Category: Movie Reviews

A Good Year: The Quiet Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott gem

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Welcome to the midnight movie parlor temptation, where important sleep disappears and minds drift into the land of weird television. There are times when the bed never calls and the couch always has a bottle of whiskey and a barstool ready for you to put a dent into, and that is when midnight movie temptations come into play. The movies you’d never watch during prime time but somehow get sucked into like an average interpretation of Poltergeist in the middle of the night. For me this week, it was the forgotten Russell Crowe-Ridley Scott French estate fairy tale romance, A Good Year.

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Tom Cruise makes “Rogue Nation” feel fresh

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Mission 5Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation‘s sign outside reads like this. Welcome to the Tom Cruise show. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to walk into Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation without an ounce of cynicism or pre-existing opinion of Cruise’s off screen persona and just enjoy a good old fashioned spy flick.

Let me tell you right now. The reason these films work so well, no matter the director, is the star. The face on the poster. The man carrying all the marbles and the boulders of pressure on this summer blockbuster scale. Cruise doesn’t just do his own fight scenes. He also hangs off the side of departing airplanes as they take off. He also rides motorcycles around roads hanging off steep cliffs. He also dives into large bodies or water and does all this at the ripe age of 50. When I think of Cruise and Mission Impossible films, the pursuit of authenticity comes to mind. He wants to make it as real as possible and he wants the audience to have as much fun as he did filming it.

The plot isn’t too distracting and has just the right amount of juice dripping from the grill at this cinematic barbecue. Cruise’s IMF team(Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) are being hunted by a rogue “Syndicate”, who wish to destroy the unit and also make a lot of money in the process. This is a film where the bad guy isn’t really noteworthy. He’s got an accent, a nasally voice and an ability to tuck the bottom part of his face into a snarl. He wants to take Cruise’s Hunt down and do it all flashy like, which makes for amazingly rendered action sequences.

You don’t come to a Mission Impossible film to be wooed by Oscar caliber acting. You want to see what these guys do this time. They didn’t disappoint. Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie(who wrote a past Mission film and is the creator of Usual Suspects) ups the ante here with Cruise and company. Leading up to the release, the scene where Cruise literally hangs off the side of a plane carried all the energy of the marketing campaign. That stunt is pretty cool and sets off the pre-credits sequence. It pales in comparison to the other stunts.

The sequence that takes the cake is a scene where Hunt dives into a government facility that is guarded by 100 feet of concrete and protected by a pool of water that whips around like a hurricane when you are in it. Hunt’s desperate plea to extract a chip, card or whatever is revealed slowly and raises the stakes as the three minute timer on his watch counts down. Folks, we all fear drowning but what the filmmakers do here is create a truly harrowing yet fun experience. We are sucking the oxygen out of our own lungs watching Hunt try to dangle.

The motorcycle chase is filmed extremely well, and all the gun fights sound authentic, ringing off a Michael Mann like echo in your ears. It’s almost as if the Fast and Furious gang challenged Cruise and company to create the most outrageous action set pieces, and the veterans just winked and went to town. I’m sorry, Vin Diesel, but when it comes to real action stunt work, Cruise has you beat big boy.

Rogue Nation is just smart enough to make us forget about the outlandish stunts, plot threads and somewhat uneven pacing at times. It’s alert, confident and delivers the goods you come to expect when seeing the trailer.

The cast is cool as silk, with Renner and Baldwin providing some levity with biting one liners and humor. It’sRebecca Ferg good to see Rhames back and Pegg is always a reliable comedic presence. The steal here though is newcomer Rebecca Ferguson, a gorgeous Swede who takes turns helping and betraying Hunt’s crew. Ferguson isn’t just a pretty face. She’s athletic enough to fulfill the action duties and has a naturally beautiful body that doesn’t seem anything overly fancy or anywhere near ordinary. Whether she’s climbing up her opponents to wrap her legs around their neck and stab them in the chest or she is racing on a motorcycle, Ferguson holds her own and then some and her co-stars know it. There’s something about a pretty lady with an European accent who can throw a punch and take one as well that just knocks me out. You’ve been warned, Emily Blunt and Kate Beckinsale.

While it’s not as polished as the first one or as slick as the last, this 5th round of Mission Impossible daredevil work is a worthy piece of summer entertainment. Whenever the plot starts to spin out of control and everybody is wearing fake masks and throwing kicks and shooting all over, Cruise grounds it all with his hard work and dedication to the character and the series. He’s a thinking man’s action hero and is all the fuel this Mission needs.

Also, Rebecca Ferguson doesn’t hurt.

“The Gift” shows a different shade of Jason Bateman

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The Gift’s greatest virtue is the same thing that keeps it from being a great film. The signature mystery at the center of the film keeps you off balance for the majority of the running time, but when it’s finally revealed, it’s a bit of a letdown. That doesn’t mean the movie is a complete misfire.

Writer/director/star Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut casts him the creepy Gordo, a man who shows up in the lives of a couple, Simon(Jason Bateman) and Robyn(Rebecca Hall), and sets off firecrackers when his past connection with Simon produces a few awkward encounters. To Simon, an ambitious businessman who doesn’t have a problem stepping on people for success, Gordo is a bug that can’t be squashed fast enough. To his wife, of course, the outsider is a fragile man who needs a friend. The juice is what happened between Gordo and Simon way back then that made this connection reappear? That drives the film and while the navigation here isn’t bad, the end result is questionable. (more…)

The Rock Returning for “Furious 8” is Vital to its success

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The Rock and great action films go together like coffee and donuts. Like pizza and breadsticks. Like salty potato chips and french onion dip. Dwayne Johnson’s presence as a beastly hero type is a huge chunk of the reason the Fast & Furious films were kicked up a notch when he decided to shit on Vin Diesel’s day in Fast Five. The news of Johnson returning for the eighth film is the first sign the movie may work as well as the previous three.

Think of that first confrontation between The Rock’s Agent Hobbs and Diesel’s Toretto back in 2011.

Hobbs: “You’re under arrest.”

Toretto:”That’s funny. I don’t feel under arrest.

Hobbs: I don’t give a shit. I’m just here to bring two assholes whose names hit my desk.”

For those of you who have been hanging out in too many stinky French theaters for the past decade, that’s hardcore macho man preemptive asskicking talk. The kind of words shared between two bald sweaty tight t-shirt wearing lions who aren’t going to back down. The Rock changed the franchise, giving it something the first four films had lacked. A true adversary for Diesel. Someone who could lock horns with him(sorry Rick Yune and John Ortiz but you two simply didn’t cut). Diesel couldn’t sneeze and knock out Johnson, and that created problems for our favorite family oriented group of criminals.

There was also the big fight. The clash of the titans, as Chris Ludacris Bridges called it during the promotional tour. The Rock and Diesel going toe to toe and beating the crap out of each other. This is the rare movie event where the hype was matched and maybe exceeded by the actual result. An extended three room battle between two big men. Diesel, a former nightclub bouncer in New York taking on the real life Hulk himself, the former wrestler/college football defensive lineman turned movie star war mammoth, Johnson. Dwayne may have tried to shed the label of the Rock at times, but it’s hard to do when you see how huge he has gotten since he filmed Faster a few years ago.

The beginning of the Rock’s movie career saw him carry his wrestling weight into the cinematic universe. After a little while, he decided to supersize the muscle build, putting on 25 pounds for the underseen and quite enjoyable Faster. Since then, he has redesigned how Under Armour makes their outerwear. His F/F wardrobe consists of black work pants and a large supply of UA shirts that bulge out like a huge rubber band stretching and bending with each curl from a bodybuilder at a gym.

Since the Rock showed up, fought Diesel, and eventually joined his team, the Fast/Furious films were taken to a whole other level. Critics started to take notice. The box office gross went up. When The Rock joins the party, the circus comes to town in a big way. He isn’t just another bald headed menace. He is a whole other dimension.

Remember when Diesel’s Toretto saved him after their fight in Fast Five? Which action film junkie could not? Gunfire, carnage and exploding cars all around Diesel as he walked across a street in a ridiculously clean white t-shirt, extending his meat hook arm down for a wounded Johnson to grab onto and run for cover. It was like a wrestling match tag team action packed induced orgasm for fans of the two guys. An orgasm without a cigarette in sight so all you could do was dry yourself off.

The last two films have seen the Rock and Diesel hook up in different parts of the world and save the day, with the seventh edition showing the entire crew say goodbye to the founding father of tough guy talk and nitroglycerin, Paul Walker. With the blonde haired gent’s passing, the group will soldier on and make more loud, over the top yet wildly enjoyable spring thrill rides. They wouldn’t be complete without the Rock kicking ass in extremely tight fitting sports shirts. It’s like baking a batch of cookies without greasing the pan first. It’s like making decaf coffee. A Fast and Furious 8 without The Rock Says covering the poster in fiery menace would be like passing up a chance to marinate a 20 ounce ribeye.

After Furious 7 grossed a lazy billion, Fast and Furious 8 will ride into theaters on April 14th, 2017. Get ready by revisiting Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, and Furious 7. Or you could just listen to the sound of a souped up Dodge Charger kick its horse legs out nearby.

The countdown to Bald Guy Mania has begun.

12 Things About the LEGO Documentary

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After The Lego Movie became the cool crossover kids/adults flick a couple years ago, all everybody could talk about was legos and how inventive and cool they were. The thing is, the toys have been a global phenomenon for years now and the documentary, A LEGO Brickumentary, tells the story of how they came to be and their infinite reach. While the documentary, directed by Daniel Junge and Kief Davidson with voice work from Jason Bateman, is cool and provides an introspective look into this world, it becomes a labored bore around the 45 minute mark. So if you don’t want to spend the seven dollars on Itunes or the money in theaters, here are 12 things I learned from this feature.

1. The toy originated in Denmark in 1916 and comes from the Danish phrase “lay well”. Started by a carpenter named Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen who built a wood shop to build toys. The Legos first came together in 1947 via a plastic molding machine. The Danish endeavor become a global phenomenon.

2. The key idea was a Lego system of play, which came from Kjeld’s son and was centered around “stud power”, the pieces that hold the blocks together. This system soon grew into mini figurines with the common goal, “How do I make this work?”

3. Theme sets such as play sets like pirate ships and space ships catapulted the company. Licensed themes like Star Wars and Harry Potter really launched the company even further.

4. The company, still in Denmark, produces 100,000 pieces a minute.

5. Designers can’t believe this is their job. “It’s like being a child the rest of my life.” They say the structures and ideas all start with a story, like a kid using his imagination to build.

6. Jamie Berard is one of the industry’s best designers. “How long can this last?” is something he utters to himself every day. He found his calling when he joined a group of hardcore builders he found in a store and got spotted by the creator himself. He got an internship at LEGO and has been one of its most respected builders ever since. He isn’t even 40 years old yet.

7. The directors of The LEGO Movie used a large model for their live action scenes with Will Ferrell and his son towards the end of the movie. The model took three months to assemble and a group of people called “master builders” did this. If the phrase sounds familiar, it comes from the constant theme in the movie, as Chris Pratt’s everyman Lego character is destined to be…wait for it..a master builder.

8. It’s therapeutic for people like NBA star Dwight Howard, musician Ed Sheeran and the South Park creators. Ellen DeGeneres once surprised Howard with a life sized Lego figurine of himself. When he is on the road playing, Howards’ assistants have several sets waiting for him when he arrives. For Trey Parker, putting together Lego toys is great because it’s all about following instructions and he doesn’t have to create.

9. You think Comic Con is cool and super popular? LEGO can play in that world too. Events such as Brickcon. Brickworld. Brickfair draw from hundreds of thousands from all around the world every year.

10. Delegation is a tool in this business. There are several groups for kid, teens and adults. Lego parts work like stocks. Supply and demand. Certain pieces cost cents and others dollars. Six bricks gives 915 million different options but the Lego system is an infinite universe. You don’t need a dictionary to play. Only a system and a language according to its builders.

11. Derby races and baseball stadiums are the new sensation. Large skyscrapers are fossils and amateur builds.
A rendering of Stephen Hawking went viral recently. Like the pieces themselves it’s a burgeoning world.

12. In 1999, the company’s stock and sales went down. When they got too easy to build, the desire lessened. The company got better by listening to the community and getting more interactive. Lego robots from an MIT professor put the company at a crosswords. They could have sued the company for rights but instead went with it. For once they were open to ideas outside of their building. LEGO architecture came from outside LEGO and according to one builder, created an energy instead of being a problem.

All of this from a humble carpenter in Denmark. The constant theme of LEGO is pushing the boundaries. Nothing is impossible. If you want people to know more about space, builders create models after objects you’d find in space. Everything in this world is built from something else. That’s the LEGO company. So many things can be built from a single toy.

Is this documentary a theater worthy adventure? No. Save it for home. LEGO fanatics will find it wonderful and casual observers may revel in the fact that a building as tall as them can be built in mere hours by a kid a quarter of their age. Some may find it boring, but everybody should digest the findings above. If you do partake on this adventure, you will build a newfound respect for this toy company.

Entourage The Movie is a waste of your time

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Entourage was a pure guilty pleasure for TV fans back in 2003 when it debuted on HBO. It was an escape for blue collar stiffs and wannabe dreamers who didn’t have the logistics, cajones or money to escape to LA and take a shot instead. Those 26 minute episodes every Sunday were like crack for the rich and famous nerds like myself.

At its best, Creator Doug Ellin’s High Life seminar gave people a sly behind the scenes spill of how movie stars really act, how nutty directors really are and how aggressive agents wanted to be sharks. It was irresistible. Every time the credits hit, you wanted more and more. The TV show ran its usual course, playing out like a party in Hollywood Hills. Exotically hip and vibrant for 3-4 seasons before dying off a slow retread filled life for the last 3-4 seasons.

Every TV show overstays its welcome. It’s just a matter of how long they beg to sleep over before you want them out of the house. Entourage the movie, released four years after the show closed its doors on HBO, didn’t need to happen and feels old. It’s like the boys from Queens got lonely, needed a place to crash again, and your wallets are the only place in town with a light on. I wonder if HBO said no or just didn’t pick up the phone for this bros first soap opera. (more…)

Riddick: Vin Diesel’s Best Role

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“Like I said, it’s not me you have to worry about now.”-Richard Riddick

Vin Diesel will always be known as the rugged, romantic race car heisting family man Dominic Toretto and for good reason. The Fast and The Furious films are blockbuster hits and summer film launching gems that have gotten better with each entry. In the business of make believe, the role that nets the studio the most cash brings you the most acclaim. That’s why Harrison Ford is known as Indiana Jones and Star Wars instead of his best role, Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. With no disrespect to the soulful nitro powered hero Dom, Diesel’s best role is Riddick, the criminal steely eyed killer who can tangle with desert serpents like we put together a bowl of cereal.

It all started back in 2000 with Pitch Black, a relatively low key science fiction action thriller with a unknown Diesel, Cole Hauser and Radha Mitchell being stranded out in a futuristic kill zone with the planet’s worst inhabitants(think Aliens mixed with Starship Troopers). Pitch Black was a great time at the movies because it didn’t take itself too seriously and allowed Diesel to use every ounce of his charisma, action hero brutality and gifted use of one liners. (more…)

The Loss of Joe Williams will rock the St. Louis film scene

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55b62d7053590.preview-620The last time I spoke with St. Louis Post Dispatch film critic Joe Williams, it was after a movie last winter and in a circle of film critics. That’s the way it worked for movie scribes. A movie would be screened and the critics would inform the local marketing company, Allied, rep what they thought afterwards. A quick take. Joe and I didn’t agree that much, but I respected his work and his blunt assessment of film.

Sunday evening, in route to a movie in Cadet, Missouri, Williams was killed in a car crash. The St. Louis film scene will never be the same. Williams’ loss will reverberate throughout the country.

The hardest part of a writer’s death is never hearing their voice again. Changing websites or papers is one thing. Post Dispatch sports writer Bernie Miklasz will leave the paper in August but he can be found at 101 ESPN afterwards. Williams’ voice is gone forever. That is truly the toughest part of this ordeal. For a town with one paper, Williams was the voice for film fans in the Lou. Every week, they’d rush to the stands or refresh their STLToday apps and see what he thought of the latest flicks. That will not be possible after this weekend.  (more…)

Raw and Honest “Southpaw” told from inside out

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(In case you missed it on KSDK)

Take everything away from us, and we are flesh, bone, blood and all that we have created. Antoine Fuqua’s gritty boxing flick is told from the inside out, and he accomplishes that by starting with the human frailty of the modern fighter. Southpaw may look familiar but it’s something different. The intense B-side track to Rocky.

Jake Gyllenhaal(the fearless actor can’t miss right now) is Billy Hope, and the fight opens with preparations for Hope’s 43rd fight. He’s unbeaten, but that doesn’t include facial scarring, potential brain damage and visceral shock to the upper body. His wife, the beautiful yet tough Moureen(Rachel McAdams, evolving as an actress with every role) can see the toll being stacked on top of her family, which includes the couple’s adolescent daughter. Hope wins the fight, takes a beating and may walk away before the brutal shock of life stuns him and takes everything away from him.  If you haven’t seen the trailer, good for you but this film will fake the left to the head and hit you in the kidneys with an uppercut you never saw coming.

Instead of just going all Rocky and showing us the comeback trail of Hope from the gutters to the ropes, Fuqua and screenwriter Kurt Sutter(the maestro of Sons of Anarchy) beat the soul of Hope senseless first. Stripped of everything, the fighter has to be reborn. Is this like Mark Wahlberg’s The Fighter? Is it a modern Rocky? Yes on both counts, but more brutal. Those fighters didn’t have it as tough as Hope and that sets Southpaw apart and gives this seemingly conventional drama fresh legs in the cinematic ring. (more…)

Paul Rudd makes light “Ant-Man” tick

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Scott-Lang-Paul-Rudd-Steals-Ant-ManCinema’s first truly family friendly superhero is super tiny, and his name is Scott. If there is one clear reason why Marvel’s latest cinematic party guest Ant-Manworks, it’s the presence of Paul Rudd, the easy to like comedy star next door.

He’s relatable. While it’s highly unlikely you’ll run into Thor or Iron Man in a grocery store, you might bump into a guy like Rudd. His ability to slip into Scott Lang’s skin makes this light as a feather summer delight go down smooth if not blow people away.

The setup is easy to get comfortable with. Lang is a thief who can’t stay out of trouble and comes into the sight of Dr. Hank Pym(Michael Douglas), a man who may know a thing or two about shrinking a man down to the size of an ant to fight crime. When Pym’s deranged protege tries to sell the science to Hydra(remember those bad dudes from Captain America: Winter Soldier), Pym calls on the ordinary Scott to help him save the day. Our hero also has a daughter he wants to see more. It’s all familiar so just roll with it. (more…)