Make Room For ‘Love! Valour! Compassion!’
Editor’s note: Our Generation movie critic Jeff Sackmann couldn’t decide what movie to see recently so he saw five movies. Here are excerpts from his reviews.
I hope it’s apparent that a drama about eight gay men is not typically considered a marketable subject.
So, when the creators of “Love! Valour! Compassion!” set about making their film, they did little to make it very acceptable to the masses. It confronts a variety of controversial and dangerous issues - everything from AIDS to the state of homosexuality in America. But, aside from that, it remains a pleasant story about eight men.
Occasionally it feels like the film is plunging into the despicable area of AIDS-awareness propaganda, but after a comment or two, it always returns to the story, making its point without becoming overly preachy. The plot itself it worth more to the cause than any comment about not enough being done about AIDS.
It’s easy to dismiss a film for its homosexuality slant, but “Love! Valour! Compassion!” is far more interested in human interaction and the characteristics of love. The interplay between the characters is no different than any traditionally married couple on or off film, and the betrayals are just as painful.
Grade: A-
‘Shall We Dance?’
I think that “Shall We Dance?” is the first Japanese movie I’ve ever seen. If everything from Japan is as good, I feel compelled to move there, just for the movies. Since Americanjbred romantic-comedies are usually worthless, with the occasional exception of a “Truth About Cats and Dogs” or “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Shall We Dance” was wonderfully refreshing, and was especially delightful for its clearly non-formulaic story.
Koji Yakusyo stars as Mr. Sugiyama, a bored office worker with a dreary, repetitious life that only depresses him in its unfailing consistency. The one light in his daily life is the sight of Mai (Tamiyo Kusakari), gazing out the window of her dance studio.
Despite his seemingly happy marriage, he develops a crush on Mai and, for lack of a better outlet, he decides to start taking dance lessons at her studio.
In Japan, as the movie points out, public embrace, even when married, is highly frowned upon, so ballroom dancing, often involving embrace between a non-married couple, is even more shameful. It takes some time before Sugiyama gets the hang of dancing, but when he does, he gets very interested in it.
Interested and talented enough that, when one of the instructors at the studio, Toyoko (Eriko Watanabe), wants to participate in a competition, she chooses him for his partner.
All the while, Sugiyama’s wife notices a significant difference in her husband’s moods, and also quickly becomes aware of his lateness on Wednesday nights, when he goes to dance lessons. So she hires a private investigator who eventually follows him and the dancing for free, since he becomes addicted as well. The plot is interesting, constantly surprising, and moves at the speed of light, but the laughs rarely stop either.
Grade: A
‘Event Horizon’
Is it horrifying, or is it horrifyingly bad? “Event Horizon” proves that the two are not mutually exclusive. I’ve seen a lot of bad movies, but never have I seen a suspense movie as truly horrible as “Event Horizon.”
I didn’t expect it to be much more than worthless event movie trash, but I didn’t think it could be this bad. The good part, though, is that I don’t have to waste much time explaining the plot, because there isn’t much of one. Laurence Fishburne stars (well, he’s in it quite a bit - to say he stars might be a stretch) as Captain Miller, a hard-line space craft pilot in the year 2040 on a special mission. Also on his craft is Dr. Weir (Sam Neill), a scientist who built a different space craft that seven years before disappeared near Neptune.
Things didn’t go as planned and the ship comes back after seven years with the message “save me.”
So, Miller and his crew, with the help of Weir, go to save it. When they get there, they find “Event Horizon” to be empty and tomb-like. The crew explores the ship, but it isn’t long before a problem arises. Mr. Justin (Jack Noseworthy) is sucked into something, and he comes back comatose. Also, a few of the other crew members have hallucinatory experiences where they are confronted with their worst fears: one finds herself unable to help her dying son; Weir sees his girlfriend kill herself; and Miller is confronted by a former crew member that died in his command. So, they surmise, the ship knows their fears, and is possibly alive. About this time, Weir becomes horribly evil, declaring that the ship will never let them leave.
Personally, I’d rather be trapped on that ship than be trapped in a theater watching this movie again. For the rest of the movie, the remaining members of the crew periodically die, until only a few remain, to be treated to a mysterious ending.
“Event Horizon” is disgustingly gruesome. There are burned bodies free of their eyeballs, literal waves of blood, and nearly everything in between.
It’s a bad movie built on a poor script and a needless idea.
Grade: F
‘Cop Land’
Cop Land was wonderfully written, perfectly acted, and creatively directed. It just wasn’t as interesting as it should’ve been.
The characterizations were unique and the story line had some potential, but the movie tried to be a dark thriller, which it simply couldn’t achieve.
Sylvester Stallone stars as Freddie Heflin, the sheriff in Garrison, N.J., a suburb of New York City set up by cops who didn’t want to live in the city. Since the town is ruled by big city cops, he has no power. The problem Heflin is faced with, which he really can’t address, is that the town is effectively run by the mob. Most, if not all, of the cops in Garrison are on the take, and no one has enough power to do anything about it, especially a local sheriff.
It feels like the editors cut the movie by 45 minutes too much and those 45 minutes held the secret to the movie.
“Cop Land” hints at greatness, but is barely even good. The plot isn’t strong enough to hold up the suggestions of conspiracy and mob involvement. The two terms are thrown around every once in a while, but there isn’t a thread that holds all the events of the film together.
Grade: B
‘Steel’
I don’t know whether Shaquille O’Neal or Michael Jordan is the better basketball player, but I know that Shaq’s movie is better than Mike’s movie. Shaq had an advantage: he is the only cartoon character in “Steel,” while Jordan was the only non-animated one in “Space Jam.”
Between the two sportsmen’s movies, however, there are some striking similarities. They both played hideously moral and socially-aware characters and take it upon themselves to save the world.
Shaq plays John Henry, a very friendly, very large guy who leaves the Army after an incident that disables his friend Sparks (Annabeth Gish) when another member of his group (Judd Nelson) purposely misuses one of the weapons the group is testing. The weapons are the most advanced in the world, and are effective for combat at one level, and effective for total destruction at another. After the incident, Nelson is forced to leave the army, and sells the technology to an illegal arms dealer, who he promptly kills, taking over his business. To show off the weapons and their effectiveness, Nelson gives them to a local gang to use when robbing a bank and the federal reserve.
John Henry witnesses the first robbery, and becomes gravely concerned about how the weapons got on the streets. He takes it upon himself to rid the gang of the weapons. With the help of Sparks and a friend everyone calls Uncle Joe (Richard Roundtree), he becomes a nice, lean, fighting machine with the technology to out fight and outwit Batman any day.
I assume this movie is aimed at a relatively young crowd: there is no vulgarity, even from the gang members, and no show of affection beyond a hug. Besides a little violence, I’m sure any parents’ association would approve. And best yet, there is a clear moral. I found it kind of obnoxious, but I’m sure others will find it reassuring.
The movie isn’t that good, but it’s good, wholesome entertainment.
Grade: C-
MEMO: You can find the full reviews on Jeff’s home page at http://members.tripod.com/~Jeff Sackmann