Predicts Boardwalk Empire

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE (1998)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally reviewed in 1998 *updated)

"With Friends Like These" is the umpteenth attempt at self-reflection on moviemaking, that is the attempt at understanding what motivates people to make movies and how it all comes down to backstabbing. It is an idea first brought to prominence in Robert Altman's "The Player." Nothing else has come close since.

The friends are a group of Hollywood actors who are lucky enough to find roles in any film or TV series. They are the character bit players, the ones that audiences are likely to forget. None of them may be happy to recede in the background of the spotlight, but what can they do? The only actor of the bunch who has been around long enough to do more than his fair share is Johnny (Robert Constanzo), a veteran player who has played more corrupt cops and hit men than anything else. Johnny gets a phone call one day that he is up for an audition to play Al Capone in a Martin Scorsese film! This could be his big break! Naturally, Scorsese and his agent (Beverly D'Angelo) remind Johnny to keep it hush-hush because otherwise, goombahs and Italian men from all over will get wind of the film and decide to audition as well. Let's say that Johnny's trusting friends, Dorian (Jon Teney), Steve (Adam Arkin) and Armand (David Straitharn), discover Johnny's secret and decide they all want a shot at the big time.

Some of this is fun to watch but sadly, too much goes a long way. It would have been enough to make a comedy about how desperate people are for fame and fortune, and for the insatiable need to get in the spotlight. But when the film concentrates on the men's wives and the supposed infidelities and jealousies, it becomes a Woody Allen film! Take away the inspired, inside information on how desperate these Scorsese aficionados are to get in to the master director's latest, and you are left with tedious Allenisms on relationships and marriage. Writer-director Philip F. Messina backs away from the filmmaking and backstabbing ideas that are probably the reason for his inspiration for the film in the first place.

"With Friends Like These" has some fun scenes and cute interactions, not to mention a stunning final scene with David Straitharn (the best actor of this bunch), but it is wholly half-hearted and contrived. It fails to deliver the potential of a real comedy about a Scorsese mob film. And that's that.

Footnote: Fascinatingly, years later, Martin Scorsese executive-produced and directed the pilot for the HBO series, "Boardwalk Empire." The pilot included the recurring character of Al Capone, played by Stephen Graham. I wonder how many actors auditioned for that part.

Cryer's trite game of hide and seek

HIDING OUT (1987)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A hopelessly dopey stockbroker, Andrew Morenski (Jon Cryer, who is hopelessly miscast), is involved in some shady bonds sold to mobsters. Rather than testify against the mob, for fear of being killed after his messy police protection fails, he hides out at his old high-school grounds. Andrew shaves his beard, opts for two-toned colored hair, gives away his expensive Italian jacket for a regular coat from a bum, and decides to enroll as a high-school student despite being nearly 30-years-old. Why? I can't say except he feels he can remain more elusive from hit men and the police if he pretends to be a student. This makes sense since Jon Cryer is more convincing as a high-school student than a stockbroker (only a year earlier, he played a high-school student in "Pretty in Pink."). Andrew gets help from his young cousin (Keith Coogan), falls in love with a 17-year-old senior (Annabeth Gish), and unwillingly runs for Student President! Oh, yes, he also befriends the school janitor who was a former boxing champion.

"Hiding Out" never fleshes out its comic potential, not even a little. The idea of reliving your high-school years  could have been prime comic material and lent a little gravitas to the narrative. But no, the screenwriters keep obstructing their premise with a teen romance subplot that, while cute for a while especially a roller-skating sequence, tested my patience. Wouldn't a 17-year-old sense that this Andrew is not what he is cracked up to be? The subplot involving the hit men also tested my patience, and so did Andrew's consistent whining about his other stockbroker buddies. I could care less about them because, for an alleged comedy, there should be the dramatic situations in high school where Andrew tries to persuade the students that he is a student too - you know, some comic hijinks that Jon Cryer was born to play. The movie just gives us students who never assume Andrew isn't who he says he is - they accept him wholeheartedly. So does Annabeth Gish's father whom Andrew provides tax relief advice. Does the father think something is up? No, not at all. All high-school students are born accountants, I suppose.

"Hiding Out" misses out on comic opportunities, left and right. It never establishes the main character in any real jeopardy from what should've been a comically chaotic and hopeless situation. Instead we get a violent opening and a dramatically violent finish that are at odds with, again, the comedy that we expect. I like Cryer's scene where he antagonizes a history teacher over the pros and cons of President Nixon, or when he is inspired to call himself "Maxwell Hauzer" after the coffee brand. Two decent jokes in a movie that is more inert and cutesy than inspired, filled with occasional bursts of violence from some other bad movie. Grade D for derivative.

I knew I was innocent

PARADISE LOST 2: REVELATIONS (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

(Originally reviewed in 2002)

The murders of three young boys who were eviscerated in West Memphis, Arkansas on May of 1993 was thrillingly captured in one of the most disturbing documentaries ever made, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills." Filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Synofsky were granted access to film the trial and members of the victims' families, not to mention the three alleged killers. The killers were Damien Echols, Jessie Miskelley and Jason Baldwin, both at the time in their teens who were seen as suspects for wearing black clothes, for listening to Metallica and for supposedly worshipping the Devil. Jessie may have confessed to the crime out of coercion by the police, though he only had an IQ of 72 (how reliable was his flawed account of the murders?) They are all currently in jail with Echols as the sole defendant on Death Row - the other two are serving life sentences. A crucial piece of evidence at the 1994 trial was a bloody knife owned by one of the murdered boys' fathers, Mark Byers. The knife was given to the filmmakers which was then presented to the police as evidence. For a moment, one wonders if Byers was the killer.

"Paradise Lost 2: Revelations" recapitulates most of the original documentary's events but presents little or no new evidence. We learn the bite marks on the said victims were not identical to the mouths of the three jailbirds. Also, the suspicion that Byers is involved is thrown out the window when he admits to extracting all his teeth because of a specific medication that rotted them. He says they were all extracted long before his child was murdered - it turns out they were extracted in 1997, four years after the murders. It is difficult to say if the three jailed men, now in their 20's, are responsible or if they were the scapegoats in a town looking for scapegoats. Disembowling three young boys and leaving them naked in a ditch is as horrific a crime as one can imagine. Also disturbing is that no trace of blood was found at the crime scene, which one can rightly deduce was not the actual crime scene. The bodies were mutilated elsewhere and left in a ditch, possibly an area well-known by the killer. The point, as addressed by a forensic investigator, is that these killings were not ritualistic since ritual murders are often precise - the violence was brought on by anger. Could it have been Mark Byers who has a history of drug and violence problems? Or is it Echols, Miskelley and Baldwin?

"Paradise Lost 2" has more questions than answers, but I felt uneasy watching how directors Berlinger and Synofsky filmed Mr. Byers. Byers is the star of the show, always addressing the camera with hateful rants on his innocence and calling everyone watching a devil worshipper. He also stages a mock burial of the three defendants at the very site where the three young boys were killed - a truly unsettling scene. But is Byers to be trusted? Did he kill his own wife, Melissa, whose death is still considered "undetermined"? He claims she died of natural causes. Others claim he suffocated her. He is a Bible-thumping madman who agrees to take a lie-detector test. The irony is he passes the test with flying colors. To the camera, he shouts, "I knew I was innocent." One can take that statement as indicative of a murderer who is getting away scot-free, or one can assume he is a depressed father who is growing more vengeful with each passing year - after all, he lost his son and his wife whom he called his best friend.

Most of "Paradise Lost 2" is compelling and deeply disturbing but it all feels vaguely exploitative. Byers appears too much like a madman but documentarians also have the right to tell a man to tone it down - Byers looks like an insane killer on the loose (perhaps that was the idea). The Free Memphis Three group, who support the innocence of the three defendants, remain elusive as to why they felt so compelled to go on the road and pursue the case - the original movie is powerful but not enough to draw people away from their jobs on their own vacation time (heck, I might feel they are innocent but I am not about to go on the road). Nevertheless, I would have liked more footage of Echol's mother and the other defendants' mothers thoughts (many refused to be interviewed again so I can't really blame the filmmakers). Little is said as to why the prosecutors felt the defendants were the killers, outside of a taped confession. This movie just assumes without a doubt that Byers is the killer. Maybe there is evidence to prove it, maybe not - we barely get enough of a hint beyond the bite marks and his contradictory statements. The one question avoided is how could Byers allegedly murder these three second-graders so brutally. The question remains. [NOTE: The third film in this documentary series, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory," is far more powerful than this sequel]. 

Romance by-the-numbers

NEXT STOP WONDERLAND (1998)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally reviewed in 1999)

When I saw the preview for "Next Stop Wonderland," I was excited. I was expecting a comedy about the personals, and how difficult it is for a single woman to date in the 90's. Well, the movie skimps on that completely for a mostly stale romantic comedy that offers nothing new - just the same old story about a girl meets boy with some "Sleepless in Seattle" thrown into the mix. 

Hope Davis stars as Erin Castleton, a lonely, miserable 29-year-old nurse living in Boston. In a wry opening sequence, her left-wing boyfriend (the phenomenal Philip Seymour Hoffman) walks out on her again and leaves a videotape of the eight or more reasons why he has dumped her. Erin is understandably upset and swears she will no longer have romantic attachments. The idea is short-lived when her visiting mother places a personals ad for her, writing that her daughter is "carefree and has a zest for life." No aspersions directed to Ms. Davis (whom I am sure is a lovely, spirited woman in real life) but her character is anything but carefree and zesty. Erin looks positively glum and charmless at best. Still, she dates a variety of men she meets on the personals (after receiving more than 60 messages) and is suitably unimpressed by most of them - especially when they misattribute a quote about "consistency" to other writers except the originator, Emerson.

The film starts off so damn well that I was expecting a fresh variation on the dead-on-water romantic comedy genre (a genre that desperately needs an infusion of originality). Sadly, writer-director Brad Anderson relegates the material to formulaic conventions and superficialities. There is a lot of business about a plumber named Alan (Alan Gelfant) who wants to be a marine biologist. He also owes some money to a loan shark, and this whole subplot is disinteresting at best and takes up too much time. There are also some needless scenes involving Erin and a Brazilian charmer who wants her to come with him to Sao Paulo (nothing romantic about a polluted city - I know, I lived there). The best scenes are the cross-cutting between Erin's different dates, especially three of them who are betting to see who will spend the night with her first. But these scenes last no more than twenty minutes time of a ninety-six minute running time. We know there is the potential meeting between Alan and Erin (no bets on whether or not they will meet) but it keeps getting sidetracked and prevented, just like in "Sleepless in Seattle." It is a cute idea but it is nothing we have not seen before countless times.

"Next Stop Wonderland" might serve a need for couples since it is unassuming, cutesy and occasionally romantic. But there is a better movie struggling to get out and it just never materializes. I just imagined a better movie benefitting from more screen time with Philip Seymour Hoffman as the ex who can't make up his mind, and the engaging material about the personals. Anything but this oft-travelled stop.

The Dark Knight returns

BATMAN BEGINS (2005)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally reviewed in 2005)

The Bat signal shines brightly in the night skies of Gotham City again. Oh, no, you might say? Well, fear not. Director Joel Schumacher, who ruined the Batman franchise with his gaudy and glam Batman in "Batman and Robin," is absent. No Robin or Batgirl are on display. No George Clooney or Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne or his alter-ego. No, what we have here is the freakiest, keenest and most entertaining Batman film yet. This Batman doesn't just fly, he soars above all comic-book superheroes we have seen in the cinema screens lately.

Enter Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), shown in the opening scenes as a dour sourpuss imprisoned in some island. He unwillingly endures a training session with Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), a master swordsman and spiritual mentor who is in cahoots with the "League of Shadows." Bruce doesn't realize how dangerous and terroristic this league is until he is asked to decapitate a man as part of his rite of passage. Needless to say, Bruce declines and fights his way out of it.

We segue to the billionaire playboy we all know from previous incarnations - the one whose parents' lives were taken by a criminal when he was a tot. Bruce's devotion is to fight crime in Gotham, which is at an alarmingly high rate thanks to a volatile crime lord, Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). There is also some creepy psychiatrist, known as the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), who wears a paper bag on his head and speaks in a deep bass tone before emitting some hallucinogenic vapor that keeps his patients institutionalized. Bruce Wayne knows he can't fight crime with his tuxedo and good looks so he opts for a costume and some weaponry. The man to provide the arsenal and a costume fitting is Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), an inventor who works on the ground level of Wayne Enterprises. Fox provides Wayne with some bulletproof armored car that moves with the speed of, well, a bat. There is also an armored Bat suit complete with all kinds of recognizable gizmos, belts and well, you know the rest. Now Batman can confront the criminals of society and prevent Scarecrow's psychedelic drug from making everyone into a mental patient, as well as stop some superweapon from contaminating the water supply of Gotham. And the non-corrupt Lt. Gordon (Gary Oldman) is willing to help fight crime, even with the assistance of some guy in a bat suit.

But let's not stop there. Wayne has to confront his inner demons, mostly the death of his parents and the haunting memory of being attacked by bats in an underground cave. There's also the assistant D.A., Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), who pines for Wayne's love yet would like him to mature beyond his wealth interests. And I shouldn't forget Wayne's butler, Alfred (Michael Caine), who looks after the lad as a concerned parent would.

Yes, folks, this is the Batman film I've been waiting for, and I'd assume fans have been waiting for as well. Forget Tim Burton's own Bat incarnations - as good as the first one was and as sickly as the second one, they don't come close to the psychological complexity on hand here. For once, Bruce Wayne and Batman are shown as separate sides of the same coin - we understand the duality perfectly and how they complement each other. The filmmakers have found the perfect actor to play the role - Christian Bale makes for a fauxly snobbish Bruce Wayne and a stirringly frightening Batman (face it, there's always been something malevolently creepy about a man dressed as a bat). As Bruce correctly pinpoints about his alter-ego, "anyone who dresses as a bat clearly has issues."

"Batman Begins" is directed by Christopher Nolan (who also co-wrote with David Goyer) with breathtaking sonic rhythms and acute sensibility. The few action scenes on display rivet in ways few action movies do because, listen closely Mr. Michael Bay, they deal with people whom we care about. CARE, CARE, CARE, thanks to good screenwriting!!! Yes, comic-book movies can make us care, including Ang Lee's underrated "Hulk" and the super-duper "Spider-Man" movies. Nolan invests enough time and patience for the first hour of the film to make us see Bruce Wayne's roots before segueing to the Caped Crusader antics. And Nolan has proven himself to be a master director after the brilliant masterpiece "Memento" and the moral complexity of "Insomnia." I can't imagine another director putting such a personal stamp on a blockbuster film and still make it energetic and exciting.

Besides uncovering Bruce's own psychosis, the film also juggles a few subplots around, a dozen well-developed characters, action sequences to spare, a dank Gotham City, and all in the time frame of 2 and 1/2 hours. Whoever thought that the butler Alfred would come across as something more than a dutiful servant. Whoever thought that the villains would be fearsome in their own way (unlike Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze from Schumacher's school). Whoever thought that Batman and Bruce Wayne would get more focus than usual. Stop reading this review! Go see "Batman Begins," the best superhero film ever and one of the finest entertainments in many years. I can now say that the Caped Crusader has finally come home.

Think about the Future!

BATMAN (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Caped Crusader has always been a mystery to me. What kind of person dresses up as a bat and roams the city streets of Gotham City at night? That question is an actual line of dialogue in Tim Burton's film, "Batman," but it is never answered. Batman was more fully realized in comic-book form than in any film or TV series version (until Christopher Nolan's epic vision in 2005) so, it is unfortunate that Burton's "Batman" sees him only as a one-dimensional freak with a two-dimensional wealthy playboy as the character whom we identify with, ever so slightly.

"Batman" is a strange entertainment in that it has sweep and a sonic boom to the visuals and the music (aside from the stirring orchestral score by Danny Elfman, there are songs by Prince) but little inner life and nothing ever seems at stake. Michael Keaton is Bruce Wayne, the wealthy playboy who lives at Wayne Manor which also houses an enormous Batcave. He has his lifelong servant and butler, Alfred (Michael Gough), whom he sees as his only family (Wayne's parents were killed by thugs). Beyond that, there is not much more to take away from Bruce Wayne except he can be deep in thought, and apparently loves the Batman-loving and global photojournalist, Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger, in one of her surest roles performing with wit, romance and a sense of humor). Can Bruce Wayne ever admit to Vicki that he is a giant flying rat? Added to the mix is a Mayor Koch lookalike; smooth though again underwritten Harvey Dent character (Billy Dee Williams); the comic schtick of Robert Wuhl as an ambitious reporter, and the fabulous Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon who is barely there there.

Jack Nicholson is the maniacal Joker, formerly maniacal Jack Napier, and he gives the role what it needs - a real shot of adrenaline that allows the charismatic actor to dance on screen for two hours. Except Nicholson is so damn good in the part (though whether he eclipses Cesar Romero's own interpretation from the Adam West TV show is one for the diehard Batman fans to digest and dissect) that he steals the movie from the inert Bruce Wayne/Batman complex. Old Jack is the star of the show, especially when mimicking a mime, joking with a fried corpse, performing in truly black-humored commercials, or destroying cultural works of art. Jack Nicholson becomes the movie - he owns it - and that is a high price to pay when you undernourish Batman's pain from having witnessed a significant tragedy in his own life. This aspect of identifying with the villains lead to the sequels that gave us less and less of our Caped Crusader.

"Batman" swooshes up and down on the screen, taking us on roller-coasters that pan Gotham City's architectural wonders and numerous buildings that we zoom in and out of. Tim Burton makes the city a grand character, thanks to the astounding production design by Anton Furst, and makes the Batmobile a threatening armadillo machine that goes beyond the TV series' own tame though no less iconic vehicle. The film looks spectacular in every respect and it is eye-filling. And when the rescue of Vicki Vale occurs, not to mention the various Batwing flying through the city moments, it is momentous and carries an electrifying, rousing charge of excitement. "Batman" is certainly entertaining but overall the film lacks urgency - Joker wants to poison everyone but to what end? Clearly he is the life of the party and his Joker feels extraneous when Michael Keaton is all gloom and doom in small doses. The "smile and smile and be a villain" is formidable, while the hero is stuck in a closet of his own mind.

WELCOME to ARCADIA!!!

HOW I GOT INTO COLLEGE (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Some movies catch you for nostalgic reasons. When "How I Got Into College" was released in 1989, it reminded me of the whole dilemma of good SAT scores and choosing-the-right-college scenarios I had been through the year prior. Ostensibly a comedy, Savage Steve Holland nails all the details right regarding the college application process but comes up somewhat short of satirizing enough of the craziness. From the man who brought us "Better Off Dead" and "One Crazy Summer," "How I Got Into College" is fairly mild and laid back.

A satire can either be laid back or high-pitched yet, regardless of the subject matter, it has to be outrageous, somewhat larger-than-life and full of biting, sharp humor. There is one scene that truly embellishes the onslaught of college applications that can drive you up the wall. It involves college fair day at the high school and Curtis Armstrong (a helluva presence in the annals of comedy, starting with "Revenge of the Nerds") hollers the privileges of attending Arcadia College, a Bible school. Armstrong is spirited and practically steals the movie from everyone. More often than not we are saddled with Corey Parker as Marlon, an underachiever who desperately wants to attend Ramsey College because perky overachiever, Jessica (Lara Flynn Boyle), plans to go there as well - you see, Marlon has a crush on her. Only problem is Corey Parker, who is animated enough, is no John Cusack - he just carries a goofy grin and we can't work up much enthusiasm for his exploits. Lara Flynn Boyle is stirring on screen when she isn't having a nervous breakdown - she is at her best when telling an urban legend to her classmates about a girl's college interview that resulted in suicide.

There are many bright moments in "How I Got Into College" and many bright, fresh actors who bring plenty of vigor to their roles. Tichina Arnold is an African-American student from Detroit who is just as aspiring as any of the rich, elitist students of the Ivy League variety. There is also the snappy duo of Phil Hartman and Nora Dunn as con artists masquerading as SAT teachers. I also liked Finn Carter as a Ramsey recruiter who truly believes, along with her boyfriend (Anthony Edwards), that the college should broaden their horizons in picking college students. Do not go for popcorn or you will miss Richard Jenkins and Diane Franklin as Marlon's parents who laugh at the prospect of this kid even applying for Ramsey (come to think of it, Diane should have played Lara Flynn Boyle's role). Duane Davis is fun to watch as an aspiring college football player who can't speak for himself - his girlfriend and his coach do all the talking.

"How I Got Into College" is a sweet, safe often upbeat comedy. It is not just not all I expect from the likes of Savage Steve Holland who could have brought more pungent wit to the proceedings - the satiric potential doesn't have enough bite. He passes this test, but not with flying colors.