The Day of the Jackal

Interesting but largely unsuspenseful thriller about the French government and Police Judiciaire attempting to thwart the assassination of Charles de Gaulle. Directed by Fred Zinnemann based on Frederick Forsythe's book, the film boasts a superb cast including Edward Fox, Michel Londsdale and a young Derek Jacobi.

The film is very well-made and well-acted but just lacks emmotional involvement. Oddly, though the credits say "Music by Georges Delerue", the film has no score. There's a little source music (including an accordion waltz that's clearly in Delerue's style) but no actual dramatic score.

Not a bad film, but one that ought to have been better given the talent involved.

-Gremlins (1984): 7.5/10

-Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990): 8/10

DeagleDeagleDeagle...!

THE HEAT
8/10

There have only been a few comedies this summer, but at least 2 of them have been quite good. THE HEAT definitely coasts on the chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, but their irresistible comic pairing is a gem, with both actresses feeding off each other in a perfectly timed slice of summer fun. The movie itself isn't bad either, director Paul Feig utilizing the Boston location shoot effectively but mostly as a framework for the girls to generate some big laughs -- which they do.

This is guaranteed to be a big hit with older crowds and female viewers -- standing in line behind 2 screenings that got out while I was waiting to go into the 10pm show, there were dozens of people commenting on how much they loved it. A nice switch from the weekly bombast of superhero flicks and CGI effects pieces as well, showing that Fox was on the money in moving this out of its April release slot.

Gangster Squad (2013): 3/10

Wow, forget about being a poor-man's Untouchables...this doesn't even make it to a poor-man's Black Dahlia. At least Dahlia had Brian De Palma's sinuous camerawork, Vilmos Zsigmond's luminous cinematography and Mark Isham's superb score to distract from the lousy performances and plot convolutions...Gangster Squad by comparison plays like Jim Henson's Untouchables Babies, with a gallery of fine actors (Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn) making like they're kids playing dress-up in their parents' clothes after watching too many old-timey crime flicks on Turner Classic Movies. It's rife with clichés, badly-acted (Penn's boisterous delivery of the line, "HERE COMES SANTY CLAWS...!" at the action climax gave me the biggest unintentional laugh in a long while ), ludicrously violent, and tainted with awful, smeary digital photography that's nearly as much of an eyesore as Michael Mann's Public Enemies. Penn smirks and mugs like a reject from Dick Tracey, Brolin is all one-note brooding, and while Stone provides some stray visual distraction in her yummy period duds, she lacks the sultry fire that powered the great film noir temptresses of the 40's (she's just too damn nice, not to mention contemporary). And Steve Jablonsky's BWAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM-laden score is the ash icing on this cement cake. While no music could have saved this movie, at least original choice Carter Burwell would have been able to provide a period-appropriate melodic score. What a tremendous disappointment. Ruben Fleischer should stick to silly, 85-minute comedies, because hardcore drama is apparently not his forte.

Gettysburg (1993) 7.5 of 10

-As we are marking the 150th anniversary of the most important battle of the Civil War, I felt it necessary to revisit this for the first time in a few years. Since the segment on Gettysburg in the Ken Burns documentary is a staple in my history class, and because I see it once every semester (sometimes twice if I have two sections of the same class) this allows the events of the battle to be sharper in my mind and thus has me better prepared for the movie than I was when I remember first seeing it in a theater 20 years ago.

-I commend the overall feel of authenticity and the fact that as it was originally prepared in mind for television that meant we would not be subjected to the graphic levels of gore and violence that we saw in "Glory" a few years earlier. The acting is fine overall I feel except for a badly miscast Martin Sheen as Lee.

-I do however get more than a bit irritated by Randy Edelman's score at times because it seems like we have to have too many moments of soaring inspiring cues building to a crescendo and not once is there a low key cue that could underscore some scenes better. It's as if the score is non-stop, "This is a soaring epic movie" and after four hours even the most ardent fans of that style of music can get tired of it.

-In terms of its fidelity to real history I have two quibbles. First, is the fact that not once is the word "Vicksburg" uttered which was the whole reason why Lee was taking his army north, which was to relieve pressure on an increasingly desperate situation in the western theater, in that a victory would compel Grant to withdraw from the siege of Vicksburg. I would think in a four hour movie we could have at least given a moment to address this and cut out one or more of the introspective reminiscing moments of the old days from various characters.

-I am also surprised to see one of the more notorious figures of Gettysburg absent from this film, Union General Dan Sickels, the crooked Tammany Hall politician who got his commission through his political connections (and who before the war had shot his wife's lover dead and won an acquittal) and whose ineptitude on the battlefield by moving his men out is what left Little Round Top exposed and necessitated Chamberlain's heroic defense of the position. Depicting this would have IMO strengthened the meaning of Chamberlain's accomplishment.

-All in all a good effort, but not a ten star one.

Eric Paddon wrote:-I do however get more than a bit irritated by Randy Edelman's score at times because it seems like we have to have too many moments of soaring inspiring cues building to a crescendo and not once is there a low key cue that could underscore some scenes better. It's as if the score is non-stop, "This is a soaring epic movie" and after four hours even the most ardent fans of that style of music can get tired of it.

That's why I've never liked Edelman...he scores EVERY SCENE like it's the Most Important Thing Ever. No wonder his music was popular trailer music fodder back in the 90's.

That was always Edelman's problem, he had a tendency to overscore. With that said, he could definitely write a THEME -- something that seems to elude 95% of every composer currently scoring films in 2013.

I've always been a fan of Edelman's Ghostbusters II score. I wouldn't say it was as clever as Bernstein's, but it provided all the requisite thrills and was genuinely inspiring at times. And while it couldn't save the film, it made it almost watchable.

That's a good one -- and I certainly liked his scores for KINDERGARTEN COP (which is a lovely score), the BEETHOVEN movies, DRAGON - THE BRUCE LEE STORY (like MJ said, that was trailer fodder for years) and even the end of DRAGONHEART. But as Eric said, in something like GETTYSBURG, where it was a 4-hour production originally meant for TV, the scoring became heavy handed...because there was too much of it. In places though it was extremely effective and the theme was memorable.

Edelman, who I interviewed years ago, was first and foremost a songwriter, which is why his scores always had -- usually -- strong thematic material in them. He was less effective on the dramatic underscoring side, and maybe if he worked with more seasoned orchestrators his work would've gone to another level.

Still liked him though...a lot more than the clowns working today.

Eric, would be interested in what you thought of the reworked, longer GODS AND GENERALS, which was assailed by the PC police.

I only watched Gods And Generals once and have never seen the longer version. I remember being annoyed that Antietam was left out of the story altogether and that the focus was a bit too much on the Confederate side for my taste. I understand that Antietam is in the longer version.

White House Down (2013): 7/10

Aw hell...it's actually good. Cliché-ridden, and the dialogue ranges from adequate to fairly rank (this is the third movie I've heard the groan-worthy "above your pay grade" line in this year alone ), yet as far as shameless Die Hard ripoffs go, this is a damn sight better than the miserable official series entry we got earlier this year (faint praise, I know). Roland Emmerich may be an anonymous hack, but at least he doesn't lower himself to the worst excesses of modern-day action filmmaking (incessant shakey-cam, Teal & Orange cinematography, a leaden lack of humor), and the film is exciting without being overtly violent. Channing Tatum, with his lunkheaded beefcake blandness, is certainly no Bruce Willis, but he makes for a likable enough action-figure hero, and young Joey King is tremendously engaging as his charming daughter. Even the music isn't half-bad...there's no Zimmer chugga-chugga here, and while no one will ever confuse this with Jerry Goldsmith's Air Force One, it works a little harder than most of what passes for "action" music these days. I think I actually heard woodwinds in there. I likely wouldn't have bothered with this had I not had a free ticket, but it's one of the more pleasant surprises in recent memory. Maybe not worth a trip to the theater if you're paying full price, but if you can find a bargain matinee, it's perfectly diverting patriotic summer movie fare.

Goodness, one of the few good reviews I have seen. I will wait for video, but your take is duly noted MJ...even if it IS going to be one of the biggest bombs of the year.

AndyDursin wrote:MJ, it's on the record, you have given a thumbs up to one of the big bombs of '13...lol.

Hey, who gave a good review to John Carter, eh?


























[seriously, I liked it too]

That's true! Though, I don't think this movie is going to do much better.

1776 (1972) 10 of 10 (LASER DISC CUT!)

-And the annual tradition renews itself with the yearly viewing of this favorite of mine and always in its proper cut. I have never experienced a greater level of excitement than when I got the Laser Disc in 1991 hearing that the song "Cool Considerate Men" was back in the film at last, but when I read the jacket liner notes, I suddenly realized that *EVERYTHING* else about this film that I knew had been cut was also going to be put back in. When I heard the complete version of "Piddle, Twiddle And Resolve" after years of experiencing the truncated version, it sent a chill of excitement through me. So often, we dream about finding a lost cut of a film and being disappointed by the results, but this was one case where everything was magnificent on all levels. And it's because of that, that I will never watch Peter H. Hunt's vanity cut on DVD that altered the perfection of this version completely. Hopefully someday the LD cut will be presented as an option for those of us who prefer it but until it is, I will keep watching the LD transfer to DVD.

I even found a few mini-dramas to intersperse around my viewing of this that were appropriate. I had some episodes of the 50s series "You Are There" and before watching "1776" I watched the programs on The Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party and after "1776" I'll be looking at the ones on Washington, the surrender at Yorktown etc.