Review: "Resident Evil: Retribution" is OK

 

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 4 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada/Germany; Language: English
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of strong violence throughout
DIRECTOR: Paul W.S. Anderson
WRITER: Paul W.S. Anderson (based upon the videogame, Resident Evil)
PRODUCERS: Paul W.S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Don Carmody, Samuel Hadida, and Robert Kulzer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Glen MacPherson
EDITOR: Niven Howie
COMPOSER: tomandandy

HORROR/SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Michelle Rodriguez, Aryana Engineer, Bingbing Li, Johann Urb, Kevin Durand, Oded Fehr, Robin Kasyanov, Ofilio Portillo, Colin Salmon, Shawn Roberts and Boris Kodjoe

Resident Evil: Retribution is a 2012 science fiction-action film. It is the fifth installment in the film franchise based upon the Capcom survival horror video game series, Resident Evil. This film is a direct sequel to the fourth movie, Resident Evil: Afterlife.

After the events depicted in Afterlife, Alice (Milla Jovovich) finds herself in the clutches of the Umbrella Corporation and being interrogated by her former ally, Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory). Alice isn’t sure what is real, as she starts encountering old allies like Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr) and Rain Ocampo (Michelle Rodriguez).

Even more surprising, an enemy claims to be a friend and declares that he has already initiated a plan to free Alice from the clutches of Umbrella. Alice is trapped in Umbrella Prime, and a five-man strike team is coming to her rescue. More than just Alice’s life is at stake, however, as she becomes the guardian of a hearing-impaired little girl named Becky (Aryana Engineer). Now, Alice is determined that nothing stops her: not zombie hordes, Las Plagas zombies, monsters, or even lickers.

Over the years, I have read many movie reviews in which the writers described action movies, especially ones they didn’t like, as video game movies. Because it is based on a video game, Resident Evil: Retribution is a video game movie, but that’s not the only reason it is. With its fire-fights, hand-to-hand combat, car chases, shootouts, monsters, science fiction elements, and explosions, Resident Evil: Retribution is a video game doing a decent impersonation of an actual movie.

Retribution isn’t a bad movie, but the acting is poor. The script is confusing. The plot barely has a pulse. This movie is about something, but not much other than action scenes. So what is the plot? Alice has to escape? There is some human interest by throwing in a child that the female action hero must save, similar to the surrogate mother-daughter dynamic in James Cameron’s Aliens (1986).

Still, the action scenes are good, especially after the movie crawls out of the hole that is the first twenty minutes or so runtime. The special effects and fight choreography save a mediocre story. Visually, Resident Evil: Retribution is pretty, but it feels like an empty installment in what has been a good franchise.

5 of 10
C+

Sunday, January 06, 2013

2013 "Scripter Award" Nominations Announced

USC Libraries Name Finalists for 25th-Annual Scripter Award

Tie results in six sets of writers and screenwriters earning nominations

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The USC Libraries have named the authors and screenwriters of Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Perks of Being a Wallflower and Silver Linings Playbook as finalists for the 25th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. A tie resulted in six sets of finalists for the 2013 honor, rather than the typical five.

The finalists are, in alphabetical order by film title:

•Joshuah Bearman, author of the article “The Great Escape,” Antonio J. Mendez, author of The Master of Disguise, and screenwriter Chris Terrio, for Argo

•For Beasts of the Southern Wild, dramatist Lucy Alibar, who wrote the play Juicy and Delicious, and screenwriter Benh Zeitlin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Alibar

•Novelist Yann Martel and screenwriter David Magee for Life of Pi

•Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and screenwriter Tony Kushner for Lincoln

•Stephen Chbosky, author of the novel Perks of Being a Wallflower, as well as the screenplay based upon the book

•For Silver Linings Playbook, author Matthew Quick and screenwriter David O. Russell

The Scripter Award honors the screenwriter or screenwriters of the year’s most accomplished cinematic adaptation as well as the author of the written work upon which the screenplay is based. The Friends of the USC Libraries established Scripter in 1988, presenting the inaugural awards to author Helene Hanff and screenwriter Hugh Whitemore for 84 Charing Cross Road. This year marks the award’s 25th anniversary.

Other previous Scripter winners include the screenwriters and authors of The Descendants, The Social Network, Schindler’s List and L.A. Confidential.

Co-chaired by Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner and USC professor and vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West, Howard Rodman, the 2013 Scripter selection committee selected the six finalists from a field of 82 eligible adaptations.

Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin and Kenneth Turan; authors Michael Chabon, Kaui Hart Hemmings and Jonathan Lethem; screenwriters Geoffrey Fletcher, Gale Ann Hurd and Lawrence Kasdan; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts, Madeline Puzo of the School of Dramatic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

The studios distributing the finalist films and the publishers of the original stories are:

•Argo—Warner Bros., Wired for Bearman’s article, and Penguin for Mendez’s book

•Beasts of the Southern Wild—Fox Searchlight and Diversion Books, publisher of the play Juicy and Delicious, upon which Beasts of the Southern Wild is based

•Life of Pi—20th Century Fox and Mariner Books

•Lincoln—DreamWorks and Mariner Books

•Perks of Being a Wallflower—Summit Entertainment and MTV Books

•Silver Linings Playbook—Weinstein Company and Sara Crichton Books

The USC Libraries will announce the winning authors and screenwriters at a black-tie ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library on the University Park campus of the University of Southern California. Academy Award winners Helen Mirren and Taylor Hackford are serving as honorary dinner chairs.

Brokeback Mountain screenwriters Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana will attend the ceremony to receive the previously announced Literary Achievement Award.

Current silent auction donors and other sponsors include Bennett Farms, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Hawaii Five-0 and Eye Productions, Hungry Cat Santa Monica, L.A. Saddlery, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Namale Resort & Spa in Fiji, Paperblanks, PGA Tour, Picca Peruvian Cantina, the NFL, Pizzeria Mozza, Pleasant Holidays, the Sundance Institute, Terranea Resort, Tony Robbins, Montage Beverly Hills, the Wine of the Month Club, the USC Roski School of Fine Arts, the USC Thornton School of Music and the Friends of the USC Libraries board of directors.

For more information about Scripter—including ticket availability, additional sponsorship opportunities, and an up-to-date list of sponsors—please email scripter@usc.edu or visit scripter.usc.edu.

2012 Women Film Critics Circle Awards - Complete List

The Women Film Critics Circle Awards went to many different films in 2012, although Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty received three awards.  The Women Film Critics Circle is an association of women film critics, who are involved in print, radio, online and TV broadcast media. Founded in 2004, this group is the first women critics’ organization in the United States.

2012 Women Film Critics Circle Awards:

BEST MOVIE ABOUT WOMEN
A Royal Affair

BEST MOVIE BY A WOMAN
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST WOMAN STORYTELLER (Screenwriting Award)
Two Days In NY (Julie Delpy)

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

BEST YOUNG ACTRESS
Quvenzhanee Wallis, Beast Of The Southern Wild

BEST COMEDIC ACTRESS
Maggie Smith, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

BEST FOREIGN FILM BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
Where Do We Go Now (from Lebanon with Egypt, France, and Italy)

BEST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
Zero Dark Thirty

WORST FEMALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE-TIE
Killer Joe
Think Like A Man

BEST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
Lincoln

WORST MALE IMAGES IN A MOVIE
Killer Joe

BEST THEATRICALLY UNRELEASED MOVIE BY OR ABOUT WOMEN
Hemingway And Gellhorn

BEST EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST ANIMATED FEMALES
Brave

BEST FAMILY FILM-TIE
Life Of Pi
Rise Of The Guardians

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Barbra Streisand

ACTING AND ACTIVISM.AWARD
Sally Field – Field is a dedicated advocate for women's rights. She has served on the Board of Directors of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international women's NGO, and has co-hosted the Global Leadership Awards. Field suffers from osteoporosis and has become a vocal advocate for women's health issues, encouraging early diagnosis of such conditions through technology, such as bone density scans.

*ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD: For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women -TIE
Compliance
The Invisible War

*JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD: For best expressing the woman of color experience in America
Middle Of Nowhere

*KAREN MORLEY AWARD: For best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity
A Royal Affair (from Denmark)

COURAGE IN ACTING: Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on screen
Helen Hunt, The Sessions

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN AWARD: Performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock

BEST DOCUMENTARY BY OR ABOUT A WOMAN
Queen Of Versailles

WOMEN’S WORK: BEST ENSEMBLE
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

BEST SCREEN COUPLE
Moonrise Kingdom: Bill Murray and Frances McDormand

*WFCC HALL OF SHAME*

Bachelorette with Kirsten Dunst, had all sorts of ditzy former high school classmates getting together for the wedding of a girl they used to make fun of. Just stupid on so many levels: male strippers, drinking, general girly silliness.

Ici-Bas (Down Below). Rape romance: A raped nun (Celine Sallette) falls in love with her rapist. The male fantasy horror of 'rape romance' on screen. A WFCC Hall Of Shame pick in tribute to the unnamed Indian student and rape murder victim, in the kind of traditional culture where women and girls are pressured to marry their rapists.

Skyfall: 'Bond Girl' is only on screen long enough to sell trailers and products like OPI's 'Skyfall Collection' of nail polishes, and gets bumped off at the end of Act II; M turns into a cowering incompetent and gets bumped off at the end of Act III; and the female sharp-shooter in Act I loses her nerve and leaves 'Field Operations' to become an office assistant in Act III. I loved the Sean Connery/James Bond films as a kid. Women got to be part of the action; the Bond Girl was always there to celebrate success at the end. But as a 50th anniversary tribute to the Bond series made in 2012, Skyfall truly broke my heart!

MOMMIE DEAREST WORST SCREEN MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD
Helena Bonham Carter, Les Miserables

BEST LINE IN A MOVIE 2012
"...You can't kill the animals in a movie, only the women." - Christopher Walken/Seven Psychopaths

JUST KIDDING AWARD:
Best Male Images In A Movie: Magic Mike

*Please Note: The WFCC Top Ten Hall Of Shame represents the ‘don’t tell me to shut up’ sidebar contribution of individual members, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the entire Circle. Also, members may be objecting to particular characters in a film, and not the entire movie. Clarification: If an aspect of the movie is intentionally negative to make a point, rather than offensive, that is not under consideration for this category.

*ADRIENNE SHELLY AWARD: Adrienne Shelly was a promising actress and filmmaker who was brutally strangled in her apartment in 2006 at the age of forty by a construction worker in the building, after she complained about noise. Her killer tried to cover up his crime by hanging her from a shower20rack in her bathroom, to make it look like a suicide. He later confessed that he was having a “bad day.” Shelly, who left behind a baby daughter, had just completed her film Waitress, which she also starred in, and which was honored at Sundance after her death.

*JOSEPHINE BAKER AWARD: The daughter of a laundress and a musician, Baker overcame being born black, female and poor, and marriage at age fifteen, to become an internationally acclaimed legendary performer, starring in the films Princess Tam Tam, Moulin Rouge and Zou Zou. She also survived the race riots in East St. Louis, Illinois as a child, and later expatriated to France to escape US racism. After participating heroically in the underground French Resistance during WWII, Baker returned to the US where she was a crusader for racial equality. Her activism led to attacks against her by reporter Walter Winchell who denounced her as a communist, leading her to wage a battle against him. Baker was instrumental in ending segregation in many theaters and clubs, where she refused to perform unless integration was implemented.

*KAREN MORLEY AWARD: Karen Morley was a promising Hollywood star in the 1930s, in such films as Mata Hari and Our Daily Bread. She was driven out of Hollywood for her leftist political convictions by the Blacklist and for refusing to testify against other actors, while Robert Taylor and Sterling Hayden were informants against her. And also for daring to have a child and become a mother, unacceptable for female stars in those days. Morley maintained her militant political activism for the rest of her life, running for Lieutenant Governor on the American Labor Party ticket in 1954. She passed away in 2003, unrepentant to the end, at the age of 93.

2013 Directors Guild Award Nominations

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is the entertainment labor union that represents film and television directors. The DGA gives out the Directors Guild of America Award each year to honor outstanding achievement.

The winner of the DGA Award for “Feature Film” usually wins the best director Oscar. As of last year, only six DGA winners in the “Feature Film” category have not also won the best director Oscar. The last time this happened was for the year 2002. Rob Marshall was the DGA choice for Chicago. The Oscar went to Roman Polanski for The Pianist.

The winners of the 65th Annual DGA Awards will be announced at the 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, February 2, 2013 in Los Angeles.

65th Annual DGA Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film nominees (for 2012):

BEN AFFLECK for Argo
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Affleck’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Amy Herman
First Assistant Director: David Webb
Second Assistant Director: Ian Calip
Second Second Assistant Directors: Clark Credle, Gavin Kleintop
First Assistant Director (Turkey Unit): Belkis Turan

This is Mr. Affleck’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

KATHRYN BIGELOW for Zero Dark Thirty
(Columbia Pictures)

Ms. Bigelow’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Colin Wilson
First Assistant Director: David A. Ticotin
Second Assistant Directors: Ben Lanning, Sarah Hood
First Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Scott Robertson
Second Assistant Directors (Jordan Unit): Jonas Spaccarotelli, Yanal Kassay
Second Second Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Tarek Afifi
Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Rajeev Mehra

This is Ms. Bigelow’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Hurt Locker in 2009.

TOM HOOPER for Les Misérables
(Universal Pictures)

Mr. Hooper's Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Patrick Schweitzer
First Assistant Director: Ben Howarth
Second Assistant Director: Harriet Worth
Second Second Assistant Director: Dan Channing Williams

This is Mr. Hooper's second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The King's Speech (2010) and was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Mini-Series for John Adams in 2008.

ANG LEE for Life of Pi
(Twentieth Century Fox)

Mr. Lee’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Michael J. Malone
Unit Production Manager (Taiwan): Leo Chen
First Assistant Directors: William M. Connor, Cliff Lanning
Second Assistant Directors: Robert Burgess, Ben Lanning
Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Sanjay Kumar
First Assistant Director (India Unit): Nitya Mehra
Second Assistant Director (India Unit): Ananya Rane
Second Second Assistant Directors (India Unit): Namra Parikh, Freya Parekh
Second Assistant Directors (Montreal Unit): Derek Wimble, Renato De Cotiis

This is Mr. Lee’s fourth DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and was nominated for Sense and Sensibility in 1995.

STEVEN SPIELBERG for Lincoln
(Dreamworks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)

Mr. Spielberg’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Susan McNamara
First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
Second Assistant Director: Ian Stone
Second Second Assistant Directors: Eric Lasko, Trevor Tavares

This is Mr. Spielberg’s eleventh DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film three times for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler’s List (1993) and The Color Purple (1985). He was also nominated in this category for Munich (2005), Amistad (1997), Empire of the Sun (1987), E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jaws (1975). Mr. Spielberg was honored with the DGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

Review: Still Taken with Original "Taken"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux


Taken (2008)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language
DIRECTOR: Pierre Morel
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
PRODUCER: Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michel Abramowicz (director of photography)
EDITOR: Frédéric Thoraval
COMPOSER: Nathaniel Méchaly

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Holly Valance, Olivier Rabourdin, Gerard Watkins, Arben Bajraktaraj, Nicolas Giraud, and Katie Cassidy

The subject of this movie review is Taken, a 2008 French thriller produced by Luc Besson and starring Liam Neeson. The film was released in January of 2009 in the United States. Taken follows a retired CIA agent through Paris as he tries to find his kidnapped daughter.

Former CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to be closer to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), whom he calls “Kimmie.” The 17-year-old lives with her mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), and her wealthy stepfather, Stuart (Xander Berkeley). Bryan has a rocky relationship with Lenore, who pressures him not to be overprotective of Kim. That’s why Bryan reluctantly signs a permission slip that allows Kim to travel to Paris, France with her older friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy).

Not long after the girls arrive in Paris, they are kidnapped by a group of men. Bryan races to Paris to find Kim, but her kidnappers are ruthless, murderous men who hide in Paris’ shadowy criminal underworld. Now, he must rely on old skills as he races through Paris’ darker districts to save his daughter before she disappears forever. Heaven help anyone who gets in his way.

I had put off seeing Taken for about four years, and, now that I’ve seen it, I can say that it easily surpassed my expectations. Taken is a terrific thriller. It is a feisty little revenge flick that plays like a big-time, big studio thriller. I think that there are a few holes in the plot and even some things that the characters do in the movie that poke credulity. It is not enough to stop me from enjoying the movie.

Perhaps, this film was not meant to be a Liam Neeson vehicle, but it became one because of Neeson’s fierce performance. He is genuine as a daddy both desperate to make up for lost time with his daughter and resolved to let no one and no thing get in the way of him finding his stolen child. Neeson does the best killer-robot-like-action dude. When other actors take on that kind of character, they can sometimes seem too cold and/or too stiff: either inadvertently (Wesley Snipes in Blade: Trinity) or because of limited acting range (Chuck Norris – pick a movie).

I must also say that, once again, the Luc Besson slick-shiny-cool action movie generator has produced another pop movie hit. Director Pierre Morel plows through this script’s inanities like a chef determined to make the best meal that he can out of Big Mac ingredients. His resulting dish, Taken, is actually quite tasty.

8 of 10
A

Monday, January 14, 2013

2013 Golden Globe Award Winners - Complete List

The Golden Globe "Best Picture" awards for the year 2012 went to Argo (drama) and Les Misérables (musical or comedy).  In the television categories, the winners are “Homeland” (drama),"Girls" (musical or comedy), and Game Change (mini-series or made-for-TV movie)..

The Golden Globe Award is a movie accolade bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The award recognizes excellence in both film and television. The annual awards ceremony is a major part of the film industry’s award season.

The 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards winners were announced on Sunday, January 13, 2013, broadcast at 8pm ET/5pm PT on NBC.

The 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards winners (for the film and television year of 2012):

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Argo

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Les Misérables

Best Director - Motion Picture
Ben Affleck for Argo

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Hugh Jackman for Les Misérables

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Django Unchained: Quentin Tarantino

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Skyfall: Adele, Paul Epworth ("Skyfall")

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
Life of Pi: Mychael Danna

Best Animated Film
Brave

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour (from Austria)

Best Television Series - Drama
"Homeland"

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
"Girls"

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Game Change

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
Damian Lewis for "Homeland"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
Claire Danes for "Homeland"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Don Cheadle for "House of Lies"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
Lena Dunham for "Girls"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Kevin Costner for "Hatfields & McCoys"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Julianne Moore for Game Change

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Ed Harris for Game Change

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Maggie Smith for "Downton Abbey"

“Cecil B. DeMille Award” (for career achievement)
Jodie Foster

Review: "The Good German" Recalls a Certain Kind of 1940s (Happy B'day, Steven Soderbergh)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 86 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Good German (2006) – B&W
Running time: 120 minutes (2 hours)
MPAA – R for language, violence, and some sexual content
DIRECTOR: Steven Soderbergh
WRITER: Paul Attanasio (based upon the novel by Joseph Kanon)
PRODUCERS: Ben Cosgrove, Gregory Jacobs, and Steven Soderbergh
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Andrews (Soderbergh)
EDITOR: Mary Ann Bernard (Soderbergh)
2007 Academy Awards nominee

DRAMA/MYSTERY with elements of a thriller

Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, Beau Bridges, Leland Orser, Robin Weigert, Tony Curran, Ravil Isyanov, Dave Power, and Christian Oliver

For The Good German, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh shot this film the old Hollywood way. For instance, he used the fixed-focal length lenses available to cinematographers in the 1940’s instead of the modern sophisticated zoom lenses. He also directed the actors to perform in the presentational, stage style (which was the acting style used in most Hollywood films before method acting). And it’s in black and white.

In The Good German, U.S. war correspondent Capt. Jacob “Jake” Geismar (George Clooney) gets caught in a web of intrigue involving his former girlfriend, Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett) in post-World War II Berlin. Before the war, Jake managed a news bureau in Berlin, and Lena worked for him. Jake is in the city to cover the upcoming Potsdam Peace Conference where the Allied leaders will determine the fate of the defeated Germans and the newly liberated Europe and split whatever is of any value between the U.S. Russia, and Great Britain. That means people as well as nations.

After Lena’s boyfriend, Patrick Tully (Tobey Maguire), is found dead, Jake learns that Tully, a motor pool driver, was planning on selling information on the whereabouts of Lena’s supposedly deceased husband, Emil Brandt (Christian Oliver), an SS officer who worked in the Nazi’s V2 rocket program. As both the U.S. and Russian militaries hunt for Emil, Jake, still in love with Lena, tries to help her get the papers necessary to get both her and Emil out of Berlin. Tensions arise between Jake and Lena when he learns that she’s been keeping lots of dark secrets of her own.

The acting is pitch perfect for this film. Cate Blanchett, who made 2006 a career year with this film, as well as Babel and Notes on a Scandal, does period pieces so well. She can make a character seem as if she certainly fits in that time period. Clooney keeps his charm and usual film persona intact, but gives a nice turn that has the flavor of a Humphrey Bogart character.

Paul Attanasio’s screenplay (based upon Joseph Kanon’s novel) has the specter of the Holocaust hanging over the story, but Attanasio acknowledges the Cold War looming over the horizon. While Soderbergh visually references Casablanca (1942) for this movie, Attanasio’s script both in mood and plot are similar to Roman Polanski’s 1974 film Chinatown, which was screenwriter Robert Towne’s recreation of 1930’s detective films.

Soderbergh successfully reproduces the kind of story Hollywood told in the 1940’s, and he does it using the technical production methods of that time. The Good German, however, is more than just a smooth slab of meta fiction. It’s a period romance and political thriller like Casablanca. It reminds movie viewers that fine cinema comes first from a great storyteller who makes great storytelling. Sometimes, a director has to make do with what he has – even if it’s not the cutting edge of movie science and technology.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score” (Thomas Newman)

Tuesday, June 05, 2007