Miracle At St. Anna

When I first heard that Spike Lee had a World War II movie coming out, it was framed in a very negative spotlight. Lee had the audacity to attack Clint Eastwood, a Hollywood icon, for his lack of black soldiers portrayed in Eastwood's own World War II film, Flags of Our Fathers. I thought it was tasteless for Lee to make a charged political statement in order to promote his film. In fact, my initial repulsion almost caused me to miss the best new war film I have seen this year. It is unfortunate that Spike Lee exploited the race issue to promote his film because I fear a great many people may opt to miss this film that may have otherwise gone to see it. Especially given some of the negative reviews that this film seems to be amassing.

I enjoy war films. I like the older films like Kelly's Heroes and the newer epics like Schindler's List, Flags of Our Fathers, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan and Red Badge of Courage. The genre provides plenty of opportunities to evoke a range of emotions from the audience. Miracle at St. Anna had the feel of some of the older war movies. The pacing was slow at times, but there was a slowly building crescendo. There were some peaks and valleys in the action, but the pacing was sometimes off. The ending was less memorable than most other films in this category but I enjoyed the flow of the film in spite of the erratic pacing.

Miracle at St. Anna tells the story of the Buffalo Soldiers in World War II. Four soldiers in Italy end up behind German lines. Through a series of odd events, the soldiers are separated and later reunited along with a young Italian boy who rarely speaks. The soldiers end up taking cover in an Italian village while they attempt to get their radio operating in order to regain communication with the rest of their Company. The American Forces in Italy need to verify some intelligence regarding a Germany counterstrike and find a stroke of luck when the Buffalo Soldiers contact them from behind the lines. The soldiers are ordered to capture a German soldier so he can be interrogated regarding the planned offensive. A group of Italian Partisans show up in the village with a captured German whom the young boy recognizes (along with one of the Partisans). The village ends up overrun by German forces and only one soldier survives after learning the secrets of the sleeping man...the name given to the protector of the mountains. The plot is intricate with a great deal of twisting and turning and flashbacks within flashbacks. The transition between eras can make your head spin, but this device works adequately in telling the story.

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Bordertown

Bordertown is a fictional story based on actual events in Juarez, Mexico. The movie chronicles the detestable situation in Juarez that started in 1993, involving hundreds of unsolved murders. The victims of these murders were predominantly young females. The movie does an excellent job of telling a compelling story without coming off as preachy or propaganda. Although the ties to NAFTA are tenuous, the story does explore several explanations for these still unsolved murders.

The writing in this movie was exceptional. The plot revolves around actual events, inserting characters into a despicable set of circumstances evolving in Juarez, Mexico. The story involves a reporter who reluctantly agrees to investigate the unsolved murders in Juarez in exchange for an opportunity to be assigned as head of the Foreign Affairs Desk at her newspaper. She is a prize-winning journalist who returns to her own Spanish roots becoming drawn deeply into the story of suffering and fear. She teams up with a local journalist with whom she used to work. Politics, money and NAFTA play a heavy role in determining the direction of the movie which center on a young female survivor who can identify her attackers. Her story is compelling…will it ever be told?

The dialogue in Bordertown flowed smoothly and was easy to believe. Although the circumstances were sometimes convenient, they did not detract from the story. The characters were very well developed and captured my attention. I was rapt with the suspense as the layers of this story were slowly peeled away to reveal the sick under-belly of corruption and greed that caused the Governments of the United States and Mexico to “look the other way” while terrible events unraveled. The connection to NAFTA was weak considering the murders began before NAFTA was ever signed into law. The corruption angle would have been better served if it didn’t involve such ominous allegations. However, the political undercurrent in the story was integrated into the script in such a way as to create an appearance of entertainment and not preachiness. There were also some indications that snuff films were part of the issue causing the deaths. This aspect was never really explored.

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Journey To The End Of The Night

Brendan Fraser recently starred in a movie titled Journey to the Center of the Earth which was based on a Jules Vernes novel (resulting in a 1959 screenplay). In contrast, Journey to the End of the Night was written by a novice writer (Eric Eason) with very little screen writing under his belt. Brendan Fraser has always struck me as a rather Disney sort of actor. I was caught somewhat off-guard by the subject matter of this film based on many of Fraser’s past endeavors. Especially considering that this film was produced by Fraser. It was interesting watching Fraser in this type of movie, but also somewhat disconcerting.

Journey to the End of the Night tells the story of a father and son in Sao Palo, Brazil. The father (Sinatra, played by Scott Glenn) owns a brothel where he raises his son Paul (Brendan Fraser) in the finest of pimping traditions. Paul is a divisive calculating fellow who intends to steal a large sum of money from his father so he can take his girl away from the squalor of their life in Brazil. As the movie progresses, we learn that Paul’s girl is Sinatra’s wife…an interesting factor that complicates matters. The individual who is supposed to complete a major financial transaction for the father dies while having sex with a she-male prostitute, leaving them without a go-between to close the deal. A dishwasher in the brothel (Wemba Eko…played by Mos Def) happens to be Nigerian and speaks the language necessary for business to resume. Wemba encounters difficulties in completing his task and a ripple effect changes the dynamics between Paul and Sinatra leading to the crossing of paths of many characters introduced throughout the script. The ending is a bit predictable, but not entirely formulaic.

The writing for this screenplay is a mixed bag. We are introduced to a variety of characters, many of whom have interesting quirks that provide dimension to the characters. The dialogue is gritty and believable, although the delivery is sometimes a bit forced. The plot is thin with a few minor sub-plots thrown in that make the movie more interesting. The writing was not a complete wash, but the entire premise of the story seemed a bit weak. The concept was not as thought provoking as it could have been given this cast of characters and the direction of the film could have provided different avenues that I would have liked to seen explored. In the end, I thought that the screenplay was okay, delivering good characters in a structured plot that required a bit of willful suspension of disbelief.

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7 Days To Live

I have seen several suspense films recently and most of them seem to have failed miserably. Films with low budgets don’t bother me as long as they tell a good story. After watching 7Days to Live I feel like maybe there is still hope for the horror/suspense genre. Every movie can’t be The Sixth Sense or any other Shamalayan film. However, 7 Days to Live is an excellent story that managed to hold my attention and deliver a decent amount of suspense. It was formulaic in some aspects and maybe a tad bit predictable, but well done. The budget seems to have been a bit better than some of the other drivel I have subjected myself to recently.



The plot of this film surrounds an old abandoned house that has memories. Amityville Horror might be the first film that comes to mind…but there have been a host of others. What you do with those memories is another thing entirely. 7 Days to Live is not in the same ballpark with Amityville Horror, but in my opinion exceeds some of the other haunted house films (with large budgets) I have seen. Following the death of their son, a couple relocates to the country to recover. The father is a writer who has a best seller…the change of locale may be the inspiration he needs to get over the hump and write his next book. They purchase a house which has been vacant for twenty-three years…it was the site of a murder in 1976, but nobody bothers to tell them this fact. Small personality changes start appearing in both characters leading you to wonder what the source of their shifting moods might be. It requires a steadfast commitment to ignore the illusion they are witnessing to save themselves from the spirits of the house.



The plot is interesting even if it has been done different ways in the past. The story evolves slowly, even thought we experience a “countdown” from very early in the film. The countdown and mood changes add to the suspense factor. The suspense of this movie is created by the writing more so than the visual effects. The dialogue is interesting, especially because this is a British film. The dialogue inserts language I am unfamiliar with at times, which adds to my own curiosity regarding this movie. The exchanges between the characters are mostly believable, although there were a couple of conversations that I thought were a bit forced. The characters are well developed and provided enough dimension to connect with the audience. I actually cared about the characters and the outcome of this movie, which is a crap shoot for me when it comes to this genre. Some of these films kill the characters off before you ever get a chance to know them. This film does an excellent job of introducing the characters and developing them along the plot line.



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Warriors of Terra

What do you get when a bunch of Animal Rights Activists attempt to free lab animals from a high tech laboratory? What happens when the Activists aren’t even old enough to shave? You end up with a hot mess…that’s what happens. The story looks like it was written by people with less life experience than the youngsters who star in this forgettable film. From top to bottom, Warriors of Terra is a useless film that will do little more than waste your time.

Every plot should have an element of believability. This film starts with a premise that could possibly work and then gerrymanders any probability out of the story. Beyond the many flaws in the writing, the characters are inconsistent (their traits are either flat or change without explanation), the dialogue is immature and the underlying premise is stretched as far as it can possibly be stretched. In short, the writing provided a faulty foundation for the rest of the movie to build upon.

Warriors of Terra tells the story of a group of Animal Rights activists who decide to infiltrate a high tech research lab and free the poor lab rats. This extremely (we are led to believe) high tech laboratory that is based in a large complex is protected by two minimum-wage security guards. That is difficult enough to believe on the surface, especially with the secrets allegedly being guarded within. The back-story picks up as we go along…with a disenfranchised young lady who “only wants daddy to notice her.” Her father happens to be the researcher who developed the biggest secret hidden within the complex.

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Unearthed

I watched Unearthed last night. I am not exactly certain what appealed to me about this movie, but I actually enjoyed it in a morbid sort of way. The dialogue wasn’t very good and the plot wasn’t very convincing. However, there was just enough cinematic quality to hold my attention. This is the sort of movie that creates enough suspense to keep you interested in spite of the many flaws throughout the film.



Unearthed drops the audience into the middle of a story. We are introduced to the interim Sheriff, a young female who seems to enjoy stiff screwdrivers or what ever other alcohol avails itself to her at any given moment. We find through a rather vague story line and series of flashbacks that Sheriff Annie Flynn (Emmanuelle Vaugier) was involved in some type of incident that resulted in the death of a young Indian girl. That back-story is never really explained, but might have something to do with the drinking issue. The Sheriff responds to a series of strange inter-connected incidents that include a semi-truck accident, dead livestock and an Archaeological dig site. Because the semi-truck contained fuel for the only filling station in miles, several strangers end up stranded at the small service station. These individuals end up fighting for their lives against an alien intruder that feasts on humans.



The plot here is rather simple. It is a typical adrenaline inducing story with very little substance. The dialogue is tired and not very convincing. The characters come from interesting backgrounds but are not very well developed. There is a rather lame attempt to bring dimension to a few of the characters, but it has the flat disconnected feel of most horror films of this genre. The characters really don’t stick around long enough for the audience to connect. I thought that opportunities were missed to develop a couple of key characters that may have added to the drama. One character in particular, Grandpa (Russell Means) has the potential to connect with the audience but isn’t given enough time or believability to get it done. In the end, we have a cast of characters who cannot deliver much because the writing is simply tepid. The suspense is created out of the situations, which don’t always make sense. It seems like the actions these characters took were forced by the writers and not natural actions, in order to set up events the way the writers wanted them choreographed. In short, the entire exercise seemed manufactured.

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Burn After Reading

The Coen Brothers have done it again. I thought they lost their touch after watching The Lady Killers a few years back. It didn't have the same rugged appeal to me as movies like O Brother, Where Art Thou and Fargo. Then they rebounded with No Country For Old Men which I thought was one of the best movies of 2007. With Burn After Reading, we get a star-studded cast to complement superb writing.

After watching trailers for Burn After Reading, I was fairly certain that I would go to see it at the theater. The trailers looked good, but in the end, really didn't do the movie justice. The Coen Brothers own quirky. But quirky films that are well written appeal to me. This film combined the best elements of quirky comedy with excellent dialogue, characters that have dimension that connects with the audience and sub-plots that keep you meandering along a path that you know will eventually take you somewhere. In the end, it turns out the journey was the story, quirks and all. The spinning of this yarn is exceptional. You care about the characters which makes it all the more difficult to lose a couple of them along the way.

In order to deliver on such an interesting script, the Coen Brothers brought in some of the best talent in Hollywood. If you liked Frances McDormand in Fargo and Blood Simple, I can assure you she delivers the same idiosyncratic performance as the characters she has played in the past. Her ability to create characters that are unusual but believable (because they live next door to you) is definitely an asset to this film. She is the true star here...among some of the brightest tinseltown has to offer. Her character Linda Litzke finds herself thrust into the middle of a story of espinoage and CIA secrets...and sees an opportunity to get some cosmetic enhancement through the money she can make with the sensitive information that has come into her possession. The cosmetic enhancements being an end to achieving the happiness that every forty-something (or more) woman should be entitled to...the kind that surpasses the whackos you meet using the internet dating services (which she does). It provides a great platform for the rest of the script to navigate around.

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