Capote (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Believe me when I tell you that this is one of the best films of the year. It is a complex and multi-layered work of art. Truman Capote, under assignment from the New Yorker magazine, explores a terrible murder of a family of four in the American heartland. He asks his childhood friend from Monroeville Alabama, Nelle Harper Lee, to act as his assistant and together they will explore the murder and its impact on the community for a magazine article. Phillip Seymour Hoffman delivers the acting performance of the year playing the role of the cognitively unique Capote. Catherine Keener was superb playing the solid strength of Harper Lee.
When the killers are soon caught and Capote sees the half-Native American Perry Smith, an odd chemistry develops and Capote becomes obsessed with Smith. Yet Capote manipulates the two murderers and even pays for their first court appeal in order to obtain more information for the article that has now developed into a book. Clifton Collins is excellent in the role of Perry Smith and Chris Cooper is excellent as the head of the Kansas division of the FBI.
Capote had a rare gift, the ability to make himself totally vulnerable through painful self revelation, so as to obtain entry into soul of his target. He does this with Smith and they begin a careful relationship whereby they reveal themselves to each other like chess players, each making careful calculated moves so as to obtain the maximum amount of information and manipulation of the other party.
Harper Lee confronts Capote asking whether he has fallen in love with Perry Smith, but Capote says that he and Smith are the same person, only Capote ran out the 'front door' and Smith ran out the 'back door".
Capote names his book "In Cold Blood" but keeps this information from Perry Smith. Eventually you begin to realize that cold blood is the mental state that Capote had to assume to manipulate the killers long enough to extract the full story of the murders from them.
As the book nears completion, Capote begins a mental breakdown. He may actually love Perry Smith and thus regrets his death but also he knows the execution must occur to bring closure to the book so it can be published. Thus when Capote wishes Smith to die he is cast into guilt and grief; but when he wishes Smith to live, he is cast into depression over the lack of closure of his masterpiece.
One of the most wise plot devices in this film was to contrast the fall of Capote with the rise of Harper Lee and her wonderful novel "To Kill A Mockingbird". Capote sinks into depression and alcoholism laced with mounting self pity while Harper Lee gains acclaim first for her novel and then for the film starring Gregory Peck. On the night of the gala opening of "To Kill A Mockingbird" Capote attends the festivities in a drunken depressed stupor and is so self absorbed that he can't even offer his supportive best friend, Lee, congratulations on her novel and film.
What do we make of this film? It is incredibly well done and demonstrates that no act of mercy is totally pure, no act of cruelty is totally evil. It was Capote's incredible skills that allowed him to manipulate the killers to gain the story that made him the most famous American living writer; but he sold his soul to buy the story and he never recovered from the wound.
This is mature film-making at its best!

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In November, 1959, the shocking murder of a smalltown Kansas family captures the imagination of Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman), famed author of Breakfast at Tiffany's. With his childhood friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), writer of the soon-to-be published To Kill a Mockingbird, Capote sets out to investigate, winning over the locals despite his flamboyant appearance and style. When he forms a bond with the killers and their execution date nears, the writing of "In Cold Blood," a book that will change the course of American literature, takes a drastic toll on Capote, changing him in ways he never imagined. Stellar performances from Hoffman and Keener, as well as Academy Award® winner Chris Cooper (Adaptation) are why critics are calling Capote a "must-see movie."

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Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen) (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)Congressman Charlie Wilson from Lufkin, Texas, a ruggedly handsome man, who was a committed anti-Communist, with a few character flaws, who loved to have a good time, enjoyed alcohol and was a ladies' man ... became one of the unsung heros of the Afghanistan War. He was the only civilian to ever receive recognition and honor by the C.I.A. for his part in helping to drive the Russians out from Afghanistan. This film is based on the true stories written by the author George Crile in his book, "Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times". Essentially, there are two formulas to win this war on a global scale: the first is, "money + power = secret arms deals" and the second is, "clandestinely obtained weapons + motivated Afghani fighters = success". Serendipity often comes into play when success occurs on a global scale and Charlie Wilson seemed to benefit both from the unexpected and unknown ...
Charlie Wilson was sitting in a hot tub at Caesar's Palace with three young ladies, two of whom were strippers, and some male business partners, when he first saw Dan Rather on assignment in Afghanistan, presenting the plight of the mujahideen. Dan Rather described the difficulty they had fighting the Russians who had superior technology and arms. When he returned to Washington, he read the teletype from API, UPI, and Reuters and asked the C.I.A. how much was in their budget for clandestine operations in Afghanistan. He was told $5 million dollars, he quickly told them, "double it" [Charlie Wilson happened to be on the Senate Appropriations Committee]. From that point forward, Charlie Wilson was committed to helping free the Afghanistan people from Russian control ...
Tom Hanks does a superb job in playing the role of Charlie Wilson. At some point, he was contacted by Joanne Herring (played to perfection by Julia Roberts) who is a wealthy socialite from Texas who recently became a 'born again' Christian. She knew President Zia, the Prime Minister of Pakistan and arranged for Charlie Wilson to meet this Pakistani leader. He pled his case that the Afghanistan fighters needed better weapons to fight the Russians. He wanted the US to provide weapons *but* wanted Parkistan to control their distribution. More than 1/5 of the population of Afghanistan had escaped across the border to Pakistan and lived in squalid conditions due to the war with the Russians. At another point in the film, Charlie Wilson had a visit from Gust Avratakos, a rather independently minded C.I.A. agent [which got him into hot water with his superiors] ... who also had a stake in helping free Afghanistan. These two unlikely partners dealt in secret deals and meetings with an Israeli weapons and arms agent. They obtained the needed Stinger anti-aircraft missles for the Afghani fighters to use against the Russian bombers which turned the war around completely. At some point in the film, Charlie Wilson had gotten political and economic support from Doc Long, another Senator who had strong religious beliefs. He committed his total support to Charlie Wilson's position in this war.
While Charlie Wilson may be viewed as a flawed hero, he and Gust Avratakos single-handedly provided the weapons and arms needed by the mujahideen to win the war against the Russians. Amazingly enough, as time passed, the 10 million dollars initially committed to this clandestine venture turned into $500 million dollars. Few men can fund a pet program and spend money of this magnitude and get away with it. This film does a superb job of presenting the circumstances and particular events which showed how the nearly impossible became reality. In many ways and on many levels, the film presents events in too much of a simplistic and entertaining fashion, for which I deduct one star. No doubt, the book is more thorough and complete in providing the complex details which led to the success which Charlie Wilson and Gust Avratakos achieved. Nevertheless, this is a most enjoyable and well done film. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

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Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in this compelling and witty film from Oscar®-winning director Mike Nichols and Primetime Emmy®-winning writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). Based on the outrageous true story, Charlie Wilson's War shows how one congressman who loved a good time, one Houston socialite who loved a good cause and one renegade CIA agent who loved a good fight conspired to bring about the largest covert operation in history.

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Magnolia (New Line Platinum Series) (1999) Review

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(More customer reviews)There have been many terrific reviews written by other Amazon members that go into great detail about why this film was fabulous or why it worked or didn't. So I won't waste time boiling down all of the stories going on in this film again.
"Magnolia" is a near masterpiece...
The reasons it was a box office dud are too numerous to mention, but they run the gamut from its confusing title -- to the decision to keep superstar Tom Cruise's name in the background -- to the bad-worth-of-mouth recorded by rating services which survey people looking for conventional narratives and resolutions as they walk out of theaters.
I see 50 to 60 films a year (and not for a living), and I avoided "Magnolia" out of fear. Fear of wasting time, more important than wasting money. And another concern was the film's controversial resolution, the critical element that determines the success or failure of most movies with a mass audience. Now that I've seen "Magnolia" on video and have finally been able to philosophically, intellectually and logically string together its elements, there is no doubt that this is one of the most wonderful accomplishments on film ever made. "Magnolia" takes you on a journey whereby a master story teller challenges you to hang onto a breathtaking ride of images, content and music, and find the thread that strings everything, including the last 20 minutes...together in a way that makes coherent sense.
Yes, the point of the movie is that there are things that defy scientific logic. "Magnolia" tackles this premise and applies it to human behavior in a dazzling kaleidescope of aural, verbal and visual montages -- which make it IMPOSSIBLE -- to stop this film to come back to later. You're pulled into the tornado, wondering how's it going to end?
This film is worth BUYING, especially with all of the extras on DVD. But it's also worth "previewing." I won't lie to you. A conventional audience might not like "Magnolia's" structure and its last 20 minutes. But the rest of it is hands down wonderful. I guarantee you will enjoy it. The acting, the story, the dialogue are consistently mesmerizing, from start to finish. I can't guarantee you will agree with the cosmic, unexplainable force that joins everything together in the end. Personally, I would have chosen something less comical -- and saying "frogs falling from the sky" doesn't spoil the point of the movie even though I would have preferred huge hailstones on a July afternoon in California. The controversial decision to visualize what for most of the movie is abstract -- is the root of why I think the film is misunderstood by some -- and hated by others.
Yet I believe "Magnolia" is a fabulous film. Whether you like the film on the whole or not, I guarantee that you won't be bored, which is the curse of all lousy movies. Everything about "Magnolia" is mesmerizing. And if the resolution seems initially a bafflement, if you think about it some more, everything will make sense. You will find that things that seem visibly ridiculous or irrational are no more or less the same as the "unscientific randomness" of human behavior that is TOTALLY PLAUSIBLE.
In sum, see this, rent this, buy this -- but don't dismiss or ignore "Magnolia" -- it's 99 7/8ths the work of a great young master.

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An intriguing and entertaining study in characters going through varying levels of crisis and introspection. This psychological drama leads you in several different directions, weaving and intersecting various subplots and characters, from a brilliant Tom Cruise, as a self-proclaimed pied-piper, to a child forced to go on a TV game show and the pressures he faces from a ruthless father.

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Doubt (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)At a Catholic school circa 1964, doubt has begun to enter a world of certainty. Times are changing and the Catholic Church is becoming more liberal. This sets the stage for a battle between principal Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) and Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Sister Aloysius suspects Father Flynn of inappropriate behavior with a student (Joseph Foster II) on very circumstantial evidence and makes it her crusade to remove him from his position. As she says, she has no proof, but she has her certainty.
It is this certainty which seems to make her a monster, as she dismisses each bit of information or alternate interpretation of events that would cast doubt on her belief. But this would not be such a rich film if writer / director John Patrick Shanley had made it that simple. The viewer is never given satisfactory ground for completely siding with either the sister or the father. While it is very clear that Sister Aloysius is very rigid, cold, and judgmental, it is also possible that she is right. I admire the way Shanley encourages us to think about the issues raised and draw our own conclusions, which is why I was very disappointed in the final moments of this film, in which Shanley makes explicit a element of his theme that would have been better left understated, ending his script on a rather jarring note. Amy Adams, who plays the young sister caught in the middle of this battle, and Viola Davis, who plays the boy's mother, also deserve mention for their powerful performances.

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From Miramax Films comes one of the most honored and acclaimed motion pictures of the year, Doubt. Based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, Doubt is a mesmerizing, suspense-filled drama with four riveting performances from Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis that will have you pinned to the edge of your seat. Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep), the rigid and fear-inspiring principal of the Saint Nicholas Church School, suffers an extreme dislike for the progressive and popular parish priest Father Flynn (Hoffman). Looking for wrongdoing in every corner, Sister Aloysius believes she's uncovered the ultimate sin when she hears Father Flynn has taken a special interest in a troubled boy. But without proof, the only thing certain is doubt."One of the best pictures of the year," (USA Today, Rolling Stone, New York Post, San Francisco Examiner, Roger Ebert).Bonus Features include From Stage To Screen, Scoring Doubt, The Sisters Of Charity

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Synecdoche New York (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)The question for this complex and weird film is whether writer-director Charlie Kaufman's artistic ambition will ultimately frustrate viewer patience. When I saw the film, a couple in front of me walked out halfway through. You will probably love or hate this film; reviews have been sharply divided.
Philip Seymour Hofmann stars as Caden Cotard, a theater director mired in all the midlife crises, real and imagined, of body, mind and spirit. The film begins conventionally enough, or so it seems, but there are telltale signs early-on that Kaufman is going to play with reality itself -- a cartoon on the family TV features Caden as a character, and a realtor walks a client through a house that is permanemtly on fire. Those are two ominous metaphors.
The giveway is that the name "Cotard" bears a striking resemblance to that of the French postmodernist Jean-Francois Lyotard. We shouldn't be surprised when Caden quits his career doing theater among the "blue hairs" in suburban Schenectady, New York, where his latest production was "Death of a Salesman," and with the help of a MacArthur genius grant (a cruel irony given his circumstances) moves to a cavernous warehouse in New York City and recreates his confused life through what eventually becomes a cast of hundreds of characters. Yes, life is a stage and we're the actors.
In his book The Post-Modern Condition (1979), Lyotard made (in)famous the notion of "incredulity toward meta-narrrative," a fancy way of saying that there are no truly universal or absolute meanings or truths in life, and that all meaning is a personal or social construction. This is exactly what Caden tries to do -- he creates meaning in his life through characters who portray his life. He keeps changing the name of the play, one of which is "Simulacrum" (= an insubstantial semblance of something). He keeps saying that he "finally" knows how he wants to direct the play. Indeed, the play is never finished but is instead a building project that piles floor upon floor of sets; it never ends. For Kaufman there's a very thin line between authenticity and absurdity, genuine reality and mere representation, living life and playing roles, healthy self-awareness (however painful) and oppressive self-consciousness, and between true life and certain death.
Does Caden's effort to manufacture even the barest micro-meaning make any sense? The last line of the movie offers a glimmer of hope. Maybe.

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From Charlie Kaufman, comes a visual and philosophic adventure, Synechdoche, New York. As he did with his groundbreaking scripts for Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kaufman twists and subverts form and language as he delves into the mind of a man who, obsessed with his own mortality, sets out to construct a massive artistic enterprise that could give some meaning to his life. Theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban blue-hairs at the local regional theater in Schenectady, New York is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her. His therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Hope Davis), is better at plugging her best-seller than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Worried about the transience of his life, he leaves his home behind. He gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in New York City, hoping to create a work of brutal honesty. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a growing mockup of the city outside. The years rapidly fold into each other, and Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece, but the textured tangle of real and theatrical relationships blurs the line between the world of the play and that of Caden's own deteriorating reality.

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