Movie Review: Mulholland Falls (1996)

Genre: Neo Noir Crime Drama  

Director: Lee Tamahori  

Starring: Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Jennifer Connelly, Chazz Palminteri, John Malkovich, Treat Williams, Chris Penn, Andrew McCarthy, Michael Madsen, Daniel Baldwin  

Running Time: 107 minutes  

Synopsis: It's the early 1950s in Los Angeles. A tough squad of police detectives led by Max Hoover (Nick Nolte) and consisting of his partners Ellery (Chazz Palminteri), Eddie (Michael Madsen), and Arthur (Chris Penn) play outside the rules to push back against organized crime. When high-class prostitute Allison Pond (Jennifer Connelly) is found dead, Max is compromised because he was one of her clients. Seedy cameraman Jimmy (Andrew McCarthy) secretly filmed Allison with her illicit lovers, including General Timms (John Malkovich). Max's dogged investigation leads to a Nevada atomic bomb test site, and a tangle with Colonel Nathan Fitzgerald (Treat Williams).

What Works Well: This character-based mood-focused drama rides on the brute charisma of Nick Nolte as Max Hoover, a detective determined to keep his town clear of mob figures. His world is suddenly upended when his trysts with the alluring Allison are exposed, collapsing his stable relationship with his wife (Melanie Griffith). The Peter Dexter script balances expertly-delivered punctuations of violence with interesting characters brought to life by a dream supporting cast, with Andrew McCarthy's opportunistic photographer a stand out. At the heart of this investigation is a strong bond of male friendship, Max's squad a cacophony of barbs united by an ends-justify-the-means ethos.

What Does Not Work As Well: The period set designs, vehicles, and wardrobes leave the conspiracy behind, the sequence of events leading to Allison's death becoming fuzzier, less interesting, and ultimately illogical with every reveal. The resources available to the antagonists should have ensured that she simply disappeared, rather than dumped in plain sight of a construction project. 

Key Quote:

General Timms (talking to Max Hoover): That's the history of the world, Lieutenant. Some people die before their time so that others can live. It's the cornerstone of civilization. War, religion, democracy. A hundred die so that a thousand may live.

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Movie Review: The Deep End Of The Ocean (1999)

A missing child drama, The Deep End Of The Ocean explores the impacts of profound loss but dilutes into bland emotional notes.

In 1988, married couple Beth and Pat Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer and Treat Williams) live in Madison, Wisconsin with their three kids Vincent (seven), Ben (three), and newborn Kerry. Beth takes the kids to her high school reunion in Chicago. In the hotel lobby she momentarily leaves the two boys alone, and Ben goes missing. The subsequent months-long investigation by Detective Candy Bliss (Whoopi Goldberg) fails to uncover any clues. The burden of guilt transforms Beth into a cold and angry wife and mother, and her marriage suffers.

Nine years later the family moves to Chicago. Beth meets 12-year-old Sam, the son of her neighbour George Karras (John Kapelos) from two blocks away, and is immediately sure that Sam is actually Ben. Candy and the police investigate to confirm the boy's identity, but reassembling the Cappadora family will be exceptionally difficult.

An adaptation of the book by Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Deep End Of The Ocean offers an intriguing premise but slipshod execution. The production values and emotional depth rarely rise above television movie-of-the-week material, and the plot machinations and character arcs are unconvincing. Nondescript friends and family members clutter the drama as colourless secondary characters, entering then exiting the stage with minimal impact. Daughter Kerry is impressively neglected into another but unintended child disappearing act.

The first half is marginally better, offering a realistic nightmare scenario of a lost child and a mother turning from calm to frantic then anguished, with Michelle Pfeiffer elevating a couple of scenes above the mundane. The warning signs starts when Stephen Schiff's script demonstrates no interest in any police work, and reduces Whoopi Goldberg's Detective Bliss to a token woman/black/lesbian character with no other meaningful contribution.

The second half suffers from a severe lack of identity. Director Ulu Grosbard flounders within ridiculous plot gyrations and starts randomly dividing his attention among numerous characters, unable to decide on a path and achieving little more than surface scratches. Beth and Pat bicker then bicker again, Vincent (Jonathan Jackson) is now a moody teenager carrying his own guilt luggage, Ben/Sam is unsure which household he belongs to, and George, the father who raised him, suffers through no fault of his own. 

Helped by burrowed performances from Jackson and John Kapelos, Vincent and George emerge from the sidelines as the two most interesting characters, but they are not afforded time to expand because no one is. With emotional oscillations trading for a discount, The Deep End Of The Ocean wades into disappointingly shallow waters.



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Movie Review: Second Act (2018)

A lightweight corporate comedy, the frivolous Second Act is even unsure what story it wants to tell.

In New York, fortysomething Maya DaVilla (Jennifer Lopez) is the Assistant Manager at a Value Shop store. Despite 15 years of experience and plenty of streetsmarts, she is passed over for a promotion because she lacks a college degree. Her relationship with boyfriend Trey (Milo Ventimiglia) is strained because he wants to start a family and she isn't ready, still haunted by the baby she had to place in adoption as a 17 year-old single mother.

Maya's best friend is the foul-mouthed Joan (Leah Remini). For Maya's birthday, Joan's teenaged son gifts her a spruced up on-line profile, inventing advanced education degrees and a sparkling record of philanthropy. She is soon offered a job by a major cosmetics company, where she is welcomed by the president Anderson Clarke (Treat Williams) and his vice president daughter Zoe (Vanessa Hudgens). Maya feels guilty about landing a job based on fake credentials, but is quickly thrust into a competition with Zoe to develop a new skincare product. A shock revelation awaits.

Directed by Peter Segal, Second Act is a nausea-inducing affair, with a soapy self-empowerment song breaking out on the soundtrack every two minutes. Somehow the limp plot meanders from an oh-so-shallow streetsmarts versus booksmarts theme to a mother-daughter reunion and laments about past decisions and present lies. The race to develop a new skincare product works hard to demonstrate cluelessness about product research methods and the modern corporate work culture, while simultaneously underlining women's fixation on looks in a film supposedly about valuing anything but.

Some jokes from the script by Justin Zackham and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas do land, mainly delivered by the supporting cast. Leah Remini is often the only tolerable presence on the screen, while Annaleigh Ashford (as an acerbic junior executive) and Charlyne Yi (as an intern with a fear of heights but no shortage of courage in other places) add the occasional spark. In contrast Jennifer Lopez never convinces, while Vanessa Hudgens struggles to hide the strain required to deliver lines.

Once all the saccharine resolutions are wrapped up in a bland bow, prolonged dreamy narration winds down the story, amplifying the sound of scraping at the bottom of the ideas barrel.



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Movie Review: Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

A New York gangster epic spanning 35 years in the life of two friends, Once Upon A Time In America is Sergio Leone's final film, and a masterpiece of provocative storytelling. The extended director's cut (with restored footage) clocks in at a mammoth 251 minutes, and it's a fascinating viewing experienced, reminiscent of a complex ancient tragedy with central characters both heroic and deeply flawed.

The film unfolds in three different time periods concurrently: 1920, the early 1930s, and 1968. The narrative starts in 1932, with gangster Noodles (Robert De Niro) being hunted down after having seemingly betrayed his pals and long-time criminal associates. He evades capture, but is surprised to discover the gang's stash of $1 million in emergency cash missing. He buys a one-way ticket out of New York. Close to 35 years later, Noodles returns to the city, drawn back by mysterious messages suggesting there is unfinished business for him to attend to.

In flashbacks to the dusty streets of Lower East Side Manhattan in 1920, a group of Jewish kids are forming themselves into a gang consisting of the scrappy Noodles and his friends Cockeye, Patsy and the youngest Dominic. They pass their days committing petty crimes and evading policeman Aiello (Danny Aiello). Noodles has a crush on the relatively sophisticated girl-next-door Deborah (Jennifer Connelly), whose family runs the local diner where her brother Fat Moe works. In contrast to Deborah, the local slut-to-be is Peggy, and she affords the boys their first sexual experiences.

The lanky Max moves into the neighbourhood from Brooklyn, and becomes quick friends with Noodles. Together they plot a path for their ragtag bunch to gain more influence, which results in confrontations with older and more established street thugs. After one such skirmish, Noodles is caught and imprisoned for 12 years. The grown up Max (James Woods), Cockeye (William Forsythe) and Patsy (James Hayden) welcome back Noodles when he is released in 1931. Max has forged the young men into a slick group of criminals, profiting from the illegal alcohol trade as well as prostitution and assorted other criminal activity.

Noodles reconnects with Deborah (Elizabeth McGovern), who is now a budding dancing star, and he also quickly reintegrates back into the gang as they get involved in a high stakes jewel theft with crime boss Frankie (Joe Pesci) and disgusting Detroit mobster Joe (Burt Young). Max and Noodles begin to clash over the gang's direction, with Noodles wanting to remain more independent while Max chases the riches afforded by association with powerful men like Frankie. Noodles stages an elaborate date with Deborah that starts well but ends in disaster, and finds some alternative comfort in the arms of the willing Eve (Darlanne Fleugel). Max embarks on a relationship with good time girl Carol (Tuesday Weld). When the end of Prohibition draws near, the schism between Noodles and Max grows dangerously wider.

Based on the autobiographical book The Hoods by Harry Grey, Once Upon A Time In America is Leone's ode to the American dream through the lens of friendship, social turmoil, violence, crime and a shrouded mystery that will serve as a final punctuation mark. The film had a troubled release history, with an initial studio-butchered 139 minute North American version rendering the film incomprehensible. The initial 229 minute European release was Leone's original vision. Some 30 years later, the painstaking restoration of 22 essential minutes for the extended director's cut further elevates a masterpiece of grandiose filmmaking.

Playing off the themes of his Dollars trilogy, Leone remains fascinated by the relationships that form between men on the wrong side of the law, where concepts of honour and trust are relative and friendships are created on the run and threatened by the shadow of the next big score. The core story is the bond between Noodles and Max, forged in childhood, finding a common ambition, surviving Noodles' stint in prison, and then hitting the rocks of unbridled greed.

For Max being a middling criminal with comfortable wealth is not enough, he wants to reach for the brass ring of unconstrained power and enormous riches. For the more grounded Noodles, winning the heart of Deborah is more important than all the money in the world, and when her love proves elusive, taking any more risks seems pointless. The relationship between the two men ruptures in the worst possible way, with judgement day for both awaiting more than 30 years later.

The pace is slow and deliberate, but the movie never fades. This is effectively three rich films in one viewing experience, and by presenting the story in non-chronological order, Leone reveals the ties that bind across the decades. Scenes rarely linger for too long, and when they do, there is good reason: young Patsy confronting a cupcake on a staircase and carefully weighing the benefits of an expensive dessert against sex is a dazzling reminder of the crevasse between childhood reality and adulthood aspirations.

The movie carries a tone of sad nostalgia in each of its three eras, with the recreation of the bustling Lower East Side Jewish neighbourhood circa 1920 a particularly brilliant visual feat. The brooding Manhattan Bridge is used as a stunning backdrop to the ramshackle origins of Noodles and Max, while Ennio Morricone conjures up one of his best music scores, and it's all in the key of sad.

For all the human drama, this is a film about criminals, and when it's time for violence, Leone does not hold back. Characters are tortured, beaten senseless and summarily executed, there are stabbings, close-range shootings, and plenty of violence involving women and children. A prolonged, harrowing rape scene is physically painful to watch, emphasizing a criminal's hopelessly shallow understanding of the difference between romance and dominance.

Robert De Niro and James Woods create an enduring pair, both actors at the top of their form and delivering seminal performances. Woods holds back just enough of his intensity to create the undercurrent of menace that drives his character's brashness. De Niro finds the space where a kid turns to crime to climb out of his low status, but has no social skills to thrive in middle class domesticity and no desire to go looking for anything more.

The early formative scenes benefit from some terrific child performances, with the personalities of Noodles (Scott Tiler), Max (Rusty Jacobs), Cockeye (Adrian Curran), Patsy (Brian Bloom), Dominic (Noah Moazezi), Fat Moe (Mike Monetti), and Peggy (Julie Cohen) all created seemingly effortlessly by the young cast. And most impressive is Jennifer Connelly in her big screen debut at 14 years old, managing to outshine Elizabeth McGovern in defining young Deborah.

At over four hours long, there are bound to be some missteps. An essential sub-plot involving union boss Jimmy O'Donnell (Treat Williams) seems to have suffered most in the editing room, while Joe Pesci's Frankie is also a character who has undue influence compared to his limited screen time. But these are minor quibbles. Once Upon A Time In America is an audacious feat, a gangster film that manages to be both intimate and flamboyant, and easily among the most monumental achievements in the history of film.

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The Movies Of Treat Williams

All movies starring Treat Williams and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Marathon Man (1976, uncredited)

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

Hair (1979)

1941 (1979)

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980, uncredited)

Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Mulholland Falls (1996)

The Devil's Own (1997)

The Deep End Of The Ocean (1999)

What Happens In Vegas (2008)

127 Hours (2010)

Second Act (2018)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Hair (1979)

The film adaptation of the Broadway musical show, Hair the movie rides along with the music. The better songs make for the better screen moments, while the many more mundane musical numbers result in significant stretches of tedium.

The Vietnam War is raging, and idealistic Claude Bukowski (John Savage) leaves the family farm in Oklahoma and heads to New York for a couple of days of sightseeing prior to joining the army. Claude falls in with a group of hippies led by the charismatic Berger (Treat Williams) and his friends Hud (muscular), Jeannie (pregnant) and Woof (very long-haired). The hippies introduce Claude to their anti-war counter-culture and before long he is experimenting with drugs and sleeping in the park.

Claude also falls in love at first sight with rich society girl Sheila (Beverly D'Angelo). Berger arranges for his group to gate-crash a posh party at the house of Sheila's parents, an intrusion that briefly lands Berger, Claude and all their hippie friends in jail. Claude eventually enlists, leaving his New York friends on a sour note as he relocates to Nevada to undergo basic army training. But Berger wants to do good with his new friend, which triggers a cross-country road trip and another reunion between Claude, the hippies and Sheila.

Director Milos Forman and screenwriter Michael Weller took considerable liberties with the story to try and create an experience applicable to the screen. Consisting of very few spoken words, Hair strings along the musical song and dance numbers and attempts to create a passable narrative. But with no time invested to create interesting characters, the film works only in parts. There is plenty of energetic jumping around in the park, but often the prevailing sense is of a group of well-intentioned amateurs getting together for a fun day of hijinks and being caught on film.

The better parts easily coincide with the can't-miss hit songs, Aquarius, Hair, Let The Sunshine In and Manchester providing the backdrop to the more stirring movie sequences. The other impressive highlight features Berger singing I Got Life while dancing and prancing on the all-dressed table at Sheila's stuffy party, the one time that the movie properly nails the essential culture clash at the heart of the musical.

The many other songs may have worked well on stage, but here they occupy chunks of time with not much going on in terms of forward-moving energy. The film stalls early and often as yet another musical number triggers yet another celebration of peace, love, lust, sex, and drugs, a message that is well and truly delivered inside the first 20 minutes.

The actors have little to work with in terms of character development. Claude the innocent, Berger the hippie and Sheila the débutante are exactly that, one-word summaries of stereotypes with no meaningful opportunity for evolution. Savage, Williams and D'Angelo are adequate within the limits imposed on them.

Hair does conjure up an excellent ending, an unintended sacrifice defining the meaning of true friendship. In a movie with as many good hair days as bad hair days, at least the ending is stylishly spiked.

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Movie Review: The Devil's Own (1997)

A sputtering thriller that plays out in slow motion and suffers from a particularly leaden middle third, The Devil's Own has the benefit of two captivating stars in Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford, whose talents are deployed in full to help navigate the film around many rough patches.

Frankie McGuire is eight years old when he witnesses his father brutally assassinated at the dinner table, setting him on a path of unbridled commitment for the Irish Republican cause. Twenty years later, it's the early 1990s and Frankie (Brad Pitt) is the charismatic leader of a deadly cell in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and one of the most wanted men by the British authorities in Northern Ireland. An attempt to arrest Frankie turns into a firefight and a debacle for the British agents, who suffer high casualties.

Frankie travel to the United States to finalize a deal for the IRA to purchase Stinger missiles: the ability to shoot down British helicopters would dramatically strengthen the IRA's hands. In the US, a respected judge sympathetic to the Republican cause provides Frankie with a bogus cover job at a construction site, and arranges for him to live with the New Jersey family of Tom O'Meara (Ford). Tom is a highly principled New York cop of Irish ancestry, married with three daughters. He welcomes Frankie into his family, oblivious to his terrorist activities.

Frankie connects with Billy Burke (Treat Williams), an underground arms dealer arranging the sale of the Stingers. The deal goes sour and Burke turns against Frankie; meanwhile, Tom is having troubles of his own with his cop partner Eddie (Ruben Blades), who shoots dead a fleeing but unarmed burglar.Gradually Tom clues in to the true purpose of Frankie's visit to the US, and has to intervene to try and reduce the threat of an ever increasing cycle of violence.

The Devil's Own proved to be veteran director Alan J. Pakula's final film prior to his unfortunate death in a 1998 car crash. Although far from his best work, he does provide the movie with a quality polish. Pakula has the experience to recognize the best assets at his disposal, and he keeps the focus on Pitt and Ford, trusting them with the heavy lifting.

Pitt is the more magnetic of the two stars, and conveys the charisma of a man single-mindedly dedicated to a life of struggle while fully recognizing that his death may lie around every corner. Until he meets that fate, Frankie does not hesitate to push towards his objectives. Ford plays Tom as the moral but perhaps none-too-smart cop, on the final downhill run of his career, overwhelmed by a noisy family life and just hoping to wind down his policing without having to kill anyone.

Having Treat Williams and Ruben Blades in the supporting cast helps to provide additional heft to the production. Neither is asked to stretch, but they do add strong personalities and provide some counterbalance to Pitt and Ford.

The strong cast and focus on characters are the main positives to emerge from The Devil's Own, since the credibility of the action sequences does not stand up to any kind of scrutiny, and the slowish pace throughout nourishes character development much more so than sustained thrills.

The script attempts to elicit some measure of mis-guided sympathy for the IRA's cause; this does not go very far, as the amount of killing and violence triggered by Frankie overwhelms any message about the tactics being justified.

The Devil's Own could have been both better and worse than it is. It lands as a decent vehicle for a veteran craggy actor and an emerging tousled talent, with both men proving the enduring value of star power.

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