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Reviews
Inside Schwartz (2001)
A Worthy "Must-See" Filler
Face it: we're not gonna see another Seinfeld or Friends for at least a decade. So before we dissect and criticize every new sitcom, we must remember that the best shows took time to reach their peak. The Friends and Seinfeld pilots were unfunny and unappealing. The pilot for Inside Schwartz, in contrast, had plenty of laughs, some outstanding cameos (Dick Butkus, Bill Buckner, and Rebecca Gayheart, to name a few), and a rising young actor in Breckin Meyer. After the first few episodes, it's clear that there's plenty of room for development. The married friend, a typical macho guy, plays off Meyer well, as does the witty female sidekick. The season will have to run its course before any definitive judgments can be made, but Inside Schwartz has promise, and for now, at least, deserves the spot between Friends and Will and Grace in NBC's Must-See TV Thursday night lineup.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Oasis in a Wasteland
You know all those fanciful, computer-generated images of a wasteland that appeared in the preview for Final Fantasy? The images prove especially poignant in this wasteland of a film season. The digitized people and places of Final Fantasy are more gripping than anything to hit the theaters this summer. With this ironic twist, we recognize both the dazzling future and the dull present that Final Fantasy, as a landmark in film technology, helps to illuminate. As Jean Baudrillard (and Morpheus) would say, "Welcome to the desert of the real," where the love between CG characters Aki and Grey makes Pearl Harbor's Ben Affleck-Kate Beckinsale romance look like the stuff of brain-dead soap operas. To say that Final Fantasy is an original tale in either its romantic subplot or its _humans versus aliens_ grudge-match would be a gross inaccuracy, but this film comes alive as most live-action movies (in the past three months) have not. The viewer really does forget that the characters and landscapes came out of a hard drive.
It is enough to like this movie because it has the elements that film-goers really enjoy (Steve Buscemi's one-liners and breathtaking action sequences come to mind), BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT PROVIDES A REVOLUTIONARY VISION OF WHAT FILMMAKING MIGHT BECOME. With computer animation, directors do not lose their artistic freedom; cinematographers do not forfeit their creativity. Rather, CGI enhances a director's options and provides the tools with which a crafty cinematographer can work. For example, Final Fantasy has some amazing "shots," especially extreme closeups of eyes and faces. (Final Fantasy avoids the messy combination of live action and CGI that ruined Star Wars: Episode 1.) It is no surprise that some of the finest actors in film and TV -- Donald Sutherland, Ming-Na (ER's Dr. Chen), Ving Rhames, and Alec Baldwin -- signed on for this project. Final Fantasy represents a stepping stone to new worlds of filmmaking. See it because it entertains. See it because it will become a milestone. See it because its as real as any summer 2001 film is going to get.
L.A. Confidential (1997)
L.A. Confidential gives us all the goods...in a tasteful and original way.
L.A. Confidential is a diamond in the rough. Slicing through the haze of contemporary Hollywood, Curtis Hanson presents a moral tale within the guise of a "trashy," noirish crime mystery. This film sparkles because it satisfies the movie-lover (action sequences that are both exciting and original; heart-felt romance; the portrayal of strong but not infallible heroes) while it also plays out as a powerful morality tale. L.A. Confidential casts light on the sins of Hollywood and of all Americans: greed, lust, ambition, selfishness. The semantic elements of the film, notably the noirish atmosphere and obligatory gun-fights, reinforce the nostalgic feel of the film. We are taken back to the Classical Era of Hollywood, before the evolution of the big blockbuster. Like Grease, L.A. Confidential satisfies our yearning for a simpler time.
Yet the film's narrative is by no means simple, even though it feels so accessible to the true film-lover. For this reason, L.A. Confidential avoids cliches and refuses to draw the line between good and evil for the viewer. Rather, the viewer must observe events, weigh evidence, and play detective along with a perfectly-cast triumvirate of Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, and Guy Pierce. L.A. Confidential draws the audience in and never lets go until the climactic finale. Crowe and Spacey are as deserving of Oscars for this film as for Gladiator and American Beauty, if not more so.
Perhaps my own nostalgia shapes my opinions today. In a way, it is nostalgia for a year, 1997, that could produce a movie like L.A. Confidential that, faced with the likes of Shawshank Redemption and Titanic, would not even win Best Picture. How much could possibly have changed in five years? Just look at the weak film crops of 2000 and 2001 and one realizes that L.A. Confidential would make any movie today pale in comparison. However, it is not enough to say that L.A. Confidential is the best of what's available. Somehow, someway, Curtis Hanson and his cast put together all the tangibles and intangibles to create a movie that "has everything" - action, romance, mystery, suspense, superb writing, breathtaking acting....and the list goes on. Hanson has done more than infuse new life into the crime genre; he has created a cinematic masterpiece with life lessons waiting to discovered beneath its surface.