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Reviews
The Contender (2000)
A major disappointment, considering the talent involved.
I can't say enough how disappointed I was when I finally saw this film. After hearing interviews with Joan Allen and writer/director Rod Lurie, reading scores of good press on the film, and hearing how Steven Spielberg personally told Lurie to "film every word of the script" I was expecting, if not a phenomenal movie, then an exemplary and compelling story. What I got was a former movie reviewer's 2nd film ("Deterrence" being the first) that lacked energy, flair, a good story, or even great performances. Instead I found an overly sappy, preachy, underdeveloped mess of a political drama that had no real drama, no urgency to drive the story and a score that was all melodrama. Also, I felt insulted by the "big surprise ending" involving the "will-they-or-won't-they-confirm-her" finale, which was telegraphed from the VERY FIRST SCENE. Ugh. Add in a so-so performance by a usually exceptional Joan Allen (I blame the writing and the director, not Joan), Christian Slater's "seen his arc coming from a mile away" senator and Jeff Bridges' "I've got no personality" president, and you've got an utterly unwatchable film. It's such a shame that this movie failed on so many levels, when the basic concept was a good one.
The Cream Will Rise (1998)
An overproduced hybrid of concert film and therapy session
In an effort to get to the essence of singer/songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins, documentarian Gigi Gaston follows her on tour in support of the "Tongues and Tails" album. Approaching stardom with the hit song "(Damn)I Wish I Was Your Lover," Hawkins talks and talks... and talks. Her insights about what she writes and how she sees celebrity are surface-level, rock-star babble. She's definitely an unique personality, but the film spends SO much time with her, the mystery and the sensuality that comes through in her music and lyrics are deflated by the person behind it. The backstage scenes of the tour focus solely on Sophie, with no interviews of her band or the fans. This may be the point of the docu, to only deal with Sophie BY Sophie, but it makes for a dragging, repetitious film. The director, Gigi Gaston, is a skilled filmmaker, using various film stock, cameras and sound equipment -- but the final result is an endless assault of quick-editing and a flurry of moving images that just serve to detract from the music and the message. I went in liking Sophie's music and individual spirit, I came out bored and, frankly, sick of hearing her self-important ramblings.