The Secret in Their Eyes

Mystery, romance in one great film

SOLEDAD VILLAMIL and Ricardo Darin in “The Secret in Their Eyes.”

“The Secret in Their Eyes” is an absorbing, enthralling drama, mystery, thriller and romance.
Released in 2009 from Argentina, the story relies heavily on flashbacks as it chronicles retired Argentinean federal justice agent Benjamin Esposito.
Ricardo Darin plays Esposito, who decides to write a novel based on his most unforgettable case, that of a woman who is raped and murdered.
Now when I say “write,” I mean “write.” He scrawls his prose across lined paper, trying to fictionalize this great story.
Despite it being fiction, Esposito seeks a truth and accuracy, if not downright closure on the case.
He decides to revisit his old boss, Irene Menendez-Hastings, played by Soledad Villamil, to discuss the case and gain her insight.
From there we slip from 1999 back to the mid 1970s, when Darin’s character has no gray in his beard and the Villamil character is new on the job.
Darin is moved, probably more than he expected, when he sees the body of the young victim at a murder scene.
He and his partner, Pablo Sandoval, played by Guillermo Francella, work tirelessly to solve the crime. How indeed do they determine who the killer is?
We watch as they pore through old albums of the victim in her younger years. In many pictures, there is a young man who can’t take his eyes off of her. The look is so intense and all-consuming, the investigators just know from that this must be the killer.
Javier Godino plays Isidoro Gomez, a soccer fan and possible cold-blooded killer and rapist.
At the time his identity is discovered, Gomez is out of the country.
The victim’s husband, Ricardo Morales, played by Pablo Rago, is a soft spoken individual who spends his afternoons after his bank job staking out train, plane and bus stations, hoping to find the individual who killed his wife.
Eventually, the suspect is caught, is tricked into confessing and goes to jail for life, at least that’s what Esposito has promised.
So it is an even bigger surprise when the convicted killer is released early because he helped authorities in even bigger cases.
What’s even more of a surprise is when Sandoval is brutally gun down.
The characters are well-drawn and multifaceted. Every move, every sentence brings new light to the situation. This is a well written and complete story with an excellent cast to go with it.
Nothing predictable here. The costumes, makeup and sets are to perfection as well. They add to the atmosphere.
At the autumn of the film, we see these characters nearing the end of their lives. The Morales character especially appears to have evolved and accepted his life and the death of his beloved wife years earlier.
Or so we assume.
Take nothing for granted in this film. If you think the movie is about to end with a Hollywood-type conclusion, think again. It continues to evolve.
“The Secret in their Eyes” is Argentina’s most viewed cinema since 1983. An American version is apparently in production.
Besides DVD and Blu-ray, it is available through Amazon Instant Video. It is more than worth its 129-minute runtime.

SECRET IN THEIR EYES • Directed by Juan Jose Campenella •Written by Eduardo Sacheri and Campenella •Runtime: 129 minutes •Rated R for a rape scene, violent images, some graphic nudity and language •In Spanish with subtitles •4 stars out of 5

Game Change

History comes alive in ‘Game Change’

HBO
ED HARRIS as John McCain and Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in “Game Change.”

Whether you love or hate Sarah Palin, after you watch the HBO movie “Game Change,” about the 2008 McCain-Palin GOP ticket, you will discover you both love and hate her.
The film, with the uncanny Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin, is based on a book plus articles and interviews with people involved in that celebrated campaign to pull an upset and defeat then Sen. Barack Obama.
The Republicans saw Sen. John McCain as a great statesman and war hero. Obama, meanwhile, was a newcomer with little to show when it comes to accomplishments. Yet Obama stirred up crowds and gained in the polls.
So the McCain staff started looking at vice presidential possibilities to help get another aging white guy into the White House.
Woody Harrelson plays Steve Schmidt, McCain's campaign coordinator, who decided instead of finding another aging, boring white guy for the ticket, it needs a game changer.
And how do you find a game changer? Why, by Googling various Republican female politicians. Some weren’t chosen because of ideological differences with McCain.
Then we switched to Palin, then the Alaskan governor, with her kids, looking like everyone's soccer mom, hauling her children about at a fair, talking to constituents by first name.
Then she got a telephone call and is whisked to Arizona and instantly we all like her. She's charming, she's humble, she is anxious to advance the Republican ticket. But she also has principles as she learns she is the top choice as vice presidential candidate .
At an event at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton she was unveiled as McCain's running mate and knocked one out of the park. It seems everyone can relate to her on multiple levels.
She is a smash at the Republican convention. McCain finds himself even with Obama. Life is good. For awhile.
Then the media starts digging up dirt, but even then we side with Palin. Questions are asked if the new baby is hers or her daughter's child. Yeah, it’s Palin’s because daughter is pregnant herself.
Then we discover Palin is ignorant of the political makeup of the world as well as history and geography. She gets a crash course on who our enemies were during World Wars I and II. She learns Queen Elizabeth is not the head of British government. She learns Iraq did not cause 9-11 and Korea isn't one country.
After she refused to prep for an interview on "The Today Show," she looks like a fool and blames others. Palin is suddenly less likable. She is hurt by “Saturday Night Live” parodies. She wants to do interviews with small Alaskan newspapers and demands to know how she is faring in her home state.
She is not above memorizing a series of facts to get through a debate with Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate who is considered a foreign policy expert.
But Palin, a terrific actress, ekes out good debate reviews by repeating those facts she memorized and dodging questions she doesn't have an answer for, then repeating those facts she memorized again.
Moore is dead-on as Palin and the real Schmidt describes the film as "an out of body experience" because it is so accurate.
The real Palin slammed the film, but then, she hadn't seen it.
It rivals "Apollo 13" in how real it feels relating to real events. We see Palin as a many-sided person, sometimes ready to crack up, other times feeling in total control.
Ed Harris plays McCain as a decent guy who wants to win with his ethics intact. After their loss, the McCain character realizes Palin will be a force to reckon with and warns her not to follow the Limbaughs and their ilk in the years ahead, a kind of foreshadowing of what has happened during this year’s campaign.
Moore especially becomes Palin and anyone who followed the 2008 race can feel the authenticity. This is a great, compelling film. It continues to be played on HBO and HBO On Demand will later be released to DVD.
If you enjoy politics, you will like this film. It is not a hatchet job on McCain or Palin or the Republican party by any means.
It is entertainment and education and excellence.

GAME CHANGE • Directed by Jay Roach • Written by Mark Haperin and Danny Strong • Not for young children because of language • Runtime: 2 hours • 5 stars out of 5

A Texas Funeral

A bit bizarre, ‘A Texas Funeral’ worth seeing

QUINTON JONES and Martin Sheen in "A Texas Funeral."

“A Texas Funeral” is not your average movie.
Some call it a comedy. Others a drama. Maybe. But it is definitely a fantasy.
The year is 1968. Lyndon Johnson is in the White House. There’s civil unrest throughout the country. Vietnam is raging.
And young Lil Sparta is coming face to face with the corpse of his grandfather, Sparta, in a sticky Texas funeral home. Lil Sparta is played by Quinon A. Jones. Grandpa is Martin Sheen.
Now Lil Sparta may live in Texas, but he doesn’t like death and guns at all. He isn’t happy when his parents urge him to go up and get close to granddaddy’s corpse.
But later, when everyone else leaves the room with the body, we see something a tad unusual. Sparta’s widow, played by Gracie Zabriskie of “Big Love” fame, goes up to the casket, pulls out a knife and hacks off her deceased mate’s ear. Then she licks it. Yes, this is a strange movie.
Lil Sparta observes this with the door ajar. In fact, Lil Sparta sees a lot with various doors ajar.
The family’s name is Whit and we later learn all of the men have ears that drive women wild.
Lil Sparta, after witnessing this, stops talking. Whether that is the reason he stops talking, I’m not sure. But he stops talking.
Now Quinton Jones, the Lil Sparta actor, was only 8 when he played this role and a part in an episode of “Texas Ranger” besides this. So if his acting ability is in question, not having to memorize many lines is probably a plus.
From the calling hours, the clan is off to the mental hospital to pick up Aunt Miranda, played by Joanne Whalley. She doesn’t seem too much zanier than the rest of the zany family.
So what else would your normal, Texas-living, ear-licking family have? Why a camel, of course. It’s Big Sparta’s camel. He comes from a long line of camel keepers. Their heads are posted about the barn.
How do we know about the family’s affinity for camels, dating back to the Civil War?
Why from the ghosts of Lil Sparta’s ancestors, whom he visits on the second floor of the barn.
The colorful characters all have stories to tell. And somehow, Grandpa the ghost still has his ear attached as a ghost.
This strange set of characters have dinner, build a coffin for the dying camel and square off over money issues.
A young, African-American who joins the family, learns his daddy was murdered by the Sheen character. Oh, you may think you know the circumstances behind the shooting, but you don’t. The answer to the mystery of the shooting decades earlier is more bizarre. Everything about this movie is bizarre.
Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre.
Is that bad? Mmmm, not necessarily. You just sit wondering what will happen next. It’s sort of mesmerizing in its lunacy.
It’s definitely something different.
The least of the zaniness is the African-American character, played by Isaiah Washington, who has a romantic fling with crazy Aunt Miranda. OK, it’s 1960s, redneck Texas, but nobody objects. He kisses her in front of the whole clan, nobody cares.
There’s also another cousin, who also has a delicious ear, who can’t shoot, can’t fight. Heck, he can’t pound a nail. He adds to the craziness.
“A Texas Funeral” was released in 1999 and might be better viewed a big tipsy or after partaking in some other mind-altering substances.
Or not. I enjoyed it after imbibing in nothing stronger than Diet Vanilla Coke.

A TEXAS FUNERAL

• Directed and written by W. Blake Herron.
• Rated R for sexual content and some violence
• Runtime: 98 minutes
• 3 stars out of 5

Imaging Argentina

EMMA THOMPSON sits in her cell in “Imagining Argentina.”

‘Imagining Argentina’ needed concentration more on people

It’s a story about life in violent Argentina in the mid 1970s, where people often just “go missing.”
“Imagining Argentina” stars Antonio Banderas as a theater owner. His plays often include younger people. How they make money, I’m not sure.
Emma Thompson is his wife, Cecilia, a journalist whose writings include some criticism of the government.
As happens with many people during that time, she goes “missing.”
Her husband prints up flyers. He takes to the streets showing people her photo. He even goes to the government for help.
Now the Banderas character’s problems are not unique. Many people have missing relatives. Heck, during a public meeting to discuss the problem, government henchmen kidnap some of the people in attendance.
When Carlos’ play gets political, soldiers in attendance machine gun the front facade. Then they kidnap the meek, largely blameless theater manager.
Carlos also develops a gift, he can hold someone’s hand and describe the fate of a loved one.
One person escaped the bad guys and would soon reunite with family. Another doesn’t have such luck.
The plot is interesting enough, what with the political intrigue and all, so why are there long stretches of, well, boredom?
The Banderas character and his daughter, played by Irene Escolar, try to live as normal of a life as possible.
Meanwhile, we see the Thompson character being raped by soldiers, with the exception of one soldier who just doesn’t think it is right. But he stays, because he needs the job.
After the political theater, the government bullies don’t stop with the theater manager. Daughter stays with friends but decides to stay home with Daddy for just one night.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The bad guys go in and grab her and whisk her off to be reunited with her mother.
It isn’t that the captors have soft hearts. They now have a fresh, younger female to rape and torture.
One young, sadistic guard even decides Mom should decide who should rape daughter next. She’s not keen on the idea.
After long passages where little happens, it suddenly gets exciting.
But the ESP angle, the introduction of fantasy, sort of softens the impact of the story.
Then, after all of this brutality, we suddenly get a nice ending. Well, yes, it is a fantasy.
Somewhere in here is a good, thought-provoking movie about a brutal, nasty government and what it does to its citizens and how it impacts people.
The writers and producers apparently thought that wasn’t enough of a story line so they added more. Maybe they should have concentrated more on the people and who they were and what they were like and the end result.
Yes, I’m imaging a better movie.

IMAGINING ARGENTINA
• Directed by Christopher Hampton
• Written by Lawrence Thornton and Christopher Hampton
• Rated R for violence, torture and brief language
• Runtime: 107 minutes
• 2 1/2 stars out of 4

Extraordinary Measures

True story shows what father will do for his children

CBS Films Inc.
BRENDAN FRASER (left) and Harrison Ford in “Extraordinary Meaures.”

“Extraordinary Measures” has that made-for-TV-movie feel about it, at least initially.
But as this engrossing film progresses, it fleshes out into a truly inspiring story. Yes, it is based on a true story, although certainly the truth has been stretched.
Brendan Fraser is John Crowly, a successful advertising executive, who with his wife, played by Keri Russell, have two children with Pompe disease, a genetic anomaly that kills children by the time they turn 9.
He has a good job and it’s a good thing, because his children cost up to $40,000 a month in medical costs.
But when his daughter nearly dies, Crowly walks out of a high-pressure client meeting and flies to the home of a scientist who does research on the disease, played by Harrison Ford.
Ford is a sort of gruff, no-nonsense guy who listens to loud classic rock while working.
Fraser’s character knows that Ford’s character, Dr. Robert Stonehill, is doing research in enzymes that could not only prolong his children’s lives but improve the quality as well.
Fraser, as an advertising veteran, knows how to play hardball and do what needs to be done to get his way and get the job done. He quits his job to work with Stonehill to get the proper funding.
Stonehill doesn’t like the persistent questioning about his research and walks out of a meeting of potential benefactors. Crowley tells him the facts of life, that if he wants the millions to do research, he is going to have to compromise and make nice.
Eventually, Fraser’s character gets them in bed with a big pharmaceutical company that demands to know what the profit prospects are.
There are some highs, but many lows as research takes a backseat to profits and marketing.
Less-talented scientists are quick to poke holes in Ford’s theories.
At one point, the Fraser character brings his wife and children suffering with the disease and other families to an emotional meeting to show these business executives and hardened scientists just how devastating the disease can be.
While the scientists have been doing research, they have actually never seen a wheelchair-bound child living with the disease or see parents coping with the deterioration of their children, waiting for inevitable death.
There’s a great mix of politics and humanity in this film. For every step forward, there appears to be two steps back.
Fraser places a lien on his house to get more money. He seemingly stops at nothing to save his kids.
He plays an attentive and loving dead. It is evident throughout the film. In the opening credits, he is racing, after missing his bus, to get to the center where his daughter is having her eighth birthday party. If all goes as expected, this will be her last.
This is another one of those movies where people roll up their sleeves and work. They must contend with roadblocks and disappointment along the way.
Ford does an admiral job playing against the typecast of the nerdy scientists, although he is a tad absent minded. (He has a hard time getting the cord back into the telephone.)
And Fraser, who has played a lot of cartoonish characters in the past, really nails it as a concerned dad and ruthless executive who makes those attributes work.
The title really tells the tale and it is worth seeing.

EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES • Directed by Tom Vaughan • Written by Robert Nelson Jacobs and Geeta Anand • Runtime: 106 minutes • 3 stars out of 4

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Swedes do it again with ‘Girl With Dragon Tattoo’

NOOMI RAPACE and Michael Nyquist in “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Those Swedes sure know how to make a good film.
Those Americans know how to remake good Swedish films.
Remember “Let the Right One In?”
Now we have “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” or the original title “Män som hatar kvinnor.”
It has since been Americanized and was recently released to theaters. I haven’t seen that version, but the original 2009 Swedish version can be seen right now at Netflix streaming or on Amazon Instant Video. (If you are at work, turn your monitor so your boss can’t see what you are doing.)
This has almost a film noir atmosphere, with more than one mystery that needs cleared up.
Mikeal Blomkvist, played by Michael Nyquist, is a celebrated journalist for Millennium magazine. He loses a libel case brought by a shady industrialist, Hans-Erik Wennerstrom.
The magazine must pay damages, but unlike in America, there is an apparent criminal penalty as well. Blomkvist must serve a short prison term.
But that’s a few months off. In the meantime, he is approached by an aide to frail but wealthy Henrik Vanger. The Vanger family lives in a bunch of homes on a remote island connected by a bridge.
Blomkvist visits the 80-something man who tells about a 40-year mystery involving his niece, Harriet. She disappeared at age 16 on a day that an accident closed the one bridge leaving the island.
There has been no trace of her since. There is a good possibility a family member murdered her.
Wennerstrom, knowing he has little time left, wants Blomkvist to investigate the situation.
Why the old man hires a journalist rather than a detective we’ll never know. But the libel trial made big TV news and it looks like solving this case could redeem Blomkvist.
Meanwhile, there is this punkish, waifish girl, played by Noomi Rapace, whose own life is a mystery. Her life is sordid, just in the fact she must submit to a parole officer on a regular basis.
But her old parole officer had a stroke and her knew one is hardly a nice guy. He has control of her money and if she wants some, she must submit to his sexual advances.
Well, until early on when she turns the tables on the guy.
She is an enigma. She’s a subdued computer hacker. As the film progresses, we learn more about her background.
Meanwhile, she hacks Blomkvist’s computer, offering a clue to his investigation.
Soon they are working together in this misty, engrossing and suspenseful story.
One person who saw the film suggested the ending was similar to “Silence of the Lambs” and I agree, to a point.
Like many Swedish films, it is difficult to pigeonhole just what kind of movie it is. Like I said, it does have some film noir and could have easily had its genesis in a 1940s crime drama.
And unlike the new American version, you can watch it right now through streaming. It is long, but the movie never drags.

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO • Directed by Niels Arden Oplev • Written by Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg • In Swedish with subtitles • Runtime: 152 minutes • Rated R for violence, sex • 3 1/2 stars out of 4

Perry Mason sans Raymond Burr

When most people think of the fictional lawyer character Perry Mason, they think of the celebrated CBS TV series which ran from 1957 to 1966 and starred Raymond Burr.
The character was developed in the 1920s by Earl Stanley Gardner, a lawyer himself who was more interested in using his knowledge of the law to write pulp novels.
His books became so popular a series of movies were produced in the mid 1930s, with various actors playing Mason and his secretary, Della Street.
These films are far removed from the Burr Perry Mason. In one film, Perry is behind his desk one morning, suffering a hangover from the night before. In another, he marries Della. Paul Drake, the detective who worked for Perry, was a comic foil nicknamed "Spudsy." Far from the no-nonsense Drake played later on TV by William Hopper.
After the movies, Gardner continued writing his books, using a dictating machine. He disavowed a radio show that aired in the 1950s which had a soap opera feeling to it. So much so some of the characters spun off into the soaper "The Edge of Night."
In September 1957 the most famous Perry Mason reincarnation debuted on TV. The series ended in September 1966 after being placed opposite "Bonanza," which was broadcast in color.
As soon as the series left the air, attempts started to bring it back. In September 1973 "New Perry Mason" starring Monte Markham in the title role made its debut. People wouldn't accept the younger, hipper Markham in the role and it was pulled in January 1974.
Burr returned as Perry Mason in a series of TV films in the 1980s that ended after Burr's 1993 death.
Now there is talk of a new Perry Mason theatrical film, taking place in the 1930s. (The TV shows were always contemporary to the times.)
So for you enjoyment, I present some Perry Mason movies and TV shows, none of which feature Raymond Burr. While "New Perry Mason" is similar to the Burr series, the old movies are far different. Here you can watch four Mason movies from the 30s and all of the "New Perry Mason" episodes with the exception of "The Case of the Ominous Oath" and "Deadly Deeds." Take a look!


THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE



THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG




THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS



THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS




THE CASE OF THE TORTURED TITAN (MONTE MARKHAM TV SERIES)



THE CASE OF THE PERILOUS PEN



CASE OF THE TELLTALE TRUNK



CASE OF THE WISTFUL WIDOWER



CASE OF THE HOROSCOPE HOMICIDE



CASE OF THE VIOLENT VALLEY



CASE OF THE MURDERED MURDER



CASE OF THE FURIOUS FATHER



CASE OF THE CAGEY CAGER




CASE OF THE FRENZIED FEMINIST



CASE OF THE PRODIGAL PROPHET



CASE OF THE JAILED JUSTICE



CASE OF THE SPURIOUS SPOUSE



BONUS: JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE: TEMPEST IN A TEXAS TOWN

"Spurious Spouse" included Carl Betz, an actor best known as the dad on the "Donna Reed Show." A year after the orignal Perry Mason TV series ended, Betz himself played an attorney, Clinton Judd. He took on topics like abortion and homosexuality. Here is a rare episode of that series.



Hopefully this will keep you entertained on cold winter nights or hot summer mornings or whatever.