The War Within review

To a man who has nothing, sacrifice is easy. In the course of The War Within, Hassan (Ayad Akhtar) learns what he has already lost, what he might yet gain, and what his religious beliefs compel him to sacrifice as a determined suicide bomber targeting New York’s Grand Central Station. Writer/Director Joseph Castelo and cowriter Akhtar never allow their richly shot HD film to stray from its ultimate goal of investigating a complex and compelling real-life drama that is developing on front pages every morning. Resolution of the debates on global terrorism and its links to America’s excessive lifestyle and shady alliances would be too optimistic, but that doesn’t prevent Castelo and Akhtar from allowing both sides (if we hesitantly agree to polarize the issue so simply) an opportunity to present their arguments. Nor do the writers allow the film to degenerate into an episode of NPR’s “Left, Right, & Center” No, the mostly Pakistani characters, whose speech toggles between fluent English, French, and Urdu, offer true arguments, heated, passionate, not too well-reasoned, and never enough to change opinions. They do not solve the problem. They do not save the world. Nor could they be expected to. After all, humanity has just begun to understand what threatens us. If anything, The War Within acts as a platform for dialogue about a family, a global family, in denial and therefore at war. We are not expected to feel sympathy for terrorists, but we must recognize Bush’s summation of their motives, “Because they hate freedom,” as entirely inadequate. See this movie not for a perfect solution, but for a perfect dramatization of a terrifying problem. – by MW

Grade: A

The War Within

NY Opening 9/30

West Coast 10/7

Nationwide: 10/14

Cast: Ayad Akhtar, Firdous Bamji, Nandana Sen

Director: Joseph Castelo

MPAA Rating: R, for language and violence

Runtime: 100 minutes

Release Company: Magnolia Pictures.

www.magpictures.com

War of the Worlds review

The War of The World

By Oggy Bleacher

The only surprise here is that the Dakota Fanning hype is true. This picture perfect little actress can act better than five hundred Mary-Kate-and-Ashleys put together. In a movie filled with clichés that is saying something. At one point, Fanning is waiting in the middle of a battlefield for her father to return with her older brother. A Good Samaritan couple comes by and decides they should save the girl. “I’m waiting for my father,” says Fanning. Coming from any other person, this line would have collapsed to the ground under its own uselessness. But Fanning delivers the line filled with what appears to be restrained hysteria. Like she has lost her mind, and her father, and can’t accept it. The Good Samaritan couple is convinced she’s an orphan in denial. They try to rescue her anyway. Fanning saves countless other scenes in similar fashion and is the real hero of the movie.

Meanwhile, Tom Cruise doesn’t know if he is in Mission Impossible III or Minority Report II. You have to admire Cruise for not saturating the market with his chin. He picks one action movie a year to waste his talents on and spends the other months courting actresses twenty years his junior. He is an old-school Hollywood celebrity and he is impossible to dislike, which is more than can be said for Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi monstrosity.

War of the Worlds has the benefit of human, rather than CGI, extras. This helps make the boring scenes palatable. But the real-life disasters of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita should dispel any illusions that Americans will be able to rescue even themselves when the deal goes down with Aliens from another galaxy who farm humans for their fluids. Instead of a combined effort to defeat the Aliens, expect nuclear missiles flying indiscriminately around the world causing more destruction than they prevent, total breakdown of emergency services, lack of communication between authorities, and more looting than a Pirate at Mardi Gras. The failure to respond will be everyone’s fault but the President’s.

The original War of the Worlds was scary because Orson Wells maintains an element of illusion. It takes more than Dakota Fanning to keep the illusion intact in a movie staring Tom Cruise, whose big teeth are on every gossip rag in the country when you go to buy milk. But if there is any illusion remaining for you, don’t worry; Morgan Freeman’s utterly uncalled-for narrative will destroy it as you wonder if you are watching Shawshank Redemption, March of the Penguins, or Million Dollar Baby.

Grade: C

Pulse Review

Pulse

By Oggy Bleacher

Pulse, written and directed by Japan’s New Wave Ninja Kiyoshi Kurosawa, begins with a metaphysical premise and builds a plot that explores the extreme result of that premise. Kurosawa asks, “What motivates ghosts? IS it the same as what motivates humans?” Both the premise and the plot are decidedly Japanese. Translation: This is not Friday the 13th Part XI.

So what is Pulse? It fits into the horror art film genre, meaning it is abstract and open to interpretation. Kurosawa himself admits he treats the filming and editing process as part of the film’s creation. He does not know how it will all turn out in the end. Good thing he has flexible producers and investors. If, for instance, a woman climbs to the top of an abandoned factory tower and jumps to her death, the audience may or may not have any idea why that happened. Kurosawa might not either, but it somehow fits the mood he is looking for so the scene remains. Though chillingly realistic and upsetting, these scenes won’t necessarily help you understand the film. There is no final scene like the wedding ring dropping in The Sixth Sense or seeing the skeletal remains of Norman Bates’ mother to make you gasp with illumination. Instead, you will be trying to figure out Pulse days later. That’s because Kurosawa wasn’t thinking of the average American living in Chicago when he conceived Pulse. Be prepared to think Japanese. Or at least be prepared to stop thinking like an American. Japanese traditions and societal habits have much to do with the impact of Pulse on the viewer. If you have no understanding of what it is like to live in an overcrowded environment yet have no intimate contact with people then Pulse will seem even more irrelevant to you.

The images and ideas of Pulse have early Stanley Kubrick written all over them: Cold settings, forbidden rooms, inexplicable depression, abandoned friends, shifting personalities, desperation, and regret. Like Kubrick, Kurosawa never settles for an obvious framing of the scene. He expects the best out of all his cast, though the acting is perhaps the weakest point of the film. Pay close attention to the amazing score from Takeshi Haketa. Haunting, to say the least. See Pulse with an open mind and you will be rewarded.

Pulse

NY Opening 11/9 LA Opening 11/18

Cast: Haruhiko Kato, Kumiko Aso, Koyuki

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

In Japanese with English subtitles

MPAA Rating: NR

Runtime: 118 minutes

Release Company: Magnolia Pictures

Prize winner of defiance, ohio review

“How To Diffuse A Time-bomb” could serve as a subtitle for Dir. Jane Anderson’s first film “The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio” starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson. This might alert viewers that what they are going to witness is not just a simple “underdog beats the odds” sugar cookie that will play endlessly of the WE Channel and boost Kleenex stock a quarter point. Anderson has much more in mind and uses retro techniques from the “Lost in Space” school of special effects to effectively capture the “Lost in Space” era, an era of Gazebo crooners, The 454 Chevy Biscayne, giant ice chests, and door-to-door milkmen. Imagine “Leave It to Beaver” with eight more kids (thanks to the Irish Catholic Church), a sauced father, and a mother with more wit, optimism and word-wisdom than if The Black-Eyed Peas mated with The Partridge Family. Harrelson’s flawed Mr. Ryan teeters dangerously close to the “Drunk Irish Father” cliché, but thankfully never loses heart because his wife has solved the puzzle. With the patience of a saint, Ms. Ryan snips the fuse each time her time-bomb husband lights it. That is the real story here. The troubles of poverty are real. The challenges of living in a “Women As Servants” era are suffocating. But the spirit of Moore’s matriarchal Evelyn Ryan does triumph in this retro tour-de-force that celebrates pride and family in an “I Like Ike” period of American history. The grand prize she ultimately wins is not one of the countless trinkets dangled before consumers in the dawn of commercialism, rather she earns a family with respect and a common bond, though not without a significant price. Amazingly, the filmmakers resisted the “Breaking News From Dallas!” sequence that inevitably finds its way into films set in 1963. In truth, the Ryan family story, chronicled in the memoir by Evelyn’s real-life daughter Terry Ryan, needs no extraneous drama to keep one’s attention. Warning: If you neglect to bring tissues, you’ll leave with a wet sleeve. B+ By MW

The Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio

Nationwide: 9/30

Cast: Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern

Director: Jane Anderson

MPAA Rating: PG-13 thematic elements, some disturbing images and language.

Runtime: 90 minutes

Release Company: DreamWorks

Paradise Now Review

Paradise Now

Director Hany Abu-Assad and crew risked their lives to film part of Paradise Now in the ravaged city of Nablus in the West Bank, a decision that required hiring private body guards, negotiating with armed resistance leaders (and Yasser Arafat) for the release of their kidnapped location manager, dodging frequent missile attacks, land mines, as well as routine gun battles. The “Making Of” documentary would be interesting to watch. Unlike the film itself, at least it would have a clear-cut protagonist and antagonist: Brave Film Makers vs The Fanatical Locals.

Abu-Assad’s desire to make a realistic, objective film leaves the audience with a difficult task of deciding whom to rout for. Two friends, Said and Khaled, are chosen to be suicide bombers. Is the audience supposed to hope they succeed and kill 30 more people in what we all know is a futile act, or are we supposed to hope they decide against the bombing and continue to fix cars and bemoan their miserable lot in life? Or do we want the Israelis to discover the plot and capture even more Palestinians? These options don’t satisfy because Abu-Assad doesn’t take sides. How could he without being accused of propaganda? But if neither side is right in the eyes of someone like Abu-Assad, who was born in the Israeli city of Nazareth, then what is someone in Los Angeles or Denver going to think? Granted, there is a subtle human motive behind Said’s decision to strap a belt of explosives to his belly and seek out a crowd of Israelis to kill. His father’s past collaboration with the Israelis must be atoned for. The problem with that theme is that Said will be dead after he redeems his father. So why bother? Instead of caring for his living mother as well as he can, he wants to redeem his dead father (who was executed by Palestinians)…by killing himself and a few Israelis in the name of a free Palestine. As accurate as this might be, it still makes no sense. And the problems don’t end there. Because unless you have paid close attention to Middle East history, specifically the Israeli-Palestine conflict, then the intractable situation there will be mystifying. Weeks of research would leave you more confused than before: Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, WWII, Oslo Accords, Allah, Koran, Talmud, England, Arafat, Egypt, West Bank, Settlements, The Gaza Strip, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade are just some of the terms you’ll have to understand before even attempting to examine the problem. Was Mohammad the last Prophet? Was Jesus the True Son of God? Abu-Assad tries to simplify the conflict to one man’s desire to redeem his father, but that isn’t enough. Over fifty years of desperate conflict cannot be simplified.

The average American will see only two men on a mission of death to further a cause that is shared by other ragged people who live like bandits in their own city. Israeli soldiers (the ones who never speak in the movie) are evil because they enter the city of Nablus to capture terrorists who build bombs to terrorize Tel Aviv. The terrorists build bombs to terrorize Tel Aviv because Israeli soldiers enter the city of Nablus. So Israeli soldiers must…etc. etc. The dog chases its own bloody tail. Everyone points fingers saying “You hit first.” And everyone is right.

Comparisons have to be made to The War Within, another film in the “suicide bomber” genre that takes place in New York instead of Nablus. Though Paradise now offers a more direct view into the heart of darkness, The War Within, with its single protagonist and accent on family bonds, is the superior film.

Grade: B

Paradise Now

LA , NY Opening 10/28

Cast: Kais Nashef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal

Director: Hany Abu-Assad

In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles

MPAA Rating: PG-13, for language and violence

Runtime: 90 minutes

Release Company: Warner Independent

wip.warnerbros.com

North Country Review

North Country

What's a sweetheart like you doin' in a dump like this?

Minnesota’s poet laureate Bob Dylan asks this question as the end credits for North Country role. The answer, as far as the women laborers of northern range iron mines is, "The same thing as an asshole like you."

Charlize Theron’s mastery of her role in Monster (2003) led directly to her landing the role of the determined iron-worker Josey Aimes, and the casting is picture perfect. Theron leads a strong cast of screen veterans such as Woody Harrelson and Sissy Spacek, while drawing fine performances from newcomers Thomas Curtis, who plays her adrift son, and Michelle Monighan, a charming co-worker.

In order to deal in this game, got to make the queen disappear.

Playing a role either Cher or Glenn Close would have been given fifteen years ago, Theron succeeds in making a downtrodden single mother seem new rather than a reprise. Josey doesn't act surprised by the abuse she encounters at the mines, she is surprised. She is surprised, hurt, and terrified by uncivilized men in an uncensored environment. Acting is exactly what we aren't aware of. Theron has embodied her role so perfectly that the drama unfolds with no visible effort.

You can be known as the most beautiful woman who ever crawled across cut glass to make a deal.

The climax of this film is not in the courtroom or even in a moving Union Hall scene. The true victory comes between Josey and her teen son Sammy, played expertly by 14 y/o Thomas Curtis. Sammy teeters on the brink of an abyss because he hasn't really had any parenting. Josey is his mother, but she only becomes an adult through the events in the movie. Is it too late to salvage Sammy's fragmented, ugly image of himself? Maybe, but Josey is determined to fight for him, though dark secrets from the past haunt them both. Kudos to Curtis for shedding all remnants of boyish cuteness.

Steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king.

North Country is a lesson in drawing lines and choosing sides. As Jodi Foster's The Accused proved, even the witnesses are culpable when a crime is committed. Such crimes as those committed in North Country indict not just an individual or a corporation, but also a society, and there is never a bad time to examine ourselves. Movies this powerful come along once a decade. Grade A

-By MW (Lyrics by Bob Dylan)

North Country

Opening 10/21

Cast: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Thomas Curtis

Director: Niki Caro

MPAA Rating: R for sequences involving sexual harassment including violence and dialogue, and for language.

Runtime: 126 minutes

Release Company: Warner Brothers

Ghostbusters I, II Review

Ghostbusters

Some comedies treat every minute equally. The idea is NOT to simply keep the audience awake long enough for a juvenile five-minute climax. In other words, if there is room for a gag or punch line, then one is written. Animal House, Stripes, A Fish Called Wanda, Sixteen Candles all fit into this category. The 1984 smash Ghostbusters, Directed by Ivan Reitman and available on DVD, is also one such film. Leave it to Saturday Night Live Vet Dan Aykroyd and cowriter Harold Ramis to combine sit-com paced comedy, mastered in short SNL skits, into a full-length feature film about saving New York City through paranormal pest management. Leave it to a heavyweight cast including Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, and Annie Potts to nail each and every delicious line in this genre-busting film. Funny, scary, frightening, shocking: Ghostbusters is not a one-trick pony. Enjoyed by children for its wacky premise and appreciated by adults for dead on performances and unrelenting comedy dialogue, Ghostbusters is a can’t-miss crowd-pleaser. – By MRW

Grade: A

Ghostbusters II (1989)

Based on the success of the original Ghostbusters only a fool wouldn’t make a sequel. Hollywood is not populated by fools. Back to the Future II, Lethal Weapon II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Star Trek V, Karate Kid III, Friday the 13th VIII, Nightmare on Elm Street V, The Fly II, Fletch Lives, Halloween V, all sequels released in 1989, are proof that you don’t stop pumping until the well is dry. Ivan Reitman, director and producer of both GB films, launched GB II mainly because he knew it would star an almost identical cast. Unfortunately, the spine of GB II is also almost identical to the original. Present are the non-stop quips and gags performed by the mouthy Venkman, the deadpan Stantz and the nerdy Spengler; missing is the sustained peril and compelling drama the original enjoyed. The Keymaster and Gatekeeper of Gozer have been replaced by Prince Vigo “the scourge of Carpathian and sorrow of Moldavia”. Yawn. The 13 year-old who grinned and laughed through Ghostbusters Uno was a cringing, embarrassed 18 year-old forced to grit his teeth as The Statue of Liberty moved to the “good vibe” strains of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher”. Ugh. Fact of cinema: No nudity, no swearing, limited violence, and good vibes spells disaster for the 16-21 demographic.

Feuding between Murray and Ramis have prevented a GB III from being produced. Maybe that’s a good thing. – By MRW

Grade C-

harry potter and the goblet of fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

By Oggy Bleacher

When head wizard Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) warns that Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliff) will soon face a choice between “What is right…and what is easy,” he could have been talking to the filmmakers adapting author J.K. Rowling’s epic coming-of-age-as-a-wizard novels. Fortunately, the three separate directors of the first four movies have chosen to do what is right, which is to honor the books by not stripping them down to an episode of Bewitched or Charmed. Important themes of friendship, respect, trust, sacrifice, and love are developed here. Things are changing at Hogwarts: a moody Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) is very PG-13, exclaiming, “Bloody, Hell!” Hermione (Emma Watson) gets dolled up for a date. Harry develops a crush on a fetching Witch. Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) regains his form and takes the life of one of Hogwart’s best and brightest. Be not fooled: 3rd graders who met Harry are now in 10th grade. They’ve been around the block. Childish pranks have been set aside for some serious meddling. If the Potter Empire intends on keeping fans loyal then it must grow up with them. And so it has with Goblet of Fire.

The impending doom of this latest film is so welcome because heartbreak is first necessary for true triumph. Forces of Evil are on the move. The Death Eaters, dressed in KKK cloaks, are afoot. Voldemort summons his wicked servants. Characters and events abound: Dragons, Mermaids, Living Mazes, Port Keys, Rita Skeeter, Sirius Black, Quidditch World Cup, Triwizard Tournament, crowd-surfing wizards, a Gothic rock band (with Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood and Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker), and more! Dorothy of OZ fame had a walk in the park compared to Harry.

This latest chapter highlights out-of-classroom activities more than the first three movies. The Triwizard Tournament and conflicts arising from adolescent moodiness stand in the forefront as Harry puzzles over a growing panic. The Quidditch World Cup plays a dual role of presumably forecasting an important event in Harry’s later life, and is also the first place we see the Death Eaters. Why the entire Wizard community must flee a handful of Death Eaters is not clear. Sure, they are hands of Voldemort, but how powerful are they? Perhaps we shall find out in the next installment. Ralph Fiennes bringing Voldmort back to life is sure to drop some jaws. Fiennes brings enormous skill to this role and his greater participation will be a delight to watch.

157 minutes is a chunk of time for your average 15 year old. The English Patient (1996) is 160 minutes and it still takes most adults two nights to get through it all. But The Goblet of Fire has so much going on that the time is not allowed to drag. Nor are the characters cheated of their due development. As many questions are asked as they are answered but this is very satisfying entertainment. Spellbinding special effects, breathtaking landscapes, commanding performances, multi-dimensional storytelling all add up to an excellent, worthy addition to the Harry Potter saga. For those who are hooked on Harry Potter, no review, positive or negative, will make them think twice about seeing this installment. But if you aren’t hooked yet then I recommend getting in line. This series will not be soon forgotten.

Grade A

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Opening 11/18

Cast: Daniel Radcliff,

Director: Mike Newell, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 157 minutes

Release Company: Warner Brothers

www.harrypotter.com