Home Theater Round Up: Reviews in Brief

Here are some of the movies I've watched at home this month along with short reviews for each film.

Recount- I already reviewed this dreadful HBO film sometime last week. My final thoughts on the film from that review: "overwrought and ingratiating at the same time". (Viewed through Time Warner On Demand)

The Black Dahlia- Brian De Palma's film adaptation of James Ellroy's book had the potential to be a great crime movie. I read Ellroy's book last week after learning that my great grandmother had walked along the same block that the Black Dahlia's mutilated body was found all those decades ago in Los Angeles. After finishing Ellroy's book, I envisioned De Palma's adaptation to be a thematic combination of David Fincher's obsession-driven "Zodiac" and Curtis Hanson's corruption-soaked "L.A. Confidential". Sadly, De Palma's film is nowhere near as good as either of those films, and the final product is quite the let down especially when taking into account how vivid and compelling Ellroy's book is. There is a major problem of casting with the film: Josh Hartnett is too young and too polite for the role of boxer turned idealistic cop Bucky Bleichart, Scarlett Johanssen is also too young for her role as the abused innocent Kay Lake and in some ways too simple-minded, and finally Hilary Swank plays a sexy femme fatale and I don't know anyone who has ever considered Swank to be even mildly sexy. Aaron Eckhart however is very good in his role as a raging cop, but he's barely in the movie and his character's fate in the movie could not be further from what happens to him in the book. Ellroy's work is a near great book, and De Palma's movie is only a near good film. (Viewed on Instant Netflix Streaming)

Patriot Games- This is the second film in the series of adaptations based on Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan books. The first film was "The Hunt For Red October" with Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan, and the second and third films were "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger" both featuring Harrison Ford as the Ryan character (the fourth Jack Ryan film was "The Sum of All Fears" with Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan, but that movie is barely worth mentioning). "Patriot Games" came out in 1992 I believe, and yet the film's fear and anger towards terrorists holds a more tragic feeling after 9/11. This action film has quite the cast including Anne Archer, James Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, the late Richard Harris, and a very young Sean Bean as the main I.R.A. villain. As usual, Ford commands the screen in a way that few Hollywood stars can perhaps because with his charm, intelligence, and everyman qualities Ford is far from the typical action hero. When Jack Ryan speaks of a pure rage inside him that compels him to protect others even if he may lose his life doing so, we believe him and we also believe in Ford's vast range of skill as an actor. (Viewed through Time Warner On Demand)

Separate Lies- This is the type of film I see on the Independent Film Channel regularly: a dark, predictable, realistic drama with little or nothing to say. "Separate Lies" features Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson as a wealthy couple with a weak marriage. As with most films involving adultery the husband here is meant to be cold and withdrawn and the wife is shown as sensitive and needy and longing for another man. What's ironic and pathetic though is that the viewer is nudged by the script to be understanding towards the wife for feeling under appreciated by the husband even though Wilkinson's character is far from a bad guy. He's hardworking, intelligent, considerate, and far from verbally or physically abusive. The character of the husband seems a little aloof, but other than that he is much easier to sympathize with him than Watson's character. In fact, the wife ends up cheating on the decent husband with a lazy, pompous brute far worse than Wilkinson's character (the lover is played by Rupert Everett). As with most adultery dramas these days, manslaughter and the police are thrown in for suspense in yet another run of the mill picture. (IFC)

Dead Again- Quite possibly the best thing I've seen from Kenneth Branagh, or at least the most fun to watch. Branagh stars as Mike Church, a friendly private detective working in Los Angeles. When a mute amnesiac played by Emma Thompson suddenly shows up a local church, Mike is hired to find out who the woman is and where she came from. Thompson's character has violent nightmares that often include a man who looks eerily similar to Mike. Both spooked by and attracted to this mysterious woman, Mike turns to his photographer friend (played by Wayne Knight) and a well-meaning but possibly unscrupulous psychic (played by Derek Jacobi) for help. Apparently, the characters played by Branagh and Thompson were lovers in another life and fate has brought them together again. Why they've been brought together is one of the big mysteries in a film that is full of twists and turns, most of which are completely unexpected. What might be most impressive about "Dead Again" is how many genres Branagh fits into one film: it's a supernatural-romance-drama-thriller-private eye movie. (Rented on DVD through Max Bloom's Cafe Noir, Fullerton, CA)