Truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable

 THE THIN BLUE LINE (1988)

An Appreciation by Jerry Saravia

Errol Morris' "The Thin Blue Line" may appear like something you might see on any forensic crime TV channel but look closer. "The Thin Blue Line" is unlike any crime documentary I've ever seen and it is just as powerful and riveting today as it was in 1988. It is considered rightfully a landmark documentary that used reenactments to decipher the truth - boy, have reenactments been done to death ever since. More tellingly, they serve a very direct purpose and it is their repetition from different angles that show how truth can be obscured by eyewitnesses whose identification of a shooter is less reliable than anyone imagined. 

Seeing it again recently, I was reminded how flimsy the eyewitness accounts really were, particularly their observation of a late night suspect in a car on a deserted road. Not any of the three eyewitnesses could positively identify the alleged suspect yet they claim to know what the suspect looked like - all eyewitnesses, including a woman named Emily Miller who says murder is rampant in her town and around her house! She has her reasons for declaring one man as the culprit, the shooter of a Dallas police officer who died at the scene - she is something of a criminal herself. 

The alleged murder suspect was Randall Adams who was at a motel the night of the murders with his brother. He was fingered as the murderer by a 16-year-old named David Harris, an explosively violent kid who kept getting himself in trouble throughout the years of Adams' incarceration including having killed a man whose house he invaded! Adams says Harris must have killed the officer, driving a blue car whose make is not made immediately clear even by the slain officer's partner - she sat in the vehicle and shot at the car yet had no memory of the license plate number. Suspicion arises from all different sides of the coin - could it have been a set-up? No, not at all (unmentioned in the doco but it occured to me). Did David Harris actually shoot the officer and blame it on Adams? A more likely scenario when you consider how Dallas's justice system and the D.A. just wanted capital punishment to run its course - the rationale being they didn't want to ruin a young man's life but an older man, sure why not. 

Murder and death are key factors in "The Thin Blue Line" - they run more rampantly than even Emily Miller claims in Dallas, Texas. Fashioned as a deconstruction of a wrongly convicted man tale using every cinematic tool in the book that went beyond normal documentaries (including Philip Glass's evocative musical score), Morris' "Thin Blue Line" establishes truth as its only asset but the justice system is still blind to it or doesn't care. The only expression of emotion is ironically from David Harris, separate from the crime he later admits to committing, as he tells the story of his older brother who drowned in a neighbor's pool when they were younger. You know the story is true because the details flow easily and disturb him. Truth can sometimes stare at you straight in the eye and not flinch. "The Thin Blue Line" is one of the more revelatory documentaries ever made about the justice system and the environment surrounding it. A true landmark in cinema history. 

Promises, promises, promises

 IMAGINARY CRIMES (1994)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

As told from the firsthand perspective of a teenage girl who sees more than she lets on, "Imaginary Crimes" is all implied in scene after scene by what Sonya (Fairuza Balk) witnesses. She knows her father is a con-man, a faux mover and shaker who keeps his two daughters at bay promising riches. He delivers nothing because there are no riches, no solid deals being made. What he can deliver are lies and pure deceit.

Ray Weiler (Harvey Keitel, perfectly cast) is the deceitful con man, a dreamer without a dream because such dreams cannot come to pass. In beautifully composed flashbacks, we see Ray married to his wife (Kelly Lynch) who can see the lies, the shape of a fictitious future. They live, along with a younger Sonya and a baby on the way, in a basement apartment and Ray keeps on promising them a dream home (it is all Ray's wife wants). He has invented gadgets and has procured patents, or maybe not. The present story is set in 1962 where Sonya attends a private school that Ray seemingly cannot afford but since he promised his deceased wife that Sonya and her sister would attend said school, a promise is a promise regardless. 

Sonya sees through her ambitious father, knowing that his latest deal about mineral deposits in the Rockies are unlikely to be claimed by Ray or his partner (Seymour Cassel). One day, Ray brings a boatload of money and pays the six months of unpaid rent and Sonya is startled - could her father have finally gotten lucky? Alas, not so. Meanwhile, Sonya is fixated on her English teacher (Vincent D'Onofrio) who waxes on in class about Walt Whitman and seems fixated on the prose in such a way that he forgets he's supposed to be teaching a class. Maybe Ray is not the only dreamer. 

"Imaginary Crimes" is shrewdly directed by Anthony Drazan and he has an eye for capturing an era where innocence was at an all-time high in Middle America - after all, this is Sonya's story yet she's much smarter than we think. Fairuza Balk vividly shows Sonya's observations about her world and of her father whose dealings are never on the up and up. Harvey Keitel also draws more nuances and an emotional sensitivity, more so than the script by Kristine Johnson and Davia Nelson provides, so that he shoehorns us into the dangerous small-time cons that we almost believe might deliver. What is most fascinating is that we are never sure if Ray truly believes he will strike gold or if he knows, deep down, he never will. 

"Imaginary Crimes" never quite made it clear how Ray could keep up a deception and move around so often without ever holding a menial job. I had wondered if he had saved some money or if he's truly broke because nobody can tow two children around without any cash, even in the early 1960's. His business partner as played by Seymour Cassel is also left on the sidelines - is he just as much in on the con as Ray? Yet I was still quite moved and captivated by the performances, particularly Keitel who is one of our most underappreciated actors and Balk who is even more underrated. Kudos also go to young Elisabeth Moss (later known for TV's "Mad Men" and "The Handmaid's Tale") who is naive because she truly believes in her father. Gee, I almost did as well. 

Not Every Problem has a Solution

 THE FLASH (2023)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Superhero travelling at super-sonic lightning speeds that can stop time and reverse it (with potentially damaging repercussions like paradoxes, wouldn't you know?) Yes, Virginia, DC's very own Flash has his own movie. Is it as good as "Aquaman?" You bet. Is it as good as any Marvel movies? Well, it is superior to 2003's "Daredevil" starring Ben Affleck. You see what I did there? I went back in time to a world where superhero movies were not glutting the marketplace every single month. Back in 2003, we just had "Hulk" and "Daredevil" and I am not sure what else. "The Flash" is one of only a couple of comic-book movies I have seen in the last year, and the best one to feature multiverse timelines and characters is still "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (not to mention the animated "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"). "The Flash" is not nearly as good as those but it will do for pure entertainment, wickedly funny scenes and some emotionally true moments. 

Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) works in forensics and is trying to clear his father's name who has been accused of murdering his own wife. Barry knows he is not guilty - all due to a can of tomatoes! Barry spends his time as the superhero Flash who can run faster than Superman on a good day, and can cross the streams of time and bend them a tad while saving dozens of newborns falling from the top of a crumbling building! That is just the opening of the movie, which features cameos by Ben Affleck's Batman and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman who are trying to catch some robbers! Yet Barry is fixated on the murder of his mother (Maribel Verdú) by an unknown assailant so he does what any anxious, mother-loving son does - he runs faster than the speed of light and prevents the murder by making sure his mother buys that tomato can. Unfortunately, this creates a paradox and an alternate timeline where Barry's mother is alive yet Zod (Michael Shannon), the Phantom Zone villain from "Man of Steel," comes back to Earth and is ready to kill billions of people. This timeline is so screwed up that the movie "Back to the Future" actually stars Eric Stoltz, not Michael J. Fox! More importantly, Barry runs into himself (oh, this movie pays more than just mere homage to "Back to the Future") and tries to convince his doppelganger to become the Flash because alternate Barry no longer has superpowers - all the other Barry has to do, 2013 Barry that is, is to get electrocuted at the precise minute during a rainstorm! Yep, Marty McFly indeed. 

"The Flash" is loads of superkinectic fun and the razzle-dazzle special-effects are fantastically realized - it is fun to see such an upbeat kid who is so innocent. That is thanks to Ezra Miller who embodies Barry and the Flash (and the doppelganger) with wit, humor and major appeal. It is also terrific fun to see the return of Michael Keaton as Batman in the alternate timeline - a role he has not played in thirty years. Not as much fun is the new Supergirl (Sasha Calle) who forecasts so much one-dimensional gloom and doom that it kills the narrative, albeit briefly. The inclusion of Supergirl doesn't jell with Flash's emotional gravitas and the third act has too many explosions, fight sequences and rotation and repetition of the same events to the point of tedium. Sure, it is loud and explosive and it is showing the 2013 Flash trying to save lives but it is all overdone and never-ending - the urgency seemingly fades after a while when we got to worry about the powerful Zod. I think I would have left out this whole Zod business altogether. 

For long stretches, "The Flash" works electrifying wonders and Ezra Miller manages to bring some ebullience amidst the overcaffeinated CGI work. Barry learns that not every problem has a solution, and that creating alternate timelines can create more chaos than necessary. It is a simplistic notion but sometimes our pain, our scars, makes us who we are. 

Shut your pie-hole Dwight!

 THIS BOY'S LIFE (1993)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Tobias Wolff's teen years of relentless abuse from his mean, bullish stepfather might not appeal to most viewers and it didn't back in the spring of 1993. Never mind that this was Leonardo DiCaprio's first major movie role that put him on the map or that he got solid support from pros like Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin - this often distressing film would be a tough sell at any time no matter who was cast. Don't let that stop you because Michael Caton Jones' wonderfully evocative "This Boy's Life" will knock your socks off with its powerful 1950's coming-of-age tale of a miserable existence in a small town. Nostalgia will not come to mind - this is Toby's subjective point-of-view.

Tobias (Leo DiCaprio) is a cocky kid prone to trouble in school, always getting into fights. He likes to be called Jack, not Toby ("He reads all those Jack London books"), and he and his lovely if unfocused mother, Caroline (Ellen Barkin), are always picking up some belongings and running from town to town across America. If there is a bus available to Phoenix or Seattle, either one will do depending on which one leaves sooner. Caroline and Jack end up in Seattle and it is there that she meets Dwight (Robert De Niro), a sharply-dressed former Navy man who works in a Washington town called Concrete (he is also handy with a cigarette lighter). Eventually Jack and Caroline move in to his backwater house where Dwight's other kids live. The adjustment is not easy but slowly we discover that Dwight is a drunk animal - a man who provokes a fight. His reasons are his own and, as played by De Niro, he is often scary, often drunk and pretty much looking for any reason to punch, kick or physically assault Jack. Dwight knows Jack likes to get into trouble yet he mostly hates this kid because Jack loves to read, sing and dance around. De Niro and screenwriter Robert Getchell ("Mommie Dearest," "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore") also tend to show Dwight's clumsiness and how Jack can sometimes one-up his stepfather.

Jack finds himself befriending greasers with ducktail haircuts who want nothing more than to drink and engage in frank sexual talk about girls. He finds solace in a smart kid, Arthur (Jonah Blechman) who is gay, and they both develop a friendship after an awkward muddy fight where Jack insults him. They also share their love of the piano which points to Jack's need to exit Concrete and go to prep school. Easier said than done.

"This Boy's Life" is strong stuff though a little undernourished when it comes to Jack's mother, Caroline, and Dwight's actual children. Caroline is a woman who keeps running away from mostly temperamental men, and drags her son with her to any town where such men don't exist. And yet she keeps ending up with them - wouldn't she have seen what a hotheaded mess Dwight was from the start? As Barkin's Caroline heartbreakingly says at one point, "I don't know what to do." Ellen Barkin makes the character sparkle and come alive yet there is precious little inner life and she's practically cut out of the last half of the movie. Dwight's own children are also left in the dust - you wonder if Dwight had treated them the same way as Jack.  

"This Boy's Life" has the requisite 50's rock and roll and doo-wop songs but it has a far more personal, deeply unsettling subtext than most other 1950's-type movies of its ilk. It unveils the violent impulses of a reprehensible man who knows of no other way to discipline Jack. De Niro shows you the darkness and shadowy exterior of such a man, and DiCaprio thrillingly shows the hopeful light at the end of the tunnel for any kid who wants to get away from the clutches of hell. I know that hell all too well. 

Plodding alternate realities

 THE MATRIX (1999)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Looking back at my thoughts on the IMDB newsgroup reviews back in 1999, I noticed a few negative comments towards my lambasted review of "The Matrix." I never cared for it, never cared for the sequels and found the whole franchise to be a confounding mess. Sure, I love the idea of the distinction between reality and fantasy and when they can merge yet David Lynch I connect with more readily. As a matter of fact, at the time there was also the release of David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ" which I found more involving than "Matrix." I have tried to watch the original film again many years later and I still could not get behind it. The visual effects are impressive and immersive yet Keanu Reeves is too much of a bore. Carrie-Anne Moss I actually found to be a more stimulating presence but the movie did not engage me or excite me. Anyways, below is my 1999 review intact, with perhaps references to other sci-fi films that are not always fair but so be it. 

Original 1999 Review:

Has there been a halfway decent science-fiction picture beyond the spectacular "Dark City" in the last ten years? The mind boggles. In one word: no. And the senseless, monotonous "The Matrix" will hardly qualify as anything but pure visual candy, yet the candy will rot rather than cleanse your cinematic spirits.

In an unsuccessful attempt to make us forget "Johnny Mnemonic," Keanu Reeves plays yet another emotionless, stone-faced cyber hacker nerd named Neo who sells illegal jack devices for virtual reality games. It turns out that Neo is living in a world that is a virtual reality game itself, an artificially created environment designed by aliens in Reservoir Dogs suits, otherwise known as The Matrix. The Matrix designed this world to learn about...human nature? What makes us tick? Who knows, yet a group of leather-jacketed freedom fighters with superhuman computer powers (and sunglasses) intend to fight the aliens and prevent more humans from being...programmed? They are Morpheus (Laurence
Fishburne) and the attractive, interesting Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), along with the aptly named Cypher (bald-headed Joe Pantoliano). Later, it appears that Neo is in fact the Matrix...or so we would think. Yes, in typical sci-fi glory, the Matrix will restore the world to what it was before becoming a live-action computer game.

I admire directors like David Lynch who take us into Byzantine labyrinths - endless mazes with circular loops that ask us to make our own interpretations. But "The Matrix" is not that film. The movie simply
has an idea - the Matrix - but no story or fleshed-out characters worth caring about. The idea simply sits there while we watch fantastic special-effects fill every inch of the screen. There are some beautiful
slow-motion shots of guns firing and bullet casings grazing every inch of concrete on building rooftops - a keen reminder of John Woo's wild comic-book pyrotechnics. I also enjoyed watching the flips in the air and the frozen movements suddenly turning back into motion. If "The Matrix" were simply a financial ploy for an incredible, imaginative sci-fi picture, I would have said that I loved it. But the movie is an exercise in pyrotechnics, nothing more.

Instead of some intelligent dialogue and imaginative story structure dealing with the mysteries of virtual reality and real life, the movie opts for straightforward action, predictably formulaic
thriller elements, and bland characters. Keanu Reeves can't even smile or wink, much less emote any expression (What happened to this actor?) Fishburne, one of the most distinctive actors on the silver screen, mostly stands around and utters epiphanies about the state of the world. The one actor who stands out is Carrie-Anne Moss, who turns from a full-fledged kung-fu expert to a simple girlfriend for the seemingly indifferent Neo. What a sham!

"The Matrix" simply recycles elements from "Dark City," "Strange Days," and every other tired sci-fi thriller in the last year or so without investing any interest outside tentacled spider robots and kung-

fu fights. If this is the state of the genre now, what can we expect in a decade?

Moneymaking schemes by the numbers

 BOILER ROOM (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Recently on television, I had seen a program on the illegal activities of con artists, particularly those involved in get-rich-quick telephone scams. Some of these people operated inside rented offices or apartments and con people out of their hard-earned money, including retired folks who are depending on their savings to survive. The purpose is to obtain any and all money and the key is persuasion. That is the focus of "Boiler Room," which focuses on such con artists and how they can persuade anyone to sell on fictitious stock options.

Seth (Giovanni Ribisi) is one of these guys. A former casino operator in his own apartment, he quits trying to make amends to please his father who is disconcerted with the life his son lead. Apparently, Seth lied to his family that he was attending college. All along he had been running an illegal casino making wads of cash. Then he catches wind of a Long Island, N.Y. stock company, J.T. Marlin, that can make anyone into a millionaire as long as they have to drive to work their butts off. Seth sees this as an attempt to please his father whom he never seems to please.

Enter J.T. Marlin where the leader of the pack (Ben Affleck) convinces these new recruits that they can become millionaires and fulfill all their dreams as long as they make money for their firm. It is about persistence to make the sale on stock options ("Anyone who tells you that money is the root of all evil doesn't have it.") The Affleck character and the scene itself is a direct hark back to Alec Baldwin's powerful cameo in "Glengarry Glen Ross" where he tried to persuade the fellow salesmen to sell like if it was dependent on their lives. Only Affleck seems to come up short in the delivery, if only because Baldwin did it better.

Seth is intrigued by this firm and the prospect of becoming rich, and thus becomes a full-fledged professional stock broker. He becomes so damn good that he no longer needs his resentful boss, Greg (Nicky Katt). Seth also becomes involved with Greg's former flame, Abby (Nia Long), a beautiful secretary who makes $80,000 a year and supports her sick mother. Naturally, after all the success and wealth, things start to go downhill. Seth realizes he may be immersed in a fake firm, a "boiler room" or brokerage chop shop, that sells stock options on nonexistent companies. How will his dad feel about this?

"Boiler Room" is "Wall Street" with a dash of "Glengarry Glen Ross" thrown into the mix and it has a great cast of up and coming actors, including Ribisi's sad-eyed, clownish-looking Seth and Vin Diesel's hoarse-voiced Chris, one of the big moneymakers for the firm. I think the film tries a little too hard to seem hip, and the references to the aforementioned films by Oliver Stone and David Mamet respectively clue us into how mediocre and cliched the whole franchise is. Every moment can be predicted with precision, and we know Seth will eventually realize his mistakes and seek forgiveness from his dad. Some of these very scenes are extremely well-written, particularly those involving Seth's father (Ron Rifkin - one of my favorite character actors), a judge who doesn't want his career tarnished by his son's foolhardy schemes. Rifkin has a great line: "Relationship? What relationship? Relationships are your mother's shtick. I am your father."

If "Boiler Room" dealt with Seth's complex relationship with his father and his own inner struggle between deception and truth, we might have had a real winner here. As it is, the film is bogged down with far too many plotholes, including Seth's relationship with Abby that becomes fraught with complications involving the FBI. And there are later scenes between Seth and his father and another potential scheme that stretch credibility. I will say that "Boiler Room" is very entertaining and informative in its first hour, but it is the anticlimactic finish that makes the whole affair seem like a near-miss.

Trivial Heist Movie that should've been set in Inland Empire

 CITY OF INDUSTRY (1997)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"City of Industry" is one of the most mediocre of heist dramas, but its  mediocrity is a shame considering the talent involved. When you see actors like Harvey Keitel, Timothy Hutton, Famke Janseen and Stephen Dorff, along with seasoned director John Irvin, you would think the film would be a tinge superior than the norm. But no, this plays like any kind of shoot-em' up thriller you

might catch on cable at 3 am.

Keitel plays a seasoned thief named Roy Egan. He chain smokes and likes to wear an undershirt while sporting sunglasses. His brother (Timothy Hutton) has set up a heist at a jewelry store. The partners include the hot-headed, psychotic Skip Kovich (Stephen Dorff) and Jorge Montana (Wade Dominguez), a devoted family man who is about to go to jail. Jorge is so devoted that he tells his kids he will
talk to them about a puppy. Jorge loves his wife (played by Famke Janseen) but not enough to stick around at home and avoid trouble. They all plan the heist perfectly. Then there is the robbery. And, without hesitation, there is a double-cross. Now, most film buffs will recognize Dorff as the psycho who wants all the money to himself. No surprise there. Keitel narrowly avoids getting shot, and wants revenge. He spends the rest of the movie beating people to a bloody pulp and shooting any and anything in his way. A performance built on seething angered looks and occasional outbursts of violence is not what I would expect from the actor who appeared in "Bad Lieutenant."

Keitel's Roy Egan is so stolid and thin a character that I could barely care much about him. At least Janseen invests more passion into her character - you almost assume she could be a real person. Her scenes with Keitel were so good that one wishes the screenplay gave them more to do. Instead we get a few shootouts, an explosion or two, more shootouts, and, well, yawn if you have seen all this before.

"City of Industry" is a straightforward heist drama with barely any of the postmodern irony that has reduced the crime genre to a cartoonish version of itself. Unfortunately, just because this is not the latest Tarantino flavor of the month doesn't make it any better. This movie is bereft of any intelligence,
wit or decent dialogue. Keitel basically plays the Terminator, occasionally uttering lines like "I am the police." He is as interesting as a stone sculpture. Only the visually enticing shots of the outskirts of the city have any life to them. Irvin might be saying that all those smokestacks and factories
are more alive than the noir protagonists who inhabit this movie. I believe he is right.