Elvis

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis portrays the king of rock and roll in ways many who lived before his time have never truly comprehended. The young are told Elvis was revolutionary and a rebel when he first broke onto the music scene. And older generations still revel in the glitz and glamor he brought to Vegas, where his presence has become mythical, yet commercialized. But rather than giving us a straightforward retelling of his life, Baz lets Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), take the reins, and narrate this film. We see the Elvis he discovered, created, worked like a dog and kept caged in that glittering Las Vegas hotel. And filled with dizzying visual techniques and unexpected musical mashups, is a damn good show.

In classic Luhrmann fashion, this film follows his typical formula, making this film feel like an emotional roller coaster ride. The opening builds up the tension, we are aware of Elvis’s eventual demise. Then we plunge into an energetic world of rock and roll shows, girls screaming for Elvis dancing in his pink suit. The sudden rise to fame is exciting and intoxicating. But consequences of his rebellion hit. Tragedy strikes when his mother dies just after he is forced into the US army. Then we’re shown the dizzying years of television and movie fame, trying to stay relevant and true to himself as the world quakes from the civil rights movement and all this wears on his little family. As Elvis dreams of a world tour, the Colonel unveils his greatest con of all, keeping Elvis permanently in Las Vegas to perform in the same place, same time over and over again. The final act casts us into despair as we watch poor overworked Elvis succumb to his pill addiction and fading health under the spotlight. 

What keeps me coming back to this movie again and again is the first half of the film, depicting a young, skinny Elvis discovering his own style. We are shown flashbacks of him as a little kid in dirty overalls, hanging out with little black boys, sneaking a peak at some raw rhythm and blues and simultaneously surrendering to the ecstasy of a revival tent. As a young man, he enjoys hanging out on Beale Street with BB King. One of my favorite scenes is when they’re watching a young, unknown Little Richard sing Tutti Frutti

One of the best things this film portrays is just how divided the times were around Elvis. On one side, we see young people moved by his music and girls screaming over his dancing. However, Elvis is a product of the segregated south and those who want to keep it that way cannot abide by a young white man gyrating his hips and playing “negro music.” Elvis just wants to be true to himself, not sellout but keep supporting his family. He’s constantly in conflict with himself and what others expect him to do. Especially what the Colonel wants him to do. 

Elvis is currently nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture. The film is also nominated for best sound, film editing, production design, makeup and hairstyling, costume design and cinematography. Austin Butler is nominated for Best Lead actor in his amazing performance as Elvis, his first Oscar nomination. 

I cannot think of another director better suited to make a biopic about Elvis. Baz Luhrmann brings his spectacular visual style and funky love of music mashups to perfectly create an enjoyable and empathetic ride through Elvis’s life. The impacts, both cultural and personal are clear to the audience, shown in a way that all generations can appreciate them. And who else could use a mix Hound Dog with Doja Cat and pull it off? 

“Come on, man. They’re not gonna put you in jail. They might put me in jail for walkin’ across the street, but you a famous white boy. Too many people making too much money off you to put you in jail.”

The Post

To be honest, I was not looking forward to seeing The Post, which is surprising since I am usually anxiously awaiting Steven Spielberg’s films. While I do appreciate the genre, there’s just something about films featuring hardworking, honest journalists fighting against the man that doesn’t excite me. Maybe it was Spielberg’s craftsmanship, or Streep’s intriguing character, or the way the events in the film seem to parallel recent news, but The Post has grown on me in two days in ways that All The President’s Men or Spotlight have not in years.

In the film, The Washington Post is at a crossroads. It is being led by a woman, Kay Graham (Meryl Streep) a first for a major newspaper. And a huge story about how the past few presidents, including current president Nixon have been lying to the public about the war in Vietnam has just fallen on their reporters’ desks. The problem is, The New York Times published about this story earlier, and is now being barred by the president for writing more about it. Should The Post risk backlash and even collusion by running their piece?  

The decision on whether to publish or not ultimately comes down to Graham. She realizes all that is at stake, not only the paper’s integrity and jobs, but the how their investors will react and even the possibility of her going to prison. Scenes where Graham laments that she was never really meant to run the paper illuminate the magnitude of this decision even more. The paper was her father’s who passed it down to her husband and after his suicide, Graham had to run it, after years of not being in the workforce.

Streeps performance as Kay Graham humanizes this film as she tries to navigate what is traditionally a man’s role. She feels out of place in her position of power because that’s what she’s been taught to feel. Yet she rises to the occasion well, even if she is secretly second guessing herself at every turn. Streep’s performance is the only other Oscar nomination The Post received besides Best Picture.

One of the most striking scenes is when reporters gather with Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) at his home to start reading The Pentagon Papers. Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk) brings them in two large cardboard boxes, tied with rope. As the reporters dive in, they realize that none of the over 4000 pages are in any order and all the page numbers have been cut off. They work together for hours, making piles and stacks all around the room and trying to piece these clues together, while Bradlee’s wife brings the reporters sandwiches and his daughter sells them lemonade.

What makes this film so important, and what truly clenched it’s Best Picture nomination, is how this true story resonates with recent news under the Trump administration. The way Nixon and journalists butt heads in the film is very much like Trump’s cries and tweets of fake news at every turn. The Post shows how the government has tried to silence the press before and lost. Spielberg knew that this is the time to make The Post so he made it very quickly. While that rapid production may not have produced one of his best or most memorable films, it has solidified a spot in film history.

“In the First Amendment the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors.”

Bridge of Spies

Steven Spielberg’s newest film, Bridge of Spies, lands us in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the tense Cold War.  When Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is arrested for supposedly being a Soviet spy, Brooklyn lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) takes the case to defend him.  Donovan quickly realizes the job does not come without its hazards.  People frequently ask him why he would defend a traitor and suggest he might be a Soviet sympathizer.  His family’s home is even shot at.  Later, when an American U2 spy plane pilot is captured, the CIA asks Donovan to step in and and help negotiate a trade in Berlin, where the wall has just been constructed.

The most memorable scene set in America was when Donovan comes home to find his son prepping for the bombs to drop.  He shares with his father all that he was taught in school, as he fills up the bathtub in case the water were to suddenly be shot off.  It’s obvious Donovan doesn’t quite know how to respond to the whole situation.  Perhaps he knows the harsh truth that everything his son is doing would be pointless in the event of nuclear war, or he just doesn’t want to discourage his son.  But then his son brings up the trial in a way that everyone must be thinking, “You’re not a communist so why are you defending him?”

One of the most fascinating scenes in the film shows the building of the Berlin Wall.  All around the organized men stacking blocks of concrete on fresh cement are people panicked and scrambling to get on the East side.  We see people rushing through the holes before they are filled and people climbing out of buildings that align with the wall, hanging out of windows to outstretched arms below.  Among this chaos is a young American student on a bicycle trying to get to friends on the West side in time to get them out.  When they are too late, the young man is arrested under suspicion that he is an American spy and becomes a complication in Donovan’s negotiations.  

While Spielberg has made some truly great movies, my honest opinion is that Bridge of Spies is not one of them.  It is, however, a pretty good film.  The tone is serious, tense and cold, perfect for a Cold War thriller.  Visually, it has a modern noir feel that I think shows the era well.  And Donovan is a great character, played skillfully by Hanks and he quickly becomes the heart of the film.  That’s all well and good, but there is something that fell very flat about this film that didn’t keep me riveted, or even caring much at the end.  

That being said, The Academy decided to award Bridge of Spies with six Oscar nominations.  Mark Rylance is nominated for best supporting actor, in his portrayal of a very mild mannered accused Soviet spy.  The film is also nominated for best picture, sound mixing, production design, original score and original screenplay.  

If you’re up for a dry, no nonsense, not so thrilling spy thriller, then try Bridge of Spies.  Enjoy a portrait of 1950s America living in fear of Soviet spies living among them, or worse, fellow Americans defending their rights as prisoners.  Stick around for the more interesting second half set in Berlin as the wall is built and Donovan has to commute from the east to the west with a cold and lay down the law in his negotiations.  

“Well, the boss isn’t always right.  But, he’s always the boss.”

Sleepless in Seattle

Throughout this blog I have not been shy about my dislike of romantic comedies.  The genera overall always felt flimsy, too dreamy and often insulted my intelligence.  However, there are a few sprinkled throughout film history that are so charming, sweet or just have some wow factor that makes me love romance and all dopey, drippy, silly things it makes people do.  One rom-com I watched out of a mixture of boredom and curiosity was Sleepless in Seattle.  Honestly, I did not expect to be so swept up in a story of two people whose only connection is radio waves.

The story opens on a sad image: Sam (Tom Hanks) and his young son Jonah (Ross Malinger) standing next to a casket in a cemetery overlooking Chicago.  The love of Sam’s life has just died and now he must carry on and raise their son on his own.  To help with moving on, they move out to Seattle and live on a houseboat.  After about a year and a half, Jonah can sense his father is unhappy and in need of someone new.  And Jonah could use a little motherly love himself.

On Christmas, Jonah calls a radio show, where the so-called doctor gets him to put his father on the air and open up about their loss and need for finding someone new.  All the while, thousands of people are listening, including newly engaged Annie (Meg Ryan) on the east coast.  She becomes fascinated in Sam’s story, and enthralled by his personality.  I mean, what woman wouldn’t be interested in a man who talks so sweet and highly of his late wife?  Over time, she becomes more obsessed with Sam and inches closer and closer to the idea of meeting him.

It’s this idea that initially turned me off from ever seeing this film.  Man loses wife, woman falls for man over radio, woman pursues man.  Sounds like a stalker movie to me.  But the thing is, Sleepless in Seattle knows that we are thinking just that and addresses it with humor.  Annie knows she sounds crazy and constantly seeks the reassurance of her friend, Becky (Rosie O’Donnell).  When Jonah pressures Sam to meet Annie (who wrote them a letter) Sam replies with, “Didn’t you see Fatal Attraction?”

And that brings up the best part of the movie, for me at least.  Sleepless in Seattle works off of and references many other movies, especially 1957’s An Affair to Remember.  Annie and Becky get swept up in the ending and use it as inspiration on where to meet Sam: at the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day.  I especially love the scene where Sam’s mother hears her plan and gets so emotional recalling how the movie ends and Sam responds, “That’s a chick’s movie.”  Then not a minute later, Sam and his father are moved to tears recalling a scene from The Dirty Dozen.  Perhaps that is the true division between women and men.

By the end of the film, I was not surprised to find out that Sleepless in Seattle was nominated for two Academy Awards.  The first was for original screenplay, written by the amazing Nora Ephron, who also directed the film.  The effortless fluidity of the witty dialogue is what hooked me into the film, a well deserved nomination.  The other was for the original song, A Wink and a Smile, a lovely tune that doesn’t feel stuck in the 90s.

The more I think about it, Sleepless in Seattle is not about love, but the idea and pursuit of love.  Sam had already found his love and she died.  Annie already has a fiance, but he’s… a dud to say the least.  Both of them are trying to find more for themselves and in the end (SPOILER ALERT!) we don’t know if they work out or if the romance was only in the pursuit.  But in the end we remain hopeful.  Because without that hope no one would pursue a true love and without love…well, I think both Sam and I sleep better with love in our lives.

“-Now that was when people knew how to be in love.  They knew it!  Time, distance… nothing could separate them because they knew.  It was right.  It was real.  It was…

–A movie!  That’s your problem!  You don’t want to be in love.  You want to be in love in a movie.”

Captain Phillips

I put off seeing Captain Phillips for a long time.  From the previews and commercials, I joked that Tom Hanks was just fishing for a new Oscar.  Even when the Oscar nominations came out, I was surprised and guessed the film depicting a recent big new story propelled it into best picture status.  When I finally watched it, I was pleasantly surprised.  The film became a fast paced, realistic thriller with a heart racing amount of tension.

The film is based on the true story of a 2009 hijacking of an American cargo ship by Somali pirates.  Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) is captain of the unarmed MV Maersk Alabama and runs a tight ship.  Knowing the warnings for pirates in the area, he keeps his crew on their toes, running drills to make sure they are prepared.  In the middle of a drill, two boats are spotted pursuing the ship and actions are taken to slow them down.  It buys Phillips and his crew some time, but Muse (Barkhad Abdi) is a threatening adversary, and his crew are persistent.  In a heart pounding scene with Phillips’ crew doing all they can, Muse and his armed men storm the ship.

Immediately, tensions tighten, Phillips has to think fast to help his crew and prevent any violence.  A great amount of suspense is created as Phillips leads Muse and his men around the ship, trying to keep his crew informed without Muse knowing.  When Muse has had enough, he and his men take Phillips hostage into a lifeboat, where they plan to take him back to Somalia.  As Phillips tries to survive the cramped quarters with his captives, the Navy is on their way to save the captured captain.

The film reminded me of Greengrass’ previous Oscar nominated film, United 93.  Both illustrated a hostage situation, didn’t shy away from the villains, utilized a realistic, almost documentary style of filming with hand-held cameras and the majority of the films take place in a cramped space.  While I remember being very moved and terrified through United 93, I felt more curiously anxious during Captain Phillips.  Though I know both films are based on true events, Captain Phillips felt more like a typical narrative with a main character I could find myself rooting and worrying for.

One aspect I was very impressed with was the photography within such a small space.  The last half of the film takes place mostly within a small lifeboat, about the size of a large SUV.  Inside are Phillips and the three Somali pirates.  Though the air is obviously stifling for them, we do not feel so cramped.  Somehow the filming here finds the right angles that we understand the space is small which makes the situation more tense, yet a sense of claustrophobia is avoided.

Captain Phillips is nominated for six Academy Awards.  Among them are best film editing, sound editing, sound mixing, adapted screenplay and best picture.  And in a wonderful surprise, rookie actor Barkhad Abdi has been nominated for best supporting actor.  Somehow with the thick field, Tom Hanks was denied the Oscar nomination this film seemed destined to bring him.

All in all, Captain Phillips is a good film, especially for those who enjoy realistic, tense situations.  It feels like it could have easily turned into a typical action movie, and I am very thankful it did not.  Phillips’ story got the movie it deserved, one that the average audience can enjoy as well.

“You said you were a business man!  Is this how you do business?”

Toy Story

In 1995, I was ten years old when Toy Story was first in released.  I remember seeing previews and scoffing, thinking a story about toys was so juvenile.  By ten, toys were out of my style, video games, bikes and Goosebumps books were my main source of home entertainment.  But I had younger siblings, so like most other Disney affiliated movies, a VHS copy was soon in our possession.  We watched Toy Story over and over and I loved it.  It was child like, not childish, something I could get into with my siblings and not feel like I was watching one of their baby movies.

What I always loved about Toy Story is how all these seemingly carefree plastic playthings have such raw emotions and crippling doubts.  Who knew there were so many things for a toy to worry about?  There is the fear of being replaced by a newer toy, getting lost and being destroyed by the disturbing neighbor kid, Sid, just to name a few.  Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) faces all of these fears within the short amount of time between Andy’s birthday party and the family’s move to a new house.

When Andy gets a Buzz Lightyear action figure (voice of Tim Allen) for his birthday, Woody’s whole world is rocked.  A boy who used to be very into cowboys is suddenly playing space rangers and Woody feels replaced.  He’s replaced not just by Andy as the new favorite, but Buzz is also very popular among the other toys.  In a silly move fueled by jealousy, and a trip to Pizza Planet, Woody accidentally gets Buzz knocked out the window.  Soon he and Buzz have to work together to escape an explosive fate from Sid and find their way back home in time for the move.

One of my favorite things about the original Toy Story is how Buzz believes he is a real space ranger, not a toy.  His delusion is genuine and makes him more sympathetic.  The other toys seem to go along with it with no problem, while Woody is clearly annoyed.

The moment when Buzz finally realizes he is only a toy is so heartbreaking.  With one commercial, he can suddenly see the Made in Taiwan clearly molded into his arm.  Still, he believes in himself and does one last daring test.  He tries to fly out an open window.  The build up to that heroic moment, and then the tragic fall is so perfectly crafted and so full of utter defeat at the end, I end up with tears in my eyes every time.  I think that moment is what made me first understand what shattered dreams can feel like.

Clearly, Toy Story is a wonderfully molded story with colorful, complex and highly memorable characters, but it was also a huge feat in digital film making.  Today, digital animation is mainstream, when less than twenty years ago, it was such a huge undertaking that only Pixar dared dream of making a feature film.  Toy Story was that first feature film with all computer generated animation.  Though I look at some sets in the film and kid myself into thinking I could recreate them in certain computer programs, given enough time, this is an incredibly complex feat of animation that can go, well… “to infinity and beyond!”

Catch Me If You Can

When most kids run away from home, they don’t last on their own for very long.  My sister didn’t make it past the front walk.  Those that venture further usually find that one real world problem blocks them: money.  Frank Abagnale Jr., a real life teenage conman in the 1960s, figured this out and forged millions in checks.  He was young, with a suitcase full of cash, confidently posing as a pilot, doctor and lawyer.  For a while, it seems like the world is his for the taking, but his fraudulent actions were always raising suspicion and he could never be more than a man on the run.

Before he runs, we see Frank and his parents in a happier time.  There is real respect and admiration between Frank Sr.(Christopher Walken) and Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio).  When Frank Sr. is audited severely, the family loses their house and Frank Jr. witnesses his parents’ marriage fall apart.  Rather than choose which parent to live with, he runs away, armed with a checking account his father gave him, with only $25 in the bank.

Steven Speilberg directs Catch Me If You Can, depicting Frank’s running years like one long caper.  Throughout the film, we cheer on Frank as he suavely maneuvers through airports, hospitals, banks and hotels.  To the innocent people around him, he fits in, raises no suspicion and seems like a very respectful young man.  However, we see through to his motives, from the way he asks questions innocently to that old trick with the necklace he learned from his father.  We see how smart he is and how much detail he puts into forging his documents too.  He gets better at his processes as he goes, even hand making his own Harvard diploma.

Besides forging checks, Frank is not such a bad guy.  We don’t see any signs of malice or ill intent further than stealing money in the classiest way and his abuse of power doesn’t extend further than free plane rides.  And if you could get away with it, wouldn’t you buy an Aston Martin?  Throughout all of his wrong doings, it seems that his motive is just to get his parents back together.  He’s just a kid wanting to fix his family.

What makes this film exciting, is the chase.  Nearly the whole time, FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) is looking for Frank.  The first time the two meet face to face, Frank tricks him into thinking he is a secret service agent, and just narrowly escapes.  From then on, Carl makes it his personal mission to catch this kid.  Though they’re apart, with Carl always just a step or two behind Frank, the two are always connected and develop an odd relationship throughout the film.  From their annual Christmas Eve call, we can tell neither of them has any real friends or close family.

When it came to the Oscars, Catch Me If You Can only received two nominations.  One was for Christopher Walken’s supporting role as Frank Jr.’s father.  He’s a perfect catalyst for the son’s running and a role model in a way that Frank Sr. could not have imagined his teachings would serve.  I believe it was the scene in the restaurant where Walken is so great at being on the edge of his emotions that brought him the nomination.  The film’s other nomination was for original score, by John Williams.

Catch Me If You Can is one of Spielberg’s films teeters between fun and serious.  At times it can feel like a comic caper or a whimsical story of a boy who ran away from home.  Frank’s adventures as he runs makes us like him, cheer him on and have fun.  The dark side and loneliness that comes with always running and eventually getting caught is not forgotten.  Some of the best parts of the film are when we see his dad’s perspective on the Yankees in action.  You can get away with a lot when you look so good and convincing, it distracts people like a perfect magic trick.

“It’s ’cause the other teams can’t stop staring at those damn pinstripes.”

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

When you see Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, I think there are a few things you need to remember and keep an open mind about.  One, the film is mostly told from a unique child’s perspective.  So when his inner monologue feels a bit cliche or dramatically out of touch, remember how you thought as a child.  Not all of our ideas were made of gold, but we didn’t know that yet.  Go easy on him.  Two, yes, this film is about the attacks on September 11th, like America cannot get enough of its own tragedy.  Though the film remembers the past (and who could blame this kid for it?), the story is really about moving on from any tragedy.  The scars of September 11th are too much for one film to heal.  And three, this kid has amazing parents, both of them.

Oskar Shell (Thomas Horn) was about nine years old on September 11th.  He and his father (Tom Hanks) were very close and has always encouraged Oskar’s curiosity.  He asks so many questions, many parents would have given him the terrible answer, “Just because,” years ago, but thankfully not his father.  They play elaborate mind games where Oskar searches for artifacts all over Central Park.  These games of critical thinking have made Oskar very organized and independent for a boy his age.  I believe he is a gifted child, but also suffers from anxiety and social issues, possibly Asperger’s syndrome.

After that day, Oskar is without his father, his teacher and playmate, and is faced with something he cannot comprehend: chaos.  He is too logical to understand why this happened and it hurts to see this boy grasping at nothing, hoping he can find answers.  And his mother (Sandra Bullock) is doing all she can for him, more than he knows.

What Oskar does find is a key.  He believes, somehow, that finding what it unlocks will help bring him some last connection and closure with his father.  The elaborate system Oskar sets up to search all over New York is impressive and his determination should be encouraged.

Along his journey to find where the key fits, Oskar meets a wide variety of people.  Most of them are helpful and welcoming.  As he meets them, in his unique socially awkward fashion, Oskar takes their photograph and catalogs them in his journal.  While he is focused on the key, the boy  does not realize how his journey is touching so many people in a beautiful way.  But that’s just how kids are, right?  Too easily they can focus on one tangible idea and gloss over the big picture in front of them.  I’m sure we can all remember a moment like that from our childhood.

One important person Oskar meets is The Renter (Max von Sydow), who rents a room from his grandmother (Zoe Caldwell).  He does not talk (whether he can or not is a mystery) and offers to help Oskar on his quest.  I love how he keeps his communication simple, with a thick pen and pad of paper and tattoos on his palms for ‘yes’ and ‘no’.  I think that sort of simple logic draws Oskar to him.  Without saying a word, The Renter reveals levels of intrigue and guilt, that adults will connect far before Oskar does.

This film seems oddly slipped into the Best Picture nominations, I certainly did not expect it.  It only has one other nomination, Max von Sydow for Best Supporting Actor, and to hear his name called in 2012 feels out of place.  I do not find the technical aspects of the film great.  Adults will connect a few plot points before they come to fruition, but I feel compelled to overlook that since this is a child’s journey and mostly his perspective.

What I believe earned this film that last slot is something emotionally poignant and intangible.  Since I saw it on Friday, I find myself thinking back to it often.  I have reanalyzed moments unintentionally throughout the day.  There are small, telling moments that haunt me a bit.  Perhaps the way this film is hard to shake is what put it in the Best Picture category.  I do believe this film is good, very good, but not great.  It is too easy to mistake this to be a film simply about September 11th.  It’s about moving on from it and should serve as hope to anyone after experiencing unspeakable tragedy.

“Isn’t everyone somehow odd?”

If the Academy is looking to award a film that uses one tragic story to better understand a different kind of grieving that people can experience, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close will win the Oscar for Best Picture.

The Green Mile

Based on a novel by Stephen King, The Green Mile focuses on the experiences Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) has while working as a prison guard on a death row block in Louisiana during the depression.  He’s a more soft spoken man than you expect to find in this line of work and the way he approaches his job is not as a cliche prison guard.  He treats The Mile just as he would an intensive care ward in a hospital; firmly, but with a sense of calm serenity.

The new guy, Percy (Doug Hutchison), is a terrible addition to The Mile’s team.  He got the job through family connections and only wants to watch a prisoner “cook” up close.  Percy is a small guy who tries to make himself look tougher by instigating conflict whenever possible.  We love to hate him.

When a new inmate is brought to The Mile, Percy ushers him, annoyingly calling out, “Dead man walking.”  The inmate in tow is John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), a huge black man accused of raping and murdering two little white girls.  I’d like to think that the bigger the prisoner, the louder Percy tries to be.  Though Coffey’s size and build are threatening, he is surprisingly meek.  Not many men on death row ask to keep the lights on or admit to being afraid of the dark.

Other prisoners waiting for their execution are Eduard Delacroix (Michael Jeter) and ‘Wild Bill’ Wharton (Sam Rockwell).  Eduard, usually called Del, is  grungy looking Cajun man who speaks French now and then.  He finds a mouse, names it Mr. Jingles and trains him to fetch a spool, becoming very attached to the creature.  His execution is the most horrifying scene in the film.  Wild Bill is a young man who’s antics are on the verge of psychotic, including pissing on the warden as he passes his cell.  His entrance to The Mile may be one of the best tricks he puled off in his short life.

Within the world of figuring out each prisoner, getting to know them in their last chapter in life and then executing them, comes a tale of life’s mysteries, healing and forgiveness.  Things get a little supernatural, but it does not affect the southern 1930’s feel.

While it took me weeks of spare time between summer jobs to read The Green Mile, the three hours that encompass the film feel more drawn out.  To be clear, I had watched the film once a few years before reading the novel and then again just recently for this review.  My feelings about the pacing of each medium have remained consistent.  It really doesn’t bother me that the film is long and keeps a slow, thoughtful pace, it’s needed just to get the story across well.  Simply, the novel was something I could enjoy savoring and taking slow, especially after a long day’s work in the summer heat.  The film could be just as satisfying in a gulp.  That being said, I encourage everyone to check out both the film and the book, maybe you’ll see things differently.

“I’ve done some things in my life I’m not proud of, but this is the first time I’ve ever felt in real danger of hell.”

Saving Private Ryan

There are two main things that I am reminded of whenever I see Saving Private Ryan.  First off, like the rest of my family, I remember that my grandfather was part of the invasion of Normandy.  To imagine my own grandfather among the bullets, blood, death and gore shown in this gritty take on the reality of war here is a bit disturbing.  Then I am reminded of the men who did not make it off the beach, the family trees that had an entire branch severed off on the battlefield.  Papa may not have realized it that day, but it was not only his life he fought for, but that of his entire future family. Saving Private Ryan is a rare kind of war movie that not only thanks our greatest generation for the sacrifices they made for us, but remembers their hardships and those who fell.

The film begins with an old war veteran and his family visiting the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.  With his children and grandchildren relaxed and taking pictures, he walks ahead, trying to hide a mix of determination and anxiety on his face, but in front of cross bearing a familiar name, he falls to his knees.  Then we’re taken back to the war.

It is the second scene in the film, the landing on Omaha beach scene, that everyone remembers best about Saving Private Ryan.  Unlike the old war films that inspired men to go off to war, Spielberg does not spare us any of the horrors of war.  The first time I saw this, I was honestly shocked and sickened.  I was only a teenager, and there were young men, just like my grandfather once was, not much older than myself, preparing for battle one moment and blown to pieces the next.  Everything is so intensely gory and realistic the ideas of war being glorious were completely shattered for me.

The camera’s point of view, at times, puts the audience in the soldier’s perspective.  We are brought along as they move out of the boats, under the water, muffling the sound, and towards the beach.  Now and then a quick splatter of gore hits the camera lens.  When finally on the beach, there are a few shots where Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes a moment and just looks around at everything happening.  The sound is replaced with a white noise so that we focus on the terrible things we see.  A man’s pack explodes, setting the men around him on fire.  A man picks up his own arm, another cowers trying to shield himself.  Men run out of a boat in flames.  As bombs explode in the water, Miller is showered in bloody water.  The invasion scene alone could have been an Oscar worthy short, it’s an amazing film experience, where the volume must be cranked up for the best effect.

The meat of the film takes place after the invasion, where Miller is given the mission to find a young Private, James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), and send him home.  Miller and a seven other men risk their own lives trekking through France, pretty much looking for a needle in a haystack.

But why would eight men risk their lives for one private?  When a woman in The War Department offices realizes that a mother is about to receive three separate letters informing her that three of her sons have been killed in action, she takes notice.  She realizes that there is a fourth son who parachuted in somewhere in northern France.  It’s a wonderful thing to think about people caring enough to take notice and act quickly to save the young Ryan before his family tree is completely chopped down by this war.  But we soon see that saving Ryan’s life comes with the price of others.

Saving Private Ryan is not for any squeamish viewers, nor would I say it’s a perfect fit for your ultra patriotic ‘ooh-rah’ crowd.  This is not a war film where we celebrate victory or enjoy watching Germans get kicked down a peg.  By watching Saving Private Ryan, we are supposed to find new understanding of the hardships that our greatest generation faced, especially the fallen we never knew.

“He better be worth it.  He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb.”