School Ties
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Movie Reviews of School Ties
Movie Review: A Gem! Smart and spirited...
Summary: 5 Stars
Films like this just don't get made anymore. It's a shame.Movie Review: beautiful blueprint-- today's hollywood and yesterday's technicians
Summary: 4 Stars
OK, so right away, have to disclose that i was an extra on this shoot for three months growing up in Boston. My perspective is a bit askew, with nostalgia and personal bias. But re-watching this movie on television the other day, a flood of memories-- and the justification for my film school education-- return.
At the time (early 90;s), the period (1955) elements were more impressive to me than the subject matter. However, that period setting also distracts at some times. The sceenplay is written in a very "on the nose" television time constrained style ... one of those "not real" cardboardy movies that is a very direct vehicle for the message, not much in the way of character or extra story development. This is an amazing ensemble of actors, that compete for the very few words available.
But the film is effective nonetheless if you're a fan of period reproduction, and the visual escape of watching an idealized America that (im told) no longer exists today; but whose subject matter does. odd juxtapositioning.
For true hollywood-craft production value, this is a great achievement by the best of that day's (early 90's) period re-creation technicians. Jeanine Claudia Oppenwall, production designer (very period affective, noted for other period pieces such as Sean Penn's "Paper Moon", pure, elegant, classic america); Cinematographer Freddie Francis (who shot many of the Hammer Studios gothic horror masterpieces of the 60s and 70s), who I remember as surprisingly short, but a very funny old english elf; Ann Roth, classic american-- the Ralph Lauren of costume design--giving us Brooks Brothers, well tailored men.
Then there's Robert Mandell. A man who, I'm told, is a very visually focused director. From my perspective, looking AT him, he looked like a frizzy haired aging wizard. We know most of the great names that made and were made by this film. But Robert Mandell doesnt really stick out to anybody as one. I think the film could have been recieved much differently with a stronger name behind the lens. However, from behind to in front of the camera, as a hollywood studio ornament or showpiece, School Ties is an almost unbelievable ensemble of great filmmaking/acting talent.
A dream team, if you will. Ultimately However, as a dramatic, authentic "real" movie, accessible to modern youth, the film Has sort of a high school play quality about it... as if the actors and sets are all working to convince us of the inaccessible fantasy land of the 50's. this is a cute, but ultimately negative, annoyance. the film narrows its appeal this way, as more a harkening to yesteryear for baby boomers; rather than a powerful strong dramatic vehicle for some very talented up-and-coming actors of the day-- true actors.
Alot of the talent was New York cast, as I recall; so right away the movie projects that mature and sophisticated sort of "east coast stage actor" independant film tone, dramatically. But their script is sort of a cotton candy version of Dead Poets Society. Like, combined together into one film, the two would have made a powerfully dramatic, visually stunning classic.
View School Ties as a visually beautifully nostalgic painting, not a dramatic masterpiece. A shame, as I remember quite a lot of great stuff; some shot and some in the script that never made it to the screen; more scenes of david and his family in the first act; a night shoot involving fake snow; more dining hall sequences (I know because it was literally OVER 100 degrees in that old second story location with no windows-- the prop food was melting, as were all of us in suits, for two straight days). But what a fun experience playing dress up; getting in and out of old cars; wearing clothes from that era, etc... I digress. But, as you see in the finished product, this is mostly what translates to the big screen-- not heavy on dramatic development. For the principal actors, though, that sense of career anticipation and positive excitment I think gives the movie its own special, sweetness. Amy Locane so sweet and pretty on-set; all the guys signing autographs and laughing about it... everyone having fun making this movie.
Ulitmately, it is Brendan Fraser who MAKES this film believable; the only actor who's not in the trap of convincing us that its 1955.
Regardless, the film does tackle anti-semitism in a mass market way. Then head of Paramount, Sherry Lansing, (who I rememember as a very smiley, intense faced woman jumping in and out of her canvas chair) had been pushing this film through development for years, no doubt the reason for its commerical release.
Movie Review: A complicated movie about a comlicated subject
Summary: 4 Stars
Watch this movie, and then talk about it with people whom you respect. When the movie ends, we realize the story isn't really over. Cinematically this forces us to question what's going to happen next, and should beg discussion by the audience.
If you read the other reviews (especially the negative reviews) before watching this movie you'll probably wonder how this seemingly formulaic prep-school movie could be as good as it is. Well, here's the answer: the movie was not meant to be a feel-good family movie with a happy ending. Rather, it was meant to make you squirm just a bit, and in the end question how we in the USA could possibly have come to a point of relegating ANY race or group of people to second-tier status. The movie simply offers that reality in counterpoise with the supposedly perfect world of an upper-class prep school, but you and I know it's happening around us right now, where we live and where we work.
Another reviewer took the sexual low road and railed against the shower scene. However, consider this: every time these boys hit the showers (they were football players, after all) one could reasonably expect this could be the place David Green's secret is discovered. Also, in a group shower situation one's defenses are completely down - there is nothing behind which to hide. For those of us who have been in the locker room, who have been part of a close team, the scene works and there is no more effective (and poignant) place for what is really the first of 2 climactic scenes in the movie. The scene wasn't sexual; it was revealing as a double-entendre: David's secret is out, and he can no longer hide who he is.
This movie was meant to be watched and then discussed; it's still not over.
By the way -- I gave this movie 4 stars because it isn't perfect; and because Ben Affleck proves in this movie that "Gigli" is really just about as good as he is going to get.
Movie Review: Entitlement in all its nastiness
Summary: 4 Stars
There's the crowd of glib, eccentric preppies, playing pranks on the French teacher... and we know that prejudice is going to rear its ugly head, but then it's so much more interesting than you're expecting.
For one, Dillon (Damon) is such a real person. He's such a sport about the scholarship kid coming in and taking his place on the football team. My favorite part is when he tells Green, "If you get into Harvard, you'll deserve it," (subtext: unlike me). He was even prepared to take it like a man when Green steals his girl. But that horrible feeling of inadequacy -- that he's never going to live up to his brother's standard, that he's just a sham of his family's reputation, transforms magically into hate when he realizes his rival is a Jew.
Dillon knows Green is the better man. He KNOWS it, but he still uses his religion to beat him down. It doesn't even matter whether Dillon believes the stereotypes. As long as some do, they can be used to attack the rival.
Charlie Dillon makes an excellent villain because he can be identified with. Whether you or I would attack someone's religious faith isn't necessarily the question. When people are in dire straights, they tend to jettison their principles and grab whatever tool seems handiest and most effective. I love the fact that we get to see this guy at his best and his worst.
When the question of the Honor Code arises, we get to see another side of the world faced by the outsider. Even if his classmates can get over their prejudice and remember that Green is a good guy, will that be enough to make them turn on one of their own? Even if they do, will it matter?
This movie was so much better than it had to be. Great plot, great characters, great atmosphere.
Movie Review: The Actors Make the Film
Summary: 4 Stars
The storyline is nothing new. Poor jewish kid goes to rich christian school and endures bigotry. However, the script is well written, the characters are complex, the acting is good and the direction is tight. What makes this film special is that you actually care about the characters. They are not one demensional.I especially liked the Matt Damon character ( Dillion ). He is a complex villian.
He is not inherently an evil character but one of weak character that decides to do evil. He loses the quaterback position on the football team and his girlfriend to the jewish kid. He does not hate the Brenden Frasier character ( David Green) so much that he is jewish, but more because he cant compete against David.
The revelation that david is jewish becomes a covenient way of destroying david's success at the school. Ironically, if dillon had not lost his g/f to david, one can infer that he and david would have remained friends despite the revelation that David was jewish.
The truly hateful character is suprisingly Davids G/F. She dumps dillon because David was the golden boy at the school.
She is very sweet and apears to love david but dumps him immediately after finding out he is jewish. The scene where she breaks up with David is heart-breaking.
She had no love for david but was more concerned with what "people might think." To her, david was the trophy B/F.
But when she discovered he was jewish, the trophy lost its luster.
The movie does not present bigotry in simplistic terms which many movies do. It shows varying degrees of bigotry from improper humour to overt hatred.
The movie is well made and worth watching and discussing afterwards.