Change Your Image
kjfoehr
Reviews
A Good Woman (2004)
(spoilers) Seriously flawed screenplay and poor directing
Warning: Contains spoilers! When a husband doesn't explain or even discuss his apparent adultery with his wife, but is forgiven by her anyway; and when main characters change their attitudes towards each other without explanation in order to mislead and then trick the audience, it will never add up to a good drama. Such things might be excusable in sci-fi, action, or comedy, but not in a serious drama. For example, in one scene we see the husband distraught, because, we are led to believe, he has just committed adultery with Helen Hunt. But then in their next rendezvous he is happily having a drink with her on her bed! Even though, as we learn later, she was already blackmailing him, which was why he was distraught after their last meeting! This film is full of such inconsistencies and unrealistic interactions between the main characters. Many of these things are done to make the twist in the story work, as a result the twist does work, but the movie as a whole doesn't. I doubt that it is Oscar Wilde's fault; it must be the screenplay writer and the director who are to blame.
The Boys of Baraka (2005)
We could do it here.
Why is this happening in America? Because not enough people care enough to change things. Why did these kids change in Africa? It was, as Bill Cosby said in his comments on the film, not because of the giraffes nor because the boys were too far away from the airport to run away. No, it was because they received more individual attention from adults who truly wanted them to succeed, and because of the school's structure and discipline. These are simple, basic things that are lacking in many urban public schools across America. But we did have them in American schools decades ago, and we could have them again -- this time without corporal punishment. If we cared enough, we would make all our schools like Baraka schools. If we cared enough, we would take the bull by the horns and break the cycle of inadequate education, drugs, crime, prison, death, and hopelessness. All our schools could provide structure and discipline, and could require real effort from the students while at the same time offering them care and support. These changes would not only increase the student's knowledge, skills, and abilities, they would foster greater self-discipline, self-confidence, and real hope that a better future is possible for them. And for far less money than we spend on war and our military, we could also have community centers to continue the job on weekends and evenings. If we really cared enough about our neglected urban poor it wouldn't be this way in America. BTW, it's an excellent documentary; I highly recommend it for anyone with both a heart and a mind, especially those who are comfortable and apathetic.
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
A very important film spoiled by too much blood and a poor title.
This could have been a truly great film and a box-office hit too, but it had three major flaws:
First, the title was unappealing. "Kingdom of Heaven" does not have mass audience appeal. Only evangelical Christians would have had their curiosity piqued, and then the "R" rating would have turned them away. More on this later
Second, it didn't have a clear target audience: the historically based story, which would normally appeal to adults more than teenagers, was compromised by all the blood spurting violence which turns off adults. But the extreme violence was not enough to prevent the hip-hop generation from being bored by the history and religion. Voila! You have a film that doesn't really appeal to any specific target audience.
Third, the sound quality was poor at times and it inhibited the audience understanding of the story. Many of the actors had accents that are difficult to understand even when there is perfect enunciation and good sound quality; but in this case the enunciation was sometimes poor and the sound was not loud enough to compensate for it. This coupled with the unusual words, names, and titles used (e.g, Saracens or Balian of Ibelin) made understanding the dialog and following the story sometimes impossible. Thus, many typical action adventure moviegoers were undoubtedly clueless as to what it was really all about.
The film is considered a flop at the box office, and I think this could easily have been avoided by giving the film a decent name! Who knows what "Kingdom of Heaven" means, and who cares? Obviously it refers to something religious, but mainstream action moviegoers aren't motivated to see a film about religion! Yes, "The Passion of the Christ" was a huge hit, but its success was due largely to all the controversy.
"Kingdom of Heaven" could have generated some controversy, thus increasing its publicity, but the producers apparently chose to avoid rather than cultivate that. A simple title change could have made a big difference. A title like "Crusade" would have been much more appealing and potentially controversial too due to its provocative association with current events. (Heck, they could have named it the First Crusade and then set the stage for seven more sequels one for each of the Eight Crusades!) In my opinion, the film's relevance to the current "clash of civilizations" is what makes the movie interesting; and if its relevance to current events had been conveyed to people by means of a better title, then more people would have gone to see it.
Even with its flaws, "Kingdom of Heaven" should have had a much wider audience because it depicts a sad but important chapter in our history. It showed how Christians in the Middle Ages were just as fanatical and cruel as we think radical Islamists are today! Those who think Christianity is "better" than other religions should learn about the history portrayed in this movie. The film could have been great and huge at the box-office too, but the producers / studio dropped the ball or were afraid to ruffle feathers, and they paid the price for their poor judgment and timidity.