Movie Review: The Express

So I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek of the DVD release of The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. This is really a first rate movie all the way around. Be forewarned that the movie does not stretch the film boundaries too much. It follows in the same vein as Rudy, Remember the Titans, and Glory Road. Still, I think you need a movie like this every couple of years to remind you of the power and the indomitable will of the human spirit.
I knew very little of Ernie Davis’ story before the movie, although I did recognize the characters of Jim Brown and Art Modell only because I am a football fan. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Clancy Brown, Charles S. Dutton, and relative newcomer Rob Brown. You might remember Brown from his roles in Coach Carter with Samuel L. Jackson and Finding Forrester with Sean Connery. Brown only has seven credits to his name on IMDB but he carries the movie like a seasoned actor. He is very likeable and a few more roles like this one should cement him in Hollywood.
The story is really first rate. They do some really neat things with the special effects and how they present the story. They use a technique where they use a variety of camera styles that I liked.
If the movie has a drawback is that most of the white people in the film (pretty much everyone from Texas) is kind of the stereotypical racist. Maybe I am too far removed from that time period but I find it hard to believe that they only sold Cotton Bowl tickets to the most redneck, yee-haw white trash. I give this a very strong recommendation. Look for it on DVD on Tuesday the 20th. I am not certain if it would crack my top ten list of 2008 theater releases but it is a darn fine movie. (Good enough for me to write a review for it…)

Happy Belated Elvismas, Media Vultures, and Kevin Costner is a Great Dumb Ass

I’ve been a tad busy and not able to update the blog as much as I would like but some things have been going on that I would like to comment on.
Yesterday, the 8th, celebrated “Elvismas” which was the birth of the King – Elvis Presley. In honor of this somewhat momentous occasion, I recommend “A Little Less Conversation” remixed by JXL (this is the theme for the television show Las Vegas) and the Paul Oakenfold remix of “Rubberneckin’” as featured in the movie Fred Claus.

As we are now more than one week into the New Year, there is a fifty percent chance that you have already broken your New Year’s Resolution. Amy and I have been talking about building a new house in a few more years. My goal this year was to quit pack ratting. I want to get rid of everything that we would not want to take over to a new house. And I am working on that. I could have gone with the standard lose weight, get in shape, or cut out drinking the Monsters but I wanted to have a resolution that I could stick with.

I would like to officially recommend Swing Vote coming out on DVD this Tuesday. It stars Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammar, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, and Stanley Tucci. This is a political movie, which made me nervous at first. I was afraid the movie was going to play up some filmmaker’s personal agenda. However, after watching the movie I could not tell if the director was a Republican (giant douche) or Democrat (a turd sandwich). The movie shines a glaring spotlight on the absurdity of American politics and the “do anything to win” mentality. It is a movie that is a comedy that sneaks in a very nice message. And in the movie, Kevin Costner is a complete dumb ass. He is apathetic, a loser, a drunk, and a terrible father. It is a wonderful acting job by him. And that causes me to raise a weird question…
According to my ACT scores, GPA, and such, I consider myself to be slightly above average in the intelligence bracket. I admit I don’t understand string theory or quantum mechanics but I think that I am pretty intelligent. So I often wonder, do dumb people realize that they are dumb? To they comprehend that they just don’t comprehend? I often wonder about that.

The earlier political subject kind of allows me to dovetail into a sore subject. This week, there were all sorts of news coverage on the Obama children attending their new schools in the Washington D.C. area. How is this news? Why would/should anyone care? I know they are the little girls of the new President but c’mon, man. News outfits should not be reporting on what they are having for lunch or what type of backpack they wear. There should be certain areas that are just off limits. Frickin’ vultures, man.

I’d type more but I’ve got more movies to watch, more junk to throw away, and maybe a little more political outrage to scream about… but that stuff just doesn’t interest me that much. Maybe instead I’ll make another action figure display. Those Marvel Legends SHIELD agents are coming out pretty soon… At least I'm focused on the improtant stuff...

And The Oscar Goes To...

I’ve never been a big fan of the Academy Awards. I don’t really hold film critics in high regard either. It seems like movies that critics hate, I love and movies that critics love, I hate. I think one of the big moments was the film Armageddon, which was trashed by critics yet made the most money during the year of its release. As I rarely pay attention to all of Hollywood’s ballyhoo, I don’t know what constitutes an Oscar-worthy performance.
Jack Nicholson is a multiple Academy Award winner. Yet I feel that his best role was that of Nathan R. Jessup in A Few Good Men. No mention of Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Sam Elliott’s performance in We Were Soldiers certainly seemed worth of a supporting award. No mention. Samuel L. Jackson’s performance in Pulp Fiction got him a nomination (well deserved). And Kevin Spacey’s performance in The Usual Suspects also was well worthy—still the best ending in film ever….
I don’t understand when movies like Chicago get awards for make up but then Star Trek movies are not nominated. How hard is it to make Catherine Zeta-Jones beautiful?
And then you have a performance from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (stay with me) in Gridiron Gang where he plays an ex-football player. Hmmm. Not a big stretch. He put out a great performance but it wasn’t a huge leap for him as a movie star.
To me, a great performance is when the person that you are watching disappears and completely becomes the character. I love DeNiro and Pacino but they often seem like DeNiro and Pacino playing a role rather than being the character that they are on screen. (Scent of a Woman is a big exception.)
I’m a big George Clooney fan but it always seems like he is cool guy George playing a role… until I saw O Brother, Where Art Thou? In that movie, Clooney was clearly Ulysses Everette McGill.
Another prime example is watching outtakes from My Name is Earl and seeing Jason Lee come out of the “Earl” character.
To me, that constitutes a great performance. And working with those criteria, then there is one performance above all this year. I have witnessed one of the greatest performances on film where the actor disappeared and completely became the character. And I will even go on record as to say that Hannibal Lector has been eclipsed as the best psychopath to ever grace the silver screen.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight.

Ledger’s performance is one for the ages. The Joker is far more terrifying and sadistic than ever before in this most recent Batman film. He is an agent of anarchy and chaos. Ledger’s performance was, quite frankly, unbelievable and is worth repeated viewings. He is a very cerebral villain and is head and shoulders above what one would consider when you think of a villain in a “super hero” movie.
Of course, Ledger’s performance is probably enhanced—just a little bit—by Heath Ledger’s untimely death that was in a single word, sad.
While I know that the Joker has been portrayed by several actors over the years and the mantle will be taken up again, for this particular franchise with Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale, I hope that they will move on to other villains and not revisit the Joker, just to give Ledger all the honor that he deserves. Ledger took a classic villain that had been around for decades but clearly made it his own.
For the first time in a Batman movie, I was more impressed with the villain than with the hero. And given how much of a Batman fan I am, that’s saying something. In the movie, The Joker asked, “Why so serious?” But I can tell you that Ledger’s portrayal was incredibly serious. It was Oscar serious.

Long live the Clown Prince of Crime.