Displaying items by tag: Danny DeVito

THE SURVIVOR

US, 2021, 129 minutes, Colour.

Ben Foster, Billy Magnussen, Vicki Krieps, Peter Sarsgaard, Danny DeVito, John Leguizamo, Dar Zuzovsky, Paul Bates.

Directed by Barry Levinson.

The Survivor is well worth seeing.

This is the story of a Holocaust survivor, Harry Haft. While the film opens in 1963, Haft obviously a survivor and having prospered in some ways in the United States, the main action of the film takes place in 1949. And, within this framework, many flashbacks, filmed in black and white, the concentration camp. Audiences who appreciate the films which go back into the concentration camps, will find this most telling.

The film has been directed by veteran Barry Levinson, Oscar winner for Rain Man, writer of many films and then very successful as a director. And he is working with a complex screenplay effectively written by Sydney born Justine Jule Gilmer, whose early work was for Australian television, McClouds Daughters, Packed to the Rafters. The Survivor is her first film screenplay and he has written another screenplay about Irena Sandler, the Polish Catholic who rescued so many Jews from the ghetto

This is also a sports film. Harry Haft was separated from his girlfriend when she was taken to the camps, he surviving, chosen by an SS commander, played by Billy Magnusson, to find bouts for the entertainment of the Nazis, betting, and this is a great entrepreneurial success. These flashbacks also give the opportunity for audiences to see the harshness of life in the camp, the fights, and the final explanation by the commander about his attitudes towards the war and Nazi philosophy as well as a final confrontation between the two.

In 1949, Haft continues some boxing training and wants to fight against rocky Marciano despite his often lack of success in the ring. Very strong supporting cast for the training includes John Leguizamo as well as Danny DeVito, working for Marciano, but Jewish sympathies and taking time off to prepare Haft so that his defeat would be so devastating.

And there is the human story, Haft determined to find his lost girlfriend, encountering a young woman who works in a company searching out identities. They go out together, her supporting him, often exasperated with him, eventually marrying him.

Which means that this is a very strong film in terms of the Holocaust and Jewish tradition. But it is also a strong film in terms of the American sports world. And, in 1963, there is a very sad ending but one of affirmation for Harry Haft. The film is based on a book written by his son.

1. Based on a true story? A book by Harry Haft’s son?
2. The title, the concentration camps, Harry’s motive for survival, the United States, the boxing world picture and survival, surviving in the US?
3. The time frame, the opening in 1963, the range of flashbacks and their insertion, Poland and the concentration camps in black and white, 1949 and the boxing world in colour, 1963? The musical score, the Jewish melodies, hymns and chants?
4. The performance by Ben Foster, such loss of weight for the concentration camp scenes, putting on weight for the later 1940s and the 1960s episodes? The intensity of the performance, audience interest, like and dislike, sympathetic and unsympathetic?
5. The framework of the 1960s, audience knowing that there was some kind of happy development?
6. Harry, Polish Jew, with Leah, idyllic, her throwing stones, the arrest, her disappearance, Harry and his quest to find her, with the agency in New York, with Miriam, his angers and intensity, memories, yearning?
7. Harry in New York, his best friend, the boxing world, the gyms, his fights, friends, trainers? His defeats? The intensity of the boxing sequences? His wanting to fight Rocky Marciano, to get his name mentioned in the press, that Leah might see it (and the irony from the 1960s when she says she did see the write-ups but did not make contact)? The approaches, the discussions, the scepticism, finally getting the bout?
8. Harry and his training, the trainers and their personalities, working with him, the techniques, the importance of the dancing movements and his abilities? His visit to Marciano’s camp, the meeting with Charlie Goldman, Polish Jewish background, the warnings, ousting him, but having the camp with him, doing the training, that he should lose better and with more dignity that he might have? The importance of the fight, the result?
9. Harry, his moods, falling out with his friend?
10. The issue of the journalist, wanting his story, his friend wanting to keep quiet? The journalist and his questioning, Harry and his moods, the flashbacks, the story and the publication? The journalist watching the fights? And his promising to get information on Leah?
11. The importance of the flashbacks, the black-and-white photography, Harry and Leah her arrest? In the camp, amongst the many, the cumulative effect of the flashbacks and the narrative of his life in the camp, his friend and saving him? The parades, the hunger, the hard work, Harry and his attack? Schneider seeing him?
12. The significant events for Harry, Schneider patronising him, training him, the fights, to entertain the SS, the betting? The first fight, Harry and his reluctance, the appeal of the opponent for him to die with dignity, beaten, shot? The body taken away? The sequences of bodies, wagons, into the holes?
13. The consequences for Harry, Schneider and his character, smart and smooth, exploitative, yet some soft touches, the conversations, the training, the various bouts, his success, having to prove himself? The long sequence of the 30 rounds, the exhaustion, Harry and his reputation? The Jewish prisoners watching, the band playing, Harry and his being disliked, making his way through the crowd, for the celebration of Yom Kippur?
14. The insertion of the flashbacks of various stages in the story of the 1940s, the buildup to Harry, the possibility for escape, the confrontation with Schneider, his death?
15. Miriam, at the office, his insulting the head despite all the work, Miriam talking with him, going out with him, the boxing, his harshness, her being insulted, his pursuing her? Over the years, the marriage, her giving up her job, her character, her life with him?
16. The 1960s, the family, the shop, his work, the fruit? The children? His harshness on his son, thinking the son soft, wanting to train him, not telling him the story about his life?
17. The Germans, reappearing, the information about Leah? The family on holidays, at the beach? Miriam anxious? Harry, going off, the encounter with Leah, her life, her health, the discussions, his son watching? 20 years of Harry’s wanting to know her whereabouts, and finally meeting to say goodbye? And explaining his story to his son?
18. Harry living longer, his wife even longer, his children, and his son writing the story?

BEETLEJUICE, BEETLEJUICE

US, 2024, 105 minutes, Colour.

Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci, Arthur Conti, Nick Kellington, Santiago Cabrera, Burn Gorman, Danny DeVito.

Directed by Tim Burton.

In Beetlejuice folklore, you have to call out Beetlejuice’s name three times and he will appear. But, this time it needed only just one repetition. And here he is, 36 years after his first appearance, ready to entertain old fans and new fans.

Perhaps it is something about the world situation in 2024 that the highest moneymaking films so far have been quite a contrast, the violent fantasy of Deadpool and Wolverine and the wonderful exploration of human motor emotions in Inside Out 2. Now Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice has made over $100 million at the American box office on its first weekend. So, we can ask, is our world with all the wars, deaths in war, cost of living crises, in need of a fantasy distraction, an indulgence in absurd comedy.

Because, that is what we have here, absurd characters in over the top absurd situations, lots of jokes, special ghostly effects, Beetlejuice’s wisecracks, all kinds of unexpected dramatic turns. There is a surface world with strange human characters, Winona Ryder again as Lydia now a TV host on ghost appearances, her mother, Catherine O’Hara again as Delia, an eccentrically loud artist – but Astrid, Lydia’s daughter, Jenna Ortega, has grown up sceptical of the whole Beetlejuice ghostly world. Her scepticism is about to come crashing down. And director, Tim Burton, going back to his old fantasy styles.

In the meantime, there in the Afterlife, Michael Keaton is Beetlejuice, always sly, raucously comic, with a host of office secretaries, all skeletal bureaucrats, especially the hapless Bob, suited, but in for some tormented times because a callous janitor in the Afterlife, played by Danny DeVito, vacuuming and polishing, the machine in water, electric shock and opening up the store of dead severed human parts – especially, of Beetlejuice’s former wife, played exotically by Monica Bellucci who will pursue him relentlessly.

Fans of the original will be happy to get back into the Afterlife, the madcap visuals, the special effects, the eerie creatures… And there is plenty of plot, Astrid tricked into helping a ghost to regain his life, Lydia to the rescue and agreeing to marry Beetlejuice, his wife in pursuit, Delia ending up in the Afterlife, and, to cap it all, Willem Dafoe, seeming to appear in every other film these days, as a skeletal actor who is in charge of investigations, preening himself in his performance, modelled on television shows, of how the police ought to act!

And, right at the end, there is a very long wedding sequence, all kinds of mayhem with a performance of McArthur Park, everybody singing along…

Beetlejuice may not appeal to every audience, especially those who don’t have a high tolerance for dark fantasy. But, he will probably appeal, in his own very distinctive Michael Keaton way, to most everyone else!

HAUNTED MANSION

US, 2023, 123 minutes, Colour.

LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chase W .Dillon, Jarrod Leto, J.R.Aducci.

Directed by Justin Simien.

This review has been very much influenced by the experience of watching Haunted Mansion at a media preview, reviewers present but also a great number of children with their parents, youngsters.

At the end of the screening, the critics dismissed the film, seeing little value in it, finding it tiresome. And, that is confirmed by a number of reviewers and, checking the bloggers on IMDb, so many dismissing it as boring, unfunny, trite, seen it all before…, critical of Disney for remaking the story.

However, the experience of watching the film was for this reviewer quite different. Quickly becoming conscious of the youngsters in the audience, their responses of delight, especially with the ghosts, the hauntings, the struggles with the ghosts. This was made easy because one of the central characters is a nine-year-old boy, his father dead, his mother wanting to start a new life, their going to the mansion and immediately being haunted and terrified, fleeing, but the ghosts continually dragging them back to the mansion. There were several jump moments which seemed to delight the young audience.

The other thing noted about the young audience was its response to the jokes, to the funny lines, to the humour. Reviewers and bloggers dismiss this as being old hat, obvious, not very funny. But, it would seem that the young audience found these jokes very funny, a lot of out-loud laughter. While the adults may have heard the lines before, maybe this was the first time for the youngsters and they found it all quite funny.

In fact, the film has a strong cast, a very sympathetic LaKeith Stanfield as the sad widower, physicist, dragged into photographing the ghosts with a camera he had been working on. Rosario Dawson is a nice mother and Chase W. Dillon, an engaging nine-year-old. And the film has the comic skills of Danny DeVito as an ageing professor, Owen Wilson as an unconventional (emphasis on the con) priest, Tiffany Haddish as a loud medium and, rather surprisingly, Jamie Lee Curtis as a medium ghost from the past. An unrecognisable Jared Leto is the villain. The director, Justin Simien, has a reputation for satirical film and television, especially Dear White People.

So, an entertainment, PG rated, geared especially for children from 10 to 15 or so who can be accompanied by the parents who may be pleased that the young ones are actually enjoying the haunted mansion and the ghostly hijinks.

1.     The Disney theme park? Various film versions? Bringing the theme park ride alive?

2.     The Louisiana setting, city of New Orleans, ordinary life, the visualising of the mansion, exteriors, interiors, the ghosts, the special effects, the mansion and surroundings? The visit to the city, the police, the University…? The Crump mansion? The musical score?

3.     The focus on Ben, his personality, reticent, science, optics, the encounter with his wife, discussion about ghosts, her tours? Transition to his being down and out, crusty, the tourists, his comments?

4.     Gabby and Travis, the U-haul, the mansion, entering, the darkness, Travis and the room, the ghosts, their escaping back to the city?

5.     Father Kent, an Owen Wilson character, clerical, deadpan humour, challenging Ben? The offer of the money? Ben going, his camera, pretending to take photos and notes, driving away?

6.     The ghosts, appearances, pursuing the characters, forcing them to return to the mansion? Camping in the mansion, the experiences after midnight?

7.     Harriet, the medium, dress and style, reputation, self-promotion, conducting the seances, the strange phenomena, the pen and the writing? Her leaving, having to return? The story of Madame Leota, her reputation, wanting to get in touch, finding her head in the globe after unpacking the trunk? Contact with Madame Leota? The silence, Harriet not affected, then entering into the other world?

8.     Bruce, age, reputation, never having been to the mansion, wanting to go, his heart condition, the repartee with Father Kent? The discussions, the documents, Father Kent stealing them, Bruce coming to the mansion, trapped?

9.     The back story, gradual uncovering, William Gracey, the portrait, suicide, the death of his wife? The gradual revelation about Crump? The change of perspective on the ghosts, 999, their being trapped, Crump needing one more willing human to become a ghost?

10.  The seances, Ben and his experiences, the pursuits, getting advice from Gracie, getting onside with the ghosts and their support? The advice of Madame Leota?

11.  The human story, Travis, wanting contact with his father, Ben as a father figure, relationship with his mother? Bonding with Ben? Aiming to protect him, his going down the hall, retrieving the hat, in the car, coming out, his involvement? Gabby, her love for her son, protecting him?

12.  The stunt work, the chases, the transforming mansion, the ghosts?

13.  Father Kent and the truth about his identity?

14.  The buildup to the confrontation with Crump, his appearance, hat in the box, diabolical, Ben, his grief, memories of his wife, telling the sad story of her death, his being willing to sacrifice himself? Then turning against Crump, defying him, Crump gradually going down into the grave?

15.  The range of personalities of the ghosts, their being onside, helping, the old captain and taking him back to the sea, Gracey and his collaboration?

16.  The popularity of the Disney ride, on screen, the target audience of families and youngsters?