Hitchcock - Review

I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised that it's taken this long to finally get a biopic made about Alfred Hitchcock, not only one of Hollywood's greatest artists but quite frankly one of filmmaking's most important innovators. He was (and still is) often nicknamed the "Master of Suspense." While that is most definitely true, I think even that kind of sells his talents short. You see, Hitchcock didn't only master the art of movie suspense, he pretty much created it, in the sense that he basically discovered the formula to consistently generating an emotional reaction from audiences. While his name has often been synonymous with the horror and thriller genres, the art of suspense isn't exclusive to any one genre, it's just a general concept to keep eyes glued to a screen, be it in a horror film when you're impatiently waiting for that masked killer to strike again, a thriller when a bomb in a building is less than a minute away from detonating, an action film where the hero and villain are fighting for their lives on the edge of cliff, or even a comedy when that clumsy main character just can't impress the parents of his would-be wife. Just about any kind of suspense beat (if it's well-done) is generally executed according to Hitchcock's methods and rules. Not only are his films and techniques being analyzed and studied in film schools across the world, his contributions to the art of film will forever echo across the silver screen. Yeah... as you can probably tell, I'm a HUGE fan of Alfred Hitchcock. So this film was kind of a big deal for me, and it's one for which I had pretty high expectations before seeing. How does it pan out? Let's take a look...

The film starts off at the premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's (played by Anthony Hopkins) 1959 classic, North By Northwest, where soon afterwords he starts searching for inspiration for his next film. When he comes across Robert Bloch's novel, Psycho, a story about a mother-obsessed psychopath (loosely inspired by the real-life murders of serial killer Ed Gein), he immediately decides that this will be his next movie. Despite backlash of the novel's violent content from everyone including the studio, producers, investors, and censors, he insists on making the film, going so far to even fund it out of his own pocket. His only real support is his dedicated wife, Alma Reville (played to perfection by Helen Mirren) who, despite her objections to the source material and a rocky relationship with her husband, stands by him and even assists in the production of the film (as she had done in most of his previous films). As production begins, controversy builds over the film's content and Hitchcock slowly starts loosing his mind attempting to execute such a risky and ambitious project while dealing with the increased stress of the strained relationship between him and Alma.

So despite my biases toward the real Hitchcock, the movie Psycho (which by the way is one of my all-time favorite movies), or horror movies and filmmaking in general, how does the film hold up? From a purely objective standpoint... it's good, but not great. It's got a great cast, solid production design, and includes some interesting tid-bits toward it's the man it's portraying as well as his influence plus some nice little shout-outs to his TV work. There's also a few shout-outs to some notable understated figures in Hollywood (Saul Bass, Bernard Herrmann, and others). It's unfortunately held back by an inconsistent tone, some predictable and formulaic story beats, and a lack of any real profound depth or insight into the Master of Suspense. While there's plenty to enjoy here, there's just no denying that for someone as important and interesting as Hitchcock, there's definitely something missing.

Had it not been for the cast selling the hell out of there roles, I doubt I'd be giving the movie any kind of recommendation. Anthony Hopkins was, by all accounts, a pretty damn awesome choice for the role of Hitch. While he wasn't exactly spot-on in the appearance department compared to the actual Hitchcock, they managed to get him looking fairly close to the real guy. At the very least, Hopkins manages to do a near uncanny impression of Hitchcock, getting his voice and mannerisms (at least how he presented himself on camera) down to a tee. The show-stealer, however, is none other than Helen Mirren as Alma Reville. Mirren always brings her A-game to her films, and this is no exception. She owns nearly every scene in which she appears, and at times even manages to upstage Hopkins (whose no stranger to stealing scenes) in some of the film's key moments. I think an Oscar nomination for Mirren as best supporting actress is all but guaranteed at this point. There are some other important figures and characters portrayed throughout the movie, but the film mainly keeps the focus on Alfred and Alma, so that's all I'm going to go into now. Though I will say that there were no bad performances, most were actually quite good, just not on screen long enough to make any real lasting impression.

The story is a bit of a mixed bag, which I have to admit is pretty disappointing. As I mentioned, for a man as important as Alfred Hitchcock and a movie as important as Psycho, you would really hope for something with a little more substance. What we get is essentially an account of the making of Psycho, and the troubles that entailed with a side story of Alfred and Alma's shaky marriage. The story about Psycho has some interesting moments, at times attempting to dive into the psyche of Hitchcock. There are a couple of scenes where he imagines interacting with Ed Gein (the real-life inspiration for Psycho's Norman Bates). These scenes are genuinely interesting and, along with some subtle hints of Hitchcock's obsessions with some of his actresses, really open up some doors for a creative and compelling character study about something like the psychological impact of the creative process or possibly the lengths of which an artist will go to accomplish one's vision. Unfortunately, in the end, all that is really revealed is that Hitchcock was an eccentric, slightly arrogant, and somewhat stubborn visionary fascinated by subjects like murder, crime, and the human mind's capacity for dark thoughts. To anyone whose seen a Hitchcock film or even two minutes of him being interviewed, that's not much of a revelation. In the end, it really comes down to the love story between Hitch and Alma, which is about as formulaic and predictable as they get. I will admit that's it kind of cool that they made Alma the unsung hero of the film. Hopefully she'll start receiving more credit for her work in her husband's films. Ultimately, the story is engaging enough I suppose, but it never has a solid grasp on it's tone or subject matter. At times it's a quirky comedy and times it borders on a psychological drama, and it just feels a little messy in the end.

Despite it's flaws, Hitchcock is definitely worth seeing. If you've got even a slight interest in Hitchcock's movies or film in general, then you'll probably find something to enjoy. At the very least, it's worth seeing for the great performances between Mirren and Hopkins, both of whom might come away with Oscar nominations. I saw it, I enjoyed it, and I think most will as well.

My Score: 3.5 out of 5!

Flight - Review

Robert Zemeckis has to be one of the most under-appreciated directors working in Hollywood today. Even though the guy has won an Oscar and received acclaim for many of his films, he still rarely gets the credit he truly deserves. With the exception of film buffs, few people would recognize his name despite knowing the guy's filmography. Let's take a look at his work, Romancing The Stone (enjoyable movie), Back To The Future (excellent film), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (another excellent movie), Back to the Future II & III (very fun movies too), Cast Away (very impressive film), and his Oscar winning Forrest Gump (good movie but not his best). I imagine most people reading this have either seen or, at the very least, heard of those flicks yet I doubt many of you knew who was the director. Since Cast Away, however, Zemeckis' films haven't exactly been up to his usual standards, since he primarily left live action work to focus on directing motion capture cgi movies. His previous three directorial efforts, The Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol polarized audiences and critics. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of all three of them. They all had some interesting moments and some impressive bits of animation, but once the novelty of the mo-cap technology wore off, there just wasn't much about them that left any lasting impression. But now, Zemeckis finally returns to live action with the drama Flight starring Denzel Washington. Let's just say that it's great to see Zemeckis back making live action films!

Flight tells the story of Whip Whitaker, an airline pilot who may or may not have a drinking problem. After a night of binge drinking, he takes to the air piloting a flight with 102 passengers en route to Miami. Midway through the flight, the plane's mechanics begin to malfunction and starts to go into a dive. Through a series of crazy maneuvers, Whip miraculously manages to crash land the plane in an open field, saving 96 of the passengers on board. Hailed as a hero, Whip is taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, but celebrations are cut short when his friend Charlie (who works for the airline) and hot-shot attorney, inform him that blood samples were taken at the site of the crash, and Whip's indicated high levels of alcohol. With possible charges of intoxicated flying and manslaughter (for the six people on board that died), Whip faces potential jail time (possibly life if he is found guilty) for the incident. As officials investigate the circumstances of the crash, Whip attempts to turn his life around but continually resorts to drinking to deal with the stress.

Movies with stories about subjects like alcoholism or substance abuse are tricky to pull off. On one hand, it's easy to indulge in cliche or formulaic plots and story beats, resulting in a film that's predictable and kind of dull. The other risk would be the possibility that the film would come off as preachy or proselytizing, something like a feature length DARE video (do they still do DARE in elementary schools? I remember being subjected to that crap for most of my grade school years). Some have managed the subject well (Requiem For A Dream and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are among the better takes), while others, not so much (Reefer Madness anyone). Flight, however, falls into the category of well-done takes on the subject. In addition to being a well-made character study about alcoholism and substance abuse, the film is also a compelling drama, mystery, and thriller that doesn't pull any punches but doesn't try to bombard you with preachy "say no to drugs" messages.

The film mainly scores from it's dynamic cast, led by the always excellent Denzel Washington. While it almost goes without saying these days that he's a great actor, sometimes it's easy to forget just how great of an actor Denzel Washington really is. With a growing list of increasingly stellar performances, it's next to impossible to rank all of his films and it's even harder to try and figure out where Flight fits into the roster, but I can fully say that it at the absolute least ranks among Denzel's finest performances and is all but guaranteed to pick him up yet another Oscar nomination (possibly even a win). While Denzel is no doubt awesome in this, that's hardly much of a surprise. Who did surprise me, however, was the performance of Kelly Reilly in the role of Whip's friend Nicole, a heroin junkie attempting to turn her life around. Despite being an established performer of the stage and screen, I wasn't familiar with most of her work (though I had seen her in the role of Mary Morstan in 2009's Sherlock Holmes), but she made a huge impression in this film. Her committed and deeply emotional performance, plus her natural chemistry with Denzel, was among the best in the film. I'm seriously hoping that the Academy recognizes her talent this year and includes her among the nominee list for Best Supporting Actress. I also have to mention John Goodman as Harling Mays, Whip's personal friend and drug dealer. Goodman is always a hoot to watch, and his goofy and enjoyable presence was a welcome addition here. Not much more to say really, it's a great cast and everyone does a solid job.

While it's the cast that really makes Flight soar (pardon the pun), the rest of the film's elements come together quite nicely. As I mentioned earlier, the film boasts a solid script that doesn't sugar coat it's subject matter but doesn't come off as in-your-face preachy either. The trailer had a fairly uplifting tone and came off like the film would be some kind of feel-good or touchy-feely flick, but in reality that couldn't have been further from the truth. It has a very dark and often depressing tone, really giving way to it's dramatic subject material and psyche of it's main character. It also benefits from Zemeckis' sure hand as a director, who once again steps up to the plate like a boss and does what he does best. Actually, for a director whose known primarily for directing special effects heavy blockbusters, this is one of his smaller and more sensible productions. Still, it's really a testament to a director where he can take a scene where the main character has to decide whether or not he's going to drink again and turn that into a white knuckle suspense trip... not to mention one of the most suspenseful plane crash scenes I've seen in recent memory. The only real complaint I have is that the film is a bit long, and a couple of scenes do tend to drag a bit. Plus, there was a somewhat odd subplot about God and spirituality that doesn't really go anywhere. Still, those are relatively minor complaints. Most of what we have here is pretty damn close to flawless. It's just that good of a film.

So that's Flight, and right now it's a very heavy contender for my favorite film of 2012 (gotta see a few more though before I compile the list). If you're looking for a brilliantly acted and compelling drama, this one should definitely do the trick. If it's still playing near you, check it out!

My Score: 4.5 out of 5!