Gran Torino

Clint still able to make your night

VIDEO VIPER with ROBERT LEBZELTER for June 26, 2009

Warner Bros.

CLINT EASTWOOD with, in back, left, Bee Vang, Brooke Chia Thao, Chee Thao and Ahney Her in "Gran Torino."

I wonder why when 78-year-old Clint Eastwood decided to direct and star in "Gran Torino," he didn't simply make the character Dirty Harry Callahan.
You remember Dirty Harry back in 1973. He was sexist. He was set in his ways. He didn't like those new police procedures which gave all of those rights to the bad guys.
He skirted the law. He took short cuts when battling the crooks.
He also meted out punishment when necessary.
Callahan could have easily aged into Walt Kowalski, the Korean War veteran who hates what the world has become.
"Gran Torino" opens with the funeral of his wife. But Walt doesn't mourn so much as sit there, teeth gritting, because of the piercings of his grandchildren, the fact that they text-message in church, because they make fun of aspects of the church. Not that Harry, er Walt, had much to do with the Catholic Church himself. He just went because of his wife.
Christopher Carley, looking like a young Spencer Tracy, plays Father Janovich, who pledged to Walt's dying wife that he would look after him and make him go to confession.
Walt is an interesting character. He wants to live out his days on his porch with his dog, chain smoking and beer drinking.
But he is disgusted with the changes in the neighborhood. It has been taken over by Hmong immigrants from Vietnam. They have taken over the homes of his old friends but they don't keep the property up.
One major gang emerges. Walt keeps his rifle handy. He also has a gun.
When the gang forces the leader's shy cousin to join, the boy's initiation is to steal Walt's beloved 1972 Gran Torino. Walt, of course, thwarts the theft and forces the gang on the run.
The quiet boy, played by Bee Yang, is hassled by the gang until Walt puts a stop to that, too. He earns the respect of the Asian community and slowly gets to know his neighbors, including the perceptive sister, played by Ahney Her.
Walt teaches the Yang character about tools and craftsmanship. He gets him a construction job. But the gang keeps getting in the way until Walt, estranged from his own family and in failing health, decides to take real action.
The plot is fairly predictable and the ending not as satisfying as I would like, but for the most part the characters and the storyline are worth the experience.
There is speculation this will be the last film for Eastwood. Not certain why. Maybe it is similar to every tour being the last for the Rolling Stones.
But you get a lot of Clint in this film and he's just as you want him to be, stoic, unyielding, determined.
If you are an Eastwood fan, you've already seen this movie. If you are not, you will want to see it anyway. There are plenty of imitators, but only one Clint.
Why not make it a double-feature with "Dirty Harry" or "Sudden Impact?"
Go ahead, make your night.

Quo Vadis

Return to ancient Rome, via Poland
VIDEO VIPER IN WEEKENDER for June 19, 200

PAWEL ELAG and Magdalena Mielcarz in "Quo Vadis."

If you have a Netflix account, you probably have had movies arrive and wondered, Did I really order this?
For the uninitiated, as a Netflix member, you go to your online account and add movies to your cue as you think about it or you learn of movies you might want to see.
Then, as you watch movies and return them, you get more movies. It isn't uncommon to have a couple of hundred films in your cue, so the movie you get tomorrow you might have added to your cue months ago.
The other day, I received a copy of “Quo Vadis,” Nobel Prize winner Henry Sinkiewicz's sweeping love story, taking place in Rome 64 AD, with crazy Nero as emperor.
I must have been in a "Quo Vadis" mood, because I ordered two versions, the 1951 Hollywood version, and a TV miniseries.
I got the 6-part miniseries first. Released in 2001, it comes from Polish television no less and offers English subtitles.
But the more I watched, the more engrossed I became.
Now this all takes place 60 years after Jesus is placed on the cross. Some of the original figures are still alive and there is a growing Christian movement.
Marcus Vinicius (Pawel Delag) meets the gorgeous Lygia (Magdalena Mielcarz) in Rome and falls in love. But Lygia is one of those new Christians and when the two meet at a party, he comes on way too strong. She can't stand him.
But of course she ends up falling in love with him, too.
Central to the story is Emperor Nero, played very well by Michal Bajor. Nero believes himself to be a great musician, a great writer, a great poet. Of course, all of his yes men agree with him. They even manage to dab their eyes at the beauty of Nero's work.
Later in the film, when Nero recites one of his poems, Petronius, played by Boguslaw Linda, decides to play a few mind games with the emperor, whom we get the feeling is a bit, well, dense.
While the other hangers-on are ooing and ahhing over the poetry, Petronius essentially says it is darn good, but for Nero, it needs to be better. The poem is about the burning of Rome. Petronius says Nero must live the event in order to translate it. Wrong thing to say. Nero burns Rome. People die. People are angry. They want someone to blame.
Nero decides, hey, why not the Christians?
So Christians are rounded up, including the beloved Lygia. Marcus is able to visit her in prison, in which the Christians are housed next to the lions and can see the hungry cats pacing back and forth.
The miniseries really builds your interest. It would almost be worth it for a church group to see, except for its length, the nudity and graphic violence.
But it shows the early Christians and their persecutions. The camera doesn't pull away when the Christians are brought to the coliseum and the lions are let lose. They attack. They tear off pieces of flesh. A baby is torn from its mother by a lion whom we see tearing and shaking it. We see lions chowing down on severed feet. Very realistic for a television production.
Later, as Nero and his court travel the countryside, we see Christians being burned at the stake, bodies blackened but still alive.
People like the Apostle Peter are intricate and positive characters.
For a TV production, this is very well done and compelling. When I could only watch the first four episodes one night, I was ready to delve into the final two acts the next night.
It is long but it keeps you thinking. When you have a spare night or two, rent it.


QUO VADIS • Directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz • Written by Jerzy Kawalerowicz and Henry Sienkiewicz from his novel • Runtime: 274 minutes • Not rated, but much gore, dismemberment, blood, orgy scenes, nudity • Polish with Engish subtitles • 4 stars out of 5

The Wrestler

Mickey Rourke excels as washed-up wrestler
WEEKENDER for June 12, 2009:

Searchlight

Evan Rachel Wood and Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler ."

Slowly, I've made my way through this year’s best picture nominees.
I just hit “W” for “The Wrestler” and what a phenomenal picture!
Mickey Rourke contributes an unforgettable performance as Randy "The Ram" Robinson, a famous wrestler in the 1980s who has fallen on hard times.
He was the stuff of legends in his day. There were The Ram action figures.
Today, he performs at little venues with much younger wrestlers-turned-actors. Seconds before they go on stage, they decide how it will be done.
It is invariably the same. Randy is beaten almost to an inch of his life. His face is bloodied, mostly because he whips out a razor-blade and slits his forehead. Somehow, he rallies and defeats the upstart young thud.
The crowd goes wild. The ring is covered in blood. All is well.
Except Randy's life is a mess. He is battered and beaten. His face looks like chopped meat, both before and after he fights.
He can't see anymore. His hearing is gone. He lives in a battered trailer park. He tries to make time with a stripper played by Marisa Tomei. His daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood, hates him.
The battering he takes in the ring doesn't even cover the cost of the extensive line of painkillers and other drugs he buys. He also sells his autograph and charges to have his picture taken.
Oh yeah, he also works part-time at a grocery store, begging for extra hours, but not on weekends. Weekends are when he slits open his forehead.
There are many priceless scenes in this unforgettable movie, from the choreography of the wrestling to trying to make time with Tomei, whose character tries to convince herself while she is a stripper, she considers herself a mother first who wants to buy a condo. Messed-up, washed out, highly troubled wrestlers only add to her problems.
Rourke's character endures many indignities. After having a heart attack, he decides to end his wrestling career and reconnect with the daughter he has ignored for years. He also agrees to work weekend hours at the store. There the sadistic manager takes great pleasure in making him wear a hairnet over his long locks and sell half-pounds of honey-glazed ham to clueless old ladies. He also must wear a nametag with his real name on it, Robin Ramzinski.
I have two faults with the film. Wood doesn't have enough screen time and the film ends too soon. You want to know more about what happens to Randy next.
Rourke is exceptional. His character endures many indignities but retains a real eloquence.
If you are working your way through best picture nominees, don't stop before you get to “The Wrestler.” You will miss a real gem.

THE WRESTLER
• Directed by Darren Aronofsky
• Written by Robert D. Siegel
• Runtime: 111 minutes
• Rated R for violence, sexuality/nudity, language and some drug use
• 5 stars out of 5

Happening

OK if you happen to miss ‘Happening’

20th Century

FoxZooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg in 20th Century Fox's "The Happening."

“The Happening” fails to add anything to the terror genre.
Past films have had small groups of people racing to survive aliens from outer space or terrorists or some other deadly matter.
Alfred Hitchcock may have done it the best with “The Birds” back in 1963.
In M. Night Shymalan's deadly effort, an airborne virus threatens to wipe out the eastern United States in a bit different way, mass suicide.
The film opens in Central Park in New York City, where life freezes for a few seconds. When motion resumes, people start killing themselves. A woman takes out a knitting needle and plunges it into her neck.
A bunch of construction workers on the ground are yukking it up over a joke when suddenly a worker above comes crashing to the ground.
Bloody with legs and arms that just shouldn't be at such angles, one of the workers on the ground starts to summon help. But then he sees another worker fall. And another, and another. It literally rains human bodies.
This and many other unsettling scenes in this film are done very well.
We get a reprieve from the suicides for awhile as the film switches to science teacher Elliot Moore, played by Mark Wahlberg. Now Elliot tries to be the cool teacher. He understands the students. He jokes, he cajoles them to think.
He asks the students their theories on why bees have suddenly disappeared from the planet. Will this be significant later?
Elliot and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) eventually hear about the chaos and decide to take a train to Philadelphia. It becomes evident this mass suicide is more prevalent in areas with more people.
The pair aren't especially getting along well. She feels guilty. She lied and said she had to work late one night, when actually she was having dessert with another man. No really, it was just dessert.
They make the trip with Julian (John Leguizamo), a math teacher, and his daughter, Jess, played by Ashlyn Sanchez. Julian and Alma clash. After all, in the best disaster films, we must have secondary conflicts that don't really matter anyway. Remember "Towering Inferno?"
Eventually the train comes to a halt because (cue suspense music) the train operators have lost contact with the outside world.
So our heroes, wh0 are pared to Elliot, Alma and young Jess, finally resort to seeking food and shelter while staying away from groups of people. You see, progressively smaller and smaller groups become susceptible to this "suicideitous."
Meanwhile, people keep offing themselves.
Nothing says entertainment like a guy going into the lion's den at the zoo and putting his arm out for the cat to tear off, then stroll with one limb missing until the cat gets the other one.
And tell me, how does a guy start a tractor and lie down in order for it to ride over him, blades a whirling? My tractor shuts off if you get off of the thing with the motor engaged.
And what is causing all of this. A natural phenomenon? Government chemical experiments gone seriously wrong? Revenge of plant life?
Don't expect a definitive answer. Don't expect a big payoff either.
This is one of those films not worth seeing in the theater. It is OK at home while maybe reading e-mail or organizing your pictures.

THE HAPPENING
• Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
• Rated R for violent and disturbing images
• Runtime: 91 minutes
• 2 stars out of 4