goggy turk Reviews

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)

Very, very cool

[6 March 2001]

I reluctantly went along to see this film on the insistence of a friend, and boy was I glad I did. This movie is unusual, original and fresh, really something quite different. It's a movie with a code at its core, and that code permeates its entirity, dictating the rhythm and much of the imagery. Surprisingly, there's also quite a lot of humour (mostly provided by the inept, overweight mafia hoods), which neither seems inappropriate or out of place, but rather adds to the somewhat surreal context the story is placed in, as well as a contrast for the greased-lightning action scenes. The music too is powerful and strangely haunting, the hip-hop beats helping to drive the rhythm of the film and providing a strong counterpoint to the contemplative readings of Hagakure.

The only other movie involving far eastern themes I've seen this year was 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', which although a well-made film was predictable, monolithic and lacking in the plot department (as well as being monstrously overhyped). In spite of 'Dog's pretensions I wouldn't hesitate to put it above 'Dragon', Oscars and all. It sounds like pants but it's really very good.

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Beautiful, elegaic storytelling

[10/10 · 25 December 2000]

I decided, on Christmas Eve, to reacquaint myself with an old friend- Sergio Leone's heavyweight gangster epic, which I had previously watched in two sittings, 10 years previously, at Uni.

I was rewarded with a movie of tremendous vision and creative style as well as emotional integrity. When you take an idiosyncratic, brilliant, stylish director like Leone, his composer counterpart, Morricone, and a cast including two of the foremost actors of their generation (de Niro and Woods) then you have an idea of the kind of quality this film has. In fact, the only gangster movie(s) I've seen that match it are the first two Godfathers (in fact Leone almost directed those too... now that would have been interesting).

In contrast to earlier Leone Westerns, the characters are more fully developed- although the detachment of the characters in these movies made for a more rollercoaster, loose style of cinema, no one was ever going to win an award appearing in one, although they were all great movies.

Although I could tell I was in a Leone movie almost from the beginning, what was different was the inner lives of the characters dictated the way the plot flowed in a pleasing way. I also think that the performance de Niro put in was the best of any film I've seen him in, and that includes any Scorcese picture. To make the audience actually care about a character who does such evil (including raping the woman he loves) is a towering achievement. The apparent effortlessness with which he achieves this is a mark of true greatness. Leone's style of filmmaking, with its long silences and pauses and (in this case) slow pace suit de Niro's style of acting perfectly. It's a real pity that they never had the chance to work together again.

I think this a great film, and, at 3 3/4 hours, it kept me at least interested and often gripped all the way through. Why are Hollywood studios scared of movies like this? Some people out there love them.

The Way of the Gun (2000)

Must NOT try harder

[5 December 2000]

This is quite a mix. The plot is definitely overlong and bloated, with far too many frankly stupid and pointless twists that dissipates any dramatic tension generated by the mostly promising beginning, especially the excellent comic scenes in the sperm bank. This didn't make the thriller complex as all the protagonists are basically after the same thing and so are never at the kind of cross-purposes that generate true drama, rather it induced a couldn't-care-less attitude in me. Everyone has a stake in the outcome of the kidnapping. So what? We already knew that. It's inefficient storytelling. Another beef I have is with the way Geoffrey Lewis' character is developed and then totally wasted in a pointless cameo role.

However, the standard of acting was generally good- I especially liked Benecio del Toro and James Caan, and I worked out the doctor was a good guy by the way everyone else slapped him around. The ending too was good, with the money on the fountain- there's echos of the Wild Bunch and The Good The Bad and The Ugly (the ending with the cross, the rope and the money) and a few others in it. Also when James Caan appeared with his wrinkly cronies it reminded me of my uncle (who looks like Caan) and his muckers appearing for a cash-in-hand job, which amused me greatly.

I certainly wouldn't criticise a film like this for being stylised as that's the whole point in it. However to claim that this is some kind of tour de force is a gross exaggeration.

The central problem with this film was that it was trying too hard to be whatever it was trying to be. I think the director has a lot of potential but the writer needs to learn some discipline in his storytelling. And that's a lesson in economy of style: killing one bird with two stones.

The Yards (2000)

A gangster film with emotions?? How passe said the cynic

[5 December 2000]

I thought this film had an emotional quality and depth that very few movies aspire to these days, without being unduly sentimental or mawkish. This isn't Scorcese or a body-count type film, it tries to do something completely different to that by emphasising the emotional and moral conflicts that the chararcters go through. To be honest, the tagline ("...nothing is as dangerous as an innocent man") doesn't do the film justice. The ending is ambiguous as the main character does what he has to do to survive and even avenge himself, but the right or wrong of his actions are left to the viewers to figure out.

The characters are developed as real people, not as ciphers or as walking metaphors, facing real pressures and dilemmas. I certainly could relate to all the characters in the film since I know people just like them. All the cast put in strong performances, particularly James Caan and Faye Dunaway (one of the few times she hasn't turned to her cheekbones for support).

Themes of the film are skilfully emphasised by the director's use of light, in particular where Leo is sent in to kill the policeman. The harsh antiseptic light contrasted with the soft outlines of the translucent surgical curtain reinforce the moral dilemma and fear of crossing into the unknown faced by the character in a truly memorable scene. There are other, similar examples all through the film.

I would say from watching this that James Gray has got at least one truly great movie in him. This isn't it, but it's still good. I found it refreshing to watch a movie where the characters actually develop in different directions for a change instead of remaining static and where other qualities than bullets, one-liners and all-pervading cynicism are expressed. Bravo for trying something different and avoiding the pitfalls of this genre. If you like your cynicism hard-boiled and prefer throwaway style over substance, don't bother with this. Anyone else should enjoy it.

Patton (1970)

Fascinating portrait

[8/10 · 11 June 2000]

This is a good movie, dominated by Scott's portrayal of the "magnificent anachronism" Patton. By the way, Rommel himself described Patton as that.

This film can hardly be described as historically balanced, containing amongst other things, liberal doses of Brit bashing, a fine tradition continued by the more recent Saving Private Ryan and U-571 in which Holloywood rewrites history to satisfy latent Yank ego in a way more normally associated with Mao's China. No, this is a subjective snapshot of a great man, with his strengths confirmed and his weaknesses excused. It's interesting that the main advisor to this movie was Omar Bradley, one of Patton's friends in the film.

History aside, I like this movie a lot. The cast range from sublime (Scott) to excellent (Malden) to just good. But the strongest point of this movie is the script (co-written by Francis Ford Coppolla) which is rich in symbolism, giving the director a strong foundation to build on.

Some of the scenes in this movie are continually with me: his meeting with his protege in the graveyard before a battle; his reading the weather prayer written by his chaplain; the end sequence where he walks past the windmill like a latter day Quixote, and of course, the rousing speech at the beginning. For a film like this there is a surprising amount of humour, which Scott makes the most of in his performance to turn Patton into a very sympathetic figure.

I think the nearest film I've seen like this is 'Lawrence of Arabia', which is definitely a better movie in almost every way except maybe the cast- although that's more of a compliment to 'Arabia' than an insult to Patton. It would be interesting to make a comparison between the two as they both contain central characters who almost seemed called to do what they did.

Sledge Hammer! (1986–1988)

A true great

[9 June 2000]

This is one of the greatest TV comedies that has ever been produced. Episodes like "All Shook Up" (the Elvis impersonators one) and "Hammeroid" (the Robocop spoof) will stay with me forever. Today's comedies can't hold a candle to this. It discovered irony and satire 10 years before the rest of America. "Trust me- I know what I'm doing!" should have been a catchprase for one of Ronald Reagan's campaigns, it summed up the spirit of an age that is no more, like this sublime show...<sob>

Seven Samurai (1954)

Utterly awesome

[9 June 2000]

This is one of my greatest movies of all time. It's a story of honour, duty and betrayal, life, love and survival. We're catapaulted into the world inhabited by seven men who, at first seem ordinary but perform extraordinary acts of sacrifice for people who can never appreciate it; men who by their ordinariness become exemplary in manliness because it's who and what they are. The biggest recommendation I can give this movie is that my philistine friend who hates anything B&W with subtitles sat and watched it all the way through totally spellbound. I'm sorry but if you don't like this then you have no idea or appreciation for what movies are all about. Go and rent the latest Schwarznegger and leave us alone to enjoy greatness.

Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Condensed Clancy

[7/10 · 8 April 2000]

The makers of this movie are to be congratulated for turning a Tom Clancy doorstop into a tense, tightly woven international thriller with a top notch cast and believeable plot. Where the previous two Jack Ryan movies depended on stunts and quite unbelieveable plot twists this film concentrates on a grubby little military/political incident (more the domain of intelligence men) and the men of honour and integrity (Ford and an under used Dafoe) trapped in the middle of it.

I also like this movie for its subtle dig at the American establishment and how it assumes it can coerce the weak into doing its bidding.

The Clark character in Clancy's fiction is an interesting one and deserves to be further developed. Casting Willem Dafoe in the part was actually a stroke of genius, and I could easily imagine his character in Platoon doing this kind of work if he had survived Vietnam. The fact that Dafoe is one of THE most underrated actors in Hollywood also means I like this.

King of New York (1990)

Walken's honest amorality

[8 April 2000]

The most curious thing about this film for me was how Walken's character (utterly superbly played- noone could have done it better) actually is a strange kind of anti-hero due to his searing honesty regarding the world he lives in. Utterly amoral, dedicated and remorseless, he is the only character in the movie who is truly honest to himself and what he's become, with the interesting exception of the old cop who gets him in the end.

He has no pretensions about what he needs to do to get ahead and no embarrasment about what he's done. In that sense I think his character is a precursor of what we see in society today, where people are utterly unwilling to live by any code except me first.

Walken's performance chills the blood and there's good support from Larry Fishburne. However the cops are like rejects from a Tom Clancy movie and some of the other supporting characters are just drones. The storyline also goes along a few rabbit tracks. Walken's political and philanthropic overtures are never properly handled and just kind of get dropped, bullet-ridden, into the gutter (like most of the cast).

However, the movie is extremely stylish. It's just a pity my brain went numb with the sound of gunfire and the sight of blood about 2/3 of the way through. Ferrara could take some lessons from Michael Mann (Heat) in how to really use violence in a dramatic context. 8/10 for artistic content, 4/10 for the rest.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

One of Clint's best

[8 April 2000]

This has to be one of Clint's best movies. This is due in no small part to the self-depreceating humour and strong characterisation that runs throughout, from Chief Dan George down to Clint's long-suffering dog. Oh, and also for the way he single-handedly wipes out an entire unit of murderous Yankees with a Gatling gun at the start. Cool.

Ultimately an optimistic view on life. There is something worth fighting fighting for in life, even if you can't see it.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Genius

[8 April 2000]

This movie is one of my personal all-time classics, like a good wine to be taken out and savoured again and again.

Everything about it from the introduction of our three protagonists to the climactic gunfight and blackly hilarious ending, from the music to the cinematography is just pure genius. Maybe Leone made more critically acclaimed films, technically better films, but this one has the chemistry between the leads and the utter conviction of what it's trying to do to propel it beyond that.

Awesome. If you don't like this, go and see a doctor.

Heat (1995)

I like this

[9/10 · 1 January 2000]

This is a triumph for Michael Mann. One of the most intense movies of the 90s, it's more stylistic than realistic, but what style! The cinematography is stunning, the acting committed and energetic and the set pieces will stay with me for a long time to come. Adding De Niro and Pacino to the mix gives the film the extra authority for an added edge, lifting it from very good to excellent. "Wanna go for coffee?"

The Producers (1967)

Bold, bad taste

[10/10 · 12 November 1999]

A masterpiece of bad taste and boldness considering the war only ended 23 years previously. The double act of Mostel and Wilder in this movie has rarely been surpassed by anything, but my personal favourite is Kenneth Mars as the deranged playright Franz Liebkin. "Gentlemen, it is magic time!"