Knight at the Movies Archives
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Nazi's, First Love, Disaster at Sea - Happy Holidays at the Movies!
Hey kids, this year it’s Nazi’s for Christmas! Believe it or not, we have not one but two movies – the Tom Cruise political thriller
Valkyrie and the romantic drama The Reader with Kate Winslet – opening Christmas Day that revolve around one of the darkest
periods in modern history. But count your blessings – we might have had a third if Defiance, the story of Jewish resistance fighters
battling Nazi’s starring Daniel Craig – hadn’t pushed back its release date.
But ironically, all three films have their merits – though for very different reasons. You’ll have to wait until mid-January to read my
Defiance review but in the meantime onto Tom and Katie. What to say about Valkyrie, the oft delayed Cruise film in which he plays
a high ranking Nazi officer who decided in 1943 that Hitler needed to be killed and along with other party commanders hatched a
plan to do so? Director Bryan Singer’s movie is certainly well made (with his signature homoerotic undercurrent intact from the get
go) and well cast with apparently every credible British actor that could be rounded up.
Further, Cruise, sporting an eye patch and thick, curly hair, actually dials down his usual intensity. The period design of the film, set
in Germany, has been lavishly recreated (there are enough crisp Nazi uniforms to furnish dozens of road companies of “The
Producers”). The film is gorgeously shot, edited and the music score by John Ottman is filled with enough percussion crashes to
start an avalanche. So it turns out that Valkyrie is not the camp fest that I relished (thanks, apparently to a wise decision by Cruise
to drop an intended German accent which mercifully is only heard in voice over at the outset) or the dud that I predicted but it’s still
a picture that begs an answer to the questions: why was this movie made in the first place and who was it made for?
No matter how many ways you add up the plusses for the sharp look of the film and it’s pretty good acting (for the most part) its still
Nazi’s trying to get rid of other Nazi’s. Even if you buy into the theme that some of the Nazi’s had a change of heart about der
Fuhrer and decided at a late date that they wanted no part of the crazy bastard, read it as an allegory for what happened in our
country over the last eight years (a sort of warning, say), or just take it straight as nothing more than a history lesson, it’s still not a
particularly involving movie.
Stripped of the over the top special effects that have driven Cruise’s most successful vehicles Valkyrie doesn’t offer much in its
place. It certainly doesn’t work as a suspense picture because the suspense is so baldly manufactured and telegraphed as to be
unbelievable (there are enough “knowing looks” between the plotters to tip off a five year-old) and without suspense, what else is
there to drive a movie like this? What characters can one pin their hopes on in its absence? The wife (who disappears halfway
through the movie)? Cruise’s fetching male aide de camp, ready to take a bullet for him? There’s just nothing else to the movie
and though gay director Singer has assembled a group of hunky extras who fill out their uniforms quite nicely it doesn’t offer enough
gratuitous male eye candy to justify its length (even Thomas Kretschmann who is glimpsed wearing a bikini in a moment of
gratuitous male ogling, rousing me momentarily from my torpor, turns out to be just a tease). In the end, Valkyrie, not bad, not
good, not much of anything really brought to mind the late Billy Preston’s song, “Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’.”
While watching The Reader, on the other hand, one never suffers from boredom. This über romantic drama set in Germany and
New York, focusing on the affair of a 15 year-old German teen (David Kross in a memorable debut) with an older woman of mystery
(Kate Winslet in a terse, superbly restrained performance) is awash in unabashed sensuality – at least the first section is. The film
is told in flashbacks and flash forwards over a 50 year period in which the teen, now grown into the person of Ralph Fiennes, finds
himself reflecting on his unforgettable affair and its tragic aftermath. One can’t blame him. The sex scenes between Kross and
Winslet as captured by out director Stephen Daldry are unforgettable – so lusty (there’s real heat between these two) that the
audience comes to anticipate the afternoon trysts as much as the randy young teen (this is especially true in the scene where
Winslet bathes a full frontal nude Kross).
Then the affair ends as mysteriously as it has begun and it is only years later that Kross, by chance, will come to realize that Winslet
was hiding a very thorny past. The complicated plot contains more than a hint of Sophie’s Choice – what with the wide eyed innocent
falling in love with the doomed, sad beauty haunted by her past transgressions and the Nazi stuff. But there are also echoes of
many other really old, satisfying tearjerkers (especially Madame X). The movie, with its gorgeous score by Nico Muhly, is excessively
literate – Kross reads to Winslet at her insistence (The Odyssey, Huck Finn, etc.) and the plot hangs on this conceit. But it’s the
sensuality of the affair that eventually leads to love that is the movie’s greatest accomplishment. Daldry has captured the impact of
First Love, the kind that brands the heart forever and it lingers throughout the movie and long after it’s over making The Reader, this
year’s Atonement, an example of tragic film romance at its sensual height.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Department of Shameless Self Promotion AGAIN: Attention land lubbers! In a nice alternative to the bars this New Year’s Eve my
alter ego Dick O’Day is hosting another edition of Camp Midnight, the film series dedicated to presenting “the best of the worst.” I’
m once again teaming up with David Cerda and his crew of Handbag Production players and the Music Box for a New Year’s Eve
screening of the 1972 disaster flick The Poseidon Adventure. At The Upside Down New Year's Eve Adventure we’ll have a jam
packed pre-show, complete with contests, surprise performances, prizes and more beginning at 11pm followed by the screening.
And get this: when the ship flips onscreen at Midnight as Shelley Winters, Stella Stevens, Ernest Borgnine et al are celebrating their
fateful New Year’s Eve aboard the S.S. Poseidon we’ll be doing the exact same thing in the theatre. Tickets, which include a
champagne toast and party favors, are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. A portion of the proceeds will help fund the forthcoming
revival of Hell in a Handbag’s hit musical Poseidon! www.musicboxtheatre.com
Valkyrie and the romantic drama The Reader with Kate Winslet – opening Christmas Day that revolve around one of the darkest
periods in modern history. But count your blessings – we might have had a third if Defiance, the story of Jewish resistance fighters
battling Nazi’s starring Daniel Craig – hadn’t pushed back its release date.
But ironically, all three films have their merits – though for very different reasons. You’ll have to wait until mid-January to read my
Defiance review but in the meantime onto Tom and Katie. What to say about Valkyrie, the oft delayed Cruise film in which he plays
a high ranking Nazi officer who decided in 1943 that Hitler needed to be killed and along with other party commanders hatched a
plan to do so? Director Bryan Singer’s movie is certainly well made (with his signature homoerotic undercurrent intact from the get
go) and well cast with apparently every credible British actor that could be rounded up.
Further, Cruise, sporting an eye patch and thick, curly hair, actually dials down his usual intensity. The period design of the film, set
in Germany, has been lavishly recreated (there are enough crisp Nazi uniforms to furnish dozens of road companies of “The
Producers”). The film is gorgeously shot, edited and the music score by John Ottman is filled with enough percussion crashes to
start an avalanche. So it turns out that Valkyrie is not the camp fest that I relished (thanks, apparently to a wise decision by Cruise
to drop an intended German accent which mercifully is only heard in voice over at the outset) or the dud that I predicted but it’s still
a picture that begs an answer to the questions: why was this movie made in the first place and who was it made for?
No matter how many ways you add up the plusses for the sharp look of the film and it’s pretty good acting (for the most part) its still
Nazi’s trying to get rid of other Nazi’s. Even if you buy into the theme that some of the Nazi’s had a change of heart about der
Fuhrer and decided at a late date that they wanted no part of the crazy bastard, read it as an allegory for what happened in our
country over the last eight years (a sort of warning, say), or just take it straight as nothing more than a history lesson, it’s still not a
particularly involving movie.
Stripped of the over the top special effects that have driven Cruise’s most successful vehicles Valkyrie doesn’t offer much in its
place. It certainly doesn’t work as a suspense picture because the suspense is so baldly manufactured and telegraphed as to be
unbelievable (there are enough “knowing looks” between the plotters to tip off a five year-old) and without suspense, what else is
there to drive a movie like this? What characters can one pin their hopes on in its absence? The wife (who disappears halfway
through the movie)? Cruise’s fetching male aide de camp, ready to take a bullet for him? There’s just nothing else to the movie
and though gay director Singer has assembled a group of hunky extras who fill out their uniforms quite nicely it doesn’t offer enough
gratuitous male eye candy to justify its length (even Thomas Kretschmann who is glimpsed wearing a bikini in a moment of
gratuitous male ogling, rousing me momentarily from my torpor, turns out to be just a tease). In the end, Valkyrie, not bad, not
good, not much of anything really brought to mind the late Billy Preston’s song, “Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’.”
While watching The Reader, on the other hand, one never suffers from boredom. This über romantic drama set in Germany and
New York, focusing on the affair of a 15 year-old German teen (David Kross in a memorable debut) with an older woman of mystery
(Kate Winslet in a terse, superbly restrained performance) is awash in unabashed sensuality – at least the first section is. The film
is told in flashbacks and flash forwards over a 50 year period in which the teen, now grown into the person of Ralph Fiennes, finds
himself reflecting on his unforgettable affair and its tragic aftermath. One can’t blame him. The sex scenes between Kross and
Winslet as captured by out director Stephen Daldry are unforgettable – so lusty (there’s real heat between these two) that the
audience comes to anticipate the afternoon trysts as much as the randy young teen (this is especially true in the scene where
Winslet bathes a full frontal nude Kross).
Then the affair ends as mysteriously as it has begun and it is only years later that Kross, by chance, will come to realize that Winslet
was hiding a very thorny past. The complicated plot contains more than a hint of Sophie’s Choice – what with the wide eyed innocent
falling in love with the doomed, sad beauty haunted by her past transgressions and the Nazi stuff. But there are also echoes of
many other really old, satisfying tearjerkers (especially Madame X). The movie, with its gorgeous score by Nico Muhly, is excessively
literate – Kross reads to Winslet at her insistence (The Odyssey, Huck Finn, etc.) and the plot hangs on this conceit. But it’s the
sensuality of the affair that eventually leads to love that is the movie’s greatest accomplishment. Daldry has captured the impact of
First Love, the kind that brands the heart forever and it lingers throughout the movie and long after it’s over making The Reader, this
year’s Atonement, an example of tragic film romance at its sensual height.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Department of Shameless Self Promotion AGAIN: Attention land lubbers! In a nice alternative to the bars this New Year’s Eve my
alter ego Dick O’Day is hosting another edition of Camp Midnight, the film series dedicated to presenting “the best of the worst.” I’
m once again teaming up with David Cerda and his crew of Handbag Production players and the Music Box for a New Year’s Eve
screening of the 1972 disaster flick The Poseidon Adventure. At The Upside Down New Year's Eve Adventure we’ll have a jam
packed pre-show, complete with contests, surprise performances, prizes and more beginning at 11pm followed by the screening.
And get this: when the ship flips onscreen at Midnight as Shelley Winters, Stella Stevens, Ernest Borgnine et al are celebrating their
fateful New Year’s Eve aboard the S.S. Poseidon we’ll be doing the exact same thing in the theatre. Tickets, which include a
champagne toast and party favors, are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. A portion of the proceeds will help fund the forthcoming
revival of Hell in a Handbag’s hit musical Poseidon! www.musicboxtheatre.com
Tom, Kate and Dick:
Valkyrie-The Reader-Camp Midnight Presents The Poseidon Adventure
Expanded Edition of 12-24-08 Windy City Times Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
Valkyrie-The Reader-Camp Midnight Presents The Poseidon Adventure
Expanded Edition of 12-24-08 Windy City Times Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
