It is all strictly hush-hush

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL (1997)

An Appreciation By Jerry Saravia
 (Originally written in 1997)

"L.A. Confidential" is the densest and most complex crime film since "Chinatown." It is richly satisfying, brutally compelling and slickly acted and directed, and one of the best films of 1997. Having seen it numerous times, it never fails to engage or surprise me each time.

Based on James Ellroy's novel, "L.A. Confidential" is set during the early 1950's when L.A. was the mythical "city of angels" where nuclear families existed, orange groves filled the countryside, and movie stars and celebrities were in the spotlight. It was also a time when police corruption was rampant and racism was beginning to boil over everywhere. Guy Pearce stars as a young cop, Exley, who is eager to become a detective in the very corrupt police system because he believes that a cop should have strong morals and values and follow rules by-the-book - he doesn't believe in beating a confession out of a suspect. Russell Crowe stars as the tough detective White who is just the opposite - he beats confessions out of suspects, he beats up abusive men involved in drunken domestic violence cases, etc. The unlikely pair become embroiled in a murder case at an all-night diner where a cop was killed - a group of inner-city blacks may have been responsible. It turns out they may have been set up by someone in the police force, but who? The brutal Irish police captain (James Cromwell) is unsure of Exley's capacity as a detective especially since Exley ratted out all the cops who beat up a few illegal Mexican immigrants. Exley is hated by everyone in the force but does he have the guts to deal with everyday brutality?

Then there's Det. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey), a charming, impish cop who takes extra cash on the side whenever he provides tip-offs or juicy details within the department to the unctuous Sid Huggens (Danny DeVito), a reporter who writes for "Hush, Hush," a scandal magazine that offers gossip and crimes sold to the public for thrills like today's tabloid shows. Vincennes also moonlights as a technical adviser for a TV show called "Badge of Honor" (a nod to "Dragnet"). Meanwhile, as the murder case unfolds, White discovers a connection to a sultry call girl, Lynn Bracken (the better-than-ever Kim Basinger) who works for a prosperous pimp (David Strathairn) - he provides a very kinky service where women are "cut" to resemble movie stars such as Veronica Lake. White interrogates Lynn and falls in love with her, but is Exley interested in her too?

"L.A. Confidential" is an amazing movie full of plot twists, dozens of subplots, and numerous vignettes. Director Curtis Hanson (who co-wrote the script with Brian Helgeland) provides a dazzling ride making us feel as if we have been transported back into the 1950's as he unravels the web of corruption that leads from the police department to politicians, criminals, pimps, mobsters and the traditional femme fatale. Still, this movie is not quite film noir because we have two traditional heroes, the handsome Exley and the rugged White, who overcome all odds and find the killers (I just won't tell you who the culprit is). The film is not quite on the level of "Chinatown" but it is a more vivid experience than the fatuous "Cop Land" that came out the same year.

"L.A. Confidential" has one of the best ensemble casts for a crime epic: we have the witty, reliable Danny DeVito and Kevin Spacey; the effervescent cool of Guy Pearce as Exley who undergoes a transformation in the movie that is thrilling to watch, and the contemplative, explosive nature of White as played by the magnetic Russell Crowe (both are Australian actors). Kim Basinger is at her best here since "Batman" with an alluring and sensitive side that brings enormous pathos to her character.

"L.A. Confidential" is a fast-paced, cynical, dirty, violent, mean and thoroughly entertaining tapestry of a different period where innocence was more prevalent yet underneath, corruption and evil still roamed the streets.

Kubrick taunts Shelley Duvall

MAKING 'THE SHINING' (1980)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Stanley Kubrick is one of the great enigmatic directors of the 20th century. Who was this genius that produced such masterfully realized works of art such as "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," or "Barry Lyndon"? This rarely seen documentary, shot by Kubrick's daughter, Vivian, documents some of the events of shooting the uneven, controversial horror flick "The Shining." It may not shed much light on the legendary director, but it does offer a glimpse of what he was like behind the scenes.

The beginning of the documentary (now on the video and DVD re-released versions of "The Shining") plays like a home movie with Vivian following Jack Nicholson into the bathroom while he brushes his teeth. We see Jack prepping himself for a scene where, as Jack Torrance, he tears through a door with an axe pursuing his family and taunting them with quotes from "Three Little Pigs." Then there is Kubrick, wearing a winter jacket, yelling cut during a scene where Danny (Danny Lloyd) hides inside a compartment from maniacal Jack. To me, it was a pleasure to hear this man speak with an ever-so-slight English accent (hardly a trace of his Bronx roots).

There are strong revelations for what must have been an arduous, long shoot for a horror movie. There is the sense that Kubrick is tough-as-nails on Shelley Duvall, always taunting her and acting totally unsympathetic to her mood swings (at one point, she pulls out strands of hair, showing them to Stanley whose only response is, "I have no sympathy for Shelley.") There is one tense scene where Shelley misses her cue when they yell action during a faux snowstorm scene and Stanley races frantically and argues with her vehemently.

Kubrick is apparently respectful of Jack and only suggests he acts wilder and meaner (I have heard reports of Jack being used for lighting tests when in fact a stand-in is ordinarily used). A scene shows Kubrick's mother seated at a table with Stanley and Jack as they discuss the constant script revisions from day to day. Naturally, Shelley is nowhere to be found. She does freely admit that she admired him for his tenacity and perfectionism, claiming to have learned more from him than from any other prior film production. Meanwhile, Jack concludes that working with Stanley is exciting for him as an actor because the director has his own agenda for making personal films, even if Jack does not always agree with him.

There are also brief, pointed interviews with Scatman Crothers (who of course played Halloran, the cook), shown weeping for joy as he mentions how beautiful the crew was to work with and how he saw Danny as his own child, and the tyke Danny Lloyd who mentions how he is smart and likes to make home movies with his less-than-receptive friends. Kubrick himself is not interviewed but it is fun to see him at work, especially when he devises a low-angle shot of Jack to enhance the tension of the scene where Jack tries to con Shelley into letting him out of a storage room.

"Making 'The Shining'" could have been longer and shed more light on the master director at work, but it is a fitting, exemplary documentary of a man whose impeccable sense of craft and direction exemplified his status as one of America's leading cinematic artists. Essential viewing for any film buff or aficionado of Kubrick.

Dry Rio Bravo take with sci-fi overtones

COWBOYS AND ALIENS (2011)

Reviewed By Jerry Saravia

Never before have I seen a movie title that distills exactly what one should expect...and provide no background for the simple and simpleminded title. "Cowboys and Aliens" is an absolute bore of a movie - a crossbreed (mashup to the rest of you) of two genres, the Western and science-fiction, to less than spectacular effect. The title sells the movie's few rudimentary pleasures but its tone is at once joyless and indistinguishable from anything else.

Daniel Craig is a fierce, rugged thief who wakes up in the middle of the Arizona desert with complete amnesia. He wears a wrist contraption that looks alien to any 1870's prison shackles. He arrives in the town of Absolution, ruffles some feathers with a gun-toting young cowboy (Paul Dano, in the most animated performance in the movie), is imprisoned since he is on a Most Wanted list, ruffles more feathers with a cattle baron (Harrison Ford, in a performance that is the very definition of gruff) and, before one can say "High Noon," spaceships appear from the night sky and practically blow up the entire town. These ships also fire lassos that wrap themselves around an unlucky number of Absolution's finest and place them inside the vessels. This is definitely a nod to "War of the Worlds."

The tone of this murky film already put me off by the time Craig's character shows up in town. Who is this guy? We never quite find out aside from the fact that he is a wanted man and had a woman in his life who was abducted by aliens - he is practically an amnesiac from first frame to last. Ford's mean baron gives the legendary actor a chance to shake his heroic charisma but the character is still something of a cipher.

As a western, this mediocre movie moves at a snail's pace. Things do not get livelier with Olivia Wilde as a town prostitute who is not what she appears to be. Keith Carradine comes off best as a reluctant sheriff but he doesn't have enough screen time. Same with the fantastic presence of Clancy Brown as a gun-toting preacher, but he's gone before one can get accustomed to his colorful character. And when the vicious aliens do attack (who are interested in gold in the movie's only novel touch of irony), the film's action moves and radiates with no friction, no surprise, no tension. Since we can't care about the one-dimensional cowboys, cattle barons and thieves who display the bare minimum of character shadings, how can we care about explosions and cowboys on horseback being chased by these ships?

The aliens are large, freakish beasts that look like they can tear apart any puny human just by the touch of their fingernails, yet Ford can strike them on the head with anything at his disposal including his rifle and the aliens fall to the ground a little easily. It is that kind of movie, stunningly photographed, but it is not much fun and hardly memorable.  

Momma Beheaded by a Basketball

DEADLY FRIEND (1986)

Reviewed By Jerry Saravia

Shortly after Wes Craven's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" came "Deadly Friend," an awkward hybrid of a teenage romantic comedy and gory horror film which unfortunately misses the mark. It did not do much for Craven's reputation or for audiences, and the results are middling at best.

Matthew Laborteaux is Paul, a 15-year-old scientific whiz kid who is also an innovative inventor. He has just moved to a new small town with his mother to study artificial intelligence at a prestigious university. Paul has a robotic companion named BeeBee who is operated by remote control. Life seems pleasant until Paul meets his next-door neighbor, Samantha (Kristy Swanson), who is physically abused by her father. Before you can say "Are we watching a John Hughes flick?", Samantha is tragically killed and BeeBee is blown to bits by a shotgun-wielding neighbor (Anne Ramsey). Paul decides to bring back Samantha by implanting a chip in her head, which miraculously brings her back to life (without benefit of an electrical charge!) The problem is that Samantha resembles a Gothic robot or ghoul from "Night of the Living Dead," and she begins to kill those who have treated her badly in the past. Not exactly what Paul had in mind.

For the first half-hour, "Deadly Friend" almost works and aims to be a charming, tongue-in-cheek teenage version of "The Bride of Frankenstein." Unfortunately, the relationship between Paul and Samantha is so undeveloped that she becomes a rampaging monster before we even to get to know her. The only thing Paul admires about Samantha are her breasts. There are too many plot holes as well, such as the remote control's inability to stop BeeBee or Samantha from progressing towards danger. Maybe Paul just needs new batteries in uneventful emergencies. Then there are a few nightmare sequences that must have been added due to Craven's success with the original "Elm Street." The film nicely sets up some ideas and characters and then chucks them all out the window in favor of a gory horror pic. What you can say about a film when the most talked-about scene involves a novel beheading by a basketball!

"Deadly Friend" was Craven's biggest studio film at the time, but it was obviously taken away from his hands by the producers. Underwritten characters, illogical plot twists and gratuitous gore only cheapen what might have been an inspired idea.

Parker's unflattering and sleep-inducing auditions

ELLIE PARKER (2005)

Reviewed By Jerry Saravia

"Ellie Parker" is a self-indulgent disaster - a movie about an actor's endless journey through casting auditions. Though it has Naomi Watts before her "Mulholland Dr." success, it features scant evidence of anything other than Watts's ability to transport herself into any kind of role.

Naomi Watts plays an actress, Ellie Parker, who goes from one audition to another and never quite gets anywhere. Of course, this tale is set in Hollywood, the land where you are either a waiter/waitress or an actor/actress (or an executive producer if you have no talent). One terrific scene shows Ellie leaving one audition where she played a Southern gal to another where she has to audition as a loveless slut. She changes her clothes while driving, practicing obscene lines with a Bronx accent.

Ellie's life is essentially an audition as well, an audition to find her identity. She loses focus and forgets why she ever wanted to be an actress. She has a boyfriend who has affairs, she sees a therapist, has a best friend and fellow actress who steals from antique stores, and not much else. One day, she has an encounter where she crashes into the car of a cinematographer (Scott Coffey). Of course, this cinematographer is not what he seems.

"Ellie Parker" was shot on a mini-DV camcorder with a constant hand-heldedness that might give you a migraine. I do not admonish anyone for using digital video (heck, George Lucas used it for the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy) but I do admonish anyone who can't hold the camera still for more than a few seconds. The technique works wonders sometimes, particularly a superbly funny and horrifying scene where Ellie and her friend test each other to see who can fake tears the fastest. Most of the time, the movie strains to be seen, fixating on unflattering close-ups of Watts' blonde hair and so on. Maybe the point is to show how unglamorous the life of a struggling actress can be, but a little stabilization with the camera wouldn't have hurt.

"Ellie Parker" first breathed life as a 15-minute short, later expanded over the years by writer-director Scott Coffey as a feature-length film. The problem is the movie coasts along on nothing more than Ellie's complaints about her self and self-worth without much introspection - she is simply an annoyance. Instead of depth of character, we get an unnecessary club scene where a practically unrecognizable Keanu Reeves appears; an inexplicable scene set inside a zoo; blue ice cream dripping from Ellie's lips; Chevy Chase as Ellie's agent; an unwatchable acting exercise; some moronic, zonked-out artists who are producing a movie they don't care about, and so on. Most of the goings-on seem dull and superfluous, saying little about Ellie Parker. Naomi Watts' breakout role in "Mulholland Dr." where she played a similar actress who has one outstanding audition said more about Hollywood and working actresses than anything in the vapid, interminable "Ellie Parker."

The worst Bruce Lee rip-off ever!

FIST OF FEAR, TOUCH OF DEATH (1980)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I suppose nothing is worse than seeing something as appalling as a fake Bruce Lee biography. "Fist of Fear, Touch of Death" is not just a fake and wholly inaccurate biography, it is also the stupidest, most cheaply made, amateurish, stinking pile of maggot-infested cheese ever fostered on the American public. I suppose it would be forgivable if it was only shown on cable or video but this, this turd-like excuse for a movie, was shown in theaters!

Set in New York's Madison Square Garden, Adolph Caesar ("A Soldier's Story") is the news reporter who is there to cover a martial-arts tournament where the successor to Bruce Lee will be determined. Caesar interviews action stars like Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, who feels the whole event is a waste of time; Aaron Banks, who believes in the Bruce Lee conspiracy that Lee was killed by the "touch of death," and there is a faux interview with Bruce Lee himself drenched in sepia tones. Then we are treated to an overlong faux biography of Bruce himself for no reason other than to pad the film to an interminable 1 hour and twenty minutes. The biographical information is a joke, determining that Bruce's karate, not kung-fu influence, was from his great-great grandfather who was a Chinese samurai! Even I know that the samurai were Japanese, not Chinese - a better foundation for Lee's skills would've been if his ancestors came from the Shaolin Temple. The footage of his great-great grandfather is from some obscure martial-arts film where we see one long fight sequence involving, among other things, an abacus used as a weapon! Even better is the endless Lee footage from the short-lived TV series "Longstreet" masquerading as interview footage.

The best moment is when Lee meets with a film director about doing an action film based on his martial-arts experience, just prior to doing "The Green Hornet." Then we are shown a clip of some guy jumping off a roof! The problem with this glaringly erroneous fact is that Bruce never made an American martial-arts film prior to "The Green Hornet," and even his first American film was "Marlowe" in 1969 where he played a minion to a mafioso type. Let's not forget that even Lee's proposed "Kung-Fu" series was accepted but the producers felt the public wasn't ready for a Chinese-American action star so they cast David Carradine instead.

But "Fist of Fear" doesn't end there. In fact, excepting the last five minutes of the film, there is hardly any Madison Square Garden footage, and most of it is limited to talking head interviews. We are terrorized by scenes where Fred Williamson is mistaken for Harry Belafonte (!), a Kato-impersonator (Billy Louie) kicks the butt of potential Central Park rapists, Ron Van Clief kicking butt with more of these rapists, a few close-up shots of women's breasts and buttocks while they jog, an obviously fake tournament fight where Billy Louie plucks his opponent's eyeballs out and throws them to the audience, and more garbage filler than most dumpsters can carry. One thing you'll learn from this trash is that women are often raped by the attacker by, get this, merely holding the woman's hands against a wall and screaming obscenities. There is no theme, no story, no sense of purpose to "Fist of Fear," other than finding the successor to Bruce Lee. If the legendary Bruce Lee is not turning over in his grave, then I will when I die.

A new menace in Middle-Earth

THE HOBBIT (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The critics have declared Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" too long, too expository, too much and, in some instances, too boring. Some have also complained about Peter Jackson's new invention - a 48-frame-per-second film that makes everything appear hyperreal - fake-looking in other words. I have not seen the film in this format so I can't comment but that hardly matters. "The Hobbit" is a lavishly mounted, extraordinarily intimate and awesome fantasy adventure - it blows away any other fantasy films since Jackson's own "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King." 

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) is a hobbit who happily smokes and eats in his own little house. He is approached one day by Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen), a wise old wizard who has summoned a league of extraordinary dwarves to Bilbo's house. Bilbo knows precious little about Gandalf (this tale takes place 60 years before "Lord of the Rings") and is dismayed by all these dwarves. Their mission is to go back to their own homeland called The Lonely Mountain, which they had lost to an intensely fire-breathing dragon named Smaug who drove them out and killed many. Dragons love gold and this Smaug basically sleeps in it. Gandalf wants to recruit the reluctant Bilbo as the "burglar" which would help the dwarfes enter their own palace of riches. On the way, the group confront giant Scottish-accented trolls; a Goblin King (Barry Humphries) with ravaged, acne-scarred skin and an oversized hanging chin; Radaghast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), a wizard who resides in the forest and keeps bird poop on his head; the return of Gollum (Andy Serkis) who performs a game of riddles with Bilbo; the Stone Giants who try to crush each other while our heroes hang on for dear life and, most memorably, Azog the Pale Orc (Manu Bennett), a dangerous creature who lusts for war and intends nothing but to kill all dwarves. Naturally there has been some resentment towards Bilbo and that is true of the dwarf Thorin (Richard Armitage), a warrior who has a dislike for Elves and especially Azog. 

"The Hobbit" is simply a delight from first frame to last, easing from one encounter with fantastical creatures after another to dwarves singing and doing Bilbo's dishes! There are also the enormous vistas of Middle-Earth (played by New Zealand) coupled with vast palaces covered on every inch of floor by gold; the Goblin King's fiery underground lair; the deep bluish starkness of Azog's surroundings or the amber tones of Radaghast's own treehouse - all add great flavor and richness to the fantasy. Director Peter Jackson has also created the most convincing creatures I have seen in a fantasy film of this type yet, thanks to his creative WETA visual effects team. 

The story of this hobbit's adventure might be trifle next to the epic proportions of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" but that would be false advertising. The book of "The Hobbit" could have been mined for a two hour film or less, but Jackson and his writers have taken the tale and expanded it (including returning characters like Saruman and Galadriel who were not in the book) with a flair and magical rhythm that makes you forget its running time which is precisely ten minutes short of a three-hour span. Martin Freeman is a wonder as Bilbo, smart and witty yet innocent of the dangers that lay ahead (he has also got Ian Holm's feistiness). Ian McKellen is as sublime as ever as Gandalf and Andy Serkis shows a more psychopathic Gollum than we had anticipated in the years prior to "Lord of the Rings." Finally, there is the rough and tough Richard Armitage as Thorin, a dwarf who shares some of Aragorn's cynicism (in hindsight, I see a similarity to Viggo Mortensen's iconic character) but is also changed by this hobbit who is along for the ride. 

"The Hobbit" is part of a new trilogy of stories by Jackson and I do look forward to seeing where this story goes. But what is most alluring and captivating about Jackson's return to Middle-Earth is the intimacy. My favorite scene is where Gandalf explains to Galadriel his reaction to the bravery of Bilbo Baggins. Gandalf speaks in such gentle tones and with such sympathy that it is extraordinarly moving. It shows Peter Jackson's heart is in the right place.