Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Patrick
Rated: PG-13 for some language, thematic material and depiction of drug dependency.
Parental Notes: This is a fairly standard PG-13; the subject matter and some of the language may not be appropriate for youngsters. There's emotional abuse, death, drug use, and sex; they're handled tactfully and not gratuitous, but they are still there.
The late Johnny Cash was an almost mythical figure: dark, brooding country music; a man dressed all in black; a life story of failings and redemption. "Walk the Line" is the story of how he became that figure, and Joaquin Phoenix lives the part fearlessly. Some die-hard Cash fans may bristle at Phoenix's renditions of Cash's songs, but the film is likely to please and will doubtless convert many folks unfamiliar with his music into dedicated followers.
"Walk the Line" traces Cash's early life from his difficult childhood on a cotton farm to his rise to fame to his struggles with drugs and alcohol. We see him develop his signature sound, struggle with a failing marriage, and finally meet and woo the love of his life, June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). The film doesn't shy from showing us Cash's failings; he was an imperfect man in many ways and very aware of his own flaws. The rise-to-stardoom-and-struggle-with-drugs-before-getting-on-his-feet story may be something of a clich�, but it doesn't feel like one here.
Witherspoon and Phoenix give flawless performances, doing their own singing and offering intense romantic chemistry. Cash had been a fan of the Carter family, especially young June, from the time he was a youngster, and Phoenix handles the evolution of that boyish crush into mature love with ease. As June Carter, Witherspoon practically glows. Her work in comedy serves her well here -- we are told that Carter always considered herself the least-talented member of her musical family and learned to be witty as a way of compensating. Witherspoon balances the onstage bantering with Carter's offstage practicality well, and it's easy to see why Cash fell for her so hard. Both she and Phoenix did their own singing, and that just adds to the accomplishment.
Cash's signature sound, that low-voiced, steady throb of song over a sharply played guitar, is infectious, whether he's playing light-hearted songs or lonely prison ballads. It took time to develop that, and Phoenix has the chops to show us that development. When we first hear Cash singing to himself while writing songs, he sounds hesitant, unsure of himself. There's something special there, but it's not quite formed yet. As time passes, he settles more and more fully into the sound which made him famous. Phoenix handles it skillfully, and while there's only one Johnny Cash, Phoenix recreates his sound very well -- the closing credits scroll to a recording of Cash and Carter singing together, which drives home just how spot-on both his and Witherspoon's performances are.
Although the film deals with difficult issues like drug addiction, adultery, and divorce, it does so gently. It would be easy to overdo Cash's life story and surround pivotal events in his life with overacting, melodramatic music, and other tools for instructing the audience on how to feel. "Walk the Line" doesn't do that. We see the bad things Cash does, but we also see the good in him. Nobody in this film is perfect, and no one is cast as a saint or an unredeemable sinner. It's refreshing to see a film which handles things subtly and respects the audience's intelligence.
"Walk the Line" is fantastic for music lovers, Cash fans, and moviegoers who like good acting, singing, and writing. Die-hard fans of the man in black will probably find some of the performances unnerving or imperfect, but this reviewer is of the opinion that Phoenix and Witherspoon come as close to the originals as could be hoped.
--30--
Directed by: Mike Newell
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Brendan Gleeson, Robert Pattinson
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images.
Parental Notes: This is a darker film than the first three, and not as suitable for young children. There are frightening creatures, death-defying chases, and more than a few dark and frightening images. Children who easily handled the book should be fine, but the younger, more sensitive set may wind up with nightmares about skulls and evil wizards.
The latest Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," is a success on two levels. It succeeds as an adaptation of the book in that it has pared a somewhat bloated text down to just the essentials. It succeeds as a movie on its own in that it has an involving plot and sympathetic characters, not to mention a truly nasty villain and thrilling adventures. Its only failing is that it feels a trifle cramped at times, as though scenes were trimmed around the edges to make them all fit. That said, it's a thrilling installment in a reliably good series.
Now in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) finds himself competing in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, a magical contest between representatives of Hogwarts and the other two major schools of magic, the Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. Students wishing to compete in the tournament put their names into the Goblet of Fire, which on the appointed day spits out one name per school. This year, however, Harry's name was also spat out, even though he didn't put it in and is too young to enter.
Although everyone is suspicious of Harry, once a student's name comes out of the goblet, they are obligated to compete -- so even though there are now two Hogwarts champions (the other is series newcomer Cedric Diggory, played by Robert Pattinson) and Harry is in no way ready to compete in the difficult Tournament, he has to. Fortunately, he has his old friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) to help him plan and prepare, and it's nice to see him truly out of his depth for once. Meanwhile, Harry has been having disturbing dreams which may indicate the dark lord Voldemort is up to something, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor Moody (Brendan Gleeson) is a bit odd.
The film, like the book, is packed with magical details. There are dragons and merpeople to be battled, a huge hedge-maze to solve, villainy of all kinds is afoot, romance is in the air, and more. Wisely, screenwriter Steven Kloves (who has written all the Harry Potter screenplays) and director Mike Newell have pared the somewhat bloated book down to its essentials.
Gone are the practical joke toys the Weasley twins sell, as are Hermione's well-intentioned but annoying attempt to liberate the house elves at Hogwarts and other unnecessary subplots. We are left with only the central plot and those revelations which are directly necessary for future films. Although at times the film seems a bit rushed, trying to pack a huge plot into only 157 minutes, overall it clicks together.
The story we're left with is a doozy, and it's exhilarating to watch. The tournament involves three challenges, and the special effects are largely superb. The dragon Harry has to outwit in the first task looks frighteningly real, and the merpeople are thoroughly eerie, and the maze is a terror of writhing foliage. Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is more ghastly than ever once he finally appears, and the big confrontation toward the end is effectively handled. It's easy to simply forget that all this is a movie and get caught up in the thrill ride of a plot.
Radcliffe is a natural as Harry, and he, Watson, and Grint have really grown in skill over the course of the films. Everyone on screen really lives their parts, so that they don’t seem overwhelmed by the special effects. Instead, actors, effects, and sets come together to make a whole that is jaw-droppingly fantastical.
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is possibly the best Potter adaptation so far. It stays true to the book but doesn't try to pack in every single subplot. Fans of the book will no doubt grieve cut scenes and characters, but what is in the film is as close to the book as possible. Those who haven't read the books will likely enjoy this latest installment as much as they did the previous ones, if not more. This is a film to warm the hearts of fantasy lovers and Potter fans alike.
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Peter Sarsgaard
Rated: R for pervasive language, some violent images and strong sexual content.
Parental Notes: This film definitely deserves its R rating. The language is crude, there are lots of violent images (both physical and mental violence), and there is plenty of sexual content as well. This is not a movie for kids, and it's not designed to appeal to bloodthirsty teens either. This is a movie for adults and mature teenagers.
"Jarhead," the latest film from Director Sam Mendes ("Road to Perdition," "American Beauty"), is based on the memoir of the same title by Anthony Swofford. It's a look at the first Gulf War through the eyes of a Marine sniper who was one of the first deployed to the area and one of the last to go into combat. It's not a gung-ho, ooh-rah war movie, although there are characters in it who are that way. It gives us an inside look at the life of one Marine and his comrades, both the good and the bad.
Anthony "Swoff" Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal, "Donnie Darko," "Proof") is not an enthusiastic Marine. In fact, shortly after meeting his drill instructor in boot camp during the opening of the film, he realizes that maybe joining the Marines was a mistake. Still, he excels, and manages to impress Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx, "Ray," "Collateral") so much that he's offered an opportunity to become a scout sniper, one of an elite squad tasked with sneaking into enemy areas and taking out one or two top people at a time. Sykes is a hardened Marine Corps lifer, passionately in love the job and not willing to put up with any unnecessary nonsense. He's harsh on his trainees because their jobs will be even harsher and he wants them to be prepared.
Swoff makes it through the rigorous -- and at times fatally dangerous -- training and winds up assigned to be the shooting half of a sniper team. His spotter is Troy (Peter Sarsgaard, "The Skeleton Key," "Kinsey"), a dour Marine he knows from boot camp. They become friends of a sort; although they're very different, they compliment each other well. When Iraq invades Kuwait, they are both excited at the prospect of finally getting to use all their training.
The battalion arrives in the Gulf expecting to attack Iraq within days, but they wind up stuck in Saudi Arabia protecting the oil fields and waiting in the relentless desert heat and patrolling the endless, empty sand. Months go by and the Marines become increasingly edgy. Swoff sees the photos of cheating wives and girlfriends on the battalion's Wall of Shame and becomes increasingly worried about his girl back home. Between the physical stresses of the environment and his internal fears about his girlfriend, he comes perilously close to a nervous breakdown.
Once Operation Desert Storm is announced and they are sent into combat, their hopes rise again. They're on foot, though, much slower than the pace of the war around them, and they spend more time trying to catch up to the action than they do actually fighting. Still, as Sykes points out, he loves the job. Sure, they have to slog through a rain of oil after someone sets the oil fields ablaze, but who else gets to see fountains of flame against a dark sky? Sure, there are movies, like this one, but to actually be there is another thing entirely.
Gyllenhaal brings the same acting skill to Swoff as he did to the title role in "Donnie Darko." Swoff is a good sniper but not really cut out for the Marines, and Gyllenhaal portrays that with a performance finely tuned to each scene's events. This is a role that would incite plenty of actors to go over the top, but Gyllenhaal manages to avoid that temptation and just plays Swoff like the everyman he is. He draws us into the film by being so open and in the moment that he seems to be less acting than living the part.
The supporting cast are just as good. Foxx and Sarsgaard are fantastic character actors -- Sarsgaard in particular is so good at vanishing into his roles that this reviewer didn't remember he'd been in the recent "The Skeleton Key" until looking up his filmography.
"Jarhead" isn't for everyone. It's vulgar, violent, and packed with the unpleasant reality and occasional glory of military life. It isn't pro-war, but it's not relentlessly anti-war either, so fanatics on both sides will likely be disappointed by it. Fans of good acting and involving, gritty films should find it to be right up their alley.