SPOILER REVIEW
I really liked American Beauty when it was first released. Maybe I was wooed by its quirky introspection and aesthetic achievments. Or maybe it was screenwriter Alan Ball’s fresh new way of blending the real with the surreal. Or even the meditative lilt of Thomas Newman’s trend-setting score. But whatever the reason(s), watching the film ten years later, I realize — American Beauty ain’t all that. It’s kinda whack.
You know you’re in for a harrowing journey when the ship’s captain gives a dead man 300 lashes before the ship even leaves port. Charles Laughton steals the show here as the torturous Captain Bligh, a greedy monster who plays recklessly with the lives of his crew. Clark Gable is charismatic as Fletcher Christian, the man who leads the uprising against Bligh (and without his trademark mustache, since facial hair wasn’t permitted in the Royal Navy). Franchot Tone is very good as Roger Byam, a friend of Christian’s who ultimately sides with Bligh… a decision that nearly costs him his life. All three actors were Oscar-nominated for their roles, and the film won the award for Best Picture.
Fans of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator might be surprised how much they will also enjoy (perhaps even prefer) its progenitor. Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus is a briskly-paced epic, and uncharacteristically emotional compared to his other work. Kirk Douglas is iconic in the lead role, playing a slave forced to fight in the gladiatorial arena for the enjoyment of the aristocracy. Of course he falls in love with a fellow slave girl, of course he escapes, and of course he leads a mammoth army of slaves in revolt against Rome… but when these broad strokes are painted so earnestly, I don’t care. The bleak, bold final act of the film is what really sells the story for me.
Based on the novel Washington Square by Henry James, The Heiress centers around Catherine (Olivia de Havilland), a shy, socially inept young woman who gets swept off her feet by a dashing young destitute (Montgomery Clift). When her father (Ralph Richardson) accuses the man of preying on his daughter’s inheritance, he threatens to cut her off. Putting all her faith in her first love, Catherine ends up brutally betrayed by both men — and begins to trade her naivete and timidity for spite and cruelty.
A racist, alcoholic prison guard finds himself falling in love with an African-American woman who just happens to be the widow of a man he helped to execute in this film from Marc Forster (Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland). Halle Berry is stunning in her Oscar-winning performance, but so is the rest of the cast, including Billy Bob Thornton as the prison guard, Heath Ledger as his disenfranchised son, Sean Combs as Berry’s husband on death row, and Peter Boyle as Thornton’s monstrous father.
A terrific script and loveable characters send Toy Story soaring. At the heart of the simple storyline are two toys with character arcs as compelling as any of their live-action counterparts. Woody (Tom Hanks) is a pull-string cowboy who’s afraid of being replaced as his owner’s favorite, and Buzz (Tim Allen) is the new, gadget-enhanced astronaut who doesn’t accept the fact that he’s a toy. The Oscar-nominated screenplay (co-written by Joss Whedon) deftly blends character, humor, and action. The climax, where Woody and Buzz chase after a moving truck to rejoin their fellow toys, is a particularly thrilling scene. The voice cast is also a triumph, including Wallace Shawn as a neurotic dinosaur, Don Rickles as a bitter Mr. Potato Head, and Jim Varney as a trusty Slinky Dog. Randy Newman’s score makes the plight of plastic playthings nothing less than epic, and his cozy songwriting fits the nature of the film to a tee. “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” is the film’s charming anthem, but it’s Newman’s performance of “I Will Go Sailing No More,” played over Buzz’s realization of his limitations, that works most powerfully.
