Hercules

When my mom took us kids to see Hercules in the summer of ‘97, I had already picked up a few mythology books and was well versed in the story of Hercules. I let out a few early eye rolls, especially at Hera being portrayed as Herc’s loving mother, but it didn’t take the film long to win me over, despite the butchering of the original myth. I still love the film’s character design in a visual style reminiscent of ancient Greek pottery, fleshed out and come to life.  And though my preteen self was probably reluctant to admit it, the music and those groovy Muses had me hooked.

The Disney crew did the best they could to work with myth and keep it family friendly.  Here, Hercules is the beloved son of Zeus and Hera. When Hades hears a prophecy that Hercules will ruin his plans to overthrow Zeus and take over Olympus, he sends his minions to kill the baby Hercules. Instead they only turn him mortal and Herc is adopted by a kind older couple.

The film flashes forward to awkward early teens Hercules where he feels so out of place due to his unusual strength.  He learns he is the son of Zeus, who tells his long lost son that his godhood can be restored if he proves himself a true hero. But even after years of training under Phil, Danny Devito in satyr form, Hercules finds that being a true hero is not easy.  Especially while sassy Meg distracts Herc and Hades is constantly trying to kill him.

Personally, I enjoy how Disney handled Hercules as a character. The myths paint him as the most masculine macho man who ever lived, and he is not always a nice guy. Here, he is a sweet, awkward young man born with extra muscles just trying to make his way to Olympus. I’ve heard some criticize that Hercules is the opposite side of the coin to Disney’s Princess problem, but I disagree. Hercules is supposed to be all about manly strength, and Disney brings him down to a boy’s level in an endearing and pleasantly heroic way. Even when he is famous enough to have sandals named after him, he still has a heart of gold.

Unlike my favorite character, Hades. James Woods voices this baddie with so much charisma, wisecracks and snappy one-liners.  Artistically, I think the Disney animators did a great job and had a lot of fun with this ruler of the underworld.  At the top, blue flickering flames provide his hair and down at the bottom, his toga drags swirling black smoke around him, providing a perfectly evil atmosphere.  Best of all, his hotheadedness provides some great gags that never get old.  

Hercules is a modern gem in the vast array of Disney’s animated films.  It gracefully combines a unique style of animation with fun retelling of an ancient myth, rather than the usual fairy tales.  Best of all, there is a good lesson about working towards a big goal and what makes a true hero.  Disney makes fun parallels between Hercules and modern day athletes and the way we idolize them.  No one becomes a true hero by scoring points in a game, or even caging up a few man-eating birds in a montage.  Hercules learns he won’t become a true hero until he puts someone else’s needs before his own glory.

“Uh, guys… Olympus would be that way.”

Titanic

Alright, it’s a little embarrassing to admit, but this is my nostalgia film.  Titanic was the biggest box office film of my adolescence and at twelve years old, if you didn’t see Titanic you weren’t cool.  As I prepared myself to re-watch what blew my mind twelve years ago, I was ready to rip it apart and spread my utter dislike for the egotistical James Cameron.  What I didn’t expect was to simply find joy and remember why I loved this movie so much.

The film opens with what looks like old footage of Titanic setting sail, then present day submarine crews are exploring the wreckage showing us ghostly underwater images and haunting artifacts that remind us of the lives lost.  They’re looking for a treasured necklace; The Heart of the Ocean, but instead they find a drawing.  One hundred year old Rose (Gloria Stuart) sees the drawing on the news and recognizes herself in it.  So she goes to the crew in the middle of the Atlantic and tells her story.

Rose (Kate Winslet) is our damsel in distress; young beautiful and engaged to a man she doesn’t love (Billy Zane).  Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is our poor and perfect young man that she falls in love with and only the looming tragedy of the unsinkable can break them apart.  Let’s not forget about the ship drama, Captain Edward James Smith is being pressured to push the engine and arrive in New York early, which will be the cause of the wreck.  Simple and lovely

This has everything chicks love: sweeping romance, tear jerker scenes, obvious dialogue, and excessive jewelry.  And guys can stand it because there will be disastrous action, female nudity and the satisfaction that wonderboy will die.  Sorry to give away the ending like that, but hasn’t everyone over the age of ten seen Titanic already?  It’s your own fault by now.

I’m not going to let this film get off too easy.  The dialogue is downright laughable at times, but that’s where some of those great lines that plagued remixes of “My Heart Will Go On” those dreaded months where it was played every ten minutes by every radio station.  Am I the only one who remembers that dribble?  Every conversation between Rose and Jack just seems so presumptuous and fake.  It’s Jack’s few convincing moments where Rose doesn’t open her mouth for a while that keep me from groaning.  I think the expression, “She’s pretty when she’s quiet,” fits young Rose perfectly.

Kate Winslet is not convincing at all, especially during her first encounter with Jack.  “Don’t presume to tell me what I will and will not do.”  Who is that wordy when they’re hanging off the back of a ship?  Today I recognize Rose’s little stunt as just a typical teenage cry for attention and needless drama, but hey, we all did some pathetic things at seventeen.  When I remember that Winslet is playing a teenager, I find the horrible lines and stupid decisions a little more forgivable, but not completely.  I believe she was nominated for best actress to make Titanic just a little bigger and to congratulate her daring nudity.

Too many times, James Cameron has been a huge pain in my bladder, but I will say that Titanic is his masterpiece.  Every detail is meticulous, timed perfectly and provokes the viewer in every way from a quaint smile, frightened excitement and sweeping sad emotion.

There is horrific beauty in the sinking.  The groaning of the ship, the rushing water and countless people falling like raindrops into the ocean is exhilarating.  The most terrifying thought in my head at the age of twelve was, “This is pretty much how it happened.”  I love the way my heart drops when the lights go out on the ship, it breaks in half and smashes all the tiny people below.  There are few movie moments in my time that have compared.

I am not one for romance and the cheap dialogue feels like it’ll give my ears a rash, but there’s something about Titanic that gets me every time.  Maybe it’s Cameron’s peak at film making, the realism and spin on history.  Maybe the whole film is such beautiful eye candy and the whole thing is done remarkably well.  And the true test to tell I like the film, during the time-clinching sinking scenes I find myself yelling (usually at stupid Rose).  They keep going down to where the water is and putting themselves in needless danger.  Over and over again; do they like the freezing water?  When I’m yelling at the characters and not the movie, there’s no fighting it, I love it.

I would like to ask the MPAA what exactly their guidelines for rating Titanic only PG-13 were?  To my understanding, isn’t there only allowed one used of the F-word in a PG-13 film?  I don’t want to be that little knit-picker, but I counted two.  Maybe they’re more diluted over that three hour span, but I believe that technically Titanic should have been rated R.  If this had been so, the history of blockbusters would be much different, and countless twelve-year-olds, like me, would not have paid for two different showings adding to the massive profits.  Yet, I’m so glad I was able to see this at that age.  Tsk, tsk MPAA.  Don’t you enforce your own rules or do big budget blockbusters get some freebies now and then?

The one thing to take away from Titanic isn’t the mushy love story or the fantastic disaster, but the concept that real treasures aren’t physical relics, it is the memories that keep the past alive.  I don’t know if I really grasped that twelve years ago, but at the same time I don’t think that grand idea was completely lost to my young mind.  There’s always been a need for me to share stories, to keep those lost times alive.  Even if only in one’s own mind, one of our most basic beautiful human needs is to remember the past.  With Titanic’s one hundred year anniversary closing in, this concept seems more precious than ever.

“It’s been 84 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint. The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.”

L.A. Confidential

“Life is good in Los Angeles, it’s paradise on Earth.  That’s what they tell you, anyway.”

LA Confidential focuses on three very different cops.  Bud White (Russell Crowe) is a tough guy, used mostly to persuade suspects to talk and has a soft spot for wronged women.  They’re often the trigger his explosive rage.  Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is a celebrity crime stopper who works with tabloid writer Sid Hudgens (Danny DeVito).  Hudgens digs up some star-studded dirt, Jack makes the arrest.  Hudgens gets a front page story and Jack gets a quick buck.  And young, golden boy Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) will do anything to move up and gain some respect from the force, as long as it’s honorable.

When a brutal multiple homicide occurs at a late night diner, where an ex cop was among the victims, Bud, Jack and Exley too involved and realizes corruption within their police department.  They have their own ways of searching for the truth, Jack sees what he can find in Tinseltown and Exley snoops into old police files.  Meanwhile, Bud has discovered a prostitution ring where all the girls are made up (even to the extent of plastic surgery) to look like movie stars.

There he meets Lynn (Kim Basinger), a brunet turned blond for business.  She seems to be doing well and have a good handle on things, but with his compulsion to help a damsel in distress Bud falls for her.  It is an intriguing relationship, especially at first where Bud isn’t sure if he’s asking for a date or an appointment.  Only with Lynn do we find a softer side to Bud and an understanding for his volatile behavior.  For bringing out the best in Bud, Basinger took home the award for Best Supporting Actress.

Due to it’s 1950’s setting the whole film has a wonderfully noir feel.  Good cops, bad cops and criminals all prowl the humid streets of LA in classic cars, suits and fedoras.  The ladies all look like dazzling movie stars and can cause some confusion.  It is horribly funny when a huge movie star is mistaken for a lookalike prostitute.  Spacey’s smile says more than my burst of laughter.

The heart of the film is the crime, corruption and a wonderful whodunit.  The whole ride is intriguing, intelligent, dark and with great twists.  Just try to figure out who’s a good cop, you might be surprised quite a few times and love it.  And if you’re the kind who gets confused along the way, don’t worry, there’s a recap at the end where it all makes sense.  It isn’t fun to still be puzzling while the credits roll.

If you enjoy Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacy, Danny DeVito, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger or James Cromwell (he’s a very important cop as well), this is a must see, all the acting is wonderful.  For those who love a good whodunit, or classic crime movie, you’ve got to see this one.  LA Confidential is now my favorite cop flick, and it could be yours too.

“Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.”

The Full Monty

My husband did not want to watch The Full Monty with me.  I think he imagined it to be filled with naked men running around shaking their goods with a British accent.  He watched the entire film with me and hardly had a fit, but he won’t admit to liking it yet.  Believe me, if he didn’t like it, he would have left and played video games, no problem; but he did stay till the very end, which makes a stronger recommendation for men than I could make by myself.

There’s so much more at stake here than just the taboos of male stripping.  The mill that used to be the main job source in town is closed and none of the men can find jobs.  They spend their time in a sad little jobs center, stealing scrap metal and drinking.  With all the women able to work and support themselves, their male counterparts feel inferior and to add insult to injury, a one night strip act excites the ladies more than their men.  The whole idea to become strippers came from Gaz (Robert Carlyle) who wants to start stripping so he can pay for custody of his son, Nathan (William Snape) who’s alongside the men for support and working the boombox.  His friend Dave (Mark Addy) is hesitant due to his pudginess and their lack of any dance skills.  When they find out their old boss Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) is taking ballroom dancing with his wife, they recruit him to learn some moves.  Gerald is desperate for money since he’s been out of work six months and hasn’t told his wife yet.  So the three men plus little Nathan learn to dance, recruit three more dance members and become the talk of the town.

The way The Full Monty flips the gender roles is wonderful.  Society is accustomed to women being desperate enough to strip, not men, certainly not this bunch.  These men are pale, skinny, old and fat.  One can pass for the typical male stripper, but he makes his pals look worse.  In a scene where the guys glance through a nudy magazine, they pass their judgments, “Her boobs could be smaller.”  Dave makes the haunting revelation that women will be passing the same judgments on them.  Suddenly, Horse (Paul Barber), the graying black guy, is frantically calling the company who produces an enhancement device, frantic that it isn’t working.

The member who is most self conscious is Dave.  From the beginning he knows he’s the fattest member of the group and immediately classifies himself as hopeless.  It gets so bad for him that he drops out of the group and can’t even find enough spunk in himself to be intimate with his girlfriend, who’s never said a negative word about him.  He’s told, “Fat, David, is a feminist issue.”  Clearly not.  The negative self body image isn’t just a woman’s problem, and that’s one of the best things about this film.  Even better, is when the ladies love Dave’s full body and he’s ballsy enough to strut his stuff.

The Full Monty is fun, hilarious, uplifting and a great time.  The material could have easily turned into a pointless sex romp, but the desperation of the situation gives the story a well rounded body.  If you can stand the adult themes and seeing a few guys butts I recommend this.  Really, in half the time of Titanic you will have twice the fun and triple the laughs.

“No one said anything to me about the full monty!”

As Good As It Gets

Melvin (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive writer.  His medicine cabinet is stocked with soap, he cannot step on cracks in the sidewalk and at his breakfast restaurant has to eat at the same table, with his own plastic cutlery and be served by the same waitress (Helen Hunt).  It’s not just his odd compulsions that make him hard to get along with; it seems that insults just naturally flow from his mouth.  He lives across the hall from Simon (Greg Kinnear), a gay painter, and his adorable little dog.  When Simon is attacked and hospitalized, Melvin has to take care of the dog.  At first, it seems like an obstacle that will break Melvin, but the fluffy little pooch seems to melt his hard exterior.

Melvin’s waitress, Carol, is the only one who will tolerate him.  He learns that she has a sick son and can’t get a good doctor without better insurance.  When he brings the dog to the restaurant, she starts to see his softer side, when he pulls out a baggie to save the bacon for him.

When Simon returns home, scarred and slowly recovering, he needs his dog to cheer him up.  His art didn’t sell and he’s broke.  To top it off, his dog now prefers Melvin, and Simon spirals into depression.

Melvin’s not doing so well without the dog either.  It seemed that helping the dog made him feel better.  Soon, Melvin is helping his neighbor and his waitress in life changing ways, and neither party can really figure out why.

The characters in this film are so wonderful and that leads to acting awards went to Nicholson and Hunt and a supporting nomination to Kinnear.  Nicholson is lovable and horrible at the same time.  He’s always a joy to watch, but here, it’s a new kind of joy.  He’s sweet at times, almost as oddly cute as that little dog, perhaps they were competing.  And yet, racial slurs and heartbreaking insults flow from his mouth. Kinnear is a breath of fresh air and ranges from jubilant to utter despair with conviction.

And Hunt, well…she’s better than Kate Winslet, so good enough I guess.  Just the fact that As Good As It Gets won the two Acting awards in “The Titanic Year” is a feat.  And a kick to Kate Winslet, have I mentioned that she didn’t win for Titanic?  Oh good, cause she sucked.  Don’t worry, I’ll elaborate more later.

Let’s not forget the dog.  It’s the character everyone will love.  I’m not the biggest animal fan, but I found myself squealing with delight at this cute little pups antics.  He even jumps over the sidewalk cracks with Melvin.

I loved this movie, it’s adorable, moving and funny, but one thing really bothered me.  A romance strikes up between Melvin and Carol.  Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.  What an odd couple.  It’s not that I disapprove, but it just seemed too odd.  Sure, a little sexual tension is fun in the film and gives Melvin more of a motive, but I think the story wouldn’t have suffered if the romance was taken down to simple friendship.  A romance just seems too conventional for a film that tries to say so much more.  The great line, “You make me want to be a better man,” could have just as much impact on a ‘just friends’ basis.

Melvin’s motives are never fully revealed, but it seems that helping people seems to help himself.  He moves from cranky old lonely writer to having friends and meaning to life.  It’s wonderful really.  I recommend As Good As It Gets to anyone who enjoys life and wants to be happy.  And if you like dogs, this one is the cutest ever, even I wanted it.

“When you first entered the restaurant, I thought you were handsome… and then, of course, you spoke.”

Good Will Hunting

Will (Matt Damon) is a young man with hidden genius, but no motivation or direction in life.  He grew up as an orphan in southern Boston, works as a janitor at MIT and hangs around with a gang of punk Boston boys (including Ben Affleck) who beat up their old kindergarten bullies.  Their most intelligent conversation contains about five profanities within it over a few pints.  It’s easy to see where he’s held back.

One day at work, moping the hallway, Will spies an equation on a chalkboard and nonchalantly solves it.  Professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård) displayed it hoping that one of his students would be able to solve it by the end of the term.  Lambeau tracks down Will and takes it upon himself to help him reach his genius potential.

But there’s more to Will than hidden genius, he’s got some deep psychological issues that keep him in a dead end job and getting into trouble with his friends.  He finds holding a blue collar job honorable, even romantic, and who’s to say that’s wrong?  After a few fun scenes messing with some therapists, Lambeau sends Will to Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), his close friend and great therapist.  Right away, Sean realizes Will is a tough egg to crack and nearly loses his cool at first.

Their second encounter is where we find the meat of the story.  Sean elegantly rips Will apart alongside a lake watching swans, “You’re just a kid, you’ve never even been out of Boston.”  It’s the first time Will realizes that he’s just book smart with no experience.  And it’s not practical experience Sean brings up, but experiencing culture, beauty, love and life in general.  Will has never taken a chance to do something positive with his life, but in which direction is it?

Trying to help Will is like that thing about a horse and water, you can’t make him drink.  The harder Lambeau pushes, the more Will resists and Sean knows that Will might be seeking more than Lambeau’s definition of success.  It nearly feels like Will has closed his ears to the world until his buddy Chuckie tells him, “You’re sitting on the winning lottery ticket and too much of a pussy to cash it in.”

Is there a right and wrong path for Will?  Is it his duty to use his gift of intelligence or does he simply need to find meaning in life?  Director Guss Van Sant has a way to be preachy while lacking general opinion.  The film can argue and preach the opposing view points over and over, but a strong conclusion is never fully revieled.  For some viewers, that’s a good thing, keeps everything subjective.  Others may get confused or angry wanting a clear answer with no conflict with Will’s end decision.
Good Will Hunting went to the Oscars nominated for nine awards and came back with the best original screenplay (written by Damon and Affleck) and Robin Williams winning best supporting actor.  Not bad against the unsinkable, but I’ve never cared for Matt Damon’s acting anyway.

I would say that Good Will Hunting is inspired in an uninspiring way.  It’s roots are smart and dwell deep under every characters exposed skin, yet leaves me wanting more.  There seems to be an extra mile that lies beneith I can only imagine, yet I have no idea where it could lead.  I guess the unanswered questions nagging me at the end are just a matter of unresolved philosophy and an elegant way of keeping their amazing Will an enigma.  Everyone is more interesting when they’re an enigma.