Documentary Review Downwind

Downwind (2023) 

Directed by Douglas Brian Miller, Mark Shapiro 

Written by Documentary 

Starring Martin Sheen, Patrick Wayne, Michael Douglas 

Release Date January 23rd, 2023 

Published January 27th, 2023 

Downwind is a terrifying title. Being downwind simply is not a place you want to be in most, if not all contexts. That is especially true if you are downwind from sites where the American government was testing nuclear weapons. Between 1951 and 1992 the United States Military tested 928 Nuclear Weapons on a site in Mercury, Nevada. Despite promises of security and safety, those who lived downwind over Mercury, Nevada, to this day, die more frequently from cancer than anywhere in the country. That the community most affected by being downwind from Mercury, Nevada is a community of the Shoshone Indian Tribe only adds another layer of awful to this terrible story of misguided hubris and disregard of basic human decency. 

The documentary Downwind tells the story of the American nuclear project and the various effects testing nuclear weapons on American soil has had on the American people. The dropping of Atomic weapons on Japan in World War 2 touched off an arms race unlike any in the history of the world. Then, when nuclear weapons were developed, a whole new horror was brought to bear on mankind, one that brought the world to the brink of complete extinction. You see, the American government knew all along that the use of Nuclear weapons would lead to dangerous and deadly fallout but pushed forward with nuclear weapons anyway out of fear that Russia would develop the weapon first. 

In order to develop nuclear weapons, the American government needed to test those weapons. Needing a secure place to do the testing, away from the potential for foreign spies finding out about these developments, and not wanting to create fallout near population centers of the United States, the government settled on tiny Mercury, Nevada. Not so much a town, as a ghost town, Mercury was several miles from anywhere people were living. It would, perhaps, be the safest place this type of testing could be done if there were such a thing as safely testing nuclear weapons. 

Naturally, the desire to harness a new, more powerful weapon, overcame good sense and testing moved ahead despite the fact that everyone was aware of the possibility that anyone living 'downwind' of Mercury could be exposed to radiation fallout, a deadly result of the use of nuclear weapons. The reason nuclear weapons could cause mass extinction if ever used isn't because of the thousands of people who would die from a nuclear blast. Rather, the radiation fallout from the use of nuclear weapons on a global scale, such as the scenario of Russia and the United States firing weapons at each other, would poison the planet and hasten a relatively slow and painful end via disease, famine and drought. 

Find my full length review at Swamp.Media linked here. 

Movie Review Imagine That

Imagine That (2009) 

Directed by Karey Kirkpatrick

Written by Ed Solomon, Chris Matheson 

Starring Eddie Murphy, Yara Shahidi, Thomas Haden Church, Ronny Cox, Martin Sheen

Release Date August 14th, 2009 

Published August 15th, 2009 

The problem with Eddie Murphy as the star of family movies is that he never seems sincere. Some of it is our fault as an audience. We pigeonholed Eddie as a foul mouthed comedy superstar. The move to becoming the star of family comedies came after we were tired of his act. There were also some unfortunate offscreen issues that dimmed Eddie's star. With few offers on the table Eddie jumped the family movie bandwagon and has never looked back. It is in that rather desperate move into the family genre where his insincerity lies and the latest evidence is called Imagine That.

Evan Danielson (Murphy) is a top stock speculator. He is in line to take over the Denver branch of a major investment firm and he owes it all to a focus on work at all costs. Evan lost his family due to his single minded focus on work and now only sees his daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi) sparingly. There is however, an impediment to Evan's ascension to the top at work. His name is Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church, a long way from his Sideways Oscar nomination), a fellow speculator who dazzles clients with his alleged Indian heritage. He undermines Evan at every turn with his eyes on the big promotion.

Things get even more difficult for Evan when his ex-wife (Nicole Ari Parker) drops their daughter on him for a week. He had agreed to take Olivia before the promotion came up, now she is holding him to it. For her part, Olivia is a troubled, quiet child with few friends and a possibly unhealthy attachment to her security blanket.

Instead of interacting with other kids at school Olivia places her blanket over her head and has long conversations with several imaginary friends. The 'friends' are princesses who not only talk to Olivia but have advice for her dad. They can predict stocks and soon they are giving Evan stunningly accurate advice.

Daddy and daughter bond over playing with the princesses, only she can see them, but convention tells us as moviegoers that the bond cannot last and eventually the need for stock advice from the princesses will come between them. Worse yet, like clockwork, the finale of Imagine That comes down to a chase to the school where...

Oh, do I even have to tell you.

You've seen Imagine That in different forms a thousand different times. Murphy and Director Karey Kirkpatrick adhere to absolutely every family movie cliche creating a rote, predictable and desperately unfunny slog through the typical and expected.

Well, there is one element of Imagine That I did not predict: The sad, despicable and ludicrous performance of the once promising Thomas Haden Church. Had he played this role before earning an Oscar nomination for Sideways and going on to star in Spiderman 3, it would make sense. Playing second fiddle to Eddie Murphy in a third rate family movie cannot be where Thomas Haden Church imagined his career.

Worse yet is the actual performance in which Church plays a white guy pretending to be a full blooded American Indian and using that heritage to become a successful stock analyst. Why Church or anyone involved in Imagine That thought this character was a good idea is, pardon the pun, unimaginable.

The stupidity of Church's character only makes worse the experience of the overall dreadful enterprise that is Imagine That.

Movie Review Love Happens

Love Happens (2009)

Directed by Brandon Camp

Written by Brandon Camp, Mike Thompson

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston, Dan Fogler, Judy Greer, Martin Sheen

Release Date September 18th, 2009 

Published September 18th, 2009 

Is there possibly a less passion inspiring romance title than Love Happens? Love eh? Love Ensues? Love Stumbled Upon? If only the low watt title were the film's biggest problem. Oh no. Love Happens is riddled with troubles. Quirk ridden stand ins where characters should. A storyline as predictable as sunrise. And then there is a damn bird.

Aaron Eckhart stars in Love Happens as self help guru Burke Ryan. He's Dr. Phil but handsome. Burke lost his wife 3 years ago in a car accident which led to him writing a book about living with loss. Now he travels the country with his faithful sidekick (Dan Fogler), performing workshops to help people cope with loss.

Finding himself back in the city where his wife died, Seattle, Burke is looking to get in and get out before his past catches up with him. Literally while he isn't looking, Burke stumbles upon Eloise, a flower shop owner with one weird quirk on top of another. She likes to write obscure words on walls behind paintings in hotel hallways. (I said it was a weird quirk).

He is smitten immediately but she blows him by pretending to be a mute. Her ruse doesn't hold up and their next encounter is an argument. An argument that of course means they are destined to fall in love. Destined though they may be they first must be kept apart and a predictable secret from his past is supplied solely for the purpose of keeping them at a distance.

Don't worry, I won't spoil the big reveal of Burke's secret, the movie will do that in the first 5 to 10 minutes. Anyone who has seen movies like Sweet November or Return To Me or really any similarly hoary cliched romance won't need a map to find this ending well before it arrives for the characters.

It is the nature of a romantic comedy to be a little predictable, not many end with the lovers parting ways. Thus, these movies are more about the journey than the destination. Unfortunately, this is one lame journey. One that feels twice as long as it really is.

Brandon Camp is a first time director whose experience is mostly in TV drama. His roots likely contribute to the episodic, disjointed storytelling that devotes a good deal of time to filler material to pad itself out beyond what might have been better suited to something of 44 minutes plus commercials.

Most egregious of the filler material is a subplot involving a man who lost his little boy and attends Burke's seminar. While we are supposed to like Burke the film keeps making him out as a shyster. Then he alternately attempts to help and rip off this pained father, effectively portrayed by John Carroll Lynch, in serious scenes sandwiched between goofball romance scenes.

Love Happens has about as much consistency in tone as it does energy in that stupid title. One minute we are in the midst of both characters in a wacky moment. Next we are watching people who have lost a family member be taken in by a shyster who is supposed to be our hero.

Wow, what a mess this movie is. From the bizarre maudlin subplots to the lame secret right down to the two main characters who aren't so much characters as a collection of traits given to Eckhardt and Aniston to drop in as they wish. She likes writing on walls. He's afraid of elevators. She keeps copies of other people's love notes. He might be an alcoholic.

Not one of these traits has any kind of payoff, at least not one that makes any difference to the main plot. The traits exist only to give the actors something to do in between the bouts of mind-numbingly awful dialogue that includes not just 'when life gives you lemons....' but also 'if you love something, set it free'. Ugh.

And then there is the damn bird. Folks, if you are a member of PETA you will want to skip Love Happens. The bird goes unharmed, for the most part but its treatment in the film is beyond idiotic. Worse, it assumes that we in the audience are just as dumb as the movie.

Love Happens is an abysmal bit of treacle aimed at the soft hearted and softer headed. Not even the uncontainable charms of the wonderful Jennifer Aniston can bring this treacle any more life than that shrug shouldered title, Love Happens.

Movie Review The Departed

The Departed (2006) 

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Written by William Monahan

Starring Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin

Release Date October 6th, 2006

Published October 5th, 2006

I know that when you hear some critic say that such and such movie is the best movie of the year you must roll your eyes a little bit. Take it with a grain of salt and what not. But I am telling you honestly that thus far in 2006 I have yet to see a film as accomplished, entertaining, shocking and moving as The Departed, the latest from the brilliant mind of director Martin Scorsese.

A remake of the Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs, The Departed is no simple retelling of someone else's story. Scorsese takes the sketch of Infernal Affairs and makes the story his own, shifting the action to South Boston -surprisingly not his home turf in New York City- and casting a large group of well respected actors, The Departed separates itself from its inspiration, and becomes pure Scorsese.

In a snaky two pronged plot Leonardo DiCaprio stars in The Departed as Billy Costigan a Boston native with ties to the tough crime ridden streets of south Boston and the upscale side of town as well. This dichotomy has led Billy to the state police academy where his background comes to the attention of the undercover unit headed up by Capt. Queenan (Martin Sheen) and his right hand man Sgt. Dignum (Mark Wahlberg).

Costigan is perfect for the undercover unit's needs because his father and uncle were well known in the south Boston neighborhood where mobster Frank Costello runs things. With his lineage people in the neighborhood would have an easy time believing him as a criminal freshly released from prison looking to find an in with Costello's crew. The assignment still however, requires Costigan to spend three months behind bars, deep undercover, in order to sell the story.

Costigan's job is to get in close with Costello, catch him with some big criminal enterprise and help put him away. Not an easy task however, given Costello's crafty paranoia and a mole in the police department that keeps Costello a step ahead of the cops. Luckily for Costigan, Queenan works apart from the rest of the department, thus his identity remains a mystery to the mole.

The corrupt cop inside the department is a fast rising, ambitious south Boston kid named Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon). Colin was raised under the wing of Frank Costello and bred to become a cop specifically to help out Costello sometime in the future. When Costello suspects there is a cop in his crew he turns to Sullivan to find him.

Working from a very smart script by William Monahan, Martin Scorsese crafts a gut wrenchingly violent thriller that twists and turns in cat and mouse fashion and keeps audiences on the edge of their seat before devastating them with stunning violence. This is some of the smartest and most violent work of Scorsese's career and never before has he kept his audience more off their guard.

Leonardo DiCaprio keeps getting better and better as he grows further away from the teen idol persona that was thrust upon him even before Titanic. DiCaprio and Scorsese work so well together with Scorsese bringing out Dicaprio's masculinity and DiCaprio bringing vulnerability to Scorsese's tough guy world. It's a perfect match in The Departed where DiCaprio perfectly balances the conflicting bravado and fear of an undercover officer in the midst of a highly volatile situation.

Being a native of Boston Matt Damon brings an authentic accent to his role but it is his darting eyes and cutthroat wits that make Colin the complicated, cold blooded, center of The Departed. Damon is ice cold, reminiscent of his serial killer in The Talented Mr. Ripley. The characters are both ambitious and eager to please on the surface, hiding a dark side capable of just about anything.

For popcorn entertainment in The Departed it's all about Jack. Jack Nicholson's charismatic wacko mobster is outsized and yet believable. The ruthless, hard edge, nature of Frank Costello matched with the wildly charming Nicholson persona is both horrifying and fascinating. Combining elements of his own well crafted persona with elements of his wildly diverse characters of the past, Nicholson plays Costello as part Cuckoo's nest, part Shining and part L.A Lakers courtside peacock. It's a wonderful and terrifying performance.

The most entertaining thing about The Departed however, is watching Scorsese return to the genre that he made great, the gritty from the streets thriller. While I loved both Gangs of New York and The Aviator for their grand ambition and exulting scale, both are at times desperate and cloying. You can see where Scorsese got the reputation for courting the academy with these pictures. Having Bob and Harvey Weinstein produce both pictures only exacerbated the issue.

There is nothing desperate or cloying in The Departed. This is Scorsese telling a story with smarts and guts. Spilling blood, firing bullets and crafting tough guy characters that we haven't seen since the last time Scorsese hit the streets with his iconic gangster flick Goodfellas. If Scorsese never made another picture The Departed would be the perfect film to truly capture his legacy, a smart, tough, rough-hewn gangster epic.

The Departed is unquestionably the best film of 2006. Scorsese finally stepping out from under the influence of the awards greedy Weinstein clan, returns to his roots for a story he truly knows how to tell. A potboiler from the streets, with great dialogue and extraordinary violence. This is Scorsese's milieu, his home turf, and he takes full advantage in The Departed.

This is an absolute must see picture.

Movie Review: Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me if You Can (2002) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Jeff Nathanson 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Amy Adams, Martin Sheen

Release Date December 25th, 2002 

Published December 24th, 2002 

Less than a week ago, Leonardo DiCaprio entered theaters with Gangs of New York, his first truly adult performance. He returns in his new film portraying a kid again. In Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can, DiCaprio is famed teenage con man Frank Abagnale Jr, the youngest man ever to make the FBI's most wanted list. Though DiCaprio is playing a teenager in this film, it is yet another grown up performance that announces DiCaprio as an actor of great depth.

The true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. is one made for the big screen. Before the age of 19, Abagnale had been an airline pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor. He was also a master check forger. The story is told in flashback as FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) arrives at a French prison to retrieve Abagnale who had served two years in the prison for the same crimes he was charged with in the States. We flashback to young Frank and his picturesque family life. Frank's father, Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken), and his mother (Natalie Baye) seem to be happy. Unfortunately his father's business is going under and the IRS is beating down their door. The stress is breaking up the marriage. This leads Frank Jr. to hit the road and begin his life of crime.

Frank writes a series of bad checks before the banks finally cut him off. Then, inspiration strikes in the form of an airplane pilot. Seeing the respect and admiration people showed for airline pilots, Frank sets about becoming a pilot (or at least looking the part.) After conning officials at Pan Am into giving him a uniform and enough background information to be able to talk a good game, Frank sets about being a pilot. Using his uniform and sheer bravado, Frank starts forging checks from Pan Am. The uniform gave him instant credibility and Frank's ability to charm the female bank tellers meant never even having to produce an ID to have a check cashed in any bank in the country.

With the FBI onto his pilot scheme, Frank settles in Atlanta where a chance encounter with a sweet little nurse named Brenda (Amy Adams) leads Frank to become a doctor. He fakes a degree from Harvard Medical School and watches Dr. Kildare. Suddenly, he's working the night shift as the head on call doctor in the emergency room. Thankfully, being in charge of a group of doctors means that Frank is never left to tend to a patient. Frank's relationship with Brenda leads to yet another close call with the feds, and has Frank headed for Europe.

Despite his adept criminal mind and quick wit, Frank is still a kid and still a sloppy criminal and the FBI is quickly on his path. In one amazing encounter, Frank actually comes face to face with the FBI agents on his tail and crafts an amazing lie to make his escape by posing as a secret service agent. The scene relies on a great deal of convenient timing and luck, but then I'm sure the real Frank Abagnale was the beneficiary of convenient timing and luck throughout his criminal run.

Indeed, Frank Abagnale's story is true. He was the youngest man ever to make the FBI's infamous most wanted list. He did cash forged checks over a three year span that totaled over 4 million dollars and he did impersonate a doctor, an airline pilot, and a lawyer and even for a short time a French teacher in his own high school. His first taste of how to run a good con, he made it a full week as a French substitute without actually speaking any French.

Why did Frank Abagnale do all of this? The likely answer is because he thought he could get a way with it. Spielberg however can't help tossing in a little pop psychology as a partial explanation. The film posits that the break up of his parents' marriage and his desire to reunite them by buying their problems away caused Frank to become a criminal. That and his father's hatred for the government kept Frank on the run. 

DiCaprio however never communicates a tortured victim, but rather, an excitable teen who lacks a good solid hobby. If there had been extreme sports in Frank's day, he may have just risked his life on stupid stunts. In place of that, his need for a constant rush leads him to crime. FBI agent Hanratty becomes his unwilling accomplice, providing Frank with the reason to keep running. What fun is being a great con artist or a great anything for that matter, if no one is around to appreciate it?

Spielberg is a preeminent story teller and in Frank Abagnale he has a great story. Unfortunately, Frank is too good of a guy for there to be any great drama. The film makes great use of the audience as Frank's co-conspirators. With his charm and wit, DiCaprio has the audience cheering for him to get away and you can't help but laugh at the way Frank toys with the people who attempt to deny him. However, the audience never really understands the gravity of his situation. Stealing four million dollars is a serious thing; it's grand theft. Yet, Frank is so likable and the narrative is so forgiving to him one would think it was okay for him to get away.

In many ways, Catch Me If You Can reminded me of a far better film, The Talented Mr. Ripley. Both films are about troubled youth con men. Both guys are loners who are desperate for attention and both draw the sympathy of the audience; however, Ripley is far more dramatic than Abagnale. His longings and crimes add weight to the character that Abagnale lacks. Catch Me If You Can is far more flashy than Ripley is and, for that reason, the drama is lacking. Frank never seems to be in any real danger.

Both DiCaprio and Hanks are strong but Catch Me If You Can still seems weightless. It isn't a comedy but it's not nearly dramatic enough to be taken seriously. Yes, this is a true story. But something tells me the real story is a little more dramatic than the featherweight screen version. All of that said, Catch Me if You Can is wildly entertaining and with Spielberg, Hanks, and DiCaprio, you have a trio incapable of making a bad movie together. Catch Me if You Can may not live up to all of your expectations but it is nevertheless entertaining.