Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Manchurian Candidate
Continuing the movie spree of this past weekend, The Girl and I went directly from The Bourne Supremacy back to the ticket counter and in to see The Manchurian Candidate. Four thumbs up (two of mine, two of The Girl's).
Neither of us saw the original 1962 version, so I can't make any comparisons. However, last Friday on Fresh Air they featured conversations and interviews around the opening, many of which included comparisons with the earlier film. You can listen to the archived audio from the show here.
Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schrieber star in this film about a group of Desert Storm veterans who remember a particular event in great detail, but who feel like they don't remember actually doing the things they remember. Sort of like when you remember an event from your childhood only from seeing photos and home movies of the event. Years later, the hero of the event (Schrieber) is a vice-presidential candidate with his campaign being handled efficiently by his Senator mother (Streep). The commander of the platoon (Washington) is still an Army officer, but is becoming obsessed by the memories of Desert Storm. His attempt to find the answers brings him onto a collision course with Streep, who has placed her hopes on her son to achieve the levels of political power which she was never able to.
Denzel Washington is fabulous as ever. He just rules - has he ever performed poorly on screen?
Meryl Streep is also, of course, fabulous. What else would she be? Plus check out her outfit in the outdoor garden scene. Black-rimmed, purple-lensed sunglasses, amazing sweater/shawl thing, perfect accessories, perfect hair.
I'm a big fan of Liev Schrieber and this role is perfect for him. Very intelligent, educated, tending to use larger words and more carefully crafted phrases than most would, but with an underlying insecurity behind the glib. And for the record? I loved Kate & Leopold, in which his character was the self-described "dog who could see the rainbows."
Reality Check: The Girl enjoyed this one, but not quite as much as I did. The plot involved lots of political deals and machinations, and she's not quite the Political Geek that I am.
Amazon links:
Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber.
|
Neither of us saw the original 1962 version, so I can't make any comparisons. However, last Friday on Fresh Air they featured conversations and interviews around the opening, many of which included comparisons with the earlier film. You can listen to the archived audio from the show here.
Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep and Liev Schrieber star in this film about a group of Desert Storm veterans who remember a particular event in great detail, but who feel like they don't remember actually doing the things they remember. Sort of like when you remember an event from your childhood only from seeing photos and home movies of the event. Years later, the hero of the event (Schrieber) is a vice-presidential candidate with his campaign being handled efficiently by his Senator mother (Streep). The commander of the platoon (Washington) is still an Army officer, but is becoming obsessed by the memories of Desert Storm. His attempt to find the answers brings him onto a collision course with Streep, who has placed her hopes on her son to achieve the levels of political power which she was never able to.
Denzel Washington is fabulous as ever. He just rules - has he ever performed poorly on screen?
Meryl Streep is also, of course, fabulous. What else would she be? Plus check out her outfit in the outdoor garden scene. Black-rimmed, purple-lensed sunglasses, amazing sweater/shawl thing, perfect accessories, perfect hair.
I'm a big fan of Liev Schrieber and this role is perfect for him. Very intelligent, educated, tending to use larger words and more carefully crafted phrases than most would, but with an underlying insecurity behind the glib. And for the record? I loved Kate & Leopold, in which his character was the self-described "dog who could see the rainbows."
Reality Check: The Girl enjoyed this one, but not quite as much as I did. The plot involved lots of political deals and machinations, and she's not quite the Political Geek that I am.
Amazon links:
Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber.
|
Posted by Rogueslayer at 8/04/2004 11:03:00 AM
