Braveheart (1995): Looking Back Twenty Years

That clip was from Braveheart which is my latest entry into our Looking Back Twenty Years series of reviews. The year was 1995, and Braveheart walked off with 5 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. Mel Gibson would not direct for about 8 years had passed until 2003. It was then that he directed his controversial film, The Passion of the Christ, which was released near the end of February, 2004.

I recall seeing Braveheart in a big movie house in Manhattan and was quite impressed at the time. But twenty years have passed and all of us see things with different eyes. Attitudes have changed, both personally and collectively. Besides that, both film makers and movie stars have grown older, and some have exhibited strange or awkward behaviors which cannot help but color our memories.

On top of all of that, we just get smarter as we age, in general. Not because we are truly gaining wisdom, but rather because information arrives in our brains much quicker, and we have the benefit of added life experiences and maturity. Okay, maybe maturity is not as universal as one would hope.

Braveheart was filled with bravery and courage, with romance and dastardy acts, and with heroes of epic proportions as well as villains never to be forgotten. As much as this film was about William Wallace the freedom fighter for Scotland, it was also about the inequities of the English nobility and rulers.

But when you look past the clanging swords, the brutal deaths on the fields of battle, the English were always wearing helmets and protective gear on their heads, while the Scots and the Irish did not. The English were tidy in one sense, but oppressive and morally corrupt in another sense.

Longshanks: The trouble with Scotland is that it is full of Scots.

Wallace and his cohorts were manly, rough and tumble, shaggy and long haired, but beneath their gruff exteriors – they were a gentle and loving folk. Which is why this film is as much about Wallace’s love for Murran as it is about fighting to rid the land of the oppressors.

The scenes with Murran and Wallace courting and loving each other forever are almost so ethereal. so nearly spiritual, and romantic, that we are helpless before the images. We are carried along by Gibson’s canvas of visual splendors. And Murran’s smile would melt the heart of anyone. Which is why her demise was so difficult – not only for Wallace himself, but also for the viewers.

Edge of Darkness (2010)

Edge of Darkness opened today, Friday January 29th. My local cineplex has a 10:30 AM show and at just $5 a pop it was quite a bargain for a brand new feature. Mel Gibson portrays Boston Homicide Detective Tommy Craven. This is his first on-screen performance as the lead actor since M.Night Shyamalan’s Signs in 2002.

This latest version of Gibson is that he’s now an older man. He was born in 1956. The fact is that if Braveheart was being cast today, Mel wouldn’t have gotten to play the role of William Wallace.

But like Braveheart, as well as his other characters in Payback, Ransom, Patriot, and even the Mad Max series, Gibson will have a role wherein grievous harm was done to his family. This time, in EOD, within five minutes of the picture’s beginning, his daughter Emma is shot at the entrance to his home, and dies in his arms. That’s no spoiler as it was in the trailer.

What Do the Papers Say?

I wrote this last spring…a short discussion on some of the best movies about newspapers…

So today being Friday, a day when many if not most motion pictures open in the movies houses, I went to the movies. I saw The Soloist…

…and only a few days ago, I had gone to see State of Play, which I’ll discuss later.

The Good Guys

I’m done with school, I’m out in the world with a good many of those items that we chase after and desire, now either in my possession, or they’ve become forgotten dreams, or, they are current items on my credit card statement. There’s a lot of truth to the expression, ‘been there, done that’ — and while it is not my mantra, it does fit comfortably.

But it wasn’t that long ago that hanging out in a tree fort, hikes in the forest with the dog, and Saturday afternoon at the movies were very important to me. And in those days, when it was summer, and there was no school, we’d play cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, or G I Joe. It was fun to be a good guy. You could be heroic, brave, never run of make-believe ammo, and it was exciting to emulate heroes.

Growing up on Long Island, in a North Shore commuter town about forty miles east of Manhattan, we watched TV, played baseball, and absorbed as many movies as possible. And we loved those movie heroes. And today is no different … I still love my movie heroes.

Sorry, we won’t be talking about iconic cinema heroes like Indiana Jones, James Bond, Rocky Balboa, and Han Solo. We’ll leave them on the shelf for now. For me, so many of the cinematic good guys are cops. I’m not talking about the guys in uniforms that walk a beat, or handle crowd control or traffic. While exemplary, it is not the uniformed police that we will discuss here.

It’s the cool guys with gold shields — the detectives.

So Who Do You Like Today?

“So, who do you like today?”

This was the tag-line for some new promotional TV and radio spots that were being aired in the New York City Metropolitan area a few years ago. They were trying to lure you to go to Belmont Park, which is the primo place for Thoroughbred Horse Racing in America. I’m not going to be writing about horse racing at Belmont Park or anyplace else today. But I do like that line, and I’m asking that question but about a different subject.

Specifically, which movies for men do you like? You know, women have chick flicks, rom-coms, and love stories, then there’s comedies, tear-jerkers, and wholesome family movies. What I have in mind are movies that guys like you and me will watch again and again; and we’ll watch them every time they’re broadcast. So if I say, “Do you like this one?” you’ll say, “Hell yes! When is it on?” These are the kinds of movies that if I show you just a single image, you would probably recognize the movie. How about this one?

I don’t have to wipe out everyone, Tom – just my enemies.