The Phantom of the Opera (2004) [PG-13] ****

A film review by James Berardinelli for ReelViews.net.

I have never been a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber's phenomenally popular stage musical version of The Phantom of the Opera, so it will probably come as no surprise that the film adaptation, which is faithful to its inspiration, left me feeling underwhelmed. Truth be told, I am not fond of Lloyd Webber's style of music, and The Phantom of the Opera suffers from a multitude of problems, not the least of which are poor writing and an uneasy marriage between a gothic setting and big-production musical numbers. The tale of the Phantom is softened considerably in an attempt to keep things from becoming too depressing.

This film underwent a lot of iterations before finally making it to the screen. As originally conceived in 1990, it was to star Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman (the original Broadway performers), but those two long since departed, along with many other names, including Antonio Banderas. The trio who eventually got the lead roles are relative unknowns: Gerard Butler is the Phantom (his largest previous role was as the Stranger in Dear Frankie); Emmy Rossum (the dead daughter in Mystic River) is Christine; and Patrick Wilson is Raoul. It's hard to make any determination about their acting skills based on this movie, but they can all sing to one degree or another. The supporting roles are filled by British character actors - Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry, Minnie Driver as the diva Carlotta, and Ciran Hinds and Simon Callow as Firmin and Andre, the new owners of the Opera House.

Although the storyline has been made more coherent for the movie than it is in the stage version, it nevertheless helps to have seen a previous version of the film or to have read the novel upon which it is based. In brief, Christine is an up-and-coming opera star who has taken extensive voice lessons from the mysterious Phantom, who lurks in caves beneath the Opera House. The Phantom loves Christine, but will not allow her to see his scarred face, for fear that she will reject him. His goal is to make her a star, but, when he achieves that, he loses her to Raoul, her childhood sweetheart who is now the Opera House's patron. But, once he realizes Christine has slipped away, the Phantom's jealousy has terrible consequences.

I won't say this is the worst version of the roughly half-dozen cinematic editions of the story to-date, but it's near the bottom, and doesn't come close to either the silent classic with Lon Chaney or the 1943 re-make with Claude Rains. Of course, its goals are different. When he penned the musical, Lloyd Webber was not striving for shock and horror. Instead, he wanted to emphasize the romance and operatic elements. He's successful when it comes to the latter - there's a lot of singing, even to the point where whole passages of dialogue are sung rather than recited. The love story is a failure, however. While some emotion is evident between Christine and the Phantom, Raoul is as boring a hero as has ever graced the screen. Added to that, Butler has screen presence - a quality that Wilson lacks. It's impossible to believe that Christine feels anything for Raoul (or vice versa), and The Phantom of the Opera's insistence upon fostering this dead-end love affair is its downfall.

The director is Joel Schumacher, who, despite commercial successes like Batman Forever, Falling Down, and Phone Booth, would seem an unlikely choice for a gothic musical melodrama. There's nothing special about Schumacher's approach; he presents the material in a mostly straightforward manner. He offers one tremendous visual image, when the chandelier is raised and the Opera House returns to its splendor of 1870 (the movie is bookended with unnecessary scenes in the 1910s). Beyond that, Schumacher does little more than highlight the singers, dancers, costumes and set design. One could argue that, for a movie like that, his approach is the correct one.

It's questionable whether fans of the musical will be enamored with this adaptation. The energy that characterizes a live performance is absent, resulting in a production that often feels sluggish and slow-moving. And the absence of a cast associated with the stage version may aggravate any who feel their favorites have been slighted. Those who have not seen the stage version are unlikely to be won over by this Schumacher/Lloyd Webber collaboration. It's the kind of motion picture that typifies why movie musicals are rarely made - were it not for the huge built-in audience, it's hard to imagine many patrons paying to see this.

Ultimately, however, appreciation of The Phantom of the Opera will hinge upon your opinion of Lloyd Webber's skills as a composer. The film, like the stage show, contains one great baroque theme and a lot of unmemorable drivel. If you are partial to Lloyd Webber's style, you will at least find The Phantom of the Opera palatable. If not, then this will be an endurance contest. This isn't really a film that needs reviewing. Going in, most viewers will know what to expect, and Schumacher's unchallenging style delivers without frills. For some, this will be a new way to enjoy a favorite musical. But for those like me, it's a mostly tedious way to kill 140 minutes. [Berardinelli’s rating: ** out of 4 stars]

Labels: drama, musical, period, romance, thriller

Internet Movie Database 72/100 

MetaScore (critics=40, viewers=84)

RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=50, viewers=84) 

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Inventing the Abbotts (1997) [R] ****

Doug Holt (Joaquin Phoenix) and his older brother Jacey (Billy Crudup) lived with their widowed mother (Kathy Baker) in small-town Haley, Illinois in 1957. As a child, Jacey had heard a story about Lloyd Abbott (Will Patton), owner of the town's office furniture manufacturing company, and one of the area's wealthiest men. The story was that, after their father had died in an accident, Lloyd Abbott had seduced their mother and had cheated her out of their father's valuable patent, a patent that later became the source of Abbott wealth.

Jacey harbored a deep-seated resentment toward Lloyd Abbott, and seducing his three beautiful and privileged daughters would be delicious payback. But, in fact, given Jacey's personality, if the Abbotts hadn't existed, he would have invented them. Bad-girl Eleanor (Jennifer Connelly) was as attracted to the handsome, sexy Jacey as he was to her, and she chafed under her father's restrictions. Good-girl Alice (Joanna Going), the eldest, was divorcing her husband, the son of a steel baron she'd married in a shotgun wedding; she was desperate, and an easy target for Jacey. But would Jacey also seduce youngest daughter Pamela (Liv Tyler)? Doug and Pamela had been close friends since they were children, and they loved each other deeply, although they had never expressed it.

Inventing the Abbotts is a poignant, character-driven romantic drama that shows how a life can be damaged by a lie, and how the maze of illusion created by that lie can drive someone to inflict injury and heartache upon innocent people. The story also contains some wonderful lessons about love and forgiveness. The screenplay, direction, casting, cinematography and editing are all outstanding, and while the ending leaves us contented, the path there is heart-wrenching. If you enjoyed films like About Adam, How to Make an American Quilt, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Little City, you might really enjoy Inventing the Abbotts. 

Labels: college, comedy, drama, Fifties, rom-drama-faves, romance, teenager    
IMDb 64/100
MetaScore (critics=49, viewers=64)
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=56, viewers=66)

Just Write (1997) [PG-13] ***

Harold McMurphy (Jeremy Piven) is a Hollywood tour bus driver who entertains his customers with stories about movies and film stars. He loves movies, is fascinated by the art of storytelling through movies, and dreams of becoming a screenwriter. Then one day Harold drops into a popular Hollywood bar where his friend Danny (Jeffrey D. Sams) is a bartender. Danny points out Harold's favorite young actress, Amanda Clark (Sherilyn Fenn) and encourages Harold to go and talk to her.

Amanda has been arguing with her agent Sidney Stone (JoBeth Williams) about the screenplay for her latest project - a thriller co-starring Brad Pitt. Amanda is afraid the screenwriter secretly hates women, and her part, as written, will hurt her career. When Harold introduces himself to Amanda as a storyteller, she thinks he's a screenwriter. She's impressed by his insights into movies, has a flash of inspiration, and asks him to rewrite her screenplay. Harold is doubtful, but Amanda is so sweet and innocent, and has such trust and faith in him, that with her encouragement, he agrees. Now all he has to do is find an agent, develop his screenwriting skills and do a professional rewrite before Amanda discovers the truth.

Just Write is a truly heartwarming romantic comedy with an inventive screenplay, believable performances, sweet romantic chemistry between Jeremy Piven and Sherilyn Fenn, and a happy ending. The supporting cast is stellar, especially Sams, Williams, the late Alex Rocco as Harold's father, and Costas Mandylor as Amanda's womanizing film star boyfriend. Despite being a low-budget independent production, the film won awards at several film festivals, including the "Best Independent Award" at the 1997 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. If you loved Notting Hill, you will very likely enjoy Just Write.

Labels: Cinderella-story, comedy, filmmaking, rom-com-faves, romance
IMDb 61/100
RottenTomatoes (critics=50, viewers=57)

Still Breathing (1997) [PG-13] ****

Fletcher (Brendan Fraser) is an artist and puppeteer, living in San Antonio, Texas. He's been waiting all his life for a vision of his one true love. Then, late one night, Fletcher has a vision of a lovely dark-haired girl fleeing from danger, and then a neon sign that says: Formosa.

Assuming that his true love must be Chinese, Fletcher books a flight to Taiwan. While between flights at LAX airport, he sees a picture of the Formosa Cafe in Hollywood, recognizes the neon sign, goes to the cafe, meets Rosalyn (Joanna Going), and recognizes her as the girl in his vision. In contrast to innocent, trusting Fletcher, however, Rosalyn is a cynical con artist, working an elaborate fine art scam. She thinks she's meeting a wealthy Texan entrepreneur at the Formosa, not a street performer.

As Fletcher and Rosalyn get to know one another, the depth of their soul connection becomes clearer, although Rosalyn stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it. After years of disappointment, she has given up hope that there is someone made just for her, that she will prove worthy of him, and that true love will bring her happiness. All she knows is that, day after day, she is still breathing. Slowly, gradually, despite Rosalyn's resistance, Fletcher's unconditional love opens her heart, melts her fears, and restores her innocence and trust. This is a touching romance, with great chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Joanna Going, a terrific soundtrack, and a happy ending.

Still Breathing was written, directed and produced by James F. Robinson. Robinson was born in San Benito, Texas in 1955 and began his film career in San Antonio, later moving to Los Angeles. So Still Breathing is at least partially autobiographical. Robinson's only other film credit is a documentary about the film industry, called Tinsel.

Labels: comedy, drama, fantasy, rom-drama-faves, romance
IMDb 67/100
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=56, viewers=80)
James F. Robinson (I)
James F. Robinson (IV, same person)
TINSEL on Prime Video

Deja Vu (originally Déjà Vu) (1997) [PG-13] **** (updated 12 June 2024)

An edited film review by Roger Ebert, May 1, 1998.

We all look for love like the love in Deja Vu. We hardly ever find it. That's why there are movies. We want a love that spans the generations and conquers time, a love so large that only the supernatural can contain it. Here is a movie about a love like that. It makes City of Angels look timid.

The story involves an American woman named Dana Howard (played by Victoria Foyt), who is on a buying trip to Jerusalem when she is approached by a mysterious older blond woman (played by Aviva Marks) who engages her in conversation. Soon she is revealing all her secrets: Yes, she is engaged, because being engaged has become a condition of my life, but after six years and no marriage she is not very happy.

The other woman tells her about the love of her life. It was a wartime romance. She was a French Jewish girl, not even twenty, he was an American GI. They planned to wed. He went home to tell his girlfriend, and never returned. Eventually she got a letter with a photo of his first child.

Perhaps, Dana says, he could not find you. The woman smiles sadly. He knew where to find me. Life had got hold of us. She pauses. Nothing seemed so real again. In fact, all my life since then has been like a dream. The woman gives her a piece of jewelry -- a gold clip in the shape of a leaf, with inlaid rubies -- and disappears, after mentioning that the clip was a gift from the GI, who had had them custom made in Paris and had kept the other one.

Dana heads toward home. When the Chunnel train stops briefly at Dover, she inexplicably gets off instead of going on to London. Above the White Cliffs of Dover, she meets a painter named Sean Elias (played by Stephen Dillane). Have we met before? she asks him. He says, It feels like one of those moments where if you turn the wrong way you regret it forever. It's love at first sight, but they fight it. She's engaged, after all. But then they meet again, by coincidence, at the house of British friends. She discovers that he is married.

Dana's fiancé is Alex (played by Michael Brandon). Sean's wife is Claire (played by Glynis Barber). It becomes clear that Dana and Sean are hopelessly in love, and their partners react in disbelief and anger, but with a certain civilized restraint. Without revealing any more we can say that old songs, such as The White Cliffs of Dover, These Foolish Things, and Where or When are like time machines that can carry love down through the years and can leap from mind to mind, spreading their foolishness and dreams.

Deja Vu is not a weepy romantic melodrama, but a sophisticated film about smart people. Foyt and Dillane make convincing lovers not because they are swept away, but because they regard what has happened to them, and accept it. When they fall in love, there is a lot at risk: jobs, businesses, which country they live in, the people they're committed to. It takes no trouble at all to fall in love when you're 20 and single. But Dana and Sean must look in their hearts and be sure they cannot live without one another.

The film was directed by Henry Jaglom, and written by Jaglom and his star, Victoria Foyt, who is also his wife. Ah-ha, you think, guessing the connection, especially since the movie is dedicated to the love of my life. But there is another connection coiling down through the years. The trademark of Jaglom's film company is a brief moment of time, showing Orson Welles producing a rainbow out of thin air. Jaglom was one of Welles' close confidantes and friends.

In Citizen Kane, which Welles made in 1941, there occurs my favorite passage of movie dialogue. Old Mr. Bernstein is talking about the peculiarities of time. A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember, he says. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl.

Yes. And can you, dear reader, think of such a moment, too? Perfect love is almost always unrealized. It has to be. What makes those memories perfect is that they produce no history. The woman with the white parasol remains always frozen in an old man's memory. She never grows old, is never out of temper, never loses interest in him, never dies. She exists forever as a promise, like the green light at the end of Gatsby's pier.

Only rarely does the universe wheel around to bring two hearts once again into communion. That's what Deja Vu is about. And that explains the two most curious characters in it. They are the old couple (played by Anna Massey and Noel Harrison) who own the house where Dana and Sean meet by accident. They have been married a very long time, and like to read in bed, and eat Mars bars at the same time, and be happy to be together. At first you wonder what their scenes mean. Then you understand.

Blogger's comment: Deja Vu is a tender, thought-provoking love story for anyone who has ever believed, even for a moment, that they have a soulmate. If the expressions meant for each other and destined to be together cause you to pause and wonder, then this film is for you. If romantic dramas like Somewhere in Time (1980), Every Time We Say Goodbye (1986), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), The Love Letter (1998) and The Lake House (2006) are your favorite kind of films, then you will appreciate Deja Vu.

As I was writing my romantic drama Sarah and David: The Sequel, as the sequel to Every Time We Say Goodbye, I realized that I needed an argument for David to convince Sarah to marry him for love. I found it in Deja Vu, in the beautiful quotation by Soren Kierkegaard: To cheat oneself out of love is the most terrible deception; it is an eternal loss for which there is no reparation, either in time or in eternity.

Labels: drama, romance, rom-drama-faves, space-time
IMDb 67/100
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=60, viewers=70)

SPOILERS: Some viewers may feel that the film is very slow and, at 1:57 it is too long and could easily have been cut by ten minutes with no loss. So I will tell you how it ends.

Dana tells Alex that she has fallen in love with Sean and cannot marry him. Sean tells his wife Claire the same thing. You can imagine the scenes that follow. In the middle of all this, Dana gets a call from her mother in Los Angeles that her father has had a heart attack.

So, Dana and Alex fly to L.A., her father is fine, she comes to her senses and decides to marry Alex. As a wedding gift her father gives Dana - you guessed it - the matching gold and ruby leaf clip.

To his utter disbelief, Dana tells him she knows the story. She begs him to tell her - did he really love the girl he made the clip for. Chagrinned he tells Dana it was a very long time ago, but a week hasn't gone by since I last saw her that I haven't thought of her. She was the love of my life.

You know what happens. Dana flies back to London and reunites with Sean in his studio. And on the easel she sees a painting of the woman she had met in Jerusalem, younger, but the same woman. And she is wearing both gold and ruby leaf clips. She tells Sean that's the woman she had met in Jerusalem. She was the reason Dana got off the train in Dover and met Sean. Sean tells her that the woman was his mother but that she has been dead for fifteen years.

The very last scene in the film shows Sean and Dana in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It's the modern version of the painting Dana had first seen in Sean's studio and he had given to her. Here are the two images side-by-side, the current one (left) and the painting. And the song playing in the background is the Rogers & Hart classic Where or When sung by Lena Horne.

The assumption is that Dana and Sean are soulmates and are the reincarnations of the two people in the painting. If we assume that the painting was a scene in 1920 and the two people had been born, say, in 1870, they would have been about fifty. If they had lived to be eighty, they would have passed away around 1950, and they could have been born again around 1960, so they would have been in their late thirties when the film was made in 1997.

Contact (1997) [PG] ****

Science-fiction stories about extraterrestrials typically involve aliens traveling to Earth, or humans traveling to another world and encountering aliens. Contact is unique in that an alien intelligence twenty-six light years away receives our earliest TV broadcast, and then transmits it back to us along with instructions for assembling a machine that can travel interstellar distances virtually instantly.

While the interstellar journey and alien contact are fascinating, Contact uses them to reconcile the argument between science and religion over the existence of God. The position of science is that physical proof is required before God's existence can be accepted. The position of religion is that since God is not physical, there can be no direct physical evidence of God's existence, and we must accept it on faith. The way Contact reconciles these two positions is by having a scientist experience interstellar travel in the machine, meet an alien intelligence, return to Earth without any evidence, describe the subjective experience, and then endure the disbelief, ridicule and contempt that inevitably follow whenever an unbelievable personal experience is shared.

This is exactly what happens whenever someone has taken an inner journey and experienced a religious conversion or a spiritual awakening. As anyone who has ever attempted to share such an experience can attest: For one who has had the experience, no explanation is necessary; for one who has not had the experience, no explanation is possible. Whether you agree with Carl Sagan that human beings are the result of natural evolution on Earth, and that human consciousness is the culmination of that evolution, or you believe that human consciousness is the foundation of the human species, the divine spark that makes us unique in the universe, I predict you'll find Contact interesting and intellectually stimulating.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Contact stars Jodie Foster as Dr. Eleanor Ellie Arroway, a woman obsessed since youth with the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI); Tom Skerritt as Dr. David Drumlin, Ellie's supervisor and SETI skeptic; Matthew McConaughey as Palmer Joss, Ellie's spiritual truth-seeking friend, confidant and sometimes-lover; James Woods as Michael Kitz, the president's national science advisor; and John Hurt as S.R. Haddon, the billionaire entrepreneur who funds Ellie's search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Based on Carl Sagan's novel and a story by Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan, the tightly-written, well-paced screenplay was written by James V. Hart and Michael Goldenberg. While all the characters are well-drawn, one of the especially interesting ones is S.R. Haddon, who might have been based on billionaire, high-tech eccentrics like Howard Hughes and Elon Musk. And, not coincidentally, the name S.R. Haddon was also the name of Esarhaddon (also spelled Essarhaddon), king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sennacherib in 681 BC until his own death in 669 BC, and who was most famous for his conquest of Egypt in 671 BC. Why would the screenwriters have chosen this name for a character in Contact? That's an excellent question.

Labels: drama, mystery, sci-fi, thriller
Internet Movie Database 74/100
MetaScore (critics=62, viewers=80)
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=69, viewers=78)
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Esarhaddon

Men in Black (1997) [PG-13] ****

A film review by James Berardinelli.

Have you ever seen a tabloid headline like this: Woman gives birth to son of six-headed alien? Men in Black, the new science fiction comedy from cinematographer-turned-director Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty), postulates that such stories are not the result of fertile imaginations, but accurate representations of the truth. You see, ever since the 1960s, Earth has become an intergalactic hideout for aliens in need of a place to lie low for a while. Currently, there are over 1500 visitors, most in New York City (based on personal experience, that number may be low), and their ranks include such high-profile names as Sylvester Stallone (he obviously had trouble mastering the language), Newt Gingrich (guess what he looks like in his natural form), and Dennis Rodman (who knew?).

Men in Black is Will Smith's second consecutive motion picture close encounter of the third kind. Here, instead of engaging in ship-to-ship dogfights with creatures ripped off from Alien, he's using Series 4 De-atomizers to blast giant cockroaches. As Jay, he's the latest recruit of the ultra-secret sixth division of the INS (the Men in Black of the title) -- a group of government workers in charge of licensing and regulating the presence of non-Earthborn aliens. His partner, Kay (Tommy Lee Jones), is a venerable agent who knows the ropes and is willing to give lessons. Together, the pair goes in search of an intergalactic assassin (played in human form by Vincent D'Onofrio) whose unauthorized activities on Earth could result in the planet's destruction.

In many ways, Men in Black is the movie that Mars Attacks! wanted to be, but wasn't. This is a snappy, clever, often-funny motion picture that provides the perfect blend of science fiction-style action with comic dialogue. The screenplay, credited to Ed Solomon (and based on the Marvel comic book by Lowell Cunningham) has a sly, sophisticated edge that many blockbuster scripts lack. Sonnenfeld's direction is crisp and the editing is tight, resulting in a film that clocks in at a mere ninety-five minutes, which proves to be a nearly-perfect length.

That's not to say that the movie is of masterpiece status, or even light on flaws. There are plenty of minor problems along the way, and the ending is somewhat rushed and anticlimactic. On the whole, however, viewers are less likely to remember the glitches than the clever one-liners, subtle parodies, and effective use of visual effects to integrate aliens into everyday existence. Men in Black's deliciously unconventional spirit lends a refreshing twist to a premise that has fueled numerous conspiracy theory movies and one currently-popular television series.

The chief pleasure of Men in Black isn't being dazzled by the special effects, but enjoying the deadpan performances of Tommy Lee Jones (whose offhand attitude towards the most bizarre events would make Jack Webb proud) and Will Smith. This is a rare case when the multi-million dollar, computer-generated creatures don't upstage their real-life co-stars. Smith and Jones are a fine pair, and the film's focus on them never wavers. However, while the two leads can't complain about screen-time, the supporting players have all been short-changed. Linda Fiorentino, who gets third billing, is vastly underused, appearing only peripherally throughout. Vincent D'Onofrio (as the bad alien's human host) and Rip Torn (as Zed, the leader of the Men in Black) don't fare much better.

A word of caution for those who expect to see Independence Day 2: despite the attempts of certain marketing campaigns to link the two, they're vastly different in scope and intent. Men in Black is an outright comedy (in fact, some of its satire is directed at movies like last year's box office champ), not a pastiche of worn sci-fi/adventure elements, and there's no big space battle to be found. In fact, from the opening credits to the closing ones, our heroes stay firmly rooted on terra firma. Those accepting Men in Black for what it is will likely agree that this is one of 1997's more satisfying big-budget offerings.

Labels: action, alien-invasion, comedy, satire, sci-fi

Internet Movie Database
Metacritic 71/100

Tomatometer (critics=92, viewers=79)

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