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| COMEDY |
(1991; Warner; PG; 1:52)
Defending Your Life
Starring: Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep
Featuring: Rip Torn, Lee Grant, Buck Henry
Written and directed by: Albert Brooks
Synopsis: Daniel Miller (Brooks) is a semi-successful ad man who's killed in a car crash before the opening credits. Where do you go from there? Judgment City, of course, where Dan wakes groggy, robed and regimented, just one of hundreds of incoming souls in this between-lives halfway house. Everyone spends five days here, while his life is put on trial; in a courtroom setting, selected scenes from one's life are reviewed to determine whether the soul "moves forward" or goes back for another life of earthly learning. Between sessions (where Dan is subjected to a series of humiliating scenes from his past), he meets Julia (Streep)—sweet, happy, and a virtual saint. They fall in love, and her influence changes his (after)life. Given one final chance, can Dan find the courage to evolve from schlub to mensch—or will these newly-minted soul-mates be separated forever?
Discussion: Judgment City is part Vegas, part L.A., part Disney World, part Universal Studios tour—and a little bit of heaven (you can eat as much as you want and never gain an ounce!): a fully thought-through purgatory, both practical and pleasant. The characters, too, are engaging: Dan, all too human, sweatily attempting to weasel his way out of his transgressions; Torn, as his lawyer, expansive, avuncular, with just a touch of condescending hubris. (A high point is hearing him explain why there are no children in JC.) The criteria for "moving forward" are a bit vague—one is "held back by fears"—but the essential question seems to be one of cowardice vs. courage: choosing to embrace life in spite of its tragedies, suffering and disappointments, or living timidly, in quiet denial and defeat. This film chooses to embrace life, and illustrates by example that while loving another is the biggest risk in life, it also yields the greatest rewards. Disguised as a romantic comedy, this philosophical fantasy will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it might just leave you pondering questions both grave—and beyond. And isn't that what we really want from a film—or from a life?
Rent this one for: being a smart movie: smart dialog, smart ideas, smart philosophy—and its smartest part of all, reminding us that true wisdom resides in the heart, not in the "smart."
You'll (probably) like this if you liked: L.A. Story, Joe vs. the Volcano, Truly Madly Deeply, Made in Heaven
Dissenting Opinion: "...overall is rather disappointing." —Movies On TV and Videocassette by Steven Scheuer (2.5 stars)
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(1991; Paramount; R; 1:44)
Hear My Song
Starring: Adrian Dunbar, Tara Fitzgerald, Ned Beatty
Featuring: David McCallum, Shirley Anne Field
Written by: Adrian Dunbar, Peter Chelsom
Directed by: Peter Chelsom
Synopsis: "Mr. X: Is he or isn't he?" That's the question on every Liverpudlian's lips when rakish entrepreneur Mickey (Dunbar) claims to have booked legendary tenor Josef Locke into his failing nightclub. Jo—whose singing "makes women weep"—fled England to avoid jail for tax evasion 25 years earlier. So it's no surprise to find that Mr. X "isn't"—although the discovery holds grave consequences for Mickey—like the loss of his lady love, Nancy (Fitzgerald). There's only one thing for Mickey to do: Go to Ireland, find the real Jo Locke (Beatty), and bring him back for one final concert. Even if he's successful in his quest, will this win back Nancy? And if Locke appears in public, can he escape the tax man who's waited a quarter of a century to catch him?
Discussion: Chelsom must have show biz in his blood: he's a born entertainer and understands them as well. Here, it's music hall singers; in Funny Bones, it's vaudevillians. Song can almost be seen as a trial run for Bones: both concern performing and long lost loves; both contain wild slapstick humor and a Keystone view of Kops. This charming, picaresque and laugh-out-loud funny fable is filled with charismatic characters, delightful dialog ("I'd rather be in jail than in love again," spits one old sod), and a pair of rocky romances inspiring the exigencies of the plot. Locke and Mickey find themselves in parallel predicaments, which bring them together as they assist one another in reuniting with the women who'd love to love them—if the boys hadn't betrayed them so badly. We care about these people and their plights; we root for them. A little history, a little legend, intermingled with wit and heart—if that isn't the essence of a great film (and of being Irish!) I don't know what is at all, at all.
Rent this one for: its charm and humor; the acting and script.
You'll (probably) like this if you liked: Funny Bones, The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain, Local Hero
Credentials:
Vidbits:
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(1981; Paramount; R; 1:44)
Atlantic City
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon
Written by: John Guare
Directed by: Louis Malle
Synopsis: Sally (Sarandon) is a poor waitress, and none too pleased when her sleazy hippie husband Dave (Robert Joy) and his pregnant lover (who's also Sally's sister) show up at her Atlantic City oyster bar. Dave ropes her aging neighbor, Lou Pasco (Lancaster), once a small-time mobster, into helping him deliver some coke he's stolen. But the deal goes sour for Dave—and Lou's left holding the bag. He uses the opportunity (and the drug money) to charm Sally into believing he'd be a good sugardaddy. But when the goons who got Dave come after Sally, can Lou live up to his own mental legend and protect her?
Discussion: Ever get the feeling they're tearing down your past? Lou Pasco does. He lives in delusions not of grandeur, but of a grand past, glorying in his alleged glory days. Demolition and construction, in an unceasing cycle, is the theme of this special film; demolition and construction of both landmarks and lives, the literal merely mirroring the inner rhythms of the restless characters. Lancaster's Lou is dapper but trapped in the past; to him, Sally is "a regular Princess Grace," attempting to deal her way into a Monte Carlo casino. Her hunger for wisdom and his chance for rejuvenation lead them into a May/December romance as tender and curious as it is bittersweet. Atlantic starts out slowly, but picks up momentum exponentially, both in action and character development. And, in a final irony, everybody gets exactly what they wanted—whether they knew what they wanted or not. Nah, they just don't make 'em like this anymore.
Rent this one for: The performances; the story; the lemons.
You'll (probably) like this if you liked: A Perfect World
Credentials:
" —Video Movie Guide
" —Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
Vidbits:
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(supernatural/drama)
Resurrection
(1980; MCA; PG; 1:43)
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, Eva LeGallienne
Featuring: Roberts Blossom, Clifford David, Richard Farnsworth
Written by: Lewis John Carlino
Music by: Maurice Jarre
Directed by: Daniel Petrie
Synopsis: A car crash flatlines Edna McCauley (Burstyn), who enters a tunnel of light filled with peace, music and departed friends, when—BANG! She's back in her body, flat on her back in a hospital bed, crippled from the waist down. Her sullen father takes her back to the family farm in Kansas to recuperate. When she stops a young hemophiliac's bleeding, her grandma (LeGallienne) thinks she might have returned from the Other Side with the gift of healing. Through pain and faith she heals herself and walks again. She becomes a local legend, and even attracts a young suitor Cal (Shepard), who begins to question why she never mentions Scripture... To some, her miracles are wondrous gifts. But others are threatened. Can her love overcome the closed minds and closed hearts of the loveless around her, or will her great good attract even greater obstacles?
Discussion: Slow-paced, low-key, quiet and somber, gentle and tender, smart and insightful, the film never degenerates into New Age drivel, but instead stays on track as a psychological drama of emotional catharsis, more character- than gimmick-driven. It's stocked with first-rate performances; Burstyn in particular is tasked with displaying a range of emotion from grief to compassion, from hungry lust to angelic ecstasy—all the while convincing us that despite her empathic powers, she's just as human as any of us. If every actor could claim a film like this in his or her portfolio, that actor could enter the tunnel of light fully fulfilled. Resurrection packs an emotional wallop from its earliest scenes right through to its knockout ending, a heart-rending moment that will leave you with a transcendent glow.
Rent this one for: Burstyn's performance; the deep emotion.
You'll (probably) like this if you liked: The Dead Zone
Credentials:
Dissenting Opinion:
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(psychological thriller)
MYSTERY/SUSPENSE/THRILLER
House of Games
(1987; HBO; R; 1:42)
Starring: Joe Mantegna, Lindsay Crouse
Featuring: Lilia Skala, J.T. Walsh, Meshach Taylor, Ricky Jay
Written and directed by: David Mamet
Synopsis: "You just talk!" the shrink's frustrated patient complains. "The whole thing is a con game!" He's a compulsive gambler; she's Dr. Margaret Ford (Crouse), top-flight psychiatrist and author of the bestseller Driven. She descends into the seedy section of Seattle to the House of Games pool hall, seeking to relieve her patient of his debts and a goon's death threats. She butts heads with tough guy Mike (Mantegna), who agrees to tear up her patient's marker—if she helps in a minor card game scam. She's intrigued by the event, and solicits Mike to be her Virgil as she investigates the underground culture of the con man. He teaches her not only the tricks and techniques of the trade but also the psychological secrets of why they work. But when she becomes inadvertently involved in a big con which goes horribly awry, everything she knows and holds dear—including her sanity—is suddenly in jeopardy. Her only hope is to con the professional confidence men. Who'll prove the master con artist—and at what cost?
Discussion: "What's more fun than human nature?" Mike snarls cynically. And what makes for better drama than the very same? Mike and Margaret are two sides of one coin: She's got intelligence and training; he's got experience and street savvy. She's mesmerized by his skill and hooked on the gut-level thrills he provides, spicing her immaculately-ordered but essentially empty life. He admires her for her guts and sharp eye. But in a movie which openly revels in its multiple levels of deception, can we really expect anything to be what it appears? And when you pit two experts in psychological motivation against one another, the only real bottom line lies in separating the personal from the professional—and hell hath no fury like a woman scammed.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Mamet's directorial debut is impressive, and his script even more so; it's sleight of hand that is anything but sleight—a gripping film worthy of superlatives. There is real intelligence here; real power and emotional intensity; real suspense and real surprise; real danger and real drama.
Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau, who teaches acting on the side, once told an interviewer words to the effect that acting is not about showing emotion; it's about showing people struggling to prevent themselves from showing emotion. Crouse's performance is a classic example of this school; her subtle portrayal of an overly-controlled obsessive-compulsive slowly succumbing to her own most deeply suppressed desires is itself a masterpiece of self-control. And Mantegna deserved an Oscar for his bitter, obnoxious, edgy Mike. Neither actor has ever given a better performance—or performed in a better script.
The surface story, punctuated by Mamet's trademark precise dialog, gives us a fascinating insight into the age-old con game, revealing such insider secrets as the "tell," and providing us with a crash course in how to set up and pull off a short con or a big sting. But the film is much more than just a modern noir. One layer beneath this veneer is a Jungian animus fantasy: Margaret secretly yearns for a shadowy, mysterious, fascinating stranger to subdue and possess her; when she finds him, she is drawn deeply into the dark side of her own nature.
In addition to the satisfying twists and turns of the plot, the film is grounded in the psychology of its characters. To play the confidence game requires confidence: in one's knowledge, skills, perceptions and desires—and particularly of one's self. House of Games moves beyond mere mind games to raise unsettling questions about Big Issues like ethics and self-interest, right and wrong and good and evil, sanity and acceptance, and ultimately, of life and death.
House of Games is not just one of the best films in this book—it's simply one of the best films ever produced.
Rent this one for: its powerful, intelligent and suspenseful script; the exceptional performances, particularly Mantegna's.
You'll (probably) like this if you liked: The Grifters, Body Heat, Sleuth, The Stunt Man; comic versions include: The Sting, Penn and Teller Get Killed
Vidbits:
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