Hell or High Water - Love Letter to a Throwback

When you think of seventies cinema, there are certain films that help define the era by their sheer rebelliousness - Badlands, Mean Streets, Dog Day Afternoon, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Last Picture Show - films where authority was not only distrusted, but where the law was a gray area you punched through when you'd been pushed too far by those in control. It was an amazing era, and those fond of it often wonder if films of that stripe would ever come again.

Make no mistake, Hell or High Water is one of the best American films of the year, and if you missed it in theaters, it’s on home video now, so do not let this amazing slice of adult awesomeness slip through your fingers. If there’s any justice, it’s a Best Picture nominee, hands down. 

Set in modern-day Texas, Hell or High Water grows out of the dust of the Western outlaw genre. Two brothers, Tanner (Ben Foster) and Toby (Chris Pine) are starting up a string of low-rent bank robberies across small towns in west Texas. They don’t seem to know what the hell they’re doing. All they know is that they need to raise enough money to keep the bank from foreclosing on the family ranch – and while these two are breaking the law, the real villains in Hell or High Water are the banks. Banks who offer to “help” struggling farmers with a reverse mortgage, knowing they’ll never be able to get square, cross-hairs set the entire time on getting their land – period.

Focusing purely on smaller, untraceable bills, the brothers’ activity soon draws the attention of the Texas Rangers, led by Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges). Bridges is on the cusp of retirement, and where lesser men would avoid being drawn in, Bridges' measured, irascible curiosity can’t leave anything alone, especially a very specific, modest crime wave that seems to be following a careful recipe. Bridges and his partner (Gil Birmingham) have a great dynamic, where annoyance and fondness have blurred into a begrudging co-dependence. 

Ben Foster’s long been a live-wire supporting actor doing amazing work in film and TV, from Six Feet Under, 3:10 to Yuma, Thirty Days of Night to The Messenger. He’s an electric, uncontained presence, and he nabs a role here that really lets him step forward in a terrific character dynamic with the always reliable Pine. These are two fantastic actors who play a complex sibling relationship. They’re at opposite ends of a moral spectrum, but when push comes to shove, they’ll each draw cards from the others’ deck as the situation demands.

Directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan (Sicario), Hell or High Water has the same fondness for character, realism and dialogue that would make Elmore Leonard proud. Indeed, if you’re at all a Leonard fan, Hell or High Water is bound to have roped your attention by now. The tone and sense of place evokes films like Lone Star and No Country for Old Men. In this new west, outlaws still brandish iron, but as much of modern America has come to learn, when the adversaries are financial institutions, patience and planning are likely to trump good aim every time. Very highly recommended. 

Blast from the Past: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

 

SPOILER-WARNING: DO NOT PROCEED until you’ve actually seen Rogue One... 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any doubts that Disney could find an audience for stand-alone Star Wars films that don’t directly involve Luke Skywalker and the Jedi Knights were obliterated in a massive box office blast crater this weekend, as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story took in a massive $155 million in domestic sales.

 

Now I wear my heart on my sleeve – lifelong Star Wars fan, and my expectations here were super high. Rogue One has wildly surpassed them. In many ways, this is the first Star Wars movie aimed squarely at grown-ups. We’ve all heard the pitch – this is the story of how the Rebel Alliance got ahold of the plans to the Death Star that R2-D2’s carrying in the original film. And while we know where things are going, that in no way lessens the suspense of how we get there. Godzilla director Gareth Edwards has directed a simply phenomenal, thrill-packed entry to the Star Wars franchise, that easily ranks among the series’ best. That’s right – it’s as entertaining and gripping as The Empire Strikes Back or The Force Awakens. Rogue One is a war movie, a sci-fi Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare. There’s not a lot of cute in the picture, and the stakes are high. The one child is glimpsed in the film’s prologue, heroine Jyn Erso, seen as a young girl, when agents of the Empire come to take away her father (Mads Mikkelsen), the scientist necessary to complete construction of the Death Star. 

 

Jyn Grows up to be a headstrong insurgent, played by Felicity Jones. Jones is in nearly every scene, and she does a great job of carrying the film and making Jyn a compelling character. Alongside Force Awakens’ Rey (Daisy Ridley), Lucasfilm is going out of their way to provide young moviegoers with strong female role models who drive the action, and aren’t just along for the ride. The Rebel Alliance figures out who Jyn is, and sees her value as a means to get to her father. The Rebels (lead by Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor) are a murkier group here, who aren’t above taking extreme measures to serve the greater good. Jyn and Cassian are part of a Dirty Dozen band of warriors who are all terrific characters. Donnie Yen is a real standout as a blind follower of the Force from the Zatoichi school, whose cheerful serenity doesn’t impede his ability to knock the tar out of a squad of Stormtroopers. Destined for classic character status, reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO (motion-captured and voiced by Alan Tudyk) is outright phenomenal. Towering and intimidating, he’s like a cynical, uncensored C-3PO, and is 100% convincing and captivating.

 

Let’s talk Imperials: As the military project manager responsible for the Death Star’s completion, Ben Mendelsohn is an exceptional bad guy, desperate to be appreciated by those he answers to, including a couple of major players from Star Wars’ inception. We’re talking about events on the Death Star, so we all figured there’d have to be some kind of glimpse of Grand Moff Tarkin, despite the fact that actor Peter Cushing died in 1994. I was expecting a brief cameo, at best – so nothing prepared me for Tarkin appearing as a pretty major supporting character! While it’s bound to generate controversy, the combination of digital effects and the work of actor Guy Henry is flabbergasting. I’ve heard some wags take issue with the character’s rendering, but I strongly disagree – Tarkin’s a favorite, and Henry’s diction and delivery – the facial expressions, his insidious contempt – all eerily evoked Cushing incredibly well. I felt positively gleeful every time he appeared onscreen. Say what you will, it’s an amazing achievement.

 

Then there’s Vader. James Earl Jones is still very much alive, and to have Darth Vader back in a new Star Wars film is…is exhilerating! I don’t want to give too much away, but if you were expecting Vader to just glower through a scene or two making fists, think again. Vader is very much an active antagonist, and we see him join the fray like we simply never have before – and it’s chilling. 

 

There are plenty of surprises throughout Rogue One that are guaranteed to delight fans, but like The Force Awakens, the new characters are engaging and welcome additions. Wen Jiang, and Riz Ahmed round out the rebel squad, and Forest Whitaker is sensational as legendary insurgent Saw Gerrera. He’s been fighting the Empire all his life, and it’s taken its toll, like a crazy cross between Eli Wallach and Richard Roundtree. Special shout-out to Mads Mikkelsen as Jyn’s father. Mikkelsen has seemed sleepy and detached sometimes to me, but not here. I found him complicated and sympathetic and it’s some of his best work. I really liked him here. 

 

Yes, there’s a lot of digital work going on in Rogue One, but I found it all done with great skill, and always, always in service to the script. Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy have combined their talents to deliver some top-notch storytelling. Things people have sometimes carped on from the original Star Wars now have a deliberate purpose. That weakness in the Death Star? It’s there for a reason, and that somehow makes it that much more incredibly cool. Parents of younger children might want to think twice with Rogue One, as this is a War Movie, and there’s way more shooting and loss than they might be used to in the less combat-driven saga installments. There’s also a lot more slowed-down conversation, as characters talk about the stakes and choices at hand. Youngsters may fidget. 

 

But hands down, this is a tremendous Star Wars film. It’s busting at the seams with thrills and action, with awe and ideals, and it screams repeat-viewing like few films I’ve seen lately. It should easily give Force Awakens a run for its money, as the audience I saw it with had plenty of three-generation family attendees. It’s definitely more adult, but it never stops being fun, and Rogue One is simply one of the most entertaining films of the year.

 

Arrival is Top Shelf Sci-Fi with Brains

Fear of the unknown. The impulse responsible for more of our behaviors - both good and bad - than nearly any other aspect of the human condition. It practically defines us. So when a dozen colossal spaceships appear at various points across the globe with no explanation, how do we react?

Arrival is the anti-Independence Day. It spoils nothing to say that there are no colossal battles or CGI annihilated cities in Arrival. It joins the short list of science fiction films like Close Encounters and Interstellar aimed squarely at adults, that stays smart and uses the tropes of the genre to say more about the nature of mankind, than about the nature of alien life. This will be a pretty short review, as the less you read about Arrival before you see it, the better. Amy Adams is Dr. Louise Banks, a university linguist recruited by the government to try and find a way of communicating with our mysterious visitors, in hopes of cracking the big question - why are they here? 

Written by Eric Heisserer (from a story by Ted Chiang) and directed by the great Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Sicario), Arrival is a breath of fresh air on so many levels. Example: there's a lot of tech on display in the military command center beneath the ship, but for once we're not inundated with electronic product placement - there's no jarring close-up screaming "CISCO" or "NOKIA." Arrival also steers away from the trend of CNN-branded faux newscasts with real-life anchor cameos, which always seem to lessen the feeling of realism, rather than increase it. Villeneuve has become such an accomplished filmmaker, I'm frankly giddy knowing he's the guy directing next year's Blade Runner 2049. Are we ever in good hands.

Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker are both terrific here, but this is all Amy Adams, who's in nearly every scene and delivers a nuanced, at times heartbreaking performance. It's so refreshing to see a realistic adult female character who's not dependent on men or approval or who's a prisoner of her emotions. I suspect audiences are going to welcome her character and the rich emotional storytelling of Arrival with open arms. Very highly recommended.

In Through the Out Door: Doctor Strange Will See You Now

It was a hard trick to pull off, but once again, Marvel’s done it. After the nuts and bolts success of Captain America: Civil War, adapting the more mystical and esoteric story of Doctor Strange could have gone wrong and felt tone-deaf any number of ways. You think Thor is psychedelic and astral! But there are two things Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige always seems to excel at: hammering the story into shape, and casting. And with Doctor Strange, Marvel has delivered one of their most unique and satisfying films yet.

Created by Steve Ditko in 1963, Stephen Strange is a brilliant neurosurgeon who rivals Iron Man’s Tony Stark in the arrogance department. When a devastating car accident turns his surgeon’s hands into mangled pulp, Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) embarks on a quest to find the rumored healing knowledge that can restore his defining abilities, the spark that lets his narcissistic ego blaze brightly. Without the power (and vanity) of his peerless skills, he has no idea who he really is.

His journey takes him to the Himalayan temple of Kamar-Taj, a remote sanctuary where Strange hopes to find the secrets necessary to restore himself. What he finds there is much, much more. He becomes a pupil of The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton), an ageless Master of the mystic arts from whom Strange learns more about the cosmos – and himself – than he ever dared imagine. Swinton’s casting was pretty controversial. The Ancient One was always Asian in the comics - so whitewashing accusations flew fast and furious. But I have to say, I think it’s an effective choice. If they’d kept the character Asian, I think we’d have another hoary Pai Mei/Master Po stereotype, and Swinton is just superb here, making The Ancient One a being who seems to transcend age, race or gender. It’s a cool choice and it works. Her scenes with Cumberbatch are tremendous, and a sequence where she essentially pulls back the curtain on the universe to Strange, sending his consciousness reeling, is a fantasy tour de force. I saw Doctor Strange in 2-D, and for the first time in ages, I found myself thinking that this just might be a film actually worth seeking out in 3-D.

Massive credit has to go to director Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil), whose horror pedigree brings a real sense of atmospheric “otherness” that gives Doctor Strange a unique flavor that really does make it seem a few degrees from normal within the Marvel Universe. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s fantastic to see that Feige has the confidence and scope to have different tones and styles that make up this massive tapestry. Screenwriter Jon Spaihts (with Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill) has done a fantastic job of keeping Strange clever and full of wit, without ever seeming snarky or aloof. It’s a smart adaptation, but it’s always fun, which isn’t easy to pull off. A sequence where Strange lies dying in an operating theater, while his disembodied spectral self does battle with an ethereal foe is an imaginative, nail-biting crowd-pleaser. Cumberbatch is a perfect embodiment of the character, detached and severe at times, but never insufferable.  As the villainous Kaecilius, Mads Mikkelsen is threatening, but a bit too mellow and low energy. Guardians’ Ronan (Lee Pace) is an erupting volcano in comparison. Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benjamin Bratt and Benedict Wong are all great additions to the cast. Bratt is particularly cool.

I won’t spoil the plot or surprises of Doctor Strange, but fans of the comic are going to find themselves thoroughly satisfied, and audiences hungry for something fresh, smart and engaging are going to have a fantastic time. Like any Marvel saga, stay all the way through the end credits, for more than one bonus scene. I loved Doctor Strange, and my hunch is you'll be looking for a red cape of your own once you've seen it.

Sagnificent Seven

Over the last year, we’ve had something of a Western resurgence, easily one of my favorite genres. So I was pretty excited for Antoine Fuqua’s take on the John Sturges classic The Magnificent Seven (1960). A wild west rendering of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, the story of powerless villagers hiring gunslingers to defend their town from evil men works well across many environments, even deep space, as in 1980’s Battle Beyond the Stars. As we saw with last years’ The Hateful Eight, The Revenant and Bone Tomahawk, Westerns can still connect with audiences and deliver primal, pulp storytelling, with antagonists facing off against the backdrop of the wild frontier. Sadly, Fuqua’s well-intentioned remake isn’t nearly in the same class as those other films.

 

Denzel Washington takes on the Yul Brynner role (and black garb), while Chris Pratt riffs off of Steve McQueen’s cantankerous ne’er-do-well. Ethen Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio, round out the mercenary mob, with Martin Sensmeier, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Byung-hun Lee providing backup diversity – and that’s really part of the problem with Seven. Fuqua is to be commended for bringing a diverse ethnic sensibility to the film – but the script never does their varied makeup any justice as characters. The character work in Seven is one of its weakest elements. Sensmeier and Lee exude tremendous charisma as Native American and Asian recruits, but other than “The elders say I’m on a different path,” and being good with knives, these two are brooding cyphers. Garcia-Rulfo has the thankless designation of Mexican Outlaw. This is a likable cast, but they’re woefully underserved by the script (Richard Wenk and Nic Pizzolatto).

 

Haley Bennett is the town’s voice who recruits the Seven as protectors, who seems cast mainly due to a resemblance to Jennifer Lawrence. If The Magnificent Seven was more fun, much of the sketchiness here could be forgiven, but unfortunately the film plays out in dreary, overbearing, and all too perfunctory fashion. The death blow is Peter Sarsgaard’s land-grabbing villain, played as a man seemingly driven by heavy-lidded boredom.  He drags himself through scenes with lethargic flippancy, letting all the air of menace escape from the balloon. His character is a yawning misfire.

 

If you want to see a film where the director has boundless enthusiasm for the genre, go back and check out Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead (1995). It’s brisk, faithful to a legion of tropes, and makes even the most hastily glimpsed characters memorably vivid, while always maintaining a sense of fun. It’s one of the countless, more engaging westerns that kept popping up for me while The Magnificent Seven mechanically unspooled. Pale Rider, Django Unchained, Tombstone – and Lawrence Kasdan’s Silverado. I’m betting Antoine Fuqua’s watched Silverado a lot, and you can sense him gamely trying to evoke a similar dynamic contrast between scenic grandeur and bullet-firing mayhem.

But for whatever reasons, this iteration of The Magnificent Seven just doesn’t stay with you. When the considerable gunsmoke finally clears, you’re likely to find that disappointment is what’s left standing.  

Blind Panic: Don't Breathe

Nearly every summer, a sleeper emerges that you've never heard of that seemingly comes out of nowhere and captures audience's attention - usually a horror thriller. As summer gasped out its swan song, this year that distinction went to Don't Breathe.

You probably know the premise - a trio of young thieves plan a home invasion where the victim is blind. An easy score. Except the man in the dark is a Gulf War veteran, for whom blindness has become a superpower. He knows every inch of his hermit-imposed environment, his ears attuned to even the slightest noise. Played by the great Stephen Lang (Avatar), his blind man is a powerful, dangerous presence - a coiled spring. His quiet patience reminds you of Charles Bronson.

Directed by Fede Alvarez, (Evil Dead), Don't Breathe is a really hard movie to talk about without veering off the highway into spoiler territory, which I don't want to do. It's an extremely visceral and effective film, and the premise is stupendous. That first half of the movie is pure gasp-inducing adrenaline. The blind man's house is deep in the abandoned wasteland of derelict Detroit neighborhoods, and the absence of neighbors or passersby creates a foreboding, apocalyptic mood.

The trio of thieves are solid, especially Jane Levy. Dylan Minnette is a little too earnest, his character feeling more like he belongs in a John Hughes movie. But the movie calls for extremely personal, physical work from these two, as well as Daniel Zovatto, the most unrepentant of the three. The house is practically a character unto itself, feeling decrepit and real. Alvarez has a keen sense for what rattles an audience, and this is a great picture to see in the theater. It's claustrophobic and in your face.

The film owes a real debt to Panic Room, as well as the 1967 Audrey Hepburn thriller, Wait Until Dark, directed by the great Terence Young (if you've never seen it, find it). I'll just say that Alvarez makes the audience's sympathies a moving target. When the tables turn, as much as you want the blind man to triumph over his invaders, they're not stock bad guys, especially Levy. In the second half, you'll find there's more than one kitchen sink in play, and I found my allegiances in a fair amount of flux. Maybe I had some issues, but let's keep it spoiler-free.

When they bring the check, you've really got to hand it to Alvarez for delivering a super taut, economical premise with pretty tight lug nuts. Made for about $10 million, its dog-days box office is at $67 million so far. That's why you gotta love a good thriller.

So Long, Summer: 2016 Fall & Winter Movie Preview

A lot of us are doing Back to School shopping, so like it or not, summer is drawing to a close.

Suicide Squad just overcame a critical keel-hauling with box office gold, and it feels like that’s going to pretty much act as the capstone on the summer movie-going season. Latecomers Sausage Party, Pete’s Dragon, Hell or High Water and Hands of Stone could all see some sleeper success, while Ben-Hur is destined for disaster.

So what’s next? Looking ahead to the fall and winter months, I have to say, it doesn’t exactly look like the most awe-inspiring autumn, let alone Christmas. Unquestionably, films are going to surface we didn’t see coming, but as it stands now, there’s less than ten films that look cool enough to lure me into the theater. It’s a surprisingly short list this year.

The Magnificent Seven  (9/23) – Most remakes are just a cash-grab, but this 21^st Century Tombstone from Antoine Fuqua feels like the real McCoy, and seems likely to continue Chris Pratt’s winning streak. Note that these are all different characters than we saw in the Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner classic.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (9/30) – This feels like the return of the real Tim Burton – a surreal tale of misfits and outcasts. It’s sure coming out at the right time of the year.

Birth of a Nation (10/07) – by all accounts, Nate Parker’s Sundance triumph about slavery in the South is the film of the moment and seems destined to win Best Picture. But it’s still really early and Toronto hasn’t even happened yet. But as of now, Birth is the front-runner.

The Girl on the Train (10/07) – This Emily Blunt mystery was a massive best-seller and has already been tagged as this years’ Gone Girl. Fall’s a great time for a smart, moody thriller, and Blunt’s been picking ‘em really well.

Doctor Strange (11/04) – I love all the ingredients here. The Marvel Universe, I loved the comic, Cumberbatch is awesome – but that first trailer is a little too Inception lite, and we need a bigger sense of the supernatural forces at play here. Hopefully a stupendous trailer’s just around the corner. Marvel so rarely stumbles, and I want this one to be worthy.

Arrival (11/11) – Denis Villeneuve’s first sci-fi film before embarking on Blade Runner 2? Count me as interested! Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Villeneuve is an astonishing talent, so here’s hoping this doesn’t end up being The Invasion. 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (11/18) – Harry Potter is back in bookstores again, and the winter months have always been very welcoming to J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world. Here’s to new characters and environments agreeing with audiences.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (12/16) – Reshoots be damned, this is the Mt. Everest of the holiday season. Disney is banking on December lightning striking twice, and director Gareth Edwards could sure use some love. It’s hard to imagine anything dampening my enthusiasm for this unique Dirty Dozen take on that galaxy far, far away. Plus, two words: Darth Vader.

Passengers (12/21) – More sci-fi, from John Spaihts' 2007 Black List story, tagged as one of the best unproduced scripts of the year. Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt star as two voyagers on an interstellar colony ship. Hundreds of travelers are in suspended animation for a journey lasting over a century. When Pratt somehow wakes up early, he decides to thaw out a companion, rather than endure a lifetime of solitude. Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) directs.

That's about it! I'm sure there will be other standouts yet to emerge, but from where I'm sitting here in August, these are the ones I'm most intrigued by.