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Reviews96
darkjosh's rating
Al Pacino has always been known and rewarded for his loud, showy, abrasive, and larger-than-life characters. He's garnered Oscar nominations for big, in-your-face roles such as in Dick Tracy and The Godfather, and finally won for Scent of a Woman, in which his gargantuan, wild performance literally carried an otherwise average film. That's why it's such a shock and treat to see him playing the lead character, Detective Will Dormer, in Insomnia as a man so lost and broken in spirit that you can see the failure, defeat, and exhaustion on his face. This isn't a variation of his shouting, impassioned, bordering-on-caricature personas; it's a performance of subtlety and depth as he slowly becomes bogged down by both guilt and lack of sleep. In short, it may be Pacino's best performance of his career.
L. A. detectives Will Dormer and partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) arrive in the small Alaskan town of Nightmute (sumptuously photographed) to assist local police in the murder of a young girl. The town is in the middle of a 6-month period of constant twilight, with the sun never going down and light pervading all, adding to Dormer's sleeplessness. Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank, in a perfunctory role), a rookie cop, serves as their guide and helps with the investigation. Dormer and Eckhart are in conflict; Eckhart threaten sto give information to the LAPD about misconduct on Dormer's part. During a chase for the killer, Dormer accidentally shoots his partner. The killer sees this, and uses it to blackmail him into helping him flee police capture.
At the midway point, the murderer is revealed, and is played by Robin Williams. Again, here is a performer known for his energetic and spontaneous work in a variety of comedy and family films. Under Nolan's direction, Williams turns in a creepy cool performace, underplaying his role and imbuing the character with an intangible, offbeat quality. With the two main performers doing such quality work, it's sad that Hillary Swanks' role was not more fleshed out. Her job is too basically be in peril when the script calls for it or act suspicious. It's not so much that it's a poorly written character, it's just that a great performer deserves a great role.
Director Christopher Nolan has directed another fine thriller with Insomnia. Of course its much more conventional than Memento, but that's to be expected and really can't be held against a top-notch mindgame such as this. He gets fantastic performances out of his cast, especially Pacino with his masterful onscreen deterioration of his character. A well-paced and engrossing film, with just the right amount of action and a fascinating and thoughtful psychological dance between the two main characters. Nolan is filling the niche he carved himself in the suspense genre with more quality work.
8 out of 10
L. A. detectives Will Dormer and partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donovan) arrive in the small Alaskan town of Nightmute (sumptuously photographed) to assist local police in the murder of a young girl. The town is in the middle of a 6-month period of constant twilight, with the sun never going down and light pervading all, adding to Dormer's sleeplessness. Ellie Burr (Hillary Swank, in a perfunctory role), a rookie cop, serves as their guide and helps with the investigation. Dormer and Eckhart are in conflict; Eckhart threaten sto give information to the LAPD about misconduct on Dormer's part. During a chase for the killer, Dormer accidentally shoots his partner. The killer sees this, and uses it to blackmail him into helping him flee police capture.
At the midway point, the murderer is revealed, and is played by Robin Williams. Again, here is a performer known for his energetic and spontaneous work in a variety of comedy and family films. Under Nolan's direction, Williams turns in a creepy cool performace, underplaying his role and imbuing the character with an intangible, offbeat quality. With the two main performers doing such quality work, it's sad that Hillary Swanks' role was not more fleshed out. Her job is too basically be in peril when the script calls for it or act suspicious. It's not so much that it's a poorly written character, it's just that a great performer deserves a great role.
Director Christopher Nolan has directed another fine thriller with Insomnia. Of course its much more conventional than Memento, but that's to be expected and really can't be held against a top-notch mindgame such as this. He gets fantastic performances out of his cast, especially Pacino with his masterful onscreen deterioration of his character. A well-paced and engrossing film, with just the right amount of action and a fascinating and thoughtful psychological dance between the two main characters. Nolan is filling the niche he carved himself in the suspense genre with more quality work.
8 out of 10
After delving into a different dimension with Fight Club, David Fincher has returned to the genre that helped realize his brilliance. Panic Room brings Fincher back into the suspense game, directing Jodie Foster in a thriller that finds her forced to retreat into the room of said title.
David Koepp (Stir of Echoes) scripts this potboiler about a recently divorced mother (Foster) and her diabetic daughter (Kristen Stewart) move into a New York home whose previous owner had a panic room built in; basically it's a room surrounded by steel and filled with surveillance monitors, medical kits, and water to last for days. It's a good thing, too, since on their first night, three burglars (played well by Whitaker, Leto, and Yoakam) break in, attempting to find a fortune that's been hidden in, of course, the room.
Foster is used to playing strong women roles, but she's never come off as being more resourceful as in Panic Room. She makes her character seem like less a victim than a force to be reckoned with, and instead ably matches her captors. Whitaker, Leto, and Yoakam all play their parts convincingly as the intelligent, strategic, and violent burglars, respectively. The only role that comes off as a plot device is the daughter, who seems to be there not as a character but more a hinderance to the film's heroine.
Fincher is a master of suspense, and there are droves of it as Foster smartly and able participates in a game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. She comes up with clever and effective ways of dealing with them, which I won't reveal here. Suffice to say there are many moments when the audience is riveted to the screen and also never feels as if the movie is becoming an implausible eye-roller. Panic Room isn't near Fincher's other work, but still is a tense, above average thriller.
7 out of 10
David Koepp (Stir of Echoes) scripts this potboiler about a recently divorced mother (Foster) and her diabetic daughter (Kristen Stewart) move into a New York home whose previous owner had a panic room built in; basically it's a room surrounded by steel and filled with surveillance monitors, medical kits, and water to last for days. It's a good thing, too, since on their first night, three burglars (played well by Whitaker, Leto, and Yoakam) break in, attempting to find a fortune that's been hidden in, of course, the room.
Foster is used to playing strong women roles, but she's never come off as being more resourceful as in Panic Room. She makes her character seem like less a victim than a force to be reckoned with, and instead ably matches her captors. Whitaker, Leto, and Yoakam all play their parts convincingly as the intelligent, strategic, and violent burglars, respectively. The only role that comes off as a plot device is the daughter, who seems to be there not as a character but more a hinderance to the film's heroine.
Fincher is a master of suspense, and there are droves of it as Foster smartly and able participates in a game of cat-and-mouse with the thieves. She comes up with clever and effective ways of dealing with them, which I won't reveal here. Suffice to say there are many moments when the audience is riveted to the screen and also never feels as if the movie is becoming an implausible eye-roller. Panic Room isn't near Fincher's other work, but still is a tense, above average thriller.
7 out of 10
Probably the most distinct element about Hearts in Atlantis is the way it provokes emotion through atmosphere more than with, what is, a weak narrative pull. It is doused in a haze of memory and nostalgia, of fear and the unknown. Director Scott Hicks seems busy in recreating the 1950's era, but the emotional tug that is expected never really hits a high note.
Hearts in Atlantis stars Anton Yelchin as Bobby, a young boy living in rural middle America with his neglectful mother (Hope Davis), when an older man named Ted (the inimitable Anthony Hopkins) arrives to live in the suite above their home. Bobby and Ted soon become friends, and Ted hires him for $1 a week to read the paper to him. The true purpose for hiring him, Ted reveals, is to inform him of "the Low Men," people looking for him because of Ted's strange quality to foresee the future.
Stephen King penned the novel, but the movie has more to do with the relationship between Bobby and Ted than the supernatural. It's actually more in the vein of Stand By Me. In fact, were it not for the psychic overtones, Hearts in Atlantis could have easily played out as a straight, coming-of-age drama. Instead, the shift in tone misleads the audience with a schizophrenic mood that switches back and forth between dramatic arcs and hints of otherworldliness, making for, unfortunately a rather dissatisfying payoff.
Both Hopkins and Yelchin are in fine form, making up for the uneven lulls in storytelling, with fine performances. Hopkins excels at the these sort of father-type, knowledgeable roles, and newcomer Yelchin complements him with a believable heartfelt turn as the stalwart, courageous Bobby. Hope Davis is suitably (yet one-dimensional) icy as his self-absorbed mother), and as Bobby's girlfriend, Boorem more than holds her own.
Hearts in Atlantis is not near the caliber of King's other mainstream works that have reached the big screen, such as The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile. It is still, however, a quiet, gentle, and well-acted and shot coming-of-age story. With the supernatural backstory eschewed and a keener eye for character, this could have been a truly heart-tugging, powerful film, instead of only being strewn here and there with real emotion.
7 out of 10
Hearts in Atlantis stars Anton Yelchin as Bobby, a young boy living in rural middle America with his neglectful mother (Hope Davis), when an older man named Ted (the inimitable Anthony Hopkins) arrives to live in the suite above their home. Bobby and Ted soon become friends, and Ted hires him for $1 a week to read the paper to him. The true purpose for hiring him, Ted reveals, is to inform him of "the Low Men," people looking for him because of Ted's strange quality to foresee the future.
Stephen King penned the novel, but the movie has more to do with the relationship between Bobby and Ted than the supernatural. It's actually more in the vein of Stand By Me. In fact, were it not for the psychic overtones, Hearts in Atlantis could have easily played out as a straight, coming-of-age drama. Instead, the shift in tone misleads the audience with a schizophrenic mood that switches back and forth between dramatic arcs and hints of otherworldliness, making for, unfortunately a rather dissatisfying payoff.
Both Hopkins and Yelchin are in fine form, making up for the uneven lulls in storytelling, with fine performances. Hopkins excels at the these sort of father-type, knowledgeable roles, and newcomer Yelchin complements him with a believable heartfelt turn as the stalwart, courageous Bobby. Hope Davis is suitably (yet one-dimensional) icy as his self-absorbed mother), and as Bobby's girlfriend, Boorem more than holds her own.
Hearts in Atlantis is not near the caliber of King's other mainstream works that have reached the big screen, such as The Shawshank Redemption or The Green Mile. It is still, however, a quiet, gentle, and well-acted and shot coming-of-age story. With the supernatural backstory eschewed and a keener eye for character, this could have been a truly heart-tugging, powerful film, instead of only being strewn here and there with real emotion.
7 out of 10