April 2003 Archives

Farewell, My Lovely is the second filming of Raymond Chandler's classic detective story of the same name, and is generally considered to be inferior to the first one, Murder, My Sweet, even if it is more faithful to the book. It stars a wonderfully ruffled and hangdog Robert Mitchum as the rundown, haggard private dick, Philip Marlowe. This is a solid, if unspectacular effort by all concerned.

Philip Marlowe is hiding out in a seedy LA hotel, a man who has been in too many wrong places at the wrong time, and is getting some serious heat from old friend Lt. Nulty (John Ireland) to come in and spill his guts. He recounts to Nulty the story of Moose Malloy, played by hulking Jack O'Halloran, recently freed from jail and looking for his Velma, who stopped sending him mail in the can after only one year, and Moose is sure there's a good reason.

The search for Velma leads Marlowe to Mrs. Florian, a seedy widower of the owner of a bar Velma used to work in (Sylvia Miles). A bottle of bourbon brings out some stories of Velma, leading Marlowe on a long chase, complete with double crosses and dangerous women (of course). Charlotte Rampling plays one of these sultry femme fatales, the wife of powerful Judge Grayle, who plays a central part in the drama, as well as seducing Marlowe. It all ends in the expected bloodshed and heartache.

While all perfectly well done, Farewell, My Lovely left me unsatisfied. I'm not sure if it is the fault of a bad DVD transfer, or just the look they were striving for, but the colors were all out of whack. Heck, maybe a film noir needs to be in black & white to work for me, I don't know. It was all very earnest, maybe too earnest in the end. And the story required one chance meeting to resolve the mystery, which seems lame to me.

Like I said, the DVD leaves much to be desired. Produced early in the DVD age, it is completely lacking in any extras whatsoever. Plus the colors are off, focus is soft, and the sound mediocre. It's still worth watching, I guess, but purely as a rental.

Die Hard is a movie I'm sure you all know about - down on his luck cop gets involved with a high tech group of thieves - and it is given a grand DVD treatment with this 5 Star Collection DVD that I have. Give your home theater setup a real workout with one of the best the action genre has to offer.

John McClane (Bruce Willis in the preformance that made him a star) is a downtrodden New York City cop, visiting LaLa land to see his estranged wife and children for the Christmas holiday. He couldn't deal with her getting a grand opportunity to move up the Nakatomi corporate ladder, so she split with the kids. This is one last chance at getting back together. The reunion doesn't come off too well, as the first thing he noticed is that his wife (played with real spunk by Bonnie Bedelia) has reverted back to her maiden name, and then they get into the same tired argument about chauvinism vs. freedom and growth.

While sulking in the executive bathroom, McClane hears gunshots and sees a group of terrorists rounding up hostages in the main office. He slips away before being noticed himself, unfortunately without his shoes. He then manages to be a royal pain to the group, who turn out to be thieves trying to crack the vault for US$600 million in bonds, using the terrorist angle as a cover. He is befriended by a Sgt. Al Powers, a cop on the street (Reginald VelJohns, later of Family Matters fame). As McClain battles the thieves, Powers battles the bozos running the show on the outside, including macho Lt. Dwayne T. Robinson and two FBI agents, Johnson and Johnson, who think they understand what is going on.

Much pyrotechnics and one-liners follow, as McClain becomes a real thorn in the side of the thieve's leader, Hans Gruber, play with real panache by Alan Rickman, as well as his main muscle guy, blond hair flowing Alexander Godunov. Many quotable lines flow, as can be seen on the Memorable Quotes from Die Hard page on IMDB. Of course, in the end, McLain gets the bad guys, wins the respect of the authorities and walks out with the girl.

Simply my favorite no-brainer action flick, bar none. A great movie to watch with lots of people, which should include plenty of yelling at the screen. Sure, it isn't deep, and it isn't the first of the pyrotechnic-laden filmes of the 80s, but it knows what it is and it does it with style and even some intelligence. There are very few moments where you go "Now why would he do that?", which is my biggest gripe with most other action flicks. And those few are over with so fast, and you're swept along to the next scene, you don't even care.

The DVD is magnificent, and I haven't even done any of the extras yet. The picture is clean and crisp, the sound explosive (pun intended!) and the dialog sharp. Crank the sound and feel it happen! Extras are overflowing in this two DVD package, including 3 different kinds of commentary, branches to extended scenes, remixes, etc. I'm looking forward to checking some of them out and I highly recommend this DVD.

Solaris is director Andrei Tarkovsky's science fiction opus from 1972, and is considered a masterpiece of Russian filmmaking, along with several of his other movies like Andrei Rublyov. But to call it a "science fiction" movie is not doing it justice, as Tarkovsky was interested in much more than merely bringing Polish author Stanislaw Lem's novel to life. In keeping with a common thread running through all of his movies, Tarkovsky was examining the relationship of Man, Nature, and the inner self more than merely giving a view of the future.

Kris Kelvin (Bulgarian actor Donatas Banionis) is a scientist being sent to a space station orbitting the planet Solaris, who is to decide if the station should be kept funded. Its mission is to investigate a possible alien life force found on the planet, seeming to eminate from a vaste "ocean" on the surface of the planet. In the 20 years of investigation, nothing conclusive had yet been found. The movie begins with a clash between Kris and his father, who are on the 'what is the benefit now' vs. the 'what is the long term benefit' sides of the arguments. Kris views a film of Solaris' discovery, brought to them by the pilot of the ship in question, where the pilot talks of seeing strange sights in the "ocean".

Upon arrival in the eerily quiet and messy space station, Kris begins to see things have gone awry. The scientist he previously knew is now dead, supposedly a suicide, while the other two scientist exhibit some very strange behaviors, furtive glances, and elliptical speech patterns. Then things get really strange when a woman shows up in his room, and we later find out it is his long dead ex-wife, Khari.

It turns out all the scientists have been having the "visions" or apparitions even, showing up, their own personal dreams or nightmares being manifested by the ocean. Kris notices small inconsistencies in the apparition of his ex-wife, played by the bequiling 22 year old Natalya Bondarchuk, daughter of Tarkovsky's mentor, Russian actor/director Sergei Bondarchuk, like the fact that her dress doesn't properly untie, indicating perhaps the alien intelligence is just playing with the humans.

Each of the scientists react in their own way, and the movie continues to explore the human drama, especially as Kris begins to thaw out and feel his emotions more. It is particularily wrenching, because Khari, as Solaris' creation, cannot leave the space station and also knows of the vast differences between her and "real" humans, and continually becomes despondent over it. Kris proclaims his love for her, but she doesn't believe it to be real, and tries to kill herself again (turns out she died of in a suicidal depression after the marriage broke up). But she is an immortal as well, which adds even more to the long list of differences - she heals at a fantastic rate and always comes back, whether she wants to or not.

It sounds very confusing, and in many ways it is. The movie is told at a slow, deliberate pace, as can be seen by the fact that Steven Soderbergh's 2002 remake clocks in at about half this one's 165 minute playing time. But it still feels as if every shot has a meaning that can be discovered if you give it time. And there are many wrenching scenes of heartache and what it means to be a feeling human being, making the journey well worth it.

The DVD, which Criterion has re-issued in its usual stellar way, is really nice. The picture is pretty sharp after all these years, and the sound and music crisp and clear. Included on the DVD I received from Netflix was a commentary track by two Tarkovsky scholars. I watched this track immediately after viewing the movie, and it really helped me come to grips with the symbolism rampant in every scene. I think watching it again without the commentary would be even more enlightening. The package is a two DVD package, but I'm not sure what is on the other one, as Netflix sends out each DVD in a mulitple DVD package as a separate rental.