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originally printed 02.03.05 in the Eureka, California newspaper The Times-Standard.
Ray plays hide and seek with the Sky Captains million dollar baby.
Million Dollar Baby
Faulk: I'll have to keep my left hand up to ward off blows from Clint Eastwood fans for saying I thought this movie was just all right. As a rule, I usually don't like it when the ending of a movie puts the whole plot leading up to that moment on its ear. That happens in "Million Dollar Baby." A movie should organically evolve and leave the viewer feeling at the end that there is no other way the movie could have ended. There should be a feeling of inevitability, even if the end is a shocker. There wasn't. I also thought the boxer's family was less than believable in its petty clinging to the welfare system. All that being said, Eastwood was good, as was Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank.
Rating: L
Durant: Wow. This movie is far from the female version of Rocky I expected it to be. The previews and the hype don't do it any justice and I thought the Academy was just throwing the movie a bone because Clint Eastwood is getting up there in age. I was completely unprepared for the turn this movie took and now understand, and agree with, the Oscar attention. Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman are outstanding, but it's a little hard to watch Eastwood go through the boxing motions, even though his stiffness adds to his character. The exchanges between Eastwood's character and Freeman's character add some humor, but you don't walk out of this movie with a smile on your face. This one will stick in my head for a while.
Rating: A somber XXL
Hide and Seek
Faulk: The ending twist seemed contrived and reminiscent of another movie I won't mention here. Since the entire film rests on that gamble that the twist will "shock and awe" people there's not much left to say. It was good to see De Niro dabble in horror, but next time I hope he picks a better script. Truthfully, there's always something creepy about little kids in horror flicks innocence combined with preternatural malevolence gives me goose bumps, but that was the only cylinder that fired in this movie. Me no likee.
Rating: M
Durant: Another doozy of a twister. You know its hard to be right about these things without giving away the endings. The twist in this movie is reminiscent of "The Sixth Sense," and I didn't see it coming. The previews make it out to be a horror movie, but I think it's more accurate to put it in the suspense/thriller genre. The pace is slow, but it doesn't take away from the movie in fact it adds to the suspense. Robert De Niro is good I mean its no "Raging Bull," but even Barry Bonds doesn't hit home runs every time he comes to the plate. Very Hitchcockian.
Rating: XL
DVDs
Ray
Faulk: I had wanted to write in this space that Jamie Foxx's performance was overrated. I don't like biting into the hype, but here goes: The dude can act. He takes Ray Charles out of the realm of pop culture mythology and brings him back down to earth. Some see below may say that it was too close to a documentary. But it didn't unfold like a documentary, and the story centered around Charles' addiction to heroin, thereby anchoring it to an arc of plot development. So far, my Oscar favorite.
Rating: XXL
Durant: Jamie Foxx is Ray Charles, and that's about it for this movie. Another film that's like a Ken Burns jazz episode or something. I'm not a huge Ray Charles fan I don't dislike his music, but I never got into him that much, so maybe that's my problem. Now having seen most of the Oscar best actor movies, I don't see theres anyway Foxx won't win win the Best Actor Award. Some jumped right on the bandwagon see above but I jumped off about halfway through the film. It was somewhat disappointing.
Rating: L/T
Sky Captain, and the World of Tomorrow
Faulk: In the theater, this movie was much more impressive. Still, even on the TV screen, the campy art deco styling and film noir approach was enjoyable. It represents a welcome departure in filmmaking and was a kind of hybrid between "Superman" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" without too blatantly being a copy of either. I smell franchise. And action figures.
Rating: XL
Durant: Maybe I was just in a bad mood when I watched this, but I actually hated this film. It was pretty and had all that special effects crap, but the dialogue was weak and the conflict was too Lucas/Spielberg to not be a Lucas/Spielberg movie. It blatantly ripped off about 20 other good films, like "Star Wars," the Indiana Jones trilogy, "Romancing the Stone" and even the "Matrix." I'm sure kids will get a kick out of it, but it was in the tail end of four movies in a two-day binge. I don't even want to talk about it anymore!
Rating: M, for the special effects only
DVDs provided by McKinleyville Figueiredo's.
Top Five Clint Eastwood films
Durant:
1: Escape From Alcatraz
2: Million Dollar Baby
3: Dirty Harry
4: Every Which Way But Loose
5: Heartbreak Ridge
Faulk:
1: Unforgiven
2: Honkytonk Man
3: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
4: Hang 'em High
5: Every Which Way But Loose
7:00 PM
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