Mississippi Burning (8/10): A civil rights film that delivers in thrills.

“Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught... At 7 years of age, you get told it enough times, you believe it. You believe the hatred. You live it... you breathe it. You marry it.”

Alan Parker’s 1988 film which was nominated for seven Academy Awards is another reminder of what a great career Gene Hackman had, although this time he got to share the spotlight with a pair of other wonderful performances from Willem Dafoe and Frances McDormand. The fact that Mississippi Burning isn’t even considered one of Hackman’s top ten most popular films just proves how many great films he’s made over the span of five decades (he retired from acting in 2004). Since the film was loosely based on a real incident surrounding the disappearance of some civil rights workers in the south during the 60’s many people complained that the film wasn’t faithful to the story, but Parker never made such a claim and always said his film was a fictional tale of events that could’ve taken place during the time so I don’t see any need to complain about it. Some similarities can be found with the classic film directed by Norman Jewison, In the Heat of the Night, which handles a similar theme about racism. Films like this are important reminders of how dangerous humans can be when they let hate and racism govern their hearts. It is so easy at times to forget those dark moments in our history and act like they never happened, but once in a while we get films like Mississippi Burning that remind us of the horrors of humanity and the sacrifice people made to end them. These are films with important messages which also happen to be well made and count with a stellar cast. Its only Oscar win was for Peter Biziou’s wonderful cinematography, but there is so much more worth recommending about this classic from the 80’s. 

The film introduces us to three civil rights workers as they are detained by a police vehicle while they were about to exit a small Mississippi town. The officers begin making all sorts of hateful remarks towards these men and violently shoot them for trying to stir up their quiet and organized segregated town. A few days later, two FBI agents show up in town looking for these disappeared citizens, who they fear have been murdered. Agent Alan Ward (Willem Dafoe) is in charge of the operation despite his young age. His partner, Agent Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman), is more experienced and is not afraid to speak his mind about him as someone he believes to be well educated but lacking more field work. Ward likes to do things by the books, but Anderson who was a former Sheriff in a similar Mississippi town knows the mentality of these places and believes his methods won’t get them anywhere in a place like this. The Mayor (R. Lee Ermey) isn’t pleased with the agents visit because he believes his segregation methods work and that things are run differently here than in the south. The agents learn it quickly while they’re trying to collaborate with the local officers. Sheriff Ray Stuckey (Gaylord Sartain) is very protective of his boys, especially of Deputy Clinton (Brad Dourif) and officer Frank (Michael Rooker) who were the officers involved in the murder. It doesn’t take the agents too long to realize what happened, but they can’t find anyone in town who will speak to them since the victims have been threatened by the KKK. Every time someone seems to be interested in speaking up, they are immediately intimidated by the gang through violent acts. Ward’s tactics don’t seem to have an effect, but Anderson may have found the perfect ally in Mrs. Pell (Frances McDormand), the Deputy’s wife who rejects his actions. 

The script handles the civil rights case with care and avoids falling into melodramatic territory by remaining gripping and suspenseful. There are plenty of thrills along the way and some violent scenes that are actually less horrifying than the hateful things these men say. It’s true that the civil right theme is told through a white’s man point of view, but I think it still remains compelling and well intentioned. In the end it becomes entirely a revenge action film, but it’s handled in a convincing and realistic way. Hackman, Dafoe, and McDormand are in the center of the movie and they all deliver gripping performances playing off each other extremely well. Brad Dourif and Michael Rooker are given the stereotypical racist characters who are very easy to hate. Rooker seems to be playing the same character from The Walking Dead series only this time he actually acts upon his remarks more than simply being a loud mouth. Hackman and Dafoe are on the same side despite having very different approaches and that difference helps build the tension and relationships in the film. Parker’s sensitive direction works in a film with such a controversial subject matter that could be easily manipulated. Mississippi Burning is a classic that shouldn’t be missed by fans of Gene Hackman and his impressive career.          

My Review: Raising Arizona (7/10)

"Are you boys gonna chase down your leads or are you gonna sit drinkin' coffee in the one house in the state where I know my boy ain't at?"

Raising Arizona, the Coen brothers' sophomore film, is an eccentric screwball comedy that feels cartoonish at times but served as an exercise in form for their upcoming comedies. This perhaps is much lighter in tone and more humane, but some of their common trademarks can be found in this early film of theirs. I don't think it's as cynical as most of their other work, but it does have a similar quirky sense of humor that can be found in all their comedies. Besides being original, it also happens to be very entertaining introducing some wacky and memorable characters. If you are fan of the Coen's work you will see a lot of familiar faces (John Goodman and Frances McDermond in supporting roles), but it was the lead roles from Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter that truly surprised me. They were great together playing this unconventional family that will be really hard to forget. Hi is one of Nicolas Cage's most memorable characters and his crazy hair was the highlight of his performance. As in most of their films, the stereotypes are captured really well and this time it was the Southwest's turn to play for laughs with their thick accents. The performances in this film were all highly exaggerated giving the film its cartoonish tone. Raising Arizona was a joyful experience despite the fact that I didn't find myself laughing too hard; it's a good film, but not as good as The Big Lebowski. Despite their familiar trademarks, the Coens show so much range in their films going from neo-noir to slapstick comedies. They are a force to reckon with. 

H.I. McDunnough (Nicolas Cage) meets his future wife, Ed (Holly Hunter), in the most uncommon of situations. She is a police officer in Arizona, and he is a criminal who keeps on getting caught for robbing convenience stores. Since he never carries a loaded weapon his stints in prison are short, but he manages to turn his life around once he falls for Ed. They enjoy their first years of marriage and are truly happy together, so much so that Ed convinces Hi to start a family because their blissfulness should be shared. The only problem is that they are unable to conceive a baby and due to Hi's criminal past they can't adopt either. The only solution is to kidnap one so they find their perfect victim: one of the quintuplets of a furniture tycoon, Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson). They don't think it's fair that the Arizona's got five children, so they convince themselves that they have more they can handle anyway. This event changes their lives forever as friends from Hi's past show up (John Goodman and William Forsythe), as well as his coworkers (Sam McMurray and Frances McDormand), and an evil apocalyptic bounty hunter (Randall Tex Cobb) who haunts his dreams. This baby has changed their lives forever.

The wacky and over the top performances in this film worked really well thanks to some skillful writing from the Coens and some clever one liners. I already mentioned how good the lead performances were, but some of the supporting turns were also quite impressive, the standouts being Frances McDormand and Randall Tex Cobb. Cobb's character reminded me a lot of a cartoonish version of Javier Bardem's turn in No Country for Old Men. There are also some very funny scenes revolving around Trey Wilson and once again the Coens make the victim look really unsympathetic, allowing the audience to root for the wacky outlaws. It's a charming film with some great scenes, one involving a long crazy chase across an Arizona neighborhood. It is a very sharp and clever comedy that also happens to be very entertaining taking us through an adventure that only the Coens could come up with.

My Review: Moonrise Kingdom (9/10)

¨We're in love. We just want to be together. What's wrong with that? ¨

You either love Wes Anderson movies or you hate them. I am on the loving side since I always find his movies to be hysterical and original. Moonrise Kingdom is a great film with some pretty interesting performances as well. It has been five years since Anderson directed a feature film (that wasn`t animated) and the wait is finally over. His last film, The Darjeeling Limited, came out in 2007 and it was a very funny movie, but Moonrise Kingdom is superior in my opinion. I wouldn’t say Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson´s best work but I know fans of his defer on what their favorite movie of his is. Some enjoy his first film, Bottle Rocket the most; but others have found Rushmore to be his best work. I still think The Royal Tenenbaums is his best film, and it probably has to do with it being the first film of his that I watched. Fans of Wes Anderson probably would agree with me that the first film of his that they watched is their favorite one because of the originality and inventiveness of his style. He has unique trademarks which he uses for all of his films so you probably could recognize his work in the first minute of the movie. His films always seem to deal with some sort of broken family issue where the children don’t get along with their parents or are being raised by a single parent. He also uses a lot of color in his films; yellow, green and red predominate. Anderson makes very personal films and sometimes his movies seem to repeat themselves, but he has a unique style that separates his work from other Hollywood comedies. The central theme of his movies are always quirky and bizarre, but in a good way. Moonrise Kingdom is in my opinion his most romantic work.

The story is set on the small island of New Penzance off the coast of New England in 1965, a few days before a big storm is to arrive. Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura Bishop (Frances McDormand) live on the island with their three sons and daughter named Suzy (Kara Hayward). Suzy is very troubled; she doesn’t get along with her parents and doesn’t have many friends. She befriends a young scout named Sam (Jared Gilman) who is at the other side of the island in a summer camp. Sam decides to escape from camp, meet up with Suzy secretly, with whom he`s been corresponding through letters, and run off together. Scout Master Randy (Edward Norton) discovers that Sam has escaped from camp and decides to send the rest of the scouts on a search hunt. He also notifies Police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) about the escape and the Captain connects the disappearance of both children and concludes that they have run off together. While Suzy and Sam hike and set camp together while fleeing from the search party they fall in love with each other. The Captain discovers that Sam is really an orphan and that his foster parents won`t accept him back so he has to notify Social Services (Tilda Swinton) about the incident. Sam and Suzy will do what it takes to stay together and not be found, while the entire town begins searching for them.

Once again Wes Anderson works alongside Bill Murray and his cousin Jason Schwartzman who has a small role in this film. He`s worked with them in almost all of his films, but the difference here in Moonrise Kingdom is that the true stars of the film are the kid actors: Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. Hayward reminded me a lot of Gwyneth Paltrow in The Royal Tenenbaums. They are great in this movie and had a lot of chemistry together. Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, and Edward Norton also give the film a funny and quirky touch to it. Wes Anderson`s trademarks are all over this film and the tone is similar to the others, but it also has some touches that differentiate it from his other works. Having the kids be the stars of the film is a first for him, and the film does have a romantic touch to it despite maintaining a depressive mood throughout. As always Wes Anderson wrote the screenplay for his film, although this time he co-wrote it with Roman Coppola who had worked with him in The Darjeeling Limited as well. His first films were co-written along with Owen Wilson, and Noah Baumbach has also worked with him in a couple of projects as well. His screenplays are always full of quirky humor and bizarre scenarios. That is one of the reasons I love his movies so much. Moonrise Kingdom is a film that Wes Anderson fans will enjoy quite a bit.

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My Review: Transformers: The Dark Side of the Moon (4/10)

¨You may lose faith in us, but never in yourselves¨

Somehow after the third Transformers film I have managed to lose my faith in the highly successful blockbuster director Michael Bay and screenwriter Ehren Kruger who have turned one of my favorite cartoons into a terrible franchise. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the first Transformers and thought it was awesome to see those characters brought to the big screen, but the sequels just haven’t managed to live up to expectations and my faith in the series is long lost. As Optimus Prime states, at least I haven’t managed to lose my faith in myself. The special effects are extraordinary and we get plenty of action, but there is no character development whatsoever. The movie is exceedingly long (over two and a half hours) and not even with all that extra time do we get to see some character development. The final showdown is also extremely long, but I guess action fans won`t be disappointed because they get a lot of excellent fights and cool visuals. As for me, I would have liked a better story with more character development. I could have also used a bit more comedy; the jokes just get old after three films and I would`ve really enjoyed something fresh and original in the series instead of relying on John Turturro all over again for the funniest moments. There are some new additions to the franchise, some interesting actors, but none of them are enough to save the franchise. Transformers is one of those movies that is extremely loud and makes a lot of noise, but really never ends up saying anything at all.

Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is back again to save the world for a third time from the Decepticons, although this time he has a new girlfriend, Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). He meets her at the White House after receiving a medal of honor from president Obama. Sam is out of college, but is having trouble finding a job, although he is living with Carly who is doing well at her new job working as an assistant for a rich man named Dylan (Patrick Dempsey). On the meantime, the Autobots are helping humans maintain peace between them while the Decepticons remain silent. Lennox (Josh Duhamel), who works with the Autobots, receives a call from Ukraine saying that they have found some form of alien life at a former radiation plant. The Decepticons seem to be searching for something and the answers can be found in the past: they have to do with man`s first arrival at the moon. A few select men at NASA have been hiding some key information about what really was hidden at the dark side of the moon: a Cybertronian spacecraft containing some dark secrets. Both Decepticons and Autobots begin a race to uncover this secret that could threaten life on Earth. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, and the rest of the Autobots are back along with some new ones, while Megatron leads the Decepticon`s new army.  There are some plot twists so I do not want to give too much of it away, but the main focus of the film is almost entirely on the action and the almost hour long destruction of Chicago.

In this third film we discover that Optimus Prime isn’t the last remaining Prime after all since Sentinel Prime has been unconscious in the dark side of the moon during all these years. When Optimus Prime finds him he revives him with the Matrix; but Sentinel isn’t the only new character in this film, we also have Frances McDormand as Chief Mearing in charge of the NEST operation, the funny Ken Jeong as Jerry Wang, Sam`s co-worker who might know what NASA was hiding doing the trip to the moon, there is also John Malkovich as Sam`s new boss, and then there is Alan Tudyk as the Dutch who is Simmons`s personal assistant. Even though we have all these new characters (remember I also mentioned Carly who replaced Megan Fox, and her boss Dylan) the film still seems more of the same and lacks freshness and originality. None of these characters were able to bring something new to the franchise because the script was mediocre and the film relied solely on the spectacular visuals and action scenes. Much of what Michael Bay puts on film is eye-candy, that is the reason he brought Rosie Huntington-Whiteley to replace Fox as she isn’t much of an actress, but she is just as hot as Fox. I just wished Bay spent the same amount of time he does on the action scenes with the screenplay. The 3D visuals work really well in this film, especially with the action scenes and the destruction of Chicago, but the movie just felt way too long in my opinion. I`m also tired of the open ended finales which suggest there might be another sequel on the way, and wish they just brought closure to the Transformers franchise

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