awoolsey Reviews

The Tudors (2007–2010)

This is what separates Showtime from HBO...

[1/10 · 20 March 2007]

HBO is renowned for their excellent original programming. Recently, the premier cable channel has gotten into historical drama with the excellent "Elizabeth I" and "Rome." Ever the copycat, Showtime now offers "The Tudors," combining the time period of "Elizabeth I" and the format of "Rome." Too bad it has none of the quality. Where "Elizabeth I" had gravitas, "The Tudors" is deadly dull. Where "Rome" was risqué and shocking, "The Tudors" is just empty-headed and smarmy. It was difficult not to change the channel on this show in the first ten minutes; I cannot imagine plodding through an entire droning, silly season of this. HBO's programs are the products of creators genuinely keen on their subjects and time periods, while this plodding, vapid Showtime program is another lame attempt to mimic a rival's glory.

The Way of the Gun (2000)

A Very Derivative Film

[3/10 · 8 September 2000]

If you've seen Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Playing God, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, or any of the multitude of Tarantino rip-off films that glutted the market after Pulp Fiction in 1994, then you've seen The Way of the Gun. The climax even occurs in that most cliché of violent hipster heist film settings - a brothel in Mexico. Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote and directed the film, was responsible for writing The Usual Suspects, one of the more successful Tarantino wannabes, and he tries to cram The Way of the Gun with serpentine relationships that really don't pay off with any surprises. The film is entertaining enough in its own slight way, but it's about five years too late to seem original or unique in any way. Two other notes: Ryan Phillippe's inner city Muppet speaking voice is the worst film accent since Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the gun shots in this film are excruciatingly loud.

All About My Mother (1999)

A Heartfelt Tribute to Mothers, Actresses, and All Women

[10/10 · 26 December 1999]

Pedro Almodóvar's ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER is one of those rare films which focuses on character yet never drags or becomes unwound. The story is a paean to women everywhere, most especially mothers, with the story opening on a tender relationship between Manuela and her son, Esteban. But tragedy ensues, and Manuela travels to Barcelona to find the first Esteban, her estranged husband who now goes by the name Lola. The plot is not one which lends itself to description, but the characters are. Rosa, the pregnant, HIV-positive nun. Her mother, the art forger who obviously cannot connect with her daughter. Huma Rojo, the great actress, and her lover, the self-absorbed, self-destructive junkie Nina. La Agrado, the transsexual who steals the show (and refreshingly does not need to chase acceptance or pity from others). ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER deftly weaves together love, pain, friendship, death, and birth with Almodóvar's bold, candy-colored visuals. Tragedy has rarely been this enjoyable, and few character films can stir the mind and heart like this - even at twice the length of ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER. Most importantly, motherhood has never seemed so poetic and prosaic at the same time, something both supernatural and as elemental as air.

Howards End (1992)

A Journey Everyone Should Take

[23 January 1999]

The literary period piece is a difficult genre to master, requiring a difficult balancing between restraint and flowing emotion. Few films effectively achieve this as beautifully as Merchant-Ivory's astounding HOWARDS END, making it probably the best period film of the 1990's. The film juxtapositions the intellectual, emotionally unhindered Schlegel sisters against the restrained, imperious Wilcox family, and, for good measure, mixes in the differing attitudes toward class emerging early in the century. What could quite easily have been a dry study in the cultural dynamics of pre-WWI England becomes an enveloping tale, thanks in no small part to the performances by Hopkins, Emma Thompson, and Vanessa Redgrave, whose Ruth Wilcox remains enigmatic after every viewing. The emotions ringing through by film's end - not to mention its astoundingly pointed social criticism - give the film its power, a power missing even from Forster's rambling, distant novel. And this story is nestled amongst some of the most beautiful art direction, music, and cinematography to ever grace the screen. The haunting journey to HOWARDS END is one few other recent films can rival.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

A Beautifully Flawed Film

[1 November 1998]

Francis Ford Coppola's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA is, indeed, a gorgeous film. The film has a dazzling color scheme, much of it provided by the art direction and sumptuous costumes by Eiko Ishioka. The fades and special effects editing are also pure eye candy, and the use of miniatures and matte painting backgrounds gives the film a wonderfully nostalgic, Old Hollywood feel. Sadly, the attention paid to the physical details were not given to the casting and writing. The dialogue is often stilted, and some of the plot points can zip right past the viewer. And the only truly scary things to be found in what is essentially a love story with lots of fake blood are Keanu Reeves' and Winona Ryder's truly disgusting British accents. But, all said, Coppola's DRACULA makes an interesting - if not entirely enjoyable - film. Gary Oldman makes for a creepy Count Dracula who nonetheless earns the viewers' empathy, and Wojciech Kilar's score is wonderfully sonorous (it is still a mainstay of film trailers).