Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

Defiance (2008) -vs- Valkyrie (2008)

Super Jews and Good Germans Take On the Nazis

The Smackdown. It’s Academy Award-worthy season, and you know what that means! Nazis! The multiplex is practically teeming with them. "Valkyrie" served them up for Christmas, and "Defiance" held it's own limited New Year's Eve release to qualify for awards season. Meanwhile, "The Reader" sneaked into a few theaters as well, waiting for its big push in January. Why, you ask, are the Nazis still cinema's all-purpose go-to bad guys? Silly Goosesteppers, you know why. Because everybody hates the Nazis, even the Germans! (Not all Germans, just the ones in “Valkyrie.") For your cinematic Nazi-hating pleasure, it’s “Defiance” against “Valkyrie” as we re-fight World War Two, the war everybody loves starring the villains everybody still loves to hate.

The Challenger. “Defiance” is an earnest piece of work, based on the true story of three Jewish brothers who escape Nazi-occupied Poland to hide in the Belarussian forest where they join the Russian resistance fighters and build a semi-safe haven for over a thousand other exiled Jews. There are a lot of characters in “Defiance.” Most of the exiled Jews are little more than unindividuated dress extras; we learn precious few of their stories or names. They fall into two categories – the gratefully compliant and the nasty rebels. Daniel (James Bond) Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie (Billy Elliott) Bell play the least likely looking brothers since “Twins” Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schreiber has made a career of playing Jewish… Craig not so much.

Marley & Me (2008) -vs- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Comparing Apples and Oranges

The Smackdown. The tabloids made me do it. The temptation to compare Brad’s and Jen’s films, both opening on Christmas Day was too much for the Merchants of Venom (and now for me); Jen won Round One of their manufactured box office face-off. But this smackdown has precious little to do with money. Everyone has loved and lost a dog or two, but few have lived life backwards. The artistically ambitious “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” battles the unapologetically sappy Boy-Meets-Dog-Boy-Loses-Dog crowd-pleaser “Marley & Me.” Both films aim to earn your tears and laughter, and both succeed in some measure. Which tabloid darling most successfully rises above their ubiquity? It’s Brad versus Jen for realsies.

The Challenger.  In the already wildly successful “Marley & Me,” Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson marry, buy a dog, have some kids, and hit forty. Based on a book compiled of John Grogan’s newspaper columns, the movie is his fairly honest (if not terribly insightful) reflection on a somewhat prickly modern marriage with its requisite ups and downs. It’s “Revolutionary Road” with a puppy and a way better real estate broker. The dog is a total hellion; the world is his all-you-can-eat buffet, and his family adores him beyond all reason as dog-loving families are wont to do.

The Reader (2008) -vs- Doubt (2008)

We Care About These People Why?

The Smackdown.  This is not only the season to be jolly but out here in Hollywood it's the season of awards campaigns kicking into gear. As a member of both the Writers Guild and the Directors Guild, I've received a good share of the DVD screeners that show up at the door from UPS and, over the last two nights, watched two films back-to-back that I'd never imagined Smacking down together. Both "The Reader" and "Doubt" feature lead characters that either are or probably are having sex with underage boys. If you're looking to find the rooting value in either of these films, you will have to look pretty hard yet both of them are being touted as the best of the best this year. They've already received their share of awards nominations from other organizations and the Oscars are beckoning. Because they're both out simultaneously, there is no "challenger" or "champion" designation. So before you get hyped out where you are, here's a report from the front lines.

In This Corner. In director Stephen Daldry's and screenwriter David Hare's adaptation of Bernhard Schlink's novel, it's 1958, Berlin, and a sad woman named Hanna (Kate Winslet) starts up a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy Michael Berg (German actor David Kross). The life experience head-start he gets comes with a price. She wants him to read to her. That's right. She wants him to bring his school books and read out loud to her. At first the reading comes before the sex but, soon, the reading comes first, then the sex. About half-way through the film, things change a lot more than the sex/reading order, secrets are revealed and we are, basically, into an entirely different film that spans many decades into the future. And not joyfully different, mind you. Daldry and Hare are the same people who brought us the lost and depressing film, "The Hours."

The Wrestler (2008) -vs- Rocky Balboa (2006)

Taking a Last Shot at Glory 

The Smackdown.  It's a classic underdog story (and Smackdown) we have before us. Other than boxer George Foreman it almost never happens in real life but we love the very idea of an aging champ who gets up off the canvas (comes out of retirement) to claim his former glory in a final burst of passion and daring. A couple of years ago nearly everybody was shocked to see that there was even an ounce of life left in the Rocky franchise when, in its sixth installment, "Rocky Balboa" got off the cinematic mat and gave audiences the best experience with the boxer from Philly since the bicentennial. This year there's all kinds of buzz about Mickey Rourke's stellar performance in "The Wrestler."  Ladies and Gentlemen, let's get ready to rumble because Randy (the Ram) Robinson has just stepped in the ring with Rocky Balboa!

The Challenger. The hype over this film is split about 50/50 between the poignancy of the story and world of director Darren Aronofsky's fourth feature and the fact that it mirrors in content a comeback story in real life featuring Mickey Rourke. There's no question that Rourke has had an erratic career, built on bad choices and oddball behavior in public so there's a dramatic resonance when he plays Randy (the Ram) Robinson, a battered hulk of a professional wrestler who should stay down but keeps getting up. "The Wrestler" actually won the Venice Film Festival this year in its depiction of the real, hard-edged world of pro wrestling. We all know it's faked but that doesn't mean that people don't get hurt and feel pain, and that the pain can be emotional as much as physical. It's twenty years after the Ram's hey-day in this film and instead of Madison Square Garden, he's playing some pretty awful venues. It's so bad he can't even make the rent on his trailer but the physical demands of getting in the ring make it a worse place to make a living with every passing day.

Revolutionary Road (2008) -vs- American Beauty (1999)

Lives of Not-So-Quiet Desperation

The Smackdown.  The hype around "Revolutionary Road," of course, centers around the fact that it re-unites Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) for the first time since the mega-super blockbuster "Titanic."  But smacking "Revolutionary Road" against "Titanic" would be like comparing apples and sailboats.  The real competition is between the family dysfunction of the 1999 Oscar winning "American Beauty" and the latest "Revolutionary Road" portrayal, both filmed by British director Sam Mendes.  If Jack had survived and he and Rose had gone on to settle into the suburbs, they might have ended up like Frank and April Wheeler.  Whether that couple would be as compelling to view as Lester and Carolyn Burnam, there's the battle ahead.

The Challenger.  "Revolutionary Road" tells the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a couple of once-free spirits who have moved into the suburbs of 1950s America and are slowly dying inside.  The problem appears to be that neither one of them are the people they once were and neither one of them likes who they've become or who their partner has become.  This is a tough spot for any couple with two children but in the America of that time where sexism is rampant, everybody smokes and drinks, and nobody says what they mean, it can be deadly.  The film is not full of event, it's full of small details of daily life and decaying marriage, realized with a spot-on intensity.  It feels so true to human nature than whenever you see anything that even remotely reminds you of yourself or your own marriage, all you can do is cringe.