Chuck is a biographical film about the life of Chuck Wepner. I’d venture to guess that most people my age and younger have never heard of Wepner, but his boxing fight against the heavily favored Muhammad Ali was Sylvester Stallone’s inspiration for the original Rocky. Here, Chuck is brilliantly portrayed by Liev Schreiber, with a strong supporting cast including Ron Perlman and Elisabeth Moss. Wepner thought very highly of himself, going so far as to make up stories to enhance his reputation among the boys, but eventually his fast lifestyle catches up to him. And though Schreiber is great, the film falls into the same trap as a lot of bio pics, in that it feels a little too much paint-by-numbers. There’s a lot of “he went here and he talked to this person” kind of action. Reaching only about an hour and a half long, it is still worthy viewing for movie lovers for the performances.
Last Days in the Desert is a dramatization of the waning days of the temptation of Christ, as he is headed towards Jerusalem. If you can get past the subtle hint of a Scottish accent by Ewan McGregor’s Jesus every now and then, I actually really liked this film. Too often I think we only see Jesus as this mythical being, and while he is that, it is easy to forget he lived a human life. This movie puts a human face on him, without being sacrilegious. Jesus is wandering the desert, facing temptations by Satan along the way (who has also taken McGregor’s face, in a subverted, subconscious kind of way), when he comes across a family of three living on the edge of the wasteland. The father is a builder, so Jesus can relate, but the son dreams of leaving and starting a new life in the city, and the mother is ill, most likely of the wasting disease, or cancer. In this family, Satan finds new ways to tempt Jesus. The film feels like a parable lifted from the Bible. It does a great job of showing the kinds of enticements Jesus faced, while remaining sin-free and ultimately, straying true to his calling.
Beatrice at Dinner is a weird film, and for me, not in a good way. Movie critics love it, but I can’t find a single reviewer who’s sole reason isn’t the fact it is about a Mexican immigrant telling her story in the day we live. Salma Hayek plays a masseuse whose car breaks down at a rich client’s house, forcing her to stay with the family during dinner, a dinner they are hosting with other rich business partners. When Beatriz discovers one of them is a real estate developer, much like the mogul who uprooted her whole village as a child, she lashes out the only way she can, with words. A movie about cultural differences, but with some deeper meanings too, the film feels a little disjointed, and the ending tries to make it something else entirely.
Buster’s Mal Heart is another strange one, but this one I kind of dug. Buster roams the countryside, breaking into vacant vacation homes, staying one step ahead of the police. He makes random phone calls into the radio stations to rant about the end of the world coming with the Y2K crossover, what he calls “the inversion.” We also see him floating in a lifeboat in the middle of the sea, but which version is true, we don’t know. His previous life is told in flashbacks, the family he used to have and his job as a third shift front desk worker at a hotel, where he met the man who introduced him to the whole inversion idea. Rami Malek’s straight, stone face is perfect for Buster as he creeps along to lunacy, as we slowly learn what brought him to this place. The movie has a quiet, stirring tension, very mysterious and almost foreboding, and the twist is thought-provoking and emotional.
Far From Men is OK I guess. It is a French film starring Viggo Mortensen (who knew he spoke fluent French?) as Daru, a teacher in war-torn Algeria in the early 1950’s. He teaches the local Muslim children how to speak French but more importantly, how to read and write. However, independence fighters are tearing through the area as the Muslims are rising up against the French. One day a French officer drops off a Muslim prisoner,Mohamed, at the school, and tells Daru he must accompany the prisoner the rest of the way to the next city. Along the way, nearly everyone seems to want one or the other one dead. The best parts of the film are the quiet dialogue between the two journeyman, when Mohamed and Daru learn each others tales, and form their bond. Not tremendous, but not bad either.
Jons Movie Takes 