Month: January 2013

Ray Owens, a former LAPD officer, is now the Sheriff of the sleepy border town of Sommerton Junction, Arizona. He’s content with his life there, it’s quiet and even with his inexperienced staff, the peace is kept. Unbeknownst to Ray, Gabriel Cortez, a notorious Mexican drug cartel kingpin has just escaped captivity by the FBI. Cortez now speeds across the land in souped-up Corvette to jump the border to Mexico, crossing across a bridge that has been built past Sommerton Junction. Now Ray, his staff and a couple of other volunteers are the only thing that stands in their way.

That’s the premise to The Last Stand and with the exception of his co-starring appearances in The Expendables movies, marks Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return to leading in a big-ass action film after 10 years away. This is also the latest movie form Korean director Jee-woon Kim, who’s known for such films as The Good, the Bad, the Weird and I saw the Devil neither of which I’ve seen, but I certainly hear good stuff about them. I’m certainly a fan of Schwarzenegger’s and was very much looking forward to seeing this, and it is indeed a lot of fun, but don’t think too much about it.

What Jee-woon Kim has crafted here, at least to me anyway, reminds me a little bit of the movie Shoot ‘Em Up with Clive Owen, Monica Bellucci and Paul Giamatti and was this sort of mash-up of big over-the-top action film with Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoons. Now I know that might sound a little insulting, and it’s not meant that way. But when you see a side scene of an old woman sitting in her shop quietly as all hell is breaking loose outside, and a mysterious gunman breaks in and then the same old woman pulls out a big gun and blasts him through her window… well I don’t know how you can think of this any other way.

Now I’ll take that even further, with so much of an international sort of cast here and their, let’s say “colorful” use of the English language and with Jackass front man Johnny Knoxville in a supporting role, I could almost hear Mel Blanc doing voice work for this if it was a cartoon (or the very least Ralph Garman doing his best Schwarzenegger impression- and you should all listen to Garman on the Hollywood Babble On podcast and watch Spike TV’s newest iteration of the excellent The Joe Schmo Show – sorry for the digression). None of this is meant to be taken seriously at all, just sit back, enjoy the ride and wallow in it’s big over-the-top style.

And speaking of style, Jee-woon Kim certainly has plenty of it- the film looks fantastic and the action scenes are extremely well done and very easy to follow. Kim knows when to pull his camera back and give you a big picture as well getting right up into the action and making you “feel” it.

It is good to see Schwarzenegger back leading a film. Yeah, he’s certainly gotten older and a little smaller, but he still knows how to command a scene and with this movie anyway, he’s also plenty generous to his ensemble of support. Jaime Alexander, Luis Guzmán and Zach Gilford all play the sheriff’s deputies and they all get their moments to shine. Rodrigo Santoro plays a former boyfriend of Alexander’s who joins up with the sheriff, and he certainly gets a few good action moments. I mentioned Johnny Knoxville above, and Knoxville plays a gun “entrepreneur” and certainly provides even more comic relief to the film. Further with Knoxville, he genuinely looks like he’s having the time of his life with this as well.

Also in the cast, Forest Whitaker plays the FBI agent who’s handling the Cortez situation, and he certainly helps to ground things, though just for a bit. Eduardo Noriega plays Cortez and like Knoxville, looks like he’s just eating this part up. Peter Stormare plays Cortez’s right-hand man in Sommerton Junction, and certainly adds the right amount of smarminess and odd sort of threat to the part. And even veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton gets in on things as the farmer who owns the land Cortez’s crew is looking to use (and as a side note, I saw Broken City this past weekend as well- Griffin Dunne is in the film and I almost thought he was a younger version of Harry Dean Stanton at first sight- sorry, digressed again for just a moment).

The Last Stand is a terrific little comeback piece for Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as being a nice little show piece for Jee-won Kim’s visual skills. It’s a big-ass 80s-esque action cartoon that’s hard not to like as long as you’re not going in and expecting this thing to be as grim and dark as possible. Schwarzenegger does show his age, but he’s also solid enough to know that and play with it as well. The Last Stand probably won’t end up on any “Best of 2013” movie lists, but it certainly is a fun diversion and just looks fantastic on the big screen.

NYPD Detective Billy Taggart is on trial for a wrongful shooting. New York City Mayor Nicholas Hostleler and Police Commissioner Carl Fairbanks know that Taggart is guilty due to evidence that has been held back from the trial, though the mayor believes Taggart to be a hero for what he’s done. Taggart is declared not guilty but still gets bounced by the force.

Seven years have passed and now Taggart earns his keep as a Private Investigator mostly on cases of marital infidelity. He’s having problems paying his bills and then one day gets summoned by Mayor Hostleler to come to his office. The mayor, in the midst of a re-elction campaign, wants to hire Taggart to shadow his wife because he believes she’s cheating on him and offers Taggart $50,000 to take the case. Taggart agrees little knowing what he’s about to walk into.

That’s the premise to Broken City the latest film from director Allen Hughes, who’s better known as one half of the directing team The Hughes Brothers (with brother Albert, the two have directed such films as The Book of Eli, From Hell, Dead Presidents and Menace II Society). What Hughes has crafted here is a nice little slow-burn noir-ish detective thriller that I thought was a lot of fun to watch.

Broken City is about way more than what I described in the premise, but it’s not hard to follow at all. In the midst of the main story, we also follow Taggart’s personal life involving his girlfriend Natalie (who’s an actress), his struggle with alcohol, and his day-to-day work life with his assistant Katy. All of this certainly helps to make Broken City a pretty full experience and I tend to think it makes it feel somewhat like a classic detective/noir film of the 40s.

What’s most impressive here though are the performances. Mark Wahlberg plays Billy Taggart and he’s really fun to watch here. He feels totally authentic in the part and it’s particularly satisfying to see his chemistry with actress Alona Tal who plays his assistant Katy. It’s just as pleasing to see the scenes that Wahlberg has with Russell Crowe who plays Mayor Hostleler. To me, this is one of the best performances that I’ve seen from Crowe in awhile. Nicholas Hostleler is a slick and charismatic character and Crowe’s playing it to the hilt.

There’s lot’s of good support here as well, Catherine Zeta-Jones plays the mayor’s wife who’s got way more going on than a case of infidelity, and she just looks fantastic. Barry Pepper plays Jack Valiant, a councilman who’s running against Hostleler for mayor, and it’s certainly solid and committed work from Pepper. Most pleasing to me in the support category though are the performances from Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Fairbanks and Kyle Chandler as Valiant’s campaign manager, Paul Andrews. Their parts feel very “lived-in” and they command as much attention on-screen as the leads do.

I thought Broken City was just terrific. It is a slow-burning film, but it never feels boring and there’s always something there to keep your attention. Hughes’ direction and storytelling is right on point and I love that, at least to me, this does harken back to classic noir thrillers of the past. All of the performances are first rate and certainly drive the film. Broken City was quite a little surprise for me, I wasn’t expecting to be as drawn into this movie as I got. Very much recommended.

Director Kathryn Bigelow won an Oscar for her skills with her last film The Hurt Locker which also won an Oscar for Best Picture and deservedly so. so how does she choose to follow that up? With nothing less than the hunt and trackdown of Osama Bin Laden himself…

Zero Dark Thirty tells the story of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden as seen through the eyes of a CIA operative named here as Maya. It covers a period of nearly ten years (from the tragedy of 9/11 to finding Bin Laden and while I’m sure certain events are compressed or altered, this still feels extremely authentic. This isn’t exactly as emotionally effective a film as The Hurt Locker was, Zero Dark Thirty is way more clinical and procedural, but it’s still very impressive and certainly worthy of it’s Oscar nomination.

While I described the film as being more on the procedural side, it still has it’s emotional moments- chief among them being a scene between Maya and a CIA chief With Maya making certain demands. This is a really terrific scene between actors Jessica Chastain and Kyle Chandler and it’s dramatics are way more real than theatrical. I saw this scene and though Chastain’s performance here is stellar all around, to me this had to be the scene that cinched the Oscar nomination for her.

I think the whole movie is compelling viewing, but where it really got to me was watching the actual operation go down in the end when Seal Team 6 takes out Bin Laden. This isn’t shown in a typical Hollywood theatrical manner, and as such, I think it makes the scene even more tense.

One of the criticisms that I’ve read about Zero Dark Thirty elsewhere (which I don’t share), is that there was a “lack of character development.” Zero Dark Thirty isn’t that kind of movie at all, there aren’t huge character arcs here where people go on self-discovery or learn tremendous lessons in the end. This is about a group of dedicated, highly competent professionals doing their duty for their country. Bigelow’s approach is indeed more matter-of-fact with this, and the film does have character moments, but they’re just not the focus. Obviously much has been said as well about the torture scenes at the start of the film and how the film is “an endorsement of torture” which just isn’t the case at all, though I guess the argument can be made that just by showing it, they’re endorsing it. I don’t exactly subscribe to that and think this talk of boycotting the film for Oscar consideration because of that is ridiculous.

Already, we do know that Zero Dark Thirty has been nominated for an Oscar and it’s certainly worthy of that nomination. Will it win? I tend to think that’s doubtful. It is a terrific film, no doubt about that, but I don’t necessarily think it’s as effective as say The Hurt Locker was at getting it’s audience as involved. It’s a more passive experience, but certainly still effective and highly recommended.

#1 Zero Dark Thirty from Sony/Columbia rose from #16 to #1 with a gross of $24.4 million (+806.5%) in 2,937 theaters (+2,877).  Total gross to date is $29.9 million.  Budget was $40 million.

#2 A Haunted House from Open Road Films opened at #2 with a gross of $18.1 million in 2,160 theaters.  Budget was $2.5 million.

#3 Gangster Squad from Warner Bros. opened at #3 with a gross of $17.1 million in 3,103 theaters.  Budget was $60 million.

#4 Django Unchained from Weinstein Company fell from #2 to #4 with a gross of $11 million (-44.8%) in 3,012 theaters (+2).  Total gross to date is $125.4 million.  Budget was $100 million.

#5 Les Miserables from Universal fell from #4 to #5 with a gross of $9.6 million (-39.8%) in 2,927 theaters (+23).  Total gross to date is $118.7 million.  Budget was $61 million.

#6 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from Warner Bros. fell from #3 to #6 with a gross of $9.2 million (-47.7%) in 3,012 theaters (-743).  Total gross to date is $278.2 million.  Budget was unknown.

#7 Lincoln from Buena Vista rose from #8 to #7 with a gross of $6.3 million (+17%) in 2,027 theaters (+126).  Total gross to date is $152.6 million.  Budget was $65 million.

#8 Parental Guidance from 20^th Century Fox fell from #5 to #8 with a gross of $6.1 million (-37.3%) in 2,957 theaters (-411).  Total gross to date is $60.6 million.  Budget was $25 million.

#9 Texas Chainsaw 3D from Lionsgate fell from #1 to #9 with a gross of $5.3 million (-75.7%) in 2,659 theaters (+5).  Total gross to date is $30.9 million.  Budget was unknown.

#10 Silver Linings Playbook from Weinstein Company rose from #12 to #10 with a gross of $5 million (+38.8%) in 810 theaters (+65).  Total gross to date is $41.3 million.  Budget was $21 million.

#11 Jack Reacher from Paramount fell from #6 to #11 with a gross of $4.8 million (-47.6%) in 2,707 theaters (-581).  Total gross to date is $72.6 million.  Budget was $60 million.

#12 This Is 40 from Universal fell from #7 to #12 with a gross of $4.4 million (-47.6%) in 2,320 theaters (-611).  Total gross to date is $61.4 million.  Budget was $35 million.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $121.4 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

The time is 1949 and gangster Mickey Cohen is running roughshod over the city of Los Angeles. Chief of Police Parker tries to take back the city by assembling a few good men to work outside of the law, headed by sergeants John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters and a literal war is about to break out over the streets of Los Angeles.

That’s the premise behind Gangster Squad the newest movie from director Ruben Fleischer, who previously directed the film Zombieland (which I have not seen, but plan to rectify that in the near future). As this movie starts, it basically tells you that it’s “inspired by true events,” and that’s basically a little warning sign to tell you that they’re going to play fast and loose with history here. That’s certainly fine if your intention is basically making escapist fare as opposed to a docudrama, and that’s exactly what Fleischer is doing here. [b]Gangster Squad[/b] isn’t meant to be taken seriously by any means, though don’t get me wrong, it’s not a comedy, but pure popcorn entertainment.

Fleischer wears his influences on his sleeve and obviously, the first thing that will come to mind for just about anybody (providing that you’ve seen the film) is Brian DePalma’s version of The Untouchables. Gangster Squad’s set-up and approach pretty much mimics what DePalma did, though without DePalma’s signature visual and dramatic style. For me, I also thought I was seeing a few little homages to films like The Dirty Dozen (during a break-in bit of Mickey Cohen’s home) and the first Lethal Weapon with the climactic fight between O’Mara and Cohen. There’s really nothing original at work here and there’s nothing wrong with that if the final film is entertaining and I certainly thought that it was.

Gangster Squad has a terrific look to it and Fleischer dramatic style here harkens back more to classic gangster films of the 40s as opposed to a dryer tone. As such, all of the characters are pretty broad and that certainly might be a turn-off to some if you’re looking for something that’s a little more deadly serious in it’s approach. To me, this felt a lot like a classic crime comic book complete with over-the-top violence and I just had a ball with it.

Fleischer’s assembled a pretty impressive cast here and they all look like they’re having fun with this. Josh Brolin plays O’Mara and Ryan Gosling plays Wooters. Brolin really looks the part as the tough as nails cop who’s all about doing the right thing. Gosling’s character is a little reluctant to take the straight arrow path, but also displays a killer instinct when he’s pressed. The rest of the team that O’Mara assembles is played by actor Robert Patrick, Anthony Mackie, Michael Pena and Giovanni Ribisi and they’re spot-on perfect for their supporting parts. I was particularly surprised to see Patrick as part of this group and thought he helped bring some proper weight to the whole thing.

Emma Stone plays Grace, Cohen’s woman who’s also very much attracted to Wooters. Nick Nolte plays Chief Parker and veteran character actor Jon Polito plays a rival to Cohen. They’re all just fine and certainly serviceable to their parts. The best performance in the movie though has to go to Sean Penn who plays Mickey Cohen. Now, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Penn’s and ted to think most of his performances are a little overrated, but here… well, I just thought it was a lot of fun whenever he was on-screen. He really looked like he was having a ball here and no doubt needed a toothpick after each scene to clean the scenery out of his teeth. It’s a big over-the-top performance that’s very much appropriate to the film that Fleischer’s made.

I had a great time with Gangster Squad. It moves quickly, has a terrific cast and is unapologetic in what it’s doing, which is basically reveling in the style of classic crime movies of the past. Yeah, I’ll grant you, there’s nothing new here, but it’s still well put together and it’s just plain fun- very much recommended.