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Chappaquiddick (2017)
A Riveting Ride
I and a lady friend watched Chappaquiddick last night in a Santa Monica theater. We sat in our seats utterly transfixed as if witnessing, for the first time, a slow-motion reel of the Hindenburg disaster. Given the nature of Hollywood one expected heavy dollops of exculpatory 'nuance' but, astonishingly, the movie gives it to Ted Kennedy good and hard. He's depicted as none too bright and near-psychopathic in his self-absorption. A burgeoning alcohol problem is evident.
The Australian actor, Jason Clarke, in addition to resembling Kennedy, offers a convincing incarnation even as his Boston brogue tunes in and out. With a single exception, the members of Kennedy's faithful 'brain trust' come off as genuinely frightening with their calculating and morality-free counsel.
Questions remain. Was Kennedy having an affair with Mary Jo Kopechne, one of the "Boiler Room Girls"? Did the two enjoy, on that warm summer evening, a sexual dalliance prior to arriving at the bridge? Kennedy's account of the timeline was found to be full of contradictions and Kopechne's body was retrieved minus her underwear. It was quickly cremated, advantage Team Kennedy. The film's depiction of her as a lovely, classy young woman full of promise may or may not be mythical. We'll never know. John Farrar was the captain of the Edgartown Fire Rescue unit and the diver who recovered Kopechne's body. He reported:
It looked as if she were holding herself up to get a last breath of air. It was a consciously assumed position.... She didn't drown. She died of suffocation in her own air void. It took her at least three or four hours to die. I could have had her out of that car twenty-five minutes after I got the call. But he (Ted Kennedy} didn't call.
The senator didn't report the fatal car accident for 10 hours. But he got a lucky break. On the evening of July 18, 1969, most Americans were home absorbed watching television reports on the progress of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission.
The Kennedys are/were the ultimate Teflon political dynasty.Are we permitted to speculate if the driver had been a Republican politico or a scion of the Bush family? According to the Camelot script, Kennedy was to run for President while the loyal knights of the realm would drop everything and rally to the last, unmartyred brother. He tried but failed, never fully recovering from that incident on the bridge. But his loyal Massachusetts constituents sent him back to the Senate six times.
Byron Allen, the mogul whose company released the film, hinted that several Kennedy allies sought to deep-six the project.
"Unfortunately, there are some very powerful people who tried to put pressure on me not to release this movie. They went out of their way to try and influence me in a negative way. I made it very clear that I'm not about the Right, I'm not about the Left. I'm about the truth."
O.J.: Made in America (2016)
Absorbing and flawed
Made in America, though lengthy, is far more compelling than the recent biopic with the egregiously miscast Cuba Gooding. My issue with this documentary is the constant hammering-ad nauseum- on the viewer with the racial background; the Watts riot, Rodney King, the LAPD, etc. OJ was a charismatic black superstar who chose to live in a white world with a blonde wife and almost exclusively white friends. Certainly not a crime but, and this is now forgotten, he was much criticised for this by the black community. A race martyr, he wasn't.
I live in LA a few miles from the Bundy crime scene and my brother-in-law used to play tennis with OJ's buddy, Al Cowlings. I ran into Al at a local market a few days after the Bronco chase. I didn't crank up the courage to ask him if OJ 'did it'. The most salient recollection was my right hand disappearing into his huge mitt when we shook hands.
24: Live Another Day (2014)
Wait and see...
The first five seasons of 24 remain, in this reviewer's opinion, the gold standard of the series in terms of intelligence, creativity, casting and emotional resonance; arguably the most riveting television ever. I gave them all ten stars, ranking up in the stratosphere with ground breaking TV series like The Sopranos, The Wire and Breaking Bad.
These seasons were very much the product of writer, co-creator and self- described Hollywood right-winger Joel Surnow and were adept at reversing liberal expectations, for example providing a villainous-and black- First Lady, and imposing agonizing choices on the protagonists. When Surnow's full time commitment ended following the masterful fifth season the franchise shed a dozen IQ points. But 24 still scored as more entertaining than your average fare thanks to the compelling- if arduous- format he devised with Robert Cochran and the always reliable Kiefer Sutherland.
Critics and many fans considered Season 6, featuring Jack Bauer's pathological family (who knew?), a misfire. The chastened producers were determined to right the ship and the first half of Season 7, set in Washington DC,re-captured some of the old magic (Surnow agreed to return as exec-producer for the fist eight episodes) before entropy set in and the show collapsed into terminal silliness (those ridiculous missiles!). NYC based Season 8 proved a disappointment although the final episodes were admittedly thrilling even as Jack stepped out of character in his quest for vengeance.
Only two episodes in, one is impressed with the driving energy of Season 9. It resembles an expertly constructed amusement park ride. But the quieter, character defining moments are not much in evidence- so far. Condensing the number of episodes down to twelve may to blame, but showing Jack Bauer's conflicted nature is essential.. I'll keep an open mind and may revisit this review later.
Incidentally, I and a friend ran into Sutherland last year in an LA supermarket parking lot. He was loading his SUV (natch) with grocery bags. A very personable, down to earth man.
World War Z (2013)
Superb
Never mind the naysayers, this Z flic is stupendous; intelligent, gripping, even touching in certain parts. One senses a certain fatigue with the Undead trope- movies dating back to the 60s and a popular TV series. Granted, this one doesn't follow the book, there were deleted scenes and (apparently) numerous rewrites during production but the final product stands on its own and merits a sequel. Judge it as a stand alone.
Pitt contributes a solid performance minus the customary superhero excesses and Daniella Kertesz, as the wounded Israeli soldier, comes off as courageous yet heartbreakingly vulnerable.
There's little gore and the CGI effects and set pieces, for example the scenes within the walled off city of Jerusalem, are stunning. The Zombies inspire genuine fright. Unlike the shuffling ghouls in Walking Dead, for example, these guys go for your throat sprinting.
I read Brook's novel and appreciated the sophisticated geopolitical take. But, let's be honest, the fact that it consists essentially of vignettes and post facto interviews with survivors of Z encounters renders it less than ideal for film treatment.
24 (2001)
Season 8, mild spoilers
The first five seasons of 24 remain, in this reviewer's opinion, the gold standard of the series in terms of intelligence, creativity, casting and emotional resonance; arguably the most riveting television ever. I gave them all 10 stars. These were very much the product of writer, co-creator and self-described Hollywood right-winger Joel Surnow and were adept at reversing liberal expectations, for example featuring a villainous-and black- First Lady, and imposing agonizing choices on the protagonists. When Surnow's full time commitment ended following the fifth season the franchise shed a dozen IQ points. But 24 still scored as more entertaining than your average fare thanks to the compelling format he devised with Robert Cochran and the always reliable Kiefer Sutherland.
Critics and many fans considered Season 6, featuring Jack Bauer's pathological family (who knew?), a misfire. The chastened producers were determined to right the ship and the first half of Season 7, set in Washington DC, re-captured some of the old magic (Surnow returned as exec- producer for the fist eight episodes) before entropy set in and the show collapsed into terminal silliness (those ridiculous missiles!).
Season 8, now re-located to New York City, starts lethargically but generates electricity as it builds. CTU resurfaces in a whiz-bang setting and Sutherland contributes a driving performance, some say to the point of stepping out of character and damaging the Bauer brand in his character's quest for vengeance. The season makes little use of NYC exteriors but that doesn't much matter as the bulk of the action plays out, in traditional 24 style, inside offices, parking structures, warehouses and behind the tinted windows of SUVs. Heavy demands are placed on the viewer's common sense (the early seasons sold their improbabilities better) and plot warhorses stampede again, e.g. 'the mole', but you get your money's worth. Get ready for Season 9...