Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark

You may be wondering why I am reviewing Raiders of the Lost Ark now.  It's an established classic, most people have seen it, and if they don't like it, then they are most likely crazy.  So why review it now?  Well, I have two reasons.  First off, there is a whole generation of movie watchers growing up now that actually have NOT have seen it, as shocking as they may sound. My wife is a teacher, and when Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out, she asked her students what they thought.  "Meh," they replied, "it was just a ripoff of National Treasure with an old guy."

"A ripoff of National Treasure with an old guy."  

I was horrified.  Not so much that they didn't like Crystal Skull, because that film was downright awful, but because their response implied they had not seen the other Indiana Jones adventures.  Really?!  What kind of parents do these kids have?!?!  How can they not have introduced their kids to Indiana Jones?!  So this column is for those kids.  Maybe one of them will read the review, be inspired to go rent the film with their friends, and therefore be enlightened with the magic of a true adventure masterpiece, and hopefully someday show their own children.  That is the circle of life the way it was meant to be.

The second reason I am writing this review now is because I just received the BluRay as a gift.  A few days later, I was with a friend, and we were planning on watching a different film.  But first, he wanted to see the Raiders transfer so he could decide whether or not to buy it himself.  We plopped it into his projector, and about two minutes into the film, he turned to me and said, "Do you kinda just want to watch the rest of this?"  And I answered, "Yeah, I kinda do."  It doesn't matter how many times I've seen it.  If Raiders is on, I'm not going to move from the couch for two hours.  And I'll just say right now - the work done on the film is marvelous.  It looks and sounds truly stunning in HD, and is definitely a worthy upgrade from the DVD!

So here is a short synopsis.  On the eve of World War 2, word reaches U.S. army intelligence that the Nazis are searching for religious artifacts of great power that might give them the upper hand in the war everyone knows is about the erupt.  Their latest target is the the Ark of the Covenant, the golden box where the ancient Hebrews kept the pieces of the Ten Commandments.  U.S. agents ask Indiana Jones to go to Egypt and find the Ark before the Nazis do.  I kind of don't want to say anything else because for those who have not seen the movie - the less you know about this roller coaster, the better the ride is going to be!

Sometimes with older films, I worry if nostalgia is tinting my affection.  This is really not the case with Raiders.  This film is lightning in a bottle.  Watching the movie again, I really paid attention to it as a film.  And it really is almost a flawless piece of work.  The script is tight, without an ounce of fat or wasted time.  The cinematography by Douglas Slocombe is superb and gave me easily a dozen shots that have been branded into my brain for all time.  John Williams' score is among his best and of course includes a main theme every bit as iconic as his intro to Star Wars.  Harrison Ford found the role of a lifetime and he has never been better.  The rest of the cast, including Karen Allen (Star Man), Paul Freeman (The Long Good Friday), John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings), and Denholm Elliot (Cuba), are truly excellent.  Director Steven Spielberg was at the top of his game as a filmmaker.  And alongside Spielberg, look at who else contributed to the story - George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan and Phillip Kaufman.  That's one helluva writing team there.

How good is Raiders of the Lost Ark?  It's so good that there are actually a number of glaring plot holes that you completely 100% forgive.  Minor spoilers here:  How did Indiana Jones stay on the Nazi submarine as it traveled to the Nazi base, especially once it submerged?  How did he know that the Ark would do that at the end of the film?  The movie never says, and we don't care.  Because our answer to these questions is always the same: "I don't know.  He's Indiana Jones!  He figured it out."  And I'm okay with that as the answer to any and all plot questions you might be able to think of.  He just figured it out.

Enough said.  Raiders of the Lost Ark is a true classic.  National Treasure may have been diverting enough, but it doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence.  Shame on you, high schoolers, get your damn priorities straight.  Your homework is to go see Raiders and now.

BEST LINE:
Which line should I choose?  So tough.  How about this. "It's not the years, honey.  It's the mileage."

MVP:
Another really tough call.  Do I reward Spielberg for his terrific direction, Lawrence Kasdan for giving my childhood some its most memorable lines, or John Williams for that infectious music?  I think in the end I have to go with Harrison Ford.  This is one of those rare roles where the actor and character so seamlessly blend, there is no way anyone else could have done it.  Tom Selleck was originally cast in the role, and I think he would have been fine, and the movie certainly entertaining enough.  But it wouldn't have been as perfect.  And I don't think Selleck could have done what Ford did (just like I think Ford would have been an inferior Magnum P.I.).  Ford has done a lot fine work in a lot of great films, but in those movies, he is Harrison Ford playing a character.  But even when I watch Raiders of the Lost Ark today, I am surprised how the line between character and performer just doesn't seem to exist.  He IS Indiana Jones.  And for that, Harrison Ford gets the MVP.

TRIVIA:
Lots of great trivia with this one!  But how about we go back to those plot holes I mentioned earlier.  What is weird about the plot holes is that in the first cut of the movie, they were not plot holes at all.  Indiana Jones knew about the Ark's power at the end of the film because the old wise man in Cairo warned him about it.  And when the submarine traveled to its secret base, Indiana Jones survived the trip by using his whip to tie himself to the periscope, which I actually remember seeing in the comic adaptation when I was a kid and wondering why it wasn't in the film.  I am not sure why these scenes were cut from the movie.  It's kind of strange because they do provide crucial information for the plot.  Other deleted scenes include a German officer almost executing Sallah, but that scene was deemed too long and too serious for such an adventure (though the acting was supposedly superb).  There was also a massive set piece fight scene between Indiana Jones and the swordsman in the Cairo market.  The rumor is Ford was feeling sick and couldn't finish filming the sequence.  So they ad libbed the scene where he just shoots the swordsman instead - easily one of the funniest moments of entire franchise!

OSCARS AND NOMINATIONS:

Nominated for:

Best Picture (lost to Chariots of Fire)
Best Director (lost to Warren Beatty, Reds)
Best Cinematography (lost to Vittorio Storaro, Reds)
Best Original Score (lost to Vangelis, Chariots of Fire)

Won:

Best Art Direction
Best Sound
Best Film Editing
Best Visual Effects
Special Achievement Award for Best Sound Effects Editing

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

I had never seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Can you believe it?  Embarrassing, I know. Here was one of the major films of the 1970s, a sci fi classic from one of the greatest directors of his generation, and I had never taken the two hours to just sit down and watch it.  So after kicking myself profusely, I decided to do just that.

Close Encounters is the story of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), who one evening has a run-in with an alien spaceship.  It is a brief encounter, but the aftermath has done something strange to Roy.  He starts to become obsessed with a mountain, constantly picturing it, ranting about it, and even shaping it in his mashed potatoes.  What does the mountain mean?!  Meanwhile, scientists led by Frenchman Lacombe (played by legendary French director Francois Truffaut) are making contact with the aliens, using musical notes as communication.  What does that have to do with Roy?  And about those other people who have also had close encounters?  How do they figure into the puzzle?

So since almost everyone has seen Close Encounters, my review is going to go a bit into spoiler territory. For the few who have not seen the movie: here is my summary - in many ways, this film is a masterpiece.  But Roy is such a tedious main character that it kind of ruins the whole movie for me. There you go.

Now for more details.  SPOILER ALERT.

So does this film live up to its "masterpiece" status?  In many ways, absolutely.  There are some brilliant moments of supreme filmmaking.  Spielberg's direction is superb and inventive.  The appearances of the alien spaceships, for example, are ingenious. Take for instance Roy's encounter.  He sits in his truck in the middle of the night, lost and frantically looking at a map.  The headlights of a car pull up behind him and Roy waves him by.  The headlights don't go around; instead they lift up above him, and when Roy looks up he sees the UFO flying over him.  I was struck at such a creative and cool way to introduce the aliens.  The whole film is full of inventive moments like that. The spinning ships chased by police cars, the alien arrival at Jillian's house (which truly is a terrifying scene), the arrival of the mother ship at the end of the film.  Spielberg uses the same technique he did in Jaws in that he holds back from showing too much until the end of the film.  Until the climax, you don't see any aliens; the ships are either moving too fast or are hidden by clouds, and what you do see is a kaleidoscope of light (brilliantly filmed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond). There are moments where the film transcends into something truly sublime; such as Lacombe's visit to India and the arrival of the mother ship.  That is when I felt like I was watching the masterpiece Close Encounters is reputed to be.

But there is a 'but.'  And it is a big one for me in this movie.  Roy Neary is a jerk.  His obsession tears his family apart.  And at the end of the movie, he happily accompanies the aliens to space and just leaves his wife and kids behind without a second thought.  Even Spielberg has said that this was probably a mistake and he would have played the ending differently had he made the film today.  But my problem goes back further, to even before the alien encounter fries Roy's brain. Because he is a selfish and obsessed jerk even before that.  Just look at the introductory scene, where he is playing with a giant train set assembled in his family's living room.  The house isn't that big and he's hogging most of the space with his trains.  His son needs help with his homework and Roy doesn't care.  His attention is completely on his models...and when he finally agrees to help, he tries to explain the math problem using the train set...in a way that doesn't even really make sense.  He already has a selfish and obsessed personality.  All the alien encounter does is amplify that.  So even if that makes the movie consistent, it still makes it hard to root for the guy.  He's just a jerk and not someone I want to follow around for two hours, even if I love everything else going on in the movie.  And the fact that he gets a happy ending that he frankly doesn't deserve...the fact that he basically tortures his family and then just deserts them and then gets to go live happily ever just really rubs me the wrong way.  And it sort of ruins the movie for me.

So there you go.  In some ways, this film is a real masterpiece, but Roy is too much of a problem and drags the movie down with him.

TRIVIA:
When designing the mothership, the special effects team hid all sorts of cool items on it, including model airplanes, a mailbox, a cemetery, and most awesomely, R2D2.

MVP:
I think I have to go with the Visual Effects team.  They really did some remarkable work that is still awe-inspiring today, decades after the film's release.  The use of the lights on the ships is a brilliant visual stroke, and beautifully executed.  And when you see those bright orange and red lights lighting up the clouds, it is truly an eerie site.  And I was in awe when I saw the giant cloud formation circling around the Devil's Tower, and then the mother ship emerging.  It was amazing.  When I heard it had lost the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, I was infuriated.  Then I saw that the movie that beat it was Star Wars.  So...well, okay then.  There's really no competition there!  It's Star Wars!!!

OSCARS: Best Cinematography, Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing

OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Best Supporting Actress (Melinda Dillon), Best Director (Spielberg), Best Visual Effects. Best Art Direction, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and Best Original Score (an amazing score by John Williams that would have won the Oscar if not for...well, John Williams' Star Wars, only one of the greatest film scores of all time!!!) 

BEST LINE: 

Organist (while having a musical "conversation" with the mother ship: "What are we saying to each other??"

War Horse

War Horse

War Horse is a tough film to review.  It certainly isn't the best film in the world and yet I find myself often defending it to my friends.  Maybe I just don't agree with the reasons they don't like it...or maybe I'm just being fussy in my old age.  Either way, War Horse is definitely a mixed bag.

Joey is a special horse (as we are reminded constantly) and develops an immediate bond with young English farm boy, Albert Narracott (Jeremy Levine's debut performance).  But the farm is destitute and Mr. Narracott is forced to sell Joey to the English army on the eve of World War I.  Little Albert is shattered and swears he'll see his horse again.  What follows is the episodic adventures of Joey as he navigates his way through war torn Europe and hopefully back to Albert.

A problem with most episodic movies is that they are full of a lot of short little stories, and if some of these episodes aren't strong, it can drag down the whole movie.  I definitely think this is the case of War Horse.  Some of the stories are terrific, especially the World War I excerpts, such as when Joey serves as the cavalry mount of dashing British Captain Nichols (Thor's Tom Hiddleston channeling a killer T.E. Lawrence vibe) and when he is forced to pull literally tons of heavy artillery up a steep slope to their firing positions.  These sequences are truly superb and depict some of the best representations of World War I that I have seen.  But then we also have a story where Joey becomes the pet of a precocious little French girl (Celine Buckins), that I suppose is sort of cute, but completely drags the momentum of the movie down.

The other major complaint about the movie, and one that I agree with, is that it tends to be overly sentimental.  Spielberg has always worn his heart on his sleeve as a filmmaker and I admire the fact that he doesn't restrain his emotional side, but he goes overboard here, especially in the last act.  Everything following the superb barbed wire scene right up to the sunset finale is just thick, thick syrup - and too much for me to handle without rolling my eyes.  It's just started to be a bit too much.

But I've also heard a lot of people complaining that the movie is just unrealistic.  It bothered them that with hundreds of thousands men being slaughtered, why does everyone care so much about a horse?  It's just a horse!  I don't think that is the right way to look at the movie.  War Horse isn't realistic.  It's a fable and the horse is a metaphor, a symbol of an earlier, simpler time - when people were tied to their land, and when there was a certain nobility and chivalry in combat, before the world was violently dragged into the modern world by the horrors of mechanized warfare.  World War I was the transition to modern war and that transition is handled brilliantly by Spielberg and Company.  The characters in the film yearn for the world of yesteryear, for a happier time before barbed wire, mustard gas, and trenchfoot.  It makes sense that everyone in the film is touched by Joey.  He is a symbol of everything they have lost.

Overall, I think the movie's greatest strength is how old fashioned it is (which is ironic because I think its greatest weakness is how old fashioned its sentimentality is!).  I think this is Spielberg's John Ford film.  Truly, I think if John Ford had made War Horse in 1948, it would have been remarkably similar to what we ended up with 2011.  It's the classic style of the filmmaking, and it's the way the camera sets the characters against the landscape, tying them intrinsically to the earth.  I admired that.  There is actually a lot to admire about War Horse.  If the story had been just a bit tighter, and if the attempts to yank on our tear ducts had just been a bit more subtle...well, we would have had something terrific.

MVP:
Janusz Kaminski, Spielberg's Director of Photography, is the clear MVP here.  He's brilliant with the camera, both with his framing, and his great use of filters and lighting.  He gets the MVP for two moments in particular - the first is an insane sunset at the end of the film, a return to the English farm set against a blood red sky.  At first, I grumbled, because I thought, "why did they use CGI for that sunset??"  Except then I read that it was actually a real sunset and that the colors in that part of England are that insanely vibrant.  It's a heck of a great shot.  But my favorite shot is actually earlier in the film, when Joey makes a dash through the trenches.  We are treated to a superb tracking shot, the camera keeping just ahead of Joey as he twists and turns, men toppling to each side, explosions filling the air above him.  It's a brilliant shot and I'm not quite sure how they did it.  Kaminski is the Man!

BEST LINE:

Geordie: How are things in yonder trench?
German: Delightful.  We read.  We knit sweaters.  We train our rats to perform circus tricks.

TRIVIA:
Fourteen horses played Joey in the film.  The primary acting horse, Finder, also played Sea Biscuit.