The assassination of John F. Kennedy has spawned an entire
subculture dedicated to examining every detail of the tragic event. Was it the
work of a lone gunman or was it a vast conspiracy involving Lyndon B. Johnson,
the CIA, the military-industrial complex, the Russians, and organized crime
figures? Countless books and films have sprung up over the years speculating on
just that with Oliver Stone's "JFK" being one of the more notable.
Millennium Entertainment's Parkland isn't interested in conspiracy theories or facets that
have been picked apart ad nauseum. This is an ensemble piece that wishes to
tell the story of the little people whose lives were forever affected by JFK's
assassination, just as the entire country was. Released to coincide with the 50th
anniversary of Kennedy's death, Parkland
was written and directed by first-timer Peter Landesman, a former journalist
who based the screenplay on the book, Reclaiming
History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi,
a district attorney best known for prosecuting Charles Manson.
Clothing manufacturer Abraham Zapruder (Paul Giamatti)
excitedly arrives at Dealy Plaza with his 8mm Bell & Howell camera in the
hopes of capturing the President's motorcade as it passed by. Instead, Zapruder
unwittingly filmed the most infamous home movie ever made, clear footage of JFK's shooting.
Dr. Charles Carrico (Zac Efron), a young resident at Parkland Memorial
Hospital, is the first physician to treat Kennedy when he is rushed into the
emergency room. As medical personnel scramble in a blood soaked ER, a dazed
Jackie Kennedy (Kat Steffens) hands a veteran nurse (Marcia Gay Harden)
fragments of her husband's skull. Robert Oswald (James Badge Dale) is left in
shock when he learns his younger brother (Jeremy Strong) is responsible for
killing the president. Gordon Shanklin (David Harbour), head of the FBI's
Dallas field office, berates James Hosty (Ron Livingston), upon learning that
they had been investigating Lee Harvey Oswald, including receiving a
threatening letter from Oswald. Roy Kellerman (Tom Welling from
"Smallville") and other agents assigned to the President's detail are
burdened by the belief they have failed in their duty.
While major players like LBJ and Jackie Kennedy are present
in Parkland, the focus is clearly on
the individuals who would otherwise be considered historical footnotes.
Zapruder is haunted by the images he has seen and has his faith in the American
dream shaken. Robert Oswald faces an uncertain future knowing his family will
become pariahs for what his brother has done.
Landesman also broaches topics that one normally wouldn't think of.
Members of Kennedy's staff remove seats from the cabin of Air Force One in
order to accommodate his casket. Zapruder and Forrest Sorrels (Billy Bob
Thornton), a Secret Service agent assigned to Kennedy's detachment, struggle to
find a photo lab to develop the 8mm film, a relatively new process in the 60's.
No church or cemetery is willing to accept Lee Harvey Oswald's remains. During
the funeral, Robert must rely on paparazzi to serve as pallbearers.
Tom Hanks served as one of the producers for Parkland and it's disappointing he
didn't take a Band of Brothers
approach to the subject matter. Zapruder and Robert Oswald are interesting
enough to support their own films. A medical drama revolving around the
Parkland staff as they treat Kennedy and Oswald would also be extremely
compelling. At less than 90 minutes, Parkland
barely scratches the surface and squanders an amazing cast. Despite turning in
strong performances, Marcia Gay Harden, Mark Duplass (as Kennedy aide Ken
O'Donnell), and Jackie Earle Haley (as the priest who delivers last rites)
appear in glorified cameos. James Badge Dale, who has quickly become one of
Hollywood's most reliable character actors, brings a sense of pathos to his
role that is almost undermined by Jacki Weaver's over-the-top performance as
overbearing mother, Marguerite, steadfast in her belief that her younger son
was a secret agent for the U.S. government.
Landesman employs a documentary style akin to Paul
Greengrass, minus the headache inducing shaky cam. Not surprising that Barry
Ackroyd, who also shot United 93, Green Zone, and Captain Phillips, served as cinematographer. The result allows the
audience to feel like a fly on the wall while maintaining tension throughout
the short runtime.
Parkland finds a
fresh perspective on a significant moment in history, but still feels like a
missed opportunity. The movie is blessed with a wealth of talented actors and
intriguing characters, yet never gives them enough time to shine. Still, it
earns a mild recommendation solely on star power.
Lincoln opens with
a Saving Private Ryan-esque scene of
battlefield brutality. Men are impaled by bayonets and strangled in the muck
and rainwater. From there, we cut to Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln seated
as if he were the D.C. monument come to life. He’s addressed by two black
soldiers, one of whom (Colman Domingo) looks up at him with awe. The other
(David Oyelowo) is bluntly asking the President about equal pay for black and
white troops. Two white soldiers (Lukas Haas and Dane DeHaan) arrive and, with
great reverence, begin to recite the Gettysburg Address. The scene feels lifted right out of a Frank
Capra movie and it’s wise of Spielberg to get the mythologizing out of the way
first.
President Lincoln is pressured to end the Civil War rather
than focusing on the Emancipation Proclamation. Even his closest aides feel the
issue will be dead upon arrival at the House of Representatives. Not everyone
will be swayed by a heartfelt speech so a great deal of wrangling and backdoor
deals is necessary. A trio of lobbyists (James Spader, John Hawkes, and Tim
Blake Nelson) is dispatched to curry favor with opposition in the Democratic
Party. This includes promises of jobs in the new administration or outright
bribery. The House itself is a hotbed for filibustering and childish insults.
Have politics really changed that much in the last two centuries? Kushner
brings these sequences to life with a steady stream of Sorkin-like dialogue and
a surprising amount of humor. Irony isn’t lost in the portrayal of Republicans
as the more progressive and compassionate party. The vote for the Proclamation
is the centerpiece of Lincoln and a
textbook example of classic filmmaking. The outcome is already known, yet there
is still palpable tension as each Representative is called upon to vote “Yay”
or “Nay.” It’s also interesting to see everyday citizens traveling from far and
wide to the White House to seek audience with the President.
Less effective is the delving into Lincoln’s personal life,
particularly his rocky marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field). She has
been left in a shaky mental state following the death of her son, Willie, at
age 12. The scenes shared by Day-Lewis and Field are strong, but showy which means
they’ll play well for the Academy voters. There’s also their eldest son, Robert
(Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who feels a burning obligation to serve in the Union
army, despite his father’s best attempts to keep him out of the war. While the
presence of Gordon-Levitt is always appreciated, his part could have easily
been cut from the film with little impact.
It speaks volumes for the A-list ensemble cast that Joseph
Gordon-Levitt is one of its lesser components. The most noteworthy are Jared
Harris as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Jackie Earle Haley as Confederate
Vice-President Alexander Stephens, David Strathairn as Secretary of State
William Seward, Gulliver McGrath from Dark Shadows as Tad Lincoln, and Lee Pace as Fernando Wood, the leader of the
Democratic opposition. There’s also Hal Holbrook, Michael Stuhlbarg, Walt
Goggins, Gloria Reuben, Bruce McGill, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Gregory Itzin.
In this sea of talented performers, Tommy Lee Jones has gained the most notice
for his performance as the fervent abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens. His views on
racial and gender equality brought him no shortage of enemies in the Democratic
Party. A Best Supporting Actor nomination is almost a lock for Jones though
James Spader shouldn’t be forgotten as the oiliest of the lobbyists.
Lincoln hinges
entirely on the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis who has effortlessly
transformed himself yet again. You wonder if his method acting required him to
actually travel back in time to shadow the real Lincoln. Physically, he is
everything we imagine Abraham Lincoln to be: tall and lanky with the weathered
face of a president hard at work. His soft-spoken manner belies the booming
voice that many have portrayed him to possess.
His folksy sense of humor leads him to tell several homespun stories to
amuse his staff during dire times.
Each shot is beautifully realized by Spielberg’s superb
direction and the gorgeous cinematography of Janusz Kaminski whose work
includes night scenes illuminated only by candle and the congressional floor
backlit by hazy sunlight. The film is set to a score by John Williams that
never drowns out the drama.
Lincoln is the
film that Amistad should have been.
It is Spielberg's best work since Munich
and lacks the saccharine sentimentality that plagued War Horse.
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are almost synonymous with each other. Their partnership as actor and director have resulted in great films like Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood. Recently, Depp and Burton's efforts have been hit and miss. While I enjoyed Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd, their version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory left much to be desired and lacked the charms of the Gene Wilder film. Alice in Wonderland was a soulless exercise in stylized CGI, despite the fact that it made over a billion dollars at the box office. For their eighth film together, Depp and Burton have chosen to remake Dark Shadows, an ABC soap opera that aired between 1966 and 1971. It's been a passion project for the two as both were huge fans of the series. The original Dark Shadows was a low-rated daytime program until it introduced the character of Barnabas Collins, an ageless vampire played by Jonathan Frid. Afterwards, the show became a cult classic and a staple of the early Sci-Fi Channel.
Frid recently passed away in April, but not before filming a cameo in the picture alongside several former cast members.
Succeeding him in the role is Johnny Depp, who recounts his tale of woe in the opening prologue. Beginning in the late-1700's, the Collins family emigrates from Liverpool, England to Maine where they found the seaside city of Collinsport and a successful fishing business. All is well for Barnabas until he spurns the love of servant girl, Angelique (Eva Green), for chaste Josette (Bella Heathcote). Angelique places a curse on them, causing Josette to jump off a cliff and turn Barnabas into a vampire. The townspeople lock him into a casket and bury him alive for nearly two hundred years when some unsuspecting construction workers release him.
Awakening in 1972, Barnabas is confounded by fashion, automobiles, and the Carpenters. His beloved Collinwood manor has fallen into disrepair as have his descendents. Matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) struggles to keep the family business afloat and control her rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz). Elizabeth's shiftless brother, Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), spends most his days stealing from his relatives and womanizing. Roger's son, David (Gulliver McGrath), has been withdrawn ever since his mother's death years ago. The family has a live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter), to help him cope though she's made no progress at all. The Collins family has also hired a new governess for the boy in Victoria Winters (also Heathcote), who is the spitting image of Barnabas's lost paramour. Rounding out the Collins household is Jackie Earle Haley as Willie Loomis, a drunken caretaker who looks like he previously worked at the Overlook Hotel.
Barnabas is shocked to discover that Angelique is still alive, having transformed herself into a pillar of the community having founded a rival fishing cannery. She has vowed to win Barnabas's love or destroy him.
As one would expect from a Tim Burton film, Dark Shadows features visually stunning costumes and production design. It's all captured handsomely by cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, who previously shot Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie and A Very Long Engagement. The gothic atmosphere makes Dark Shadows seem like Beetlejuice with a budget, except it lacks any of the allure or originality of Burton's classic comedy. The fault lies within the scattershot screenplay by John August, which was rewritten by Seth Grahame-Smith, the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It's as if Grahame-Smith and Burton decided to cram several seasons' worth of storylines into a single movie.
Following the prologue, the film opens with Victoria's narration as she arrives in Collinsport by train. Logically, she should a main character and serve as the audience's point-of-view, instead she disappears for nearly forty minutes. She pops in and out of the third act with the love story addressed at the last minute. The same goes for Barnabas's relationship with David. It's said that David looks up to the immortal one, but none of that comes out because they only share one or two scenes together. The writers focus more time on how silly the 70's were with lazy gags about lava lamps and dirty hippies though there is a funny joke involving a McDonald's sign. The score by the great Danny Elfman lacks any memorable hooks while being drowned out by a soundtrack that includes Barry White, the Moody Blues, and Alice Cooper, who cameos as himself.
The weak story means the actors have to work that much harder. Michelle Pfeiffer, who hasn't worked with Burton since Batman Returns, gives a strong performance as do Jonny Lee Miller and Helena Bonham Carter, but none of their characters are fleshed out enough. Chloe Moretz is good as the sullen teenager with a deadpan delivery reminiscent of Christina Ricci in The Addams Family. Johnny Depp gives another quirky performance as the immortal vampire with the chalk white face and elongated fingers ala Max Schreck in Nosferatu. Eva Green is perfectly cast as the sultry witch Angelique and she's easily the highlight of Dark Shadows. Green plays it big in a sexy, over-the-top manner befitting the film's soap opera roots.
It may be time for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to call a break, or, at least, devote their time to an original concept rather than an adaptation or remake. Dark Shadows pales in comparison to their past work. Dark Shadows has a hard time deciding if it wants to be a gothic romance, a dark drama, or a slapstick comedy and it fails at every instance.
That’s all you need to know. Emblazon that name on the marquee and you’ve got my ticket money. He’s tackled gritty crime films, Merchant-Ivory style drama, and documentaries. Scorsese delves into new territory with the gothic thriller, Shutter Island, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane whose novels Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone have also been adapted to film. Shutter Island can best be described as Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor by way of M. Night Shyamalan.
Scorsese collaborates with Leonardo DiCaprio for the fourth time. Still hanging on to his Departed Boston accent, Leo takes the lead as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels. Along with partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Daniels is sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient at Ashecliff, a former Civil War fort turned into an asylum for the criminally insane.
Daniels is still haunted by his service during World War II in which his unit liberated a concentration camp. Not to mention his wife (Michelle Williams) was killed in a fire caused by an arsonist who was once a patient at Ashecliff. Investigating further, he discovers clues leading to a deeper conspiracy involving the doctors experimenting on left-wing radicals.
There is no denying Scorsese’s abilities as a master filmmaker. He sets an uneasy mood almost immediately with a style that is a cross between noir and Hitchcock. Scorses heightens the creepy atmosphere by filling the supporting cast with several equally creepy actors. Really, nobody does creepy better than Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Koteas, and Max von Sydow.
Shutter Island essentially lives and dies by the twist ending. You either buy it or don’t. There’s no in between. Personally, I couldn’t. It was like the rug was pulled out from under me. Whatever I had invested in the film feels as if it had been a waste. Every other element of the picture is strong and Scorsese has created an uneasy, claustrophobic mood to the story, but the sharp left turn in the resolution undoes all the hard work.
”For this is the soul’s secret: only when the hero has abandoned it, then only approach it in dreams – the superhero.” - Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra
I never thought I’d see the day when the feature film version of Watchmen would finally hit the screen, let alone see anything Watchmen related outside the comic book shop. Now, you can walk into Target and buy the trade paperback. There are huge displays of Watchmen books, CDs, and posters at Borders. There are Watchmen action figures, Watchmen on the cover of mainstream magazines, and segments about Watchmen on Entertainment Tonight. It’s been a strange, strange journey to get to this point. It’s been in development hell for nearly 20 years, passed through the hands of several big name directors (Terry Gilliam, Darren Aronofsky, Paul Greengrass), seen lawsuits and its co-creator wash his hands of the entire thing. Fans thought it would never happen, but Watchmen has arrived.
Originally published by DC Comics as a 12-issue mini-series in 1986, Watchmen has gone on to become one of the most revered comic books ever published. Time magazine listed it as one of the 100 greatest novels published since 1923. Written by Alan Moore with art by Dave Gibbons, Watchmen was originally intended to star a stable of lesser-known characters DC purchased from the defunct-Charlton Comics line. When DC realized Moore’s story would render these characters unusable, they directed him to create a cast of original costumed heroes. Moore had already begun challenging the accepted notions of what superhero comic book should be with his work on Miracleman and Swamp Thing by dealing with adult themes of authority, theology, and existentialism. Moore looked to further shatter those preconceptions with Watchmen which acted as both a psychological deconstruction of the superhero mythology as well as a comment on the Cold War politics of the time (a continuation of the themes from V for Vendetta). At a time when Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were two of the most powerful people in the world, Moore hoped to point out the dangers of entrusting one’s life and safety in the hands of other individuals simply because they had the power. Who watches the watchmen?
With Watchmen, Moore imagined what the world would be like if costumed adventurers really existed. What would the heroes be like if they had all the same hang-ups as real human beings? It was practically revolutionary when Stan Lee created Spider-Man as an awkward teen who couldn’t get girls or pay the bills. Here, the superheroes are sadists, masochists or psychopaths. How would the superheroes affect the socio-political structure of the world? And how exactly do you solve society’s problems by dressing up in a costume and punching people in the face? The costumes themselves were meant to look intentionally silly for some and for others, heightened into sexualized, costume fetish wear. Moore played up and tore down various superhero tropes that had been in place for decades when creating the inhabitants of the Watchmen world.
The Watchmen film opens in 1985 in an alternate reality where Nixon is still president and the world is on the brink of nuclear holocaust. Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who once operated as The Comedian sits in his high-rise apartment watching the news of Russian forces amassing on the Afghanistan border. Just then, an unknown assailant bursts through the door and the pair engages in a rousing fist fight until Blake is hurled out the window, plummeting to the ground below. From there, the film really shows off its ingenuity with a brilliant opening credit sequence (set to Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a-Changin’”) highlighting the history of the masked vigilantes and how they influenced society. We are introduced to the Minutemen, a group of garishly clad heroes whose look and sensibilities matched the simpler times of their era and the Golden Age of comics. We also watch the brutal and tragic fates that befell some of the Minutemen. Dollar Bill (Dan Payne), for example, was shot to death after getting his cape stuck in a revolving door.
As we learn in the opener and the rest of the film, Blake was the second gunman on the grassy knoll during JFK’s assassination and likely murdered Woodward and Bernstein before they could expose the Watergate break-in. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Comedian is a glorified thug and a representation of the dark side of American history. As amoral as he is, Blake is the only character of the bunch that sees the futility of caped crusaders slugging it out with purse snatchers while the world is on the brink of destruction.
His murder is investigated upon by Rorschach (Jackie Earl Haley), a gravel voiced vigilante who hides his face behind a mask of moving inkblots. He has the trenchcoat, fedora, and short stature of Bogart with the seething vitriol of Travis Bickle. Rorschach is driven by a fanatical moral code which finds its origins in Ayn Rand’s objectivism. To paraphrase Rorschach, not even in the face of Armageddon will he compromise. Believing in a vast conspiracy to eliminate costumed heroes, Rorschach goes to warn his former partner, Dan Drieberg (Patrick Wilson) who operated as Nite-Owl and was armed with an array of gadgets and an airship nicknamed Archie. Now, he’s retired, out-of-shape and directionless, mostly moping in his basement while his costumes collect dust in the closet. Rorschach and Dreiberg get in contact with more of their former colleagues. There’s “the world’s smartest man,” Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode), aka Ozymandias who turned his costumed career into a multinational conglomerate built on toys and health books. There’s Laurie Juspeczyk (Malin Ackerman), the Silk Spectre, who only became a superhero because she was pushed into it by her mother, Sally (Carla Gugino), the original Silk Spectre who was more Bettie Page pin-up than crime fighter.
The last of their group of Watchmen is the only one who has actual superpowers, the glowing, blue-skinned Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). Manhattan was formerly physicist Jon Osterman until a lab accident inside an intrinsic field separator vaporized him. Osterman somehow managed to reform himself into something akin to Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man with abs of steel. The Vietnam War was over in a week because of Manhattan, a living weapon of mass destruction. He has the power to do just about anything including teleportation, telekinesis, and matter manipulation. He has evolved to a quantum state of awareness, no longer experiencing time as we do. Manhattan views the past, present, and future simultaneously, not unlike how we view the panels on the page of a comic book. He has drifted further and further away from humanity, seeing things only in subatomic particles. To him, there is no discernable difference between a live or dead body on a microscopic level. Needless to say, this puts a serious damper on his relationship with girlfriend, Laurie.
I won’t reveal anymore of the plot, but the rest of the film extends from a simple murder mystery to a vast conspiracy of epic proportions. Zack Snyder, the visionary director of 300 (which I still can’t say with a straight face), directs from a script written by David Hayter and Alex Tse. The filmmakers have stayed remarkably close to the original source material. Many shot compositions are lifted right out of the comic book while many scenes are stuffed with Easter eggs that only die-hard fans will recognize. However, like the majority of adaptations, changes were made with mostly minimal impact on the overall story. Only the ending goes through any significant change. I won’t spoil either the film or the graphic novel, but will say the new conclusion comes with positives and negatives.
Snyder mixes in his own sensibilities, ratcheting up the action sequences and violence. Bones are snapped in half, meat cleaver meets human skull, and bullets rip through the flesh of a human leg. Human bodies explode with bloody viscera splattered across the faces of gawking bystanders. The slow motion effects that were ludicrously overused in 300 rear their head here, but not enough to detract from the scenes. Neither does the music. The score by Tyler Bates is a mixture of harsh heavy metal with a jazzy, 80’s synth sound that evokes Vangelis. The soundtrack selection is a bit obvious though some were also referenced in the comic. They are effective in placing the audience into the time period. One-hit wonder, “99 Luftballoons,” doubles as a sly allusion to the ticking clock as the song is about nuclear war. However, Snyder’s use of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” during an overly long sex scene elicited far too many chuckles from the audience I was with. I don’t blame them.
Watchmen has long been thought of as ‘unfilmable.’ When Terry Gilliam attempted to bring Watchmen to life, he asked Alan Moore how he’d adapt it. Moore simply replied, ”I wouldn’t.” The original mini-series was a dozen issues long with each issue featuring supplementary material such as mock-ups of interviews, magazine articles, and documents that further flesh out the history of the world. Even with a runtime of approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes, Watchmen still feels rushed. The film desperately tries to juggle a large ensemble of characters as well as attempting to educate the audience about this alternate reality that not every plot thread or character is given enough screen time. The story is relies heavily on flashbacks to do this. Each issue of the comic focused on a different character. Lost producer and Watchmen fan, Damon Lindelof, has admitted to lifting this method for his show. While the flashback structure works in an episodic environment, it might test the patience of those expecting more forward momentum in the picture.
The acting is good across the board with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jackie Earl Haley as the stand-outs. Morgan really relishes the role and dives right in giving a weariness and roguish charm to the morally repugnant Comedian. And who would have thought the biker kid from Bad News Bears would turn out to be so ruthless and darkly comical? Haley’s Little Children co-star, Patrick Wilson comes off well as Dreiberg whose nerdy Clark Kent mannerisms are almost as good as Christopher Reeve’s. The cast members that weren’t as strong were Malin Ackerman who looked great in tight latex, but gave a couple stilted line readings, and Matthew Goode who played his hand far too strongly. Both of them suffered more from being marginalized when their characters should have been given more screen time.
Those of you unfamiliar with the comics may be satisfied with Watchmen as a big-budget action spectacle. It works on that level. Just don’t expect this to be X-Men where clean-cut heroes battle the forces of evil. As an adaptation, it’s like reading the Cliff Notes version. Everything has been condensed and distilled. Most of the tiny details you had to read between the lines to figure out are completely spelled out for you in the film version. Part of the problem is that Watchmen is such a unique product of its medium. Even the structure and layout of the panels on the page played a significant role in its reading. It has been called the Citizen Kane of comic books. Like Citizen Kane, it only truly works in its original form. You could read a novelization of Kane or view it as a stage play, but you lose a lot of the essence.
