U-571 (2000) Review

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(More customer reviews)U-571 has tremendous special effects, but so do millions of other movies. Know what else millions of other movies have? Weak plot, weak characterization, bad acting. Know what U-571 has? The same. It's true this film is griping, and it does keep you on the edge of your seat, but other that than there's not much else going for it. Like so many other movies U-571 relies on special effects to keep it afloat, which is why in the end it survived.
It was a good story, unfortunately they rushed to get it out, slapped in some dialoge, composited some special effects, and hired Bill Paxton. Fun to watch if you've got time to waste.

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Major Dundee (The Extended Version) (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, I've seen the extended version, and even if they added only 12 minutes, out of a possible forty I guess, it still makes so much more sense now it is totally worth it. Kudos to the editors behind this reconstruction. I didn't have any problem following any of it, and I'm not really bright at complicated plots. All the main outlines of the drama became extremely vivid and clear; the tension between the Confederates and the Union soldiers; the dilemma about the French army; the massacre of the family at the beginning that causes Major Dundee to go all medieval and turn over command at the prison to his skeptical sub-lieutenant. "Maybe there's a reason why you're a jailer, not a soldier, Amos." They keep saying this as though being a jailer were something terrible.
Charlton Heston's descent into a delirium of infection is painful to deal with, very real. Now we see him drawn to the Mexican woman who brings him food; he's so out of it he finds himself having sex with her for the comfort it brings, and then of all times that's when Senta Berger shows up at his door on her own mission of mercy. She sees the naked back of the Mexican woman and you can see the pain in her eyes. Heston's pretty covered up but you get the picture, and he's man enough not to lie about what happened.
Richard Harris looks great and brings a rebel energy to the movie. Warren Oates' death scene is pure poetry, shot through with genius. What a ham he is! And oh, that is ham deluxe, 100 percent pure gold!
Michael Anderson, Jr. is excellent in his role as the young bugler, so much better here than in his other parts. He's sort of playing the Claude Jarman role, or maybe the part Brandon De Wilde played in IN HARMS WAY. The scenes where he meets Begonia Palacios in the ruined town where Senta Berger works as a doctor are credible and hilarious because he's so much in lust he can't see anything else but "Linda." Equally funny is the aftermath of the skirmish in which he's been shot in the butt and then they try to fix him up by tearing out the seat of his pants and stitching up what looks like his bare ass (kind of daring nudity for 1965). Anderson's got game and you can see why Peckinpah made him so prominent in this movie.
[SPOILER]
The chronology straightens itself out and before long we come to the scene where the troops find the crucified corpse of their Indian scout, whose trustworthiness the previous version had left in doubt. Somehow it is nice, after all these forty years, to have at least one MAJOR DUNDEE mystery cleared up, and also to find that that Riago was loyal after all!
[END OF SPOILER.]
At the end a whole bunch of us (film geeks I expect) clapped at the final credits. PS, the new music is outstanding, though I'm glkad the forthcoming DVD will give you the option to hear the old sing-along theme too.

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MAJOR DUNDEE (EXTENDED CUT) - DVD Movie

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At Ease Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a film with a lot of heart. I saw it at its original screening in Provincetown, Mass. and bought a DVD there. I was in a room with hundreds of other gay men and women, many of whom had served in the military (including myself) and there was not a dry eye in the audience. I have watched it often, and it still has the same impact.
The heart of this film lies in its honest portrayal of gays and lesbians in the military, and how they are no different from anyone else when it comes to serving honorably and heroically. In war, there are only a few things that matter: Are you my brother? Will you fight for me? Will you die for me? The answer is always yes, no matter what, and this film speaks to how the young aviator's colleagues still accepted him after he was killed and they found out he was gay. Why? Because he gave his life for them, and they knew that this was more important than anything else.
The characters' journeys are clear and well told. Tyler is forced to reevaluate his own ideas of honor and duty when his lover dies, only just after telling people he can't reconcile fighting for freedom when he isn't free himself. That leads Tyler to his lover's father, Bill, in a mission to tell him who his son really was. Bill himself can't reconcile that his son could have been a hero and be gay at the same time. Bill is a man's man, but is fragile and frail in terms of his emotional strength. In the end, everyone becomes stronger: Kevin died with honor; Tyler, even though he has been discharged as well, has moral clarity; and Bill can go on with the peace of knowing his son was indeed a hero.
The performances are solid, maybe not Oscar-winning, but certainly better than a lot of gay movies I've seen. It is a short film, about a half hour or so, but that doesn't take away from its ability to convey its important message. As a gay veteran, I can say that this is a film that should be seen. And even though DADT was just repealed, it is important to reflect on our nation's very fresh history of discrimination.

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Taking Chance (2009) Review

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(More customer reviews)I viewed this film at a pre-screening, and I left the theater deeply moved. It's a simple story made into a heartfelt film -- Marine Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl (perfectly played by Kevin Bacon) accompanies the remains of Private First Class Chance Phelps from the mortuary at Dover AFB in Delaware to his home in Wyoming.
The Marine's death in Iraq occurs in the tense first minute of the film, with viewers only hearing the radio chatter and the explosion on a black screen. The screen comes to light with PFC Phelps' remains being sent to the U.S. The care of the remains and the personal effects makes visible and gives dignity to the anonymous work at Dover AFB.
The story takes the viewer into some seldom-seen corners of America -- from airport cargo facilities to the mountain highways of Wyoming -- and shows everywhere the reverence for the fallen. When the escort gives Phelps' watch, dog tags, and wooden cross to his parents, eight days after his death, even men will feel the tears coming. Finally, as LtCol Strobl (who had not yet been to Operation Iraqi Freedom when he accompanied Phelps' remains home) thinks over the experience, there's a meditation on where duty lies for a Marine Corps officer.
Director Ross Katz, Kevin Bacon, and HBO have given us a profound film that grants us a rare look not at America's prosperity, or freedoms, or politics -- but rather America's soul.
-30-

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Based on the true experiences of Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, who wrote eloquently of them in a widely circulated 2004 article, Taking Chance is a profoundly emotional look at the military rituals taken to honor its war dead, as represented by a fallen Marine killed in Iraq, Lance Corporal Chance Phelps. Working as a strategic analyst at Marine Corps Base Quantico in VA, Lt. Col. Strobl (Kevin Bacon) learns that Phelps had once lived in his hometown, and volunteers to escort the body to its final resting place in Wyoming. As Strobl journeys across America, he discovers the great diligence and dignity in how the military, and all those involved with preparing and transporting the body, handle their duties. Equally important, he encounters hundreds of people affected by Chances death, a vast majority of whom never knew him. This collective grieving eventually causes Lt. Col. Strobl, a veteran of Desert Storm now assigned to office duty, to probe his own guilt about not re-deploying to Iraq for the current conflict. Arriving in Wyoming, Lt. Col. Strobl completes his catharsis when he encounters Chances gracious family and friends, and discovers an extraordinary outpouring of community support.

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