Are you a Bearcat?

THE IDES OF MARCH (2011)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Running a presidential campaign during the primaries must be the most exhausting and time-consuming work there is. If you are the presidential candidate, you are trusting your campaign manager and all the interns to do the best they can for you, assuming they believe in you. With "The Ides of March," the assumption is more honestly cynical - it may have nothing to do with ideals and more to do with career advancement.

Take Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), the smarter-than-thou and quick-on-his-feet press secretary to Governor Morris (George Clooney), the Democratic candidate running for a seat in the Oval Office. Stephen may or may not pretend to be an idealist but that is what he sells. It is what Stephen sells to a zealous New York Times journalist (Marisa Tomei), whom he pretends to be friends with though he will not reveal information that could damage the candidate, no matter how trivial. Stephen has to be cautious but things get messy when he talks to a rival campaign manager named Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who works for Senator Pullman, Morris's opponent. Stephen should never talk to Duffy in a secret meeting but word gets out. And one of Morris's interns (Evan Rachel Wood) might have a questionable black mark on the campaign that could ruin Morris's chances.

Clooney himself co-wrote and directed this film, based on the 2008 Off-Broadway play "Farragut North." Clooney has proven to be a true actor's director and he also has a surefire way of getting all the tension he needs for this evolving story to give it maximum impact. From the long take of a campaign manager entering a vehicle and then exiting after being told something secretive to Gosling's brilliant last scene where his face, no longer the smiling careerist we see earlier, gives us goosebumps, Clooney can definitely handle this material with complete assurance (he has already proven to be quirky with "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and to give a historical event a dose of vitality with "Good Night, and Good Luck"). But the script loses a little momentum when a damaging secret is revealed that is resolved a little too cheaply for my tastes. I will not say it is the cheap exploitation of fictitious political crises like Clint Eastwood's over-the-top thriller "Absolute Power" but it felt a little crass and it is handled with a complete lack of sympathy. That is all I can say, and I expected more from writer-director Clooney who looks for an easy way out.

The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Philip Seymour Hoffman as a disgruntled campaign manager who is as much a careerist as Gosling's Stephen. Gosling is exceptionally good and reveals layers that run the gamut from deceitful and charming with a sly smile to feeling as if he has been cheated. And Clooney, who has fewer scenes than almost anyone else, handles his presidential role with aplomb - he's got the smile and the smoothness down pat. The movie though left me feeling cheated, despite an ambiguous final shot that could have used more of an even structure. Still, in an era of Hollywood movies that recycle and reboot everything, it is a breath of fresh air to see a political movie with more brains than CGI. A little more empathy would have been nice too.

Donal Logue eliminates his desire

THE TAO OF STEVE (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 2000)

Romantic comedies continue to multiply in Hollywood and the independent scene (the last couple of good ones I can recall on an independent scale are "Chasing Amy" and "The Brothers McMullen".) "The Tao of Steve" is harmless time filler, likely to provoke some light laughs on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Its major selling point is the casting of the sweet Donal Logue at its center.

Logue does not play Steve, in fact the title is a philosophy carried around by Dex. Logue plays Dex, a sweet, likable slacker with a prominent gut who has his own agenda on how to seduce women. No, it is not seduce and destroy but rather do not let on you are seducing, then let them go after you have sex. First rule is to eliminate your desire. Second rule is to be excellent at something in their presence (camping is not an option). Third rule is to withdraw. This philosophy, known as the Tao of Steve, is based on the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu whom Dex reads avidly. The name "Steve" is used because it is the coolest name, and its claim to fame is from the coolest of all movie stars, Steve McQueen. The least coolest name is Stu (ironically the name of the coolest character in "Scream" but that is a moot point).

The film begins at a ten-year college reunion where Dex was once known as Elvis, hence the most popular of all the students. He chuckles as he mentions that now he is a fat Elvis. At the reunion, he meets Syd (Greer Goodman), a set designer for the Santa Fe Opera whom Dex has literally forgotten about, including their own tryst years ago. Most uncool for Dex and so anti-Steve. Dex naturally falls in love with Syd, and does not eliminate the desire - he makes it plainly known, even telling her he is falling in love with her.

"The Tao of Steve" has some measured moments of truth about Dex's nature and about relationships in general, but it peters out to a hasty resolution that seems false and predictable. Let's just say that it is the kind of ending more attributed to Hollywood than an independent film of this kind. There are also frequent pop-culture references to "Hawaii Five-O," "Six-Million Dollar Man" and other TV shows of yesteryear, complete with music from said shows. It all feels contrived and unnecessary, simply marking time. And the cinematography is a little too muddy for my tastes considering the beautiful location - Santa Fe, New Mexico may be a bit overcast at times but it is ripe for high contrasts in terms of cinematography.

Still, there is a genial warmth to the film thanks to Donal Logue (who won the Special Jury Prize Award for Best Actor at Sundance). He could be a mean-spirited, viciously verbal macho male yet, as written by director Jenniphr Goodman and co-writers Greer Goodman and Duncan North, the screenplay opts for gentler tones of body language and a sensitivity in Dex that makes him instantly likable. He is so damn sweet that it becomes infectious - how can a woman resist the temptations of a philosophical male who speaks of lust as a primary way of living? So what if he works part-time and smokes marijuana daily for breakfast!

"The Tao of Steve" is not a total success because it travels on safer terrain rather than truly exploring what motivates someone like Dex. He is the kind of guy that can surprise you, lead you to think he's less clever than he looks. The film's homespun philosophy is that love rules the day over lust, and a lover like Don Giovanni would eventually come to realize this. I feel Dex is a unique enough character that he would only make you think he has realized this. Sometimes those who see the error of their ways continue making the same errors.

Footnote: The opening sequence of "The Tao of Steve" is set at a supposedly four-year college where a ten-year reunion is taking place. Actually, it is Santa Fe Community College, a two-year school that would not likely have a reunion. The setting looks familiar enough since I attended that very same school for two-and-a-half years!

'Tell the Court I love my wife'

THE LOVING STORY (2011)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

It is extraordinary how the Lovings managed to keep their composure in the face of ridiculous scandal. The Lovings, Richard and Mildred Loving, were arrested and almost spent a year in jail. They did not commit murder or larceny. Nope, their crime was being married to each other. How could this be? Richard was a white man married to a black woman, or in the parlance of its Civil Rights day, a colored woman.

One night, late at 4 a.m., the Lovings were arrested in their own bedroom by the sheriff! The charge was violating Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924 (the anonymous tip sent to the sheriff was that an interracial couple was having sex, also a crime). The married couple is sentenced to one year in prison, with the sentence suspended for 25 years on condition that the couple leave the state of Virginia. The hope is that the state's anti-miscegenation laws will be changed so they can remain in their own piece of Virginia land (Central Point) that they call home. Though they were married in Washington, D.C. which carried no anti-miscegenation laws, they prefer to live near their family. It takes a letter to Senator Robert Kennedy, the support of the ACLU and an eventual Supreme Court decision to right all wrongs. Meanwhile, Virginia Klansmen and other bigots spouse their lack of support - they want to keep America white and bright. Even a Circuit Court Judge makes the alarming generalization that God intended all races to be from different continents with no integration. Ouch! My eyes hurt just from reading that statement - I am afraid I will go blind if I read it again.

Most of "The Loving Story" is told through 16mm film footage by filmmaker Hope Ryden and cinematographer Abbot Mills as they capture the Lovings in their home and catering to their children. We also see the two bright, enthusiastic lawyers who take their case to the Supreme Court, Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop - both are nervous about this landmark court case that can either make or break their careers. It is important to note that the defense lawyers do not share any of this animosity or racism that others carry - they do not understand how these laws can still exist.

"The Loving Story" is a remarkable, honest and bittersweet documentary, shifting from some poignant photographs and film footage to the lawyers' own backbreaking work of defining and defying all odds to alter ancient laws. The film is really a close examination of two people in love who defied the authorities to stay close to home to be together. A tragedy did occur that resulted in the death of Richard due to a drunk driver's collision with their vehicle - they were living together legally only 8 years after the Supreme Court decision prior to this car crash. Mildred survived, losing an eye, until she passed in 2008.

Ultimately,The Lovings didn't set out to change the world. They just wanted what everyone else had - family, home and hearth and a future. Director Nancy Buirski proves in a revelatory and touching manner that marriage is indeed color blind. 

Once Upon a Time when Afghanistan was our ally...

    RAMBO III (1988)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Back in 1988, the musclebound superman John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) fought the Russians in good old Afghanistan. This was prescient prior to the release of the film because an actual war was being fought between Afghanistan and the Russians. The people of Afghanistan were considered our friends. But when "Rambo III" was released that summer, the war was over and the U.S. completely deserted that country. How times have changed, and how clearly one can view "Rambo III" as one of the most idiotic action movies ever made.

Now I was hardly a fan of "Rambo: First Blood Part II" but at least it moved with spurts of kinetic energy, no matter how wholly unbelievable it was. The original "First Blood" was a decent film showing Rambo resorting to guerrilla tactics against the police who employed brutal methods of torture against Vietnam Vets. Though both films were largely implausible in terms of action setpieces, Rambo was at least seen in the original film as a human being who was simply wronged by society. But as soon as "Rambo III" opens, we are treated to one of those stick fights you often find in kung-fu movies where the sounds of body blows sound more like cannon blasts. Rambo is hit so hard in the abdomen and in other parts of the body that you sense he can't possibly win this fight. But no, he rises and strikes and finally his opponent gives up. Um, the man should be battered and bruised and left for dead but, hey, it's only a movie! A vapid, cartoonish bore of a movie but a movie nonetheless.

Next, Rambo and his red bandana are reluctantly sent to Afghanistan. Well, the mission is met with reluctance until his Colonel and life-long mentor (Richard Crenna) is kidnapped and held prisoner by the Soviets. Before long we are treated to explosions galore, machine-gun fire ad infinitum, knives thrust in bellies, throats, eyes, etc. Rambo is severely wounded by a piercing bullet on his side, which he coats with gunpowder and lighter fluid. Rambo keeps fighting, wounded on the leg, but he keeps getting up and doing it all over again. He is the superhuman hulk who can withstand any abuse because he is, after all, Rambo and for better or worse, he is America. I shudder at the thought.

Sylvester Stallone never quite recovered his superstar status, though he did one notably decent action picture called "Cliffhanger" in 1993. Otherwise, if you are a fan of interminable action with no sense of direction or sweep, and if you like sweat glistening on your favorite barbaric hero as he stares menacingly at his villains before firing his last round of bullets, then this movie is for you. I fell asleep.

Rambo fights the War in America

FIRST BLOOD (1982)

Reviewed By Jerry Saravia

(Originally viewed in 1982, revised review from 2003)

The notion that Vietnam vets were not welcomed in their own homeland because of what they did and what they represent may seem like an antiquated issue nowadays but it doesn't make it less resonant. As of now in glorious 2003, anti-war protesters still exist and decry the use of violence for any kind of interest, even in the interest of the war on terrorism. In 1982, a long-haired Vietnam Vet wearing a green jacket with the American flag symbol and entering a harmless town still seemed odd. Where was the harm and why would the small-town police chief see someone like that as a threat? To whom? Reminds me of Jack Nicholson's comment in "Easy Rider" that long-haired hippies would have their hair cut with rusty razor blades. That was in 1967, and this movie's setting is the early eighties.

Moving along, "First Blood" is the first film to feature the human-killing machine known as John J. Rambo (Sylvester Stallone), a man tortured by his memories of having fought that infamous war. He comes in to a small town (known as Hope) where he is less than welcomed. His intention was to visit a war buddy whom he learns died of cancer from that Agent Orange stuff. As soon as the police chief (Brian Dennehy) sees this Green Beret, he immediately asks him to leave town and go to the nearest diner, which is thirty miles away (oh, and he tells him to take a bath). Rambo is stubborn and decides to walk back into town. Before you know it, the Vietnam vet is taken to a police station and physically abused with clubs and water hoses. Rambo breaks free and escapes into the mountains, builds booby traps and plays a game of cat-and-mouse with the police, the National Guard and a bunch of Dobermans. All hell breaks loose, as if Rambo is fighting the Vietnam War all over again.

The opening scenes of "First Blood" are genuinely exciting and suspenseful, featuring the kind of physical violence that often places you on the edge of your seat. There is a moment, highly implausible, where Rambo jumps from the top of a cliff to a tree and merely makes it through with a bad cut on his arm (which he later stitches up). He is now a fugitive who is wanted for killing a police officer (though it was purely accidental), and survives mostly by using a serrated knife with a compass. Later, Rambo's own Green Beret commander, Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna), asks to bring in Rambo alone and bring him to justice on his own terms. That the chief would not comply to such demands is hardly a surprise - he wants Rambo dead.

Seeing the film again for the first time in almost twenty years, I was amazed to see how much physical abuse Rambo has to take in those startling opening sequences. I was also amazed that Rambo doesn't actually kill anyone (well, except for that one police officer he hurls through an office window). He is hardly the killing machine that he became in the atrocious "First Blood Part II" or "Rambo III" - he is more like a wounded animal in need of some counseling. The film does get bogged down with the Trautman character and a later speech by Rambo about what he has suffered since returning from the war - all of this is merely didactic without being insightful. The best scenes involve Rambo's survival methods and his ability to fool the authorities into thinking he's dead. It is these sections of the film, not to mention the opening sequence, that makes "First Blood" half of a terrific movie.

The mind is the best weapon

RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

John Rambo was never designed to be a jingoistic Vietnam hero for the Reagan era. But, there goes the grace of blood-stained heroics of the 1980's and we got stuck with one of the most ridiculous, brainless action films ever made, "Rambo: First Blood Part II." It is Sylvester Stallone in full commando mode, shooting every enemy with his high-powered machine guns and explosive-tipped arrows. I just laughed and snored at this picture in 1985, and I still do today.

Stallone's Rambo is doing hard time for his crime of nearly destroying the Pacific Northwest (which by the way did not include killing anybody). His boss, Colonel Trautman (Richard Crenna), asks Rambo to go on a mission - find out if there are still POW's in Vietnam. Sweaty Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier), who loves his Cokes from an open vending machine (ah, our government at work), asks Rambo to photograph the POW's but do not get involved with the enemy and do not rescue any of them. Naturally, a musclebound hero who is, and I quote,  "Joined the army 8/6/64. Accepted, Special Forces specialization, light weapons, cross-trained as medic. Helicopter and language qualified, 59 confirmed kills, two Silver Stars, four Bronze, four Purple Hearts, Distinguished Service Cross, Congressional Medal of Honor," just can't use a still camera without breaking it. Things get awry when Rambo arrives in Vietnam. We are talking mass casualties, serrated knives thrown against foreheads, explosive arrows that destroy most of the countryside, etc. I suppose anyone watching a movie like this knows what they are in for. But why does it have to be boring and with no discernible sense of humor? 

Stallone merely appears like a stoic action figure - a noble hero who is doing the right thing. The government has no interest in rescuing these POW's, however, because it would mean they would have to admit to wrongdoing to a very unpopular war (they also did not obligate their debt of 4.5 billion in war reparations to the Viet Cong). My question is: if it is intended as a cover-up, why even bother with this mission in the first place and why send someone like Rambo? This is hardly the same character shown in "First Blood" - he is mad as hell and somehow is shoved with pious platitudes at the end of this film that nearly negate the whole experience. 

"Rambo: First Blood Part II" has many explosions, many killings, heavy-duty tortures, and incredulous moments that make one shake their head in disbelief. Rambo jumping out of the water to grab on to a helicopter! Rambo camouflaging himself with mud and telepathically knowing where to stand exactly where the enemy will be in the thick of the jungle! None of it makes much sense nor should it taken seriously, nor is this jingoistic hero someone who I identify with or root for. But for some unknown reason, Rambo was taken seriously and became a pop culture sensation up until the release of the moronic "Rambo III." Consider viewing something else or read a book because, as Rambo says, "the mind is the best weapon." It is the best weapon, to use against pro-carnage swill like this. 

Real Talk with Jesse and Celine

BEFORE SUNSET (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Original review from 2005)

Who would have guessed that it would take the reunion of director Richard Linklater and actors Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy to make a truly blissful, bittersweet romantic comedy? Well, I am happy to report that "Before Sunset" is a lovely, melancholy and disarmingly sweet surprise - a fascinating sequel to "Before Sunrise" that left me swooning and on a happy high note of bliss. I normally don't say such things but I respect a solid romantic film when I see one.

Ethan Hawke is back as Jesse, an unhappily married author who is promoting his newest book in Paris. The story of his novel dictates the brief romantic fling he had nine years earlier with Celine (Julie Delpy) in Vienna, which is the basic story of "Before Sunrise." Lo and behold, at a bookshop where he's promoting his book, a beaming Celine turns up. Jesse is distracted yet smitten all over again. They talk as they parade one end of Paris to another, discussing a wide variety of topics such as marriage, politics, age, looks, books and, inevitably, their own blissful fling. They were supposed to have met back in Vienna a mere six months after meeting each other, and only Jesse made it for this encounter.

Wait a minute, so this is all just mere conversation? No sex, drugs, rock and roll? No plot? I would say yes to all three questions, but are we forgetting that this is a sequel to a movie that was just about two people talking? Think of it this way: About ten years ago, I found myself wandering the streets of King's Point, NY after getting out of class from Queens College, thinking foolishly that I'd find a way to get to my Port Washington home on foot. No such luck. The point is that I wish someone had been walking with me for those three long hours, preferably of the opposite sex. If you understand that notion, "Before Sunset" will work miracles for you.

It has been nine years since I saw "Before Sunrise." I respected the film and found it was entrancing in its own conceit of just following two people who met on a train to Venice. The sequel has them all grown up and in their thirties, and I'd be remiss if I didn't feel like I had seen the original just the other day. It is like seeing two friends and playing catch-up - are they the same? Do they have the same interests? Are they are as romantic as they were in their twenties?

It is not fair to say much more. "Before Sunset" is all dialogue but never boring (Hawke and Delpy co-wrote the screenplay). This is not simply a travelogue of Paris either as director Richard Linklater uses the Steadicam to follow our two wanna-be lovers from one street and canal to another. Scenes in a coffee bar are accomplished with traditional close-ups and they work because they are used appropriately. It also helps that Ethan Hawke's Jesse and Julie Delpy's Celine are such engaging, three-dimensional characters - you want to follow them forever. The film's ending has an implied sense of regret as their lives took on different routes. One wonders if they wish they could rejuvenate their love or if they accept their standing in life. The fact that they question it and discuss it makes this one of the more romantic and bittersweet films of our times. If you're sick of prefab romantic claptrap with J. Lo and company, observe "Before Sunset."