Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.
One of a handful of Hollywood actors who subscribe to the Stanislavsky Method of acting, Christian Bale goes to the extremes of the Method, delving into the character and staying there for almost the entire project. Like Daniel Day-Lewis and others, this often elicits strong characters with a central identity. If that works for him, then so be it. As long as he doesn’t go to the depths that someone like Jared Leto does when inhabiting a vile role, his choices are copacetic in my book. Bale is also no stranger to box office draws. As the central character in the Dark Knight trilogy, he’s no stranger to the kind of role that would bring him lots of attention. He balances this out with plenty of smaller roles in smaller films, but that breadth of work helps make him one of the more dependable actors working today. This weekend, he plays the villain in Thor: Love and Thunder opposite Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. Here’s a look back at my five favorite films. Please note that while Batman Begins could have made it in over The Prestige, I felt sticking with a single character better than otherwise and considering how mediocre The Dark Knight Rises was, I didn’t want to include the entire trilogy as an example. Now, let’s take a look at the list.
Little Women (1994)
Many directors and actors have tackled the timeless story of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott’s two-volume novel. Gillian Armstrong was the fifth filmmaker to helm the title for the big screen and her translation of the story was perfect adept at sticking to the tone and tenor of the project. The story is about the four March sisters and their coming of age during a tumultuous time. With their father off fighting in the Civil War, it’s up to Marmee (Susan Sarandon) to raise her four girls with no income and no prospects. The times called for marriage for each of the daughters, but eldest Jo (Winona Ryder) rejects the notion and strikes out on her own in an attempt to become an author. Bale co-stars as Laurie, a longtime friend of the family who initially proposes to Jo who sees him as something of a brother to her and rejects him.
The film’s cast is wonderful with Ryder delivering one of her best performances and the rest of the cast infusing the film with warmth and heart. Gabriel Byrne appears as a German professor who encourage Jo’s intellectualism; Trini Alvarado plays the eldest sister, Meg; Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis play the youngest, Amy, at two stages of her life, youth and adulthood respectively; Claire Danes plays the remaining sister, Beth; and Eric Stoltz, Mary Wickes, and John Neville have other prominent roles. While the most recent version by Greta Gerwig is the so-far best, this ranks just behind George Cukor’s 1933 version starring Katharine Hepburn in terms of quality, all of which are great films perfectly fit for the times in which they were made.
No original review available.
The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
The second film on this list directed by a woman, The Portrait of a Lady is Jane Campion’s follow up to her Oscar-winning The Piano. The film stars Nicole Kidman as an eligible woman courted by numerous suitors. When she’s introduced to Barbara Hershey, the two become fast friends and she is encouraged to marry Hershey’s ex-lover, John Malkovich. Malkovich is abusive to Kidman who longs to get away from his control, especially when an old friend is on his death bed. Bale has a relatively minor role in the film as the romantic interest of Malkovich’s daughter Pansy (Valentina Cervi).
Although he had much more to do in Armstrong’s film, here he’s poorly used and takes a back seat to the rest of the story. Kidman is wonderful in her innocence, Malkovich is perfect in his character’s sliminess, but it’s Hershey who makes the film. Her character’s vicious machinations set all of the most harrowing events in the film in motion, giving her a surprising satisfaction over the difficulties she’s created. Yet, once she realizes what she’s done and the abuse she has unfairly pushed onto Kidman, she deeply regrets her decision and does what she can to resolve the situation, but being unable to overcome it all.
No original review available.
The Prestige (2006)
In Christopher Nolan’s follow up feature to Batman Begins, Bale makes his second appearance for Nolan in this period sci-fi thriller about warring musicians. Bale and Hugh Jackman play magicians’ apprentices who split into their own careers, working desperately to one-up each other and resorting to ever more reprehensible acts in the name of fame. The film co-stars Michael Caine as the pair’s mentor, Scarlett Johansson as Jackman’s assistant, Piper Perabo as Jackman’s wife, Rebecca Hall as Bale’s wife, and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla.
After Memento, Nolan became something of a zeitgeisty figure who then turned into a blockbuster filmmaker with Batman Begins. The Prestige was a smaller film than Batman, but was still a box office success, marking the beginning of a certified run of audience-pleasing successes. The Prestige was often compared with the year’s other period magician film, The Illusionist. Ultimately, Nolan’s film is the better picture and it’s a fascinating blend of sci-fi concepts with period elements, something not adequately represented on the big screen. It’s an enjoyable film and the twists are often surprising, though it’s probably one of Bale’s more minor efforts, at least in terms of performance.
No original review available.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Nolan’s massive success with Batman Begins assured the franchise would have as many sequels as he wanted, though he ultimately settled on a trilogy. While the first film was terrific, this second picture was amazing, one of the finest bits of superhero filmmaking yet achieved. It’s too bad the third film was such a tremendous letdown. Still, one of Nolan’s best films, The Dark Knight isn’t really a test of his acting capability and when faced with the magnificence that was Heath Ledger’s Joker, it’s impossible not to pale in comparison.
The film pits anarchist Joker against Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Caine, now a Nolan regular, returns as Bruce Wayne’s butler as does Morgan Freeman as his company’s CEO. Maggie Gyllenhaal makes her debut as the latest potential romantic interest for Bruce. The film is a perfect embodiment of all the distilled tropes of the superhero genre pulled from myriad successes from cinema’s past. Ledger’s virtuoso performance dominates the film, elevating the character beyond even what Jack Nicholson did with him in Tim Burton’s Batman. Of all the comic book flicks made in the last two decades, this is one of the absolute best.
The Fighter (2010)
Bale moved on from Nolan after The Dark Knight Rises, but he still made plenty of films with other filmmakers, including David O. Russell who found in Bale another actor for his stable of regulars. Bale only did two of his films, but they were both successes, this being the more compelling one (the other being American Hustle). For The Fighter, Russell’s film stars Mark Wahlberg as real life welterweight boxer Micky Ward whose career in the sport has been to serve as a punching bag for fighters going onto bigger things. Bale plays his older brother and trainer, Melissa Leo appears Wahlberg’s manager mother, and Amy Adams co-stars as the bartender Micky falls in love with.
The fascinating story of this undercard boxer takes us through the machinations of his older brother and mother through his relationship with Adams and his father’s (Jack McGee) insistence that his other family members weren’t beneficial for his career. It’s a straight forward narrative told with force and conviction. Bale and Leo were given Oscars for their work while Adams was also nominated, though Wahlberg was unfortunately left out. Wahlberg’s performance is sometimes quite subtle and when compared to the more domineering acts of Bale and Leo, he doesn’t seem to be doing much, but he does plenty and deserved more recognition for the film than he actually received.
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