Frank Oz: The Score

Director – Frank Oz

Writers – Daniel E. Taylor, Kario Salem, Lem Dobbs, Scott Marshall Smith

An aging thief hopes to retire and live off his ill-gotten wealth when a young kid convinces him to doing one last heist. –IMDB.com

Cast                                                  Character

Robert De Niro            …                Nick Wells

Edward Norton             …               Jack Teller

Marlon Brando            …                Max

Angela Bassett             …                Diane

Gary Farmer                …                Burt

Paul Soles                    …                Danny

Jamie Harrold               …                Steven

This review contains spoilers

Nick is a professional thief, one who has built his jazz bar from the heists he has done and the fortunes he has stole. He cracks a safe and when a couple walks in to the room he hides. He doesn’t act like a thug and try to kill them. The girl smokes a joint and the guy leaves. He tells her to not turn around by covering her mouth so she won’t scream. It’s a close call. He takes the loot and leaves.

Max proposes a score of 4 million dollars for a scepter from Europe. It is being held in the Montreal Customs House.

Nick’s girlfriend is Diane, played by Angela Bassett who was great in the movie Strange Days which I recommend. Nick asks her how she would feel if he were around more/gave up his criminal lifestyle. He is basically proposing marriage to her. She says she would have to give it serious thought.

Jack admits coming to Nick on the street as a retarded man was a stupid move. He convinces Nick to consider the heist for the scepter. Nick cases the Custom’s House. Nick talks to Max and demands 6 million instead of 4 for the scepter.

Nick goes underground under the Customs House. He uses what I believe is called a fiberscope to look into the room above. Later Diane says she will commit to marry Nick if he will give up his criminal life. He says he has one last job and she is angry.

Nick uses an inside guy who is a computer geek who needs $50,000 to pay off another IT guy for computer codes to bypass security at the Customs House. Steven gets and confirms the codes for Ironclad Security. Jack relays the code to Nick who tells Steven the codes He confirms they are good.

Jack/Brian does his job as a janitor. Jack does some electronics trickery, inserts the codes to bypass security. Nick sets up and tangles from the roof. Jack manipulates Nick by saying he’s got company when he doesn’t. He is mad that Nick doesn’t respect him and sees right through him. Jack cuts the cameras and Nick begins to crack the safe. The way he does it is pretty cool. He cannot drill the safe because a glass part in the door will shatter and permanently lock the safe. He uses a blowtorch to open a hole on the top part of the safe. He fills it with water and uses a bomb to explode open the door to the safe. He takes the scepter, which is worth 30 million dollars.

Jack pulls a gun on Nick and believes he has stolen the scepter when he has stolen a worthless imitation. Jack sets him up and tries to have him captured on camera. They go their separate ways escaping the Customs House. Nick reveals to Jack he’s got nothing. Jack looks in his case to see it’s a fake scepter and Nick got the real one. Nick reunites with Diane.

Oliver Stone: Wall Street

A young and impatient stockbroker is wiling to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing. – IMDB.com

Director – Oliver Stone

Writer – Stanley Weiser, Oliver Stone

Cast                                                    Character

Michael Douglas                 …           Gordon Gekko

Charlie Sheen                      …           Bud Fox

Daryl Hannah                      …           Darien Taylor

Martin Sheen                       …           Carl Fox

John C. McGinley              …             Marvin

Terence Stamp                     …           Sir Larry Wildman

James Karen                         …          Harry Lynch

The story of Wall Street has to do with greed, the loss of one’s soul to gain it all, and the will to fight to get one’s soul back. Bud Fox is an up and coming stockbroker who will do anything to get ahead. It is 1985 and he works as a junior stockbroker at Jackson Steinem & Co. in New York City.

Now I will be the first to say I don’t know shit about stocks or the stock market so this review will be more about the characters as I scrape the surface of t how this world works. Bud Fox idolizes a guy named Gordon Gekko who made over 47 million dollars on one stock trade alone.

Bud talks to his dad, Carl Fox the same guy he fucks over with Gekko on insider trading. Pathetic. Bud tells his dad, “I gotta live in Manhattan to be a player. There is no nobility in poverty anymore, Dad.” His dad is an airplane mechanic for Bluestar. After calling and leaving messages for Gekko dozens of times Bud Fox brings in some Cuban cigars for Gekko, something he likes. Bud tries to give him information on different airlines but Gekko isn’t interested. Bud tells him about Bluestar inside information about the company being cleared of a lawsuit which will bring the stock up.

Gekko tells Bud to buy 20,000 shares of Bluestar. Gekko asks if Bud bought Teldar after their meeting Bud says, “No, sir, that wouldn’t have been legal.” Gekko assures him he won’t get into trouble and hands him a check to Jackson, Steinem & Co. for 1 million dollars. Gekko promises him if he does good he gets perks. Lots and lots of perks.

Lisa comes to Bud’s apartment and tells him they are going out. Gordon Gekko sent her. Gekko basically tells him at the gym he wants inside information – insider trading which of course is illegal. Gekko tells Bud later he wants him to spy on Wildman and see what he’s up to. Bud says he could lose his license. Gekko tells him if he’s not inside, he’s outside.

Bud tells Gekko that Wildman is buying Anacott Steel. Gekko starts slowly buying it. Bud tells his coworkers, Marvin and Lou to try to sell Anacott Steel to their clients. He says it’s a sure thing. Lou says, “No such thing, except death and taxes.” He also tells him, “Remember, there are no short cuts, son.” Bud should listen to this advice but he is reckless and ambitious, two things that will lead to his downfall.

Bud meets Darien Taylor and is in love with her at first sight. She is an interior decorator. She tells him to call her. Gekko agrees to sell his stock of Anacott Steel to Wildman for 71.50 a share. Wildman says he can turn the company around.

Bud is given power of attorney to buy stocks for Gekko without his knowledge. He is told about using money from offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands. Bud is quickly learning how to be a business criminal. Bud gets his new corner office and is happy. He buys an apartment at 950,000 dollars.

Bud asks himself, “Who am I?” A good question now his identity is that of a criminal. Gordon Gekko makes a speech about Teldar Paper. He says he is not a destroyer of companies, he’s a liberator of them. Gekko says, “Greed is good.” The thing these people do is buy and sell. They don’t create anything which is what Carl Fox complains about later in the film.

Gordon Gekko wants Bluestar to do a 20% wage cut and 7 more hours a month. Carl rejects the offer and tells Gekko he is all about greed. Carl tells his son Gekko’s using him. Bud tells his dad he’s jealous. Stockwatch starts investigating Bud because he buys large quantities of Teldar from an offshore account. The SEC starts calling Roger Barnes (played by James Spader) which naturally pisses him off.

In a meeting Bud finds out they are going to liquidate Bluestar and build Condos where the hangars are. It’s revealed Gekko will make $60-70 million dollars on the deal. Instead of building up the company and restructuring, Gekko wants to wreck Bluestar. Bud asks Gekko, “How much is enough.?” Gekko promises Bud he will have a golden parachute and his father will never have to work again.

Darien tells Bud if he crosses Gekko she won’t stand by him. She is too addicted to the lifestyle. Bud’s dad, Carl, has a heart attack. Bud tells his dad he loves him. Bud tells Lou to put his clients on Bluestar. Lou tells him, “I don’t know where you get your information, son, but I don’t like it. The main thing about money, Bud…it makes you do things you don’t want to do.” That is one of the smartest things I ever heard. The stocks go down for 23 a share. Gordon is mad he will only make 10 million dollars. Greed is amazing. Bud wants and agrees with Wildman to have him buy Bluestar when it drops to 18 dollars a share. Gekko sells his shares pissed he lost a small fortune. Bud is happy Gekko won’t destroy the company which saves his soul and his father’s company.

The next day everyone is looking at Bud at work. They know something. The SEC and other representatives for other agencies are there in Bud’s office investigating. He is under arrest for conspiracy to commit securities fraud and for violating the Insiders Traders Sanction Act. He is arrested and in tears.

When Bud meets with Gekko, Gekko yells and hits him and reminds Bud of all the insider information he taught Bud to use. Bud was wearing a wire.

Bud thinks he will go to prison, which he probably will. Carl tells him, “Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others.” Bud goes to the courthouse to await his fate.

Pedro Almodóvar: Talk to Her

Director/Writer – Pedro Almodóvar

Cast                                               Character

Javier Camara                 …           Benigno Martin

Dario Grandinetti          …            Marco Zuluaga

Leonor Watling              …            Alicia

Rosario Flores                 …           Lydia Gonzalez

Mariola Fuentes              …           Rosa

Geraldine Chaplin            …          Katerina Bilova

Pina Bausch                    …           Bailarina Café Muller

Malou Airaudo                …          Bailarine Café Mullet

Caetano Veloso                …         Singer at Party

Roberto Álvarez              …          Doctor Vega

Elena Anaya                    …          Angela

                                                  Lola Dueñas                   …          Matilde

The film Talk to Her begins at an opera with Marco and Benigno in the audience. Benigno talks to the comatose Alicia as if she’s conscious. The male feminine is in contrast to the female masculine of Lydia as she is a female bullfighter. The male feminine is shown when Marco cries at the play performance in the beginning. “When Marco cries in the early stages of the film he is crying for himself, for his own pain.” (Shpall 100)

 

After Marco kills a snake in Lydia’s house she vows never to return to her home. Lydia later has an elaborate dressing for her bullfighter attire. Before the bullfight Lydia kisses a religious necklace she has for protection. She gets hit by the bull.  “It is also important that Niño and Marco seem to compete with each other  in claiming responsibility for Lydia’s goring. Presumably they each think that Lydia was distracted on account of them.” (Shpall 99)

“The film has four works of art embedded in it. There are two dances by Pina Bausch that occupy key positions, the opening and closing shots of the films. There is the long song , "Cucurrucucú paloma" not so much sung as confided by the tenor Caetano Veloso. And there is a silent movie The Shrinking Lover, created by Almodóvar himself. We and the characters are spectators of them. They have little to do directly with the plot, just as art is separate from life. However Spaniards regard bullfighting as more an art than a sport, and bullfighting has a lot to do with this plot.” (Holland)

During a Caetano Veloso performance, Marco cries again. He does this many times during the film. Marco tells Lydia a story of him crying after killing another snake for a woman years ago. He is slow to forget her. This has stunted his emotional development and maturity.  He remembers this in flashback. A doctor tells Marco that Lydia’s brain is dead. Marco and Benigno meet as Marco was looking in on him helping a patient called Alicia. “Marco is as superficially masculine as Benigno is superficially feminine.” (Shpall 104) Benigno is in love with Alicia. Marco is in love with Lydia. Both women are comatose. 

Benigno reveals to Alicia’s father he is mostly into men and that he is a virgin after being asked. Katerina talks to the comatose Alicia with Benigno nearby. Katerina is her dancing teacher. Benigno watches Alicia dance at the studio in flashback. He borderline stalks her and finds out her father is a psychiatrist. He sees the shrink and tells him of his mother’s death. He wonders around the office until he gets to Alicia’s room and takes her hairclip. Weird. Benigno reveals to Marco Alicia had a car accident on a rainy day and that is why she ended up in the hospital. 

Benigno suggests that Marco talk to her, Lydia and Marco says she’s brain dead. Benigno says he’s not so sure about that. Marco asks him what does he know about women three times. Benigno says he was with one for 20 years, his mom presumably and another for 4 years, Alicia. So he knows nothing. Angela and Benjamin get married and Marco says to Lydia he’s finished with Angela. Marco says it took him 10 years to get over her. 

“Marco is an immature man whose selfishness makes him unable to love. He is missing the fundamental virtue of love, the desire to talk to one’s partner, to participate in a genuine dialogue of selves. We get the impression that travel is for him an escape from the painful difficulties of social relations and the consuming fixations of his own desire.” (Shpall 100)

A nurse lets Benigno know Alicia is late on her period like a month late. Later we find out Benigno has raped her.

Benigno says he wants to marry Alicia to Marco. Marco tells him his relationship to Alicia is a crazy monologue. A head doctor announces to everyone working, “Our patient Alicia Roncero was raped and is pregnant.” Benigno is told he is the prime suspect. Later Marco reads that Lydia Gonzalez has died. 

On the phone a nurse explains to Marco Benigno is in jail for raping Alicia. He is in jail in Segovia. Benigno wants another lawyer because the current one despises him and to rent out his apartment. Marco takes care of these two things. Marco watches Alicia do exercises at the dace studio from Benigno’s apartment. Maybe he is remembering or imagining her do these things because she is still in a coma.  Alicia’s baby is born dead. Benigno writes to Marco saying he will escape prison. Marco goes to the prison to read a letter written by Benigno. 

He writes that he hopes with all the pills he will take it will put him in a coma with Alicia. If he kills himself it will be the smartest thing he could do than do prison time. I have been in prison and if I knew what I was going to lose in prison I would have killed myself a long time ago.

Marco cries for his friend who he now visits at his grave. Marco meets Alicia at the play/performance and presumably they start a relationship together.

Works Cited:

Shpall, Sam. “The Men of Talk to Her.” Yale University

Holland, Norman N. “Pedro Almodóvar, Talk to Her, Hable con Ella, 2002” A Sharper Focus. 28 February 2018.

Wes Anderson: Rushmore

Rushmore 

Director – Wes Anderson

Writer – Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson

The extracurricular king of Rushmore preparatory school is put on academic probation.

-IMDB.com

Cast                                              Character

Jason Schwartzman       …       Max Fischer

Bill Murray                       …        Herman Blume

Olivia Williams                …        Rosemary Cross

Seymour Cassel               …        Bert Fischer

Brian Cox                           …        Dr. Nelson Guggenheim

                                                       Mason Gamble                 …        Dirk Calloway

                                                       Sara Tanaka                      …        Margaret Yang

Max Fischer is the character we focus on in Rushmore. The title refers to the school in which he attends. He competes with Herman Blume played by Bill Murray for the love of Rosemary Cross. It’s hard to like Max because he is a deluded, little prick. 

 

Herman Blume during a speech takes aim at rich boys who are privileged and can buy anything. Max likes this and talks to him after. He is a member of countless extracurricular clubs. Later he is put on sudden death academic probation. If he fails another class he’ll be asked to leave Rushmore. 

He discovers Miss Cross because of a quote she might have put in a book he’s reading. H finds her reading to her kindergarten class. It’s funny because the title of the book she’s reading is called “Kidnapped.” When asked by Blume what his dad does, Max lies and says he’s a neurosurgeon. At his twins sons’ birthday party his wife spoon feeds a man who it seems she is having an affair with. 

Max Fischer is smitten by Miss Cross so he becomes her teacher’s assistant. Max is only 15 and he’s trying to pick up Miss Cross. She says they cannot have a relationship. He puts on a play of Serpico and everyone loves it. Miss Cross introduces Max to Peter Flynn played by Luke Wilson. Max is condescending and rude to Peter which is funny since he’s a 15 year old nobody. Blume has feeling too for Miss Cross.

Max gets expelled from Rushmore and is now at a public school. He meets Margaret Yang. He still wears his Rushmore uniform while at this school which shows his attachment to the school and his arrogant attachment to status. Blume shows some mean spirit by blocking a basketball shot to some 8 year olds interrupting their game. It’s funny. 

Miss Cross begins tutoring Max. He becomes a cheerleader for his school.  Margaret Yang takes an interest in him which I can’t see why. Dirk confronts Blume about cheating on his wife with Miss Cross. He then spits on the hood of Blume’s car. 

Max does a play now with racial stereotypes as a gangbanger which is how he views his racially diversified school. It shows his arrogance and ignorance. He argues with Blume telling him he was in love with Cross first, childishly. Max like the prick he is tells Blume’s wife Blume is cheating on her. Max puts bees through Blume’s hotel door through a tube. He then sabotages Blume’s brakes in his car. Max is later arrested. Max is such a two-faced prick he takes photos of Miss Cross that show she is with Blume trying to get her fired. 

Max tries to kiss Miss Cross which she rejects. Max gets knocked out by the Scottish student. He becomes a barber with his dad at his shop. Max and Blume talk at the hospital and he reveals to Max Miss Cross is still in love with her dead husband. Max always abuses Miss Cross’s kindness and lies about being hit by a car to her. She tells him she left Blume because he’s married and hates himself. Miss Cross cries over her dead husband. Later while flying a kite with Dirk Margaret Yang tells Max he is a real jerk to her. She flies her remote control airplane.

Max buys dynamite. He later directs and writes a play about Vietnam. The Vietnam play is a hit like all his plays. 

This movie is very good and I recommend people to see all of Wes Anderson’s films.