No matter how many times I’ve seen the film, there’s a moment in Million Dollar Baby that hits me like a jab straight to the gut, far harder than any thrown inside the ring in this film about boxing, life, death, and balancing the consequences of all three. Even ten years later with the movie now available in a new Tenth Anniversary Blu-ray release I find myself reluctant to give away the twist for those who have not yet seen the film.
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Pieced together from found footage of the crew of the Europa One who lost contact with Earth halfway through their 22-month mission to Jupiter’s moon, the pseudo-documentary from director Sebastián Cordero includes a look at the problems which led to the missions success and failures at the fates of the various members of the crew (Daniel Wu, Christian Camargo, Karolina Wydra, Anamaria Marinca, Michael Nyqvist, and Sharlto Copley).
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Recently released on Blu-ray, High Plains Drifter is one of my favorite Clint Eastwood films. Eastwood stars as the nameless Stranger who wanders into the lawless western mining town of Lago. After dispatching three outlaws with relative ease, the town decides to hire the Stranger to deal with three gunfighters (Geoffrey Lewis, Anthony James, Dan Vadis) on their way back to the town which allowed, and then jailed, the outlaws for killing the town’s sheriff.
The Stranger agrees, but decides to take payment for his services in unusual ways, including raping own of the women folk (Marianna Hill) who gets in his way, making the town jester (Billy Curtis) the new sheriff, and ordering the entire town to paint every building in Lago bright red.
Although High Plains Drifter isn’t exactly subtle, the allegory of vengeance works well as the audience, but not the towns folk, will soon guess who the Stranger is and what brought him to Lago.
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Although well-received by critics Ron Howard‘s last film chronicling the rivalry of Formula One drivers Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) leading up to and during the 1976 Formula One season, the film grossed just over $90 million worldwide and has been shut out at most of the major awards this year. That’s a travesty. Aside from being an engrossing dramatic tale split equally between the two leads that found a spot on my Top Movies of 2103, Rush should easily have won Oscar nominations for visual effects, cinematography, and sound.
Brühl is the standout of the piece, but Hemsworth is used better here than any any film so far (including Thor). And Alexandra Maria Lara and Olivia Wilde lead a supporting cast as the women who love them. Two character studies for the price of one, and featuring some of the most amazing racing visuals every put to film, Rush is just as good on Blu-ray as it was in the theater. For more on the film read my original review.
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Aimed more to a kid-friendly all-ages audience than the much more publicized Justice League: War release, and available only at Target (as a tie-in to the store’s JLA toy line), JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time proves to be a hell of a lot of fun. Rather than adapting an existing mini-series or comic arc (which seems all that DC has been interested in lately), Trapped in Time offers an original adventure from screenwriter Michael Ryan and director Giancarlo Volpe that’s a bit of a throwback to the old Super Friends days.
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Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini star as two divorced parents of daughters on their way to college. Their burgeoning relationship is put in jeopardy by Eva’s (Louis-Dreyfus) new friendship with the masseuse’s latest client who turns out to be her new boyfriend’s ex-wife (Catherine Keener).
The set-up of the unusual situation works well. However, rather than deal with the unique situation the three people find themselves, Eva decides to take a page from your average Katherine Heigl or Kate Hudson flick, and try to secretly carry on both relationships.
Despite an intriguing middle-age love story, a pair of likable stars, and a strong first act, the latest from writer/director Nicole Holofcener eventually devolves into predictable romcom cliche. Although I still think the film is worth seeking out for its two stars, and the subplot involving Eva’s relationship with both her daughter (Tracey Fairaway) and her daughter’s best friend (Tavi Gevinson), eventually the shenanigans of the film’s second-half overshadow the intriguing story which is buried under too many groanworthy moments.
[20th Century Fox, DVD $29.98 / Blu-ray $39.99]
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Based on a true story, Fruitvale Station offers a single day slice-of-life look at the life of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) on the day he was killed by a police officer (Kevin Durand) at a subway station on New Year’s Eve. Writer/director Ryan Coogler offers one of most emotional films of 2013 showcasing Oscar’s trouble staying on the straight and narrow, holding down a job, and doing right by his girlfriend (Melonie Diaz), mother (Octavia Spencer), and daughter (Ariana Neal) all while leading up to the final few minutes of his life.
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Prisoners is an infuriating movie that wastes the strong set-up of the raw emotions of families going through the kidnappings of their young daughters in favor of a descent into average thriller territory that continues twists and turns long after you’ve given up caring. Had the film stayed with the themes of emotion and loss and how far one will go for answers when the lives of their children are at stake, rather than force an unnecessary whodunit twist ending involving puzzles, complicated motives, and elaborate reveals, director Denis Villeneuve‘s film would have been much better off.
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The Grandmaster follows the life of Ip Man (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), who the film suggests may have been the greatest Chinese martial artist of his generation. From an early challenge from a Northern Chinese Grandmaster (Qingxiang Wang) through teaching in his own school in Hong Kong decades later to pass on his teaching to the next generation (including a young Bruce Lee), the script by director Kar Wai Wong and fellow screenwriters Jingzhi Zou and Haofeng Xu examines the major events and relationships of Ip Man’s life.
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Released in 1991, Backdraft may be director Ron Howard‘s most underrated film. Starring William Baldwin and Kurt Russell as estranged brothers and firefighters, the script by Gregory Widen (mostly known for his ties to the Highlander and Prophecy franchises) deals with several themes including family dysfunction, a mystery concerning a rash of unexplained arson, and the younger McCaffrey brother’s (Baldwin) quest to prove himself in the line of work that killed his father and consumes his older brother to the point it cost him his marriage.
Despite featuring Howard’s weakest leading man, Backdraft has held up well over two decades and the scenes of characters both fighting fire and discussing it remain its biggest strengths. Russell and Baldwin sell the contentious older/younger brother dynamic and the backstory of Brian’s historic lack of direction also explains his older brother’s attitude towards his new career.
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