Peter-Gallagher Movie Reviews

Far more than a shlock version of Shakespeare's masterpiece, it's an intense, flawless work, updating the Bard's lines with the brutal lingo of the mob. William Reilly, the writer-director, also co-wrote Mortal Thoughts, another sadly overlooked razor-sharp film. And he really knows how to write; the script here allows the performances to be as great as they are.

Don't pay attention to Leonard's totally-missing-the-boat words of condemnation. In fact, I would say, Out, out, damned Leonard. Rent this movie--better yet, buy it. You won't be disappointed.

Turturro by the way gives this film his best performance ever and all the casting is outstanding.

Initially, Sean doesn't understand her insistence that the decision is theirs to make and insists the priest is right - she signed a pledge. Feeling betrayed, she steals off with her daughters, not realizing the consequences that lay ahead. It is not my intention to moralize on what the viewer should come away thinking after seeing this movie or to give my own interpretation of the message. Just see the movie . . .

This screenplay delves much deeper into the psychological and oranizational issues surrounding the relieving of the captain of the USS Caine by his junior officers than does the 1954 movie. There is much more substance relating to the pressures and conflicts between a leader in time of war and those that must serve under him.

And the performance of the actors is also much superior to those in the theatrical movie. The latter, although a "star studded cast", were probably hampered by the sterotypical expectations of the immediate post war era. This newer crew does an excellent job of quickly filling out their character's persona with very little "on screen" time to acomplish such a feat. The starring actors, Eric Bogosian as defense attorney Greenwald and Brad Davis as Lieutenant Commander Queeg, are simply outstanding. But it is the performances by the supporting cast that turn this version of the broadway play into a true jewel of naval story telling: Jeff Daniels as Steve Maryk the accused, Peter Gallagher as the prosecuting attorney, and Michael Murphy as the Captain Presiding Officer of the Court are all extremely believable. Even the character of Captain Southard, called in as an expert at destroyer seamanship, comes over as a very strong personality. And last but not least, Ken Michels, in the cameo role of Dr. Bird, the psychiatry witness, accomplishes a classic, detestable portrayal.

And believe it or not, the climatic scene where Queeg goes paranoid on the witness stand is even more dramatic than either the book version or the subsequent 1954 motion picture.

The final scenes at the celebration party are fast and furious, so the viewer has to remain alert to pick up all the nuances of the dialog. It is kinda heavy on the holocaust theme, but Greenwald's profound statements on professional warriors and the pressures of command are the essence of Wouk's story.

All in all, this is a classic "jewel" that has not gotten the credit it truely deserves ...

The movie was not what I expected it to be, and that turned out better than I thought. The comedy is pulled off without a hitch by the two leads, even if it's somewhat hard to get every word out of their mouths. I recommend this movie to anyone looking for something different.

That statement also holds true of the dancers that I've met, but the characterizations in this movie do not ring entirely true with me. Everyone is so stereotypical--and even many of the reviewers who enjoy this movie admit that. There's the anorexic girl who is under intense pressure from her mother to succeed. There's the male dancer who's only interested in sleeping with as many women as possible. And, there's the girl who should be the next Margot Fonteyn, if it weren't for her deficient technique and wrong body type. After watching this film, I'm left yearning for a deeper and more nuanced portrayal of dancers' lives. I just don't want to believe that dancers are generally this shallow.

By now, I'm sure you already know that this movie is about the pressure-filled lives of dancers at an academy. "Life doesn't hold tryouts." The plot is adequately described elsewhere, so I'm not going to spend time reiterating it. I also assume that you have read the excellent editorial overview by the Amazon.com staffer.

Like one of the previous viewers, my first impression of the female lead, the beautiful Amanda Schull, was that she is a Jennie Garth look-a-like. At the time this movie was shot, she was only an apprentice in the San Francisco Ballet (SFB). Since then, she has moved up into the corps de ballet. Realistically speaking, she's probably not going to be their next great prima ballerina. But, she's had some acting lessons, and her stage presence is undeniable. Her charm might work well in future demi-character or character roles for SFB, but she would have to steadily improve her dancing in order to move up any further in their ranks.

Ethan Stiefel, of American Ballet Theatre (ABT), is the male lead. Stiefel is indeed blessed with a great deal of dancing ability, but acting is not his strong suit. Julie Kent, also of ABT, plays a minor role. What little dancing she actually does happens to be very lovely. The student dancers, however, are on a lower plane of ability, and they are not entirely above criticism. Today's young dancers would do well to study the greatest female leaper of all times--Maya Plisetskaya of the Bolshoi Ballet. For instance, the student dancers do a jumping pass during one of the classroom scenes, where they all do a pure split in the air. That's how a gymnast would do it on the floor exercise. Back in the glory days of the Bolshoi, their ballerinas used to (1) turn their back leg to the side, (2) bend their back knee just slightly, (3) bevel their back foot up some, (4) angle their front leg down a little bit and their back leg up a little, and (5) then add a little cambre. It's a much superior aesthetic position in the air. These student dancers have some promise, but they need more polish.

This movie has been cleverly positioned from a marketing standpoint. The VCR dust jacket proudly proclaims: "'Fame' for the new millennium." I found it interesting how the pictures that dominate the jacket are so reminiscent of the old TV show. They were taken from the jazz class scene at the "Broadway Dance Studio" and also while they were salsa dancing in a nightclub. By contrast, pictures of ballerinas on pointe have been kept to a bare minimum on the jacket. To me, this suggests a problem with the marketing of ballet among the general public. Let's be honest: ballet has not captured the interest of all that many Americans, and therefore ballet movies are rare. There's a lot of risk involved for the investors, so the writer aims to create a script with larger appeal. That's why they tend to make movies about the lives of dancers (like this one), instead of making movies of actual ballets. This enables them to reach other audiences, such as those for jazz and ballroom dance, because they can incorporate those other elements into the story. (That's exactly what they did in "White Nights" by casting Baryshnikov with tap dancer Gregory Hines.) In this case, some figure skating fans may be attracted to this movie by the inclusion of Ilia Kulik in the cast. I suppose that ballet fans should just be grateful for whatever movies they do get, but it's unfortunate that there aren't more movies of actual ballets being made.

When was the last time that someone in the West took the care and expense to make a movie of an actual ballet (excluding "The Nutcracker")? Take the feature film "Giselle" (1969) by American Ballet Theatre, for example. The lead dancers (Carla Fracci, Erik Bruhn and Toni Lander) laid down some of the most beautiful examples of petit allegro found on film, and many balletomanes just dismissed the movie entirely--without properly valuing the performances--because the camera work wasn't exactly like what they were used to watching in a videotaped stage performance. That's petty. So, in some ways, we ballet fans deserve lame, commercialized movies such as this one. We deserve now having Amanda Schull as our new lead, who at her young age seems to have been picked more for her beautiful looks, personality and ability to heat up the stage with her sex appeal than for her dancing. Yes, I think so.

The idealist in me says, "I want to see movies of actual ballets!" The realist in me says, "Movies about dancer's lives are about all that I'm going to get these days." I guess that maybe I would come to accept this fact, if movies like this one just weren't so stereotypical and shallow.

That's why CENTER STAGE is such a pleasant surprise - the dancing scenes are very well staged and except for onesequence in the beginning, they move briskly and never feel "classical" or "stagy."

You know what you're getting with a movie where people are auditioning for a performing arts school and the story is oftheir first year there - so while it's notfilled with great surprises and some of the characters first appear to be "stock" (the taskmaster teacher, the overbearing parent, etc ...) they actually become full-fledged characters. All the cliches are there but not unexpected - but it's handled expertly with a good script, fine performances and well-rounded characters you care about.

As long as you like dance, you'll appreciate the work dancers put in and you even learn a little about a ballet company. If you hate dance of any kind, this movie is obviously not for you but you'd be missing out on great acting performances by most of the cast - never mind they're all great dancers - a solid script and a story that moves crisply and precisely. The ballets and dance scenes are expertly shot and except for a few moments, you never feel that it's stagy and you're too far from the action.

Highly recommended.