charles1848
Joined Dec 2006
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charles1848's rating
A mob boss released from prison is old, in bad health, and perplexed by the world today. The movie is about how he deals with it all.
Two FBI agents do their usual bullying thing. But one agent gets a line that reminds us of the crippling flaw of most movies about gangsters. He asks a neighbor who admires the gangster about the fact that he extorted a small fortune for himself with his weekly levies on the small businesses.
Two FBI agents do their usual bullying thing. But one agent gets a line that reminds us of the crippling flaw of most movies about gangsters. He asks a neighbor who admires the gangster about the fact that he extorted a small fortune for himself with his weekly levies on the small businesses.
The Timothy Hutton character is a moral monster. The movie is about whether he can change, but it fails to engage you in this. For one thing, Hutton remains self-centered and haughty. Nothing to like nor learn from here. The Michelle Burke character is sweet enough (until a stupid plot twist at the end spoils it); she desperately needs a helpful relationship. That she would try for most of the movie to find it with the Hutton character is not at all convincing.
The portrayal of Hollywood in all its hypocrisy and twisting of culture to the lowest common denominator of attracting viewers is stale, adding nothing to what has become a Hollyood cliche of Hollywood.
The portrayal of Hollywood in all its hypocrisy and twisting of culture to the lowest common denominator of attracting viewers is stale, adding nothing to what has become a Hollyood cliche of Hollywood.
The movie is about Parker's accomplishments as a wit, a poet, and a short story writer. Whether you find them handled well or badly, you should be aware that the movie omits a whole area of significant accomplishment: her work for social justice. She was one of the handful who launched the drive to organize the Writers Guild for screenwriters; she was arrested while marching in protest against the judicial murder of Sacco and Vanzetti; she went to Spain and reported on the fight against fascist Franco ... in a communist magazine, The New Masses; she bequeathed the rights to her work and her small estate to Martin Luther King, Jr. And the NAACP.
None of this is in the movie. It could have provided the conflict and theme. Parker could not pull herself out of a narrow cultural orbit despite being aware it was just that. She could not realize her talent (not just apply it) in the political movement to which she was obviously committed.
Parker wrote these words about herself, which illuminate Jonathan Swift just as perceptively: "I heard someone say, and so I said it too, that ridicule is the most effective weapon. I don't suppose I ever really believed it, but it was easy and comforting, and so I said it. Well, now I know. I know that there are things that never have been funny, and never will be. And I know that ridicule may be a shield, but it is not a weapon."
None of this is in the movie. It could have provided the conflict and theme. Parker could not pull herself out of a narrow cultural orbit despite being aware it was just that. She could not realize her talent (not just apply it) in the political movement to which she was obviously committed.
Parker wrote these words about herself, which illuminate Jonathan Swift just as perceptively: "I heard someone say, and so I said it too, that ridicule is the most effective weapon. I don't suppose I ever really believed it, but it was easy and comforting, and so I said it. Well, now I know. I know that there are things that never have been funny, and never will be. And I know that ridicule may be a shield, but it is not a weapon."