Canon Movie Review: The Presidio

After watching and reviewing Sleepless in Seattle, a reader named Paul S. requested that I review an earlier Meg Ryan film. Well, I aim to please, so I decided to watch a Meg Ryan from 1988 titled The Presidio. In this film, Meg Ryan plays Donna Caldwell, the daughter of Lt. Alan Caldwell (Sean Connery), the Provost Marshal at the titular Presidio. In the Presidio, a break in leads to the murder of a Military Police officer, and San Francisco Police detective Jay Austin (Mark Harmon) is sent in to investigate. To complicate matters, he and Lt. Caldwell have had issues in the past, as Austin was a MP under Caldwell in the past, but after a case involving the arrest of a colonel, Caldwell did not back Austin, and the two have shared a dislike ever since. Also, Jay meets Donna, and the two start a romance of their own, much to the chagrin of Lt. Caldwell. Despite all this, the two are forced to work together to solve the murder, even if each man wants nothing to do with the other. Directed by Peter Hyams, The Presidio also stars Jack Warden, Mark Blum, Dana Blackstone, and Jenette Goldstein. A few notes about this film, and there are SPOILERS, so read with caution.

- There's a lot of storylines going on in The Presidio, from the murder case, to the uneasy partnership between Caldwell and Jay to Donna's relationship with and her feud with her father to the whole story between Caldwell and his friend Russ McClure (Warden). In fact, there was probably too much going on, and it doesn't help that the plot has some serious pace problems. For example, it seems as if the movie spends 15 minutes or so detalining Donna's story, then forgets about her for a half hour or so while the case is being investigated, then bam, there's suddenly like eight scenes in a row with Donna in them.

- This film is chock full of cinematic cliches, I tell you what. Since the movie is set in San Francisco, the movie has a Bullitt-like car chase full of cars driving down the hilly roads. There's the two cops that hate each other storyline between Connery and Harmon (even though one's a military officer, he basically acts like a cop in the film). Also, there's a shootout at a factory, which just about every other action film made in the 1980s had. There's also a surprise twist at the end that seemed to be thrown in just for the sake of having a surprise twist at the end, as it didn't make a whole lot of sense and wasn't really explained that well, and there's also a bar fight scene for no good reason at all (although at least it was somewhat different, as Lt. Caldwell beat up generic loud-mouth tough guy #24 just by using his right thumb).

- You would think that a movie titled The Presidio filmed at the actual location of The Presidio would be primarily set at, you know, the Presidio. But after the first few minutes or so, the Presidio is barely used at all as a setting for the film. Instead the movie just turns it into another typical whodunit case where the two cops travel all through San Francisco, the only real difference being that most of the characters are involved in the military. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as Hyams is a talented cinematographer and uses his setting of San Francisco to maximum effect through his cinematography. Every scene is well lit and nicely shot. But it is kind of odd that the actual Presidio wasn't utilized that much in this film.

- As for the acting in The Presidio, well I didn't think it was too bad, even though the script didn't give them too much to work with. Connery does an excellent job as Lt. Caldwell, although he plays a rather similar role in the Untouchables. Still, his acting gives this film some needed credibility. Harmon is decent in the role of Jay Austin, but one wonders how Kevin Costner would have done with this role, as it was rumored that he was once signed on to star in this project. While Harmon is able to hold his own in scenes with Ryan and Connery, his attempts to give his character an edge didn't exactly come across that well, especially his first scene where he stares down a criminal with a gun pointed at him and disarms him with tough talk and his bare hands. To me, it seemed stupid, but whatever. Ryan is pretty good in this film, although her character isn't exactly that well-written. Nevertheless, she's able to make the best out of it and makes Donna seem likable, whereas other actress given a similar character could not make her sympathetic towards the audience. The supporting actors weren't too bad, although I didn't really see Mark Blum (who played former CIA Agent Arthur Peale) as a convincing bad guy.

While The Presidio isn't too bad, I suppose, but it does seem to be suffering from an identity crisis. The Presidio is part action flick, part romantic flick, and part cop drama, all with a military overtone over the storyline. Instead of concentrating on one element, the writers and director decided to pack this film with many different narratives that hardly intertwine with each other, almost making it seem as if it was two different films. But the acting, cinematography, and score are all above-average, and make this film somewhat enjoyable.

Overall, while The Presidio got a great performance from Connery and had some high points, there are too many issues with the plot that keeps the film from being great, and drags it down into run-of-the-mill territory. I'd give it a 5.3 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about this or other posts, or ideas for future posts, than let me know about them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at kthec2001@gmail.com.

Canon Movie Review: Sleepless in Seattle

Today I watched a movie that I had seen some 18 years ago, but did not remember one single detail about it. Yes, as you can guess by the title, that movie was the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle, although as it turns out that title isn't completely accurate because there were a couple of scenes in which people were sleeping. Directed by Nora Ephron, Sleepless in Seattle is a romantic comedy that stars Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, David Hyde-Pierce, Rosie O'Donnell, and has Jack Bauer working on the crew as the best boy grip. In Sleepless in Seattle, a widower named Samuel Baldwin (Hanks) has moved he and his son to Seattle after the death of his wife. On one Christmas Eve, his son Jonah (Ross Malinger) calls into a talk radio show to wish for his dad to find a new wife. Well, eventually Sam gets on the air and tells his whole story, which affects millions of women nationwide including a writer from Baltimore named Annie (Meg Ryan). Despite being engaged to Walter (Bill Pullman), Annie starts to pursue Samuel in belief that somehow they are destined to be with each other. Is she right? Well, I'm not telling you, go watch the movie :). Anyway, here are a few thoughts about this film, and there are going to be SPOILERS, so proceed with caution.

- Man are the kids in this film annoying or what. Jonah doesn't seem to be that bad at first, as he's concerned enough about his dad to call into a national radio show. That may be a little misguided, but at least his heart's in the right place. But as the movie goes along and Jonah doesn't quite get his way, he becomes an annoying jerk, which is pretty realistic considering he's eight, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. To make matters worse is Jonah's little friend Jessica, who seems to communicate by using only initials and is basically a rude little girl who acts as if she's too cool for school, so to speak.

- As for Annie, is it just me or is she a crazy stalker? For one, she has a perfectly fine relationship with her fiance Walter, but instead of just being happy, she decides to go on a wild goose chase after some guy she has heard on the radio one time. To do this, she finds the man on a search database (which was a bit harder to do back in 1993 than it is now, as all you have to do now is Google whoever you want to find), then once she finds him, she hires a private investigator to get more information and pictures of him. Heck, she even finds out the kid's name. After all of that, she decides to just jet out to Seattle (on company dime, no less) to chase down some ideal of the perfect romance, which is all well and good, but to me it seems just a bit over the top. Then she spends most of her trip spying on the poor guy and his son playing at the beach, peering around the corner of a building. I guess it's supposed to be charming, but imagine for a moment if the roles were reversed and it was the man doing all this to meet a woman. That would be quite creepy, wouldn't it? Then again, maybe I'm just not that romantic of a person, I don't know.

- You have to feel for Samuel in this film, as Hanks does an excellent job of conveying his character's grief over the loss of his wife and really makes you feel for him. But another person I felt sorry for was Annie's fiance Walter. For one, Walter seems to be allergic to everything under the sun, from strawberries to weeds to peanut butter and all sorts of other stuff. Because of this, Walter is portrayed as a rather boring guy in this movie, which for some reason is a bad thing in this movie, as the main lesson of the film seems to be that spontaneous moves that make no sense is the best way to go through life, but I digress. Anyway, Walter thinks he's found the woman of his dreams, but ever so surely, Annie starts to drift further and further apart from Walter, even though he's the exact same person she was so crazy about just a month ago. Worst of all, he can't eat strawberries, the poor guy.

- Have you seen the 1957 Cary Grant movie An Affair to Remember? Well, if you haven't, then make sure not to watch this film as they basically give away the entire plot during the film. Just a warning. Actually, I wasn't too upset about that, as the writers used the story of that film as a major plot point that sort of tied everything together, but I digress.

Overall, even though the storyline makes no sense and some of the characters are not very likeable, I can't really say that I dislike this movie too much. The acting was top-notch all around, even from Rosie O'Donnell who played Annie's friend/boss. In lesser hands, this movie may have came off a lot worse than it did, but both Hanks and Ryan are able to play their characters with enough conviction to pull it off. Also, even though you kind of figure out the ending 10 minutes in, the plot is full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing as to just how everything starts to tie into place, so to speak. While Sleepless in Seattle may not be my cup of tea, and in my mind is more of a fantasy movie than Harry Potter, it was at least well executed for the most part. Overall, I'd give Sleepless in Seattle a 6.2 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts about Sleepless in Seattle, or you have an idea for a future review, then I would like to hear about them, so either leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.