Anita: Speaking Truth to Power. A Review

ANITA: SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER

In 2018, accusations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh became a fierce battle fought in the halls of Congress and in public spheres. Caught up in the maelstrom of the Me Too movement, then-Judge Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault. The Congressional hearings had a woman accuse a man nominated to sit on the highest court of a sex crime. 

We have been here before. Twenty-seven years prior, another woman accused another man nominated to sit on the highest court of a sex crime. Anita Hill, the subject of the documentary Anita: Speaking Truth to Power, never accused now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual assault. Instead, it was sexual harassment. Anita is a sympathetic portrait of the woman who nearly brought down a Supreme Court appointment. Perhaps therein lies the problem.

Anita opens with a surprising voicemail from Ginny Thomas, Justice Thomas' wife, asking Anita Hill for an apology. From here, Professor Hill tells of her experience pre-and-post testimony. She speaks on how she thought that the confirmation hearings and her own hearing would be nonpartisan. New York Times reporters Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson, authors of Strange Justice, a book about the hearings, are also interviewed. 

Professor Hill speaks about her family, who moved to Oklahoma to escape racism (her grandfather threatened with lynching). She also talks about the longest day when she gave her testimony. She found Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter very adversarial and Delaware Senator Joe Biden unhelpful. According to other interviewees in Anita, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch used race to get Judge Thomas angry about his treatment. This was all part of a Republican plan to shift the narrative from sex to race. Ultimately, Justice Thomas was confirmed, and both he and Professor Hill have moved on.

Hill's testimony was the catalyst for electing more women to the Senate, the sight of old white men questioning both Hill and Thomas about pubic hairs and "Long Dong Silver" too incendiary for some. Hill now continues her advocacy for women, with her long-term companion Chuck Malone beside her. 

One should watch Anita with an open mind. A whole generation has passed since now-Justice Thomas faced serious accusations that still haunt him and his reputation. However, Anita does not pretend to be even sided. Everyone speaking in the Freida Lee Mock documentary is clearly on Professor Hill's side. As such, Anita will not make a case that Hill's accusations were false or politically motivated. That is understandable in that Anita is about Hill's perspective. 

At times though, Anita seemed too worshipful of the subject. Near the end of the documentary, we hear actress Anika Nomi Rose recite a poem about Hill. I cannot remember if Professor Hill was in attendance. Even if she wasn't, including adoring poetry about the documentary's subject did strike me as both pretentious and grandiose. 

Anita, I think, should also be seen through new eyes. With the contentious Kavanaugh hearings now in the history books, I cannot help but wonder whether something John Carr, a longtime Hill friend and supporter, said. "This wasn't about the truth. It was about winning". Clearly this statement was meant to define the Thomas supporters who wanted to see him on the Court.

However, could that not equally apply to those who were determined to stop Thomas and later on Kavanaugh from interpreting legislation? Such an idea, as distasteful and shocking as it is, cannot be summarily dismissed. While I have not seen the two films based on the Thomas hearings (Strange Justice and Confirmation), I figure that they take the position that Clarence Thomas is guilty. Any accusation should be investigated, but an accusation is not proof that said accusation is true no matter who makes the accusations.

A great film can hopefully be made about the machinations behind political appointments. Anita is not that film, though I do not think that it aimed to be. Instead, it is about Anita Hill, catalyst for one of the biggest political fights of the twentieth century. I do not think we learned much about the person or about the hearings themselves. Anita is not as insightful about the subject as I had hoped. It is one-sided, though it all comes from her perspective, which her supporters agree with. 

I don't know if there will ever be a truly balanced take on the Clarence Thomas hearings. We have their own books (those from their supporters and champions are in my view suspect to bias). We have various documentaries: this and Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words (which I have not seen as of this writing).  Each deserves his or her own chance to state their case. It is the proper way.

DECISION: C-

Dirty Dancing (2017): The Television Movie

DIRTY DANCING (2017)

There is an inherent danger in remaking something popular and beloved. No matter how good your product is, you will always have to face comparisons to the original. Some try for a direct remake, with the 1998 Psycho remake perhaps the most extreme example. Others try to reinterpret the material. The television adaption of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing went for reinterpretation. Expanding on the original does not make it good. Having one to two good performances does not make it good. This Dirty Dancing is a nightmare to watch. It is an absolute slog of a film that seems to have never decided what it was doing. 

Dirty Dancing uses a framing device of the main female character seeing a stage adaptation of her memoir, Dirty Dancing, in 1975 as she recalls the fateful summer of 1963. Here, Frances "Baby" Houseman (Abigal Breslin) is vacationing in the Catskills resort run by her father's friend Max Kellerman (Tony Roberts). Her father, Dr. Jake Houseman (Bruce Greenwood) is taking a very rare vacation, which Marjorie (Debra Messing) is grateful for. Marjorie is essentially sex-starved, wanting Jake to make love to her even if Baby and her older sister Lisa (Sarah Hyland) are nearby. Jake, however, keeps saying his version of "Not tonight, Josephine". 

The Housemans believe that what Baby needs is a nice Jewish boy. That would be Neil Kellerman (Trevor Einhorn), Max's grandson. Baby soon finds herself drawn, not to Neil, but to dangerous bad boy and Kellerman Resort dancer Johnny Castle (Colt Prattes). He is initially not interested, nor is he particularly eager to keep being the boy-toy to rich divorcee Vivian Pressman (Katey Segal). For her part, Lisa is soon starting to have eyes for waiter Robbie Gould (Shane Harper), who is working to get into medical school. Robbie turns out to be a jerk, pressuring Lisa for sex, which she does not want to do. 

Lisa's hungry eyes soon turn to Marco (J. Quinton Johnson), a member of the "Negro" house band conducted by longtime bandleader Tito (Billy Dee Williams). That, of course, is definitely not going to work. Neither is Baby initially when she agrees to be the substitute for Johnny's usual dancer partner, Penny (Nicole Scherzinger). Penny is pregnant and in need of an abortion, but they do not have the money for one. Baby will fill in for a recital at another resort which will help in funding Penny's abortion.

Despite their class and age difference, Baby and Johnny fall in love. However, will their romance survive the various difficulties it faces? There is the scandal over Penny's botched abortion, with Dr. Houseman furious that Baby deceived him about the money he lent her unaware of its purposes. There is more scandal when Johnny is accused of theft, allegedly stealing from Vivian. His previous services as a gigolo already are enough for dismissal, but now there is a criminal act. Will Baby escape her corner? Will Jake and Marjorie save their marriage? Will Lisa and Marco find that the times, they are a-changing? 

Fifteen minutes into Dirty Dancing and I was already regretting my choice to start this television remake. That regret was compounded when I realized that this Dirty Dancing is a full half hour longer than the original film. The length is due to expanding on the adult characters of Jake, Marjorie and Vivian. 

Honestly, those parts of Dirty Dancing were a drag. Yes, it gave Greenwood, Messing and Segal a chance to sing with their own musical numbers. It is particularly surprising to hear how good Segal is as a musical performer. However, her performance of Fever with Johnny as her dance partner was, well, bizarre. For their part, both Messing and Greenwood had to treat us to their individual renditions of They Can't Take That Away from Me. To be fair, there is something of logic when Messing does her version: it is a request from Max to sing to the resort guests.

I do not think, however, that we had to hear Greenwood sing They Can't Take That Away when he is alone remembering when Jake and Marjorie first fell in love. That is one of the many issues with Dirty Dancing. A lot of time is spent on their subplots, but I do not think viewers were that interested in the domestic marital troubles of the Housemans.

The main story should have been that of Baby and Johnny. However, that had issues too. I think Abigail Breslin was mostly fine as Baby. She did the best that she could, and I did not dislike her in the television special. The problem, the big problem, is Colt Prattes as Johnny. He has no charisma, is charm-free and frankly I found him ugly. This Johnny is perpetually angry with a permanent chip on his shoulder. I don't think anyone would want Johnny as a lover or love interest both in terms of looks and/or personality. 

It seems strange to give so much screentime to the Jake/Marjorie subplot and yet give relatively little time for the Lisa/Robbie storyline. This decision is stranger given that Shane Harper can sing yet was never given a musical number. Perhaps it would have been better to have made him Marco, Lisa's second love interest. It would not have made the sight of them singing Don't Think Twice, It's Alright any more sensible. It would, however, been a chance to show someone who is known as a singer. 

Instead, for reasons that screenwriter Jessica Sharzer and director Wayne Blair may know, they decided to essentially make Lisa and Marco the Dirty Dancing version of Hairspray's Penny and Seaweed. It was to the point where I genuinely thought that Lisa was going to pop out and exclaim, "I'm a checkerboard chick!". My best guess is that this was a way to get a more topical subject into the film which the original never touched on: interracial romance. It just did not go anywhere and having them sing a Bob Dylan song made it look less sensible.  

I felt bad for Tony Roberts, who frankly looked like a walking cadaver as Max Kellerman. Billy Dee Williams for his part was wildly underused as Tito. 

Another major issue is in how Dirty Dancing looks like a staged musical. Yes, they used the framing device of Frances seeing Dirty Dancing on the Broadway stage. However, the film never made clear if the various musical numbers were taking place in the literal past or on the current stage. There is no explanation as to how or why Baby and Penny are performing Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On. Is it a rehearsal? Is it how they think about what is going on? Is it a mix? 

I think all the musical numbers were filmed in a way as to look staged. Again, I realize that Baby was watching a stage production. However, the film never took the time to remind us that she was watching a stage production. As such, we are stuck watching Katey Segal do a Peggy Lee impersonation. 

In terms of performances, I think Breslin was probably the second-best but due mostly to the material she had to work with. I say this because Scherzinger managed to both sing and act in Dirty Dancing. She moved quite well in the dance numbers. However, she also managed to move the viewer after her botched abortion. 

Dirty Dancing took advantage of people's affection for the original film to create this monstrosity. Except for Scherzinger and Breslin, the performances were terrible. Seeing this Dirty Dancing is like watching kids cosplay the film at a slumber party. This Dirty Dancing deserves to be put in the corner. It deserves to be put out into the street and never be spoken of again.

1/10

F1: The Movie. A Review

F1: THE MOVIE

"Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast". This was the mantra that the lead character's father would live by when it came to racing. F1: The Movie follows this mantra. Perhaps a bit longer than it should be, F1: The Movie still has enough in terms of story and visuals to make for a great viewing.

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) still races, but the former elite racecar driver is now a vagabond in the racing world. Living in his van, he goes for almost any kind of race that piques his interest. Sonny in turn has no interest in joining any company or organization. Sonny appears to like his life as a wanderer, but it looks like the world has passed by the former racing wunderkind who once raced along legends like Ayrton Senna.

That changes when his former fellow F1 driver Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) finds Sonny. Ruben now owns the APXGP F1 team and asks Sonny to come work for him. He needs an experienced driver both for the team and to mentor his young hotshot driver, Joshua Pierce (Damson Idris). Cervantes is in desperate need to win at least one of the remaining F1 Grand Prix races, otherwise he will be forced to sell the team. The board is eager to dump this losing team, with only Peter Banning (Tobias Menzies) the sole supportive board member This concerns Pierce, who worries that he will not be hired by any other F1 teams due to his relative inexperience. This also concerns the APXGP team itself, who fear for their jobs and careers. 

APXGP technical director Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon) left her career at NASA to engineer an F1 vehicle that would all but fly. However, the experienced and grizzled veteran knows that the problems lie in part with the car. They also lie with the driver. Pierce is dismissive of this old man coming to teach him anything, though "J.P."'s mother Bernadette (Sarah Niles) does say that Sonny is a handsome man. The battle between Joshua and Sonny continues, as does their mutual struggle to win a race.

Sonny knows all the tricks of the trade, which he uses to push APXGP onwards. Joshua, at first contemptuous, finds that Sonny's experience may be helpful. Sonny, for his part, slowly embraces newer techniques in racing. That is not to say that there aren't major stumbles along the way. Horrific crashes, accusations of illegal mechanical alterations, unreported injuries and a secret enemy inside APXGP all work against the team. Will Sonny find any victory at the end of the finish line? Will rookie Joshua get his own?

In many ways, F1: The Movie plays a bit like another film from director Joseph Kosinski, screenwriter Ehren Kruger and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. There is the experienced and still attractive veteran, seen as an antique by the young man he will mentor. There is the rookie, looking for his place in the sun who goes from dismissive to embracing of said veteran. A love interest for the veteran, wise and professional, but still not above mixing business with pleasure. The older man advising the younger man to focus on the job and not on outside noise. Thrilling action sequences that are visually spectacular. There are more than passing resemblances between F1: The Movie and Top Gun: Maverick. The former hits many of the same notes as the latter with few differences. 

Perhaps the biggest difference between F1: The Movie and Top Gun: Maverick is that the former features cameos from racers such as Sir Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, along with DJ Tiesto (briefly scene at a Las Vegas party that Joshua and his agent go to). Hamilton is one of the film's producers. In some ways, F1: The Movie is a bit too "insider", so many of the cameos will go over viewers who know next to nothing about Formula One. If not for my knowledge of Ayrton Senna, I would be even more lost when it comes to the minutia the film has. 

This does not take away from a person's enjoyment of F1: The Movie. It is, however, a warning that those who do not follow F1 will not get some references and may be a little lost on its rules and procedures. The film does its best to fill us in, but there is a risk that some will not be as fully invested in the racing.

Fortunately, the screenplay gives us characters that people will care about. This is one of Brad Pitt's best performances. Sonny is someone who by the end is still a mystery, perhaps to himself. The film ends with him going to a low-level race to offer his services. Told that there is little money, he tells them that it's not about the money. What is it about, he is asked. Sonny merely laughs softly, and the film closes (we do see scenes of him in this dune race during the credits). Sonny knows racing, trusts the old methods, and is aware of Joshua's skills. He also seems eerily content with some of his poor decisions. This is a complex man. I would not say that he is filled with regret over never achieving what his skills and potential could have made him. I would say that he is resigned to it. Pitt has a wonderful monologue near the end when he talks about his life and his life in racing. It is quite and natural, making Sonny Hayes a person and not a character.

Idris too does well as Joshua Pierce. In other films, Joshua may have been merely a cocky figure. However, Idris made him someone who also worried about his own career, who went through a traumatic experience and grew from it. Bardem had a great enthusiasm as Ruben, who was both friend and businessman. Condon made Kate into an intelligent woman, capable and aware of her position as one of the few women in this male-dominated business. I am not surprised that a romance did eventually come. I think that is not a dealbreaker but not something that I eager for.

Kruger's screenplay (from a story by Kruger and Kosinski) has some great moments. One of the APXGP team asks what another is looking at in the distance. Ruben says, "We look to the future", and then see that the crewman sees Sonny Hayes coming down. It is a nice bit to have "the future" be the past. 

The film uses music quite well. There is Hans Zimmer's score, a strong sense of electronica that pulsates and pushes the various racing scenes. The selected songs also fit the scenes. We hear Chris Stapleton, for example, sing Bad as I Used to Be when Sonny takes his first APXGP test drive. It does underscore Sonny's manner on the track and in life. Perhaps this is a bit too on-the-nose, but I thought it worked. 

What did not work all that well were at least three parts. One was the romance, which I expected. It was again not terrible but not original. Also not original was the identity of the APXGP member who tried a last-minute sabotage. I figured out the machinations before they were revealed. The last part was the film's length. At about two-and-a-half hours, it does drag around the midpoint.

F1: The Movie is about those who find passion in their work. It has some spectacular racing sequences, some of which will make you sit up and take notice. Well-acted and written overall, one does not have to know much about Formula One to enjoy F1: The Movie, one of the best films of the year. 

DECISION: B+

The Poseidon Adventure: A Review

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

There is a vicarious thrill in seeing others in danger, seeing who will live and who will die. The Poseidon Adventure may not be the first disaster film with an all-star cast in it. However, I find it wildly entertaining, slightly kitschy but with some surprisingly moving moments too.

It is New Year's Eve, and the ocean liner Poseidon is sailing to Greece on its final voyage. The Poseidon's Captain (Leslie Nielsen) is firmly against racing the ship to be junked and repeatedly warns the Poseidon's new owner Linarcos (Fred Sadoff) that the ship does not have enough ballast to go as fast as Linarcos wants.

The passengers, however, are oblivious to what is going on in the captain's deck. Robin Shelby (Eric Shay), traveling to join his parents in Greece, might know. He repeatedly visits the captain's deck and engine room, fascinated by the ship's mechanics. His sister Susan (Pamela Sue Martin) is fascinated in turn by renegade minister Reverend Scott (Gene Hackman). He is unorthodox both in his methods and his theology, much to the consternation of his mentor Chaplain John (Arthur O'Connell). 

One couple that will not be hearing Reverend Scott's message are Manny (Jack Albertson) and Belle (Shelley Winters) Rosen. They are on their way to Israel to visit their first grandchild. Belle has informally adopted James Martin (Red Buttons), an unmarried recently retired haberdasher. Also aboard the Poseidon is Nonnie (Carol Lynley), the Poseidon house band's singer who traded their services for free passage. Busboy Acres (Roddy McDowell) loves to hear them play. For their part, newlyweds Mike and Linda Rogo (Ernest Borgnine and Stella Stevens) are in turns defiant and leery about the other passengers. Mike has recently retired from the New York City Police Department, where he met his wife, who was a former hooker. 

As it is New Year's Eve, a lavish party takes place. The Rosens and Mr. Martin are at the table with Reverend Scott. Robin and Susan Shelby are at another. The Rogos are mostly thrilled to be at the Captain's Table. He is urgently called up to the deck, where he learns that an underground earthquake has created a massive tidal wave that is about to hit the Poseidon. The tidal wave swamps the Poseidon, forcing the ship over and causing the passengers to literally fly through the air. With the ship now upside down, Reverend Scott gets our disparate group to go up. Who will live and who will die as the situation grows more perilous? 

I confess that my favorite part of The Poseidon Adventure is when the New Year's Eve party descends into total chaos. Seeing all our stars and the various extras and stunt actors slowly, then quickly falling and flying about is both thrilling and hilarious to me. I get that this is supposed to be terrifying, and it is. However, I have always found it a bit funny, seeing all these people attempt to keep themselves up while they are turning upside down. The highlight of this sequence is when one of the doomed passengers falls onto the glass ceiling, putting the coda on this thrilling segment of the film.

What screenwriters Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes (adapting Paul Gallico's novel) did well is to take time to establish the various characters and their situations prior to the chaos. We learn about the Rosen's hopes to see their new grandchild, Mr. Martin's loneliness, Reverend Scott's rebellious nature, Mike and Linda Rogo's tumultuous pasts, Robin's precociousness and Susan's unrequited love for the radical preacher. By getting to know the characters, we end up caring about them. We have a vested interest in what happens to them. 

We also know that, in good disaster movie tradition, not all of them will survive. That is part of the thrill: to see who ultimately makes it out alive. Perhaps this is a spoiler, but The Poseidon Adventure seems pretty hard on wives. The thrill comes from seeing not just who lives and dies but how they live and die.

The Poseidon Adventure does well to take its time not just building up the characters but building up suspense. It takes close to half an hour before we get to the tidal wave, leaving the audience in anticipation. Once we do get that climatic moment over with, The Poseidon Adventure becomes a survival film, introducing new obstacles and terrors for our passengers.

An element that I do not know is talked about often enough is how these passengers are not perfect. Scott and Rogo are almost always at odds, constantly battling over the rightness or wrongness of every decision. The conflict leaves the others more terrified, but it also seems real. Rogo does not argue just to contradict Scott. He has genuine fears and concerns. Scott, for his part, is arrogant and utterly convinced that he is always right. These are two alpha males battling it out for supremacy. It is great to watch.

The Poseidon Adventure boasts five Oscar winners (Borgnine, Buttons, Winters and Albertson, with Hackman winning his first Oscar during the film's making). As campy as The Poseidon Adventure may be, none of them phoned it in. Shelley Winters was singled out from the cast with a Best Supporting Actress nomination. As Belle Rosen, she gives a solid performance. While I think her comments about her weight and vocal mannerisms may now be mocked, her last scene was surprisingly moving. Belle Rosen genuinely cared for James Martin in a way only a Jewish mother could. She and Albertson worked well together, making the Rosens a nice couple.

They seemed to be counter to the Rogos, who were closer to comic relief. Stella Stevens in particular as the brassy ex-hooker who could tell Mike to cool it when needed. She too takes potshots at Belle, at one point openly saying that she would go first so that she wouldn't get trapped behind Belle if something else happened. Ernest Borgnine balanced his sometimes-unhinged overprotectiveness and defensiveness about Linda with his constant battling with Scott. Red Buttons had a more difficult task: making the Martin/Nonnie relationship work.

The late Gene Hackman excelled as God's angry man who was angry with God. He was defiant and kindhearted when needed. Reverend Scott was strong and arrogant but also genuinely pained whenever someone did not survive.  

Lynley's Nonnie was quite annoying, forever freaking out over everything. She also had the burden of apparently falling in love with a man almost old enough to be her grandfather. However, she and Buttons made that part of the film work. She also introduced The Morning After, the film's theme song that won Best Original Song. John Williams' score, also Oscar nominated, is not often mentioned when people go over his cinematic work. I think it should be more remembered, bringing out the danger and thrills of the film's story.

A bit kitschy and camp (Buttons telling Nonnie, "Your brother's dead" or Rogo ranting about his Linda lend themselves to parody), The Poseidon Adventure never skimps on what audiences wanted from it: thrills, some laughs, and a great adventure story. 

DECISION: A-

The Accused (1988): A Review (Review #1990)

THE ACCUSED (1988)

When released, The Accused was shocking and daring for its depiction of rape on screen. The film went on to win its star, Jodie Foster, the first of her at present two Best Actress Academy Awards. It is a shame that The Accused is if not forgotten at least not as well-remembered as her other Oscar-winning performance in The Silence of the Lambs. Gripping, moving and well-acted all around, The Accused is a film on an important subject.

A young woman starts running and screaming out of a local bar called The Mill. A young man runs to an outside payphone, frantically calling to let the police know that there was a gang rape going on. The assaulted woman is Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster). Shellshocked from her experience, she still is able to identify her three rapists, including Bob Joiner (Steve Antin) a well-to-do college student. Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) is on the case and wants the three men prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

However, the D.A.'s office is concerned that they will not win a conviction due to Tobias' background. She drinks in the day to "smooth out the edges", admits to using marijuana and had by her own admission said that she would like to have sex with one of them prior to the assault. The charges are pled down to reckless endangerment, which carries a prison term but does not mention the rape. Sarah is enraged by the plea deal, but Kathryn points out that Sarah wanted them locked up and she did as she was asked. 

A few months after the assault and plea deal, Sarah is harassed by Cliff (Leo Rossi), one of the men at The Mill that had not only witnessed but cheered on the rapists as they brutalized Sarah. Sarah, in a mix of fear, anger, rage and hurt, slams her car into his truck. Kathryn, overwhelmed with guilt at not letting Sarah have her rape put on the record, is compelled to act. She decides on a novel legal course: charging the men who cheered on the rape with criminal solicitation. This will nullify the plea deal, extend the rapists' prison term and put the rape on the record. Sarah will finally give an account of what happened to her. However, it will take more than her harrowing testimony to win a conviction. Will Kenneth Joyce (Bernie Coulson), Bob's fraternity friend who was the mysterious caller, help or hinder the case? 

The Accused is a hard watch. The beginning itself, where we see the various medical exams that Sarah has to undergo when reporting the rape are a tough set to sit through. Director Jonathan Kaplan does not sensationalize this sequence. In fact, it is done very matter-of-factly, making the impact stronger. There are many hard moments in The Accused, all surrounding Jodie Foster's performance. There is the initial examination. There is when she, late at night, calls her mother but cannot bring herself to tell her what she has just survived. There is a scene where her live-in boyfriend attempts to be sympathetic. 

The hardest scenes involve the actual assault. Kaplan and screenwriter Tom Toper opted not to have a reenactment of Sarah's assault take place when Tobias is on the stand. In this section, we focus squarely on Tobias as a character and Foster as an actress. Foster brings out Sarah's pain and fear mingled with anger when recounting her story. There is a tenseness in her face, one that speaks of being both resolute and traumatized. 

The reenactment is during Kenneth Joyce's testimony. That is an interesting choice, and I wonder if a factor was whether The Accused wanted to push Bernie Coulson into stardom. He is billed as "Introducing Bernie Coulson", and Coulson is given a plum role when testifying. However, The Accused uses Kenneth's testimony to show how Sarah Tobias ended up in the horrifying situation she was in. The film does not sugarcoat Tobias' less-than-reputable behavior: she drinks, she is dressed scantily, she flirts with one of her eventual attackers. If anyone still believes though that Sarah somehow "invited" this on herself, one need only sit through the horrifying rape on the pinball machine. We sometimes get shots from her point of view, making things more harrowing and horrifying. 

It is Jodie Foster who makes The Accused. We see the vulnerability along with the unsophisticated manner. Sarah is a flawed woman, but also in a way almost innocent. She mentions often her work with astrology, even repeatedly offering to make a chart for Murphy. Foster and McGillis have a wonderful moment near the end when Murphy finally, albeit with a touch of cynicism, looks over the chart that Tobias has made. 

Throughout The Accused, Jodie Foster never hits a wrong note. It is never overacted, having big moments. Instead, Foster at times is surprisingly quiet and restrained. The scene where she calls her mother is just Foster and a voice on the other end. We see the reluctance to confide in someone who is showing more irritation and suspicion about whatever Sarah is going through. It is quiet but effective.

The Accused is well-acted throughout. McGillis' prosecutor is tough and shrewd, but also self-justified. She perhaps also looks down on Sarah as so much white trash. Murphy clearly sees that Tobias was violently assaulted. She also, however, sees that Tobias might come across as less than reputable, giving her pause on how she will come across. In her mix of patrician manner with eventual fighting spirit, Kelly McGillis held your attention. 

In his role, Coulson has an almost naive manner as Kenneth Joyce. He wants to do the right thing and did start out doing so when he rushed to call the police. However, he also wavered when loyalty to his friend began to cloud his knowledge of the crime. Rossi did well as the loathsome Cliff, nicknamed "Scorpion" due to a prominent tattoo that helped identify him. Carmen Argenziano did well as the District Attorney Rudolph, who wants a plea deal and nothing more. 

The Accused is as I said, a tough watch. It is also well-acted, and I would say triumphant in that we see genuine justice done. I do not know if people remember The Accused apart from Jodie Foster's Oscar win. Had she ultimately not won Best Actress for the film, I would say that The Accused is well worth watching for both her and the story. Harrowing, moving and well-made, The Accused is a strong film. 

DECISION: B+

Sally: A Review (Review #1989)

SALLY

How to look over the life of a somewhat reluctant icon and heroine? You could deify her, turn her into a perfect goddess for future generations to worship. You could diminish her, focus on the negative aspects of her private life or attempt to give her feet of clay. Dr. Sally Ride, the subject of the documentary Sally, was many things: pioneer, scientist, lesbian. Sally does an excellent job covering her public, private and secret life, neither glorifying nor tarnishing this now legendary figure. 

Sally Ride loved science and tennis. These two loves gave her a leg up when NASA at long last decided that it would seek out both female and minority candidates to be astronauts. In 1978, 35 new applicants were accepted into the space program, including, and I quote, "six females, three blacks and one Oriental".

Sally, in using archival footage, does give us many such cringeworthy moments that reflect their time. 

Ride's excellent hand/eye coordination due to her tennis prowess, along with her extensive knowledge of physics, were a major component over why she was ultimately selected to be the first American woman in space. Another reason, not spoken of at the time, was how she did not appear to seek the limelight. This gave her an advantage over her closest rival, Judith Resnick, who did appear to be more eager to bask in the notoriety of being the first. Sally, however, reveals that Ride did want to be the first but wouldn't admit to it. 

Another thing that Dr. Ride could not admit to was about her homosexuality. While she did not keep it a total secret, she also was not about to wave pride flags around NASA. Sally reveals that the reasons for her closeted life were more complicated than mere social stigma. The entire Ride family was very closed up emotionally. Whenever Sally visited her parents, mother Joyce would greet her with, "Hello, oldest daughter," then go back into the house to do whatever she was doing prior. Ride also saw what happened to her friend and mentor, tennis legend Billie Jean King, when King was outed in a palimony suit. The ensuing scandal cost King millions in endorsements and legal fees. 

All those factors played into some of Ride's various decisions pre-and-post flight. That is not to say that Ride was some dour woman. Sally reveals that when on a jet when training, she let out enthusiastic cries of "WEE!" when the jet spun. Once STS-7 lifted off, her comment was, "This sure is fun". Becoming a historic figure, however, had its drawbacks. Her rejection of a bouquet of flowers when the Challenger returned caused an uproar. The constant celebrations drained her. The Challenger explosion, which killed among others her frenemy Resnick, all took their toll.

In all those years, Dr. Ride's relationship with Tam O'Shaughnessy was her rock. Their relationship was not perfect. O'Shaughnessy would have preferred that Ride be more open about their lives beyond just business partners. They made it work, somehow, until Dr. Ride's death. With her now gone, O'Shaughnessy is able to fully acknowledge her life partner. 

Sally is both portrait of a woman and metaphorical time capsule of women in flight. One fascinating bit of discovery in Sally has nothing to do with Ride herself. In the 1950's, there was thought of having women go into space before Valentina Tereshkova became the very first woman in space (Ride being the third overall). Again, via archival footage, Sally shows aviatrix Jerri Cobb being interviewed and stating that women were perfectly capable of being astronauts. This idea was pretty much dismissed by NASA and reenforced by the culture, which made films where female astronauts collapse emotionally.

Sally shows us that even in the early 1980's, some ideas still held. Footage from the press conference with Ride and her fellow astronauts show a particularly ghastly moment. One reporter asks Dr. Ride (she would quietly but firmly ask people to refer to her as either "Sally" or "Dr. Ride", but not "Miss"), "Now, Dr. Ride, during your training exercises as a member of this group, when there was a problem, when there was a funny glitch or whatever, how did you respond? Did you weep?". She was able to at most smile dismissively at these comments, deflecting to ask if her fellow crewmen did likewise. 

Sally Ride wanted to make history. She wanted to be the first. She was aware of the historic nature of being the first. She also was not keen on having her sexual orientation be one more "first". Ride was in a vague area when it came to her sexuality, neither fully out of nor fully in the closet. Sally, however, reveals that her reticence was due to a variety of factors. Shame was not one of them. She was just a pretty closed-up person, focused on the job, sometimes to the detriment of the personal. 

In between the various footage of Ride asking tough questions to NASA administrators over what happened to the Challenger or her delight at being Cap Com (the voice at Ground Control to the astronauts), we see and hear O'Shaughnessy going through the home that they shared. O'Shaughnessy looks through photos, including the few that they have of them together in private moments versus public engagements where they were not officially a couple. These, coupled with O'Shaughnessy's comments and interviews, are some of Sally's best moments. We get a glimpse into the woman behind the myth.

Sally has various interviews from the many people who worked and lived with Ride. There is her mother Joyce and sister Karen, better known as Bear, who is a Presbyterian minister and like her sister is a lesbian. We get interviews from one of Ride's former partners and her colleagues and friends. Each gives us their insight into this most private of public figures. The archival footage blends well with the interviews. A particularly strong blend is when NASA officials, flummoxed at a woman's specific needs, wonder exactly how many tampons Ride will need when going into space. The inclusion of a makeup kit and suggestion of one hundred tampons is something that everyone now can laugh about. Even Sally Ride via archival footage.

A touching moment near the end is when O'Shaughnessy reads out a letter from Mike Mullane, a former astronaut who trained with Ride and was dismissive of women as astronauts. He not only offers condolences to her on the death of her long-term partner but acknowledges that he was wrong. He also sees that Ride is a true and great heroine for his daughters to look up to. Mullane, who was one of Sally's on-screen interviews, does talk about how he made sexist jokes. He was not asked about the letter. Perhaps he did not know that O'Shaughnessy would read it. 

Sally is a respectful and more importantly insightful portrait of this legendary figure. It does not make her infallible. She was closed off emotionally to where her manner kept some at a distance; she was willing to have an extramarital affair. Like so many of us, Dr. Sally Ride was complex, sometimes contradictory. Sally looks into those complications and contradictions, a woman who was not emotional yet thrilled with glee at flying.

I do not know if, had she lived longer, she would want to be known as "the lesbian astronaut". It was enough to be known as "the first American woman astronaut", which she used to get more girls to pursue scientific interests. Dr. Sally Ride will remain an icon and heroine for all Americans. Sally is an excellent way to get as close to the woman as she could ever let anyone get.

DECISION: A-

Psycho (1998): A Review (Review #1988)

PSYCHO (1998)

I start my review for the 1998 remake of 1960's Psycho by dispelling something that is usually reported when talking about this version. Psycho is not a shot-for-shot remake of the original film. It has moments that resemble it. It follows the basic plot of the original. It also is pretty much impossible to separate this version with what came before. Ignoring as much as one can the original version from this remake, I think Psycho would have failed on its own separate from any comparisons.

Marion Crane (Anne Heche) impulsively steals $400,000 from her employer in a wildly misguided effort to help her lover, Sam Loomis (Viggo Mortensen). Fleeing Phoenix, Marion drives to Sam, unaware of her actions. She exchanges cars and eventually lands at the Bates Motel. The hotel's proprietor, Norman Bates (Vince Vaughn) seems pleasant. However, he also spies on Marion, performing an auto-erotic exercise to her various stages of undress. Marion opts to take a shower, where a wigged-out woman slashes her to death.

With Marion disappeared and no one knowing where she is, her sister Lina (Julianne Moore) goes to Sam to see if he knows anything about Marion's disappearance. Also investigating the missing Marion is a private detective, Milton Arbogast (William H. Macy). Where is Marion? Does the mysterious old woman at the Bates Motel know anything about the disappearance? With Arbogast himself now missing, it is up to Lila and Sam to go to the Bates Motel and uncover a shocking secret.

It is pretty much impossible for people aware of the original film to separate themselves from this remake. As someone who has seen the original Psycho many times, I do not know if I can. Given how the 1998 version claimed or was advertised as a "shot-for-shot" remake, I do not know if director Gus Van Sant wants those of us who have seen the 1960 Psycho to not remember it while watching his version.

Let me see if I can try. At least I gave Psycho a fair chance. Unfortunately, this Psycho is not good separate from how well or poorly it compares to the original. 

I think most of the actors tried their best to give good performances. I would argue that none of them actually gave a good performance. Any judgment of how good or bad a particular actor in Psycho is has to be judged on a sliding scale. At the bottom of the list are Rita Wilson as Caroline, Marion's bitchy coworker. One can put aside how she was too old to play a blushing newlywed who needed tranquilizers for her recent wedding. Wilson's Caroline came across as more obnoxious if not downright cruel to Marion. I literally cringed in Wilson's only scene, watching her struggle to figure out what kind of person Caroline was meant to be. 

Future Oscar winner Julianne Moore was comical as this super-tough sister. I literally howled with laughter when she defiantly told the weak-willed Sam "Let me get my Walkman," as they went to the sheriff for help. Moore's efforts to be some sort of kick-ass character, down to literally taking Norman down, were far too forced to be believable. Long before "girl boss" became a thing, Psycho attempted to make Moore's Lila into some tough chick with hilarious results. Perhaps she was just angry that her agent got her into this project.

Not much better was Mortensen as Sam. He adopted this very strange vaguely Southern twang that I think was meant to showcase how dim Sam was. Just as Moore predated "girl boss", Mortensen was a himbo before the term existed. He was fine with Heche in their one scene together. Unfortunately, Mortensen was paired with Moore for the rest of the film, and that made for some bad viewing.

I do not know if Macy was directed to think of Arbogast as a slightly more comic character. His final scene, which does come close to matching the original, was ultimately hilarious. You would have to be laughing at how bad it looks. While it does as I stated come close to matching the original's version of Arbogast's fate, the odd clips of women in vaguely dominatrix clothes and cows seems out of some loony spoof. 

Heche, while not the best performance, I think made a sincere effort to make Marion sympathetic in her plight. She did seem ill at ease with Vaughn's Norman. As that was how the character probably would have been, at least initially, I cut her some slack. 

Vince Vaughn is in a class of his own as Norman Bates. I think he tried too hard to be that mix of innocent and menacing. His greatest difficulty is in having anyone think that someone so physically imposing (Vaugh is 6'5") could be intimidated or made to cower by the likes of the 5'9" Macy or 5'11" Mortensen. It is not completely impossible for a very tall man to be afraid of a much shorter man. It just seems a wild stretch that the 5'3" Moore could easily defeat a man over a foot taller, even if he was wearing a dress and hilariously ill-fitting wig.

Putting aside the height issue, Vaughn was trying to force us to believe that he was scary. He was not. He can be, but here he simply is more bumbling than dangerous. He does not come across as creepy or dangerous. Instead, his Norman Bates is inept. It does not help matter that you see and hear him get physically active at seen a naked woman, complete with the heavy breathing.

It is genuinely hard to know if Psycho was going for something serious or a spoof when we get to the shower scene. If the original had not existed, the shower scene would have had people laughing. There is no tension or suspense or shock when Marion gets iced. You see a very unconvincing drag queen (or at least someone with a terrible wig) take various slicing movements at a woman while we get random shots of clouds. There is nothing in this scene: no sense of tragedy, no sense of horror, no sense of terror. You maybe get a sense of humor. 

It is a bad sign when Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea gives a better performance as Sam's employee Bob than some legitimately great actors. 

About the only good things that I found in Psycho were Robert Forster in his brief role of a psychiatrist and some good shots. The opening scene where we go from a bird's eye view of Phoenix to the hotel room where Marion and Sam had finished their tryst was quite smooth. 

Psycho has no reason for being. It is not scary. It is not interesting. I do not know if it being funny was what anyone involved in it was going for. Some remakes manage to surpass the original. Some are forgotten. This remake does not surpass the original, but it will not be forgotten. I expect that it will be shown to future film school students in the "What Not to Do When Making a Remake" class. 

DECISION: D-

PSYCHO MOVIES AND TELEVISION

Psycho (1960)

Psycho II

Psycho III

Bates Motel (The Television Movie)

Psycho IV: The Beginning

Bates Motel (The Television Series)