Movie Review Deadfall

Deadfall (2012) 

Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky 

Written by Zach Dean 

Starring Eric Bana, Charlie Hunnam, Sissy Spacek, Kris Kristofferson, Kate Mara, Olivia Wilde 

Release Date December 7th, 2012 

Published December 14th, 2012

Some movies just don't get the support they deserve. The thriller "Deadfall" is a good example. This smart, effective thriller starring Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde and Charlie Hunnam was forced to forgo much of a theatrical release in favor of an On-Demand cable release and has been judged by many as a failure because it's not playing on over a thousand screens nationwide.

That most movies that go this release route aren't very good serves to taint "Deadfall" and that's truly a shame. The fact is, "Deadfall" is better than dozens of so-called thrillers that made it to thousands of screens only to disappoint mass audiences in the same way "Deadfall" is thrilling and surprising the lucky few who've given it a chance.

Knocked Off Balance

"Deadfall" knocks viewers off balance from the opening moment. Three thieves, including Bana and Wilde as brother and sister, Addison and Liza, are headed for the Canadian border when their getaway car strikes a deer and the careens off of a snowy, Michigan back road. The getaway driver is killed and moments later, a bloodied Addison murders a responding State Trooper.

This jarring opening sets an unusual but nonetheless compelling tone for "Deadfall." As Addison and Liza divide their money and part ways with plans to reconnect in Canada another part of this story begins. Jay (Charlie Hunnam) has just been released from prison. We aren't made aware of his crime but it involves his past as boxer and a fraud in the ring. Jay quickly finds trouble again at his former gym and is soon on the run.

A Thriller, A Love Story, A Psychological Examination

These two stories converge when Jay happens upon a near catatonic Liza in the middle of the frozen highway. After rescuing her the two find sanctuary at a hotel bar. A few drinks and minor confessions later they are forgetting their troubles by shedding their clothes in the hotel. For Liza, this is part of a plan to get Jay to take her to his parents home, near the Michigan-Canadian border, a place he mentioned in passing.

After Liza calls Addison and tells him where they should meet up, her plans begin to change. Forced to spend another day at the hotel because of the winter conditions, Liza finds her connection to Jay getting deeper. The damage these two share leads to passion and what could very well be love, even as the two have only just met. It's a testament to the chemistry of Wilde and Hunnam that we barely question this connection.

Near Perfect Logic

The story of "Deadfall" unfolds to include Jay's perfectly cast parents, Sissy Spacek and Kris Kristofferson, and a young rural cop played by Kate Mara who's dealing with familial issues of her own in the form of her over-bearing cop father played by Treat Williams. That all of these characters will arrive at the same place at the same time at the end of the film is a given. How all arrive there and what happens is what makes "Deadfall" such an effective thriller.

There is a near perfect logic to the way the ending of "Deadfall" plays out. Writer Dean and director Ruzowitzky combine the psychological examination of Addison with the brief love story of Jay and Liza, the parental angst of Mara and Williams and Jay's struggles with his parents and his life into a simple, straightforward thriller plot that somehow never feels crowed over-complicated. There should not be a way for "Deadfall" to work so efficiently with so much weight heaped upon each character but it does.

Don't Judge a Movie By Its Release Strategy

So why, if "Deadfall" is as good as I am telling you it is, have you not heard about this film? Some of it has to do with Bana, a movie star who just hasn't become a Movie Star. When Bana was cast in "Deadfall" there was hope that his star-power along with a terrific supporting cast could propel the film. Unfortunately, Bana has simply never caught on with audiences and it was more efficient, from a business standpoint, to forgo theatrical release in favor of a direct to cable route.

While playing in several small theaters "Deadfall" was made available on Video on Demand services and on Amazon.com's streaming service. Do yourself a favor and don't judge the film for its lack of a wide theatrical release. "Deadfall" is more than worth a look On Demand or download.

Movie Review Shooter

Shooter (2007) 

Directed by Antoine Fuqua 

Written by Jonathan Lemkin 

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Michael Pena, Danny Glover, Kate Mara, Rhona Mitra

Release Date March 23rd, 2007 

Published March 23rd, 2007 

Mark Wahlberg is on the verge of major superstardom. Coming off his Oscar nominated performance in The Departed, Wahlberg is one major starring role away from that rarefied air of a 20 million dollar man. Unfortunately, his latest starring role, Shooter, is not the career transforming movie he was looking for. An abysmal mess of action movie cliches, Shooter is a step backward, in fact, for Wahlberg who delivers one of the least appealing performances of his career.

Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is one of the best snipers in the world. As demonstrated early in the movie, he can take out a can of beef stew from a mile away. That is why security contractors led by Colonel Johnson (Danny Glover) turn to him to find out how an assassin might kill the President with a near impossible shot from more than a mile away.

Though not exactly keen on helping a President he has deep philosophical differences with, Bob casually reads the 9/11 report and talks of disdain for wars over oil; just to give you an idea of his political bent, Swagger agrees to help out. It turns out to be a fateful decision. The asassination happens despite Bob's help and in fact because of it, the men he is working for are the actual assassins and Bob it seems is their patsy.

Now he must team up with a rookie FBI agent, babyfaced Michael Pena, to take down the shady conspiracy. To do so, they will have to kill a whole heck of alot of people.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, a master of style over substance filmmaking, Shooter has no real plot but rather plot hangers on which scenes of extreme violence are hung. On the bright side, much of that extreme violence is pretty cool looking. A siege on a farmhouse where Wahlberg and Pena kill some 20 or more nameless henchmen brings back fond goofball memories of Schwarzeneger's Commando and Stallone's Rambo.

Naturally, this being a throwback to action movies past there is eye candy in Shooter. Hot redhead Kate Mara, last seen in the underappreciated We Are Marshall, plays Wahlberg's love interest who by chance happens to spend much time in bondage wearing only a bra and jeans. And then there is smokin' babe Rhona Mitra, best known from TV's Nip/Tuck, who plays Pena's FBI partner who, though she keeps her clothes, models some lovely short skirts that I doubt are standard issue for an FBI agent.

Allegedly, when it comes to the action/thriller genre, we are supposed to accept plot holes and dumb luck that allow the lead character to escape certain capture or death. Shooter abuses the dumb luck in scenes so appallingly contrived that Jean Claude Van Damme would scoff. What luck that Swagger manages to steal a car that happens to have medical supplies in the truck right after he had been shot twice.

What luck that the one guy in the world without a television happens to be an expert in weapons who can help Swagger figure out who set him up. To ask for suspension of disbelief once or twice is cool, to keep asking over and over until all logic is abandoned in favor of utter contrivance is just too much.

Shooter compounds its goofball plot with a political perspective as ludicrous as any of the outsized action scenes in the film. Wahlberg's Bob Lee Swagger presents a pseudo-liberal political perspective that he defends with a gun. In a more self aware movie that could be played for ironic laughs, but Shooter is not a satire. The film wears a simplistic anti-war, anti-conservative perspective on its sleeve right down to showing Swagger casually reading the 9/11 report and chiding his enemies for their wars for oil.

Kudos to Mark Wahlberg and director Antoine Fuqua for wanting their film to be relevant but if they really want to get their point across; they need to do it in a smarter, more self aware movie. Shooter is a blood and guts, old school action picture. Attempting to shoehorn political commentary into the film only serves to make the politics seem as irrelevant as the film itself.

The most disappointing thing about Shooter is the thing that should have been its biggest strength. Star Mark Wahlberg. In one of the most unappealing performances of his career, Wahlberg mumbles his way through a charisma free performance. Handicapped by a script that gives him little more to do than shoot and grunt, Wahlberg brings very little life to this performance.

Mark Wahlberg is far too good an actor for such dopey material as Shooter. Brainless action crossed with mindless political cliche, Shooter feigns depth by appealing to a left wing mindset but insults that same left wing with its goofball liberalism defended with a big gun. It's true that Shooter has its heart in the right place; but when its purpose is so poorly expressed, the point is desperately missed.

Wahlberg will bounce back from this. Shooter may not launch him into the star territory of Tom Cruise, Will Smith or even Mel Gibson, but he's too talented not to make it there eventually. That is, if he can bypass idiot movies like Shooter.

Movie Review: We Are Marshall

We Are Marshall (2006) 

Directed by McG

Written by Jamie Linden 

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, Kate Mara, January Jones

Release Date December 22nd, 2006

Published December 22nd, 2006 

College football fans know of Marshall University as the alma mater of all pro wide receiver Randy Moss and quarterback Byron Leftwich. For football fans in Huntington West Virginia however, Marshall football is not just an NFL footnote, it's a way of life. A way of life that in 1970 nearly came to a violent end. In the blink of an eye a plane crash ended the lives of nearly the entire Marshall football team and support staff.

How Marshall rose from the ashes and rebuilt their shattered program is the well examined and moving subject of We Are Marshall from director McG.

In 1970 the Marshall University football team was returning from a loss to East Carolina University when their plane was struck by lightning. All 75 people on board were killed. We Are Masrshall tells the inspiring story of how the school and the town it supports picked themselves up and got back to the business of football and life.

In the fall of 1971 football coach Jack Lengyel accepted the most difficult coaching job in all of college football. Lengyel was named the new head coach of the Marshall University Thundering Herd. Less than 12 months before Lengyel accepted the job, most of the team; along with a few fans and boosters, were killed in a plane crash. The program wasn't expected to survive and now, less than a year later, Lengyel is tasked with rebuilding it from the ground up.

The story of the rebirth of Marshall football and of the small town of Huntington West Virginia that lives for it; has all of the inspirational elements to make a treacly after school special, or worse, another predictable, cloying Disney sports movie. However, thanks to the surprisingly mature and assured direction of McG, the director best known for the goofy, juvenile action of the Charlie's Angels movies, We Are Marshall manages to escape many of the pitfalls of the typical sports movie.

The first act of We Are Marshall is direct and to the point. It engages the audience in the tragedy while establishing the prominent characters including Matthew Fox as assistant coach Red Dawson who gave up his seat on the fateful flight to a fellow coach. Ian McShane as Paul Griffin who was one of Marshall football's biggest boosters until his son was killed in the crash. And finally Kate Mara as Annie whose boyfriend was Paul's son and who also provides the movies narration.

The other members of this terrific ensemble include David Straithairn as School President Donald Dedmon and a pair of players who because of injury did not travel with the team that week, Anthony Mackie as team captain Nate Ruffin and Arlen Escarpeta as quarterback Reggie Oliver. Each of the supporting players is given just enough time to hit the notes they need to hit in order to make this movie work.

Balancing such a large ensemble cast and managing to make each of the characters meaningful and engaging is a trick many veteran filmmakers struggle with. That is why the work of McG is so surprising. In only his third outing as a director, after showing ony light hearted, goofball tendencies in the Charlie's Angels movies, McG shows a great talent for getting all that he can out of his actors and his story with a mixture of quick exposition and smart performances.

Much credit goes to screenwriter Jamie Lindell who paired down a large number subplots into a smart, quick moving script that involves and engages. This is a rare script that manages to take typical genre elements and give them meaning and drama while still hitting the familiar notes. The characters are well established and despite there being so many characters, a mere few could be called underdeveloped.

The lynch pin of We Are Marshall is Matthew McConaughey whose off kilter performance starts out cringe inducing and becomes endearing. As we are introduced to coach Jack Lengyel, McConaughey plays him with heavy voacl affectations and physical tics. He walks funny, talks funny and dresses funny, even by 1970's standards. The amount of detail that McConaughey brings to the role threaten to tip over into parody and upend the strong drama of the first act of the film.

Thankfully director McG and writer Jamie Lindell give McConaughey scenes that go along way to explaining and justifying the coach's oddball personality. In a scene where Jack Lengyel is introduced to the media as the new head coach of Marshall football, Lengyel fumbles questions about whether the program should continue. The scene establishes that this is not just another inspiring figure with all the answers. Later in the film, when Lengyel sits down with Paul Griffin to try and get his support, once again the scene doesn't lead to an inspiring moment but rather Lengyel demonstrating the jockish charm that is his character but is not something that will get through Griffin's grief.

Of course Lengyel has an inspiring speech leading into a big game late in the movie but even here, McConaughey as Lengyel doesn't inspire with simplistic platitudes but rather the speech includes questionable choices that border on inappropriate unless you know Jack Lengyel, which over the course of this movie we enjoy doing.

I wouldn't go as far as to say McConaughey is Oscar worthy in this role but compared to the rest of his rather soft resume, this is a really strong performance. He leads one of the better ensemble casts assembled this year including performances by Matthew Fox and Ian McShane that could in fact be awards worthy. McConaughey's unique and charming performance is the reason We Are Marshall exists, Fox and McShane are why you are likely to love this movie.

We Are Marshall sidesteps the pitfalls of typical sports movies with a smart, charming performance by Matthew McConaughey and an inspiring story that manages to not be a mess of treacly cliches and simple uplift. We Are Marshall is an emotional and invigorating story well told by a director you would never imagine could be so mature and self assured. McG may still go by some ridiculous nickname but here he shows he has real talent and possibly a bright future.

Movie Review Tadpole

Tadpole (2002) 

Directed by Gary Winick 

Written by Heather McGowan, Niels Mueller 

Starring Aaron Stanford, Bebe Neuwirth, Sigourney Weaver, Robert Iler, John Ritter, Kate Mara

Release Date August 2nd, 2002

Published January 27th, 2003

Movies about worldly teenage boys falling for older women are nothing new. (The Graduate is a famous example that is more than 30 years old) However a movie about a 15-year-old boy who lusts after his stepmother... well I haven't seen that one before and really wasn't looking for it. Nevertheless the cheaply made Oedipus comedy Tadpole is charming. despite its strange twist on the Graduate formula.

Aaron Stanford stars as Oscar, who is nicknamed Tadpole by one of the film's minor supporting players (though everyone else calls him Oscar.) Oscar is an odd 15-year-old; he reads Voltaire, speaks fluent French and has an affinity for women's hands. Returning home to New York for Thanksgiving break Oscar explains to his friend Charlie (The Sopranos' Robert Iler) that this will be the weekend he tells the woman he loves how he feels. Oscar neglects to mention that the woman of his dreams is his stepmother, Eve, played by Sigourney Weaver.

Once home Oscar arrives at a party in progress and his loving father Stanley (John Ritter) attempts to set him up with the daughter of a friend. However, Oscar and his one-track mind blows off the girl and instead pines away for Eve. Disappointed after a night of watching his father and Eve together, Oscar goes out and gets a little drunk. As he stumbles home, he meets up with his stepmother's best friend Diane (Bebe Neuwirth). 

Rather than let Oscar go home and be discovered by his parents to be drunk, Diane invites Oscar to her place for coffee. One thing leads to another and Oscar and Diane end up in bed. Oscar feels horribly guilty; feels he has betrayed his feelings for Eve. This leads to the film's best scene in a restaurant with Oscar, his father, stepmother and Diane. As Oscar sweats over whether Diane will let his secret slip, Diane taunts him mercilessly and finally Oscar's childishness gets the better of him.

Shot on digital video with a budget of only $750,000, Tadpole isn't the best looking movie. Accordingly, director Gary Winick has to rely on the characters and they are interesting characters, especially Bebe Neuwirth's Diane. Neuwirth is amazing in this role; sexy and quick-witted, she is the film's real star. The film's lead, Aaron Stanford, who makes his film debut here--he will appear as Pyro in X-Men 2 this summer--isn't bad. Stanford is believable as an intellectual, overly analytical obsessive, though not as believable as a 15-year-old. In reality, he is 25 years old and he looks it.

Sigourney Weaver is believable as the object of Oscar's obsessions, but the conversations between her and Oscar are too stilted in double meanings to be believed. Ritter is forgettable as the clueless father whose basic job seems to be to get in the way of the rest of the characters. Tadpole has many funny moments, mostly provided by Neuwirth; however, at a mere 80 minutes there isn't much to it. The film's resolution is forgettable with a throwaway happy ending that throws aside all that has happened before it. There are no consequences or guilt--just an ending.

The film is strong on dialogue and Neuwirth is extraordinary in her supporting role so, for that, I can give  a partial recommendation to Tadpole.