2 Guns

 

Director Baltasar Kormákur’s 2 Guns is a fun buddy movie with Denzel Washington playing Bobby Trench, an undercover DEA agent, and Mark Wahlberg playing Stig Stigman, playing an undercover naval intelligence officer.   

Both are after the leader of a drug cartel Papi Greco, played admirably by Edward James Olmos. 

 

The fun derives from the fact neither knows the other is a good guy and they are both trying to catch or kill the other.  Further complications arise when the money they stolen from Greco actually happens to belong to a heartless, rogue CIA agent played by Bill Paxton.

Paula Patton adds the appropriate eye candy.

Fans of this genre will have a good time with the banter and the action.  After several recent poor choices of roles by Wahlberg where he plays a basically stupid person, he finds his right niche here, playing a smart guy, who tries to come off as stupid to fool his foes.

I give 2 Guns a 4 out of 5 for the fan base.

The Spectacular Now

The impact of some films gets better the longer you think about them.  My annoyance with this one has grown the longer I think about it.

The Spectacular Now sounded like it would be an uplifting drama.  Not.

I thought Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine was tragic, but Director James Ponsoldt’s  The Spectacular Now seemed even more tragic, dealing with the sad plight of teens, who hadn’t yet begun to live their lives.

What the two films have in common is spectacular performances by the leading women, Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine and the fabulous Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) in this film. 

What they don’t have in common is a brilliant screenplay.  Here it seems a life drama was written by writers who haven’t yet begun to have lives.

A second problem was the worst miscasting since Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina with the film’s mail lead.   It’s not that Miles Teller is a bad actor.  On the contrary.  The problem is that he is not believable in this role of Sutter Kiely, an 18-year old loser, who appeals to Cassidy (Brie Larson), the hottest babe in his class, and, then, to Woodley’s Aimee Finecky, who, though an inexperienced young woman, is very smart and has a clear vision of what she wants from the future.  Why these two young women would be attracted to a pimple-faced, alcoholic party boy defies my wide suspension of disbelief, especially when his male classmates have him rightly pegged as a joke. 

Despite this fact, Woodley’s honest portrayal keeps the audience totally focused on her and hoping the frog next to her might somehow be transformed into a worthy prince.  Unfortunately, that’s not to be.

 

Then, there’s the misguided title.  There’s nothing spectacular in the young creep’s or his estranged father’s concept of the “now.”  In fact, they and whoever came up with this title denigrate the positive philosophy of living in the moment.

Those who are readers of my reviews know that I don’t, usually, give away too much of the plot unless the film is really bad or, as in this case, is truly annoying. 

So, here’s a Spoiler Alert…  The writers/director, here, pull off a nasty trick on members of the audience, making us believe Aimee has been killed and, then…while I was wondering whether to leave now that the only character worth watching was gone… after a few scenes lasting several minutes where Sutter talks under ominous music to a doctor and then is back in school, casually bring Aimee back with just an injured arm.  Not cool.  And, there were murmurs of, “What the f…?”

The film ends with one of those phony redemptions where the uneducated drunkard may be on the mend and goes to find Aimee, who had, smartly, moved on.  Better he should have found the main character from Frances Ha and hooked up with her so they could have lived lives of mediocrity than, tragically, attempting to pull Aimee down to his level.

I give The Spectacular Now a 2 out of 5, but Shailene Woodley gets a 4+ for a star performance that, at times, shows the power of Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Lining Playbook.  She has a great future ahead of her and should be watched by aspiring actresses, who want to learn how to rise above poor material.

The Wolverine

Wow! I went to see Director James Mangold’s The Wolverine just because it was the big film of weekend and was expecting to see more of the same old bang-bang of recent action films.  But, surprise, surprise…  The Wolverine is an excellent story of honor and honor disgraced thanks to Writers Mark Bomback and Scott Frank.  

And, with superb performances by Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Tao Okamoto (Mariko), Rila Fukushima (Yukio) and Svetlana Kohdchenkova (Viper) plus the fabulous Cinematography of Ross Emery and the Production Design of François Audouy, The Wolverine is one of the best action films of the year.  In fact, it is one of the better overall films of the year, so far.

 

I fear, however, that my low expectation might be due to a poor marketing campaign by Twentieth Century Fox concentrated on selling this to fan boys, when they could be bringing in young women and adults of both sexes, as well.  Perhaps they feel that the killing they’re likely to make in Japan, where the movie takes place, will make up for it.

 

But, if you want to have an exciting time at the movies, check out The Wolverine.

I give The Wolverine a 4+ out of 5. 

 

 

 

PS: Remeber to stay for the epilogue scene during the credits.



Blue Jasmine

Writer/Director Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine is brilliantly written tragedy that is brilliantly acted by Cate Blanchett in what could be considered her crowning achievement to date.
 
In her portrayal of Jasmine, Blanchett is able to evoke the pain and agony of a woman who is stepping back and forth over the line between mental breakdown and lucidity with a dignity that doesn’t make the audience squirm uncomfortably until the very end.   

On the contrary, we are riveted with her story and are able to laugh throughout.  Although, I must say, much of the laughter is misplaced, perhaps because we aren’t able to understand the type of neurosis from which Jasmine suffers in the same way the uptight media pundits don’t understand the type of addiction from which one of New York’s mayoral candidates suffers.  So, instead of offering understanding and help, they laugh and castigate in the same way the characters around Jasmine do.

It is astounding how Woody Allen’s films have relevance to current life.  And, that is his genius.  However, Woody does offer a bleak picture of the human condition.  Everyone in this film is a loser without exception.  They connive, settle for less than they deserve and opt to survive instead of live.  And, poor Jasmine ends up…  Well, go and see this extraordinary tour de force.

Blanchett is backed up by superb performances from Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin and Bobby Cannavale and the excellent Production Design of Santo Loquasto.

I give Blue Jasmine a well-deserved 4 out of 5.

Blackfish

Writer/Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s well-done documentary Blackfish is an eye-opening exposé on SeaWorld and similar exhibitions featuring black orca whales.

 Inspired by the death of Dawn Brancheau that achieved national attention a few years ago, Cowperthwaite goes back into the history of Tilicum, the orca responsible for killing Ms. Brancheau, and proceeds to detail 2 other deadly attacks by Tilicum and the over 70 killer-whale attacks that have taken place over the last 20 years. 

Interviews with former trainers give a clear picture of the horrible conditions in which these extremely intelligent creatures are kept and the film posits that Tilicum may be wreaking revenge for its kidnapping from its family as a baby.

 

However, the real villain does not appear to be Tilicum, but the greedy management of SeaWorld that has kept the truth of the attacks not only from the public, but from their own employees.

 

I give Blackfish a well-deserved 4+ out of 5.

Red 2

Since I thoroughly enjoyed the original Red, Director Dean Parisot’s Red 2 was one of my most anticipated films of the summer.  Thankfully, it lived up to my expectations.

Red 2 is the perfect summer film, blending great action with great laughs.  The quartet of writers, including Jon and Erich Hoeber, Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, have created an ensemble of wacky characters that form a perfect screen family. 

The core characters, Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), Marvin (John Malkovich)), Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Ivan (Brian Cox) are joined by Anthony Hopkins as the mad bomber Bailey, Catherine Zeta-Jones as the Russian General in Intelligence Katja and Byung-hun Lee as the world’s greatest contract killer Han Cho Bai. 

 

The team has to prevent a Cold War bomb that was hidden in Moscow from detonating. 

 

With action in Paris and London, as well as Moscow; with Helen Mirren shooting up all venues; and with Mary-Louise Parker leaving Kansas in the far past to embrace her inner spy, how can one not enjoy this film?

 

 

Go have some fun.  I give Red 2 a strong 4 out of 5.

 

 

 

 

 

Fruitvale Station

Writer/Director Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, based on the real-life story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay resident, won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for "its skillful realization, its devastating emotional impact and its moral and social urgency."  It also won Sundance’s Audience Award, both deservedly so.

It is powerfully told with a strong cast led by Octavia Spencer as Oscar’s mother Wanda, Michael B. Jordan as Oscar and Melonie Diaz as Oscar’s girlfriend Sophina.

                                                                This film is especially relevant and impactful given the present real-life story in the Florida court.  What becomes clear above all is the profiling that is rampant among both police with badges and wannabe policemen, as well as the fact it’s imperative to keep guns out of the hands of immature real or fake security people.

 Fruitvale Station demonstrates the tragedy, not just of victims of violence, but the emotional lives of people who care about them.  It is, obviously, not a happy story, but it has a nobility that cannot be denied.  I give it a 4 out of 5.