Directed by Paul Weitz
Screenplay by Paul Weitz
Actors:
HUGH GRANT
DENNIS QUAID
MANDY MOORE
WILLEM DAFOE
CHRIS KLEIN
JENNIFER COOLIDGE
SAM GOLZARI
MARCIA GAY HARDEN
SETH MEYERS
JOHN CHO
JUDY GREER
SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO
TONY YALDA
MARLEY SHELTON
There is nothing new about amateur contests. Frank Sinatra made his first step toward stardom when he and the Hoboken Four appeared on Major Bowes Amateur Hour, a radio sensation in the 1930s and ā40s. (I grew up watching the majorās successor, Ted Mack, who hosted the long-running show on television.) Ella Fitzgerald enjoyed her first taste of success on the stage of the Apollo Theater in Harlem during one of its legendary amateur nights. But American Idol has taken this time-worn concept to a new level of popularity and slickness of production; in the process it has become a pop-culture phenomenon.
Anything this popular deserves scrutiny and invites satire. Thatās what struck writer-director Paul Weitz and inspired American Dreamz, which not only takes on the wildly successful talent show but, in the same breath, post-9/11 feelings toward Middle Eastern immigrants and even the president of the United States. This George W. Bushālike figure (played as a sincere dimwit by Dennis Quaid) faces a crisis of confidence that may or may not be cured by an appearance on the American Dreamz television program.
Hugh Grant would seem to be an ideal choice to play a character inspired by Idolās caustic producer-host Simon Cowell. But Weitz, who codirected Grant in About a Boy, wasnāt merely looking for a personable Brit. He realized that the actor was capable of playing the variation on Cowell he had in mind, a man who has every trapping of success but still isnāt happy. Not every actor could portray a self-loathing individual and still retain our interest in him. Grant manages that feat.
The character meets his match in the unlikely guise of Mandy Moore, a sweet-faced girl from the Midwest whoās chosen as a contestant on the show. Her all-American looks are deceiving, as the people around her are doomed to learn for themselves: sheās about as warm as an Eskimo Pie.
I have a feeling that these cold-blooded characters kept American Dreamz from becoming the box-office hit it deserved to be. Whatās more, it dares to make fun of a show people genuinely love. But thatās exactly what I like about this movie: itās a satire that spares no one. Weitz holds a mirror up to American society and uses humor to help us see ourselves at our best, and at our worst.
Directed by Steve Buscemi
Screenplay by Edward Bunker and John Steppling
Based on the novel The Animal Factory by Edward Bunker
Actors:
WILLEM DAFOE
EDWARD FURLONG
MICKEY ROURKE
TOM ARNOLD
STEVE BUSCEMI
JOHN HEARD
DANNY TREJO
SEYMOUR CASSEL
Weāve all seen plenty of prison dramas, from such emblematic Hollywood yarns as The Big House (1930) to starker, modern-day variations like In the Name of the Father (1993). Camp followers are fond of the women-in-prison subgenre that was launched, unintentionally, with Caged (1950) and became exploitation fodder in the decades to follow.
With all of these movies in our collective consciousness, a prison picture has to offer something fresh or itās headed toward clichĆ© city. The Animal Factory avoids the obvious at every turn.
Unlike other stories set behind bars, its strength comes not from melodrama but matter-of-factness. The setting is a state institution where the formidable Willem Dafoeālooking particularly menacing with his head shavedāplays a quiet, cunning prison veteran who believes, not without justification, that he runs the joint. He even has a wicked sense of humor. Edward Furlong is an unworldly twenty-one-year-old newcomer, locked up for marijuana dealing, who becomes Dafoeās latest protĆ©gĆ©. At first heās reluctant to form any alliances, wanting to fight his own fights, but he gradually comes to understand that he needs a mentor. The film contends that itās impossible to avoid playing āthe gameā in order to survive.
Yet Dafoe isnāt a traditional heavy, and his feelings toward Furlong arenāt blatantly sexual; in fact, he feels almost fatherly toward the young man. The nuances of their relationship help make the film as compelling as it is.
Every member of the ensemble is well cast, from Seymour Cassel as an old-time prison guard to Mickey Rourke as a transvestite whoās overjoyed to have a young stud like Furlong as his new cell mate. Tom Arnold is also quite good as a prisoner whoās on the prowl for the new kid and makes no bones about it.
Actor Steve Buscemiās debut film behind the camera, Trees Lounge, showed talent and style; his sophomore project reveals maturity. (Since that time heās piloted episodes of The Sopranos and Nurse Jackie and two excellent indie features, Lonesome Jim and Interview.) And if the setting and the performances owe a debt to him, the film owes its credibility to screenwriter Edward Bunker, who served time in San Quentin and adapted this script from his same-named novel. (An earlier book of his became the Dustin Hoffman vehicle Straight Time.) Bunker also appears briefly onscreen as a character named Buzzard.
Directed by James Burke
Screenplay by Brent Boyd
Actors:
JOSHUA JACKSON
DONALD SUTHERLAND
JULIETTE LEWIS
LOUISE FLETCHER
ZACK WARD
JOHN KAPELOS
STEVEN PASQUALE
TYLER LABINE
It must be frustrating for actors to do outstanding work in a film hardly anyone sees. Iām sure they take satisfaction in a job well done, but we all need approbation. The performances in a little movie called Aurora Borealis are deeply felt, and it shows. When I screened this film for my class, most of my students still thought of Joshua Jackson as the guy theyād grown up watching on the popular TV series Dawsonās Creek. They were (pleasantly) surprised to see him inhabit an entirely different character, and enjoyed watching him relate so convincingly to his costars.
Duncan (Jackson) is twenty-five years old and his life in Minneapolis is going nowhere. Heās living out an extended adolescence, hanging out with the same friends heās had for years. He canāt hold down a job, and has no sense of direction or self-worth. (He even allows his hardworking brother, played by Steven Pasquale, to use his apartment to cheat on his wife.) We learn that Duncanās promising hockey career came to an end with the death of his father ten years ago, apparently from a cocaine overdose. Heās never gotten overāor pastāthis life-changing experience.
His brother nags him about visiting their grandparents (Donald Sutherland and Louise Fletcher), and when he finally does, Duncan establishes a bond with the old man, whoās suffering from Parkinsonās and the early stages of dementia but still has a roguish spark. The young man even takes a job as a handyman in his grandparentsā apartment buildingāa major step, for himāand enjoys spending time with them, all the more so when he meets his grandfatherās visiting nurse, Kate (Juliette Lewis).
Kate genuinely likes Duncan but perceives that heās unable, or unwilling, to move out of his carefully proscribed comfort zone with his pals in Minneapolis. Is there a future to their relationship? And is Duncanās grandfather serious when he talks about ending his own life?
What could play out as soap opera becomes convincing drama because the performances are so sincere. Jackson has a way of underplaying that makes what he does look easy. Lewis is lively and lik...
