Coach Carter

COACH CARTER is combination of Great Coach and Great Teacher movies. As such, it plays closely to form, offering few surprises as its titular character shapes his motley crew into a team, teaches his young people some truths about themselves and their lives, and guides his team to the Big Game.

But hey, we don’t knock sonnets for being fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. The real question is, how good is “Coach Carter,” even though it confines itself to the strictures of its format? The answer is, “pretty good.” Samuel L. Jackson convincingly plays a man who can control 10-15 tough kids through the power of his personality alone. The remarkably acne-free and personal-trainered kids execute their roles with precision, and everything rocks along with the smoothness of well-tuned Hollywood product. When you rent 'Coach Carter,' you get what you paid for. Take that as you will.

No Country For Old Men

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN devotes most of its screen time to a character who is not its protagonist. Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) looks like the hero of this movie, acts like the hero of this movie, but wasn't ever the hero of the movie. Sherriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is the hero of this movie, for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN is a story about a man facing the fact that his whole life has been dedicated to pushing against a river. Not a tide, mind you, but a river, as illustrated by Ellis's story of the Apaches and Ed Tom's grandfather.

It's no country for old men, because old men have lived long enough to see their illusions stripped away; and the brutal reality behind those illusions can be too much to live with. The book, and the film, is about Ed Tom reaching that point in his life. The story, in both media, breaks my heart.

On another tack, I found the film to be a faithful rendering of one of my favorite novels. Its changes did not violate the themes of the story, and I sensed that the Coen brothers "got it," as they often do. I bought every single one of its characters, including Harrelson, whom I was inclined to doubt after reading the criticism of him here on the Balcony. I bought the milieu, the presentation, the whole package.

This is a film worth seeing.

The Flight of the Phoenix

FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX'S first victory is in its casting.

I know it isn’t fair to bring extratextual knowledge to a film, but when we see Jimmy Stewart behind the controls of that old Air Truck, we know we’re seeing a guy with a Distinguished Flying Cross, an Air Medal, a Croix de Guerre, and 7 battle stars in his dresser drawer. The movie doesn’t have to spend a lot of time convincing us that its lead character is a salty pilot because its lead character is Jimmy Frickin’ Stewart, BGEN USAFR, Ret’d.

The casting victories don’t end with Stewart, however. Ernest Borgnine is phenomenal as a mentally-challenged passenger, Hardy Krüger shines as an aircraft designer who happens to be onboard, and everyone, with the exception of Richard Attenborough, rises to their tasks. A word about Attenborough: while he’s generally fine, there’s a scene that requires him to blend laughter into jagged crying. It’s an important scene, and the actor can’t quite pull it off. Nevertheless, that’s one misstep in an otherwise fine performance.

Great casting aside, FoP works as a Boys’ Own Adventure, with all the elements of exotic location, survival concerns, competition for dominance, honor, loyalty, and the delicate balance between knowledge and skill. It works as an adventure, it works as a psychological study, and it works as a great way to spend two hours and twenty minutes. What a delight.

Un Chien Andalou

This movie struck me as so much self-indulgent wankery. Rather than try to maximize the possibilities of the art form, UN CHIEN ANDALOU settles for smugly smirking, "Look at me. I'm avant garde." Thanks, but no thanks.