725. Out of Africa (1985)

Running Time: 161 minutes
Directed By: Sydney Pollack
Written By: Kurt Luedtke, from novel by Isak Dinesen
Main Cast: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael Kitchen, Shane Rimmer
Click here to view the trailer

A DOUBLE SHOT OF POLLACK: 2 of 2

Up early on my day off from work to put in overtime on the sixth leg of my journey, hoping to be finished up by this Saturday evening/Sunday morning. This a.m. I take a look at the second and last feature from Sydney Pollack, from THE BOOK - "Out of Africa".

Karen Dinesen (Streep), a wealthy, Danish woman asks her friend Baron Bror Blixen (Brandauer) to marry her. While he is a Baron, it seems that he's broke and since Dinesen is very wealthy, they agree to wed, move to Africa and start a dairy farm. The Baron arrives in Africa first and without the knowledge of Karen, instead purchases coffee seeds, instead of dairy cattle. This initial act of dishonesty upsets Karen and is a precursor to what she can expect from Baron Blixen. The Baron shows little to no attention to Karen, instead opting to hunt in the African wild and engage in extramarital affairs. Karen soon finds out about the Baron's infidelity when she contracts syphilis and is forced to return home to Denmark, to seek further medical attention. After a while, however, she returns, meets up with a friend she previously knew, Denys Hatton (Redford) and the two have an affair of their own, even before the divorce between her and the Baron is final. The two have an ultra romantic relationship, which includes flying over Africa in a plane and making up stories to tell to one another.

Son of a bitch, was this thing long! Not to mention boring! You know, I'm not even going to ask how "Out of Africa" won Best Picture, even though I didn't enjoy it one bit. I know how it won. This is the typical kind of movie that the Academy eats up and when you have people like Streep, Redford and Pollack at the helm, that only makes Hollywood go more gaga. The only thing - and I do mean the only thing - I liked about this picture was the score; a bit overpowering, but beautiful medley composed by John Barry. Now, I bet you're saying to yourself, "But what about that cinematography? Wasn't it simply breath taking?" Umm...no, not really. Okay, I guess it was pretty, but it was too pretty and usually overpowered everything else. There were times when I wanted to check to make sure my DVD player didn't accidentally shut off and perhaps, my television got switched to the National Geographic channel. The setting of Africa was more of a character than Karen Dinesen and Denys Haton and at times, it came off like a blatant effort to simply show the African countryside, wildlife included.

Oh, but maybe you're saying, "But what about Streep and Redford? Surely you can't disqualify their wonderful contributions to this film!" Oh yes I can. This film actually made me want to rethink my previous admiration for Robert Redford and wonder if the only reason I enjoyed him in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting" was because he was beside the wonderful Paul Newman and maybe something rubbed off. I didn't care for him in "The Natural" and as far as I'm concerned, he was awful in this. Awful, you say? He was just so blatantly acting, rather than being a man transforming into another man - becoming his character. All he was here was Robert Redford putting on a performance, that's it. And I just don't like Meryl Streep anyway. She always seems to play the same type of role, never challenging herself, usually going for the parts that are likely going to win her awards and keep her in her comfort zone. Everything about this film screamed "GIVE ME THE AWARD!", while I couldn't stop screaming, "LET IT BE OVER!"

RATING: 2.5/10  I can't really even justify that '2.5', except to say that a '2' seems to low and a '3' too high.

MOVIES WATCHED: 592
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 409

November 28, 2012  9:56am

685. TOOTSIE (1982)

Running Time: 119 minutes
Directed By: Sydney Pollack
Written By: Larry Gelbart, Don McGuire, Murray Schisgal
Main Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning
Click here to view the trailer

A DOUBLE SHOT OF POLLACK: 1 of 2

We've done the final tribute week (Levinson), the final "Hat Trick" (Hou) and now we come to the final "Double Shot" of the season - a two film salute to the late Sydney Pollack. We kick it off with "Tootsie", a film starring one of my favorite actors, one who I boasted about in my "Rain Man" review - Dustin Hoffman.

Hoffman is Michael Dorsey, an unemployed actor who, for the life of him, cannot land a role. Every time he auditions he is told that he simply isn't right for the part and is ushered off stage. Michael shares an apartment with Jeff (Bill Murray), the writer of a play that Michael plans to produce and star in. However, until he can come up with the dough, he's left to attend audition after audition. When an actress friend of his, Sandy (Garr) asks Michael to accompany her to a reading, he happily abides, even giving her some much needed tips on how to perfect the part she's reading for - Emily Kimberly, the independent and sassy hospital administrator on daytime soap opera "Southwest General". Sandy is promptly released from her reading, but Michael sees an opportunity and immediately runs home to change. Michael Dorsey returns to the audition as Dorothy Michaels, a glasses wearing, redhead who oozes sass and lands the role. Now, Michael will have to keep up his charade, all the while dealing with his agent (Sydney Pollack), Sandy, who won't be happy to know that he played a woman better than her and Julie (Lange), his co-star who he's falling madly in love with.

"I was a better man with you, as a woman... than I ever was with a woman, as a man."

In one of our old, family photo albums, somewhere there's a picture of me and on the television behind me you can see Hoffman donning his Dorothy Michaels gear. The point is, is that I've seen "Tootsie" quite a few times in my life and I've always had a really good time with it and last night was no different. However, last night's viewing left me asking myself, just a little bit, why I've always liked it so much. Last night's viewing just didn't rub off on me the way it has in the past and honestly it came off as silly. Was this film really worthy of a Best Picture nomination? If you released this film today, it wouldn't get half the attention that it got in 1982 and it certainly wouldn't get nominated for an Academy Award. Hell, just look at the facts: "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Big Momma's House", "White Chicks" and probably a slew of other "man dressed as woman" films have been released since 1982, all trying to replicate the success of "Tootsie" and all failing. The score to "Tootsie" reminded me of an 80s television show theme song and was too generic to really make any sort of an impact. It was fun, jazzy and upbeat, but it was just too generic. Everything about "Tootsie" just didn't seem genuine or serious and even an attempt to tie a love story into the mix only came off as more of a screwball farce. The whole thing just felt ordinary and had Hoffman & Pollack not been involved, "Tootsie" probably would've been a straight to video release.

I don't want to bash the film though. I really loved watching Dustin Hoffman dressed in drag and as usual, he did a standout job. The rest of the cast was kind of touch & go, as I didn't care too much for Jessica Lange, but enjoyed the presence of both Bill Murray and Teri Garr. The film was all kinds of fun and kept me entertained for the duration and really, that's all you can ask for in a movie.

RATING: 7/10  Do I really have to keep noting that I'm keeping these short & sweet? No, but I just feel unaccomplished when I don't write as much. Fun movie that has, at least, a small shot of landing something, somewhere on the list.

MOVIES WATCHED: 590
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 411

November 27, 2012  10:58am