Movie Review: The Forgotten (2004)

Genre: Science Fiction Psychological Thriller Mystery 

Director: Joseph Ruben  

Starring: Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Gary Sinise, Anthony Edwards, Alfre Woodard  

Running Time: 94 minutes  

Synopsis: In New York City, Telly (Julianne Moore) is still grieving the loss of her 9-year-old son Sam, who died in a plane crash 14 months prior. Her husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) provides limited emotional support, and so Telly leans on her therapist Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise). When photographs and videos of Sam suddenly disappear, Telly believes that Jim is tormenting her, and Dr. Munce provides a diagnosis of delusion - Sam never existed. But then Telly connects with former professional hockey player Ash (Dominic West), who lost his daughter in the same plane crash, and together they race to find answers, chased by federal agents and monitored by supernatural forces.

What Works Well: The opening 30 minutes establish a promising premise exploring the intersection of excruciating grief and mental well-being. The cast is rich with talent, and Julianne Moore is well above this material.

What Does Not Work As Well: The middle act features a numbing sequence of repetitive chases, discarding the psychological set-up for cheap and routine action. But the wheels completely fall off in the final third. The introduction of an omnipotent alien abduction theme is awful at a dumbfounding level, both as an idea and in execution, catapulting the plot into ludicrous territory and hopelessly stranding the characters in an unsalvageable mess.

Key Quote:

Telly: Do you get drunk every night?

Ash: No. Sometimes I'm drunk by noon.

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Movie Review: Flipped (2010)

A coming-of-age tentative romance, Flipped is a tender story of first crush told with warmth and heart but without straying too far from the familiar path.

It's the early 1960s, and grade eight student Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe) cannot shake the attentions of his classmate and across-the-street neighbour Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll). The young but precocious Juli had first set eyes on Bryce six years earlier when the Loskis moved into the community, and she made it her mission in life to win his affection. Always less mature and uncertain how to behave, Bryce had rebuffed her at every opportunity. Now at 14 years old, Juli is beginning to blossom into a young adult, and gains local prominence by trying to protect a beautiful neighbourhood tree from the chainsaw.

The Bakers are a relatively poor family, with Juli's free spirited artist father Richard (Aidan Quinn) dedicated to funding the expensive private health care of his retarded brother. Bryce's grandfather Chet (John Mahoney) moves in with the Loskis and acts as a catalyst and counterweight to Bryce's boorish father Steven (Anthony Edwards). After Bryce manages to unwittingly insult Juli in an incident involving eggs and backyard chickens, Chet sets about building bridges with Juli, her unique spirit reminding him of his recently deceased wife. With both Juli and Bryce learning hard truths about their families, their potential friendship hangs in the balance.

Flipped is pleasantly sweet, sometimes poignant and with its heart firmly throbbing towards nostalgia. But there is also no denying that the film is not much more than three back-to-back episodes of The Wonder Years television show. Flipped introduces he said, she said narration of the same incidents to contrast Bryce and Juli's perspectives, but otherwise the film ploughs very familiar territory: coming of age in the 1960s, the exaggerated traumas of life in junior high school, and early experiences in understanding the greater world.

Director and co-writer Rob Reiner is a safe pair of hands. The decision to relocate Wendelin Van Draanen's young adult novel from the early 1990s to the early 1960s opens up the film's appeal to a wider audience, the wistful pull of the early 1960s still holding strong resonance. The actual events that drive Juli and Bryce towards various points of conflict are the types of episodes that build early personal adulthood memories. The beautiful neighbourhood tree is threatened; Juli cares deeply, Bryce not so much. Juli wins a science fair competition, much to Bryce's chagrin. She reaches out to the entire neighbourhood with fresh egg donations; Bryce's family haughtily reject the gesture, disgusted by the Bakers' backyard.

It is left to wise old head Chet to cut past the social barriers and spot in Juli the emergence of a remarkable young woman. Bryce's mom Patsy (Rebecca De Mornay) follows up with an invitation to dinner that is another turning point in the growing up process, exposing Bryce for the fist time to his father's true colours. And gradually Reiner builds his way to a respectful resolution, as Bryce clumsily but doggedly seeks the inflection point between child and adult.

Although some snippets of the crystallizing adult world, including Juli's retarded uncle, are dealt with in just the right amount, Reiner leaves many other sub-plots in frustratingly poor condition. Bryce's father Steven casts a long shadow over the family, but the film only pokes at his repressed frustrations and then leaves him suffering. Grandpa Chet is a key catalyst, but drops out unceremoniously. And both Bryce and Juli have interesting siblings who deserved bigger roles.

Madeline Carroll is excellent as Juli, demonstrating a good emotional range and nailing the traumas of adolescence. Callan McAuliffe as Bryce has less to do and comes across as more wooden. Aidan Quinn, Rebecca De Mornay, John Mahoney, Penelope Ann Miller and Anthony Edwards provide the supporting case with a welcome gloss.

Flipped is gentle and pleasingly engaging, but leaves no lasting impact.

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Movie Review: Top Gun (1986)

A glitzy drama and clunky romance set in the world of elite navy aviators, Top Gun has all the slickness of a polished sales pitch, and all the emotional depth that can be expected when hardware is the subject of worship.

Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is a cocky, instinctive naval pilot, living under the cloud of his father, also a Navy pilot who died in mysterious circumstances. Maverick flies F-14A Tomcats with his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards). After a close encounter with enemy MiG 28s over the Indian Ocean, Maverick and Goose are chosen to join the elite "Top Gun" aerial combat training school at Miramar, Florida.

The intense training features numerous flights to sharpen dogfighting skills, overseen by the legendary "Viper" (Tom Skerritt) and "Jester" (Michael Ironside). Maverick finds himself in an alpha male competition with Tom "Iceman" Kazanski (Val Kilmer), a more cerebral pilot, for the prize of top graduate. Maverick also starts a steamy relationship with Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), an astrophysicist and civilian instructor. With the course drawing to a close and Maverick locked in an intense competition with Iceman, tragedy strikes, severely shaking Maverick's self-belief.

A thrilling piece of 1980s confectionery, Top Gun is ridiculous, mindless fun. Every man has a hokey nickname, every woman melts in front of the military uniforms, and every line of dialogue is cringe-worthy. The romance is klutzy, Kelly McGillis puts herself in the running for least convincing astrophysicist in film history (have there been others?), and the music serves as a reminder about how terrifically awful 1980s soundtracks could contrive to be. The geopolitics are at kindergarten level while the manly competitions make it all the way to Grade 8 maturity.

And yet. There is something about the unabashed gloss of Top Gun that allows it to rise above. Director Tony Scott displays a genuine flair for transforming lethal machinery into objects of desire, and Top Gun is filled with quite magnificent aerial photography. The glistening sun, the open skies, the golden silhouettes, and the roar of overpowered fighter jets designed to manoeuvre and kill with maximum efficiency are combined to create an irresistible aesthetic. As an advertisement for life as a navy pilot, the film is an undisputed winner.

Which all means that the story is utterly irrelevant, and serves as a distant backdrop to the sexually charged engines and people. And it's really best not to look too closely at all the decisions made by the military brass, culminating in sending young men off to war on their graduation day and shoving a pilot into combat while he is in a near catatonic state. It's drama torn from the pages of ideas too foolish to be considered as comics.

Tom Cruise continued his rapid rise to the very top with a magnetic performance as the moody, motorcycle-riding, Ray-Ban wearing Maverick. He does not need to act as much as be present and allow his natural pizzazz to glow, and he just radiates energy on the ground and in the sky. Val Kilmer displays a different kind of intensity, still charismatic but adding a snarly meanness. The other guys range from marginally goofy (Edwards as Goose) to pure macho (Skerritt and Ironside, taking it all too seriously).

The black hole is Kelly McGillis, and she threatens to swallow up the entire film with a stunningly unconvincing performance that screams vapid love interest, with Charlie reduced to a ten year old's idea of a fantasy woman. Deep in the cast, Meg Ryan shows up as Goose's wife and Tim Robbins makes a late appearance as a co-pilot.

While most of the individual elements fall flat, as a whole Top Gun amounts to a nonsensical success story. The film rides a crazy, unapologetic energy, buying into its own boyish joy, taking the breath away and inviting all to be swept into the thrill of the danger zone.

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