Empire Falls

I promise I won't do this very often, but this one is so good, I need to recommend it to you all. And, some of you have asked me privately about other HBO projects, so I figure they are all fair game now. This was an HBO film that went to DVD.

Empire Falls was first a Pulitzer Prize novel by Richard Russo before he did the screenplay. I read the novel in 2002 and have not had a work of fiction toss me through so many different emotions since Les Miserables. There were times when I got so angry reading Empire Falls that I actually tossed the book across the room. Yeah, that's real mature. I know. Either way, I highly recommend both to you.

I'm guessing you won't recognize the name of the director, but I'll bet you know and love some of his work. Fred Schepisi has done a wide range of great movies. Roxanne with Steve Martin. The Russia House with Sean Connery. Fierce Creatures with John Cleese. Barbarosa with Willie Nelson. Fun fascinating stories.

Ed Harris (Enemy at the Gates, A Beautiful Mind, and Gone Baby Gone) leads this top-notch cast. If I start to list them and their work, we'll both be here too long. So let me just mention the main players: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt, Paul Newman, Aidan Quinn, Joanne Woodward, Dennis Farina, and William Fichtner. Three or four of those names might motivate you to watch this film. But, all of them in the same story makes for some Hollywood magic.

I you had parents, or if you are a parent, watch this movie.

If you have dreams you've yet to fulfil, watch this movie.

And, watch it with someone you can't afford to lose.

As Good As It Gets

It may not get much better than this. Jack Nicholson (too many great roles to list here) won Best Actor for this role in 1998, and it still stands as one of his personal best. While I have been told by many that I resemble his character in this movie, it has no bearing on my high regard for the film. Enough said?

Helen Hunt (Twister, Castaway, and What Women Want) earned Best Actress honors for her role here. Can you name how many other stars have earned an Oscar for playing a Waitress? I thought so.

Even if this movie were just these two fine performances, it would be enough. But wait, there is more great, noteworthy, work to discuss.

Greg Kinnear (Sabrina, We Were Soldiers, and The Matador) was nominated for his supporting role but somehow did not win. Robin Williams did however that year? Was it perhaps because Kinnear's character is flagrantly, tragically, gay? Again, I vector off topic.

Cuba Gooding Jr. (A Few Good Men, Jerry Maquire, and What Dreams May Come) brings his now famous smirk into full power as Kinner's best friend and only defender.

And then there is the little dog, who really does carry this movie. Jill the Dog was wonderful. Why isn't there a category for Best Animal Performance?

This movie has almost everything. Big names. Great one-liners. Social taboos. Children. Animals. Characters you hate to love, and some you love to hate. Social commentary.

Does it really get much better than this? Why didn't it win Best Picture that year? Because Titanic did.

Watch it with someone who can't see how their OCD impacts others.

Pay It Forward

The concept for this movie was so poignant, and so valid, so timely and timeless, that one of the major insurance companies uses it 7 years later for an ad campaign. The idea is fairly simple; take the Golden Rule, and notch is up a bit. Do something really nice for 3 people who are expected to the same. The expanding wave of good will is supposed to consume society like a tsunami.

I liked this movie more for the concept than for the acting however. Don't get me wrong, the cast is wonderful. Haley Joel Osment, Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Jim Caviezel (Mel Gibson's Jesus), Angie Dickinson, Jay Mohr, and even Jon Bon Jovi all do an acceptable job, and are believable. But, they let the story carry the weight rather than strength of performance.

It is a feel-good movie and will probably make you cry with it's slightly sappy ending. But, it's worth the watch, again or for the first time, just to get the Utopian idea into the subconscious.