BEST FILMS OF 1980

Atlantic City
Louis Malle

****

Bad Timing
Nicolas Roeg

****

The Big Red One
Samuel Fuller

**** reconstruction version

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'Breaker Morant'
Bruce Beresford

****

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The Changeling
Peter Medak

***

Death Watch
Bertrand Tavernier

Tavernier's first English language film is a thoughtfully wicked condemnation of the sad direction TV has been taking that simply throws us into the scary new world the media has created. This no gimmick futuristic sci-fi is highly prophetic, but aside from a few memorable lines like "everything is of interest, but nothing matters" Tavernier's m.o. is to create an environment where everything looks and feels like the dreary present. This approach makes the film all the more disturbing, not so much due to the changes almost all being for the worse, but rather because these melancholy creating alterations have become an accepted part of life. The heroine Romy Schneider is a rare case, a person dying of an incurable disease, and ratings grabber Harry Dean Stanton does his best to force her into the titled reality show of her final days. Tavernier is known to admire Michael Powell's approach to the hero, making him a character of questionable morality who makes mistakes without the director ever telling you where he differs. Harvey Keitel is such a character - especially Powellesque since he's a kind of new age Peeping Tom - agreeing to have a camera replace his eyes then befriending Schneider so the show can go on without her consent. Keitel's freedom and privacy wind up being compromised at least as much as Schneider's though, as the telejournalist can't shut the camera off, and of course once he gets to know her he winds up falling for her. The film has it's awkward moments, at least partially because Tavernier is not as comfortable working in a secondary language. Despite some banality and a certain inevitability to the entire plot the film generally works in a Fahrenheit 451 kind of way though it's less flashy and more of a minimalist, novelistic, and introspective work. [6/2/06] ***

Dressed to Kill
Brian De Palma

****

The Elephant Man
David Lynch

****

Gates of Heaven
Errol Morris

****

Gloria
John Cassavetes

***

Heartland
Richard Pearce

***1/2

Heaven's Gate
Michael Cimino

***1/2

Kagemusha
Akira Kurasawa

***1/2

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The Long Good Friday
John Mackenzie

***1/2

The Long Riders
Walter Hill

Unfortunately, the best Peckinpah film of the '80s isn't by Sam, who could only get funding for an exploitation flick, but rather his one-time screenwriter (The Getaway). Hill tries to recapture the glory of The Wild Bunch with this late Western on The James Gang, but only succeeds in imitating the grandiose style. All the intelligence and poetry, in other words what made Peckinpah great, is absent. However, it is an exciting actioner with concurrent action, well used slow motion, exceptional editing, and the requisite blood spurts. If you believe, like too many critics especially of his time, that the last sentence is all Peckinpah ever was I suggest you run this after The Ballad of Cable Hogue and Junior Bonner. But in absence of the real thing, at least Hill delivers a skillfully assembled derivative that's true to the portion it's imitating, which quite honestly is rare. Plus Ry Cooder supplies a typically flavorful score. [9/5/05] ***

Mon oncle d'Amerique
Alain Resnais

****

Ordinary People
Robert Redford

***1/2

Raging Bull
Martin Scorsese

****

The Shining
Stanley Kubrick

****

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Shogun
Jerry London

Widely popular epic miniseries that would never get financed in these gutless days. Proof that Americans are interested in other cultures when given the chance to be; it's half in Japanese with no subtitles but everyone likes and understands it. Rather than reverting to the usual "civilized" vs. "primitive" staples it teaches the main character (and audience) about the Japanese people, even the basics of their language. What's so effective is how Richard Chamberlain's character, and thus the audience, is made to be the outsider. It allows him to survive based on luck, even though he is skilled in some areas, rather than always worshipping the brilliance of the heroic white man. All in all, an excellent traditional adventure with violence always a possibility, but an unwanted and generally unwise one. Thus, it can focus on the differences in the cultures and show it's understanding of their thought processes while maintaining the edge and tension, thus keeping the audience riveted. Once again, James' Clavell's involvement preserves the integrity of his novel and ensures a worthy screen translation. [9/5/05] ***1/2

Spetters
Paul Verhoeven

***1/2

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Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Irvin Kershner

***1/2

The Stunt Man
Richard Rush

***

The Secret Life of Nikola Tesla
Krsto Papic

***