Thank You For Smoking "B+"

Smoking Is Cool . . . .

Ah, spin. What a wonderful art. It takes a truly special person to completely and wholly manipulate what others say, without guilt, without remorse.

In fact, a “spin doctor” in the 21st Century is one of the most sophisticated professions and certainly one of the most lucrative. Lobbyists in Washington are full of these pros, they lobby our elected officials with everything from oil, and guns to tobacco and cotton. Wow.

Anyway, that what this very good comedy is about. Yes, “Thank You for Smoking” is a comedy about a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. It’s also one of the best social satires in many years.

The title character of Nick Naylor (get it?) is played beautifully by Aaron Eckhart who excels in portraying characters who are at the same time repulsive but ooze charm. The rest of the cast such as Robert Duvall (sufficiently scary), Maria Bello (doesn’t take her clothes off, thank god), Katie Holmes (finally plays a woman, not a girl), Cameron Bright (still creepy) and William H. Macy (excellent as always) all do wonderfully in their roles.

The story blurs the lines between who we think are the good guys and the bad guys. It is in essence saying that everyone has their own agenda, whether that’s just to put food on the table and pay the mortgage or to leave a legacy behind. Everyone in this movie has an agenda and they all manipulate each other so smoothly and perfectly that it’s hard to know who to root for. This my friends is the world we live in. Never knowing who the “good guy” is, who is manipulating us (until it’s too late) and who actually has our best interests in mind. That’s why people should always look at both sides of an argument and make up their own minds and not be led around like sheep.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie comes early on when Nick is on Sally Jesse Raphael with members of various groups that want to ban smoking and “cancer boy”. Everyone hates him including the audience and the host but within moments he puts on an amazing “spin” and convinces everyone not only is he the good guy but all the groups are bad! This really shows the power of well crafted words and great acting that so easy influences the uneducated and uninformed mass population.

See this film and laugh but also think about it. If you think that something like this could never happen, think again, it already does.

An Inconvenient Truth "A"

Used To Be The Next President

What I learned from this documentary:
1. Global warming is a planetary issue that few people if any recognize.
2. Scientists don’t disagree on the issue of global warming, politicians do.
3. Al Gore is a thoroughly engaging, dynamic and charismatic speaker.
4. PowerPoint presentations can be interesting.

I don’t usually comment on documentaries because they are either far reaching or slanted in their point of view. What I do have to mention is that this is no ordinary documentary. The film “An Inconvenient Truth” is Al Gore’s way to spread the message, in fact he says it himself that he has done this presentation all over the world at least 1000 times. Boy does he have it down pat.

What should the average person take away from this?
Everyone should be required to watch this eye opening and engaging film. It’s based on the fact that we are in a worldwide crisis. No, it’s not terrorism or the fight for freedom but something much more threatening. We humans are polluting the air so badly that it’s going to be very tough to live on this planet in a 100 years, heck it’ll be tough in 50 years. Now, I don’t have children, nor do I intend to, but it seems to me that with all the talk about how “children are our future”, blah, blah, blah, that we would take an active interest in what kind of future our children will be living in. Makes sense, right? This movie will give you the basics on global warming, what is happening to our world right now and what the projections are in 20 or 30 years. From here look up the facts, get knowledgeable and make the determinations yourself.

What’s scary is not the fact that the polar ice caps are melting or that it’s getting hotter worldwide or that even a rise in global temperature triggers more violent hurricanes (Katrina anyone?) but that on Thanksgiving day the damn temperature here in Phoenix was in the 90’s! What is that bullshit? Doesn’t anyone realize that my air conditioning bill is STILL over 100 bucks a month?? Don’t you care??!???!?!! Actually, I’m only half joking. While locals remain apathetic and simply say it’s the desert, I say bullshit! I have lived here 10 years and it has never been this hot this late in the year!!!!!

I’m sick of apathy. We live in a consumer based society that screams “if it doesn’t affect me, than I don’t care”. This is the problem.

As I watched this documentary with a touch of sadness a few things popped into my head. Things like, “I wonder how our country and world would have been different if this deeply caring and eloquent man who won the popular vote in 2000 was President?”, and “we might as well kiss off our future now because people will never relinquish their cars or vote to curb emissions”, and finally, “I wonder what my air conditioning bill will be this month?”

So watch this documentary if you want, unless something important comes up like watching the football game or you have to clean out your sock drawer.

Apathy, it will be the end of us (or not).

Hard Candy "A+"

4 Out 5 Doctors Agree . . .

“Hard Candy” is a euphemism for an underage girl found on the internet. It was coined as slang by the predators who scour the internet for underage innocents and it has a double meaning that I won’t go into here. It’s also the name of an amazing film that is sadly appropriate for our times.

This film reminded me of a great little film a few years ago called “Audition” that explored some of the same themes. Unlike that movie however, this film touched on the controversial subjects of child pornography and internet predators. This film takes these themes to a whole new level and it’s now one of my favorites. It’s just very well made.

It’s a reversal of gender roles (which I am huge fan of) that puts the predator in the guise of a 14 year old girl. This film shows that people, not men or women, regardless of age, are capable of the most heinous and diabolical things.

Now, this film could have been an after school special if not for the dynamic and highly charged breakthrough performance of 18 year old Ellen Page. She inhabits this character so fully that her performance is mesmerizing. Looking like a 14 year old boy but acting like Glenn Close in “Fatal Attraction” is quite disconcerting. Page has all the tools that every actress dreams of. She can at once play a sexually charged deviant and show the innate ability to imbibe innocence at the same time. She is a revelation. She delivers her lines with a controlled deliciousness that belies her age. She sometimes says things that are so horrific in such a way that you feel that she is a little girl and at the same time Satan himself. It’s extremely rare for an actress to so wholly engulf a character that you think that this person is actually like that. She might as well become a lesbian in real life because I’m sure that no man would want to get close to her after this performance. She is every man’s nightmare. Yes folks, her performance is that good.

Now the movie does have someone else in it, not that I care. Just kidding, I do care. Patrick Wilson plays the guy that thought he could get away with it and he plays the character with a controlled fury that kicks this film up from after school special to R rated cult film. Understand that this film has two characters in it. The challenge is to make a movie with only two people and and make it interesting. The director David Slade has accomplished just that. The cinematography and look of the film is something you would expect from a big budget Hollywood affair but this is a true indie film with a modest budget. I’m not going to go into the story because if you hear the plot you might think it’s simple (more likely, why didn’t I think of that!) but I will say that this film has a few twists and turns despite what you might think.

This film is not for the squeamish and it’s definitely not a “date” film but it is one of the great movies of the past 15 years. Keep an eye out for Ellen Page as she is a force to be reckoned with. Sadly, I don’t think Hollywood will have a place for her and her career might just end up on the indie route. This will be very sad.

Don’t be put off by the subject matter and reserve any judgement you have, just see this film.

The Departed "B+"

Fucking Rats!

People say that great performances make a film. They also say that great performances can overcome a weak story or even a poorly shot film. Well, people say a lot of things.

Director Martin Scorsese makes great films and he especially makes great films about the mob. Having said that, there is much to like about “The Departed”, but on the other hand, there is much I didn’t like . . . technically speaking.

As a cinematographer friend of mine always says, “Let’s start with the good”. Well, here it is, what a cast!!! The cast in this film collectively and individually gives perhaps the best performances of their careers. Where should I start?

I’ll go against the convention of saving the best for last. Jack Nicholson, wow, what a bravura performance. Now Jack has given some of the best screen performances ever but he outdoes himself as the deliciously evil and psycho crime boss, Frank Costello. Nicholson’s performance rates up there with some of the greatest villains the screen has ever seen. He plays this character with such wild abandon that you become mesmerized just watching him. He is at once terrifying, funny and brilliant. What more can I say? His performance alone is worth the ticket price. But add that to the rest of the cast? Whew, it turns into a “How to act for film” class.

Leonardo DiCaprio also gives what I think is his best performance. Once upon a time Leo was a great actor and then “Titanic” happened and it seemed to derail his acting abilities. Now as the “new” DeNiro for Scorsese, Leo has morphed into a great actor. He seamlessly fits into the character of Billy Costigan by fully imbibing what it means to be an inside man. You can almost smell the pungent odor coming off the screen in his performance. In most cases that would be a bad thing for an actor but in Leo’s case it’s electrifying. Matt Damon is quickly compiling quite a resume of stellar performances. Here he plays one of the central characters, Colin Sullivan with such perfection that you believe that he missed his calling as a Boston cop. His multi-layered performance not only keeps up with the others but he holds his own proving that he not only belongs with such actors but he is one of them.

The rest of the cast is just as stellar. Alec Baldwin who has reinvented himself as a fast talking baddie, here plays a fast talking but clueless police captain. He is excellent in this role and often gets the biggest laughs (no, this isn’t a bad thing). Martin Sheen as the undercover police captain plays his role with understated vigor. He is perhaps the only sympathetic and good character in the film. Mark Wahlberg plays the only other cop who knows what’s really going on and he attacks the role with such gusto that I almost didn’t recognize him. All amazing performances and all worthy of Oscars let me tell you. It’s going to be difficult for the academy to separate all these dynamic performances come award time. The weak spot? Vera Farmiga who obviously went to the Claire Forlani school of acting (looks not withstanding) is painfully overmatched in all her scenes. Thank God she wasn’t in any scenes with Jack, he would have ripped her head off, threw it on the ground and danced on it.

Now let’s talk about the rest of the film or the “bad”. Usually in a Scorsese picture, the editing and music are amazing but here they seemed forced and worse, they both detracted from the story. The editing by longtime collaborator and legend Thelma Schoonmaker was sadly to say not her best. In fact there were some puzzling jump cuts that screamed “look at me I’m different!” I guess I expected more. The music was totally misplaced. There is something to be said for having an orchestral score that can’t be said by some random rock song. I know Scorsese likes rock songs and he loves “Gimme Shelter” but did he have to use it in three different scenes? That song was better suited in “Goodfellas” anyway. I love that song as well but come on. Now the cinematography is a difficult one to mention. Michael Ballhaus has shot many great films including aforementioned “Goodfellas” but there was something wrong here. Artistically the film was shot with beautiful moves with beautiful composition but the lighting just plain sucked. All the characters were much too “hot” or overblown. You could obviously tell that the lighting on them was too bright. And that neat little trick at the beginning where Nicholson was in the dark? Not done well. It was way too distracting. The story itself is one we have seen before and yes there are some surprises and twists and turns but if it hadn’t been for the actors and director this could have been a straight to video film.

Overall, the performances make this film worth seeing. Martin Scorsese deserves all the accolades he’s getting for it. This wave of acclaim can carry him into Oscar season and he probably will be rewarded not so much for this film but for the injustices he has received over the years. How can you not give an Oscar to one of the best directors of the last 30 years? This is a crime that will be rectified come March 5th. But is it his greatest film? Not by a long shot. It’s more like a .38 to the head.
See this film and judge for yourself.