I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews!
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.
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| Midnight Special -How far does devotion drive a person? |
Buy Midnight Special
Written by: Jeff Nichols
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, Jaeden Lieberher
Rated: PG-13
Plot:
Due to his son's special powers, he and his father are on the run from the government and a cult.
Verdict:
I like Jeff Nichols films. He manages to capture mood and emotion so well. Midnight Special leaves you with a few questions, but I don't mind that because the unanswered questions add depth to the main plot. This is a movie that explores devotion, love, and belief. It combines sci-fi and thriller and expects you to put the pieces together.
Watch it.
Review:
This starts in media res. Two armed men are hiding out in a hotel room with a child. Have Roy and Lucas kidnapped this kid, Alton? They are obviously on the run. That's where the story starts, and the rest of the plot is masterfully built upon that initial moment. It's good story telling. This movie never holds my hand, and it expects me to pay attention and connect the information.
The concurrent story has an FBI agent played by Paul Sparks investigating a religious leader, Calvin (Sam Shepard). As an aside, I've seen Sparks in House of Cards and Stranger Things. I didn't realize he was Mickey Doyle in Boardwalk Empire, he seems liked a completely different person in that role.
The movie gives you clues. I wondered if the religious leader was head of a cult. As the story expands you realize it is a cult.
Alton is special. We learn the details of how he is special and why that has various groups chasing him. We don't learn how he got his powers or the full extent of his powers, but it's inconsequential. It's just a macguffin. The movie is about relationships. Roy and Lucas want to protect him, the cult thinks he is their savior, and the government wants to utilize him as a weapon. We don't know why Alton is special, but we see the devotion he engenders.
I've seen Nichols previous films Take Shelter and Mud. He continues to impress here. His movies share similarities, focusing on relationships, creating an atmosphere, and providing Michael Shannon a role. Shannon turns in another solid performance in Midnight Special as does Edgerton. While I'd rank all three of the movies equally high, Midnight Special loses the edge because it lacks the small moments between characters that Nichols does so well. This has few chances to slow down with the protagonists on the run, but doesn't do enough to capitalize on those moments. At least, not like he's done in his previous films.
If you want this movie to explain all of the details, it's not going to happen. This movie expects you to fill in a lot of the blanks, though it's never a chore. It requires participation. Nichols gives you enough to know what's going on. That gives the world an incredible amount of depth because I feel like I only see part of it. It's a portrait of love, devotion, and family, expanding on these words and to whom they apply.
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| Triple 9 - Solid action... and, well, solid action. |
Buy Triple 9
Written by: Matt Cook
Directed by: John Hillcoat
Starring: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Clifton Collins, Jr., Norman Reedus, Teresa Palmer, Michael K. Williams, Gal Gadot, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet.
Rated: R
Plot:
Criminals and corrupt cops attempt a heist at the behest of the Russian mob.
Verdict:
I had such high hopes with a cast this vast, but the movie can't juggle so many characters. It has it's moments of superb action but lacks character development. The opening is fantastic, but it can't maintain the momentum or sharp writing. The conclusion is lackluster.
It depends.
Review:
I liked Hillcoats The Proposition (2005) and The Road (2009). This cast is absolutely huge, and that ends up being part of the problem.
The movie opens with a bank robbery in progress, and it's apparent this crew is trained and ruthless. I can't help but think of Heat (1995), but the similarity is just that it's a thrilling bank robbery. It's a disservice to Heat to mention it in the same sentence as Triple 9.
The crew flees the scene, but red smoke floods their van, embedded in stolen cash. They are stranded on the freeway, which was a surprise that they didn't get away cleanly. On top of that, two men in the crew are cops. The writing impressed me. The butt of the gun didn't break a car window on the first hit and gun fire doesn't explode a car's gas tank. The crew even spoke Spanish during the robbery to throw off the investigation. The rest of the movie never seems this smart or clever.
The heist crew is forced to take on another job that seems impossible. The triple 9 plan comes to easily. The cops are going to kill a fellow officer. This will significantly delay response time to their new heist. The writing was less than deft. It's an interesting plan, but the cops should be more reserved. It's a neat solution handled clumsily. It just drops the idea with almost no lead up.
The movie handles action much better than dialog. It never does a good job of characterization. It never slows down enough, treating dialog like a chore. That and there are just too many characters.You could cut out half of the characters and provide a lacking focus.
Kate Winslet play a Russian mob boss, but her performance always felt too much like theater. Harrelson's part is too thin to make it interesting.
Casey Afflek is a rookie cop. We see him taking the lead on breaching a house, holding a bullet proof shield in front of him. The sequence is intense and ends in a shoot out.
You think you know what's coming, and the movie pulls the rug right out from under you in a surprising twist. We get another action sequence with Woody Harrelson driving a car like he's in a Grand Theft Auto game.
The ending is unsatisfying and undercuts a few story lines. We don't get a big showdown at the end. I expected it, and while I like to have my expectations diverted, this was a diversion just for the sake of it. The first heist is too good. We don't get anything to match it in the rest of the movie. The conclusion lacks the punch it should. I was left thinking, "That's it?"
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| Lethal Weapon - The odd couple cop pairing that raised the bar. |
Buy Lethal Weapon
Watch Lethal Weapon on Netflix
Written by: Shane Black
Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey
Rated: R
Plot:
Veteran cop Murtaugh is paired with loose cannon Riggs to stop drug smugglers.
Verdict:
This is the quintessential buddy cop movie, with two completely opposite cops sharing a common goal in a dark story. It's not without comedy, and while action filled, it slows down to develop the characters and give them background. It's these moments that make us root for them.
Watch it.
Review:
Lethal Weapon redefined the cop action movie. It's dark and violent, and much less comedic than what the franchise later became. It's technically a Christmas movie like Die Hard (1988).
Many movies have tried to copy the formula and taken queues from it, but this is more than a buddy cop action movie.
What grounds this movie is the background for the characters. We know why Riggs is wild, and the movie doesn't make it a major plot point. Riggs feels he has nothing to lose, while Murtaugh has a big family and is on the brink of retirement. At no point does a character state how different they are. This movie gives the viewer some credit.
The first scene features a drug using, naked, suicidal girl. The next scene is Murtaugh (Danny Glover) in the bathtub. This movie attempts to checks all the boxes as it also shows us that Riggs (Mel Gibson) sleeps naked.
It's strange that neither Murtaugh or his wife and kids find it awkward to cram your kids into a tiny bathroom with their naked father. It's such a strange scene since they easily could have wished him happy birthday during breakfast.
Murtaugh and Riggs first meet when Murtaugh sees him handling a gun and proceeds to tackle him. Murtaugh ends up being thrown to the floor.
The movie balances the dark yet generic story of drug smugglers with action and comedy. Riggs trying to talk down a suicidal man on a roof top may not be the best choice. This is more than the odd couple as cops. It has a swirling drug conspiracy plot line. Gary Busey's career was revived as henchman Joshua. He's so devoted to the big bad known as "The General" that he willingly burns his arm. You just don't see that much outside of '80s movies.
In the final show down between Busey and Gibson's characters, three specialists were brought in to bring a style of martial arts never seen before in a movie. It sounds more impressive than it is, but as a whole this is a great movie.
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| Bad Boys II -Also known as Blow Stuff Up. |
Buy Bad Boys II
Watch Bad Boys II on Netflix
Written by: George Gallo (characters), Marianne Wibberley & Cormac Wibberley and Ron Shelton (story), Ron Shelton and Jerry Stahl (screenplay)
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Gabrielle Union, Peter Stormare, Michael Shannon, Henry Rollins
Rated: R
Plot:
Narcotics cops Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey return for explosions and fast cars.
Verdict:
This throws fast cars, pretty girls, and lots of explosions at you in quick succession. It's made for short attention spans and often feels boring. The story is flat and lacks tension or surprise. The excess feels like a ploy to hide the faults. The comedy is crude, the action is just spectacle, and while Smith and Lawrence have great chemistry the script does a poor job of giving that life.
It depends.
Review:
Bad Boys II is never as funny as it thinks it is. A lot is going on in just the opening which sets the tone for the frenetic pace. Marcus and Mike (Lawrence and Smith) infiltrate the Klan, complete with full costumes, them singing a rendition of the song Bad Boys, and then a shoot out. None of the jokes are subtle, substituting crudeness for comedy. This is a movie made by someone with, or for people possessing, a short attention span.
The high way chase is meant to be epic, but it's difficult to tell whats happening. The editing is so quick that action is often implied more than it's seen. It relies on explosions, crashes, and a Ferrari without giving us an impressive visual. Bad guys are releasing vehicles off the back of a car transport. Instead of a sweeping scene of the cars being released and the Ferrari dodging it, we get bits and pieces that imply that's what happened. This is a Michael Bay film, so the excess is expected.
It's an interesting look at nineties culture, despite being released at the beginning of the millennium. Will Smith is rocking the dog tags, and Lawrence is wearing the basketball jersey. Even the language feels tied to the time.
I thought Will Smith didn't have to curse to sell records, but I guess his films follow different rules. Crude language rarely bothers me, but this movie feels like a teenager trying to impress by spewing all the words not allowed by his parents.
We even get a scene of rats copulating. It's crude, but not funny. That is a perfect snapshot of this movie.
The funniest scene involves Reggie, a teen who's going on a date with Marcus's daughter. Mike and Marcus try to scare the kid by hurling insults at him and referencing stints in jail while downing a bottle of liquor. They even point a gun at Reggie. While it's crude, it's a rare instance where the movie succeeds with it's over the top comedy. The actor that played Reggie was told to not look Martin Lawrence in the eye, and he had no idea he would be staring down the barrel of a gun. His fear is real. The scene culminates in Mike asking Reggie, "You ever made love to a man? You want to?" This is what Smith and Lawrence are trying to capture throughout the movie, and this is the rare scene where they succeed.
With so much action this ultimately felt boring. There is no story. It's a bunch of explosions and highly improbably situations strung together. Will Smith is invincible and that robs the movie of any intensity. I never for a second think he'll fail. He escapes the final battle unharmed despite the many bullets fired, some directly through the windshield of the vehicles he commandeered. No one fires at him when he gets out of the car, not to mention he's in a land mine field and misses all of the explosives while firing at the bad guys. There is a big slow motion shot of Will beating the bad guy, but it's just filler in a hollow movie.
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