Home    Views    November

		Points of View November 16, 2001 Guest Column © 2001 Joe Kirkish Reprinted with Permission

Club Indigo, local movies offer escape from reality

HOUGHTON -- This season's last Club Indigo film at the Calumet Theatre is delightful nostalgia, while at least one local feature offers wholesome entertainment for the whole family.

Club Indigo: A Christmas Story 

A Christmas Story will be shown at the Calumet Theatre at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16 , while the buffet will precede it at 6 p.m. The combination of food and film is still $12 with a discount for children, while admission to the movie alone is $3.50.

Nostalgia provides a retreat from the unpleasantness and frustrations of the present. Writer, storyteller Jean Shephard escapes into his semi-autobiographical 40s through remembrances of an owl-eyed, innocent looking kid called Ralphie.

Who is Ralphie? Is he lovable? Absolutely. A scamp? That, too. A schemer? Well, yes, when necessary. A dreamer? Almost all the time. Ralphie is a member of a World War II family of four, respected, feared, enjoyed and frustrating to parents, teachers and peers alike.

There's a little bit of Raphie in all of us, and in A Christmas Story we are reminded of it over and over again. That's what makes the film so durable since its colorful movie debut in 1983.

Make no doubt about it; this final Club Indigo for a ninth season concludes with the crème de la crème, the dessert of a successful season of "feel good" escape movies. And today, more than ever, a few hours of retreat from reality isn't a bad thing.

A Christmas Story is pure delight and pure Jean Shephard; he happens to be a most engaging raconteur who knows how to transform small stories of everyday life into tall tales of fantasy and comic adventure. He is the last of the great story tellers of our times.

Telling stories has been an American past-time for centuries. Mark Twain's and Will Rogers' humorous monologues are still classics. Charles Dickens in his American tour kept audiences spellbound with his varied tales, some of which were autobiographical, others lifted from his novels.

Today, the knack has been somewhat degraded by stand-up comics who identify humor as making fun of people while freely using language you wouldn't repeat in a locker room. (I recall a stand-up comedienne in a bistro who asked the audience, "Have you had enough to drink so I can tell a really dirty one?")

But great story tellers like Twain, Dickens, Bill Cosby, Shephard et al, rely on wit and clever use of languge, and will remain long after the current rash of so-called comics vanishes as fast as they've arrived on the scene.

Shepherd (who died just a month ago, and whose loss to us is immense) was the novelist and radio-TV humorist from Indiana who wrote the book "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash," from which the screenplay for A Christmas Story was adapted.

The movie looks back at a colorful mid-Indiana small town in the early 40s, where Ralphie Parker lives. More than anything, Ralphie wants to own a genuine Red Ryder air rifle, the one that comes with a compass and sundial set into its stock. He wants it so badly he sets out to get it in a campaign that forms the envelope for this frequently hilarious, episodic comedy.

Along the way (with Shephard occasionally narrating) we follow Ralphie from from fall to pre-Christmas winter, as he experiences little life situations that anyone can relate to: normal everyday family crises; a school bully that Ralphie and  his little brother must face daily, braving winter's challenges (like wearing overstuffed snowsuits or getting a tongue stuck to a metal pole); getting through an agonizing encounter with a mall Santa and his grotesque elves; and so many other familiar growing up incidents -- all in hopes of getting that cherished bee bee gun for Christmas.

Generally reviewed as "the funniest, most touching family Christmas film of All times," the movie creates a wonderful prelude to the upcoming holiday season.

And it will carry the seasonal theme even to the buffet preceding it.

Chef Chris of the Northern Lights restaurant, Houghton, who pleased diners at an earlier Club Indigo with a memorable buffet, plans again to satisfy, this time with what he calls a supreme pre-Christmas buffet, a gourmet menu with all the recognizable holiday trimmings plus a few additional treats to top them off.

With limited seating, a reservation must be made in advance for the buffet. Call the Theatre at 337-2610.

A Christmas Story is sponsored by the Isle Royale Ferry Service of Copper Harbor, without whose sponsorship the movie could not be shown.

With the success of yet another season, nine more Club Indigo programs have been planned for next year, beginning in March and continuing through November, 2002, when more unusual classics and excellent cuisine will again be on the docket.

Movies playing locally

MONSTERS, INC. (Rated G): Who says a G-rating won't draw audiences? It certainly will if it is cleverly written, cleverly created, cleverly produced and cleverly aimed at all ages. 

Monsters is that kind of movie. The combo of Disney and Pixar is on a winning streak. After the success of the Toy Story flicks, A Bug's Life and then the hugely popular Schreck, this latest animated comedy with its imaginatively created characters, fast pace and comedy that crosses all age barriers, tops them all.

The entire film is taken from the point of view of unearthly critters living and working at a Monstropolis factory where thousands of doors are entered daily in order to reach kids, scare them into screaming and then bottle the screams -- used to create energy needed for the monster city. "We scare because we care" is the motto of the factory. On the other hand, a child's laughter can cause serious blackouts. That's the kind of world these weird-looking monsters inhabit.

Added to this inventive idea is the fact that the characters are more than the usual 2-dimensional animated characters; you can't help but care about them.

Further, remember how critics raved at the fact that Pixar's Schreck was texturally realistic down to the pores in his skin? Well, here we have monsters with furriest fur and the most tactile skins ever found in animation, and they live in the most realistically created environs you've ever seen in a cartoon.

The plot is simple enough for anyone to comprehend and appreciate, while subtle puns ranging from the newspaper "The Glob" to the "Harryhausen Club" and the song "I've always had my eye on you" sung by a one-eyed critter will entertain the adults in the audience. Nor does it hurt to employ the voices of such talented actors as Billy Crystal, John Goodman, James Coburn, Jennifer Tilly and Steve Buscemi -- all of whom seem to be relishing their roles. The humor is non-stop, coming fast & furious, filling the 90-minute comedy and resulting in one of the most entertaining movies of the week. (Grade: A)

HEIST (Rated R for profanity & violence): OK, so the theatre was freezing and I first had to sit through 20-minutes of ho-hum previews; maybe that's why I couldn't get involved in this David Mamet suspense flick.

David Mamet? First acclaimed for his stage play Glengarry Glen Ross, loaded with cynicism, vulgar language and unpleasant people, he went on to write and direct his own movies with mostly good results. His sardonic material became recognized, and he was praised or damned according to individual tastes.

Most of the time, I found myself fascinated with his brilliant, creative use of language & character interaction -- despite my reluctance to like most of the characters.

In this case, the characters are not typically complex, but stock, two-dimensional pawns with which to move the action about. That was my first disappointment. Then came the material about a guy (Gene Hackman in a familiar role) who makes a deal with another guy (Danny DeVito at his nastiest) to conclude a successful big robbery career with the mother of all heists -- only to have it go awry when DeVito and others play "who's with him or agin' him?"

Mamet uses familiar Hitchockian devices throughout, and does it well, but the plot has so many switches and convoluted situations in scenes that seem to have no beginning or conclusion -- just middles -- that I felt utterly confused and disoriented. (Did the chilled atmosphere of the theatre numb my thinking or was the script intentionally obtuse?)

So much effort has gone into the making of this flick, so many tricks thrown at us in rapid succession, so many undefined characters used, with more gimmicks than FAO Schwartz has toys -- I was at sea, right to the final, sardonic ending. I did get the messages, the main ones being there's no honor among thieves and crime sometimes does pay. And I did appreciate the few clever Mamet bits of dialog, like "She's so clever she could talk herself out of a sunburn," but the sum seemed like cardboard people being moved around in a virtual computer game.

Whether this is a revolution in Hitchcockian tongue-in-cheek flicks or just a fine dramatic cinematographer running on empty, I'm not sure. At any rate, it left me cold. (Grade: C+

SHALLOW HAL (PG-13 for mild sexual situations and "modern" profanity): the "shallow" of the title fits the film, one that can be summed up in "Beauty is only skin deep." Wow, like profound!

At best, it includes Gwyneth Paltrow in the female lead (as a very fat, very shy girl who looks like Paltrow "when the brain sees what the heart wants it to see " -- that is, from the vantage point of a hypnotized Hal (Jack Black) -- a guy who lives an unhappy life searching for the ideal woman with all the right physical proportions until his vision is distorted in the right direction. When true, fat Paltrow collapses a steel chair, he thinks it's because the chair is defective. When she creates a tidal wave of a splash in a pool, he thinks she's just cleverly doing him one better.

All the humor stemming from Hal's misdirection has been seen in the previews; the rest just adds up to the moral of the film and is, in the words of one character defining Hall, "deep as a puddle."

On the most superficial level, this could be taken as a light comedy, but each time the humor stems from something involving the ugliness and troubles from being fat, I couldn't help but wonder why -- of all the possible characteristics that might be used to portray physical undesirability -- this film has to emphasize with derision the grotesqueness of size. Nor could I understand the panoply of photos running along with the final credits -- showing cast and crew, physically normal and abnormal alike.

Except for Paltrow, who reveals a new, modest persona with conviction, the cast overplays, not always successfully, in the style of grand farce. One wonders, could the Farrelly brothers have run out of clever ideas and was their original "Something About Mary" just a one-shot fulfillment of a limited talent? Or, possibly, could they be just coasting on their reputation with this bit of fluff? (Grade: C-)

MEGIDDO: (probably rated PG for violence): This 8X Entertainment movie is, from the start, obviously created by a religiously oriented organization, in the same vein as those early features from Billy Graham et al. This one is far more sophisticated in it mounting with fine photography, opulent sets and plenty of special effects (including a lot of flames and bomb explosions) -- bringing it up to the level of an average commercial drama. It also includes a fairly capable cast headed by British actor Michael York as Satan incarnate.

As for the material, well, to say it's heavy-handed in favor of the battle of godly people over Satan is putting it mildly.

The Beast (Satan) enters the body of a little boy who is destined (with a little help from his Satanic powers) to rule the world. Only his younger brother as his godly nemesis can save the world, but not until the final few seconds of the film -- when the message, already obvious, is pounded home. The conflict between the two men culminates in a world-inclusive battle on the Holy Land plains of Megiddo. Guess who wins?

This movie is slanted entirely toward "God-fearing Christians." To reveal the true character of the Beast, he says, "He who controls Jesus at the end of time controls the world." Or something like that. The conflict between good and evil is settled by bringing the evil to light, then -- after 85-minutes of underhanded, Satanic efforts on the part of York's larger-than-life-role as dictator of the world -- sending the bad guy to his fiery fate as the world is saved by, well, I'm not quite sure what; but it's brilliantly radiant and heaven oriented. Certainly an admirable message is offered here, but hardly a convincing one for anyone but the already convinced. (Grade: C+)

DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE (PG-13 mainly for violence): The pretentiously "clever" intro with credits sets the tone for this all too familiar tale of a family torn apart by a new member who turns out to be threateningly evil.

John Travolta is the former husband, who has been ousted and divorced by wife Teri Polo for, among other things, a case of over drinking; he now lives with a live-in replacement while he carries on the family industry of building fine wooden boats the old-fashioned way. Polo is swept off her feet by Vince Vaughn, a wealthy, friendly man who has a hidden past and who becomes a barrier between her and her troubled son (who in turn desperately needs more than just her love and affection to walk the straight social line). It's a typical modern American movie family.

When an insidious Steve Buscemi enters the scene, things get ugly. There's a murder witnessed by son Matthew O'Leary, the only person who knows his new father is the murderer, and who is threatened by said murderer to keep it secret. (I'm not giving anything away; you've seen it all in the previews.)

What happens after that is a downhill disappointment. After a strong attempt by writer Lewis Colick to create a distinctive and suspenseful drama, he caves in to a tried and tested finale that's supposed to guarantee satisfaction for general audiences, but that, instead, simply comes as a huge letdown.

At that point, all the "plants" built into the plot to explain future incidents become all too obvious, while the attempt to make all this frighteningly ominous is lost; the result is a lack of believablity in each cause and effect, leading to the ultimately disappointing conclusion.

Harold Becker's direction is capable but far from inspired, and the entire cast moves through its paces with all the right (but unmoving) moves. It's all familiar stuff, and not always as clever or thrilling as its predecessors. (Grade: C-)

THE ONE (PG-13 for profanity & the usual "kung-fu" violence): An interesting premise, that we live multiple lives on 125 multiple planets, opening up possibilities for a great sci-fi flick and for Jet Li to portray dual roles as he "kung-fus" his way through a few obstacles. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way, partly due to a standard script and less-than-satisfying direction for the many martial arts fight sequences

Jet Li, normally an exciting and talented actor, here wanders through the role of an ambitious person who wishes to become "the one" -- a person capable of great strengths and brilliance after taking over all of the other 124 of his lives on the other planets. To stop him from becoming an all-powerful god, a couple of cops are in hot pursuit. It's all glitz and glitter, lots of sound, lights and fury, signifying nothing new nor anything very interesting.

From the very start, the special martial effects are so badly stage, so badly manipulated, so badly edited, they wind up looking as ludicrous as those made in the old Flash Gordon serials. If this were meant to be tongue-in-cheek, it would be fine fun, but it's played seriously straight, thus unfortunately, unintentionally funny or -- at worst -- just boring.

There is little chance to identify with or worry about any of the characters; they become exercises in macho displays that destroy the few times between the martial bouts that might otherwise create some feeling for any of them. (Grade: D+)

Learn more about the author of this guest column, Joe Kirkish.

Visit the Keweenaw Now discussion forums to comment on this article.

Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.