whpratt1
This story starts off in a beautiful scene in Colorado and a new local politician named Chris Pilager, (Chris Cooper) who is suppose to be fishing and he pulls in a corpse. It is from this point on that the story starts to unfold with Chuck Raven, (Richard Dreyfuss) political manager for Pilager starts hiring a former journalist and private detective to investigate this person found in the water. This detective is a guy named Danny O'Brien, (Danny Huston) who gets himself all tangled up in a political jungle that puts him in grave danger. However, Danny does meet up with the sister of Chris Pilager, (Daryl Hannah) and they have a romantic scene in bed and then they start fighting. This is definitely a great film to view and also enjoy the great acting of Dreyfuss and Hannah. Enjoy.
sohmflooring
This movie is not as good as Passion Fish or even Lonestar, but it makes a point about how politics works in this country...and that is what Reinzi and Sayles were looking to bring to us in telling this story. Think of it as a metaphor for what has been and continues to take place in American political life and in our collective reality.The lead character, Danny, is kind of a loser and that is what makes it so difficult for the viewer to connect with the character; lost job, lost wife, lost girlfriend, another lost job, not to mention lost opportunities along the way. Danny serves a purpose, but what is it? Is he a metaphor for the hopelessness that has come to permeate the American experience? This is a tragedy play for sure and foretells the tragedy that is becoming more real for us day by day. The fact that Danny has makes no real lasting impact over what he discovers serves to illustrate what we as individual Americans will face when we attempt real change.John Sayles' movies don't have happy endings, or what we understand as such. Life goes on...albeit a little changed...for the characters in these movies. In Passion Fish and LoneStar in particular we know that love will eventually triumph, although that is not presented to us as what will happen. As for the characters in Silver City, well...that is Danny, you and I, and America. The point made is what will be our future if we allow politics to continue as it does in the American reality? We all know why this movie was made when it was; it still makes its point today, probably more so...since we are now reaping the 'benefits' of eight years of Republican rule....oh when will we learn?! It matters little who of the two candidates running for president today will be victorious in November 2008...the 'boss' remains the same and it is nameless and faceless, although we all know who the 'boss' is. Systems are like organisms; they don't want to die and they will do anything they need to...to survive. But maybe someday...
TxMike
It isn't a secret that this movie was made to lampoon George Bush, his policies, his apparent connection with special interests that do not value the environment, and his great ability to miss-speak at almost every opportunity. Or simply to speak without really saying anything.Chris Cooper is Dickie Pilager, with a last name that obviously is derived from the word 'pillage' which is to plunder. Dickie is being touted as the ideal candidate for governor of Colorado and, as the movie begins while he is filming an ad spot near a pristine lake, he casts a fishing lure and hooks a half-floating body of an unidentified dead man. They quickly scramble to find a better spot before the press shows up.Danny Huston plays Danny O'Brien, former newsman who now works as an investigator. As he comes across various things of interest, he begins to diagram a picture of widespread corruption, the scope of which Dickie Pilager is clueless. It involves illegal aliens, illegal dumping of toxic waste, and other incidents that get a bit too much by the time the last act arrives.The cast is loaded with good actors, including Richard Dreyfuss, Kris Kristofferson, Daryl Hannah, Thora Birch, Tim Roth, Mary Kay Place, and Maria Bello. Some good scenes, but overall forgettable.
lastliberal
A complex web of influence and corruption, involving high stakes lobbyists, media conglomerates, environmental plunderers, and undocumented migrant workers. Sound familiar? It should as it is a story ripped from the headlines. Chris Cooper stars a a bumbling politician who is a tool of these interests in Silver City. Cooper could not a better impersonation of GW if her was in his skin.The real star of the film is Danny Houston of The Constant Gardener, who will be joining birthday girl, Kirsten Dunst later this year in Marie-Antoinette. He plays a failed reporter that stumbles on all the twists that start with a dead migrant.Of course, we have the ever lovely Maria Bello and a great performance by Darryl Hannah. All in all an enjoyable satire.
AD
