Santa never said Ho, ho, ho

 THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES (2018)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I always wondered how Santa Claus traveled around the world and dropped off Christmas gifts through all those chimneys in one night. Well, I am not sure "The Christmas Chronicles" answers that question succinctly or sufficiently but it will do. This is one comically high blast of a Yuletide miracle - the movie that "Santa Claus: The Movie" should have been and, dare I say, it is possibly better than all 3 "Santa Clause" movies. It is often hysterical, upbeat, inventive and tremendous fun and what a joy to see a Santa Claus movie that has that has that most desperate thing lacking in many St. Nick movies - a sense of wonder and magic.

Kate (Darby Camp) is the young, sprightly girl who is classified as a "True Believer" in Santa Claus because, you know, St. Nick does in fact exist. She records a video using the antiquated mini-DV camcorder (seems like they became antiquated rather fast) and pleads with Santa for some gifts despite failing Spanish. Kate's older brother, Teddy (Judah Lewis), is a sourpuss who hangs out with his "gangster wannabe" friends (the siblings lost their firefighter dad in a fire years back). Kate catches Teddy in the act of stealing a car with her mini-DV of course so she bribes him after discovering an old tape that presumably shows the hand of Santa! If Teddy can help her catch Santa dropping off presents, then she won't show their mother (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) the tape of Teddy stealing! Before one can say, hey switch to the iPhone for clarity rather than an old mini-DV, a slimmer Santa (Kurt Russell) arrives and drops the gifts off. Kate and Teddy are shaken in the awesome sight of the sled and the reindeer waiting as they float above their Lowell, Massachusetts street while Santa swishes in and out of chimneys. Kate climbs aboard the unmanned sled and, inadvertently, take off with Teddy but no Santa! 

A dilemma occurs when Santa finally gets back on the sled and loses his "magical" hat and the toy bag and the reindeer. They all end up in Chicago, a good 1000 miles away from Massachusetts, and they have find Santa's toy bag and the runaway reindeer or Christmas will officially cease to exist. Naturally Santa has some time to dispel certain myths about himself such as the fact that he never says "Ho, Ho, Ho" and he is not too fat despite his iconic depiction on soda products and billboards. This Santa knows every person by name, including a former thief working at a restaurant and a couple of disbelieving cops. Will the kids be able to help Santa and finish delivering presents since Santa's watch shows the Christmas spirit percentage dropping?

Although certain scenes in the middle section involving shenanigans with the Chicago cops do drag a tad, I overall enjoyed "The Christmas Chronicles." It is often quite funny and has a sharp, slightly naughty (don't worry, not naughty like the Christmas Store Santa in "Bad Santa") and rockin' Santa Claus who often has a sarcastic comment to make and can play guitar and sing Christmas rock songs. As played by Kurt Russell, this is a Santa with much joy in his heart yet he also recognizes the sadness of the world and of the two fighting siblings, Kate and Teddy (both Darby Camp and Judah Lewis are engaging to watch). The film's inventiveness goes as far as showing the world that exists in Santa's toy bag (I've often wondered how he fits all those millions of presents), and how these elves can work their magic and fight tooth and nail if needs be. I also love the wonderful production design of the cabinet full of letters to Santa from around the world. 

One thing I admire most about "The Christmas Chronicles" is Kurt Russell's Santa because he manages for the first time in quite a while to show the twinkle in Kris Kringle's eyes, plus the joy and the cheer without serving it up like a maudlin dish. That is something to celebrate. Ho, ho ho. 

A glowing treat that warms your heart

 LITTLE WOMEN (1994)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Originally written in 1994

 

There is likely no other novel as beloved by women as the classic Louisa May Alcott entitled "Little Women." Its story of family longing and the affectionate relationship between four sisters and their mother in Massachusetts is spirited and involving and has captivated readers since its inception. This latest movie adaptation does the novel justice - it is a breezy, breathtaking movie that will leave you weeping for joy without coercing you to tears.

The Little Women are the March sisters of Concord, Massachusetts which includes the spirited Jo (Winona Ryder), the aspiring writer of the family who stages her plays in the attic with her sisters as actors. There's also Meg (Trini Alvarado), the oldest daughter of the family who only wants to get married and live happily for love. Claire Danes plays the ailing Beth who loves music, and there's also the bratty, precocious Amy (Kirsten Dunst), the youngest sister of the family. In the film's flashforward to the Marchs' entering adulthood, Samantha Mathis plays the older Amy. The March sisters live with their strong-willed mother, Marmee (Susan Sarandon, as strong-willed as they get), a vigorous feminist and they all await the arrival of Father March (Matthew Walker), a soldier fighting in the Civil War. 

The family sticks together and support each other during hard times that include poverty, anguish and death. At one point, Marmee tries to visit her husband but she doesn't have the money. Jo decides to cut her precious hair for money and gives it to her mother to pay for the trip. And as Amy adds, "Jo, you got rid of your one beauty."

"Little Women" isn't just the March's struggling household but also the later years when each of the sisters go their own separate ways. Jo tries to develop a writing career in New York with the help of a kindly professor (Gabriel Byrne); Meg marries a stiff tutor (Eric Stoltz), and Amy ends up marrying a Laurie (Christian Bale), a spoiled rich young man who was the March family's next door neighbor. 

What makes any version of "Little Women" work are the actors, and what an elegant, fine cast of them we have here! Winona Ryder is perfectly cast as Jo (proving once again she can period films as she did in "The Age of Innocence"); Kirsten Dunst is appropriately funny as the pint-sized Amy; Trini Alvarado is merely okay as the older sister Meg, but it is really Claire Danes (from TV's "My So-Called Life") as Beth who is the driving emotional force behind the movie - she has some wrenching scenes that are painful to watch.

I do have a couple of gripes such as why is the older Amy the only one who seems to age considering she's played by an older actress? Winona is a terrific actress who is capable of much but she still looks 22 when she's portraying a 42-year-old Jo, same flaw applies to Trini's Meg. This is clearly a case of makeup issues because Winona certainly aged appropriately in "Edward Scissorhands" when she played a grandmother.

"Little Women" is a beautifully vivid and remarkably well-made film that Alcott would have loved. The film not only warms your heart and glows with elegance and style - it conveys the feeling of warmth as if you were reading the book in bed on a cold, wintry night.  

Heaven Help Us - a decent reboot

 HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN (2021)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Highway to Heaven" is one of those completely disarming movies that is impossible to dislike. Ostensibly a reboot of the heavenly 1980's Michael Landon TV show of the same name, this is one reboot that perhaps nobody asked for but that I am inclined to say, it works (and if it becomes a TV series, I am okay with that, too.)

R & B singer Jill Scott is Angela, the angel on Earth who is on a mission from her boss ("God" of course) to travel to towns across America and rectify broken relationships and provide solace and relief and a touch of redemption. Her latest job is to become a temporary guidance counselor of a seemingly upper-class high school. Principal Bruce (Barry Watson) interviews her and is amazed at her measured sense of hope and how approachable she is - a person with a sunnier side of disposition than most. Almost immediately, Angela spots a troubled student she can help, Cody (Ben Daon). Cody predictably doesn't want to talk to anyone or be counseled and is insular in his own private anguish over the death of his mother. He's also failing math and unless he improves his grade, he will repeat 8th grade. Angela can change all that and practically does. Cody opens up slowly, and also discovers photos, letters, unopened Christmas presents and other items from his mother in his closet which alarms his father. I might add that Cody's father has difficult emotional issues with his sister-in-law whom he feels abandoned his wife when she was dying (he's also trying to open his dream restaurant). Then there is the principal's own emotional woes though all this seems overloaded for any one angel now matter how much she is willing to take on (even Clarence, the angel, in "It's a Wonderful Life" could earn his wings as long as he just helped poor George Bailey).

Talk about a heavenly, charming presence on screen, Jill Scott makes all this sappy material work. When Jill is on screen (which is 95 percent of the time), she radiates with such beaming phosphorescence that you can't help but be overjoyed - you really believe she is an angel. I have not seen a more pleasing presence in any film or TV show in years. The rest of the cast is merely adequate and that is because the sheer nature of Jill Scott steals the movie from everyone.

Despite the film's lapses into silliness and one too many hasty resolutions, "Highway to Heaven" is an engaging, emotionally centered tale that I thankfully never found stifling with the occasional musical overtures to remind us that a miracle has occurred. The filmmakers may not always trust their own instincts because Jill Scott doesn't need extraneous mojo to work her magic - she carries this movie on her back and makes us believe in the potential for human kindness.  

Yuletide tale with rodents and ducks

 MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1983)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

There are some goofy moments, maybe too few, in Disney's own 1983 short animated version of Christmas Carol, one of many incarnations of the Charles Dickens classic novel. Scrooge McDuck (voiced by Alan Young) is annoyed by his nephew, Fred (played by Donald Duck) and kicks him out the door with such velocity that you expect Donald to have landed somewhere on the Thames. Donald returns a second later and reminds Scrooge to have a Merry Christmas. There is also another goofy moment with Goofy himself as the ghost of Marley who is forever dragging those heavy chains and tormenting Scrooge. Goofy trips over his own chain and it made me laugh. 

Beyond that, "Mickey's Christmas Carol" follows step-by-step the original Dickens classic, clearly in abbreviated form at 26 minutes. There is no major surprise or twist other than having familiar Disney characters dominating the London tale including the unusual choice of Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past and sloppy Willie the Giant as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Daisy Duck as Scrooge's lost love is wonderful, though why Minnie Mouse as Cratchit's wife has no lines of dialogue is odd. Mickey Mouse is always a pleasure to watch, this time as Bob Cratchit who feels threatened by his boss, Scrooge.

"Mickey's Christmas Carol" is a sweet little confection that still works and hits all the right marks and makes you love Christmas all over again, that is if you are in a Bah, Humbug mood. Why this was never done as a full-length feature I can't say. 

Striking a Balletic Blow in Northern England

 BILLY ELLIOTT (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Original Review from 2000

To be honest, I approached this movie with a certain dread. The advertisements called it: uplifting! Oscar-worthy! Finally, a bloody good film about the human soul and the triumph of the human spirit! Well, a bloody good film about the human soul is "Taxi Driver" but I know what people want
from the cinema nowadays. Sentiment and in equal doses with a touch of heavy syrup added to make you feel not so much uplifted but weepy. I resent when manipulative tearjerkers exist because there is rarely much soul or humanity in them. Think of the countless Lifetime TV movies-of-the-week, or for that matter, the absurdly awful "The Evening Star," which led us to believe that a huge mortality rate equals emotion. Not so. But I digress. "Billy Elliot" could have been a contender for most sentimental hogwash of the year but it is not: it is a humane, positively uplifting film guaranteed to at least
place a smile on your face.

Billy Elliot (the extraordinary Jamie Bell) is a young boy living in the poor section of Northern England with his tough-as-nails father, Jackie (Gary Lewis), and Billy's older, rougher brother, Tony (Jamie Draven). Billy takes care of his grandmother, who also lives with him, while his father and brother protest the town's ongoing mine strike and the scabs. The last thing they need to hear is that Billy is thinking of becoming a ballet dancer! But the macho ethic of Jackie and Tony does not allow for fairies or swans, so to speak. Billy actually takes up boxing but lacks the drive and the attitude. One day, he observes a ballet class taking place in the same gymnasium where he boxes. Billy is transfixed and decides to learn ballet. Why? Even he doesn't know but it does bring some energy and enthusiasm to the kid - he feels alive when he dances. The gum-chewing teacher (Julie Walters) instructs the boy, despite stern objections from Jackie and Tony. Billy loves ballet and the movement of the body swaying to the strains of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Ballet" - it is definitely an escape for the boy from the horrors at home. The teacher is so impressed with the boy that she tells him to audition for the Royal Ballet School in London.

"Billy Elliot" is essentially the well-traveled road about a kid from a poor town who plans to make a difference by following his dreams. The tale is nothing new but of course, what matters is how it is told. What remains questionable is the amount of time invested in Jackie and Tony's lives, which
breaks the tension and charisma of watching Billy practice his ballet. The widowed Jackie is so fed up with life and all it has to offer that to help Billy, he sadly chooses to become a scab (this turns out be short lived). This no doubt affects Billy, but the movie follows the formula to the hilt without ever following its heart. Sure, Jackie is disapproving of his son's artistic intentions but he comes around. The gritty realism we are given about a father torn by his love for his long-lost wife and by his desire to not work doesn't wash, nor does Tony's sudden change-of-heart (if I am not mistaken, he even wears an apron in one scene!)

These plot changes do not qualify as spoilers because if you've seen "Rocky" or "Flashdance," you've seen this same tale woven by many. What does wash are the beautifully choreographed ballet scenes - this Jamie Bell is one hell of a dancer, and a fine actor to boot (Haley Joel Osment, watch out!) He is charismatic, soulful, determined, enthusiastic, and a fighter - he will not quit until he gets those dance moves right. It is sheer bliss to watch any scene with Bell, and his moments with Julie Walters are
awe-inspiring (not as good though as the similar tale with Shirley MacLaine in "Madame Sousatzka"). There also some wonderful scenes between Billy and his best friend, Michael (Stuart Wells), who wears his mother's clothes. I also like the tender scenes between Billy and the teacher's daughter (Nicola
Blackwell). But whenever the film dwells on the mine strike, it is as if we were watching another film entirely. One has the grit and the other has the fantasy, and the two do not mesh evenly.

"Billy Elliot" doesn't succumb to the overt sentimentality of typical Hollywood fare by reminding us when to weep. It builds on the charismatic Jamie Bell, who uplifts us in spite of the cliches and uneven subplot surrounding him. He reminds us of how we can follow our dreams wherever they take us.

The Haddonfield Mob out for justice

 HALLOWEEN KILLS (2021)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Any time a new "Halloween" flick is announced, there is the chill of anticipation, the hope someone achieves more than a third of what made the original 1978 film a classic in its disreputable genre. Of all the run-of-the-mill sequels and reboots that have come and gone, "Halloween: H20" was the best and moderately entertaining if for no reason other than the return of reliable Jamie Lee Curtis. I am not excluding the bloody "Halloween II" from 1981 but "H20" had more psychological depth. The 2018 sequel, simply called "Halloween," was mediocre though what made it rise above the others was, again, the return of Jamie Lee Curtis as the tormented Laurie Strode who actually becomes the hunter, the one that wants to vanquish Michael Myers from existence. She's back in "Halloween Kills" though it is largely an extended cameo. Boo! Still I think "Halloween Kills" is a marked improvement over the 2018 flick, quite entertaining with a few surprises yet the gory killings are more over-the-top than usual. 

Starting right from where we last left off, Michael Myers has survived an inferno started by Laurie Strode (who has a bad stab wound in her gut). So Laurie is off to the Haddonfield hospital to be operated on and, before you can say "oh, shades of 'Halloween II' here", the movie shifts to Michael Myers killing unsuspecting people left and right. The victims include an interracial couple in their late 60's and a gay couple with an affinity for John Cassavetes films who are residing in the old Mike Myers residence, you know Halloween fans, where Mikey used to live and stabbed his older sister! Mikey at the start of the film doesn't waste time as he kills firefighters in what may or may not be an homage to the opening of "The Bride of Frankenstein." Speaking of Universal Horror by way of Frankenstein, the local townsfolk are sick of Michael Myers and so is Tommy Doyle (Anthony Michael Hall) who rouses their killer instincts and forms a mob to hunt and kill Mikey! They don't come out with torches but they are ready to shoot, kill and destroy the boogeyman.

Some of the kills linger too lovingly on the bloody viscera, including that interracial couple whom Mikey kills - he stabs the husband over and over shown from the point of the wife who has a fluorescent bulb in her throat. This killing makes little sense - why did Mike come after them? The gay couple (*SPOILERS*) is killed by Mikey and the fact that they live in the former Myers residence makes some sort of sense - that is his turf after all. Yet these killings are far too grisly, far grislier than any of the sequels ever showed (and that includes the 1981 sequel). One mental patient is ridiculously mistaken for Mike Myers by the Haddonfield mob and the scared patient jumps to his death from one of the upper floors of the hospital - we see what a bloody splatter mess it is including a nearly severed arm and brain detail. Was that really necessary? I know these horror directors have to up the ante on gore yet none of these sequels, well to some degree this one excepted, ever matched what the original did - the power of atmosphere and the power of suggestion.  

Despite these gory moments that made my heart sink a little, I actually enjoyed this movie more than I expected. Some of "Halloween Kills" does have the effectiveness of the first two "Halloweens" in terms of atmospheric night shots where we never know what lurks around the street corner or alleyways. There is a neat flashback to the 1978 era that looks like lost footage shot by John Carpenter and it includes the return of Dr. Loomis (there is also flashback footage from "Halloween II," odd because the filmmakers have stated they were ignoring everything after 1978). Judy Greer is terrific as Laurie's daughter, especially as she taunts Michael Myers towards the powerful finale. I liked seeing the return of Kyle Richards as Lindsey Wallace and the wonderful Charles Cyphers who played the Sheriff in the first two Halloweens. Anthony Michael Hall gives the most intense performance of his career as Tommy, armed with his Huckleberry bat. I'd never thought I'd say this but I look forward to the next installment. 

Footnote: Nancy Stephens is back as former nurse Marion Chambers. Her character returned in 1981's "Halloween II" and in the opening sequence of "Halloween: H20" where she was killed by Mikey. In this film, she returns and is still living in Haddonfield and hanging out with Lindsey and Tommy at a bar. Why would this woman still live in this town and hang out with these two when she presumably never knew them as kids in the 1978 original? 

He has a real knack for survival

 OCTOPUSSY (1983)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Back in 1983, I was so excited to see a new James Bond adventure at the theater down the street from where I lived that I ran and climbed a fence facing a gas station. I climbed it thinking I was James Bond and got a small cut from the spikes at the top of the fence. I still have a small scar below my chest to remind me of the excitement of a 12-year-old seeing "Octopussy." After all these years, "Octopussy" is technically one of the oddest of the Bond films because of its far more exotic locales, action scenes that seem that carry a slight Indiana Jones vibe, an island full of gorgeous women dressed in red jumpsuits, and near-parodic moments that will tickle your funny bone. The plot isn't complicated though I am not sure how much sense it makes. 

Roger Moore still returns as the dapper James Bond, 007 with a license to kill and a license to charm your socks off. Opening pre-title sequence is almost as good as any Moore Bond film, in fact probably just as exciting as the goofy "Moonraker," with Bond in disguise as a Latin American general whose mission is to blow up a military base. The minijet that Bond escapes in while being chased by a tracking missile is truly exciting enough to make you grab the arms of your seat. Following that dazzling opener, we get an agent 009 dressed as a clown who is killed by twin assassins who can throw a knife like nobody's business. Apparently 009 was clutching a fake Faberge egg and Bond attends an auction where the same Faberge egg is to be sold. Needless to say, after some swapping of eggs, the mission is to find out why an Afghan prince named Kamal Khan (Louis Jordan, as suave as Moore) bid and won the egg and what all this has to do with a mad Soviet general (Steven Berkoff) and the aforementioned island of women (and crocodiles) where a jewel smuggling operation exists - essentially, priceless jewels in exchange for fake ones. There is also a nuclear bomb threat where a probable scenario of the Soviet Union arming itself while the U.S. is blamed for the bomb and NATO removes nuclear weapons from Europe, and blah and blah and blah. Truth be told, the hotbed of political strife is a bit tough to digest so let's say, it is one country being scapegoated over an international incident. 

I don't necessarily watch James Bond movies for political intrigue in as much as spirited, inspired action, a few gadgets from our lovable Q, and a hero we can root for. Roger Moore fits the bill with wit and poise - he's not my favorite Bond yet he was always an inspired choice. Bond ultimately has to disarm a bomb and only has minutes to do it in. That makes more sense than the mad general thinking he might be seen as hero for the Soviet Union. In terms of action scenes, they are extraordinary and virtually implausible. Whether it is Bond fighting villains on board a fast train, hiding inside a gorilla costume to evade an enemy, dressed as a clown at a circus, hanging on for dear life at high elevations on a small Cesna-like plane, beating Kamal Khan at backgammon (okay, that is probable), or being driven inside a three-wheeled "company car" in New Delhi while being chased by the bad guys where a camel almost does a double take, or the yo-yo saw that could slice our Bond into four different Bonds and so on. You know what to expect and the movie delivers expertly on all sorts of thrills, chills and spills. The humor quotient is higher than usual too including having Vijay (played by real-life tennis player Vijay Amritraj), an MI6 ally, play the 007 theme with a flute! Say what? Or Bond telling a ferocious tiger to "Sittttt!" Or Q being kissed by those voluptuous women!

The villains are engaging though not as dangerous as in previous Bond films (or for that matter, Klaus Maria Brandeur who appeared in that same 1983 summer's other Bond film, "Never Say Never Again"). I should not exclude mentioning Maud Adams as Octopussy, the wealthy jewel smuggler on that island of women, who definitely holds our attention - she's good company with Roger Moore. Jordan is the very essence of a dry martini - he can be stirred but not shaken. Kudos to Walter Gotell as KGB General Anatol Gogol, a familiar presence since he played this same character in a few of Moore's Bond pictures. And I do like the fierce, haunting eyes of Kabir Bedi as Gobinda, Khan's bodyguard who can crush dice into fine powder. Not enough to crush Bond's face because Bond survives with almost no scratches through one cliffhanging episode after another. He survives virtually unscathed (except for a broken arm and leg which miraculously does not stop him from making love to Octopussy). This is not a serious James Bond movie but it is definitely delicious buckets of fun. 

Eye Sore in the face of Katrina

 CLOSED FOR STORM (2020)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Having seen many of director Jake Williams' "Abandoned" short subject films on Youtube, I had a pretty good sense of what to expect from his feature-length documentary "Closed for Storm." It is a fascinating subject - an abandoned Six Flags amusement park that was almost swept away by Hurricane Katrina - and what makes it potent and illuminating is how the park was a metaphor for the destruction of most of New Orleans. Like most of the city, the park was left it in the dark except for the French Quarter with no interest in rebuilding for posterity. 

The amusement park is the Jazzland/Six Flags park on the east side of New Orleans, the first of its kind in the city's history. The park was originally known only as Jazzland when it opened in 2000, looking much more like a historical park celebrating the city's heritage. Bankruptcy had threatened the park since it did not turn a profit and so in 2003, Six Flags invested $20 million to make modifications and added some new rides. Unfortunately before anything like a much desired water park could be built, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the entire region. The park was built on a concrete deck of more than 4 feet, important fact to know since it was quite stable and never cracked during the Katrina Storm. The damage was due to the adjacent Lake Pontchartrain which flooded all the drainage pipes. Sure, we all know the French Quarter was practically rebuilt yet most housing outside the city's limits were left to deteriorate. That included the Six Flags park and nobody did anything to repair the damage in 15 years.

Director Jake Williams deftly handles various interviews from former employees (one who wanted to work at the park forever) who never imagined the park would close, though we get the impression most felt the park would never reopen after Katrina. Ryan Bordenave, the parks' advertising manager, and Troy Henry, the developer who twice ran for Mayor and lost, outline the history of this park and the politics that later governed its current state. The park was so massive that it was nothing but an eye sore and we get a good sense of the financial strain it caused, including statements from residents that lived near it. The politicians indicated that the park was due for demolition but it never happened, knowing trespassers would scour the area. 

"Closed for Storm" also shows us the damage of the park, including the ruined and visibly damaged offices and the calendars with the date frozen in August of 2005. Most of the aerial footage by way of drones is terrific and visually the park looks like the land that time forgot. The musical score penetrates without ever overstating its importance. "Closed for Storm" is a riveting chapter of New Orleans post-Katrina history that should not be missed, and it succeeds as a tone poem where most of the city was left to rot. 

'I am in it for the money'

 GROSS ANATOMY (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Gross Anatomy" is formulaic to a tee and nothing in it is anything less than foreseeable. That is one of its weaknesses and one of its strengths is it that it has sincere performances and a snappy enough pace to maintain interest.

Aspiring to attend medical school, Joe Slovak (Matthew Modine) is the rebellious, jocose student type - he wants to be in medical school to make money yet he's mostly an average college student. Joe plays basketball in his spare time and studies in unorthodox ways such as memorizing boldface type in the textbooks (huh?) This is supposed to account for his retention and he finally succeeds at admittance to a medical school. One of his classes involves studying gross anatomy, you know studying real corpses and the superior vena cava and all that. This is where he meets Laurie (Daphne Zuniga), who is far more serious about med school than Joe seemingly is. The study group he joins also includes a pregnant student; a goal-incentivized student with a flattop haircut, and Joe's own schedule-specific roommate (Todd Field) who ingests speed to keep up. 

"Gross Anatomy" would be disposable if it weren't for the charming, sincere performances especially Matthew Modine who ignites the screen, when he is allowed to ("Full Metal Jacket" and "Short Cuts" are among his finer efforts). What especially makes this movie rise above the generic is the depiction of the work ethic involved in studying 3500 pages of medical textbooks a week! The fact that Joe merely glides by without much effort isn't always believable but we do root for him to succeed, in addition to the rest of the study group. Christine Lahti also brightens the proceedings as the anatomy teacher, Dr. Woodruff, who sees potential in Joe. She also has a secret that is absolutely predictable due to an earlier development involving Joe's studies of a medical patient, none of which will be revealed here. Nevertheless Lahti makes the revelation of this secret so emotional without sentiment that it feels real as opposed to forced.

The director here is Thom Eberhardt and he does a competent job though his gift is his handling of actors - he loves them and we see the humanity in each one of them. Todd Field is especially good at showing how an overworked student loses control of his mental faculties. Added to that is the believable chemistry between the compulsively watchable Modine and the dubious Zuniga - she is as good here as she was in "The Sure Thing." "Gross Anatomy" is an example of taking cliches from a formulaic concept and making them seem fresh and almost new all over again.

Walk Like a Man

 HEART AND SOULS (1993)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I initially saw "Heart and Souls" back in 1993 and thought very little of it. It felt slight and completely forced though I never thought it was charmless. 28 years later, it is still somewhat slight, a little forced, definitely not charmless yet it does have soul and heart to it. It is a completely disarming comedic effort.

The movie packs in a few characters from the start though it doesn't quite take flight. Set in 1959, Alfre Woodard (one of our most unsung actresses) is the single mother who loves her child and her cats. Tom Sizemore is some sort of clumsy thief who has stolen a precious stamp collection. Charles Grodin is a singer who can't bring himself to sing at rehearsals. Kyra Sedgwick is a cocktail waitress at the Purple Onion club who can't commit to a relationship. These characters end up in a bus crash that kills everyone on board, narrowly missing a collision with a car carrying a pregnant mother who gives birth at the exact moment of the crash. The spirits of the bus passengers spend most of their time with Thomas (Eric Lloyd), the baby from that car, singing Four Seasons tunes (specifically, "Walk like a Man"). Eventually our spectral visitors realize they have to let Thomas go or he might end up in an institution because, you know, Thomas talks to them and can see them but nobody else can.

"Heart and Souls" then shifts to thirty years later with a distant yuppie-fied Thomas (Robert Downey, Jr.) who clings to his cell phone more than to his less-than-patient girlfriend (a wasted Elisabeth Shue). At the half-hour mark, the film finally picks up steam. When the bus driver of that accident (David Paymer) comes to collect the souls en route to Heaven, the ghosts realize they have to settle their unresolved problems on Earth and use Thomas as their vessel (they were supposed to do this thirty years earlier). We get a few scenes of Downey, Jr. being inhabited by these spirits and much of it is very funny, especially Sizemore inhabiting Thomas with a carnivorous sexual energy. The Woodard and Sedgwick imitations are less flattering though Downey gives it 110 percent effort. Most moving is Grodin inhabiting Downey for his chance to sing the Star Spangled Banner! 

Somehow the movie feels overstuffed and overly sentimental - perhaps fewer spirits trying to reconnect and reconcile with their past might have worked best. Just Sizemore and Grodin following Downey around might have been funnier and more soulful. Still, I was sort of sold by the movie - it is too busy to be a complete success unlike Downey's other ghost tale "Chances Are" - and it has ample charm and wears its heart on its sleeve. I have to admit, the ending moved me with the message that love is the answer to everything; only you just have to work at it. 

Deconstructing Bad Woody Allen comedy

 ANYTHING ELSE (2003)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Original Review from 2003

I would have to say that Woody Allen is one of the great comic geniuses of the 20th century. Any time I see a Woody picture, I always look forward to his brazen, frank dialogue and all the typical

Allenisms about relationships in the Upper East Side. There have been slight missteps here and there ("September" and that sex parody with too a long title to print here), but there are just as many

terrific films in his resume. "Anything Else" is not just a misstep, it is easily the worst Woody Allen comedy ever made, not to mention one of the most putrid romantic comedies I've ever seen. It is so

unfunny, so forced, so unnatural that you kind of wish Meg Ryan would show up and give it a lift.

I am a big fan of Woody Allen - he was always the master of the romantic comedy. His "Annie Hall" is his greatest comedy by far. I can also list "Zelig," "Broadway Danny Rose," "Bullets over Broadway"
and "Love and Death" and, well, there are many more. There are also his Bergmanesque films, such as "Another Woman" and "Husbands and Wives," that are criminally underrated. Watching "Anything Else" is like watching a carbon copy of the real Allen. It is junior-league all the way with almost nothing transpiring on screen that will move, excite or stimulate you. Casting Jason Biggs and Christina
Ricci may have seem like natural choices, but they almost have nothing to share on screen - they appear like cardboard, stock characters who are reciting lines for a Woody Allen play, not a movie. In fact, I got the impression we were watching a filmed recital! The film's staginess and virtually static camera shots with only occasional coverage (a stylistic choice of Woody's for quite some time) emphasizes the staleness of the whole project.

Describing "Anything Else" is like describing a bland souffle - it is bland and not much else. All the vigor and juice we expect from Woody is gone. There are jokes about the Holocaust but none ring
with the truth he brought to his earlier films - even some digs at the Jews come off as tired. Jason Biggs plays a comedy writer named Jerry Falk but he is not permitted a single line that is remotely
funny - Allen did a superior job playing a comedy writer in "Annie Hall." Christina Ricci is completely unconvincing as a self-involved, jazz-loving, wanna-be actress, Amanda, who may or not be cheating
on Jerry. These two lovebirds seem more like siblings than a couple.

There is also Stockard Channing as Amanda's mother who moves in with them and tries to goad Biggs into writing lines for a song she has composed. Then we get scenes that hardly elicit more than a
mere chuckle - a chuckle in recognition of the Woody Allen of the past. An opening park bench sequence with Woody making snappy comments on Freud and other philosophers will make you cringe - he seems to struggle for laughs that aren't there.

That leads me to describe Woody Allen himself. He plays a New Jersey teacher who tries to guide Jerry, but I just got annoyed with him. His character is supposed to be an offbeat sociopath but he comes
off as artificial. There is a whole extended sequence where Woody tries to persuade Jerry to arm himself. There is a lot of hysteria over this episode, including trying to move a piano that belongs
to Amanda's mother. It is such a laughless affair that you wonder what is the point. Woody would've been better off not appearing in the movie at all.

"Anything Else" will leave you stunned as if you are watching someone imitate the comic master's style. His films of late haven't reached the comical and personal nature of "Deconstructing Harry" but they have not been offensive to the funny bone either - "Hollywood Ending" had more laughs than this travesty. An unfunny Woody Allen comedy is a criminal act in the annals of cinema.

Played it too Many Times, Sam

 HOLLYWOOD ENDING (2002)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Original Review from 2002

It may be that Woody is simply too old to keep his famously neurotic schtick seem new all over again. In "Curse of the Jade Scorpion," Woody made us laugh by trying to make whoopee with Helen Hunt, and thus enduring all her putdowns. The fact that it was set in the 1930's made it almost refreshing from the usual stuff that passes for comedy nowadays. In "Small Time Crooks," he played a trashy loser who decides to pull a robbery to make ends meet. Since "Bullets Over Broadway" and "Manhattan Murder Mystery" (a decade ago), Woody has seemed content in making comedies, some as refined and less slapsticky as his early films. But in "Hollywood Ending," Woody is becoming a former shadow of himself. He is still funny (and I can't imagine a single Woody film being anything less than remotely funny), but he is losing his rougher, snappier edge - a quality that in something like "Deconstructing Harry" could attack us and make us laugh nervously.

Woody plays Val Waxman, a has-been superstar director who is stuck making deodorant commercials in cold environments. A new project has potential but it has already been offered to Peter Bogdanovich. However, Val's ex-wife, Ellie (Tea Leoni), a producer for Galaxy Pictures, has Val in mind to direct a gritty script she wrote called "The City that Never Sleeps." The story is set in New York and who doesn't know the Empire state better than Val. She has a tough time convincing Hal (Treat Williams), the executive backing the picture, that the has-been has the talent to pull it off. Unfortunately, Val suddenly acquires psychosomatic blindness and this can be a problem for someone who has to direct a cast and communicate with the cinematographer. Val has to appear like he is smoothly handling the reins of a 60-million dollar production, despite choosing strange angles and letting actors perform without the slightest bit of subtlety. You know the French would love this kind of film.

"Hollywood Ending" has humorous touches but Allen barely attacks Hollywood - his zingers lack the bite that earlier, similar films have handled with far more savage wit. It is funny hearing Val's suggestions that the film be shot in black-and-white and have a hand-held camera shot instead of a Steadicam shot to suggest the inner chaos of a character. I also like a house party scene where his friends comment that Hitchcock was an artist yet very commercial (the debate continues for all film scholars on that issue alone). But the movie's handling of Val's blindness is oddly unfunny, though it is a kick to see him to walk into people or fall from a scaffold. Every scene where a character talks to Val unbeknownst to his blindness falls flat. All Woody can do is stare in the opposite direction and flail his arms and speak in a nervous chatter (he does this routine better than anybody). Somehow the movie never really kicks into gear and offer the numerous comical problems that could occur if a director was blindly making a movie (bad pun). We never to get to see the dailies of Val's work nor do we get many comical payoffs while Val is on the set. A scene where an actress (Tiffani Thiessen) tries to seduce Val also falls flat - why couldn't the scene build on having the seduction actually work in Val's favor?

What works best is Tea Leoni as the sweet-tempered Ellie who greatly admires her ex-husband, though his focus and concentration on filmmaking was more important than their relationship (yet another Allenism we have endured again and again). I also like Treat Williams as the executive who fails to understand why he can't see the dailies. Debra Messing is the only annoying performance in the movie, heightening her character to near cartoonish status (maybe that was the point but she is far too bubbly and absent-minded for my tastes). George Hamilton as another business executive mostly recedes in the background. Mark Rydell, however, is superb as Val's beaming agent who tries to help Val get into his director's chair on the first day of production.

"Hollywood Ending" is Woody Allen at his most comatose, failing to wring the laughs from his cliched subject. Maybe there isn't much left to satirize about Hollywood anymore. It is interesting that Woody had more to say about La-La Land in 1972's "Play it Again, Sam" than he does thirty years later.

Joy and sadness at the festivities

 THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY (2001)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Digital video has become a revolution ever since "The Blair Witch Project," which was shot using video and 16mm film. "The Anniversary Party" is one of the latest films shot entirely on digital video. Though the medium is not so outstanding, it is creatively used in this film where nobody mistakes a dizzying hand-held camera as a motive for making a movie. In fact, this film doesn't look like a home movie and that is one of its strengths, not to mention the addition of an incredible cast.

Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming play Sally and Joe, a married couple living in the canyons outside of Los Angeles. Joe is an author who decides to take a shot at directing his own film, though he knows it may fail (he hates movies). Sally is a thirtysomething actress, who is thought to be past her
prime. Joe is making his movie based on one of his novels, using a bright twentysomething actress, Skye Davidson (Gwyneth Paltrow), to play the role of Sally. Sally herself is rightfully upset that she is not playing the role. The bulk of the movie is a party hosted by Sally and Joe celebrating their sixth
anniversary of their marriage. They seem like the perfect, loving couple until each guest arrives and we learn one small detail after another that reveal not all is well. The guests include Joe's best friend, Gina (Jennifer Beals), who creates an exemplary photograph of the married couple; Jerry (John Benjamin
Hickey), the business manager, and his loud wife (Parker Posey); John C. Reilly as a director, convinced that Sally has ruined his latest opus, and his largely neurotic wife (Jane Adams); a good friend of the family (Michael Panes) who looks and acts like Peter Sellers; Cal and Sophie (Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates), a former movie idol and his retired actress wife; and, finally, two fussy neighbors next door (Denis O'Hare and Mina Badie) who are always complaining about Sally and Joe's barking dog.

Written and directed by Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Anniversary Party" is an amalgam of Henry Jaglom crossed with the eavesdropping bravura of Robert Altman. In fact, the film reminds me a great deal of Jaglom's heart-rending "Someone to Love," which was set on Valentine's Day where a bunch of characters are invited by Jaglom to a run-down theatre. "Anniversary Party"
maintains a lively, kinetically comic charge for the first two-thirds of the film. It feels like we are eavesdropping on private conversations within this glass house. The film is all attitude and behavior, showing the different personalities of every character and slowly dissecting the Sally and Joe
marriage, albeit in a predictable though never less than compelling manner. It does loses some momentum when one character introduces ecstasy to all the guests, and we get myriad situations involving cheating and sexual byplay. Some of it is cute yet also feels forced, as if it was straining to keep things lively and interesting. The best moments are the reflective, humanistic touches
where revelations lead to dissent and conflicts, not to mention jealousies. There are also quick humorous asides and gags that are best appreciated on second viewing. But the highlight is a stunningly real and honest confrontation between Leigh and Cumming that is sure to be remembered by fans of these two excellent actors.

Joyous, sad, voyeuristic and funny, "The Anniversary Party" is quite a movie. All the guests are affectionately played by the huge cast but it is really Leigh and Cumming who hold the film together. It is about them, their marriage, their fears and their hopes for the future. A great party indeed.

This HMO thriller is not exactly killer

 JOHN Q. (2002)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 2002 screening)

"John Q." made me angry, but for all the wrong reasons. "Do the Right Thing" made me angry but that film was honest about racism and race relations in ways that few films ever are. "John Q." pretends to be interested in the corruption of HMO's and medical professionals who do not provide the medical
care that people need. It is a ripe subject for cinema, but it is told with such artificiality and dishonesty that one may think they are seeing a provocative statement on justice and nobility. Hogwash.

Nobility is John Q. Archibald's strongpoint (played by Denzel Washington). His hours at the factory have been cut because the factory is downsizing. His wife, Denise (Kimberly Elise), is getting annoyed with John's lack of money (what the heck, their car is towed away for nonpayment). The only happiness
centers on their enthusiastic son who loves to strut and plays Little League. One day, their son collapses while playing baseball, and the panicky parents rush him to the emergency room. Apparently, the kid's heart has grown three times larger than it should have and his only salvation is a heart transplant. Sounds easy enough but John Q.'s medical plan and insurance does not cover such an expensive procedure. He needs to make a down payment of $75,000 for a $250,000 dollar operation, but his HMO had been switched without his prior knowledge. To make matters worse, John's son has had the
heart problem for a long time but no doctors ever made mention of it, again due to minimal insurance for a high-risk operation.

If you have seen the previews for the film, you know that John Q. takes the law into his own hands and holds everyone at the E.R. room hostage, demanding that his son's name be put at the top of the priority list of heart transplants. In this day and age, all it takes is a gun and an attitude and you will get what you want, not to mention endless media coverage. In other words, the same old song, long preceded by Sidney Lumet's "Dog Day Afternoon" in 1975. But be advised: John Q. is not really going to use his gun or hurt anybody - he just wants his son to be saved. Does he not realize that his actions may hurt more than help his son? When the hostage negotiator (Robert Duvall) and a haughty police chief (Ray Liotta) consider the pros and cons of killing John Q., you know you have entered a simplistic movie that refuses to acknowledge its subject matter, not a full-blooded portrayal of the moral implications in taking people hostage and staging a crisis for the sake of a heart transplant.

As written by James Kearns, "John Q." doesn't make pleas or moralize as much as deliver an antipathy against all medical professionals, whether they are cardiologists or hospital head administrators. The movie says they are all scum, botching the system to make a fast buck and depriving the poor because
they lack the necessary medical coverage. There may be a lot of young kids who need heart transplants, but this movie does not seek to find alternatives. A gun and an attitude is all it takes. Fine, but why make the character so noble? Is John Q. not at fault here as well? Has he not seen enough TV shows to realize that if a hospital administrator finally gives in and puts his son's name on the list, it doesn't mean it actually is on the list?

"John Q." is manipulative, saccharine nonsense, designed to make the audience cheer for the lead character's supposedly justifiable actions because, after all, HMO is evil for not helping the poor when in need (or is it former president Bill Clinton's fault?) John should have listened to what the negotiator tells him at one point: "Nobody cares John. People will forget about you the next day." Exactly.

Skeptic sees a winged creature

 THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES (2002)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"The Mothman Prophecies" is an example of low-grade horror with high-grade talent. It could easily have been called "The Mothman" and starred actors like John Saxon, and nobody would have given it a second look. With a bigger budget, a high-class star like Richard Gere and an Oscar nominee like Laura Linney, the temptation is to treat this film as if it were serious horror that builds with imagination and mystery. Imaginative and mysterious, yes, but watching this film can be a chore.

Richard Gere is John Klein, a respected reporter for the Washington Post. He is also something of a skeptic. He is about to move into his new house with his darling wife (Debra Messing, from TV's "Will and Grace") when an unusual, brutal car accident occurs. It is so brutal that the doctors discover Klein's wife has brain cancer and has only a short time before she passes away. She leaves some obscure drawings of a moth-like creature for him after her death (a creature she had seen just prior to the accident). Two years pass as Klein finds himself on a trip to Richmond, though he mysteriously ends up in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a four-hundred mile trek he accomplishes in less than two hours!

Naturally he has no idea how his travel plans got so screwy. His car breaks down. He asks for help from a seemingly crazed man (Will Patton) who brings out a shotgun! Nice neighbors! This man claims he has seen Klein before, knocking on his front door at 2:30 in the morning. He says he has also seen the Mothman, a figure with red eyes and sprouting wings who can see future catastrophes. One
of the Mothman's obscure phrases relates to "99 lives" and the number 37. Klein gets a phone call from this Mothman, who knows of similar catastrophes, one involving a collapsing bridge. So the question is: what did Klein's wife see the night of the car accident? Who is this mothman, and why does he taunt people, particularly young couples making out in the backseat of their cars? Why are people who make contact with the Mothman getting eye rashes that don't go away? Does the police sergeant (Laura Linney, playing what seems to be the only police officer in town) know who this Mothman is, or is she just interested in getting Mr. Klein in the sack?

Based on a 1975 novel by John Keel, the first forty minutes of "Mothman Prophecies" is gripping because we are as interested as Klein is in discovering this phenomena. Unfortunately, director Mark Pellington ("Arlington Road") seems uninterested in keeping the audience in suspense without the benefit of overcaffeinated camerawork, grainy superimpositions, lots of shots of the red eyes of the mothman, and several other stylized effects. It's not that I mind such effects - I just do not see their purpose in a horror film that keeps its mystery ambiguous throughout. Consider how Roman Polanski might have helmed this film, sparing us of all the fanciful camera moves that have become du jour in
horror since the late eighties. Some tracking shots and fast zoom-ins seem to indicate the point-of-view of the mothman, but is the mothman really circulating around Klein all the time? Who knows. The effects simply become repetitious, and whatever mystery exists is thrown out of the window when we realize that, prophecy or not, this mothman is just playing games with us.

I liked Gere's restrained performance, and I loved the scenes with Alan Bates as some sort of physics professor who knows the history of the mothman. These few scenes electrify our curiosity because they are not overplayed or heightened for any effect. Laura Linney seems completely wasted as the police sergeant - it is as if she is back playing insignificant roles prior to her great work in "You Can Count On Me." There is a creepiness to Will Patton, but most of the film is inert with loud sound effects to remind us that the mothman is near. My prophecy is that this film will be long forgotten. That is not the equivalent of a catastrophe.

We are watching you

 ENEMY OF THE STATE (1998)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

With a title as generic as the movie itself, this latest Jerry Bruckheimer production is not as headache-inducing as "Armageddon" but it may still leave you with a slight migraine. That is not to say that "Enemy of the State" isn't fun, it is, but in a crudely packaged, sensationalistic way.

Let's consider the plot for a moment. Will Smith plays a labor lawyer named Robert Clayton Dean, whose life is already in peril before the plot thickens. He's facing problems with the Mob regarding a videotape and a troubling association with an ex-girlfriend (Lisa Bonet). By chance, he abruptly meets an old college friend of his (Jason Lee from "Chasing Amy") who slips a videotape into Dean’s shopping bag. This tape contains footage of the murder of a congressman, and it is up to the high-ranking National Security Agency (NSA) officials to get their hands on it. This agency is run by Thomas Reynolds (Jon Voight, the villain du jour), and he's eager to get the tape back since he was
at the murder scene.

It's a Kafkaesque downfall for Dean, who can't use any of his credit cards and can't convince his wife (Regina King) that he's innocent of all these charges they've drummed up in the media, including an alleged affair with his ex-girlfriend. Worse yet, Dean's house and his entire life is bugged right
through with high-tech surveillance equipment. Dean hides out and finds a certain Mr. Brill (Gene Hackman) who used to work for the NSA and can outwit any of those officials. Still, Dean is only a lawyer and makes stupid mistakes, like calling his wife. Wake up Dean, the phones are bugged too!

This film is illogical and senseless, but it moves at a fast clip. There are enough comical surprises by Smith, though the script makes him a little too bland for my tastes. He has a hectically funny scene where he pretends to be hotel hospitality, and undresses before a hysterical Asian couple while the
NSA are trying to catch him. Some scenes are unforgivably implausible, such as seeing Dean running down a tunnel in a white robe (wouldn't any car stop?); the NSA killing everyone they question except for Dean; a laughable Tarantino-like shootout between the Mob and the NSA, and so on.

"Enemy of the State" is a high-tech conspiracy thriller with no surprises or sense of real, imminent danger. It is too dependent on loud explosions and gimmicky, electronic music to remind us that we should feel tense. The outline of the plot is very similar to Coppola's classic "The Conversation," which was a deftly handled character study relying on dialogue and a quiet, understated style to convey the madness of privacy invasion. The other connection is the frenetic performance by Gene Hackman as a bug expert, practically the same role he played in "The Conversation," but with far less subtlety this time around.

All in all, this is an overdone popcorn thriller in the fast-cut, explosive style of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott ("Top Gun"). It'll keep you awake and you'll enjoy Smith's precious few quips, but you'll have forgotten about it by the next day.

Negligible Leads

 ROMANTIC COMEDY (1983)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

There is nothing more stale in Hollywood cinema than seeing the same old story told the same old way. Worse yet is casting two bright personalities on screen who do so little to bring it any new life. "Romantic Comedy" is as stale and generic as its title and its worst sin is casting two excellent actors as negligible romantic leads. 

So let's see Dudley Moore is Jason, a renown Broadway playwright who is about to get married to Allison (Janet Eilber, who just looks bored stiff). Jason is not the monogamist type since he has had some affairs. Mary Steenburgen is another playwright, Phoebe, who is about co-write a play with Moore. She arrives at his house, unaware he is about to get married on the day of her arrival. Everything falls apart from the start because nothing especially funny or romantic happens in the early scenes. Steenburgen looks out of place and Moore is somewhat incorrigible and arrogant. When Steenburgen steps inside his office without an invitation, he acts with an air of indifference. He proceeds to undress before her (no, no sexual proclivity here) but she is more smitten being in the same room with the well-known playwright to notice his birthday suit. Nothing here rings true, and the pacing slackens.

Oh, it only gets worse. These two bicker and fling papers across the room. Then Steenburgen falls in love with a reporter (Ron Liebman, an authentic, piercing New York presence). Moore is not exactly happily married yet falls out of it, especially after his wife is pregnant. And the movie laboriously goes on without a shred of real wit or punch or vitality. I wish I could say something nice about the film. You know a film is in trouble when you can't even remember what role Robyn Douglass played. 

I did not exactly dislike "Romantic Comedy" but I can hardly say it is worth the effort. Based on a play by Bernard Slade that originally starred Anthony Perkins and Mia Farrow, mediocre is written all over the margins of this film. Dudley Moore looks like he would rather be somewhere else. The only real spark is the winning personality of the bright angelic presence of Mary Steenburgen - she lights up the screen. I wish I could say that is enough. 

Sensitive, low-key weepie

 SIX WEEKS (1982)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

What might have been a melodramatic, sentimental weepie of a movie is handled with uncommon restraint by director Tony Bill. What might also have been an excessively melancholic disease TV movie of the week is given charm and far more of a low-key and sincere treatment. "Six Weeks" is that movie, and it also has one of the warmest and most sincere performances by Dudley Moore ever.

Dudley Moore is Patrick Dalton, a California politician currently running for a Congressional seat who believes "using humor is a disarming mechanism." He is trying to find the address of a fundraising event and gets help from a young, charming 12-year-old girl named Nicole (Katharine Healy). Dalton is so taken with her that he invites her to the fundraiser. Eventually Dalton runs in to Nicole's mother, Charlotte (Mary Tyler Moore), a rich cosmetics tycoon who is skeptical of politicians. Naturally Dalton hopes Charlotte will contribute to his campaign and she concedes, as long as he spends time with Nicole. Never mind the fact that Dalton has his own family to take care - Nicole has leukemia and only six weeks to live.

Most of "Six Weeks" is centered on Nicole's sweet demeanor and healthy optimism - she knows she will pass on soon enough but it doesn't mean she still can't fulfill a dream of dancing on the stage at the current Lincoln Center revival of "The Nutcracker." Nor does it mean she can't canvass calls at Dalton's campaign office. Nicole also senses the love developing between Dalton and Charlotte, which largely remains unconsummated. It is all those character details that brim to the surface of "Six Weeks" and makes us care for these people. Never once did I feel manipulated by the material because director Tony Bill ("My Bodyguard") establishes sensitivity without sensationalizing - it is the opposite approach that some lesser director and writer might have taken. 

If there is an issue with "Six Weeks," well, it is a very glaring issue - it has to do with Dalton's family life. Dalton has his own family and his wife (thankless role by Shannon Wilcox) is unsure of the time he has taken to care for this other family. I think I would have liked a little more depth in that area because the wife feels neglected and Dalton's response is to lie to her about his feelings for Charlotte. Either change Dalton's marital status to single and abandon this subplot or give it more weight. 

Still, "Six Weeks" will stay with me. I might have caught it on cable back in the 1980's and I do recall Katharine Healy's performance. She has that savory smile that could melt anyone's heart. Even a mock wedding for Dalton and Charlotte by Nicole felt more emotionally true than schmaltzy. Dudley Moore has charm in all the right places, and Mary Tyler Moore does her best to keep her emotions somewhat reserved until the inevitable, tear-inducing climax. My heart melted with this movie, that is all I can say. 

Fistful of Emotions

CRY MACHO (2021)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Clint Eastwood's "Cry Macho" is not a despairing or nostalgic film about looking back at the good old days. It is not as reflective of a past life as other Eastwood pictures like "Gran Torino" or, more appropriately, his last great western "Unforgiven." Eastwood's character in this film, Mike Milo, is more of a simple man - a codger who is not looking forward or backward as much as looking at the present, the here and now. He loves tending to and riding horses and the ranch life. It is this very simplicity that makes Eastwood's Mike one of the more sympathetic characters he has played in years.

Mike does have flaws - a Texas ex-rodeo star who drinks too much and is always late for his work as a ranch hand. When he loses his job to his employer, Harold Polk (Dwight Yoakam), a full year passes before they speak again. Harold has a 13-year-old son named Rafael (Eduardo Minett), who is presumably living in Mexico with his unfit mother, Leta (Fernanda Urrejola), who lets him participate in cockfighting. Mike is asked to do a favor for Harold - bring his son back to the Lone Star state. Mike is reluctant yet goes ahead with the plan, crossing into a small Mexican town where he finds Rafael. Of course Rafael is hesitant to go back to Texas for a father he has not seen in ages. Along the way, the federales and Leta's bodyguards are pursuing them from town to town - as it turns out, Leta is more concerned over business matters than her son.

Mike's trip with Rafael gets rough when he decides he's not taking the risk with the federales on his tail - they argue since Rafa decides he wants to go to Texas along with his rooster named Macho (regardless of what some other critics said, this is hardly cringe-inducing even if it sounds like it on paper). Eventually things calm down and their long trip back includes campfires, frequenting cafes where Amarillo is served (Mexican kids can apparently get away with drinking tequila) and stopping at one lonely pueblo with a restaurant/cafe owned by the widowed Marta (Natalia Traven). Marta knows the pair is in trouble with the federales and lets them stay in a casita. It is no surprise that Marta melts Mike's heart and this is one of the few instances I can remember since Eastwood's "Bridges of Madison County" where we see a more benevolent Eastwood - his smile at Marta and the grandchildren makes for one of the more pleasurably romantic moments I've seen in a movie this year. 

"Cry Macho" defies the conventional aspects of what could have been a violent neo-Western thriller with Eastwood firing a few rounds at the federales. Rather the film is more of an examination of an older man who found out far too late in the game about making amends in life - he thought he had it all figured it out and he didn't. The most Eastwood does is punch Leta's bodyguard in the face and threaten him with a gun. Mike is not a killer - despite his occasional lapses in grunting and cursing, he is as innocent as his title character in "Bronco Billy." The movie is more lyrical to a degree, observing the wide open spaces of New Mexico (doubling for Mexico) and the small details of that Mexican pueblo with its inviting shrine to the Virgin Mary. Mike occasionally is asked by the townspeople to examine their wounded pet animals - something you don't normally see Clint Eastwood doing. He's almost seen as a savior to this pueblo but not quite, and thank goodness it did not go down that road. 

Written with affection and empathy by Nick Schenk (based on a N. Richard Nash 1975 novel), "Cry Macho" never bores and never pushes for extreme emotions or extreme action. It is decidedly the most unusual modern Western I've ever seen, at least since Wim Wenders' "Don't Come Knocking" with the late Sam Shepard. It is a relaxed, confident and low-key movie and from legendary director and star Clint Eastwood, I wouldn't expect less. 

This Town Isn't Big Enough For this Band

 THE SPARKS BROTHERS (2021)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Sparks Brothers as the name of a band? Heck, no, just call them the Sparks.

Director Edgar Wright asks them: "Are you guys brothers?"

Russell Mael: "Yes."

Edgar Wright: "How did you first meet?"

Ron Mael: "We are brothers."

"The Sparks Brothers" could've been one of those youtube GQ career discussions where a celebrity breaks down their hits and follies. Thankfully, it is more than that though I would've been just as entertained by listening to their career assessment. The wacky, highly theatrical American duo rock band from the late 1960's, who have been performing with no end in sight as of this review, are so exultant in their performances that you can't help but want to play along. Despite criticisms that they were a comedy band or performance artists more akin to Gilbert and Sullivan, or that they did not fit in to the mainstream in any way, it is arguably what made them stand out. The Sparks stood their ground and their creativity took them wherever they needed to go. The last thing you can ever say about them is that they sold out.

Their 1980's hit "Music That You Can Dance To" might qualify as their sell-out to the industry (and what better way to sell out than to have your song appear in an abominable BMX movie like 1986's "RAD") yet listening to the lyrics, the irony may fall on deaf ears since you can dance to it. Sparks (originally named Urban Renewal Project and later HalfNelson before changing it altogether to their current name) were heavily influenced by British bands like the Kinks and the Who and their desire, despite being true-blooded Americans, was to become a British band! That English vibe did not work for them yet their on-stage presence and their music had such vitality that you could easily groove and dance to it. There is a joy in their performance and their on-stage presence shows not just their infectiousness but also that they were in on the joke as well. Russell Mael was the fiery singer with a falsetto voice, and Ron Mael was the keyboardist with a Hitler-like (or Chaplin-like depending on who you ask) mustache and he often stares unblinkingly at the audience and the camera. 

The Sparks secured a cult following and after a few years they had a stunning Number 2 single called "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" from their breakthrough album "Kimono My House." Interestingly some of their album covers told their own stories and the band's name was not even in the front of their Propaganda album from 1974! Once they returned to America and felt they had to reinvent themselves, mostly their sound and their look, they transitioned into an early synthesizer pop sound thanks to their collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, the father of euro disco and electronic dance music. As aforementioned, the Sparks had an 80's hit yet their pop music was more of an affront to the standard pop. That had become their standard - to go beyond what was traditionally accepted in rock music form. A key to their strengths is that they went with their gut; they did not follow what was popular and in the ether in any decade. They were always reinventing themselves.   

"The Sparks Brothers" has the traditional talking heads of admirers and rock musicians alike, some of which don't get enough screen time (Flea, Steve Jones, Beck, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran) and others I could live without (Do we need a reminder that actor Jason Schwartzman's mother is Talia Shire who was in that abysmal "Rad"). The movie, directed with unbridled enthusiasm by fanboy Edgar Wright, employs more than ample footage of the band from the 70's onward and has the art pop duo (and all talking head interviews) in black-and-white while reminiscing about their past which is shown in color. At two hours plus and an overview of their 25 albums (they hope to make many more), we get a real sense of the camaraderie between the brothers and their upbeat attitude, the demise of their film projects with Jacques Tati and Tim Burton, and their inability to somehow crossover into the mainstream. There are no real insights into their private lives whatsoever, only the heady look at their discography and concert performances. It may be the way they want it and that is fine - this gloriously pleasing film is big enough for them.