Fake Movie vs. Real Politics

ARGO (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Ben Affleck had has a wayward career as an actor, riding up and down from Kevin Smith's films to foolhardy decisions such as "Gigli" and "Surviving Christmas" (if you can stand to watch more than ten minutes of the latter, I applaud you). As a director, his career has supercharged and revitalized him, from "Gone Baby Gone" to "The Town." "Argo" is a more ambitious effort, parading around international conflicts in Iran during the 1970's which is a far cry from the Bostonian settings of his first two flicks. Does it work? Yes, but it is not a great movie. However, it is a fittingly suspenseful political thriller of sorts with enough intrigue, drama and a Hollywood satirical subplot to give it a lift. Of course, all this is based on fact, a true story that might've been concocted by a movie studio.

It is 1979 and a cancer-striken Shah of Iran, who wanted to Westernize his country, is ousted. The Ayatollah Khomeini is now in power and many Iranians are sympathetic to his cause and deplore the Westernization of anything, perhaps because it is a reminder of America. Things are awry in Iran - flags are burnt on the streets and the American Embassy is coming apart at the seams when the people decide to break down the fence and windows of the building. 52 Americans are taken hostage while six U.S. State Department officials from the Embassy escape to a Canadian ambassador's house. Then we see Iranian soldiers and children piecing together shredded documents and pictures with the hopes of identifying those six missing Americans.

The international situation is a scandal for the Carter administration and it has to be fixed, but how? CIA officials suggest the Americans flee in bikes but winter is nigh. An experienced CIA operative, Antonio J. Mendez (Ben Affleck), suggests an undercover operation where he can pose as a Hollywood scout seeking Iranian locations for a fictitious sci-fi project called "Argo." The six Americans will pose as a Canadian film crew. It sounds too good to be true but, hey, this is based on a true story.

Director Affleck and writer Chris Terrio have fun with the dynamics of Hollywood meetings in trying to drum up interest in a film that does not exist. Alan Arkin plays a no-nonsense Hollywood producer and the underrated John Goodman is a Hollywood makeup artist, John Chambers, who makes sly comments on the truth of Hollywood moviemaking. Most of these scenes are far more entertaining and involving than the Iranian incident. To be fair, Affleck builds up the tension towards the inevitable climax where the six Americans have to flee by plane (the actual incident did not end up as a chase scene) but it is the middle section involving Iran that doesn't quite jell. It has no real immediacy and no sense of real political strife - to be fair (with the exception of the realistic crowd protest scenes), it could have been set in any country. And when you cast an actress like Clea DuVall and leave her and the other Americans in the dark, you are risking losing interest in a situation that drives the movie. Interest doesn't wane and you want them out of the country, but did all the Iranian soldiers have to be so cartoonish?

Aside from the Hollywood backstory, the scenes that truly work are the CIA briefings and the incredible ignorance of some CIA officials. Bryan Cranston does solid work as the sympathetic but tough CIA chief who gives the dubious mission a go. Victor Garber (a fascinating actor since I first saw him in Atom Egoyan's "Exotica") is the kind Canadian ambassador who keeps calm in a crisis. Ben Affleck is clearly a better director than an actor but he is not bad as the bearded Mendez (charges from critics that an Anglo-Saxon played a Hispanic man are futile - I am Spanish and look as white as snow and the real Mendez is only partly Hispanic). My issue with Affleck is that he is not a charismatic actor and hardly exudes much personality. Of course, you have to keep calm in Iran and not stick out like a sore thumb. That could easily describe the film "Argo" - pleasant and fitfully entertaining time-filler that doesn't try to stand out like a sore thumb or a polemic. Just imagine, though, what someone like Costa-Gravas could have done with this.

Tony says Kubrick's Epic Horror tale is better than ever

THE SHINING (1980)

An interpretation and re-evaluation by Jerry Saravia

Many years back I wrote this about Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining": There are horror films that come with expectations, namely to spook and scare us with the unknown. And then there is Stanley Kubrick's misguided though definitely spooky "The Shining," a horror film that is unaware of what it wants to say or how to say it. I admire Kubrick greatly, he is one of the finest directors in the history of cinema, but this film is definitely on a lower standard than some of his other works. Lower standard? Baloney. "The Shining" is one frustrating Kubrick film I had the most trouble with since I first saw it in 1982 on VHS. My father hated the film and said it was not scary, but the ending left him angry and perplexed. I didn't care for the film at all, upon first glance, and it was something I had steadily avoided looking at again until 10 years later. I suppose this is a cliche when it comes to repeated viewings of Kubrick films but the second time, I truly admired it and found it more eerie than initially. More eerie than scary, more hyped-up and uncomfortable and agitated than jumping out of my seat every two seconds. Seeing the film again and again since, I have come to the realization that Kubrick's "Shining" is not a horror film at all - it is about using elements of horror to show moral decay and madness in everyday life and especially in a family unit. 

Jack Nicholson is the wild-eyed, seemingly mischievous Jack Torrance. He has been hired as the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, stationed in a highly remote, isolated area of Colorado. There is definitely something wrong with Jack from the start since he rolls his eyes and hardly flinches when hearing a past story of a graphic murder that took place at the hotel from the hotel manager, Stuart Ullman (Barry Nelson). His wife, Wendy (a frail and purposely fragile-looking Shelley Duvall) and their son, Danny (Danny Lloyd) who talks to his finger referred to as "Tony," come to stay with Jack at the Overlook for several months so of course, something will go wrong. There are several hints of this at the beginning of the film, most telling example is when Jack is driving the family to the hotel and mentions a cannibalism that occurred in the area. Wendy looks at him in disbelief and Danny, seated behind them, says "it's okay Mom. I saw it on television." Jack replies, "You see. He saw it on the television." The reference is to the infamous, real-life Donner Party, a story as gruesome and disheartening as any you might ever read about

"The Shining" is essentially about those long, wintry months spent at the Overlook, and the isolation is clearly felt from frame to frame. Most the months are broken up by intertitles that indicate the days of the week. Jack's madness begins to settle in, as he screams at Wendy for intruding while he is at work on a novel. Then he begins to see ghosts, such as a beautiful naked woman in a tub in one of the rooms of the hotel (237 to be precise) and a bartender from the 1920's (the fantastic Joe Turkel) whom Jack confides in about his fears and insecurities with his family, casually mentioning his wife as the "sperm bank upstairs." Then something grows wild within Jack, an animal is let loose and before you know it, the ax comes out and he is ready to kill his family.

"The Shining" could be a conventional horror film much like Stephen King's scary novel but there is something unsettling and unnatural from the start of the film. We see hypnotic wide-angle views of the Colorado mountains that certainly rivet the attention. Danny already sees a vision of the blood from the hotel elevator (a shot that perhaps is shown far too soon in the film, especially after becoming an iconic shot from the infamous teaser) and the Torrance family hasn't even settled in at the hotel yet. The labyrinthian hedge maze that is seen in one impossible trick shot from overhead, as if it was seen from Jack's point-of-view since he stares at a mock-up of the maze in the hotel lobby, is enough to make for a heart-stopping moment in time - you can already feel a little anxious at this point. Jack stares at his family a lot, sometimes from the famously low-angle Kubrick stare that creeps one out.

The over-the-top performances may seemingly undermine credibility and cause us to lose sympathy with the characters but it is a theatrical, progressive hysteria. Jack is typical Jack, wild and insolent, seeming like an insane madman from the very start rather than a character study of a man slowly losing his sanity, yet he is really an average dad who is consumed by his typewriter and the hotel's past - he is rather restrained at the start with some typical Jack mannerisms (let's say that the Jack at the start of the film and at the end are two different personalities to be sure). I initially thought Shelley Duvall's screams and gaping looks were grating and cumbersome but I also understood that Wendy was starting to lose her sanity considering her husband attacks her and her son becomes catatonic - you feel bad for her and she actually becomes the emotional center of the film. Danny Lloyd can be a tough endurance test for first-time viewers, especially when he simply stares into oblivion during his "shinings" and makes rather offputting gestures with his finger, mimicking the voice of "Tony" (an actual improvisation by the tyke). Still, despite repeated catatonia and various screams defining the character, Danny is a watchable presence but his character still leaves me feeling a little unsatisfied. His scene with Jack where Danny sits on his lap as they discuss what is going on is, however, positively chilling.

There are several other virtues to "The Shining." The film has an ominous, otherworldly quality that is well-suited for such a disturbing horror tale. There are the particularly ominous opening helicopter shots of the roadways leading to the Overlook. The colors of the hotel ballroom are mostly gold and pink, thereby evoking the 1920's atmosphere in great splendor. There are the point-of-view shots of Danny riding in his bike through the corridors and hallways, all accomplished with a Steadicam (one of the first films to use such a camera in great ubiquity by inventor Garrett Brown). There is one truly horrifying scene where Danny sees twin girl ghosts who ask him to come and play, immediately realizing they were the girls who were killed in the hotel by the former caretaker (there are two Gradys mentioned in the film so I am guessing the 1920's Grady, brilliantly played with poise by Philip Stone). There is a brilliantly edited and shot chase through the hedge maze outside the hotel where Jack torments poor Danny. In terms of production design, art direction, cinematography and sheer atmosphere, "The Shining" is triumphant in all departments.

Yet "The Shining" does not conveniently fit in as a simple horror film - it is a horror mystery with lots of hidden meanings in every shot (the haunting final scene justifiably asks more questions than answers though I have a keen idea on what it all means now). Its histrionic performances and purposely overdone chilling musical score  (using samples of Krysztof Penderecki, Wendy Carlos synthesizer sounds, and an uncredited sample from the ominous Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique") turns it into a freak show with occasional moments of terror. But Kubrick has more in mind than shock tactics and freaky ghosts performing fellatio or holding bloody glasses of champagne. He is saying that a history of violence repeats itself, generation after generation. The Overlook Hotel was built on a sacred Native American burial ground and violence was used against Native Americans who were understandably provoked by the white man ("White Man's Burden"), thinking that this sacred land was theirs. So the blood from the elevators may symbolize a genocide against the Native Americans as well as former caretakers wiping out their own families due to cabin fever and ghosts from a Great Gatsby ballroom egging them on. The only black person in this film is the cook Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers, another chilling performance) who is killed (the only murder in the entire film which was not in the book). The white man must do away with anyone who is not white. The white man must also control the family unit or "correct them." So it turns out that "The Shining" is far more contemplative and illuminating than first thought - a classic horror picture about the real horrors of the world that overwhelm supernatural elements. Sorry it took this Kubrick fan thirty years to figure that one out.

Patrolling through Police Academy streets

NIGHT PATROL (1984)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Night Patrol" is a disposable "Police Academy" clone, short on cleverness and long on vulgar, plainly brain-dead jokes that you see coming a half mile away. Clearly the makers of this so-called "film" watched a lot of the forgotten "Police Squad" TV episodes and possibly indulged in the Zucker Bros. own classic "Airplane" for starters. But whereas the Zucker Bros. found their footing by actually writing jokes and imposing several, clever background gags, not to mention their dependence on their acute knowledge of film history, the makers of this film amp up the gross-out factor and think that farts equals tickling the funny bone. Not quite.

A vastly inept police officer named Melvin (Murray Langston) is promoted to night patrol with an older partner (Pat Paulsen) who has sex with every young woman he comes in contact with. The truth is Melvin is moonlighting as the Unknown Comic (a character Langston originated on the "Gong Show"), an act where he wears a paper bag over his head so that no one knows his identity. This works for the first few minutes but, after a while, even his stale jokes can be seen coming from miles and miles. Throw in sweet Linda Blair as an officer who loves Melvin, Bill Barty as a hypocritical, angry police captain who is consistently farting, a terrific Jaye P. Morgan as a talent scout, a cringe-inducing and unfunny bit involving blackface (it shameless steals a bit from "Silver Streak" though that film was funnier in context), a little Sergio Leone homage which includes a cop performing the musical score with a guitar (that made me smile) and Pat Morita as some scared rape victim speaking with a young girl's voice (not so funny). The cockfighting bit is obvious before we actually see it (let's say it has nothing to do with actual birds).

"Night Patrol" is a relic of its time, instantly forgettable and funny only in short spurts. Sort of fun to see Andrew "Dice" Clay (billed here as Andy Clay) as a comic trying to get Jaye P. Morgan's attention, but this comedy's few pleasures are outweighed by moments of laughless stupidity. "Night Patrol" might make a decent Saturday night rental with your partner or spousal equivalent because you'll spend more time talking to each other than paying attention to the film.   

1980's cheesy flick predicted the New Avengers

TUFF TURF (1985)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Tuff Turf" is not that rough or violent for a teenage exploitation picture, and it ain't sexy enough for devoted Kim Richards fans. However, the movie is technically watchable for fans of James Spader and devotees of Robert Downey, Jr., you know, the crazy party boy actor before his stunning turn in 1987's "Less Than Zero."

Spader is the teenage protagonist, Morgan Hiller, who is pretty quick on the trigger with his dart guns. He and his family have moved from the posh digs of Connecticut to some place in San Fernando Valley. Morgan's father (Matt Clark) lost his job in the East and now drives a cab (question: what job did the father have where they all came from wealth to living in modest digs where he is now a cab driver? Some job running a company that went down under, possibly a Reagan commentary on the job crisis of the 80's but who knows). Morgan doesn't quite fit in to the new high school, which looks less uninviting than its other cinematic counterparts such as 1989's "Lean on Me" or the 1982 cult film "Class of '84." It looks like a school out of a CBS Schoolbreak special. Morgan has a bully nemesis - a mugger named Nick (Paul Mones) who destroys Morgan's bicycle! I expected a cheesy fight scene to ensue and instead, Morgan picks up his broken bike and heads home to fix it. Yep, cheesy beyond belief. Morgan has a thing for Nick's girlfriend, Frankie (Kim Richards) but no matter how many times the gang beats Morgan up or pelts him with towels holding locks and other heavy metal items, Morgan keeps coming back and invites her to his house for dinner.

"Tuff Turf" is a strange, slapdash picture because it has no real identity and no real structure. It is not quite exploitation and not quite sleazy enough, though there are technically two sex scenes and enough hardcore violence in the climax to qualify as exploitation. Most of the film parades along without any real urgency since Morgan and Nick are like the Terminator - you beat them down and they keep getting back up for more. Spader is always a compelling presence on screen (and still looks much too old to be in high school) and his scenes with his father are well-written. Robert Downey, Jr. is welcome comic relief and Paul Mones is as revolting a gang leader as I've seen since "The Warriors." Plus, you can't hate a picture that features a musical performance by Jim Carroll.

A cheesy guilty pleasure of a movie, but I am still not sure what Morgan is rebelling against. The message is take the girl from the wrong side of the Valley to a dance club and everything will be fine.

Footnote: A warehouse scene where Jim Carroll performs features a graffiti sign outside the entrance that reads: THE NEW AVENGERS. It is interesting to note that Robert Downey, Jr. and James Spader are seen exiting the warehouse right in front of the graffiti sign, considering Downey later went on to play Iron Man in three films and "The Avengers" and Spader has been cast as a villain in the "Avengers" sequel.  

Women want HALF!

EDDIE MURPHY RAW (1987)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

1987 might have been the most notorious, controversial year for Eddie Murphy. Here was a man who was not just a star, he was a superstar. He had power and commanded attention from everyone - his gargantuan laugh, wide, flashy grin and misogynistic jokes and impressions of other celebrities were the toast of the town. Murphy was riding high and everyone knew it. So his just return to comedy concerts was a welcome one. However, as in the purely misogynistic "Beverly Hills Cop II," Murphy's new concert film, "Raw," was as much about his hatred and putdown of women as it was anything relating to comedy.

Great comedians like Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce and the like can take personal subject matter and make it funny and truthful as well. Eddie Murphy took his childhood stories and his gross-out bathroom humor in "Delirious" and made it hysterical with a core of truth - everybody could relate to difficulties in maintaining bowel control or an erection. "Raw" is Murphy's attempt to understand women and their obsession with money. If a woman marries Johnny Carson, as he states, then she can divorce him and take half his money. "Half!," a phrase repeated again and again by Murphy. He does not apply this only to rich people but to himself. His quick recovery is to marry a buck naked African woman who has no idea about material or financial needs - she will love Eddie for himself, not for his money. But this scenario is not likely to last when she starts to talking to other housewives. It will not be just the money but as he states, "What have you done for me lately?"

The beginning of "Raw" has a terrific pre-title opening scene where we see a young Eddie entertaining his family by simulating urination and bowel control (look quickly for Samuel L. Jackson). Then we head right to the concert film, which starts with Eddie's acute impressions of Michael Jackson, Mr. T., James Brown and so on. This is Eddie at his best. But when he gets to the subject of women, he loses control. Murphy does not have the talent to make such a topical subject less than hateful. Any subject is ripe for comedy but Murphy is too obviously caught up in making a point when he should be making people laugh. He is angry and raw and downright nasty yet his comic tone, unlike "Delirious," is more abrasive. Whatever comic potential exists is lost with his repetitive whining that can get monotonous.

"Raw" is not a total flop, and I did laugh occasionally. I am an Eddie Murphy fan and I have seen this film twice, once in a theater and other time on video. His bit on Bill Cosby who accused Eddie of abusing the four-letter word is laugh-out-loud funny. I also like the story of his drunk uncle or the hamburgers his mother made that rarely resembled McDonalds' own brand. The funniest bit involves a club where a man threatened to sue Murphy for blinding his vision thanks to strobe lights! Those bits are enjoyable to watch again and again. But the rest of "Raw" will likely exhaust you, wondering when Murphy will give up talking about his constant dismissal of women as nothing more than sexual objects. When you are staring at the screen at Eddie Murphy for an less than an hour and not laughing then something is quite rotten in Denmark.

Citizen Kane II: Xanadu in Ruins, God, no!

CITIZEN KANE II: XANADU IN RUINS or how I wish they would leave IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE alone

By Jerry Saravia

Not to worry, there are no plans for a "Citizen Kane II." There are plans for a sequel to "It's a Wonderful Life." Yes, the classic 1946 weeper with James Stewart and Donna Reed, the cinematic staple of every Christmas season (that and Bob Clark's "A Christmas Story"). According to Variety, "the proposed $30 million sequel still lacks a director, yet the producers have lined up 73-year old Karolyn Grimes, the actress who played Zuzu Bailey in the original, to reprise her role — though now she’ll play the angel who has to guide George’s grandson through a similar crisis. The twist: the new George Bailey is unlikeable and Aunt Zuzu shows him how much better the world would be if he’d never been born. The filmmakers are also in discussions with long-retired septuagenarian actors Jimmy Hawkins and Carol Coombs to revisit their Bailey-child characters as well. None of the three actors have been in a major film in decades."

This is not the first time that a continuation or remake of the perennial classic has been considered. Marlo Thomas appeared as a gender-reversal of Jimmy Stewart's George in a 1977 made-for-TV remake called "It Happened One Christmas." The film retained the 1940's setting, good old Bedford Falls, and featured Emmy-nominated Cloris Leachman in another gender-reversal role of the angel Clarence known as Clara Oddbody. Despite high ratings, few remember the film since it got shuffled aside in favor of the endless TV airings of the original. There was also 1990's TV-movie "Clarence" starring Robert Carradine as a more youthful Clarence helping another human, but who needs to be reminded.  

But is a sequel necessary? Definitely not. Sequels rarely work or eclipse their original counterparts so a sequel or continuation of the George Bailey saga feels unseemly and a tad sacrilegious. Perhaps the makers will have their hearts in the right place but the central Frank Capra theme of an alternate reality where the protagonist does not exist has been done to death. Everything from even a subplot of "Last Temptation to Christ" to "Back to the Future Part II" to the insufferably cute "Mr. Destiny" with Jim Belushi are just a few examples of how important the idea of one's destiny in our universe matters. I would have bought a sequel back in the late 40's or early 50's with Stewart and Reed filling in for their iconic roles, but I do not see the sense in revisiting something that was as much a staple of that era as it was universal in its themes of commitment and family values. The original film had a complete beginning, middle and end - it was airtight in its complex narrative of George Bailey's life as a banker who cared about his small town more so than himself (what a distant past that was compared to now). Was the colder, darker reality that the angel proposed to Bailey suppressed truth or pure fiction? Would Mr. Potter ever have a change of heart towards George and the citizens of Bedford Falls? Do you see now why we do not need a new chapter? Heaven forbid.

Ack, ack, ack this!

MARS ATTACKS! (1996)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally viewed in late '96)

The absolute worst is expected when a celebrated Hollywood director is given the reins to a multi-million dollar project after having helmed a small-scale cult film like "Ed Wood." I hate discussing what the budget of the film is but "Mars Attacks!" cost $80 million to make, and was expected to gross over $120 million (which it didn't) - in other words, it should have been a financial blockbuster. Truth is that when you hand the reins to a dark, twisted genius like Tim Burton, anything goes. "Mars Attacks" did not fare well at the box-office and it is just as well - it is a hilarious, witty, nihilistic satire of those old Martian invasion movies from the 40's and 50's. This is not "Independence Day." Its tongue is firmly placed in its cheek.

"Mars Attacks!" begins when a flaming herd of cattle makes its way into a typical all-American small-town - a flying saucer has just had an accidental run-in, but are they here for peace? When the Martians land in the middle of the Nevada desert to be greeted by The President of the U.S. (Jack Nicholson) and other gleeful citizens, the aliens begin blasting everything in sight. When the President decides to greet them at the White House sensing that this was all a misunderstanding, the Martian ambassador proclaims, "We come in peace." Unsurprisingly, the ambassador and his cohorts zap everyone with laser guns and burn all Congress officials into toast.

"Mars Attacks!" doesn't just end there. Burton brings on his magic bag of tricks by mocking all those alien-invasion disaster movies and adding his own bizarre sense of humor. Based on the gory Topps "Mars Attacks!" cards that were banned in the 1950's, the movie is an assemblage of in-jokes, cheeky dialogue, offbeat gags, dozens of special-effects, and sheer comic mayhem and destruction. Nearly the whole cast is demolished but it filled me with cartoonish delight to see how they are demolished. Watch Michael J. Fox melt while trying to reach for Sarah Jessica Parker's hand! See the incredible sight of a dog's head being grafted on Parker's body! The movie reads like an outrageously zany comic-book with amazing sights, indeed.

The cast is first-rate for this material. We have wicked Jack Nicholson as not only the straight arrow leader of the U.S. but also as a sleazy, leering Vegas businessman; Glenn Close as the nervous First Lady; Annette Bening as a New Age freak obsessed with meeting the Martians; Danny DeVito as an unctuous lawyer who tries to reason with them; Jim Brown as a former boxer who takes them on; Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael J. Fox as unctuous media reporters; Lisa Marie as the memorably slinky alien in disguise who woos Martin Short; and the hilarious (alien-like) Sylvia Sydney as the elderly grandmother of the trailer park family. There are dozens of other cameos, but the aforementioned actors are the most facetious.

What's most outrageous in Burton's fantasy are the Martians themselves - they are green, skeletal aliens with large brains and bulging eyeballs protected by a shield so they can breathe on Earth. They zap everyone and everything in sight, laughing like gremlins at the expense of human lives. All they have to say is "Ack, ack, ack, ack, ack."

"Mars Attacks!" doesn't start off well. For one, the Martians grow tiresome after awhile - all that "Ack, Ack" business is not very imaginative or funny. But then, the movie incredibly gains a fast-paced, inventive comic spirit and gets funnier by the minute. There are also some great lines, such as Lukas Haas's response to the Martian's interpretation of earth: "Hey. He made the international sign of the donut." I also like the President's heartwarming "Can't we all get along" speech to the Martians. And seeing Tom Jones playing himself in Vegas and confronting the aliens causes one to smile despite the ridiculous scenario.

"Mars Attacks!" is not Tim Burton's best film but it is more savagely funny and subversive than "Beetlejuice" or "Batman." Burton has fun with the sci-fi genre and cleverly attacks it at the same time. This is definitely no ordinary studio blockbuster film.