Movie Reviews Again

Here I am, back as promised, only a few days later as opposed to a week or so.
So last post was WALK THE LINE & JUST FRIENDS; This post will be: CINDERELLA MAN & SYRIANA.
Please read, and for those of you who know me enough to respect my opinion (on most matters other than Pink Floyd) then take my word and enjoy these flicks.

(1) CINDERELLA MAN
Russell Crowe is one of my favourites, ever since Gladiator which still ranks in my top spots for movies. Renee Zelwegger does not rank as a favourite, and her pouty, whining face makes me want to kick small animals. (Note to reader, no small animals were kicked during the viewing of this movie or writing of this blog) Luckily enough for us, even though it is a lead role, she definitely doesn't take up enough of the movie to ruin it. Other than Russell, the real star of this movie is Paul Giamatti, who you might recognize from Sideways, last year's 'it' movie. Paul is cast as the manager to Crowe's Jim Braddock the boxer, and comes close to stealing the scenes he is in. His body, facial expressions and body language do so much to convey the serious nature of the times of 1930s New York City and the devastation wrought by the Great Depression.
One scene in particular where Zelwegger is confronting Paul about training Crowe again after he had been forceably retired is priceless and if it doesn't win you over to Giamatti's character, then nothing will.
I hate movie reviews that give away pretty much the whole plot line, so I also find myself confined as to what I can tell you about things without giving it away.
The boxing scenes are very well done, and although I don't like boxing and don't consider it a sport, this movie comes as close to showing the humanity of a boxer as a man first and foremost. But make no mistake, although this is a boxing movie, you will have no trouble getting your girlfriend to see it, and you can tell her rest assured there is far more than boxing.
I would almost hesitate to call it a boxing movie, lest you worry uhoh, Depression era Rocky!
Don't worry about that. First of all, Russell Crowe ain't no Sly. Secondly, the historical context makes the depth of the movie far greater than the Balboa saga. I would almost call this an historical film with boxing in it, but that would be going too far.
Suffice it to say, this movie isn't re-inventing the wheel, its not some new bold vision of cinematographic genius, but its very good, and should garner a whack of Oscar nominations when that time rolls around...and the movie it will be going against in some of those categories is the next one I am going to review:

(2) SYRIANA
Let me start off this post by saying that its been a long time since I came out of a movie theater with so many cogs and wheels spinning in my brain; and not because I was trying to figure out what happened, but more because it had my brain going the whole time, and it got me angry.
If you find yourself at the megaplex with another Artsy person (and I mean Artsy as in ARTSCI, not Foreign Cinema and Avant Garde Cusine) or pretty much anyone who doesn't live with their head up their ass, then go see this. I might not go with your American Cousin who says that he won't forgive you for not joining the war in Iraq, nor would I go to the film if you want 2 hrs of fluff or to laugh or to see crazy action effects. Go to the show if you want to see a modern classic which weaves together 4-5 different people's stories as it relates to the bigger picture. This film was directed by the same guy who wrote Traffic, and if you at all enjoyed or know about that movie, then the directorial style is much the same, jumping between different storylines which you aren't sure are related but will soon come together.
This is the kind of movie if you showed your high school English teacher, he/she would give you an A for sure (which we all know you don't get in High School unless you're reading Chaucer or balling the teacher). Thematically, this shows characters who all seem so very different yet have so many similar things going on. Father/Son relationships, "soldiers" being used and spat out by its commanders, betrayal, profiting from killing someone/selling someone out; honest people giving up in a corrupt system, etc etc etc. And thats not even counting the major themes of the US and their "overseas oil interests" which is the thread that weaves all this together, and does so very well.
This is all well and good, but not without knowing someone in it: George Clooney, who put on weight and changed his whole gait and manner and grew a scruffy beard to play CIA op Bob, based on real-life CIA operative Bob Baer, who infiltrated Hezbollah in Beiruit, Lebannon in the 80s. Clooney is amazing, and more power to him for not just rolling with his 'modern day Cary Grant' look and success. He also executive produced the film, so you can tell he believes in it a lot. George does a great job of playing the spy who "didn't use to need to know" why he did what he did, but comes to realize that maybe he's been played his whole career by the very people he works for.
Matt Damon, as an analyst who becomes embrolied along with his whole family, in the affairs of the Emir of the Middle Eastern nation which has such close ties to the US (hint...gee could it be Saudi Arabia?) Damon is great, and brings the intensity of his good movies, and ties it in with just a tad of the wimpiness of his character. I'll let you decide if he's a good guy or a bad guy, as with every character in the movie its a judgement call.
Keep your eyes on new-ish guy JEFFREY WRIGHT, he looks like Billy Dee Williams from far away. That alone makes him cool. Wright plays a rising lawyer in a major law firm hired by a top oil company to investigate their merger with a smaller company as being all legal-like. We see how he is initially a very principled man and we see what happens along the way if he is able to maintain his principled, or be sucked into the game.
Others in major roles incluce CHRIS COOPER, CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER (both as oil company heads) and Star Trek DS9 alumnus ALEXANDER SIDDIG, in a brilliant turn as the elder son of the "Saudi" Emir poised to take control of his country...or is he?
The young Pakistani boy who comes into the story in his own way is also a very well performed and humanizing portrayal of the kind of people we are able to judge here without a second thought; after this movie I think it might give you reason to pause and think about it.
As I mentioned already, with almost everyone involved, you can make your own decisions about the good/bad right/wrong, etc; but rest assured its a powerful movie and if it doesn't have you talking for a while afterwards then you must be a mute.


Thats it thats all theres no more.
stay tuned for our next episode, where I will write about whatever pops into my head when it seems due time for a new entry.

Cheers