Fargo Goes Far

In contrast to my good associates review of "Burn After Reading" I thought I should review "Fargo", a movie that, like "The Shining" has become a winter tradition in this household. I will note that this is the third Coen Brother's movie to be reviewed here, maybe it's coincidence, or we just happen to enjoy their movies.

So "Fargo" begins with a simple slate telling us this is a true story and only the names have been changed. Only a "true" story could be strange enough to be believable. We find Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), a overly in debt car salesman attempting to pull off a scheme that involves the kidnapping of his wife and large amounts of ransom money from is gruff father-in-law Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell). The idea is that his wife won't get hurt, he'll pay the kidnappers the $40K he promises them (plus a new car) AND he'll keep a hefty sum that Wade will THINK the kidnappers want for his wife. A flawless plan...right?

Jerry is a simple man, who is in way over his head. Enter Carl (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear (Peter Stormare). A pair of underworld thugs who go together like the Odd Couple. After the two pull of the kidnapping of Jerry's wife all hell breaks loose on a North Dakota road as they return with Jerry's wife from Minneapolis. Carl tells Jerry "Blood has been shed," which creates quite the predicament for Jerry.

Well the rest of story slowly becomes uncovered by Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand Oscar Winning Role), a dead pan, pregnant police chief who really doesn't excite too easily. Her matter-a-fact attitude is a wonderful character to follow as the story unfolds and the bad guys are chased.

This film really has stood the test of time for story telling. It's still fun and the characters are each so distinct. At times they are (on purpose I'm sure) very comical. Fargo, is meant to be a dark comedy, and the reason that works is because the Coen Brothers have created not characters but caricatures of people we've met...especially from the upper mid-west. The story line flows from one scene to another as you watch each person begin to crack on the pressure of the kidnapping, the money and, well, being in North Dakota. Marge is our solid base. She's that "good" motherly person (how can forget...she's pregnant through the entire film) that can make all the "bad guys" feel guilty about how they've behaved.

The shooting on this movie is done by Cinematographer extraordinaire Roger Deakins, whom the Coen Brothers tend to use on most of their films. The Dakota snow-scapes are beautiful. You can feel the cold, the emptiness, the want to be indoors. One of my favorite shots is watching Jerry walk back his car in an otherwise empty parking-lot. The camera is high above and everything is white except for the curbed islands and Jerry's car. If you love good cinematography you should never miss a Deakins film.

Look- 9.5
Story - 8
Acting - 9

Burn After Reading

Directed and Written by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins

Review by Junior.

Joel and Ethan Coen are amazingly talented filmmakers who produce different kinds of movies, seemingly picking projects based on whatever strikes their fancy, and they adapt their filmic style and tone to the subject. One consistent aspect of their disparate films is the frequent use of a few actors, in this case Coen faves George Clooney and Frances McDormand. (Of course you could be fooled by Clooney's presence--you might think you're watching a Steven Soderburgh movie.)

Although I am always aware of the Coen brother's talent, I don't always love their films. I love Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and No Country For Old Men. Not so much Miller's Crossing, The Hudsucker Proxy and Intolerable Cruelty. I'm afraid Burn After Reading falls into the latter category. Good actors, interesting plot---eh.

Okay, the plot is about a couple of fitness club employees (Pitt and McDormand) who find a computer disc belonging to Malkovich which they believe contains top secret intelligence and their attempts at extorting money from someone (anyone!) in exchange for it. Meanwhile there is some bed-swapping among the characters, Clooney and Swinton included. All the characters are loopy or strange in some way, and the movie is sometimes funny, the plot is engaging...and there is the occasional shocking Coen brothers moment of violence.

The primary problem with the film is that none of the characters are really worth caring about. The most enjoyable, funniest and probably the nicest (if stupidest) character in the movie is Brad Pitt. Unfortunately, there is not enough of him. The rest of the characters are all silly, stupid, shallow, selfish or angry and amoral in their own ways, all flawed, and presented so evenly that the audience doesn't know who they are supposed to care about. Since none of the characters is especially sympathetic one ends up not caring about any of them.

So if we don't care about the characters, we are left with only the story to entertain us, and perhaps a devilish enjoyment of watching the plot machine, as it starts spinning, chew all these idiots up. Unfortunately, it's not enough. For a movie which depends so strongly on the plot the movie takes an odd sidestep at the end and does not directly show the culmination of the story. We are told what happened by a third party, which is kind of funny but ultimately unsatisfying.

Story---7, for quirky originality
Acting---7
Look---6
Overall---6.75

Quantum of Solace

Directed by Marc Forster. Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright

Reviewed by Junior.

This is the second outing for Daniel Craig as 007, and the first direct sequel in the history of the franchise. This film picks up about 20 minutes after the end of the last. Bond is pursuing the vast evil organization called "Quantum," which was discovered in Casino Royale, but more importantly, he is out for (yawn) revenge!

As with the previous movie, an exciting action sequence---this time a car chase---opens the film. Unfortunately the quick cuts in which the scene is presented makes it completely impossible to follow. If we, as viewers, are to get the impression, the feeling, of a fast, dangerous car chase then the editing achieves its end. If we are supposed to be able to follow what, exactly, is going on in the car chase, then it doesn't. The second action sequence in the film--a chase across rooftops---is nearly as incomprehensible as the first.

When I say the director, Marc Forster, may want to give the viewers an impression of an action sequence rather than a comprehensible action sequence I'm not being sarcastic. He's a bit of an artsy-fartsy director whose previous work includes The Kite Runner, Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland. Twice in the film action sequences are intercut (artfully) with other, parallel activities, and those sequences are stylish and effective.

The creative team goes to great lengths to make Quantum even more action packed than Craig's first outing, to its detriment. Bond's supporting cast is less interesting than in Casino Royale as well.

Casino Royale was a masterful balance of old Bond and reinvented Bond, with just the right mix of action, suave casual cool, beautiful locations, violence and sex. This movie sacrifices all the other elements for action, violence, and more action. Not that there's nothing else in the movie, but the scenes in between the action seem more like filler while they ready the stuntmen. The requirement of sexuality in a Bond film seems to particularly irk Forster. Bond gets laid only once, in a brief throwaway scene, and only takes off his shirt briefly (sorry ladies!) Bond spends the entire movie in Third World shitholes and never looks like he's having any fun at all. Usually, although he gets in tight spots, it always seems like it would be glamorous and cool to be Bond. Not in Quantum.

The film does contain a mildly witty homage to the 3rd original Bond outing, Goldfinger, with the girl left on Bond's bed. But even considering what the villain does to her, Mathieu Amalric is not very interesting and is too much of a lightweight to ever seem a real threat to Bond. The primary Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, who also happens to be out for revenge(!), does not have any chemistry with Craig, nor do to they share the verbal sparring of Craig and his previous leading lady, Eva Green, although Kurylenko does finally achieve that which every Bond movie has claimed to do for about 20 years---she is a Bond girl that is Bond's equal, and not just a sex object. Just to drive the point home, Bond doesn't have sex with her.

Judi Dench and Jeffrey Wright are back as M and Felix Lighter, respectively, but have little of interest to do here. Lighter, like Bond, appears to be miserable and M and Bond don't have enough scenes together to take advantage of the crackling good energy between them evidenced in Casino Royale.

That's often the problem with movies about revenge. They take themselves way too seriously and take the fun out of the character(s) you've come to love. Craig is still terrific as Bond and I hope, now that we have the Bond prologue and the Bond revenge out of the way, that the next movie can hit the new series' stride with a good, solid Bond outing, confident in what Bond is now and what kind of movie series they want to deliver.

Story---5
Acting---7
Look---5
Overall---6

Casino Royale

Directed by Martin Campbell
Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Eva Green and Mads Mikkelsen.

Review by Junior.

I agree wholeheartedly with my esteemed colleague that Sean Connery was the best bond, B.C. B.C., of course stands for "before Craig," Daniel Craig that is. For years this once daring series had become more and more dated, jokey and unable to keep up with the action films which have supplanted it. This bold attempt at a reboot gets every note right, jettisoning what was holding Bond back and keeping enough of the flavor, the flair, the style and the sex to make this not just a Bond film, but a great Bond film.

Whereas Dr. No was the first Bond movie, Casino Royale is an adaptation of the first Bond novel, and details Bond's attainment of "double-oh" status and his first mission. He is described by M, played with fiery intellect here by Judi Dench, as a "blunt instrument," and at times he does seem to be. Young proto-Bond is arrogant, brash and impulsive, without the cool reserve one has come to expect from this character. This Bond is as likely to beat someone to death on a bathroom sink as shoot them, and often gets himself as beat up as John McClane in the process.

After the pre-title sequence, we are quickly treated to the best action scene in the film, an exciting foot chase of a suspect with incredible rabbit-like agility through jungle, a construction site, the streets of Uganda, and finally into an embassy. This kind of action you've never seen in a Bond film before and signals the kind of visceral intensity to which the creative team behind this new incarnation of the series obviously aspires. Some have criticized this level of action as unbecoming of a Bond film, but my feeling is that if they were adapting Fleming's books today, without the long filmic history, Bond would indeed be an action hero like this.

And the film does have enough traditional Bond elements to satisfy me, at least. Although he does run through the dirty streets of Uganda and beat bad guy butt in bathrooms, he also goes to swanky Casino Royale, playing cards with the best of them, and looking very suave in an excellently tailored tuxedo. He sleeps with a couple of fabulous women, maintaining his reputation as a world-class womanizer. He discovers a really good martini and finally finds that it's cool to announce his presence as "Bond, James Bond."

It is worth noting the nod here to Ursula Andress' emergence from the surf in Dr. No. Here the ladies get a treat (twice) of Bond in a form-fitting swimsuit. His body is also on display in a very brutal and inventive torture scene, a torture, BTW, that is in the original novel and could probably not have been portrayed on film in more conservative times.

The creative team also manages to have their cake and eat it too---a splashy, dramatic, destructive climax without having Bond infiltrate the bad guy's giant evil installation hidden inside a volcano and blowing it up.

Finally, the supporting cast is great. In addition to Judi Dench whom I've already mentioned, there is Geoffrey Wright as CIA agent Felix Lighter, black (again) and with legs---if you've seen Felix from previous films you'll know what I mean. Mads Mikkelsen as bad guy Le Chiffre is also appropriately slimy.

If this Bond reboot can maintain this impressive balance of style, action, sex and good acting we lapsed Bond fans will have something to truly cheer about: a Bond series we can look forward to for many years to come.

Story---8
Acting---7.5
Look ---7
Overall---8

Retro Review - Dr. No

Dr. No is the first installment of the James Bond flicks. Starring Sean Connery (the best Bond ever) with an assortment of Bond Girls, including Urusla Andress.
Released 1962. Directed by Terence Young, from the novel by Ian Fleming.

Review by CINEMAGIRL:

Dr. No sets the stage for an entire genre of suave, sexy spy movies. Although this first film in the 007 enterprise is fairly campy, due mainly to its age, it takes the viewer on a fun adventure lined with palm trees, bikini-clad bombshells, and a hairy Scotsman starring as Bond, James Bond.

Dr. No is hardly a serious film, but an entertaining adventure. Connery is dapper and sly as our favorite British spy. His dialogue is well written. The character of Bond makes a believable spy. When Bond arrives at the airport in Kingston, Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of an agent, he is offered a ride by chauffeur. But he immediately recognizes this as a ploy from the bad guys to catch him and kill him. As a smart spy, he rides along with the guy, attempts to get information out of him and then kills him, taking the body along to HQ for examination and removal.

In other, crappily made action-suspense movies the so-called spy would've gladly accepted the ride and been shocked and amazed that the driver was actually an evil henchman ready to nab him. Oooh! Surprise! Then he would've killed the henchman and left his body to rot in the sun, as if no one will stumble upon it on a populated island like Jamaica. Events like this in crappy movies always leave me with questions. What happened to the dead guy? Who found him? Surely he's not still there? (I'm a stickler for details.)

Bond's investigation leads him and an island native to Crab Key, home of the oddly Caucasian-looking "Chinese" Dr. No - and also the place where he meets Honey, the tanned Urusla Andress clad in her infamous white bikini, collecting seashells for sale in gift shops. Yes, that's actually what she claims to be doing.

Of course, the two get caught, have a meeting with Dr. No, some action and suspense ensues and they have to attempt an escape. You know the drill.

Interesting side note: Dr. No is the basis for Dr. Evil in the silly Austin Powers series.

Dr. No is a fun ride and a classic 007 movie. Some like the new movies better, with their high action, fancier gadgets and huge budgets, but I'm a fan of the retro '60s flicks, with all their style.

For an evening of mindless entertainment, rent Dr. No. Or, for an entire weekend, rent all Connery movies and sack out on the couch.

STORY: 6
LOOK: 8
OVERALL: 8 ...Come on, it's fun.

SPECIAL EVENT: We spent "An Evening With Don Hertzfeldt"

I'm sorry if you missed out on the show, but man, was it great. This show at 19th Street Theatre included animated films that have already become Hertzfeldt classics (he's only 33), like "Billy's Balloon" and "Rejected Film". The night's special event was "I'm so proud of you", the sequel to "Everything will be OK".

Hertzfeldt is really showing a lot of narrative maturity with these two films (part three of this trilogy is still to come). He touches on the subtle nuances of being human. From those awkward moments when you spit out your gum in conversation, to those deep personal reflections on your own existence...or the existence of a manatee staring at you from your calendar. The film really takes you on a ride that's a psychological reflection of life, death and family. But somehow, as deep as this sounds, you never feel like you're diving into a place you don't want to be. Hertzfeldt does such a good job at gently taking us through an emotional cycle, that, inevitably, you feel like you have spent half the night laughing.

Now, as if all these wonderful animations were not enough, the cherry on top of the evening was a Q&A session with the man himself, Don Hertzfeldt. Questions ranged from the techincal process and narrative procedures to what has internet video done for his films and why doens't Hertzfeldt take on corporate gigs. Mr. Hertzfeldt was wonderfully well spoken and, which is all ways a pleasant surprise, very unpretentious and down to earth. There was no claim from himself of being someone special, or ridiculously talented. Instead, his only self-credit was that he worked very hard to make these films. And, knowing the process of traditional animation, he really does work tirelessly.

Bottom line is, if you missed hearing the man speak, you probably missed out on something special that won't return to the Lehigh Valley for a long time (although I hope that's not the case). But, please take the time to watch any Don Hertzfeldt film you can. All will make you laugh, and some will even make you reflect.

Upcoming Event: An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt at 19th Street Theatre

The darkly funny animator Don Hertzfeldt will be at 19th Street Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 13 for a special screening of his bizarre and hilarious short films and Q&A session with the audience.

Hertzfeldt is known for his very traditional-yet-simply drawn pencil-on-paper animations that, while seeming innocent and cute at first, take you on a short trip down the path of the weird and disturbing. One such short film is "Billy's Balloon," a story about a little boy whose happy red balloon turns on him. It's hilarious for teens and adults, but probably a bit terrifying for children to imagine their balloon whacking them over the head or carrying them high above the city.

You can check out "Billy's Balloon" on YouTube.

Hertzfeldt and his films are currently touring cities across America, like NY, Chicago, LA, and.....Allentown, Pennsylvania? Actually, Allentown is his only stop in PA, so be sure to check out this special event.

Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Members pay $7.

www.civictheatre.com