Movie Review: Oliver Stone's "Savages"

Hi everyone!

Last week I gave a glowing review of Don Winslow's novel "Savages," the basis of which forms the backbone of Oliver Stone's new film of the same name that released this weekend. I loved the book. I only liked the movie...and I really really wanted to love it.

Here's what's good:

1. Salma Hayek. Ms. Hayek is brilliant and understated as Elena Sanchez, the somewhat reluctant boss of the Baja Cartel. With saucy wit in abundance and a fair bit of pathos thrown in, the sultry Latina actress dominates every scene she's in...and, for that matter, every scene she's not in. While Elena is certainly an important presence in Mr. Winslow's novel, she appears on the page in more of a supportive role. In the film, Elena is the black widow spinning a complicated web while calling the shots in a hyper-masculine environment. You can't help but smile whenever Ms. Hayek's Elena graces the screen. She has never looked better.
2. Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson. Their characters, Chon--the battle-hardened Iraq war veteran--and Ben--the pot-growing environmental wannabe do-gooder--are what drive the movie forward. Both certainly have their share of screen appeal. They are fun to watch even though no one will be blown away by their acting.
3. The cinematography. "Savages" is big and gaudy and consistently beautiful to look at. The color palates are all over the place--from bright and sunny and very SoCal to grainy cinema verite. What I really liked was the contrast between the gorgeous Laguna Beach vistas to the blood-soaked grimy warehouses where Benicio del Toro and company enact their drug-fueled tortures. And the soundtrack is great too!
4. Benicio del Toro. Crazy, comic, and super-cool, Mr. del Toro (along with Ms. Hayek) is what makes this an almost-great film. I felt myself tense up every time he was onscreen because I never knew which way he was going to go. 
5. Blake Lively. Okay, okay, I may catch some flak for this but Ms. Lively is simply radiant. While her acting isn't particularly impressive, Ms. Lively as Chon and Ben's girlfriend "O" lights up the screen with her distinctive SoCal beauty. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

Here's what's not so good:

1. The ending. I won't give it away but suffice it to say that fans of the book (like me) will probably not be pleased with how Oliver Stone has chosen to end this story. And this doesn't pertain just to the film's final ten minutes. Around the 1 hr. 35 minutes point (of a 2 hr. 10 minute running time) things start to go haywire...and not in a good way. What I particularly loved about the book is its relative simplicity and its economical narrative style. This sadly isn't the case here. Mr. Stone veers radically from the original novel about 95 minutes in, adding more plots and double-crosses that not only don't make sense but reduce the film to a puzzling, disappointing mess, something not far off the mark from the "Fast and Furious" franchise, which I don't mean as a compliment. With about ten minutes left, you think 'okay, we're getting back on track here' but then Mr. Stone decides to veer once again from the book's original ending, leaving me irritated and frankly a little pissed off as the final credits roll. I've been trying to figure out why he chose to change things up so radically at the end to little avail. Perhaps he wanted to give John Travolta  more screen time or bring the story around to a more traditional Hollywood ending? I don't know. It's not a happy ending exactly, but it wraps everything up a little too neatly.
2. The decision to leave Uma Thurman's character on the cutting room floor. Ms. Thurman is purported to have played Blake Lively's character's mother, but all her scenes were cut so what we're left with are a couple passing references to her and nothing else. The relationship and flaky banter between O and her mother in the book frequently had me in stitches. I can only imagine what Ms. Thurman brought to the role. I can certainly understand why the character was excised given the film's already two-hour-plus running time, but without seeing the vaguely troubled relationship O has with her mother, we don't really get a sense of O's identity. Are we supposed to be sympathetic toward her? As is, O remains a cipher. She's beautiful to look at but there's very little depth to her. She demonstrates a certain degree of strength in captivity and it certainly isn't hard to figure out why Chon and Ben are so physically attracted to her, but beyond the surface there's a curious lack of substance. Hopefully, Mr. Stone will restore Ms. Thurman in the Blu-Ray/DVD Director's Cut of the film as has been hinted. 

So, yes...I recommend "Savages" if for no other reason than the film is visually splendid to look at and it provides some powerhouse summer entertainment without really adding up to much in the end. But maybe that's all we want from summer movies anyway--an escape from the stifling heat outside. If that's the case, then "Savages" more-or-less fits the bill. I really really wanted to love this film. It's almost great but settles for being merely pretty good. Disappointing.

Ciao. 

Book Review: "Savages" by Don Winslow

Hi everyone!

By now you've probably all seen the trailers for "Savages" (see above) the new Oliver Stone film coming next week to a theatre near you. The movie looks like a cross between Mr. Stone's "Natural Born Killers" and any number of Quentin Tarantino bloodbaths--John Travolta included. What you may not know is that "Savages" is actually based on a critically-acclaimed 2010 novel by crime fiction writer Don Winslow, whose newest just-released novel "The Kings of Cool" is a prequel of sorts to "Savages."

"Savages" isn't the sort of novel I typically gravitate to. But I've been so looking forward to seeing the film that I figured I might as well give the book a try before heading to the cineplex next weekend. I was pleasantly--even devilishly--surprised.

First off, this isn't a novel for everyone and it will never be recommended for anyone's book club. It tells the story of Ben and Chon, late-twentysomethings who run a successful marijuana operation in Laguna Beach, California, and their girlfriend O (short for Ophelia). When the Mexican Baja Cartel, headed by the formidable (and lonely) Elena la Reina decides to shift business operations north of the border, Ben and Chon find themselves in the middle of a vicious turf war between rival Mexican drug cartels. Over the course of its spitfire 300 pages, the reader is treated to everything from mass decapitations, double-double-crosses, farcically smart and funny dialogue, wild and often graphic sex scenes, and more than its fair share of semi-precocious pop culture references. Without giving anything away, the novel ends in a brutal old-fashioned Western-style shoot-em-up that is as taut as it is surprising.

Based on the movie's trailer, it seems Oliver Stone has adhered pretty closely to the overall flavor of the novel although it does appear he's taken some liberties with the plot. In the book, Elena (played by Salma Hayek) and O (Blake Lively) never actually meet and they certainly never have dinner together, but this appears to be the set-up for one of the trailer's funniest lines--a comment Elena makes about O's relationship status. I also recently read that all of Uma Thurman's scenes--as O's space-cadet, New Age spouting mother, Paqu--were cut from the film. This is a shame because O's and Paqu's scenes together in the novel, though brief, are often hilarious. This same article said Oliver Stone may restore these scenes in the director's cut to be released on Blu-Ray and DVD. We'll see...

If you're looking for a quick, violent, witty, and utterly unputdownable summer beach read, "Savages" may be one to take a look at. If you're a fan of early Bret Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero" in particular), you'll love Don Winslow's writing style.

I, for one, will be first in line at the box office next weekend when "Savages" the film gets its national release. Until then, enjoy the trailer!

Ciao.

Film Review: Robert Pattinson's star turn in "Bel Ami"

Hi everyone!

This new Robert Pattinson (Twilight, Water for Elephants) vehicle is based on Guy de Maupassant's classic novel "Bel Ami." It tells the often sordid story of young Georges Duroy (Pattinson), a French soldier recently returned to Paris from fighting in Algeria circa 1890. Penniless and living in a rundown cockroach-infested garret with no clear aim in life, Georges reunites with a former army superior, Charles Forestier (Philip Glenister), who takes pity on him and introduces him to his family and Parisian upper-class society, most notably perhaps Forestier's wife, Madeleine (the lovely Uma Thurman). Under Madeleine's tutelage, Georges begins writing a series of articles for a Parisian paper owned by a newspaper tycoon named Rousset (played with blustering efficacy by Colm Meaney). Rousset's faithful and somewhat saintly wife Virginie (an excellent Kristin Scott Thomas) becomes hopelessly smitten by the young Georges, for which she will be rather ruthlessly shamed and punished. Add to this mix is Clothilde (a fetching Christina Ricci), a young married woman who also falls under Georges's charm.

The story itself is not all that surprising though it does contain several twists and turns and an ending that is altogether fitting but feels rushed and rather tacked on. I think this has less to do with the quality of its original source material than the film-maker's need to compress a lengthy novel into under two hours. The further Georges is enmeshed in society, the greedier and more heartless he becomes, using each of these women and casting them aside when they are no longer of use to him. I have not read Maupassant's novel so I cannot attest to the overall faithfulness of this adaptation but I daresay what gets lost in the translation is any attempt at psychological development of these characters, particularly Georges who merely becomes more and more unlikeable as the story progresses.

Still, there is much to recommend, not the least of which is Mr. Pattinson's performance. He should have a long career once Twilight finally wraps up with the release of "Breaking Dawn: Part Two," in November, a franchise that should be credited for making a star out of Mr. Pattinson without really requiring him to put his acting chops to the test. With last year's "Water for Elephants" and now "Bel Ami," Mr. Pattinson proves that he is a quite gifted actor and much more than just another pretty face, though in "Bel Ami" he looks just this side of tubercular. As the women Georges loves and then casts aside, Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci, and (in particular) Kristin Scott Thomas are wonderful. There is a moment toward the end where Ms. Scott Thomas renders her pain and desperation with little more than the subtle expression on her face. We realize at this moment that Virginie is a woman who has experienced no true passion or happiness in her marriage and as a result of her indiscretion, she is rendered utterly lost, her spirit destroyed. It is painful, if not a little uncomfortable, to watch.

Also to be commended is the film's attention to period detail. "Bel Ami" manages to look both sordid and splendid, portraying as it does the parallel universes in which Georges exists, never truly at ease in either. Viewers unfamiliar with the history of France's occupation of Algeria and Morocco may want to bone up on their knowledge of French colonial history. Given the film's rather breathless pace, there is a bit of an assumption here that the facts of France's invasion of Morocco are already known to the audience which does the narrative a disservice.

All in all, "Bel Ami" is a good though not great film. Pattinson's considerable 'tween' fan base are not going to like this movie and, in fact, will probably be bored by it. (Not to mention the fact that the film carries an R rating for some fleeting though graphic sexual content and nudity.) But those adult viewers who enjoy period films and a sweeping narrative with strong performances by a formidable trio of renowned actresses, "Bel Ami" provides a nice two-hour diversion.

"Bel Ami" is currently available for purchase On Demand before its U.S. theatrical release in June.

TV Review: "Smash"

Hi everyone!

With two episodes left to go and a soundtrack album released this week, the first season of NBC's much-hyped backstage Broadway musical drama "Smash" is coming to a close. For those of you who haven't been watching, "Smash" tells the story of the intersecting lives and loves of a colorful cast of characters, all of whom are involved in the development and production of a new Broadway musical biography about the life of Marilyn Monroe, recently titled "Bombshell." While far from perfect, I argue that it is one of the freshest and most entertaining shows currently airing on network television and I was happy to hear that NBC has indeed picked it up for a second season.

The cast is filled with Broadway, television, and Hollywood veterans. Ivy and Karen (played by Megan Hilty and American Idol winner Katherine McPhee) are a pair of dueling divas both intent on winning the prized role of Marilyn. Ivy is a Broadway chorus girl looking to step out from the chorus into the spotlight. Karen is a Midwestern transplant hoping to make her Broadway dreams come true.  "Bombshell" is directed by temperamental British director Derek, played by British actor Jack Davenport, who has a predilection for bedding his show's stars. Debra Messing, best-known as Grace in the long-running sitcom "Will and Grace" and Christian Borle, current star of the multi-Tony nominated play "Peter and the Starcatcher" play Julie and Tom, longtime writing partners and the authors of "Bombshell's" script, music, and lyrics. Anjelica Huston appears as Eileen, the show's much put-upon producer, and British television (MI-5) and West End veteran Raza Jaffrey co-stars as Karen's boyfriend Dev.

While the show has been criticized by theatre purists for being unrealistic in its depiction of what it takes to get a new Broadway musical produced--despite multiple setbacks, "Bombshell" has evolved from workshop to out-of-town tryouts in rapid time--"Smash" succeeds in portraying the love, sweat, and tears of anyone who has ever been involved in live theatre. With a catchy score written by Tony award-winning Broadway composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman ("Hairspray," "Catch Me if You Can") and directed and choreographed by Michael Mayer ("Spring Awakening") and other Broadway alum, one can only hope that "Bombshell: The Musical" will one day actually make it onto a real Broadway stage.

Among this impressive crew, the true standout for me is Debra Messing. While best known for her comedic roles, Ms. Messing brings depth and a poignancy to her role as Julia, particularly in the plot line revolving around the seeming disintegration of her marriage in the aftermath of her affair with "Bombshell's" Joe DiMaggio as she and her husband (another Broadway veteran Brian d'Arcy James) attempt to adopt a child. Ms. Messing's best moments are the quiet ones where she deals with her emotional turmoil in trying to keep her family together while admitting her mistakes. This is a far cry from anything I've seen Ms. Messing do in her long career and it should earn her a much-deserved Emmy nomination.

Another recent standout has been Uma Thurman who arrived relatively late to the party as Hollywood starlet turned Broadway bombshell Rebecca Duvall. I've always found Ms. Thurman an interesting talent though I've never particularly cared for any of her films. In her role as Rebecca, the 'star' cast as Marilyn after "Bombshell's" disastrous workshop, Ms. Thurman brings a subtle combination of comedy and insecurity to her role that is always entertaining and, especially lately, not wholly unsympathetic.

I've read that changes are in the works for season two with apparently less focus on the backstage Broadway storyline and more on the soap opera. This is a shame because, for me anyway, what makes "Smash" so different to anything on television is its focus on a world/industry rarely seen in television or film. With the much-reported departure of lead producer and writer Theresa Rebeck (currently represented on Broadway with her critically-acclaimed play "Seminar"), I can only hope the overall quality, look, and theme of the show is replicated in season two. We'll have to see.

One aspect that I would like to see removed (or at least tweaked) is the inclusion of contemporary pop songs in the show's score. The Broadway stuff works really well within the context of the production of "Bombshell." What works less well are the songs Ivy and Karen break into in moments of character reflection. While Ms. McPhee's version of "Touch Me" (the opening track on the soundtrack album) is pretty darn hot, the treacly emotive ballads that tend to dominant fare less well and stick out for being of lesser quality than the rest of the production. Despite what many have said, "Smash" is not an adult version of "Glee." It's a tighter, slicker, and more mature endeavor than Fox's once-hot high school musical. Keep the music as part of "Bombshell" but outside of the stage and rehearsal studio, we don't need to hear covers of B-level pop music regardless of the considerable appeal of Ms. McPhee's and Ms. Hilty's voices. That's just my opinion.

As I said, "Smash" season one is ending in two weeks with "Bombshell" about to open its out-of-town tryout in Boston. Does the show hit Broadway? Who ends up playing the coveted role of Marilyn? It's anyone's guess and that's what keeps us watching.

Ciao.