For those that aren’t familiar with the
storyline of “Capote”, it’s fairly simple. In Holton, Kansas
a family of four were shot and killed. Truman Capote
(Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a writer for The New Yorker, saw
an opportunity to write about the killing and turn it into a
book. As time told, he did and his book, “In Cold Blood”
turned out to be the jewel in his crown. Capote brings with
him his friend and fellow author, Harper Lee (Catherine
Keener) who herself would find fame with her award-winning
“To Kill a Mockingbird”. As he starts to dig deeper and find
the facts, he develops a close relationship with Perry Smith
(Clifton Collins Jr.), who was one of the killers. The film
isn’t so much a history lesson as it shows different people
from different walks of life. Capote and Lee are New Yorkers
thrust into the vast wheat fields that is Kansas and it’s a
great character study to boot. Sony has done a remarkable
job with this product. I highly recommend it!
DOMINO - New Line
Midway through director Tony Scott’s
action-orgy Domino, the title character, a stunningly
beautiful model-turned-bounty hunter, describes a co-worker
as having “the attention span of a ferret on
methamphetamine.” That about sums up the director and the
movie, too—watching Domino is exhausting because Scott never
rests for a second; the film does everything but punch its
audience in the face (and likely only stops there because
Scott hasn’t figured out a way to turn a visual assault into
a physical one). Domino Harvey was a real person, the
daughter of the late actor Lawrence Harvey. She died of an
accidental drug overdose last summer, and never saw the
movie based on her life. She modeled for a while, and turned
to bounty hunting in the early 1990s because she was
restless, obsessed with weapons, and apparently had
something to prove. If action pictures are your forte, and
you prefer action as opposed to substance, I heartily
recommend this picture. Caution. proceed at your own risk.
MIDNIGHT COWBOY - MGM
Joe Buck (Jon Voight) is a prostitute
whose services attract men as well as women. Joe is both a
fantasist and a fantasy, a naÔve Texan transplant in seedy
Manhattan, playacting the part of a cowboy in the misguided
belief that rich New York women are dying to be serviced by
such a stud. The reality is a bit different: Men respond
much more readily to the image Joe projects than women, who
tend to look at him as if he has just landed from Mars. And
he has absolutely no business sense; his pickup lines are
absurdly awkward, and he does not get the cardinal rule of
prostitution, which decrees that one always demand payment
before any services are rendered. No wonder he’s such an
easy mark for Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) when the
small-time con man offers to help but instead fleeces him
out of a portion of his rapidly dwindling reserves. This is
a tremendous film with incredible picture and sound. There
are numerous extras included in the package. This is not to
be missed. Pick yours up today!
CLEOPATRA - Fox
No movie in the history of Hollywood has
as infamous a reputation as 20th Century Fox’s Cleopatra.
Known as the film that bankrupted the studio, this elaborate
epic was a true spectacle — both on-screen and off — due to
its staggering salary pay-out to star Elizabeth Taylor, its
mismanaged production budget and resultant spiraling costs,
its endless and troubled shooting schedule, its
near-destruction of gifted but overtaxed
director/screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and the swirl of
worldwide publicity surrounding the intriguing Richard
Burton/Taylor affair. With a final budget of $44 million,
Cleopatra was the most expensive film ever made. And though
it made $24 million in its first run, won five Academy
Awards, and has long since recouped its costs with
additional worldwide revenues, video, etc., Fox closed the
books on the film and the moniker “bloated blockbuster” has
been used as an adjective ever since. The cumulative effect
of this three-DVD Cleopatra set is curious because it draws
as much attention to what’s missing as it does to what’s
there. After Zanuck’s cuts, the existing four-hour film is,
indeed, flawed. At best, it’s visually astonishing,
historically intriguing, and cleverly wrought. At worst,
it’s overblown, dull, histrionic, and absurdly silly.
Without the expanded characterizations included in the
trimmed footage, the characters are largely reduced to
plot-point narrators. Yet as an example of Hollywood history
in the making, Cleopatra is as compelling and roughly hewn
as its eminently watchable star.
