Here is a summary of film reviews from the past two weeks:
The Maze Runner is not a great movie but it is better than the average adaptation of a young adult dystopian novel. The movie does not inspire excitement over its potential sequels the way the original Hunger Games did and any follow up is going to have to be much better than this.
Like most of Terry Gilliam’s work, The Zero Theorem is going to appeal to a very specific group of viewers. General audiences are probably going to be baffled by it but those who get Gilliam’s work are in for a treat. It’s a flawed picture but it’s also an ambitious and smart sendup of contemporary life.
A Walk Among the Tombstones is an interesting piece of neo-noir filmmaking. The picture is equally part hardboiled detective story and part torture film but it succeeds less at the former and more at the latter. It’s a flawed movie but despite the violence there is humanity and intelligence at its center.
This is Where I Leave You features an excellent cast chewing the scenery amid a script that doesn’t quite utilize their talents. Viewers who are fans of any or all of these actors will want to check out the picture but its storytelling suffers from too many basic mistakes.
Dom Hemingway is an audacious movie anchored by a terrific performance by Jude Law. The film is a credible tale of redemption that takes down a stupid formulation of masculinity while also having a laugh.
Life Itself is a fitting tribute to one of the great champions of movie criticism but the filmmakers craftily sneak up on the audience and give us much more than that. This movie offers a portrait of a man and of the process of dying with an unvarnished honesty that is rare in contemporary movies.
No Good Deed wastes a pair of talented actors on a lazy script executed with sloppy filmmaking. This is a movie that alternately offers clichés and contrivances and very little of it is exciting, believable, or competently made.
The Drop is a very well made crime thriller. The filmmakers combine violence and grit with an underlying sense of honor and good heartedness that mostly fits together and the picture features notable performances by Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini.
Locke is a terrific film, albeit an unusual one. This movie is extremely well made and features a terrific performance by Tom Hardy. It also ought to be an inspiring film for up and coming filmmakers, at it shows how much can be done with so little.
You can find the full text of each review in the Sounds of Cinema review archive.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Great Movies of 1994
Every year the major Hollywood studios produce about 500 movies. The vast majority of those pictures are released, reviewed, and forgotten. A few films standout, either for their greatness or their awfulness, and by the year’s end there are typically one or two titles that will stand the test of time.
Once in a great while there is a year that sees the release of a plethora of great and important movies that define their time and become classics. Think of 1968, which saw the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Planet of the Apes, Bullit, Oliver!, The Swimmer, Once Upon a Time in the West, Yellow Submarine, Night of the Living Dead, and Romeo and Juliet. The year 1982 included the release of several classic sci-fi and fantasy films including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, TRON, The Thing, and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. More recently, the year 2007 featured titles such as 300, Alpha Dog, Knocked Up, Juno, The Bourne Ultimatum, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, Into the Wild, and There Will Be Blood. These extraordinary cinematic crops come roughly once a decade although their greatness usually isn’t evident at the time.
Today’s episode of Sounds of Cinema featured a look back at one of these great years in cinema: 1994. Below you’ll find a look at the films discussed on the show as well as a few other titles.
Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert – This comedy of errors featured Hugo Weaving, Guy Pierce, and Terrance Stamp as drag queens and a transsexual on a road trip.
Clear and Present Danger – The best of the Jack Ryan movies and the second to star Harrison Ford. Based on the novel by Tom Clancy, the story channels the South American military operations of the Reagan administration but it is quite relevant to the present day.
Clerks – Kevin Smith’s debut feature is one of the essential titles of the cinema of Generation X. Clerks may not be pretty but it is very funny and one of the most important pictures in the recent history of American film.
The Crow – The Crow is a great comic book film and it brought maturity to the genre.
Dumb and Dumber – Comedies don’t usually stand the test of time so when they do it’s an impressive feat. This is one of the best comedies of the 1990s and one of the best buddy comedies of all time.
Ed Wood – This biography of the director of Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of Tim Burton’s great works.
Forrest Gump – It’s unhip to like this movie but Forrest Gump is very entertaining and it succeeds in sending viewers on a nostalgia tour of the 1960s and 70s.
Four Weddings and a Funeral – Four Weddings and a Funeral made actor Hugh Grant a fixture of the romantic comedy genre. The film tells the story of a committed bachelor reconsidering his life.
Fresh – A tale of a young man who is a low level player in a drug ring.
Heavenly Creatures – Before he directed The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson helmed this story of two girls whose mutual obsession with each other leads to murder.
The Hudsucker Proxy – One of the Coen Brothers best movies. Channeling Meet John Doe, the film captures the Coen’s sense of irony while providing characters that strike a balance of realism and cartoonishness.
In the Mouth of Madness – Director John Carpenter has had an uneven career. In the Mouth of Madness was one of the horror filmmaker’s last great movies but it’s gone underappreciated.
Interview with the Vampire – Anne Rice’s vampire stories were hot in the 1990s but the novelist famously and publicly bashed the casting Tom Cruise in the role of Lestat. When she finally saw the movie, Rice issued a retraction and praised the movie.
Legends of the Fall – A sweeping romantic tale of a family living through times of change in the early 20th century.
Leon: The Professional – This story of an assassin who takes a young girl under his wing was a breakout hit for actors Jean Reno and Natalie Portman and writer/director Luc Besson.
Muriel’s Wedding – A directionless and unmarried woman makes impulsive choices in order to change her life.
Natural Born Killers – The most controversial title of the 1990s, Natural Born Killers is a superbly crafted but philosophically flawed piece of filmmaking.
New Nightmare – Wes Craven returned to A Nightmare on Elm Street with the best sequel in the series. This film was a scary and cerebral dry run for Craven’s next feature, 1996’s much more commercial Scream.
Nobody’s Fool – The film featured one of Paul Newman’s last great performances.
The Lion King – The Lion King remains one of the standard bearers among Walt Disney Animation Studio’s feature films.
The Mask – One of Jim Carrey’s three blockbusters of 1994, this adaptation of the comic book featured groundbreaking special effects and was perfect or Carrey’s cartoonish comedy.
The Paper – Michael Keaton plays the editor of a newspaper facing a crisis.
Pulp Fiction – Another defining film of Generation X, Pulp Fiction made Quentin Tarantino into a star director. This film is essential viewing for film enthusiasts.
Quiz Show – This Robert Redford directed drama, based on a true story of the television quiz show scandal of the 1950s, has gone underappreciated.
The Ref – A comedy vehicle for Denis Leary, the film also stars Kevin Spacy and Judy Davis as an unhappily married couple.
The Shawshank Redemption – This film was a box office disappointment in 1994 but The Shawshank Redemption is now one of the best regarded films of all time.
Speed – This story of a city bus armed with explosives made movie stars out of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
Stargate – An early effort by Roland Emmerich. The director never lived up to the promise of this feature but it did inspire a well-liked television series.
Swimming with Sharks – Kevin Spacey regularly stars as cruel businessman types and much of that is due to his role in this film.
True Lies – Mixing comedy with action, this James Cameron directed feature was supposed to put Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acting career back on track after the disaster of Last Action Hero. Instead it ended up being one of Schwarzenegger’s last great movies.
Once in a great while there is a year that sees the release of a plethora of great and important movies that define their time and become classics. Think of 1968, which saw the release of 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Planet of the Apes, Bullit, Oliver!, The Swimmer, Once Upon a Time in the West, Yellow Submarine, Night of the Living Dead, and Romeo and Juliet. The year 1982 included the release of several classic sci-fi and fantasy films including Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, TRON, The Thing, and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. More recently, the year 2007 featured titles such as 300, Alpha Dog, Knocked Up, Juno, The Bourne Ultimatum, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Zodiac, Into the Wild, and There Will Be Blood. These extraordinary cinematic crops come roughly once a decade although their greatness usually isn’t evident at the time.
Today’s episode of Sounds of Cinema featured a look back at one of these great years in cinema: 1994. Below you’ll find a look at the films discussed on the show as well as a few other titles.
Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert – This comedy of errors featured Hugo Weaving, Guy Pierce, and Terrance Stamp as drag queens and a transsexual on a road trip.
Clear and Present Danger – The best of the Jack Ryan movies and the second to star Harrison Ford. Based on the novel by Tom Clancy, the story channels the South American military operations of the Reagan administration but it is quite relevant to the present day.
Clerks – Kevin Smith’s debut feature is one of the essential titles of the cinema of Generation X. Clerks may not be pretty but it is very funny and one of the most important pictures in the recent history of American film.
The Crow – The Crow is a great comic book film and it brought maturity to the genre.
Dumb and Dumber – Comedies don’t usually stand the test of time so when they do it’s an impressive feat. This is one of the best comedies of the 1990s and one of the best buddy comedies of all time.
Ed Wood – This biography of the director of Plan 9 From Outer Space is one of Tim Burton’s great works.
Forrest Gump – It’s unhip to like this movie but Forrest Gump is very entertaining and it succeeds in sending viewers on a nostalgia tour of the 1960s and 70s.
Four Weddings and a Funeral – Four Weddings and a Funeral made actor Hugh Grant a fixture of the romantic comedy genre. The film tells the story of a committed bachelor reconsidering his life.
Fresh – A tale of a young man who is a low level player in a drug ring.
Heavenly Creatures – Before he directed The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson helmed this story of two girls whose mutual obsession with each other leads to murder.
The Hudsucker Proxy – One of the Coen Brothers best movies. Channeling Meet John Doe, the film captures the Coen’s sense of irony while providing characters that strike a balance of realism and cartoonishness.
In the Mouth of Madness – Director John Carpenter has had an uneven career. In the Mouth of Madness was one of the horror filmmaker’s last great movies but it’s gone underappreciated.
Interview with the Vampire – Anne Rice’s vampire stories were hot in the 1990s but the novelist famously and publicly bashed the casting Tom Cruise in the role of Lestat. When she finally saw the movie, Rice issued a retraction and praised the movie.
Legends of the Fall – A sweeping romantic tale of a family living through times of change in the early 20th century.
Leon: The Professional – This story of an assassin who takes a young girl under his wing was a breakout hit for actors Jean Reno and Natalie Portman and writer/director Luc Besson.
Muriel’s Wedding – A directionless and unmarried woman makes impulsive choices in order to change her life.
Natural Born Killers – The most controversial title of the 1990s, Natural Born Killers is a superbly crafted but philosophically flawed piece of filmmaking.
New Nightmare – Wes Craven returned to A Nightmare on Elm Street with the best sequel in the series. This film was a scary and cerebral dry run for Craven’s next feature, 1996’s much more commercial Scream.
Nobody’s Fool – The film featured one of Paul Newman’s last great performances.
The Lion King – The Lion King remains one of the standard bearers among Walt Disney Animation Studio’s feature films.
The Mask – One of Jim Carrey’s three blockbusters of 1994, this adaptation of the comic book featured groundbreaking special effects and was perfect or Carrey’s cartoonish comedy.
The Paper – Michael Keaton plays the editor of a newspaper facing a crisis.
Pulp Fiction – Another defining film of Generation X, Pulp Fiction made Quentin Tarantino into a star director. This film is essential viewing for film enthusiasts.
Quiz Show – This Robert Redford directed drama, based on a true story of the television quiz show scandal of the 1950s, has gone underappreciated.
The Ref – A comedy vehicle for Denis Leary, the film also stars Kevin Spacy and Judy Davis as an unhappily married couple.
The Shawshank Redemption – This film was a box office disappointment in 1994 but The Shawshank Redemption is now one of the best regarded films of all time.
Speed – This story of a city bus armed with explosives made movie stars out of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
Stargate – An early effort by Roland Emmerich. The director never lived up to the promise of this feature but it did inspire a well-liked television series.
Swimming with Sharks – Kevin Spacey regularly stars as cruel businessman types and much of that is due to his role in this film.
True Lies – Mixing comedy with action, this James Cameron directed feature was supposed to put Arnold Schwarzenegger’s acting career back on track after the disaster of Last Action Hero. Instead it ended up being one of Schwarzenegger’s last great movies.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Summer 2014 in Review
Labor Day has come and gone, bringing the summer movie season to a close. This season has been rather strange. The story dominating entertainment news sources has been the downturn in ticket sales. According to Rentrak, the box office of 2014 is down fifteen percent from the previous year. However, entertainment journalists and others should be wary of declaring, as the Huffington Post’s Andrew Hart did, that “Nobody has seen a good movie lately.” The lack of ticket sales does not mean that there weren’t any good movies. There were certainly plenty of mediocre and bad titles, as there are every summer, but there were several outstanding films as well.
Possible explanations for the downturn are many. Piracy has taken its toll and Hollywood’s response to it—rushing films in and out of theaters and debuting them on VOD and home video just months after their theatrical premieres—may actually dissuade consumers from spending their money on ever costlier tickets. It could be that in this summer of sequels audiences had franchise fatigue and it didn’t matter that these new installments were some of the best entries in their respective series. It could also be that the marketing campaigns for some of these films failed to capture the audience’s interest. Or it could be that the barrage of violent news stories from Ferguson to Iraq soured viewers on Hollywood spectacles.
Whatever the case, this summer provided some good and bad titles. Here’s a review of some of the highlights of films released between May and August:
The Good
Boyhood – Richard Linklater’s ambitious eleven year production is one of the most unique and interesting movies of the summer and one of the best films so far this year.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – The follow up to Rise of the Planet of the Apes ranks among the best sequels ever made and features incredible performances by the CGI apes.
The Fault in Our Stars – Based on the popular book, this film told a smart and sensitive story about confronting mortality. Actors Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were terrific together.
Godzilla – The latest incarnation the Japanese monster brought the giant lizard to America and had some gorgeous production values even if the script was weak.
Guardians of the Galaxy – The biggest hit of the summer was also one of the most satisfying popcorn movies of the year and the best film from Marvel since the original Iron Man.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Another impressive sequel, this film improved on its predecessor and told a darker and more complicated story.
Lucy – This movie had a silly premise and a flawed story but it was so bat shit crazy that it earns points for audacity.
Neighbors – A middle aged couple faces off against a college fraternity and the result was one of the funniest movies of the summer.
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men franchise and produced one of the best entries in the series.
The Bad
22 Jump Street – Yes it was a box office success and yes the critics generally liked it. But this movie was a lazy retread of its predecessor and being self-conscious about laziness is no excuse.
America: Imagine a World Without Her – Maybe the worst political documentary ever made, America consists of political hack Dinesh D’Souza hiding behind the American flag to justify his criminal behavior.
And So It Goes – Director Rob Reiner continues his descent into irrelevance with this schmaltzy story of a rich asshole who is redeemed by lowering himself to caring for his granddaughter.
The Giver – A well-loved book was turned into a mediocre film that looked less like a futuristic dystopia and more like an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog.
The Expendables 3 – This movie wasn’t required to be anything but fun but somehow Sylvester Stallone and company managed to fail even at that with this lazy and incompetently made final entry in the series.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For –Somewhere in the nine years since the original Sin City Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller lost their mojo.
Tammy – One of the loudest cinematic train wrecks of the summer.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Everything wrong with Michael Bay’s Transformers series was imported to the Ninja Turtles.
Transformers: Age of Extinction – The latest entry in the robot-fu franchise was actually one of the best installments in the series but it still wasn’t very good.
Films You Probably Missed (But Should Seek Out)
Belle – This costume drama set against the history of the slave trade in England featured notable performances by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, and Emily Watson
Chef – The summer season is known for popcorn action titles but this road trip tale of a professional chef and his son was some of the most fun to be had at the movies this year.
The Double - Based on the novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, this grimy tale of a man and his twin was all sorts of crazy.
Edge of Tomorrow – A film that got missed by audiences, Edge of Tomorrow was a smart and fun sci-fi actioner that was much better than movies that made a lot more money (e.g., Transformers: Age of Extinction).
Let’s Be Cops – After what happened in Ferguson this summer no one wanted to see a buddy cop movie and most critics hated it. Too bad, because Let’s Be Cops is surprisingly entertaining and unexpectedly subversive.
A Most Wanted Man – This film showcases Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s last completed performance and it was a fitting final project for one of the great actors of our day.
Snowpiercer – The film didn’t get a wide release but it was one of the better movies of the summer, mixing a high concept story with action movie thrills and smart social commentary.
What If – Admittedly this was a fairly routine walk though of the romantic comedy boiler plate but it’s also quirky and adorable.
Possible explanations for the downturn are many. Piracy has taken its toll and Hollywood’s response to it—rushing films in and out of theaters and debuting them on VOD and home video just months after their theatrical premieres—may actually dissuade consumers from spending their money on ever costlier tickets. It could be that in this summer of sequels audiences had franchise fatigue and it didn’t matter that these new installments were some of the best entries in their respective series. It could also be that the marketing campaigns for some of these films failed to capture the audience’s interest. Or it could be that the barrage of violent news stories from Ferguson to Iraq soured viewers on Hollywood spectacles.
Whatever the case, this summer provided some good and bad titles. Here’s a review of some of the highlights of films released between May and August:
The Good
Boyhood – Richard Linklater’s ambitious eleven year production is one of the most unique and interesting movies of the summer and one of the best films so far this year.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – The follow up to Rise of the Planet of the Apes ranks among the best sequels ever made and features incredible performances by the CGI apes.
The Fault in Our Stars – Based on the popular book, this film told a smart and sensitive story about confronting mortality. Actors Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were terrific together.
Godzilla – The latest incarnation the Japanese monster brought the giant lizard to America and had some gorgeous production values even if the script was weak.
Guardians of the Galaxy – The biggest hit of the summer was also one of the most satisfying popcorn movies of the year and the best film from Marvel since the original Iron Man.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Another impressive sequel, this film improved on its predecessor and told a darker and more complicated story.
Lucy – This movie had a silly premise and a flawed story but it was so bat shit crazy that it earns points for audacity.
Neighbors – A middle aged couple faces off against a college fraternity and the result was one of the funniest movies of the summer.
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer returned to the X-Men franchise and produced one of the best entries in the series.
The Bad
22 Jump Street – Yes it was a box office success and yes the critics generally liked it. But this movie was a lazy retread of its predecessor and being self-conscious about laziness is no excuse.
America: Imagine a World Without Her – Maybe the worst political documentary ever made, America consists of political hack Dinesh D’Souza hiding behind the American flag to justify his criminal behavior.
And So It Goes – Director Rob Reiner continues his descent into irrelevance with this schmaltzy story of a rich asshole who is redeemed by lowering himself to caring for his granddaughter.
The Giver – A well-loved book was turned into a mediocre film that looked less like a futuristic dystopia and more like an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog.
The Expendables 3 – This movie wasn’t required to be anything but fun but somehow Sylvester Stallone and company managed to fail even at that with this lazy and incompetently made final entry in the series.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For –Somewhere in the nine years since the original Sin City Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller lost their mojo.
Tammy – One of the loudest cinematic train wrecks of the summer.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Everything wrong with Michael Bay’s Transformers series was imported to the Ninja Turtles.
Transformers: Age of Extinction – The latest entry in the robot-fu franchise was actually one of the best installments in the series but it still wasn’t very good.
Films You Probably Missed (But Should Seek Out)
Belle – This costume drama set against the history of the slave trade in England featured notable performances by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, and Emily Watson
Chef – The summer season is known for popcorn action titles but this road trip tale of a professional chef and his son was some of the most fun to be had at the movies this year.
The Double - Based on the novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, this grimy tale of a man and his twin was all sorts of crazy.
Edge of Tomorrow – A film that got missed by audiences, Edge of Tomorrow was a smart and fun sci-fi actioner that was much better than movies that made a lot more money (e.g., Transformers: Age of Extinction).
Let’s Be Cops – After what happened in Ferguson this summer no one wanted to see a buddy cop movie and most critics hated it. Too bad, because Let’s Be Cops is surprisingly entertaining and unexpectedly subversive.
A Most Wanted Man – This film showcases Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s last completed performance and it was a fitting final project for one of the great actors of our day.
Snowpiercer – The film didn’t get a wide release but it was one of the better movies of the summer, mixing a high concept story with action movie thrills and smart social commentary.
What If – Admittedly this was a fairly routine walk though of the romantic comedy boiler plate but it’s also quirky and adorable.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Film Reviews: August 24, 2014
Here is a summary of the films reviewed on today's show:
In an odd way, The Giver is an example of the very thing that the novel was railing against; this is a high profile feature film that attempts to commoditize and capitalize something ephemeral and emotional, forcing a complex text into the box of a mass market young adult movie adaptation. The result is cold, flat, and plastic.
The bar for the Expendables movies is low but somehow the filmmakers of the third (and hopefully last) installment have managed to limbo under it. It’s amazing that an action film written, starring and produced by the director of Rambo and the bulk of the Rocky series could fail this spectacularly.
What If is a fine picture. It does not break much new ground and it is ultimately a routine walkthrough of the romantic comedy formula but it’s done with such humor and has such great characters that its makers are able to overcome their reliance on conventions.
Let’s Be Cops is a better movie than its advertising campaign lets on. The movie has credible characters and a story that mostly comes together. It also manages to be a little subversive, even if the filmmakers dull that edge in their efforts to make the film more commercial.
Joe is a film that didn’t get much of a theatrical release but it deserves to be more widely seen now that it is available for home viewing. This film has a gritty style and some terrific performances, giving rising star Tye Sheridan a chance to shine and allowing Nicolas Cage to remind us why he became a star.
Remember you can find full text of every review featured on Sounds of Cinema at the review archive.
In an odd way, The Giver is an example of the very thing that the novel was railing against; this is a high profile feature film that attempts to commoditize and capitalize something ephemeral and emotional, forcing a complex text into the box of a mass market young adult movie adaptation. The result is cold, flat, and plastic.
The bar for the Expendables movies is low but somehow the filmmakers of the third (and hopefully last) installment have managed to limbo under it. It’s amazing that an action film written, starring and produced by the director of Rambo and the bulk of the Rocky series could fail this spectacularly.
What If is a fine picture. It does not break much new ground and it is ultimately a routine walkthrough of the romantic comedy formula but it’s done with such humor and has such great characters that its makers are able to overcome their reliance on conventions.
Let’s Be Cops is a better movie than its advertising campaign lets on. The movie has credible characters and a story that mostly comes together. It also manages to be a little subversive, even if the filmmakers dull that edge in their efforts to make the film more commercial.
Joe is a film that didn’t get much of a theatrical release but it deserves to be more widely seen now that it is available for home viewing. This film has a gritty style and some terrific performances, giving rising star Tye Sheridan a chance to shine and allowing Nicolas Cage to remind us why he became a star.
Remember you can find full text of every review featured on Sounds of Cinema at the review archive.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Remembering Robin Williams
Today's episode of Sounds of Cinema featured a look back at the career of Robin Williams, who passed away on August 11, 2014. As an actor, his career was uneven, with very good titles offset by some very bad ones. But unlike a lot of other comics who made the transition to the silver screen, Robin Williams was a terrific actor and he did drama and comedy equally well. In time most of his lesser works will fade away and what we will be left with are some extraordinary films and performances.
Robin Williams was born in 1951 in Chicago and grew up in Illinois, Michigan, and later in California. After high school he attended Claremont McKenna College but left when he was awarded a scholarship to attend Julliard School in New York City, where his classmates included actors Christopher Reeve and William Hurt. Williams never finished his studies at Julliard and dropped out in his junior year to pursue work in standup comedy.
Williams began performing standup in the mid-1970s. His appearances attracted the attention of TV producer George Schlatter who recruited Williams to appear on a reboot of Laugh-In in 1977. Although Laugh-In wasn’t a big success, his appearance on that show as well as his live stand up work caught the attention of the producers of the television show Happy Days. They had a special episode in mind in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) met an alien named Mork. With Williams in the guest star role, the interaction between Fonzie and Mork was television gold and led to the spinoff sitcom series Mork and Mindy, which premiered in 1982 and aired for four seasons. This show turned Robin Williams into a star.
After making his big screen debut in Robert Altman's Popeye in 1980, Robin Williams' was cast as the lead in 1982’s The World According to Garp. Based on the novel by John Irving, Williams plays an aspiring writer who has a complicated relationship with his mother and her friends and acquaintances. This film is uneven but the role offered an early indication of Williams’ potential as an actor. Although he was a comic genius on the stage, most of Williams’ greatest cinematic performances were primarily in dramatic roles.
Following his role in The World According to Garp in 1982, Robin Williams continued to get work as an actor but he was cast in mostly forgettable movies like Moscow on the Hudson (1984) and Club Paradise (1986). Although his film work at this point wasn’t especially impressive, Williams continued to perform on stage including several televised standup comedy specials and regular appearances on television talk shows. This was where Robin Williams really made his mark. The free form style of standup played to Williams’ strengths as a performer and allowed him to unleash his associative, fast paced, and anarchic comic style. This standup work cultivated Robin Williams’ public image as an unpredictable and subversive comedic force and that set the stage for him to give the performance in the film that, above all others, defines and encapsulates his talents: Good Morning Vietnam.
If Robin Williams’ filmography had to be condensed to a single motion picture, Good Morning, Vietnam is it. The first half of the movie showcases his comedy and, if it’s not obvious from the movie itself, much of Williams’ on-air bits were of the actor’s own making. The comedy of Robin Williams is most widely recognized for its maniacal energy and free association but there is another critical aspect to his style and it’s very important to Good Morning, Vietnam. Williams’ comedy possessed a dark undercurrent. He regularly made his own struggles with depression and substance abuse a part of his act and in this movie he is able to take the war that is going on just out of sight—and is gradually creeping closer to the radio station—and puts a comic spin on it. Although the first half of Good Morning, Vietnam is quite funny and even though the movie is frequently categorized as a comedy, it features a stunning reversal in its second half as Adrian Cronauer faces the devastation of the war. After this reversal, Robin Williams is called upon to deliver a performance in the second half of the movie that is as dramatic as the first half was humorous and the actor does that by conveying a tremendous amount of pathos without resorting to sentimentality. As Cronauer, Robin Williams plays a moral person in a situation where moral distinctions are blurred. It’s that juxtaposition and entanglement of comedy and tragedy that makes Good Morning, Vietnam the essential Robin Williams feature film.
Following the success of Good Morning, Vietnam, Robin Williams had a series of dramatic roles during the late 1980s and early 90s that constitute some of his best work including his performances in 1990’s Awakenings and 1991’s The Fisher King. Among this run of dramatic roles, most iconic was his portrayal of English professor John Keating in 1989’s Dead Poets Society. Williams played a poetry instructor whose passion and unorthodox teaching style puts him at odds with school administration while inspiring his students. The movie is more than a little sentimental but it’s also a favorite among Williams’ fans and in news reports of his death it was one of the titles most frequently sampled. The fact that the movie earned nearly $100 million domestically in 1989 is extraordinary when you remember that it’s a movie about poetry.
Throughout the 1990s Robin Williams’ career turned another corner and he became a fixture of family movies. Throughout the decade he had parts in movies like Hook, Aladdin, Ferngully, Toys, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Jumanji. Critical reactions to these movies were mixed but they were extremely profitable. At the time it seemed strange that a performer who had worked on such prestigious films as Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poet’s Society and whose humor was often very blue would work on what were disparagingly regarded as kid’s films. But in retrospect Williams’ involvement makes perfect sense. Even in his later years, Robin Williams had a youthful vitality and a rebellious comic sense that was perfect for a young audience. In the wake of Williams’ death, Salon columnist Daniel D’Addario wrote that Robin Williams was one of the most important figures in the childhood of the millennial generation.
Among the many family films that Robin Williams participated in, one of the most popular was his role as the genie in Disney’s Aladdin. This particular film stands out not only among Williams’ family pictures but among his filmography as a whole. There was an inherent conundrum to Robin Williams’ acting career. He was at his best when he was allowed to improvise but filmmaking generally does not allow for that and the craft requires actors to hit their marks and stay within the boundaries of the script. Those restrictions, combined with Williams’ tendency to overwhelm his fellow performers, sometimes held the actor back. With Aladdin, Williams voiced a character who was able to bend with the actor’s riffs and many critics have remarked that animation was the only form that was able to keep up with his talents.
When Robin Williams wasn’t making family movies he was generally either doing standup shows or he was in dramas in which he played sensitive professionals as in Awakenings and Dead Poets Society. However, Williams also had the capacity to play villainous characters. Supposedly he lobbied for the role of The Joker in 1989’s Batman, although that part ultimately went to Jack Nicholson. Williams had just a few villainous role in his career but they were distinguished and coincidentally all were in films released in 2002. In the black comedy Death to Smoochy, Robin Williams starred opposite Edward Norton as competitive hosts of a children’s television program. He was also cast as a murder suspect in Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia and that same year he played an obsessive film developer in One Hour Photo. Williams’ work on One Hour Photo would be one of the most praised of his career. Although this foray into villainy was limited, it’s another indication of Robin Williams’ impressive range as an actor.
One of Robin Williams last great roles came in his collaboration with Bobcat Goldthwait in 2009's World's Greatest Dad. The film channels several of Williams' previous films including Good Morning, Vietnam, Death to Smoochy, and Dead Poets Society but as disjointed as that combination sounds the film works as an audacious black comedy. The taboo subject matter was indicative of Williams' willingness to take creative risks.
Comedians are not generally recognized by the Hollywood awards circuit unless they circumvent their comic image and play a dramatic role. Robin Williams had been alternately taking roles in comedic and dramatic films for his entire career so it was not a tremendous surprise when he took on the role of a psychologist in 1998’s Good Will Hunting. The role was not altogether different from parts he had played before in movies like Awakenings and Dead Poets Society but Williams’ fame helped shine a light on a movie that audiences might otherwise have passed on. The film was one of the most celebrated projects of Robin Williams’ career and he was given an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
In his final years, Robin Williams was involved in work of all kinds from vocal performances in the Happy Feet movies to sitcom work on The Crazy Ones to dramatic roles in The Butler as well as packing auditoriums with his standup comedy shows. In life, and now in memory, he remains one of the most iconic and singular talents in the history of Hollywood.
Since news of his death went public there has been a tremendous show of grief from those who knew him and from those who appreciated his work. Robin Williams was one of the greats and the outpouring of tributes from such a wide swath of voices is a testament to that greatness. Along with Charlie Chaplin, Williams was the essential tragic clown and his ability as a comic to make audiences laugh at the troubles of our lives, including the violence and madness of the world, as well as his ability as an actor to imbue his characters with such pathos and empathy, made him a rare talent. His work was a paradoxical combination of caustic anarchism and emphatic humanism. The connection that audiences had with Williams was due—at least in part—to his acknowledgement of the pain that is inherent to being alive. Robin Williams’ death was so devastating to so many because he was able to take that pain and turn it into laughter.
Robin Williams is gone and the world feels less funny without him. But while mourning the loss is appropriate, lives ought to be judged upon what’s left behind. In Robin Williams’ case he’s left us an impressive body of work, much of which is destined to last the test of time. And in that sense, the joy that Robin Williams brought as a comic, an actor, and a performer is immortal and will outlive our own transitory pain.
Robin Williams was born in 1951 in Chicago and grew up in Illinois, Michigan, and later in California. After high school he attended Claremont McKenna College but left when he was awarded a scholarship to attend Julliard School in New York City, where his classmates included actors Christopher Reeve and William Hurt. Williams never finished his studies at Julliard and dropped out in his junior year to pursue work in standup comedy.
Williams began performing standup in the mid-1970s. His appearances attracted the attention of TV producer George Schlatter who recruited Williams to appear on a reboot of Laugh-In in 1977. Although Laugh-In wasn’t a big success, his appearance on that show as well as his live stand up work caught the attention of the producers of the television show Happy Days. They had a special episode in mind in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) met an alien named Mork. With Williams in the guest star role, the interaction between Fonzie and Mork was television gold and led to the spinoff sitcom series Mork and Mindy, which premiered in 1982 and aired for four seasons. This show turned Robin Williams into a star.
After making his big screen debut in Robert Altman's Popeye in 1980, Robin Williams' was cast as the lead in 1982’s The World According to Garp. Based on the novel by John Irving, Williams plays an aspiring writer who has a complicated relationship with his mother and her friends and acquaintances. This film is uneven but the role offered an early indication of Williams’ potential as an actor. Although he was a comic genius on the stage, most of Williams’ greatest cinematic performances were primarily in dramatic roles.
Following his role in The World According to Garp in 1982, Robin Williams continued to get work as an actor but he was cast in mostly forgettable movies like Moscow on the Hudson (1984) and Club Paradise (1986). Although his film work at this point wasn’t especially impressive, Williams continued to perform on stage including several televised standup comedy specials and regular appearances on television talk shows. This was where Robin Williams really made his mark. The free form style of standup played to Williams’ strengths as a performer and allowed him to unleash his associative, fast paced, and anarchic comic style. This standup work cultivated Robin Williams’ public image as an unpredictable and subversive comedic force and that set the stage for him to give the performance in the film that, above all others, defines and encapsulates his talents: Good Morning Vietnam.
If Robin Williams’ filmography had to be condensed to a single motion picture, Good Morning, Vietnam is it. The first half of the movie showcases his comedy and, if it’s not obvious from the movie itself, much of Williams’ on-air bits were of the actor’s own making. The comedy of Robin Williams is most widely recognized for its maniacal energy and free association but there is another critical aspect to his style and it’s very important to Good Morning, Vietnam. Williams’ comedy possessed a dark undercurrent. He regularly made his own struggles with depression and substance abuse a part of his act and in this movie he is able to take the war that is going on just out of sight—and is gradually creeping closer to the radio station—and puts a comic spin on it. Although the first half of Good Morning, Vietnam is quite funny and even though the movie is frequently categorized as a comedy, it features a stunning reversal in its second half as Adrian Cronauer faces the devastation of the war. After this reversal, Robin Williams is called upon to deliver a performance in the second half of the movie that is as dramatic as the first half was humorous and the actor does that by conveying a tremendous amount of pathos without resorting to sentimentality. As Cronauer, Robin Williams plays a moral person in a situation where moral distinctions are blurred. It’s that juxtaposition and entanglement of comedy and tragedy that makes Good Morning, Vietnam the essential Robin Williams feature film.
Following the success of Good Morning, Vietnam, Robin Williams had a series of dramatic roles during the late 1980s and early 90s that constitute some of his best work including his performances in 1990’s Awakenings and 1991’s The Fisher King. Among this run of dramatic roles, most iconic was his portrayal of English professor John Keating in 1989’s Dead Poets Society. Williams played a poetry instructor whose passion and unorthodox teaching style puts him at odds with school administration while inspiring his students. The movie is more than a little sentimental but it’s also a favorite among Williams’ fans and in news reports of his death it was one of the titles most frequently sampled. The fact that the movie earned nearly $100 million domestically in 1989 is extraordinary when you remember that it’s a movie about poetry.
Throughout the 1990s Robin Williams’ career turned another corner and he became a fixture of family movies. Throughout the decade he had parts in movies like Hook, Aladdin, Ferngully, Toys, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Jumanji. Critical reactions to these movies were mixed but they were extremely profitable. At the time it seemed strange that a performer who had worked on such prestigious films as Good Morning, Vietnam and Dead Poet’s Society and whose humor was often very blue would work on what were disparagingly regarded as kid’s films. But in retrospect Williams’ involvement makes perfect sense. Even in his later years, Robin Williams had a youthful vitality and a rebellious comic sense that was perfect for a young audience. In the wake of Williams’ death, Salon columnist Daniel D’Addario wrote that Robin Williams was one of the most important figures in the childhood of the millennial generation.
Among the many family films that Robin Williams participated in, one of the most popular was his role as the genie in Disney’s Aladdin. This particular film stands out not only among Williams’ family pictures but among his filmography as a whole. There was an inherent conundrum to Robin Williams’ acting career. He was at his best when he was allowed to improvise but filmmaking generally does not allow for that and the craft requires actors to hit their marks and stay within the boundaries of the script. Those restrictions, combined with Williams’ tendency to overwhelm his fellow performers, sometimes held the actor back. With Aladdin, Williams voiced a character who was able to bend with the actor’s riffs and many critics have remarked that animation was the only form that was able to keep up with his talents.
When Robin Williams wasn’t making family movies he was generally either doing standup shows or he was in dramas in which he played sensitive professionals as in Awakenings and Dead Poets Society. However, Williams also had the capacity to play villainous characters. Supposedly he lobbied for the role of The Joker in 1989’s Batman, although that part ultimately went to Jack Nicholson. Williams had just a few villainous role in his career but they were distinguished and coincidentally all were in films released in 2002. In the black comedy Death to Smoochy, Robin Williams starred opposite Edward Norton as competitive hosts of a children’s television program. He was also cast as a murder suspect in Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia and that same year he played an obsessive film developer in One Hour Photo. Williams’ work on One Hour Photo would be one of the most praised of his career. Although this foray into villainy was limited, it’s another indication of Robin Williams’ impressive range as an actor.
One of Robin Williams last great roles came in his collaboration with Bobcat Goldthwait in 2009's World's Greatest Dad. The film channels several of Williams' previous films including Good Morning, Vietnam, Death to Smoochy, and Dead Poets Society but as disjointed as that combination sounds the film works as an audacious black comedy. The taboo subject matter was indicative of Williams' willingness to take creative risks.
Comedians are not generally recognized by the Hollywood awards circuit unless they circumvent their comic image and play a dramatic role. Robin Williams had been alternately taking roles in comedic and dramatic films for his entire career so it was not a tremendous surprise when he took on the role of a psychologist in 1998’s Good Will Hunting. The role was not altogether different from parts he had played before in movies like Awakenings and Dead Poets Society but Williams’ fame helped shine a light on a movie that audiences might otherwise have passed on. The film was one of the most celebrated projects of Robin Williams’ career and he was given an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
In his final years, Robin Williams was involved in work of all kinds from vocal performances in the Happy Feet movies to sitcom work on The Crazy Ones to dramatic roles in The Butler as well as packing auditoriums with his standup comedy shows. In life, and now in memory, he remains one of the most iconic and singular talents in the history of Hollywood.
Since news of his death went public there has been a tremendous show of grief from those who knew him and from those who appreciated his work. Robin Williams was one of the greats and the outpouring of tributes from such a wide swath of voices is a testament to that greatness. Along with Charlie Chaplin, Williams was the essential tragic clown and his ability as a comic to make audiences laugh at the troubles of our lives, including the violence and madness of the world, as well as his ability as an actor to imbue his characters with such pathos and empathy, made him a rare talent. His work was a paradoxical combination of caustic anarchism and emphatic humanism. The connection that audiences had with Williams was due—at least in part—to his acknowledgement of the pain that is inherent to being alive. Robin Williams’ death was so devastating to so many because he was able to take that pain and turn it into laughter.
Robin Williams is gone and the world feels less funny without him. But while mourning the loss is appropriate, lives ought to be judged upon what’s left behind. In Robin Williams’ case he’s left us an impressive body of work, much of which is destined to last the test of time. And in that sense, the joy that Robin Williams brought as a comic, an actor, and a performer is immortal and will outlive our own transitory pain.
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Film Reviews: August 3, 2014
Here is a summary of the films reviewed on today's show:
Hercules is a compromised picture. Pieces of this film hint that it could have been much better but this year’s other Hercules movie proves that it could have been much worse. Ultimately, the filmmakers tried to create a fun popcorn adventure and this Hercules succeeds at being exactly that.
Lucy is not a great movie but it’s so weird and executed with such energy and creativity that it mostly overcomes the flaws of its storytelling and its many lapses in credibility. Lucy may befuddle mainstream audiences and annoy serious science fiction viewers but it’s also poised to amass a cult following.
Miral is a flawed movie but it is deserving of some distinction simply based on the fact that its filmmakers approach a fraught topic with intelligence and sensitivity. There aren’t many movies about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Miral takes the bold step of suggesting how it might be dealt with in feature films.
Full reviews can be found in the Sounds of Cinema review archive.
Hercules is a compromised picture. Pieces of this film hint that it could have been much better but this year’s other Hercules movie proves that it could have been much worse. Ultimately, the filmmakers tried to create a fun popcorn adventure and this Hercules succeeds at being exactly that.
Lucy is not a great movie but it’s so weird and executed with such energy and creativity that it mostly overcomes the flaws of its storytelling and its many lapses in credibility. Lucy may befuddle mainstream audiences and annoy serious science fiction viewers but it’s also poised to amass a cult following.
Miral is a flawed movie but it is deserving of some distinction simply based on the fact that its filmmakers approach a fraught topic with intelligence and sensitivity. There aren’t many movies about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Miral takes the bold step of suggesting how it might be dealt with in feature films.
Full reviews can be found in the Sounds of Cinema review archive.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Film Reviews: July 27, 2014
Here is a summary of the reviews from today's show:
The Purge: Anarchy does not live up to the potential of its premise and it suffers from a lot of fundamental story problems. The movie is acceptable as an action picture with a social edge to it but most of what’s here has been done before and done better in other movies.
Happy Christmas is well acted but it has nothing at its center holding it together. The film is poorly conceived and executed and it comes across vacuous and self-indulgent.
Sex Tape attempts to mix raunchy comedy with a relationship-centered story but the filmmakers aren’t successful with either element. The movie isn’t raunchy enough and its concept is poorly executed.
McCanick may be remembered for Cory Monteith’s last performance but there is much more to this movie than that. This is an absorbing and extremely well made story of crime and punishment that features a terrifically intense performance by David Morse.
Full text can be found in the Sounds of Cinema review archive.
The Purge: Anarchy does not live up to the potential of its premise and it suffers from a lot of fundamental story problems. The movie is acceptable as an action picture with a social edge to it but most of what’s here has been done before and done better in other movies.
Happy Christmas is well acted but it has nothing at its center holding it together. The film is poorly conceived and executed and it comes across vacuous and self-indulgent.
Sex Tape attempts to mix raunchy comedy with a relationship-centered story but the filmmakers aren’t successful with either element. The movie isn’t raunchy enough and its concept is poorly executed.
McCanick may be remembered for Cory Monteith’s last performance but there is much more to this movie than that. This is an absorbing and extremely well made story of crime and punishment that features a terrifically intense performance by David Morse.
Full text can be found in the Sounds of Cinema review archive.
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