Bronson

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. Written by Brock Norman Brock and Nicolas Winding Refn. Starring Tom Hardy, Matt King, and James Lance.

Vertigo Films - 2008

Three Stars of Review!

Bronson succeeds in being more like a music video than the one man stage show vibe it's going for, but, though I'm slightly ashamed to admit it, I enjoyed it. Tom Hardy's performance is first rate, but the director spends just a little too much time bogging things down with unnecessary vulgarity and predictable exercises in style. If you're offended by near constant violence, gentiles, and profanity then you better stay away, but considering that this is a biopic about the so called “Most violent prisoner in England” the majority of it hardly feels inappropriate. Sure, it never scratches too far below the surface, but I suppose that's only a legitimate complaint if its lead character had much below to scratch. I'm not convinced he did.

Ed Wood

Directed by Tim Burton. Written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Touchstone Pictures - 1994

Three and A Half Stars of Review! ***1/2

I suspect that most people's fascination with Ed Wood has more to do with the fact that he was a walking episode of Jerry Springer, and less to do with his supposed earnestness and lack of sense, but that doesn't stop this film from being highly entertaining and slightly touching. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something hysterical about listening to Bela Lugosi curse, but there are plenty of laughs despite (or because) the writers keep things close to the truth. It does feel a little bit too long, but this story of a heterosexual transvestite that seemingly rode a wave of happenstance, and went on to be considered the worst director of all time should appeal even to people unfamiliar with the man's work.

De-Lovely

Directed by Irwin Winkler. Written by Jay Cocks. Starring Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, and Jonathan Pryce.

MGM - 2004

Two Stars of Review! **

Cole Porter was a man of incredible talent. He was also an ass and a pig. At least that's what I've gathered from watching “De-Lovely,” a biopic that does what so many tiresome biopics do: it assaults the audience with a non stop parade of debauchery.

In fact it isn't so much a film as it is a series of vignettes set in enviable places with enviable people doing enviable things. Paris, Hollywood, and many many other locations serve as a back drop for Porter's ceaseless partying and homosexual trysts, all while his wife looks on in increasing despondency.

What do we get to know about Cole Porter? His catalog of music features some of the finest songs ever written. He had a strong sexual preference for other men yet the film asserts that he loved his wife deeply. Just not enough to spare her a life of endless humiliation and grief. Was there nothing else to the man?

And what of Mrs. Porter? At no point do we get any real sense of who she is or why she is willing to put with her husband. She seems to be little more than a nurturer who found a talented man-child to take care of. Unfortunately the last thing Cole Porter seems to have needed was another enabler in his life.

These events are accompanied by performances of the songs they inspired. Suddenly we find that certain lyrical undertones are a bit dirtier than we might have thought. Sounds clever, but some one got the not so bright idea of bringing in loads of pops stars who do little more than butcher the material. Hell, the only actual jazz singer in the bunch gets the shortest and least memorable piece.

As I get older I become less and less enchanted with the idea of talent and the kind of leniency it can buy you. Porter may have been something of a genius, but he seems to have been a bad person. Devotees might find something to love in all this mess, but I can't imagine what. It felt more like a headache educing litmus test for homophobes.

Available on DVD.