The Birdcage

It tends to be a surprise at how well some works hold up amid the passage of time. The people involved may have passed on since then, but it's how the story has endured that stands out. Several sensibilities have shifted, but it proves to be ahead of its own time.

Take, for instance, Mike Nichols' The Birdcage. Made when the queer community served as little more than a demeaning punchline, it itself shows how unwarranted such "jokes" are, instead showing them in a more sympathetic light. If anything, the butt of the jokes (courtesy of Elaine May's script) are the uptight conservatives whose myopic views are unfortunately still rampant today.

That said, there are moments in The Birdcage that very much date it. The stereotypes are leaned into a bit too broadly at times. (Granted, this was a few years before Will & Grace hit the airwaves, but still.) However, once the first impression has been scraped back, there's more depth to the characters, giving them the dignity they were denied the previous decade. Small steps, but progress all the same.

As expected from a Nichols production, The Birdcage gets some solid work from its roster of actors. There's an irony in there being a film starring Robin Williams (playing the ironic "straight man") where he gets overshadowed by Gene Hackman (not long after his Oscar win for Unforgiven) when it comes to laughs (case in point: the closing scene). Just goes to show that Nichols was good at his job. (One doesn't become an EGOT winner from just showing up, after all.)

The Birdcage may be a product of its time on occasion, but it still treats its subjects better than other similar works of the era. In the time since its release, things have fluctuated between improving and declining for the queer community. One thing, however, has remained consistent: they aren't taking things lying down.

My Rating: ****

Primary Colors

With all the sheer insanity of this current election, one starts to wonder if this was always the case. Are most if not all political campaigns this bloodthirsty? Granted, fiction often satirizes what happens in the world of politics (i.e., The Thick of It, Veep) but sometimes life itself inspires fiction.

Such is the case with Mike Nichols' Primary Colors. With Jack (John Travolta) and Susan Stanton (Emma Thompson) being obviously based on Bill and Hillary Clinton -- Jack more so -- it's safe to say that it caused a bit of controversy upon its release. (Details of the Lewinsky affair were emerging at the time.)

Of course considering this current election, Primary Colors shines in a different light. Elements of both the film and the election eerily parallel one another, almost to a point that it seems Nichols and Elaine May foretold the future. But the film's more than a thinly-veiled exposé.

As expected from a Nichols production, the acting is top-notch. Each actor brings their A-game to their performances, no matter the size of the role. The one that stands out from them all is Kathy Bates, the lone actor to receive an Oscar nomination for Primary Colors. (And it doesn't take much to see why.)

Primary Colors is one of several politically-themed films that depicts a world of backstabbing and sabotage to further their own careers. But Nichols and May satirize such matters to make it accessible to those with a faint grasp of politics. After all, isn't it a subject that next to everyone is sick and tired of?

My Rating: ****1/2

Carnal Knowledge

The opening dialogue of Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge shows how differently Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and Sandy (Art Garfunkel) think when it comes to women. Sandy ponders about the emotional connection whereas Jonathan is only concerned about "big tits". This resonates throughout the film.

Bearing in mind how the characters in Nichols' first two films Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate interacted, it should come as no surprise that the characters of Carnal Knowledge behave in a similar manner. The insecure (Sandy) being manipulated by the deeply jaded (Jonathan). (See also Nick and Honey by George and Martha, and Benjamin Braddock by Mrs. Robinson.)

It's worth mentioning that this film was made at a time where sex was a very open topic amongst mixed company. (It should also be mentioned that this was made before the feminist movement was in full swing.) This was certainly something that couldn't have been made ten, fifteen years prior.

And there's also how masculinity is depicted throughout Carnal Knowledge. In an early scene, Jonathan and Sandy see Susan (Candice Bergen) and Sandy behaves in an awkward manner as he tries to meet her. This scene establishes how even though both men act confident around women, they're actually deeply unnerved when it comes to women.

Carnal Knowledge is very well done but the chauvinistic nature of it can be a bit much in some scenes. Still, the work from Nicholson, Garfunkel and especially Ann-Margret makes up for it. Sometimes sex brings out the worst in people.

My Rating: ****1/2

Working Girl

I've always liked Mike Nichols. He knows how to get good if not great performances out of his actors (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Closer). Then again, what else do you expect from someone who started out on Broadway?

His 1988 film Working Girl is another showcase of actors. To think the daughter of one of Hitchcock's blondes and two outer space badasses would be responsible for starring in this smart satire of sex and the workplace.

The two leading ladies are Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver. Both are on completely different ends of the business world. Griffith is a novice but she knows what she's doing. Weaver is a professional but she doesn't have a clue as to what she's doing. It's fun to see these two on screen.

The leading man is Harrison Ford, who is actually really great here. Bear in mind that he did a number of action movies throughout the 1980's (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner), so it's nice to see him in a lighter role.

All in all, Working Girl is a really good movie. The one major put-off is the 1980's fashion. (Seriously, they thought huge hair and shoulder pads looked good?) Still, a comedy that's smart and focuses on a woman that's not a sexpot is a rarity these days.

My Rating: ****1/2

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Real-life couples usually get cast to play lovers in movies (ie, Humphrey  Bogart and Lauren Bacall). So what happens when a couple who's very much in love have to go at each other's throats? You get Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.

George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) are an aging couple who have spent their marriage drinking and fighting. They invite young couple Nick (George Segal) and Honey (Sandy Dennis) for drinks, but Nick and Honey will see George and Martha's crumbling marriage.

An adaptation of an acclaimed play? Who else but a veteran of directing Broadway to make it? The performances from Burton, Taylor, Segal and Dennis are top notch. George and Martha are a match made in hell. I'm not sure what they saw in each other when they first met, but there's a good chance that they were drunk. Honestly, this is one of the few directorial debuts that doesn't get overlooked by the director's later movies. In fact, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is Nichols' most famous movie, which I definitely have to agree on.

My Rating: *****

Closer

Mike Nichols has to be one of the most esteemed director in the entertainment industry. He is one of the few people to have Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy wins, a feat only nine other people have accomplished.

Alice Ayres (Natalie Portman) meets mediocre obituary journalist Dan Woolf (Jude Law) and they become a couple. He meets photographer Anna Cameron (Julia Roberts), then "introduces" her to dermatologist Larry Gray (Clive Owen). Larry and Anna marry, but she and Dan are having an affair, much to the dismay of Alice and Larry.

Since the movie revolves around sex, you would expect an overflow of it considering Nichols directed Carnal Knowledge thirty-three years earlier. But thankfully, we are spared that. Closer has one of the best ensemble cast I've seen. Owen and Portman give the strongest performances, though Law and Roberts are very good too. This is only the third movie by Mike Nichols I've seen (the others are The Graduate and Charlie Wilson's War), but I know enough that he is a very good director. One of Nichols' best.

My Rating: ****1/2

Charlie Wilson's War

Politics and movies don't usually mix, as with the case with some certain actors. But if it's politics in movies, that's different.

In the early 1980's, Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a womanizing US congressional representative from Texas who seems to be in minor leagues, except for the fact that he is a member of two major foreign policy and covert-op committees. However, prodded by his major conservative supporter Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), Wilson learns about the plight of the people suffering in the brutal Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. With the help of the maverick CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Wilson dedicates his canny political efforts to supply the Afghan mujahideen with the weapons and support to defeat the Soviet Union.

I think I would've liked the movie a bit more had I been more aware of the events depicted in it. The performances were good, more so from Hanks and Hoffman. I wasn't expecting much from Mike Nichols' direction (mind you, the only other movie I've seen by him was The Graduate), but it was good.

My Rating: ****

The Graduate

In my opinion, 1967 was a landmark year for movies. Just that year, you had Bonnie and Clyde, In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, In the Heat of the Night, and, my personal favorite, The Graduate, which I shall be reviewing.

Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) has recently graduated from college and is unsure what to do with his life. That is, until he's seduced by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), the wife of his father's business partner. He succumbs to the temptation and takes part in a sordid affair. The affair is short-lived, but memories of it come back to haunt Benjamin when Mrs. Robinson's daughter Elaine (Katherine Ross) enters the picture.

If you noticed my reviews for other classic romantic comedies, you may have noticed that I usually praise the screenplay and the acting. I mean, today's romantic comedies tend to have god-awful screenplays and performances eligible for a Razzie. Anyway, The Graduate is definitely a movie worth checking out.

My Rating: *****