you can't avert your eyes even at the most terrifying or gruesome moments. 

Released in 2006 Pan's Labyrinth as already made it's way on to a number of best ever film list. The Blu-ray transfer is stunning and belongs in any collection.

At the Movie House rating **** stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 343 - Tron

With the release of Tron: Legacy on DVD and Blu-ray Disney finally released the original Tron. It was surprising that Disney did not release this last fall before the Tron: legacy arrived in theatres. I wonder if they felt the more cartoonish and childish aspects of the original Tron would turn audiences off to the sequel.

The original Tron is a landmark in computer animated effects. it is definitely dated, but still has a cool unique look about it that puts it some place between a live action movie and an animated feature. The director achieved what he was going for, a 1980's style video game come to life.

The story follows Joe Flynn (Jeff Bridges) a computer animator who gets pulled into the digital world of his computer and, with the help of Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) a computer warrior, he must fight the MCP (Master Control Program) to escape back to the real world

Tron is one of the most unique films Disney Studios ever released and one of the few movies of worth that came out of the studio during the 1980's. The Blu-ray reproduction is a stunning mix of sight and sound and worth checking out.

At the Movie House rating *** stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 342 - Source Code

I stayed late at work one day and caught up with the new sci-fi thriller Source Code.  The movie is about a soldier who wakes up inside the body of an unknown man and discovers he is part of a mission to find the terrorist who blows up a Chicago commuter train and plans a second attack, a dirty bomb, on Chicago itself.

Jake Gyllenhaal is the soldier who experiences this new top secret technique of "time re-assignment" not time travel. He trips he has eight minutes to try to learn who the bomber is and stop him before the train blows up. In between he is trying to determine his own status inside the operation known as Source Code. 

I was prepared for a inept thriller along the lines of the film Vantage Point, where we are forced to witness the same event over and over, but director Duncan Jones handles the material well and the cleverly constructed plot moves along fast enough to skip over the logic gaps that might occur to you.

One of the best sci-fi action movies to come along in the past few years. Don't wait for the DVD see this one in the movies.

At The Movie House rating *** stars

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 341 - A.I. Artificial Intelligence

I first saw A.I. Artificial Intelligence at the Ziegfeld Movie House with my movie club friends. My primary impression was that the film was too long and seemed to go on and on. I didn't trust my judgement because for the last 30 minutes of the film I had to use the bathroom. Unfortunately I was sitting dead center and could not get up with out disturbing a lot of people, plus I thought the ending of the movie was coming soon and I didn't want to miss it. So I sat there, uncomfortably waiting for this endless movie to end.

Released on Blu-ray this month I revisited A.I. and my impression remained the same. This odd combination of a long cherished idea by Stanley Kubrick and an homage by Steven Spielberg is uneven at best. The film is too long. After viewing it again I was left me with very mixed feelings. On the one hand it is a technical triumph by a master film maker, inspired by another master craftsman that I enjoyed watching. But I felt completely unconnected to the emotional core of the film; a robot boy that wants to be real and be loved.

Haley Joel Osment gives a strong performance as the robot boy, but at no point did I believe he was a robot. Therefore I felt his desire to become a real boy and be loved in return didn't move me on an emotional level. The first part of the film, the robot being introduced to the family unit and the mother's resistance and then ultimate acceptance was all thought of by Stanley Kubrick who first conceived the story many years ago. The center part of the film, David's journey in search of the Blue Fairy and his encounter with the robot Gigolo Joe (Jude Law) was conceived and created by Spielberg. This section where obsolete robots are caught and tortured by humans who resent them was the most visually interesting, but left no emotional impact. 

The film is long, dark and sometimes boring. The ending, which takes place 2,000 years in the future felt flat and pointless. 

Should you watch A.I. Artificial Intelligence? yes. There is enough substance to make the film worthwhile to both sci-fi fans and fans of Spielberg and Kubrick. This is far from the best film Steven Spielberg ever made, but like Hitchcock, even bad Spielberg is better than most other filmmakers.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 340 -Amistad

With Amistad Steven Spielberg once again attempts to create an epic film about a dark period of human history. Based on true events the film takes place in 1839 and follows a slave uprising on the Spanish ship The Amistad and the aftermath of this event.

A group of slaves, led by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou) take control of the ship and murder their captors. But instead of returning home they wind up off the shores of Long Island and are taken to New Haven Connecticut for trial. They are prosecuted by District Attorney William S. Holabird (Peter Postlethwaite) and, representing the interest of President Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) is Secretary of State John Forsyth (David Paymer)

Hoping to see the slaves go free are abolitionist Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard) and Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman). They appeal to former U.S. President and current Congressman John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), who declines to help them and suggest they seek out a man with more passion and therefore more to loose. They find such a man in Roger Sherman Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey). 

The abolitionist are outraged when Baldwin suggests this is no more than a property case with many factions fighting for the prosecution of the slaves. Queen Isabella of Spain represents her interests through John Forsyth. Holabird wants them executed for their crimes at sea. Two Spaniards who survived the mutiny claim the slaves belong to them and the American sailors who found the vessel claim salvage rights to all property. But Baldwin's tactic is the best because the law is on his side.

As the case proceeds Baldwin must learn to communicate with Cinque. Hounsou is dynamic on screen and his commanding presence alone carries the film which suffers under the weight of melodrama. Spielberg's expertise at storytelling serves him well in keeping the large cast of characters clear and the legal process understood. But he makes a fatal misstep with the third act. After a compelling and dramatic court court case the story moves to the United States Supreme Court where John Quincy Adams eloquently defends the slaves against their prosecutors. Hopkins is excellent as Adams as he presents his argument to the court but their is no dramatic tension to this part of the story. Their is no interaction between Adams and the Supreme Court justices. We are not even allowed to listen to Holabird's opposing arguments. After a stunning scene where Cinque recounts his story to a judge (Jeremy Northam), this final court scene feels superfluous and flat, even with Hopkins Oscar nominated performance.

Along with Djimon Hounsou, Spielberg's eye for rich detail and his superior knowledge on how to tell a visual story are the films saving grace. Once again Spielberg's collaborators, Janusz Kaminski, Michael Khan and John Williams, give us their best but unfortunately overall the film feels like a message movie when it should offer a riveting glimpse into a dark period of American history.

At The Movie House rating *** stars. It's good Spielberg, just not great Spielberg.

Note- After Amistad Spielberg released Saving Private Ryan, the third film in his trilogy about man's inhumanity to man. Saving Private Ryan is epic storytelling at it's best and recognized for it's brilliant opening sequence, the battle at Normandy. I'm skipping Saving Private Ryan in the second half of my Spielberg retrospective because I already watched it last Memorial Day. To read my comments follow the link:

At The Movie House: 365+ Movies in 365 Days: Day 31 - Saving Private Ryan

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 339 - The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Sequel to Jurassic Park is more gory and violent then it's predecessor. The film opens with a horde of bite-sized dinosaurs called Compsognathus attacking a little girl. The attack happens off screen, but later on we see the same little guys attack a full grown man and the result is quite gruesome.

Richard Attenborough and the kids, Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards return for cameos, but the returning star, other than the T-Rex is Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm. Goldblum's sarcastic and sardonic Malcolm was one of the best things about the first movie and he sat on the sidelines for the last half, so it is good to have him back.

Dr. Malcolm becomes a reluctant member of a group returning to the islands where Jurassic Park was created because his girlfriend Sarah (Julianne Moore) has gone there to study, the now wild dinosaurs. Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) the new head of InGen, the company that owns Jurassic Park has also sent an expedition. Among them is big game hunter Roland Tembo who follows is own code of ethics and is out to bag a T-Rex as the greatest trophy of his hunting career.

Other characters exist but most are there to be eaten by dinosaurs. The movie ramps up the violence as it liberally borrows from such films as King Kong, and Aliens. There are two T-Rex's now and the raptors are back, but they are not seen as much as in the first film. There are a couple of chilling set pieces; a T-Rex attack on an RV, the previously mentioned Compy attack, another T-Rex attack on a camp and finally a race against Raptors to a communications center. Surprisingly the T-Rex running wild in San Diego is the least effective part of the movie and was an ending Spielberg added on. It was not in the book written by Crichton. Michael Crichton was very reluctant to write a follow-up book to the first novel but Spielberg requested one after the success of the first movie.

The movie moves along at a quick pace while extolling some pro-conservation messages. The dinosaur special effects are seamless and are the true stars of this otherwise uninspired sequel and measured against other Spielberg films, it's not his best effort, but it is a fun, entertaining summer "popcorn" picture. Lost World was followed by a sequel, Jurassic Park III and Universal is looking for a way to revive the series and turn it into a franchise. Expect a Jurassic Park IV sometime in the next couple of years.

At the Movie House rating **1/2 stars

note - I originally saw both Jurassic Park and Lost World: Jurassic Park at the Ziegfeld Theatre, the last great movie house in Manhattan

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 338 - Schindler's List

Schindler's List was a film many thought could not be made. Steven Spielberg waited 10 years between the time he acquired the project and the time he started working on it because he knew he did not have the maturity for such a project. In the meantime the film was offered to Roman Polanski, Sydney Pollack, Billy Wilder and Martin Scorsese, who all decided they were not the right director for the film.

Many also thought that Spielberg, the creator of hugely successful "popcorn" movies would not have the heft to bring off a project like Schindler's List. Because of the subject matter Universal Studios viewed the film as a "prestige" picture and did not expect it to be a success at the box office . They bargained with Spielberg to make Jurassic Park first and Spielberg agreed, knowing that after working on Schindler's List he would not have the proper mind set to make Jurassic Park. Hence in 1993 Steven Spielberg released his most successful summer blockbuster and the most critically acclaimed film of his career within six months of each other. Since then he has released dual project in 1997 (Lost World: Jurassic park & Amistad), 1998 (Saving Private Ryan & Close Encounters: Director's Cut), 2002 (Minority Report & Catch Me If You Can) and 2005 (War Of The Worlds & Munich). This year he will, for the first time, release two films on the very same day. On December 26th we can look forward to the animated film (his first) The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn and a WWI drama, War Horse.

Schindler's List is a film of great horror and great beauty. The atrocities committed at the hands of the Nazi's are displayed matter of fact. There are moments that are extremely difficult to watch, but visually it is a staggering triumph of storytelling. There is a scene early on when a one armed man whom we have met in an earlier scene is shot in the back of the head simply for being a cripple. It is the first of many horrific acts we are exposed to. The scene switches to an overhead shot of the deceased man, with the blood from his wound slowly staining the snow around him. It is horrific, but the artistry of the cinematography is almost prosaic.

Spielberg was able to tell the story of the Holocaust through the person of Oscar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a womanizing member of the party who uses his skills at manipulating people to make a huge profit for himself as a war profiteer.He turns the miserable conditions of the war to his advantage. Taking over a factory for next to nothing and then hiring Jewish labors who don't get paid, he begins to turn out metal wares for the German army. He hires the capable Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) to run the business for him. Kingsley surreptitiously uses the factory to save Jews from being transported east. Both Neeson and Kingsley are superb in their roles.

In a landmark scene that occupies a full twenty minutes on screen, but was only one page of script, the Nazi's clear out the Jewish ghetto and intern all of the Jews in a labor camp. The scene is one horrific moment after another as the Jews are terrorized by the Nazi soldiers. As night falls the homes are searched for Jews in hiding and again Spielberg triumphs with visual story telling. There is a long distance shot of the city as lights flash from home to home each flash representing another murder.

It is right before this scene that the third major cast member is introduced. Ralph Fiennes plays camp Commandant Amon Goeth and he is the personification of evil. Fiennes is truly mesmerizing to watch and he deserved the accolades he received for his performance.

It is also during the ghetto scene that Oscar Schindler would begin the transformation from war profiteer to Jewish sympathizer. It was this change of heart that drives the latter part of the film when Schindler works to save over 1,000 Jewish lives by harboring them in his factory. The script very carefully handles Schindler's awakening to the suffering of his fellow man. he makes a few gestures early on that indicate he is having a change of heart about the personal decisions he has made and also the policy of his country towards Jews. It is not until the last third of the film when, with the support of Stern he labors outright to protect his workers and undermine the war effort.

The movie is based on the book Schindler's List by author Thomas Keneally. The book was based on the true accounts of "Schindler's Jews". Spielberg also used recollections of camp survivors to tell the story. He chose black and white film to sustain a documentary feel and in addition he did not use many of his trademark tools such as cranes and tracking shots. A huge part of the film was made with handheld cameras, a new technique for Spielberg. For the camera work Spielberg collaborated with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski for the first time. Kaminski has gone on to be the cinematographer for every Spielberg film since. Spielberg's other great collaborator, John Williams, scored unforgettable music for Schindler's List and received and Oscar for his work. The film won six other Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Michael Khan, Spielberg's favorite editor, won for Best Editing.  Schindler's List earned Steven Spielberg the attention and respect he deserved. Steven Spielberg will continue to make great movies, but nothing will top this very personal masterpiece.

I am always moved to tears when I watch it. It also always makes me pause and contemplate afterwards. Who were the Germans persecuting and murdering the Jews. They were German Christians and German Catholics. How could they do this? How did they find it so easy to dehumanize an entire group of people and then slaughter them? Before the war these people were ordinary citizens. If you asked them if they were capable of such atrocities they would, of course, say no. But they were. So what does that say about the rest of us? What atrocities are we capable of? What's the next after we start grouping people together, such as illegal immigrants or Muslims, and demonize them. What happens when our politicians use rhetoric and extremism to turn one group against another? How is it a Dodger's Fan can seriously injure a Giants fan just because they are sports rivals? 

I was once asked to justify hate crime laws and the reason for them is simple; because we are all capable of such heinous acts and there should be punishment to deter them. A movie like Schindler's List reminds us of what was, and what could happen again, if we ever forget the lessons of the Holocaust.

At the Movie House rating **** stars . One of the top 10 American Films ever made.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 337 -Rango

Rango is an animated western comedy about a chameleon who comes to town and tames the wild west.

Johnny Depp is a pet chameleon who is happily ensconced in his terrarium when, after a near car accident, he suddenly he finds himself smashed upon the road and left abandoned in the desert.

On the advice of an armadillo (Alfred Molina) he treks across the desert looking for water. He meets up with a high strung iguana named Beans (Ilsa Fisher) who is struggling to hold on to her daddie's' ranch.

Together they ride into the town of Dirt, a dried up ramshackle place populated by various varmints and critters. The town is suffering from serious drought conditions since the water tap stopped working. At the nearby saloon the chameleon, in an attempt to fit in, and with a love of theatricality, invents for himself the identity of Rango, a tough drifter who survives by his wits and a lone bullet. 

Because of his bravado, and his unique luck at fighting off a hawk, the Mayor (Ray Winstone) appoints Rango the new sheriff. But Rango quickly learns that the town sheriff's don't last very long. Especially when they go sticking their nose into the mayor's mysterious business dealings. Rango will go on a hazardous journey of self discovery and learn about the Spirit of the West before he can truly live up to his new identity.

After the hard work of making the Pirates trilogy director Gore Verbinski wanted to do something simple so he decided to make an animated film. He quickly learned that the new style of animated movies take a lot of hard work to produce, but teaming with star Johnny Depp, the two pulled it off and have created a visually stunning and extremely funny story that rifts on every western that has come before. 

The movie spoofs elements of Chinatown, Destry Rides Again and High Noon. The character of Rango brings to mind actor Don Knotts in his role as The Shakiest Gun In The West and the movie evokes Clint Eastwood and his Men With No Name films. 

Rango has enough slapstick and silliness to qualify as a kid's flick, but there is plenty here to entertain adults. especially film lovers who will love the many references to other movies. It his great to watch, full of laughs and has a sharp sense of satire. Rango is 100% enjoyable, no matter your age.

At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 336 - Little Voice

Little Voice tells the story of a timid, girl who suffers from social anxiety disorders, but has the remarkable talent of being able to mimic the voices she hears on her record collection.

LV(Jane Horrocks), as she is known, spends most her of her days in her room listening to her deceased father's record collection. She loves Judy, Marilyn, Edith and Shirley, her dad's favorites. As she listens she sings along in pitch perfect imitation of the superstars. 

LV's mom Mari (Brenda Blythen) is a bitter, angry widow who drinks too much and spends most of her days seducing men. She is a miserable housekeeper and the house is old and dilapidated. The fridge is filled with rancid food and the electrical system constantly overloads.  LV and Mari live in mutual loathing of each other. Mari only hears annoying noise when LV plays her records and sings.

Two events happen simultaneously to bring about big change in Mari and LV's life. They have a phone installed and the young technician Billy (Ewan McGregor) becomes smitten with LV. And Mari brings home Ray Say (Micheal Caine), a washed up, drunken talent agent, for a shag. After a fuse blows and singing still emanates from LV's room, Ray realizes that LV has a great talent that he can promote and use to re-energize his career.

With much cajoling Ray gets LV to perform at the local night club. The first time is a disaster, but the second time, when LV imagines her dad sitting in the audience, is a smashing success. LV comes alive in a series of show stopping numbers imitating the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Shirley Bassey. 

Up till this point the film has been on a steady, forward momentum that climaxes with this wonderful performance of music that makes the movie audience want to applaud. You are happy for LV's triumph over her fears and the music fills you with joy. 

But then then the tone of the film changes suddenly. LV refuses to perform again. Ray's dreams of show casing her in front of a talent scout are smashed. He turns hateful towards Mari who is crushed by his words. Mari takes her anger out on her best friend Sadie. And Little Voice, pushed beyond her limits, seems to crack, reciting words and lyrics from her favorite movies and songs as she screams at Ray to leaver her alone. 

In his haste to leave, Ray accidentally causes a short in some faulty wiring and a fire starts. LV is alone in her room, with her records, as the house burns down around her. She survives through the ingenuity of her new friend Billy who rescues her in more ways than one.

The film closes with a final confrontation between LV and Mari where LV lets loose with all the anger she has been holding back for so many years. She reunites with Billy and seems to be set free from her fears.

This is the second time I watched Little Voice, the first was in a theatre back in 1998. The film leaves me with mixed emotions. The performance by Jane Horrocks is superb and the music is wonderful. Blythen as the bitter Mari is so unpleasant that you can't stand watching her, which is a tribute to Blythen's excellent acting skills. Micheal Caine is superb as usual and McGregor, just one year away from super stardom in Star Wars, shines with the boyish quality that makes him so watchable. 

But it's the dark shift in tone that bothers me. The movie takes you to an emotional high during LV's performance and than quickly plunges you into this bitter, dark place. The Micheal Caine character who has been funny, charming and a bit smarmy suddenly turns mean and angry for no apparent reason. Everything that happens after the climactic performance feels forced and distracting and takes away from the movies triumph, the singing performance by LV. The third act of this film feels hurried and tacked on to provide further confrontation. 

Instead of feeling good after the movie ends you feel as if you just survived an extended family brawl at Thanksgiving Dinner. It makes me wonder what director and writer Mark Herman was trying to say with this film.

Little Voice is a film that lives up to it's promise and then takes it away. I give it a recommend with reservations.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 335 -Double Feature - Jurassic Park

Nine months ago I included a retrospective of the work of Steven Spielberg from 1974 thru 1991 as part of my movie watching. I stopped at 1991 because the next set of films Spielberg released in 1993 brought about seminal change in his story telling and visual style. In 1993 Spielberg released two movies that achieved both critical acclaim and box office success, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List. As I finish my 365 days of movies I am going to explore the later part of Spielberg's career (1993-2008) and how the making of these two films changed his directorial style and visual storytelling for the better.

Upon it's release Jurassic Park became the biggest movie of all time and held that title until it was surpassed by Titanic four years later. Jurassic Park was bigger than E.T. and Star Wars. Adjusted for inflation Jurassic Park is currently the 18th highest grossing film in North America (Gone With The Wind still holds the top spot).

But it wasn't it's success as a summer blockbuster movie that set Jurassic Park apart from everything that came before. It was the movies innovative integration of computer animated and animatronic dinosaurs into a seamless movie where the creatures completely interacted with the human actors in a seamless manner. Films such as The Abyss and Terminator 2 had laid the ground work for computer animation but Spielberg, with the help of special effects wizards Stan Winston (animatronics) Phil Tippett (go motion) Michael Lanttieri (on-set effects supervisor) and Dennis Murren (digital animator), brought fully realized extinct dinosaurs back to life and made them both beautiful and terrifying. 

While George Lucas was watching a demonstration of the new technology he commented that a major gap had been crossed and nothing would ever be the same. This was a major understatement. Spielberg's Jurassic Park opened the flood gates of new creativity in film making. These new digital tools allowed Spielberg to unleash his imagination in new and exciting ways. He would further explore the use of storytelling via technology in The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, Saving Private Ryan, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report and War of the Worlds. 

Films that were once considered to difficult or to expensive to make suddenly became possible. Peter Jackson saw the realization his life long dream of filming The Lord of the Ring Trilogy. James Cameron would break new ground with Titanic and years later Avatar. Every movie  from the second Star Wars trilogy to the special visual effects in last year's Black Swan owes a nod to Spielberg and the team at Industrial Light and Magic for their creative genius. 

Jurassic is a great movie because of the digital dinosaurs. What it lacks in script writing and character development it makes up in T-Rex's and Velociraptors. Eighteen years later the movie still holds up. the special effects look realistic and there are enough chills and thrills to give you goose bumps.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 335 -Dan In Real Life

I have thirty days left in my effort to watch at least one movie a day for a whole year. I started this endeavour at the beginning of the summer movie season in 2010 and will end at the beginning of the 2011 season. It has been a fun journey but it was much easier to devote two hours of each day to a movie when I was unemployed.

Yesterday I screened the 2007 romantic comedy Dan In Real Life and I was surprised at how sweet and authentic the movie was. I could not help thinking of another film with a similar plot, The Family Stone, and how each film handled the same material in such different ways.

Dan (Steve Carell) is a widower with three daughters. He lives in New Jersey and writes a self-help column called "Dan In Real Life" for the local newspaper. Dan and his daughters make the annual trip to the family home in Rhode Island to be with his parents and siblings for a holiday weekend.

Emotionally Dan has been on auto-pilot since his wife died four years ago. While browsing in a bookstore he meets a woman Marie (Juliette Binoche) and they have an instant connection. She reveals she has a boyfriend but gives Dan her number anyway. Dan returns to the family home elated at these new feelings inside him, only to discover the woman is already there. She is his brother's (Dane Cook) new girlfriend. For the rest of the weekend Dan and Marie struggle with their attraction for each other amidst the family gathering. 

Dan In Real Life is a smart, funny, sweet romantic comedy that handles the comic situations with authenticity. These people feel like a real family doing real things. None of them behave like cliches or caricatures in order to serve the plot.

Carell is charming as the love smitten Dan. Carell is one of those comedians, like Will Ferrel and Jim Carey, who in the hands of a strong director can have their comedic talents managed to brilliant effect. When they are not reigned in the comedy goes over the top and becomes stupid. But when carefully handled and kept within the bounds of the character they are playing they become amazing. Think of Carey in The Truman Show or Liar Liar, or Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction. You never have any doubt that Carell is a real dad who loves his kids and mourns his wife even as he engages in some comic antics and witty banter.

Carell is supported by a great cast of actors including John Mahoney, Diane Weist, Emily Blunt and Amy Ryan. In addition Alison Pill, Brittany Robertson and Marlene Lawston all give realistic performances as the three daughters without the over acting (and over writing) that normally occurs in children's parts.

In the beginning of this post I compared this film to The Family Stone. Both films are about a family gathering where a brother falls in love with the other brothers girlfriend. In Family Stone Sarah Jessica Parker's character was written to have all these mannerisms that were used to comic effect but the whole film felt forced. In Dan In Real Life Juliet Binoche plays a charming woman that seems to fit in with the family dynamic, except that she is attracted to her boyfriend's brother, and the comedy arises naturally from the situation.

Dan In real Life is an overlooked comic gem from 2007. 

At the Movie House rating *** stars.

365+ Movies In 365 Days: Day 334 -The Awful Truth

The Awful Truth (1937) is the movie that invented Cary Grant. Up until this time he was a first rate actor appearing in dramas and comedies, but in The Awful Truth, with the help of director Leo McCarey, Grant invented the light comedy persona that he would use and develop in every film that followed. After 1937 when it came to light comedy there was Grant and every one else. He became the master of the double take and the slow burn. His responses to situations around him enhanced any comic antics he was involved with. After The Awful Truth he would go on to make Bringing Up Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace, Holiday, His Girl Friday, My Favorite Wife and The Philadelphia Story, all perfect examples of the Grant style of comedy at work. 

The Awful Truth is about a young couple, Lucy (Irene Dunne) and Jerry (Cary Grant) who discard their marriage and go their separate ways in search of true love. But they can't resist sabotaging each other's new relationships because, deep down, this couple knows they were made for each other. Grant's dead on comic timing is a perfect match for Dunne's brilliant comedic talents. The two can be seen at their best during the custody battle for their dog (Asta from The Thin Man).

The Awful Truth was based on a play by Arthur Richman and had two previous film versions made in 1925 and 1929. The movie was remade in 1953 as the musical "Let's Do It Again". Nominated for five Academy Awards and listed as one of the top 10 films of 1937 The Awful Truth endures as a comedic battle of the sexes.

At The Movie House rating **** stars