The Wayward Cynic

director: David Fincher
starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chloë Sevigny, Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch

A quick word of warning. While this film is faithfully based on real-life events, I’m sure there are many people completely unaware of the full details of the case and its current status. Thus, it’s probably not a good idea to read this review before first familiarizing yourself with the case and/or seeing the flick. If you’ve got next to no working knowledge of the story, then I’ll just leave you with my urging to see the flick. It’s great. Spoilers abound in the review below.

The epic film adaptation of the grisly Zodiac killings in 1960’s San Francisco has arrived, courtesy of the reliable hands of director David Fincher. Aside from the fascinating story itself, Fincher is one of the great American directors working in film today, and his name in the credits is enough for me to hop onboard. The subject matter itself, though, is the big attraction here. I’ll leave it to Wikipedia to summarize the high points:

The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California for ten months in the late 1960s. He coined his name in a series of taunting letters he sent to the press until 1974. His letters included four cryptograms, three of which have yet to be solved.

The killer’s identity remains unknown. The San Francisco Police Department marked its investigation “inactive” in April 2004 and reopened it some time before March 2007. The case remains open in other jurisdictions as well. [Wikipedia]

Continue reading “Zodiac | A”

director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Hassan, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza, Boubker Ait El Caid

If you’re looking for a fun, light, and entertaining night out at the movies, go see something else. Babel caters more to the audience that would like a stiff drink and then a walk off a balcony after the end credits roll. I may be overstating it a bit, but Babel is the kind of movie you need to be in the right mindset to watch, much like a Schindler’s List. That being said, it is a film worth watching, as nearly all facets are superbly done–the acting, the direction, the cinematography, and the writing all make for an excellently-crafted film.

The acting is all great, but I’m not going to dwell on it–you’re sure to have seen and heard enough about it in the weeks leading up to Oscar night. Brad Pitt in particular shows he’s not just a Hollywood pretty-boy, but the entire cast is uniformly excellent. It’s hard not to be emotionally affected by each character’s plight and ultimate fate, because of the great performances. As much as the film could be construed as nothing more than an Oscar-pandering vanity project, it does carry with it an important message.

Continue reading “Babel | A-“

director: Mark Steven Johnson
starring: Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott, Wes Bentley, Peter Fonda

Yet another example of everything Hollywood can do wrong. Take a promising, unique idea, send it through the Blockbuster Schlock Assembly Line, making it palatable for the widest possible audience, and in the process rip any semblance of originality and spirit from it. What could’ve been the foundation of a long-running, quality franchise instead shows up as a mediocre, half-assed, flaming turd that’ll be forgotten by audiences after a couple of box office weekends. Congrats, Tinseltown, you’ve done it again with Ghost Rider.

The film, based on the popular Marvel comic book, began its journey to the screen in the hands of screenwriter David Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins). Goyer’s script rightly depicted the character as a dark, vengeful anti-hero who carried out his duties as Satan’s bounty hunter while living the life of a daredevil stuntman, struggling mightily to reconcile the nightmarish acts of vengeance he commits nightly with his desire to live a normal life and have a family. The deal he made with the devil years ago, while giving him supernatural abilities with which to combat evil, also prevents him from having any real emotional ties to family or friends–his existence is pure, unending torture–a torture that will never cease as long as there are souls who need punishing. That’s a nice, juicy starting point to create a film.

Continue reading “Ghost Rider | C-“

director: Martin Scorsese
starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen

My initial reaction to seeing the trailer for The Departed last year consisted of both excitement for a new Scorsese picture and reluctant pessimism at the line-up of all-stars in the cast. Rarely do you see a Hollywood flick these days with an “all-star cast” that doesn’t end up disappointing. The unfortunate part about being a well-known, successful actor is that they become so well-known that it’s nearly impossible to see them as just a character. Case-in-point: Jack Nicholson. You catch one glimpse of him in the trailer with his patented eyebrow raise and you see him as the larger-than-life Hollywood icon instead of a Boston mob boss. The same goes for Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Leo DiCaprio and the rest of the cast. At first glance, it’s impossible to get the past that they’re huge Hollywood actors that signed up for the project to pad out their resumes. Thus, I haven’t seen the film, which came out October 6th, until just last night on DVD.

Shame on me for not recognizing the fact that the reason these guys are all successful, well-known icons is that they’re pretty damn good at what they do. The opening scene, with a Nicholson voiceover, goes from distracting to enveloping as it paints the broad strokes of the dark, gritty underbelly of South Boston–Nicholson’s Frank Costello as its’ thug-in-chief. We’re steadily introduced to the rest of our all-star cast of characters and their surprisingly convincing Bah-stan accents. Once you get past the intial adjustment period of seeing these stars with goofy accents, their talent takes over and you’re caught up in the story. After all, aren’t Boston accents goofy in reality, anyway? (Apologies to all Boston readers with goofy accents.)

Continue reading “The Departed | A”