A Story About a Deadly Duo
Added 7/27/2009
The film starts with music that suggests the 1940s. We see "Sing Sing Prison" and the witnesses to an execution. This is the story about a con man who romanced lonely women to swindle them out of their money and illusions. [Does that white suit seem out of place?] Is that language realistic? The situations seem to be deliberately shocking, which distracts from the story. One detective chooses to look into the suicide of a girl. The scenes are staged to stay in the 1940s. [Note the story to explain Ray's history during the war. Beware of self-serving statements!] The story seems to drag because of the emphasis on shocking the viewers. The shifting of scenes is also distracting.
The police investigation finds other victims that match the pattern. A daughter from Albany has a complaint. A patrolman remembers an incident, the records provide an identification. The detectives find the postal box, then trace it to an address. Blood soaked into the floorboards! They just missed them! [Who tipped them off?] The detective continues his search, he knows Ray Fernandez will strike again. And he does. Twice. Ray is traced to Michigan. Are their actions believable? The police arrive to capture them alive. They find the bodies. Martha Beck makes a statement, they are extradited back to New York for the murders. Guilty. The final scene shows their ending. "So long." [You can research this true crime for more information.]
There is a long list of credits at the end. This is based on a true crime from the 1940s. I wonder how much was changed for dramatic effect? A better script and direction would make a better story. They took special care to imitate the clothes and cars of that era, but that money could have been spent on a better script. There is no need for the settings when things like that go on today. Was this film designed as an argument for capital punishment? There is one glaring sin of omission: travel in those days would be more likely by train than airplane. The monetary figures are far out of date, $5,000 would be worth more than a dozen times that amount today. This film should have been rated X.
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Lonely At the Box Office
Added 7/23/2009
SPOILER ALERT! This could have been a gritty, realistic crime drama on par with Monster. But, instead, it looks like a Salma Hayek vehicle, with cutesy-poo Jared Leto tagging along to please the girlies. John Travolta is so low-key he seems bored, and James Gandolfini is little more than a sidekick sounding board. Laura Dern comes off as a stooped, too-skinny spinster, the very kind of female Leto might pursue. Travolta's treatment of her appears itself shortshrift as he sneaks into her dad's house and beds her in his dress shirt. Was the director reluctant to allow a flash of the star's plump arms and chest? No doubt fat was verboten in this flick. Hayek's character is based on a woman purportedly too broad to squeeze into the electric chair. (She supposedly sat on the arms). Okay, so no one designated this film a docudrama. But it's simply not credible that a con man would go around with a drop-dead-gorgeous gal in tow, trying to pass her off as his old-maid sister. There would be too much danger that the marks would smell a rat. A beautiful woman attracts too much attention, especially in the provocative attire Hayek often wears. Men would pursue her right to the victims' doors. Cool, all-American Leto himself, with his baby face and big blue eyes, is too good-looking to convince most women he needs a lonely-hearts column to meet a prospective partner. Had he come across as a shy, awkward foreigner (which the real killer may have) he would have been more believable. The only attempt to make him less attractive was shaving part of his hair, which on the crown is done so unrealistically that it resembles a Franciscan monk's hairdo rather than natural balding. And, of course, Travolta's wig is no tonsorial work of wizardry either.
Like the Black Dahlia, this film is a failure. There is a profound lack of suspense as the plot plods onward. Women are fleeced off-stage as Hayek wiggles by in a skin-tight dress. There's little motivation or build-up as she and Leto shoot and bludgeon. One of the blandest scenes is one in which she plops into a highway patrolman's car and, with barely a word, sinks her face into his lap. There's no discussion, no resistance, apparently no concern on the cop's part that she might go for his gun, stab, or even bite him, or that Leto, parked ahead, might try to attack him off-guard. The policeman doesn't appear to grope her in return. He doesn't smile. He looks more like a man emptying an overfull bladder. About the only character who exhibits any passion about anything is Scott Caan, who in evident fits of short man's syndrome, screams out obscenities. In the forties, shouting the F-word in mixed-gender police stations was probably not permissable, but in this film, no one even blinks. Time is wasted on insignificant chatter between Travolta, Dern, and Dan Byrd, who plays the former's son. And then there's the obligatory ain't-execution-awful scene with Leto carried struggling to the chair, where he spasms, smokes, and slobbers. Though it's said the two killers were electrocuted side by side, viewers are spared the death throes of the composed and perfectly coiffed Hayek. The audience should have been spared the whole sordid affair.
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Poetry in motion. That's Selma Hayek walking away from
Added 6/12/2009
the camera in her come & get me dress. Her swayng tush is worth the price. She plays Martha & brings out the murderous instincts of her partner, Ray (Jared Leto) in Lonely Hearts. He fancies himself a Lothario who woos then swindles lonely, wealthy women, widows with pensions etc. Then with Martha's help, murders them. Martha becomes blindly jealous when Ray gets intimate with these pigeons & it becomes their undoing. Ms Hayek & Leto do a fine job. So does John Travolta, playing Elmer Robinson, the police detective assigned to the case. It becomes highly personal & obsessive because of tragedy in his own life. James Gandolfini is his partner, a lazy, amiable detective. Really it's the same character he plays as Tony Soparano, except he's a cop instead of a sociopathic hood. Go figure.The movie spans 1927 When Elmer joins the P.D. to 1951 in the closing scenes. There is little notice of World WarII, except for the proliferation of widows with death benefits. A decent criminal police drama/thriller with a very good cast. Also a good "making of" extra on the dvd.
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Mayhem and tedium overwhelm art.
Added 5/17/2009
Thirty minutes into the film, we started skipping chapters. Then we ejected the disc and watched a documentary about intelligent design.
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Tired serial killer retread
Added 3/14/2009
Lonely Hearts chronicles the true story of the rise and fall of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, serial killers, who were responsible for a series of gruesome murders beginning in 1949 on Long Island. Fernandez initially started as a solo act, conning widows and love-starved lonely hearts out of their life savings. After he met up with Beck (in real life unattractive and overweight but here played by the attractive Salma Hayek), the pair then turned to murder while plying their nefarious trade.
The film was written and directed by Todd Robinson, who happens to be the grandson of Detective Elmer Robinson, the lead detective who basically was responsible for tracking the two psychopaths down and bringing them to justice. Robinson is played by a grim-faced John Travolta who attempts to convey the detective's working class persona. James Gandolfini plays Charles Hildebrandt, Robinson's detective sidekick who is the film's narrator (a more skilled screenwriter could possibly have dispensed with the narration and conveyed important information on a visual level).
The main problem with the film's narrative is that we're a captive audience as the two intrepid detectives proceed very slowly in trying to establish that it's Fernandez and Beck who are responsible for the murders they are investigating. While the investigation may have proceeded at a snail's pace in real life, it doesn't make for good drama. A good deal of judicious editing could have improved this film quite a bit. What's more, Robinson and Hildebrandt are pitted against another team of detectives who are unethical and the 'good cop-bad cop' clashes between the two pairs are full of clichés (a scene involving a discussion about Jackie Robinson inside the squad room, tinged with racial overtones, appears clearly anachronistic).
Detective Robinson's troubled personal life constitutes the film's "B" Story. We learn that his wife had committed suicide prior to working on the Fernandez-Beck case but we never find out why she did it. Travolta doesn't have much to do except almost coming to blows with his superiors and colleagues whenever the subject of his late wife is brought to the fore. Laura Dern plays Robinson's girlfriend but that relationship doesn't seem to go anywhere during the film. Gandolfini is unable to jettison his Tony Soprano persona despite playing a character on the other side of the law.
The rest of the film deals with the relationship between Fernandez (played by Jared Leto) and Hayek's Beck. There aren't a great deal of twists and turns as the killers dispose of one victim after another. Hayek plays Beck as over the top and the director seems obsessed with emphasizing her penchant for oral sex. Leto's Fernandez is pretty much one note as we get it early on that he's a passive-aggressive personality, obeying the orders of his Svengali-like lover.
There's a great deal of attention paid to period detail in this film and it seems more attention was paid to the set design than on the script itself. Lonely Hearts was a failure at the box office and it's pretty clear that early word of mouth had to be pretty negative. It might have been a mistake on the part of the film's producers to have hired the grandson of the film's protagonist to write and direct as he was probably too close to the material to be objective about it. His grandfather's personal life did not turn out to be very engaging the way he told it.
The subject of Lonely Hearts was already done years ago in a much more successful film entitled "The Honeymoon Killers". One wonders if there was anything really more to say about this subject matter. With the glut of screenplays out there for producers to pick from, I'm wondering how and why Lonely Hearts actually got made. One thing is for sure: film buffs will not be talking about this one in the years to come.
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A Story About a Deadly Duo
Added 7/27/2009
The film starts with music that suggests the 1940s. We see "Sing Sing Prison" and the witnesses to an execution. This is the story about a con man who romanced lonely women to swindle them out of their money and illusions. [Does that white suit seem out of place?] Is that language realistic? The situations seem to be deliberately shocking, which distracts from the story. One detective chooses to look into the suicide of a girl. The scenes are staged to stay in the 1940s. [Note the story to explain Ray's history during the war. Beware of self-serving statements!] The story seems to drag because of the emphasis on shocking the viewers. The shifting of scenes is also distracting.
The police investigation finds other victims that match the pattern. A daughter from Albany has a complaint. A patrolman remembers an incident, the records provide an identification. The detectives find the postal box, then trace it to an address. Blood soaked into the floorboards! They just missed them! [Who tipped them off?] The detective continues his search, he knows Ray Fernandez will strike again. And he does. Twice. Ray is traced to Michigan. Are their actions believable? The police arrive to capture them alive. They find the bodies. Martha Beck makes a statement, they are extradited back to New York for the murders. Guilty. The final scene shows their ending. "So long." [You can research this true crime for more information.]
There is a long list of credits at the end. This is based on a true crime from the 1940s. I wonder how much was changed for dramatic effect? A better script and direction would make a better story. They took special care to imitate the clothes and cars of that era, but that money could have been spent on a better script. There is no need for the settings when things like that go on today. Was this film designed as an argument for capital punishment? There is one glaring sin of omission: travel in those days would be more likely by train than airplane. The monetary figures are far out of date, $5,000 would be worth more than a dozen times that amount today. This film should have been rated X.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Lonely At the Box Office
Added 7/23/2009
SPOILER ALERT! This could have been a gritty, realistic crime drama on par with Monster. But, instead, it looks like a Salma Hayek vehicle, with cutesy-poo Jared Leto tagging along to please the girlies. John Travolta is so low-key he seems bored, and James Gandolfini is little more than a sidekick sounding board. Laura Dern comes off as a stooped, too-skinny spinster, the very kind of female Leto might pursue. Travolta's treatment of her appears itself shortshrift as he sneaks into her dad's house and beds her in his dress shirt. Was the director reluctant to allow a flash of the star's plump arms and chest? No doubt fat was verboten in this flick. Hayek's character is based on a woman purportedly too broad to squeeze into the electric chair. (She supposedly sat on the arms). Okay, so no one designated this film a docudrama. But it's simply not credible that a con man would go around with a drop-dead-gorgeous gal in tow, trying to pass her off as his old-maid sister. There would be too much danger that the marks would smell a rat. A beautiful woman attracts too much attention, especially in the provocative attire Hayek often wears. Men would pursue her right to the victims' doors. Cool, all-American Leto himself, with his baby face and big blue eyes, is too good-looking to convince most women he needs a lonely-hearts column to meet a prospective partner. Had he come across as a shy, awkward foreigner (which the real killer may have) he would have been more believable. The only attempt to make him less attractive was shaving part of his hair, which on the crown is done so unrealistically that it resembles a Franciscan monk's hairdo rather than natural balding. And, of course, Travolta's wig is no tonsorial work of wizardry either.
Like the Black Dahlia, this film is a failure. There is a profound lack of suspense as the plot plods onward. Women are fleeced off-stage as Hayek wiggles by in a skin-tight dress. There's little motivation or build-up as she and Leto shoot and bludgeon. One of the blandest scenes is one in which she plops into a highway patrolman's car and, with barely a word, sinks her face into his lap. There's no discussion, no resistance, apparently no concern on the cop's part that she might go for his gun, stab, or even bite him, or that Leto, parked ahead, might try to attack him off-guard. The policeman doesn't appear to grope her in return. He doesn't smile. He looks more like a man emptying an overfull bladder. About the only character who exhibits any passion about anything is Scott Caan, who in evident fits of short man's syndrome, screams out obscenities. In the forties, shouting the F-word in mixed-gender police stations was probably not permissable, but in this film, no one even blinks. Time is wasted on insignificant chatter between Travolta, Dern, and Dan Byrd, who plays the former's son. And then there's the obligatory ain't-execution-awful scene with Leto carried struggling to the chair, where he spasms, smokes, and slobbers. Though it's said the two killers were electrocuted side by side, viewers are spared the death throes of the composed and perfectly coiffed Hayek. The audience should have been spared the whole sordid affair.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Poetry in motion. That's Selma Hayek walking away from
Added 6/12/2009
the camera in her come & get me dress. Her swayng tush is worth the price. She plays Martha & brings out the murderous instincts of her partner, Ray (Jared Leto) in Lonely Hearts. He fancies himself a Lothario who woos then swindles lonely, wealthy women, widows with pensions etc. Then with Martha's help, murders them. Martha becomes blindly jealous when Ray gets intimate with these pigeons & it becomes their undoing. Ms Hayek & Leto do a fine job. So does John Travolta, playing Elmer Robinson, the police detective assigned to the case. It becomes highly personal & obsessive because of tragedy in his own life. James Gandolfini is his partner, a lazy, amiable detective. Really it's the same character he plays as Tony Soparano, except he's a cop instead of a sociopathic hood. Go figure.The movie spans 1927 When Elmer joins the P.D. to 1951 in the closing scenes. There is little notice of World WarII, except for the proliferation of widows with death benefits. A decent criminal police drama/thriller with a very good cast. Also a good "making of" extra on the dvd.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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