bodhisattva13

"Identity" is a well-crafted film and a wonderful addition to the genre. When the film came out in April, I avoided it because I associated director James Mangold with such films as "Kate and Leopold" and "Girl Interrupted." So it was a surprise to find a fine psychological thriller in the Hitchcockian tradition. There are a lot of twists, turn and red herrings. In the Starz! feature on the DVD, John Cusak says that the characters are moved around as if on a chessboard, which is true. It's one of the best films of 2003. Cusak and Ray Liotta are fantastic; the former has that dark, intellectual stuff down while the latter is the dark, dangerous explosive type. I love them both and it's great to see such cinematic heavyweights working together. If you skipped this one out, rent it. Better yet get the DVD and take in some of the extras.

I started watching this film at about midnight. Even though it was 148 minutes long and I was becoming increasingly tired, I couldn't switch it off. I can't explain what about this film appeals to me. Especially since it isn't as much about a manhunt for the killer and rapist of an 11-year-old girl as how disconnected we all are from one another.

The lead actor conveys this melancholic, sweetness that makes a person want to embrace him. He's so filled with sadness and ennui. This really is such a deeply sad film. His neighbor, too, wastes her time with an immature and idiotic boyfriend. Their frequent sex scenes aren't as much erotic as desperate, feverish attempts to feel something.

Another film that had a deep effect upon me was Mike Leigh's "All or Nothing." That's another slice-of-life, roll the cameras and then pretend they aren't there kind of film. I think what makes these types of films resonant with me is all the artifice seems stripped away. Faced with a mirror of myself and my society, I can't help but ache and feel hollow.

As someone else said, few people will recommend this type of film, although critics invariably hail it. The reason - because this is more true than "Die Hard" or any other equally vacuous Hollywood blockbuster. I don't go to the cinema to be entertained. I want to see life and from that understand myself and my world better. "L'Humanite," which not surprisingly is written and directed by a philosopher, accomplishes those objectives.

A Francophile will probably like this film. I did. Meg Ryan plays a woman who's on the verge of marrying a Canadian, so she's denounced her American citizenship. She's also afraid of flying so she stays home while her fiance goes to Paris on business. Things take a turn for the worse when he calls, saying he's met the woman of his dreams and he's staying in France.

Frantic to get back her man, she boards a plane. Next to her sits a French thief, beautifully played by Kevin Kline, who has problems of his own, most notably how to smuggle a diamond necklace out of the country.

It's a character-driven plot that Cary Grant would have loved - two people who are seemingly so "repelled" by each other but all they need are the right elements to fall in love. I'm generally not a fan of the romantic-comedy, but the French setting sucked me in as did a supporting role played by the always excellent Jean Reno.

As for the authenticity of Kline's accent, I had a good friend from France who claimed it was "formidable." So there.

Very entertaining and worth a watch.

Want more French choices? Try "Frantic" with Harrison Ford, it's Hitchcockian; "Green Card," who can resist Depardieu?; and my all-time favorite Meg Ryan film "Addicted to Love." It's a great black comedy and it has the sizzlingly sexy Tcheky Karyo. "C'est magnifique!"

Undoubtedly fans of the Alan Moore comic will lambast this film, but most of these types are so possessive of the written material they invariably slam ANYTHING that doesn't conform to every minute detail. That's too bad, because - taken on its own merit - this is quite a good film.

Captain Nemo's ship, the Nautilus, is breathtaking as are the sets of Venice, Berlin and London. Although the story takes huge liberties with the characters' backgrounds - Nemo was French, Mina was never a scientist, Dorian Gray could look at his portrait - the script is written in a way that you don't care. The inside jokes, most of them literary, will make the average egghead, like myself, burst out laughing. For instance, when Quartermain learns that the bad guy is called the Phantom, he says, "how operatic." (Get it "Phantom of the Opera?") Oh well, maybe it's just me.

I saw this film the same weekend as "Pirates of the Caribbean" and actually preferred "LXG." The pacing of the "Pirates" seemed too slow and naturally there wasn't enough Johnny Depp. "LXG" has car chases, some fantastic fight sequences and interesting characters.

Peta Wilson was fantastic as Mina. (And I'm a sucker for vampires. Get it?) Stuart Townsend was slimy but seductive as Dorian and even the addition of Tom Sawyer, which originally made me groan, was pulled off well. Sean Connery, who has complained about this film bitterly, even seems to be enjoying himself. And really has this Scottish actor ever made a bad film? The invisible man has some good lines and even though the Jekyll and Hyde thing wasn't to my tastes - Hyde looked a bit crap -I enjoy Jason Flemyng.

So give the film a break you nitpickers. Let's see what you can accomplish with a camera.

Danny Boyle is an exceptionally gifted filmmaker and I've been enamored with his work since the brilliant "Shallow Grave." "Trainspotting" only gets better every time you see it and "A Life Less Ordinary" has some bright moments. (The singing and dancing number is parfait.) Mr. Boyle hit a bump in the road when it came to "The Beach," but then he forsake us all by casting DiCaprio. He's back to redeem himself, as is Alex Garland, with "28 Days Later," a marvelous twist on the apocalyptic film.

IMDB's summary isn't completely accurate in that "nearly the entire planet has been wiped out." But that's a plot twist you'll have to uncover for yourself. What occurs - a la "12 Monkeys" - is while trying to expose the work taking place at a primate research center, a group of activists unwittingly release a virus called rage. The way it works is if a person is bitten by an infected person, he or she develops a murderous rage and desire to kill within 10 to 12 seconds. (Infection can also occur if the afflicted person's blood enters another person's body, through the nose, eye, mouth or open wound.)

Twenty-eight days after being hit by a car, Jim, a bike courier and our film's hero, wakes up to find London deserted. He eventually meets two other survivors and then encounters another two. After picking up a radio broadcast that calls all uninfected people to Manchester, the survivors fight off the infected and make their way to what seems like the promised land. Complications follow is all I'll say.

Some have compared this film to George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," giving some people the wrong impression that this is the British take on the zombie flick. Wrong. The infected aren't zombies but they are terrifying. They can be killed and the director doesn't gross us out by showing the infected feasting on human flesh. (All in all, "28 Days" isn't visually disgusting. It's the thought of what's going on that bothers you.)

The acting in this film is really first rate, with Cillian Murphy giving an emotionally compelling performance. As in most Boyle films, the camera work also is exceptional and in the first part we are shown some phenomenal long shots of an evacuted London with a soundtrack devoid of sound. The effect is gooseflesh raising. Boyle also adds in other nice touches, like a bunch of goldfish swimming in about five inches of water. (Symbolism?) And a scene with wild horses is another fine moment.

The story too goes beyond what we might expect. We get the jumps associated with zombie films - they come out of no where and travel in packs - and yet the heroes don't come off too much better. One character suggests that the virus, by killing off humankind, returns things to normalcy. Christopher Eccleston, a terrific actor, retorts that before the virus man killed man and now he's still doing it. So what's changed? The film also suggests that to save yourself, you would have to kill anyone - child, adult; family member, stranger. And these characters do. But what's noteworthy is we see how having to make those sorts of decisions affects them, particularly Jim.

Like Lord of the Flies, the film strips away the civility we all think we possess and demonstrates that we, too, are bound by the laws of the animal kingdom - it's survival of the fittest and to have a future we need to reproduce.

Another reviewer said the film fell apart after the first 45 minutes when, in fact, I felt it only got stronger. The last half of the film proved to be very intense. Garland truly raised the stakes.

If you enjoy your scares with a bit more thought to them, "28 Days Later" won't disappoint. (And if you do, try these similar films - "12 Monkeys," "Quiet Earth" and "Lord of the Flies.")

Many people will see this documentary because of Billy Joel, after all, his family is half the subject of "The Joel Files." And that's great, because with or without star quality, this is a film that must be seen by everyone, regardless of religious affiliation. Even if you know something about what the Nazis did to the Jews, you'll still watch this film with your mouth open in disbelief. Before World War II, Karl Joel, the singer's grandfather, created a mail order enterprise. From his hard work and ingenuity he amassed a mansion and a fortune. Then the Nazis began taking control of the government and the Jewish businessman saw his name ruined, his business and home stolen, and his life threatened. Defeated and fearful for his existence, he fled the country for Cuba and then the United States. History worked out a different scenario for another mail order magnate -Neckermann, a Catholic and a Nazi sympathizer. Thanks to his connections, he was able to profit tremendously from the war and the suffering of the Jews in concentration camps. (He thought he was helping them by giving them jobs.) His own later greed lead to his ruin. The documentary tells the story of these two families, but it doesn't just present a piece of history. It also demonstrates how this event has affected the survivors. Interesting stuff. How the Neckermann grandchildren can speak of their relative without disgust is beyond me, especially when the viewer watches Neckermann talk about those events with a fixed smirk on his face. If Neckermann hadn't done what he did, wouldn't someone else have taken advantage of the Joel family? Maybe, but as Joel's brother suggests, if you go along with something doesn't that still make you culpable?

Somewhere along the way, while rolling in his piles of money, didn't Neckermann stop and think of what he'd done to a man to a people?

Even those who don't like documentaries will find this to be riveting, thought-provoking subject matter.

What's exciting about watching the quaternary "Alien" films is each one reflects the director's proclivities. "Alien 2," many people's favorite, is typical of the "blast-first-ask-questions-later" mentality of James Cameron. (A director I loathe.) What I appreciate about "Alien 3," and certainly I'm in the minority here, is how it rethinks the genre. Ripley crashes on a penal colony where there are no weapons and all the inmates have "found God." Unfortunately the alien also finds its way there and is ready to begin harvesting. With no weapons at their disposal, the inmates have to pull together and find another way to conquer this "unstoppable" foe. It's so obvious to rely on fire power, the bigger the gun the better, that anymore it's almost boring. So to take on this kind of enemy WITHOUT rounds of ammo is creative thinking at its highest. How this film got made is anyone's guess. While four writers are credited with the script, the story belongs to New Zealander Vincent Ward, a true visionary filmmaker who created "Vigil," "Navigator" and "What Dreams May Come." (I wish he'd work on another project already.) True genius! I also enjoy the atmospherics of this film. It's very claustrophobic, with a pervasive undercurrent of menace. Here's a woman surrounded by rapists and murderers who operate under a thin veneer of civility and she has to rely on them. It creates a very tense situation indeed. Sigourney Weaver shaved her head for the role, very bold in a "you'll get the job if you're a pinup" industry. And here she's got balls of brass. Her costars, most of whom are British, are top notch, particularly the always wonderful Pete Postlethwaithe, Charles Dance and Brian Glover. Charles S. Dutton is also quite good. And the cinematography by Alex Thomson, the man behind "Excalibur," is moody and atmospheric. In my mind, you can never make a film too dark. (It would have been interesting to see how Dharius Khondji, the cinematographer on "Se7en," would have done.) For me, David Fincher is a real hit and miss director, but he's still one of the most visually exciting. He's done some truly brilliant work and I consider "Se7en," "Fight Club" and "Alien 3" some of the most impressive films of all time. (Although "The Game" and "Panic Room" were stylistically fascinating, they are crap when it comes to plot.) Those who seem to admire "Alien 3" are formalists; they appreciate style over function. Those who hate this film belong to the "shoot 'em up" club; if you have to think about your sci-fi, you might as well not bother. I say more of the former, fewer of the latter.

Although it gets labeled a "romantic comedy," this film is more a philosophical treatise about living life to the fullest. Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) just doesn't feel good. And it's no wonder he works a soulless job in a depressing building with artificial lights. Finally, his physician levels with him - he has a brain cloud and is going to die in six months. Joe returns to his job, quits and prepares to wait for the end. Then a man appears at his door. He'll help Joe enjoy his last few months on earth if, in return, he will jump into the Big Woo, a volcano. Joe agrees and thus begins his great journey of finding the meaning of life and his role in it. There's something so liberating about what Joe discovers. He is going to die. Everyone is. So why waste what he has? Why hide from life? "Joe Vs the Volcano" is the kind of film I've watched over and over and never tire of, because it's so simple and yet so profound. Writer/Director John Patrick Shanley creates such a masterpiece with this film. It's funny, subtle, quirky and heartwarming. But not in the calculated Disney magic kind of way. Hanks is brilliant as the hypochondriac trapped in a sort of 9 to 5 purgatory. And no matter how many times I see it, the scene where he unsteadily rises to gaze at the enormous moon always gets me. The tears just flow. I also love the moment where he gets out of his car and hugs the old woman with a Great Dane. Many moments such as these exist in this film and most don't have dialogue bogging them down. Just music over a little vignette. Meg Ryan is good too, playing three versions of the same woman. (I particularly like the redhead who recites the poem to a much bewildered Hanks.) Dan Hedaya is brilliant as the obnoxious Mr. Waturi: "I'm not arguing with you;" as are Ossie Davis as the limo driver and Barry McGovern as the luggage salesman. (I love the luggage!) The music, too, is fantastic and I wish someone had released the soundtrack. The opening song "16 Tons" is great as is Hank's "Cowboy Song."

Whenever I'm feeling like life is a real crapper, all I have to do is put this film in and I'm good again; everything's right with the world. This is an underrated gem of a film. (Shanley should be a bit more prodigious.)

I saw this film when I was nine years old. And I loved it. From the opening shot of Goldie Hawn's VW bug driving along to Barry Manilow's "Ready to Take a Chance Again" to the Pope tapping his foot to "Three Little Maids From School Are We," this movie is pure entertainment. What makes it so funny is it seems an exercise in lateral thinking. A snake that eats cigarettes? An albino hit man? Billy Barty? I love the music in this film and watching Dudley Moore sing "I feel the earth move under my feet" ... while he tries to seduce Hawn, who was the very model of wholesome cuteness in the '70s and '80s. Her pairing with Chase gave us some of the funniest shows of the era. (I also enjoy "Seems Like Old Times.") The only downside to this film - if you see it when you're an impressionable child, you'll always be wondering if someone will stab you through the theater seat. Argh!