In 1950 All the King’s Men won Best Actor (Broderick Crawford), Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge), and Best Picture. I wish that was the film we were about to discuss, but sadly it is not. In 2006 Hollywood decided to make an inferior remake. Sadly, this is the film we will discuss.
Willie Stark (Sean Penn) is chosen by mobster Tiny Duffy (James Gandolfini) to enter the race for Louisiana Governor. Tiny sees Stark as the wide-eyed innocent do-gooder who will split the vote and keep his man in office. Once Stark learns of this situation he plunges head on into the campaign and becomes the Governor of Louisiana.
While this is happening, young newspaper man Jack Burden (Jude Law) is covering the story for his paper, and begins to believe that Willie Stark might just be the right man for the job. Burden sees a fellow dreamer in Willie and thinks, just maybe, Stark might do some good.
Once in office Stark takes on the oil companies and state legislature, tyring to make good his campaign promises of spreading the wealth and creating new jobs, new schools, new roads and bridges, for the less fortunate of the state. The power brokers however see this man as a menace and fight to hold onto their wealth.
Oddly enough the movie doesn’t have a main character. The first half of the movie centers mostly around Stark, at times leaving his story to focus on Burden. In the film’s second half the focus shifts 180, as Stark’s story is moved to the back-burner in favor of Burden’s tale.
There are countess stories that branch off of Burden’s tale which involve his childhood best friend (Mark Ruffalo), who Willie wants to use for publicity, his childhood crush (Kate Winslet), who has her own secrets, his disapproving mother (Kathy Baker), his relationship with Stark and his staff including Stark’s gal Friday (Patricia Clarkson), his relationship with the influential man who helped raise him (Anthony Hopkins), who Stark wants Burden to bring down, and more.
The film feels very much like a large novel shoved into the small frames of a movie reel. There’s just too much there, and it’s so badly managed that you never really learn about the situations or characters. Was Willie Stark a good Samaritan that wanted to help out the unfortunate, or was he a crook and thief milking the state for money? The movie never decides, and, what’s worse, never even presents evidence either way. All we get is third-hand gossip.
The structure of the film leaves much to be desired. It opens in an odd flashback sequence that is troubling, and Willie’s initial forray into politic is less than adequately explained (and Tiny’s as a choice for Lt. Governor is never explained). In too many places the film feels like an unfinished rough-cut instead of a movie being pushed into the Oscar race.
The two men’s stories don’t really have much to do with each other, and the film would have been better served to put one or the other front and center instead of wobbling between the two. Nor do the flashbacks from Burden’s past, shown over and over again, add to any part of the film. It’s just a slow plodding exercise that seems to be there to give everyone a chance to act.
Speaking of the acting, it’s darn good. The film survives based on the performances of these actors – and considering Penn looks like he’s wearing a groundhog on his head for most of the film that’s something to be proud of.
The level of talent here sets expectations and demands certainly more than competence. Sadly that’s all we get. The film really, really wants to be an Oscar contender, but there isn’t a single performance, shot, line of dialogue, or piece of score, that is memorable, let alone remarkable. This film feels very much like a remake and a film based off a novel, but without the author’s perspective. We get characters, we get stories, but we don’t get a point. With the cast involved and a director like Steven Zaillian behind the camera I expected more than an underwhelming, two-hour, instantly forgettable film.
You want to know where Hollywood sees its money coming from? Take a minute to ponder the following. Five years ago this film would have debuted in October. Now it’s put out in mid-summer so the DVD can be ready for Halloween? To paraphrase The Buggles – “Has DVD killed the theatrical film?”
When a particularly cranky and evil old man (Steve Buscemi) has a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital, his house seems to take a life all its own taking revenge on the children of the neighborhood who it holds responsible for the situation. With only days left before Halloween, it’s left to three young children to stop the evil monster house before it can devour all the young trick-or-treaters.
DJ (Mitchel Musso) is the brave one and Chowder (Sam Lerner) is the dumb but entertaining best friend. They team-up with smart girl Jenny (Spencer Locke), who they barely save from the house’s hunger. But as they battle the house they learn its deep dark secrets and find there’s more to the story than they realized.
“A Jay and Silent Bob movie; who would pay to see that?”
After discovering that a movie is being made from the comic book based off their misadventures, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) travel cross country to stop the film from being made. Along the way they meet a hitchhiker (George Carlin), a nun (Carrie Fisher), and a lesbian gang of thieves (Shannon Elizabeth, Ali Larter, Eliza Dushku, Jennifer Schwalbach). The girls steal diamonds using the clueless duo of stoners for dupes.
With an orangutan they stole from an animal testing center, Jay and Silent Bob try to make their way to Hollywood staying one-step in front of Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly (Will Ferrell) and a host of policemen (including an almost unrecognizable Judd Nelson) who are hot on their trail.
The film brings back several character from the previous View Askew films. From Clerks we get the Quick Stop along with Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson). From Mallrats we get Brodie (Jason Lee) who now owns his own comic book shop (the shop used for the film is Kevin Smith’s own place in Redbank, NJ – Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash). From Chasing Amy we get Holen (Ben Affleck), Spanky (Jason Lee), Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), and Hooper (Dwight Ewell).
It’s July, and the most exciting movie to have come out this summer has been The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Don’t get me wrong, I was along for the ride when it came out last month; but this is summer, and we should be bombarded with more action than the Playboy Mansion. Where’s that movie that you can’t get yourself to leave for the restroom after drinking a gallon of Cherry Coke from the consession stand, even though you’re pretty sure it will cause some sort of internal combustion by the time the credits role?
Now it’s here, and it’s called Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. It doesn’t quite threaten audiences’ bladders like you might hope it will, but in this summer of Poseidon and X-Men: The Last Stand, it feels pretty damn good to be able to escape to the cinemas from the dead heat of summer into a decent action flick for the first time this year.
What’s with Hollywood and rubberized super hero suits? Is there some kind of run on cloth? Did they buy it all in bulk a few years ago and have to use it all up before buying something new? Anyway…
Superman Returns isn’t a great super hero flick, but it does have charm and heart which left me happy, though not ecstatic, with the outcome. Given its similarities, it’s impossible to not compare it to Donner’s original, and find it wanting. Still, in a summer that’s given us X-Men: The Last Stand and Nacho Libre this Superman looks damn good.
Five years ago (sometime not long after the events of Superman II) Earth’s scientists found the remains of Krypton and, without saying his goodbyes, Superman left his adopted home. As the movie opens Superman (Brandon Routh) crashes back to Earth on the Kent farm. After a brief talk with Ma Kent (Eva Marie Saint – very nice casting choice!) Clark returns to Metropolis and his life as a reporter for the Daily Planet.
In 1950 All the King’s Men won Best Actor (Broderick Crawford), Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge), and Best Picture. I wish that was the film we were about to discuss, but sadly it is not. In 2006 Hollywood decided to make an inferior remake. Sadly, this is the film we will discuss.
You want to know where Hollywood sees its money coming from? Take a minute to ponder the following. Five years ago this film would have debuted in October. Now it’s put out in mid-summer so the DVD can be ready for Halloween? To paraphrase The Buggles – “Has DVD killed the theatrical film?”
It’s July, and the most exciting movie to have come out this summer has been 
What’s with Hollywood and rubberized super hero suits? Is there some kind of run on cloth? Did they buy it all in bulk a few years ago and have to use it all up before buying something new? Anyway…