Director: Jonathan Demme
Writer: Richard Condon (novel) and George Axelrod (1962 screenplay)
Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller/Sci-Fi/War
Story
Almost a direct remake of the original with the exception of some character modification or swapping, the ending, and most importantly the overall social and political climate of the film. This movie is based off of simple political power and of course a more modern war. In addition to that, the characters were a little switched around, but for the most part remained the same.
Everything Else
The directing of this film was solid, but failed to impress, which oddly the original was able to do better. The music and picture sound and look good respectively and the acting is top notch.
The reason the directing fails to impress is that there is plenty of bouncing around between different times and places to mess with you head much like the characters are supposed to be experiencing, but it starts to get a touch on the annoying side. In addition to that, it is not very effective in bringing you into the feeling that it would seem the characters are experiencing.
The acting on the other hand was particularly good. Casting did well with Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, and Meryl Streep. All of these actors were better for the parts than the original I believe. Denzel does his standard job here and luckily for him that means it was good. Liev does a good job as well and fits the psycho fairly well. Meryl Streep tops Murder She Wrote quite well and Jon Voight just did a good job. Overall the acting was the real factor along with the decent story that held The Manchurian Candidate together.
The Real Deal
I liked The Manchurian Candidate just as well the second time as I had the first. Unfortunately it left me unimpressed. Now that I have seen the movie it was based it might actually lower the score. We will get to that in the comparison post, but basically this version left a lot to be desired. This had a lot of potential, but failed to follow through. The movie is also much more gruesome and therefore will turn away a few more viewers.
The Short Version
Raw Score: 755,934
Sharon Movie? No
7/23/2008
Remake: The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
4/28/2008
Val Kilmer Movie: Spartan
Spartan (2004)
Director: David Mamet
Writer: David Mamet
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Thriller
Story
Scott (Val Kilmer) is a secret service agent assigned to find a government official’s daughter Laura Newton (Kristen Bell) after she goes missing. It is suspected she has been kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Curtis (Derek Luke), who was recently trained by Scott, joins on the investigation. When everyone thinks Laura is dead, Curtis finds evidence he believes proves she is still alive and convinces Scott to continue the investigation against the orders of the secret service.
Everything Else
David Mamet is a highly praised screenwriter and director of many films, but there is only a few I really liked in the past; State and Main, The Untouchables, Wag the Dog, and Ronin (wait, why didn’t I like Mamet?). I guess because I hated Heist when I saw it and then thought the writing for Spartan was terrible I formed an opinion of Mamet, but now I think I need to go back and watch Heist again. I saw Spartan a couple years ago and got a lot of good laughs out of it and it was still funny this time. Before though I thought it was supposed to be serious and the dialogue was just terrible. This time I came to the conclusion David Mamet’s writing is supposed to be funny in Spartan (I am giving him the benefit of the doubt here). I had never been a fan of Mamet until the second viewing of Spartan.
The directing aside from the dialogue (which I believe could be taken as great or horrible depending on your point of view) was quite good and provided a constant wealth of entertaining scenes and well thought out plot twists. Spartan gets a little odd with its locations and the mix of what seems to be reality and what is simply an elaborate stakeout or simulation. The story moves along well and if you can wade through the deep waters of murky dialogue then I am sure you will like Spartan a lot.
The acting in Spartan fits the interesting style of Mamet almost flawlessly at least on the part of Val Kilmer. Kilmer’s delivery of the lines was the most entertaining part of Spartan for sure (“where’s the girl Jerry? Jerry where’s the girl? Jerry where’s the girl Jerry?”). William H. Macy was in Spartan and did well; off the top of my head I would say I remember Macy being in State and Main as well, but it has been a few years. Kristen Bell has short screen time as the kidnapped girl, but does a good job. Interesting how different she is in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Val Kilmer
Kilmer was great in Spartan and fit the script almost perfectly as I had mentioned earlier. I liked seeing Kilmer in a lead role again as he is in a lot of movies in small parts. This Val Kilmer movie month has been filled with movies that had Kilmer only appearing as cameos. I think somehow Kilmer lost his drive to provide great performances like in The Doors. It almost appears he is on autopilot just going through the motions. Still he does an excellent job, but I know he could do even better. Maybe no one is presenting him with the challenging roles anymore… then again he is KITT now (laughs). I am not sure if that reflects more negatively on Kilmer or the people that were willing to pay enough to get Kilmer to do it for such a crappy show (no I haven’t watched it, but it has to be bad I am sure of it).
The Real Deal
The first time I saw Spartan I laughed so hard I was crying. The dialogue is so ridiculous in some parts I had to rewind and play the part again just for more laughs (yes it is that funny). My favorite part is when Kilmer and some other guy are talking for a little bit and none of it makes sense. Then Kilmer says “what are we talking about here” with a choice word added. It is almost like Val Kilmer really did not know what they were talking about and decided to say that after delivering the line and Mamet just left it in because it was funny. Who knows, but I just loved it. I have to recommend Spartan to anyone for a good laugh and an entertaining story. I am sure people are mad because I thought the dialogue was ridiculous, but I feel like I have finally found the genius in Mamet’s writing which before I found to be just rubbish. What does everyone else think about Mamet’s scripts or more specifically the Spartan script?
The Short Version
Raw Score: 793,383
Sharon Movie? No
