Reviews

Of dubious historical accuracy (many of the events depicted in the film were taken from the medieval poem "Ley of the Cid," most of which were not corroborated by court records of the time) but gorgeous to look at, Charlton Heston plays Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (a.k.a. The Cid), the very embodiment of the chivalrous knight. On the way to his wedding to the tempestuous Chemene (played by the never-lovelier Sophia Loren), he captures two Moorish emirs who have been involved with the burning of a Spanish village. Rather than release them to the custody of King Ferdinand for hanging, he spares their lives and is accused of treason. When Rodrigo's father objects, the father of the bride besmirches the honor of the family, and Rodrigo is forced to fight the father of his love and reluctantly kill him. While she plots to gain revenge on her former fiancée, he becomes the King's champion and in the King's favor, demands and receives Chemene's hand in marriage. She can't bring herself to thoroughly hate him - talk about conflicted. Still, things go from bad to worse when Ferdinand dies and he divides his kingdom among his children Sancho, Alfonso and Urraca (in reality, Ferdinand had five children). When Sancho decides he wants all or nothing, he arrests Alfonso and sends him to prison, but El Cid rescues him, believing it morally wrong. As a result, civil war breaks out but before things get really awful, the devious Urraca arranges for Sancho to be assassinated. At Alfonso's coronation, a suspicious Rodrigo forces Alfonso to swear an oath that he had nothing to do with Sancho's death. Enraged, Alfonso takes the oath and then exiles El Cid, but the knight proves to be so popular among the people that an entire army is raised to follow him. When the evil Ben Yussuf (a nearly unrecognizable Herbert Lom) invades Spain, El Cid fights bravely to take Valencia despite Alfonso's tendency towards utter idiocy and it is from there that the knight literally rides into the stuff of legend.

Gorgeously photographed in Spain and Italy with one of the most beautiful scores by Miklos Rosza, this is the kind of epic that has recently made a comeback thanks to CGI. No CGI here, however - there is literally a cast of thousands (and LOTS of horses) in medieval armor whacking away at one another. The story is at times convoluted and the dialog a little over the top, it is nonetheless truly enjoyable, a forgotten epic that in a kinder world would be considered up there with Lawrence of Arabia and Ben-Hur. It is difficult to find nowadays, and the rental copy I saw on DVD had a terrible soundtrack. Still, it is worth seeking out.

Incidentally, on a personal note, I originally was interested in the movie because my family is descended from the great Spanish knight.

Thrillers often exist in a half-world of their own, with plot contrivances which serve no purpose other than to advance the plot to its conclusion. They rarely feel organic and thought out, existing for their own sake. "Oldboy," a Korean revenge thriller, is one of those rare gems in which every plot point is part of an overall whole, not only advancing the plot but doing so in a logical manner that also rings true emotionally. For doing so, it won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004. Dae-Su Oh (Min-Sik Choi) is a ne'er-do-well, an alcoholic who cheats on his wife compulsively and while on an epic bender, spends his daughter's birthday raving in a police lockup. Bailed out by his friend No-Joo Hwan (Dae-Han Ji), he goes to a telephone booth to call his daughter - and disappears, leaving only his pathetic present of angel wings behind. He wakes up in what appears to be a seedy hotel room, imprisoned behind locked doors; he is fed and cared for, once in awhile after a sprightly tune is played over unseen speakers, he is gassed, and attendants clean him up as well as his room. 15 years pass. He learns that his wife has been murdered and fingerprints and bloodstains found at the scene have led the police to believe that he is the killer. His daughter has been adopted by Swedish foster parents. Even if he escapes, he would be a wanted man, hunted by the authorities, but escape consumes him. He needs to know why he has been imprisoned, and who has done this to him. He desperately tunnels out of his room with a stray chopstick, but just before he would escape from his run-down prison, he is released, left with his journals, a wallet filled with cash, a stylish suit and a cell phone. He eventually discovers that he has a time limit to find out the answers to his questions, or someone he loves will die. But the question he should be asking is not why was he imprisoned, but why was he released. The acting, while occasionally over-the-top, rings true in most cases. The love interest Mido (Hye-Jyong Kang) is lustrous and willing to sacrifice everything, even if she doesn't quite understand why. Oh's obsession and rage are well-played by Choi; while Western tastes would find his work un-subtle, there is an emotional realism to his performance. Director Chan-Wook Park wisely makes his hero extremely flawed, leaping to disastrous conclusions and more-or-less muddling through the puzzle more than anything. He occasionally gets into fights, but is no fighter; whenever he fights, he tends to get his rear end kicked as much as anything. Still, he soldiers on, his need for vengeance exceeding his common sense. When his questions finally do get answered, his whole world - and the audience's expectations - will get turned around on it's ear. This is definitely not for squeamish viewers. There are scenes of torture and mayhem that made me turn away from the screen. There are also many humorous vignettes, keeping the film from drowning in darkness. For anyone, this is an outstanding film that deserves mainstream attention. See the original before the American remake comes out in 2006; no doubt the storyline will be "Hollywood-ized" beyond all recognition.

Director James L. Brooks is not the most prolific of directors (this is his first directorial effort in seven years), but the five movies he has helmed are an impressive resume; "Terms of Endearment," "Broadcast News," "As Good as It Gets" and now this surprising comedy. Single mother Flor Moreno (the wonderful Spanish actress Paz Vega) works two jobs to support herself and her precocious daughter Cristina (Shelbie Bruce), but realizes she needs a better job that will allow her to spend more time with her offspring. She finds it as a maid/nanny for the Clasky family. Father John (Adam Sandler) is a world-class chef who is, rather than being arrogant and self-absorbed, turns out to be sweet and giving. Mother Deborah (Tea Leoni) is a world-class neurotic who tries to do the right thing for her obese daughter Bernice (Sarah Steele) but manages to do the wrong thing every time out. She latches onto Cristina as having more potential than her daughter. Deborah's mother Evelyn (Cloris Leachman), a fading torch singer, drinks herself into numbness, but watches her daughter squander away everything with meaning in her life. Flor comes into this world, with her wisdom and humor, but is slowly sucked into the morass of Deborah's neuroses and John's increasing helplessness. Vega is quite stellar here. She imbues Flor with life and sensuality, but never makes her a cartoon. Brooks makes sure that Flor doesn't become a super-nanny who heals all the household's ills; in fact, by the film's conclusion, this household is still in much pain, but the people in it are dealing with their problems as opposed to ignoring them. Flor is more of a catalyst than a cure. Sandler does especially well here, in his best performance since "The Wedding Singer," playing to his strengths as a sweetheart of a guy without dissolving into treacle. Brooks keeps Sandler from mugging as he is sometimes prone to doing. Leoni has the most difficult performance, making Deborah a real person with a good heart deep down, rather than letting the neuroses define her performance. It's a difficult task, but Leoni manages to bring sympathy to an otherwise unsympathetic part. You can't ask for more than that. Leachman makes a welcome return to the screen, keeping Evelyn from becoming a characiture. There is growth in the characters here, yes, but it is growth with a price, as growth generally is in reality, which makes the movie ring true. If the Claskies are the perfect family in appearance, it just goes to show that even the perfect family can have problems. A surprisingly good movie worth checking out on DVD.

Gangster movies used to be an American staple; during the heyday of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, they rivaled the Western as a particularly American film genre. These days, the British have been making some terrific gangster movies; "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (on which "Layer Cake" director worked as an assistant), "Gangster #1" and "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" are gritty and impressive in their own ways. In "Layer Cake" Daniel Craig plays a smart drug dealer who has made enough money to retire on and intends to do just that. His supplier, Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) has a pair of last jobs for him; to find the missing daughter of his close friend Terry (Michael Gambon), and to broker a potentially very profitable ecstasy deal with the volatile gangster Duke (Jamie Foreman). Against the misgivings of his right-hand man and back watcher Morty (George Harris) and his own better judgment, he accepts and is shepherded through the process by Jimmy's man Gene (Colm Meaney). Right away things spin out of control and get worse quickly. As with many of the best British gangster films, alliances are made and broken at a dizzying rate, nobody is who they seem to be and nobody can be trusted. Director Matthew Vaughn is impressive, even though there are a couple of moves that are kinda, well, ill-advised, he keeps the pacing fast enough to keep you off-balance much of the time. No wonder Fox offered him "X-Men 3," you can see he has an affinity for action. The cast is competent, and I've gotta say, I've always admired Colm Meaney, from his "Star Trek" days on down. He plays a very dangerous man in this one, and you absolutely believe he is capable of doing very bad things. The twists and turns get dizzying towards the end, and the final one comes literally from out of nowhere. "Layer Cake" illustrates the strata of British gang-world, from the wealthy bosses to the crack heads in the crack houses, and is believable throughout. Clearly one of the best of an already outstanding crop.

Character studies need, first and foremost, interesting characters to study. Miles Raymond (veteran character actor Paul Giamatti) is a morose divorcée, a talented writer whose semi-autobiographical novel is in publishing limbo. He teaches middle school English, hasn't been with a woman since his divorce three years ago, and has reached that point in life where he suspects that the best things in life have already passed him by. Jack (TV's "Wings" Thomas Haden Church) is a handsome, self-centered man whose acting career has left the "series regular" stage and has descended into a morass of voice-over work and commercials. His impending marriage is at once his salvation and the source of great terror to him. Jack and Miles, best friends, decide to take a trip to the Santa Barbara wine country for one last fling of drinking wine (Miles is a wine geek of the first magnitude) and sex (Jack is obsessed with getting his freak on before the ball and chain is attached). The two hook up with two beautiful, wine-savvy women, Maya (Virginia Madsen) and Stephanie (Sandra Oh) who have taken an interest in them. Sparks fly, but Jack's casual deceits stretch the men's bonds to the breaking point, and cause serious hurt to the women. Giamatti is particularly good in his role as a soulful man whose pain has become so pervasive he doesn't even bother to hide it anymore. Even his alcoholism, a crutch that has sustained him, is turning savagely on him now. All four of the primary actors get some nice scenes - writer/director Alexander Payne sees to that - and all of them make the most of them. I remember Madsen from her stints in "Creator" and "Dune;" she is much more lovely and mature here, and shows herself to be a wonderful actress, who hopefully will be seen in many more provocative roles as a result. "Sideways" has gotten some wonderful reviews and recognition, but it left me a bit flat; Miles is a bit too passive to take a rooting interest in, and the wine geekery wears a bit thin by the end of the movie. There are some riveting moments, but the insights into human nature didn't seem to have the depth except in the case of Miles. A nice ad for winery-hopping in Southern California, which is often overshadowed by Napa Valley to the north.