DOWNFALL: a review of "Spectre"

"SPECTRE"
Based upon characters and situations created by Ian Fleming
Story by John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade
Screenplay Written by John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth
Directed by Sam Mendes
*1/2 (one and a half stars)
RATED PG 13

The higher you fly, the harder the fall. And this one was definitely a crash landing.

Three years ago, I was supremely elated by a cinematic sight that I really thought that I would never really see: an unquestionably GREAT James Bond movie. For a bit of background, throughout my life, I have seen every single James Bond motion picture adventure from the Roger Moore years onwards. While there have been some that I enjoyed very much, including "Live And Let Die" (1973), "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "GoldenEye" (1995) and "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), several of the films (perhaps too many of them) were ones that I felt either indifferent towards or even found to be terrible, the worst offenders including "A View To A Kill" (1985), "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "The World Is Not Enough" (1999). 

Essentially, and as I have expressed on this site in the past, I think I liked the idea of James Bond more than as an actual character. And yet, I continued to see the next adventure, possibly because it was just time to see another one...and truth be told, it felt to me, to an increasing degree, that new James Bond films were being made for no other reason than it was time to make one.

My feelings towards this series changed dramatically once Daniel Craig took over the iconic role and emerged in Director Martin Campbell's thrilling and terrific "Casino Royale" (2006). Where Campbell and Craig delivered the requisite Bond action set pieces with a newfound vitality and two-fisted, white knuckle energy,  it was a film where, for the very first time, I truly cared about the proceedings as Bond transcended his own archetype and became a compelling character with a backstory, a psychological outlook that demanded exploration and a welcome sense of pathos, especially concerning the most effective love story shared with Eva Green.

The success continued with the slightly abbreviated yet feverishly paced "Quantum Of Solace" (2008) from Director Marc Forster. But it was with the outstanding, towering "Skyfall" (2012) where Director Sam Mendes delivered what I thought would have been impossible after all of these years, the finest James Bond film that I had ever seen. Everything, and I truly mean absolutely everything, from the performances, writing, action sequences, cinematography and even Adele's theme song, came together superbly within "Skyfall," as James Bond's journey was undeniably emotional and psychological as well as sensationally exciting and placed him against a most formidable and frightening adversary in Javier Bardem. "Skyfall" reached a level of greatness that, in my mind, informed me that the series had reached a new level; a level that needed to be equally matched in future installments because, as far as I was concerned, there was no reason whatsoever to return to those lackluster, assembly line level Bond films of the past ever again.

Now, we arrive with "Spectre," and what a tremendous fall from grace this is.

Sam Mendes, who returns to the director's chair for this 24th official James Bond film, has unfortunately delivered a bomb. Believe me, I am as stunned to write those words as I am certain that you are with reading them, but even so, "Spectre" is awful. It is a lifeless, uninspired experience just as the series should be flying over the top. But, there I sat in my theater seat, shifting uncomfortably and often, even yawning several times throughout for as uninterested I was in the proceedings which were so elongated, I wondered if this 2 1/2 hour film had even undergone an editing process. While "Spectre" has already earned a box office fortune and will continue to rake in more dollars, for those of you who have not yet seen the film, trust  me, use your hard earned dollars and go see something different for "Spectre" is a time waster so tremendous even 007 himself would declare it as "rubbish."

For all intents and purposes, Sam Mendes' "Spectre" essentially serves as the culminating installment after the previous three Bond films, as agent 007 James Bond (again played by Daniel Craig) encounters the titular sinister global criminal organization for the first time. Again aided by new MI6 head M (Ralph Finnes), M's assistant Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and computer expert/gadget inventor Q (Ben Whishaw), Bond embarks upon his globe-trotting escapade which leads him to his ultimate confrontation with SPECTRE mastermind Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), a figure who has not only served as the puppeteer of Bond's most recent excursions, but a man with whom Bond shares a dark secret as well as one who possesses an identity familiar to Bond iconography.

As much of a surprise as the greatness of "Skyfall" was to me, so much so that it made everything so familiar about the James Bond universe feel striking and refreshingly new, "Spectre" presented a James Bond experience at its most mundane and tired to the point of exhausted. Now truth be told, the film certainly did not begin at such a sub-par level. Quite the contrary, the pre-opening credit sequence, set during a Day Of The Dead festival in Mexico, is sensational. Beginning with a virtuoso unbroken and beautifully choreographed long take to a dizzying set of fisticuffs inside of a helicopter, dangerously spiraling over the heads of the crowd down below was so razor sharp, so spectacular an opening, I was already feeling that we would have another Bond success upon our hands. But, after that opening, and Sam Smith's theme song, "Spectre" settles and nearly solidifies itself in the cement of cinematic time and space.

Aside from some strong moments here and there (a fist fight aboard a moving train, a sequence late in the film where Bond is nearly lobotomized), "Spectre" ultimately becomes a film that possesses no momentum, a complete lack of urgency, potency and even purpose. All told, it is the anti-thesis of everything "Skyfall" happened to be.

Granted, it would not be unfair if any of you out there are wondering if perhaps I had set my expectations too high and am being overly harsh upon "Spectre." But, do trust me and the words I write. I entered "Spectre" considerably less with high expectations and moreso with an anticipation I typically do not carry towards new James Bond movies. The high bar set by "Skyfall" simply made me excited to see a new installment and as I watched "Spectre," I just sat open-mouthed wondering just how what I was watching had gone so terribly wrong.

First of all, the molasses ensconced pacing made the film drag on to its interminable length. It was as if Mendes, his cast and crew, expended all that they were able to muster in the film's opening sequence and just refused to become invested in much of anything else afterwards. In fact, it felt as if there had been several films made in between "Skyfall " and "Spectre," and the audience just happened to be witnessing the long-in-the-tooth episode in the series where the cast and crew are along for the ride purely out of obligation (and certainly more than a little bit of money) rather than any vested interest. Daniel Craig in particular just appeared as if he could not wait to be rid of 007 once and for all. Yes, he demonstrated a powerful physicality and he does look smashing in those tailored suits. But even so, he just looked as if he would rather have been anywhere else and if Bond doesn't want to be involved within his own adventure, then why should we sit there and watch it?

Furthermore, whatever sexual tension and chemistry that needed to exist between James Bond and his latest love interest, Dr. Madeleine Swann (played by Lea Seydoux) was negligible. Not only did the relationship feel more arbitrary than authentic (especially after what we witnessed between Craig and Eva Green in "Casino Royale"), this was the first time where the age differences between the actors (Craig has a good seventeen years on Seydoux), looked uncomfortably awkward, as if James Bond was romancing his niece rather than any sort of femme fatale.

And then, there is Christoph Waltz, whose measured line readings can make nearly any dialogue sing thrillingly, but let's face it, he doesn't ave anything approaching Quentin Tarantino dialogue to work with this time around. Yes, he makes for a most shadowy and sinister figure and there are some good moments, but in many sequences, he felt to be almost a parody of the classic Bond villain, you know, the one who just talks and talks about his plans to take over the world ad nauseum. Within "Spectre," there were quite a number of moments where Waltz's dialogue was so voluminous that Bond could have escaped his clutches ten times over and shot him just as many times while he kept blabbering on and on and on.

Basically, I spent much of "Spectre" remembering the feelings I had when I saw Director Christopher McQuarrie's spectacular "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" earlier this year, as I did think to myself about how much James Bond would have to live up to once "Spectre" arrived. Come to think of it, both films happen to share somewhat similar plots, but somehow, McQuarrie and Tom Cruise deftly figured out ways to enliven the long running franchise, making a fifth film in the series that is possibly the best film to date. Through smart, sharp dialogue, a strong attention to the characters and their relationships with each other, plus one eye popping set piece after another and most importantly, displaying a sense of unadulterated fun, McQuarrie and Cruise made a film that I am anxious to see again as well as excited for a sixth installment (long past the time most film series should advance). With "Spectre," nobody, seemed to be having any fun! It was so ponderous, so torpid, so bloated with stagnant air...it just was not enjoyable at all, truly a cardinal sin for a James Bond movie. .

"It's not over," James Bond announces to Dr. Swann late in the film and after yet another cataclysmic explosion. To that line, I let out a long, exhausted sigh (which I hope wasn't terribly audible to the audience members around me), to which I could not hep myself. Sam Mendes' "Spectre" finds James Bond practically crawling to a finish line and dragging us along with him. I realize that it truly is a miracle when films get made, and even moreso of a miracle when the film in question turns out to be a great one. Sometimes the stars just are not in alignment, for whatever the reasons. But, once James Bond returns, as promised at the conclusion of the end credit scrawl as always, I seriously hope that he finds himself properly rejuvenated or else the time to just make another cinematic 007 adventure may come to pass.

CITIZEN DICK: a review of "Steve Jobs"

"STEVE JOBS"
Based upon Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Screenplay Written by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Danny Boyle
**** (four stars)
RATED R

We are really living within a precarious time for adult dramatic films.

Last week, Director Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs," a film that has already received its share of superlative reviews, opened to very meager box office returns, so meager that industry trade magazine already deemed the film to be a financial flop...even though it had only been in theaters for three days. Post-mortem articles were being written and then published by last Monday, wondering if the failure to catch monetary fire was due to the fact that this film marks the third feature film in two years (including a documentary and a narrative feature starring Ashton Kutcher in the titular role) concerning the late pioneer of the technological sea change that delivered computers into everyday life.

Herein lies the problem...

First of all, we are now living within a time when films just do not have a chance whatsoever to find and build an audience as box office expectations are now seemingly designed to be met and exceeded, breaking all manner of records within the first 24-48 hours of release. The general population simply does not go out to the movies, albeit all movies that quickly and some, especially more adult themed films, do need time to catch some fire and gather the necessary word of mouth. Nowadays, movies are truly not considered to be works of art (or at least artful entertainment) meant to be cherished, discussed and debated. Movies are designed to be consumed and forgotten before you even return home from the multiplex.

Secondly, to the argument that audiences were overwhelmed with he presence of three Steve Jobs themed film within a two year period, I vehemently disagree, especially as the previous two did not receive nearly the large media push that Danny Boyle's film has received. Furthermore, please don't speak to me about any sense of over-saturation concerning the topic of Steve Jobs when how many superhero movies have been released just this year?! Honestly, when we live in a world where there have been five "Spider-Man" movies within a 13 year period and is also about to be re-booted for the second time, I think we can handle another film about Jobs.

To that end, Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" is an electrifying film, a riveting, verbally rancorous adult drama that not only paints a brutally impressionistic portrait of this inscrutable figure but also transcends it primary subject to speak again about the nature of genius and to our increasing lack of humanity when filtered through the very technology that was intended to elevate our humanity. It is a dramatic triumph featuring an unforgiving powerhouse, award season worthy performance by Michael Fassbender and it also serves as a complete return to form for Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin whose focus and dialogue is sharpened to the point of a knife's edge with a script that is also unquestionably awards season worthy. If word of mouth truly is the key, then let me provide that voice to you, imploring all of you to head out and see this superior, intelligent, artful, and often infuriating drama before it finds itself lost in the cracks.

Completely and boldly eschewing any biopic trappings and cliches, Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" is divided into three designated acts, each spending time within the years of 1984, 1988 and 1998 and all behind the scenes of three project launch events, all hosted by Jobs, played with intense ferocity by Fassbender.

Whether struggling to find ways to make the Apple Macintosh's voice demo say "Hello" to the audience in 1984, preparing for the NeXT computer launch in 1988 or awaiting the premiere of the iMac in 1998, Jobs is relentlessly confronted by several primary figures within his life.

Steve Wozniak (an excellent Seth Rogen), Jobs' former creative partner, co-founder of Apple and creator of the Apple II, simply wants Jobs to acknowledge the Apple II team's role in Jobs' success, a request that Jobs constantly refuses to Wozniak's increased fury. Apple CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels), essentially Jobs' Father figure, possesses a tenuous, and at times, raging personal and professional relationship that builds, explodes, and restructures itself to a most strained degree. Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg), a beleaguered member of the original Mac team is constantly on the receiving end of Jobs' wrath. And finally, we have Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston), Jobs' former girlfriend and Mother to their daughter Lisa (played at the ages of 5,9, and 19 by Mackenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo and Perla Haney-Jardine, respectively), a daughter whom Jobs repeatedly denies is his.

Serving as Jobs's conscience, as well as the film's moral core, is Joanna Hoffman (the great Kate Winslet), marketing executive for Apple and NeXT, plus Jobs' confidant and self-described "work wife." Hoffman is the sole figure able to not only stand up to Jobs' unrepentant turbulence, she is the sole figure able to break through his otherwise impenetrable walls, much to her own depleting patience and tolerance for Jobs' truly ugly behavior towards seemingly everyone in his life on his unstoppable personal quest for greatness and the legacy branding of "visionary genius."

Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" is an interior backstage drama that is as bracing as it is incendiary, with its unforgiving exploration of the titular figure. Boyle smartly tempers his typical visual extravagances, as seen within the likes of "Trainspotting" (1996), "28 Days Later" (2002), his finest film to date "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) and the wrenching "127 Hours" (2010), to create a visual palate that is more theatrical than cinematic, wisely allowing all of the actors and especially, the writing of Aaron Sorkin to take the center stage.

The entire cast of "Steve Jobs" is uniformly excellent, with a real surprise arriving in Seth Rogen, who truly raises his game and is completely able to go toe-to-toe with the extraordinary Michael Fassbender but also with Sorkin's trademark mountainous, difficult dialogue which is exquisitely constructed and again contains a velocity that forces the actors and the audience to keep pace or find themselves lost in the dust. "Steve Jobs" is indeed a film without a traditional plot structure and it is indeed all dialogue, the the words, emotions, motivations and performances are entirely in lockstep, making for a film that is furiously bracing, exciting viewing.

Where Sorkin's work on his now defunct HBO series "The Newsroom" was sometimes brilliant, sometimes infuriating and often completely tonally erratic, his work with "Steve Jobs" reminds us of why he has been so revered in the first place. Conceptually, Sorkin has written what serves a as stellar companion piece to his writing within Director David Fincher's "The Social Network" (2010), another technological/interpersonal drama that painted a grim picture of another computer based and so-called "visionary" Mark Zuckerberg (played brilliantly by Jesse Eisenberg) and mirrored it with our increased societal alienation from each other as our reliance upon the technology has grown.

But, as remorseless, arrogant, jealous and embittered Zuckerberg was portrayed, he does not even come close to the seemingly bottomless cauldron of rage that boiled within this version of Steve Jobs. Michael Fassbender's performance is nothing less than relentless, as we can easily witness the wheels spinning within his mind, always seeing his deeply desired goal post in sight, often to a most cunning, unscrupulous degree and fueled by recrimination, a sense of superiority to exists as a God complex, and a desire to be thought of as a singular visionary, despite the influence and the work of countless individuals, most notably, the endlessly short-shrifted Steve Wozniak.

Boyle and Sorkin, with Fassbender as a tremendous conduit, have utilized "Steve Jobs" to create a portrait of self-aggrandizement that borders on the delusional, and the level of his cruelty is indeed unbelievable as well as unbearable, especially as he consistently denies his daughter Lisa and only tends to display any stitch of humanity after being either one-upped by others (for instance, a sequence where Andy Hertzfeld takes it upon himself to pay Lisa's college semester tuition and even suggests the possibility of therapy), or coaxed and coached by Joanna Hoffman.

And yet, what was housed inside the core of Steve Jobs on his feverish pursuit of genius? Certainly, with the film's structure and conceits, Boyle and Sorkin are essentially modeling "Steve Jobs" upon nothing less than Orson Welles "Citizen Kane" (1941), as it attempts to find what precisely drove a person, and better yet a persona, that is so unknowable, frustrating and impossible. Yes, the film does incude some internal pathos about Jobs forever dealing with his individual pain with being adopted, a process in which he supposedly felt rejected instead of accepted. But even so, I don't believe that Boyle is offering this route as any sort of an easy answer.

I think what is at the center of "Steve Jobs" is Boyle and Sorkin's ruminations over the process of self-mythologizing, a process that exists for every single one of us in the real world and now, even moreso in the 21st century, the virtual world. Just take a moment and think about how we all choose to present ourselves as we navigate our daily lives. How the figures we envision ourselves as, or aspire to become, fuels our personalities as we engage with the larger world.

What is the persona we wish to present when making that all-important first impression? What is the persona we deliver to the world within our daily lives at school, at work, with acquaintances, with friends, with romantic partners and so on. Never do we reveal every single fabric of our being, do we? We show what we wish to show, doing all we can to push what we feel as undesirable aspects out of view. Certainly, within social media, this aspect of our humanity has exploded for we can truly become even more selective with the personality traits and successes and attributes we wish to present to the world at large. Within the gaming community, we can even re-design ourselves, functioning as avatars that may not even remotely resemble who we are in the real world, and armed with talents and skills we do not possess.

We are all in the process of creating our own mythologies, our own legends to such unprecedented degrees that we do indeed run the risk of completely living within fantasy rather than reality. And in the case of Steve Jobs, as presented within this film, we witness an individual who has mythologized himself to such a titanic level, justified or not. In his mind and through how he presents himself outwardly, Steve Jobs is one who can stand on equal footing as Albert Einstein, Alan Turing, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis (whose portraits, at one point, surround his stage--which just may function as a physical representation of his own head space), and therefore, has given himself the right to not suffer anyone he deems to be lesser than himself, regardless of the damage he leaves behind on his road to glory. In Jobs' mind, genius cannot co-exist with simple human decency. Why? It would seem that Jobs barely ever slowed down to ponder the reasons.

Who are we, how do we envision ourselves, what do we desire and what are we becoming all sit at the heart of Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" a character study that also functions as a stern warning about our increased reliance/addiction to technology and social media. And in addition to "The  Social Network," it is a film that sits smartly alongside recent features like Spike Jonze's "Her" (2013) and even Kevin Smith's "Tusk" (2014), other films that also delivered impassioned pleas for us to not lose ourselves within the rabbit holes of the internet, our dreams and even our own psyches.

This is indeed the gift of an exceedingly well presented adult drama, the kind of which that has become more difficult to get made within the Hollywood studio system and definitely more difficult to not find itself lost among other and bigger films. It's amazing to me that Robert Zemeckis' wonderful "The Walk" has already come and gone and with the rapid arrivals of James Bond, Katniss Everdeen, the Peanuts gang and the latest Pixar offering in the coming weeks, this powerfully excellent film will undoubtedly suffer the same unfortunate fate.

Of course, not every film can be a hit. But, something this engrossing, this compelling, this worthy of examination and debate and something of this high quality more than deserves a fair chance.

SAVAGE CINEMA'S COMING ATTRACTIONS FOR NOVEMBER 2015

I have to play some catch up.

When new film releases arrive each week, I try my best to get myself to the theaters each Sunday afternoon to check out the latest offering that I may happen to be interested in. Last month, as I so happily attended the Garbage concert, that did indeed take one weekend out of my movie going and then, the floodgates opened.

Today, I am planning on taking in Director Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" but then, the latest James Bond adventure "Spectre," again directed by Sam Mendes, arrives next week and I still haven't had the chance to see Steven Spielberg's "Bridge Of Spies." 

And even then...

1. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2," the final installment in the series arrives and I am hoping that this chapter returns the series to the glories of the first two episodes.

2. On the indie film front, I am especially looking forward to Director Tom McCarthy's journalism drama "Spotlight" starring Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo.

3. "Creed," the "Rocky" spin-off film from Writer/Director Ryan Coogler who last delivered "Fruitvale Station," does have me somewhat intrigued.

4. And then, Pixar will release "The Good Dinosaur," their second film this year after their creative rebirth and triumph of "Inside Out."

That is more than enough to try and somehow find a way to see and experience for the month. But, as always, I can only ask for you to wish me well...

...and I'll see you when the house lights go down!

I'M NOT A LOSER. I'M A QUITTER: a review of "Rock The Kasbah"

"ROCK THE KASBAH"
Screenplay Written by Mitch Glazer
Directed by Barry Levinson
** (two stars)
RATED R

How is it possible that a film with a title as anarchistic as this one be as dry as an Afghanistan desert?

I am not sure precisely what it is about Bill Murray, but he, perhaps more than any other of his comedic contemporaries, has ingratiated himself so deeply within the public consciousness and pop culture, has built an affection from his audience that only seems to continue to grow and has also continued to surprise with the depths of his acting abilities and yet, so very often, the films he makes fall short. "Rock The Kasbah" is yet another effort that possesses quite the potential to become a Bill Murray classic yet never reaches the brass ring, let alone contains enough juice to even jump for it in the first place.

Under the surprisingly laconic direction of legendary Director Barry Levinson, "Rock The Kasbah" is an intermittently entertaining yet ultimately underwhelming film that merges the Murray persona of his early and current career with a political satire and even an earnest feminist drama that unfortunately settles and sludges along when it otherwise should be as explosive and as dangerous as a firecracker left to explode inside of your hands.

"Rock The Kasbah" stars Bill Murray as Richie Lanz, a down and just-this-close to being out of business rock music manager, who takes his final singing client (yet employed as his secretary), Ronnie (a funny Zooey Deschanel) on a USO tour of Afghanistan, yet finds himself abandoned in war torn Kabul without funds or his passport.

As he attempts to figure out a way to return to Van Nuys, California, Richie runs afoul of two hard partying war profiteers (Danny McBride and Scott Caan), a gruff mercenary (Bruce Willis), the worldly wise and weary hooker (Kate Hudson), the Afghani disco music loving cab driver (Arian Moayed) among others including dangerous war lords. Yet, on one deep, dark night in the desert, Richie  stumbles upon the sight and sound of Salima Khan (Leem Lubany), a Pashtun teenage girl with a golden voice and enormous dreams of becoming the first woman to sing and compete on Afghanistan television's version of "American Idol."

It is here where Richie Lanz discovers his meal ticket, and ultimately his purpose, as he knows in his bones that he is the only one able to make Salima's dreams come true, life threatening cultural objections be damned.

With "Rock The Kasbah," I can confidently express that Bill Murray has absolutely nothing to do with any of the film's failures. On the contrary, whatever successes the film does achieve rest almost solely with him as Murray truly carries the film and he delivers yet another strong performance to add to his expanding collection. Yes, and as previously stated, Richie Lanz is cut from the same cloth as the characters from Bill Murray's earliest films. Like the gently anarchistic heroes he portrayed in Director Ivan Reitman's "Stripes" (1981) and "Ghostbusters" (1984), for instance, Richie Lanz is another cantankerous, wayward layabout on an existential downward slide who finds himself placed within an extraordinary situation or series of circumstances armed mostly with his brilliantly wicked wit and restless ingenuity.

Yet, as Murray also demonstrated in Director Harold Ramis' "Groundhog Day" (1993), Director Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation" (2003), Director Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004), Director Jim Jarmusch's "Broken  Flowers" (2005) and Director Theodore Melfi's "St. Vincent" (2014) among others, he unearthed a powerfully effective level of dramatic pathos to give his characters a newfound gravity, helping us to see the pain housed inside the laughter and how the laughter is indeed the essential fuel to keep him placing one footstep in front of the other.

Richie Lanz is no exception as we can study all of those wonderful lines in Murray's aged face, detailing all of the deep miles this character has undertaken in his long and not-so-illustrious career. Lanz is a charlatan, more than a bit of a cheat, a schemer and a scoundrel and even shades of Nick the Lounge Singer, Murray's iconic character from "Saturday Night Live," make an appearance. And still, Lanz carries a certain moral code and sense of  honor that is indeed unshakable, and as the film continues onwards and situations grow more dire for Salima, he becomes quite endearing. Bill Murray's peerless turn of a phrase and Wile E. Coyote-like persona goes a tremendous way within the entirety of "Rock The Kasbah." You are unable to take your eyes away from him and you never want to for even with the smallest raise of an eyebrow or the slightest shrug of a shoulder, Bill Murray remains in a class by himself.

So, it is a shame that like the very good yet terribly predictable "St. Vincent," we are given a terrific Bill Murray performance in a movie that never matches his inventiveness. The faults of this film for me do lie directly at the feet of Screenwriter Mitch Glazer and definitely Barry Levinson, who showed little of the comedic and directorial gifts he has displayed in the past time and again.

For Glazer, I can certainly express to you that "Rock The Kasbah" is not remotely short on ideas but that was the problem for me; it felt as if the film never really advanced beyond the idea stage. Character development, aside from Richie Lanz, exists at a bare minimum. Kate Hudson's character, especially arriving in 2015 is just thankless as well as a sad reminder that her finest work remains in Director Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000). Honestly, can we please just place a moratorium over impossibly gorgeous hookers with hearts of gold once and for all?

Beyond that, the characters of the mercenary, the war profiteers, and frankly, all of the Afghanistan people are paper thin at best, even though they all feel as if there is much story to tell, especially as they all exist within a very real and dangerous world. Yes, "Rock The Kasbah" is a comedy, but I did feel frustrated that Glazer's screenplay would have the audacity to enter into a world of deep moral, political, social, sexual, theological complications that the inevitable culture clash would be one worth exploring and therefore, satirizing, and Glazer just did not go for it. These characters all exist solely as ideas and never transcend the idea to become three-dimensional human beings, which would then give the proper gravity to the film to add essential weight and tension to the comedy.

The entire film truly hinges upon Salima Khan and it is a shame that "Rock The Kasbah" only seems to give brief lip service to the harsh reality implicit in a young woman daring to go on television, with fully exposed hair and face (with makeup to boot)and singing the songs of Cat Stevens in English. That concept by itself shows what a movie "Rock The Kasbah" could have been if Glazer fully committed to--once again with feeling--the ideas he set to paper in the first place. But all we have is a very pretty young woman looking hopeful and offering plastic platitudes and I firmly believe that a character like this deserved so much more than what was given to her.

But Barry Levinson certainly did Glazer's screenplay and the film overall no favors with his dry as the desert direction which had no energy, no snap, and no bite--all of which were on superior display in his brilliant "Wag The Dog" (1997) and most certainly, "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987), two films of which "Rock The Kasbah" certainly could have existed as a companion piece. This was more than confounding to me as "Rock The Kasbah" is not only screaming for a go-for-broke teeth baring satire like John Cusack's wildly brutal passion project "War, Inc" (2008), but I was stunned that Levinson carried the same banal, dispassionate tonal quality throughout, even as the film slides from comedy to tragedy and back to comedy.

At one point late in the film, as situations are looking particularly grim, one character expresses to Richie Lanz and he is about to cut his losses and head for the hills, that he is a loser and a quitter, to which he replies, "I'm not a loser. I'm a quitter." "Rock The Kasbah" feels like that. While it is by no means a disaster, and does indeed find Bill Murray completely committed to his part of the proceedings, the film as a whole just kind of gives up...even before it ever really gets itself revved up.

'SCUSE ME WHILE I KISS THE SKY: a review of "The Walk"

"THE WALK" 
Based upon the memoir To Reach The Clouds by Philippe Petit
Screenplay Written by Robert Zemeckis & Christopher Browne
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
**** (four stars)
RATED PG

"I won an Academy Award when I was 44 years old but I paid for it with my 20s. That decade of my life from film school til 30 was nothing but work, nothing but absolute, driving work. I had no money. I had no life...The goal from here on is to balance my passion, because I do love it so much. It's kind of like the old saying about climbing a ladder and then realizing that it's up against the wrong wall. When you make one of the biggest movies of all time and you win an Academy Award, it forces you to look into the void, because it doesn't ultimately fulfill anything."
-Robert Zemeckis
Interview with Academy Of Achievement: A Museum Of Living History 1996

For nearly 40 years, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis has long established himself as one of our greatest cinematic magicians. Time and again, Zemeckis has delivered one eye popping sight after another and always filtered through his ever inventive directorial vision, providing generations with films that are truly for the ages.

Just think, within his very first film "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1978), he gave us a front row seat to wide-swept Beatlemania and somehow made us feel that we were witnessing The Beatles even though they never appeared upon screen. Or how about the deliriously awesome spectacle of witnessing human beings interacting seamlessly with cartoon characters in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (1988). What of regarding Goldie Hawn parading through scenes with a shotgun blast hole blown completely through her middle in the wicked satire "Death Becomes Her" (1992). Or the life odyssey of a bumpkin, played beautifully by Tom Hanks, rubbing shoulders with all manner of historical dignitaries and iconic celebrities as if he were actually, truly present in "Forrest Gump" (1994). Zemeckis has allowed us to travel with Jodie Foster through the universe and back in "Contact" (1997) as well as through harrowing existential crises as presented in both "Cast Away" (2000) and "Flight" (2012). And of course, we cannot even begin to ignore the collection of air-tight time travel conundrums, paradoxes and near catastrophes experienced and endured by Marty McFly and Doc Brown in the...well...timeless "Back To The Future" trilogy (1985/1989/1990).

With the arrival of "The Walk," I feel that Robert Zemeckis has made one of his most magical films. It is exquisitely filmed and the ultimate effect is nothing short of exhilarating (even in 2D!). But beyond the sheer spectacle of the high wire escapade, Zemeckis has also presented a film that is not only multi-layered but one that just might possibly be his most personal, in regards to his artistic drive and determination and the successes and potential failings that accompany a relentless attention to his specialized brand of imagination and ingenuity. Yes, everyone is heading out to see Ridley Scott's "The Martian" and with a new film from no less than Steven Spielberg, as well as the rapturously well reviewed "Steve Jobs" waiting in the wings, there is the possibility that "The Walk" just might find itself lost in the cracks. But trust me, dear readers, Robert Zemeckis has delivered the goods once again, triumphantly so, and I would just hate for you to miss this glorious film upon the BIG SCREEN that is was purely designed to be seen.

"The Walk" stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a thrilling, fully engaging performance as real life French high-wire artist Philippe Petit as he prepares and performs his historical (and illegal) tightrope walk between the two, as yet unfinished twin towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974.

Over the course of just a hair over two hours, Zemeckis, utilizing the direct to the camera/audience narration by Petit, takes us through Petit's childhood, origins as a French street performer and fascination with becoming a wire-walker, his romance with street musician Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), his teachings from legendary tightrope performer Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) and his voyage to New York as he builds a covert crew to assist him with his covert quest to nearly reach the clouds.

The film's dazzling, nearly 20 minute, climax features Philippe Petit's historic walk to the awed eyes of the citizens of New York plus his crew and the arsenal of police officers hoping to reel Petit back to safety.

Robert Zemeckis' "The Walk" is unquestionably a feast for the eyes from the 1970's period details to the almost vertigo inducing sequences miles high above the ground. For those of you who just may see this film in 3D, I firmly believe that Zemeckis has pulled out all of the stops and you just may find yourselves hanging onto your theater seats so as not to feel as if you are falling off of the world. Awards season had better to be most generous to Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who in collaboration with Zemeckis, has fashioned a visual palate from beginning to end that is completely immersive and stunning, making the special effects entirely seamless with the real world surroundings and actors.

It is a film that sits beautifully with the remainder of Zemeckis' filmography, especially his friskier features like the aforementioned "Back To The Future" series and even the raunchy satire "Used Cars" (1980), as those films each featured a collective of characters hatching all manner of plots and schemes to which we in the audience would fall into sheer delight viewing how their plans would inevitably go awry and how they wriggle themselves out of the jaws of failure over and again. Essentially, Zemeckis has even outdone Director Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean Eleven" (2001) as he has made almost the ultimate caper film, as Philippe Petit, the consummate showman, wishes to deliver an unexpected experience, the likes of which could never be performed again and one that crucially has to be kept secret from the public in order to make its intended impact of jaw dropping awe.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is absolutely wonderful as Petit. While his French accent may not be perfect, he more than makes up for any discrepancies through the energy, intensity, balletic physicality and existential pathos he pours into his full performance. His magnetism is as infectious as it is exciting, fully making us understand how Annie, French photographer Jean-Louis (Clement Sibomy), French speaking New Yorker J.P. (James Badge Dale), life insurance salesman Barry Greenhouse (Steve Valentine) and even a genteel Frenchman named Jeff (Cesar Domboy), who incidentally houses a fear of heights, would follow him entirely during such a foolhardy scheme, and eve remain with him as they endure Petit's arrogance, anger, and moments where he seems to be slipping away into madness. But Petit remains fully steadfast, either with his crew or addressing the audience from atop his perch at the peak of the Statue Of Liberty, fully serving his muse, his inspiration, his reason for being as well as the city of New York itself, making him a figure we want to believe in as well as follow.

Even so "The Walk," just like "The Martian" is a testament to what we as human beings are able to achieve and accomplish just by working together and believing in one another. With that, Zecmekis has crafted a film that works as a metaphor to the life experience itself, for what is the unpredictable nature of life but a veritable tightrope walk each and every day. What of the changes and curve balls life throws at each and every one of us at one time or another. From changes that are either self-induced or forced, to be thrown from one's perceived path into another requires unquestionable strength and agility and may also house tremendous doubts of one abilities and fears of absolute failure. Every step we take each day is yet another step into the void, the unknown and Petit's walk across the twin towers serves as a powerful image to all lives lived but also as a stirring testament to the people of New York City and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  

And still, there is the matter of the quotation with which I opened this review. With Philippe Petit and his crew, I could not help but to think that "The Walk" may also serve as an allegory to the filmmaking career of Robert Zemeckis himself as Petit could easily be viewed as the Zemeckis stand-in, a feverishly creative figure surrounded by a team of individuals, all working to serve his artistic vision no matter where it takes him. I can only imagine what it would have been like to have worked alongside this man for many years and on the projects he has released to the world as well as what role his brand of dogged determination and dedication may have played within his personal life. A final scene between Petit and Annie certainly does present an interpersonal tension that can arise when both people are attached to one person's dreams and I do believe that we just may be asked to wonder how Zemeckis, and therefore, how all of us, are able to achieve that sense of balance in life--itself another tightrope walk that is often precarious yet not impossible.

I am so very thankful as a film-goer that Robert Zemeckis has indeed dedicated himself so thoroughly to his art, repeatedly providing me with glorious times at the movies. But he is indeed a human being first, and I would hate to think that he may have sacrificed a certain sense of personal happiness for artistic glory. Hopefully, he has indeed found that balance and furthermore, with a circle of individuals to offer him support and encouragement in turn.

That is indeed the beauty of a film like "The Walk" as it successfully merges the thrill ride with the profound, one that transcends its primary subject matter, making for an experience that is specific to the life experience of Philippe Petit, personal for Robert Zemeckis and universal for all of us watching, gasping in awe as we regard one risk filled step after another into the unknown.

LIFE ON MARS: a review of "The Martian"

"THE MARTIAN" 
Based upon the novel by Andy Weir
Screenplay Written by Drew Goddard
Directed by Ridley Scott
***1/2 (three and a half stars) 
RATED PG 13

Is it really amazing to me that a movie that is actually quite traditional can now exist as something astoundingly audacious.

2015. When I think of the year, especially now that I am living comfortably inside of it, I look back to the images that originally conjured within my brain as I conceptualized what 2015 could possibly look, feel and be like. I don't necessarily mean flying cars and such (although those did pass through my imagination), but I had wondered if we, as a human society, would have advanced far beyond anything that I could conceive. Maybe it was all so naive of me, my head filled with such daydreams. But even so, the concept of 2015, and even the 21st century in and of itself,  just seemed to be unfathomable to me.

And yet, here we are and life in the 21st century is indeed unfathomable to my perceptions as to how regressive we have become in some ways, especially regarding the nature of facts, Science, Math, the pursuit of intelligence and even the nature of reality itself. With a sea of political leaders and Presidential candidates all turning their backs against all that is real, plus the defunding of NASA and a cultural dialogue that has grown destructively vitriolic and divisive, the world where I thought we would be striving for new discoveries has been seemingly replaced by a world that finds the pursuit of knowledge more of a burden than a virtue. It sometimes makes me feel like I would want to fly off into the skies, the stars and points unknown just to rid myself of all that is so obviously holding humanity backwards.

Director Ridley Scott's "The Martian," a terrific adaptation of the best selling Andy Weir novel, is a richly rendered experience that serves as a cultural antidote as well as a simultaneous celebration and lament for all we are capable of as well as for how much we are losing and have already lost. Even so, it is a film which possesses a surprisingly heartfelt overflow of the best of humanity, especially coming from a filmmaker who has been traditionally prickly, cynical and clinical. "The Martian," existing as a film that contains so much isolation, is a wonderfully inclusive motion picture that finds Ridley Scott exhibiting tremendous focus and energy, therefore making one of the most entertaining and involving films of his long career.

"The Martian" stars Matt Damon as Astro-Botanist Mark Watney, crew member of the Ares III and stationed upon Mars. When an intense sandstorm arises, forcing the crew to depart the planet, an accident separates Watney from the remainder of the crew, leaving him lost and presumed dead.

Yet, on the morning after the storm, Watney awakens to find that he has not only survived, he is now alone and stranded upon the red planet without means of communication to NASA. Realizing that he now has to "science the shit" out of his new surroundings, he utilizes his skills as a botanist to grow crops within an artificial habitat, refurbishes the rover to make it capable for long journeys and he also keeps himself a video diary to help maintain his morale as well as his sanity as he calculates that he has possibly three years to survive, that is, all going well.

Meanwhile at NASA, engineer Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Mission Control satellite planner Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis) receive satellite photos from Mars revealing that Mark Watney is indeed still alive. Enlisting the combined aid of NASA Director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels), NASA spokesperson Annie Montrose (Kristen Wiig), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Director Brce Ng (Benedict Wong), astrophysicist Rich Purnell (Donald Glover), NASA Mission Director Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean), the Chinese National Space Agency and finally, the crew of the Ares III now aboard the Hermes (featuring Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Sebastian Stan, Kata Mara and Askel Hennie), a plan is formulated to try and rescue Watley and return him to Earth.

As you would expect, Ridley Scott's "The Martian" is a visually resplendent film, filled from beginning to end with A list production values, seamless special effects and armed with a cast that is uniformly excellent. Matt Damon once again provides a completely compelling performance that firmly illustrates that he is indeed one of our rare actors who is superbly able to hold the screen all alone for long stretches of time during this survivalist epic with strength, ease, remarkable depths of pathos and equally surprising sections of self-deprecating humor (just imagine being marooned on Mars with only disco music to listen to), making this an experience that works very well as a companion piece to films like Director Robert Zemeckis' "Cast Away" (2000), Director Danny Boyle's "127 Hours" (2010) and Director Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" (2013).

Additionally, "The Martian" is a film that sits most comfortably alongside past interstellar epics like Writer/Director Philip Kaufman's "The Right Stuff" (1983), Director Ron Howard's "Apollo 13" (1995), Director Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar" (2014) and of course, Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), as Ridley Scott presents an outer space excursion based not in fantasy, but one filled with ideas and tangible concepts as the reality of Science and Math are placed center stage in Mark Watley's survivalist and existential crisis.

That being said, the familiarity of "The Martian" to all of those aforementioned films did lend itself to a certain predictable nature that, at least for me, downplayed some of the film's more visceral qualities as I have seen this sort of thing many times before. But truth be told, Ridley Scott has not fashioned "The Martian" to function as a white knuckle thrill ride like "Gravity,"although both films share similar themes, most notably attempting to survive within the unpredictable, unforgiving nature of space. But even so, and as engrossing as the film is, I wasn't as swept away as I had hoped that I would be, possibly due to Scott's more clinical directorial hand.

Regardless, where"The Martian" does indeed find its considerable thrills, and therefore, its conceptual fuel, is completely within the inherent drama that is housed inside of problem solving and collaboration in order to achieve a common goal. No small feat and Scott achieves several sequences of riveting drama that solely focuses on individuals confronting a situation, and being forced to conceptualize another angle, another avenue, another plan of attack.

Dear readers, there truly is something to be said about watching a collective of individuals utilizing their intellects and not weapons in order to achieve success. And while some have celebrated the film by facetiously utilizing the terms "nerds," I actually have to discredit that very description because honestly, why is one dismissively considered to be less than another just because one happens to be intelligent? In contrast, I found the characters of "The Martian" to be nothing less than heroic, knowing that sheer brain power combined with empathy and humanity is an awesome tool to behold and within the realm of Science, Math, Physics and the like, it is not a tool so easily discovered, and one that provides the film with a sense of honest uplift.

But let's get back to where we are in 2015 within the real world and where "The Martian" fits inside of it. As I have previously stated, Ridley Scott has created a film that while being very much of the present, is indeed quite old-fashioned and familiar. Even so, and considering the destructive nature of our current socio-political landscape, I truly felt it to be an act of sheer audacity to create a big budget motion picture (which has already become a box office hit), a two and a half hour epic that is essentially proclaiming from start to finish: "SCIENCE IS REAL!!!!!"

Just think about it for a moment. We currently have a candidate running for President who actually is a scientist yet somehow does not believe in the reality of climate change and has even openly questioned the origin of gravity and he's one of the front runners for the Republican party! That reality says as much, if not more, about our populace as it does about the candidate himself and furthermore illustrates the danger to all of us if we allow those who would adhere to ideology rather than reality to have their hands upon the wheels. "The Martian," at its best, is a showcase for a specialized brand of ingenuity, discovery, and imagination, all of which arrives completely through the knowledge of Science and Math, something I feel that should be celebrated and not twisted to be seen as tools for the elite.

And therefore, it is the communal aspect of "The Martian" that provides the film with its honest and earned uplift, by showing how Science, Math and intelligence itself can bring individuals together, not for commerce or for profit but for a cause that is humane. Considering the dark filmography of Ridley Scott, which includes the iconic outer space haunted house thrills of "Alien" (19179), the dystopian futuristic detective masterpiece "Blade Runner" (1982), plus the likes of the grim feminist road movie "Thelma And Louise" (1991), and even, the downright nihilistic "Prometheus" (2012), it is truly a wonderment that Scott has created a film that depicts the possibilities rather than the pitfalls and consequences, and it is, just as surprisingly, a good look for him.

That said, I would offer a word of caution towards his casting choices in regards to diversity, especially after all of the heat he deservedly shouldered for his lily-white casting of his Egypt set biblical epic "Exodus: Gods And Kings" (2014). While it was indeed a pleasure to see all of the different faces of color within "The Martian," and all functioning within a variety of careers to boot, it was solely among the men. Honestly, Ridley Scott, are there no female Scientists???? Yes, we have Jessica Chastain and Kate Mara as our astronauts but out of such a large cast and the collective of Scientists running all around the film, could none of them be women? Just think of the girls who could have been deeply inspired just by having a visual. No, this doesn't derail the film as a whole but it is a sore spot nonetheless.

But please do not allow those small dings to deter you from heading out to this film for Ridley Scott's "The Martian" is a crowd pleasing, visually stunning ode to the gifts of logic, reasoning and critical thinking, the kind of which can be utilized for the betterment of all.

SAVAGE CINEMA'S COMING ATTRACTIONS FOR OCTOBER 2015

Well, September was a much quieter movie month than I had anticipated.

Due to the lack of releases that I was interested in seeing plus having to deal with those initial illnesses of the new school year, I just didn't see very much of anything last month. But, I believe that it is all about to change as I head into October and this weekend specifically, as I will try my best to get out and see Director Ridley Scott's "The Martian" and even then, there's still Director Robert Zemeckis' "The Walk" which also opened just a few short days ago.

Beyond that...

1. Two words: "Steve Jobs." There is nothing that is going to keep me away from Director Danny Boyle and Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin's bio-pic drama starring Michael Fassbender, which has already earned some rave reviews from some recent festival screenings.

2. Then, we also have the Cold War drama "Bridge Of Spies," starring Tom Hanks and directed by none other than my man, Steven Spielberg. 'Nuff said.

3. And even then, there's my main man, Mr. Bill Murray who returns with the political satire "Rock The Kasbah" from director Barry Levinson.

4. Finally, I am not certain if this film will reach my fair city this month but I am very curious about Writer/Director Cary Fukunaga's "Beasts Of No Nation," also earning high buzz.

That's more than enough on my cinematic plate to try and get myself to. So, as always, wish me luck and good health...

...and I'll see you when the house lights go down!