Fair Game

mandy — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

In a moment of frustration toward the beginning of Doug Liman’s Fair Game, Valerie Plame points out the flaws in an overzealous CIA analyst’s interpretation of data. “Somebody had to ask the question,” says a collected Plame as she reveals evidence that shatters to pieces one of the popular arguments for invading Iraq. This moment of clarity is a microcosm for the film’s overall message and for the whole country’s frustration at an administration that lead a nation astray by providing answers before taking time to ask the questions. Americans were mislead, lied to, and ruled by fear during the years under the Bush administration and no clearer evidence may exist than the mistreatment of CIA-agent Valerie Plame.

Fair Game is based on the true story of Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) and her husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) who get caught up in a chaotic and uncertain post-9/11 government. Plame works undercover for the CIA investigating Middle Eastern intelligence and has been specially tasked with finding evidence of nuclear weapons manufacturing. Plame’s husband Joe Wilson is a former Ambassador to Gabon and has experience in Africa so the agency asks him to investigate whether an illegal trade of yellow cake Uranium has occurred from Niger to Iraq. When Wilson returns with no evidence and the opinion that such a trade never occurred, he is essentially ignored by the administration as the original piece of evidence is used by President Bush in his State of the Union as a reason to invade Iraq. This infuriates Wilson and inspires him to write an article for the New York Times entitled “What I Didn’t Find in Iraq.”

The article causes a stir in the Bush Administration and starts a search for a controversy to temporarily distract the country and discredit Wilson. This results in Scooter Libby revealing Valerie Plame’s identity to the press, which destroys all of her covert operations, causes her to lose her job and any government connections, and results in the disappearance of several Iraqi scientists that Plame was helping escape Saddam’s regime. It also causes a splinter in Plame and Wilson’s relationship as they struggle to maintain a sense of familial oneness in the midst of national turmoil.

The script combined with Naomi Watts' fiery persona shows Valerie Plame to be a very capable spy, which discounts many of the theories that Plame was an unimportant sideshow within the CIA. Liman takes no qualms in vilifying the Bush Administration by using stock footage of Bush and Cheney’s speeches edited to ominous music and shocked reaction shots. Liman makes a film for the current generation and fully expects his audience to have some background information about the events. The narrative is tightly scripted and fast moving which gives the simultaneous pleasure of a thrilling spectacle and an intellectually challenging political mystery.

Watts and Penn are fantastic in two very different leading turns. Penn’s Wilson exists at more varying emotional extremes as his enormous ego leads him to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Watts is more reserved and restrained in one of her better performances that acts as a perfect balance to Penn. There is also a fantastic supporting turn from the legendary Sam Shepard as Plame’s broken, advice giving father.

The one place the film does not succeed as efficiently is in the resolution of the conflicting relationship between Wilson and Plame. Liman seems to speed up their conclusion in order to get to the film’s final call to action. That call to action is an important one, however.

Read full review at Film Misery

Written by: Alex Carlson, November 10th 2010

The Runaways

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:23:00 +0000

Directed by Floria Sigismondi

River Road Entertainment

There’s nothing quite like entering a movie theatre on a bright, sunny day and getting completely engulfed in both the darkness of the space you're in and the story being told. I was hooked from the opening scene of The Runaways, and after watching the film, I immediately send a text to my best friend, a girl I’ve known since I was twelve years old, that read, “I just saw The Runaways movie; I really think you should see it. It reminded me of when we were young, and it made me really happy.”

First-time feature film director Floria Sigismondi does an amazing job of not just telling the story of The Runaways, five girls who changed rock ‘n’ roll forever with their brash songs and pouty teenage dispositions, but of capturing the magic and the all-around electricity of what it's like to be a young girl who finds power in music and chances across other girls who live and die by the albums made by their rock gods. Sigismondi, who also wrote the script, doesn’t focus much on Lita Ford, Sandy West, or Jackie Fox; the story is all about Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, whose stories, though completely different, eventually intertwine so that they become superstars together. The two young women tour the world as friends, bandmates, and sometimes, lovers.

My only major compliant about the film is that it centers Currie, played by Dakota Fanning. Though the movie is based on the newest, more graphic edition of Currie's memoir, Neon Angel, she was the only girl in the band who didn’t know how to play an instrument and had no desire initially to be in a band. Currie was, essentially, plucked out of obscurity by maniac record producer Kim Fowley (played brilliantly by Michael Shannon) while at a Hollywood club because she looked like an edgy, jail bait version of Bridgette Bardot. Fanning lacked the "rock ‘n’ roll authority" Fowley demanded of the real life Currie, whose growl could own a stage like nobody else.

The real star of the film is Kristen Stewart, who expertly channeled everything badass about a young Joan Jett. From her sneer to her guitar-wielding stance, not only does Stewart have an uncanny resemblance to the icon, but she beautifully conveyed Jett’s intense love of music and the utter heartbreak she experienced when The Runaways disbanded. While Currie would go no further in the music world (excepting the kitschy, gimmicky album she recorded with her twin sister Marie), Jett went on to form another successful band, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and experience a music career that has spanned over thirty years.

I loved this move because it has a killer soundtrack (hearing “Cherry Bomb” and “Queens of Noise” gave me goosebumps) that reminded me of being a completely crazy and sometimes reckless teenager whose life soundtrack was filled with bands whose way was paved by The Runaways (e.g., Bikini Kill, L7, and Hole). The Runaways illustrates the insanity of youth, the allure of rock ‘n’ roll, and the uncomfortable yet undeniable power and sex appeal of teenage girls. (Is that wrong to say? I don’t care.) Seeing The Runaways made me want to take back what I said in an earlier review. Girls being active participants in a good band is definitely the ideal, but I do think girls should form bands together regardless because we need an empowering alternative to all of the shitty music on the radio.

My niece, who I’m crazy about and very close to, turned seven years old on the day The Runaways was released. To honor this occasion, I bought her a neon pink electric guitar and an amp. Her baby sister, who’s turning six in two months, will be getting a drum set. Eventually, I want them to watch this film and come away with the earth-shattering images of girls who rock their hearts out, and sound damn good doing it. We definitely need more of that.

Written by: Tina Vasquez, March 20th 2010