Movie Review A Little White Lie

A Little White Lie (2023) 

Directed by Michael Maren 

Written by Michael Maren 

Starring Kate Hudson, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson 

Release Date March 3rd, 2023 

Published March 1st, 2023 

Michael Shannon has made his name as an actor by being wildly unique and unpredictable. Those qualities are on incredible display in the new comedy, A Little White Lie. Here, Michael Shannon stars as a man named Shriver, a janitor living a life of desperation and boredom in New York City. Schriver's life is upended when he receives a letter from a college professor, Professor Simone Cleary (Kate Hudson), inviting him to speak at a prestigious but struggling literary conference in Utah. 

This is a little odd as Schriver doesn't remember having written a famous bestseller before pulling a J.D Salinger and disappearing from the literary world. Nevertheless, with prodding from his best friend Lenny (Mark Boone Junior), Schriver accepts the invitation and plans to pretend that he is this mysterious missing author. It's helpful to his scheme that no one has ever seen the famous Schriver, aside from a dark and broody photograph on the back cover of his novel. 

Arriving for the conference we meet the rest of the cast of this unusual comedy. Joining Kate Hudson is Don Johnson as a degenerate fellow professor with a deep admiration for Schriver and his writing. Aja Naomi King, known for role on TV's How to Get Away With Murder, plays a fellow author named Blythe Brown who is suspicious of Shriver from the moment she meets him. And rounding out the main cast are Da'Vine Joy Randolph as a Schriver super-fan and Romy Byrne as Teresa, Professor Cleary's assistant who appears to be in charge of exposition in several scenes. 

There are elements of A Little White Lie that don't work like a highly reductive cameo by beloved character actress Wendie Malick. Malick plays a patron of the college literary department who has a legendary habit of sleeping with famous authors. That's the joke, she sleeps with authors. She's an older woman who likes to have sex and for reasons unexplained, t

his is supposed to be funny. Neither Michael Shannon as the object of her desire or Malick herself are given any time to flesh out what might be funny about this beyond the idea of it. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Tin Cup

Tin Cup (1996) 

Directed by Ron Shelton 

Written by John Norville 

Starring Kevin Costner, Rene Russo, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson 

Release Date August 16th, 1996

Published August 15th, 2016

The game of golf is mysterious; it honors neither will nor skill. The game affords license to the talented but even talent will on occasion be humbled by the gods of the game, Mother Nature and Lady Luck. A squirrel runs across a perfectly good lie leaving a small dent and fates are changed forever. That is golf that is life.

Such a perfect thing as well struck golf shot 

For Roy McAvoy it’s not the gods or the squirrels, though he is a little nuts, rather it’s all in his head. Roy has the talent; he has in the past had favor of the gods but he simply cannot get out of his own way. Once when attempting to qualify for the PGA Tour he went for a seemingly impossible shot, missed, tried again and eventually cost himself a tour card. 

That was decades ago. Today, Roy or ‘Tin Cup’ to his friends, is a small time golf instructor at a beyond run down East Texas driving range marked by a sign announcing ‘Last chance to hit golf balls for 540 miles.’ That anyone has ever stopped at this establishment where Roy and his menagerie of friends bide their time betting on which bug will die first in the bug zapper, seems unlikely.

Waggle it 

Then, in walks a very beautiful woman. Her name is Dr. Molly Griswold and she is the new shrink in town and for some reason she wants golf lessons. Rene Russo plays Molly and her discomfort with comedy is evident in her stilted delivery and inability to punch a punch line, something about a saddle.

Despite the struggle, she and we, through her, meet the real Tin Cup, Kevin Costner’s unendingly charming, slightly drunken rogue. Irresistible to women and admired by men who can’t quite figure out why they admire him; this is the Kevin Costner of “Bull Durham,” of “Field of Dreams” and in moments from later films like “For Love of the Game” and “The Upside of Anger.”

Like a tuning fork in your heart  

That ridiculous grin, that floppy, fading hairline and the fact that he’s rarely seen the inside of a gym are just some of the reasons that Kevin Costner became an icon, an actor who will be forever marked in the memory of film fans. Before he gave up everything in favor of an inflated ego and the notion of being a respected ‘artist,’ Kevin Costner was an everyman who loved having a good time and inviting audiences to join him.

No director understood that side of Kevin Costner quite as well as “Tin Cup” director Ron Shelton. It was Shelton’s “Bull Durham” that delivered Costner to stardom in “Bull Durham” and in “Tin Cup” nearly rescued Costner from the excesses of his artistic tripe. Sadly, only flashes of that Costner remain while Shelton himself struggled to find other stars that could enliven his work in the way Costner had.

“Tin Cup” is a movie about a golfer but it’s also a time capsule of a movie moment, one when an actor and a director came together in an absolute understanding of how to entertain an audience. The cohesiveness of Shelton and Costner’s effort is evident in each wonderful scene of “Tin Cup” as Costner strides through Shelton’s scene setting in perfect pitch, striking each line and hitting each lopsided punch line not unlike a well struck tee shot.

The Shanks

Drawing out the metaphor to its farthest reaches, Kevin Costner is “Tin Cup.” Hindsight forces the film critic in me to see that as Roy chooses to pass on the chance to win the US Open in favor of trying to land one difficult shot that repeatedly eluded him that Costner’s “Waterworld” was one of those shots that landed short of the green. So were “The Postman” and “Message” in a Bottle attempts at greatness that courted failure and failed.

Thankfully, there is “Tin Cup” which, unknown to Costner in 1996 as he was making it, was that one perfectly struck shot that you feel in your loins that lands on the green, earning the roar of the crowd. As Roy says “You define the moment or the moment defines you.” For a moment, Kevin Costner was defined by Tin Cup and it was glorious. Today, he is defined in so many other ways, far less glorious. Such is the heroic quest for that one perfect shot.

Greatness courts failure Romeo

When people talk about golf and movies they think of “Caddyshack.” Nothing could ever take away from the comic genius of Caddyshack but, as golf movies go, for me and a growing cult, “Tin Cup” is the ultimate golf movie. Roy ‘Tin Cup’ McAvoy is both a guy all of us know and a representation of something in ourselves; that always striving, often failing part that takes comfort in the little things like a drink, good friends and a good woman. 

It’s golf season again and “Tin Cup” is out there on each and every course seeking the greatness in a single shot when par would have been good enough. Such is life.

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.