Post by ronnierocketago on Mar 31, 2006 8:55:36 GMT
www.andersonvision.com/The_Player.html
Published 3/30/2006
The Player
A Film Review by Joe Gayeski
-----------------------------------------------------------
United States, 1992
U.S. Release Date: 4/10/92
Running Length: 124 min.
MPAA Classification: R
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Tim Robbins, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Dean Stockwell, Sydney Pollack, Greta Scacchi, Peter Gallagher, Brion James and Vincent D’Onofrio
Director: Robert Altman
Screenplay: Michael Tolkin
Cinematography: Jean Lepine
Original Score: Thomas Newman
Studio: New Line Cinema
We all should right now tip a glass of respect to a legendary master director who is not only in his crispy 80’s, but they are still grinding away on new projects as we speak. Robert Altman has worked in and out of Hollywood as long as our parents have been alive on this very mortal Earth, with as many profound successes (“Nashville”, “Short Cuts”) and failures (“Popeye”) on his resume. Thankfully, I am reviewing one of his best movies today; for I doubt I have the stomach for one of Altman’s loser films, like say “Dr T and the Women”.
Michael Tolkin’s novel-turned-screenplay “The Player” is itself a satire, but not an outrageous one, about the film business in Hollywood. Much like Sidney Lumet’s legendary “Network,” many people tend to laugh at it, but still regard it as unrealistic. However, like Lumet’s film, “The Player” gets most of its laughs from film buffs and others that are quite familiar with the background tales of betrayal, greed, idiotic decisions, and massive waste of money that happens within the studios.
This is probably what interested Altman to the project, but as well this is the very same reason why he was perfect for it. The movie needed the cynicism and vinegar-tasting doses of reality that only a person who’s been around Hollywood as long as Altman can display without appearing too artificial and manipulative.
Surely this is obvious in the very first shot of the film, where an artful façade displays the illusion that many of us have about Hollywood, where making movies is glamorous, artful, and better yet, wonderful. Then Altman uses a crane shot to pull back to reveal Hollywood for what it really is. In the film’s opening that continues for 8 minutes without an edit, we watch as Hollywood producer Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) listens to several serious-if-insane script pitches that range from a ”The Graduate” sequel (a before-the-fact pisser on the producers of “Rumor Has It…” ?) to another Goldie Hawn chick flick feature, while the other major “players” of this piece are introduced, from people trying to desperately pitch serious artful pictures, and even a studio executive (Fred Ward) who’s head is always fixated on old American-made classics, which also happen to have long opening tracking shots.
While we follow the basic plot of Mr. Mill being terrorized by an angry and unseen rejected scriptwriter, we watch as Altman opens up several sub-plots that involve cultured writer (Vincent D’Onofrio) who may be the man behind the threats or not, his innocent-if-perky girlfriend (Greta Scacchi), Mill’s young rival would-be exec (Peter Gallagher), a stalking police detective (Lyle Lovett), and the very perky but innocent rising executive (Cynthia Stevenson) who is sleeping with Mill while not over-bidding for the film rights to the latest Tom Wolfe novel.
However, my favorite angle as told in “The Player” is that in the earnestly pitched serious drama “Habeus Corpus,” which itself seems to be a dark take on the death penalty itself, with a pretentious director being the brain child of it. Mill seems to be captivated by this new property as well, until it’s coldly revealed that he is using it simply to bait his rival into biting, then to which it could blow up in his face, and which Mill could manipulate himself into becoming the new chief executive of the studio as a result. Then better yet is when we see this drama finally, only it no longer has a grim and emotional downer of an ending, but instead Bruce Willis storms the gas chamber, kicks ass, breaks a lot of stuff, and rescues Julia Roberts, of which he simply replies with his well-honed experience with masculine one-liners: “Traffic was a bitch!”
I give Altman immortal credit for being opposite of what Hollywood usually does when it dramatizes what happens in its own backyard. Usually directors themselves are either whiny victims of the system, or egomaniac and quite fruity filmmakers. For once, the director himself is quite involved in the bastardization of a movie, specifically his own creation, all for the sake that this will be a commercial hit film. Only with Altman’s experience would such a scene be honestly portrayed, and be quite hilarious as well, as well as Mill’s often-repeated mantra of the Hollywood demand for a happy ending, no matter if it is richly deserving or logical. Even as Griffin Mill is quite a bastard with his prickish personality, even he gets the very nice treatment from Hollywood itself as well.
Film Rating - ****
© 2006 Joe Gayeski
Published 3/30/2006
The Player
A Film Review by Joe Gayeski
-----------------------------------------------------------
United States, 1992
U.S. Release Date: 4/10/92
Running Length: 124 min.
MPAA Classification: R
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Tim Robbins, Fred Ward, Whoopi Goldberg, Dean Stockwell, Sydney Pollack, Greta Scacchi, Peter Gallagher, Brion James and Vincent D’Onofrio
Director: Robert Altman
Screenplay: Michael Tolkin
Cinematography: Jean Lepine
Original Score: Thomas Newman
Studio: New Line Cinema
We all should right now tip a glass of respect to a legendary master director who is not only in his crispy 80’s, but they are still grinding away on new projects as we speak. Robert Altman has worked in and out of Hollywood as long as our parents have been alive on this very mortal Earth, with as many profound successes (“Nashville”, “Short Cuts”) and failures (“Popeye”) on his resume. Thankfully, I am reviewing one of his best movies today; for I doubt I have the stomach for one of Altman’s loser films, like say “Dr T and the Women”.
Michael Tolkin’s novel-turned-screenplay “The Player” is itself a satire, but not an outrageous one, about the film business in Hollywood. Much like Sidney Lumet’s legendary “Network,” many people tend to laugh at it, but still regard it as unrealistic. However, like Lumet’s film, “The Player” gets most of its laughs from film buffs and others that are quite familiar with the background tales of betrayal, greed, idiotic decisions, and massive waste of money that happens within the studios.
This is probably what interested Altman to the project, but as well this is the very same reason why he was perfect for it. The movie needed the cynicism and vinegar-tasting doses of reality that only a person who’s been around Hollywood as long as Altman can display without appearing too artificial and manipulative.
Surely this is obvious in the very first shot of the film, where an artful façade displays the illusion that many of us have about Hollywood, where making movies is glamorous, artful, and better yet, wonderful. Then Altman uses a crane shot to pull back to reveal Hollywood for what it really is. In the film’s opening that continues for 8 minutes without an edit, we watch as Hollywood producer Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) listens to several serious-if-insane script pitches that range from a ”The Graduate” sequel (a before-the-fact pisser on the producers of “Rumor Has It…” ?) to another Goldie Hawn chick flick feature, while the other major “players” of this piece are introduced, from people trying to desperately pitch serious artful pictures, and even a studio executive (Fred Ward) who’s head is always fixated on old American-made classics, which also happen to have long opening tracking shots.
While we follow the basic plot of Mr. Mill being terrorized by an angry and unseen rejected scriptwriter, we watch as Altman opens up several sub-plots that involve cultured writer (Vincent D’Onofrio) who may be the man behind the threats or not, his innocent-if-perky girlfriend (Greta Scacchi), Mill’s young rival would-be exec (Peter Gallagher), a stalking police detective (Lyle Lovett), and the very perky but innocent rising executive (Cynthia Stevenson) who is sleeping with Mill while not over-bidding for the film rights to the latest Tom Wolfe novel.
However, my favorite angle as told in “The Player” is that in the earnestly pitched serious drama “Habeus Corpus,” which itself seems to be a dark take on the death penalty itself, with a pretentious director being the brain child of it. Mill seems to be captivated by this new property as well, until it’s coldly revealed that he is using it simply to bait his rival into biting, then to which it could blow up in his face, and which Mill could manipulate himself into becoming the new chief executive of the studio as a result. Then better yet is when we see this drama finally, only it no longer has a grim and emotional downer of an ending, but instead Bruce Willis storms the gas chamber, kicks ass, breaks a lot of stuff, and rescues Julia Roberts, of which he simply replies with his well-honed experience with masculine one-liners: “Traffic was a bitch!”
I give Altman immortal credit for being opposite of what Hollywood usually does when it dramatizes what happens in its own backyard. Usually directors themselves are either whiny victims of the system, or egomaniac and quite fruity filmmakers. For once, the director himself is quite involved in the bastardization of a movie, specifically his own creation, all for the sake that this will be a commercial hit film. Only with Altman’s experience would such a scene be honestly portrayed, and be quite hilarious as well, as well as Mill’s often-repeated mantra of the Hollywood demand for a happy ending, no matter if it is richly deserving or logical. Even as Griffin Mill is quite a bastard with his prickish personality, even he gets the very nice treatment from Hollywood itself as well.
Film Rating - ****
© 2006 Joe Gayeski