Change Your Image
the coyote
Reviews
More (1998)
An idealism for film
"More" is quite simply the best short film I have ever seen, and I have seen quite a few. Rarely is any artist, much less any filmmaker, ever able to coordinate all the elements of his or her art as beautifully as Mark Osborne has done. The music is almost minimalistc in its simplicity, yet it carries unbelievable power behind it. The care and precision with which facial expressions are molded makes for better acting than what most Oscar performances deliver. The production and camera work are perfect and the timing is incredible. Few stories are as emotionally impacting as this claymation short. Few stories have such a valid point.
This edges closer to perfection that I would have thought possible for such a film. Osborne is certainly no less than a genius.
The Green Mile (1999)
Racist and predictable
Frank Darabont's follow up to the Shawshank Redemption is a poorly written and painfully unoriginal story.
For starters, the Noble Savage stereotype is racist at best. A character that is misunderstood by society and doesn't want to live in that society due to the character's extreme moral idealism (i.e. edward scissorhands, powder, etc.) is far from new.
Coffey's character is not the only one that is one dimensional. Pretty much all the characters' dispositions are made to be one of two things: good or bad. There are no gray lines and it is obvious who the audience is supposed to hate and who they are supposed to root for. It's boring and childish. The frenchman, Michael Jeter, is made up so that we feel completely sorry for him. We're not even allowed to know what his crime was because then we might not love him so much.
The prison guards are the most loving forgiving group of prison guards that have ever lived. Hell, they're the most loving forgiving people that ever lived. A prisoner spits in Tom Hanks's face and he actually does nothing about it? My grandmother isn't that nice.
Stop reading here if you have not seen the movie.
And wasn't it convenient that that prisoner, Sam Rockwell, just happened to be the actual criminal behind Coffey's crime? And when they "caught" Coffey with the girls, can anyone honestly say that if a black man was found with two dead white girls that they would not shoot him? Black men in the 30's, and especially in the South, would be killed for being seen in public with a white woman, much less killing a white child.
And when Coffey does die, Tom Hanks doesn't put too much effort into stopping the execution. He just asks Coffey what he should do, and Coffey says nothing, so that's what he does. Of course Coffey must die, because in all racist Noble Savage films the savage must die so that his white savior can learn a valuable lesson.
And where is the warden at this point? He said he can't stop the execution, but I find that implausible. I'm sure he could at least try to save the man who saved his wife. And wasn't that a plot twist that was hard to see coming? I also found it interesting that when Coffey healed her, he also did her hair and put makeup on her.
The whole movie has no real continuity being that it was adopted from a serial novel. The movie could have ended in about five different places and the audience wouldn't have minded.
The only interesting element of this movie is its ending which certainly does not save it. I suppose this movie is more Stephen King's fault than Darabont's, but regardless the movie is a disappointment in front the backdrop of all the superb movies that have been released with it in the past few months.
Breakfast of Champions (1999)
Didn't live up to the book, but wasn't worthless
I think that the only way a viewer could get any enjoyment out of this movie would be to first read the book. The movie is a far from complete adaptation, however this book is far from easy to adapt. Quite probably far from possible. The only Vonnegut novel to ever be well adapted was Mother Night.
Albert Finney saves this film as much as his character is capable of doing. As Kilgore Trout, Vonnegut's fictional alter ego, Finney shines with a sort of cynical wisdom. His epiphanal little truths, however, cannot justify the deepness that this movie so wishes it could reach. Unimpressive effects and a haphazard script cannot begin to support the ideals that are being attempted.
Bruce Willis does better than he usually does, but still tries a little too hard. Nick Nolte's character is portrayed with detached humor that robs him of any real emotional value. And Omar Epps is...well...Omar Epps.
All this being said, I don't regret seeing it. It was a bit of a disappointment, but not as much of one as I expected. There's a tag line for the preview.
Mother Night (1996)
The only perfect book to film adaptation
Mother Night is one of my favorite novels and going to see this I was expecting a huge disappointment. Instead I got a film that perfectly portrays the irony, humor, elequence, and above all else the crushing sadness of Vonnegut's novel.
This is certainly Nolte's best preformance to date. He captures the defeat and selfloathing of Howard Cambell Jr. consistently from the subtle intonations of his speech to the held back tears behind his eyes.
Alan Arkin is absolutly hilarious as George Kraft. Sherryl Lee is haunting in her detachment from reality as Cambell's young lover. John Goodman is understated and more than effective as Cambell's "Blue Fairy Godmother."
This Pinnocioesque story of Cambell trying to be his own ideal hero and unwittingly becoming his ideal tragic villian is a mature and vivid look into what we are as people. And aside from that, it is one of the most deeply romantic films I have ever come across. Cambell is the incarnation of both foolish and wise love. And at the films sastifyingly painful conclusion, he finally learns what it means to be a real boy as his Blue Fairy Godmother grants him his wish. And he realizes that...well, watch the movie and you'll see.
Mother Night is without a doubt in my mind one of the best films ever made. It is a beautiful poetic story that digs deep within our emotions and is completely faithful to its original author.
How the West Was Won (1962)
One of the few films shot on Cinerama and certainly the greatest.
Even the letterbox edition of How the West Was Won cannot begin to live up to the original version. I was fortunate enough to see the last known reel of this film at the last Cinerama theatre in the world, which is in Dayton, Ohio. With an image over 60% larger than letterbox, an picture 16 times sharper than the film used for all movies today, and seven channel sound --instead of surround sound's measly four channels-- thiswas easily one of the most incredible experiences a movie goer can have.
But Cinerama aside, this is truly a great movie. Rarely has any film ever packed so much talent in and yet not overplayed each of their parts. John Wayne even somehow manages to be subtle as General Sherman and was paid only $25,000 as compaired to $500,000 from his previous film. In fact, no actor worked for more than $25,000 in this movie because of the incredible production cost.
The story is masterfully told and flows easily, rarely dragging. Some of the dialog is less than elequent and many of the special effects are a bit lacking by today's standards (when Debbie Renold's grabs onto a log to escape drowning, she has an awful lot of black hair on her arms for a woman).
But the humor is timeless and while the action may be a far cry from The Matrix, it is also a far cry from being boring. It's a beautifully told story and easily one of the best films of all time.