Movie Review: Saving Private Ryan

The American War Movie

Well, what can I say? Graphic? Sentimental? This is the American war movie. I don't know how anyone could top it. There is graphic violence, a motley cross section of American society, a sentimental mission and a courageous "Alamo" of a last stand using good old American ingenuity.

We all know the plot, we all know the story, hell, we've all seen it five times. The problem is, this is a franchise. We saw this movie when we watched The Guns of Navarone, The Devil's Brigade, and others. The opening scenes are epic, but unlike A Bridge too Far, the movie is not epic. It turns the minor - a side show of a side show into an epic. Classic Hollywood!

The characters are none too heroic, they are just doing their job. In fact some are completely un-heroic. Of course, they come from all over the USA and they all long for the life back home.

The film turns into a giant allegory. The small platoon is out to risk their lives so that some other might live. It is a great sacrifice, and the band of brothers would not be doing it if the cause wasn't so great. Of course they are reluctant, but in the end they see the nobility of the cause.

One cannot escape the graphic opening scenes. They are so graphic that they are unreal. A friend of mine, who landed at Juno Beach, told me that he laughed at the opening scene. He said "bullets don't make a mess like that, they go through you, make holes and you fall down." These protests aside, the sense of violence, destruction and chaos is unequalled.

Putting this all together, it doesn't say too much about war that is not tivial or the self-congratulations of a Johnny come lately. Violence and noble sacrifice are very important parts of war. Saving Private Ryan just reinforces the obvious to such an undeniable extent.

Well filmed, good acting, and half decent characters. Not bad. The best of one genre of a genre.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Saving Private Ryan gets four stara.

****

Movie Review: Das Boot

The German War Movie

Ouch! Why would you even bother with war after seeing this one.

The characters aren't so important. The life, the excitement and the action are what's important. The fact that this is a Nazi submarine that we are being shown is not important. Very little mention of politics enters into this film. For a German film, I guess that is to be understood, and its good for our purposes as well. There are other wars than the Second World War.

>> I'm just going to spoil this one!

Of course, I don't really know much about German war movies. I've only seen one other. Unlike other war movies this sub is out for adventures and for glory. The martial -teutonic - virtues seem alive and well, and they deserve them. Ahh, but we forget that life is a tale told by an idiot. The message is: why bother? The things we value get destroyed.

Das Boot tells us that war is cruel and unjust, it destroys the things we love. How can anyone argue with this. Coming from the Germans who ought to know. This is undeniable. The crew and the ship go through so much together. They suffer, find salvation and survive together, only to be kicked in the groin.

The visuals are spectacular. You feel as though you are on the sub. The sea is a truly awesome force, and you feel its strength, its infiniteness and its brutality. For the visual experience alone this is a film worth seeing. If you like submarine movies this one is the mother of them all. U-571, Crimson Tied, The Hunt For Red October are all judged in comparison with this one. But this is a war movie. I will judge it as such.

As a war movie, it is cannot transcend the German perspective. Not all wars are as futile as this one was for this particular sub-crew. This was a stunning movie, but still it doesn't say it all.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Das Boot gets four stars.

****

Movie Review: Regeneration

The English War Movie

This is not the kind of war movie people are used to, however, it does its job better than any other movie I have seen. It doesn't take place during the Second World War, but the first.

The movie is set in Scotland in, like so many modern films, hospital. This is not just any hospital, but one for shell-shocked British officers. There are three principal characters, all of whom are real historical figures. The doctor, Rivers and two poets Sassoon and Owen form heart of this film. Sassoon is a gallant officer. He's brave and cares deeply about his men. He cares so much that he has taken to protesting the war. As a result Horse Guard's has declared him shell shocked and in need of treatment. Owen is quintessential sensitive poet. Rivers is a caring and hard working physician who wants to see his patients actually recover.

Rivers must treat Sassoon, and this forms the central action of the film. Of course, Sassoon is not shell shocked. So we think anyway. Rivers can't stand it, there are others in the hospital who are actually suffering, but he holds back his feelings. Sassoon is completely contemptuous of his situation and those trying to silence him. Like all movies set in hospitals like this the question of who's crazy is central.

The war is not seen so much as it is remembered. The world has been turned inside out. Everything is backwards. Nothing is as it should be and this is all the fault of the war. War is the driving force of the movie. It is all that can be talked about and for the poets its all that they can really write about.

The war is driving Rivers to shell shock, and he has never been shot at. War, not love is the source for the greatest poetry. Sassoon may actually be shell shocked. Officer's are commanding young children. The most effective healing is done outside the hospital. Doctors torturing patients.

The power of war is evident throughout the film. It doesn't just blow things up. It kills souls. You don't even have to be at the front to be killed.

The violence in this film is psychic, and what could be more disturbing than that? The film is not devoid of hope. The name is after all Regeneration. The characters overcome, but once they overcome, their fate is to return to the war. So enters Futility.

Heroism is also evident. The strength of character of each patient, and Rivers is apparent. But these men are officers, and leaders ultimately their willingness to heal themselves is also a willingness to return once more into the breach, for dear friends. They are moved by concern for others, for their troops. There is an honour amongst these men.

This movie has it all, and it is all done with gently with words, characters and plot. There is no need for the obvious. War is violent enough. The violence is belittled if it only seen to be a physical violence. In Regeneration the physical violence mnifests itself psychically in the patients, in the language of the poets and aesthetically in the reversals. In the end life regenerates and the human spirit triumphs.

The film is on all accounts excellent. Though characters and plot are central it is beautifully filmed. A superlative film!

On the official Chris' Choice scale Regeneration gets five stars.

*****

Movie Review: K-Pax

Good movie. This joins the ranks of other great movies set in mental institutes. For some reason movies about crazies work well these days. Perhaps because, as one English prof used to say, nobody is quite sure "who's crazy." That's just about the jist of it. Spacey, again, proves himself an excellent actor. Though, I am not sure he has yet transcended Hollywood. (one of my beefs is that Hollywood actors play themselves and not their characters. Contrast Peter Sellers, the perfect example of non-Hollywood acting, and Mel Gibson, the Hollywood actor)

In any event, a very good film there is a lot of emphasis on light and things are nice visually, but the great achievement is characters and character development. The film wants you to believe that Spacey is an alien, and the crazies really start believing him. Then, so do a bunch of rocket scientists. The idea is that you must take a leap of faith and admit like medieval church Credo quia absurdum est. (I believe because it is irrational). It may defy explanation or the way we see the world, but it would truly be the best way to explain things. This goes against so much of the things the modern world holds to be so. And if you are truly a modern, there is an easy explanation for you. The romantics, those who leave room for doubt, or those who have faith in the point of view and decency of others, in short, - the crazies - have a harder time. Maybe I'm saying that because I'm either sympathetic with or a crazy myself. The lever in the plot is Jeff Bridges - the shrink. He is the one that must be convinced that Spacey is from the planet K-Pax.

The ending is good. It leaves open the question of who's crazy. I like it. Nicely filmed, good story and great characters. Not that original though.

On the official Chris' Choice scale K-PAX gets three stars.

***

Movie Review: Unbreakable

Unwatchable!! Don't watch this movie! From watching ads and trailers for this one you would not know that it is about comic books, but it is. Actually its about a psychotic comic book collector and Bruce Willis who survives a train wreck, in fact it turns out that Bruce has never been hurt. The comic book collector connects comic books, Bruce, and the fact that Bruce has never been hurt. Guess what the conclusion is. In fact, you can guess a lot about this movie. But don't worry, don't watch it. It's not worth it. The movie haad potential, but squandered it with a laborious pace and complete predictability. There are some neat scenes that are like comic book tableaus. It takes a great deal of skill to bring comics to the big screen. Go rent The Phantom if you want to see comics done right.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Unbreakable gets one star.

*

Movie Review: Pi

PI
(3.14...)

This is a good, but puzzling movie. Basically this math genius locks himself in his apartment with a whole whack of computer equipment and tries to solve the chaos around him. He keeps telling us his premises so that we believe that he is still rational. They are the premises of chaos theory:

(1) that mathematics is the language of the universe,
(2) nature can be expressed in numbers, and
(3) there are patterns everywhere in nature.

Visually, the film is a study in chaos theory, with almost still shots of nature and its recurring patterns, then the dynamics of coffee and cream. Moreover, there is a certain recurrence and self-similar quality to the whole film and its downward spiral. The film moves from genius to madness. The old sage character in the film, the stars old math professor reminds the star that there is a fine line to drawn between mathematics and numerology. It is never clear just where that line is drawn. Two forces are out to pull the genius from the true path. Some religious fundamentalists are looking for numbers and patterns in sacred texts, while a wall street firm is trying to get a hold of any discoveries in order to turn a serious profit.

Pi is a good movie, but will leave you puzzled about just what the hell is going on, and leave you asking "what is this all about?" Good question, and maybe that's the point. It is a good movie, and says a lot visually, perhaps too much.

On the official Chris' Choice scale Pi, gets three stars.

***

Movie Review: American Psycho

American Psycho

Yikes! A truly chilling movie about the narcissists around us! But it is also sickeningly funny. There is a perverse sense of depraved irony that floats, like everything in this movie, on the surface. The movie is all about the surface, of skin, business cards, credit cards etc.

The yuppies that populate this movie are so obsessed with themselves and their status that they are all at some level nuts. The real nutcase - Bateman goes around killing people in an orgy (literally in some cases) of self indulgence and vain glory. Whenever he is forced to recognize someone as a person, as in some way like him he feels the need to kill that other person. There is a twisted way that this is related to business. At a night club he says "murders and executions" instead of mergers and acquisitions.

Gloriously twisted, this film does well on all accounts.

On the official Chris' Choice scale American Psycho gets four stars.

****