Movies 2014, Crime

            I have a love for movies that focus on criminality.  I like mysteries and conspiracies.  I like to see the mindset of criminals and the heroic lengths that detectives must go to in order to stop the reign of terror.  "LA Confidential", "Chinatown" , and "The Dark Knight" are some of my favorite movies, as such I consider crime to be its own genre and I often rope the few espionage movies released because they are highly related.  The only movie in this genre that I did not see but sort of wanted to last year was "Filth", which is about a corrupt cop in Scotland; "Filth" is on Netflix but it is kind of a 2013 movie, so I did not prioritize watching it, it slipped thru the cracks.  As for those I did see...

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For                           

            Way to strike while the iron is still... Not hot... actually it has been 10 years since the first "Sin City" so the iron is dusty, tarnished, and lost in a shed somewhere.  This movie is so late to the show that there are 5th graders who were not born when the first one was released (not that you would want a 5th grader to watch it).

            The only thing I can really compare this movie to is the first one which I remember quite well.  The visuals were striking at the time, and they are striking now, the technology has evolved and this iteration definitely looks better than the first one.  Smoother movement, cleaner CGI integration, and characters with great make up and costumes.  This world makes Batman's Gotham look like Superman's Smallville, it looks like the Grey Wastes of Hades.  So needless to say I like the look.

            I also like the characters and the anthology style.  Taking a look at the broader world from numerous angles that crisscross over the course of a few nights.... I just dislike the stories that they were stuck with.  The first movie took the better three stories and unfortunately the way this is all told is a mess.  The main bad guy suffers humiliation (and causing that humiliation costs the hero his life, it is supposed to be viewed as a little guy striking against the big guy which would be fine), in the next story the villain is killed and in no way is the humiliation a factor in that defeat.  That sort of break in the narrative happens a lot and the movie suffers for it.  There is also a section of the movie in which Josh Brolin is supposed to get plastic surgery to look like Clive Owen... So they just give him a hair cut; because apparently Clive Owen was too busy to come back to reprise his role?  I don't know, but it is a major weakness in the best of the three (four?) stories.  I will say that Eva Green is just as sexy and dangerous in this as she was in the other Frank Miller Adaptation I reviewed "300: Rise of an Empire" and her presence raises the movie a few notches.

Overall: 5/10

 

Let me be clear, Eva is the best character in the movie.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

            I feel the need to ask why certain fictitious Cold War heroes still exist.  James Bond is one of them, the other is Jack Ryan.  The last James Bond movie, "Skyfall" was all about questioning whether James Bond was physically up to the task of espionage, he was getting older; that was paralleled with the government questioning if they should even have agents like James Bond around at all, that his form of spycraft was now of a bygone era.  That questioning gave a lot of depth to the character and made the end of the movie, James' rebirth into the world of spies all the more triumphant.  Jack Ryan does not have that.

            Jack Ryan is played by a young actor and dropped into the modern world, spurred into patriotism by 9/11.  I actually think that is a good way to start a modern spy movie, and the idea of a character being a veteran, but also a genius economist who investigates covert financial warfare is a cool pitch... Was any of this in the books?  It couldn't have been because they were written during the Cold War, and while the Russians in the movie would fit in a movie made with a Cold War backdrop, nowadays they just seem like paranoid delusions.  The movie's plot was Russians using financial trickery to ruin the US economy... Hate to make you question your world views, but the US is currently destroying the Russian economy by manipulating the energy market.  The plot to this movie seems 30 years out of date and it came out last year.

            Overall it has some good aspects, the scenes of working undercover are well put together, the action is good (especially the body guard fight in the hotel room), but there were other parts I was disappointed in, a helicopter crash seems almost comical in execution.  The movie is fine, but nothing special, and is hurt by seeming very out of touch with current geo political reality.

Overall: 6/10

 

I wonder if this poster design was meant to evoc Enron?

The Equalizer

            Speaking of Cold War leftovers.  Apparently the Equalizer was an 80's TV show about a retired British secret agent fighting for the little guy.  This movie is a modern adaptation of that concept and it really shows how it would have worked a lot better as a TV show (preferably as a Netflix series).  This movie starts as him trying to help a prostitute escape the life, and ends with him taking down the entire Russian mafia... No joke the movie ends with him murdering the head of the Russian Mafia in his mansion in Russia.  Mother Fucker, Marvel Super Heroes have difficulty pulling off that kind of stuff in a franchise, this is one movie.  And it is clear by the ending that this is going to be a franchise, but he has already destroyed so much that there is no way that any sequel will be able to challenge him and remain in the "reality" this movie tries to establish.

            If this had been a 10 episode series with each of the mini-stories in this movie pumped up to a full episode it would have built to the final much better and would have been really awesome.  There is a lot of room to grow the extended cast's contributions to the narrative and I thought the character was really great.  I like characters who are positive forces in the lives of those around them, unquestionably the Equalizer is.

            There is some silly aspects to the movie, mostly in what I like to call "Short hand symbolism".  This is when blatant references to other works of fiction are thrown into the narrative as a way of telling the audience themes.  In this movie they have Denzel Washington reading the "100 books you should read in your lifetime" and several are referenced and explained to the audience, most notably "The Old Man and the Sea".  A story about an old man who goes out to face one more great test of his strength and ability and even though he does not catch the fish he learns that he is still able to?  I wonder what that could symbolize in a story about a retired spy being called back into action by a friend in need of the skills he used so skillfully in his youth?  Yeah, they also name check "The Invisible Man" as he tries to live in anonymity.  While I do consider this lazy on some levels, I get why it is done, and maybe for some people it lends some profundity to the narrative, even as Denzel stabs a man to death with cork screws.

            I would say this movie is cut from the same cloth as "Jack Reacher" and "Taken" so if you liked those movies you will definitely like this.

Overall: 7/10

 

Moviebob described this movie as a "Dad Movie", and judging by how much my dad liked it that seems accurate. (Poster)

The Purge: Anarchy

            I chock this up to being the biggest surprise of the year.  I kind of hated the first one as the premise is hardly explored at all and the metaphor of a poor black veteran being preyed upon by white landed elites seemed a bit on the nose for the only metaphor in the whole thing.  This thing kind of blows the roof off of that.

            It helps that there is a strong central character with a goal that drives the plot.  The plot being a running tour of the various Purge festivities.  In a world without law would you break into other people's houses to rape them?  Would you hunt down and lynch the wall street broker who destroyed your retirement account?  How about hunting the homeless for sport?  Lots of little mini-episodes all get touched upon, and a larger background plot of an anti-Purge rebellion that hints at a larger franchise plan makes this whole thing much better than the first, so much so that the first "The Purge" seems like the rushed and cheap cash grab sequel that a studio would hammer out to capitalize on the success of this movie.

            I will not say it is at all perfect.  I still think this thing lacks a lot of teeth in places (especially the digital blood effects).  They also completely ignore the issue of child safety in this world (un-fun fact, children are most often abused by family members, so on a day in which crime is condoned, logically a lot of off screen children are getting raped horribly).  I actually think you could clean up some of the logical hiccups of the movie by saying it takes place in an alternate timeline, hint that Reagan was responsible, rather than the nebulous NEW FOUNDING FATHERS.  I and must further reiterate that Paul Verhoeven would be a great director for one of these, or John Carpenter maybe.

Overall: 7/10

 

The best poster of the year?

Gone Girl

            I saw this movie months ago and still do not have really solid feelings about it.  It is well produced with great acting, great lighting, and its structure is rock solid, information is revealed at a flawless pacing adding twist-twist-twist to the whole thing, which keeps you engaged the whole time.

            Since this is a movie built on twists I will just give it a recommendation and leave it at that.  Maybe down the line I will write a long spoiler filled review, but as of now I do not want to.  It is worth watching.

Overall: 8/10

 

This one is pretty good too.  Evidence, arc words, and the time frame of the movie, a lot of information in here.

Some Netflix Reviews (pt2)

Three movies I watched on Netflix this weekend while playing video games.

I ranked them least to most spoiler ridden.

The People vs. George Lucas (2010)

6/10

            I am unsure, but I might have seen this, or just numerous clips of this before, and considering it was made before Disney bought the Lucas empire, both of those things probably lessened the impact of this content dramatically.  That being said this movie does have a very deep exploration of the nature of fandom in popular culture and the sheer size and cult like fervor that caused backlash against George Lucas in the last 15 years.

            I recommend this movie if you enjoy discussions of popular media as much as you enjoy popular media, especially if you like to pick apart different things (like me).  On the other hand, if you have heard enough about the prequels and the turmoil involved then you should give this a pass, because while its content does use "Star Wars" as lexicon for talking about broader ideas like marketing and the auteur theory... Mostly it is about "Star Wars".

I somewhat love this poster.  It very much captures the tone of the movie.

Odd Thomas (2014)

8/10

            The trailer to this is god awful.

            I kind of loved "Odd Thomas".  It is the sort of thing I would write (though, you know, markedly better) with a super sarcastic and self aware tone, coupled with a supernatural mystery that is tight and works. It is like "John Dies at the End" but with a better budget. I am so sad that do to legal troubles the movie will not be a franchise, but it makes me want to read the novels (which I found wonderful, thru the whole movie I kept saying to myself "this dialogue sounds like it was lifted from a novel", and I was right).

            The stakes of the conflict consistently raise, the effects are cool, and even in the context of a small town the locations of conflict vary considerably: Pool Party, junk yard, abandoned prison, mall, dinner, Church, etc.  It is cool.  Best comparisons I can make would be to "Jack Reacher" and "Constantine".

Shit poster. I do like that Anton Yelchin is becoming a big wheel in genre movies (Star Trek, Fright Night).

Oldboy (American version; 2013)

?/10

            This god damn thing has me confused.  I appreciate it on a technical level, though I have no affection for director Spike Lee so I am unsure how much of the credit should go to him.  Especially since I have heard this movie is so similar to what it is remaking.  It is one of the hardest R movies I have seen in a while with graphic violence, hard language, issues of substance abuse, and a LOT of sexual abuse.  I feel people should watch it because it looks pretty, and has some interesting ideas.  That being said... I kind of hated the story and I can only really explain why by making this section of the review full of spoilers for the movie, and a lot of the movie is built on a twist, so if you don't want it spoiled feel free to go watch the movie.  If I had to compare it to something, "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" because of the subject matter, and a similar unfulfilling twist ending ("Girl" was considerably better in overall plot), but a good technical side.  I should also say that there is a lot of good acting on the part of Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Brolin.

            Spoilers: The movie starts with an alcoholic businessman failing to land a client because he is a douche, not going to his daughter's birthday because he had to try and land a client, and then getting kidnapped.  He finds himself in a cell made to look like a motel room, with only the TV and regular deliveries of Chinese food to keep him company.  There he learns of the murder of his wife and that he is the open and shut suspect in the investigation, DNA evidence having been taken from him and planted at the crime scene.  He then spends the next 20 years in his cell trying to better himself, watching martial arts shows, training, and writing letters to his daughter that he plans to deliver upon his escape.  Then he is let go.

            He is then told by a mysterious voice to solve the mystery of his imprisonment and in return he will receive wealth and the means to secure his freedom and innocence in the murder of his wife.  Along the way he gets help from an old friend who owns a bar, a young nurse, and people from his past.  Turns out the vastly rich and powerful man who is responsible for his imprisonment was the brother of a woman the protagonist had bullied in school.  The Protagonist had reviled a family secret that had so shamed the whole clan that it led the patriarch to try to kill everyone, and only failed to kill the son.  This is because the son, much like the daughter had been in a long running incestuous relationship with the father and blamed the murder spree on the shame of the protagonist's revelation.  Honestly as far as motivations go it makes evil-sense even if it is not the logic of healthy Earth minds.

            But then the movie goes crazy.  The villain, as part of his ultimate revenge, reveals the full scope of his manipulations, that the young love interest of the protagonist, a woman he has already slept with, is the protagonist's daughter.  The protagonist then begs to be murdered while the villain kills himself, after that the protagonist gives his wealth and a letter to the daughter not explaining things, and then has himself locked up in the motel cells again.

            Here is the thing, this plan is just too elaborate and doesn't really make sense.  The villain sees the incest his father was committing as a perfectly healthy expression of affection, and only blames the protagonist for the public shame he cast on the family, so ultimately the plan results in the protagonist feeling private shame and being free of the societal scrutiny... See how that is backwards?  If the bad guy doesn't see anything wrong with incest, how can getting someone to commit incest a revenge?  Really, the plan should be to reveal to the protagonist his ideas that incest is okay, have the protagonist agree, and then reveal this to the public so he has to live with the same public shame, like the villain's family did.

            What is more, this movie takes place (this version) in the American South, incest is not quite as stigmatized, especially accidental incest.  It is pretty clear this is not the raping or indoctrination of a child into a sexual relationship, but the result of a massive misunderstanding... So a lot of blame is off the characters, it could be that the protagonist would be able to come to terms with it, and while sparing the daughter the confliction of it, breaks off the relationship like he did in the movie but not punishing himself (he was imprisoned for 20 years, I think he paid his dues ahead of time).

            Then there is the deity like levels of manipulation that the villain is able to accomplish.  His plan could have failed 10,000 times, at one point the protagonist is fighting 2 dozen people all of which are armed with the intent of killing him, he makes it out (with a bowie knife in his back).  If the protagonist had died, or been rendered comatose by trauma, would the bad guy have just shrugged his shoulders and forgot the 20 year tantric revenge plot?  What if the daughter had just died in car accident when she was 12?  What if the father and daughter not been attracted to one another?  What if the protagonist had just bothered to Google anything having to do with himself to instantly dispel one of the key plot points of what was happening?  It breaks credulity, keeping me from enjoying the movie.  Also, I kind of saw it coming, so..."bleh".

            In conclusion:

            Technical stuff = Great

            Story = Bleh

Lame poster.  But better.

Movies of 2013, Crime, pt2

Crime

            I have actually been dragging out posting these reviews, because I got to the "Crime" section and I was going to go see "Wolf of Wall Street" to finish it off, then I missed the show time so I have been taking my time so I can tack it onto the end.  Anyway, on to talking about how Ryan Gosling made a lot of shit movies.

            From what I saw, Ryan Gosling had one of the weakest movie careers all year.  I did not enjoy anything with him in it.  A massive step down from, "Drive", "Ides of March", and "Crazy Stupid Love" which built up a lot of good will.  I guess it wasn't totally squandered, but it is near the E on the gauge.

Gangster Squad, or "Why even try to pretend this is based in reality and instead just go full blown stylized action farce?"

Overall: 4/10

This is all the brown that appears in the movie.  Everything else is mostly blue and white.

            This movie has some visual style, and the occasional cool scene, like one in which Gosling pours acid on a man's crotch, acid that the guy was going to throw in a woman's face.  There is also some interesting action with cool punches, explosions, and chasing.  If this had been full blown cartoony action with Josh Brolin playing Dick Tracy and Ryan Gosling playing the Shadow I probably would have eaten this movie up.  But as is the thing purports to be based on actual events and somehow tied into reality, a ludicrous and stupid bit of pretentiousness that takes a lot of fun out of it.

            Either make "The Untouchables" or make "Dick Tracy", don't unevenly mix them like a McDonald's parfait.  I guess it could have worked if the fictionalizing had yielded interesting character arcs, or if the reality had shown some real depth to mob warfare, but as is neither does much of anything.

Only God Forgives, or "BORING.  But... I guess pretty to look at.  And the music is cool."

Overall: 4/10

Conversely, this movie seems to have fallen into a vat of hot violet gel.

            This movie brings together the director and star of "Drive", my favorite movie of 2011, which was the timeless story of a high functioning psychopath falling into whatever passes for love in his violent robotic brain with his neighbor.

            "Only God Forgives" takes the artistic gloss of "Drive" and only does that.

            The movie is very pretty, with reds and shadows, interesting music, an exotic local.  And a lot of long... Long... Long shots of all of that.

            There is also a lack of likable characters.  Apparently it is okay for Policemen in Bangkok to kill or maim criminals if they see fit, at various point limbs are hacked off or metal pins driven into a person's body in graphic detail... But the "good guy" is the one doing it.  Again, to compare to "Drive" there were numerous characters who had hopes and aspirations beyond being violent criminals and crime was an unfortunate part of their lives, this movie has the violent battering of numerous women, and the rape and murder of a teenage girl as the starting point, and from there it goes down.

            No character with a spoken line is at all likable.  Wall to wall lingering shots of awful people and mild gore.  It also has a scene that is undercut by the fact that Gosling cannot seem to yell at someone convincingly, he sort of sheiks like a sweet 16 princess... definitely takes away from the menacing demeanor.

            There is also a preposterous scene in which a 54 year old man beats Ryan Gosling to unconsciousness (Gosling plays a career criminal who runs a Muay Thai gym and has murdered before with his bare hands).  I don't care if you know martial arts, Gosling had 20 years and 40 pounds of muscle on the guy, he would have won the fight.

The Place Beyond the Pines, or "BORING.  BORING.  BORING."

Overall: 3/10

I am betting this movie was a nightmare to market, because all the press makes this look like a love triangle between the straightlaced Cooper and the bad boy Gosling fighting for the affections of Eva Mendes.

            Jesus Christ this movie pissed me off the first time I watched it.  I actually apologized to my date for having taken her to it, and said that if she was not with me I probably would have left and asked for my money back.

            It is effectively 3 short films that are all connected by some characters and events.  And while each part might work a little on its own, together they are just dull.

            The first third is about Ryan Gosling being a motorcycle stuntman in a traveling circus who finds out he is a father and wants to provide for his bastard.  He does this by robbing banks, and it is cool.  I could have watched a full 90 minute movie about Gosling robbing banks.  And when he is confronted by Bradley "Rocket Raccoon" Cooper at the 45 minute mark I think I said aloud in the theater, "is the movie already over?"

            This is when part two begins, Bradley Cooper becomes a hero cop for catching Gosling and getting shot in the confrontation.  It ruins his cop career, but luckily he has a law degree and leverages his knowledge of police corruption into becoming a public prosecutor.  Again, this is an interesting film, I would have watched it.  It is almost totally divorced from the first part of the movie except for a running subplot about cops taking Goslings ill gotten goods from Gosling's Baby Mama.

            Then 15 years go by.  No shit the movie stutters forward and Cooper is now running for State Attorney, and his son and Gosling's son are friends... troubled kids doing drugs and unaware that their father's lives were linked by one prominent moment.  Again, this is a whole movie done in 40 minutes and is so weirdly connected that it just doesn't work.

            I don't mind that the movie is really contrived and that the role of Protagonist is handed off every so often, but each break in the narrative kills the momentum.  And the last third being anchored by two teenage actors who are just not as good as Gosling or Cooper means that the movie ends on a low note.  Maybe if the 3 stories were told in reverse order, which might be a bit confusing to uninvolved audience members, but would add some intrigue to the affair, and would end on a high note, Gosling being confronted by Cooper.  As is the movie peaks at 40 minutes and just keeps going.  Boring.  Boring.  Very boring.