COMING FULL CIRCLE

I love movies with lots of different plot lines that somehow come together against all expectations. The only trouble with writing about them is that it is hard not to give away how the various threads are finally woven together. 

At least one of them has won a Best Picture Oscar and so I’ll start with Crash (2004). Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon lead a fine cast through a rather complex plot involving race relations, bad and error-prone cops and mistaken identities. The screenplay also won Oscar and the complications are worth staying on board to get the payoff. 

Babel (2006) is a terrific film that keeps you guessing as to how all these plot lines intersect. An accident connects four groups of people on three different continents: two young Moroccan goatherds, a vacationing American couple (Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett), a deaf Japanese teen and her father, and a Mexican nanny who takes her young charges across a border without parental permission. The title reminds one of the biblical tower, and miscommunication is one of the main plot lines. The movie was nominated for seven Oscars, but won only for Best Original Score. 

Look Both Ways (2005) is a splendid Australian film with a mostly unknown cast.  Reporter Nick discovers he has cancer, and on his way to cover a train accident he encounters Meryl, who witnessed the event.  Nick’s colleague,  Andy, has to deal with his ex-wife’s refusal to believe he can properly care for their children. The train victim’s wife and the driver of the train are grieving and trying to get on with life. The ending of this film brought tears to my eyes. 

Mother and Child (2009) has a good story and a crackerjack cast: Samuel L. Jackson (you can’t get away from him!), Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Kerry Washington are as good as expected. The film involves adopted children, attempts to reconnect, lots of twists and turns and a fine ending. 

Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic (2000) features interwoven stories about the drug trade in America and elsewhere. Benecio Del Toro, Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas and Don Cheadle head the cast. Soderberg, always the innovator, uses different color grades for each story so it’s easy to tell them apart. There are other movies named Traffic, but I can recommend only this one. 

Syriana (2005) completes my list. The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon), a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins. You will not see the end coming.

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. If you can think of any other movies that fit this rather limited category, I would appreciate an email advising.

 

                                                    HANDICAPPING THE OSCARS

America, Hollywood, and especially the Motion Picture Academy, are absolutely head-over-heels in love with movies about people overcoming severe disabilities. At least 10 Oscars have been awarded to the actors who undertake these difficult roles. At Academy Award time, always bet on the gimper.

The most recent winner was Brit Eddie Redmayne, who won the gold for his incredible performance as world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything (2014).  Hawking had late-stage ALS and could only communicate through a computer program. He was confined to a wheelchair for many years. Mr. Redmayne’s portrayal is astonishing. 

In Rain Man (1988), Dustin Hoffman is spectacularly good as an idiot-savant who has few social skills and the common sense of a tree, but who can instantly compute square roots in his head. Tom Cruise is equally good as his cynical brother, and their mutual voyage of discovery make this film a must-see.

Daniel Day-Lewis catapulted to stardom as Irish author Christy Brown, severely afflicted with cerebral palsy, in My Left Foot (1989). Brenda Fricker and Ray McAnally are just right as his unsentimental and bewildered parents. This is a superb film with excellent performances that gently teaches us not to be so concerned with peoples’ appearances, but to look within (them and us!).

In the enigmatic and deliberately weird The Piano (1993) Holly Hunter’s affliction is constant but entirely self-inflicted. She is mute by choice. She is sent to an arranged marriage in a strange New Zealand locale. Her ability to convey emotion with just her face and body language is absolutely amazing. Sam Neill as her husband, Anna Pacquin as her daughter, and the always dependable Harvey Keitel as her Maori lover help make this film something altogether different and fascinating.

      Cliff Robertson had a good career as a conventionally handsome and unspectacular journeyman actor, but his moment in the sun came in Charly (1968). He is severely mentally retarded. An experimental drug instantly lifts him to mental brilliance, but gradually wears off. His ability to convey the nuances the part requires is convincing and frankly surprising. And he copped the Best Actor Oscar. This film is better than the similar Awakenings (1990), 

Tom Hanks made the dim-witted but ebullient Forest Gump (1994) a national icon. Forest is a good old boy whose elevator stops well short of the penthouse, but he is solid as a rock and the things he can do far outweigh his deficiencies. By turns serious and funny, but never preachy, this remarkable film won every award in sight and deserved them all. Sally Field as his long-suffering mother and Gary Sinise as his damaged friend add to the enjoyment. 

I’ll also mention Jamie Foxx, who won for the blind Ray Charles in Ray (2004), and Colin Firth, overcoming a debilitating speech impediment in The King’s Speech (2010).

My limited research failed to find a Best Actor nominee with a handicap who lost the award. 

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are suitable for 12-year-olds and up.

                                                               RON HOWARD                                 

                                                                 Part 3

Herewith the third and final article about director Ron Howard. At only 66 he still has lots of good movies in him. And actually he just completed Hillbilly Elegy, which will be out soon. And Thirteen Lives is now in pre–production.

Rush (2013) is worth watching for the car race action alone. It is based on the real life duel between Brit James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) rivals who between them practically owned Formula One racing in the 1970's. I do not know of a better car race movie. The racing cinematography is just superb. And the personal stories of the two drivers is engaging. 

Edtv (1999) is a terrific idea with a terrific cast: Matthew McConahaughey, Woody Harrelson, Ellen DeGeneres, Sally Kirkland, Martin Landau, Rob Reiner and Dennis Hopper. True TV is a failing network determined to make a comeback with a show about the daily life of a real person: Ed. For a while he is too boring and the show goes nowhere. Then he meets Shari and sparks fly. Also ratings. The plot meanders a bit but gets back on track toward the finish. 

The Missing (2003) is a pale imitation of John Ford’s The Searchers. Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett do their best in a story of white girls kidnaped by Indians to be sold into slavery in Mexico. The film is about the attempt to rescue the girls. 

Backdraft (1991) is about as close as a movie is going to get to the real life of firefighters. Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert DeNiro, Donald Sutherland and Jennifer Jason Leigh head a stellar cast. The story involves an arsonist and city hall budget cuts, and is fine. But the real reason to watch is the incredible cinematography of the fires. The 2019 sequel is not really worth your time. 

Parenthood (1989) stars Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Rick Moranis and Dianne Wiest in a clever film about a family facing the challenge of an unwed daughter’s pregnancy and a father with too much on his plate. It is funnier than this sounds, and good enough to be made into two tv sitcoms (1990 and 2010).

      Ron Howard has adapted three Dan Brown novels to the silver screen, beginning with The DaVinci Code in 2006. Ir’s the worst of the three, and even Tom Hanks can’t save the murky plot. Angels And Demons is a sequel and slightly better than the first one. Tom Hanks is back chasing a mysterious outfit in the Vatican. Inferno (2016) is a stand-alone with Tom Hanks looking for clues in the work of Dante. None of these three are really bad. Nor are they terribly good.

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups. 

                                                                RON HOWARD

                                                                 Part 2

This is the second of three articles about the incredible directorial career of Ron Howard. Not only was he Andy Griffith’s son Opie, as a teenager he was Richie Cunningham on Happy Days. Then he went behind the camera.

Howard’s expertise as a documentary director was evident in last year’s Pavoratti. The film  documents the career of Luciano Pavorotti, perhaps the world’s greatest tenor. Even if you don’t like opera much (me neither!) you will love this film. The singing is just super and he was one heck of a guy. Generous almost to a fault, he spread his talent and money freely. And Lord, what a voice!  Howard does a super job highlighting the personal and the profound about this iconic artist. 

Another really good documentary helmed by Ron Howard is The Beatles: 8 Days A Week (2016). From their beginnings in a smoky Liverpool dive to international stars at the absolute pinnacle of the music world is well chronicled here. Howard again successfully mixes the personal and the public face of the Fab Four. 

Frost/Nixon (2008) isn’t really a documentary but plays like one. It recreates the famous confrontational interviews between disgraced ex-President Richard Nixon and British reporter David Frost. The gloves are off in this one. Actually, Nixon comes across pretty well considering. Younger viewers won’t remember much of this, which is fine. Those near my age will find some deja vu here. Both the movie and Howard were nominated for Oscar, but neither won. 

Perhaps the movie that best captures the newspaper business is The Paper (1994). Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Randy Quaid lead a brilliant cast in this Ron Howard-directed vehicle about the problems on a big-city daily. About midway through the press run a terrible mistake is discovered. This film is way over the top, but somewhat accurate on the newspaper details and fun to watch if you don’t stop to think. As an old newspaper guy, I greatly admire this film.

In Ransom (1996) Ron Howard displays his directing chops in an action-packed thriller. Mel Gibson plays Tom Mullen, a millionaire whose son, Sean, is kidnaped. Mullen turns the tables on the kidnapers by offering the ransom amount of two million dollars as a bounty on the heads of the kidnapers, and that he will withdraw the bounty and drop all charges if the bad guys release Sean unharmed. Then it gets complicated. 

The true story of the U.S. whaler Essex, which was attacked by a sperm whale in 1820, is the subject of In The Heart Of The Sea (2015) a spectacular film about men against the sea and its creatures. As the ship loses all means of locomotion, starvation and sickness sets in and death seems inevitable. It is fairly well established that Herman Melville based Moby Dick on this incident. 

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. Coming soon: Part 3 of the films of Ron Howard. 

                                                                      RON HOWARD

                                                             Part One

He was perhaps the most beloved child in America, and it’s pretty obvious that for years many of Hollywood’s heavy hitters couldn’t shake the image of Ron Howard as little Opie Taylor on the Andy Griffith Show. That might account for the fact that he was nominated for a directorial Oscar for the first time for A Beautiful Mind (2001), despite several previous stellar efforts. Well, at least Mr. Howard won that year, and his film won Best Picture.

A Beautiful Mind is one terrific movie! Russell Crowe is just fantastic as John Nash, a brilliant but deeply disturbed mathematician who in fact won the Nobel Prize despite his handicap. Jennifer Connelly grabbed her own Oscar as Nash’s long-suffering wife. This is a director’s movie, and Mr. Howard gets every ounce out of the story. 

Since that triumph, Mr. Howard has directed Russell Crowe and Rene Zellwegger in Cinderella Man (2005), a much underrated film about the incredible comeback of heavyweight boxer James Braddock. 

Ron Howard’s achievement in directing Apollo 13 (1995) is considerable, because everyone in the world knows the ending- Apollo 13 did not crash and burn, but returned safely to earth. And yet, this is one of the most edge-of-your-seat, suspense-filled movies ever made. A stellar cast includes Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris. The special effects are totallly convincing. And this movie will leave you gasping in spite of yourself! Yet the 1995 directing Oscar went to Mel Gibson for Braveheart. Oh, please...

Cocoon (1986) is a real charmer and Ron Howard ably directs a cast of older actors, including Don Ameche (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor), Hume Cronyn, Wilford Brimley, Brian Dennehy and Jack Gilford. Florida senior citizens discover a real fountain of youth, and the results are not always expected but are always funny and entertaining. 

Tom Hanks connects with Ron Howard again in the clever and winning Splash (1984) with Daryl Hannah as a real mermaid who is found in the city by Mr. Hanks. He falls for her, and what to do with and for her becomes his joy and his plague, and great entertainment for us. 

Ron Howard’s first big hit was the underrated Night Shift (1982) with Henry Winkler (The Fonz!) as a quiet introvert working in a morgue because of the stillness, and Michael Keaton as his manic, off-the-wall assistant who hatches a wild plot to use their workplace as a brothel. . 

All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for kids 12 and up. This is the first of three planned articles about this great director. Watch this space!

                                                           INGMAR BERGMAN

He was one of the few directors who truly deserves to be called a giant. Ingmar Bergman, the great Swedish master, died at the good old age of 89. He made over 50 films, ( 11 with actress Liv Ullman) most of them good. He was nominated for an Oscar six times, and, incredibly, never won. The Academy will probably give him one of those lifetime work deals now that he’s dead. Some of his films are difficult, but worth the effort. I’ll start with two that are more accessible.

Smiles Of A Summer Night (1955) is a delightfully light comedy about manners, mores and sex as a mixed group of people spend a weekend at a summer home. This film inspired the Broadway play A Little Night Music, as well as Woody Allen’s A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. It doesn’t really show its age; it’s still a delight.

Fanny And Alexander (1983) is a magical family story mostly seen through the eyes of a young Bergman. It has joy and sorrow and most all of the things that most families share. The Academy gave this one Best Foreign Film, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Set Decoration, but not Best Director.

In Wild Strawberries (1957) an aging professor looks back on the shortcomings and pluses of his life en route to receive an honorary degree. Bergman’s use of flashbacks is still studied in film schools. This movie contains one of the most astonishing scenes of self-recognition ever put on the screen. No, I won’t tell you; see it yourself. 

Scenes From A Marriage (1973) lets you have your cake and eat it too. There is a 6-part mini-series made for Swedish TV and a 2 hour 49 minute movie taken from the same. Both can be seen on DVD. I don’t think the movie misses much, but the TV series has it all. Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson are the subject couple. This is probably the best film ever made about the painful erosion of a romantic union. 

The Virgin Spring (1960) seems to be the straightforward story of the rape and murder of a beautiful young farm girl and its effect on her family, but there’s a lot more going on here. A fable for any time; don’t be scared off by the subject matter. Beautifully made.

The Seventh Seal (1957) is frankly difficult. Max Von Sydow is a disillusioned knight on his way home from the crusades. But this one contains incredible set pieces, such as the knight’s chess game with Death. 

When you realize that many of Bergman’s films began as Swedish television dramas, you can only wish we had something similar.

All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are strictly for grown-ups.

                                                           BRIAN DENNEHY

Brian Dennehy left this mortal coil recently at 81. There is a huge gap in his resume’. From 1990 to 2020, although he worked steadily, it was entirely in TV and made-for-TV movies. Since this column deals with big screen flix, I’m going to skip those 30 years. 

The last Dennehy movie was excellent. Driveways (2020) is the story of a young mother and her son moving into her deceased sister’s house to clean it out. Next door is Del (Dennehy), an aging Vietnam veteran, who lives alone. Shy 8-year-old Cody gradually becomes friends with him. The unlikely partnership grows closer with time. 

Brian Dennehy was the go-to guy if you needed a crusty Irishman in the 70's and 80's. He has a bit part as a surgeon in Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977) and another brief appearance as T.J. Lambert in Semi-Tough (1977). 

In Foul Play (1978) Dennehy is a police inspector who is of no help at all to poor Goldie Hawn, caught up in all sorts of spies and devilment. In Never Cry Wolf (1983) Dennehy is bush pilot Rosie, who drops naive scientist Tyler on a frozen lake in the Arctic. Tyler is to study whether wolves are responsible for a decline in caribou. 

Dennehy plays William Kirwill, an American detective searching for his missing brother, in Gorky Park (1983). William Hurt is the lead as Russian cop Arkady Renko, investigating a series of grisly murders. 

Brian Dennehy plays Walter, one of the fortunate oldsters rejuvenated by trespassing in a swimming pool owned by and magically charged by aliens. Cocoon (1985) is a real charmer about the transformation of the aging men and women in a retirement home made young again. There’s quite a cast: Jack Gilford, Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Wilford Brimley and Gwen Verdon are all on board. The plot is a stretch, but just go with it. Oh, and you should probably avoid the pale sequel.

Silverado (1985) is an entirely crooked town in the old west, run by its ruthless Sheriff Cobb, played with evil glee by Brian Dennehy. The plot is complicated, but boils down to an attempt to clean out the town. A fine cast includes Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner and Danny Glover. These are the good guys. A mano a mano showdown on Main Street between the sheriff and Paden (Kline) is a traditional wind-up. The stunts in this oater are really terrific!

In FX (1986) the Department of Justice hires special effects expert Bryan Brown to stage a fake murder. Lt. Leo McCarthy (Dennehy) investigates the murder and can’t understand why the DOJ isn’t co-operating. Then things get very complicated.

Presumed Innocent (1990) is a terrific legal thriller based on the Scott Turow novel. Asst. District Attorney Rusty Tyler (Harrison Ford) works for DA Raymond Horgan (Dennehy). He is ordered to investigate the murder of a female colleague. When his fingerprints are found on a glass in the woman’s apartment, he is charged with the crime by the new DA , who has won an election over Raymond Horgan. The ending of this one is classic. No more from me- watch it yourself!

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.