Rescue Dawn - Movie Review

Rescue Dawn is an interesting, surprisingly apolitical war film about the escape of Vietnam POW Dieter Dengler, played by Christian Bale. In many ways, it feels like it could be the unofficial sequel to Bale's first film, Empire of the Sun - in which he was a young child, Jim Graham, in wartime - wanting to fly a plane. If he impersonated a German American and joined the U.S. Air Force, I could easily see Dengler being the grown-up Jim Graham. The instant he's in the rain-forest, Dieter takes charge - building makeshift shelters and foraging for food and water. We're not really given any explanation for this unusual skill or hardiness, just as we know little about Dieter's life outside, beyond a few reminiscences to fellow POWs (my explanation is a childhood in Soochow with Jim Malkovich's Basie.)

While shot beautifully in lush jungles, featuring several terrific actors (Bale is great as usual, as are Steve Zahn and Jeremy Davies), it ultimately feels rather empty. Partly this is because Dieter never seems to fail at anything until near the end of the film. Looking for food? There it is. Need to avoid the guards? They look the other way. It ruins all sense of tension or risk. The director commented on Dieter's illogical optimism being his greatest asset, but given how seldom he fails, this optimism seems to be mere logic.

Minireview: Seven Pounds

An overlong, meandering tale of guilt and sacrifice. I think the story itself could have been told with more power via a linear, compact story-line, but this unusual technique does manage to distract from some of the larger plot-holes. Will Smith's emotional distance also moves us away from sentimentality - one scene near the beginning works well to confuse us as to his true character. The air of mystery is intriguing, but I doubt it work on a second viewing. Rosario Dawson was great, providing all the heart, while Barry Pepper and Woody Harrelson are underused.

In the end, it all feels a bit empty - it's hard to understand our odd, emotionless protagonist, much less his motivations for what he does. The Christological theme was interesting, but given where the film ends up, unnecessary and incorrect. The whole film is rather pretentious, in retrospect.

2.5/5 stars

Hannah Long

Best of March/April 2014

Movies:

The Iron Giant - Brad Bird's first feature film, a creative, innovative story about a boy and his alien robot pal. For an animated movie, it's very visually interesting. While featuring some rather ham-fisted political commentary, it also delves into surprising moral depths, much like his later film The Incredibles, and does avoid caricaturing its bad guys (just).


Ordet - a strange, entrancing German movie from 1955. An instant favorite, but difficult to summarize. Basically, it's about the spiritual journey of a small farming family in the 1920's, and an intriguing representation of rational, intellectual religion versus irrational, powerful faith (though it's not quite that simple). My review.



TV:
Sherlock Holmes - Immensely theatrical, unpredictable, and charming, Jeremy Brett isn't really my image of Holmes. To be fair though, neither is Benedict Cumberbatch's petulant boy-sleuth, or Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron-Man-With-A-British-Accent riff, enjoyable as they are. Brett himself recommended Clive Merrison's radio adaptations and I'd have to agree. All that said, Brett creates a dark, moody man that is a terrific contribution to the canon of on-screen Holmeses. He's nicely balanced by his two Watsons, light-hearted David Burke and levelheaded Edward Hardwicke. Much like Poirot or Morse, this showcased the Who's Who in British acting, including Ciaran Hinds, Jude Law(!), Hugh Bonneville, Robert Hardy, Antony Valentine, James Purefoy, Peter Vaughan and...now I totally feel like a sexist, but there were women too. Anyway, it amounts to one of the monuments of British detective TV, unlikely to ever be surpassed as the most authentic adaptation of Conan Doyle's character.

Endeavour - As a big fan of Inspector Morse, I've tremendously enjoyed this prequel/reboot series, but at this point, it has begun to run entirely on its own steam. How does it perform? Quite well, for the most part. After a while, its slow pace feels a little fatiguing, but the great performances and chemistry between the two leads, Shaun Evans as Morse and Roger Allam as Thursday, salvage even the cornier moments. On the other hand, it ends on a high, with an episode focusing on this relationship. Bring on the third season. My reviews: Trove, Nocturne, Sway, and Neverland.

Hannah Long

Minireview: Kin-Dza-Dza! (1986)

Oddball Russian sci-fi that somehow, as it drags along, drags one along with it. While I have a feeling I missed a lot of jokes by being American, it still has internationally funny moments, and as an effort of world-building it's terrific, being a sort of steampunk Tatooine-esque dystopian wasteland. The second half incorporates unexpected moral choices that add depth to what would otherwise be merely a weird, minimalist social satire.

And for what it's worth, Stanislav Lyubshin's Uncle Vova is the Russian Harrison Ford. The guy is coolness personified. To extend the comparisons, Gedevan would be a weird Shia LaBeouf, and the alien musicians would be two long-lost members of a Monty Python-Coen Brothers mash-up.

Koo!



4/5 stars.

Hannah Long

Endeavour Season 2 - Neverland - Episode Review

My review of last week's episode: Sway

The season finale begins with Nunc Dimittis, the Canticle of Simeon (here's a good recording):

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant

depart in peace
according to Thy Word,
for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation
which Thou hast prepared
before the face of all people.
To be a Light to light on the Gentiles
And to be the glory of Thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father
And to the Son
And to the Holy Ghost,
As it was the beginning,
Is now and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen.

The music is intercut with scenes of D.I. Thursday who, like Morse at the very beginning of the season, is taking a medical exam. Resembling Simeon, Thursday feels the encroachment of age, and the advent of a younger generation. We’ve always known that, however enjoyable, the Thursday-Morse partnership couldn’t go on forever. From the first moments of Neverland, we feel that gentle shift begin.

Minireview - Casino Royale (2006)

A surprising and compelling addition to the Bond franchise, with one of the most epic opening fight scenes ever. Daniel Craig creates a role with confidence, toughness, and just enough vulnerability. The film examines the consequences of Bond's assassin lifestyle and the emptiness behind it all. For the man who has everything, by the end of the film he has surprisingly little.

Still, it manages to be a fun action movie, with a stellar villain in Mads Mikkelson, and a classy, clever female counterpart to Bond in Eva Green's Vesper Lynd.

4/5 stars

Hannah Long

Endeavour Season 2 - Sway - Episode Review

My review of last week's episode: Nocturne

Endeavour is certainly hitting all the common detective series Trope episodes early on. Usually, it takes a few seasons before we have the Serial-Killer-With-A-Vendetta-For-Our-Hero episode, or the Meet-The-Family episode, or the Old Flame episode. Endeavour used all three in the first season. I initially thought this week's installment was a repeat of Fugue - a Serial Killer thriller, but it turns out the mystery itself is secondary to the emotional drama of an Old Flame.

Here's the thing though: for once, it's not Morse's old flame, it's Thursday's. This gives quite an unusual texture to the story, and once again focuses more on Morse's boss than the protagonist himself (I'm not complaining). Like Home, another Thursday-central episode, a pivotal theme is family. Sway focuses on marriage, love, and fidelity. (Spoilers ahead.)

The story itself comes second to the character drama. A serial killer is on the loose in Oxford (once again), strangling married women with a pair of fancy silk stockings. Morse tracks the stockings to a department store called Burridge’s, where a number of highly suspicious men stalk the stocking aisles. In the course of these investigations Morse meets an Italian woman named Luisa, who, the instant Thursday enters the room, collapses in a dead faint. This scene was probably a lot funnier than it should have been.