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Reviews
Welcome to Collinwood (2002)
good laugh
Stylish heist movie with a sense of humour and a classy cast including Sam Rockwell and William H. Macy; that's about the long and the short of it really nothing special but definitely not a waste of 90 minutes of your day either.
The boys try to rob a safe because they're all skint. Sam Rockwell has to seduce the girl next door to get into the apartment etc the film quickly tumbles into farce it all goes horribly wrong the various characters crack under pressure at different stages and the gang disintegrates then reassembles with humorous consequences blah blah blah one for a quiet afternoon or early evening bit of a bloke flick I suppose.
The Way We Were (1973)
art and craft - its got the lot
The Way We Were Barbra Streisand is your one-dimensional actress. One look at her face and you know what she's going to do fail. She's always on the outside looking in, incredibly needy and her own worst enemy; scuppering any relationship before she can be rejected maybe there's a hint of the autobiographical in what she does? However, man can she sing! Now before anyone tries to 'out' me for this take a look at the bigger picture here. Streisand invariably plays Streisand that's smart she knows her limitations and so doesn't attempt anything too grandiose. The rest of the film is just as well-balanced.
Robert Redford is also fairly one-dimensional as an actor. However, his dimension is the fifth on a plane occupied by Steve McQueen, James Dean and other such deceased luminaries if only he had the good taste to die he would be legend. His skill is on playing to his limitations and attributes also.
Sydney Pollack directs Sydney Pollack IS a legend (Tootsie, The Fabulous Baker Boys) all great films can be attributed to the quality of the directing. This is a truism. No actor can carry a turkey but a great director can stuff one, baste it and slow-cook it to perfection.
As well as being a totally seductive love story (one of the few a man can watch and not run the risk of having to sacrifice his cajones), The Way We Were is that rarest of things in Hollywood, an historical document. It manages to sneak under the radar by telling Hollywood's story in the era of McCarthyism and the 'House Un-American Activities Committee' as Redford's college athlete golden boy discovers not only is he handsome, skillful, stylish and cool but he's also a fairly decent writer who ends up re-writing his own screenplays which are perceived as being 'commie' (It doesn't help that his missus (Babs) is an outspoken Marxist with high fallutin' notions about the first amendment (freedom of speech)).
Their relationship is rocky from day one. She becomes obsessed with him the moment she first spies him; he finds her curious and inspiring and her belief in his ability and the importance of his writing whilst slightly maniacal drives him to produce great works. Were it not for her, it is likely he would have stayed in the army or taken a sinecure somewhere and drank himself to oblivion whilst still looking fabulous Gatsby style! She seems to drift on his coat-tails whilst forever railing against his decadent friends and lifestyle and whatever cause of the day takes her rage on its inexorable wave and they eventually split and rekindle and split again
but not before hammering out the finer points of why 'it..just
wont
work' this is beautifully done. They know they are doomed. He is too perfect. Everything comes easy to him. She is too unsatisfied, mostly with herself. Nothing is good enough for him in her eyes and everything too good for her she feels out of place.
The scriptwriters; and this is rare, write the rise AND demise of a love story rather than just the development and crescendo of one. They see it out in all of its explosive fury and passionate hopelessness. The characters are believable. It's a thing of beauty to look at too seventies films have that special something which has subsequently been lost the film stock permits the audience a certain viscera and tangibility and the sets, costumes, acting, directing, soundtrack and cinematography are simply gorgeous there's a real craftsmanship to the film. From the flawlessness of every scene, the stills of which could easily be sold as art, to the attention to detail in capturing the era no expense is spared no detail overlooked
and the music! One can only be moved by that bloody song.
This is the backdrop created for the actors who can only but perform up-to-par and they do. They must have been conscious of the amount of face close-ups where their expressions were paramount or the long drawn out shots where they ARE the scene or maybe not maybe Sydney Pollack made the most of what they were doing and not the opposite who knows? In either case you are transported through art the effect is like theatre, which in recent times film-makers have forgotten, bent as they are in cramming in as many scenes, explosions, effects, bright lights and noises as possible and labelling it high-octane action (with the notable exception of some of the new generation, Spike Jonze, Todd Solondz et al).
I want a film that moves me, not causes me to have to move for fear of developing photo-sensitive epilepsy or going deaf in one ear where is the craft in that? Where is the art? Always remember, film, at its very core is art.
This film is as close to film-art perfection as you will find.
Enjoy!