Burt Reynolds wants to go to Venice

HEAT (1986)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

 Burt Reynolds is an actor who has so much magnetism and charisma that he can lift his right or left eyebrow, smile a little, shrug his shoulders and say so much without uttering one syllable. So much talent, spread and squandered on so many futile efforts. "Heat" is among them, an alleged action thriller that thrives on the absurd and preposterous and says nil.

Mind you, I do not expect an action thriller to always have something to say nor do I expect a Burt Reynolds flick to be anything other than a sparkling diamond in the rough. But let us consider the opening sequence. Burt is some mean drunk at a bar who hassles a woman waiting for her date and a proposition of marriage. He harasses her to no end and the date shows up, telling Burt to leave. They exit the bar and a fight ensues where the scrawny-looking date actually has the upper hand, or the upper punch. He knocks out Burt and his date is impressed. It was all a ruse you see, and that could have been a sweet setup for a comedy about how Burt Reynolds is always playing tough and mean only to be roughed up by a weakling to impress a fiancee. That could have been a major stroke of inspiration, especially from screenwriter William Goldman ("Misery," "All the President's Men") who is not known for such comedic sensibilities.

Travel with Burt

Instead we are saddled with a movie that goes nowhere fast. Burt plays yet another tough guy named Escalante, who might be a bodyguard at a casino though he looks more like James Bond. He also helps out a young troubled girl (Karen Young) who is roughed up and raped by some scrawny-looking rich kid in a blue robe. A Mafia Don eventually enters the picture...oh, why go on? Peter MacNicol is some other rich, scrawny-looking guy (I sense a pattern) who wants to hire Escalante to help teach him how to fight back. How noble. All I learned from the training exercises is that in a violent situation, when in doubt with those fists of fury, aim for the tender ball sack or tear off an ear!

Escalante's character is so mysterious that either he is a Vietnam Vet and current bodyguard, or he works at a dingy travel agency (it looks like one) because the guy has a major need to go to Venice. He is also adept at fighting and never uses a gun, and has a gambling problem. Or maybe he needs a lot of money so he can stay in Venice. Either way, this interminable bore of a movie is not really about anything - just a series of flimsy, illogical excuses to show close-ups of Burt Reynolds. In one exceedingly ill-written scene, Escalante somehow convinces a villain to off himself! No way! For some seeing Burt in anything might be sufficient justification and, for others, "Heat" is a reminder of the semi-interminable celluloid waste of Burt Reynolds. 

Let's Get Nuclear

WARGAMES (1983)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Watched repeatedly in the 1980's - This review was written in 1999)

1983 was the year of the computer revolution in the movies. Computers were ubiquitous, even appearing as a deadly villain against Superman in the dreary "Superman III." The following year, it became an instrument of jealousy in a relationship in the sweet "Electric Dreams." "WarGames" is different though since it is not really about computers in the general sense - it is about how much trust we put in computers, and how we may erroneously depend on them when it comes to the inevitable threat of nuclear war.

Matthew Broderick, in his pre-Ferris Bueller mode, stars as David Lightman, a teenage high school student with a fixation for his bedroom computer. His parents are unaware of his computer hacking methods, but they do know his school grades are suffering (he breaks into the school's computer and advances his grades to A's). One day, David unknowingly accesses the WOPR computer at the NORAD missile-defense system, which makes 24-hour decisions regarding the plight of a possible World War III. David only he thinks he is playing some advanced video games. Before you know it, the country is embroiled in a possible war with the Russians but it is all orchestrated by the supercomputer - the question remains: Does the computer know it is only a game?

"WarGames" starts off with a thrilling prologue where we see the men who pull the switches for the silos preparing for an unforeseen attack. One of the men fails to operate the switch to launch the missile, afraid of killing millions of people. It turns out that the attack was a test but they did not know this - this sets up the rest of the film's theme about the paranoia centering on the threat of nuclear war. We also get lots of "Dr. Strangelove" scenes of Barry Corbin (best known for TV's "Northern Exposure") as General Beringer commingling with other advisers in front of giant computer screens showing several Russian missiles destroying U.S. military bases. The coup de resistance is seeing Dabney Coleman arguing with Beringer while John Wood shows up as Stephen Falken, a former scientist who created the WOPR, insisting that it is all a game.

"WarGames" is skillfully directed by John Badham ("Blue Thunder," "Stakeout") and the thrills and tension abound with restless unease. The threat of nuclear war seems real enough because it is all at the mercy of a computer, and that is what makes the film a thrillingly scary ride. "2001: A Space Odyssey" warned us of the dangers of computers in 1968 and "WarGames" tells us that it is no longer a warning - it is a very real possibility. Now in 1999, we are all dependent on computers for all our daily needs such as the Internet, banking, shopping, the arts, etc. I am using a computer right now to type this review, though they say writing improves greatly when first written on paper. The last straw, though, is to have a computer making life-threatening decisions for us.

One of the best scenes is when David tries to get the WOPR to play thermonuclear war. It asks: "Wouldn't you prefer a fine game of chess?" David says: "No, let's play global thermonuclear war." Its response: "Fine." That scene still keeps me horrified and tense probably because we also hear the computer talk with David's use of an electronic transmitter - the voice sounds properly inhuman and soulless.

"WarGames" may not be a great thriller nor is there much weight to certain characters, particularly the underdeveloped Stephen Falken role played by John Wood. Still, it has its share of surprises and thrills along the way, and its relatively simple theme - do not rely on anyone but yourselves in the event of a crisis - is as resonant today as it was in 1983

Absorbing yet vapid heart

RANDOM HEARTS (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Despite the critical consensus that "Random Hearts" was a purely muffled, static melodrama, I found something of interest in it anyway. Not a stunning achievement by any means, "Random Hearts" is dare I say watchable, if also clumsy and underwritten. It is also somewhat absorbing.

Harrison Ford (sporting for the first time an earring) is William "Dutch" Van Den Broeck (who the heck is going to remember a name like that?), a Washington, D.C police sergeant who has just learned that his wife died in a plane crash. He is saddened but he has those detective genes in him, questioning why she was not involved in any work-related trip to her destination, Florida. Sure, she is on the flight to Florida but not under her married name! The plot thickens as we discover that she traveled using the name of another married woman! Yes, Virginia, she has been having an affair and "Dutch" is not very happy about it. He tracks down a Republican congresswoman, Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas), whose husband (Peter Coyote) had been seated next to Dutch's wife on the ill-fated flight. Dutch continually pesters Kay through the whole film, asking her questions about the affair that neither of them knew anything about. Dutch even travels to Florida (!) in what shapes up to be some kind of mystery about his wife - who was she really? Did she lie about everything, not just her job or her flights? I was not clear what Dutch was expecting to find...and the more he kept looking, the more I got interested. Perhaps there was some surprise, some twist of fate to arrive at that would make an already overlong movie at 2 hours-plus even longer. And, in truth, Dutch is only fooling himself.

I hope I did not give anything away but "Random Hearts" is one curious movie. Here are two actors in fine form (though Ford is a little too zombiefied for my tastes), a delicate, restrained script (that veers away from its intended course with superfluous subplots involving political campaigns and Internal Affairs), and some assured direction by Sydney Pollack, and the end result is a vapid mess. There is absolutely nothing in the palm of its hand. The two main characters fall in love with each other but neither is as concerned as they should be about their former spouses The film is far too remote to care about, and the cadences in the dialogue (followed by long silences and pauses) made me realize how little was really being said. There is a hypnotic pull to the movie, and somehow you are carried along waiting to see what happens next. The truth there is nothing at the end of this rainbow.

Footnote: Sydney Pollack shot this film in 1998 through early 1999. Pior to this film, Pollack had also been shooting a role in Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut." I have no doubt that the pauses and silences in this film were influenced in some way by the late Mr. Kubrick, whose film has it share of pauses and silences between dialogue exchanges.

Rabbit's rise to the rap world

8 MILE (2002)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia 

Original Review from 2002

I have heard a couple of Eminem songs. My impression of this rap singer is summed up in one line in this film when he refers to a homosexual in both candid and politically incorrect terms. In other words, I sense Eminem's purpose is to address society's problems, familial conflicts and outright hypocrisy in everything we do. Some of that comes through in "8 Mile," his first leading role in a film, but the rest feels as disconnected as the main character does.

Eminem plays Jimmy "Rabbit" Smith, a rap artist in the making who works at a Detroit metal-stamping factory (the kind of place where ex-convicts work). He lives in a trailer with his lethargic, alcoholic mother, Stephanie (Kim Basinger), and his 5-year-old sister, Lily (Chloe Greenfield). His mother is dating a guy who was a former classmate of Rabbit's. Needless to say, Rabbit does not approve but he doesn't have to say so - his body language and frequent stares say it all.

Rabbit's world looks hopeless. He works long hours at the factory. He can't muster the courage to perform at a rap contest organized by MC Future (Mekhi Phifer) - the first time he comes onstage, he merely looks at the audience who boos him. His electric lyrics come through in impromptu raps at garages or at the factory. Rabbit has the talent to not only improvise - he can also mock his own life as a white-trash boy in such a way that his sincerity cuts through any rival rapper's ability to one-up him.

"8 Mile" works when focused on Rabbit's rapping interludes, and the coup de grace is seeing the climactic showdown where he tries to one-up another rapper whom you are sure has torn him to shreds. Never before have verbal duels been handled so thrillingly, and director Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential") has the right directorial attitude to handle them. But when we resort to Rabbit's home life, his sexual dalliance with a wanna-be model (Brittany Murphy), and his constant bickering with Future and a possible record deal with a hustler (Eugene Bird), we feel about as bored stiff as if it was a second-rate TV-movie treatment of the same material. Particularly grating is to see Eminem give blank-faced reactions in almost every close-up (a similar problem pervaded with Prince in "Purple Rain"). Eminem has a solid, commanding presence yet, as an actor, he is virtually stolid. When he sees his ex-girlfriend in her apartment watching television, we see nothing but vacuousness in Eminem's eyes. It is a shame because there is more to Eminem than meets the eye but we never see it, we only hear it in his music.

Kim Basinger is not as bad as expected, though at times her accent borders on a Southerner's tongue - clearly not Detroit material. Still, she is not an embarrassment and chooses to tone down her usual overly-hysterical emotions when crying out for help. But the scene where she wins big at a bingo game feels out of place - she looks like a hooker rather than a woman who just won money and bought bags of groceries.

Watching "8 Mile" is a curious experience. It has the roots of Rabbit's rise to the rap scene but none of the vigor or juice that we can connect with to understand his need to move forward, to escape. I assume the teenage and the twenty-something crowd may enjoy it regardless (my brother is a big fan). I think he has talent to spare but I am in the minority when it comes to appreciating rap music (I never have but times do change). Eminem and the movie seem half-hearted, and I felt likewise.

Suburban Goose stepping Nazi

APT PUPIL (1998)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Stephen King's novella "Apt Pupil," part of the "Different Seasons" short stories, is probably one of his most ambitious recent efforts. It is the story of a young boy's growing fascination with an SS officer living in a typical suburban American town, but the movie version shies away from its basic premise and becomes a slightly baroque Gothic thriller.

The apt pupil is a blank-faced high school student named Todd Bowen (Brad Renfro), who is obsessed with the Nazis' tortures of the Jews during the Holocaust. After some Nancy Drew-type investigating, Todd discovers that a local resident named Arthur Denker is really a former SS officer named Kurt Dussander (Ian McKellen). One day, Todd visits the old man's house and, at first, the old man denies the kid's charges. Finally, Dussander succumbs, and is coerced by Todd into telling him the detailed atrocities he committed. If Dussander complies, the kid will not tell the authorities his true identity since he is on a wanted manhunt list. In one eerie scene, Dussander puts on his SS uniform and marches until the kid insists that he stop. The comfort of evil has struck again.

"Apt Pupil" begins promisingly, and I thought the film was going to show the grim reality of the war through the spoken words of a Nazi who was just following orders (this was one of the novella's high points). The film begins that way, but then the machinations of the plot take over. For example, we see Todd's fascination and obsession seeping into his life when his high-school grades deplete, he loses contact with his best friend ("Dawson's Creek's" Joshua Jackson), and he dreams of gas showers. Then there's the nerdy guidance counselor (a fine comic bit of casting by a mustached David Schwimmer), who tries to determine the root of Todd's school problems. Todd's basketball playing, ironically, is better than ever. These are all fine details that should be explored, but the problem lies in the casting of the lead character.

Brad Renfro ("The Client") exhibits a blank, emotionless, cold-eyed stare as Todd throughout the whole film, making him less than interesting or obsessive. I also didn't feel the tension building or developing between him and Dussander, considering how the film tries to show that a kid can be induced into evil. Mostly we get elements out of your typical Gothic horror/slasher movie: there's Dussander struggling to place a kitten in an oven; the unnecessary inclusion of a homeless man (Elias Koteas) who suspects that Dussander has homosexual tendencies; a bloody murder scene with Wagner's tragic excerpt from "Liebestod" suffusing the background; and Dussander's attempts to pass himself off as Todd's grandfather. All of these elements diminish whatever power the crucial central story had of a boy's fascination with evil.

The one redeeming factor is the superb performance by Ian McKellen as the weary, gentle, menacing Dussander, but the film shows him only as a one-dimensional monster. During the war, the SS officers were given orders and they had to uphold them, but they were still human beings performing atrocious acts of inhumanity. If the film tried to maintain a human, empathetic level with Dussander's role in the war - to see ourselves in the face of incomprehensible horrors - then it would have been a more cunning portrait of evil. As it stands, he's a monster, nothing more. Think of the similar role played by Armin Mueller-Stahl in "The Music Box" - he did it with shards of humanity and understanding.

Director Bryan Singer ("The Usual Suspects") and writer Brandon Boyce throw in too many complacent, cinematic flourishes instead of trying to deal with the nature of evil and how it breeds in small-town America, especially in adolescent boys. Singer would have been more apt at showing how evil cannot be easily pigeonholed or traced - now that would have been scarily profound.

Thinking Man's Action Movie

COLLATERAL (2004)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia (Originally viewed in 2004)

"Collateral" is a muted action thriller. It sweeps you along, it is occasionally exciting, but it has a consistently muted tone, in terms of sound, performance and direction. Yes, all film fans, director Michael Mann is back doing what he does best - evoking the hunters and gatherers of L.A. at night. There is a reason why a couple of coyotes show up in the film.

Set in L.A. at night, "Collateral" begins slowly as we are introduced to Max (Jamie Foxx), a taxi driver with aspirations of having his own limousine service in an unnamed island. His first fare is a federal prosecutor (Jada Pinkett Smith), who always tells herself she will lose a case the night before, even if she knows she will win it. Max has his own method of relieving his stress - he claims he's always on vacation by simply looking at the island postcard he keeps with him. After he drops her off, she offers her business card to him. This seems like a night better than most for Max until he picks up Vincent (Tom Cruise), who carries a briefcase and sports gray hair, gray stubble and a gray suit. This Vincent seems like an anonymous businessman. Vincent proposes to Max to drive him to several stops in exchange for $600 dollars. Max is reluctant at first but goes along with it, until their arrival at the first stop where a corpse lands on the roof of his taxicab! Max learns that Vincent had killed someone and threw them through their bedroom window. What we have here is a professional hitman who carries a laptop of all the assigned targets for the night. All Max can do is hope he can escape, but how do you escape from a cold-blooded killer who is a passenger in your cab?

Okay, so "Collateral" has a somewhat novel idea and it is hardly a run-of-the-mill action thriller. What action exists is mostly confined to the last 40 minutes of the film. What we have here is a noir tale of two protagonists who will keep you guessing as to their surprising motives and personalities. Max seems like a charming, smooth spoken guy who is changed by Vincent's rabid, impulsively violent behavior. He could run from this hitman but he is somehow lured into the lifestyle and Vincent's own philosophies (my favorite has to do with the correlation between the Rwanda massacre and the average L.A. murder). There is a comical, highly taut moment when Max is forced to see his mother (Irma P. Hall) in the hospital by Vincent. Max's mother spends more time conversing with Vincent than with her own son.

Vincent is certainly an enigma, a philosophical murderer who sees justification in everything he does. He explains he had a tough childhood but he implies that it doesn't account for his murder-for-hire status. It's a job and he does it well, and is precise as hell. Consider a jaw-dropping scene where Vincent visits a Miles Davis admirer and trumpeter (Barry Shabaka Henley) and both men share their mutual admiration for Miles Davis's godlike status among jazz legends (In fact, you'll probably learn more about Miles Davis in this film than in any documentary). I won't give away the surprise of that scene but it certainly illustrates how uncertain we can feel towards Vincent - can a killer really like jazz music and know so many facts about jazz legends? Like the rest of the film, it will keep you guessing.

"Collateral" is a cool ride into L.A., a film of cool colors and purplish night skies where the city seems more desolate than during the day. Thanks to director Michael Mann ("Thief," "Heat") and writer Stuart Beattie, we have another riveting entry in the crime world of thieves and general criminals. This is well-traveled territory for Mann, using his trademark telephoto lenses and hand-held approach better than most directors. Unlike "The Bourne Supremacy," Mann doesn't let the camera jerk around and swing with uncouth abandon - he knows exactly what to focus on and for how long. Not often mentioned is Mann's deliberately muted soundtrack, which makes scenes like the two coyotes running across the street truly breathless. Key moments of silence and soft voices on the soundtrack (which makes some dialogue scenes difficult to understand) underscore suspense and tension better than most films that rely on loud, pumped-up rap soundtracks and electronic sounds.

As for the actors, Cruise doesn't play the average generic hitman - there are a few layers to the character that make for a memorable performance (shorn of any of Cruise's wide grins). Jamie Foxx delivers a nuanced portrayal of a cab driver whose aspirations are withering away. Jada Pinkett Smith, in a brief but pivotal role, has the elegance and breathless beauty of an actress who will make you swoon (she's that good). A superb cameo by Javier Bardem ("Before Night Falls") as a Colombian drug lord makes for some of the most exquisite, restrained acting I've ever seen by anybody playing a drug lord.

There are some performances that don't function as well. Mark Ruffalo and Peter Berg play a pair of homicide detectives that simply mark time and don't contribute much to the character byplay between Cruise and Foxx. And extended scenes between FBI and the police department only dampen the narrative.

"Collateral" does aim for bigger scenes towards the finale, especially moments that break the reality barrier (including a car crash that would have been at home in a "Terminator" flick). I like the train footage, which is suspenseful and taut, which echoes "The French Connection." Scenes in an office building leave something to be desired, but you can't fault Mann for trying.

2004 will be remembered as the year of the dialogue-driven action thrillers. Consider "Kill Bill: Vol. 2," which has more dialogue in its 2-hour-plus running time than its predecessor. Also look at "Spider-Man 2," focusing with more depth on what makes Peter Parker a superhero than any web-crawling action scenes would. "Collateral" mostly extends scenes with dialogue, not action, and so we become involved in Vincent and Max in ways that a standard actioner wouldn't allow. Hurray to Michael Mann for making something quite unique these days - a thinking man's action movie.

A Day-Old Dream

THE DREAM TEAM (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Howard Zieff's "The Dream Team" is the cartoonish version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and though it has some merits and a couple of humanistic touches, it is merely serviceable entertainment for those who couldn't stomach the day-to-day reality and black-humored horror of the Jack Nicholson classic.

At a New Jersey sanitarium, we are introduced to four mental patients. One is a violent, chair-throwing, delusional named Billy (Michael Keaton); another is a religious fanatic who listens to a nightly religious radio show, Jack (Peter Boyle), who believes he is the son of God; a clean freak named Henry (Christopher Lloyd) who fancies himself a doctor and carries a clipboard and, finally, a baseball fan named Albert (Stephen Furst), who never utters a word. In one of a few inspired bits, when we first meet Henry, we actually think he is a doctor until there is a group meeting with Dr. Jeff Weitzman (Dennis Boutsikaris) who politely tells Henry to put down his clipboard. An outing to see the New York Yankees is suggested by Dr. Weitzman, though the staff is hesitant about such a trip. Nevertheless the trip is on and once they arrive in New York City, Albert insists on going to the bathroom. The other patients stay in a van parked at a gas station while the good doctor takes Albert to a nearby alley and all hell breaks loose. A couple of corrupt cops (thanklessly played by Philip Bosco and James Remar) kill another cop and it is all witnessed by Dr. Weitzman! Albert is another witness but never says a word, nor does he tell the other patients waiting in a van.

"The Dream Team" could have just dealt with the misadventures of this motley crew of patients as they separate and are off causing mischief. Albert loves watching the Yankees play and repeats every line the announcer says, though his situation is far less funny than the others. Billy tries to hook up with an old flame (Lorraine Bracco) but she is already seeing someone else (both Keaton and Bracco have terrific chemistry). Henry goes to a bar and tells some rough patrons to clean up their counter space, plus he visits his wife and child in one of the more moving scenes in the film. Jack, a former ad-man who used to make $100,000 a year, delivers a sermon at a black church while stripping down to his underwear!

Most of these scenes are fitfully funny and staged with some restrained comic energy. But the whole bad cops subplot is uninvolving and it got on my nerves after a while - it is a distraction and turns the film into a haywire comedy-thriller. There is a hospital chase and, oh dear, several more chases and last-minute interventions we have seen a million times before. "The Dream Team" is serviceable entertainment but, with this outstanding cast, it is nothing more than a day-old dream.