WARRIOR

Just finished watching WARRIOR and much to my surprise, I find it to be the most satisfying and possibly the best film I have seen so far this year. Everything works. Okay, so the plot is predictable, but once you're pulled in by the acting and direction you are gone for the next two hours and twenty minutes.

First off, the acting is incredible. I have no idea why the awards committees have neglected Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy for best acting honors, and Frank Grillo and Nick Nolte (who hasn't been this good since he starred in RICH MAN, POOR MAN a hundred years ago) for best supporting. These are the male counterparts in quality to Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain in THE HELP. Never over the top, always completely in character, Edgerton and Hardy play two brothers who have been separated by the vicissitudes of their alcoholic and abusive father, Nolte. Though the two brothers love one another their jealousies and slights run deep, only to be settled in the finale of a mixed martial arts contest. (I know it sounds cheesy, but amazingly, everything works.

Directed by Gavin O'Connor who also collaborated on the screenplay, the film never toys with the emotions of the audience. Instead it sets forth the story in a realistic manner so that you almost feel detached from the goings on until the last forty five minutes that rival the last moments in ROCKY for power and honesty. (As with ROCKY, the tears were flowing at the end not because of bathos, but rather because of the honesty of the actors and the director).

That I liked this film comes as a tremendous surprise as everyone had been telling me, "You think THE FIGHTER was good? Wait till you see this one." The problem was, I didn't think THE FIGHTER was good, turning it off after the first half hour. This, to me, was the true successor to ROCKY, one of my favorite films of the seventies.

And, as THE HELP was not a "chick flick" so is WARRIOR not a "guy film". Both movies are infused with honest emotion and, as such, make my best films of the year list. WARRIOR is now available on DVD and blu ray. Watch it. You won't be disappointed.

Oops!

In my list of my favorite films I left out NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. A great film and the only one directed by the actor Charles Laughton. He might have done more work but the film was destroyed by the critics and only rediscovered after Laughton's death. Great performances by Robert Mitchum and the venerable Lillian Gish. Don't miss this American classic.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORST KIND

COWBOYS AND ALIENS might just be the worst film of 2011! Starting with an almost incomprehensible storyline adapted from a comic book (Oops! Sorry! Graphic novel.), the film meanders all over the place while it tries to decide if it's a western (watch out for those Apaches!) or Sc-Fi flick (these aliens are pissed!) In it's search for a meaning it includes rip offs of the Spielberg classic (he was a producer so they probably call the rip offs homages!) and wastes the talents of Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.
(Spoiler alert) The film also tries to find its heart by including a beautiful dog, rapprochement between cowboys and Apaches and a sickeningly sweet subplot about fathers and sons that, it seems, even the actors don't believe. (You want a great film with that theme, go back and watch FIELD OF DREAMS again).

Then there is Olivia Wilde who has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen in a film. Well there has to be something to keep you watching. And, okay, the scenery is beautiful and the explosions in blu ray are pretty awesome, though I think cooler heads should have prevailed as the last shot of the alien's space ship (a large phallic tube) exploding brings to mind the tragedy of the Challenger disaster.

The dog was beautiful, Olivia's eyes were beautiful and the landscape was beautiful. Other than that, COWBOYS AND ALIENS was one of the worst films I have seen since I walked out of DUDDLEY DO-RIGHT years ago. Just awful!

DRIVE: Gosling Scores...again!

This has got to be the year of Ryan Gosling! With three major films to his credit, he is the heir apparent to the late Heath Ledger and the grandson (figuratively) of Marlon Brando. In CRAZY, STUPID LOVE he shows his comedy chops, in THE IDES OF MARCH he plays a political animal with the morals of, well, a politician and, in the brilliant DRIVE he tears up the screen with an intensity and quiet resolve that bring to mind the great Steve McQueen.

DRIVE is the story of a brilliant movie stunt driver who, in his spare time, drives a getaway car for assorted robberies. Gosling's character is a stoic (he doesn't utter a word for the first sixteen minutes of the film and after that speaks only when necessary), who falls in love with a neighbor whose husband is in jail. (The neighbor is played by the brilliant Cary Mulligan of AN EDUCATION). She has a child with whom Gosling bonds and the three begin to play house until Mulligan's husband is released from jail. Then the fireworks begin. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave the spoilers out, but just know that the screen soon becomes awash in blood. Pretty it isn't; mesmerizing it is! I'm usually not big on films like this, but this one blew me away! With the "bad guys" played by Albert Brooks (with a terrific face lift. Didn't recognize him at first!) and Ron Perlman, and a poor soul middle man played by the excellent Bryan Cranston, the action never stops. I wasn't crazy about the songs and electronic music that are used haphazardly throughout, spoiling some of the suspense along with it. Other than that, DRIVE is one terrific ride. My suggestion; buckle up, floor it and see it as soon as you can!

Movie/Play and Book Reviews

Some kind people on Facebook have suggested that I use this blog to do some reviewing. I am always tickled by the way some critics speak as if their words have been sent from the gods and that if you disagree with what they believe you are an idiot. I am not one of those people. Everyone has his or her own set of criteria for judging a work of art, be they intellectual, emotional or simply visceral. You cannot argue with these feelings. For instance, one of my favorite "pop" movies of the not so recent past was the big budget INDEPENDENCE DAY. Now I know that the film is not CITIZEN KANE, nor does it profess to be, but taken for what it is, to me it is quite enjoyable and a film I return to when the twelve year old boy in me needs the sustenance of some great special effects and seeing the invasion of aliens through the safety of a LED T.V.

But to start off this discussion, let me name my twelve all time favorite film; I couldn't find just 10. (Favorite, mind you, not greatest as I wouldn't have the presumption to make such a list).

1)ALL ABOUT EVE (probably the most literate film ever made, complete with brilliant dialogue and superb acting. The direction of Joseph Mankiewicz is perfection).

2)GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (1969) This is the Peter O' Toole/Petula Clark musical version which, as an old teacher, moves me as no other. Savaged by the critics as not being up to its 1939 predecessor this movie pulls out all the stops in tugging at the heartstrings.

3)WILD STRAWBERRIES - Ingmar Bergman's most beautiful film dealing with the subjects of religion, science, love and growing old. Magnificent.

4)BALLAD OF A SOLDIER - A Russian film that takes place during WW2. Shown through the eyes of a naive young soldier all the brutality and idiocy of war is exposed. (Tear jerker alert!)

5)THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD - Now be careful here. This is NOT the Steve Reeves version made in the fifties, but rather the brilliant Technicolor version starring Sabu, John Justin and June Duprez made in England even as Hitler's bombs were falling. Maybe the most magical film I have ever seen, with a score by Miklos Rozsa that blows me away with its beauty.

6)ON THE WATERFRONT - Here is a film where everything works. Brando, Malden, Saint, Kazan with a musical score by Leonard Bernstein that enhances and delineates the characters. This is one I watch again and again.

7)DOCTOR ZHIVAGO/LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - Two David Lean films that I love. Hard to choose between them.

8)THE LADY VANISHES/SABOTEUR/FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT - Almost any Hitchcock (except, probably TO CATCH A THIEF and FRENZY) would make my list, but these three, from the late thirties and early forties are my favorites. If I had to pick a later Hitchcock favorite I would have to go with THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH followed closely by VERTIGO.

9)LA STRADA/ AMACORD- The great Fellini at the top of his game. I defy you to watch LA STRADA and not to fall in love with Giuletta Masina as Gelsumina.

10)TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD- One of the only times a film is almost as good as the book it was taken from. Gregory Peck is Atticus and the music by Elmer Bernstein is one of the best film scores ever composed.

11) THE COLOR PURPLE - Spielberg's film was blasted by the critics, nominated for 13 Oscars from which it won none(!) and it remains as, in my opinion, one of his great masterpieces.

12) FIELD OF DREAMS- What is there to say? Heaven or Iowa, this film is simply magnificent

Okay...those are my choices Agree? Disagree? What are your choices? Please leave a comment. (Even if it's to say I should disband this blog!) Jeff

GONE THE SUN

The book has been going well and, thankfully, the comments on it are excellent. Gotta tell you, I couldn't be happier. Should you stumble upon this and you haven't read the novel, please do and let me know what you think of it.

Just back from a whirlwind vacation in San Francisco and Phoenix. Bonnie Cohen threw a wonderful dinner party for a few of those in our 6th grade class (no, she isn't old..I was her teacher.) Had a great time with her, Barbara Scheinman, Neil Cramer, Mark Horowitz and another refugee from the frozen north, Don Greif. Great company, great food...great evening.

I also spent some quality time with my nephew Dylan, his wife Anna (who could not be closer to me if she were a blood relative) and their two beautiful kids, Shane and Soren. Dylan and I took a walk up and down the hills around their home catching up for lost time.

After that, on to Phoenix with a short but very pleasant visit with my sister and then back to NYC just missing the latest storm by hours.

And that's it for now.

GONE THE SUN

Some good news to report. After a six plus years, my novel, GONE THE SUN, has been published and is available at barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com and iuniverse.com.

The idea of doing the book came from a discussion with old camp friend, Mike Klepper. He proposed an idea, and I ran with it. For a year he and I would meet, he giving me his thoughts, me giving him mine, followed by my getting back to the computer and fleshing the ideas out and writing what became a first draft that ran longer than WAR AND PEACE. Then, working like a mad man, there came a a second version and now, finally, a book that I am very proud of, GONE THE SUN.

What's amazing to me is that reading the novel as an actual book and not as the text I have been working on at the computer, the book and its characters take on a new life, and I read it as though reading it for the first time. Though I have written many magazine articles and interviews in the past, this was a totally new and exciting experience.

Hopefully, those of you who know me will buy a copy. If you do, and you like it, please leave a comment on the b&n and/or amazon website. I'd really appreciate it.
More later.