ENEMY AT THE GATES (2001)
Grade: C+
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
The inexplicable casting of smooth, effeminate Brit Jude Law as Russian sharpshooter Vassili Zaitsev, and working class Bill O' Reilly-esque Yankee Ed Harris as German sniper Major König (the two actors don’t even attempt to approximate anything resembling an accent) is excusable; the love triangle between Law, Rachael Wiesz and Joseph Fiennes is not. Here we have a movie that could have been fun had it stuck to its basic premise; the small-scale warfare between two snipers on the battlefield of Stalingrad. Unfortunately we get a lot of been there done that nonsense; like the jealousy between newspaper man Fiennes and Law, the hero worshipping little boy, the love story, etc. Fiennes uses propaganda to build Law up into a superhero of sorts, which Law later must become, while Fiennes begins to steadily seethe with jealousy, and so on; this all belongs in some sappy romantic drama starring Fiennes' brother. When the film focuses on the hunt it's captivating. A scene where Harris shoots down a piece of glass that then acts as a makeshift mirror to give away Law's position is stunningly realized. The battle scenes are effective as well, filmed in typical post-PRIVATE RYAN heightened realism. Law is decent, although a less androgynously pretty actor (like Russell Crowe) would have been helpful; Harris hardly acts, but his steely presence suggests all we need to know; and Bob Hoskins is fine as a very British Khrushchev.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED [Hong Kong] (1998)
Grade: C+
Director: Patrick Yau
I suppose the unexpected is a downer ending considering it follows a generally light comic crime drama. Too much running time is tossed on a dull near-romance and some mildly amusing squabbling cops and the film, which purports to be about living life to the fullest because in this crazy world you can go at any time (at least that's what I picked up), hardly gives much more than a nod to its supposed theme making its tragic ending seem like a tacked on afterthought--a middle finger to those who had been enjoying this relatively wispy smart cops Vs not-as-inept-as-originally-believed-to-be-crooks thriller. Yau has a nice feel for the camaraderie between the squad of officers each given a nice moment or two, and the opening and closing action sequences are exciting (the opening in particular is a very apt representative of the film itself, its tone careening wildly between mild Buster Keaton-like surrealism to gritty French Connection-ish realism). Unfortunately the score (as with most Hong Kong action pix) feels as if it would be much more at home in some horrible Spanish soap opera in which swarthy studs named Hector look meaningfully at buxom brunettes named Miranda. Additional minor quibble: The subtitles on the DVD I viewed shot by with the speed of subliminal ads. Unfortunate because I often had to roll back the film only to find the dialogue in question was often not worth the trip. So maybe those subtitle writers knew what they were doing. Who knows? To paraphrase Fox News, "I report, You decide".
CUTTER'S WAY (1981)
Grade: C+
Director: Ivan Passer
Occasionally engrossing MIDNIGHT COWBOY-like tale about a stunningly irritating crippled Vietnam vet by the (equally irritating) name of Cutter (a raspy voiced John Heard), his man whore (to borrow the one smile inducing phrase from the otherwise execrable DEUCE BIGELOW: MALE GIGOLO) best friend Bone (played slyly by Jeff Bridges) and their attempt to blackmail a wealthy man of the people type after the man whore may or may not have witnessed the well-off fellow in question dumping the dead body of a young girl in a suspicious dark alley on a (wait for it)… rainy night. Passer seems to think that by leaving much of his picture somewhat open ended (especially in the concluding scenes) that he's playing ambiguous but rather, to me, he seems more wishy washy, not revealing enough about the central plot to make it sufficiently compelling. Meanwhile the secondary plot, that of the offbeat friendship between the two men and the self destructive nature of the completely worthless Cutter (who comes across more as an offensive construct than a genuine flesh and blood character) goes down about as well as a shot of castor oil. This is mainly because it doesn’t seem as if the amiable Bone would want anything to do with the psychopathic Cutter. (I had the same problem with the paring of Vince Vaughn's supremely unlikable screw-up with Jon Favreau's mild mannered lug in the far less tolerable MADE). Nonetheless while CUTTER'S ending feels, at its core, like a cop-out, the implications of something I won’t reveal are interesting.
AMERICAN PIE 2 (2001)
Grade: C-
Director: James B Rogers
A virtual scene by scene reprise of the original, this time with the principals looking much less comfortable. The seemingly natural chemistry achieved by this bland TV-ready bunch in AP1 appears to have evaporated; now we can see them straining. Sean William Scott acts mock macho and obnoxious to a tiresome degree (his avuncular jock routine has dulled considerably after ROAD TRIP and especially DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR). Chris Klein is vacant but sensitive, a boy toy who produces swoons from the females in the audience and groans from the males, and the women of AP1 pop up in various cameo appearances throughout out the film solely to remind us of the original. (In fact AP2 spends an awful lot of time cross-referencing its much more amusing predecessor, even going so far as to trot out minor characters from the picture; anybody itching for the return of the "Sherminator"?). Surprisingly Jason Biggs, so dull in LOSER, retains his genial likeabilty as the charmingly clueless duffas we laugh at and root for (i.e. the Ben Stiller role). Director Jason Rogers (formerly of SAY IT ISN'T SO…nuff' said there) wisely gives most of the movie to Biggs; problem is the pratfalls his character is made to endure aren’t nearly as funny (or as well timed) as those in the original. Take for instance the opener when Biggs and a comely blonde attempt to engage in some "good bye sex" at which point several inexplicable things occur--- Biggs' parents walk in unannounced (didn’t they learn anything from the sock incident?) and somehow the girl's parents stumble in at the exact same time! (Keep in mind, this is Biggs' room). The scene manages to be both agonizingly unfunny and unbelievable. While the original, like a lesser sibling of FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, managed to straddle the line between comedy and embarrassment, the sequel simply serves up extra helpings of humiliation and expects us to guffaw.
WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER (2001)
Grade: B
Director: David Wain
After dutifully slogging through sludge like AP2, this was like something of a revelation. Here's a modern comedy (set in 1981) that inhabits the same idiocratic comic universe of THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY, and unlike others of its type, the SAVING SILVERMAN's and SAY IT ISN'T SO's, it appears to have been made by people who know what the hell their doing. Not that David Wain and Michael Showalter (formerly of the MTV sketch-comedy series THE STATE, unseen by me) are comic geniuses (that will take just a bit of discipline), however they can boast a mad let's-try-any-thing vigor that appears genuine, rather than the near-contempt most gross out comedies have for their audiences (and judging from the audiences that usually attend them, one could argue that that contempt isn’t completely undeserved). Ostensibly a throwback to MEATBALLS and other summer camp comedies, its only major flaw (other than the shoddy low budget look of the film, which really isn’t all that bad considering that it's sending up shoddy low budget films) is the absence of nudity, which should be de rigor for any picture with either WET or HOT in its title. Billed as a lampoon of the teen sex comedies that sprouted up during the formative years of the Reagan Administration, WET is more like an unusually good entry in the sub-genre. It's the kind of picture you used to come across late at night on Cinemax (before they began showing the entire oeuvre of Shannon Tweed) and actually, wonder of wonders, found yourself happy that you did. No, it's not all easy going; as in any vignette-ish comedy there are clunkers, but surprisingly, even the bad gags (such as the uproarious laughter that greets a terrible borcshbelt comedian---a very apt example of the film's particular comic stylings in that it plays to contrary responses of what we'd normally expect, even in a film of this type) are enacted with such madcap zeal that they sort of make you smile (usually half-laughing at the movie, half laughing with it). Like most movies of this type, WET was almost universally panned (oddly enough AP2 received generally good reviews for being little more than a tepid rehash of its forebearer) or overpraised, though in regards to the later, only by Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman who actually had the balls to include this on his year end top ten list.
EL CONDOR (1970)
Grade: C+
Director: John Gullin
Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef star as very unlikely buddies in this otherwise very rote Spaghetti Western. A mere sprinkling of minor touches differentiate it from others of its ilk: Jim Brown (who would later re-team with Van Cleef in the equally average TAKE A HARD RIDE, but at least that one had a kung-fu kicking Jim Kelly as an Indian with [oddly enough] a 70's Afro) is the hero, a black man whose race is never so much as noted (this is very unlikely in the Old West, but then EL CONDOR isn't exactly doing a docu-drama of the period so that minor caveat is easily brushed aside), and Lee Van Cleef, who tends to play stoic and self serious villains, is cast against type as a boozing anti-hero and gives a welcome off-kilter performance that's all wily grins and scruffy charm. Brown is his usual big lumbering presence with an unflinching stare that he gets to show off to great effect when an evil Mexican bullfighter taunts him with a sword. Director John Gullin (who would later go on to wow the world with SHAFT IN AFRICA and KING KONG LIVES) makes nice use of the Spanish locations, and is adept with the action sequences (all fairly large in scope) that were obviously inspired by Sergio Leone's legendary pictures. With Patrick O'Neal as the Mexican bad guy who gets to say " You’re a crazy annoying child bitch, and I love you", and Marianna Hill as the crazy annoying child bitch who asserts the movie's exploitation credentials by baring much more than her soul.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)
Grade: B-
Director: Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich's cult classic is like Hitchcock with a helping of Douglas Sirk's particular brand of melodrama. A crazed once-was (Bette Davis under pounds of pasty, grotesque clown makeup) delights in terrorizing her seemingly innocent crippled has-been sister (Joan Crawford). True there are SUV size holes in the plot, most of which center around Joan Crawford's unbelievably futile attempts to get the attention of her next-door neighbor once her sister locks her in the upstairs bedroom (imagine MISERY but with James Caan held captive in a well-to do suburban neighborhood rather than in the middle of nowhere and you should get the picture), but Robert Aldrich (later to helm THE DIRTY DOZEN) manages to squeeze much suspense, and even drama out of the unpredictable psychosis of his unique villain. He gets a nice effect out of the black and white cinematography, giving the film a gothic nightmare in the middle of secure suburbia- sense; we begin to feel as helpless and enclosed as the Crawford character (that is if you can go with the flow and overlook those aforementioned holes). Davis helps with this considerably, coming across as both a pathetic Frankenstein-like creation and frighteningly deranged. Her performance is outrageous high camp but also strangely affecting.
WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960)
Grade: C
Director: Henry Levin
Completely inoffensive (read: rather dull) teen comedy that just may be of interest for two reasons I can think of: Firstly, to borrow a popular movie trailer line, it takes place in a world where apparently even the discussion of "making out" is risqué. Secondly, foregoing the usual male protagonists, it follows a group of female teens searching for Mr. Right or, I suppose, a roll in the hay (but a brief one, mind you, these are "good girls"). Secondly, the film's old fashioned values (this crew of teens make the kids on SEVENTH HEAVEN look like participants in a GIRLS GONE WILD video) are occasionally endearing and after enduring the excesses of modern teen comedies they prove a welcome respite, but only for a brief period; the film's prudishness eventually wears as thin as, say, AMERICAN PIE 2' s vulgarity. None of the characters stand out; the two blondes are both beautiful and hard to differentiate from each other (if it helps, one's the good girl and the other's the bad girl which, in this movie, means she actually considers pre-marital sex) and the only way to discern the brunettes is a slight hairstyle difference. The males are a bit easier to separate: there's George Hamilton (with a much less severe tan than he appears to have today) as the male ingenue who's seriously upstaged by his intensely greased and armoralled looking hair; there's Frank Gorhsin whose eyes bug out like a cartoon fish, and there's Jim Hutton who wears a dopey little hat and looks way too old to be playing a college spring breaker.
THE SEARCHERS (1956)
Grade: B
Director: John Ford
THE SEARCHERS works almost in spite of itself: John Ford's central story is that of a bitter loner (John Wayne, not so much acting as he is seething) searching for his niece (Natalie Wood in a brief role) to either save her from the Indians who captured her at a young age or kill her for embracing them as her family. Ford, a director who specializes in heartland epics that are pure shots of idealized America (he could be called the anti-Oliver Stone) knows what he's doing and so does Wayne, whose macho persona is taken in interesting directions; he's a bottled up man who occasionally explodes in anger though we get the feeling, through some precise touches, that he's desperately lonely and unable to form relationships with others instead erecting a hardened outer shell to insulate him from would-be friends and family; this is a very interesting character that sadly goes only half explored. Unfortunately Ford crams the rest of his picture with annoying comic relief characters (like Hank Worden, playing retarded for laughs), and the romantic subplot involving Jeffery Hunter's character is completely embarrassing, as is a vaudeville-like brawl in which Hunter has to fight for the love of his woman. The film's opening and (especially its) closing shots are excellent, set in the same doorway, though both conjuring up completely different emotions; one has Wayne reluctantly coming to the doorway, the other with him reluctantly leaving. Its interesting that around the frays of this seemingly standard Western, Ford sneaks in little touches of alienation and racism; they continue to pop up around the story proper, in a look, a composition, a line of dialogue (as in the finality of Wayne's statements, his use of "That'll be the day" later to inspire the Buddy Holly song). There is greatness in THE SEARCHES, but a whole lot mediocrity to wade through.