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Reviews
Thirteen (2003)
Tracy was just a normal 13-year-old girl who craved attention...
Thirteen is the story of Tracy, a normal, 13-year-old, girl who just wants to be popular. She's exactly like every other 7th grader out there. Her parents are divorced, but her relationship with her mother is tight (though she doesn't have much time to be with her daughter while she's running a beauty salon out of their living room). She has a strong circle of friends like her. She does well in school, writing incredible poems for her English class. Everything appears to be just peachy, but Tracy craves attention and longs to be in with the "cool kids".
At the beginning of the school year, Evie is the "hottest girl in school" and Tracy seeks social acceptance with her. After a massive wardrobe change, Tracy is given Evie's phone number and they meet after school. Evie is definitely not a "good girl". She steals, smokes, does drugs
the whole she-bang, and the closer Tracy gets to her, the more she is drawn into her world, and away from her mother. Tracy and Evie are inseparable, and Evie drags her through the downward spiral of drugs, petty crime, self-mutilation and rampant sexuality. Tracy's relationship with her mother is tested as she starts to figure out what they've really been up to.
While this definitely may not be the case with every girl out there and it may be an extreme example, it is not unheard of. The issues here are real and are all dealt with realistically. It accurately portrays the pressures on the average teenager to conform, to look and act a certain way. It likely helps to have the story written by Nikki Reed, the girl who plays Evie. The same can be said for the script. It may not be pretty at times, but, hey, that's life! Evan Rachel Wood, who plays Tracy, and Nikki Reed both play their parts remarkably well, especially considering their age. Their parts required a huge range of emotions and all were displayed, at some moments, distressingly realistically.
The cinematography in this film is of particular interest. As Tracy's life spirals out of control, the camera gets shakier, the images grainier and most colour is filtered out until it nears black-and-white at the climax, thereafter, colour is completely restored.
Although this movie may be obsolete in a few years, as pop-culture tends to do a 180 every 10-15 years, for now, it's message is real, and should be seen by everyone, young and old (not just girls). Then everyone can understand what it's really like growing up under that much hidden pressure.
The Godfather (1972)
Coppola has created a masterpiece
Mario Puzo's novel about crime, corruption, family and loyalty comes to life with the help of Francis Ford Coppola in The Godfather. The Corleone family, headed by the aging Vito Corleone, is the most powerful family on the East coast, and possibly all of America. They "own" senators, judges and policemen. They are above the law. Vito's son, Michael, has just returned from the war a hero, and wants no part in the family business. But when an up and coming rival family wanting to get into the drug trade asks the Corleones for protection, Don Vito declines their offer, sticking to his traditional Sicilian values. The other families aren't as concerned about the old ways and want in, but know that they can't do business without the Corleones' influence. So, they have Don Corleone shot, expecting to gain leverage with the Don out of action. Luckily, the Don survives and Michael, furious with the attempt on his father's life, steps up to take out the opposition.
Soon, Michael, originally wanting nothing to do with the family business, proves himself to be quite a strategist, always playing mind games with everyone. Everyone except his father, of course. Michael slowly crawls up the ladder of power, destroying anyone who gets in his way, until he sits comfortably at the top. Ruthlessness is his tool and he wields it well. Only those inside the family and his small circle of long term friends are safe from his wrath.
Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone is magnificent. Brando portrays him perfectly as the tough and feared old patriarch that, although brutal to his enemies, loves and cares for his family. His raspy whisper and deliberate movements will forever echo in film history (already having been parodied and imitated countless times).
Al Pacino's Michael Corleone makes a very gradual transformation from the respectable war hero with a nice girlfriend to a full-fledged criminal mastermind. At the beginning of the film, Michael is a friendly young man who wants no part in his father's world. In the very last scene, he is a dangerous, cold-blooded sociopath who still cares for his family, but will do anything to further his influence. Pacino gives a career-making performance and fits perfectly into the role of brilliant anti-hero (as well as the roles of Tony Montana in Scarface and Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon that would come later in his career).
Francis Ford Coppola's directing is perfect. The dark, dramatic lighting used inside the Don's office is a trademark of foreboding danger and power. Everything from the gruesome and, sometimes, disturbing execution killings to the way Vito Corleone looks at his son, Michael, adds to the intoxicating blend of brutality and love that Coppola serves his audience.
Nino Rota's score only spices up the brew with his traditional Italian-sounding pieces that conjure up images of tough Sicilian men riding horse-back through rugged terrain in the old country. A beautiful soundtrack to an already beautiful film.
The Godfather is about how the human mind is affected by crisis, opportunity and corruption. Michael Corleone does not involve himself in the family business until they go after his father. This proves to be the catalyst. Michael takes the plunge into the underworld and, upon realizing that he is smarter than all of the other families put together, only goes deeper. He plays the game of crime like chess. He plans his moves and has all the angles covered. He strikes swiftly and without mercy. Michael Corleone is a criminal, but he is very different from the goon knocking over a 7-11 with a pen-knife. Coppola has created a masterpiece.
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
A classic tale of love, hate, life and death.
An Officer and a Gentleman is not your average love story. Although it follows the basic outline of a stock romance flick, this film deviates from the magical, rosy, sunny world in which most love films take place into the grim and dark realm of reality. That is not to say that An Officer and a Gentleman is depressing, but you do have to be in the right mood to watch and enjoy it.
Richard Gere plays Zack Mayo, a young man who joins a Navy flight school to escape the world of his father, an alcoholic and a womanizer. His mother committed suicide when he was a boy and he was then taken into the custody of his father, a military man himself, stationed in south-east Asia. While his father was out chasing prostitutes, young Zack was left to fend for himself in the rough, foreign streets. He grows to hate his father and fears that some day he may end up his like his father himself. So, once he's old enough, he joins the Navy to learn to fly jets, and to give his life some direction away from that of his father.
His journey is both hindered and helped by gunnery sergeant Foley, played by Louis Gossett Jr. (who won an academy award for his powerful performance) who puts him and his comrades through hell to expose any potential weaknesses.
And, of course, Zack meets a girl, but it isn't love at first sight as much as lust at first glance. Zack meets Paula, who isn't from a perfect family either, at a dance and hooks up with her for what was originally intended to be a "one-night-stand" relationship. But that mentality soon goes out the window as they are slowly and discretely drawn together. Excellent performances by both Richard Gere and Debra Winger make their relationship seem all the more believable.
Taylor Hackford has done an excellent job directing this film, giving it the feel of a classic romance with a few twists. The cinematography is textbook, making the film easy to follow but not overly simple. The ending scene, with the title theme playing and a big freeze frame finale, is of such emotional power that has not been seen since Rocky. It is also said that it was Hackford who forced such emotion from Gere and Winger.
An Officer and a Gentleman is all about relationships. Not just male-female relationships like that of Zack and Paula, but also the equally powerful relationships of Zack and his father or Sgt. Foley. Zack is not a perfect person, in fact, at times he can be a total jerk, which adds to the realism of the story. Taylor Hackford has used Gere, Winger and Gossett to create a classic tale of love, hate, life and death.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Just as much a war movie as it is a film about society
It is the height of the Vietnam war, and the burnt out Captain Willard finally has a new mission; a mission that "does not exist nor will it ever exist". He is to travel up the Nung River into Cambodia in a U.S. Navy patrol boat and assassinate, Colonel Kurtz, a renegade Green Beret operating independently and staging hit-and-run attacks against the Viet Cong who has set himself up as a God among the Cambodian natives. The U.S. Army believes Kurtz has gone completely insane, but Willard soon discovers the Colonel's bright past. As Willard and his crewmates slowly crawl up the river, with many horrific and strange encounters, more is revealed about Kurtz and Willard slowly becomes more and more like the man he was sent to eliminate.
Martin Sheen puts up an incredible performance as Captain Willard, providing insights into the true nature of the film, but Marlon Brando (Colonel Kurtz) steals the show the minute he appears on screen. Brando is perfect for the role of the eccentric genius and is a foreboding image on the screen. Just as in The Godfather, Brando plays the ruthless patriarch figure very well.
Apocalypse Now derives its artsy, abstract feel and look from the brilliant directing of Francis Ford Coppola and the eye of academy award winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. From the lengthy cross-fades and the strategic placement of scene changes to the long dialogue shots and extreme close-ups. Coppola is a master at using lighting to create a mood. In particular, the lighting within Kurtz's "palace" creates an incredibly eerie feeling.
With the help of the money made from The Godfather and The Godfather: Part Two, Coppola was able to create some fantastic and horrifying scenes, the most prominent of which involved numerous helicopters, hundreds of extras and thousands of real explosions. It is during these scenes that the viewer becomes aware of the satirical nature of this film.
Apocalypse Now is just as much a war movie as it is a film about society. This film examines how society treats people who operate outside of what is considered the norm. Kurtz was an extremely well respected soldier who simply began doing things his own way. The Army deemed his ways unacceptable and marked him for assassination. When you watch this film, perhaps not the first time but maybe on the second or third time, you will begin to draw the parallels between the surreal story of Captain Willard and Colonel Kurtz and the realities of modern society.
Alien (1979)
Far more than your average hostile space-creature film
It is the mid 21st century. The commercial mining spacecraft Nostromo is on a return course for Earth with its crew in hyper-sleep when the ship's computer intercepts what appears to be an SOS from a desolate planet nearby. The crew is obligated to investigate the signal and lands their craft on the planet. About the time the search party sent onto the surface encounters a derelict alien spacecraft, the remaining crew aboard the Nostromo realizes that the signal is not an SOS, but a warning. But it is too late. One of the investigators comes across a hive colony of alien parasites, one of which puts him in a coma and attaches itself to his face. The unfortunate crewman is brought to the ships infirmary, where the creature eventually dies. Everything seems to be fine and the crew goes back to work. But this strange ordeal is only the beginning
Sigourney Weaver stars as Ripley, the tough yet human female warrior that takes command and survives the horrors of the doomed spacecraft. Weaver provides all the emotion and realism needed to keep this film from turning into another cheesy alien flick. Although Ripley is not the obvious main character at the beginning of the film, she quickly becomes the center of attention as the crew is slowly picked off.
The alien itself, designed by dark sci-fi artist H.R. Giger, is absolutely terrifying. Gone are the corny days of little green men or blobs of goo or giant insects. Giger's alien is of a breed never even considered before in the nightmares of a child. The perfect organism whose structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. Only in the world of sci-fi horror are words like 'horrifying', 'terrible' and 'monstrous' considered compliments.
Jerry Goldsmith provides an excellent score that is only interrupted by strategically placed silence and static noise. The orchestral soundtrack immediately brings to mind the music from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is an equally good example of the use of silence to build tension.
Alien is the absolute peak of director Ridley Scott's film career. Even after many views, Scott will make your knees knock and your heart pound in your throat. This is the sign of a great fright film. Scott follows a deceptive pattern of rising fear, false alarms and intense "Boo!" moments, rarely resorting to explicit gore to generate terror. On the outside, the genre may seem a bit overdone, but Alien proves to be far more than your average hostile space-creature film.
The Paper (1994)
A charming comedy with a great story and some very funny characters
The Paper is a wonderful story about Henry Hackett, a workaholic editor for a small-time New York newspaper. Henry's wife, who used to work for the same paper, is very pregnant. Problems arise when Henry's work and home life begin to conflict with each other as he chases the truth to a racial shooting and races against the looming deadline. More pressure is put on Henry as his wife questions how much he loves her and when he is offered a high-paying job at a big-time paper in town.
The Paper is a perfect example of Ron Howard's style of directing a comedy. Viewers will notice many parallels with Howard's more famous comedy, Parenthood. The story is based on Henry, and we do have some insight into what the other characters around him are like, but not too much is revealed about their lives beyond work. The story progresses quickly and fluidly. Howard is a master at creating films that work.
Michael Keaton is pretty much perfect in the role of Henry. He oozes talent and intelligence yet also gives off an aura of impatience and nervousness. Robert Duvall is also well cast in the role of the sickly newspaper patriarch who gave his life to his career and is now very ill. Although The Paper relies largely on its all-star cast (Michael Keaton, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, and Randy Quaid), the result is not disappointing. Some of the most funny moments in this film are when most (or all) of these characters are in the same room together.
The Paper covers a very broad range of comedic styles. Everything from low-brow jokes and physical slap-stick comedy to the intelligent remarks that will take you a second to figure out are represented here. In this way, The Paper is almost guaranteed to make you laugh, no matter your preference of style. It's a charming comedy with a great story and some very funny characters. Highly recommended.