Clooney Is The New Redford & 5 Pivotal Sydney Pollack Parts

It's official - George Clooney is to this decade (sorry - I hate calling it the Aughts or Aughties) what Robert Redford was to the 70's. He's the gruff but good looking beacon that guides us through the dark corridors of misappropriated power and serves as the conscience of poli-sci centered cinema. In a run of ambitious films (excluding the OCEAN'S series, that is) like SYRIANA, THE GOOD GERMAN, and GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, Clooney is coming close to matching Redford's run in the Nixon-Ford-Carter era - a run that included such classics as THE CANDIDATE, THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, and BRUBAKER.



MICHAEL CLAYTON cements the case that Clooney has definitively assumed Redford's role as symbol of liberal unrest and righteous though mostly impotent outrage against the machine. So here's the Film Babble review :



MICHAEL CLAYTON (Dir. Tony Gilroy, 2007)



As the title character Clooney brings a doomed demeanor to a once prominent NY lawyer who now acts as a "fixer" that is a hatchet or bag man to do his large firm's dirty work. Called a "miracle man" by some but self described as a "janitor", Clayton can't quite clean up the mess made by a fellow tormented litigator - Arthur Edens played to intense perfection by Tom Wilkinson. Edens threatens to sabotage his firm's handling of a multimillion dollar lawsuit against a agrichemical company. Clayton struggles to protect Edens and grapples with overwhelming ethical dilemmas while juggling his own personal set-backs - financial insecurity brought on by divorce and a former gambling problem recently replaced by a risky restaurant venture.



Some of the narrative turns can be seen coming at a fair distance and there are some drawbacks with a few undeveloped characters - specifically Chief Counsel for the bad guys Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton) and also the unnecessary druggie brother heavily implies there was some cut material. Sydney Pollack (one of the film's producers) as Clooney's boss does add some clout though it's a character he's played slight variations on before (see below). Tony Gilroy's direction, decorated by hushed grey tones and a overcast aura, is impressive for a first time director (Gilroy scripted the BOURNE series). There's a lot to admire in this anti-slick suspense flick. So as long as Clooney doesn't pull a ELECTRIC HORSEMAN on us - we're heading in a good direction.



After seeing MICHAEL CLAYTON I realized something - I like Sydney Pollack as an actor more than I do as a director. Sure, he mostly plays incidental side parts - giving a folksy gravitas to the proceedings in a the Yoda you may worry 'bout trusting sorta way. Also he re-inforces this blogpost's conceit because of his collaborations with Robert Redford, so continuing my blog's HIGH FIDELITY obsession with lists here goes :



5 Pivotal Sydney Pollack Parts :



1. TOOTSIE (Dir. Sydney Pollack, 1982) It's hard to imagine what TOOTSIE would've been had Hal Ashby (who was originally signed on but after what Wikipedia calls "two years of laborious negotiations" - was axed from the project) directed it. I mean there would have been no hilarious arguments between Pollack and Dustin Hoffman both on and off screen! Pollack signed on to direct but resisted Hoffman's idea that he play the blunt agent character in the film. He finally gave in and it's a great thing too because his part really makes the movie. Priceless moment - Hoffman in drag runs in to an oblivious Pollack, who had told Hoffman's Michael Dorsey character that "no one will hire you" earlier, at the Russian Tea Room. After fooling Pollack with his Dorothy Michaels persona for a few minutes, Hoffman drops his voice low and reveals himself. Pollack : "Michael, I told you to get some therapy!"



2. HUSBANDS AND WIVES (Dir. Woody Allen, 1992) Pollack's biggest role to date and one he excels in though at first glance it's a stock best friend who's having an affair part - a role usually reserved in Woody Allen movies for the likes of Tony Roberts or Michael Murphy. Pollack plays a man constantly on the verge of crumbling during his separation from wife Judy Davis but somehow holding it together. A misguided affair with a ditsy aerobics trainer (Lysette Anthony - pictured on the right) gives some funny yet dark insights into his nature. We're left liking the guy in the end though we don't know why - perhaps because he's just a flawed fucked-up human like the rest of us.



3. EYES WIDE SHUT (Dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1999) Another best friend/mentor/would be Yoda role in this troubled and troubling movie. I won't go into the details about this notoriously comprised Kubrick project - that's well documented elsewhere - I'll just say that Pollack pulls no punches in his portrayal of Victor Ziegler. Woody Allen was originally considered for the role of Ziegler but he claims that Kubrick "came to his senses".



4. CHANGING LANES (Dir. Roger Mitchell, 2002) put this one in the "guys the main character shouldn't trust" file. A fairly lame Ben Affleck / Samuel L. Jackson dueling NY commuters thriller (as if that's an actual genre) features a rare Sydney Pollack as complete bastard role as yet another corrupt lawfirm boss (see above). Especially, in a moment that will come back to haunt him, when he tells Affleck - "at the end of the day I think I do more good than harm... what other standard have I got to judge by?" At the end of the day this guy is judged pretty harshly.



5. RANDOM HEARTS (Dir. Sydney Pollack, 1999) Another flawed as fuck film (only 18% on the Rotten Tomatometer - pretty much consensus says it's a stinker) that nonetheless gives good Pollack. Sure it's another advisor/mentor character but when it boils down to it - he's one of the only interesting elements in this failure of his own making. If Pollack can shine when Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas appear drab and unconvincing then maybe the guy really is a genius director! Nah, I'm just blogging out of my ass again.



Okay! Another post - another list. Next time out : the countdown to my first blog convention - Converge South 2007 - continues and more babble 'bout movies of course.



More later...

Film Babble's 100th Post!

"It's too cerebral! We're trying to make a movie here, not a film!"

- Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy) BOWFINGER (Dir. Frank Oz, 1999)




No special features or self congratulatory crap for my 100th - just some good ole fashioned movie reviews. A couple of new movies I caught at the theater and a few new release DVDs - nice and simple. So let's get going -



DEATH AT A FUNERAL (Dir. Frank Oz, 2007) After one of the most misguided remakes in history THE STEPFORD WIVES, a film Nathan Rabin in his excellent My Year Of Flops column (The Onion A.V. Club) would most likely call a "fiasco", Frank Oz brings us a funeral farce. Set in and around a countryside house during what should have been a stiff-upper lip service - a cast of mostly British mourners all with their own agenda or issue clash, argue, and fret over many outrageous obstacles.




Obstacles such as money matters that are driving rival brothers (Matthew Macfadyen, Rupert Graves) apart, a misplaced bottle of LSD tablets labeled as Valium, and a dwarf (little person? Trying to be PC here) played by the wonderful Peter Dinklage (THE STATION AGENT) that has a family shattering secret. There is some cringe-inducing slapstick and unnecessary scatological nonsense but through its economical brevity (it follows the unwritten rule that comedies should be 90 min) the mixed bits are happily reigned in.




DEATH AT A FUNERAL contains a number of genuine big laughs and while it may never be considered a comedy classic it will be most likely fondly remembered for many seasons to come. Oh yeah - it also more than makes up for THE STEPFORD WIVES.



ROCKET SCIENCE (Dir. Jeffrey Blitz, 2007) So the first non-documentary by director Jeffrey Blitz (2003's SPELLBOUND) is another adolescent angst movie in the tradition of Wes Anderson and Todd Solondz (especially RUSHMORE and WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE respectively). Unfortunately it’s nowhere as good as those touchstones with its self conscious screenplay filled with forced humor and standard grade quirkiness. Stuttering student (Reece Daniel Thompson) is a debate club star wannabe but his speech impediment gets in the way of his academic career and love life.




Thompson pines for a cold condescending classmate played by Anna Kendrick who is way ahead of him in the debate game and also way out of his league. A huge miss-step of many is the voice-over narration by Dan Cashman which in tone and context sounds to much like Ricky Jay’s opening MAGNOLIA spiel. Not able to surpass or be the equal of its influences and peopled by characters which are hard to care about ROCKET SCIENCE misses its mark by a movie mile. It simply should have had more moxie.




Some new DVDS I've recently seen :




THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Dir. Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck, 2006)




"He knows that the party needs artists but that artists need the party even more."

- Minister Bruno Hempf (Thomas Thieme)



This is an amazing and affecting wire-tapping tale set in East Germany (GDR) in 1984. A time when artists such as playwrights who were thought to have subversive tendencies are bugged and blacklisted by the secret police (Stasi) in the remaining years before the Berlin wall came down. One such playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch - who was one of the only highlights of BLACK BOOK) has a actress girlfriend (Martina Gedeck) who has some too close for comfort ties to the Stasi.




The real star of this piece though is the character of Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) who develops a protective sympathy for the people he's assigned to spy on. More of a drama with tense moments than a thriller, THE LIVES OF OTHERS fully deserved the Best Foreign Picture Oscar that it won this year and should go right to the top of your 'must see' list or your Netflix queue which I guess is the same thing.




Postnote : This movie is going to get the American remake treatment by Sydney Pollack set for 2010. Whatever makeover they give it I hope it doesn't have that damn thriller thunder dubbed on top of it.


GHOST RIDER (Dir. Mark Steven Johnson, 2007) I honestly can't remember why I ordered this one up. I mean I like Nicholas Cage but hate his action movie crap (CON AIR, THE ROCK, NATIONAL TREASURE, etc) and I successfully dodged the bullet that was THE WICKER MAN remake - not really action I suppose but still looked like crap so I'm drawing a blank right now as to why I added this to my queue. 




I am completely unfamiliar with the comic book (sorry - graphic novel) that this is based on and I didn't hear anything good about it when it was released in theaters earlier this year so go figure. Cage plays Johnny Blaze - "a badass stunt cyclist" (Netflix's envelopes words not mine) who makes a deal with the Devil, played by Peter Fonda no less - who I guess shows up whenever the pitch "it's a motorcycle movie" is made. 




The Devil's son Blackheart (that charismatically creeply kid from AMERICAN BEAUTY - Wes Bently) wants to take over for his dad and destroy the creation made from the contract - the Ghost Rider of the title that Blaze can change into at will. "Oh, and his face was a skull and it was on fire" says a punk clad Rebel Wilson credited as 'Girl in Alley' and I couldn't say it any better. This film is supremely stupid but oddly not severely sucky - I mean as mere pop entertainment goes you could do worse with a couple of hours than watching it. Then again, that blank white space on the wall over there is looking mighty appealing.




Okay! I didn't think the word "crap" would show up 3 times in my 100th post but otherwise all is good. Hope you stick around for my next hundred posts.




More later...

DVD Review: THE INTERPRETER

Now out on DVD:



THE INTERPRETER (Dir. Sydney Pollack)






This came out last summer and failed to make a splash. I watched it on DVD this last week and could see why. Not that it is outright horrible just pretty bad. Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn (once again humorless as Hell) aren’t convincing as their characters, particularly not with Kidman’s accent or always perfect hair. 



Catherine Keener as Penn’s Secret Service partner has very little to do. There are so many lamely plotted sequences and laughable conveniences that any element of suspense or actual sentiment is in vain. Pity too.

Pollack has made a number of fine films, a much better example of a political thriller of his was THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975). 



Honestly though, Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway looked like just like the big name movie stars they were in that too, but they sure sold it better than Penn and Kidman here. Maybe the only thing worth seeing on the DVD is a bonus feature about Pollack's choice of the widescreen format over full frame: "I'm making a plea for my colleagues and myself who spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to tell you the story in the best possible way visually and then someone else has to come in and cut the edges off of all of that and pan and scan it so you're not seeing what story we tried to tell you." 



Pollack once brought a lawsuit on a Danish TV station for how they pan and scanned one of his films, "mutilated it" he said. To fight to preserve the full visual imagery of one's art is a pretty cool stance - too bad THE INTERPRETER is not. 



Special Features: Audio Commentary by Director Sydney Pollack, alternate ending, deleted scenes, featurettes: "Sydney Pollack at Work: From Concept to Cutting Room," "Interpreting Pan & Scan vs. Widescreen," "A Day in the Life of Real Interpreters," and "The Ultimate Movie Set: The United Nations."



More later...