Red Tails

        Red Tails is a film about the famed, yet under portrayed, Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.  This was a pet project of George Lucas who has reportedly been trying to get this made since 1989.  Having never secured adequate funding, he decided to fund the project himself.  I had high expectations as I found the story has similar themes to one of my favorite films of all times; “Glory” and to a lesser extent, I thought it might match up to Pearl Harbor (which I felt didn’t realize it’s potential).  I thought that with George Lucas behind this, it could truly be an epic film.  However, while I found this an enjoyable and patriotic film, I felt that it fell short of my expectations (which I probably set too high).

The Tuskegee Airmen, under Colonel A.J. Bullard (Terence Howard) stood at the beginning of the integration of African Americans into today’s army.  Long segregated, Red Tails tells the story of how black pilots not only proved themselves capable and valuable pilots, but they excelled at it.  Created as an ‘experiment’ despite the supposed scientific research of the time, which said they would never be good soldiers (or airmen), the government stationed the Tuskegee airmen in Italy where they saw little action.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of Col Bullard, the airmen got their chance and proved that the were a force to be reckoned with.

George Lucas has long been known for being strong on inspiration and short on story.    Critics of his Star Wars sagas acknowledge his great vision, but often decry his weak dialogue and shallow stories.  I was thinking the same thing while watching this.  I wanted this to be a truly epic film, but it turned into a more of a Saturday matinee serial of old (hey, it worked for “Raiders of the Lost Ark”).  The Colonel and Major Emmanuel Stance (Cuba Gooding Jr) are played generically heroic.  It seemed like every time they said something patriotic music was playing in the background.  The airmen themselves seemed a collection of cliche’s from every war movie made over the best 50 yrs.  There was the frustrated team leader (played by Nate Parker who ironically portrayed the only character that had any depth).  The impetuous one named Lightning (David Oyelowo), who had the generic love story thrown in as all these films do (if you can’t see where his story line is heading, you haven’t seen a war movie before).  The of course they have the funny one, the grumpy one, the young one...the list goes on.  

The combat scenes were well done and kept you at the edge of your seat.  As long as they were in the air, they had my full attention.  Back on the ground it was less interesting and left a lot of areas unexplored.  The portrayal of the airmen’s struggle was two dimensional.  They felt like caricatures instead of real people.  The film ‘Glory’ excelled at giving us a real story behind the struggle.  Red Tails seemed to be a throw back to a more naive version of war.  I don’t want to pile on and say that this was a horrible film...It wasn’t.  It’s just that I wanted so much more and felt unsatisfied with what I felt could have been a truly epic film.

I’m glad to see an attempt made to highlight a truly great story from American history that we don’t hear enough about.  I just want to see better execution in the story telling

I give this film ** 1/2 stars

The Artist

      The Artist is a truly unique film in that it is a faithful homage to a lost era of film; the silent film era of the 1920’S.  It is not only shot as a silent film, but it captures the same pace and simplistic story lines of that era, while giving us something unique that today’s jaded audiences don’t often see.  The film captures everything from the frenetic pace of the acting to the over exaggerated facial expressions required from a silent film.  It was a little uncomfortable to watch at first as, if you aren’t a true film historian, it just seems like a quaint relic from the past.  However, if you have patience, the story does begin to draw you in and there is enough modern artistic curves to appreciate this as a modern feat of film making.

The story centers around the life of silent film star, George Valentin (cast perfectly with French actor Jean DuJardin).  George wonders if his movie star status will begin to fall with the coming of the radical new invention of ‘talkie’ films.  George is at first contemptuous of the new technology as a fad, but soon realizes that his days as top dog might be numbered.  DuJardin captures the look, feel, and cadence of a 1920’s movie star perfectly.  I hope he isn’t overlooked at Oscar time.  Even  Valentin’s spunky terrier dog is right out of every pet cliché of that era.  With an almost Lassie like intelligence, he is Valentin’s constant companion and confidant.

Into this life stumbles aspiring actress/dancer; Peppy Miller (played by the also French Bérénice Bejo).  Peppy is young and beautiful and star struck by the debonair Valentin with whom she instantly clicks.  Valentin takes Peppy under his wing and sweeps her off her feet.  Bejo’s sophisticated European beauty captures the feel of the time as well.  Like her name implies, she is full of pep and her star starts to rise after the studio takes a chance on her with Valentin’s insistence.

Studio exec Al Zimmer (John Goodman) breaks it to Valentin that talkies are the wave of the future and it will no longer finance Valentin’s silent endeavors.  Full of ego and bravado, Valentin self finances a film that brings him to financial ruin.  As Valentin’s star falls, Peppy’s star rises as the darling of the new talking film era.  Their roles quickly reverse.  Something that is too much for Valentin’s actor ego to accept.  He descends into hard times and depression as Peppy desperately tries to help him revive his career.

Like I said, for the typical movie goer, this might be a challenge to sit through.  But despite my discomfort, I’m glad this film was made and I applaud writer/director Michel Hazanavicius for taking chances.  I also applaud the film studio for producing something this daring in today’s cookie cutter world of movie making.  I can’t see this idea going over well in a concept pitch, so it took a lot of courage to give this the green light.

I don’t feel that this is a ‘must see’, but I do recommend it just for its’ sheer novelty.  It won the Golden Globe for Best Picture which usually means it will be in contention for the Oscar, but I didn’t feel it rose to quite that level.  I would say that if you took away the silent film ‘gimmick’ the story wasn’t all that impressive, but the ‘gimmick’ was what the film was all about.  It’s like saying without the special effects, Avatar wasn’t that great of a movie.  Well yeah, but come on, Avatar was incredible.  Film is a multi tiered artistic expression medium and story is just one aspect.

I give this film *** stars

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a throw back to the Cold War espionage thrillers I grew up with, both in film and books.  The movie stars an impressive list of British favorites like Gary Oldman (greatest actor on the planet), Colin Firth, and John Hurt as well as some new up an comers like Tom Hardy.

The film opens in the early 1970’s during the height of the Cold War with the resignation of the Head of British Intelligence, Control (John Hurt) after a botched Hungarian operation.  The upper executive team is disbanded, but not before Control warns that one of four men who comprise the highest level of British intelligence is a spy.  George Smiley (Gary Oldman) happily goes into retirement as he has had enough of his life as a spy.  Not long after Control dies, a senior government agent approaches Smiley to lure him out of retirement as he has been given information by a low level spy named Ricky Tarr (Tom Hardy) that corroborates Controls assertion that there is a mole at the highest level of British intelligence.  Since Smiley has been retired, he is viewed as an outsider and the only one that can be trusted.

The failure of the Hungarian operation and the subsequent rise of Operation Witchcraft, which provides almost too much valuable information about the eastern block, confirms in Smiley’s mind that there is indeed a mole.  He decides to take on the assignment and investigate.  He is determined to ensure that the British intelligence community is corruption free.  Whether he does this out of sense of duty or revenge for his inglorious discharge from the service, Smiley’s passive face never let’s on.  All that we know that, despite his age, Smiley is a consummate professional and a methodical analyst.  

The film is an assembly of flashbacks as Smiley attempts to piece together the puzzle of who the mole is.  It occasionally gets confusing because we sometimes have to take a moment to determine if we are in the present or in a flashback.  The film is skillfully done and the tension it creates is artful.  Like any ‘whodunnit’ film the clues rotate suspicion through all the suspects.  Just when you think you know who the guilty party is, some other piece of evidence pops up to implicate someone else.

This isn’t a bad film, but a little tedious and slow.  I do have issues with how Smiley came up with some of his conclusions as based on the evidence, it seemed like he pulled the connections out of thin air.  In fact, I’m not even sure how he made certain assumptions given the evidence.  It’s no fun in a ‘whodunnit’ if you can’t piece it together along with the protagonist.  

Overall, a worthwhile remake of the 1979 film based on the John Le Carre’s novel.  It just won’t make a big box office smash.  A nice nostalgic film ride from those who remember those types of film.  Easily forgettable though, despite excellent performances from a strong cast.

I give this **1/2  stars

War Horse

       Steven Speilberg’s movie ‘War Horse’ is one of those movies you are supposed to love.  I will  say that it was an impressive feat of film making and that it showcases Speilberg’s brilliance at creating epic and sweeping stories that tug at the heartstrings as they take you on emotional journeys.  This movie had the feel of a ‘made for Oscar’ film and I often resist the urge to be swept away when I feel manipulated by a story.  It’s a variation of the 'boy and his dog' genre that has been done to death, so they decided to use a horse this time.

The story follows the life and friendship of a horse named Joey and Albert (newcomer Jeremy Irvine) his poor English farm boy owner.  After they are separated by Joey being drafted into service, young Albert enlists in the army to pursue his beloved horse.  The film impressively captures WWI era Europe and gives us grand vistas as well has horrific scenes of war time cruelty.  Speilberg is arguably unparalleled in modern cinema in bringing us expansive landscapes and beautiful photography.  It almost seems to pay homage to the epic John Ford films of the 50’s in its' almost canvas like use of film.

The film opens in Devon, England as Joey is born and later bought by Ted Narracott, a drunken English farmer (Peter Mullen) trying to show up his landlord at auction.  The drunken Ted payed so much for the horse that he has put his farm in danger.  Ted’s wife Rose (played by an underutilized Emily Watson) tries to force Ted to return the horse, but young Albert, who instantly connects with Joey convinces her otherwise.  Albert sets out to train Joey and show that he can be a useful part of the family.  Unfortunately, the realities of life hit their farm and they are forced to sell Joey to an English Officer (Tom Hiddleston [keep him on the radar]) for the war effort.

The horse is used more of a plot device to showcase a series of vignettes about lives affected by The Great War.  As Joey passes from one owner to the next, we see a portrait of the lives of an English officer, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter.  Joey affects their lives as he struggles to survive the hardships of being a War Horse.    Albert faces horrors of his own as he relentlessly tries to reunite with his beloved horse.  

There are several things to admire about this film.  It runs the gambit of emotions effortlessly and is a visually stunning achievement.  I do feel the homage scenes from golden era films seemed a little contrite and especially the ending scene were the skyline was so painted with reds and oranges it illicited a few snickers in the audience.  Given all of that, it will be nominated for several Oscars as that is what it is supposed to do.  

I admired the perspective of war from both sides of the conflict.  Neither side was portrayed as monsters, merely normal people living in a monstrous world.  The story of Joey’s stay with two young German soldiers was the briefest in the film, but among the most moving and human.  Equally, the story of the Frenchman and his granddaughter merely trying to live a normal life amid the chaos of war invading their land was an incredibly human story.  Joey’s appearance helped enhance their lives, yet illustrate their hardship.

I’m not sure if I can recommend this film per se.  All I can say is that it was a sweeping epic.  The film will garner many nominations and technically it is an impressive feat of film making.  I did not walk out of the film thinking how much I loved it though.  Maybe it’s just personal bias. A good film that I was blasé about

I give this film ***1/2 stars