Friday, October 3, 1997
Screenscene
"L.A. Confidential"
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Starring Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce and Russel Crowe
By now it’s not much of a secret – "L.A. Confidential" is a
sleek and intelligent film in classic noir tradition: classic in
its portrayal of the City of Angels as anything but angelic, and
intelligent in its psychological examination of the three
protagonists.
Ed Exley (Guy Pearce) is a squeaky-clean rookie cop who wants to
measure up to his famous father’s legacy. We see the emotional
baggage weigh heavily on his square shoulders throughout the movie.
At the beginning, the means to this end seem to entail donning his
Clark Kent spectacles and conducting things by the book. The goal
stays the same, but his perspective changes as he becomes
integrated into the complex hierarchy of the 1950s L.A.P.D. and the
crime ring to which it seems inexplicably tied.
True to noir, no one’s really the good guy, making it that much
more difficult to determine who the worst bad guys are. Officer Bud
White (Russel Crowe), for example, roughhouses criminals but fights
for battered women. And Kevin Spacey is both likeable and laughable
as Officer Jack Vincennes, a cop who spends more time schmoozing
with the Hollywood crowd than booking perps.
Throughout, it’s clear that this is a based-on-the-book flick.
Though it’s difficult to capture author James Ellroy’s drawn-out
epic in a mere two hours, the film is loyal to character
motivation. "L.A. Confidential" is fast-paced without using action
sequences as a crutch, thought provoking without being confusing.
And one of the film’s most refreshing elements is its flair for the
unpredictable. Top billing doesn’t ensure that an actor’s character
will live ’till the closing credits.
If the movie has a fault, it is the stereotypical depiction of
L.A. as a city of mysterious glamour and moral rot. But at least
this blends nicely with director Curtis Hanson’s smoky stylishness.
A typical "L.A. Confidential" scene: two officers crouch in a house
under siege, sunlight streaming through the bullet holes in the
wall and illuminating the dust. The music, fashion and tone of the
film seem more ’40s than ’50s, but no matter – we’re just lucky to
have "L.A. Confidential" here for the ’90s.
Cheryl Klein
Grade: A
"U-Turn"
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez and Nick Nolte
Having car trouble in the middle of the Southwest is a
traveler’s worst nightmare. Especially when the only source of help
comes from a shady town full of uneducated, unscrupulous hicks.
Oliver Stone’s latest film, "U-Turn" greatly exaggerates this fear
of isolation, surprisingly without conspiracy theories, political
figures or any mention of Vietnam.
Following the trend of other big-time directors who are
retreating to indie films to "rediscover their creativity," Stone
weaves a tale of sex, murder, betrayal and desperation through his
colorful cast of characters.
Sean Penn stars as Bobby Cooper, a happy little gambler who’s on
his way to Las Vegas to pay off a debt. But, damn that busted
radiator hose! Unluckily for him, he is stranded in Superior,
Arizona, a deserted mining town that might as well be named the
Black Hole of America.
He gets to know the local townsfolk who include a freakish auto
mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton), a philosophical blind man (Jon
Voight), a horny teenage idiot (Claire Danes) and her equally
stupid, jealous boyfriend (Joaquin Phoenix). But all these lovely
psychos are nothing compared to Jake and Grace McKenna (Nick Nolte
and Jennifer Lopez), a twisted couple who each ask Bobby to get rid
of the other.
Bobby’s adventures in Superior are every citydweller’s fear
realized and confirm the belief that one should stay away from
those Southwestern towns.
Stone has a previously unseen talent for black comedy and Penn
is excellently deadpan as the drifter wandering into a town that he
can’t get out of. Lopez and Nolte are perversely convincing as the
horribly mismatched couple whose love/hate relationship really
means they love to hate each other.
The highlights of the film are not in the main murder plot, but
in the hilarious subplots that Penn shares with the supporting
characters; his foreboding conversations with the mystical Voight,
his unwitting and unwilling involvement in a love triangle with
Danes and Phoenix and his frustrated dealings with Thornton, who
refuses to give up Bobby’s prized possession and only way out of
Superior: his car.
These over-the-top lunatics provide a welcome break in the
otherwise dreary and depressing murder-for-money storyline. You may
chuckle with morbid delight at Bobby’s pathetic predicament, but
the next time your car breaks down in the Southwest, better make
that U-turn.
Aimee Phan
Grade: B+
"The Matchmaker"
Directed by Mark Joffe
Starring Janeane Garofalo, David O’Hara, Milo O’Shea and Denis
Leary
Talk about the luck of the Irish. They have a 90-percent success
rate with matchmaker Dermot (Milo O’Shea) and we Americans end up
with "Blind Date Horror Stories" on Geraldo.
In "The Matchmaker," the annual Irish mating season becomes a
premise for (what else?) a romantic comedy. Self-dubbed "a romantic
comedy for people who hate romantic comedies," the film is a sweet
but still formulaic love story that squeezes mushiness out of every
last rock in Ireland.
Janeane Garofalo ("The Truth About Cats and Dogs") stars as
Marcy Tizard, a dedicated aide to Boston senator John McGlory (Jay
O. Sanders). With McGlory’s re-election on the line, Marcy is
packed off to the boonies of Ireland to search for and exploit the
senator’s roots. Amid a matchmaking festival and a cadre of single
desperate men, Marcy runs into cynical ex-journalist Sean (David
O’Hara), who excites and confuses her at the same time.
The film falls into one of several templates for romantic
comedies: boy meets girl, uninterested girl resists boy, boy scores
with girl before losing her and then the inevitable cheesy
reunion.
It seems as if a writer or studio executive dusted off an old
screenplay and wrote in "Ireland" for the setting. With the
handicap of convention, the film still can’t resist throwing in the
usual got-to-catch-the-plane-before-she-leaves scene.
The thing that makes this film so flat is that the couple’s
relationship is never in serious jeopardy. A truly satisfying love
story makes the moviegoer scream out loud, "Oh my God, they aren’t
going to get back together!"
With this film, that’s not the case. It’s too easy to assume an
apathetic attitude because the ending is way too obvious.
While searching for the senator’s roots, Marcy might as well
look for some interesting characters. Many are annoyingly
one-dimensional: a dim-witted politician, an unethical campaign
manager and every poor lonely schmuck imaginable. At least Marcy
has spunk and her indifference to courting adds a bit of realism to
an everyday adage: one finds love when one is not looking for
it.
The film’s quaint and charming notions of love appeal to both
romantics and unromantics alike. "The Matchmaker" has a big heart.
But with a formulaic plot, mild dramatic tension and a predictable
ending, this heart beats with the blood of many other romantic
predecessors.
William Li
Grade: B-
"The Love Master"
Directed by Michael Goldberg
Starring Craig Shoemaker, George Wendt, Courtney Thorne-Smith
and Farrah Fawcett
Funny, talented, cute — what more could a woman want in a man?
No, really, what more does a woman want? Enter, the Love
Master.
A character created by a lonely young comedian to capture the
hearts of women, the Love Master is sexy, seductive and stunningly
erotic. He quickly gains recognition by chanting such phrases as
"Walk nasty for the Love Master, baby," and "That’s a call on the
bone phone, baby" in a deep, gruff voice.
Winner of 1996’s Best of the Independent Film Festival, "The
Love Master," starring and about comedian Craig Shoemaker,
definitely promises to make both women and men alike laugh.
Shoemaker, winner of the Best Stand-up Comedian at the 1997
American Comedy Awards, portrays his own life as a stand-up
comedian. Flashing back and forth from his hilarious stand-up act
to his days growing up in a four-woman household, Shoemaker
personally reveals the effects of living alongside his
belly-dancing mother, pot-smoking grandmother and two sisters, who
gave him hand-me-down halter tops. Basically, the Love Master
evolves because of Shoemaker’s overabundance of "unique" female
influences.
As soon as the first scene, Shoemaker demonstrates his colorful
multi-layered personality, breaking out into a wide array of
characters. The childhood flashbacks become little treats for the
viewer when television stars make cameos as various people in
Shoemaker’s life.
As the scene cuts to the Improv, a comedy club in Arizona where
most of the movie is filmed, Shoemaker, utilizing all his singing
and voice-over talents (especially in an imitation of "Three’s
Company’s" Don Knotts), quickly brings the house down, rolling and
howling in laughter from his outrageous tales.
Although the audience watching this movie may prefer going to a
live comedy club instead, this movie actually creates almost the
exact same feel as a real-live club. This results from Shoemaker’s
natural talent of making the audience (both in and out of the
screen) laugh.
Some may also complain about the stark Shoemaker’s honesty and
vulgarity, but what he jokes about is the simple truth. So if
you’re in for a entertaining night full of laughing and crying
(from the laughing), this movie should definitely come first on the
list of things to do this weekend.
Sandra Kim
Grade: A-