Caddickisms

Dustin Hoffman plays a down-on-his-luck anti-hero who reluctantly saves 54 people from a plane crash, including a news reporter (Geena Davis) whose purse he steals in the process of saving her, before disappearing into the night.

John Bubber (Andy Garcia) is the homeless guy who gives Bernie LaPlant (Hoffman) a ride back into the city and becomes the only person to learn the true story of the crash and Bernie’s role. When a million dollars is offered for an interview with the mysterious “Angel of Flight 104″, Bubber steps forward and takes Bernie’s place in the spotlight (and the money). The media turns him into a national celebrity and heroic inspiration to all, while Bernie is forced, through various circumstances, to watch the growth of the pretender’s legacy.

Hero is one of the best movies that no-one seems to have heard of. It’s a well mixed dramatic comedy, with superb acting and a great script. It’s a simple story, really, about flawed humans: characters who can be heroic in one instance and deceptive the next. Plus it’s simply entertaining.

If it didn’t have such a prevalence of unsavory language from the main character, I’d recommend it unreservedly as an uplifting tale about the heroes in all of us.

I also love the poster - it does such a great job of conveying the media view displayed in the movie, and introducing the triumvirate of main characters. And the tag line sums up the movie perfectly:

We’re all heroes if you catch us at the right moment.

To those who can deal with the language, I highly recommend it.

Four and a half stars.

Technorati Tags: Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis, Andy Garcia, Chevy Chase, Heroism, anti-hero, movie, review, plane crash

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Finding Neverland wasn’t boisterous, or exhuberantly full of wonder. It was, if anything, understated and simple in its execution. Despite the drama of a crumbling marriage, oppression, depression, and death, there were no histrionics, no yelling, no overwrought grief - these things were just facts of life to be dealt with. This was a movie where the actors checked their egos at the door and let the story be the star. And I think that is exactly why it worked so well.

Without sacrificing the reality of the situation, this movie managed to take you into one man’s imagination and remind you of the simple truth of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. As Dustin Hoffman put it in one of the included documentaries,

“Don’t grow up; never grow up. Be an adult, be mature, but don’t be a grown up.”

The story of Peter Pan itself focuses much more on the “Don’t grow up” part of that sentiment. Finding Neverland strikes a perfect balance of both sides of that coin. Johnny Depp does a superb job of playing an adult in turn-of-the-century English society, complete with the seriousness and reality that the role demands, and the importance of imagination in that man’s life. He was in no way childish, but rather infused the wisdom of playfulness into an adult world.

And he did a pretty convincing Scottish accent, too (not that I’m any expert).

This was a very mature movie. It’s a shame there aren’t many more like it.

Technorati Tags: Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie, Neverland, movies, maturity, imagination, playfulness, Johnny Depp, Dustin Hoffman

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