Mixing the difficulties unique to Vietnam vets with the adjustment problems of all returning soldiers, Hal Ashby’s touching drama contrasts the pro-war and the anti-war sentiments by presenting two soldiers connected by their love for the same woman. Ashby isn’t a director that is common to the average filmgoer, but during the 1970s he made some of the decade’s best, including this film, HAROLD AND MAUDE, THE LAST DETAIL, BOUND FOR GLORY and BEING THERE. Without flash, he patiently develops his core characters, allowing emotions to build and accumulate into poignant and powerful reactions. This is one of those films that goes along at a steady pace then reaches a moment where it grabs you by the throat and propels you to another level.

Capt. Bob Hyde (Bruce Dern, FAMILY PLOT) has finally received his mission in Vietnam. With his departure, his wife Sally (Jane Fonda, KLUTE) is on her own for the first time. Inspired by her husband’s best friend’s girlfriend Vi (Penelope Milford, HEATHERS), she volunteers at the VA hospital, where she meets Luke Martin (Jon Voight, MIDNIGHT COWBOY), a paraplegic vet who was once the captain of Sally’s high school football team. Confined to the hospital, using canes to propel his wheeled bed around the narrow halls, Luke’s disposition is less than pleasant. Vi’s brother Bill (Robert Carradine, REVENGE OF THE NERDS) is in the hospital for mental reasons; the horrors of war have left him emotionally incapable with dealing with life. Other soldiers complain that they’ve just been forgotten; not given the basic information they need to handle life as a disabled person. Sally feels for the plight of the soldiers and truly wants to help, but the “real” world doesn’t want to think about the wounded men unless it’s one of their relatives. As Luke slowly comes out of his depression, Sally and he strike up a friendship that soon turns romantic. So what will happen when Bob returns home after the war doesn’t turn out like he imagined?

The heartfelt performances are the core of the film’s success. All four of the primary leads received Oscar nominations with Voight and Fonda winning Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively. Voight’s natural performance is the best of his career. From his resentment-filled anger to his tender acceptance of his new circumstances, he captures the wounded soldier’s experience in a truly emotional way. Fonda has an emotional arch of her own, moving from conservative housewife to liberal adulterer. However, that description isn’t meant to be demeaning, just a display of the how much she changes. At the start she is a pretty military wife and by the end she is a hippie-styled independent woman living on the beach with her lover. Never once do we feel that she has fallen out of love with Bob. She is just changing and Luke is a comfort for her loneliness and a stark difference to her warrior husband. Dern sees the war from a unique perspective; it’s a war that isn’t as glorious as he imagined it to be. While his point of view is very different from Luke, his resentment and inner turmoil over the meaning of what he did over there are the same.

Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones all won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, a prize rewarding great characters and an impeccable sense of pacing. In addition to Dern and Milford’s supporting acting nominations, Ashby was nominated for Best Director and the film also received nods for Best Picture and Best Film Editing (Don Zimmerman). Ashby takes the characters on the page and allows them to breath without getting in the way of the actor’s performances. However, when style is needed to make a grander effect, he delivers as well. Take Sally and Luke’s sex scene, it’s one of film’s most erotic and honest for the way it portrays the complications of being paralyzed. The tenderness of this scene underlines the entire purpose of the film — healing.

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Darker than the original NARNIA adventure, this new tale brings the original young foursome back to Narnia, a land that is now unrecognizable from the world they once ruled. Writer/director Andrew Adamson, along with fellow writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, stay faithful to C.S. Lewis’ original text, giving fans a faithful screen adaptation just like THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. With more battles, the epic scale is heightened, but this doesn’t mean there are not any new internal battles for the original characters, which are the most intriguing parts of the second installment in the series.

Centuries after the Pevensie siblings left Narnia to return to England, the magic realm has been taken over by the Telmarines, who have forced the Narnians to live in secret in the woods. Prince Caspian the X (Ben Barnes, STARDUST) is the rightful heir to the throne, but his scheming uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto, ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES) has his eyes on ruling the kingdom. Caspian flees for his life into the forest, where a scuffle with Miraz’s men results in dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage, THE STATION AGENT) being taken prisoner and Caspian taken in by dwarf Nikabrik (Warwick Davis, WILLOW) and talking badger Trufflehunter (Ken Scott, CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR). During the fight, Caspian uses an ancient horn, which summons former kings and queens Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) back to Narnia.

Once the Pevensie children are reunited with the Narnians, Peter becomes arrogant, trying to show his power over the rookie ruler Caspian. He is the first to disregard Lucy’s claims that she has seen the magical lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) in the woods. Peter decides to rally the Narnia troupes, including Minotaur Glenstorm (Cornell John, KAENA) and swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep (Eddie Izzard, OCEAN’S TWELVE), to steal weapons and attack the castle at night. Miraz’s iron hold on power begins to worry Lord Glozelle (Pierfrancesco Favino, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM).

The struggle between Peter and Caspian to prove their worth is the most interesting element of this new tale. While Caspian is a fairly bland character and Barnes’ performance is less than captivating, Moseley brings a dark edge to Peter that is different from his performance in the first film. He emerges as an interesting mix between teenage angst and bitterness, brought on by once ruling a mighty kingdom and then forced to live as a child again back in the real world. Popplewell’s Susan also deals with issues of growing older and leaving behind the magic of Narnia, while Lucy faithfully retains her optimism. While he’s often shoved to the sides, Peter has same nice moments, proving that he has matured from the first film. Standouts in the new characters include Dinklage’s grumpy dwarf and Izzard’s mighty mouse. The funniest moment comes when Reepicheep and his fellow mice encounter a cat during their siege on the castle.

While the effects where great in the original NARNIA, they’re only better in the sequel. Trufflehunter is an amazing CG creation, which I wish had a bigger role like the Beavers in the first film. Adamson proves again that he can forge wonderful battles, especially the closing fight. While there are structural problems to the story, one cannot blame the filmmakers for problems with the source material. The ending turns out to be anticlimactic, but there is enough spectacle that the viewer can just sit back and enjoy the eye candy. Adamson has done the best that can be done to bring the two NARNIA stories, featuring the four Pevensie kids, to the screen. For the DAWN TREADER, we get Michael Apted as the director, so we will have to wait to see if the series holds up under new leadership. As it stands, C.S. Lewis’ epic tales have been brought to the screen with respect and wonder.

Trivia Note… Warwick Davis, who plays dark dwarf Nikabrik, isn’t a rookie to the world of Narnia — he gave a wonderful performance as Reepicheep in the BBC version of THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER.

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Last week Todd Haynes’ enigmatic biopic of Bob Dylan, I’M NOT THERE, arrived on DVD, giving inspiration for this week’s lineup on musical biopics. Rock, soul and country are all represented, often crisscrossing. Two straight-laced performers, two troubled singers and one chameleon. One film mixes the artist’s music with performances from the actors while the other four films are evenly divided between prerecorded tracks and live performances. This musical film festival is sure to get your toe tappin’.

I’M NOT THERE starts us off with a film that fictionalizes the seemingly different personalities of folk/rock legend Bob Dylan. Six different actors play a version of the singer who wore many masks over the course of his career. Receiving an Oscar nomination for her work, Cate Blanchett’s pretentious folk singer that has turned his back on political messages and his fans is an unforgettable portrait of Dylan during the time of the classic rock doc DON’T LOOK BACK. Heath Ledger’s version of Dylan is a misogynistic actor who rose to fame playing influential folk singer Jack Rollins, who is played by Christian Bale. Ledger’s Dylan is married to an abstract artist who harks back to Dylan’s real-life first wife Sara, brining a rare look into the heart of the man. Bale’s Rollins is a folk icon that turns to Christianity. A trio of other Dylans include 11-year-old African-American Woody Guthrie played by Marcus Carl Franklin, 19-year-old poet Arthur Rimbaud played by Ben Whishaw, and middle-aged Billy the Kid played by Richard Gere. This thought-provoking experiment tries to understand the forces that drove the musical legend to invent and re-invent himself over and over again. What drove his social conscience songs and then his later rejection of them? How did the lure of fame twist his soul and later make him run and hide? I’M NOT THERE doesn’t answer these questions, only presents possibilities for us to contemplate. As I said in my original review, “For someone who watches a great deal of films and looks for something different, this film delivers a passionate performance and excites with invention. It’s a fascinating portrait of a man who could be a completely different person on any given day and does justice to that complexity.”

The two Saturday productions both end in the same way with the same musicians dying in the same plane crash. The first is LA BAMBA, which chronicles the rise to fame of Ritchie Valens, played passionately by Lou Diamond Phillips. The story begins with Ritchie picking produce with his mother when his motorcycle driving, older brother Bob, played with fire by Esai Morales, rides in and takes them to L.A. where he has bought them a house. Never going anywhere without his guitar, Ritchie is determined to be a star. As we watch the teenager quickly take the pop charts by storm, family resents begins to bubble to the surface between Ritchie, the brother who can do no wrong, and Bob, the brother who can do no right. Due to the short and less than dramatic life of Valens (or Valenzuela), director/writer Luis Valdez has room to develop other characters in Ritchie’s life and how they react to his fame when they are just left behind to watch. As a 17-year-old, Valens broke barriers for Latinos he didn’t even know that he was breaking, because the film paints him simple as any other kid with a dream and drive to rock. As I said in my original review, “Like the legacy of James Dean, another young star that also died tragically too soon, youthful enthusiasm frozen in time by loss haunts this film as well.”

As you may have already guessed, THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY is the Saturday closer. Like Valens, Buddy Holly, played in a transformative performance by Gary Busey, had a short life with little drama. So the film focuses on the barriers that Holly passed and the music that he made. Infusing the film with electric, Busey, along with Charles Martin Smith and Don Stroud as the Crickets, plays the music live, transporting the viewer into what feel like a rock documentary. While facts were changed, Busey’s Holly captures amazingly the essence of the unlikely horn-rimmed glasses-wearing rocker. Busey gives Holly a sense of drive and passion that is unshakable. He knows what he wants and won’t take no for an answer. Coming from Texas, he can’t convince Nashville record labels to accept his “negro” sound. His music is filled with so much soul that when he was booked to play the Apollo Theater, they didn’t know we was white. Additionally, Holly’s quick, sweet romance with his wife Maria is handled with tenderness and charm. It’s an enthusiastic tribute to the iconic musician. To quote my original review, “the energy of Holly and his music is what the film captures so perfectly. And when making a movie about a rock legend what’s more important anyway?”

If Saturday was for dedicated to the good that died young then Sunday is for artists who lived long and hard. The opening film is Taylor Hackford’s Oscar-nominated RAY, chronicling the life of legendary soul originator Ray Charles. As I said in my original review, “The film is a powerful drama mainly driven by amazing performances.” In an Oscar-winning turn Jamie Foxx channels the singing sensation, creating a man who was a great artist, but a terrible husband to his wife Della Bea, played with hope, pain and sadness by Kerry Washington. Along with Washington, Sharon Warren and Regina King give powerful performances as the other women in Ray’s life — his mother, and drug-addled lover, respectively. From his days in poverty when he lost his sight and his older brother to his monster success as an artist who took control of his career like no other, Foxx’s Charles is a man who sees no obstacles that he can’t overcome. He’s a man of great pride, never using a cane. Though he stood tall in public, he masked his internal struggles with drugs and women. Performing during a period in American history when African-Americans were still treated as second-class citizens, Charles accomplished feats unheard of for a black man and helped to rid the South of Jim Crow laws.

For our closing film, WALK THE LINE, as I predicted in my original review, “Last year, Jamie Foxx deserved his Oscar for embodying Ray Charles in RAY. Joaquin Phoenix is just as good as Johnny Cash… As for Reese Witherspoon playing June Carter, she should start writing her Oscar acceptance speech right now for she’s the best of the year.” In chronicling the ups and downs of Cash’s career, this top-notched production also tells the touching romance between Cash and Carter. Like all great musical bio-pics, one does not need to be a fan to enjoy the story or the music. Singing the songs himself, Phoenix makes us nearly forget Cash’s voice and accept him as the man in black. By focusing on the love story and mixing in great versions of Cash’s tunes, WALK THE LINE avoids dwelling on the rock clichés of a man who raised from poverty to attain fame then succumbs to drugs and alcohol. In addition to June’s support, Cash finds help in the deeply faithful Carter family. Like all great bip-pics in general, this moving drama captures the people and world around the star, which puts the whole experience in context.

So tell me what you think of these musical true-life stories. Like always, it’s that time to visit the video store, update the rental queue, check out Zap2It.com for TV schedules or purchase the films on DVD via the links below. Much thanks to those who buy the films I recommend through the site because it helps support this site and this column.

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Winner of seven Oscars, William Wyler’s touching and honest drama about returning soldiers is as relevant today as it was when it was released more than 60 years ago. While there are no stories of war objectors spitting on returning vets from WWII, the Great Generation’s fighters didn’t have it easy either. This intimate tale chronicles the adjustments three very different men have to make in their civilian lives because of their experiences at war. They cover the economic spectrum, which makes adjusting to their normal lives more difficult or easier in interesting and ironic ways depending on the situation. Brought to life by a first-rate cast, there is a reason this film placed #37 on the AFI’s Top 100 American Films list twice; it’s a timeless classic.

Based on MacKinlay Kantor’s novel, which was adapted by Robert E. Sherwood, winner of Best Screenplay, the story begins as three soldiers, strangers at the time, board a transport plane to get back home to Boone City. Fred Derry (Dana Andrews, LAURA) was a captain pilot during the war, but back home he worked as a soda jerk. A lower rank than Fred, Al Stephenson (Fredric March, 1931’s DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE) is an older man with a family, who as a civilian lives in a swank apartment and works at the bank. Homer Parrish (Harold Russell, PAYBACK) is a sailor, who after losing both hands now uses hooks. He worries that his girl Wilma (Cathy O’Donnell, BEN-HUR) will think differently of him when she sees him.

Upon arriving home, Al is uneasy, especially around his daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright, MRS. MINIVER) and son Rob (Michael Hall, BLOOD OF DRACULA), who have grown up so much in the three years he’s been gone. His wife of 20 years, Milly (Myrna Loy, THE THIN MAN), is overjoyed about his return and encourages him to relax before jumping back into his normal life. Fred’s return couldn’t be more different. He arrives at his parents’ home, a rundown shack by the tracks, where he learns that his wife Marie (Virginia Mayo, WHITE HEAT), who he married right before going off to war, has moved into an apartment in town, where she works at a night club. After looking all over for her, he ends up at Homer’s uncle’s bar where he runs into a very inebriated Al and the very irritated Milly and Peggy. Soon Homer arrives, fleeing the stares of his family. His uncle Butch (Hoagy Carmichael, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT), who always looks out for him, encourages him to give his family more time to get use to his condition and for him to get use to them again.

Andrews, while never an outstanding actor, does a fine job here creating a man who found respect and honor in the service and now must accept that his life is back to where it was before the war. His marriage is a joke and he quickly falls for Peggy, a kind nurse who understands his hopes and dreams for a better life. March, who won the Oscar for his performance, struggles with his cushy life, thinking about his fellow soldiers who don’t have it as easy as he does, or didn’t return at all. To adjust, he often drowns his guilt in liquor. Milly is the supportive wife whose worried eyes show her concern for her husband’s new ways. Loy brings her trademark sarcasm to the part, making the role her own and more than the sum of its parts. Wright’s Peggy, in many ways, is a mirror of her mother, which is a stroke of genius. When she declares to her parents that she has made up her mind and she is going to break up Fred’s marriage, we know she ain’t fooling around.

As an amateur, Parrish gives a professional and powerful performance. It’s not just how others look at him, but how he looks at himself. Usually putting on a happy face, Homer often hides from the world, especially Wilma, and explodes in outbursts of anger. Not expecting him to win Best Supporting Actor, the Academy gave him an honorary award for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.” With that award and the acting award, he is the only actor to win two Oscars for the same performance. Sadly he didn’t have a full career, not acting in another film after BEST YEARS until 1980.

In addition to Wyler’s best director Oscar, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES took home Best Film Editing and Best Music, Scoring. Typical of classic Hollywood dramas, this well-plotted drama makes its core characters represent larger issues effortlessly. But Wyler and Sherwood never preach to us, they embody their message in wonderfully observed characters. With honest portrayals of the difficulties of acclimating oneself to life after war, the whole film brings hope and courage to veterans’ stories, as well as the human condition.

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When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was shocked and amazed that someone went there. If it were played as a straight horror film, the movie, dealing with man-eating vaginas, seemed ridiculous. And the laughs that permeated the theater underlined the thoughts of misogyny and cheese that we all felt. However, this campy horror comedy is actually a modern twist on the vagina dentata lore, changing the male-centric fear of female sexuality into a female-centric empowerment tale.

Dawn (Jess Weixler, LITTLE MANHATTAN) is a very conservative high school student who is a leader in a teen abstinence organization called The Promise. She is ridiculed for her prudish ways at school, but stays true to her beliefs. However, she discovers something strange about her genitalia when her sexual feelings are first awakened by fellow Promise member Tobey (Hale Appleman, upcoming HOLY ROLLERS). So when Tobey’s faith wavers, Dawn discovers just how deadly her mutation can be. Along the course of her sexual awakening, she will run across a stream of the worst of the male species including her rocker step-brother Brad (John Hensley, TV’s NIP/TUCK), who has been harboring a secret ever since he was young.

Weixler’s performance is a mix between straight and campy, which fits the tone perfectly. First-time director/writer Mitchell Lichtenstein couldn’t have found a better lead for his difficult material. Lichtenstein captures the world of Promise-like groups, where even normal sexual thoughts are unhealthily repressed, astutely. The original lore highlights the fear of castration and a brave hero’s need to tame the “mysterious dark cave.” In TEETH, vagina dentata is viewed as female sexual power and a defense mechanism against the very misogynistic views that made up the original myth. Another key to the film’s success is that there are some good guys along with the many bad ones. If all men were pigs, the effectiveness would have been undermined. For a film dealing with vicious vaginas, it doesn’t skimp on the penis shots, which make up a majority of the squeamish sections. The combo of sex and gore reminded me of RE-ANIMATOR in many ways.

Lichtenstein takes a demeaning legend and twists the tale transforming Dawn into an avenging angel. She will rid the Earth of every jerk, one penis at a time. For the iconic imagery hound, the film is teeming with new members to the canon. While this is certainly a film for a select audience, horror fans and the cinematic adventurous will discover great things hidden within this often hilarious and certainly outrageous film.

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Peter Bogdanovich’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW is a quiet reflective film with flares of wonderful irony and humor. Its style is a dead-on throwback to the 1950s drama, but presents a 1970s freedom to its material. As a sad meditation on the crumbling American small tows, the story can be bleak, but it never loses all hope… or does it? Like great art, the film is open to interpretation.

Based on the Larry McMurtry novel, this coming of age tale is set in the tiny Texas town of Anarene. Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms, THE PAPER CHASE) and Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges, THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS) are best friends. They play for their town’s lousy high school football team, for which they constantly receive ridiculed for from the townsfolk. Sonny is jealous of Duane because his friend is dating Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd, TV’s MOONIGHTING), the prettiest girl in town, while he’s stuck with the trashy tease Charlene (Sharon Taggart, TEXASVILLE). Jacy’s mom Lois (Ellen Burstyn, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) warns her that her roughneck boyfriend is a one-way ticket to getting stuck in their flat and boring town. Jacy professes her love for Duane, but isn’t shy to play the field just to stir up some excitement in her life. Eventually, Sonny starts an affair of his own with 40-something Ruth (Cloris Leachman, SPANGLISH), the sad wife of his coach. The heart of the town is Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson, THE WILD BUNCH), a kind man who runs three key businesses— the pool hall, the café, and the picture house.

Both Sonny and Jeff come from poor families and have few options in life. Their parents are non-existent in their lives, as well as the film. They’re desperately searching for an out from a zombie-like future, some kind of hope. They both look for it in “perfect” Jacy, who puts on a sunny face, but she’s cynical in her young age. She plays one boy over another, toying with Duane while using geeky rich boy Lester Marlow (Randy Quaid, INDEPENDENCE DAY) to get closer to Bobby Sheen (Gary Brockette, THE ICE PIRATES), a rich boy from a bigger town who throws skinny-dipping pool parties at his parents’ house. However, she doesn’t learn from her mother’s mistakes. Lois is in a stagnant marriage and having a fairly open affair with the town lothario Abilene (Clu Gulager, 1964’s THE KILLERS). There’s lots of sex in the film, but none of it is tender or erotic, just the awkward fumblings of bored people. Ironically, the adults often remember back sadly on lost youthful joy, while the kids, oblivious to what the adults say, desperately want to jump into adult lives like they’ll find some kind of happiness there.

Around the actions of these desperate people, over the course of a year, the town falls further apart. The film ends with the last show at the movie theatre, a former thriving business murdered by the boob tube in every home. As the town slowly dies, it begins to lose its soul. The men of town have become emotionless robots, while the women do whatever they can to feel alive. Sam the Lion seems to be the last caring man in town. He punishes the kids when they’re cruel to the mentally challenged kid Billy (Sam Bottoms, APOCALYPSE NOW) and supports the town as much as he can, even betting on the town’s football team when he knows they don’t have a chance to win.

With its flat pans and old-fashioned cut away shots, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW feels like a film from 1951. However, the matter of fact and less than glamorous approach to the sex lives of its characters is of a more enlightened age. It’s also painfully honest. Looking back over this review, the film sounds like a downer, but the irony of the story is often humorous. That’s why I believe the final scene can be seen two ways — a character has either accepted his emotionally empty future, or has decided that happiness may not come in the fanciest packages. Sonny and Duane are just trying to survive in a place that has lost its soul without losing theirs in the process.

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I was expecting eye candy going into this film and that’s what I was served, but by the time the final course was uncovered I had gobbled up Andy and Larry Wachowski’s neon-glowing confection. No one who has ever seen the original series would confuse it with good animation. Nonetheless it had a charm that was undeniable. The Wachowskis capture that charm, frosting their entire production with it. They are not interested in “improving” the original material with an overdose of extra hip wink winks — the same ingredient that has destroyed so many other animation-to-live-action adaptations. They’re interested in bringing the good flavors to the forefront and minimizing the cheesy aftertaste.

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch, INTO THE WILD) is from a family of racers, who thinks about nothing but racing. He looks up to his older brother Rex (Scott Porter, TV’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS), a champion driver. But something happens to pull apart Rex and his dad Pops (John Goodman, BARTON FINK), spurring Rex to leave home and later parish in a racing accident. When Speed grows up, he is courted by all the major sponsors, especially Royalton (Roger Allam, V FOR VENDETTA), a shady corporate tycoon. Soon enough, Speed learns painful lessons about the way the racing world is really run and is approached by the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox, TV’s LOST) to join him and blow the lid off the evil corporate conspiracy to fix races.

While no great acting skills are need, the casting for this film is perfect. Hirsch plays the cool, sometimes cocky, driver well. Allam chews up the scenery as the villain you love to hate. But one of the keys to the film is Speed’s family. Goodman brings the right notes to a smalltime veteran of the racing world who doesn’t want to believe that his life’s passion is rotten to the core. Susan Sarandon (DEAD MAN WALKING) as Mom Racer brings her star wattage to benefit the production by lifting the supportive mom character out from the shadows. Christina Ricci (PUMPKIN) as Speed’s girl Trixie has never been sweeter. Her wily and smart character makes us quickly understand why Speed would want this cutie in his corner. The young Paulie Litt (TV’s HOPE & FAITH) nails Speed’s younger brother Spritle. His energy is contagious and his delivery elicits some of the biggest laughs. He also gets a chimp sidekick in Chim Chim. Using a real chimp was another great move in a long list of great moves. Fox brings the right kind of mystery to Racer X, even though, from time to time, he looks awkward in the mask and leather.

The original was a kids show and that’s what this movie is targeted to. However, the plotting is done so well that there’s actual tension built when we come to the obligatory final race. While the film is for kids, the Wachowskis never dumb it down for kids, knowing that kids will connect with the action and silliness and don’t need to understand every nuance. When Speed discovers what makes him race, it’s surprisingly more complex than a simple one-word answer like family or justice, but a mix of many internal struggles and motivations.

Because I wouldn’t call myself an avid SPEED RACER fan, I consulted one — the artist par none of Unloosen.com Chris Leavens, and he confirmed my hunch that the Wachowskis stayed true to the spirit of the show. The crazy physics of the car races, which is being dubbed car-fu, is right out of the series. The filmmakers even find ways to make some of the show’s contrived standards work, like Spritle and Chim Chim always hiding out in the trunk of the Mach 5 and popping out just in time to save the day. The Wachowskis weave all the elements that fans would be looking for into a plot that doesn’t feel like it’s stopping for arbitrary fan pandering. This said the Wachowskis also find ways to inject what feels like personal feelings into the story. Using the family independents and pitting them against thoroughly corrupt massive companies feels like former indie filmmakers taking aim at their new corporate bosses. But even these elements are used in service of staking the deck against the heroes.

Some will be turned off by the hyper-stylized world and frantic action. The neon-infused look is like TRON on acid and the cross-country rally scenes brought up unfavorable memories of the pod race sequence from STAR WARS: PHANTOM MENACE. Nonetheless, I came to like these characters and the action always highlighted their personalities from establishing Speed as the best driver around, to showing how easily he and Racer X work together.

I suspect many critics will not like SPEED RACER, complaining about the simple dialogue or the clichéd message about family or the cheesiness of the surreal visual effects. But those critics don’t remember what it’s like to be a kid. You’ll read words like mindless, but those folks are confusing innocence for stupidity. They’re also neglecting to look at what the Wachowskis have really done — created a live-action cartoon that isn’t completely vacuous or panders constantly to the lowest common denominator. They haven’t insulted fans by tainting the source material nor have they tortured non-fans by slavishly following formulas that only the insider would know. The vibrant world has a hopeful glow despite its dark underbelly. We know from the start that good will triumph and the villains will pay, but we are given enough fun, humor and twists to make the journey exciting. Go into this movie remembering what it was like to be nine years old before the harsh world crushed your dreams. Remember your own childhood ambition and the things that ruined the purity for you in that dream. Then replace racing with that dream, sit back and enjoy the ride. Kids can just go and have fun.

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As a child of the video age, there is a collection of films that have been ingrained in my memory for having watched them over and over again. LA BAMBA, the story of Ritchie Valens, is one of those films. Before I knew that I was watching something special, I responded to this musical biopic’s portrayal of the supporting characters in the life of the central star. No other film that deals with the rise of famous people deals so honestly with how fame affects those in the star’s life that stay anonymous folk.

Before Ritchie Valens rose to fame, he was migrant worker Ritchie Valenzuela (Lou Diamond Phillips, YOUNG GUNS). A young man obsessed with rock ‘n roll, he never goes anywhere without his secondhand guitar. One day his leather jacket-wearing brother Bob (Esai Morales, FAST FOOD NATION) rides into camp on his motorcycle. He’s made enough money to move his hardworking mother Connie (Rosanna DeSoto, STAND AND DELIVER) and his three younger siblings to Los Angeles. He’s so cool he sweeps Ritchie’s crush Rosie (Elizabeth Pena, LONE STAR) off her feet and onto the back of his bike on his way down the road too. In L.A., Ritchie joins a local band where he is relegated to the background, but moves himself to the front and center via his passion. Along the way, he charms the white daughter of a car dealer named Donna (Danielle von Zerneck, LIVING IN OBLIVION), a later inspiration for a song when her dad doesn’t like her hanging with a homie. Ritchie also attracts the attention of smalltime record producer Bob Keene (Joe Pantoliano, THE MATRIX), who creates Ritchie Valens, a teenager who quickly has three hit singles and tours with rock icons like Buddy Holly.

Writer/director Luis Valdez displays a passion for the material that seeps through the whole film. Valens was the first Latino rock star and Valdez doesn’t want him to slip into history as a footnote on Buddy Holly’s death. Phillips powerful performance is electric. But the dynamic between him, his brother and mother is what makes the film special. Bob tries hard to provide for his family, but booze and a penchant for violence bring him down time and time again. Ritchie looks up to his older brother, but disapproves his ways. Bob resents the special attention that good boy Ritchie receives from his mother. These feelings only increase as Ritchie becomes more famous. Phillips’ passionate performance is matched by the fire of Morales, who doesn’t let his character ever fall into the shadows of his little brother. This is the heart of the picture and makes us wonder what other family members think of their famous relations.

Because Valens’ fame lasted a quick six months, Valdez has room to develop the family, while giving us the many key moments in the young performer’s career. At the film’s start, we get a peek into the origins of Valens’ fear of flying. Knowing that he died in a plane crash, a dark irony hangs over the entire story. It underlines the tragedy of a young man who died too soon. While Valdez paints an honest and heartfelt true-life drama, he is also crafting an icon as well. As a Latino who doesn’t speak Spanish, it’s more than just an artistic move to sing “La Bamba” in Spanish and make it a top 40 hit. Valens broke down barriers like they weren’t even there. As a 17-year-old, he doesn’t know any other way.

Before this film was released, who died with Buddy Holly was just a trivia question. I’m still waiting for the Big Bopper feature. Valdez wants “the day the music died” to be remembered for not only the loss of a legend, but also the loss of a potential legend. Because of this film, I was a Ritchie Valens fan before I was a Buddy Holly fan. By including themes about family and the grander tragedy of dying young, Valdez captures a unique portrait of fame. Like the legacy of James Dean, another young star that also died tragically too soon, youthful enthusiasm frozen in time by loss haunts this film as well.

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On Tuesday, three of the five Oscar-nominated short films were released on a DVD compilation from Magnolia, which sponsors the theatrical distribution of the Oscar-nominated animated and live-action short films each year. In celebration, this week’s lineup highlights Oscar-nominated animation in general. All five animated shorts will open This Weekend’s Film Festival. The two films sadly not featured on the DVD release are still available on iTunes. For Saturday and Sunday, we have two nominated and two winning animated features. Since adding the Best Animated Feature category in 2002, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has given a higher profile to animated productions. With more and more animation being produced each year, the award allows films that might have been overlooked by the general public a chance to be seen by a wider audience. With the moniker of “just kids stuff” still present with some viewers in the U.S., the films featured in this week’s lineup portray the wide variety of styles and content that make up the world of animated film.

The Academy Award-nominated short films were particularly good this past year, making predicting a winner difficult even for industry insiders. In the end, the prize went to Suzie Templeton’s dark rendition of Sergei Prokofiev’s PETER AND THE WOLF. This brilliant stop-motion production has gorgeous sets and powerful character design. Many of the previous versions of the tale have been watered down for children. But as I said in my original review, “Like the harshest lessons we learn in life, this film will leave you haunted.” The two accompanying shorts on the DVD are Samuel Tourneux’s CG satire EVEN PIGEONS GO TO HEAVEN and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowsk’s innovative stop-motion short MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI. For PIGEONS (a more literal translation of the title would be EVEN SUCKERS GO TO HEAVEN), a priest tries to convince an old man to buy a machine that will guarantee a trip to heaven. As I said in my original review, “This black comedy doesn’t say anything new about its themes, but in the way it does it, it puts the themes into a new and poignant light.” TUTLI-PUTLI puts a young woman on a Jungian train ride that brings her face-to-face with many hidden fears. As I said in my original review, “[Lavis and Szczerbowsk] had real human eyes combined with their detailed puppets, in a process created and painstakingly carried out by artist Jason Walker, creating an eerie and evocative style that is totally original and mind-boggling.”

After a trip to iTunes, you can watch past Oscar winner Aleksandr Petrov’s gorgeous painterly MY LOVE and Josh Raskin’s John Lennon-inspired I MET THE WALRUS. Petrov’s epic romance tells the tale of Anton, a 16-year-old boy pulled between the love for his childhood friend Pasha and his lust for the older, mysterious woman Seraphina. As I said in my original review, “The grand scope of the drama emotionally captures the power of first love.” Last, but not least, is I MET THE WALRUS, a film based on an interview with Lennon the producer Jerry Levitan made when he was 14. After sneaking into the rock icon’s hotel room, the young man asks questions about music, peace and why George Harrison stinks. As I said in my original review, “This lively, smile-inducing, duel-layered time capsule of illustrations and found images captures the energy of the 1960s, as well as the energy of one gutsy young man.”

Nominee in 2003, Sylvain Chomet’s THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE is a delightful film, which in my original review I called a “nearly a perfect example of the amazingly zany anarchy that only animation can capture.” Madame Souza cares for her grandson after the boy’s parents’ passing. Nothing seems to pull him out of his funk… until she buys him a bicycle. Over the years the boy transforms into a cycling superstar. His talent leads gangsters to kidnap him for a gambling scam. So Madame Souza travels halfway around the world with her trusted dog Bruno to save her grandson. Inside the rich world, the humorous film satirizes American and French stereotypes while presenting a very unlikely heroine in the elderly grandmother who teams with the ’30s singing trio The Triplets of Belleville, using wisdom to win the day. Brimming with invention, Chomet tells his tale with little dialogue using sound and music to communicate with the audience. In addition to being nominated for Best Animated Feature, the title song was nominated for Best Original Song. TRIPLETS will have you tapping your toe and smiling large before it’s through, while challenging your perceptions of what animated films can be.

LILO & STITCH was Disney last great hand drawn animated feature. Nominated in 2003, the film most likely would have walked away with the Oscar if it were not for Hayao Miyazaki. Crashing to Earth after he is exiled to an asteroid for destroying his home planet, Stitch poses as a dog and becomes the pet of Lilo and her older sister Nani. After the death of her parents, Lilo has been having some anger management issues, which only makes raising the young girl harder for her older sibling. However, housing what was intended to be the ultimate destruction machine under your roof won’t make life any easier. This charming and funny animated tale rides to success on well-developed characters. Brought to life wonderfully by Daveigh Chase, Lilo is a real little girl with real problems, making her story all the more engaging. Directors Chris Sanders (also the voice of Stitch) and Dean DeBlois, craft a cast and environment that works together in fresh ways. The free spirit of this picture displays the fact that “family film” doesn’t need to mean “simplistic film” as well. As I said in my original review, “LILO & STITCH is proof that when artists are allowed the freedom to bring their visions to the screen without the approval of a focus group then we the audience get a more original, compelling story that doesn’t talk down to us.”

For Sunday, the lineup features two Oscar winners that not everyone embraced as fully as other winners from Pixar and DreamWorks, despite being two of the best animated Oscar winners. Aardman Animation brings its ambitious inventor and his life-saving dog from their short form home to features in the witty and whimsical WALLACE & GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT. Directed by Nick Park, this stop-motion animated feature finds the twosome running their humane pest control business Anti-Pesto. When an experiment to rid rabbits of the urge to eat vegetables goes awry, Wallace unleashes the giant were-rabbit, which gobbles up the townsfolk’s prize-winning produce. As always, Gromit must come to the aid of his master, who has fallen for Lady Tottington. But her buckshot-blasting beau, Victor Quartermaine, has more violent ways of dealing with the rodent problem. Written by Bob Baker, Steve Box and Mark Burton, the script is overflowing with wonderful one-liners and great gags. The detail of the clay puppets and the fluidity of their movements are amazing. But it’s the winning characters that make this film a crowd pleaser. Wallace and Gromit are one of the great animated duos, a loving master and pet, which are not just best friends, but partners. Wallace has no illusions he doesn’t need Gromit to make his inventions succeed. Accumulating into a thrilling and touching conclusion, WERE-RABBIT mixes satire of classic horror films with hilarious British glibness while never neglecting to make us care about its characters. As I said in my original review, “Wallace and Gromit are such an endearing duo that you can’t help but get wrapped up in their adventures. I want more now.”

The closing film this week is animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s SPIRITED AWAY, winner in 2003. Making the top slot on my top 25 of 2002, this picture is the best film to win the Best Animated Feature. Moving to a new town with her parents, Chihiro is miserable. On their way, they wander into a village that serves as a stop over for the spirit world. When her parents are mysteriously transformed into pigs, Chihiro must navigate the strange logic of the Wonderland like realm where she must take a job at a spiritual bathhouse run by the scheming Yubaba. Overflowing with well observed human detail, Miyazaki creates a magical world where childlike logic rules. Magnificent creatures populate the realm that is filled with subtle messages about civility and protecting the environment. Representing both a Japanese perspective that appeals to a universal audience, Chihiro’s story is thrilling, charming and fantastic. It reminds us about the joys and fears of being young. As I said in my original review, “Don’t let ‘family’ scare you off, because I only use the term because the lead character is a child, but this film is more fanciful than LORD OF THE RINGS and ALICE IN WONDERLAND combined.”

That closes another This Weekend’s Film Festival. Please tell me what you think of these films. So head out to the video store, update the rental queue, log onto iTunes, surf over to Zap2It.com or purchase the films at the below links. This is a lineup not just for the Animation Blogspot crowd, but anyone who likes fresh and exciting cinema.

Buy It Now!

Buy the 2007 Academy Award Nominated Short Films Now!

Buy It Now!

Buy The Triplets of Belleville Now!

Buy It Now!

Buy Lilo & Stitch Now!

Buy It Now!

Buy Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Now!

Buy It Now!

Buy Spirited Away Now!

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Bob Dylan is an enigma, and that is exactly what one could call Todd Haynes’ film that contemplates the seemingly contradictory sides of the famed singer’s personality. Haynes has always been a filmmaker who takes risks from his unsettling SAFE to his pseudo-Bowie biopic VELVET GOLDMINE to his Douglas Sirk, 1950s melodrama-like FAR FROM HEAVEN. Now he contemplates the many aspects of Dylan, leaving the audience thinking (maybe even confused).

Six difference actors play six different Dylan-like characters. The various stories are woven together and a few even intersect. We begin with an 11-year-old African-American boy hitching a ride on a train calling himself Woody Guthrie (Marcus Carl Franklin, TV’s LACKAWANNA BLUES). He’s traveling the country playing ’40s blues and acting like it isn’t 1959, avoiding the social turmoil of the times. Next we meet 19-year-old poet Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Whishaw, PERFUME) cagily avoiding definition during an interview. In a documentary-like segment, we learn about the career of influential folk singer Jack Rollins (Christian Bale, BATMAN BEGINS), who hasn’t done an interview in years since be converted to Christianity. Robbie Clark (Heath Ledger, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) is a womanizing actor who became famous playing Jack Rollins. We see him during two periods in his life — meeting abstract artist Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg, THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP) and then watching as their marriage falls apart as Vietnam ends. Jude Quinn (Cate Blanchett, ELIZABETH) is an arrogant star that has turned his back on folk music and plugged in. During a tour in London with The Beatles, he challenges reporter Keenan Jones (Bruce Greenwood, CAPOTE) on his lack of caring about “finger-pointing” songs. Finally, in an almost dreamlike sequence, Billy the Kid (Richard Gere, CHICAGO) wonders the countryside trying to find freedom.

I’M NOT THERE is a challenging film. One’s knowledge of Dylan going in will certainly increase one’s understanding and enjoyment. If you’re not a Dylan fan, prerequisites should be the documentaries DON’T LOOK BACK and NO DIRECTION HOME. As a Dylan fan, I found myself enthralled with the nuance and collection of moments from the singer’s legacy. Haynes skillfully weaves in real Dylan songs and versions done by the actors to highlight key moments in Dylan’s musical and personal life. A highlight for me was Richie Havens’ rendition of “Tombstone Blues.”

The Heath Ledger/Charlotte Gainsbourg segments are the film’s heart, peeking into the real emotional life of an often emotionally guarded man. Woody/Dylan and early moments with Rollins/Dylan look into the social awakening of the artist, while the Billy the Kid/Dylan and born-again Rollins/Dylan show us an artist running from his fame, wanting to be freed from the burden and find redemption for his past sins. Aged folk singer Alice Fabian (Julianne Moore, FAR FROM HEAVEN) talks about how Rollins/Dylan let down the movement, which is reminiscent of Joan Baez.

Deserving her Oscar nomination, Blanchett captures the pretentiousness and arrogance of the Dylan we know from DON’T LOOK BACK. Blanchett’s character has come to believe the label of genius, but coolly rejects it when asked. The presence of famed wrestler Gorgeous George in the film makes one think that this Quinn/Dylan likes to play the villain. However, even Quinn/Dylan’s shield of indifference falls when he meets poet Allen Ginsberg (David Cross, GHOST WORLD). Quinn/Dylan is drunk on his own fame, intrigued by the Edie Sedgwick-like model Coco Rivington (Michelle Williams, THE STATION AGENT) and dipping into drugs when the busy schedule gets too much. Blanchett’s rendition of “The Ballad of Thin Man” is not great musically, but illustrates the multi-layered meaning of the song when it comes to the privileged elite and how the tune was an inspiration to the Black Panthers.

The more I think about this film; the more I want to watch it again to uncover and decipher its many mysteries. This is the kind of heady film that gets labeled “a film major’s film,” leaving the average filmgoer scratching their heads. Those looking for easy or mindless entertainment should not sign up — this is a 300-level class in film and/or Dylan appreciation. I say this not to sound like Quinn/Dylan, but only to prepare the less daring film viewer that they shouldn’t expect convention here. But was Bob Dylan ever conventional? For someone who watches a great deal of films and looks for something different, this film delivers a passionate performance and excites with invention. It’s a fascinating portrait of a man who could be a completely different person on any given day and does justice to that complexity.

Buy It Now!

Buy I’m Not There Now!

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