My Review: Chinatown (10/10)

"You may think you know what you're dealing with, but, believe me, you don't."

Sometimes things are bigger than ourselves, and despite how much we think we can change the world eventually we are brought down to our reality: we are much smaller than we think we are and there is little we can do against the big corporate giants. That is the main theme that director, Roman Polanski, is trying to explore here in this criminal film noir thriller starring Jack Nicholson as a wise and overly confident private detective who is about to learn that despite how much he wants to teach the bad guys a lesson perhaps things are a little out of his league. That is why the film is titled Chinatown, because it represents a time in Jake's (Nicholson's character) life where he wasn't able to make a difference in the police force and became cynical towards the world. "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown" is what they told him, and that is why he decided to retire and become a private investigator working on his own. He doesn't want to forget it, he wants to catch the bad guys and balance things out. He doesn't want these rich executives to continue thinking they can get away with anything. That is exactly why he decides to investigate things on his own and begins to enter dangerous territory where not everyone is who they say they are. He slowly begins to uncover one lie after another, and that is what makes Chinatown such an entertaining and masterful thriller. We are part of the investigation and begin discovering things at the same time Jake does. We are as confident as he is that he is going to uncover everything. This is Jack Nicholson's movie from the opening scene and he delivers one of his best performances to date. Faye Dunaway is also interesting in her femme fatale role; we are never sure if we can trust her or not. Polanski has delivered a perfect homage to the 40's film noir thrillers. Chinatown will remain as one of the best classical films of all time. This is my favorite Polanski film, perfect in every way.

Jake Gittes seems to be doing well as a private detective in Los Angeles, since he specializes in infidelities and there are many in the city. His latest assignment is to follow Evelyn Mulwray's (Diane Ladd) husband who happens to be the builder of the city's water supply system. His name is Hollis (Darrell Zwerling) and he is fascinated with everything that has to do with water, but Evelyn is convinced he is having an affair. Jake accepts the job and begins following Hollis, and surely enough he photographs him with a younger woman causing a scandal in the city. Jake believes his job is done, until a Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) comes thundering into his office claiming that she had never hired him to follow her husband. Apparently the first woman claiming to be Mrs. Mulwray was only an impersonator and now Jake has a law suit in his hands. Surprisingly Mrs. Mulwray drops the law suit a few days later, and her husband is found dead after an apparent suicide. Jake is now hired by Mrs. Mulwray to discover who might have wanted her husband dead, and soon Jake will find himself uncovering an entire web of deceit and corruption that is much bigger than he thinks.

This masterful film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, but only won one (Best Original Screenplay written by Robert Towne) considering it had to compete in 1975 with another perfect film: The Godfather Part II. One of the best things about Chinatown actually is the screenplay. There are so many great dialogues and quotes from this film that are still remembered today almost 40 years later. Chinatown is exactly what a classical film looks like. Polanski created a masterpiece by recreating the classic film noir from the 40's with great art direction, costume designs, and cinematography. The editing and the original score are also done wonderfully, but none of this would be enough if it weren't for the wonderful performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Chinatown deserves all the praise it has received over time and it has really turned into a timeless classic and one of the few that continues to astonish modern audiences. The twists and surprises in Chinatown continue to work today.

My Review: The Champ (5/10)

¨We did some silly things. Who knows why people do what they do? Nobody knows that, but she's... she's a good person.¨

The Champ has divided audiences over the world; there are those who consider this to be a masterpiece and others who believe it`s just a terrible movie that tries too hard to be a tearjerker.  I wouldn`t agree with either statement, the movie isn`t a masterpiece, but it isn`t terrible either. It has it`s touching moments with a good performance from Jon Voight as the lead actor. I did have some issues with the child actor, Rick Schroder, but it had more to do with the material he had to work with than anything else. The producers tried too hard in making him look so cute that his character lost credibility. This 1979 film, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, is actually a remake of a 1931 movie of the same name directed by King Vidor and written by Frances Marion. So remakes have been a part of Hollywood for years now, it`s not something new like many people might think. The screenplay for this film was adapted by Walter Newman and in my opinion it is the weakest part of the movie. The script doesn`t feel real, it is overly dramatic and I just couldn`t make sense of several scenes. For example, there is one scene where Voight`s character abandons his son in a boxing gym to grab some drinks in a bar. The kid ends up alone trying to figure out where his father went and deduces he is probably at a nearby bar. I know there might be some parents that would do this, but I doubt they could have raised their child as well as Schroder`s character seems to have been raised. His love and passion for his father, the champ, is hard to believe because he seems so selfish and cruel at times.

The story takes place in Hialeah where Billy Flynn (Jon Voight), a former boxing champ now in his late thirty`s, is working as a race horse trainer. He lives with his seven year old son, T.J. (Rick Schroder), who absolutely worships his father and calls him the champ. Billy raises his son on his own since his mother abandoned them when T.J. was born, although he has told his son that she passed away. T.J. seems to be more mature then his father and is always cleaning after his mess. Billy dreams of making a comeback in boxing, but he suffered a head injury that made him abandon the sport. He also is a compulsive gambler and alcoholic. One day he even steals money from his son`s allowance in order to gamble. This time however, Billy wins a lot of money and decides to buy his son a race horse after feeling guilty for what he did. T.J. names his horse “She`s A Lady” and takes her to the race tracks where he meets a lovely woman named Annie (Faye Dunaway).  When Annie runs into Billy she realizes that T.J. is the son she has abandoned and now wants to make up for what she has done. Annie is a successful designer who is married to a wealthy doctor. At first Billy doesn`t want anything to do with her and insists in not letting his son know she`s alive, but due to his gambling problems he will be forced to. The only solution Billy can think of in order to give his son a better future is returning to what he does best: boxing.

The Champ relies too heavily on the dramatic effect and that is what ends up hurting the movie because many scenes seem to fit the screenplay for the convenience of the movie and it just doesn`t feel real. There are some strong scenes, which I agree were well acted like the prison scene or the final scene, but there were others that felt phony and overacted, like the scene where T.J. screams at Annie in the boat. My biggest disappointment was that I felt T.J. to be a one dimensional character. He was there to make the movie look cute and make the audience sympathize with him.  Billy, on the other hand, was a character we sometimes despised and at others loved and identified with. Audiences that enjoy heartfelt films and tearjerkers will probably love this movie, but audiences who are searching for more character depth will probably be disappointed with it. I had a hard time with the beginning of the film, and found the last half of the movie more entertaining, but it is far from being the masterpiece some people claim it to be.

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