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Reviews
Where Is Kyra? (2017)
Dark
Deliberately unwatchable. Dark, blurry, pointlessly framed shots. What was the director thinking?
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Silly, but entertaining
It is said of John Carradine that, in his later years, he would do any film role for $100,000. As a result, he played in a lot of dreadful films.
I couldn't help but think of Carradine as I watched the eminent British actor, Sir Ian McKellan, prancing about in a ghastly costume and pantomiming throwing automobiles through the air in this 2006 installment of the comic book series.
However, McKellen is not alone here. This film features a stellar cast of Oscar, Emmy and Tony winners and other distinguished performers, including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin and Kelsey Grammar. And the supporting cast includes no slouches either.
As an actor, I can think of few things more difficult than standing in front of a green screen in a ludicrous outfit, feigning physical acts involving elements to be later generated by computer, while mouthing comic book dialogue. Yet, for the most part, these talented folk manage to pull it off.
I must confess that I have never read an X-Men comic book, nor have I seen either of the previous X-Men films. Regarding this one, the plot is too silly to recount. On more than one occasion, I had to remind myself of my son's comment when, watching some similar film, I raised some plot objection. "You want logic?" he asked. Abandon all logic, ye who enter here.
One unfortunate point. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have virtually identical voices and diction. Now and then it became difficult, when they were both in a scene, to be certain which one of them was speaking.
The special effects are spectacular, I guess. Like most of us, I suspect, I have become so jaded by special effects that they tend to make me yawn. "King Kong" was a special exception.
All of these esteemed performers play "mutants" in this film, but their mutations are not the type you might expect; no tails, or extra fingers or webbed toes. No, their mutations allow them to control metal, throw fire or ice, control the weather, read minds or, in one case, do anything they can imagine.
Poor Kelsey Grammar plays Beast. For most of the movie, his mutation seems to be that he is colored blue and very hairy. In the climactic battle, it turns out he is a refugee from the WWE.
I don't want to imply by these comments that his film is not fun to watch. It is, sort of. If you were going to spend $7-10 to see it at a theater, I'd advise you to save your money. If you're going to rent it for a couple of bucks, or watch it on cable, then pop some corn, pour a beer and go for it.
Winter Passing (2005)
Subtle, poignant, beautifully written and performed.
The film does have a plot, but it is pretty much irrelevant. In short, a young actress (Zooey Deschanel), daughter of two tortured but successful authors, returns to her Michigan home some months after her mother's suicide in search of love letters written by her parents during her courtship and willed to her by her mother, with an eye to selling them for publication. Upon arrival, she discovers her father (Ed Harris), deep in alcoholic despondency, living in the garage while his house is occupied by two young people. One is Corbit (Will Ferrell)(yes, you read that right), a dysfunctional former Christian rocker who serves as something of a bodyguard for Harris. The other is Shelly (Amelia Warner), a former student of Harris' who lives in the house and helps care for him.
The characters are subtle, many faceted, beautifully written and exquisitely played. The arc of the film is one of growing understanding and tolerance and the onion of their pain is gracefully peeled.
The surprise in this film is Ferrell. He gives a quiet, controlled, thoroughly honest performance. As we have come to expect from him in his madcap comedies, he commits fully to this character and not a moment rings false.
This gentle film is more than worth an investment of 98 minutes.
Jarhead (2005)
I'm glad John Wayne and Gary Cooper didn't live to see this
"Jarhead" is a 2005 film directed by Sam Mendes based on former Marine Anthony Swofford's best-selling 2003 book about his experiences in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It has been described as a film about these young men bonding in the desert, but that doesn't match up with the film I saw.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx are the big names in the film, with Gyllenhaal portraying Swofford and Foxx the staff sergeant in charge of his crew of snipers.
After enduring a sadistic and seemingly pointless hazing by his new cohorts, Swofford finds himself sent off with them to Saudi Arabia. There they battle boredom, heat, official stupidity and their own banality. Tormented by the meaningless routine and (justified) fears of his girl's infidelity, Swofford goes "off the deep end" and threatens a fellow marine with a loaded weapon before begging that same marine to shoot him.
As Desert Shield morphs into Desert Storm, the marines do many entertaining things, such as dodging friendly fire from above, making obscene gestures to arab women, blowing the heads off camels and posing for photos with the charred corpses of dead arabs incinerated by American aircraft while attempting to flee.
Finally, after much angst, the war ends without any of them having fired their weapons. So they celebrate by shooting them into the air.
Oo rah.
Interestingly, the German title for the film is "Jarhead - Wilkommen im Dreck," which I guess translates to Jarhead - welcome to the suck, an oft-repeated sentiment among these thuggish semi-literates. I am accustomed to a different and, in my opinion, more accurate translation of "dreck." Which is not to say that this is a bad movie. In fact, it is pretty good. It is, however, a very unflattering portrayal of today's U.S. Marines. I'm afraid we've come a long way from "Sands of Iwo Jima," and John Wayne is spinning in his grave.