White House Down (2013)

Didn't I just see this film earlier this year?  Yes, the movie studios are at it again.  Seems like once a year (sometimes more), studios race out two similarly themed films, whether it's asteroids, volcanoes, or some various disaster.  This year is "White House under siege" films.

This entry in the category stars Channing Tatum as John Cale, a military veteran now working on a security detail for the Speaker of the House (Richard Jenkins).  He's the classic character where he's had issues with authority, and has never realized his full potential.  Wanting to make some changes and improve his life, he interviews for a Secret Service position at the White House, and takes his daughter Emily (Joey King) along.  Why would he take his daughter, you ask?  Well, they don't have a great relationship (shocker!), and it turns out she's a junkie for politics, so he figures the trip to the White House might begin to repair their relationship.

While on a tour of the White House, a group of mercenaries take over, killing all of the security forces and taking the remaining people as hostage.  One difference here is that this time the threat is a domestic force, rather than a foreign one.  It's not clear what they want, and even the mercenaries all seem to have different ideas of what the end goal is.

John is able to get loose in the White House and starts picking off some of the mercs.  He eventually finds President Sawyer (Jamie Foxx, yes you heard that right), and attempts to get him to safety.  John can't leave without his daughter though, so now you have the two of them running around simultaneously trying to escape, evade bad guys, and attempt to rescue John's daughter.

Olympus Has Fallen...er, um, I mean White House Down features just about every action movie cliche you could pull out of a hat.  At times the story has way too much going on, too many subplots, and wraps them up way too neatly and quickly at the end.  Every twist is telegraphed, sometimes simply by the people cast in the roles.  The second you see Jason Clarke as a someone that's there to install a new sound system in the White House theater, you know he's really up to no good.  You can't cast James Woods as the head of the President's Secret Service detail without that leading to something.  Don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything.  This all plays out very early in the film.

Here's the thing though: I actually had a lot of fun watching White House Down.  Once the action gets going, it doesn't let up for an instant.  There are great action scenes throughout the film.  Director Roland Emmerich seems to have a knack for high-octane action that's so silly you can't help but still have fun with it.  I'm not even sure if the overall silliness of some of these scenes is intentional or not.  My favorite scene of the film features a chase on the White House lawn, where it basically looks like several cars doing donuts.  It's ridiculous and hilarious, and everyone seemed to be having a good time with it.

The tone of White House Down is drastically different from Olympus Has Fallen.  Where Olympus Has Fallen has some very brutal violence, and overall more serous tone, White House Down seems to go out of it's way to throw one-liners at you at every opportunity.  Some work, some don't, and there's some pretty cringe worthy dialog at times.  I'll give writer James Vanderbilt credit for trying either way.

This film could have been edited better though.  Despite all the action, there are a few lulls here and there, and there's really no reason for this to be almost 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Channing Tatum manages to pull off another decent lead in an action film.  I was a little iffy on him as first as his character seemed to be a little too much of a screw up for his own good, but once the action gets going, he carries himself well.  Jamie Foxx is playing it pretty straight here, so he's not able to be as funny as we know he can be.  He might have been trying a little too hard to be presidential though.  The supporting cast is surprisingly strong, actually too strong for what they're given to do.  Maggie Gyllenhaal outclasses the material here, as well as Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick).  I really hope Reddick hasn't fallen into being type cast as "stern, military/law enforcement guy".  Lastly, I was really impressed with Joey King.  I've only seen her in a few small roles, but she really gets a chance to stretch here, and I think she's a young actress that's going to be one to watch for a while.

One weak part was John's ex, played by Rachelle Lefevre.  She's playing it way too calm and emotionless for the situation they are in.  I would expect a mother to be crying and screaming her head off the whole time knowing her ex-husband and daughter are inside the White House as all these explosions are happening around her, but she's way too calm.  It really stood out to me as odd.

White House Down is a dumb, cliched action film.  However, there are some great, crazy action scenes, and the film manages to be fun and entertaining.  If you haven't gotten your action fix this Summer, give this a shot.  If you go in with low expectations, you should have a good time.

2.5 (out of 5) Death Stars - Matinee-ish

The Company You Keep (2013)

The company you keep, you put yourself above.  I'm on to you!  I still have a soft spot for Hurricane...

Not that the hair-band Hurricane has anything to do with The Company You Keep, the latest Robert Redford directed film, based off a Lem Dobbs screenplay, which was based off the (presumably boring) book of the same name by Neil Gordon.

I might have just played my hand with the previous paragraph, but that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the film.  It's boring.  The Company You Keep is one of those films where they've assembled a great cast of pros (it's well acted at least), then setup a what appears to be a nice thriller/mystery, only to have it play out extremely slowly, with each reveal having no real impact.  This, again, is compounded by the fact this poorly paced film is over two hours.  BROKEN RECORD!  Hey, who said that?  At first glance, when you see the people involved in making the film, and the great cast, you think it might be an early Oscar contender.  Unfortunately, that isn't what we got here.

The Company You Keep begins with Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) being arrested.  We learn that she was a former member of a radical group wanted for a bank robbery and murder of a bank guard nearly 30 years ago.  Local reporter Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) investigates and finds that Sharon was about to turn herself in anyway, and through friends tried to get a local lawyer, Jim Grant (Redford), to take the case.  Grant wasn't interested in the case even though it seemed like something in his wheelhouse.  Shepard presses on, only to find that Grant was also involved in the radical group, and was a suspect in the same bank robbery.  Don't worry, this isn't a spoiler to tell you this.

Grant goes on the run, contacting estranged friends and family in the effort to find Mimi (Julie Christie), a former partner of Grant's.  We aren't sure exactly why Grant is so desperate to find her, but upon seeing that Grant is wanted by the police, she goes out on her own to find him.

This is where The Company You Keep let me down.  You've got all these threads going on with Grant and Mimi, then The Beef (that's what I call LaBeouf) investigating, and the FBI (led by Terrence Howard) hot on their trail, but there's never any urgency to it.  Plot threads and characters are just dropped without any resolution or given much development.  It felt like a TV series that was meant to stretched into a season long arc, but was streamlined to only be two or three episodes.  You might think that means it has a frenetic pace with all the things going on, yet we got the opposite.  It's so slow that I actually had to fight off falling asleep for much of the the last third of the film.  Plus, the conclusion is so anti-climactic that you're left wondering why you bothered sitting through it all.

I'm not sure if this was an issue of the book not translating well, or maybe having to condense too much of it to fit into a movie.  There isn't even an entry for the book or author on Wikipedia, so my research is limited.  From what I can see on Amazon, the book's synopsis seems to have a much different setup than how the movie was, so perhaps too much was changed for the sake of adapting it.  It's shame because I really like Lem Dobbs as a writer, but it looks like he really misses working with Steven Soderbergh (they've done at least three films together).  I don't even think Robert Redford did that bad of a job directing, as he did a good job with the actors, and managed to make it interesting enough in the first half.

It is really well acted though.  Redford is great, as well as Julie Christie.  As hard as I am on The Beef, I actually thought he had the right blend of arrogance, mixed with an honest drive to uncover the truth.  The supporting cast is fleshed out with actors like Stephen Root, Nick Nolte, Brit Marling, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins, Sam Elliott and Brendan Gleeson.  When you have such notable actors in smaller roles, you tend to think their characters may be more significant to the actual story, and are disappointed when they aren't in it more or aren't fleshed out enough.  It's just a shame to not see these people get something meatier to work with.  It makes me wonder if Redford just called in a bunch of favors to fill out his cast, or the actors just really wanted to work with him.  Can't say I blame any of them though.

The Company You Keep is yet another well-acted film with a star studded cast, but unfortunately the story comes up way short with its slow pacing and disappointing resolution.  It's not a bad movie, but it is pretty forgettable.  I actually saw this over a week ago and forgot that I never got around to posting my review.  This is not something you need to rush out and see, and has rental written all over it.

2.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Jack Reacher (2012) - Movie Review

Jack Reacher would totally kick Ethan Hunt's ass.

It's interesting to me that just two months ago I saw Alex Cross, a movie based on off a popular book series that was meant to re-launch the character.  I wasn't aware of this before hand, but Jack Reacher is based off a book series by author Lee Child.  The big difference is that Jack Reacher is how you do it right.  This particular story was based off the book "One Shot", and yet another series of books I may have to add to my Amazon Wish List.

In a chilling and effective opening sequence, a sniper opens fire, killing five people.  It's a disturbing image and way to open the film, and then it occurred to me that considering recent events it might be a little too much for some to watch.  It's unfortunate timing for sure.  A former military sniper, James Barr, is captured by the authorities and only writes "Get Jack Reacher" when being interrogated.  Reacher (Tom Cruise) sees the news report about event and shows up on his own. While not much is known about Jack Reacher, we do learn he's a former ace Military Police officer that's been living off the grid.  He partners with Barr's defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), and they investigate what happened.  They find that this case isn't as open and shut as first believed.

I don't want to get into the plot much more than that, as one of the things I loved about Jack Reacher what how much it surprised me regarding what kind of film it was.  When you watch the trailers, it appears to be a straight-up action flick, but it's much more than that.  There's plenty of action, but it's also a mystery/thriller.  It's also funny in the right places, but that balances out the brutality in the fight scenes.  When I saw brutal though, I don't mean to say it's bloody.  In a later part of the film, you learn more about the victims and it really give the film an emotional depth that surprised me.

One of the things I loved about Christopher McQuarrie's direction (he also wrote the screenplay) were all the little things.  Coming back to that opening sequence, the first 5-10 minutes of the movie have no dialog and the sounds are muted.  It perfectly sets up the story without saying anthing.  Later in the film, there's a great car chase sequence that stood out to me because of the realism about it.  Reacher isn't an expert driver, so you don't see perfectly executed, high-speed turns.  He fishtails, spins out, even crashes a little.  When you contrast this with something like like Taken 2, where you have to believe that someone who doesn't even have their driver license is somehow having little issue driving at high speeds on narrow roads, it really made me appreciate what they did here.  Even in the fight scenes you see use of strategy and tactics.  Granted use of tactics are a large part of Reacher's character, but I liked that the action wasn't mindless.

I can't say it's a totally genius movie though.  One of the issues I had with the movie was that when the villain is revealed, someone known only as "The Zec" (a surprising appearance by director Werner Herzog), his back story is a little too over-the-top and super villiany for what his goal was. He wasn't even in the movie that much, so it seemed a little too much for a movie that otherwise had a grittier, realistic feel to it.  Herzog's creepy performance made the character tolerable though.  The only other issue I had with the movie is that it does run a tad too long, not to the point where you're getting bored with it, but it would have benefit from being tightened up a bit.

Just when I'm ready to write Tom Cruise off, he reminds me why he's the superstar he is.  Cruise doesn't physically resemble the character as written, which may upset fans of the book series, but he owns the role.  Cruise's Reacher plays off everyone well, whether it's Helen, or a local detective (David Oyelowo).  I've always enjoyed Rosamund Pike as Helen, but I think you'll notice there's a certain part of her anatomy that's a little distracting.  Those two were the uncredited stars of the movie for sure.  Richard Jenkins has a small role as the prosecuting district attorney (who's also Helen's father), and is great as always.  Lastly, Robert Duvall shows up to class the joint up. Everyone plays their parts well, but this is definitely the Tom Cruise show.

Whether I was just in really good mood when I saw this movie, or it appealed to my basic instincts, I loved the hell out of Jack Reacher.  It's a thrilling crime drama, with good action and moments of odd humor.  Tom Cruise anchors the film with another star performance, and he shows he still has 'it' even though he's north of 50.

4.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Killing Them Softly (2012) - Movie Review

I'll spare you from any puns about the title of this movie and the similarly named song.

We're introduced to a bunch of reject criminals planning their next 'job'.  The plan is to hold up a mafia card game, as there will be a lot of cash for the taking.  They believe it's the perfect crime because the person hosting the game, Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta), previously admitted to robbing his own game, so they know Trattman will get blamed again if another of his games is robbed.

The crime actually goes as planned, but the mafia wants the people responsible to pay.  Jackie (Brad Pitt) is the hitman hired by the mob to take care of business. He knows that Trattman was set up, but believes that the people on the street will only believe he was responsible, so Trattman needs to take the hit.  A mob representative (Richard Jenkins) only wants him roughed up.  This frustrates Jackie as he doesn't like how the mob is becoming too corporate, with simple decisions needing to go through levels of management and red tape for approval.  This is where Killing Them Softly starts to show a very cynical view of corporate culture, the government, and even the U.S.

As the movie goes on, more hits are ordered, but Jackie needs to bring in another hitman because he has a close relationship with one of the people that needs to get taken out.  He calls on Mickey (James Gandolfini) to help him out.  However, you learn that Mickey has devolved into a drunk that can't be relied on, leaving Jackie to take care of everything.

Killing Them Softly is one of those movies that I think a lot of people are going to have a hard time getting into.  It starts off very slowly until Brad Pitt finally shows up, and even then it's still pretty slowly paced.  Many scenes linger on longer than they should.  While the dialog is very funny in parts, it seemed like any scene that didn't involve Brad Pitt didn't have a lot of weight.

I liked the gritty, noir feel about it, but where the movie really excelled was in the camera work.  I'm not one to normally notice stuff like that, but they did a lot of cool things with interesting camera angles and how they used focus.  There's a scene where a character is high on heroin and the way the scene was shot, you really got a feel for how the guy was tripping and how his friend was getting frustrated trying to talk to him.  In another scene, there was a hit where they used a very stylish use of super slow motion.  However, Dredd 3D did the same, stylish, slow-motion death over the summer, and I think it looked better and fit the context of the film more. Another thing that really stood out to me was the sound.  When someone gets punched, you feel the loud thud as if you were getting hit.  The gunshots in the film are jarring at times.

The other strength of the movie are the performances.  Brad Pitt is great and totally carries the film! My only complaint is that it didn't start with his character, as he doesn't make his first appearance until almost 20 minutes into the film.  While he's not a nice guy, you can't help but root for him.  I think it's because I sympathized with his frustration of having to deal with all the red tape and bureaucracy he encountered.  He was hired to do a job and just wanted to do it without having to wait for approval for every single thing.  I thought he was the very definition of an anti-hero and it totally worked for me.  James Gandolfini has a limited role, but his interaction with Pitt was fun to watch.  I also enjoyed Richard Jenkins as the mob liaison (simply billed as Driver), but Jenkins is always great.

As I mentioned before, the movie takes a very cynical stab at America, and depending on how you feel about the current state of affairs, this may or may not work for you.  The movie takes place during the time of Obama's first election, so throughout the film there are clips and soundbites of both Obama and George W.  It's interesting to note that this is based off a book written in 1974 by George V. Higgins called Cogan's Trade.  I haven't read the book, so I don't know if those messages were also in the book or inserted by writer/director Andrew Dominik.  Dominik is from New Zealand, so it seems like an outsider's perspective of America.

The film had a great final scene though.  It was the kind of ending that gives you that punch where you can only help but laugh a little.

Killing Them Softly is a bit of a mixed bag, and I can understand how this won't be for everyone.   The slow pacing may turn off some, as well as the statements they are making about our government and culture.  On the other hand, I enjoyed it for it's gritty, visual style and it's dark humor.  Plus, it has a great performance from Brad Pitt.  This movie reminded me a lot of last year's Drive, which had a lot of style, but not a lot of meaningful dialog.

3.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

The Cabin in the Woods (2012) - Movie Review

This is going to be a tough movie to write about, as I don't want to spoil it at all and to even give you too many non-spoiler details would be to deny you the same pleasure I got out of watching The Cabin in the Woods.

While Cabin doesn't necessarily have any twists that I need to avoid talking about, from the opening scene (featuring Bradley Whitford, Richard Jenkins, and Whedon alum Amy Acker) you'll understand that you're about to watch something that isn't going to be your typical horror film.

Then, you're introduced to five friends that head up to a remote cabin for a vacation.  You think you know where this is headed right?  Wrong!

It's very funny, smart and self-referential of the horror genre.  There are so many great lines and references that I can see myself watching this a few more times just so I can pick up on everything.  It also transcends the typical slasher flick, much like movies like the first Scream, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil or even Behind the Mask.  After watching The Cabin in the Woods, I think this will change you way you watch any horror film from this point on.  One of the great things is that actually ruins really bad horror films and takes them to task.  From what I heard from the filmmakers, that was actually one of their goals.

Cabin was actually shot back in 2009, but it got shelved for a few years for various reasons.  I point this out because you may notice that Chris Hemsworth looks younger and less muscular than he did in last summer's Thor. 
 
One thing that I appreciated about the film is how it actually makes you root for the kids.  Normally in these slasher flicks, they are so generally unlikeable or disposable that you actually want to see them die in horrific ways.  In Cabin, the story develops in a such a way that you actually feel for them.  The cast is rounded out by Kristen Connolly, Anna Hutchison, Jesse Williams, and another Whedon alum, Fran Kranz.  They are all great here.

It's killing me because even just telling you what I've said so far, I feel like I'm revealing too much.  I might be a little influenced by the fact that before the screening the Lionsgate rep asked that we not Tweet or post on Facebook too much about the film as they wanted to avoid spoilers.  However, I feel like I might be setting your expectations too high now, so let me interrupt this by saying, "It sucks!  Don't go see it!"

Co-written and produced by (the man!) Joss Whedon, and I think this will make all the Whedonites very happy.  His work here makes me look forward to The Avengers so much more now.  Directed and co-written by Drew Goddard, who also wrote Cloverfield, which is arguably the best of all of the 'found footage' films.  These guys absolutely nailed it!  Another note about Goddard is that he's currently working on the Cloverfield sequel and another movie called Robopocalypse, which Steven Spielberg is attached to direct, so I'm looking forward to both of those.

If you're any kind of horror fan, then you're in for a treat.  You will love The Cabin in the Woods!  Even if you aren't a huge horror fan, the comedy and fresh take on the genre should be entertaining for most movie goers.  I highly recommend checking it out this Friday the 13th!

I'm a little torn here.  It's not perfect, so I can't really give this 5 Death Stars, but this is easily one of my favorite horror films, so I'm going to give an unprecedented rating here:

4.75 (out of 5) Death Stars!