Seabiscuit

Grade: B

Let me get this out of the way. The book was better.

In fact, the book was breathtaking, one of the finest reads in many a year. And I don’t even particularly care about horse racing. Actually, I don’t care about horseracing much at all. This should tell one what a great book it is.

This movie retelling of one our greatest depression era heroes is lovingly and respectfully told, with excellent performances from Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and especially Toby Maguire as Seabiscuit’s owner, trainer, and jockey, respectively. The film is a nicely developed character study, as we quietly get to know these men through their shared triumphs and tribulations during a most turbulent time in our nation’s history. Replete with black and white photographs of the time period and some striking cinematography, the movie adds a richly sentimental albeit occasionally drippy voice over by historian David McCullough, and is filled with moments that beautifully capture the essence of time and place (a scene where we initially hear one of the horse races over the radio – as millions of Americans did when it actually occurred -- is especially poignant and powerful).

Yet the filmmakers also unfortunately forget that – at its heart – this is a sports story, a horseracing “Rocky” as it were. Missing is the feeling of heart soaring victories and bone crushing defeats, the swelling music and riotous ovations from the crowds. It’s up on the screen all right, but the tone is far too somber and introspective to hit the right notes of exaltation. One keeps waiting for the energy to pick up, for the pace to begin matching the speed of the racehorses. We’re still waiting as the credits start rolling. A fictionalized radio announcer, played with shticky delight by William H. Macy, adds nothing to the proceedings, whereas other real life characters are given short shrift in the screenplay.

The fact that, in the end, the movie fails to finish the final race demonstrates just how much emphasis the filmmakers have placed on people rather than on sports figures. While they should be applauded for attempting the road less taken, one leaves the theater feeling a kinship for the men, when one should also leave the theater feeling a love for the horse.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0329575/

Camp

Grade: B+

Confession time. When I was a teenager, and all the other neighborhood kids were busy playing street hockey, I was recording the entire script to “Man of La Mancha” on my cassette tape recorder, so that I could perform the show in my backyard. I would play Don Quixote (of course), responding to the voices I had set down on tape beforehand. I built a curtain out of a bed sheet, made a suit of armor out of cardboard covered in tin foil, a sword out of an old metal gardening stake, and will never forget my mother’s mortification when she discovered I had cut off chunks of my hair to make a paste-on beard.

This is a movie made to measure for someone just like me. Or for anyone else who knows what Broadway show I took the term “made to measure” from.

Based on a real life performance camp in upstate New York (if only I’d a known this place existed), the geeks, queers, and misfits of the world have two months out of every year to be both completely themselves and just like everyone else. Teenage girls sing Broadway show tunes written for elderly has-beens and drunkards, the token straight boy is completely out of his element, and Stephen Sondheim is a hero of epic proportions.

Far from perfect, the film suffers from a rather formulaic storyline, several odd takes on teenage sexuality, and some over-the-top situations. But it is also so completely charming, tender, and kind spirited it’s simply irrepressible. There are also more than enough insider theater moments to provide a great deal of special pleasure to the theater fanatics amongst us (those glorious moments where a handful of people – myself included – would guffaw out loud to the somewhat confused silence of fellow moviegoers).

Hard to tell exactly how general audiences will respond, but for those of us it was written for (and you oh so know who you are) this one is a major treat.

More Movie Reviews: http://imdb.com/title/tt0342167/

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Grade: A-

What a surprisingly entertaining, exciting and thoughtful summer roller coaster ride.

For those of us who rented the first two “Terminator” flicks over the last couple of weekends to become reacquainted with the plotline, it is admittedly humorous to note that much within these movies is rather identical to the film that came before, albeit with increasingly improved production values. One forgets just how Grade B low budget the first one was, and how the second seemed more like an attempt to redo the first one with a lot more money. While this latest installment also repeats the time travel openings, car/truck races/explosions and tongue in cheek dialogue, it well surpasses its predecessors. The special effects here are absolutely mind-blowing, the acting is superb (yes, you read that right), and the ideological warning even more chilling and moving.

Nick Stahl and Claire Danes are bloody marvelous as the lead humans, installing the work with genuine pathos and humanity. They also have an intense chemistry together, making their relationship immediately charged and engaging. And then there’s Arnold, a machine so self-deprecating, deadpan, and downright cool that one is surprised by how much we care about him, even if he is a Republican. The screenplay does a masterful job of overcoming what already felt like a completed work, integrating what we know from earlier films with fascinating new revelations. This is one laugh out loud funny, completely off the hanger over the top, visually mesmerizing, and intellectually intriguing work. It both brings the series properly full circle, yet makes one genuinely hope for a 4th installment.

While the “Matrix” films laud themselves as the rightful intellectual proprietors of the nightmare vision of our computerized future, there is a strong case to be made that “The Teminator” films deserve to own the patent. And they also come with far less pretension.
See it on a big screen with multiple loudspeakers, and bring plenty of popcorn.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0181852/