THE BIRDCAGE (1996)

 

Directed By Mike Nichols  Written By: Elaine May  Based on An Earlier Screenplay By: Francis Veber, Edouard Molinaro, Marcello Danon & Jean Poiret Based in the play La Cage Aux Folles by: Jean Poiret Cinematography: Enrique Lubezki Editor: Arthur Schmidt 

Cast: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Hank Azaria, Christine Baranski, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Tom McGowan, Grant Heslov, Kirby Mitchell, Ann Cusack, Trina McGee-Davis

A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing moralistic parents

WOLF (1994)

 

Directed By: Mike Nichols  Written By: Jim Harrison & Wesley Strick  Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno  Editor: Sam O’Steen 

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Christopher Plummer, Richard Jenkins, Kate Nelligan, Eileen Atkins, David Hyde Pierce, Om Puri, Ron Rifkin, Allison Janney 

Worn down and out of luck, aging publisher Will Randall is at the end of his rope when a younger co-worker snatches his job out from under his nose. But after being bitten by a wolf, Will suddenly finds himself energized, more competitive than ever, and possessed with amazingly heightened senses. Meanwhile, the beautiful daughter of his shrewd boss begins to fall for him - without realizing that the man she's begun to love is gradually turning into the creature by which he was bitten.

SILKWOOD (1983)

Directed By: Mike Nichols 
Written By: Nora Ephron & Alice Arlen 
Cinematography By: Miroslav Ondricek 
Editor: Sam O’Steen 


Cast: Meryl Streep, Cher, Kurt Russell, Bruce McGill, Diana Scarwid, Ron Silver, Fred Ward, Craig T. Nelson, Josef Sommer, Charles Hallahan, Alice Arlen, James Rebhorn, Ray Baker, Anthony Heald, Bill Cobbs, Will Patton, Tess Harper, M. Emmett Walsh 


Fairly accurate recounting of the story of Karen Silkwood, the Oklahoma nuclear-plant worker who blew the whistle on dangerous practices at the Kerr-McGee plant and who died under circumstances which are still under debate.

CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971)

Directed By: Mike Nichols 
Written By: Jules Pfeiffer 
Cinematography By: Giuseppe Rotunno 
Editor: Sam O’Steen 

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margaret, Candice Bergen, Rita Moreno, Carol Kane

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (2007)

Directed By: Mike Michols Written By: Aaron Sorkin Based On the book By: George Crile Cinematography By: Stephen Goldblatt Editor: John Bloom & Antonia Van Drimmelen Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, John Slattery, Emily Blunt, Rachel Nichols, Shiri Appleby, Ned Beatty, Om Purri, Denis O’Hare.

CLOSER (2004)

Cast: Clive Owen, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman

Directed By: Mike Nichols
Written By: Patrick Marber
Cinematography By: Stephen Goldblatt
Editor: John Bloom & Antonia Van Drimmelen

The beautiful thing about this movie is the words the language used which is both smart and cruel it’s amazing how sentences can hurt and destroy so much

This is not a film to watch if you are looking for action it’s more about Character , Drama and situations then anything else. This is just a adult relationship drama and everything here is beautiful.

This is a drama but feels more like a horror movie there are so many scenes of emotional violence that this is like watching a massacre. Since there are only four characters it’s easy to get to know the characters even though they don’t talk about there pasts much you get to know them so much that you feel the pain and despair that they do.

The Switching allegiances, mind games and harsh words make this like a british David Mamet film though you can tell the film is based on a play for it’s limited locations and exclusive intimate closed spaces that the action takes place in. Mike Nichols wisely knows how to open the film up to make it looks sumptuous.

Even though the cast is all good the person who walks away with the film is Natalie Portman this is what award winning acting is all about een thought she didn’t even get nominated it was a chance for her to escape her shackles of her teen and lightweight roles to show that she is not only grown but a fully sexual being. From her scene in the strip club where even though she is taking orders she is in total control while also letting herself be completely vulnerable by actually telling the truth for one of the first times in the film. To when she is being vulnerable when she is supposed to be running away with the love of her life. Mike Nichols also knows how to make this beautiful lady into a goddess with color, dress and showing just enough skin.

Cate Blanchett was originally cast in the Julia Roberts role she played the role in the play that Julia Roberts plays but she got pregnant and could not do the role so she was replaced by Julia Roberts who does pretty good in this role since this is really one of the few times where she plays a three dimensional character that is kind of like her usual self of being likeable but also capable of being hateful. There is no cutesy sweet girl we are used to here. Jude Law and Clive Owen were both also in the play but here they switched the roles they originally played. Both are too perfection.

The film also has a beautiful opening scene with the song the blower’s daughter by Damien rice that this movie seem to put on the charts for people to discover which in itself is a haunting song that hovers over the rest of the film

A definite must see

GRADE: A