April recaps

Complete list, (v) marks movie seen before:

1. Ice Age (2002)
2. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
3. Babe (1995)
4. Chocolat (2000)
5. Fatal Attraction (1987)
6. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
7. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
8. Taxi Driver (1976)
9. The Thin Red Line (1998)
10. Airplane! (1980)
11. Amelie (2001)
12. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006)
13. In America (2003)
14. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
15. Tootsie (1982)
16. L.A. Confidential (1997)
17. A Perfect Murder (1998)
18. Jaws (1975)
19. Rob Roy (1995)
20. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
21. Nanny McPhee (2006)
22. Romancing the Stone (1984)
23. American President (1995) (v)
24. Mystic River (2003)
25. Life or Something Like It (2002)

Unlike March, April was less nostalgic and more varied. Of the 25 titles that I watched from March 31 to April 21, kids’ movies are as dominant a theme as the presence of Michael Douglas. Not that I had planned them to be. 8 movies in this list are big names made before 1990 that I felt obligated to watch.

Fatal Attraction, the ideal flick for people considering having an affair, is one famous thriller that catapulted Glenn Close to her notorious villain roles. It wasn’t what I’d call a real thriller much as drama, but damn, did she bring the role alive. Wasn’t a very good idea to watch it before going to sleep either because I couldn’t get rid of the bathup scene in my head. Also out of obligation, I went for Taxi Driver and Airplane!, both of which failed to entertain me in artistic or comical ways. Dustin Hoffman did, though, consecutively, in his Oscar-nominated-and-winning roles in Kramer vs. Kramer and Tootsie. But in the end, it was Romancing the Stone, starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in an unbelievably corny wild adventure of South America, that successfully tickled my funny bone. It’s such an irony how I find a movie that shows off machoism hilarious.

Normally I love British movies. Four Weddings and a Funeral fell flat of my expectation, not because of its dark British humor, but more of the Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell factor. I never really like those two, and sadly there’s just zero percent chemistry. What came as a disappointment also is The Thin Red Line. Tears streamed out of my eyes while watching it, but are completely different kind of tears compared to Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. I’ll just stick with the argument that Terrence Malick’s works are not for everyone. If anything’s worse than that, it’s Life or Something Like It. What I think of Angelina Jolie in this movie (and most of her other movies anyway) is on par with what I think of Ben Affleck in every single movie he stars in. Incredibly.Stupid.Movie.

Now, the nice part is some of these titles are truly good movies. Babe, for one, is a really really good children’s movie, and could’ve been easily screwed up, given the nature of talking animals as the leading characters. I also love the mystifying pair of mother and child in Chocolat, not to mention the equally mysterious but beautiful music by Rachel Portman. I have mixed feeling about Amelie, probably the most popular French movie ever: in one hand it’s cleverly crafted and funny and touching, in the other it just failed to leave a deep impression on me. I would also recommend In America, a drama about Irish immigrant family striving to survive in Manhattan, and L.A. Confidential, one purely enjoyable film noir set in the 1950s.

All in all, April didn't disappoint me. However, the thought of having to take off again for three weeks and leave behind some summer blockbusters is rather dismaying. I hope to catch The Da Vinci Code before I go, because it's not funny to miss it after reading so much news, watching all the trailers and clips, and spending half a year anticipating the movie.

American President

Ever since I realized Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay for American President, I could't help watching it again and again, by each time it grows on me merely because of his effect. American President isn't that good, but the guy who wrote it surely is. The West Wing, which until season 4 was penned by Sorkin, is simply the best television drama ever made. Incidentally, Sorkin brought three people from the cast of American President to his tv project, one of whom later played a major role as President Jed Bartlett. It is impossible not to compare these two flicks, and harder yet not to see the similarity so obvious in them.

The last time I watched American President it was triggered by Marc Shaiman's exquisite musical composition. Though in the whole album the main theme is reprised in most of the tracks and is distinctively recognizable, it still remains a beautifully romantic orchestration complete with patriotic themes, which led it to be used three years after the release in Saving Private Ryan's trailer. I downloaded the trailer a few days ago, and it worked like magic (Immediate Music's "Here Comes the King" used in Chronicles of Narnia's trailer is another great example). Likewise trailers, a great score is an easy influence to make me watch a movie.

First, it must be understood that at its heart, American President is a romance/drama set in politics background, although it also gives a broad picture on how the president of United States works (of course, not generally). The running president, Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas), is a widow with a teenage daughter whose approval rating in the beginning of the movie shows a strong 63%. Shepherd is running for his second term, and he wants to pass a crime bill and an environmental protection bill to the Congress. He's set with the crime bill, not so sure about the other one, but the Global Defense Council (a fictitous agency, I can't really tell what its real purpose is) wants him to save the earth from further global warming destruction. They brings in a political strategist from Virginia, Sydney Allen Wade (Annette Bening) to lobby the White House. She arrives, she accuses him of a leader of fantasy world, but nails a deal with him. The president likes her, asks her to be his date in a state dinner, and things get mixed up from there. Bottom line is the president thinks his personal relationship is a private agenda and should not be taken into the public, while his opponent gladly takes this opportunity to slash his character, causing his approval rating to severely slip down. Because this is drama with political setting, speech(es) are obligatory. And so it is, the whole story about rejection to acknowledge a persident's personal relationship to the public resolved only by one speech at the end. A most invigorating one, too, if I must say.

Now, however reviving the speech is, no matter how many times I try to like the character Andrew Shepherd, I can't like him beyond his name. The guy walks with a stick up his ass everywhere and not even realizes it. Michael Douglas is supposed to be playing a role of a charismatic, charming, and powerful leader. He got the last part just dandy, but the former ones aren't evident. If I were Sydney Allen Wade, would I be attracted to this guy because of his efficent talking and orderly manner? Oh, besides the fact that he's the leader of the free world, of course. He may score on the charisma, because if I were a citizen under his governance, he looked like the right person. But, because this is Sorkin's, I've seen better. Even in American President, A.J. McInerney seems like he'd do a better role replacing Michael Douglas. Martin Sheen is just born to do it. He can do the calm posture as well as the frenzied-angry-president attitude. Anna Deavere Smith, who took on the role of the superlady Nancy McNally (NSA director) in West Wing is Press Secretary Robin McCall here. Another appearance of West Wing's cast is Joshua Malina (David), a regular around season 4 and up. I kinda like Michael J. Fox's role here, as he reminds me of the deputy communications staff Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) yet he shares the traits of Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff). Watching this movie, I can see where Sorkin got his inspirations from. Another similarity shared is the relationship between Chief of Staff (Sheen) and the president (Douglas), which dated back to years ago, where the chief was the one behind the wheel pushing the president to gain his political position. This relationship can also be noticed between Leo McGarry and President Bartlett in the West Wing.

Although it takes me more than one viewing to get Aaron Sorkin's fast-paced dialogues, often times I just don't get it at all, his portrayal of how powerful people work as an idealistic goverment body is simply excellent. When he left West Wing after season 4, the series stopped getting awards and lost viewers. In Hollywood, there's nobody as brilliant as he in the politics arena.

Because I'm highly biased, 4/5.

Nanny McPhee

I don't like kids' movies, unless they are charming, like, say, Babe. They make me scream silently. Nanny McPhee isn't that bad, maybe because I had wanted to watch it since the first time I lay eyes on the trailer (Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, er… Working Title). Movies like this are made for the enjoyment of children; plots don't matter much as long as everybody lives happily ever after in the end. I sat next to a family with two kids, and since this is not an English-speaking country, and I overheard the kids asking questions to their parents, I figure the youngsters might not exactly comprehend what was happening in the big screen. Another kid seated not too far cried in the middle of it. It's that uninteresting, even to kids.

Okay, okay, I'm just peeved. The cast is okay, even to the selection of the almost-becoming evil stepmother, and the blind grandma who mistook a donkey as one of the brats. It has some good dialogues, funny scenes, and yes, it does end happily ever after for the father and his new bride, and Nanny McPhee herself successfully delivered all the 5 aptly-interpreted lessons. I get the idea. I guess fairy tales just aren't my thing.

2.5/5.

Rob Roy

Funny how the name Rob Roy sounded familiar to me, yet I didn't know the origin or anything else in that matter that relates to him. I didn't know he was a hero/outlaw described as Scottish Robin Hood. The closest Scottish heroic figure tha came to mind is William Wallace, a name I hadn't heard of before until I watched Braveheart. So to have found out that this character Rob Roy actually had a film based on his story was definitely an unforeseen encounter.

Rob Roy the movie happened to be released in the same year with Braveheart, thus it may be inevitable to compare these two movies. I'm not going to go on with the details, but I'm going to say that although it's probably a cliché, I favor Braveheart to Rob Roy. It's not because of all the carnage and war realism so gloriously displayed by Mel Gibson, nor is it because of the part-fiction/part-true events that led it to 5 Oscar wins, while the only nomination Rob Roy earned was Best Supporting Actor for Tim Roth. Actually, I'm someone who can't wait to escape any fight scene in movies; I find most of them boring, even the great battles in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Rob Roy's fight may not be as grandeur or ambitious as William Wallace's, but he was a hero all the same, and it still appears as a surprise to me that there was no battle scene in the flick.

Both movies basically start the same path of introducing the heroes-to-be in the beginning, then conflicts arise, followed by confrontations, and finished off with a fight to resolve the conflict. With Rob Roy, my disapproval came early: the talks were too much, and it's for the talks that the movie got the R rating. It was a little bit too savage for me to fully enjoy, and the portrait of true villain Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth) was so vile, I felt he deserved a more gory death than what the calm Rob Roy (Liam Neeson) settled for. There was a scene where Archibald violated Mary (Jessica Lange), Rob's wife, that seemed so brutal it was painful to watch.

Aside from the matters of freedom and honor, the setting for Rob Roy supposedly took place in late 17th/early 18th century, whereas the story of Braveheart was 3 centuries more ancient. The costumes were different yet still traditional, and Rob Roy & Co. already touted handguns, making them look like cowboys in kilts. If I hadn't flipped the video case to read the movie summary on the back, the cover could've tricked me into believing it as a western flick. Not fair to the Highlanders.

3/5.

Kramer vs. Kramer

I've been looking for Kramer vs. Kramer video for a long, long time, I forgot to scrutinize what's in the Comedy shelf. For everything I heard about this divorce and child's custody movie, it never occured to me that I should find it in the comedy area, nor did IMDb's plot keywords suggest me to. But, lo and behold, there it was, accidentally spotted to be sitting next to a copy of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The store attendants apparently need to watch more movies.

A lot of movies of this kind have been told from the point of view of the children, the abused and exploited side of the messy divorce. What interesting about Kramer vs. Kramer is that from the beginning, we are already "forced" to take side with the father, because in half of total running time of this movie, what we see is the struggle of a workaholic father to balance his life between work and raising the child. The effort itself is worth sympathizing with. The mother part is undeveloped. She left to pursue her own intentions, and suddenly, after 18 months, returns to claim their child. However acceptable the reason why she left them, we still want the father to win the custody.

Though the ending took an abrupt turn and was irresponsibly finished, I feel like this movie tried to tell a story about father-child relationship, not really about divorce and custody issues. In that case, the director/screenwriter Robert Benton has successfully crafted an emotional story without all the weepy moments and still managed to involve us emotionally.

4/5.