Category: Movie Reviews

Death Sentence: James Wan’s underrated gem

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Before James Wan got furious with Vin Diesel this spring, he once paired with Kevin Bacon for one of the most underrated crime dramas of the past ten years. The 2007 film, Death Sentence, didn’t make any money or gain critical acclaim but it came on around midnight the other morning and I got sucked in again. This happens when quality if unknown movies sneak up on you when it’s quiet in the house and all you can hear if the coffee slurping from your cup. This is a Lost Boys kind of film. A versatile cast, solid premise, blunt violence and a satisfying if unconventional ending.

What’s it all about? Bacon is a family man who watches his oldest son die in a gas station robbery. Full of rage, he tracks down the killer and takes him out. Unfortunately for this ordinary guy, that guy’s brother is a well known criminal who goes after Bacon’s family, promising the guy a…wait for it…death sentence.

Why is this movie so good? The actors really dig into a familiar premise and give it their all. This is Kevin Bacon’s best work in the last decade. You won’t see this much depth in his work outside of a few episodes from Season 1 of The Following or the sneaky good horror thriller, Stir of Echoes. Bacon’s Nick Hume doesn’t have any fighting ability and barely knows how to hold a gun in the first part of the film. He slowly changes from one type of person to another type of person throughout the course of the film. It’s all about what you would do if your family was seriously harmed and you saw the wrong in front of you. How far would you go and would you change in the process?

Nick is a family guy who seems cut off from the dangerous parts of the world in the beginning. On the way home from his son’s hockey game, he stops for gas in the worst part of town and is simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something terrible happens and it changes him. Bacon’s work is marvelous here because he has to play a few different shades. Innocent, harmless, ruthless and finally, murderous. The movie, written by Ian McKenzie Jeffers based off Brian Garfield’s novel, doesn’t avoid the effect it has on everyone around him. Here, revenge is treated like a grenade. The more Nick pushes for vengeance, the more people close to him he sees harmed. Wan and the producers don’t mishandle that part. They invest in it unlike most films and it feels real, especially due to the chemistry Bacon has with Kelly Preston, who plays his wife.

Wan doesn’t skimp on the action here either and it’s brutal and utterly realistic. Shooters actually miss with their weapons and the fights are messy in a visceral way. We don’t see Bacon instantly turn into a badass and throw Van Damme kicks and pick up a shotgun and flip it around like Arnold’s Terminator. He is a fish out of water thrown into a violent world that he helped produce. There’s a shootout in his home, a parking lot faceoff(Wan really loves these) and a finale set inside an abandoned church because why not, where there is a church the devil is close by anyway. This is a movie from the guy who got famous with a little horror film called Saw and from the novelist who gave us Death Wish.

 

It also helps to have a really good cast that seems fit for their roles. Garrett Hedlund may be best known for the horrible Tron remake and his lame duck brother in John Singleton’s Four Brothers, but he’s a gifted actor and can be great when put in the right role. He digs his teeth into young Billy Darling, and doesn’t just produce a cardboard box villain. Hedlund creates this vengeful young man who loses the best family he has and must respond in a horrible way. He shaved his head, grew a mustache, and walks and talks like a man with no fear. It’s old school territory with authenticity.

Aisha Tyler(you know her as the woman who drives FX’s Archer crazy) chimes in as a cop on Bacon’s trail and John Goodman has the two scene juicy cameo as the gun salesman who could be more. Goodman has the best lines of the film and is only in it for 7 minutes. Looking at Bacon after handing him guns, Goodman quips, “Take that gun and go to the desert and start your own Holy War. You’re a cash customer, and you got a killing way about you.”

Hume and Darling are two completely different men who collide with each other on one fateful night at a gas station and the movie is a result. As Darling tells him in the end, “Look at you. You look like one of us. Look what I made you.” The movie never loses sight of what it is and the message it’s trying to get across. Revenge isn’t always ideal and has consequences but it’s a real thing because humans are flawed and make emotional irrational decisions.

If your son dies in a horrible way and you know exactly who did it, what would you do? Tell the cops, hope they get it right and sit it out. Death Sentence is a far fetched action film, but it doesn’t forget about real questions like the one posed above. What would you do? Are you sure?

The movie isn’t perfect. There are instances where the police became useless and way too far behind the main protagonist and his prey, which will make you roll your eyes a bit. There are lots of improbable action sequences that challenge the realistic grounds the film seems to live on. However, the movie is meant to be an action thriller with dramatic elements and a human frailty threat running throughout it. Wan’s violence is a heightened variety but still thrills.

You’ll feel every hit and every bullet fired and even appreciate the slow and calming ending scene with Hedlund and Bacon, and then Bacon at his home. It’s not exactly what you would expect from this kind of film, but the ending put it on another level for me. It circles back to what drove the actions of the entire film. Family, and what we would do if they were taken from us.

Death Sentence has it’s guilty pleasures, but he hits the hardest with its realistic themes of revenge, vengeance and the cost of an eye for an eye.

CREED produces best Rocky story in 36 years

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During recent weeks, all I heard about the seventh film in the Rocky series, Creed, was that it wasn’t needed. Fair game I figured. The sixth film seemed to put a nice stamp on the series after a lackluster fifth entry so why push it? When you leave this film, you will know why it was made. The Rocky Balboa saga comes full circle here and is the strongest film in the series since Rocky 2, which was made 36 years ago. It has a lot to do with Sylvester Stallone, the epitome of the tough hardened streets of Philadelphia this tale was born on. He’s never been better and bares EVERYTHING as an old, tired and lonely champ who sees a chance to redeem something when Apollo Creed’s son Adonis finds him at Adrian’s restaurant. Let me explain…

Some actors get better with age. Others fade into the distance, taken over by younger talents never to be found again. As he has gracefully plowed into his late 60’s, Sylvester Stallone has found his stride. He blows things up with the Expendables, makes a light film like Grudge Match, and returns to either Rambo or Rocky. He’s old, rich, well known and can do whatever he wants. With his latest film, Stallone packs the hardest punch in his entire career. He gave his baby and the rights to the characters to writer/director Ryan Coogler. This guy didn’t just pick up a script and say let’s go make a movie. Coogler had intentions here and something to add to the series. If not, Sly would have never given it over. Creed is the first Rocky film Stallone didn’t write.  The result is a special Thanksgiving treat that took me back to my first Rocky film when I was just five years old. Creed will fill loyal fans of the series with nostalgic thoughts while entertaining newcomers aka the young hashtag crowd.

The story is simple enough. Adonis(Michael B. Jordan, perfectly cut from the boxing mold and sharing an uncanny resemblance to Carl Weathers) is a lost soul at 30. The film opens with Apollo’s wife(not Adonis’ mother) taking him in from juvenile detention and raising him in her house. Adonis wrestles with the fact that he never knew his dad yet shares so many things in common, such as fighting. He quits his day job and goes to Philly to track down his father’s roots and Rocky.

The scene where he walks into the restaurant and asks Balboa who won that unofficial tussle from the end of Rocky 3 is perfectly scripted, acted and laid out. Coogler has a confidence with the camera that most young directors don’t have. He lets Stallone and Jordan do the lifting and circles them like they are fighters in a ring. From there, it’s cake talking. Rocky trains Adonis after initially declining and they are off. I don’t need to explain the rest. There’s a girl(Tessa Thompson), a few bumps, training montages(NO eye of the tiger) and a climactic fight.

Jordan is the perfect sparring partner for Stallone. He proved in Fruitvale Station that he could carry a film and tear into a role. The two actors meld into their roles seamlessly, conveying emotion and historical relevance like it’s following their footsteps. Jordan is a dynamic young talent and physically gifted so he convinces just as much in the ring as he does out of it. Stallone feeds off his energy and gives it all he’s got.

Coogler’s script is even better than his directing, filling the spaces in between the fight scenes with true grit from a fighter’s life. It’s believable and emotionally satisfying without being repetitive or manipulative.

I can’t say enough how good Stallone is. This is his baby. His stomping ground. With no offense to John Rambo, Rocky Balboa will always be the part I associate Sly with. I grew up watching him kick butt, take names and look good doing it in other roles but Rocky is his personal stage to swing the wrecking ball. Here, weary and gray, he goes for broke. Maybe due to the fact he didn’t write or direct, Sly could fully plug into the role and push harder. There are three scenes in Creed where he will break your heart. Smashing it to pieces with his poignant take on a boxer who searches for reasons to get up in the morning and keep throwing punches. Underrated for his entire career due to his action bravado, Stallone can act and do a lot with a look. The moment he goes “how you doin” or sits next to Adrian and Paulie’s grave to tell them what’s what, you just sit back and smile, realizing the actor is home again.

The boxing scenes in the series have always been stellar because they respect the true craft and sweet science of boxing and combat. Creed is no different. Real boxers like Andre Ward and Tony Bellew make cameos here and add authenticity to the film. The training scenes are legit boxing tutorials that give off knowledge if one is paying attention. The film carries a dirty lived in look that serves the fight game well. Coogler has respect for the characters and the world here, infusing it with flashbacks of the previous films and using part of the score and the same locations.

When I left the theater, my good friend, a former MMA fighter and beast of a human being, told me watching this movie took him back to those pre-fight emotions and internal energy. Some films can do that to you. They make you want to revisit a part of your own history because a connection was made. They hook you.

Creed wasn’t just good. It was surprisingly great and made for a purpose. The strongest film in the franchise since Rocky II. See it for Stallone. See it with the family. See it to revisit this cinematic champ one last time before Sly decides to hang them up.

Captain America: Civil War pits friends against each other

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What if your friends didn’t share the same ideals and beliefs that you did? What if this mutual disagreement pitted you against each other, separating one party into the land of the law and placing the other on the run as a fugitive? The new trailer for Marvel’s next cinematic thrill ride, Captain America: Civil War, promises their best adventure yet because it gets personal. Are these people heroes or vigilantes? Marvel is tapping into their internal Dark Knight questions. Are these Marvel heroes the ones we deserve?

Captain America: Civil War Trailer and Posters are Here!

After the fun yet overlong and silly Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Russo brothers are bringing the Winter Soldier real world touch to the table again, honing in on the conflict between Steve Rodgers’ Captain and Tony Stark’s Iron Man. When the government(welcome back William Hunt) wants to start regulating superheroes instead of simply turning them loose, Stark agrees with the philosophy and Rogers rebels against it. When Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier is targeted, the band splits down the middle.

“If we can’t accept limitations, we are no better than the bad guys.” Stark has a point, and he has come a long way since Iron Man 2, where the government wanted his suit and he said no. This time it wasn’t Garry Shandling asking though.

War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther(hello Chadwick Boseman) and Vision join Stark while Hawkeye, Falcon, Winter Solder aka Bucky and possibly others join Rodgers. This sets up a showdown unseen before in these Marvel adventures. Namely, it pits Stark against his friend Rodgers. The best line of the trailer was the simplest.

When Rodgers apologizes for going against Tony because of his friend Bucky, Stark’s response is tragic and chilling. “So was I.” Wow. The poster’s tagline couldn’t be more spot on. “Divided we fall.”

This is going to be the must see film of 2016, at least the first half of the cinematic schedule. The people who laugh off the silliness of these superhero films miss the moral of the story from Winter Soldier. What happens when you fail to regulate people with extraordinary powers? Is that a good thing? Winter Soldier asked about the cost of war and if sacrificing civilians for the greater good was digestible or not. Civil War aims for a destruction of the brotherhood. The music used in the trailer is perfect. This is going to be bittersweet and contain mega loads of awesome sauce.

It’s been hinted at before. In both the Avengers films, the crew have tussled internally. Nothing like this though. Civil War puts these matters on a global scale and turns the meter to red before leaving the building with the gas leaking. This is going to be explosive and it’s only six months and change away so start re-watching.

The only letdown for me was seeing no glimpse of Frank Grillo’s Crossbones. A guy who historically(comic book wise at least) has a lot to say about the fate of Mr. America. Someone who lost to Rodgers in the elevator but has come back stronger and deadlier than before. I can’t wait for their showdown. I needed a little Grillo and got none. The only drawback of an otherwise great first look.

Watch for yourself.

 

The New James Bond: My three candidates

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Spectre is thriving at the box office and even though Daniel Craig is contractually obligated to scrap on the tux, take a beating and pound shaken martinis one more time, I want to talk about the future of the franchise. Who plays him next? Craig sounded exhausted on the press tour for the latest adventure, so I would be surprised if he did more than one more ride. He has one foot out the door so let’s talk who plays him next. Here are my three candidates.

Michael Fassbender

He is suave, taunt, intense and has the build to slide right into MI6’s high wire theatrics. He hasn’t played a character like this either, yet built his career similar to Craig’s on solid roles and art house fare. He has a head start on the mainstream, having played Magneto and Steve Jobs in recent movies. The point is, seeing Fassbender here wouldn’t be tiring or a sad case of “seen that, forget it” misfortune. He can act and slays the ladies. Did you watch Shame? He can play a sad Lothario as well.

Tom Hardy

Cut from the same type of bulldog mold as Craig, Hardy has proven himself in action roles yet fares equally well in independent films. He has a presence that few can attain through film school or director longing. When he shows up, authenticity takes precedent over mere make believe. He’s played a Batman villain, filled Mad Max’s shoes, and rocked different accents in Locke and The Drop. His role in Bronson will forever be his ticket to the table, but signature roles in Lawless and the recent Legend stamp his place as a force to reckon with. I can easily picture him as the first Bond with a five o’clock shadow.

Idris Elba

Suck it Anthony Horowitz. The Bond author slammed the British actor’s credentials as a future Bond because he was too “street”. Aka too black. How shortsighted and unfortunate. If you have taken the time to watch Luther, the BBC detective series with Idris leading the party, you know how good he would be as Britain’s most famous cinematic creation. He has the look, the voice and the build to knock the role out. He also may add a sense of humor to the reckless agent.

These are my three guys. My bet is Craig shrugs his shoulders and takes a huge paycheck to come back for a 5th film. He wasn’t the problem with Spectre but the director and writer need to produce a better setting and appetite for the actor to play around in. If he leaves, go with one of the sly fellows mentioned above.

Mockingjay Part 2 fails to register

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Sorry Katniss Everdeen. I’ve seen better finales than this. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part Two(still way too long) failed to register.

After four years and four cash cow entries, the feeling I got when I left this rebellion joint was a lack of satisfaction. That’s the problem when you decide to split up the final book of a popular book series. After Mockingjay Part One came and disappointed with its drab storyline and overwrought atmosphere, expectations were high for this finale. The gamble didn’t pay off.

If you don’t know the plot, let me bring you up to speed. Katniss(Jennifer Lawrence, legit but bored and out of tears) is still the face of the rebellion against President Snow(Donald Sutherland, the only person having any fun) and his evil empire of tyranny. When she is told to merely wage war via camera and inspire the rebels to fight Snow and his men, she has other plans. She wants to kill Snow, but will have to get past many obstacles to do so, including dragging the audience on the driest love triangle of all time.

Seriously, the Peeta or Gale contest grew old two movies ago. It drags down the action here. It doesn’t help that Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutchinson seem like misplaced jocks from the Twilight films. Hemsworth is so bad. It must be hard at Thanksgiving when your brother is Thor. He sucks. Go back to playing the heartthrob or use your accent in a different film.

There are few surprises. Having read the book, the film is a series of check marks. The raids. The ambush set up by the Games. The explosions. The longing looks extended between Katniss, Gale and Peeta. More explosions. Too much talking. The ending feels completely tacked on after a depressing climax. In the book, which wasn’t well received, the ending didn’t land with such a thud.

The action is thrilling in parts but doesn’t pack enough of a punch. The attack of “The Mutts” is scary yet reminded me of I Am Legend zombies. The climax, so powerfully written in the book, fizzles here in the film. Whenever in doubt, Lawrence just blows things up.

The film plays long and wears on the viewer. Watching the story take its final swings, the viewer waits for that final point of interest and it never comes. The cast is game yet tired. Lawrence has always been the difference in these films, a wicked combo of strength, attitude and beauty that is worth fighting for and watching. Here, even her Katniss doesn’t have a place.

There isn’t enough of Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch. He is the vital comic relief that is missing from this overly serious film. The presence of Philip Seymour Hoffman is just sad and wasted. Julianne Moore casts a cold spell as Coin, a woman who has more up her sleeve than good will and harmony. Sutherland is good at smug sinister moves, but his character is all too familiar.

Collins’ books aimed to tell a world weary tale that mirrors the modern world and possibly the future that awaits us, but it isn’t interesting enough nor does it connect with the viewer. The propaganda, rebellion, and political ideals are all there, but none of it registers. The first two films were thrilling exhibits of human sacrifice and heroism and kept you plugged in. The final two films bog everything down in a boring heap of nonsense.

This is the kind of movie you get up from your seat and shrug your shoulders at. It wasn’t good, bad or ugly. It wasn’t disappointing. It just wasn’t fulfilling enough to justify the split of the final book and the cliffhanger trap placed in Part one. After a great start to the franchise, The Hunger Games ended with a whimper. Save your hard earned theater cash for other more worthy films.

“Batkid Begins” will tear you up in a good way

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Batkid Begins is going to make you cry, folks. Men, women, kids and even a few pets. You’ve been warned.

Dressed as Batkid, Make-A-Wish recipient Miles Scott spent the day fighting crime as San Francisco was turned into Gotham City, Friday. Scott, a 5-year old leukemia patient, had his wish fulfilled with the help of Make-A-Wish Foundation, San Francisco police chief Greg suhr and Mayor Ed Lee.
Dressed as Batkid, Make-A-Wish recipient Miles Scott spent the day fighting crime as San Francisco was turned into Gotham City, Friday. Scott, a 5-year old leukemia patient, had his wish fulfilled with the help of Make-A-Wish Foundation, San Francisco police chief Greg suhr and Mayor Ed Lee.

The story of Miles Scott, a five year old boy with leukemia who gets to dream big when the Make A Wish foundation grants his request to be Batman for a day. This wasn’t just a group of people making a costume, clearing a room out and having some cake. This was the entire city of San Francisco being swapped for a mythical Gotham city that captivated the entire world. People from countries around the world, including political leaders, wanted to be a part of Miles’ story. Everybody wanted in on this action because it was genuine goodness. President Obama, Ben Affleck, Adam West, and Michael Keaton all pledging a love for the little kid who wanted to forget about the disease that had wrecked him for so long and just be a kid again. Watching this movie, I kept thinking of David Bowie’s classic song, “Heroes”.

“We can be heroes. Just for one day.” Miles’ story reminded the world that goodness isn’t that far away if the right navigator is at the front of the line.

Director Dana Nachman takes you through the entire process, livening up Miles’ comic book like tale and geeking out with the visuals. This is a story that takes certain aim for your heart no matter what because of how improbable it was from the start and the spectacle that it became. It was impossible to not hear about Batkid back in November, 2013 when it all took place. Without being superficial, Batkid Begins just takes you along for the ride of how a simple family from a small farming town found their way into the center of global attention.

It doesn’t  happen without a marvel like Make a Wish maestro Patricia Wilson coordinating with the police, local theaters, various organizations and event planners from across the city and country. In order to get this moving, Wilson couldn’t take no for an answer. Mike Jutan and Eric Johnson teaming up to play Penguin and Batman. You will tear up watching Johnson connect with Miles at a gymnastics center as they train for their stunts. When Johnson lets Miles fly on a trapeze across the gym, it’s a comfy cool great moment that will fill you with the feels usually reserved for war films with men and sad romantic dramas for women. Batkid Begins will touch you all in a different way.

I wanted to be a superhero when I was a kid. Whether it was Superman or The Punisher, I wanted to roam the streets and save people and wear the costume. At some point in our lives, we all want to be the hero. Seeing Miles live out his dream, against all odds, made a part of me feel complete. That day, he saved a lot of people, not including the actors and staged action adventures that were placed all over the city. People held up signs throughout the day that simply said, “Save us Batkid”. In the hard knock of life, strangers felt their own tragic lives being steered towards a better safer place by watching a true fighter in Miles live out a dream. Sometimes, the world works in crazy ways and it connects people in the most unlikely of ways.

Batkid Begins is the story of a miracle. Something seemingly impossible that happened because of the work of several dedicated people. Miles Scott went into remission right around the event and is healthy now. As he gets older, my guess is he will never forget the day the world was his. Neither will we.

Batkid Begins is available on Redbox and On Demand.

“Tiring” Spectre spells a sour end for Daniel Craig’s Bond.

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craig 2When I left the latest James Bond adventure, Spectre, I felt like its star, Daniel Craig. I felt tired and worn out by this particular 007. During recent interviews, Craig seem detached and ready to call it quits playing the famous British intelligence agent. I feel the exact same way after the exhausting overcooked 2 hour and 28 minute film. Enough.

The story is a British spy film press kit. In the wake the death of M(the beloved and missed Judi Dench), a new division is making a move to take over MI-6 and close down the 007 program. They have a new technology that can track anyone anywhere. Why? It’s Bond’s world, where anything is possible. Women fall in love with you within a couple days, beautiful sports cars are wrecked continuously, Bond’s suit never gets wrinkled and a lot of people die. With a clue from the departed M, Bond tracks a group of assassins whose group is called…..SPECTRE.

Car chases come every 20 minutes, like room service to a hotel room full of guests who already had a plate full. Bonds meets a woman who connects back to a face from his past, and that brings him to Christoph Waltz’s bad guy who may know James a bit. If he didn’t, he would just be another slick rogue in a suit with shoes not wearing socks. Who needs that?

Maybe it’s getting tiring to see these spy films every year. Filmmakers are either mocking Bond or duplicating him. Seeing Matthew Vaughn rip off Q’s weaponry and tech geekness in Kingsman last year may have kicked over the glass. Paul Feig’s Spy gave the story a sense of humor. Maybe this fourth go around with Craig’s Bond shows how long in the tooth this tortured incarnation really is.

In Skyfall, director Sam Mendes made it feel fresh after a just good enough Quantum of Solace. Javier Bardem was a clever villain, the story was fresh, Craig was wounded yet cool and the castle shootout at the end left a shiny tint on this aging Aston Martin. In Spectre, Mendes and a team of FIVE screenwriters tie all the Craig Bonds together in a sloppy way. It just feels rushed, overdone, a bit bland and not interesting enough. Like a steak that isn’t dry but looked better in the packaging at the store.

The best part of the film was Dave Bautista, a monstrous presence who gets a single word of dialogue yet owns every scene he is in with his ferocity alone. When he enters the film, the little film fan inside you starts to get excited. He is a special breed of villain that Bond hasn’t seen in a while. A villain that can go toe to toe with Bond and create excitement that lifts an otherwise dull film up. Bautista gets warmed up with a couple chase scenes but the best scene in the film involves a high speed empty train, Craig and Big Dave crashing through cars beating each other up. The choreography is kinetic yet not complicated or too quick. Bautista smashes things and Craig takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

The fight reminds you of the first scene in Casino Royale. That wonderful black and white bathroom brawl that introduced us to a blond haired hero with a pitbull mentality and some push. The train scene is excellent. Bautista is fantastic, ferocious and I wanted more of him. When he departs, the film goes back into “been there, seen that, please reload” mode.

Waltz is wasted in a thanklessly dull bad guy role that never really gets going. He’s the limp noodle to Bautista’s filet. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and the luscious Lea Seydoux come and go without leaving a great mark. Ben Whishaw has a few good lines as Q but doesn’t register much more than what you expect. Monica Bellucci has a brief role that gets forgotten by the midway mark. The supporting cast has quality actors that are wasted.

Spectre is a disappointment because of the level Mendes brought the Bond franchise to with Skyfall. It isn’t a bad film and it is gorgeously shot and has exotic locales like Tangier, Austria, Rome, and the always striking London setting. Maybe the tip off was five different screenwriters. Always gives me the feeling that they just kept passing the laptop around in a circle until something good came out.

Craig is still my favorite Bond, but he feels old in the role here. You can see the lines in his face and the role all at once. For the first time in years, he is simply going through the motions. For the first time in a long stretch, a Bond film feels like it was one too many. There will never be a bad Craig Bond film, but this one comes awfully close.

For a little while, this movie wasn’t going to happen. Mendes nearly didn’t come back and Craig was hesitant. Watching the film, I can see why. They are scrapping the bottom of the jar.

Spectre isn’t a bad movie, but it’s a disappointing finale for Craig’s Bond.

Spend your hard earned cash and time on better films like Bridge of Spies, The Martian, The Walk or Steve Jobs. Save this Bond flick for home.

*Seriously though, give Bautista his own spy adventure. His own movie. I’d pay for more adventures with his Hinx.

Happy birthday, Dolph Lundgren: The Swedish Destroying Engineer

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1410187582114_wps_26_Dolph_Lundgren_in_stills_Let’s be clear. Dolph Lundgren has starred in 72 movies and has kicked ass in every single one of them. He doesn’t care where it is shot at or going. He will show up and kick and add a little bravado in the end. Today, Dolph turned 58 years young, and he isn’t slowing down. Many will always know him as Ivan Drago, the Russian tank who slaughtered Apollo Creed and challenged Rocky Balboa to a cock measuring contest in Moscow. To me, he is one of the last action heroes. Unlike Arnold, he didn’t go into politics and waste his twilight years. Unlike Sly Stallone, he didn’t inject all kinds of drugs into himself and stick to sequels. He didn’t disappear like Don The Dragon Wilson or Chuck Norris. He just kept working and produced these signature titles.

Silent Trigger. Hidden Assassin. The Sweeper. Bridge of Dragons. Jill Rips. The Last Patrol. Agent Red. Direct Action. Fat Slags. Hidden Agenda(not a sequel to Hidden Assassin). The Final Inquiry. Direct Contact(not a sequel to Direct Action). Command Performance. The Killing Machine. Small Apartments. Stash House. One in the Chamber. The Package. Legendary. Battle of the Diamond. Ambushed. Blood of Redemption. Puncture Wounds. Riot. Shark Lake. War Pigs. 

NONE of those are made up titles. All are legit direct to DVD action junkie entries. Reading off Lundgren’s film resume is like asking a drunk stoned action fanatic to list off dreamy titles they thought of while playing video games. Lundgren has done it all. He’s knocked Sly out, fire guns along Sly and Arnold and went against Van Damme in Universal Soldier. He has played the Punisher and fought crime alongside Brandon Lee. When he isn’t busy being an Expendable or having bit roles in Coen Films like Hail Caesar, Lundgren is scaring home intruders via picture. That’s right, someone broke into his home one time, saw a picture of him with his family and immediately ran the fuck out. They ran all the way to the next state.

In addition to playing wavy blonde haired heroes in Trigger Bridge Agent Killing Package Redemption Legendary Pigs cinema adventures, he is a smart dude. He has an IQ over 160 and is an MIT graduate. He isn’t lunk head who will break you. He can tell you how your body works and solve science and mathematical equations while kicking your ass. The man is a gem.

You can smirk when he picks up Arnold’s laundry in the Kindergarten Cop sequel, but know one thing. Lundgren knows exactly what he is and never stopped working. He will be kicking and pumping out sludgy one liners when you are pumping gas into your car years from now. It’s what he does. It may happen in Indonesia, Russia, Iraq, Delaware or possibly Mexico. He isn’t a pretender. The dumbest thing one can say about action stars is that they are bad actors. Action stars don’t act. They kick ass and make you believe it. Lundgren never acted a day in his life and doesn’t need to. Let’s see if Russell Crowe can raise his feet above his head. No, he can’t.

I’ll never forget hearing Stallone tell the story of how Lundgren sent him to the hospital during Rocky 4. Before they started filming the boxing scenes, Sly idiotically told Dolph to come at him for real for 45 seconds. Lundgren hit him so hard that he sent Sly to intensive care for nine days. The writer, director and star had to be flown back to America because Lundgren hit him so hard that his heart banged against his ribs and started to swell. True story. It’s not wise to mess with Dolph.

Prepare for more Lundgren too. He had six releases in 2015 and will have six more in 2016, including Female Fight Club, Larceny and Don’t Kill It.

Just don’t piss him off or break into his home. Call ahead. He may spare your life and give you a free copy of the 2005 classic The Russian Specialist. 

“Steve Jobs” will make you dream big again about movies

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“You don’t care how much money a person makes. You care about what they make.”

People want they can’t have. They need it to be whole again, if only for a moment. Steve Jobs knew this and dedicated his entire life to giving the people what they wanted. Options on a computer. Easy hook ups. Internet. Music in their pocket. The ability to have it all right in their palm. He just needed time to create his masterpiece. Like a painter figuring out which brush he should use first. He had to fail hard again and again before he put it all together.

Danny Boyle’s new film, written by the maestro of dialogue Aaron Sorkin, is exhilarating, propulsive and engages the mind because it effects everyone who carries an Apple laptop around, an iPhone, iPod, iPad or iWatch. It all started with Jobs. This movie makes you dream big again about the power of cinema and what it can do when used right.

Boyle’s film chronicles three events in Jobs life. The launch of Macintosh in 1984, the opening of Jobs’ independent project Next in 1988 and the legendary launch of the iMac in 1998. Two failed, and one exploded.

In order to properly tell the story, you need great actors. One of a kind talents who can morph into any shape or form on a movie screen. You DON’T need Ashton Kutcher. Boyle’s greatest move here is putting British chameleon Michael Fassbender into the arrogant conductor’s skin for two hours. While he was a genius at knowing where pieces went and the big picture of technology, Jobs was a mean guy. A bad father and a worse friend. Everyone who stood face to face with him was a debate opponent. His own daughter couldn’t get compassionate love. As Jobs says towards the end of the film, “I was poorly made.”

If all you know about Jobs are the pictures of him at launches smiling at the crowd looking like God, Fassbender takes you inside the demons that curled and pinched inside his chest. The man had a wounded heart that seemed to never get completed before birth. His wiring was different, like in a computer where one plug needs to go into a certain outlet or the system breaks down. Calling Fassbender Oscar worthy is like calling coffee hot on arrival. It’s like saying the rain will make your clothes wet. This isn’t a performance. This is a transformation that peels Jobs like an onion. The man goes from Magneto to Jobs in a blink. That’s power.

Kate Winslet is nearly his equal as the long suffering assistant Joanna Hoffman. Fassbender and Winslet share many scenes literally firing verbal bullets at one another. She knew everything that he didn’t and knew how he worked better than most. When he needed to know which door was his door, Hoffman told him. When he couldn’t understand his daughter’s need for attention, he needed her. Without Hoffman, Jobs would have been a mad man stuck in a garage.

Jeff Daniels needs to work with Sorkin more. The writer’s words fit the actor’s speed. The Newsroom duo reteam here for Daniels’ former CEO and disgraced boss John Sculley. Throughout all the misery, Sculley was a father figure for Jobs, and watching Fassbender and Daniels trade dialogue like they were two tennis players on a hard court is award worthy itself. If there was an Oscar for best exchange in a film, these two guys get it hands down. Their tragic final moments will haunt you as the credits roll.

For the people who are still convinced Seth Rogen can’t act, come watch him work here as Steve Wozniak, the Ringo to Jobs’ Lennon and the guy who created the world that Jobs wanted but never got the credit. As the fumbling yet passionate partner in crime, Rogen instills Wozniak with compassion to balance the pride that is spread around the floor. A maker of the switchboard and the internal dynamics of the Mac never got the recognition he deserved and in three separate scenes, pleads with Jobs over giving credit to his co-workers. The acting here is so magical that you forget these are actors and just go with the flow of the film.

Michael Stuhlbarg(Arnold Rothstein on Boardwalk Empire) imbues the innocent yet Jobs flame resistant Andy Hertzfeld, the guy who Jobs told to complete impossible missions before the launch. When you go through your everyday life, remember that one man threatened another’s life because he couldn’t make a computer say “hello” on time. That’s the Tao of Steve and Andy.

Throughout it all, Sorkin and Boyle are rocket launchers. Sorkin’s dialogue is like David Mamet on steroids. A hyper kinetic orchestra of words, timing and emotion. He adapted a script from Walter Issacson’s book on Jobs. Boyle has worked with great writers before but he found his Jimmy Page in Sorkin. Someone who could give him the words required to make a masterpiece. Boyle has done it all. 28 Days Later. Trainspotting. 127 Hours. The underrated Sunshine. Slumdog Millionaire. His films defy genre placing and that’s why he is great. He doesn’t miss when he goes behind the camera and he may have created his best film here in Steve Jobs.

The movie plays out like Birdman’s sibling. One location. Long uncut takes of people walking and talking. The ability to do so much with so little is amazing. Boyle, Sorkin, Fassbender, Daniels, Rogen, Winslet, Stuhlbarg and company all deserve a mention for putting egos to the side and creating this masterpiece.

That’s the best thing about the fall/winter season of film. The overload of great movies. As much as I enjoyed Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron or whatever else arrived in the summer, October through December is the greatest time for cinema. It’s when the ring is cleared for the heavyweights. Films like The Martian, The Walk, Bridge of Spies and Steve Jobs. Movies that means something, are powerful and engage a viewer like few other films can. It’s where Hollywood breaks out its greatest hits record and gives it a fine polish.

Steve Jobs was a jerk but he knew it. He was a genius at everything that didn’t have to do with human emotion. If you don’t know who he is, look him up on your phone. If you are holding an iPhone, you are able to look up Steve Jobs because of Steve Jobs. As George Jung, played by Johnny Depp, said at the end of the great film Blow, “My ambition far exceeded my talent.” To me, that’s Steve Jobs.

If you crave a dose of history that connects directly to the present and the future, watch Steve Jobs. Better yet, just go watch it. Steve Jobs dreamed big. So should we.

Bridge of Spies: The Best I’ve seen in 2015

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In 1957, the world was a gigantic playground when it came to war and power. On one side of the court stood the Americans and the other side stood the Russians. Each had nuclear weapons and the urge to use them. Each side wanted to know about the other’s weapons in order to gain an advantage. It was like a never-ending game between two equally tough teams with stubborn managers/coaches. Somewhere inside of it all, an insurance lawyer was appointed to negotiate the safe passage of an American pilot caught behind enemy lines. Steven Spielberg’s new film, Bridge of Spies, tells that story in grand detail and with a polish only he owns.

In order to do the film right, Spielberg needed his guy. That guy is Tom Hanks. A man so convincing he could play just about anything. Phil Jackson needed Michael Jordan to create a legend in the NBA with the Bulls and it’s the same case here. Two magicians going back to the streets where they carved classics like Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Catch Me If You Can and The Pacific. If there is a war involved, Hanks and Spielberg are the men for the job and everybody else in Hollywood is merely filling out applications.

James Donovan(Hanks) is a insurance lawyer in New York and a good one. He studied criminal law years ago but is just fine helping people prepare for potential hardship in their personal lives. When a case file is dropped in front of him involving the defense of a captured Russian spy, he doesn’t jump at it. After all, tensions were so high back then and what if you were the one guy appointed to defend what the general population saw as a monster? You would be #2 on the unpopular list behind the spy himself. You would be hated. Any other guy would just stand next to Rudolf Abel(Mark Rylance, a sure fire Oscar contender) and wait for the judge to slam his gavel down in a guilty fashion.

However, Donovan believed in the law, the constitution and that every man and woman(no matter their alliance) deserved an equal and fair defense. When he brought the matter to the Supreme Court and barely lost, the world couldn’t understand him. As Abel says later on, “Sometimes people don’t make the right decision. People are people.”

What complicates matters is a US soldier Powers(Austin Stowell, from Ed Burns Spielberg produced show, Public Morals) flying over Russia taking photos of their nuclear weapons sites. When he is shot down, the Russians and Americans attempt to orchestrate a swap. It’s not so easy. This isn’t like going to a Walmart parking lot and exchanging cars. This was Donovan going over into war torn East Berlin to negotiate the deal and when an American student is captured there, the ordeal gets even more complicated.

What sets this apart from a History channel rendition is the work of Spielberg and writers Mark Charman and the Coen Brothers. Together, they recreate this mad ripped apart world where people lived afraid and words meant life or death so the audience can truly be taken away from the theater. The best movies don’t just feature a great performance to rest their head on. They give off the illusion that what you are seeing is happening outside the door and something you could step into. There may not be a better marriage between direction and screenwriting this year. The script doesn’t waste a single word and the editing is flawless. This 140 minute movie doesn’t overstay its welcome or make you check your phone in anticipation of the credits.

The tension, despair and brutality in the East Berlin scenes reminded me of a mixture of Spielberg’s most well known Oscar films, Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. The haunting streets with half blown out buildings. The fractured families. The film starts in comfy New York but when it switches to a war zone, the filmmakers pick up the pace and really transport the viewer.

The rest is an acting class in NOT overdoing a script. Hanks takes the punches from the script and slips and jabs his way through his best performance in years. He was born to play the incredibly noble Donovan and properly bring him to life. Another actor may have started chewing instead of simply unfolding the sheet and responding to the words on the page. When Hanks read the script, he called Spielberg to do it. A history buff, especially when it comes to the United States, Hanks brings an urgency and poignancy to Donovan that nobody else(not even Daniel Day Lewis) could have brought. He’s a winner.

Rylance is the real surprise here, playing the supposed spy like a regular old man who doesn’t fear anything, from either country. A speech that Abel gives, comparing Donovan to someone he knew from his childhood, is so well played and touching that it may bring you to tears or just make you smile. You will remember “The Standing Man” speech!  Rylance is as calm and cool as a cucumber and I doubt you have seen him in anything. He only has 25 films to his credit and all I remember him from is playing Jason Statham’s partner in a barely heard of cop flick called Blitz. Here, he looks like a pro trading punches with the heavyweights. He embodies Abel with an intelligence and knowledge that few actors can do with a handful of scenes. He’ll be nominated for an Oscar and should win.

Thomas Newman’s tremendous score elevates important scenes in the film, heightening a situation or lending a beautiful grace to others. The thing about background music in movies is that it can enhance an ordinary exchange of dialogue into some poetic. His work here evokes shades of his Road to Perdition and Shawshank Redemption scores.

Here is a film about war with barely any violence in it. All tension. Hanks and Spielberg capture something unique at the movies. A film that is perfectly conceived, meaningful and a powerful history lesson about one man helping two countries connect if for just one moment on a bridge.

You may not see a better movie in 2015 than Bridge of Spies. Skip the hesitation and go see this film. It isn’t just good. It demands your attention. It is easily the best film I’ve see in 2015 and a sure sign that the heavyweights are operating the controls as the make believe desk after a rather ordinary slate of films.