BY RICK JACKSON
Moviegoers looking for a comedy fix to lighten up their day will want to see Men In Black 3. Will Smith is in top form as Agent J and it is easy to see why he fits perfectly. Although he doesn't get to play off Tommy Lee Jones like he did in the first two films, it is still worth seeing because Josh Brolin brilliantly plays Agent K as a younger man.
For the first time, its worthwhile to put on the 3D glasses. It enhances the first half-hour with a display of special effects that give it something extra special.
Based on the comic book by Lowell Cunningham, Etan Cohen has written a tight screenplay and this contributes to your enjoyment. It's nice to hear the sound of laughter as you watch the story and the characters. They are not as predictable as you might think.
It was good to see Emma Thompson in a comic role and she is perfect as Agent O, complete with her English accent. Besides, she is enjoying the part and so are we.
Michael Stuhlbarg is terrific as Griffin, a supporting character who adds a dimension of fun and his repartee adds comic relief and this, too, works to hold your interest when the plot gets a little strained when the scenes with Jermaine Clement as Boris become tiresome. You can forget this quite easily in the spirit of the comedy and time travel. The cast makes up for the inherent flaws of the script and you can look forward to an exciting trip to the movies, which is complemented by a light-hearted and entertaining music score by Danny Elfman (Dark Shadows).
It is rated PG, with the warnings: violence and language may offend.
May 27, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (KINOSMITH, 2012)****
BY RICK JACKSON
There is a scene in Once Upon A Time In Anatolia when a character says to another how much he looks like Clark Gable. It left me thinking what this has to do with the plot itself which is, ultimately, nothing. However, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan may actually have made a movie in tribute to the Hollywood crime films of the 1930s. This is not to say his latest directorial effort has merit, because it does without question. The details in assessing the crime that slowly unfolds within the story's simple structure is disguised by a singular attitude punctuated by the undercurrent of humour as if this was a Turkish version of a Humphrey Bogart film, for example, in Casablanca where Bogart is cynical of human nature and doesn't trust the ethics of anyone and to ensure he makes it, he looks out for himself. When you remember Bogart's tough guy roles, he was creating a figure of masculinity underneath the tender side he showed in Casablanca.
This brings me to Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, a fable set in the reality and mindset of a murder which is resoundingly like it came from Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely.
The police, doctor, and criminal also show a side of human nature that is not uncommon. When you don't understand a motive or reason for not doing something, you have a tendency to laugh or make a joke because it relieves the tension and it leaves you thinking more of the reality behind the elementary aspects of the crime, such as how the body was disposed of, and why it happened. These questions form the basis of the film's priority as entertainment and from this perspective you learn more about the director's point of view in making a movie that has profound sense of simplicity, and where you are forced to think a little more thanks to the cast whose acting makes it easier to comprehend on a superficial level: why would someone want to kill an innocent man and rob his wife of enjoying the life they shared. When she comes to identify her husband, her lack of emotion shows how much they didn't love each other and may have had another fight but this time it ended differently.
In the screenplay by Nuri Bilge and Ebvril Ceylan and Ercan Kesal, the main characters are prosecutor Nugvet (Taner Birsel), Dr. Cemal (Muhammet Uzunero), police chief Naci (Yilmaz Erdogan) and the murder suspect Kenan (Firat Tanis). They provide the film with its central focus when trhey interact with each other and, at the same time, build up a case which is standard for a film of this type but extraordinary in the way it is presented by the sheer weight of the director and cinematographer's visual style that may appear to be predictable but, in essence, it is an absorbing story that never loses your attention thanks to the close-up and wide shots that reveal the meticulous police work reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel or film and the French film classic Garde A Vue where the police are consistently clamoring to get at the truth.
As you watch the police conduct their investigation in Ceylan's movie, it is the painstaking rhythm and decency toward the victim that allows you to become part of everything as if you are an intrepid detective.
Cinematographer Gokhan Tiryaki maintains a firm footing in symbolizing the wide empty landscape to the killer whose skill is avoiding the real place where he hid the body. Without it, there is no case and Tanis shows a sense of calm to keep you wondering if he actually did it. His hesitation along with his questions lend enough credence to come to the conclusion he may have had help and his timidity lets you feel sorry for him.
The killer's conscience is working against him in two key scenes as a clever use of dramatic irony withouteven a hint he did it in the first place. However, the empty expressions he gives makes you think he doesn't care and it heightens your curiosity more with each succeeding minute.
How the screenwriters try to throw you off in a different direction with the conversation about a woman's death invites you to draw comparison to the current case. For a third time you begin to think if the body was deliberately buried when the autopsy shows sand in some its cavities. They are shown absently and without concern until you see the reactions to these findings on the characters' faces and it sends you out of the theatre reeling in a way that makes you ask yourself what really happened.
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia is a film where the urgency of each moment from the very beginning drives the plot threads in directions where the story is second to the characters from beginning to end. The main characters are anathematic to the story you are compelled to watch because you want to know the desperate details the screenwriters leave out. This is not a neatly packaged Hollywood film where everything gets sorted out by film's end. Its impact on you the moviegoer is from the director's point of view as a cathartic experience which is peculiarly evident.
It is rated 14A, with the warning: coarse language.
May 26, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
There is a scene in Once Upon A Time In Anatolia when a character says to another how much he looks like Clark Gable. It left me thinking what this has to do with the plot itself which is, ultimately, nothing. However, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan may actually have made a movie in tribute to the Hollywood crime films of the 1930s. This is not to say his latest directorial effort has merit, because it does without question. The details in assessing the crime that slowly unfolds within the story's simple structure is disguised by a singular attitude punctuated by the undercurrent of humour as if this was a Turkish version of a Humphrey Bogart film, for example, in Casablanca where Bogart is cynical of human nature and doesn't trust the ethics of anyone and to ensure he makes it, he looks out for himself. When you remember Bogart's tough guy roles, he was creating a figure of masculinity underneath the tender side he showed in Casablanca.
This brings me to Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, a fable set in the reality and mindset of a murder which is resoundingly like it came from Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely.
The police, doctor, and criminal also show a side of human nature that is not uncommon. When you don't understand a motive or reason for not doing something, you have a tendency to laugh or make a joke because it relieves the tension and it leaves you thinking more of the reality behind the elementary aspects of the crime, such as how the body was disposed of, and why it happened. These questions form the basis of the film's priority as entertainment and from this perspective you learn more about the director's point of view in making a movie that has profound sense of simplicity, and where you are forced to think a little more thanks to the cast whose acting makes it easier to comprehend on a superficial level: why would someone want to kill an innocent man and rob his wife of enjoying the life they shared. When she comes to identify her husband, her lack of emotion shows how much they didn't love each other and may have had another fight but this time it ended differently.
In the screenplay by Nuri Bilge and Ebvril Ceylan and Ercan Kesal, the main characters are prosecutor Nugvet (Taner Birsel), Dr. Cemal (Muhammet Uzunero), police chief Naci (Yilmaz Erdogan) and the murder suspect Kenan (Firat Tanis). They provide the film with its central focus when trhey interact with each other and, at the same time, build up a case which is standard for a film of this type but extraordinary in the way it is presented by the sheer weight of the director and cinematographer's visual style that may appear to be predictable but, in essence, it is an absorbing story that never loses your attention thanks to the close-up and wide shots that reveal the meticulous police work reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel or film and the French film classic Garde A Vue where the police are consistently clamoring to get at the truth.
As you watch the police conduct their investigation in Ceylan's movie, it is the painstaking rhythm and decency toward the victim that allows you to become part of everything as if you are an intrepid detective.
Cinematographer Gokhan Tiryaki maintains a firm footing in symbolizing the wide empty landscape to the killer whose skill is avoiding the real place where he hid the body. Without it, there is no case and Tanis shows a sense of calm to keep you wondering if he actually did it. His hesitation along with his questions lend enough credence to come to the conclusion he may have had help and his timidity lets you feel sorry for him.
The killer's conscience is working against him in two key scenes as a clever use of dramatic irony withouteven a hint he did it in the first place. However, the empty expressions he gives makes you think he doesn't care and it heightens your curiosity more with each succeeding minute.
How the screenwriters try to throw you off in a different direction with the conversation about a woman's death invites you to draw comparison to the current case. For a third time you begin to think if the body was deliberately buried when the autopsy shows sand in some its cavities. They are shown absently and without concern until you see the reactions to these findings on the characters' faces and it sends you out of the theatre reeling in a way that makes you ask yourself what really happened.
Once Upon A Time In Anatolia is a film where the urgency of each moment from the very beginning drives the plot threads in directions where the story is second to the characters from beginning to end. The main characters are anathematic to the story you are compelled to watch because you want to know the desperate details the screenwriters leave out. This is not a neatly packaged Hollywood film where everything gets sorted out by film's end. Its impact on you the moviegoer is from the director's point of view as a cathartic experience which is peculiarly evident.
It is rated 14A, with the warning: coarse language.
May 26, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
THE SEVENTH SEAL: AN APPRECIATION OF INGMAR BERGMAN
BY RICK JACKSON
Tonight at 7 p.m.,the Screening Room is showing The Seventh Seal (1957) from Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. He has been one of my favourite film directors ever since I saw Wild Strawberries for the first time in the 1970s.
What impresses you the first time you see an Ingmar Bergman film from the 1950s is Gunnar Fischer's stunning photography. The depth of each shot has distinguished the director's work ever since. When Fischer died last year at 100, it was revealed that the early works of Bergman were shot with unparalleled beauty and it is through his use of black and white he was able to achieve the right emotional depth to convey what he wanted. Expressionistic and brilliant are two words often used to describe the director's early films.
The director was taught how to make films by producer Lorens Marmstedt. In his autobiography, The Magic Lantern, that The Seventh Seal is uneven but close to his heart. It was made under difficult circumstances in a surge of vitality and delight.
He then goes on to explain the image of the death beneath a dark cloud was made at a hectic speed because all the actors were finished for the day. Assistants, electricians, a make-up man and two summer visitors never knew what it was all about when they had to dress up in costumes as victims condemned to death. A camera with no sound was set up and the shot was made before the cloud went away.
To introduce you to The Seventh Seal, it opens as a knight named Antonius Block returns to Sweden in the 14th century after a long crusade. He is accompanied by his squire, Jons.
On a desperate shore, he plays a game of chess with death. If he wins, he gets his life. The game is interrupted by the knight's heroism when he saves two jugglers from Death.
The religious fervour of the time is captured in the burning. The knight is praying later in the church when he talks to a painter who tells him how stupid man has become by torturing himself because he is never satisfied.
Despite the fact that the knight is convinced the statement is true, Jons saves a man and his wife and later saves a young girl from being burned as a witch.
The knight asks Death about God's reasons for allowing man to be punished for no reason, while Jons accepts man's behaviour and death as inevitable. H doesn't believe he will have a long life and comes across as a modern agnostic who is skeptical about everything. Death and thw knight argue about God's existence, which is what Bergman believes, although he doesn't discuss his religious views in his book.
Toward the end of the film, Ravel, a man with the plague enters and there is concern that the girl Jons rescued earlier will get it, too. He is also skeptical about God.
Religion was a theme he used in other films, notably, Winter Light (1963) where it is more clearly defined and far less symbolic. In the latter, a priestThomas Ericson in confession, asks God, "If we are to believe in the believers when we ourselves do not as ministers of God, what will happen to us who wish to believe but cannot, and what will become of those who neither wish nor can believe? This could well be what Bergman was also saying, too.
The Dance With Death in The Seventh Seal it is symbolic of the individual in Bergman's view who as someone who is easily corrupted by his own morality and allows himself to live by an inflated ego qhich the director sees as a bad thing for mankind and something that will eventually eat away all his goodness away.
Bergman was an agnostic to be sure, he says in his book, he was surrounded by ghosts, demons and other creatures since childhood. When he was trapped inside a mortuary he was scared to death. In his 1972 film, Cries And Whispers there is a scene where the dead cannot die but are left to disturb the living.
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Tonight at 7 p.m.,the Screening Room is showing The Seventh Seal (1957) from Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. He has been one of my favourite film directors ever since I saw Wild Strawberries for the first time in the 1970s.
What impresses you the first time you see an Ingmar Bergman film from the 1950s is Gunnar Fischer's stunning photography. The depth of each shot has distinguished the director's work ever since. When Fischer died last year at 100, it was revealed that the early works of Bergman were shot with unparalleled beauty and it is through his use of black and white he was able to achieve the right emotional depth to convey what he wanted. Expressionistic and brilliant are two words often used to describe the director's early films.
The director was taught how to make films by producer Lorens Marmstedt. In his autobiography, The Magic Lantern, that The Seventh Seal is uneven but close to his heart. It was made under difficult circumstances in a surge of vitality and delight.
He then goes on to explain the image of the death beneath a dark cloud was made at a hectic speed because all the actors were finished for the day. Assistants, electricians, a make-up man and two summer visitors never knew what it was all about when they had to dress up in costumes as victims condemned to death. A camera with no sound was set up and the shot was made before the cloud went away.
To introduce you to The Seventh Seal, it opens as a knight named Antonius Block returns to Sweden in the 14th century after a long crusade. He is accompanied by his squire, Jons.
On a desperate shore, he plays a game of chess with death. If he wins, he gets his life. The game is interrupted by the knight's heroism when he saves two jugglers from Death.
The religious fervour of the time is captured in the burning. The knight is praying later in the church when he talks to a painter who tells him how stupid man has become by torturing himself because he is never satisfied.
Despite the fact that the knight is convinced the statement is true, Jons saves a man and his wife and later saves a young girl from being burned as a witch.
The knight asks Death about God's reasons for allowing man to be punished for no reason, while Jons accepts man's behaviour and death as inevitable. H doesn't believe he will have a long life and comes across as a modern agnostic who is skeptical about everything. Death and thw knight argue about God's existence, which is what Bergman believes, although he doesn't discuss his religious views in his book.
Toward the end of the film, Ravel, a man with the plague enters and there is concern that the girl Jons rescued earlier will get it, too. He is also skeptical about God.
Religion was a theme he used in other films, notably, Winter Light (1963) where it is more clearly defined and far less symbolic. In the latter, a priestThomas Ericson in confession, asks God, "If we are to believe in the believers when we ourselves do not as ministers of God, what will happen to us who wish to believe but cannot, and what will become of those who neither wish nor can believe? This could well be what Bergman was also saying, too.
The Dance With Death in The Seventh Seal it is symbolic of the individual in Bergman's view who as someone who is easily corrupted by his own morality and allows himself to live by an inflated ego qhich the director sees as a bad thing for mankind and something that will eventually eat away all his goodness away.
Bergman was an agnostic to be sure, he says in his book, he was surrounded by ghosts, demons and other creatures since childhood. When he was trapped inside a mortuary he was scared to death. In his 1972 film, Cries And Whispers there is a scene where the dead cannot die but are left to disturb the living.
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (FOX, 2012)****
BY RICK JACKSON
Here is a welcome surprise, a story about seniors lovingly told with respect, and clearly with a sense of fun and frivolity. It is a real find for the moviegoer. Don't miss it.
Based on the novel, These Foolish Things by Deborah Maggoch, the screenplay by Ol Parker focuses on a group of retirees who are duped into going to India where they stay at a hotel they believe has all the luxuries and facilities described in the brochure.
When they realize the truth, they resolve to make the best of it by making things right in the end, to quote a character. More importantly, they each have a purpose to make the trip more positive and, thereby, enjoy themselves and, in the process, learn a lesson about humanity.
Judi Dench leads the cast as Evelyn Greenslade, who writes about each day in her blog, and it
provides for some unerring understanding of her trip through her own individual sense of morality and joie de vivre that has instilled within her an insight the others at the hotel can't articulate because they are not writers.
Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton steal the movie with their comic repartee as Douglas and Jean Ainslie. They provide insight into their lives as retirees and how they live each day to the fullest by finding something to do. This is also the case for Norman (Ronald Pickup), and the Judge (Hugh Dickson).
For Muriel (Maggie Smith), it means being able to afford a hip operation that was too costly back home.
Dev Patel, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, plays Sonny Kapoor, the lovelorn proprietor whose inexperience in running a business stretches to his personal life which has been hindered by an outdated family philosophy. He contributes to the film's heart and soul.
One character who gives an equally memorable role is Tom Wilkinson as Graham Dashwood, whose love for life remains undiminished. His performance resonates with the story's impact as a dramatic tour de force about seniors who, despite their age, can have the same wishes and dreams they once had when they were younger. His return to India fulfils a promise he made to return to India where he had one of the best times of his life.
The film opens with an instrumental version of Strangers In The Night, and it is from this reference you are for one of the best times you'll have at the movies this year.
Watch for another key sequence featuring Chic's 1978 disco hit, Le Freak in a moment that reminds him of a period in his life when he loved to dance with women.
This begs the thought for those seniors who will should be prepared to experience a tale that will convey the same attitude and brevity. To remember your zest for life speaks volumes as you watch the individual members play their parts indelibly and without prejudice.
Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare In Love), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel holds the key to a long life of happiness and prosperity.
It is rated PG, with the warning: language may offend.
May 21, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Here is a welcome surprise, a story about seniors lovingly told with respect, and clearly with a sense of fun and frivolity. It is a real find for the moviegoer. Don't miss it.
Based on the novel, These Foolish Things by Deborah Maggoch, the screenplay by Ol Parker focuses on a group of retirees who are duped into going to India where they stay at a hotel they believe has all the luxuries and facilities described in the brochure.
When they realize the truth, they resolve to make the best of it by making things right in the end, to quote a character. More importantly, they each have a purpose to make the trip more positive and, thereby, enjoy themselves and, in the process, learn a lesson about humanity.
Judi Dench leads the cast as Evelyn Greenslade, who writes about each day in her blog, and it
provides for some unerring understanding of her trip through her own individual sense of morality and joie de vivre that has instilled within her an insight the others at the hotel can't articulate because they are not writers.
Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton steal the movie with their comic repartee as Douglas and Jean Ainslie. They provide insight into their lives as retirees and how they live each day to the fullest by finding something to do. This is also the case for Norman (Ronald Pickup), and the Judge (Hugh Dickson).
For Muriel (Maggie Smith), it means being able to afford a hip operation that was too costly back home.
Dev Patel, best known for his role in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, plays Sonny Kapoor, the lovelorn proprietor whose inexperience in running a business stretches to his personal life which has been hindered by an outdated family philosophy. He contributes to the film's heart and soul.
One character who gives an equally memorable role is Tom Wilkinson as Graham Dashwood, whose love for life remains undiminished. His performance resonates with the story's impact as a dramatic tour de force about seniors who, despite their age, can have the same wishes and dreams they once had when they were younger. His return to India fulfils a promise he made to return to India where he had one of the best times of his life.
The film opens with an instrumental version of Strangers In The Night, and it is from this reference you are for one of the best times you'll have at the movies this year.
Watch for another key sequence featuring Chic's 1978 disco hit, Le Freak in a moment that reminds him of a period in his life when he loved to dance with women.
This begs the thought for those seniors who will should be prepared to experience a tale that will convey the same attitude and brevity. To remember your zest for life speaks volumes as you watch the individual members play their parts indelibly and without prejudice.
Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare In Love), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel holds the key to a long life of happiness and prosperity.
It is rated PG, with the warning: language may offend.
May 21, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
BREAKING AWAY (20TH CENTURY FOX, 1979)****
BY RICK JACKSON
On June 3, 2012 at 4 p.m. The Screening Room will be presenting the film, Breaking Away. Here is my review from July 18, 1979:
Breaking Away is an inspiring story of one boy's lesson in how important faith and hope in oneself can lead to a better chance of success no matter what your social standing is or your opinion of others might be.
Set in the small town of Bloomington, Indiana, the screenplay by Steve Tesich looks at two groups: the cutters or homeboys from the poor side of the tracks, and the university students from the upper middle class. In the middle are Dave and his parents, symbolic of the average working family. You see how hard life has been eking out an existence there. For the father (Tom Dololey) it has meant sacrificing everything to look after his wife and son. He has been working since he was a teenagee and today he is a successful used car dealer. His idea of working in America is similar to everyone else in Bloomington, where he takes pride in his heritage and sees nothing wrong with just staying with the status quo. Life has been good for the entire family because the father has provided the basic essentials.
When Dave comes home with aspirations to be someone he is not, his father is enraged by the ignorance of his heritage by pretending to be from another class. Life is not pretending but accepting your station in life. The difference is a lesson Dave and his father learn by film's end.
Dave's dream to be like one of the university students is precipitated by a chance meeting with a lovely young girl named Katherine Bennett (Robyn Douglas) who slowly learns to like them. Unbeknownst to her, he is putting on an elaborate show thinking this is how to impress a rich girl. When she finds out the truth, she refuses to accept him, not for who he really is but not for being honest from the beginning.
Tesich uses the bicycle race as a metaphor for the hope that winning will engender enough self-esteem and pride for you to better yourself so you don't have to pretend you are from the other side of the tracks.
Just as Dave masquerades as an Italian suitor who serenades Katherine under her window, he is driving a wedge between he and his father who is embarrassed by his son's behaviour. The meddling with the classes rears its ugly head when the rivalry between the cutters and students doesn't go smoothly as planned.
Dooley is like all fathers who comes to rescue their son, Dooley injects his character with enough sensitivity and respect to underscore how families stick together and as he takes Dave aside to explain something to him, there is a stronger bond between them than before. Dave also relaizes what he must do to decide his future and get back to reality.
Dennis Christopher conveys a depth of honesty and charm as the naive home boy whose hopes and dreams coincide with any normal young man growing up. He learns he can't stay forever in Bloomington and must "break away" from what his father has taught him and learn to be on his own in order to understand what life can be like outside Bloomington.
Cast as Dave's boyhood friends are Dennis Quaid as Mike, Daniel Stern as Cyril and Jackie Earle Haley as Moocher.
Produced and directed by Peter Yates (Bullitt), Breaking Away is a first-rate yarn which will leave you smiling long after it's over.
It is rated PG/Parental Guidance.
July 18, 1979
Copyright Rick Jackson 1979
On June 3, 2012 at 4 p.m. The Screening Room will be presenting the film, Breaking Away. Here is my review from July 18, 1979:
Breaking Away is an inspiring story of one boy's lesson in how important faith and hope in oneself can lead to a better chance of success no matter what your social standing is or your opinion of others might be.
Set in the small town of Bloomington, Indiana, the screenplay by Steve Tesich looks at two groups: the cutters or homeboys from the poor side of the tracks, and the university students from the upper middle class. In the middle are Dave and his parents, symbolic of the average working family. You see how hard life has been eking out an existence there. For the father (Tom Dololey) it has meant sacrificing everything to look after his wife and son. He has been working since he was a teenagee and today he is a successful used car dealer. His idea of working in America is similar to everyone else in Bloomington, where he takes pride in his heritage and sees nothing wrong with just staying with the status quo. Life has been good for the entire family because the father has provided the basic essentials.
When Dave comes home with aspirations to be someone he is not, his father is enraged by the ignorance of his heritage by pretending to be from another class. Life is not pretending but accepting your station in life. The difference is a lesson Dave and his father learn by film's end.
Dave's dream to be like one of the university students is precipitated by a chance meeting with a lovely young girl named Katherine Bennett (Robyn Douglas) who slowly learns to like them. Unbeknownst to her, he is putting on an elaborate show thinking this is how to impress a rich girl. When she finds out the truth, she refuses to accept him, not for who he really is but not for being honest from the beginning.
Tesich uses the bicycle race as a metaphor for the hope that winning will engender enough self-esteem and pride for you to better yourself so you don't have to pretend you are from the other side of the tracks.
Just as Dave masquerades as an Italian suitor who serenades Katherine under her window, he is driving a wedge between he and his father who is embarrassed by his son's behaviour. The meddling with the classes rears its ugly head when the rivalry between the cutters and students doesn't go smoothly as planned.
Dooley is like all fathers who comes to rescue their son, Dooley injects his character with enough sensitivity and respect to underscore how families stick together and as he takes Dave aside to explain something to him, there is a stronger bond between them than before. Dave also relaizes what he must do to decide his future and get back to reality.
Dennis Christopher conveys a depth of honesty and charm as the naive home boy whose hopes and dreams coincide with any normal young man growing up. He learns he can't stay forever in Bloomington and must "break away" from what his father has taught him and learn to be on his own in order to understand what life can be like outside Bloomington.
Cast as Dave's boyhood friends are Dennis Quaid as Mike, Daniel Stern as Cyril and Jackie Earle Haley as Moocher.
Produced and directed by Peter Yates (Bullitt), Breaking Away is a first-rate yarn which will leave you smiling long after it's over.
It is rated PG/Parental Guidance.
July 18, 1979
Copyright Rick Jackson 1979
Sunday, May 20, 2012
ALIENS (20TH CENTURY FOX, 1986)****
BY RICK JACKSON
Aliens is a socko sequel to Alien. Well directed by James Cameron (The Terminator), it picks up where the original left off. Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Ripley.
Written by Cameron based on a story by Cameron, David Giler and Walter Hill, from characters created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the sequel moves the action from the confines of a spaceship to the planet Acheron.
Production designer Peter Lamont is responsible for the intricate alien structure which contains an organic labyrinth leading to a series of chambers and catacombs.
Cameron keeps you on the edge of your seat from the beginning. As the story moves along, he gradually builds up the suspense until the action is non-stop.
The visual effects supervised by Robert and Dennis Skotak create the proper gloomy atmosphere that contributes to the nail-biting suspense.
In an excellent supporting role, nine-year-old Carrie Henn as Newt, the little girl who gives Ripley the courage to fight the alien creatures.
The supporting cast includes Michael Biehn as Hicks, Paul Reiser as Burke, Lance Henricksen as Bishop, and Bill Paxton as Hudson.
Complemented by James Horner's music score and Adrian Biddle's photography, Aliens is real scary stuff.
It is rated Restricted, with the warnings: coarse language and frightening scenes.
July 30, 1986
Copyright Rick Jackson 1986
Aliens is playing at The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario on June 29, 2012.
Aliens is a socko sequel to Alien. Well directed by James Cameron (The Terminator), it picks up where the original left off. Sigourney Weaver reprises her role as Ripley.
Written by Cameron based on a story by Cameron, David Giler and Walter Hill, from characters created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, the sequel moves the action from the confines of a spaceship to the planet Acheron.
Production designer Peter Lamont is responsible for the intricate alien structure which contains an organic labyrinth leading to a series of chambers and catacombs.
Cameron keeps you on the edge of your seat from the beginning. As the story moves along, he gradually builds up the suspense until the action is non-stop.
The visual effects supervised by Robert and Dennis Skotak create the proper gloomy atmosphere that contributes to the nail-biting suspense.
In an excellent supporting role, nine-year-old Carrie Henn as Newt, the little girl who gives Ripley the courage to fight the alien creatures.
The supporting cast includes Michael Biehn as Hicks, Paul Reiser as Burke, Lance Henricksen as Bishop, and Bill Paxton as Hudson.
Complemented by James Horner's music score and Adrian Biddle's photography, Aliens is real scary stuff.
It is rated Restricted, with the warnings: coarse language and frightening scenes.
July 30, 1986
Copyright Rick Jackson 1986
Aliens is playing at The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario on June 29, 2012.
ALIEN (20TH CENTURY FOX, 1979)****
BY RICK JACKSON
After months of seeing the trailer for Alien, it is good to finally see it. I have to admit that it is one of the scariest films I've ever seen. Film critics like to use the word "masterpiece" a lot when it comes to epics and dramas, but this it applies to this science fiction horror movie. Director Ridley Scott, whose film debut was the 1977's The Duellists, which is worth seeing if you haven't already.
Sigourney Weaver makes her film debut as Ripley and for a new generation of moviegoers here
a new face to watch for.
I don't know about you, but I am still shaking at the alien creature created by Roger Dicken and although I'm not prone to nightmares, there may be some who will.
The corridors of the ship Nostromo are similar to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddysey, but there the similarity ends. Scott has successfully managed to keep you on the edge of your seat.What Steven pielberg did in Jaws four summers ago during the summer of the shark, danger, you don't know when the alien will appear in this spring flick. Moviegoers will jump in their seats and scream like they did for Jaws.
Cinematographer Derek Vanlint keeps you guessing with the darkly lit shadows that suddenly break the monotony of the daily routines and idle chatter aboard the ship.
Despite the predictable path of mayhem the sounds you hear create an unerring sense of fear and you can feel it as if you are right up there with the crew.
Written by Dan O'Bannon from his own story with help from Ronald Shusett, the theme of man's mortality in outer space is discreetly revealed, with one character who holds the key to what has been happening.
Clearly, Alien is absorbing from beginning to end and there are some surprises along the way to keep your face glued to the screen.
Tom Skerritt plays Dallas, the ship's captain, does his best to defend himself with help from the crew.
It is Scott's skilful direction that is responsible for the film to achieve what few horror films have done lately. Fear is the key to its success and moviegoers like to be scared witless as an escape from reality.
The rest of the cast features Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, Harry Dean Stanton as Brett, John Hurt as Kane, Yaphet Kotto as Parker and Ian Holm as Ash. Remember these names for you may see them again.
Be prepared for something totally different in science fiction horror when you line up to see Alien.
It is rated R/Restricted.
May 18, 1979
Copyright Rick Jackson 1979
After months of seeing the trailer for Alien, it is good to finally see it. I have to admit that it is one of the scariest films I've ever seen. Film critics like to use the word "masterpiece" a lot when it comes to epics and dramas, but this it applies to this science fiction horror movie. Director Ridley Scott, whose film debut was the 1977's The Duellists, which is worth seeing if you haven't already.
Sigourney Weaver makes her film debut as Ripley and for a new generation of moviegoers here
a new face to watch for.
I don't know about you, but I am still shaking at the alien creature created by Roger Dicken and although I'm not prone to nightmares, there may be some who will.
The corridors of the ship Nostromo are similar to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddysey, but there the similarity ends. Scott has successfully managed to keep you on the edge of your seat.What Steven pielberg did in Jaws four summers ago during the summer of the shark, danger, you don't know when the alien will appear in this spring flick. Moviegoers will jump in their seats and scream like they did for Jaws.
Cinematographer Derek Vanlint keeps you guessing with the darkly lit shadows that suddenly break the monotony of the daily routines and idle chatter aboard the ship.
Despite the predictable path of mayhem the sounds you hear create an unerring sense of fear and you can feel it as if you are right up there with the crew.
Written by Dan O'Bannon from his own story with help from Ronald Shusett, the theme of man's mortality in outer space is discreetly revealed, with one character who holds the key to what has been happening.
Clearly, Alien is absorbing from beginning to end and there are some surprises along the way to keep your face glued to the screen.
Tom Skerritt plays Dallas, the ship's captain, does his best to defend himself with help from the crew.
It is Scott's skilful direction that is responsible for the film to achieve what few horror films have done lately. Fear is the key to its success and moviegoers like to be scared witless as an escape from reality.
The rest of the cast features Veronica Cartwright as Lambert, Harry Dean Stanton as Brett, John Hurt as Kane, Yaphet Kotto as Parker and Ian Holm as Ash. Remember these names for you may see them again.
Be prepared for something totally different in science fiction horror when you line up to see Alien.
It is rated R/Restricted.
May 18, 1979
Copyright Rick Jackson 1979
Monday, May 14, 2012
DARK SHADOWS (WARNER BROTHERS, 2012)****
BY RICK JACKSON
Directed by Tim Burton, Dark Shadows breathes new life in the horror film genre. It opens with a prologue where you are introduced to the main character, Barnabas Collins and why he is cursed, only to resurface two hundred years later in 1972.
Danny Elfman, in one of his best music scores for the director, draws you into the opulent surroundings of Collinwood. Its gothic feel bodes well for the story's atmosphere.
Depp justly steals the film with his top notch performance as Collins, a vampire at the mercy of his descendants, especially Dr. Julia Hoffman. His seriocomic role keeps you watching because everything depends on him, and everything he sees and does.
The plot is of secondary importance due to its predictable turns but they are essential in understanding Barnabas' viewpoint along with the other characters who occupy the same stage right up to the film's inevitable conclusion, complete with special and visual effects and Elfman's classical music strains that are, at once, repetitious but necessary in maintaining the right mood.
The screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith from a story by John August and Grahame-Smith is based on the cult TV series from 1966 created by the late Dan Curtis.
Set decorator John Bush is responsible for designing Depps character in two time periods. The melding of ideas by more than one key character ties together the plot quite nicely and it also holds your undivided attention.
Like Edward Scissorhands (1990) which was also a fantasy, the cinematography channels your imagination in a way substantially different thanks to the overall richness and depth of the overall siurroundings as if the director wa paying tribute indirectly to the atmosphere in The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939) and The Wolf Man (1941).
Christopher Lee makes an effective cameo appearance as Clarney in much the same way Vincent Price did in Edward Scissorhands as the inventor.
The absurd sense of humour in Burton's films entertains well and goes back to Beetlejuice (1988) and Batman Returns (1992), while Depp's role is reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's The Joker in Batman (1989).
Michelle Pfeiffer downplays the sexuality she played as the Catwoman in Batman Returns. As Elizabeth Collins Stoddard she injects a woman with an equal amount of ambition and a feisty spirit.
Cast as Angelique is Eva Green whose presence creates a plot twist you don't see coming right away and this helps generate more interest in her when she becomes the innocent who falls to the dark side, something horror movies have used over and over again.
Helena Bonham Carter is perfect as Hoffman. Her personal agenda supplies enough friction and ghoulish delight.
The sexual tension between her and Depp contributes to the closet humour as a satirical barb toward the sexes. Their foreplay in the last hour is as inviting as a vampire's bite.
The rocky cliff motif for danger underscores the gothic tone of the film exemplified in such non-horror movies as Rebecca (1940) and Jane Eyre (1944).
Depp, of course, is the main reason to see Dark Shadows and you will be further reminded of his role in Sleepy Hollow (1999) in which he grew as an actor.
Burton is in top form with his latest directorial effort.
It is rated 14A, with the warnings: graphic violence and substance abuse.
May 13, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Directed by Tim Burton, Dark Shadows breathes new life in the horror film genre. It opens with a prologue where you are introduced to the main character, Barnabas Collins and why he is cursed, only to resurface two hundred years later in 1972.
Danny Elfman, in one of his best music scores for the director, draws you into the opulent surroundings of Collinwood. Its gothic feel bodes well for the story's atmosphere.
Depp justly steals the film with his top notch performance as Collins, a vampire at the mercy of his descendants, especially Dr. Julia Hoffman. His seriocomic role keeps you watching because everything depends on him, and everything he sees and does.
The plot is of secondary importance due to its predictable turns but they are essential in understanding Barnabas' viewpoint along with the other characters who occupy the same stage right up to the film's inevitable conclusion, complete with special and visual effects and Elfman's classical music strains that are, at once, repetitious but necessary in maintaining the right mood.
The screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith from a story by John August and Grahame-Smith is based on the cult TV series from 1966 created by the late Dan Curtis.
Set decorator John Bush is responsible for designing Depps character in two time periods. The melding of ideas by more than one key character ties together the plot quite nicely and it also holds your undivided attention.
Like Edward Scissorhands (1990) which was also a fantasy, the cinematography channels your imagination in a way substantially different thanks to the overall richness and depth of the overall siurroundings as if the director wa paying tribute indirectly to the atmosphere in The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939) and The Wolf Man (1941).
Christopher Lee makes an effective cameo appearance as Clarney in much the same way Vincent Price did in Edward Scissorhands as the inventor.
The absurd sense of humour in Burton's films entertains well and goes back to Beetlejuice (1988) and Batman Returns (1992), while Depp's role is reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's The Joker in Batman (1989).
Michelle Pfeiffer downplays the sexuality she played as the Catwoman in Batman Returns. As Elizabeth Collins Stoddard she injects a woman with an equal amount of ambition and a feisty spirit.
Cast as Angelique is Eva Green whose presence creates a plot twist you don't see coming right away and this helps generate more interest in her when she becomes the innocent who falls to the dark side, something horror movies have used over and over again.
Helena Bonham Carter is perfect as Hoffman. Her personal agenda supplies enough friction and ghoulish delight.
The sexual tension between her and Depp contributes to the closet humour as a satirical barb toward the sexes. Their foreplay in the last hour is as inviting as a vampire's bite.
The rocky cliff motif for danger underscores the gothic tone of the film exemplified in such non-horror movies as Rebecca (1940) and Jane Eyre (1944).
Depp, of course, is the main reason to see Dark Shadows and you will be further reminded of his role in Sleepy Hollow (1999) in which he grew as an actor.
Burton is in top form with his latest directorial effort.
It is rated 14A, with the warnings: graphic violence and substance abuse.
May 13, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
SIGOURNEY WEAVER (20TH CENTURY FOX, 1986)****
BY RICK JACKSON
In June, horror fans will be treated to the first two films in the Alien movie series. when The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario presents both films in their Cinematica program. Alien screens June 15 at 9:30 p.m. Aliens on June 29 at 9:30 p.m. Below is my feature article about Sigourney Weaver published in The Heritage Newspaper on August 6, 1986.
In Aliens, Sigourney Weaver has become the most famous heroines of the silver screen. It is a tradition that goes back to the silent era when Pearl White starred in The Perils of Pauline.
Born Susan Weaver in New York City on October 8, 1949, she changed her name to Sigourney Weaver after a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. The daughter of Pat Weaver, creator of NBC's Today Show and English actress Inglis, Sigourney attended Brearly, Chapin and Ethel Walker schools She then enrolled at Stanford University where she studied English Literature. After he graduation, she went to the Yale School of Drama where she co-wrote and performed a Brecht parody called Lusitania Songspiel.A few plays with off-Broadway and road company groups followed until 1978 when she was invited to test for the role of Ripley in Alien for director Ridley Scott. After its release in 1979, Her face graced the cover of Newsweek. For Aliens she is on the July 28, 1986 issue of Time.
In between the Alien films, she starred opposite William Hurt in Eyewitness (1981) as TV reporter Tony Solokow. Her sensitive performance caught the attention of Australian director Peter Weir who cast her The Year Of Living Dangerously (1983) as intelligence officer Jill Bryant who falls in love with Mel Gibson.
Other roles followed in Deal Of The Century (1983) and Ghostbusters (1984).
August 6, 1986
Copyright Rick Jackson 1986
In June, horror fans will be treated to the first two films in the Alien movie series. when The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario presents both films in their Cinematica program. Alien screens June 15 at 9:30 p.m. Aliens on June 29 at 9:30 p.m. Below is my feature article about Sigourney Weaver published in The Heritage Newspaper on August 6, 1986.
In Aliens, Sigourney Weaver has become the most famous heroines of the silver screen. It is a tradition that goes back to the silent era when Pearl White starred in The Perils of Pauline.
Born Susan Weaver in New York City on October 8, 1949, she changed her name to Sigourney Weaver after a minor character in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. The daughter of Pat Weaver, creator of NBC's Today Show and English actress Inglis, Sigourney attended Brearly, Chapin and Ethel Walker schools She then enrolled at Stanford University where she studied English Literature. After he graduation, she went to the Yale School of Drama where she co-wrote and performed a Brecht parody called Lusitania Songspiel.A few plays with off-Broadway and road company groups followed until 1978 when she was invited to test for the role of Ripley in Alien for director Ridley Scott. After its release in 1979, Her face graced the cover of Newsweek. For Aliens she is on the July 28, 1986 issue of Time.
In between the Alien films, she starred opposite William Hurt in Eyewitness (1981) as TV reporter Tony Solokow. Her sensitive performance caught the attention of Australian director Peter Weir who cast her The Year Of Living Dangerously (1983) as intelligence officer Jill Bryant who falls in love with Mel Gibson.
Other roles followed in Deal Of The Century (1983) and Ghostbusters (1984).
August 6, 1986
Copyright Rick Jackson 1986
Friday, May 11, 2012
SPARTACUS (UNIVERSAL, 1960)****
BY RICK JACKSON
Spartacus is playing at The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario at 7 p.m. as part of their Cinematica program of film classics on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. It is one of the last great epics.
When I first saw it as a kid in 1963, I was impressed by the visual landscape and, of course, the story appealed to me because I loved to watch the period films of the 1950s like The Robe, Demetrius And The Gladiators and Ben-Hur.
Kirk Douglas has always impressed me as an actor and being cast in the title role turned out to be one of his most famous. Seeing him in the restored Spartacus in 1990 in Toronto, I was eager to see what was new.
Not much has been written about Spartacus. Alexander Walker skips it in his book, Stanley Kubrick Directs, although he does list the credits with the director's other films.
Robert A. Harris who worked on the restoration of Lawrence of Arabia and the silent classic, Napoleon. With help from Jim Natz five minutes of the missing footage from the original 197 minutes were found in an underground storage facility. When it opened in 1960, it had been cut to 182 minutes.
Anthony Hopkins was invited to dub in Laurence Olivier's voice in a restored scene. What also was added in the restored version was the original overture and intermission.
In re-reading Kirk Douglas' autobiography, The Ragman's Son, Douglas says he wanted to do Spartacus despite the fact he had no desire to do another period epic when he finished The Vikings in 1957. He turned down the part of Massala in Ben-Hur because he wanted the title role which, as you know, went to Charlton Heston. Stephen Boyd played Massala.
Douglas used some of his own money to bankroll the production and wanted it to be authentic to the period.
While in London, England filming The Devil's Disciple he told his co-star Laurence Olivier about the film and he expressed interest in playing the title role.
Behind the scenes Douglas was busy looking for a screenwriter. He wanted the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo because he was a fast worker.
Choosing a director was not an easy task. The first choice was Martin Ritt, whose upcoming film was The Long Hot Summer starring Paul Newman and Joanna Woodward.
Universal Studios insisted Anthony Mann since he had a good track record with such films as The Glenn Miller Story, Winchester 73 and Strategic Air Command.
Tony Curtis who had just finished The Defiant Ones wanted to finish his contractual agreement with Universal and asked Douglas if there was a part for him. He created the role of Antoninus who fought against Spartacus and the met the same fate by film's end.
When it came to actresses, Jean Simmons wanted to be in it but Douglas said no because a British accent would not make a convincing Roman. He wanted French actress Jeanne Moreau.
Production on Spartacus started on January 27, 1959 with Mann as director and Trumbo as screenwriter under the pseudonym of Sam Jackson. The first scene was the mine in Death Valley. It all went smoothly until co-star Peter Ustinov decided to direct himself in the gladiator scenes. The blame fell on Mann's shoulders because he wasn't right. He did get paid for his services.
Douglas thought of Stanley Kubrick because they they worked together on Paths of Glory (1957). How he managed to get him makes an interesting sidebar. He was in pre-production on One-Eyed Jacks when Marlon Brando fired him to direct it himself.
Another major problem was the casting of Sabina Bethmann as Varinia. Douglas relented and told Jean Simmons to get down to the set as fast as she can.
When it came to do the bathroom sequence in Spartacus, there was a problem with the censors over the words snails and oysters. Changed to artichokes and truffles,the censors still didn't approve and it ended up on the cutting room floor.
The battle scenes were done in Spain where the government allowed their army to play the Roman army.
To get the male voices neded for the cries, Hail! Crassus and I Am Spartacus in English, Kubrick arranged to record the crowd in half-time during a college football game between Michigan State and Notre Dame.
The Hollywood premiere of Spartacus was on October 19, 1960.
May 11, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Spartacus is playing at The Screening Room in Kingston, Ontario at 7 p.m. as part of their Cinematica program of film classics on Wednesday, May 16, 2012. It is one of the last great epics.
When I first saw it as a kid in 1963, I was impressed by the visual landscape and, of course, the story appealed to me because I loved to watch the period films of the 1950s like The Robe, Demetrius And The Gladiators and Ben-Hur.
Kirk Douglas has always impressed me as an actor and being cast in the title role turned out to be one of his most famous. Seeing him in the restored Spartacus in 1990 in Toronto, I was eager to see what was new.
Not much has been written about Spartacus. Alexander Walker skips it in his book, Stanley Kubrick Directs, although he does list the credits with the director's other films.
Robert A. Harris who worked on the restoration of Lawrence of Arabia and the silent classic, Napoleon. With help from Jim Natz five minutes of the missing footage from the original 197 minutes were found in an underground storage facility. When it opened in 1960, it had been cut to 182 minutes.
Anthony Hopkins was invited to dub in Laurence Olivier's voice in a restored scene. What also was added in the restored version was the original overture and intermission.
In re-reading Kirk Douglas' autobiography, The Ragman's Son, Douglas says he wanted to do Spartacus despite the fact he had no desire to do another period epic when he finished The Vikings in 1957. He turned down the part of Massala in Ben-Hur because he wanted the title role which, as you know, went to Charlton Heston. Stephen Boyd played Massala.
Douglas used some of his own money to bankroll the production and wanted it to be authentic to the period.
While in London, England filming The Devil's Disciple he told his co-star Laurence Olivier about the film and he expressed interest in playing the title role.
Behind the scenes Douglas was busy looking for a screenwriter. He wanted the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo because he was a fast worker.
Choosing a director was not an easy task. The first choice was Martin Ritt, whose upcoming film was The Long Hot Summer starring Paul Newman and Joanna Woodward.
Universal Studios insisted Anthony Mann since he had a good track record with such films as The Glenn Miller Story, Winchester 73 and Strategic Air Command.
Tony Curtis who had just finished The Defiant Ones wanted to finish his contractual agreement with Universal and asked Douglas if there was a part for him. He created the role of Antoninus who fought against Spartacus and the met the same fate by film's end.
When it came to actresses, Jean Simmons wanted to be in it but Douglas said no because a British accent would not make a convincing Roman. He wanted French actress Jeanne Moreau.
Production on Spartacus started on January 27, 1959 with Mann as director and Trumbo as screenwriter under the pseudonym of Sam Jackson. The first scene was the mine in Death Valley. It all went smoothly until co-star Peter Ustinov decided to direct himself in the gladiator scenes. The blame fell on Mann's shoulders because he wasn't right. He did get paid for his services.
Douglas thought of Stanley Kubrick because they they worked together on Paths of Glory (1957). How he managed to get him makes an interesting sidebar. He was in pre-production on One-Eyed Jacks when Marlon Brando fired him to direct it himself.
Another major problem was the casting of Sabina Bethmann as Varinia. Douglas relented and told Jean Simmons to get down to the set as fast as she can.
When it came to do the bathroom sequence in Spartacus, there was a problem with the censors over the words snails and oysters. Changed to artichokes and truffles,the censors still didn't approve and it ended up on the cutting room floor.
The battle scenes were done in Spain where the government allowed their army to play the Roman army.
To get the male voices neded for the cries, Hail! Crassus and I Am Spartacus in English, Kubrick arranged to record the crowd in half-time during a college football game between Michigan State and Notre Dame.
The Hollywood premiere of Spartacus was on October 19, 1960.
May 11, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
WESTRAY (NFB, 2001) ****
BY RICK JACKSON
May 9, 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the Westray mine explosion. In 2002, I had the chance to interview Paul Cowan at CFRC prior to the opening of his documentary, Westray at The Kingston Canadian Film Festival on Saturday, March 9. Here is my review:
Written, directed and photographed by Paul Cowan, Westray is an eye-opening documentary about the constant paradox of the Canadian government vs. the people in securing the safety of miners working in the mine at Westray in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. With the full co-operation of the residents of New Glasgow, you are edified and shocked by what you see, from the time the mine opened to the tragic events of May 9, 1992 when 26 miners were killed in an explosion.
Interviews comprise most of the film with archival footage from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the Cable Public Affairs Channel and the National Film Board. They are punctuated with incisive and penetrating narration by Michael Jones and Katie Malloch whose voices share yours as you watch a small town fall victim to government bureaucracy when they raise concerns of the unsafe conditions of the mine, and the cry for justice which the residents feel will never come.
Through the narrators you can feel the tremendous sense of closure that the town needs. Watching and listening to the interviews, you are reminded of the hurt, the emotion and the anger. One expert at the inquiry said it took 20 seconds for the explosion to happen. In the narration, Cowan compares it to a running man whose heart beats 55 times, takes 25 gulps of air and his legs pump 36 times.
The sadness of the tragedy still verberates in the men and women interviewed. For the loved ones who died there is a void, an ache that will not go away. For Vicki, a native Cree and her biker husband Ray, Westray was going to mean financial security for the first time in their lives.
For family man Roy, an unemployed stock car racer who hated being on welfare, it also meant a regular paycheck, and for George Munroe, an itinerant miner who liked to drink and was happy-go-lucky, it meant retirement in 15 years.
They and others in New Glasgow felt lucky to be hired at Westray. But they also knew the unsafe working conditions there and for the sake of their spouses and families they had no other choice but to go because it meant work.
Cowan's research in preparing this documentary provides some staggering statistics as it looks at four generations of miners and the number who of men and boys who were killed: 532
As you watch it all retold, you can't help be moved and shaken by the facts that were ignored, such as stone dusting which prevents explosions. No provision was made to adequately protect the miners because it was a non-union mine operated by uneducated management. The miners were also exposed to impossible working conditions. The mine was a disaster waiting to happen.
During the winter of 1991-92, the trouble began in the southwest section. The morale of the men was low. The coal was of poor quality and was worsening. All management saw were the profits they could make. Eventually part of the southwest section was closed because it was too dangerous.
In April 1992, the news that Westray was unsafe was made public. The United Steelworkers Union was notified. A month later, the men were ready to join the union. The Department of Labour was ready to shut the mine down due to insufficient stone dusting.
At 4:45 a.m. on May 9, 1992 an alarm sounded. At 5:18 a.m. the mine exploded. The miners were trapped. The families of the miners rushed to the scene with the hope their men were still alive.
It was too late for the 26 miners who were killed when the vote of 91-29 passed a resolution to form a chapter of the steelworkers union. In the aftermath, Fraser Agnew, an experienced miner, had nightmares. The town blamed him for allowing the mine to be opened for his barber shop, a business that failed.
During the inquiry, the politicians win despite allegations of criminal negligence against two of the management team, one of whom, Clifford Fame, was the promoter in charge of opening the mine when he knew better. He decided to open it anyway because of his political connections.
Cowan's Westray remains a hard-hitting documentary about people and ppolitics and is a tragic example of what happens when the latter rules. As he points at the end, it is not for the better or for the worse.
During the end credits, The Men Of The Deeps sing in tribute to their fallen colleagues, "Their Lights Will Shine." Their legacy will not be forgotten anytime soon.
Westray won the award for Best Documentary at the 2002 Genie Awards.
March 5, 2002
Copyright Rick Jackson 2002
May 9, 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the Westray mine explosion. In 2002, I had the chance to interview Paul Cowan at CFRC prior to the opening of his documentary, Westray at The Kingston Canadian Film Festival on Saturday, March 9. Here is my review:
Written, directed and photographed by Paul Cowan, Westray is an eye-opening documentary about the constant paradox of the Canadian government vs. the people in securing the safety of miners working in the mine at Westray in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. With the full co-operation of the residents of New Glasgow, you are edified and shocked by what you see, from the time the mine opened to the tragic events of May 9, 1992 when 26 miners were killed in an explosion.
Interviews comprise most of the film with archival footage from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the Cable Public Affairs Channel and the National Film Board. They are punctuated with incisive and penetrating narration by Michael Jones and Katie Malloch whose voices share yours as you watch a small town fall victim to government bureaucracy when they raise concerns of the unsafe conditions of the mine, and the cry for justice which the residents feel will never come.
Through the narrators you can feel the tremendous sense of closure that the town needs. Watching and listening to the interviews, you are reminded of the hurt, the emotion and the anger. One expert at the inquiry said it took 20 seconds for the explosion to happen. In the narration, Cowan compares it to a running man whose heart beats 55 times, takes 25 gulps of air and his legs pump 36 times.
The sadness of the tragedy still verberates in the men and women interviewed. For the loved ones who died there is a void, an ache that will not go away. For Vicki, a native Cree and her biker husband Ray, Westray was going to mean financial security for the first time in their lives.
For family man Roy, an unemployed stock car racer who hated being on welfare, it also meant a regular paycheck, and for George Munroe, an itinerant miner who liked to drink and was happy-go-lucky, it meant retirement in 15 years.
They and others in New Glasgow felt lucky to be hired at Westray. But they also knew the unsafe working conditions there and for the sake of their spouses and families they had no other choice but to go because it meant work.
Cowan's research in preparing this documentary provides some staggering statistics as it looks at four generations of miners and the number who of men and boys who were killed: 532
As you watch it all retold, you can't help be moved and shaken by the facts that were ignored, such as stone dusting which prevents explosions. No provision was made to adequately protect the miners because it was a non-union mine operated by uneducated management. The miners were also exposed to impossible working conditions. The mine was a disaster waiting to happen.
During the winter of 1991-92, the trouble began in the southwest section. The morale of the men was low. The coal was of poor quality and was worsening. All management saw were the profits they could make. Eventually part of the southwest section was closed because it was too dangerous.
In April 1992, the news that Westray was unsafe was made public. The United Steelworkers Union was notified. A month later, the men were ready to join the union. The Department of Labour was ready to shut the mine down due to insufficient stone dusting.
At 4:45 a.m. on May 9, 1992 an alarm sounded. At 5:18 a.m. the mine exploded. The miners were trapped. The families of the miners rushed to the scene with the hope their men were still alive.
It was too late for the 26 miners who were killed when the vote of 91-29 passed a resolution to form a chapter of the steelworkers union. In the aftermath, Fraser Agnew, an experienced miner, had nightmares. The town blamed him for allowing the mine to be opened for his barber shop, a business that failed.
During the inquiry, the politicians win despite allegations of criminal negligence against two of the management team, one of whom, Clifford Fame, was the promoter in charge of opening the mine when he knew better. He decided to open it anyway because of his political connections.
Cowan's Westray remains a hard-hitting documentary about people and ppolitics and is a tragic example of what happens when the latter rules. As he points at the end, it is not for the better or for the worse.
During the end credits, The Men Of The Deeps sing in tribute to their fallen colleagues, "Their Lights Will Shine." Their legacy will not be forgotten anytime soon.
Westray won the award for Best Documentary at the 2002 Genie Awards.
March 5, 2002
Copyright Rick Jackson 2002
Monday, May 7, 2012
MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS (BUENA VISTA, 2012)**
BY RICK JACKSON
The much anticipated Marvel's The Avengers (in 3D) is a mishmash of old ideas recycled and spewed out with an inexorable and stylish manner, with nary a thought for the dear moviegoer who has to accept a slow, drawn out story where you are bored much of the time, and when the action does heat up, it is restrained and overacted by an ensemble of actors who are trying too hard to impress.
Based on the Marvel characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby between 1961-1966, which the Science Fiction Encyclopedia calls the golden age of the comic book, the screenplay by Ross Whedon, from a story by Whedon and Zak Penn defies all description as a superhero adventure, and comes across more as a heavy laden special effects extravaganza from beginning to end.
As anyone who has been going to the movies during the last ten years can attest, the individual films featuring the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America served moviegoers better by scripts that were more developed, and in the spirit of the comic book pages where, for thousands of their readers will be forever fondly remembered.
The prologue of Marvel's The Avengers (in 3D) fits better in the science fiction genre and nicely re-introduces you to the world Lee and Kirby created. However, it is too bad that what follows shows how the screenwriters have turned it all into a repetitious and inane adventure.
Under Whedon's capable direction, you are at least thrilled at times and he ties each superhero together without any awkward moments. You get to see their attributes which is the reason why you want to see them in the first place. For me, however, I found it all so elementary and conveying a sense of desperation because you don't get a chance to see them work well enough as a team. Any real opportunity to use spectacular effects in 3D is lost visually and the depth of photography doesn't quite make the grade, if only occasionally.
Moviegoers I heard between shows were happy with the film and for a lot of filmgoers expectations will be met. The box office for its opening weekend guarantees it a place in movie history which means there is a chance for the filmmakers to work on a stronger story next time, like they did for the second Star Trek film during the summer of 1982 with The Wrath of Khan.
Still, I enjoyed Marvel's The Avengers but I was hoping for something much better. For the average moviegoer who has an open mind and lets hias imagination be free, you just might get the thrill you've been waiting for all year.
It is rated PG, with the warnings: violence and language may offend.
May 6, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
The much anticipated Marvel's The Avengers (in 3D) is a mishmash of old ideas recycled and spewed out with an inexorable and stylish manner, with nary a thought for the dear moviegoer who has to accept a slow, drawn out story where you are bored much of the time, and when the action does heat up, it is restrained and overacted by an ensemble of actors who are trying too hard to impress.
Based on the Marvel characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby between 1961-1966, which the Science Fiction Encyclopedia calls the golden age of the comic book, the screenplay by Ross Whedon, from a story by Whedon and Zak Penn defies all description as a superhero adventure, and comes across more as a heavy laden special effects extravaganza from beginning to end.
As anyone who has been going to the movies during the last ten years can attest, the individual films featuring the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor and Captain America served moviegoers better by scripts that were more developed, and in the spirit of the comic book pages where, for thousands of their readers will be forever fondly remembered.
The prologue of Marvel's The Avengers (in 3D) fits better in the science fiction genre and nicely re-introduces you to the world Lee and Kirby created. However, it is too bad that what follows shows how the screenwriters have turned it all into a repetitious and inane adventure.
Under Whedon's capable direction, you are at least thrilled at times and he ties each superhero together without any awkward moments. You get to see their attributes which is the reason why you want to see them in the first place. For me, however, I found it all so elementary and conveying a sense of desperation because you don't get a chance to see them work well enough as a team. Any real opportunity to use spectacular effects in 3D is lost visually and the depth of photography doesn't quite make the grade, if only occasionally.
Moviegoers I heard between shows were happy with the film and for a lot of filmgoers expectations will be met. The box office for its opening weekend guarantees it a place in movie history which means there is a chance for the filmmakers to work on a stronger story next time, like they did for the second Star Trek film during the summer of 1982 with The Wrath of Khan.
Still, I enjoyed Marvel's The Avengers but I was hoping for something much better. For the average moviegoer who has an open mind and lets hias imagination be free, you just might get the thrill you've been waiting for all year.
It is rated PG, with the warnings: violence and language may offend.
May 6, 2012
Copyright Rick Jackson 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
SUNSET (TRI-STAR, 1988)***
From The Heritage Newspaper, May 11, 1988
BY RICK JACKSON
Anyone who loves a western will love Sunset. Written and directed by Blake Edwards, it's a nostalgic trip back in time when heroes wore the white hats and villains wore black.
Although the western has fallen on hard times, Edwards has affectionately turned back the clock to 1929 when the real QWyatt Earp was alive and Tom Mix was the favourite cowboy star.
Based on a story by Rod Amateau, Edwards' screenplay evokes warmth humour in what is a fictional story between one of Hollywood's western stars and a town sheriff who became a living legend. The plot revolves around a movie based on the life of Earp. Mix is set to play the title role; the real Earp has been asked to oversee the production as techinical adviser. The result is a funny and entertaining flick. According to the press kit, it may be true, give or take a lie or two.
Cast as Mix is Bruce Willis. He plays his part with the usual bravado expected by the hero, and his portrayal is convincing and very good.
James Garner is equally convincing as Earp. He first played him in Hour Of The Gun in 1967 opposite Jason Robards. The veteran star's wit and charm pervades the screen in equal measure and he makes the film shine.
The supporting cast features Kathleen Quinlan as studio publicity chief Nancy Shoemaker, Jennifer Edwards as the nasty Victoria Alperin and Malcolm McDowell as Alfie, her movie mogul mother.
Production designer Rodger Maus recreates the era of the 1920s in vivid detail. You get to see the actual locations where the first Academy Awards took place and the Bell Movie Ranch where the majority of movie and TV westerns were made.
Edwards directs the film in a comedic style already familiar to audiences in such films as Victor/Victoria (1982) and Blind Date (1987). The former remains the finest film to date.
Henry Mancini has composed a wonderful music score that enhances the entire motion picture. The opening and closing sequences ,and the big chase where Mix and Earp travel by plane and horse to nab the the bad guys are invigorating to watch.
Sunset is a movie to treasure. It is rated AA/Adult Accompaniment, with the warning: mature theme.
May 11, 1988
Copyright Rick Jackson 1988
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