Current Release by Anna Luciano
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The New World
Released January 20, 2006
Generally speaking, after studios flood the movie theaters with fabulous films in December, we movie-goers hit that most-dreaded time of year… January. Whenever a movie opens in January, I assume that it’s going to be bad. Although The New World opened to a very limited release in December (only New York and Los Angeles), it didn’t open nationwide until January 20; as a result, I wasn’t expecting to see a good movie when I ventured out to see it. I was wrong.
The movie tells the familiar story of Pocahontas, played by the luminous Q’Orianka Kilcher, and her relationships with John Smith (Colin Farrell), John Rolfe (Christian Bale), and her family. Although we have all heard some version of this American legend, the film itself is anything but typical, as writer/director Terrence Malick weaves together different people, places and events to create a film that is achingly beautiful.
When a group of British men land in America in 1607, they immediately set to work building a colony… and antagonizing the “Naturals” who lived there. The film traces the uneasy peace between the settlers and the Native Americans, through the violence that erupts when the Natives realize the settlers have no intention of leaving, to the tense truce between the two cultures. Through this all, we watch Pocahontas find her first love, lose it, and then find it again as the movie travels from the backdrop of the lush and beautiful Virginia coast to the civilized and bustling London. At turns romantic, thrilling, and heart-wrenching, The New World shows viewers that no matter how the world has changed, some things will always remain. Chief among these eternal truths are honor, loyalty, and love.
Integral to the success of this film are the performances by the cast. Christian Bale, always a solid actor, gives an excellent portrayal of a generous man in love. Colin Farrell, better known for his partying than his acting skills, shines in his depiction of a man torn apart by the conflict of duty and love. The supporting cast is superb. But it is newcomer Q’Orianka Kilcher that carries the movie, and steals the audience’s heart. Kilcher perfectly captures the innocence and wisdom of Pocahontas, and infuses her character with a strength and grace that belie her youth. She is the center of this movie, the sun that everyone else revolves around. She is, in a word, phenomenal.
The New World is not a fast movie, as Malick takes us through the story in a deliberately contemplative, languid pace. The gorgeous cinematography engages the audience in the story, making us long for a similar utopia in our own world, and think about how much America has changed since the arrival of European settlers. Viewing the film requires patience and thought – two characteristics that many modern films lack. However, this patience is rewarded as audiences are able to absorb the story and reflect on its meaning. The New World is a breathtaking film, a masterpiece that doesn’t fit easily into conventional Hollywood. See it, and you’ll see what I mean.
New DVD Release by Fritz Voigt
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Serenity
Rated PG 13
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon
It says on the box that this movie is taken from a television show that has gained “cult status”. But I have never watched nor heard of this television show. However, there have been many cults that I have not succumbed to so this detail for me remains a safe, personal detail of my character in that I have not yet been involved in any type of cult. Renting movies is always a little eerie for me. A strange exercise that was not made any better when I found myself facing the wall emblazoned with the sign NEW RELEASES knowing that I was not to pick a movie to serve myself rather I was going to pick a movie to serve others in the form of me seeing it and making up all sorts of decisions as to whether or not I think others should bear the eerie exercise of renting movies and then picking this one off the wall and paying money for it. Renting movies is an eerie thing to do as one willingly exchanges their own time, their own thoughts, and their own emotional state for some created experience tidily encoded on a sleek silver wafer. At least in the theater all of the awkward smells and bodily noises keep one constantly grounded in the here and now. But a movie in my home takes me to other places particularly when I keep to my policy of watching them alone or at least enforcing strict silence upon my guests.
In truth I do not think DVD cases should have any other information besides the title and perhaps the rating—particularly if you are prone to nerves. While John Praccino from CBS TV boldly exclaimed that the movie was “An Absolute Blast” I found myself only irritated by such a suggestion and all the way home debated as to how and why blast came to be used in English for such a thing as an energetic good time. In reality whenever blasts go off one is generally not facing an energetic good time.
Serenity was a movie I have seen dozens and dozens of times only with different titles and different directors and different actors. We have the bold hero, the raggle taggle crew, and the complex bad guy. We have the vision of a grim and rusty future that the Mad Max movies have permanently emblazoned on our collective sci-fi movie conscious. However, I have seen this story dozens and dozens of times for good reason. Humans like this story. We like good bad guys and bad good guys. We like sexy girls that fight like they are boxing champions. We like the tale of the rugged individualist trying to wade against the banal, sterile masses.
I honestly could not make out any of the characters’ names in this movie, but this did not hurt the story at all for I knew all of the characters. But is this a movie you should put on shoes for and get off the couch and into your car? Everyone was handsome and witty enough and the gore never upset my day-to-day thoughts, and it ended exactly right like a gymnast sticking her landing off the pommel horse. I would say if you want to have some violent comfort food this is the one to rent.
Closet Classic by John Euclid
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Election
1999
103 min.
directed by Alexander Payne
starring: Resse Witherspoon and Mathew Broderick
