Movie Review Logan Lucky

Logan Lucky (2017) 

Directed by Steven Soderbergh 

Written by Rebecca Blunt 

Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Katie Holmes, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig, Hilary Swank, Katherine Waterston, Sebastian Stan 

Release Date August 18th, 2017 

Published August 17th, 2017 

Being a fan of the American history podcast The Dollop allows me to watch a movie like Logan Lucky and never for a moment find the story implausible. Take a listen to them tell the remarkable true story titled Jet-Pack Madness and you will find within it a story every bit as brilliant as a Coen Brothers comedy. Everything in Logan Lucky feels completely plausible when you compare it to such historic silliness as what transpired with the Jet-Pack or the L.A Freeway Shootout or The Human Taco.

The Dollop has nothing to do with Logan Lucky but I could not help thinking of how Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds would tell this story if it were true. I imagine it would be just as good as the movie Steven Soderbergh has made, a crazy story of crime, family, pride, NASCAR, and the South. That Logan Lucky is also a heist movie is nearly incidental, as if these characters existing as they do might make for a good enough story but that they happen to pulling off a multi-million dollar NASCAR-themed heist certainly makes things even more colorful.

The Logan family is cursed or at least that is what little brother Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) believes and he would be happy to regale you with his tragic family background while he pours beer at a West Virginia bar called Duck-Tape. Older brother Jimmy (Channing Tatum) doesn’t buy into the curse, though Clyde’s point is understandable, he’s just back from losing an arm in Iraq while Jimmy lost a scholarship to play Quarterback at LSU when he blew out his knee and just as we meet him, Jimmy is fired from his job working construction underneath the famed Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Nevertheless, Jimmy doesn’t buy into Clyde’s curse talk, especially since he’s decided to pull off a multi-million-dollar vault heist and doesn't need the bad juju on his mind right now. Having been fired from his job where he operated an earth mover beneath the famed North Carolina race track, Jimmy has found out where all the money from the stadium concessions goes and how it gets there. The only thing standing in his way is the vault but Jimmy happens to know a guy who can help, if they can get him out of prison.\

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Glass Onion A Knives Out Mystery

Glass Onion A Knives Out Mystery (2022) 

Directed by Rian Johnson 

Written by Rian Johnson 

Starring Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson 

Release Date November 23rd, 2022 

Netflix Release Date December 23rd, 2022 

Years ago, movies were home to terrific detective characters. For whatever reason, the character of the independent investigator fell out of favor. Perhaps its because independent detectives have rarely been relevant in real life since the days of Humphrey Bogart, or the rise of television gave detectives a more generous home, movie detectives had been in decline for years until 2019 when filmmaker Rian Johnson reminded us how much fun the detective genre can be with his ingenious mystery, Knives Out. 

With the release of Glass Onion A Knives Out Mystery, we have proof positive that the detective genre is back with a vengeance. This mystery finds the world's greatest detective Benoit Blanc languishing in the boredom of the pandemic before having his intellect revived with a new case that gets him back into the world. Delivering another career best performance, Daniel Craig gives Benoit Blanc a life and charm that echoes through the history of detectives on film, a brand new colorful icon for this beloved sub-genre. 

A group of 'friends' have received an invitation to the private island of a billionaire named Miles (Edward Norton). All of the guests are Miles' long time friends but they are also people whose livelihoods and financial well being are linked to the benevolence of Miles and his bank roll. In this group is a regularly cancelled former model, Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), a superstar Twitch Streamer turned Mens Rights Advocate, Duke (Dave Bautista), his model girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), a liberal Gubernatorial candidate, Claire (Kathryn Hahn), and a boundary pushing scientest, Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.) who may have completely solved our environmental crisis or may be about to blow up the planet. 

Interestingly, and quite unexpectedly, another guest for this murder mystery party is Miles' former business partner and best friend, Cassandra (Janelle Monae). This is quite surprising as Cassandra had just sued Miles after ending their business partnership. Miles stole her idea and used his vast army of lawyers to destroy Cassandra while convincing their mutual friends, the other guests at this party, to lie for him in court. So that's awkward. 

Even more interestingly, who invited Benoit Blanc? Benoit received the same strange puzzle box invitation that everyone else did and yet, Miles did not know that the world's greatest detective had been invited to his murder mystery themed weekend. This adds to the layers upon layers of mystery and intrigue that writer-director Rian Johnson has built into this exquisite mystery. But this is no mere mystery, Glass Onion A Knives Out Mystery is also hilariously funny. This group of brilliant actors get laughs effortlessly and organically, never too broad or unrealistically. 

Click here for my full length review at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review: Dream House

Dream House (2011) 

Directed by Jim Sheridan

Written by David Loucka

Starring Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz, Martin Csokas, Elias Koteas 

Release Date September 30th, 2011

Published September 30th, 2011

You cannot separate a movie from its marketing campaign. A movie marketing campaign defines what a movie is before audiences get a chance to see it. Dream House, starring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz has been established as a haunted house thriller via marketing but the problem is, Dream House isn’t really a haunted house movie at all.

The film stars Daniel Craig as a man investigating a murder that he may have committed. The apparitions that Craig’s character sees aren’t ghosts but rather projections of his damaged psyche. The marketing campaign trades the twist about Craig’s character having been in a mental hospital and not being the man he thought he was, so that it can sell Dream House as a ghost movie. This leaves Dream House to limp through 45 minutes of runtime to a reveal that has already been revealed in commercials and trailers.

Daniel Craig is Will Atenton, a successful book editor who is quitting his job to become an author. Will is headed home to his beautiful wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and their two adorable daughters who are now living in their new home in the Connecticut suburbs. Unfortunately, the realtor has failed to mention that a man named Peter Ward may have murdered his family in this house or that tourists and teenagers like to drop by and look in the windows.

This takes us to about 45 minutes into Dream House. The marketing campaign has spoiled the fact that Daniel Craig’s Will is really Peter Ward and that he may have killed his family. The movie however, treats this as a shocking twist, giving this plot turn a Hitchcockian reveal.

Why spoil the twist? Why ruin what the director clearly believed was important enough to frame as a shocking surprise? The choice to spoil Craig’s identity in the marketing campaign may explain why the cast of Dream House refused to promote the film. Then again, it could also have to do with how everything after the big twist is a clumsy mess.

The resolution of Dream House finds Will/Peter investigating the murder of his family even as he can see his wife and kids as if they were still alive. Will/Peter’s neighbor Ann (Naomi Watts) is among those with important details about the murders as is Ann’s angry ex-husband Jack (Martin Csokas) and a drifter named Boyce (Elias Koteas).

The ending of Dream House is stunningly inept given all of the talent on display. Daniel Craig is compellingly sad yet determined as Peter while Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz do variations on attractive vulnerability. Director Jim Sheridan builds a few strong individual scenes but the ending is too convoluted to be believed or enjoyed.

Could Dream House have been a better movie had the twist not been spoiled by the marketing campaign? Probably not given the bad ending but then again, we’ll will never know. As it is though, Dream House dragged on for 45 minutes to a reveal that I was already aware of before ending in the inept fashion of your average B-movie.

Movie Review: Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens (2011) 

Directed by Jon Favreau

Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby

Starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Paul Dano

Release Date July 29th, 2011

Published July 28th, 2011

Why isn't Cowboys and Aliens the biggest event in popular culture ever? With the elements that the film has in place there is simply no excuse for this film to not be the biggest moment in pop culture, at least in this short century. Consider that we are talking about the combination of two of the most popular genres ever, western and science fiction. And that the film stars both James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), not to mention Han Solo and Jack Ryan.

How about the fact that Cowboys and Aliens was produced by a Hollywood dream team that includes Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Steven Speilberg. To top it all off, this geek god of a movie was directed by the director of Iron Man 1 & 2--himself a cult figure for his role in Swingers--Jon Favreau. I ask again: Why isn't Cowboys and Aliens the biggest pop culture event ever?

Somewhere in the old west a man who doesn't yet know that his name is Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) awakens in the desert. His memory is gone, he's wounded and he has some sort of device strapped to his wrist. Eventually, Jake makes his way to the town of Absolution where everyone is under the boot of Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford).

Unknown to Jake, he and Dolarhyde have a history; Jake robbed a stagecoach full of Dolarhyde's gold before his memory loss and subsequent desert awakening. Before Dolarhyde and Jake can have it out however, an alien spaceship attacks and begins kidnapping townsfolk. Suddenly, Jake's new jewelry comes to life and he's able to destroy one of the alien ships.

Now, Jake and Dolarhyde must team up with a posse that includes a little kid, a dog and a woman, Ella (Olivia Wilde) along with a preacher (Clancy Brown), a saloon owner (Sam Rockwell) and several random posse members who act as cannon fodder for subsequent alien attacks. Together this disparate band must traverse the desert, find the alien HQ and get their people back.

Cowboys and Aliens was adapted from a graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg though how much of his original story remains is anyone's guess. At least six different writers have credits on the screenplay of Cowboys and Aliens including Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, the Star Trek reboot team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, The Simpsons staff writer Bill Oedenkirk and the Iron Man team of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby.

Wrestling these different visions into one mostly cohesive whole is director Jon Favreau who does pull off the Herculean task of making Cowboys and Aliens a believable combination of old school western and high end sci-fi while wrangling this wild horse of script into one well told story. Unfortunately, what is lost in the mix is a sense of humor as well of a sense of the film's place in popular culture.

For some reason, Jon Favreau wants us to take Cowboys and Aliens seriously. Both stars, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, deliver taciturn, old west tough guy performances that feel authentic but lack the awe, wonderment and humor that this goofy sci-fi story calls for. The film needed a Will Smith injection; a character who we can believe will hold up in a fight and yet has the aplomb to be impressed by the situation he finds himself in.

Cowboys and Aliens also suffers from a lack of cultural awareness; director Favreau wants to pretend that he is making an old school western that happens to have aliens. Favreau also wants to pretend that his stars are not weighted by pop culture history; why else has the film's marketing failed to mention that one of the stars is James Bond and the other is Indiana Jones?

You simply cannot cast Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford and not find some way to pay homage to their place in the culture. This head in the sand approach blunts the impact of everything they do in the film. We in the audience crave the release of having someone reference how huge all of this is and no one does. This is where the lack of a sense of humor comes into play; a sense of humor would find some way to make a joke about spies or the territory of Indiana, or an offhand reference to something about a Star War.

That however, would not have played into Jon Favreau's misguided choice to play the material of Cowboys and Aliens as a straight western that happens to have aliens attacking. On its own merits Cowboys and Aliens is well crafted, a little fat in the run time at over two hours, but solidly built aside from its lack of humor. Matthew Libatique's cinematography is terrific, the special effects are eye catching and believable, the film simply lacks the proper amount of awe.

In the end, if Jon Favreau did not want the weight of pop culture on his old school, John Ford Western that happens to have Aliens, he shouldn't have cast James Bond and Indiana Jones. Favreau set the pop culture table and then refused to serve it and that leaves Cowboys and Aliens a well made but slightly bland feast.

Movie Review The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin (2011) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright

Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis, Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg

Release Date December 21st, 2011 

Published December 20th, 2011

The Adventures of Tintin is a remarkable technical achievement. Every moment of The Adventures of Tintin looks like a beautiful comic book come to life. There is no doubting the technical mastery involved in bringing 'Tintin' to the big screen; it does after all have the names Steven Speilberg and Peter Jackson over the title.

So, why am I not completely sold on 'Tintin?'

Who's Tintin?

Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a boyish newspaper reporter with a great nose for a story. Tintin stumbles on what may be the biggest scoop of his career when he buys a model ship at a flea market. The ship is highly coveted and Tintin is warned by one strange man while another man, Ivan Ivanovich (Daniel Craig) offers him a suspicious amount of money for the ship.

Having been intrigued by the warning and the bidding war over the ship, Tintin gets into investigation mode. When he returns home he finds his flat ransacked and the ship missing. After another encounter with Mr. Ivanovich, Tintin stumbles over another important clue; one that Ivanovich will kill to get his hands on.

A Voyage to India

Tintin's clue leads to his kidnapping and a trip to India via ship during which Tintin makes a daring escape with the ship's former Captain, Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis). Haddock's connection to the model ships, there are more than one, is the key to a remarkable adventure that, of course, includes a fabulous treasure.

The Adventures of Tintin is a remarkable technical achievement that delivers fun with terrific visuals and some dazzling adventure scenes. Especially fun is a chase scene set in India involving a crumbling dam, a rocket launcher and an incredibly shrinking motorcycle and sidecar.

Motion Capture Animation

I am very resistant to motion capture animation; I have yet to see it rendered in truly spectacular fashion. Tintin is, in fact, the closest any filmmaker has come to making the form palatable, at least to me. The attempt to make animation look more and more realistic is a fool's errand. Speilberg and Jackson's 'Tintin' teeters on the brink of the 'uncanny valley' , the sweet spot between animated cute and animated creepy.

The adventure of "The Adventure of Tintin" helped me in getting over a little of my resistance to motion capture animation but not completely. 'Tintin' doesn't have that joyous, Pixar quality that inspires me to write love poems about the beauty of modern animation.

Nor does 'Tintin' have the ability to make me care for and worry for the characters; not in the way I might have for a live action character. Take Indiana Jones for instance; you know Indy is in no danger of death but you worry for him nevertheless. There is less worry for Tintin; the animation gives us distance from the characters that live action 'Indy' is able to bridge.

'Worth Seeing if'

That said, I still recommend "The Adventures of Tintin." Kids and parents alike will love the film's bright colors and colorful characters. Tintin as a character is a terrific role model and Captain Haddock's story of redemption from drunk to hero is a terrifically well played arc.

"The Adventures of Tintin" doesn't reach the heights of great animated movies and falls well short of the best live action movies. Instead, "The Adventures of Tintin" rates a 'worth seeing if' rating. It's worth seeing if you have already seen "We Bought a Zoo," "The Muppets," or "Hugo."

Movie Review The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass (2007) 

Directed by Chris Weitz 

Written by Chris Weitz 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Ian McKellen, Dakota Blue Richards 

Release Date December 7th, 2007 

Published December 6th, 2007

It is the most perfect irony that church organizations are planning to boycott a movie about a Vatican-esque organization that tries to silence those who think differently from them. Church folk are livid over the new movie The Golden Compass from director Chris Weitz. The film is based on the first novel in the "His Dark Materials" series from author Philip Pullman.

Pullman has been accused and has done little to deny that his book series is anti-church with a specifically atheistic bent.  The movie however, is far from strident. The Golden Compass as a movie is not a religious or anti-religious tract. Rather, as a movie this is a family friendly adventure epic with terrific special effects, a compelling story and a star-making lead performance from young actress Dakota Blue Richards.

Lyra Belaqua (Richards) seems like a normal kid, running and playing with the other children like a classic tomboy. Spunky, smart with a rebellious streak, she lives a privileged but not spoiled existence at Jordan College where her uncle Asriel (Daniel Craig) is a welcome but controversial presence. His investigations of parallel universes and a magical dust that connects these universes together have many in power quite nervous.

An organization called the Magisterium feels that what Asriel does in his research is heresy. They go as far as trying to kill him. It is Lyra who saves his life and soon he is off for the north for further investigation. Meanwhile, Lyra is visited by Mrs. Coulter. Not often impressed with the adults around her, Lyra is surprisingly taken with Mrs. Coulter and is taken on as her guest with promises of a trip to the north to see her uncle.

Before she leaves, Lyra is given a gift, a golden compass that allows her to see into the future. Only she can interpret its symbols and make it work and she must keep it from Mrs. Coulter at all costs, Mrs. Coulter is a member of the magisterium. When Mrs. Coulter demands to see the compass Lyra runs away and thus begins an adventure north with the aid of an ancient seafaring race, a flying ace called an aeronaut (Sam Elliott) and a warrior race of polar bears.

The Golden Compass was adapted and directed by Chris Weitz, an ambitious young director with one masterpiece (About A Boy) and one disaster (American Dreamz) under his belt in his short career. A family action adventure fantasy would not seem like material right up his alley but Chris Weitz really pulls it off. This is a terrifically eye catching adventure that combines visual splendor with terrific storytelling to create a rousing adventure.

Though Weitz has never worked with major effects before in his career you wouldn't know it from The Golden Compass. From the awesome polar bears in full combat gear and olde english accents to the icy landscapes of the north country, The Golden Compass is as visually accomplished and daring as anything in The Chronicles of Narnia or even The Lord of the Rings and with a more human voice than either of those impressive epics.

The reality of The Golden Compass controversy is this, if someone walks into this movie searching for an agenda they will likely find it. That can be said about any number of movies but applies particularly here. Those who want the film to have an anti--church agenda will find one, they will have to employ some intellectual dishonesty to get there but they will get there.

The Golden Compass as a stand alone movie however, is no tract but rather an exciting, innovative family action adventure that takes the best of the Narnia and Rings franchises and humanizes them with deeper storytelling and equal visual splendor.

Young Dakota Blue Richards is entirely unaffected by any dark agendas. Her performance is pure joy and excitement. This pre-teen British actress is a stunner in a lead role that would overwhelm most actresses her age. Her spunk and pluck are so convincing and so winning you may forget just how young she is, then her vulnerability is displayed and you are won over all over again.

Even with the stunning special effects, with an icy beautiful Nicole Kidman, even with James Bond himself Daniel Craig on screen, Dakota Blue Richards is without doubt the most impressive performer in the whole of The Golden Compass.

I urge anyone who believes that The Golden Compass is some strident anti-religious tract to see the movie. Unless you really, really force it you will not find this agenda you are searching for. My bet is that half way into this well told, visually garish epic you will have forgotten your agenda and be absorbed by this wondrous story that Chris Weitz has so well brought to the screen.

Movie Review Munich

Munich (2005) 

Directed by Steven Speilberg 

Written by Tony Kushner, Eric Roth

Starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Geoffrey Rush, Hanns Zischler, Matthieu Kassovitz 

Release Date December 23rd, 2005 

Published December 22nd, 2005

Despite my liberal political tendencies, I have always held one particularly conservative point of view. That Israel is justified in its actions in protecting itself from Palestinian terrorists. The Palestinians have, in my opinion, never done a very good job in presenting their case that the land that is now Israel should belong to them. It's impossible for me to sympathize with Palestinians who target civilians with suicide bombers over Israelis who react to such attacks with a righteous military assault.

So when Steven Speilberg set out to make Munich, a film that presents a message about how violence only leads to more violence and that Israel is not as righteous as some, like myself, perceive, I was fascinated. Munich is now part of the public discourse and while it is a thoughtful and well-made film about the futility of violence and vengeance, it is easy to understand why some Israelis might find the film to be little more than liberal hand-wringing.

Munich stars Eric Bana as Avner, an agent of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad. Avner is a former bodyguard to Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) and through this connection Avner is offered an assignment like none he has ever been given before. In the wake of the Palestinian terror attack on Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, the Prime Minister has decreed that vengeance must be taken and Avner will lead the covert operation to gain that vengeance.

With a list of 11 names, each somehow linked either to planning Munich or belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization which assumedly backed the terrorists at Munich, Avner meets his team and sets about his grisly task. Along with Avner are fellow Mossad operatives Steve (Daniel Craig), the driver; Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), a toymaker turned bombmaker; Hans (Hanns Ziscler), a forgery expert; and Carl (Ciaran Hinds), an expert in covering up after the fact.

Once the team is assembled Munich unfolds like a spy novel complete with covert meetings, shady informants and precisely planned operations. What separates Munich from your average spy movie, however, is the often surprising lack of skill involved in the first few operations. These covert ops are messy and, at times, convoluted. On one occasion Avner himself is nearly killed by a bomb that was much too large for the task at hand. In arguably the film's most breathtaking moment a young girl returns home in time to intercept a phone call on a booby-trapped phone meant for her father.

Speilberg's skill for mass appeal entertainment serves him well in crafting the moments of spy intrigue and operational misfires. The script for Munich by playwright Tony Kushner provides the film's intellectual underpinnings though not as effectively as Speilberg's action scenes. Kushner's taste for speeches that state the obvious and underline the same point again and again grows tiresome by the fourth or fifth time you hear it.

The point that Munich wants to make is that the continuing retaliatory strikes between the Israelis and Palestinians are futile. No progress can be made by continuing to kill one another. As Avner experiences in the film, killing one terrorist means another possibly more committed and horrifying terrorist takes his place. The film questions, quite effectively, the moral grounding of Israel's wont for vengeance. How does one rectify vengeance with their religious beliefs? Not to be too cute about it but 'What would Moses do'?

Eric Bana delivers his first mature and focused performance since his star-making turn in Black Hawk Down. Bana's Avner is nothing like his special forces officer Hoot Gibson, a brash and confident killer who never questions his mission even as it goes horribly wrong. Avner is an efficient killer who is committed to following orders but he is not afraid to question his motivation and express remorse and even guilt for what he does. The two performances together show why so many in Hollywood believe in his leading man talents even after the dual disasters of The Hulk and Troy.

The film's two best performances come from two peripheral characters. Mathieu Amalric and Michael Lonsdale play French operatives who help Avner locate his targets for a price. Where they get the information from, who they work for, and why they do what they do are mysteries the film does not need to solve. Leaving those questions open brings tension to every scene they are in. They leave tantalizing details at every turn like intimations that the Palestinian terrorists at Munich may have been financed by the CIA! The Frenchmen may be the film's most fictional element but also its most intriguing.

Munich works well as a civics and morality play and as a thriller but I would not call it popcorn entertainment. While Steven Speilberg is trying to change the world many an audience member will yawn awaiting the next exciting action sequence. No matter your feelings on the conflict in the Middle East you will respect Speilberg's attempt to contribute to the important discourse, but so much speechifying can turn an audience waiting to be entertained into an audience ready to leave.

Especially when the speeches are repeated and at times extraneous. A scene in which Avner sneaks back to Israel to see his father in the hospital is merely an opportunity for another character, Avner's mother played by Gila Almagor, to underline why it's important for Israel to fight for its existence. It's a well-delivered point but a point made effectively earlier in the film by Lynn Cohen as Golda Meir.

Each of our protagonists, save for Daniel Craig's Steve, is given the opportunity to explain their feelings and qualms, often the same issues, in drawn out speeches that underline the film in ways that take you out of the movie. Ciaran Hinds and Hanns Zischler both deliver similar speeches on the moral repugnance of what they are doing and why they are doing it and while it may be good for the characters to express these points as it deepens them equally, both speeches are delivered as if reading the Cliff's Notes of why the movie Munich was made.

I'm not trying to tell Steven Speilberg to stop trying to moralize and just entertain us. I am saying that there are more subtle ways to underline his points and get them across as effectively. The speeches are not delivered by the actors in ways that are preaching or haranguing but they are written that way and that gets tiresome fast.

Munich is a thoughtful and well-crafted film with its heart on its sleeve. Steven Speilberg truly believes that art can change the world and I respect that. At the same time Speilberg is realistic enough to know that this conflict is too complicated for any one act to change its course. That is, in fact, the point of the film. Both sides should realize there will never be a point in the continuing violence when one side will never strike a winning blow.

On the flip side, Speilberg's Munich may have been more effective in making its points with one speech as opposed to continued speech after speech and finding other equally effective ways to make the same point without stopping the movie to get on a perpetual soapbox. I still recommend Munich on the strength of its well intentioned ambitions and its excellent craftsmanship but I think it could have been much more.

Movie Review: Casino Royale Starring Daniel Craig

Casino Royale (2006) 

Directed by Martin Campbell 

Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis 

Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, Dame Judi Dench 

Release Date November 17rh, 2006 

Published November 16th, 2006 

I've never been a big James Bond fan. I have always perceived OO7 to be my fathers kind of hero not mine, I'm more Han Solo than Bond. So I didn't get all that worked up over the controversy that surrounded the selection of a new James Bond and the unceremonious ouster of Pierce Brosnan. The most recent Bond flicks had begun to devolve into kitschy exercises in gadgetry and snark.

The new James Bond is a little more my style. Grittier, more violent, darker in tone than any of the other Bond pictures, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, is an action packed, quickly paced thriller with more in common with Jason Bourne than James Bond.

In this version of Ian Fleming's legendary spy series, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is a rising star in British Intelligence. Having just attained his double-oh status, James is a prickly thorn in the side of his superior M (Dame Judi Dench). On a mission in Africa, Bond killed a government witness in full view of witnesses and a security camera and, though the death was justifiable in context, the tabloids want someone to blame.

Rather than feeding the junior spy to the media, M sends Bond on holiday; knowing full well that he is not finished with his current mission. Tracking a terror target to the Bahamas, James reveals his talent for hold'em poker and his charm with the ladies by showing up a terror suspect at cards and then seducing the man's wife.

Eventually this trail leads Bond to a high stakes poker game in Montenegro where the world's leader in funding terror groups, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson) is holding court. Le Chiffre is a highly competitive and seemingly unbeatable player. It is up to Bond and his government accountant Vesper Lind (Eva Green) to stop Le Chiffre from winning the money he needs to continue supporting terrorists.

That is a semblance of the plot of Casino Royale. The plot, of course, is superfluous to a movie so much more interested in looking cool. Director Martin Campbell and star Daniel Craig are the perfect combination of style and cool. With his cold blue eyes and chiseled physique, Craig is the most intimidating Bond in the franchise history. Director Martin Campbell makes great use of Craig's assets, placing him in more hand to hand combat than ever before and eliminating the series' stale reliance on gadgetry.

Danish actor Madds Mikkelson is a Bond villain not unlike Charles Gray's Blofeld, at least early in the film. Mikkelson's Le Chiffre is a hands off villain whose talent is moving money for far more dangerous villains. He's unlikely to get physically involved with Bond, especially one on one. As demonstration of his vulnerability, Le Chiffre cries blood when he's frustrated.

There is however, a torture scene where Le Chiffre shows a more sadistic side than any Bond villain has likely ever shown. I won't detail what happens in this scene, let's just say it involves that most sensitive part of the male anatomy. The torture scene along with some of the violent hand to hand combat left me wondering just how the MPAA gave Casino Royale a PG-13 rating. The hand to hand battles are brutal and bloody and the torture scene is nearly unbearable, not anything you want to take the kids to see or allow your young children to see on their own.

There is much that I enjoyed about Casino Royale; but, the film is not without noticeable flaws. At two hours and 20 minutes, Casino Royale desperately overstays its welcome. The movie ends atleast twice before finally resolving with a major sequel tease. Just as the film seems to be over for the first time, new villains are introduced out of the clear blue sky and with little to no connection to the main plot. That's irritating enough but when the film continues on with a second false ending, I nearly walked out in disgust.

There are a good 20 minutes, at least, that could be cut to make Casino Royale a leaner, more focused and far better film than it is.

The most exciting thing about Casino Royale is the absolutely extraordinary chase scene that opens the film immediately after the credits. As Bond and a fellow agent scope out an African bomb maker, Bond's partner accidentally tips off the bad guy and Bond is forced to give chase. The chase is one of the most mind blowing action sequences ever filmed as stuntman/actor Sebastein Foucan demonstrates a style of free running called Parkour that shows off his abilities as a human special effect. Foucan's leaps, jumps, dives and twists and his incredible speed make Jackie Chan look like Jackie Gleason.

I wanted more of Sebastien Foucan and would love to see him get together with Tom Tykwer for a Run Lola Run sequel. Foucan really steals the show in Casino Royale.

As always one of the most eye-catching things about a James Bond picture is the Bond babe and Eva Green, the sexpot star of Bertolucci's The Dreamers, really fits the bill. Though little is required of Green in terms of plot, character or action, she is terrific eye candy and that is the very least you can ask of a Bond babe. Yes, I know the term Bond babe is passe in this day and age, but what about Bond is not anachronistic in the age of the techno thriller.

An excellent debut for new Bond Daniel Craig, Casino Royale is a rollicking, old school action flick that could have ranked amongst the best action pictures of the decade with a little more work in the editing room. At nearly150 minutes Casino Royale is a chore to sit through, especially the irritating triple ending.  Still, Casino Royale contains just enough action and sex appeal to make for some terrific popcorn entertainment.

The film received a PG-13 rating but I do not recommend the film for kids under 18 years of age. The film is darkly violent with a callousness and brutality that belies the teen friendly rating. Parents use your discretion.

Movie Review Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace (2008) 

Directed by Marc Forster 

Written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade

Starring Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, Dame Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright 

Release Date November 14th, 2008

Published November 13th, 2008 

Much of the juice of Quantum of Solace rides on whether you bought the whole James Bond-Vesper Lind romance from 2006's Casino Royale. I did not. Thus witnessing Quantum of Solace becomes something of a struggle for motivation. To enjoy it. is to suspend disbelief in an uncomfortable fashion. Believe that Bond could leap through fiery hallways without being burned? No problem. Believing Bond could be shot at more than Dick Cheney's hunting partners and live to tell? Sure, I can buy that.

But trying to believe that the cold hearted ladies man of 22 previous adventures could have his heart melted by a feisty government accountant. Sorry. Can't do it. Thus, Quantum of Solace gets off to a stumbling pace and builds to a non-climax climax on its merry way to promising yet another sequel instead of being the tightly wound, classy action pic it so desperately wishes it were.

Quantum of Solace picks up in the immediate aftermath of Casino Royale. Having captured Mr. White (Jesper Christianson) and begun torturing answers out of him about the shadowy organization he works for, Bond delivers him to M (Dame judi Dench) for further questioning, not before he is chased through the ancient streets of some nameless Italian mountainside.

Mr. White leads to a murder plot in Haiti involving a dangerous young woman named Camille (Olga Kurylenko), ostensibly the girlfriend of Mr. Green (Mathieu Amalric). She was to be the victim but Bond makes the rescue, something he will do several more times throughout the film. From there we are off to Bolivia where there may be oil or diamonds beneath a giant swath of desert and Mr. Green can get his hands on it by funding a military coup.

It's up to Bond to face down Mr. Green, Green's shadowy boss, and even the truly evil forces of corporate and state greed. All the while maintaining his Bond-ian cool which includes drinking, flirting and sexing when necessary. Along for different parts of the ride are Gemma Aterton as Agent Strawberry Fields and Giancarlo Giannini reprising his rather confusing role from Casino Royale.

Directed by Oscar nominee Marc Forster from a script by Oscar winner Paul Haggis, Quantum of Solace should be a great movie but settles for being a good movie. The action is cut to MTV style quick cuts that whip audiences through action scenes so we won't notice any sloppiness. We don't but often we are so dizzy we don't care.

The script makes more sense than much of Casino Royale, but beginning as it does on the false note of Bond's tragic 'love story', it is hamstrung from the start. The script lacks depth beyond its obvious action propellants, leaving only the character of James Bond to keep us from getting up and walking out. Thank heaven Daniel Craig rises to the challenge.

Craig is the baddest of all Bond's and because of him we are compelled past the film's worst flaws. He may not have any interest in sipping martinis or repeating his name and he is entirely without gadgets, but when he invites Gemma Aterton's Strawberry Fields to help him locate something in his bedroom you can't help but smile, knowing the next scene will find Ms. Fields sans clothes. Bond's way with women is one of the few elements of classic Bond to survive the reboot.

The other piece of classic Bond comes in the spectacular credit sequence. The animated opening featuring the nude bodies of gorgeous babes rising from desert sands has the bold, psychedelic look that has defined the Bond credit sequences of the past.

Did I like Quantum of Solace? Kind of. I liked Daniel Craig. I liked individual scenes and I liked the Bond babes, if only for serving their purpose as classic eye candy. But Quantum of Solace comes up short of being a movie I am wild about. It lacks a unifying plot. It lacks one truly breathtaking scene that might make this good movie into a great one, even beyond the plot trouble.

Movie Review Knives Out

Knives Out (2019) 

Directed by Rian Johnson

Written by Rian Johnson 

Starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana De Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, LaKeith Stanfield, Toni Collette

Release Date November 27th, 2019

Published November 26th, 2019 

In a season when movies are doing their best to reach your emotions and move you in order to earn awards consideration, it is bold to release a movie that has little or no meaning. Knives Out is simply entertainment. There is no deeper meaning, no revelation about the core of humanity and no deeper message about existence. Knives Out is simply an entertaining, at times highly convoluted, mystery for entertainment purposes only. 

Knives Out tells the story of an elderly mystery writer named Harlan Thromby (Christopher Plummer). It has rather recently dawned on Harlan that his family is a miserable and selfish clan who’ve been thriving off of his success while never making anything of their own. At 85 and seeing his life coming to a close, Harlan decides that he’s going to cut off his family and everyone else except for his nurse, Marta (Ana De Armas), a genuinely kind woman who’s become his one true friend. 

On the morning following Harlan’s birthday, his maid finds Harlan dead in his study. Harlan has cut his own throat and bled to death. Though not the type many would peg for a suicide, it appears to be an open and shut case until a private investigator arrives. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) has been hired by someone in the family to find out whether or not Harlan did kill himself and whether or not an expert level murder and cover up has taken place. 

The suspects in Harlan’s death include his daughter, Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis), her cheating husband, Richard (Don Johnson), Linda and Richard’s spoiled son, Ransom (Chris Evans), Harlan’s son Walt (Michael Shannon) and Harlan’s daughter in-law from a son who passed away, Joni (Toni Collette). Investigating the case for the cops is Detective Lt Elliott (Lakeith Stansfield) and Trooper Wagner (Noah Segan). 

Each of the family members attended Harlan’s 85th birthday and each informs the police and detective Blanc about their interactions with Harlan and what their motive might be to kill him. Holding the key to everything is Marta who is so innately good-hearted that she physically cannot tell a lie. You will have to see the movie to understand what that means but it is a wonderfully clever device in a movie filled with clever devices. 

Knives Out was written and directed by Rian Johnson who became famous for directing Star Wars: The Last Jedi but has always been a mystery director at heart. Johnson’s debut feature, Brick, was a noir mystery that transposed a Phillip Marlowe-esque story into the hallways of a suburban high school and did so with ingenious technique. With Knives Out, Johnson is aping the style of Agatha Christie to equally strong effect. 

Johnson’s hallmark is playfulness, a genuine delight with the mechanics of mystery. You can sense in the way he structures and paces his mysteries that he deeply enjoys leading audiences one way while taking his story the other way and bringing us around only when he’s ready. All the while, his wonderful characters keep us on edge with their colorful recriminations, shifting motivations and alliances. 

Knives Out also finds time to be genuinely funny with Daniel Craig delighting in not being under the yoke of his James Bond performance. Taking on a theatrical southern affectation, Craig’s foghorn leghorn act is wildly entertaining in ways Craig has rarely shown in his career. I grew tired of his stoic yet emo Bond after his first adventure and I’ve mostly tolerated him since then. Here however, Craig is effortlessly charming. 

Ana De Armas is also a stand out as a young woman desperately in over her head. There isn’t much I can tell you about her arc in the movie, everything she does could be considered a minor spoiler. What I can tell you is that De Armas is brilliant in her wide-eyed, increasingly frenzied manner. Marta drives the plot more than any other character in Knives Out and it takes a strong actress to hold that center against a wide array of bigger name, more colorful performers. 

Knives Out may be empty calories as a movie but who doesn’t love a few tasty empty calories. When something is this delicious it’s okay to indulge a little. It’s not a four course meal of Oscar worthy direction or performance but it is a wonderfully, singularly entertaining mystery populated by colorful characters and helmed by a director of impeccable taste and talent. If there is room on your Thanksgiving table for leafy greens, there is also room for pie. Consider Knives Out a delicious custard at the movie theater table. 

Movie Review The Invasion

The Invasion (2007) 

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel 

Written by David Kajganich 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jeffrey Wright

Release Date August 17th, 2007

Published August 16th, 2007 

The latest incarnation of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, that legendary cold war parable based on the novel by Jack Finney, is one those mythically troubled Hollywood productions. Not quite the historic Hollywood disaster of Bonfire of the Vanities or Ishtar, but with more than a little in common with the recent disastrous Exorcist prequel(s), The Invasion was once directed by an up and coming director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, before being almost entirely reshot by V For Vendetta helmer James McTiegue, with guidance from his producing partners Lana and Lilly Wachowski, The Invasion is a bizarre hybrid of failed ideas and pieces that just don't fit. 

Now, this compromised, reshot version of Hirschbiegel's take on the Body Snatchers legend is finally on the big screen and the result is, as predicted, an utter disaster. The Invasion is a nonsense movie comprised of half baked political ideas and lame, over the top action set pieces. The last time Nicole Kidman starred in a big budget remake the result was the dreary, nonsensical recreation of The Stepford Wives. Working on that highly troubled production should have taught the Oscar winner a lesson yet here she is in The Invasion starring as psychiatrist Carol Bennell. This mother of one son, Oliver (Jackson Bond), is a dedicated mother and doctor

Dad, Tucker (Jeremy Northam) is a scientist for the Centers for Disease Control and when the space shuttle Patriot crashes leaving debris spread across several states he is surprised to be called to the scene. It seems the ship is coated in some sort of alien ooze. When Tucker is accidentally cut by a piece of debris he is soon changed and an alien virus is set loose on the planet. Beginning as what many feel is a flu epidemic, Tucker uses his position at the CDC and his access to the President of the United States, to spread the alien virus and his first target is his son.

It will soon be up to mom and her scientist boyfriend Ben (Daniel Craig) and another scientist, Dr. Galleon (Jeffrey Wright) to discover the virus, uncover the conspiracy and stay uninfected long enough to discover a cure. There are germs of many ideas in The Invasion and a good deal of high minded ambition as well. Unfortunately, not even two talented directors, Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) or pinch hitter James McTiegue (V For Vendetta), and a script overhaul by the Matrix team can seem to wrangle these ideas or ambitions into a cohesive story.

It's clear that the makers of The Invasion desperately wanted the film to be relevant, even political. However, lacking any idea of what metaphor it wants to represent or political philosophy it supports, The Invasion flails in many different directions with no real target to aim at. Allusions are made to the genocide in Darfur, the roiling conflict between Israel and Palestine, and to the war in Iraq but the film doesn't really have a discernible opinion about any of these issues. Rather, each is used as an unsettling plot point in a truly confusing final act that will have some wondering if the aliens are really the bad guys. Yes, the film is so bad, you may just root for the destruction of humanity.

Even through the morass of a thoroughly confused plot, the talented cast of The Invasion manages to make the movie rather gripping. Nicole Kidman is an actress of tremendous strength and fortitude and she sells the tension of the alien invasion extraordinarily well. Though she is a little too convincing as an icy, emotionless, zombie, Ms. Kidman's tenacity and the well calibrated action of The Invasion do manage, from time to time, to move you to the edge of your seat.

Is this really the film that Daniel Craig meant to follow up James Bond with? Not really, actually he was given the role of 007 during shooting of The Invasion. It was only after he completed work on Casino Royale that Craig was called back to reshoot scenes for The Invasion that would hold the film until after Casino Royale. A bummer for Craig who I'm sure wishes he could have had a stronger follow up for Bond than playing second fiddle in a tragic sci fi misfire like The Invasion.

On a more disturbing note, whose awful idea was it to bring the alien virus to earth on a crashing NASA space shuttle? A crash that is not merely reminiscent of the 2003 crash of the space shuttle Columbia but so obviously modeled on the details of that tragedy that a lawsuit would not be out of the question. The crash in The Invasion is spread predominantly over Texas with debris that spread over several southern states. This was the near exact fate of Columbia.

Shame on the producers of The Invasion and the studio for including something of such poor taste and utter disregard for the brave men and women of Columbia and their families. They deserve far better than to have their tragedy be a plot device in some B-movie sci fi schlock-fest. Will we ever see director Oliver Hirschbiegel's original cut of The Invasion? Maybe, maybe not. No one expected to see Paul Schrader's Exorcist prequel or Ridley Scott's Blade Runner but both are now widely available. Hirschbiegel's version no doubt still exists somewhere and will likely be sought after by many a curious sci fi fan due to how uproariously terrible the reshoots clearly are.

Let us keep in mind however, that there is nothing in what is left of The Invasion that holds much promise for a better version to exist in the shadows. The whole misguided enterprise looks more simply like a case of a movie in search of an idea that never really found one. Covering the holes and the cracks with skillful car chases and  well staged gunplay, the Wachowski's and director James McTiegue likely did all that they could with the materials on hand.

Don't hold out too much hope sci fi fans. Let's try and put this Invasion behind us.