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jeremy

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 3:37 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)

The best jokes often have a serious intent. If somebody decides to pick up on the underlying point rather than say, "LOL", it doesn't necessarily mean that they didn't get it.

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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.

jeremy

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 3:38 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)

We may not be the brightest, but most of us can see the meirts in opposing arguments and draw are own conclusions, create our own synthesis or just scroll on by. In debating, traditionally, the propser of a motion gets a go and then his seconder gets to respond to his opponent. i.e. two goes. I think this is a good rule of thumb for cyberspace.

jeremy

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 4:32 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)

A few random thoughts on Man On Fire (some SPOILERS)

I saw Man On Fire last night. I don’t remember it setting the box office alight at the tie of it’s release, but I found it to be a watchable, if violent, actioner.

The plot is standard fare. Denzil Washington stars as the eponymous ex-special forces operative trying to drown his demons in drink. Reduced to hawking his declining skills as a body-guard in Mexico, he is hired to look after a precocious, but emotionally starved, Mexican-American girl, Dakota Fanning. He becomes a surrogate father to her and she in turn gives new meaning to his life. Of course, we all know this is just a prelude to the girl being kidnapped and all hell breaking loose. It is quite easy to imagine this as a straight to video, Steven Segal or Jean Claude van Damme B-movie, but an intelligent script, a good overall cast, high production values and direction by one of the best hacks in town, attempts to raise it, with some success, to a higher level.

How to describe the direction: slick, professional, pure Tony Scott, playful, stylish, self-indulgent? That’s a lot of adjectives, which confirms my feeling that this film was over-directed. The film is packed with nice touches of verisimilitude, it examines corruption in a developing country; touches on the issues of poverty and the underclass and the roll of the press; it looks at the impact on a family of a kidnapping…its plot may be that of a hundred other action films, but it is not without substance. Unfortunately, Tony Scott doesn’t appear to trust the material and has used it like a Milan catwalk to display his wares. Unfairly, he has given the impression that the film was in need of a make-over by a team of fashion consultants. The slickness also sits uneasily with the subject matter, especially given the violent nature the second half of the film. I don’t want to see a torture scene and think, “Nice work Tony,” if I must be subject to it, I want to say, “Oh my God.”

In a similar way, I was also uneasy about the set-up. It was all to easy to cheer as a de-sensitised, out-of-control, vigilante tortured and killed a series of venal spics. I mean the very people who were supposed to protect the innocent had colluded in the kidnapping and killing of the blonde, half-American, darling, Dakota Fanning. They had it coming. Talk about getting your kicks for free. But rarely is dirt so clean.

The avenging angel is a recurrent theme in American action films. I’m going to go away and think about what it all means.

Denzil Washington is a solid actor, but one of those stars who will always play himself; a Robert Redford rather than a Sean Penn. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially for producers making a mainstream film with a difficult to like central character. Denzil could stand to lose a few pounds, so did not look too incongruous as an over-the-hill veteran. His colour was a problem though: why was it so difficult for the Mexican police to track down an African-American creating mayhem in Mexico City. I thought that another actor, especially an Hispanic one, would have been more believable and got more out of the material. Trouble is there aren’t many Hispanic movie stars in Hollywood.

Better than solid was Dakota Fanning. Is that stage name? I can’t make up my mind whether it’s plain awful or pure genius. I can just imagine an agent telling a young Shirley Anne Christianson, “I know it’s a terrible name honey, but it’s Mid-west wholesome, its buttermilk and corn, and it’s a name nobody’s gonna forget in a hurry.” I suppose she’s stuck with it know.

But boy is the actress with the bad name good, too good, scarily good. I fear for a girl whose empathy, whose ability to express emotions, the exact emotions, so outweighs her age and experience. Where does it all come from? That said, I guess Jodie Foster turned out ok, and these days even Drew Barrymore seems like she could be good company.

Summary; a well acted, well-made, solid actioner that rises above the pack. Some extreme violence, especially the finger-slicing scene. I came away feeling slightly dirty for having enjoyed it so much. With a little change of emphasis, it could have been a very good film.

Mr. Brownstone

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:56 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 2450

Jeremy:

I could't agree more with your response to Man on Fire.

I found it to be one of Denzel's best performances, Fanning to be breath-takingly moving, and the film to be aggravatingly over-directed. The jump cuts on the bridge in the climactic sequence especially bothered me because I thought they were so utterly unnecessary; the action of the scene was so moving I couldn't understand how the flash cutting helped further the story.

I thought Denzel was much better here than in his Oscar-winning performance in Training Day, mostly because he was able to put his DeNiro-esque qualities to good use. By that I mean Denzel has a wonderful ability to lock in on a specific objective and laser in on it - that ability is what makes DeNiro so wonderful at playing unstoppable obsessive psychotics (Taxi Driver, Cape Fear) and makes Washington so compelling here.

As far as Fanning goes, there's a quote from an old movie star about Shirley Temple that I'm going to screw up, but it's something to the effect of, "You've heard of Mozart being Beethoven at age 10?" Well, she's John Barrymore at age 6."

I think whoever is handling Fanning's career is very smart thus far, in that she isn't being forced to carry a movie by herself; she's played a variety of incredibly effective supporting roles with great actors (Washington here, Penn in I Am Sam, Cruise in War of the Worlds), or the foil (that awful Brittany Murphy vehicle).

I believe if she and her management continues to choose this route she'll avoid the Macauley Culkin syndrome.

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"My name is Gunnery Sergeant Major Highway. And I have drunk more beer, pissed more blood, banged more quiff and knocked more skulls than all you numbnuts put together." - Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge

billyweeds

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 7:45 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City

Tim--You are so right about Fanning. And at the risk of being termed a moron by people who can't see the forest for the trees, she was even astounding in that stupid, trashy, but utterly fun De Niro movie Hide and Seek.

(I liked De Niro in it, too. Sue me.)

billyweeds

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 7:52 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City

I also am totally on board with Jeremy and Tim about Man on Fire. I completely, thoroughly enjoyed it, but it is the very definition of a true guilty pleasure, in that it forces you to have collude and get behind a very fascistic point of view. Who cares? The movie is a blast, and Denzel and Dakota are aces.

HUGE SPOILER ALERT:

Part of me wishes they'd had the guts to kill off Fanning's character. though. I felt sooo manipulated when she turned up alive.

Shane

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:39 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 1168 Location: Chicago

Not to forget her work in the T.V. Mini series Taken.

gromit

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:01 am

Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9016 Location: Shanghai

Quote:

The slickness also sits uneasily with the subject matter, especially given the violent nature the second half of the film.

I watched the first 1/2 of Man on Fire, knew what was coming and switched off. Wasn't badly done, but a fairly retread kind of fell to the whole plot. But I'm not a fan of action/violence films.

Didn't realize Dakota Fanning was in that (or forgot). For someone born in the mid-90's, she's sure been turning up alot in films that I've watched recently. She does an impressive job with the narration to In the Realms of the Unreal.

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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number.

Shane

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:05 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 1168 Location: Chicago

And lest we forget her award wining voice in Family Guy!!

jeremy

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:08 am

Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)

As Ron Weasley would say, "Bloody Hell."

Give that girl a day off.

Marilyn

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:15 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 8210 Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)

Did anyone else catch I'm King Kong: The Exploits of Merrian C. Cooper on TCM last night? This was a very interesting introduction to an extraordinary life. At only one hour, I felt very unsatisfied. I guess I'll just have to find a biography to read. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see how daring he was in movie making, wartime service, and flat-out adventuring. I'm eager to see Chang, a film he made in Siam that invented the technique of having wild animals get their faces right in the camera lens. It was also wonderful to see the maker of Cinerama Adventure and parts of This Is Cinerama again--Cooper got behind Cinerama and introduced it to the world.

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gromit

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:25 am

Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9016 Location: Shanghai

I think Lady W had a good long post about Cooper about a month back. Talking about his life and the upcoming dvd's.

A little late for our Fellini forum, but a number of lesser-known Fellini has turned up here recently. Bought Variety Lights and Orchestra Rehearsal in the past two weeks. Picked up Casanova this evening. Now just have to get around to watching them. (Still awaiting Juliet of the Spirits -- only saw a poor copy of that roughly 20 years ago).

_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number.

Marilyn

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:32 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 8210 Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)

We started watching Young Torless on Monday. It was very disturbing, and I insisted we finish it another time (I'd had nightmares the night before and was not interested in another restless night). In other words, it's DAMN good!

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ehle64

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:37 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 7149 Location: NYC; US&A

Young Torless sounds nightmarish. It's been in my Netflix™ queue for months. *sigh*

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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is.

Marilyn

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:54 am

Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 8210 Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)

According to Shane, it was ripped off liberally for the English film If. Gromit sent it to us in a care package of DVDs. Maybe if you come through Chicago this year around Christmas, you can pick it up?

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