Presumed Innocent

Here's another one from Joe McDonald:

If there was ever a movie that dealt with the compromising of integrity in as many shades of grey as "Presumed Innocent" does, then I would like to know: ****.

"PI" is the story of district attorney Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) whose former mistress, Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi), is a gorgeous co-worker who is murdered. To say the plot thickens when we discover that she has also had an affair with Ford's supervisor (Brian Dennehy), who assigns Ford to her murder case, is to only begin to unravel the Pandora's box that Polhemus' death creates. Sabich is still whipped on her and his wife sees that, he is less than enthusiastic to assume responsibility for this case which his boss thrust on him, and then lo and behold, he becomes the prime suspect. To boot, we have missing evidence, the presiding judge's connection to Polhemus, and the prosecuting attorneys unseemly connection to Sabich's office.

The situation is a complete mess, and yet the script is written with an airtight clarity that makes us care about our flawed protagonist and understand the layers of agendas that permeate this movie. This is one of Ford's most underappreciated performances. He is spellbound by a seductive, enticing woman with an agenda, but he he is a man of principle as well. We see the exact moment when his principles lose her attraction, and his erotic fix is lost forever. He is a lost puppy, thereafter.

If Scacchi, on the other hand, could mass produce, bottle and market her sexuality, she could retire after six months. She is sumptuous, power hungry, tragic, and maybe just a tad bit kind-hearted. Wow. And finally, I am so sorry to see Raul Julia and his magnetic performance as Sabich's defense attorney. This was one of his most memorable roles before he died in 1994. He is the straw that stirs the drink once he is hired: measured, well studied, sympathetic, never expends more energy than needed, but strikes hard and effectively when the iron is hot.

This is one of the best courtroom drama I have even seen. And the ending turned me upside down; once I thought it ended, it resurrected itself for just a little longer. Sad, tragic, brilliant.

Ratatouille

Production company strips are boring. What do I care if Amalgamated Media, Inc. produced the movie I'm about to see? Why should I watch its, and its fellow companies', animations when we could all just be getting on with the movie? What are they trying to do, build customer loyalty? "Boy, I sure do like those MGM movies. They're way better than Paramount's."

On second thought, there is one production company that has managed to build customer loyalty, and I don't mind sitting through its logo. When the Pixar animation flickers on the screen, I settle in, secure in the knowledge that I'm about to be entertained by people who care about the product they're putting onscreen. I may not be dazzled, but I can count on being well entertained, and I respect that.

RATATOUILLE, Pixar's latest, dazzles. Perhaps more importantly, it does so with an original story, excellent performances, and the kind of first-class animation we've come to expect from the folks with the desktop lamps. Here's the setup: Remy just wants to cook. He has extraordinary senses of smell and taste, he intuitively understands food, and he studies the works of Gusteau, the famous Parisian chef who declares that "Anyone can cook!" There's a problem, of course: Remy is too far down the social ladder to land a job at a restaurant, much less a slot in culinary school. In fact, he's a rat: he can't even get in the kitchen.

I like the idea of using a rat instead of a mouse. In the popular imagination, rats are evil while mice are cute. We in the audience shudder when we see a (flock? herd?) bunch of rats skittering across a floor, and the movie accepts that and works with it, artfully reproducing the biomechanics of rat movement (ok, there's some anthropomorphization, but that's to be expected). By accepting Remy's rat-ness, it challenges us to do what those in the film must learn to do: get over it and get on with the realization that this rat has a lot to offer. "Those in the film" includes Remy's rat family, which includes the disapproving father who doesn't understand why his son can't just eat garbage like everyone else; Linguini, the hapless janitor who stumbles into an alliance with the little chef; and, perhaps most dauntingly, the Paris gastronomical world. Further, I like the idea of setting an animated film in the world of food. Perhaps its because I recently saw and loved MOSTLY MARTHA; perhaps it's because I recently had relatives in for a visit, relatives who dragged my wife all over town looking for just the right lemon grater for our kitchen; perhaps it's because I've had a few meals in my life that have brought tears to my eyes (Aside: those meals were at Cantina Vecchia il Baroni and La Botta). Whatever the reasons, this is new territory for family pictures, it isn't intuitively obvious that kids would dig it, and I applaud Pixar's courage in going there.

Patton Oswalt, who did not impress me in THE COMEDIANS OF COMEDY, does fine work here as Remy, as do the rest of the cast of people whose names I recognize, but whose voices I did not. Particularly surprising was Peter O'Toole as cadaverous food critic Anton Ego: during this film, I though, "Wow. Jeremy Irons is doing great work here." O'Toole nails that Ironsesque menace and takes it to an entirely different level and, when his character develops, that development feels both organic and earned.

As for the animation, well, it's Pixar. You get about what you'd expect, which is remarkable excellence and attention to detail.

I saw RATAOUILLE in a theater filled with young children and their families. The film captivated the entire audience, who applauded the gorgeous final shot. That's saying a lot about a movie about rats in the kitchen, and it's yet another feather in the cap of Pixar and director Brad Bird. RATATOUILLE is destined to find a place in the heart - and on the shelf - of many, many people, and I'm one of them.

What a delight.

Assault on Precinct 13

ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 is aggressively mediocre.

The film hits every mark, goes through all the motions, like it's trying very hard. Hard as it may try, however, it simply cannot muster the tension it's trying to achieve. We know who the traitor is the minute we see him. We know who's going to die, and pretty much in what order. We know exactly how the hero's arc will play out, and we even know how the antihero's arc will play out.

As the hero, Ethan Hawke shows us nothing we haven't seen before. As the antihero, Lawrence Fishburne is convincingly portrays a one-note actor. As the various targets trapped inside the titular precinct house with our anti/heroic duo, Monica Bello, Drea de Matteo, John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy, and "I've seen that guy before" guy Matt Craven all show up, do their jobs, and go home.

While not a terrible film, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 has little to recommend it. It may be just thing to have on in the background while doing chores, but I wouldn't sit down for it again.

Romeo + Juliet

I fell in love with Luhrmann's ROMEO + JULIET when Brian Dennehy's said "Bring me my longsword" and Lady Montague reached for a Longsword .44 Cal.

This movie was everything I look for in a Shakespeare adaptation: audacious, creative, and fun, yet true to the heart of the play in question.

As a Netflix guy, I don't own a lot of movies. I own this one.