August 1-3, 2008

Short reviews, cause I'm tired.

Klute -

Very much an early 70's piece, filled with the brutal minimalist style of the period. Story-wise it's somewhat predictable, but still intriguing nonetheless. Jane Fonda won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the high class prostitute. I will say her performance was pretty damn good. Donald Sutherland, who usually plays quirky interesting characters played something of a blank slate here. There wasn't much to his character, but it plays well off of Fonda's spiritedness. Plus Sutherland was able to portray this Jimmy Stewart "Aw schucks" vibe, which really worked. Roy Scheider plays a great slimeball. We miss you, Roy.

Overall, decent but not superlative.

Grade: B-

Five Easy Pieces -

The film that made Jack Nicholson a star. He plays a young man from a musical family, a talented pianist, who splits from his family and works on oil rigs and other odd jobs. Spends his nights drinking, being unfaithful to his girlfriend played by Karen Black, and being a general bastard. He learns his father is ill and returns home. Clash of two societies and the conflict of Nicholsons lifestyles.

Mostly a character study that doesn't know what genre it wants to belong to. The first and last thirds are dramatic. The middle third is comedic. The entire thing feels like a made for TV movie. Fairly disappointing overall, with a Spanking the Monkey/Leap of Faith ending, that does seem to work. Still, it's one of those films that reminds you that Nicholson can freaking ACT. Damn he's good.

Grade: C

Falling Down -

Michael Douglass has a very, very bad day.

I was very pleased with the story-telling, much of the details were subtly introduced. Douglass is great as this borderline protagonish. He's not a hero, but he's not an anti-hero either. He's a "bad man" that you identify with, which is scary and awesome.

His progress through LA makes me think it's loosely based on some ancient tale, ala The Warriors, but I have no proof of that. It also feels like a game, as he keeps upgrading his weapons as he goes. The B story with Robert Duvall was as subtly told, but not nearly as interesting.

SPOILER: I generally don't like films that kill off the main character at the end. I've talked about this before. It's usually a cop out, meaning the writer can't think of a better way to end it. But it worked it. It was philosophically appropriate.

On a strange note, as I was watching this film I noticed something weird. As it turns out, Douglass' mother, played by Lois Smith, also played Nicholsons sister in Five Easy Pieces. Just a strange collision of the film world in my weekend.

Grade: B+