My 40 Favorite Films of the 90's - 1 - The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994;
Castle Rock Entertainment)

Director: Frank Darabont

Writers: Frank Darabont screenplay adapted from the short story by Stephen King

Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, Clancy Brown

Here it is.  After all this time, all the delays, everything… I’m here.  The Shawshank Redemption is my favorite film of all time.  I have a few reasons for this.  First, this movie came out when I was still pretty young, and I saw it for the first time at thirteen (I think).  It changed the way I saw movies forever.  It was the first real drama that I ever fell in love with, and after seeing it I needed to see more.  I was inspired to seek out all the movies I had heard about but never saw because they weren’t action or comedy movies, and it opened up an entirely new world for me.  Aside from the very personal influence this had on me as a film fan, it is objectively a great, great movie.  It was nominated for numerous Oscars but did not take home any statuettes, but then again, it was the 1995 Academy Awards, where it was up against the likes of Forrest Gump, Quiz Show and Pulp Fiction.  That is some stiff, STIFF competition.

The film follows a banker named Andy Dufresne who is convicted of murdering his wife and her supposed lover and sentenced to life within the dreary stone walls of Shawshank Prison.  There he befriends a slick smuggler named Red who begins to guide him and help him adjust to the reality that faces him.  However, Andy refuses to embrace his fate, taking every opportunity to remind his fellow inmates that there is hope beyond the prison’s walls.  He enters the corrupt prison and changes the lives of everyone there by simply refusing to let go of hope.

The Shawshank Redemption is not slogged down by a lot of the typical cliches of modern dramas.  There is no forced romance, no comic relief, no big tense dramatic moments (at least not until the very, very end of the film) and no forced melodrama.  The movie is told over several years of Andy’s sentence until his ultimate and impossible escape.  He leaves behind hope to his friends and retribution to those who abused their power.

One can come up with any number of allegories that may fit the story of Shawshank, but I like it as a simple story of a man who changes everything.  I know deeper meaning can be found, but I prefer to see this film today the same as I did in my young age.  It means something to me.  It was a demarcation point in my life as a kid growing up in a period of excess, where I began to seek out something different than what was being sold to me.  It has had a tremendous impact on me because, to this day, I remember how this movie changed me, and I am always willing to find the next movie to forever alter the way I perceive popular culture.

My 40 Favorite Films of the 90's - 22 - Seven (1995)

Seven (1995; New Line Cinema)

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey

I have already featured two of Fincher’s films on my top 40.  He is a talented director with a standout voice.  After heading his first feature, Alien 3, in ‘92, this music video director needed a challenge.  Seven was a pretty obvious screenplay, taking the episodic structure of “this many of this thing is going to happen over this period of time”, giving a moody, grim and violent tone and putting two opposing styles of detection in the same room together to solve the case.  From the screenplay, you would think there was not an original idea in there.  However, this is no ordinary procedural.  Seven is more than a crime thriller, it is a study in the psychology of a killer, and as a movie, it is an examination of how subtle techniques in filmmaking paint a deeper image of the story that you may not even know you are seeing.  It delves into the mind of the villain long before we see or even hear him, and we can almost see his face in every scene leading up to the character’s introduction.

When an attorney is found facedown in a bowl of spaghetti, force-fed to death, a series of other strange crimes begin to occur, each one tagged with one of the Seven Deadly Sins, as taught in Catholic literature and explored in classical writings like The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost., of which the killer deemed them guilty.  Morgan Freeman plays Det. Somerset, a soon-to-be-retired veteran who is known for his “over-analysis”.  He is tagged to show his replacement the ropes, and it turns out he is to be succeeded by an overzealous and occasionally petulant younger detective named Mills (Pitt).  Initially unwilling to take the case as he felt it would never end, Somerset is stuck trying to solve the murders as Mills and his wife slowly begin to break Somerset’s tough exterior.  However, this is a crime with a counter, and the killer will not give up until at least seven souls are punished for their sins.

Like so many of Fincher’s films, Seven has a great ending.  It is a film that actively involves the viewer, drawing them into the events as they unfold.  Concentrating makes you feel the tension and stress of each scene.  An air of dread fills every room, hall and street as Fincher plays games with your brain by choosing very specific levels of lighting and ambiance to match each moment in the script.  Every line of dialogue matters, every drop of rain is deliberate and the moments of slow dialogue bring some of the ambiance to a haunting silence, as though you did not notice it until it was gone.  All of Fincher’s subtleties executed here make Seven a stunning example of filmmaking.  Aside from it being a good movie, it is a good point of study for the psychology of film, in how sights and sounds effect the audience.  In a way, a movie hypnotizes you into feeling or thinking a certain way about a character, and the more subtle, the better.  Seven is on my list, not only because I think it is an excellent thriller, but also because it is an exceptional exercise in suggestion from a master of his craft.

The Dark Knight Rises Review.

Cartoon by Christopher McElfresh

The Dark Knight Rises is the highly-anticipated finale to the massively successful and critically-acclaimed Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy.  So, how does this one stack up in the trilogy?  Well the best thing I can say is it is my second favorite film in the trilogy, after the Dark Knight, if only because it is a pretty intense, dark story with great set pieces, not because it is a great film.  The events that occur in this film line up nicely to a (somewhat) probable, violent, tragic and truly frightening series of events, culminating in an army of maniacal zealots and violent criminals keeping the good citizens of the city of Gotham in their homes, in fear for their very lives.

Initially, while I watched the film, I was utterly pissed off by just how broken this film really is.  There are so many problems with this movie, it may take a two-parter to really, honestly provide the necessary information as to why I did not thoroughly enjoy this movie.  Still, I’m going to keep this brief and start with this very important note:  If you take this as a dumb Summer action blockbuster, it is good by comparison.  However, if expectations are set for an intense, powerful, psychological drama with action, like the Dark Knight, then you will be entirely disappointed.



WARNING!!!:  SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

I’ll start with the acting.  First off, the best performances in the movie.  For me it goes to Michael Caine (no duh?!) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  The latter is essential to the plot, while Cain’s Alfred is there when the plot needs some drama and then he disappears, ultimately getting thrown out entirely until the very, VERY end of the movie.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the principal connection of the idea of Batman to the average citizen and the downtrodden.  He is the embodiment of the idea of a hero and how heroes inspire the best in us.  His character really drives this movie, as he is the actually conscience of the City of Gotham and he takes up the mantle during a large chunk of the movie where the Bat is out of the picture.  

Now, the worst acting comes from the two main sources of conflict in the most of the movie, Tom Hardy as Bane, and Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (she is never actually referred to as “Catwoman”).  Starting with Bane, Tom Hardy’s accent is simultaneously unintentionally-hilarious and incomprehensible.  Probably about a third of his lines are actually coherent, the rest sound like a jumbled mess of digital filters and some really bad ADR that sounds like it was recorded clear on the other side of the world and sent to the editing booth via the worst possible mail service in the world on a dirty old audio cassette tape.  Now, my understanding is that test screenings had people saying they couldn’t understand ANYTHING that was said by Bane so they redid the whole of his lines and added them back in.  Note, this is third-hand information that I have not fully verified.  

The Dark Knight Rises Batman Logo Flat-Brim Baseball Cap

Now, I’m devoting a whole paragraph to Anne Hathaway because her character represents a principal issue with this whole film.  Catwoman had no reason to be in this movie.  Those who know me know that I have no love for Anne Hathaway.  Oscar aside, I find her exceptionally annoying and her expressions and vocal gymnastics she goes through in the Dark Knight Rises only further affirm my dislike of her as an actress.  I don’t know how she is personally, but as a talent, she is greatly lacking.  In DKR she is lost in how to carry Ms. Kyle.  She bounces between voices and demeanors and even goes so far as to mimic Eartha Kitt, Michelle Pfeiffer and Halle Berry (WHY!?) all in a single brief scene.  This is not a good performance and it hurts the movie, not only because it was bad, but because it was completely unnecessary.  As I mentioned, she bears none of the weight of the plot and it is entirely obvious that she was written into a final draft of the script to throw in another female lead that wasn’t kidnapping fodder.  This is ultimately my big issue with this movie.  The Dark Knight Rises has studio stink all over it.  

You can make a freaking drinking game out of the elements that are obviously marketing decisions, not artistic ones.  A few other examples of this include the return of Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane as an evil judge and the last-minute reference to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character name change from “Robin”.  Both of these were eye-rolling and unnecessary and were obviously meant to quell speculation and ensure they can make the same little Scarecrow action figures, this time with a Dark Knight Rises graphic on the cardboard packaging instead of Batman Begins.

The Dark Knight Rises Bane Tee

DKR is really just a poor Batman Movie.  Batman is barely in it and when he is he is thoroughly getting his ass kicked.  I do like it when the movies makes their heroes breakable and human, but this is excessive.  The first time he doesn’t make the climb out of the pit I said “Man, you’ll get there.  I know you can do it Bruce!”, the second time I said “Oh, come on!” and when he finally makes it out I thought “About freaking time!”  The scenes with him in prison are some of the most boooooring parts of any movie I’ve seen all Summer, bringing the intense events we see in Gotham to a grinding halt so we can watch Christian Bale work out.

Now, I’ll offer few more positives before I seem like too much of a hater.  The action is good.  Like, really, really good.  This makes the Dark Knight Rises a fun sit, if you fast forward through the dragged-out prison scenes.  I did not completely hate DKR, and I was thoroughly entertained throughout most of this film.  The exciting action is sort of what pushes this one just a little higher than Batman Begins for me.  The climax is tense and well-done despite them going for the lowest-common-denominator in the obligatory “bomb diffused in the last second” cliche.  I do, however, like how the various citizens of Gotham work together to stop Bane’s boss, Bane himself and their army instead of just having Batman do all of the heavy lifting.

All in all, as a Summer blockbuster, DKR is not a bad movie.  It is a solid film with lots of good action and some great tension.  Still, it is not a great film.  It is not going to be a game changer and it certainly feels like a massive step backwards from the Dark Knight.  It will continue to make a ton of money through its run and through merchandise, but at this point, the Avengers remains my favorite blockbuster of this Summer so far.  I haven’t seen a single film yet in 2012 that can come close to the fun I had while watching that movie.