Reviews

Working with Elia Kazan, one of the greatest directors of 1950s stage and screen, James Dean was able to fully display his heartbreaking vulnerability and trademark ambiguity. He adds an element of mystery to his character, Cal Trask, by carefully choosing which emotions to reveal to the audience and which ones to keep hidden.

Dean is an extremely physical actor, and some of his most imitated acting flourishes are his mannerisms and movements. Throughout the film, he slouches, fidgets, pulls on his ear, lies down in the dirt with his beans, and throws his head back to highlight his frustration. These attempts at naturalistic acting are among the best ever committed to celluloid.

Dean is the movie. There's no question about that. But, there's some excellent support from Julie Harris, Raymond Massey (as his cold, remote father), and Jo Van Fleet as his long-lost mother. Elia Kazan took advantage of the fact that some of the actors, most notably Massey, did not get along with Dean, and was able to make the bitter exchanges and arguments between the characters all the more believable.

Marlon Brando had long since lost interest in acting when he made this film. His performance as "The Swede" is the worst of his career, and that is precisely what he intended it to be. He doesn't overact. Instead, he simply acts in a bizarre fashion and pokes fun at his embarrassingly gargantuan girth. The scene where Brando climbs over the toilet stall is probably the worst, funniest moment in the history of cinema. As we witness him fall head-first into a toilet, it is hard to believe that we are watching the same actor who starred in A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, and The Godfather.

I guess the real question is why Marlon behaved like this in his later years. Was he sick of the movie business? Did he just like making a complete and utter fool out of himself? I guess we'll never know. But this film serves as a fascinating study as to what bad acting is all about.

On that note, watch fellow acting veteran Donald Sutherland as he struggles to deliver his lines, embarrassed at himself for agreeing to participate in this travesty.

Raiders of the Lost Ark is the greatest action/adventure movie ever made. In many ways, the film actually transcends both these genres and stands as a work of art.

Steven Spielberg's mastery at creating spellbinding set pieces and action sequences is on full display. The entire opening, complete with the "Idol swap" and the giant rolling boulder, has never been equaled in terms of sheer excitement and execution. The same can be said about many of the sequences. The chase through the desert is the greatest car chase ever filmed, and the ending (with melting Nazis) is a brilliant, unforgettable villain death scene. Raiders proves that the quality/realism of a film's special effects aren't all that important - it's how you use them.

Harrison Ford gives a legendary performance as Indy, Karen Allen has never been better as his love interest Marion (she is one of the toughest, wittiest female characters in the movies), and Denholm Eliot and John Rhys-Davies are wonderfully colorful in their key supporting roles.

Just like Jaws, if Raiders of the Lost Ark had fallen into the hands of any director other than Steven Spielberg, it would have been nothing more than a cheap B-movie. But because Spielberg was at the helm, Raiders is one of the greatest movies of all time.

Oh... and once you hear John Williams' music, i will remain in your head forever.

The Wizard of Oz is one of those rare, timeless movies that improves with age (probably because we're used to seeing dozens of pallid fantasy films each and every year). Like It's a Wonderful Life, Oz is a film that almost everyone sees at one time or another and instantly falls in love with. It's a great, magical film that your great, great grandkids are certain to embrace.

The film is sort of beyond criticism at this point, so I'll just list some of my favourite aspects and scenes.

1. Margaret Hamilton is the epitome of all witches. Whenever I hear the word "witch" her green skin, black pointed hat, and extended nose spring into my mind.

2. "Somewhere over the Rainbow" is one of the greatest songs of all time. To have this song alone would have been more than enough for any musical. But, luckily, we also get "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead", "If I Only Had a Brain", and many others.

3. Each actor is perfectly suited for his or her role. And I mean perfectly.

4. The writing and dialogue are as fresh as anything you will ever read or hear.

5. Victor Fleming directed this and Gone with the Wind in the same year (1939). I realize that he took over for other directors on both films, but he still did direct the majority of them.

What do you get when you put Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, and Jonathan Pryce in the same movie? A masterpiece. That's what. And there are numerous scenes where almost all of these actors are in the same scene at the same time.

Each actor is at the top of his game. David Mamet's powerful script (adapted from his equally great Pulitzer Prize-winning play) fuels their talent and allows them to engage in scorching fits of rage. Jack Lemmon, in particular, reveals a sleazy side that you've never seen before.

Best Scene: Alec Baldwin's morale-boosting (Ha...Ha...Ha...)speech.

Salvador is one of those forgotten gems in American cinema. It contains terse, uncompromising writing and direction from Oliver Stone and contains the greatest role of James Woods' career. He is so good in fact, that one wonders why he never quite reached super-star status.

As real-life journalist Richard Boyle, Woods gets to bring to the screen what he does best: witty, intellectual cynicism. The scene where he attempts to repent for his sins at confession is hilarious and brilliant in equal measure. Just watch how well Woods uses his sarcastic facial expressions to drive home his lines.

Of course, Salvador is much more than just a showcase for James Woods. It provides an excellent summary of the conflict in El Salvador and accurately demonstrates the attitudes of both sides.

As Boyle's best friend, James Belushi proves that he's got serious acting chops.

JFK is a masterpiece of film assembly. It contains the best editing I've ever seen (documentary footage is seamlessly interwoven with the new dramatizations). Robert Richardson's photography brilliantly switches between different film stocks and colours.

For these reasons alone, the film is worth studying frame by frame.

Then there is the script and the actors. It is remarkable how well the screenwriters and the actors are able to articulate entire prose passages of historical information into easily digestible chunks. As Mr. X, Donald Sutherland comes off as the most impressive, talking a mile a minute with some of the trickiest, most complex dialogue ever delivered on screen.

The entire cast is a phenomenon. Everyone from Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau to Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones is here. Director Oliver Stone's ability to direct them all in different, individualy unique roles is an accomplishment that easily makes up for his recent string of duds.

Martin Scorsese has been responsible for some of the best movies of this rather slow decade, and The Departed stands as the greatest so far.

Leonardo DiCaprio brings an unforgettable intensity to his role as a cop assigned to infiltrate a criminal enterprise run by Boston ganglord Frank Costello. Co-star Matt Damon gives the single best performance of his career as Costello's pawn, ordered to infiltrate the police department. Jack Nicholson turns in a great, darkly-humorous performance as Costello. That he was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2006 is absolutely criminal (no pun intended).

As usual, Scorsese's long-time editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, delivers a steady stream of ingenious, energetic cuts that will be studied at film schools for years to come. The final kudos must go to Scorsese himself for bringing a hard-hitting intensity to the proceedings.