Issue 37: Sydney Brown's Sixty Seconds
By Sydney Brown

Sixty Seconds with Sydney Brown

Hey, it’s Mr. Brown back wit’cha with some more movies for you to see or ignore. It’s been a long week, my brain is tired. Here we go:

The Simpsons Movie (2007) Dan Castellaneta, A. Brooks ***

Homer adopts a pig which somehow leads to Armageddon in Springfield. If you honestly go to The Simpsons Movie for the plot, you get what you deserve. The first half hour is some of the sharpest and funniest the Simpsons have been in years with rapid-fire jokes so fast and furious you wonder how they can keep it up. Well, they don’t, but it’s all-in-all a very funny film. Movie kinda falls apart in the end when too many people learn lessons they learned in about ten different episodes, but it’s still an easy recommendation.

Edmond (2005) William H. Macy *1/2

A film that starts off so promisingly with Macy as an average joe who’s had “enough,” (ie. Falling Down), collapses so spectactularly with a single scene that begs you to laugh at its ridiculousness, (and I’m not talking about George Wendt as a Russian pawnbroker.) A play by David Mamet knows the words but not the feeling. The first ten minutes are intriguing, and the last scene is equally so, but the rest of it is just brutal. Rarely have I been more disappointed in a play adaptation. Macy starts off as a naive businessman then turns racist psycho on a dime. There are memorable moments for sure, (and probably for the wrong reasons), but just an all-around letdown.

Commando (1985) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rae Dawn Chong ***

Very guilty pleasure that sums up 80s movies completely with Arnold as an Army colonel forced to assassinate a Latin dictator to save his daughter’s life. Oddly, Arnold objects to this, yet doesn’t object to killing over 100 people in the course of 90 minutes. Even more odd is how Arnold can barely break a sweat doing so yet can have trouble with the main bad guy, who is about the size of Arnold’s thigh. Epitome of 80s movies, it makes no sense, but it makes no sense in a fun way.

To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) William Peterson, Willem DaFoe ***

I watched this a while ago and forgot to review it for some reason. Peterson is a “renegade” cop out to do whatever it takes to bring down counterfeiter DaFoe for killing his partner. Looks like your typical Miami Vice story until our hero takes a MAJOR wrong turn and the film becomes almost an entirely new film. Both leads give wonderful performances, (this was one of DaFoe’s first roles), and a rather sharp script with not one but two shock twists that even more shockingly….make SENSE!! DaFoe is actually counterfeiting real money, and legend has it, the entire cast and crew came dangerously close to being arrested, (since that’s a federal offense and all….)

Breach (2007) Chris Cooper, Ryan Philippe ****

Fact-based account of the 2001 arrest of a US FBI agent caught selling classified documents to the Russians. Chris Cooper and Ryan Philippe give outstanding performances as both the agent and the informant assigned to take him down. Don’t expect The Bourne Identity, this is a character study showing how the agent’s flaws were what ultimately led to his demise. From Billy Ray, director of one of the great unseen films, 2003’s Shattered Glass. Both films based on true stories, both films having great performances, and both films having great performances from actors usually ignored (Philippe here, Hayden Christensen in Glass.) A must-see, and as of this writing, 2007’s best film.