this horror movie, darkness falls, about the "tooth fairy," a 150-years dead and deformed nice-old-lady-turned-vengeful spirit, is not as bad as other movies i've seen in the last year. but it does almost stink, if not on ice.
the plot is very stephen king-like and so is the setting, coastal maine, but that is where the similarities end. not that stephen king movies are ever what they could have been, but this story doesn't even meet the same level of actual scariness as sleepwalkers, and that film was awfully stupid.
the story focuses on a ghost that will kill whomever sees her face and only comes out at night and hides in the dark. now, stephen king is afraid of the dark, from what i understand, but this film tries to create a rational reason for scotophobia or nyctophobia, the irrational fear of night and darkness, by explaining that all scotophobes and unsolved murders in the region around darkness falls, maine, are connected to the curse of the wrongfully-accused and horribly deformed woman, nicknamed the tooth fairy for her penchant for giving local children a gold coin for their baby teeth.
i'm tired of describing the film. suffice to say, it wasn't good enough to pay any money for, and i'm glad i didn't, but it can kill an afternoon just fine if you want to borrow it from the library as i did and like an overly curious preteen you can't follow the advice, "don't peek."
for a first time director, billy crystal doesn't do too bad a job in presenting the story of the race to beat babe ruth's single season homerun record between teammates mickey mantle and roger maris. following a yankee victory in the world series and maris being named american league mvp, the year promised to be something, but no one had an inkling that the two yankees would both be on a course to break the record.
the story contrasts the two players. mantle, the rakish and charismatic star of the team is the almost polar opposite of the quiet family man maris. the only thing they seem to have in common are blond hair and rural roots. oh, and they can both hit the long ball. a rivalry is purported to be between them in the papers while the two develop an unlikely friendship.
the two are also linked by burdens put upon them by the press and public. mantle, the man of the people and the darling of all new york city and its reporters, is shouldering the expectations of an entire city and baseball franchise. while maris bears the black mark of not being personable to the reporters who scald him in the papers as a surly hick from the sticks of fargo, north dakota.
barry pepper turns in a fabulous performance as maris, subtly portraying the taciturn and worried, earnest and humble demeanor which put maris on the wrong side of a demanding publicity machine. thomas jane puts forth a truly charming mantle. and crystal is perhaps too sympathetic to the all-but unknown sports legend and his underappreciated accomplishment in breaking the babe's mark.
the story is bracketed in the 1998 homerun race between sammy sosa and the man who made the new single-season record, mark mcgwire and this may be the only weakness to the story. the intentional poignancy of this backdrop for the story as remembered by mrs. pat maris, the yankee's widow, (played by pat crowley), is a bit heavy-handed and tale of the "m&m boys" and their race for the record in the summer of 1961 could have stood on its own without ms. crowley tearfully watching mcgwire break the record and make his press conference on the television screen from her hospital bed. but overall, the story and portrayals are strong and i enjoyed learning, albeit rosy-coloredly, the story of that exceptional summer.
just so you know, and make no mistake, "one night at mccool's" is a horrible film. i'm convinced that if liv tyler had not starred in it, that it would never have even made it to direct-to-video release.
i cannot more strongly recommend that no fans of paul reiser, matt dillon, john goodman, michael douglas, andrew dice clay, or eric schaeffer see this movie.
i'm serious, this movie is almost as bad as "very bad things."
'mondo', the second film in the gypsy trilogy by tony gatlif, is maudlin and at times too obviously purposeful in its attempts at metaphor.
the story of a homeless or runaway gypsy child in the french port of nice it is another visually captivating and enigmatic voyage to the eye and mind of director tony gatlif. the acting is wonderful and the boy portraying the film's title character is rapturously cute. but the film at times drifts unapologetically into the fantasies and dreams of the boy, mondo, and it is often inconsistent in its apparent message, which might be that life is meant to be lived free, or it might be that we all belong to one another.
but the greatest weakness of this film may be in its mistreatment of this adorable urchin. illiterate and parentless, mondo is treated lightly and indifferently by both his fellow characters in the french port city of nice and by the director. the only characters in this film that mondo makes any real connection to are themselves outcasts and immigrants and are completely powerless to actually to affect his greater welfare or their own.
i am not an advocate for the hollywood ending, nor for a contrived closure of the conflicts and miseries of a film about life, i was just left absolutely unhappy by this film.
maybe this bleak impotence in the grand schemes of life is the theme of this film, and this is too grievous for me to embrace.
wow. who knew the story of gypsy migration could be so fascinatingly musical or relaxing?
'latcho drom', or 'safe journey' in english, by tony gatlif is beautifully directed and visually stunning in its story of the migration of gypsies or 'rom' from out of india, across the middle east, north africa, and over southern europe, told through the music of each of these different communities. but it's very hard to suss out for the first couple of segments that you are following the migration through time and over land. i didn't really pick up on the fact that there is no actual story, just a visual and musical drift through the changes for gypsies over time and geography, until the romanian segment.
don't get me wrong, the music is great. and, as i stated before, the visuals are captivating and beautiful. just make sure that if you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound on this film. it's not as short as it could be and there truly is no plot.
i fell asleep twice while watching the film, but my dreams were incredibly captivating and musical.