Wired.

Review #2145: Wired.

Cast: 

Michael Chiklis (John Belushi), Ray Sharkey (Angel Velasquez), J. T. Walsh (Bob Woodward), Patti D'Arbanville (Cathy Smith), Lucinda Jenney (Judy Belushi), Alex Rocco (Arnie Fromson), Gary Groomes (Dan Aykroyd), Jere Burns (Lou Connors), and Clyde Kusatsu (Coroner) Directed by Larry Peerce.

Review: 

Why don't we get this out of the way early: the 1984 book that the film is based on is pretty much thought to be a load of crap. The story goes that Bob Woodward was approached to write a biography of John Belushi because he happened to be raised in Wheaton, Illinois, the same place that Belushi had been raised in. Several people were interviewed for the book such as Judith Belushi Pisano, Dan Aykroyd, and James Belushi, but the end result was thought by several friends and associates of Belushi to be exploitative, particularly since a handful of the anecdotes are presented with little to no context (for example, a moment of Belushi being nervous about doing a love scene that saw him stall by coming up with various funny names for a certain body part is written by Woodward as just being an "inappropriate prelude"). Fun fact: this is the only Woodward book that doesn't involve political figures in any shape or form. Pisano wrote her own book about her life with Belushi in 1990 called Samurai Widow and then co-wrote the biography Belushi: A Biography with Tanner Colby in 2005. Anyway, back to the garbage process of novel-to-film. Woodward wanted to sell the rights to the book for film as fast as 1984 but apparently ran into trouble because he claimed nobody in Hollywood wanted to do it because it had "too much truth in it." Years later, Edward S. Feldman and Charles R. Meeker bought the rights for roughly $300,000 before putting money into funding the project to go with a New Zealand conglomerate named Lion Nathan. Woodward served as a technical advisor behind the scenes while Earl Mac Rauch wrote the screenplay in his fourth and final screenplay, with the most noted one probably being his adaptation of his 1984 novel Buckaroo Banzai. The film was directed by Larry Peerce, who directed a handful of television and features, whether that was Goodbye, Columbus (1969) or a handful of historical works such as Elvis and Me (1988, TV) or A Woman Named Jackie (1991, TV). This is currently the last feature film directed by Peerce.

The film has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray, and the only way one could see the film on home media was a videocassette was released by International Video Entertainment. Whether you could consider me lucky or demented, I did find a bootleg copy on the Internet to view this film that looks, well, let's just say that when Plan 9 from Outer Space has been given more attention for detailing, you really made a bad movie. For a film that was made for $13 million, the box office returns in its release (which took a year from finishing production due to lack of interest from distributors, which may have been influenced by a certain agent in the Creative Artists Agency) was monumentally terrible and incredibly predictable. I suppose Dan Aykroyd really did put a curse on the film. For 112 minutes, you get a film that is incredibly terrible in all the ways that matter most, because it honestly feels like someone thought they were being really clever in trying to make a "surreal" sort of biopic without understanding anything that made the subject matter interesting to begin with. Never does one hear about Belushi's work for The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Never does one really see how Belushi met Aykroyd (the film just shows them together just like that). Never does one really get a feel that Belushi had that many friends to begin with (Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, just to drop a few). Chiklis apparently went through dozens of auditions before being cast, and he really thought this would be a big thing for him. Instead, he had to deal with questions of "am I going to not find work after this?" The fact that he actually went to Jim Belushi years later to apologize speaks volumes about just where all things rest when it comes to regrets and ideas. At least Chiklis managed to eventually carve a career out of the ashes, which included lead roles in TV such as The Commish and The Shield (the former saw him play a character ten years older than he really was).  It's easy to say he has the best performance of the film, but it really isn't that good to begin with. It has that strange cadence that seems a bit too puffed in scenes that should have emotional weight and also seems a bit too out-of-depth when it comes to the "sketch recreations". But when you are paired with such vaunted efforts like a guardian angel character played by Sharkey (best known for TV's Wiseguy), the bar is low because no one pulls in a useful performance. I can't fathom going with a guardian angel angle for a biopic that was made by someone who probably thought a mugging was needed for It's a Wonderful Life. Sharkey has no range to do anything with this role beyond the obvious. Walsh meanders through the film asking questions that make a curious experiment to see someone play the author of the book that is being adapted when one knows the book reeks of slime. I can't tell who comes off worse, Walsh or Bernstein (the irony is that because he was in this film, Aykroyd got Walsh fired from Loose Cannons (1990), a movie with its own odious reputation). The movie is flat in every way even when it comes to its attempts at an anti-drug angle, and this is a movie that features Belushi rise from the morgue table to go along with another scene of people trying to fit the casket into a plane and failing. This is cinematic excrement, one that fails at telling a story of its subject in any sort of coherent matter. The tragedy of John Belushi is that he was covered for a book and film that didn't treat him or the people around him with any sort of respect, and time has only made the film and novel relegated into the obscure-bin where it belongs.

Overall, I give it 1 out of 10 stars.

Next: Breen awaits.

Rain Man.

Review #1488: Rain Man.

Cast:
Dustin Hoffman (Raymond "Ray" Babbitt), Tom Cruise (Charles "Charlie" Babbitt), Valeria Golino (Susanna), Jerry Molen (Dr. Bruner), Ralph Seymour (Lenny), Michael D. Roberts (Vern), Bonnie Hunt (Sally Dibbs), Beth Grant (Mother at Farm House), and Lucinda Jenney (Iris) Directed by Barry Levinson (#383 - The Natural and #561 - Diner)

Review:
"On a day-to-day basis, he's like an actor who's making his first movie, with the enthusiasm and energy to want to make things happen and try things and experiment."

Winners can come out of nowhere when it comes to film, and it takes several individuals and some luck to really make something meaningful. Rain Man is no exception. Its director was Barry Levinson. He started his way in show business through writing for comedy and variety shows, most notably for The Carol Burnett Show. He soon moved to writing for films, collaborating with others on a few films such as Street Girls (1975), Silent Movie (1976), and ...And Justice for All (1979). He made his directorial debut in features with Diner (1982), which he drew from experiences living in Baltimore, Maryland. The film found first life with the script of Barry Morrow, who had met Kim Peek, a megasavant that had exceptional memory on a considerable scale but also social difficulties. He had previously known Bill Sackter, a mentally disabled man that had spent 44 years in a mental institution for those thought a "burden on society" before working his way through a variety of jobs that led to the two meeting and eventually becoming Sackter's guardian. Both of these individuals played inspiration in Morrow's writing, which later had screenplay contributions by Ronald Bass (who finished just before a writer's strike). Three directors came and went before Levinson signed on, which included Martin Brest, Steven Spielberg, and Sydney Pollack. Hoffman would study Peek along with spending time with autistic individuals (coincidentally, he had worked at the New York Psychiatric Institute as a young adult) and compiling notes. Oddly enough, he actually wanted to quit early into filming, believing the early rushes to be his worst work.

Sometimes a film really does just find the proper road to one's heart. It was a good film in a year with other good movies that found an audience (whether it's your favorite film of that particular year or not is up to you). What we have here is a road movie, but it is one with two enterprising stars spending time with each other with a meaningful and fairly-guided foundation that achieves a majority of what it aims as a story of bonding. I think we all know at one least one person like Raymond or Charlie in our lives (I used to have an autistic friend myself), and it is watching their journey of discovery that makes something more than what could have been exploited for elaboration or over-sentiment- in other words, it's a movie about people that would've either been an interesting consideration in a previous decade or overanalyzed in a later one (now we might just yammer on about how not all autistic people are savants, which misses the whole point of daring to make a film about someone like Raymond in the first place). We first start with Cruise, enterprising and alluringly arrogant in dealing with others that make an interesting performance for the yuppie crowd that grows with you. Hoffman, with a quieter voice and a bit of a shuffled walk that makes a worthwhile performance of someone in the spectrum of life different from what we know that we care to appreciate over the course of the film, being in his own world that we can understand about. The film is really just for these two, but Golino makes a fair impression regardless. What matters most to the film in holding up is how we feel about this particular duo and their journey together as human beings. For the most part, the film works in that regard, going from place to place with little moments of appreciation we feel about these folks. They go through different but similar pathways on the long winding road without becoming a lightning rod for stereotypes and ableist bleating. Probably the most effective sequence is the dance sequence, where they just share a moment as brothers shuffling their feet. By the time they finish their quiet but meaningful last words with each other, we might reflect ourselves on what it really means to know someone and maybe smile a bit.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: What Dreams May Come.

Review #627: What Dreams May Come.

Cast
Robin Williams (Christopher Nielsen), Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Albert Lewis), Annabella Sciorra (Annie Collins-Nielsen), Max von Sydow (The Tracker), Jessica Brooks Grant (Marie Nielsen), Josh Paddock (Ian Nielsen), Rosalind Chao (Leona), and Lucinda Jenney (Mrs. Jacobs) Directed by Vincent Ward.

Review
This is a personal review for me, but I do imagine this film can be personal for others as well. My father had bought the DVD for this film about a few years ago, my father loved buying movies (especially Westerns), he was probably the reason I watched movies, with or without him, in fact this show started with a film he bought, I still wonder what he would think of this show if he were still here today. Why I am telling this story, you ask? Because sometimes telling a story helps when dealing with someone else's death, in this case the recent death of Robin Williams yesterday. I won't talk about that because honestly that's too sad to talk about, especially in the middle of a review of one of his movies. What Dreams May Come sometimes feels more like an experience than a movie, it sometimes feels like a movie that shows you the essence of one's dreams, showing us beauty with the paintings. The effects for this movie are really beautiful to watch, they capture the essence of imagination, and it works especially in a film like this. The acting is well done, especially by Williams, who was a good comedian, but he also could be really skilled at portraying dramatic characters, especially this one. The story is somewhat assembled weirdly, but at least the movie is enjoyable, and it all stems from the wonderful cast (Gooding is also fun to watch) and the effects. This is a bittersweet review; the movie is good, though I found myself tearing up a bit inside, the movie has its moments of struggle, and given Williams' death, it's amplified here. My father probably liked this film, and I imagine he also had a good time with it as well. No matter what project Williams was in, he always managed to make us smile.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Thinner.

Review #614: Thinner.

Cast
Robert John Burke (Billy Halleck), Joe Mantegna (Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli), Lucinda Jenney (Heidi Halleck), Michael Constantine (Tadzu Lempke), Kari Wührer (Gina Lempke), Bethany Joy Lenz (Linda Halleck), Daniel von Bargen (Chief Duncan Hopley), and John Horton (Judge Cary Rossington) Directed by Tom Holland.

Review
You want a movie that goes over the top and manages to be outrageously insane while having 0 likable characters? This is the movie for you. The movie is based off the book of the same name by Stephen King (who even has a cameo in this movie), and indeed it does feel like a silly adaptation of a novel, but at least this movie is laughable to watch. I can't decide if Burke is worse in this or in Robocop 3, but arguing over which role had more emotion when one is a robot and not being able to have an answer is troubling. For some reason Burke looks like Jiminy Glick in the overweight scenes, though at least the effects for when he gets thin are decent. The cast is okay, but their characters are unlikeable which means that anytime something happens to them, you're left not caring about what happens to them. Even the guy who curses Billy is unlikable, the whole plot of revenge is mediocre at this point. The way that Billy manages to get rid of the curse is stupid (really? Putting his blood into a pie? It's from the novel, but still.), but I guess all curses could be solved by pies. Especially pecan pies. What we've got is a mediocre movie that runs short enough to where you'll forget about it after a few hours, with effects that are probably better than the characters, and it makes you want to eat pie. So I guess it makes sense, especially that last part.

Overall, I give it 4 out of 10 stars.