Movie #204 Homeboy *1988*

One of my favorite parts about this film blog is getting to find these little, under seen or wrongly forgotten films and sing their praises.  I love finding a gem hidden in the rubble.  Homeboy however is not one of these films.  Homeboy is a sloppy movie from credits to credits.  This is what I get for literally judging a book (or in this case a DVD box) by it's cover.  I saw Mickey Rourke as a boxer and Christopher Walken as a hustler and my heart went pitter pat.  I loved Rourke in The Wrestler and I was excited to see another version of that character.  Walken brings an enthusiasm to every role he plays that is sometimes a little over the top, but never boring.

I wasn't two minutes into this film, not even out of the opening credits and I could tell that I had started something that I wasn't going to want to finish.  It had a very "movie of the week" or "Lifetime presents" look to the film.  Unfortunately it didn't get any better after.

I'm not sure what Rourke was going for, but he was using a high pitched and inconsistent southern voice.  He wasn't given a lot of lines to deliver (in a script that he wrote), and I was glad about that because everything he said was a mumbling line reading.  I felt like this was method acting gone out of control.  This was an actor searching for something that wasn't in the script and didn't have a talented enough director to fully bring it out of him.

Walken was the only saving grace of this movie.  That is to say that I found his ridiculousness amusing.  He at least kept my attention.  I am a sucker for Walken's tone and the way he paces words.  Listening to him say lines like "Silk shirts in every color of the rainbow" and "all the dinosaurs turned into birds.  That's a fact" made me laugh out loud.  There are a scattering of other side characters through out the movie.  Some get more examination than others, but none of them are ever fully flushed out.  Most of them serve little more purpose than to muttle the already meandering plot.  I was an hour into this movie and I still had no idea what it was about.

Not being into this film I took a lot of notes about the things that I noticed.  Here are a most of them:
The boxing scenes were maybe the worst I have even seen.  I am a big fan of boxing movies (one of the reasons I was excited to see this film) but there was no sense of tension or pacing in the setups.  They were images of two men hitting each other.  There was no momentum build up.  In Rourke's last fight there were some inspired slow-mo shots that cut to action outside of the ring that I really liked.  But other than that I thought the fight scenes were shot very poorly.

I had no idea how I was supposed to feel about Rourke's character.  He can be a shy, gentle introvert and other times he is a dickish antagonizing prick.  I typically love a character that is not a one note type, but you have to give me some reason and understanding why there area such polar opposites to his character.   And having him stare off into the distance doesn't make for character development.  It was never clear what his motives were.  If I had known them maybe I could have better understood his pains and misgivings.  Actually, as a whole, I felt the same way about the entire movie.  One of my notes states "What is this movies aspirations"?  I don't like to be manipulated, but I need to feel something.

Speaking of being manipulated, the score for this film is obscene  The music in Inception is more discreet.  Every time there is a change in the mood of the film (which is way too often) there is a music change.  I had a love/hate relationship with the slap bass in this movie.  It reminded me of Seinfeld and even more so of Night Court.  It was stupid and didn't fit with anything going on in the film, if there was anything going on.  I loved it for it's stupidity.  Again another unintentional laugh.  The same goes for the rain sequence at the end of the film.  I have seen some pretty crappy fake rain, but never this bad.  They might as well shown us the fans just off camera blowing the rain around. 

My last complaint with be about a plot point.  Normally I am not one to make a big fuss about certain plot points that don't always make the most sense.  Like in horror movies when the kids think they hear something in the woods so they go looking for it instead of running away.  But here Rourke's character has been on a loosing streak and he is not taking are of his body.  It looks like he will continue to be a 3rd rate fighter.  That is until his even more down on his luck (I can tell because his hair is messed up every time we see him) got him a fight against the #1 contender for the heavyweight belt.  Now why would a promoter or manager agree to give a schlub like Rourke a shot against the man who could be the next heavyweight champion?  It just doesn't make any sense.  Maybe if the film was a little better all around I could have over looked this a little easier.

The best I can figure is that Mickey Rourke is a boxing movie fan like myself.  I say this because there are elements of many other great boxing films in Homeboy.  For example:Walken could have easily been replaced with Voight and Hoffman.  The problem here is that a good movie isn't just a mash up of other great films.  You can borrow from them, but you need a story to weave them through.  This is the brilliance of Quentin Tarantino.

While I was watching this I was tweeting about how long people watch bad movies before they turn them off.  A person responded that if she is going to consider them "watched" she must make it all the way through.  I agreed, but this film really tested that theory.  However, I was glad that I stuck around until the end because I saw something that if it is on YouTube I suggest watching this scene and skipping the rest of the movie.  There is a sub-plot involving Walken and Rourke attacking and robbing 3 Hasidic Jews.  Rourke backs out at the last minute and Walken is forced to do it alone.  His plan involves him dressing up like a Hasid and punching one in the face and swiping the briefcase of jewels from another then running away.  A Swiss Watch of a plan if I understand it correctly.  Just seeing Walken dressed up with a ZZ Top like beard and Hasid hat was nearly worth the price of admission, but not quite enough.  I give Homeboy ★.



 

Movie #202 Requiem for a Heavyweight *1962*

Written by Rod Sterling (of Twilight Zone fame) Requiem is the story of a boxer who has lost his last fight.  At least he lost it to Cassius Clay, who played the small role in the movie.  The Dr. has told him that he can no longer fight.  Another blow to the head and he could loose his vision or even die.  Now a lifetime fighter with a smashed up face is forced to seek out employment.  He is managed by Miash, Jackie Gleason in a sleazy role like I have never seen him in.  His cut man and actual best friend is played by Mickey Rooney in a performance that lights up the screen.

But make no mistake about it.  This is Anthony Quinn's show.  He is mesmerizing in the role of "Mountain".  He is such a lovable and sympathetic character.  You only want good things for him, but just like in the ring someone is there to knock him down every time he tries to get up.

He makes a connection with a lovely woman from the unemployment agency.  She begins by trying to find him a job in which he is suited.  She ends by running out of his life after a hormonal rush from the gentle giant.  The real relationship here is between Miash and Mountain.  Mountain believes that he is indebted to Miash for the years of faithful service.  We later find out that Miash my not always have the Mountain's best interests in mind, and eventually he ends up basically ruining what's left of his life.

I loved the opening shot of this movie.  It was a long black-and-white POV shot from Mountian's perspective.  He is fighting the man who would later go on to become Ali.  Other great things about this movie are:

• The incredible cinematography
• Fantastic makeup work.  Quinn looked like he really had been a prize fighter for the past 17 years.
• The way that Quinn stays framed throughout the entire film really makes him look HUGE in comparison to his surroundings.  That is until he becomes so diminished that he can no longer even hold up his head then he is shot to look like he is three feet tall.
• The beauty and the beast sub-plot was tender and honest.
• Miash was in big trouble with the bookies for betting against Mountain.  The mob boss was a woman played by Madame Spivy.  This woman might be the ugliest person I have ever seen in my life.  The only other movie I have seen her in is the original Manchurian Candidate.  She was fantastic in her role as well and stole a few scenes away from the heavyweights.

I have to say that I was shocked by the ending of this movie.  I was expecting another 20 minutes to wrap things up in a tidy little bow like so many studio movies of this time frame did.  I give Requiem for a Heavyweight ★★★1/2.

Movie #104 Killers Kiss *1955*

Killers Kiss is a Stanley Kubrick film. 

That is almost a review in its self.  If you know me or you have read some of my blogs you probably know that I consider Kubrick to be one of if not the greatest director of the 20th century.  His films set the golden standard in almost every kind of genre there is.  2001, Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket, A clockwork Orange, The Shining, Barry Lyndon, ect.

Killers Kiss is a film noir that centers around a down and out boxer that meets a beautiful blond and falls in love with her.  They plan on skipping town and getting away from their miserable lives.  They only have to collect their final paychecks from his manager and the owner of the dance club where she works.  Of course at this point there is some mistaken identify, missing money, a murder, a kidnapping, a anti-heroic rescue and all the other tropes of the noir genre.

The difference is the distance that Kubrick keeps from his characters .  You aren't really meant to feel a real drive to see these two succeed.  The story is told in flashbacks from the perspective of the boxer while he waits for a train to take him out of town alone.

This is Kubricks first feature.  Is all his mastery present?  No.  But glimpses can be seen.  He improves a great deal with his next film.  Another noir called The Killing staring Sterling Hayden.  Killers Kiss is only 70 minutes long.  You can probably watch it while your special lady is getting ready to go out.

It reminded me a lot of a movie I like a little better called Requiem for a Heavyweight staring Anthony Quinn and a great performance from Jackie Gleason.  It is the story of a boxer that is down on his luck and with the help of a woman he tries to improves his life.  This movie is a downer, but I love it.

Killers kiss is a totally adequate movie.  That is pretty sorry by Kubrick's standards.  I will give Killers Kiss a 3/5 stars.  It is worth seeing to get just a glimpse of the master gaining his footing.  Check out the Trailer Park to see for yourself.

Movie #91 The Fighter *2010*

This is a great movie!  This is the 2010 David O. Russell boxing movie about "Irish" Mickey Ward.  The film stars Mark Walhberg as Micky and Christian Bale as Dicky his crack addicted brother.  Dicky was at one time "The Pride of Lowell", a small Boston suburb where the film is set.  Now Dicky is Mickey's trainer.  Or at least he is when he can remember to get out of the crack house and show up the gym.  All this is based on a true story.

Micky is in the mist of a downturn.  His mother, played by Melissa Leo is his manager and she doesn't seem to always have Mickey's best interest in mind.  Micky also has 6-8 sisters all of whom seem to be living in the house with the mother and father.  The women are all one unit and the sisters are never seen individually.  They are a mob with the mother being the boss.

Micky meets and falls for a bartender named Charlene (of course) played extremely well by Amy Adams.  Charlene most of the time seems to want what is best for Micky, but can come off as a little selfish at times.  These are all very real characters with plot lines and stories of their own.  With the exception of the sisters.  My biggest problem with the movie is that I thought the sisters were too comical and exaggerated. 

Walhberg does a great job, but Christian Bale is a force of nature in this film.  True, he had the meatier role but he dug his teeth into like I haven't seen him do since The Illusionist.  True to his method acting ways, Bale lost around 100 pounds so that he could look totally cracked out.  Not quite as dramatic as his weight loss in The Machinist, but still pretty impressive.  Mark Walhberg also had to modify his body.  When he is at the height of his game he is bulky and ripped.  When he is pondering retiring he looks a little puddgy (I hope he doesn't read this).  And let's hear it for the ladies.  Amy Adams must have added a little weight for her role.  It worked too!  She is wicked hot (I'm trying to say that in Boston accent).

I don't want to get into spoilers but HBO is filming Dicky for a documentary that isn't what we are lead to believe it is at first.  When that reveal happened, my mouth fell open.  Another visceral moment for me was when Micky had to stand up to his mother and the nasty haired coven of sisters.  He had Charlene by his side but I felt every bit of his anxiety.   There are many other moments that hit you in your gut.  But the film is not all drama. There is a good bot of fun and humor in the film.

One nice little touch that I liked was that when the fights took place O. Russell used TV camera's from that 80's era to mimic the look of the fights as if we were watching them live.  I think they even spliced in clips from the actual fights. 

This is one of my favorite films of 2010.  As I look at my list and relive this film, I might have to bump it up a little.  I give The Fighter 4.5/5 stars.