Reviews

First, let me say that I have not read the Victor Hugo novel, but plan to soon. I have however, seen the musical live and the 1978 Richard Jordan/Anthony Perkins version. Although I liked much about the 1978 version, I prefer this 1998 version. It is only slightly better acted, but much better as a film in its cinematography, pace, editing, sets, and most importantly its illustration of the contrast between law vs. grace from a Christian standpoint. The two mains (Neeson and Rush) are especially powerful in their roles. I don't mind the romantic interest between Valjean and Fantine, since it makes his relationship to Cossette more understandable and less suspect of other motives, if you will. The major flaw I see in the film is the ending between Javert and Valjean. There is no way it is consistent with the Valjean character to allow Javert to cast himself into the Seine without Valjean jumping in after Javert to save him. That ending really bugs me, I must confess. I have no idea why they had to do it that way, except so that Javert could have his final speech, telling us all why he is what he is and why he must kill himself. He should have waited until Jean was gone before his suicide, knowing that Jean would otherwise rescue him. Otherwise, this is a fine and moving film, all bias aside. It stands alone as a top-notch effort that works on its own merit as a film and a great piece of storytelling. Even the ending can be explained if you see Valjean as simply feeling that enough is enough, and that it is about time Javert ended his own tortured existence. Although I just can't see Valjean giving up hope on anyone after his soul had been bought for God, as it were.

"The bad news: If you watch this film, you will be asked to endure 90 minutes of 6 shallow, rude, self-centered, bratty, terminally talkative women doing stupid things and running around hysterically in a cave with a lot of blind, wingless bat-like humanoids attacking them. The good news: All but one of these annoying characters are lost miles down in the cave, presumably eaten by the aforementioned cave dwellers, and the sole survivor goes insane from the experience; so at least there's a happy ending! When will directors and writers learn that horror movie characters must project depth and elicit sympathy? (i.e. Lt. Ripley?) If you don't care about the people involved, you won't care whether they all die in the dark or not. All mindless, self-centered, crude, shallow characters should be buried in a cave! This film is a sad comment on where the horror genre has been going lately. So many producers and directors merely assume that the audience will all be Jason/Freddy fans and proceed to pander to that base element. My advice? Just back away slowly from the ticket booth and go rent "Skeleton Key" on DVD."

Finally, a Davinci Code expose' that is not afraid to tell the truth without pulling any punches. Cuts through all the disinformation, ignorance, irrationalism, and downright foolishness of the details that make up the travesty that passes for historical and art scholarship in the novel. Gives a fair and balanced (although unashamedly Christian) approach to the whole topic. This is what you want if you are looking for a critique that cuts through all the pseudo-scientific fertilizer that has been liberally spread about centuries-old secret societies, grand and subtle cover-ups, irrelevant bloodline hoaxes, and the adnauseum emphasis on the divine feminine and goddess worship. Lots of nice information about the real Mary Magdalene, the real Jesus Christ, the real Priory of Sion, the real Knights Templar, the elevation of women in society by Christianity, and a really nice bit about the real Rosslyn Chapel. But you won't like it if you are overly fond of clinging to Dan Brown's delusions of fabricated paranoid conspiracies. You'll just need to let those go and face the solid facts of honest historical scholarship and expert art analysis. You don't need to find the Truth, you just need to face the Truth; it's not hidden or secret, it's been out there for thousands of years, unashamed for the whole world to learn and verify to its heart's content. The paranoid dreams of a shallowly written, poorly researched, viciously anti-Christian novelist don't change anything. Enjoy!

My only problem with Brock Morse's "Westender" is that it whets my appetite without satisfying it. But this obviously is intentional. The film is well crafted, fascinating in its struggle to tell a story mainly through visual means, and true to the director's intent. It is up to the viewer to draw personal meaning from much of what is placed on screen, but the tools used here are very compelling indeed. Let's hope that someone with the economic clout necessary will fund the continuation of this saga, so we can get the back-story straight, as well as the future of the main character. I loved especially the choices of subjects for this film. Each is a perfect fit, visually. There is something consistently visceral about the appeal of not only the lush scenery that forms the backdrop of this little Indy epic, but also the actors themselves. Stadel is a perfect fit, of course, but so is Rob Simonson as Glim (bigtime kudos on the heart-wrenchingly gorgeous musical score by him too!), very reminiscent of Kevin O'Conner. Darlene Dadras as Sarin was also a compelling fit Asbrey's worthy gypsy distraction. Kari Gjone is down-right haunting as Asbrey's lost lady love; I got the feeling that it would definitely be worth turning into a shiftless drunk over the loss any woman so beautiful! The wolf-dog is such a perfect symbol for the spirit of knighthood that pursues Asbrey as he flees from his true calling.

What can I say but, "Hey, Brock! Let's see more! Real soon!

This was a nice investigation of a child's longing to be loved, and a mother's willingness to sacrifice everything for her child, but it was not really scary. I fault the distributors for the way the trailers are edited to give the impression that this is a gooey horror flick, when really it's all character and atmosphere. This story had a lot more going for it than the trailers let on, but those who went to be scared will be disappointed. Once again, the marketing dept interferes to the detriment of a nice little story about people coping with stress and tragedy, with a supernatural element. Good performances by Jennifer Connelly, John Reilly, and Pete Postlethwaite (disturbingly menacing). Tim Roth's character is very interesting, but goes nowhere, story-wise. It would have been nice to some development between his and Connelly's characters. The ending pretty much precludes that, but a little more would have made the final result that much more poignant.

Worth seeing, but not to be scared.

First of all, if this is an accurate depiction of life in LA, the movie compellingly makes me glad I don't live there! Fantastic directing, acting, writing, film editing, and storytelling! Don Cheadle is really becoming an acting juggernaut! One of Bullock's better jobs of acting too. The tension in quite a few scenes is nearly unbearable. A few flaws detracted from the over all experience for me, however. The opening premise does not seem to ring true. Although LA is different from some other big cities, in that direct contact between people is much more limited, the net effect in terms of hostility and crime is not all that different than New York or Chicago. The problem is more with big cities in general than with LA air conditioning and cars in particular. The other problem was with the Persian storeowner's irrational treatment of the Latino locksmith. He seems to speak English well enough in all the other scenes to be able to understand what the locksmith is telling him, but he acts as if he doesn't know the difference between a broken lock and a broken door. He showed no appreciation for the work the locksmith did at no charge. I also don't know what he expected to get from holding up the locksmith later, unless he though he was responsible for the robbery of his store. None of this was made very clear, although this storyline's crucial scene itself was an absolute corker, no doubt! A must see for 2005!

I saw it with four other friends at a large, prime-time screening in the suburbs. We were simply blown away! The entire audience, which seemed to be wide ranged demographically, was silent and stunned throughout the film after the introductory scenes. I totally forgot I was watching a film several times during the showing, and found myself living right with the characters as they went through their cataclysmic experiences. Spielberg has not lost his touch, he still is a master-button pusher on any audience. I especially loved the faithfulness to the original comic-book images of the tripods and the homage to the ending of the earlier film, giving proper credit to Our Creator God as the providential Designer and Protector of our world, even through the smallest of details. Riveting! Breathtaking! All the hype is right on! You got to see this, dude!