Ellen Burstyn, you were robbed.
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Ellen Burstyn, you were robbed. It happened at the 73rd annual Academy Awards. Somebody in their infinite wisdom decided to put Julia Roberts name in that Best Actress envelope and in one of the great travesties in Oscar history, the perky "Pretty Woman" star snapped a golden statue. It was on that night that I lost faith in the Academy. I would have given the award to Laura Linney or Juliette Binoche before handing it over to the toothy Roberts. I hadn´t seen "The Contender," so I cannot comment on whether or not Joan Allen was more deserving. I´m not a fan of Julia Roberts. I do not dislike her, but I´ve never considered her an overly talented actress. Her roles typically do not vary much and I have jokingly stated that the only reason Roberts won a Best Actress for "Erin Brockovich" is because she did a great job of acting that she had breasts. Part of the reason I was so offended by this victory for the A-List actress was because I was absolutely floored by Burstyn´s performance in "Requiem for a Dream" and still cannot believe that Burstyn did not win.
So now that I´ve used my prerogative and given a rant against Roberts´ win for her performance in "Erin Brockovich," I suppose I should spend a little time and review the film and the HD-DVD platter that brought the actress into my home. I´ll be completely honest and state that I enjoy the film far more than I enjoy the actress. I´m going to give credit to director Steven Soderbergh for the amount of enjoyment I have in this film. This should clear any allegations of hypocrisy towards myself. I never said I hated Roberts and "Erin Brockovich." I just said that I did not feel she was deserving of a little golden statue in her possession because of her involvement in the film. Besides, I thought Albert Finney was great as Ed Masry. Aaron Eckhart wasn´t bad. The real Erin Brockovich had a nice cameo. Overall, the acting isn´t bad. This is definitely one of the best efforts by Julia Roberts and I could easily imagine the lovely lady as trailer-trash-to-be who landed a job in a small town law firm.
Erin Brockovich (Roberts) is a woman who is a single mother and raising three children from two different fathers. She is unemployed and her jalopy is struck by a far nicer vehicle. Brockovich files a lawsuit against the driver through lawyer Ed Masry (Finney), who believes that the single mother has a good chance of winning the case. On the day of the hearing, the defendant paints a picture that Erin is a gold digging opportunist and she defends herself with her vulgar mouth and loses the case. She blames the loss on Masry and reminds him that he stated she would win the case. Unemployed and without the settlement money, Erin forces herself into a job with Masry´s law firm and instantly begins to cause an uproar around his offices. She dresses scantily and this is not to the liking of the plus sized women who make up the remaining female workforce for Masry. Her mouth and aggressive nature does not help her any. However, she shows she is capable of doing the work and Masry keeps her on. She does a good enough of a job that when she asks Masry for permission to do more research into a case, he approves.
Unfortunately, this approval meant different things for Erin and Masry. She took his approval as permission to leave the office for a number of days and gather physical evidence and interview plaintiffs and victims of chromium poisoning from a local power plant run by Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Pacific Gas had made false statements regarding the specific type of chromium used and bought affected land from families for poor market value. A small number of people were part of the initial batch of complaintants, but after Erin went asking around, the number quickly swelled into a couple hundred people who had medical problems because of the chromium and/or lost their property to the hands of Pacific Gas and Electric. When Erin returns back to work after gathering her evidence she is not met with praise and thanks. She is fired. Masry did not approve of her disappearing and she finds herself once again unemployed.
Time passes and Masry comes knocking on Erin´s door. A number of plaintiff´s have called his office and inquired about the case that Erin began to build and asking to talk to Erin. Masry realizes he has to hire her back on board and realizes that this is a big case that could be a great victory for his law firm. Once Erin returns to work, the numbers grow larger and larger and Pacific Gas and Electric soon hire their own high-powered legal team to combat the small town firm of Masry´s. The number of witnesses that step forward provide a wealth of information and the impending legal battle forces Masry to have to place a second mortgage onto his home and call in another law firm for assistance. His decisions are not exactly what Erin promised the people she met with and this causes strain between Erin, Masry and the plaintiffs against Pacific Gas and Electric.
"Erin Brokovich" is an effective portrayal of real-life events and people that live among us. The story is about caring for others and working hard to help others. It is about standing up to major corporations and winning the lopsided fight. It´s David vs. Goliath court battle is good drama that makes for good entertainment. This is a movie that looks at humanity and the efforts of one woman to make a stand for humanity. "Erin Brokovich" is about Erin Brokovich, a woman with dyslexia and a desire to accent her bust line. It is not as bland as many other similar films and part of the praise for this film should fall upon Julia Roberts´ shoulders. Director Steven Soderbergh deserves just as much, if not more praise for the success of this film. Not being a huge fan of Julia Roberts, I´m inclined to give Soderbergh all of the praise, but I know the film would not have succeeded without Roberts. It is a very good drama and tells a wonderful story. It brings reality to life with a definite entertainment value.
Video:
Universal sometimes seems to simply rehash their DVD masterings and throw them onto HD-DVD without offering a new and higher resolution product. This has resulted in a few less-than-stellar catalog releases, but Julia Roberts fans can be relieved to hear that this is one effort where the studio provided a greatly improved product over the older DVD release. The 1.85:1 film is clean and colorful, although Steven Soderbergh is a man who loves to color tint his frames and "Erin Brokovich" finds lots of warm colors populating the film. Some scenes feel blistering hot under the harsh orange filters, while others feel cool and relaxing. He also uses soft focus and other techniques that sometimes create a look that isn´t quite as stunning as other recent films.
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