D.C. MOVIE GUYS

RICHARD PRYOR ON VIDEO

Saturday, December tenth brought the news that groundbreaking comedian and actor Richard Pryor had lost his decade long battle with MS. His death at the age of sixty-five has robbed popular culture of one of its sharpest observers and most ruthlesly honest commentators. Unlike Lenny Bruce, whose career in some ways resembled Pryor’s, but who left behind very little of his work on film, Pryor’s genius is well documented in a number of concert films, television shows and acting roles in movies. With the holidays approaching, here are a few suggestions on which of his performances to add to your home video collection. (more…)

JOE’S REVIEW: “MUNICH”

In August of 1972, fans of the Summer Olympics awoke to a kind of televised nightmare thgat quickly established itself as a horrific reality. A group of terrorists, working under the name Black September and supporting the Palestinian cause, had broken into the dorm rooms of the Israeli team. They killed two men and took eleven othes prisoner. Threatening to kill the men unless a series of demands were met, the terrorists engaged in day-long negotionations with German officals. A deal was made that, among other things, allowed the captors to take their hostages with them to an airport as they prepared to leave the country.

A gunfight errupted between the kodnappers and the police. In the confusion, all eleven Israleis were killed. This is where Steven Spielberg’s latest film, “Munich”, begins. Ussing the non-fiction book “Vengence” by George Jonas, as a starting point, Spielberg seems to start out with a thriller about a nation’s search for justice. Thanks to a complex, thoughtful screenplay and mature, incisive direction, “Munich” becomes significatly more by the time the closing credits fade from the screen.

In the film, the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Gola Meir, decides that returibution must be exacted against those who committed the crime. She callas upon Avner (Eric Bana), one of her former bodygaurds, to lead an unofficial group of assassins who will trave the world-except for Russia and Arab countries-where the government knows eleven people who planned and carried out the Olympic attack live. The team will kill these people in waysthat will send a clear message that Israel and her citizens are not to be touched, no matter where they are, without dire circumstances.

As Avner and his team begin their deadly work, they, like the rest of the world, are firmly convinced of Israel’s right, perhaps duty, to strike back in this unorthodox way. With each assassination and each plunge into the murky world of international intellegence trading and logistical assistance on the black market, Avner and some members of his team begin to question the purpose and aims of theor mission. Despite assurances from his handler, Ephrahim (Geoffery Rush) that they are taking out the people involved in the crime, questions contimue to present themselves. As the grim mission continues and losses mount on both sides, Avner questions his own moral geography, leading him somewhere he never expected.

Speilberg and his screenwriters, prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, have crafted a film that goes far beneath the surface of the typical spy story. They take us on a journey through both the physical territory of Europe and the Middle East as well as the spiritual territory of the heart and the soul. They have the courage to ask the painful and unsettling questions: in seeking revenge, does the victim lose whatever moral highground exsists ? Does any exsist at all ? In a world where everyone partices the ethic of an eye for an eye, can anyone escape ending up blind ?

Spielberg keeps the story moving at a steady pace, drawing viewers in withoiut hyping the action or falling into the easy “good guys versus bad guys” trap. The movie has a low-key, almost documentary-like feel, Bana, an excellent Austrailian actors who’s worked far too long in the shadow of Russell Crowe, is superb as Avner. He embodies a man of quiet dignity and duty who finds himself confronting much more than his nation’s hated enemies. Rush does strong work as the contact/handler and a fine international cast, including the soon to be new James Bond, Daniel Craig and Michael Lonsdale, the hero of “Day of The Jackal” (the movie “Munich”
often reminds one of), add depth to the movie’s layered plot.

Courageous and thought provoking movies are rarer and rarer these days.
When one as bold and intellegent as “Munich” comes along, it should be celebrated and cherisheds. This is not easy entertainment. It is a movie you simply should not miss if you care about movies at all.

MPAA RATING: R for profanity, violence, nudity and sexual situations.
JOE’S RATING:FOUR STARS.

JOE’S REVIEW:”BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN”

Director Ang Lee’s (”The Ice Storm”, “Ride With The Devil”, “Sense and
Sensibility”) modern day cowboy romance, “Brokeback Mountain”, has drawn a great deal of attention because its romantic conflict involves two men in love with each other. While that element of the movie may be ground breaking for a mainstream movie, there is more than just a gay love story worth noting here. There are also elements missing that keep this generally well made film from acchieving greatness.

Set in the rugged mountain country of the Northwest, “Mountain” begins in 1963, as two young men, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake
Gyllenhaal) are hired to spend the late summer and early fall keeping an eye on a herd of sheep grazing on the border between privately owned land and government parkland. Technically, the presence of cowboys overnight is illegal, but the rancher who hires them insistss they remain on the mountasin day and night to gaurd againts predators.

The two barely say a word to each other at first, bvut slowly get to know each other and to enjoy their solitary job. One night, their emotions catch fire and the duo discover the depth of their feelings for each other.
Despite the discovery of their emotional connection, the two go their separate ways at the end of their job. Ennis return to his hometown in Texas to marry his high school sweetheart, Alma. Jake drifts from town to town, taking odd jobs, including rodeo work.

As the years go by, the two get together for fishing and hunting trips that renew their secret, unshakeable ties to each other. They struggle,both with their attraction to each other and the strain their secret puts on Ennis’
marriage. That strain extends to Jack’s impulsive union with a wealthy rodeo queen (Anne Hathaway). As the years pass, Ennis and Jack risk both exposure and estrangement from each other, as both men fight to figure out what direction to take their lives and relationships.

As usual, Lee and his cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto, utilize the visual elements as a backdrop to and commentary on the behavior of the movie’s central chharacters. The land is rough, untamed, beautiful and dangerous.
The wide open spaces reveal and conceal many things. The shear bhysical beauty of the land adds an extra layer to the story.

Screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana have worked hard to open and deepen the short story, written by Annie Proulx, that sered as the basis for the script. While the strong, complex performance of Ledger adds depth to the film, the script lets down the actors and audience in other places.
Gyllenhaal never gets a firm grasp on who Jack is or what drives him. Both of the female characters are sketchilly drawn, giving Williams and Hathaway little to do. There’s more to the story and these men’s lives than their time together, but the screenwriters and director hardly seem to care.
Ironically, it is Ledger’s emotionally restrained Ennis who delivers the most emotionally engaging performance.

Though it takes a number of bold chances and often succeeds, “Brokeback Mountain”, like its leading characters, still has much to share by the time of its final fade out. That it goes as far as it does is admirable. That it doesn’t explore more thoroughly is its-and our-loss.

MPAA RATING: R for profanity, brief nudity, sexual content and violence.
JOE’S RATING: THREE STARS.

JOE’S REVIEW:”MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA”

Rob Marshall proves his triumph in turing “Chicago” from a popular stage musical into a multiple Oscar-winning movie was no fluke with his superb adaptation of Arther Golden’s international best seller “Memoirs of A Geisha”. This visually arresting and emotionally engaging drama is one of the year’s best films, a rich and stirring tale of one woman’s triumph over circumstance and tradition. (more…)

JOE’S REVIEW: “THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA:THE LION, THE WITCH & THE WARDROBE”

Based on C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardeobe” would clearly like to be the new “Harry Potter”. That is, these classic children’s books would lke to find a new global life in a series of popular movies. Andrew Adamson, the director of the animated hit “Shrek”
has been enlisted to bing the story to life and while the story’s talking aminals will captivate young and old alike, much of the magic of Lewis’
creation is still on the page, not on the screen.

Set in England during World War II, the story featues four children, two brothers and two sisters, sent off to the countryside by their mother during the Blitz of London. Whilke living with an eccentric professor and his cranky, wet blanket of a housekeeper, they discover a magic wardrobe in a spare room. Climbing into it, they are transported to the land of Narnia, where animals speak, winter has lasted a hundred years and the land is ruled by thewicked White Witch (Tilda Swinton),

The arrival of the children has her running scared, since a prophecy has decreed that their appearance will bring forth a new day of peace and freedom. She tries to use youngest brother Edmund against his siblings and then holds him prisoner. To free him, the other children must seek the help of some of the animals of the land and their leader, the lion Aslayn.
Before freedom can come and peace be established, fear will have to be faced and sacrifice will be demanded.

Adamson clearly is more at home with the abilty of today’s cinematic special effects to bring the talking animals to life than he is with making his human cxharacters more “animated”, so to speak. The child actors, with the exception of the charming young girl playing Lucy, are little more than living plot devices that keep things moving. The voice work of Liam Neeson as the Lion, Rupert Evrett as the fox and the beavers and others, have a magical quality that lifts the movie to a certain level. When the animals aren’t on screen, the movie’s magic falls silent.

While executives at Disney, the studio releasing the film , had hoped to exploit the stories underlying Christian allegorical elements, the film’s overall flaws make that subtext a lesser issue. To borrow a quote from “Star Wars’ ” Han Solo, when it comes to Mr. Adamson’s skill as a director, “good with animated ogers, that’s one thing. Good with the living, that’s something else.”

MPAA RATING: PG for violent battle scenes JOE’S RATING: TWO STARS.