The Ringer
REVIEWED 01/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Probably the best aspect of this otherwise fairly pedantic and disappointing comedy from screenwriter turned director Barry W. Blaustein ('Beyond the Mat' (1999)) is that it strives to show that people with special needs can be just as humourously sneaky and snarky as anyone else. In other words, it acknowledges that all people are human and runs with it. Not nearly far enough, nor soon enough, though. The sad part is, despite this ninety-four minute flick flaunting an endorsement from the American Special Olympics Committee on its poster and providing some vaguely bright moments for debuting challenged actor Edward Barbanell as Billy, 'The Ringer' still overtly relies on a main cast that includes Bill Chott ('Dude, Where's My Car?' (2000), 'Dante's Inferno' (2006)), Geoffrey Arend ('Bubble Boy' (2001), 'Garden State' (2004)) and Vancouver's Jed Rees ('Galaxy Quest' (1999), 'Men with Brooms' (2002)) who actually aren't developmentally challenged, to portray many of the primary athletes depicted as such at the Games held in Texas here, where klutzy and unfulfilled cubicle worker Steve Barker (Johnny Knoxville; 'Men in Black II' (2002), 'The Dukes of Hazzard' (2005)) is cornered by his unscrupulous Uncle Gary (Brian Cox; 'X-Men 2' (2003), 'Red Eye' (2005)) to help rig the event on the track and field, in order to clear Gary's gambling debts and cover the uninsured surgical reattachment of Barker's new gardener's fingers.

Uh, yeah. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a negative review of the film based on quotas of appropriateness, it's just not a memorably entertaining or particularly impressive effort over-all. The tired idea feels borrowed and lazily expanded upon from Steve Martin's Ruprecht scene in 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' (1988), but with only one big laugh involving an insensed priest to justify its existance. Hugely ridiculous contrivances bloat this intentionally politically incorrect and yet predominantly unfunny feature, including Knoxville's character easily ending up becoming an unverified Special Olympics participant merely by talking in a dopey voice that resembles that of the cat from television's animated 'Ren & Stimpy Show' while feigning what passes as "highly functional, developmentally disadvantaged" for aggravatingly naive volunteer supervisor turned unwitting love interest Lynn Sheridan (Katherine Heigl; 'Bride of Chucky' (1998), 'Valentine' (2001)). Yes, Ricky Blitt's screenplay does inject moments of dilemma-riddled conscience and a pinch of personable quirkiness into the story line, but the main flaw with this movie is that a paying audience is pretty well left in the dark wondering when it's okay to laugh at what's done and said by anyone who looks the least bit different than the players who don't appear to have special needs. It's a fortunate sign of the times that the days are long gone when trotting out a person with - for instance - Downs Syndrome immediately evoked howls of laughter from a so-called able bodied crowd, but a large majority of the sight gags and one-liners offered simply aren't humourous enough to offset any lingering uneasiness that you're possibly supposed to turn back your contemporary sensibilities a hundred years or so and mindlessly laugh at what Cox's character calls "the 'tards". Blaustein seems to eventually give up on the basic premise of irreverently satirizing already outdated prejudices that could have easily been pushed in several over-the-top directions by a more capable hand, choosing instead to softly patronize the culture of disability and summarily toss in a few scenes that have nothing to do with anything, but that might be considered light hearted and fun if seen in a simplistic coming of age motion picture intended for small children. Rated PG-13 and containing some slight crudeness, 'The Ringer' clearly isn't for small children.

Unless you're a diehard Johnny Knoxville fan, you're probably better off simply renting the far more humourously satisfying drama 'Rory O'Shea Was Here' (2004).

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Rang De Basanti
REVIEWED 02/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
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REVIEW:

Pretty well resembling a call for patriotic socio-political change in contemporary India, this hugely impressive subtitled Bollywood drama from co-writer/director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra ('Aks' (2001)) spotlighting four disenfranchised New Delhi University students who slowly become transformed by a London-based World Vision documentary producer's attempts to make a film about real life revolutionaries Chandrasekhar Azad (1906-1931) and Bhagat Singh (1907-1931) and their small band's violent response to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919 is an incredibly satisfying mature journey over-all. Despite this hundred and fifty-seven minute flick essentially being an ensemble cast effort throughout, Aamir Khan ('Earth' (1998), 'The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey' (2005)) easily steals virtually every scene he's in as irreverent man child DJ, playing drinking games and clumsily courting Brit TV's Alice Patten's willowy film maker Sue McKinley character as one of her amateur actors, until a series of tragedies jolts him, his perpetually jovial friends Karan (Siddarth Narayan; 'Boys' (2003), 'Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana' (2005)), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor; 'Meenaxi: Tale of 3 Cities' (2004)), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi; 'Kahan Ho Tum' (2003), 'Shaadi No. 1' (2005)), and Sonia ('Soha Ali Khan; 'Dil Maange More!!!' (2004), 'Antar Mahal' (2005)), and their uneasy ally Laxman (Atul Kulkarni; 'Hey Ram' (2000), 'Devrai' (2004)) towards unthinkable acts of vengeance and murder.

This isn't a sequel to 'The Rising', but does deal with similar issues in an equally creative and compelling manner. Yes, it does drag a little in parts. A paying audience is also required to slog through moments of silly fluffiness at times, but it's clear that this is all part of Mehra's masterful plan to illustrate the depth at which these young people are overwhelmingly changed by those regarded martyrs' sacrifices towards freedom from British occupation. They lazily mock honour, eventually adopting it, before desperate obsession poisons it. The strength of this picture also comes from the outstanding presence of it's older supporting players that includes Kiron Kher, Waheeda Rehman and Om Puri lending solid credibility in a few wonderfully powerful scenes. Awesome. I'm not quite convinced that the parallels drawn between the true legend of Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Ashfaqullah Khan, Durga Vohra and Ramprasad Bismil avenging the slaughter of over a thousand unarmed civilians in 1925 and this fictitious story of five modern young adults pushed over the edge by the public humiliation of their fallen associate are completely appropriate, but if you can accept that their personalized trauma and extremist responses could be fairly similar, 'Rang De Basanti' does work incredibly well at depicting the paths and outcome of disillusioned idealism gone amok. The most notable aspect of this movie is that the entire cast each play their roles with an uncanny believability for the most part, as though there's a tangible air of responsibility to the content that demands these stars perform with clearer heads than has normally been seen. It works. You feel like you're a fly on the wall, not pandered to. You see the social, religious and racial tensions played out with unwavering yet almost delicate insight. This truly is a superior film in many ways, but it is flawed and does suffer from dubious attention to strong pacing. The ending feels disjointed and quickly cobbled together as well. However, my only lasting problem with this one is that Mehra and co-writer Renzil D'Silva pretty well take for granted that you bring a certain level of knowledge about those bygone freedom fighters to this screening beforehand. It's not enough of a barrier to completely undermine your enjoyment if you don't know the history, because it is eventually explained.

Whether you're a fan of Bollywood movies or have never seen a contemporary example of South Asian Cinema before, 'Rang De Basanti' is definitely well worth checking out on the big screen as being a disarmingly fresh film in style, performances and substance.

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Running Scared
REVIEWED 02/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Holy cripes! This hugely astounding cinematic achievement from writer/director Wayne Kramer ('The Cooler' (2003)) stars Paul Walker ('The Skulls' (2000), 'Timeline' (2003)) as New Jersey-based Italian Mob runt Joey Gazelle fighting against time and truckloads of lousy luck desperately trying to hunt down a missing snub-nosed .38 silver hand gun used by his boss' son Tommy Perello (Johnny Messner; 'Tears of the Sun' (2003), 'Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid' (2004)) to unwittingly kill a crooked cop during an interrupted drug deal. Joey was supposed to get rid of it, but that shiny piece ends up disappearing from his basement stash, becoming the weapon of choice against the Gazelle's Russian Mob-connected neighbour, and piquing the interest of local Detective Rydell (Chazz Palminteri; 'Down to Earth' (2001), 'In the Mix' (2005)) for all the wrong reasons. Quite frankly, nothing previously seen comes close to the over-all extreme intensity of 'Running Scared' - not to be confused as a remake of the 1986 Billy Crystal crime comedy of the same name - but, it's fairly obvious that Kramer's screenplay is heavily influenced by Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' and that its wonderfully effective special effects panache owes a lot to the vision of the Wachowski Brothers' 'The Matrix' trilogy. The result is absolutely eye popping throughout. Plus, the story is tight and clicks along at an impressive pace.

The camera work is incredibly fresh and gritty and claustrophobic, as cinematographer Jim Whitaker's lens relentlessly shoves a paying audience dangerously close to the gloriously horrifying action that ensues. Think of Sergio Leone's famous old Westerns featuring Clint Eastwood. This hundred and twenty-two minute psychological tailspin is definitely a feast for the senses. Walker's performance is probably his best movie work so far, with his character being bashed around like an increasingly worn down human pin ball, as that gun's sometimes bizarre journey zig-zags through the night and always one step beyond Joey's frustrated grasp. Awesome. The rest of this cast is equally phenomenal, with British Columbia's Cameron Bright ('The Butterfly Effect' (2004), 'Birth' (2004)) easily carrying his role's arduous peripheral story playing stoic young tinder box Oleg Yugorsky facing some particularly malevolent and nightmarish experiences on his own. Good stuff. Sure, the final scene does somewhat feel as though it was tacked on as a last minute plot twist, but the sheer brilliance of this picture is that it mercilessly drags into the undertow of this seedy world of completely realized societal miscreants so deeply throughout the majority of its run time that there's little opportunity for you to clearly anticipate what will happen next or how it'll all unfold.

This delightfully surprising treasure truly is a pulse pounding nail biter, for all the right reasons. Yes, it's unflinchingly gory and raw, but if you're a fan of high velocity action intended for mature moviegoers, 'Running Scared' is absolutely a must-see flick on the big screen.

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The Rocket
REVIEWED 05/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Reportedly adapted from the French-language Québéc Television mini-series starring Roy Dupuis ('Jésus de Montréal' (1989), 'Mémoires affectives' (2004)) that chronicled the legendary rise to fame and rather tumultuous career of the Montréal Canadiens' ice hockey champion Maurice Richard (1921-2000), director Charles Binamé's 'Maurice Richard' (this movie's original 2005 French title, before being repackaged in English with subtitled French) feels more like a sneaky homage to the beginnings of the anti-Anglais "Quiet Revolution" as it traces the selectively abbreviated life of Richard (reprised here by Dupuis) from his teens as an unremarkable yet determined rank amateur player, through to his politicized 1955 suspension from the Habs that caused mass riots throughout Montréal. I realize that this is going to seem trite and somewhat patronizing, but 'The Rocket' plays out as apparently being predominantly intended for Québécois hockey hero worshippers and few else. Sure, that's not too surprising, considering Richard is still considered to be an icon by many French Canadians. However, writer Ken Scott's screenplay has a tendency to get its wires crossed in regards to exactly what this film is really all about. It starts off as a wonderfully bashful love story between Richard and childhood sweetheart Lucille (Julie LeBreton; 'Québéc-Montréal' (2002), 'Maman Last Call' (2005)) before proceeding to celebrate Richard's almost miraculous hiring and blunt shaping by the Montréal Canadiens' grizzled coach, but then the story becomes mired in overwhelming rhetoric concerning that era's Francophone's woes under the boot heel of Québéc's English-speaking elite. You see French NHL players enjoying the celebrity and luxury of being part of the game that they love begrudging the fact that they're coached in English. You see Richard's otherwise hilariously opportunistic brother-in-law rile against the symbolic insult of the value-added seats of the Montréal Forum's stands being cordoned off by a big chain linked fence. You see Richard's suspension, for punching the Boston referee who's shown holding him for an opposing player to beat up, being turned into a lightening rod for provincial political revolt sparked by "Rocket Richard" as a martyr of the cause.

Don't get me wrong. Some of the reenactments on the ice are truly riveting. And, much of the culture clash between this country's two solitudes that I've mentioned is historically accurate. However, the actual story of Richard is unceremoniously swept aside, and this film never bothers to accessibly depict how that air of unrest personally affected Richard. A paying audience is left with no-longer watching an insightful biopic of this man. Approximately half way through this hundred and twenty-four minute feature, Binamé and Scott unfortunately switch gears and start tugging at deep homegrown emotions linked to Québéc's contemporary political push for succession from the rest of Canada. The biggest problem with that agenda ambushing this hockey flick is there's very little context presented so that the uninitiated moviegoer can easily tap into those times. You simple see a lot of teeth gnashing and name calling, with Dupuis' Maurice Richard moping around under a relentlessly unexplained grey cloud. Does he feel like a martyr? You're never told. Is he disillusioned by the final ruling that severely punishes him and nobody else? Of course, but how he reacts and the underlying message that you're being spoon fed don't jibe.

In the final cut, 'The Rocket' could have been an extremely enjoyable homage to one of Canada's legends, but ends up becoming irreparably sidetracked and diluted by an unnecessarily invasive political agenda.

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Running With Scissors
REVIEWED 10/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

In 1978, shortly after precocious teenager Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Cross; 'Jack Frost' (1998), 'Flags of Our Fathers' (2006)) sees the bitterly disintegrated marriage of his beloved mother Deirdre (Annette Bening; 'The American President' (1995), 'Being Julia' (2004)) and his distant father Norman (Alec Baldwin; 'Beetle Juice' (1988), 'The Departed' (2006)) come to an end under the questionably unorthodox, medication reliant counseling of Dr. Marian Finch (Brian Cox; 'Manhunter' (1986), 'The Bourne Supremacy' (2004)), Augusten finds himself living with Finch's equally strange family while emotionally fragile, fame-aspiring poet Deirdre focuses on liberating herself and her writing, in this humourously weird coming of age effort from debuting feature writer/director Ryan Murphy that's based on the real Augusten Burroughs' 2002 novel Running with Scissors: A Memoir, where, in the absence of his steadily erratic mother, Augusten soon falls under the offbeat influence of Finch's daughters Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow; 'Se7en' (1995), 'Proof' (2005)) and Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood; 'Practical Magic' (1998), 'The Upside of Anger' (2005)), and pursues a doomed relationship with their borderline psychotic adopted brother Neil (Joseph Fiennes; 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998), 'The Great Raid' (2005)).

One thing that's absolutely undeniable about this hundred and sixteen-minute movie is that much of the acting is incredible throughout. It's a sheer pleasure watching most of this immensely talented cast so believably assume the persona of their individual characters, with Bening effortlessly stealing the spotlight here during Deidre's downward spiral into medication addled madness. It's also great that 'Running With Scissors' insightfully encapsulates a tumultuous age in contemporary North American history when the voodoo psychology and Neo Feminism of disillusioned Hippies-turned-Yuppies clearly and needlessly reaped havoc on an already disenfranchised Generation X. It seems almost scandalous that this richly intriguing decade is continually overlooked by Hollywood, considering its strong relevance in today's society. The Finch family itself seems to bare a soft resemblance to The Addams Family, with a rat's nest of dusty junk and various destructive indulgences vying for elbow room within their dilapidated pink manor. A lot of what transpires feel like disjointed anecdotal moments, and the strange quips and sight gags do wear thin after a while. Although 'Running With Scissors' ends up becoming more of an ensemble story at times, encouraging you to sample from a smorgasbord of lunacy tinged brittle amusements - with Cross acting as a reasonably stable tour guide through this menagerie - its structure doesn't really move things along very well. Maintaining a consistently captivating pace is a huge problem for this one. Sure, you also witness Augusten's transformation from essentially being a naive chameleon to his fairly nutty environment, into a purposeful young man who comes to the harsh reality that the influences surrounding him really aren't reliably positive, but Cross' primarily reactive contribution pales in comparison to those of his on-screen counterparts. Slight shades of the far more satisfying films 'Thumbsucker' (2005) and 'A Home at the End of the World' (2004) are easily noticeable here, but this picture seems awkwardly flat while almost desperately trying to tug a paying audience along with Murphy's screenplay.

Rent this adult romp for the thoroughly fascinating work from its supporting cast, as well as for some of the delightful moments of contagious quirkiness, but 'Running With Scissors' seems small for its ambition and unfortunately forgettable over-all.

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