The Incredible Hulk

With all the franchise reboots, sequels and prequels in the market now, it never comes as much of a surprise when one hits theaters.  But what about when a studio cuts their losses and admits a mistake and does another reboot, just five years after the previous effort?  Released in 2003, Hulk was a disappointment to fans and to the studio even though it made over $130 million in theaters. I was one of the few who actually liked that one, but in 2008 Marvel Studios released a new Hulk movie, aptly titled The Incredible Hulk. Maybe they just needed to start over for the new Avengers movie, announced for 2012.

The 2008 version starts after Bruce Banner has accidentally turned himself into the Hulk via some gnarly gamma ray exposure.  The opening credits actually serve as a prologue of sorts, explaining how he became the Hulk and the fallout that was to come because of his actions.  While the reboot has some potential, it follows basically the same formula as the 2003 version so it made me ask, what's the point?  Hulk has also been in the news recently because star Edward Norton has been bumped for Mark Ruffalo -- no explanation why -- for the Avengers movie.  As a Norton fan, it's sad news because he is a strong point in 2008's Hulk.

Hiding in Brazil as he runs from the U.S. military and General Ross (William Hurt), scientist Bruce Banner (Norton) is doing everything he can to experiment on himself and see if he can ever go back to being just Bruce instead of turning into the Hulk if he gets too angry/excited.  Ross is hot on his trail and sends in a Special Ops commando, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), and his team to extract him.  Bruce manages to escape and sneaks back into the states where he tracks down lost love Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and a doctor (Tim Blake Nelson) who may be able to help him. But all the while, General Ross and Blonsky -- after some medical experiments -- are close behind, doing everything they can to get their hands on Banner.

First off, I did like this movie if not exactly loved it.  The visuals are great, full of bright, vibrant colors that look lifted right out of a comic book.  The action is solid if a little repetitive, and that's where the problem comes in.  Christian Bale playing Batman is one thing, he's a regular dude with a badass suit.  But when Banner turns into Hulk and Blonsky transforms into Abomination late in the movie, it's just two freakishly huge CGI creations beating the crap out of each other.  It loses some effect as most CGI creations tend to do to me.  Oh cool, look at those two computer images fight!  I don't know the solution, and at a certain point you just have to go along with it, but it is a big problem I have with superhero/action movies.

Starting a franchise over again, director Louis Leterrier had to work with a cast that's as good if not better than 2003 Hulk. I thought the cast of Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte and Josh Lucas was one of the best selling points for Hulk.  For the 2008 reboot, I'd say it's a push.  An actor's actor, it's fun to see Norton in a blockbuster where he can just have some fun.  I've always had a crush on Liv Tyler, and she's okay here but Connelly is the better actress. Sam Elliott or William Hurt? Do I really have to go into that one?  Nolte and Roth are about the same, and Lucas is better than Blake Nelson in somewhat similar roles.  Moral of the story, both casts are good, neither one pulling too far ahead of the other one.

One of the biggest complaints of 2003 Hulk was the lack of action, a superhero movie that was too cerebral which sounds ridiculous to me.  What's funny is that 2008 Hulk doesn't up the ante too much.  There's a chase through crowded Brazilian streets early, and we see Hulk in shadows and darkness, never getting a great look at him.  The best action comes in a scene where Ross and Blonsky have cornered Banner, and he's forced to protect Betty on a college campus.  There's some epic qualities to this segment that make it worth rewatching.  I've mentioned the finale -- CGI monster vs. CGI monster -- which is all right but nothing spectacular.  The two last scenes are cool, including a very brief snippet of what's to come in the Avengers movie.

Overall for a reboot, I'm looking for something new, something different that improves on the previous franchise ventures.  The Incredible Hulk doesn't do that, instead taking steps side-to-side instead of forward.  It's a good enough movie, good to watch with a bucket of popcorn that lets you sit back and enjoy, but that's about it.  Other superhero movies like Iron Man have raised the bar, and this one isn't quite there.  Cool throwback tribute, look for original Hulk Lou Ferrigno in a cameo as a security guard.

The Incredible Hulk <---trailer (2008): ** 1/2 /**** 

The Purple Plains

As movies go, if you're a pilot and you fly enough, eventually you're going to crash in the wilderness somewhere and A. march back to safety B. fight a giant bear or C. survive Lord of the Flies style when your fellow survivors turn on you.  Most of these downed pilot movies I've seen qualify in the A department, a majority of them set in the military in one way or another, like Behind Enemy Lines with Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman.  But before that action extravaganza, that plot device has been used many times, like 1954's The Purple Plain.

In 1945 Burma in the closing months of WWII, Canadian fighter pilot Bill Forrester (Gregory Peck) is battling with some inner demons on a daily basis.  Early in the war his newlywed bride was killed in a bombing raid in London and ever since he's been looking and trying to die in combat with no luck, instead earning medals and citations. Forrester meets a young Burmese woman, Anna (Win Min Than in her only movie) working with the missionaries and falls in love with her, giving him a reason to live. But just when things are looking up him, a routine flight goes awry, and Bill is forced to crash land in the Burmese jungle with a passenger and a navigator.  They land safely, but they're 30 miles into Japanese territory with little supplies.  Do they attempt to march out or wait and hope help is coming?

'Plain' is divided fairly evenly between the two different stories, one is Forrester and his background and his personal struggles as he meets and gets to know Anna, and two his efforts to survive with an obnoxious whiny doctor (Maurice Denham) and an inexperienced navigator (Lyndon Brook) in the jungle. Director Robert Parrish doesn't go overboard with a sappy love story -- thankfully -- and also doesn't overhype the second half survival story. He finds a good mix in between because that first half is necessary if the second half is supposed to do anything to the viewer emotionally.  We've seen where Forrester is coming from, and now we get a chance to see what he's like when his mind is all there.

I've always been a Gregory Peck fan, but the more I see of him the bigger a fan I become.  I've yet to see a performance of his that isn't a solid one.  Some obviously work better than others, but he's almost always trying something new.  His Bill Forrester is a tortured individual, a man who wants nothing more than to die so he can be reunited with his dead wife.  While still fighting the war, he is clearly going through some post-traumatic stress disorder as he deals with his past.  The performance is a strong one for Peck, especially the second half as the character arc comes full circle.  Forced to improvise and become a leader or lay back and die, Peck's Forrester steps up to the plate and does what he has to to survive.

The survival aspect of the story is clearly the one that appealed to me more.  The on-location shooting was done in Sri Lanka where The Bridge on the River Kwai would be filmed three years later.  It's a funny thing, but the jungles look like real jungles.  Who would have thought that?  By the time Forrester and Co. crash, there's a real feeling of claustrophobia as if the jungle is closing in on you.  In a wise choice, Parrish never has the trio run into a Japanese patrol, much less see any trace of a single Japanese soldier.  The threat is enough, their ever lurking presence.  Besides, the real threat is among the group as Forrester and Blore try to decide what to do, make their own luck or wait for a rescue?

This isn't going to be a particularly long review.  I liked the movie, and that's about it.  It's not a great movie, but it is a different story and I'm always up for that.  Also in the cast look for a pre-James Bond Bernard Lee as Dr. Harris, a physician interested in helping Forrester out, and Brenda De Banzie as Mrs. McNabb, a missionary working in Burma who is like a mother to young Anna. The movie is available to watch via Youtube starting with Part 1.

The Purple Plain <---TCM clips (1954): ***/****    

Convoy

Novels, short stories, memoirs, plays, comic books, journals.  Movies can be based off of just about anything, but one that never crossed my mind was a novelty song, one that briefly rose through the charts before it became a trivia question for all time.  The song is a 1975 gem from C.W. McCall that spent six weeks in the No. 1 spot on the country charts and three years later was turned into a feature length movie, 1978's Convoy.

The transition from popular song to feature length movie seems like quite a stretch to me, but maybe that's just my crazy opinion.  But as long as a studio is making a ridiculous jump from a 4-minute song to a 110-minute movie, they might as well push the pedal to the floor and hire an equally crazy/ridiculous director, Sam Peckinpah.  And big picture, it isn't as much a movie as it is a series of scenes with 18-wheeler semi-trucks driving around, a folksy soundtrack, and a lot of the cast spending most of their time reciting dialogue through CB radios.  If that's not a recipe for a successful movie, I just don't know what is.

Driving into Arizona, 18-wheeler semi drivers Rubber Duck (Kris Kristofferson), Pig Pen (Burt Young) and Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye) are pulled over by a local sheriff, Dirty Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine), with a bone to pick. They bribe the crooked cop to get away but end up meeting him down the road in an off-road diner where a knock-down, drag 'em out brawl ensues, Lyle handcuffed to a stool at the bar.  Duck and Co. head out on the road hoping to reach the state lines before the law can get their hands on them.  With a friendly-looking hitchhiking photographer (Ali MacGraw) along for the ride, Duck takes the lead, but that crooked sheriff isn't going to let them go so easily.  But as the chase wears on, news spreads and Duck's little convoy continues to grow and grow.

Wikipedia (an always reliable source for info) points out that Convoy was part of a string of movies released in the late 1970s at the height of the CB radio/truck driver popularity.  Who knew?  That's what the movie is too, an excuse for a long line of 18-wheelers to drive in formation down the road, a lot of CB talk with far too many 'Breaker...breaker...10-4 good buddies' and Borgnine at his over the top, obnoxious best.  What I did enjoy was the stunt work done while driving the huge semi-trucks.  Doing dangerous stunts in sports cars and race cars is one thing, but these trucks are huge and the drivers handle them as if they were much smaller cars.  High speeds and sharp turns never looked so impressive.

As much as anything though, this is a very 70s movie about refusal to go along with the system and not trusting anyone in any power through the government, police or any sort of establishment.  Peckinpah's portrayal of this is less than subtle too, not helping matters.  As Duck's convoy grows bigger by the hour, government officials conclude that this is some sort of mass protest, and even when told the truth, they ignore the otherwise obvious truth in front of them.  Seymour Cassel plays the governor of a southwest state, I think Texas, who sees an opportunity to appeal to a wide range of voters by supporting Duck's "protest." But with Cassel's clueless governor and Borgnine's insane sheriff, it just gets to be a little much.

No matter the quality of the finished product -- and more often than not it was high quality -- Peckinpah always worked with some impressive casts.  Convoy's isn't the best assembly of talent, but it's a solid if not spectacular cast.  Working with Peckinpah for a third time, Kristofferson is as always very likable in his lead part as Rubber Duck.  You could say he's not acting in most of his movies, typically playing a laid back, easy going, drawling good old boy, and I'm not going to dispute that, but he's cool, I like him as a star, and that's that.  So there.  This is Borgnine that I don't like.  So ridiculously over the top, screaming his lines, those huge bug eyes glaring at you.  He's the bad guy you love to hate, but it's too much to take seriously. MacGraw, never a great actress to begin with, is here for eye candy with one of the oddest looking hairstyles I've seen.  Other than these three, none of the cast really jumps out for good or bad.

The story dawdles along for most of an hour, hour and a half and then the message comes out.  The establishment isn't going to just let Duck drive off into the sunset.  The solution is a little much though as he makes a break for 'ole Mexico, but if nothing else, for a split second it works.  If the movie ended there, it could have been a solid send-off.  But then there's another five minutes or so with a twist that negates everything the last scene just accomplished.  I don't really know what to make of the movie overall, but it's certainly a doozy. If nothing else, HERE is the song the movie's based on.

Convoy <---trailer (1978): **/**** 

The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission

When watching a made for TV movie, there's a certain amount of 'cheese factor' to be expected.  With a lower budget, smaller cast, and in general smaller scale, it obviously lowers your standards some as a viewer.  That was the case when I bought The Dirty Dozen Double Feature, two sequels starring Telly Savalas building off the premise of the original 1967 movie starring Lee Marvin.  Take 12 prisoners sentenced to death or long prison sentences, train them and send them on a suicide mission.  Simple enough, right?

I reviewed the first Savalas sequel, The Deadly Mission, a few weeks ago and gave it 2.5 stars based mostly on its entertainment value.  A bad movie, sure, but an entertaining one if nothing else.  The same applies for the other sequel, 1988's The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission, but basically take down everything a notch or two.  Once again filming in Croatia and Yugoslavia -- I'm guessing it was cheaper to film there -- 'Fatal' is that nice blend of too many explosions, too little story, and a cast of has beens, never will be "stars."

It's 1943 and Allied intelligence has received reports that Adolf Hitler has a plan to put the Fourth Reich into play so Germany and the Nazi Party can live on for years regardless of how WWII ends.  Major Warden (Ernest Borgnine) again orders Major Wright (Savalas) to assemble a commando squad of prisoners sentenced to death or long prison terms, train them, and then parachute them into enemy territory.  Hitler's plan requires 12 men to travel by train east to Yugoslavia, but Wright and his squad must intercept the train and kill everyone on board.  As if their mission wasn't suicidal enough, a Waffen SS general (Matthew Burton) knows Wright's objective and is planning to stop him thanks to a traitor in the newest Dirty Dozen.

Where the other three DD sequels at least attempt to have some fun with the convict commandos, 'Fatal' doesn't give much of an effort.  This group includes soap opera star Hunt Block, Alex Cord, Erik Estrada, Ernie Hudson, John Matuszak (who played Sloth in The Goonies), boxer Ray Mancini, and Richard Yniguez. Instead of writing actual characters, 'Fatal' just borrows from the original.  Cord is Charles Bronson, Hudson is Jim Brown, Matuszak is Clint Walker, and Estrada is a mix between Savalas' Maggot and John Cassavetes.  Even worse than the other sequels, the rest of the dozen aren't even identified by name, not to mention never actually seeing their faces.  They are the definition of a 'Redshirt,' a character meant to be picked off but here it barely registers because we don't actually know who they are.  Of the actual name actors, Cord leaves the best impression as Dravko, an Eastern European immigrant turned soldier.  Also look for Taxi's Jeff Conaway as Sgt. Holt, replacing Vince Edwards in the loyal sergeant role.

Now all stupid allusions about having character development aside, the action isn't half bad here.  Granted it's that ridiculous TV movie action, but hey look! Gunfights and explosions!  The action scenes are basically Wright and the Dozen standing in the open gunning down German soldiers in every direction.  The dust settles, all the Germans are dead, the Dozen have a wound or two, and the story moves along.  There's a ridiculously high body count -- see all of them HERE, SPOILERS obviously -- and eventually the Dozen do begin to get picked off by some German soldiers who can actually shoot.  Making this all better though? Some of the nameless Dozen from 'Deadly Mission' return here and still don't get any lines!  Too perfect.

By now both late in their careers, Savalas and Borgnine are clearly slumming for work.  It's the type of movie though where if they weren't in it, there would be NO reason to see this.  They're both having some fun even if Savalas looks like he's wearing a helmet three sizes too small, and Borgnine spends most of his time looking at a map screaming about saving his men.  Still, they're Hollywood legends so they get a pass.  And if nothing else in the originality department, 'Fatal' has a female member of the Dozen, not a convict just a tag-along.  The Fall Guy star Heather Thomas plays a language expert needed for the success of the mission (I guess?) and shows she clearly didn't get the job because of her acting ability. She gives what could be the most wooden performance I've seen in awhile.

Because there's little else to say about this made for TV sequel, I'm including some links to three action scenes so anyone curious can see what they're getting into.  There's The Living Dead -- actually a cool scene even if it's completely ridiculous -- then Surprise Attack on a moving train, and Off the Rails, a self-explanatory scene if there ever was.  Average in every way and below average in a couple more ways, this is a pretty awful movie, but I can't completely rip it to pieces.  It's mindless enough to be entertaining so that counts for something.

The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission (1988): **/****   

Le Cercle Rouge

Before I started this blog a little over a year and a half ago, I had watched a handful of movies that I didn't feel like reviewing.  Sure, it was only a week or two since I'd seen them, but as much as possible I wanted to review a flick with the flick fresh in my mind.  One movie I really wanted to review was a Netflix rental that has quickly climbed to a non-existent list of my favorite movies (okay, I have a definitive Top 5), 1970's Le Cercle Rouge or for us non-French speaking moviegoers, The Red Circle. With some leftover b-day money, I bought the pricey Criterion Collection DVD, and 18 months later after initial viewing, here's the review.

Over a three-year span, French director Jean-PierreMelville had one of the best strings of movies ever for a director starting with Le Samourai in 1967, continuing with Army of Shadows in 1969 and wrapping up with 1970's Cercle Rouge. I've yet to see a Melville film I didn't enjoy, but 'LCR' was my favorite.  It's a slower-paced heist movie that features the director's typically cool gangsters in a world where everyone looks out for themselves and anyone would turn you in if it would benefit them even a little bit.  But more than that, it is a surprisingly deep look at the criminal underworld, and the way complete strangers bond and work together in strenuous situations...in this case a jewelry heist.

In Paris, three men are about to work together for the first time on a perfectly planned jewelry heist that will net them almost $20 million francs.  There's Corey (Alain Delon), a recently released prisoner who has nothing left for him back home and vows to never return to prison. Supremely cool, calm and collected, nothing seemingly can get to him.  Second is Vogel (Gian Maria Volonte), an escaped fugitive who accidentally meets Corey, the two forming a quick friendship when they realize how similar they are.  Last there's Jansen (Yves Montand), a former cop and expert marksman struggling with a drinking problem, a man just looking for redemption and a second chance. But while these three conspire together to pull the jewelry heist, a police inspector (Andres Bourvil) investigates anything and everything he can about Vogel, wanting to catch the man who slipped through his grasp.

For fans of Melville, this is a prime example of when a director figures everything out in the moviemaking process, knowing exactly what he wants in a finished product.  He puts it together here.  His characters are loners, men of principle who even in the underworld hold honor and respect to a high degree.  The gangsters wear suits, trench coats and hats, smoke cigarettes and drink hard liquor.  There is always a cool, light jazz soundtrack playing over their actions.  They populate late night clubs and lonely, dusty apartments.  And no matter what, these guys are cool to the utmost.  It is a highly stylized, very suave and most likely idealized view of the criminal underworld, but you know what? It doesn't matter.  Melville drops you into this gangster's world, and you just go along for the ride.

We go into this world with the three men who've never worked together, and know very little about each other.  But with little to no background on Corey (what was he in prison for?) or Vogel (why was he arrested?), Melville makes these characters who would be very easy to dislike the ones you side with.  This is a performance that ranks with Le Samourai as Delon's best.  His Corey is so quietly understated you wonder if Delon is even acting or just playing himself.  In terms of pure cool, it doesn't get better than this character.  The same for Volonte as Vogel, an intense part as this mysterious crook we know nothing about.  Montand gets the most background for his character and doesn't disappoint.  Separately, all three parts are perfect, but together, they're as good as it gets in movies.  The scenes among the three are pitch perfect, each character knowing what is expected of them.  These men are professionals and they know how to get the job done.

The tour-de-force scene is an almost 30-minute extended sequence with not a word spoken as Corey, Vogel and Jansen pull off the heist.  With an obvious comparison to Jules Dassin's Rififi, Melville creates a tension that is hard to explain.  You're so geared up during the scene because any sound, any sound at all, will spell doom for this criminal trio.  The security system they're going up against features sensors, hidden locks, and a wide array of technology to deter them.  In terms of pure moviemaking skill, I don't know if Melville was ever better than he was here.  The whole heist is about as ideally laid out as a movie could do.  The whole movie is good, but that extended scene sets it apart from most.

MILD SPOILERS If you've watched any Melville movies, you'll know he's from the old school way of thinking; if your character has done something bad, he's going to have to pay for it.  Le Cercle Rouge applies in every way.  I'm not going to spoil it here, but it's certainly not a happy ending.  The police closing in as the three desperately look to get some cash out of the deal, they make a gutsy play.  It's an ending that caught me by surprise the second time around as much as the first one.  It is a surprisingly moving if downbeat ending that shows the honor and loyalty these crooks have working together.  They're partners, and that's how it is, end result be damned.

It all comes together with a fictional quote that explains the title, the red circle.  Men of a certain ilk like these criminals are destined to end up in the same place as unpleasant as it assuredly will be.  There's nothing they can to do avoid it, this is the path they've chosen.  In the end, they're going to end up together in this 'red circle.' And in the end for Melville, that's where they'll be no matter if it's far from happy. A great ending to one of my favorite movies.

Le Cercle Rouge <----French trailer (1970): ****/**** 

From Paris With Love

Directing 2008's Taken, French director Pierre Morel basically made the most perfect action movie around.  No sense of humor, no tongue in cheek action, just all-around badass Liam Neeson taking people out left and right in some cool, exotic European locations.  Well, if you look at Taken and add in all those elements that typically ruin or at least bring a movie down a notch, you've got Morel's follow-up movie in 2009's From Paris With Love.

This is an action movie that got mixed reviews, both positive and negative saying the same thing.  This is a stupid action movie that requires no real work watching it and is instantly forgettable the second it's over.  I guess it depends from critic to critic what mood they were in when reviewing the movie.  It's a flick that doesn't seem to know what to do with itself, making nods left and right to other similar but better movies of the same ilk.  I'm okay with some winks at the audience, but this felt like one big wink the whole time.  Buddy cop, no real plot, lots of action, you've seen it all before and probably in a better movie.

As a low-level intelligence agent working for the U.S. Embassy in Paris, James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is bored out of his mind, just waiting for his chance to become a field agent. After months and years of tedious paperwork and menial tasks, Reese gets his chance when he's ordered to pick up a highly efficient, highly touted field agent, Charlie Wax (John Travolta), and basically serve as his chauffeur through Paris. Get the job done and he'll get his promotion.  Reese doesn't know what he's in for though as Wax's mission ranges from cocaine and drug dealers to pimps and terrorists planning an attack on a U.S./Africa delegation meeting in Paris.

Written by Luc Besson, I was expecting a little bit more out of this story, if you can call it that. After Reese is introduced at work and home, we're basically treated to a series of running gun battles as Reese desperately tries to keep up with Wax, an agent who actually knows what he's doing.  They spend a day, maybe a day and a half, running through Paris shooting bad guys in every direction as the story jumps from a hit mission to a narco takeout to a terrorist cell.  The writing is more of an excuse for this Odd Couple pairing of agents to drive around Paris yelling at each other.  The bright spot is the last 30 minutes which does deliver a twist I didn't see coming.

Surprisingly after seeing Taken's action, the gun battles and hand-to-hand combat set pieces are incredibly dull as they pull out just about every cliche in the Action Movies 101 textbook.  Lots of bullet impacts tearing props apart, bad guys unable to hit the good guys despite firing thousands of rounds of ammo, slow-motion used to death, and a blaring in your face soundtrack.  These scenes sample everybody from John Woo to Sam Peckinpah and everyone in between, but not in a good way as they produce a tedious pace.  The action comes together in the end as Travolta's Charlie hangs out the window of a car on a freeway outside Paris, trying to pick off a terrorist's car with a big honking rocket launcher.  Now, that's an action scene.

Not so surprisingly is that Travolta is the main reason to waste 93 minutes and watch this flick.  I've always liked Travolta in over the top mode (like the Pelham 123 remake) where he gets to scream, swear and shoot things up.  With a shaved head, goatee and a unique sense of style, his Charlie Wax certainly doesn't blend in as a secret agent, but Travolta looks to be having a ton of fun with the part in all its outrageous glory.  The same can't be said for Rhys Meyers who just doesn't seem like much of an actor to me.  He's pretty monotone throughout, and his character is downright dull at times.  Thankfully, Travolta carries the movie and manages to infuse some energy into this otherwise awkward buddy cop relationship.

Other than that, I don't know what else to say about this one.  It's just there as opposed to leaving any sort of mark or impression on the audience.  It's an unpretentious action film if nothing else, content to stay in a comfort zone instead of trying something new, but even in that respect it fails.  Travolta as ultra-crazy, loony secret agent Charlie Wax is pretty much the only reason to check this out.  Instead, save yourself the time and go rent Taken instead.

From Paris With Love <----trailer (2009): * 1/2 /**** 

Downhill Racer

Through some 30-plus movies, Robert Redford has made a career of playing that roguish character you can't help but like.  Women want to be with him, and men want to be him.  The man has been in his fair share of classics, but through them all he never truly played an out-and-out villain.  Sure, there were characters that weren't on the straight and narrow, but they weren't all bad.  Tell me the Sundance Kid isn't the coolest wild west outlaw ever.  So maybe never a bad guy, but how about someone you just hate and is incredibly dislikable? 

That's 1969's Downhill Racer, a somewhat odd choice for Criterion to release on DVD but who knows what's really going on with DVD/studio releases.  Redford plays a character that is by no means a bad guy, but he's clearly not the good guy either.  He's interested in only himself and doesn't really care who gets knocked down in the process as long as it benefits him.  Besides some other issues I had with the movie, that was the biggest one.  Through all his characters, I can say that I like Robert Redford as a star and an actor.  Watching him play someone who is so egocentric was a tough pill to swallow.

When a key member of the U.S. national ski team is knocked out with an injury, coach Eugene Claire (Gene Hackman) is forced to improvise to fill out his roster. He turns to a young skier, Dave Chappellet (Redford), who clearly has the talent to be great but was never able to put it all together.  Still two years away from the winter Olympics, Dave joins the team and quickly alienates everyone around him with his interest in himself above all others.  But in the process, he starts to win races and creates quite a name for himself.  With the Olympics drawing near and his star becoming ever brighter, can Dave get a hold of himself and his ever-growing arrogance coupled with his huge talent?

The story itself is nothing new in relation to a sports movie or any other rags to riches story.  It's been done before with the down and out, poor individual gets a chance to amount to something more.  There's the inevitable rise to power and of course, that fall down the backside of that hill.  For the most part, 'Downhill' does its best to avoid most of the cliches you might have seen in a similar story elsewhere.  But it still feels like we've been here before as a viewer.  The one detour comes from the ending which certainly surprised me.  I'm still mulling it over and not quite sure what to say about it other than I could have thought of a better ending.  Still, the whole tone of the Chappellet character has been unapologetic so why mess with it?

Now just because I didn't like Redford's character doesn't mean the character isn't a good one.  Redford does an excellent job as this ambitious young skier who wants to be the best at what he does, consequences and repercussions be damned.  Through a quick scene with his father we see that his behavior isn't anything new, he's most likely been doing it for years.  It's probably Redford's easiest character to hate, but that doesn't take away from his solid performance.  Hackman unfortunately is wasted as the ski team's coach, usually having to confront Chappellet about his actions before fading into the background for long stretches.  Swedish beauty Camilla Sparv plays Carole, Dave's fling/girlfriend, while Jim McMullan plays Johnny Creech, the ski team's best athlete and therefore Dave's rival, and Karl Michael Vogler plays Machet, a well-to-do businessman with a lot to lose.

Director Michael Ritchie tells his generally plotless story -- it covers almost 3 full years -- with a documentary-like filmmaking style.  The skiing sequences (filmed in Austria and Switzerland) are the movie at their best, exciting and fast-paced, as well as the scenes of the event of the downhill race with the crowds gathering, vendors setting up shop, and media preparing to cover the event.  An annoying smooth jazz score is played over several of these scenes, but thankfully that part of the score is generally left by the wayside.  My one complaint is that obviously Redford and the cast couldn't actually do their own skiing.  Thankfully, Ritchie doesn't use any tricks to make it look like they are skiing.  He wisely just lets his stunt men do their thing.

For all the good though that comes from the documentary-like storytelling, it goes out the window to a certain point in the non-skiing scenes.  It can be dull watching Chappellet brood his way through life, pissing everyone in his life off and not looking like he cares one bit.  I'm not saying make him a different character depending on the scene, but by the end of the movie you're rooting against the guy...or at least I was.  I WANTED him to lose in the Olympics.  As for whether he does win or lose and how you feel about it, check the movie out.

Downhill Racer <---trailer (1969): ** 1/2 /****

The Illusionist

So let's talk about some magic, huh? Who's excited?!?  Since we were all little kids, there's been magic around whether it's the form of some crappy magician at a friend's birthday party, a B.S. Magician Reveals All show that explains the tricks, or even David Blaine being a toolish street performer.  But that's now, in the 21st Century.  Through points of history where there wasn't always oodles of entertainment around, people went to see magicians perform on-stage.  I reviewed Christopher Nolan's The Prestige last fall, and I'm adding the 2nd half of the magician movies that came out a few months apart from each other, 2006's The Illusionist.

Other than the fact that both movies deal with late 19th century magicians, it's really not fair to compare the two movie.  The Prestige has an epic feel to it with scope and style to burn while The Illusionist is a smaller movie that makes up for its lack of scope with some a real feel of what a period piece movie should be like.  Just because they're different doesn't mean either are worth passing up, they're both excellent, highly entertaining movies.  Watching 'Illusionist' though, I had the feel of a classic Hollywood movie in terms of the simplicity of the story but also the filming techniques.  Moral of the story? Check both out, they'd make an interesting double-bill.

In late 19th century Vienna, a magician named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) opens a show to huge crowds and critical favor with his vast array of tricks that he is able to perform. His tricks are not just sleight of hand and deception, seemingly having something deeper and more sinister.  Could he actually have supernatural powers?  One night on stage, he asks for a volunteer and a beautiful woman walks on stage, Duchess Sophie (Jessica Biel) the fiance of Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), the heir to the throne. As teenagers, Eisenheim and Sophie were very close only to be torn apart because of their class differences.  Now as Leopold makes a play for the throne, the reunited couple plans to run away, but nothing comes easy.  A police inspector by the name of Uhl (Paul Giamatti) is on their trail trying to figure out exactly what they're up to.   

Without giving away some major plot revelations, that is about as detailed as I'm going to get with the story.  Know that the story takes a big turn about halfway through, but a good, smart turn.  It's not a difficult movie to follow but if I can say anything it will be this; pay attention because everything you see is not as it seems.  Director and screenwriter Neil Burger fashions a good old fashioned story that's a blend of romance between lost loves, the mystery of a magician and all his tricks, and the always reliable dogged detective trying to piece clues together as he goes.  With all that in the mix, the movie could have been overwhelming, but it finds that nice balance among all three.

As for the movie on the whole, it has a very distinct feel of a throwback to the classic Hollywood films from the 1930s and 1940s, albeit with the technology from the 2000s.  The film was shot on location in the Czech Republic so right off the bat, the story looks like it should, taking place in the events where the story actually takes place.  Novel concept, huh? Cinematographer Dick Pope puts together a beautiful finished version with full colors and great visuals.  At times, the corners of the screen are even fuzzy -- a little faded -- as if the movie was released 60 or 70 years ago.  He also uses some cool-looking, very stylish scene transitions that catch the eye.  Also, composer Philip Glass's score varies between a soothing main theme and a quicker version -- that still sounds time appropriate -- when the story requires a little brisker pace.

One thing that definitely caught me by surprise when I read about a magician story period piece was the casting.  Norton, Biel and Giamatti just didn't seem like appropriate choices for a 19th century period piece, but I guess the joke was on me.  As Eisenheim, Norton is able to go back and forth between this intense on-stage performer with this low-key man off the stage.  Then when pushed too far, this brooding anger comes through in an underrated performance from Norton. In the past, I've never thought much of Biel as an actress, but she nails this part.  She looks the part in period clothing and manages a believable accent.  The best performance for me though was Giamatti as Uhl, the police inspector balancing a desire to improve himself with a curiosity as to how Eisenheim does his tricks.  His last scene especially stands out in a scene-stealing part.  Sewell is appropriately evil/dislikable with Eddie Marsan good in a small part as Eisenheim's manager.

There's not much to complain or be critical about here.  The pacing early on can be a little slow, but it never drags.  The slower portions of the story are necessary so when some twists and turns do start popping up it's non-stop the rest of the way.  Also, I think Berger made a wise decision leaving Eisenheim's abilities a mystery.  Is he just a highly skilled, very talented illusionist able to deceive audiences, or is there something else there?  Does he have some sort of other-worldly supernatural powers?  I guess it depends on the viewer, but it's a question and a movie worth looking into.

The Illusionist <---trailer (2006): ***/****

I Walk the Line

Is there a genre of movies that could be dubbed "I'm having a mid-life crisis?"  It sure seems like there has been enough movies where a middle-aged man, fed up with where his life has ended up, does something to reclaim his youth whether it be an affair with a younger woman, buying an expensive sports car, or the always reliable bail on your life and start over.  That's the basic premise for 1970's I Walk the Line. 

The movie of course is not based on Andy Taylor -- Andy Griffith's character in The Andy Griffith Show -- but there are a fair share of similarities between the TV sitcom character and the main star here, Gregory Peck. Directed by John Frankenheimer, 'Line' jumps right into the premise of small-town life in the south is like where big-city life seems like a far off thing and the excitement is minimal.  But what if something came along -- for one person at least -- that livened things up even for a little bit?  Would you embrace it or pass it up?  So goes Pecks' dilemma.

As the peace officer in a small Tennessee town, Sheriff Tawes (Peck) just doesn't have much to do.  His home life is quiet without much in the way of fireworks (good or bad), and he spends his days patrolling back roads and making sure everything is up to snuff.  One day he pulls over a truck driving wildly down the road and meets Alma McClain (Tuesday Weld), a teenage girl who is lively and exciting in a way little else is in his life.  They quickly start seeing each other -- secretly of course, this is the South -- only to have Alma's moonshiner father (Ralph Meeker) blackmail Tawes for protection so his moonshining business can keep going. As long as the sheriff gets to see Alma, he doesn't seem to care, but his hushed up affair becomes an issue when an FBI agent (Lonny Chapman) shows up with orders to clean out any moonshiners in the area.

This performance for Peck is quite a departure from his usual roles where he usually played stout men of principles where good was good and bad was bad.  Frankenheimer wisely doesn't paint Tawes as a hero or as a bad guy, instead just showing him as a man who's frustrated with the path his life has took.  Through Weld's Alma, Tawes sees a chance to be happy, to be young again.  Peck pulls this all off perfectly, like a man about to explode. With anything involving an older man and a younger woman (Alma's age is never specified, 19, 20 maybe?), there's a certain element of creepiness, but for the most part it is kept to a minimum.  Give Peck credit, he goes right up to that line of crazy, obsession love without going over...just barely.

Making his obsession fully understandable is Tuesday Weld because, well, she looks like she does.  The 27-year old actress is playing a part that is slightly younger than her, but this bubbly blond with the huge smile makes it easy to understand why a middle-aged man would feel the way he does about her.  What I liked about the character was the question of if she was playing Tawes for his protection or because she was genuinely interested in him, had real feelings for him.  Her motives are established late, leading to an ending that surprised me, but it certainly works as a "real" ending.  Also worth mentioning in the cast is Meeker in a smaller part as Alma's father Carl (subtle creepy incest hinted at), and Charles Durning as Hunnicutt, Tawes' deputy who always sticks his nose where it doesn't belong.

My biggest issue isn't in what we do see, but what we don't see.  Tawes gets involved with Alma very quickly without much in the way of character background.  It's obvious he is bored to death by his job, family and life in general, but there's only one scene that even shows it, a dinner scene with his wife (Estelle Parsons), their daughter and Tawes' father.  The peaceable sheriff looks like he's about to kill them all in a fit of rage.  I'm not looking for 30 minutes of mind-killing boredom where we saw Tawes and his descent, but even a little more background would have been interesting.

One review I read accurately identified 'Line' as a movie that feels like a folk song, a country ballad, and he's dead-on.  Singer Johnny Cash handles the soundtrack (including title song "I Walk the Line"), helping the movie move along in the montage sequences as Tawes and Alma sneak off to be together. Frankenheimer filmed in Tennessee, giving the story a sense of being separated from the rest of the world in this tiny backroads town.  It feels like you're there with them and not some movie studio set.  For an underrated, different movie, give this a try.  Watch it at Youtube starting here with Part 1 of 10.

I Walk the Line <---TCM trailer (1970): ** 1/2 /****