Non-Fact-Checker, propagandistic=Michael Moore

FAHRENHYPE 9/11 (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

After all the hoopla over Michael Moore's biased, propagandistic documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11," the detractors came out to attack him, but not in full force. The worst claim Moore made in his film was that Iraq was never a threat to America (the Gulf War is a good example of such an erroneous claim). There was also the glaring omission that a certain pipeline was shut down in Afghanistan in 1998, though the U.S. and the Arabs were making oil profits from it. There is also the darling newspaper clipping that supposedly had a headline that read: "Al Gore won in Florida" (it was actually a letter to the editor). Unfortunately, the criticisms were mild compared to the fueling outrage that a Flint, Michigan man wearing a baseball cap had no business making documentaries in the first place (or maybe it was that Oscar acceptance speech that really riled everybody up). One of the most astute attacks came from writer Christopher Hitchens on the canceled show "Crossfire" - he called Moore nothing worse than a liar and someone who likes to stir the pot of the masses without doing any fact-checking. It is a segment like that should have ended up in this film but "Fahrenhype 9/11" lacks any major charge, and leaves no sting at all.

Most of "Fahrenhype 9/11" focuses on Michael Moore's claims and tries to debunk a few of them, though a substantial portion focuses on the war on terrorism post-9/11. Using interview footage of former New York mayor Ed Koch, actor Ron Silver ("What? He's Republican!") serving as narrator, and the witty repartee of Ann Coulter hardly persuade us of Moore's erroneous filmmaking habits. They expunge all outrage at the filmmaker, focusing on minor details that wouldn't bother a nine-year-old (although Moore's comment that terrorism is not problematic in America, as we are led to believe, brings out much needed fuel for the right-wingers).

There are choice moments involving a Marine, Sgt. Peter Damon, who felt his comments on the war in Moore's film were taken out of context; the Oregon state trooper who's dismayed he even appeared in a Michael Moore film; the school principal who felt that Bush acted "presidential" after sitting with the kids for seven minutes in the classroom, despite learning that America was under attack; and there are the Marines who feel that the fight for freedom in Iraq gives Moore justification to be critical. More footage of these concrete interviews would have helped the filmmakers' cause in debunking Michael Moore and his box-office documentary hit. A definition on what they think a documentary should be would've been beneficial. Hearing Ron Silver call the greatest propaganda film of all time, "Triumph of the Will," a masterpiece in comparison to Moore's film, which doesn't try to approximate the same level of propaganda, is to forget what the purpose of one film had over the other. Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" was designed as a promotional Nazi party film, and it was too damn good. Some saw it as a brilliant film that helped a cause that resulted in the worst genocide of the 20th century. "Fahrenheit 9/11" was designed to unseat the President, pure and simple, and it failed.

And that is what director Alan Peterson and writer Dick Morris never acknowledge - Moore hates Bush and his policies and wanted to be sure Dubya wouldn't be re-elected - a propagandist often embellishes the truth to attain a grand political goal. Heck, isn't that why "Fahrenheit 9/11" did well at the box-office? Didn't the majority of the country feel they were lied to by our current administration? And didn't Bush and his cronies embellish the truth about the war? Moore tapped into the national consciousness, for better or worse. Wishful thinking, I suppose. The most outrageous charges these talking heads evoke are that Bush sat in his chair for five minutes, not seven, and that former Presidents Clinton and Carter did little to counterattack terrorism - they were buddies with the Arabs just like Bush Jr. and Sr. are. Oh, and don't forget: 860 billion dollars is not the equivalent of 7-8 percent of our economy. If "Fahrenhype 9/11" is the best case for defending the Republicans, President Bush and the ongoing war, then Michael Moore is not likely to go away.

Interview with Robin Johnson: Born That Way

AN INTERVIEW WITH 'REBELLIOUS' ROBIN JOHNSON:

 BORN THAT WAY 
By Jerry Saravia

Robin Johnson as Nicky Marotta in 1980's "Times Square"

Robin Johnson is one of those actresses who slipped under the Hollywood radar. Her quixotic debut turn in Allan Moyle's "Times Square" is possibly the iconic role of her career - the rebellious, husky-voiced Brooklyn girl, Nicky Marotta, who performs a rousing rock number at the top of a marquee of a Times Square theatre during the climax of the film. It is her performance that gives the movie an injection of soul and purpose, along with the casting of Trini Alvarado as her best friend, and undoubtedly most will recall Robin Johnson as one of the standout, underrated performances of the 1980's in a criminally underrated film that has since gained a cult status. Such a strong impression lead to a recurring character as Darcy Dekker in "Guiding Light," a cameo in Scorsese's "After Hours," TV's "Miami Vice," a small bit in John Sayles' "Baby, It's You," "Splitz" (1984) where she played the member of an all-girl rock band called the Splitz, and some theatre work. Though she remains private about her current life and whereabouts, she was gracious and kind enough (with a quirky sense of humor) to agree to do this interview. 

Jerry: Thanks for your time and thank you for agreeing to do this interview. I can't tell you how happy I am to be interviewing the girl from Times Square, a film I consider a minor masterpiece.

Robin Johnson: Thank you for asking for the interview.  The “girl” from Times Square is now 49.  I am intrigued that you consider the film a “minor masterpiece.”  I think you should interview Allan Moyle or the co-writer Leanne Ungar, if she’s still around.  They are the ones that are probably responsible for the “masterpiece” part of it.

1) Tell me the story of how you were discovered for Times Square.  I recall on the commentary track of the DVD that you were discovered by a casting scout on the streets named Michael, and you still have no idea who this person is since nobody connected to the production knew of him?

RJ: Seriously?  Are these questions from an ancient press packet?  Don’t take offense but anyone really interested in me or my story of “discovery” knows this story in their sleep.  Or they might get the DVD where I’m sure I talked about this ad infinitum. 

I was cutting class – cutting up – and yes I have never seen or heard from this man after the one meeting and as far as I know – no one knew of him.  Perhaps he was a figment of my imagination.  What is interesting is the idea of a chance meeting such as this – the fantasy or dream of it – yet it was real.  Must have had to happen to me since (referring to question 2) I really was just playing myself and probably would have died young had I not had a chance to channel my self-destruction into a starring movie role. 

2) I have read that your character, Nicky, from "Times Square" is no different than who you were in 1980. Reform school, rebellious, didn't get along with teachers or authority. How much of your personal life ended up in the character of Nicky?

RJ: NONE of my personal life ended up in the movie or the character of Nicky except rebelliousness.  Born that way.  (As a matter of fact I really dig Lady Gaga – and the Clash.  And Bach.  Fatboy Slim.  Aerosmith – Janis Joplin – Coltrane – Pat Metheny – Sheryl Crow – Frank Sinatra – Johnny Cash – Coldplay – Simon & Garfunkel – oh God don’t have enough paper.  I happen to like people who can play their instruments and tell a good story.  Oops – skipped to question 6.  See – rebellious.)

Every actor brings their core to every role they play.  Meryl Streep is elegant at her core.  In Ironweed she has a dignity which cannot be erased even though she is a down-and-out Depression era alcoholic.  She is exceptionally skilled at characters and “the craft” of acting – but, she is still Meryl Streep – elegant at the core.

Robin in TV's "Miami Vice"

Robin in "After Hours"

3) Times Square was your breakout role but you have done very few films since. Tell us about your cameo in After Hours and working with director Martin Scorsese and actor Griffin Dunne. Seems like your brief bit as a punk rocker passing out flyers to a local punk club alludes to Nicky, to some extent.

RJ: I think my cameo in After Hours could have been a favor to one of my agents.  Also I have a face that seems to magically attract lots of make-up and strange hair-do’s.

Robin as Darcy Dekker in "Guiding Light"

4) You are also a part of Guiding Light (playing Darcy Decker) and Miami Vice (as Candy James), two wildly different television shows. Darcy Decker was a tough girl who became a drug counselor, and the other role on Vice was as a poolside prostitute. Why weren't roles more forthcoming since Times Square?  Also, tying in with your role of Darcy in Guiding Light, rumor has it that you were considered for the role of Violet in Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, true?

RJ: I have the same question.  (Not really.)  Why weren’t more roles forthcoming after Times Square?  Because everyone knows what a star-studded acting genius and incredible stunner I am. 

I had an interview with a hoped-for personal manager when I was about 22 or 23.  Actually – it was a pair of managers.  A “creative” guy and the “money” guy.  The creative guy said, “You know, if it was up to me, I would say yes in an instant.  But, my partner, well –”  Enter “money” guy: “Look, we manage Julia Roberts!  Why would we need you?”  My “career” has really been about something other than that – you know?  Que sera, sera.  C’est la vie.  Don’t know any other languages. 

If I was considered for anything in Friday the 13^th Part V or any other Roman numeral – I think it’s too late. 

                                                    Robin in a clip from "Guiding Light" 

5) Aside from being a traffic reporter for KFWB in Los Angeles, CA, you also played the lead role in a play called An Unhappy Woman at the Moving Arts Theatre in Los Angeles in 1997, and you won the LA Weekly award for Best Female Performance. Have you done any other theater since?

RJ: After the LA Weekly award – which I let stay at the theater company (never let it be said that I have to dust my award weekly) – I did some one-acts and was a stagehand.  It was a theater company – you contributed any way you could. 

I will say in all sincerity that Unhappy Woman was probably one of the most satisfying things I have ever experienced as a human and an actor.  I am peculiarly pedestrian.  Say that 10 times fast.

                                            Robin in a clip from "Baby, It's You" (1983)

6) Back in the days of Times Square, you stated that you hate the real punk music from England, such as the Clash. Have you changed your mind since then, and what are your current musical tastes?

RJ: [see question 2]

7.) Finally, for the Robin Johnson fans out there, tell us what you are doing now and your future plans.

RJ: I do not currently pursue acting – and it doesn’t pursue me.

Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher in a muted Oz comedy

UNDER THE RAINBOW (1981)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Slapstick and screwball comedies are dependent on a consistent rapid-fire tone, or at least having situations that develop at a fast clip. "Under the Rainbow" is a cross between a screwball "It Happened One Night" and a Blake Edwards slapstick comedy. There is a little of everything here, from mistaken identities to clumsy pratfalls to destruction of any semblance of normalcy. Anarchic is one way to describe it, but funny it is not.

Chevy Chase is an American Secret Service agent who is protecting a royal duke (Joseph Maher) and his duchess (Eve Arden) from assassination attempts. All three characters stay at an L.A hotel which happens to be a stone throw away from the MGM studios where "The Wizard of Oz" is going be filmed. Carrie Fisher works for a movie studio and is in charge of all the Munchkin actors who practically tear up the entire hotel by swinging on chandeliers, playing music with kitchen appliances, removing elevator cables, etc. Adam Arkin is the hotel assistant manager who eventually gives up trying to restore order. We also have Mako as a Japanese spy, a Nazi dwarf (Billy Barty) who holds some secret map of Germany, a dwarf from Kansas with dreams of stardom (Cork Hubbert) and there is another assassin with revenge on his mind, and I just about lost count of any other characters that appear.

"Under the Rainbow" is ambitious in content but an unforgivable mess overall - it is overcooked and too busy. Not one character ever sticks out except as a slapstick routine minus pitch, humor, a joke or any remote sense of comic timing. Perhaps picking a director like Steve Rash (who helmed "The Buddy Holly Story") was not the wisest move - this movie desperately needed the anarchic and brilliantly funny staging of Blake Edwards (why he wasn't chosen to make this film instead of those dreadful last couple of Pink Panther sequels I will never know). Chevy Chase is so subdued that he barely exists, and the same holds true of Carrie Fisher (their one kiss scene is romantic though). Billy Barty's monocle-wearing Nazi grows repetitious - one scene lasts more than ten minutes where he runs for an eternity inside that hotel with barely a laugh. If only the movie settled down with the one scenario that works - the crashing of the "Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With the Wind" sets during a car chase where we see Clark Gable! It is the best part of the movie but by then, we really wish we were somewhere else. Munchkinland, perhaps? 

The dead shall rise...and get married

CORPSE BRIDE (2005)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

        Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" is a return to the stop-motion 

animation of his incredibly inventive film from 1993, "The

Nightmare Before Christmas." Is it as good? Not quite, but

it is no downer either and has enough wit and imagination to

rise above most animated films of late.

Johnny Depp voices the lead character, a worrisome wart

named Victor who's about to get married to Victoria (Emily

Watson), an also highly demure girl. Victoria's parents are

the Everglots, Maudeline and Finnie (Joanna Lumley and

Albert Finney), a couple of dour people who don't like each

other and maintain a house of dour paintings of their ancestors.

The Everglots look forward to this union because Victor's parents,

Nell and William Van Dort (Tracey Ullman and Paul Whitehouse),

are wealthy fishmongers who would lend financial stability and

some status to them in this colorless town. Victor has trouble at

the wedding rehearsal and wonders if this union is something he

really wants. He crosses a bridge into a world where corpses and

skeletons walk about. Before you can say that this is an animated

version of "Night of the Living Dead" crossed with Ray Harryhausen,

Victor mistakenly places his wedding ring in the finger of a female

corpse named Emily (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter)! Worse

yet, he does so while preparing his vows! Now Emily thinks she

is the lucky bride-to-be, fulfilling her dream of walking up the altar.

"Corpse Bride" is not a wicked black comedy nor is it suffused with

any gore gags (though there is a maggot with a Peter Lorre voice).

In fact, it is hardly as wicked as "Nightmare Before Christmas" and

I suppose that is what I miss. Tim Burton has often suffused his own

fairy tales, such as "Edward Scissorhands," with a dark sense of

humor. Burton at his best epitomized the rose with a black cherry

on top that would ooze a trickle of blood. That is not to say that his

films were always nasty or violent but the threat was always there

with ominous atmosphere and ghastly characters. "Nightmare Before

Christmas" had some of that, including a lead character named Jack

Skellington who loved Halloween and dressed up as Santa Claus

giving horrendous contraptions as gifts to kids on Christmas.

"Corpse Bride" is not filled with such humor - it is lighter fare with

a love story as its focus (The same was true with Burton's last picture, "Big Fish").

Don't read this as a negative review. There is much to admire in

"Corpse Bride." The movie occasionally has raucous energy, sometimes

taking it up an extra notch with vivid musical numbers featuring skeletons (though the

songs don't rate as memorably as Oogie Boogie's song or Jack

Skellington's "What's This?" from "Nightmare Before Christmas"). I love

the look of the film, basic Burtonian visuals with the grayish,

black-and-white world of some aristocratic society coupled with bursts of

color in the world of the Land of the Dead (Once again, corpses are

always more colorful than humans). The animation is extraordinary in

every sense of the word. The characters are engaging enough, though

Depp's Victor was somewhat standoffish to me. The soul of the movie is

really poor Emily whose eyeball is always popping out of its socket -

she may be dead but she wants to be loved like everyone else.

"Corpse Bride" is good enough and clever enough, and I smiled through

most of it. The ending is stunningly beautiful and rhapsodic. But the film

lacks the flavor and the sense of dread that we've come to expect from

Burton. Perhaps time has caught up with him and we no longer see the

surprise in watching an animated cadaverous underworld. Such

sanguineless characters deserve more than a pretty little love story.

Severed entrails in listless Ripper tale

FROM HELL (2001)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Jack Ripper is known for being the notorious serial killer of the 19th century who was never caught ("I invented the 20th century"). A slew of films and books have theorized on the identity of the killer, ranging from some unknown peasant to someone connected to the Royal Family. "From Hell," based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore III, makes the case that someone from the Royal Family might have been the Ripper. Though it is a mystery that is somewhat compelling, it fails miserably to gain our interest.

Set in 1888, "From Hell" stars Johnny Depp as the real-life Inspector George Abberline, a laudanum addict who has visions of the future (in real-life, he was a portly man who looked nothing like Depp). Apparently, some of Abberline's visions involve Jack the Ripper's murderous rampage in the slum area of Whitechapel, located on the East End of London. It is a city that is dark, dank and oozes corruption and menace on every corner. Murder is also a commodity in this town but this Ripper is no ordinary murderer. He kills prostitutes and "removes their livelihood," in rather grisly, gruesome ways. Inspector Abberline is convinced that it is no peasant or poverty-stricken individual - it is an educated man of some esteem and possibly a surgeon due to the dexterous manner in which the victims are butchered.

Abberline notices several details in the murder of these prostitutes. The most telling detail is the roots of grapes left behind, a tactic used by the killer to lure the victim. Also, the knifes used might have been surgical tools. This would mean that a surgeon could be responsible for the murders, considering they took place in the dark where he would instinctively know how to perform his handiwork. One prostitute that might be able to help Abberline in his search is redheaded Mary Kelly (Heather Graham) who was well acquainted with the slain prostitutes. Still, this relationship develops into an unconvincing love story that simply marks time.

Most of "From Hell" is in-your-face with little grace or style. The directors are the Hughes Brothers, responsible for the nightmarish classic "Menace II Society." That film was harsh and offputting but for a justifiable purpose, to place us in the unpredictable chaos of living in a ghetto where a gunshot was as frequent as a car noise. "From Hell" needed some space to breathe and perhaps a degree of elegance to tell such a compelling story. Instead, we have Abberline's dreams which consist of green-tinted, jump-cutted nightmares of cobblestones and blood. The cinematography is so dark and often out-of-focus that it is hard to discern what is happening half the time. The washed-out, desaturated color schemes are becoming a frequent style in films nowadays but here, it smacks of mediocrity. Black-and-white would serve the story better, a Universal Gothic approach a la Tod Browning's "Dracula."

Frankly, the pacing of "From Hell" is laborious and disconnected. I could swear I was almost ready to fall asleep at times, but the film picks up when the focus is on the grisly investigation. That comes in too little and too late. Part of the problem is that Johnny Depp and Heather Graham are so devoid of life and magnetism that they bored me whenever they appeared on screen. At least, the great Ian Holm saves the day with some core of integrity as Sir William Gull, a doctor for the Royal Family. He breathes some life into the story when he shows up. Robbie Coltrane is also a delight as Sergeant Peter Godley who loves to smack Abberline out of his druggy states.

"From Hell" is a rather vivid title for a listless, lifeless film. There is no soul, no fire, no hell. It simply starts and sputters but never feels as unified or as compelling as the real tale. It just feels ripped apart from the truth.

Introduction to Jerry at the Movies

INTRODUCTION TO JERRY SARAVIA AKA JERRY AT THE MOVIES

For those of you interested in finding more about me, check out the video link below. Although it serves as an introduction to my youtube channel, it is also useful for those who have been reading my reviews and perhaps wish to subscribe to my channel where I also review films and lots of other stuff. Thanks for your time and enjoy.

Jazzy Indy travels to Chicago, 1920

YOUNG INDIANA JONES AND THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUES (1993)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

 George Lucas's "Young Indiana Jones" TV series was short on action and thrills and long on exposition and story. Lucas's intent was to have a younger Indy involved in historical spectacles and meeting all kinds of historical figures. Lenin was one, Teddy Roosevelt another, and of course Pancho Villa. I was never a huge fan of the show but I admired the attention to historical detail even if it occasionally robbed the series of much action or adventure. Talky is one way to put it since the serialesque attitude of the Indiana Jones movies was clearly missing. There were two-hour "Young Indiana Jones" movies and one of the best was "Mystery of the Blues," aired in March of 1993. Of particular significance in this special was the appearance of the one and only iconic Indiana Jones - Harrison Ford himself.

The Ford aspect is interesting because he sports a salt-and-pepper beard (this is only because of the simultaneous shooting of his thriller masterpiece, "The Fugitive") and his appearance bookends the blues plotline of the show as he recounts the days of Sidney Bechet and Al Capone. Ford is an older Indy, 50 years old to be precise, being chased in Wyoming in 1950 by some bad guys who are wanting a sacred Native American pipe. Indy and a Native American named Grey Cloud (Saginaw Grant) are shown in a car chase that is thrilling in a snow-bound Wyoming with treacherous roads. The chase is not elaborate nor does it contain much in the way of stunts but it gives you goosebumps seeing Ford as Indy with his wit and the gleam in his eye lashed ever so firmly ("Good driving," says Grey Cloud. Indy quips, "Not my first time you know!") Eventually the duo walk during a hazardous blizzard to an empty log cabin.

The rest of the film has Sean Patrick Flanery as the younger Indy working as a busboy at Colosimo's restaurant in Chicago in 1920. Sidney Bechet (Jeffrey Wright, who is amazingly good) plays jazz and Indy thinks he can play too, specifically his soprano sax. The kid needs practice and annoys his roommate, future federal agent Eliot Ness (Frederick Weller). Indy and Eliot are also friends with future author Ernest Hemingway (Jay Underwood), a contrivance that just annoys me. Does every person that Young Indy knows have to be famous or of historical relevance? Nevertheless, "Mystery of the Blues" confronts racism, jazz, Prohibition-era gangsters, a brief discussion of World War I, a floozie or two, a well-choreographed car chase and an equally absurd and improbable finale that wraps everything up a little too neatly.

"Mystery of the Blues" is essentially oodles of fun and you gain a lot of historical value from it but it is overstuffed and little too preachy. Flanery still seems to be uncomfortable with his role and lacks any of the trademarks of the character that Ford would make his own - I just don't see how Flanery could ever grow into the resourceful archaeologist adventurer of the 1930's and beyond. Still, the film is entertaining and a good time for the whole family. One wonders, though, if that opening teaser with Ford could have been expanded into a whole 2-hour adventure of its own and if Lucas had even considered it at some point (he was thinking about aliens at that time and discussing a fourth Indy flick with Ford, who wanted nothing to do with aliens - a fun fact that "Crystal Skull" detractors might love).