Actor and filmmaker Edward Burns comes from a family of cops, and he always relishes the opportunity to play one in a movie. In “Alex Cross,” he got to portray Detective Tommy Kane who is partner and childhood friend to Dr. Cross (played here by Tyler Perry), and the boyfriend of Detective Monica Ashe (Rachel Nichols). While at the movie’s press conference which took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills back in 2012, he talked about what drew him to the role.
Burns said he was aware of James Patterson’s Alex Cross books and that he had read a few of them. The character he plays, however, is not actually in any of Patterson’s books and was an original creation for this movie. He ended up getting a call from the movie’s director, Rob Cohen, who was determined to make this particular Cross film more of an action picture than a police procedural.
Edward Burns: Rob told me that he wanted to develop this new character opposite Alex that’s sort of a best friend. He said we’ll be working on this script up until we shoot and that he’d love to have some input from me. Anytime a filmmaker says they want you to collaborate with them that gets an actor excited, so I jumped in.
When it came to establishing the relationship between Tommy and Alex, Burns said there are two scenes in the movie that give viewers insight as to when these two met and how their relationship has evolved over the years.
Edward Burns: The thinking was we became friends as kids, and when we were little, I was a little more of the protector of him. When we got older, bigger and smarter, he then became the guy that looked after me. That’s what the tone of the relationship is between these characters in the film, and in our last scene together in the car we reminisce about how our roles have changed over time.
For Burns the one fun thing about playing cops in movies is that there’s always that period of when you have to do tactical police training.
Edward Burns:We had a great time working with the guys from the Detroit SWAT team and police department, and that’s always a lot of fun. It’s amazing because you always have to keep relearning that stuff (sweeping a room and proper weapons procedure).
Some actors hate being typecast as cops, but Edward Burns appears to be happy to play as many of them as he can. We look forward to him playing as many more cops in the future, and we applaud him on his continued dedication to the realm of independent film.
“Alex Cross” is now available to own and rent on physical media and digital.
WRITER’S NOTE: This interview took place back in 2012 and may contain outdated information.
So, help me, I liked “Megalopolis.” Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project which has been decades in the making. It was finally unleashed unto the world at large, and the reviews have been incredibly polarizing as audiences were either enthralled or baffled by what they witnessed. it was pretty much considered a box office bomb in advance as studios had no idea of how to promote it, and it debuted with a terrible $4 million gross which looks horrid for a film with a $120 million budget. But while it has been met with the same critical and commercial derision as another Coppola film, “One From The Heart,” was greeted with back in 1982, it shows he has no fear or shame in taking grandiose risks with the material given to him.
Going into “Megalopolis,” I was determined to watch it with as open a mind as possible. Judging from the many Hollywood studios’ collective refusal to promote or market it, I assumed this would be a genre defying motion picture since no executive had a clear idea of how to sell it. I also did not go in expecting something along the lines of “The Godfather” or “Apocalypse Now.” Those classic films were their own things, and this one is quite another.
What I discovered was a cinematic mess, but it’s an enthralling mess with many ideas on its mind and beautiful visuals few other filmmakers could pull off. Seeing it with an audience, some of which did walk out on it, made it all the more entertaining as everyone really got into it, for better or worse. Like Richard Kelly’s “Southland Tales,” I really dug the heedless ambition Coppola brought to this long gestating project, but “Megalopolis” is a bit better as the story is a little more understandable and easier to get the gist of.
The film, which is described as a fable, is set in an alternate version of America where New York City has been rechristened as New Rome. Crime is terrible and poverty is rampant while the rich revel in their decadent desires. Then along comes Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver), a futuristic architect whose invention of the Megalon, a new bio-adaptive building material, offers a great change to the world. His plan is to use it to build a futuristic utopian city of his design. He also has the ability to stop time in its track, which gives no meaning to the term, “time stops for no one.”
But, as Nick Nolte once said at a press conference I attended, “there will always be change and there will always be resistance to change.” The resistance comes from corrupt New Rome Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) who prefers to keep the status quo the same as it ever was where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer and like the average New York mayor, Cicero is constantly booed by the citizens he zealously yields power over. Even as the crowds jeer him, he still smiles that big smile of his which makes me wonder if he is ignorant, hopelessly naïve, or just a narcissist.
Now I am sure you guessed it already, but the Roman names are intentional as Coppola is comparing the fall of Rome to what America is going through, and he was influenced by the Catilinarian conspiracy when he wrote the screenplay. That conspiracy involved a coup back in 65 BC when Lucius Sergius Catilina attempted to overthrow the Roman consuls of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Antonius Hybrida, and forcibly assume control of the state. it is clear both Catalina and Cicero want a measure of power over the citizens of New Rome, and neither will let anything stand in their way in obtaining it.
Another character making a play for political power is Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf who is especially lively here), Catilina’s resentful cousin who looks to embarrass him in the most unforgettable ways possible. He looks to win the New Rome citizens over by starting a campaign which invites comparisons to the term “Make America Great Again.”
There is a lot more I can tell you about “Megalopolis’” story, but there is honestly enough for several movies here. As a result, watching it once is not nearly enough for me. There are a lot of plot threads which go in various directions, and while some may say this film does not have enough of a center, I think it does. Perhaps it will take some time to put all the pieces together when it comes to this passion project. Or, if Coppola lives long enough, we will get another cut of the film as he likes to fiddle around with his previous works.
Some have expressed fierce criticism over how the actors seem to be acting in different movies here as the performances range from natural to utterly theatrical. Indeed, there are a various number of acting styles clashing with one another here, but I was not really bothered by this. Considering how divided America has become in the past decade or so. We have citizens accepting one reality while others are accepting its polar opposite. As a result, the conflicting styles this motion picture has to offer us made a lot of sense to me.
Adam Driver makes Catilina into an especially compelling character like he always does, Jon Voight does some of his best work in a while as Catalina’s wealthy uncle, Crassus, who has more tricks up his sleeves than the actor would ever be quick to let on. Nathalie Emmanuel, who plays Julia Cicero, Catalina’s love interest and Cicero’s daughter, and does a great job of further emphasizing the intense conflict between the two men.
But if there is a most valuable player to be found in “Megalopolis.” It is Aubrey Plaza who portrays Wow Platinum, a television personality who goes from being Catalina’s mistress to Crassus’ lover and wife as she desires nothing more than money and power, and it becomes crystal clear what she will do to get them. Plaza is given free rein to chew the scenery every which way she likes. there is no forgetting her presence once you walk out of the theater as she revels in portraying such a despicable Lady Macbeth-like character.
What else can I say about “Megalopolis” that I haven’t already? Yes, it is a mess full of ideas which Coppola has spread all over the place, and there are flaws which are quite glaring. Still, it is an infinitely creative piece of work. The visual effects serve the material without overwhelming it, and there is an unforgettable beauty in the color scheme Coppola employs here.
I have no shame in giving “Megalopolis” a positive review. No, it is not Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece (for me, that would be “The Conversation”), but it was great fun seeing the famed filmmaker and winemaker swinging for the stars. He walks a tightrope throughout, taking risks and challenges along which most directors would never do today.
“Megalopolis” is very, very earnest in its designs as Coppola leaves us with a plea for peace and a world which everyone regardless of class and creed can fully benefit from. This may seem like a pipe dream considering how the world is currently tearing itself apart due to religious or ideological differences, but it is a memorable epitaph, should this film be his final work.
And at the very least, we will always have Adam Driver’s unforgettable delivery of “da club.”
The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.
Out of all the films I watched in 2014, “American Sniper” was the one which hit me the hardest. I had never seen a film like it before, and I was surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did, considering I’m not a huge fan of war films. This is much more than a war film, though. It’s a personal story, and this part of the film resonated with me much more than any shootings. Although there is one particular shooting that made me wince, Chris Kyle was only doing what he was trained to do as a Navy Seal.
Bradley Cooper stars as Chris Kyle in one of the best performances of his career. Not only did he put on the weight to play Kyle, but he completely became him. On the special features, they talked about how they would have moments on set that would cause goosebumps because his performance was so true to life. It’s always a thing of beauty when you see an actor completely devote themselves to a role and a film. It helps that the film was directed by the legendary Clint Eastwood. There’s also a quality screenplay by Jason Hall, adapted from Kyle’s book of the same name.
Kyle believes strongly in America and goes through some intense training that would make most men run for the hills, but he eventually becomes a sniper for the Navy Seals. Before he even attempts to do this, someone informs him that most men quit. Kyle says he is no quitter. Meanwhile, he meets his wife, Taya, played by Sienna Miller, and they eventually have a child together, adding even more pressure to Kyle’s life. He ends up taking part in four tours, which puts a strain on their relationship and his well-being. He knows he is doing a service to his country and protecting his fellow men, but that doesn’t make things any easier.
Bradley Cooper gained 40 pounds of muscle to play Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in the film American Sniper. “It wasn’t at all like a costume,” he said. “It was like … this sort of transformative experience to me because there was no going home from it.”
One of the things I admired the most about this film was the patience in which it was filmed. Kyle ends up doing four tours, and we get to see the tours along with him spending time with his family. For me, the “at home” scenes were far more effective than his time as a sniper. This is not to take anything away from his time on tour and how it’s filmed. The scenes are jarring and extremely well shot. I’m just always more engrossed in the human side of the story, and that truly adds more to what’s happening during his time becoming “The Legend”, a nickname he seems proud of at times, but also a little uneasy about as well. He is known as the U.S.’s deadliest sniper.
A lot of attention and praise was put on Cooper upon the film’s release, but credit also goes out to Miller as she has an extremely tough role to portray as well as Taya. She has to be supportive of her husband while also looking out for the best interests of her family. One thing is certain: her love for Kyle never waivers. She just worries about feeling disconnected from him. It’s clear he’s not the same when everything is over. How can he be? As he tells his psychiatrist, he thinks more about the men he couldn’t save as opposed to the ones he did. However, Taya wants her husband back, and she wants the man she married. The ability to disconnect from the war is a hard one, and that is explored in great detail in this magnificent film.
“American Sniper” made my list of the top ten films of 2014, and it is also one of the best films Eastwood has ever directed. Everyone watches movies for various reasons. I watch movies to be moved and engrossed by great stories and fascinating people. On my third viewing, I’m happy to report “American Sniper” holds up incredibly well. It’s also enhanced by the 4K transfer Warner Brothers has added to the film as well. It was released a few years before 4K discs became a reality, and with this being the ten-year anniversary of the film, it’s a great time to add it to your collection and upgrade the Blu-ray if you already own it.
* * * * out of * * * *
4K Info: “American Sniper” is released on a single 4K disc from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. It also comes with a digital copy of the film as well. The film runs at 132 minutes and is rated R for strong and disturbing war violence, and language throughout including some sexual references.
Video Info: “American Sniper” on 4K really takes you into the heat of battle. I did mention that the war scenes didn’t hit me as emotionally as the sequences between Chris and Taya, but they still had their impact nonetheless. You would have to be a rock to not be moved and affected by what’s happening on screen. All of it is shot with just the right number of colors and texture. It’s sort of a dreary looking film, but that is to be expected with war.
Audio Info: The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is also an improvement over the inconsistent audio on the previously released Blu-ray of the film, which was a bit too loud at times. This time, it’s right on cue throughout the entire film. It was also fairly consistent during the quieter moments as well.
Special Features:
One Soldier’s Story: The Journey of American Sniper
Chris Kyle: The Man Behind the Legend
Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy – The Heart of a Hero
Navy SEALs: In War and Peace
Bringing the War Home: The Cost of Heroism
The Making of American Sniper
Guardian
Should You Buy It?
“American Sniper” is finally on 4K, and it was well worth the wait. The technical aspects are amazing, as they usually are with a Clint Eastwood film, especially on 4K. Bradley Cooper turns in an astounding performance and one which really hit me like a ton of bricks. Sienna Miller also turns in an underrated and potent performance as well. This is a film firing on all cylinders, and it will make a great addition to your physical media collection. This is top-notch filmmaking and a film that comes from a labor of love from everyone involved. When you have films like this one, the audience is the ultimate winner. The special features are also ported over the Blu-ray release as well, and they add a lot of context and information on the making of the film and Chris Kyle’s backstory. This is a day-one purchase, especially with the impressive slipcover which is included with this release.
**Disclaimer** I received a copy of this film from Warner Brothers to review for free. The opinions and statements in the review are mine and mine alone.
There are many who see support groups (or 12-step groups if you want to call them that). The truth, however, is that those who attend them are not any different from the rest of us, and they can at times be very funny. At the very least, these people deserve credit and applause for taking the time to get the help they need because asking for help is usually one of the hardest things to do.
“Thanks for Sharing” is one of the few movies I have seen which deals with these groups and the people who attend them. While it does take the subject of addiction seriously, it also finds a good balance between drama and comedy to where we find ourselves laughing with these characters and never at them.
This movie focuses on three men who attend the same Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting: Adam (Mark Ruffalo), Mike (Tim Robbins) and Neil (Josh Gad). Adam is an over-achieving environmental consultant who is celebrating his fifth year of sobriety. Mike is a happily married man who is kind of the elder statesman of the support group these men attend. And then there’s Neil, an emergency room doctor who is in serious denial over his addictions to where he gets in serious trouble with the law. I like how we are given characters who are at different stages of dealing with this addiction to where it gives you a good idea of why people come to these groups in the first place.
Adam is at a good place as he has really cleaned up his act and is coping with life really well. He takes great pains to keep himself on the right track by taking such measures as removing television sets from his hotel rooms so he won’t find himself watching anything pornographic. But then he meets the irresistibly beautiful Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow) while at a party where people are eating bugs (don’t ask), and the two are instantly attracted to one another. While Adam is eager to be in a relationship with her, he is not altogether sure he is ready to fall in love again after all he has accomplished. He is trying to keep his demons at bay, but it becomes much harder for him to do so.
Mike has been in recovery the longest, and he appears to have a great relationship with his wife, Katie (Joely Richardson). Things between them, however, change very quickly when his son Danny (Patrick Fugit) turns out to have some serious addiction problems of his own. Katie is thrilled to see Danny, but Mike is not sure he can trust him after all they have been through. In the process, we come to see that Mike, despite his well-earned sobriety, still has some major control issues he has yet to make peace with.
As for Neil, he has gotten himself into a painful situation when he stands uncomfortably close to a very attractive woman while riding on the subway. From there, things come to a head for him when he loses his job under embarrassing circumstances, and this finally makes him realize he needs help. Neil eventually finds solace through another recovering addict, Dede (Alecia Moore, better known as Pink), who is just starting to deal with her personal demons as well.
I am always yearning for movies which have down to earth characters, and “Thanks for Sharing” is definitely one of them. All of what everyone goes through feels very real, and nothing ever felt contrived to me. Granted, the storyline involving Robbins’ character is one we have seen many times before, but the acting between him, Fugit and Richardson are so good to where we can forgive the filmmakers for venturing into familiar territory. It really is a shame how most Hollywood movies do not dare give us more characters we can relate to on a human level. If they did, it would make most movies far more enjoyable and invigorating as a result.
“Thanks for Sharing” was directed and co-written by Stuart Blumberg, one of the writers of “The Kids Are All Right.” Finding a balance between comedy and drama can be very hard to pull off, but Blumberg is successful in doing so for the most part. He also shows a lot of love for each character here, and not just the ones who in recovery.
Mark Ruffalo remains one of the best and most naturalistic actors working today. As Adam, I never caught him acting once, and his chemistry with Paltrow is very strong. Ruffalo makes Adam a very likable guy as he struggles to not fall back into his old habits, and he makes you see how much of a challenge this is for him.
As for Paltrow, this is the most relaxed she has been onscreen in some time. While she was a blast to watch in “Iron Man 3,” she seems more in her element here as she portrays a character who is not an addict, but one who needs to face up to the issues slowly eating away at her. Watching her in “Thanks for Sharing” reminded me of just how wonderful she can be when she is given the right role.
Robbins remains as terrific an actor as ever, and I am always enthralled when I watch him in anything he does. His character of Mike seems like the typical father who has lost trust with those he should be the closest to, but he imbues this character with a lot of humanity to where he never seems like a simple caricature. His scenes with Fugit, who we have not seen enough of since “Almost Famous,” feel emotionally true, and their relationship feels authentic when it could have come across as ridiculously manipulative.
At this point, I am not familiar with Gad’s work other than him appearing in the acclaimed musical “The Book of Mormon.” Gad has the trickiest role here as he is this movie’s comic relief, but he never plays Neil for simple laughs. We are watching Neil as he is at the start of his recovery, and it isa rough start to say the least. Gad makes you root for Neil even as he does some of the dumbest and most reckless things anyone would ever have the nerve to do.
But there is no forgetting Alecia Moore, a.k.a. Pink, who gives an impressive performance as an addict who was pushed into this particular support group by a friend. Her character of Dede ends up forming a strong rapport with Neil, and they find in each other the strength they need to move past what is destroying their lives to where they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. From start to finish, she really understands this character very well, and I could see it in her eyes. Like Ruffalo, you never catch her acting here as she grounds her character in a reality which is not all removed from our own.
I liked how “Thanks for Sharing” showed how these support groups can become another addiction as its members begin to spend more time with others instead of their own families. While these characters have made great strides in conquering their demons, they still struggle with their urges every single day. Truth be told, it takes a lot of courage to face up to the things which are tearing your life apart, and long before this movie is over, you realize these addicts are not weak but strong.
The one thing I would have liked to see more of is how the family members deal with their loved ones’ addictions. My understanding is that they can only be so involved in what an addict goes through as they can never fully comprehend how dangerous their addictions can be unless they have experienced the same thing themselves. There is a scene between Paltrow and Richardson which addresses this divide, but I would have liked to see this movie go a little bit deeper in this area.
But when all is said and done, “Thanks for Sharing” fulfilled my need to see a motion picture with characters which we can recognize in our own lives. With all these superhero movies coming at us endlessly, it is important to remember we will never be perfect and cannot be everybody’s everything. It would be nice to be a superhero though, wouldn’t it? Lord knows we could use a couple of them right now. Anyway, I think this movie is definitely worth checking out.
WRITER’S NOTE: I wrote this article exactly ten years ago in the year 2010.
It was just another day at the office for me, staring at a computer and taking calls, when I got a message from my good friend Shane whom I hadn’t seen for a while. He informed me our acting mentor from Diablo Valley College, Jim Kirkwood, had passed away at 5 a.m. this morning. For the past year or so, Jim had been fighting cancer and had to endure an operation to remove a tumor which lasted several hours. Hearing this news was a blow to me and everyone else who had the unique privilege of having taken an acting class taught by him.
Right now, my heart feels so heavy and I am wondering why tears are not coming out of my eyes. I want to feel this loss fully for Jim had such a profound effect on my life and so many others in Northern California. For many years he was an acting teacher at Diablo Valley College, and I enrolled in several of his classes during my time there before I transferred to the University of California at Irvine. Much had been said about him and how hard it was to get into his classes, and that he had studied with some of the greatest acting teachers including Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler. For those truly serious about acting, you could not pass up any course he taught.
When it came to my first class with Jim, I was nervous to say the least. The man was treated like a legend in the area, and it felt incredibly intimidating to be in his presence. Giving out grades was never a priority for him, and his one rule which stood out among others was if you missed three of his classes without informing him as to why, you were out. This was back in the day when those strict guidelines actually unnerved me.
Anyway, I came to this new place of learning straight out of high school where I did many plays and considered myself a really good actor. Of course, the whole thing about acting back then is that when you’re onstage and you have nothing to say, get off. That first day with Jim, he immediately gave you a sense of what acting was really about. It was about living in the moment, acting with purpose and having an objective in mind. You could not think too much about the outcome of the scene you’re in because it would just take away from the thing you are fighting for. Every character has something to go for, and this is what empowers the actor through the entire show. Even when you are onstage and have nothing to say, he made you see listening is a big part of performing as well.
Among the lessons I remember the most from his classes was when he explained you did not need to have preconceived ideas of how to play a scene or say a line. It was never about pushing for some grand emotion which spelled out award-winning to the audience; it was about letting the emotion come to you while you pursue your objective. To just deliver a line in a preconceived way would just kill the moment. You would just come across as lifeless and vacant, and your scene partner would suffer as a result.
Jim demonstrated the danger of preconceiving what you will do beforehand by giving different readings of the line “get the hell out of here!” The first one was angry, the next was dismissive, the one after that had him laughing like he was talking to a friend, I think he made it look like he was crying in another and so on. By the end, everyone in the class including myself were laughing because he made it all look ridiculous, and it was. By getting stuck in this way of acting, you were never really connected to the scene or those you are working with onstage.
Sooner or later, we came to see that we get our performance from the other actor in the scene. While this became more abundantly clear to me years later while I was a student at Second City, this lesson really originated in Jim’s classes. There was no “me, me, me, me, me, me” in his class because we were all put on the same level. No one was necessarily better than the other, so no prima donnas were ever present (thank goodness for that by the way).
For those new to Jim’s classes, his regimen was to break us down and get rid of all those high school emoting habits many of us had been stuck with for far too long. He could be brutally honest with you, but it was never in a Simon Cowell kind of way (I would have dropped out of his class were it the case). He wanted you to see what you did wrong and how you could improve on it for next time. Feelings did get hurt from time to time and our self-confidence took several direct hits at what seemed like point blank range, but it was never done out of spite or cold-heartedness. Simply put, we had a lot to learn and the road we were on was designed to be a long one and for good reason.
Of couse, he was quoted one time as saying the following, “Getting talent out of this person is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic!”
Another great lesson he taught us which has never left my mind was when he did the “pick up the pen” bit. With this, he went back to when he was an acting student himself and being taught by Lee Strasberg. Now Lee instructed him to pick up a pen which was laying there on the stage. Since he did not tell Jim how he should pick it up, Jim just walked up on stage like he was doing a happy skip across the park and just stumbled upon the pen. We were all laughing hysterically as he looked at the pen with a giddy look on his face, playing up the emotion of the scene as he picked it up.
Lee, however, was not impressed, and Jim said he was made to put it back up on the stage and pick it up again. This time he moved stealthily around and looked like he was about to steal the pen. In this moment, he made it look like he was waiting for the perfect moment and then found it by absconding with the pen just like Indiana Jones took off with the golden idol in the beginning of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Lee again shook his head and told Jim he was still doing it wrong and to do it again.
Now Jim came onto the stage as if his leg were broken, and he was limping over to the pen. At this point, he tried, and failed, to make it look realistic when he was struggling to reach for the pen despite the injury he was faking miserably. Once again, he got the pen and went offstage. It was at this point that Lee was really losing his patience with him:
“Jim, did you hear anything of what I just said?!”
“Yeah, but what am I doing wrong?”
“I told you to pick up the pen!”
“I DID!”
“Well I didn’t tell you to go all over the place doing this big act around it, did I?”
“So, what do you want me to do?”
“JIM, JUST PICK UP THE PEN!!!”
“Fine!”
So, Jim just walked straight up to the pen and picked it up, and then he walked off the stage as quickly as he got on it. After that, the audience of his fellow students, one of whom was James Dean, applauded him loudly. Jim said he did not understand what the big deal was, and Lee, who also applauded, explained it to him:
“You followed through with the objective. You didn’t think about it, you just did it and with the same level of energy. You didn’t need to put on a big show, you just needed to just pick up the pen. In that moment, that was your only objective. This is the difference between a good performer and a great actor.”
This last sentence has stayed with me to this very day. It is easy to get up and put up a big act just to get laughs from all your friends, but it is another thing to be the character instead of just playing one. You never play the emotion, you play the action, and the emotion will come to you.
I went through a rollercoaster of emotions throughout my time in his classes. Back then I was trying to get all my general education courses out of the way so that, when I transferred to a four-year university, I could concentrate solely on my major. As a result, I did not always give his classes my full-on attention, and it did lead to me having a nervous breakdown one day. It felt like I was failing the class and myself, and while my fellow classmates were there to console me, I was a complete wreck. Jim took pity on me though, gave me a hug, and he always had everyone give their scene partners a hug before and after a scene, and urged me to not be so hard on myself.
But in the end, through all that emotional agony, we each came into our own and got to have that one moment where all the training and character work we did paid off. We had gotten to where we had studied the scene and memorized our lines so many times, we were no longer thinking about what we were doing. All that mattered was we went after our objective. Nothing else mattered. Getting a compliment from Jim was not always easy, but when you got it, you knew you damn well earned it. When we each got that moment, it wasn’t just a victory for us, but for the class as well. Each of us wanted the other person to succeed.
On the last day of Jim’s Advanced Acting class, we all chipped in and got him a plaque thanking him for all he had done for us. He looked at it and immediately burst into tears. It meant so much that we did this for him, and it was a symbol of the kind of people we were becoming thanks in large part to the time we spent with him. Everyone in the class came around to give him a hug, not wanting him to cry. Another guy, I can’t remember his name, offered him a bottle of scotch but then realized he had already drunk it.
In the end, Jim’s classes were never about becoming a star or a celebrity. His classes were about how an actor must live life to the fullest and be serious about their art and their individual craft. It was about getting better and taking on new challenges throughout our lifetimes, and to never be complacent as artists. The life of an artist, be it an actor or director, is never meant to be an easy one. But then again, how else could you learn and grow? It’s like what my brother keeps telling me, “If life were easy, no one would bother showing up.”
I loved how I got to make Jim laugh. I was in his directing class and did this one scene where I used magazine covers with gorgeous women on them as stand ins for a couple of characters. He got a kick out of the fact one of them was an issue of Playboy Magazine with Pamela Anderson, and he jokingly asked me if he could borrow it. Being the embarrassingly literal-minded person I was back then, I thought he was being serious and handed it to him earnestly. Along with the class, he was in utter hysterics.
Then there was another time where we were working on scenes and voicing out what was going through our minds in order to keep us in the moment. Be it if you didn’t know your line or were frustrated and had to vent it somehow, we needed to be there fully and not let all these distractions cloud our ultimate goals. For me, my chief distraction involved a comedy album I bought a few days earlier from a nearby record store. It got to where I could no longer resist it:
“DAMN IT!! I GOT STEVE MARTIN’S NATIVE AMERICAN SINGING GOING THROUGH MY HEAD!!!!”
Jim got a kick out of that and would never let me forget it. It’s nice to have such memories of him this way.
Now Jim is gone, and this loss is deeply felt by all those who were lucky to be in his presence. I write this with a heavy heart, and it will still take some time to accept the fact I won’t get to see or talk with him ever again. It didn’t matter how old he was, he left us way too soon. The last time I saw him was at a Christmas party with friends from his class, and he dropped by and was endlessly interested in what we were all up to. His words of kindness meant a lot to me and I will never forget them.
I thank him for all those lessons on character development, understanding a script and the character’s place in it fully, and of the passion he brought out of all of us. We did not just come out of his class as better actors; we came out as better people. Much of what he taught still comes back to me every once in a while, so I know I am still growing as an artist.
I miss you Jim. Why did you have to leave us now? Leonard Cohen was right; this is no way to say goodbye. But what you taught will live on through all of us for you touched so many lives, and everything you taught will be passed on to future generations. You will live on with us always.
I still wish you were here though. It feels very empty here without you.
WRITER’S NOTE: Eddie Pence selected this as his Video Vault pick on the August 15, 2020 episode of “The Ralph Report.” But while the host of the podcast, Ralph Garman, was not particularly crazy about it, I think it is better than Garman gives it credit.
“Hamlet 2” starts off with an invisible voice telling us that to be an actor, you have to live in a dream. But dreams do die however, and the question posed here is this: Where dreams go when they die? Well, if you are Dana Marschz (played by Steve Coogan), then you go to Tucson, Arizona to spend the rest of your life teaching high school drama. Being an actor myself, there is something quite scary about the fate of this particular actor who is best known for his herpes medication commercials. Here in Arizona, he hopes to pass on his love of acting to high school students, and this is the thrust of the plot which powers up a motion picture dealing with one of the most unlikely sequels ever to be created.
“Hamlet 2” was a big hit at the Sundance Film Festival, and while it didn’t quite live up to the hype in my eyes, it was still a very clever movie which kept me entertained from beginning to end. It is a hilarious look at how art can never truly be suppressed, and this includes art which was never all that good to begin with.
We meet up with Dana Marschz sometime into his career as a high school teacher, and he only has two students, Rand Posin (Skylar Astin) and Epiphany Sellers (Phoebe Strole), who really seem to care about drama and acting. His latest class, he discovers, is largely populated by Latino students who are in attendance because their other electives have been cut, and drama is the only one left. It reminds me of all those high school kids with who were in drama class because was the only one they could get an easy A in other than physical education. Dana, however, is convinced this is being presented to him as a challenge he must face with no fear. While these students may seem unenthusiastic about drama, he is determined to change their minds.
Dana’s existence is a recovering alcoholic with a wife named Brie (played by the great Catherine Keener) who drinks a margarita from a gigantic martini glass. They also have a boarder, Gary, (David Arquette) who is sleeping with Brie while Dana rollerblades to school because he cannot afford a car. His gift to the high school is plays he wrote which are direct adaptations of the movies “Erin Brockovich” and “Dead Poets Society.” Still, they get ripped to pieces by a young critic who shows no mercy for Dana’s passion. Dana’s basic cry for all the negative criticism is, “He fisted us!”
Dana ends up conversing with this unsympathetic teenage critic to seek inspiration, and he suggests to Dana that he write something original and put everything into it. Thus, he comes up with what in many ways is a completely unnecessary sequel to one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, “Hamlet.” There is a rather large problem though as just about every character dies at the play’s end. But Dana, still up for an artistic challenge, remains undeterred by this, and he comes up with a device to solve this problem in the form of a time machine. Upon discovering the rather racy nature of the play, the most suburban students do everything they can to keep it from being performed, but Dana ends up proving to everyone that you cannot stop art.
It’s a little hard for me to critique “Hamlet 2” objectively because Dana’s fate is one I hope to avoid. It is made clear from the outset that he is not particularly talented, and we get a montage of scenes featuring him as an actor. The funniest one is a commercial he did for Herpes medication as he tells us, “Right now, I am having a herpes outbreak. But you wouldn’t know it!”
In the process of writing and directing his sequel play, it gets banned from being performed at the high school, and Dana ends up inspiring the Latino kids to put it on at another location. He even gets help from the ACLU to keep his play from being censored. Talk about free publicity!
“Hamlet 2” is a terrific star vehicle for Coogan, and he is never afraid to make himself look completely silly. He shows no fear in portraying Dana as a complete failure both as an actor and a drama teacher. That he somehow inspired these students who have grown up in a far different environment than his is pretty amazing. But in the end, it doesn’t matter if Dana is really bad or good because he gets the play up to the excitement and infuriation of everyone in Tucson, Arizona, the city where dreams come to die. Coogan proves to be a brilliant comic actor here, and he still is all these years later.
The director and co-writer of “Hamlet 2” is Andrew Fleming, and he does a good job of not taking things too seriously. Fleming started off his career as the writer and director of the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” wannabe, “Bad Dreams” (this title tells you all you need to know). From there, he went on to direct “Threesome,” “The Craft,” “Dick,” and “Nancy Drew.” Suffice to say, he has been around for a while, and this film proved to be one of his stronger efforts.
“Hamlet 2” also features a terrific performance from Elisabeth Shue who plays herself here. In this movie, she has given up on acting and appears to be much happier working as a nurse in a sperm bank. Dana goes gaga over Shue and invites her to speak with his class, but they have no idea who she is. We all remember her from “The Karate Kid,” and she earned a much-deserved Oscar nomination for her unforgettable performance in “Leaving Las Vegas,” but over the years her star has not ascended in the way we thought it would. Still, she works constantly and is always on the verge of giving us her next memorable performance. And, as “Hamlet 2” shows, she has a great sense of humor about herself.
Anybody who has ever been involved with community theater or in high school plays will get a kick out of this film. In retrospect, the high school students were the ones who manage to get the show up and running, and this is shown here. That Dana manages to inspire these kids through his embarrassing ways is astonishing. When you are already deep into the production of a show and your director flakes out or becomes useless, you can’t just give up. As Dana’s personal life hits rock bottom, it’s those kids who pull him up from the abyss.
I also like how “Hamlet 2” got into the conflicts Dana has with the school and parents because everyone in these situations always acts in an overly conservative way. As time goes on, I get more interested in what does not offend people because it seems like we are always looking to get mad about something. Granted, you can see why people might object to Jesus Christ kissing Satan or with a song entitled “Rock Me Sexy Jesus,” a song which was criminally robbed of an Oscar nomination. But everyone in the end is saved due to the protected freedom of the 1st amendment of the Constitution. That pisses a lot of people off, but that’s their problem.
The ACLU eventually gets involved when the show is threatened to be shut down, and a lawyer comes to visit Mr. Marschz to lend her help. She is played in a kick ass scene stealing performance by Amy Poehler. Her character of Cricket Feldstein is a ball buster about protecting the production, and she makes sure everyone involved gets to put it up. Her disinterest in whether or not the play is any good (“It’s irrelevant,” she says) is hilarious, and Poehler continues to show why she is one of the funniest actresses ever.
“Hamlet 2” is a lot of fun to watch, and the play which comes out of it is a hoot as it is a quasi-musical in which Hamlet and Jesus team up to change the past. Granted, they take all the drama and tragedy out of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” but it is a little hard at times to argue with Dana who calls the play “a real downer.” In addition to “Rock Me Sexy Jesus,” there is another song called “Raped in The Face” which is Dana’s stab at the critics who keep taking apart his plays based on movies. The song title alone demands your complete attention.
All the same, I wished the filmmakers had pushed the envelope a bit more. Seriously, you have to expect some envelope pushing when one of the writers, Pam Brady, is from “South Park.” I’m not saying “Hamlet 2” had to be insidiously evil, I just wished the satire in parts was a little sharper. Or perhaps I got a little depressed with Dana’s station in life because it is one I hope to avoid in my own life, and this made it hard for me to be more objective about what I saw. Still, this comedic film has stayed with me since I first saw it, and at some point, I need to watch it again.
Shakespeare once wrote about how all the world is a stage, and he was absolutely right. We are all merely players in this crazy thing called life, and “Hamlet 2” plays with this to such an enthusiastic extent to where I wonder if another “Hamlet” sequel is in our future. Or better yet, maybe we can get a “Romeo & Juliet” sequel as young love does not have to be so infinitely depressing. Seriously, everyone deserves a second chance.
Looking at the trailer for “The Duke of Burgundy,” I couldn’t help but expect a sexploitation flick with lots of nudity and dozens of butterflies. But while the movie does deal with a sadomasochistic relationship between two women, it actually turns out to be a domestic drama about two people who love one another deeply. When the movie starts, however, it looks like this relationship is reaching its breaking point.
“The Duke of Burgundy” starts off with an innocent looking woman named Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) cycling over to a grand mansion where she is greeted coldly by Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) who bluntly informs her she is late for work. From there it looks like Evelyn works as Cynthia’s maid and is rudely ordered around and made to do chores, each of which are increasingly demeaning. It’s a daily routine for these two, and the day ends with Cynthia punishing Evelyn behind a closed bathroom door. We have a good idea of what Cynthia’s doing to her, but director Peter Strickland is more content to let us visualize what’s happening instead of showing us everything.
At this point, I became very eager for Evelyn to smack Cynthia in the face, but as the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by looking at the cover. What’s actually happening is that these two are in a relationship where Evelyn is the submissive one and Cynthia is the dominant one. They are deep into role playing and enjoy each other’s company more than we could have realized. But as “The Duke of Burgundy” continues on, it becomes apparent that a compromise in this relationship is desperately needed. We see in Cynthia’s eyes a longing for a more normal relationship, but Evelyn has become hopelessly addicted to the submissive role she plays and wants her lover to punish her more aggressively than ever before. With any addiction, you eventually come to find too much is not enough.
This movie surprised me throughout as it plays around with what you think you know about sadomasochism to where you’d expect Cynthia to come out dressed as a dominatrix and carrying a big whip. But if you strip away the strange and painful things they do to one another, you see their relationship is no different from any other, and like any relationship, there needs to be some compromise. The question is, who’s willing to compromise more?
Both D’Anna and Knudsen are perfectly cast, and they nail each of their characters’ complexities with a lot of depth. It’s fascinating to watch their relationship evolve to where the most dominant one is actually Evelyn as she continually begs Cynthia to feed her dark desires. Knudsen, in particular, has a great moment where she’s getting intimate with D’Anna, and you see this wounded look in her eyes which says without words how this relationship is becoming a lot less comfortable for her.
“The Duke of Burgundy” is also one of the most beautifully filmed movies I’ve seen in a while as it looks like it was shot on 16mm film to where you think you’re watching something from the 70’s. To my astonishment, I discovered it was shot digitally which completely blew my mind. Many congratulations go to cinematographer Nic Knowland who has been working in movies since the 60’s. The lush and hazy look he gives this movie feels magical and makes you realize what amazing things can be captured with digital cameras. It was also fascinating to learn many of the images were created in the camera and not in post-production.
The movie also features a very unique and original score by Cat’s Eyes, an alternative pop duo made up of two musicians from entirely different disciplines. Their music adds immeasurably to the story which reaches a fever pitch towards the end when this relationship looks to be doomed. Like Mica Levi’s score for “Under the Skin,” I have a hard time comparing Cat’s Eyes score to others out there. Here’s hoping they compose more film scores in the future.
Strickland previously directed “Berberian Sound Studio” which brought him to the attention of many film critics who became immediately enthralled with his work. I regret to say I haven’t seen that movie yet, but watching “The Duke of Burgundy” does make me want to check it out sooner than later. Strickland shows a strong mastery of the filmmaking process, and he ends up taking us on a journey unlike few other have recently. He also tricks us into thinking we are watching one type of movie, and he ends up giving us something which is not only different but far deeper and more mesmerizing than we ever could have expected.
I also want to point out that there’s not a single male character to be found in this movie. That’s actually pretty amazing considering how hard it is to think of an American movie where this is the case. I’m sure there’s one like this one out there, but nothing comes to mind right away.
What bums me out is audiences will not be quick to come out in droves to see a movie like “The Duke of Burgundy.” Small and original movies like these tend to get swept under the rug far too quickly in this day and age of superhero franchises, and I hope those with a taste for challenging and unusual material will give it a shot. What Strickland has given us is an edgy fairy tale which could take place in any time period, and he sucks us into a story you cannot help but be enthralled by. With any luck, we’ll get more challenging movies like this one in the future. At the very least, it’s infinitely better than the awful monstrosity which is “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
The Ultimate Rabbit 