Movie Review Just Getting Started

Just Getting Started (2017) 

Directed by Ron Shelton 

Written by Ron Shelton 

Starring Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Russo, Joe Pantoliano, Glenn Headly 

Release Date December 8th, 2017 

Why does the movie Just Getting Started exist? Having seen this ghastly comedy, I can’t for a moment divine why anyone involved thought making this movie was a good idea. The jokes are creaky and unfunny; the story is past its sell by date and the direction is clumsy, bordering on amateurish? What type of blackmail was required to draw Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones to appear in this film? What kind of blackmail was required to get movie theaters to make space for this movie in the same month in which Star Wars The Last Jedi is being released?

Just Getting Started stars Morgan Freeman as Duke, the manager of a high end retirement home in Palm Springs. Duke is living the high life with numerous elderly girlfriends, a loyal coterie of cronies and a seemingly endless pile of cash that he takes out of the company till. But that isn’t even Duke’s biggest secret. He’s also a former mob lawyer who was installed at the retirement home as a cover for his witness protection.

Duke’s idyllic lie is interrupted by the arrival of Leo (Tommy Lee Jones). Leo moves in to the retirement community and immediately takes the attention of Duke’s lady friends. Then, he takes all of Duke’s ill-gotten cash in Duke’s weekly underground poker game. Leo even takes Duke on the golf course, though to be fair, their showdown was cut short by a cobra hidden in Duke’s bag. It appears that Duke’s secret has been uncovered and someone is trying to kill him and make it look like an accident.

Now you might think from my straightforward description that Leo’s appearance in the retirement community would not be coincidental to Duke’s being found by the mob but you would be wrong. I know, it seems like the perfect set up to perhaps have Jones be the hitman and the two battling wits perhaps? Nope! Or maybe Leo would be an undercover agent sent to infiltrate the home and keep Duke from getting wacked, but nope!

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review A Good Person

A Good Person (2023) 

Directed by Zach Braff

Written by Zach Braff 

Starring Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Molly Shannon, Zoe Lister-Jones, Chinaza Uche 

Release Date March 31st, 2023 

Published April 4th, 2023 

You can only numb emotional pain for so long before the numbness becomes the desired effect. Life becomes stagnant, the outside world is a place of judgment, a place to fear. Being numb and at home is the desired space in the world. But, to quote a terrific song called Sideways by Citizen Cope and Santana, lyrics that have never left me since I heard them on an episode of Scrubs, 'These feelings won't go away.' Until you actually confront your emotional damage, it will not heal, it will only fester. 

Allison (Florence Pugh), the protagonist of the new drama, A Good Person, is in the midst of learning this lyrical lesson in A Good Person. Following an accident that killed her soon to be sister and brother in-laws, Allison turned to Oxycontin, first as a way of dealing with physical pain and then as a way to numb the emotional pain of guilt that she felt every time she looked into the eyes of her fiancé, Nathan (Chinaza Uche). These feelings of guilt linger and fester within her, even after she abandoned Nathan for the comfort of moving home to her mother, Diane (Molly Shannon) who proves to be an unwilling enabler of her daughter's addiction. 

Eventually, this unhealed wound drives Allison to depths that even she recognizes as wrong and she seeks help. There, with much unexpected irony, she meets Daniel (Morgan Freeman), her former future father-in-law and father of the woman who died in the accident Allison caused by carelessly looking at her phone while driving. You might expect Daniel to lash out but, to Allison's great surprise, the elderly father reaches out a hand and invites her to stay and get help as part of the AA/NA Meeting at their shared local church. 

The tentative friendship between Allison and Daniel that develops via their attending these meetings, drives the action of the second act of A Good Person as Allison is introduced to the teenage daughter that was left orphaned in the care of her grandfather. Ryan (Celeste O'Connor), at first, is shocked and mortified that Daniel would bring Allison into their lives, considering the circumstances, but eventually, she begins to befriend Allison. The friendship is fraught, quite obviously, but when Ryan tries to reunite Allison with Nathan, things go beyond fraught to a place a deep despair. 

One thing that Zach Braff does well as a writer and director is explore complicated emotions and give those emotions room to breathe. Garden State was anchored by an exploration of grief and the healing power of falling in love with someone who understands you. He explored a remarkably similar theme in the equally effective, Wish I Was Here. And, once again, in A Good Person, Braff is back to exploring grief from yet another perspective and once again he allows room for this complicated emotion to be lived in, explored, and for it to begin to heal. 

His themes may be similar but Braff is at his best when he stops and lets the anguish that his characters are feeling be fully expressed. The catharsis of big emotions can be a tad manipulative in a film drama b but in Braff's conception, and in the performances of actors such as Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman, it never feels pushy. Pugh's performance in particular is so charismatic that it leaves an indelible, unforgettable impression. Say what you will about the sameness of Zach Braff's direction, in the hands of great actors, it barely registers. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Invictus

Invictus (2009) 

Directed by Clint Eastwood 

Written by Anthony Peckham

Starring Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Scott Eastwood 

Release Date December 11th, 2009 

Published December 10th, 2009

Streaming Rental on Amazon Prime 

In 1994 the world heralded the ascendancy of Nelson Mandela to the Presidency of South Africa, just three years after his release from Robben Island Prison where he was a political prisoner for nearly 30 years. Mandela and the man who freed him, then President F.W De Klerk were awarded jointly the Nobel Peace Prize as the political system called Apartheid was brought to an end.

Outsiders were aware that Mandela's election was not without strife but how close Mandela came to losing his country to racial, civil war is a story stirringly brought to light for the first time on the big screen in Clint Eastwood's “Invictus.” On the surface you might assume Invictus is a sports movie, rugby after all takes a major role, but the real story is about a leader, a politician and a legend.

The Rugby World Cup was less than a decade old when it came to South Africa for the first time. It wasn't really to be all that notable for the South African national team known as Springboks, the team wasn't supposed to go far. Then something extraordinary happened. One afternoon the captain of the team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) received an invitation to tea with President Mandela.

It was at tea in the Presidential palace that Mandela asked for Pienaar's help in uniting the country. How could he do that? Win the Rugby World Cup. From there these two very different men were bound on a journey neither could have expected with Rugby becoming a unifying cause in a country on the verge of being torn apart forever.

Is that dramatic enough for you? Director Clint Eastwood's great achievement in “Invictus” is giving weight to Mandela's decision to make Rugby a political cause. In 1993-1994 Rugby remained a sport beloved only to whites. Mandela made the calculated decision to relate to the white population through Springboks, a decision not at all welcomed by black South Africans who had hoped the team and its green and yellow colors would be banished to history.

Pienaar's challenge is no less dramatic. Mandela made quite clear to Pienaar all that was at stake in this victory and what might happen if their gambit failed. Damon plays the conflict with humble determination. It's wonderfully subtle yet powerful work from the chameleonic Damon whose last role was a pudgy corn company executive.

As one might expect, Morgan Freeman perfectly embodies the man he has been destined to play, Nelson Mandela. As Roger Ebert and numerous others have pointed out, Freeman has been linked to a number of Mandela biopics over the years. Freeman has met and befriended Mandela and that pays off in “Invictus.” Freeman loses himself in Mandela's accent and manner from moment one, easily conveying the charm, savvy and cool of Mandela.

The real challenge for both Freeman and director Eastwood was not deifying Mandela. That has been the tendency of the handful of previous Mandela movies and they have mostly failed for it. Audiences generally agree with Mandela's greatness, his achievements speak for themselves, but the overly reverent approach puts audiences to sleep.

Freeman's take and Eastwood's direction focus on Mandela's humane charms. The soft voice, his frail health, Mandela suffered from exhaustion amongst other ailments from day one of his Presidency. These are not the outsized traits of a deity but the feel of a real, if exceptional, human being. Freeman's performance is so clever and charming that it may seem too small for some, especially those expecting something more sweeping and dramatic.

Sweeping, epic drama is not what you get in “Invictus.” This is not a film that pauses to marvel at its own dramatic importance. “Invictus” deepens and becomes important when we consider what Mandela and Pienaar accomplished. “Invictus” works by letting us weigh the historic importance while the movie focuses on the story at hand. It’s a remarkable work from a remarkable group of filmmakers and one of the best films of 2009.

Movie Review: Wanted

Wanted (2008) 

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

Written by Michael Brandt, Derek Haas, Chris Morgan

Starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Terrence Stamp, Common, Chris Pratt

Release Date June 27th, 2008

Published June 27th, 2008 

For years Angelina Jolie has been a lot of flash and little cash at the box office. It seemed she was a bigger draw in the gossip columns than she was at the box office, her star power better suited to selling People and Us Weekly than her movies. With the release of the new ultra-violent action flick Wanted however, things have definitely changed.

Though Wanted is ostensibly about James McAvoy's rookie assassin, the ad campaign made quite clear that Ms. Jolie's killer pout and outstanding derriere were the real draws of this summer mind melter.

Wanted stars James McAvoy as a sadsack cubicle drone who finds himself the target of the world's greatest assassin. It seems that McAvoy's Wesley Gibson just happens to be the progeny of another of the world's greatest assassins and that the ability to kill with precision is a genetic trait that doesn't skip a generation.

Helping to hone Wesley's heretofore unknown talents is an elite group of assassins known as The Fraternity. Lead by Sloan (Morgan Freeman), The Fraternity of assassins dedicated to meting out fate as delivered to them by an ancient loom that can see the future. No, I'm NOT KIDDING! With the help of his trainer, Fox (Jolie), Wesley is to be trained to track down the man who killed his father, Mr X (David O'Hara).

Russian born director Timur Bekmambetov became a world wide sensation everywhere except in America with his series of Russian vampire series Nightwatch, Daywatch and the upcoming Twilight Watch. These stylish, high impact action flicks are on the cutting edge of special effects and likely would have been major hits were it not for the subtitles.

Taking elements of The Matrix and creating a killer trilogy mythology, BekMambetov has set box office records in his home country. For his American debut Bekmambetov brought along his talent for bombast and left behind his talent for mythology and grand storytelling. That may be due to him having left the screenplay duties to Americans Derek Haas and Michael Brandt.

These junk food junkie Americans cram a candy bar full of action and effects into Wanted and neglect anything close to a meal in terms of storytelling. This is brain free American entertainment of the most outrageous level and that it works is a testament for our love of true junk. As bad romantic comedies can be well equated with chocolate, Wanted is the Red Bull of movies, all caffeine.

Angelina Jolie has always dripped with sexuality but few films have played that aspect of Ms. Jolie as well as Wanted. Rather than be merely offensive with it's obvious objectification of Ms. Jolie, Wanted makes it the central preoccupation of Wesley, our hero. With Wesley focused on Ms. Jolie's assets (ahem) so are we. The forced perspective has a way of turning the objectification into a form of worship rather than something entirely sleezy.

So what of Mr. McAvoy? He is actually the perfect choice for a role such as this. A bigger star would be less 'believable', in terms of this movie, not believable in any real sense of the word, (CONTEXT PEOPLE!). Because McAvoy has never played a role such as this we have few expectations of him. He exceeds any and all expectations  by miles and we can't help but be roped into his world and his experiences as he seems to react as an average person might and not just a movie character.

That said, as good as Ms. Jolie and Mr. McAvoy are, Wanted is a relatively dull witted picture. Bouncing as it does from one overly loud set piece to the next, Wanted is not a film to attend if one is searching for the deep and meaningful. Like last year's Shoot'Em Up, a slightly more entertaining version of the same Red Bull style action movie, Wanted is all about the quick shot of adrenaline and little else.

This style is entertaining while your watching it but unless you take notes as I do, it's forgotten by the time you get to your car. Wanted is pure brain free entertainment for the videogame and energy drink crowd. Skip it if you like your movies with a little more meat on their  bones. If however, you are searching for a movie that will be in and out of your consciousness like a freight train, Wanted is the movie for you.

Movie Review Red

RED (2010)

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber

Starring Bruce Willis, Mary Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Morgan Freeman, Karl Urban

Release Date October 15th, 2010

Published October 14th, 2010

The romantic side of Bruce Willis is the side most people tend to ignore. Yet, in movies as diverse as “The Whole Nine Yards,” ``TheFifth Element” and even the “Die Hard” movies, one thing that stands out is Willis's abiding romantic streak. Whether it's love at first sight with Amanda Peet's wannabe assassin in Yards or Milla Jovavich's alien badass in Element or his endless devotion to wife Holly in Die Hard, romance sings within the action hero.

In “Red” Willis finds himself once again seeking romance, this time falling in love with the voice of Mary Louise Parker as his benefits manager at his former gig with the CIA. The voice connection quickly turns into a physical one when their monitored conversations threaten to get them both killed.

Frank Moses (Willis) was once, arguably, the most dangerous man in the world. In his role as a covert CIA Agent, Frank took down dictators and toppled entire governments all the while keeping the Russians at bay long enough for Communism to fall. Today, Frank lives in suburban boredom colored RED, Retired Extremely Dangerous.

Frank's minor pleasures come in his conversations with the woman who handles his retirement pay, Sarah (Parker). They have sparked a flirty chemistry over the phone and now Frank is ready to move things along to an actual physical encounter. These plans are upended when Frank finds and kills trained assassins in his home.

Assuming it is related to his conversations with Sarah he immediately travels to where she is, kidnaps her and the two go on the run. The first stop means recruiting an old friend abandoned and bored in a nursing home, Joe (Morgan Freeman). Then there is a trip to Florida where the terribly paranoid Marvin (John Malkovich) awaits. Finally, there is Victoria (Helen Mirren) , the most dangerous yet well adjusted of this group of RED Agents. 

Why is the CIA, led by Agent Cooper (Karl Urban) out to kill Frank? What does it have to do with Sarah? How big is the conspiracy? Who really cares? You won't care but you really aren't supposed to. The point of Red is not brilliant plotting or complex motivations but rather highly stylized violence and clever line reading, things “Red” has in abundance. 

Malkovich is the scene stealer in “Red” as Marvin Boggs, a former agent who was subjected to more than a decade of daily LSD treatments. His paranoia is matched with terrific intuition and ability for violence and Malkovich plays the wicked good guy with the kind of hammy glee usually reserved for his over the top bad guys. 

Morgan Freeman gets the short shrift as the oldest member of the crew. He has a few good moments, especially when putting the lights out on a guest star that I will leave as a surprise, but sadly his role amounts to little more than a cameo. Better served are Dame Helen Mirren and Bryan Cox who plays a former KGB killer and an important figure in both Frank and Victoria's past. 

Bruce Willis and Mary Louise Parker don't spark the chemistry that Willis had with Amanda Peet or Milla Jovavich but for Willis the romantic action hero there is plenty of fun to be had. Parker seems to be cracking up in every scene and Willis enjoys her cracking up even as he is required to keep a straight face. It's a fun if not quite sexy pairing. Parker brings out the playful side of a character that really is not playful and the laughs this generates are big and satisfying.

Karl Urban rounds out the main cast showing off the same comic panache he brought to his role as Bones McCoy in “Star Trek.” I find Urban to be fascinating in that he can play the ripped up action hero or comic relief with the same energy and surprising wit. Urban is everything modern action heroes like Sam Worthington or Gerard Butler have yet proven to be, constantly interesting. 

”Red” succeeds on the charisma of its stars. The likeability of this group is off the charts and more than enough to distract from the overly familiar and predictable plot. Bruce Willis is so much more interesting than his action hero contemporaries like Stallone or the Governator. The romance of Willis, the way his humanity is reflected by the women he desires, it's a beat that other action heroes can't play. It may be that one element that always sets him apart. It is undoubtedly what sets “Red” apart as some of Willis's best work.

Movie Review: Angel Has Fallen

Angel Has Fallen (2019)

Directed by Ric Roman Waugh

Written by Robert Mark Kamen, Matt Cook, Ric Roman Waugh

Starring Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Piper Perabo 

Release Date August 23rd, 2019 

Published August 22nd, 2019 

Angel Has Fallen stars Gerard Butler as Secret Service Agent, Mike Banning. Banning was the protagonist of Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen in recent years. In Angel Has Fallen we find a battered and bruised Banning suffering from post-concussion syndrome and relying on opioid to get by. Mike is hiding his condition from his wife (Piper Perabo) and even from his employer, President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman). 

The only person aware of Mike’s issues is his closest friend, heretofore never mentioned in either previous movie despite also being a military and security expert whose tactical abilities might have come in handy in Mike’s previous adventures, Wade Jennings (Danny Huston). The two come together for beers and reminiscing and Mike confides that he is having some issues even as career-wise things are going well. Mike is soon to be named as the new head of the Secret Service. 

The plot kicks in when Mike is guarding the President while he fishes on a private lake in Virginia. As Mike is taking a break to get more of his pills, the President’s security team is attacked by drones. All of the security team is killed except for Mike who also manages to rescue the President who is left in a coma from the attack. Mike is knocked unconscious and when he wakes up the next day he finds himself in handcuffs. 

It seems that Mike’s fingerprints and DNA were found inside of a van from which the drones were launched. There is also the matter of some $10 million dollars traced back to Russia that has been found in an offshore account in Mike’s name. The FBI, led by Agent Thompson (Jada Pinkett Smith), is convinced that Mike is guilty of having orchestrated the attack on the President. He’s arrested and things get even weirder when Mike is busted out by a group of military trained mercenaries. 

From there, Mike will escape the mercenaries and go on the run alone until he reaches the survivalist compound of his long absent father, Clay Banning (Nick Nolte), who gives him a place to hole up and regroup while the entire world searches for him. Mike has to figure out who set him up and how to prove to the good guys that he’s innocent so he can go after the bad guys and take them down while making sure the President is safe. 

Where to begin with this idiotic plot. Angel Has Fallen is a singularly stupid movie. Most modern action movies are kind of brain dead but Angel Has Fallen takes brain death to a place of oxygen starved severity. Where movies like Fast and Furious Presents Hobbs and Shaw are dumb loud action movies that also happen to be fun, Angel Has Fallen is dumb, loud and unwatchably insipid. Angel Has Fallen lacks the charm to be fun and dumb. Instead, we are simply inundated with one dumb action scene after another in service of a deeply idiotic plot. 

The dopey script, in order to get to the Mike Banning as The Fugitive plot they pre-ordained, has every other character in the movie turn into a complete moron. I was reminded of how the original movie, Olympus Has Fallen, in order to set out Mike as the greatest badass in history, turned the rest of the American military into fumbling doofuses who couldn’t shoot straight, a plot so offensive I was shocked that the movie found an audience among those who claim to support our military. 

In Angel Has Fallen, it’s US intelligence that gets struck dumb in order to put over Mike as the one smart person in a sea of idiots. Poor Jada Pinkett Smith is forced to try and make this uniquely moronic plot work but in order to do that, she’s forced to act as the single most fog brained FBI agent in movie history. Only the most obvious clues are the ones that matter to her according to the plot and her single-minded, unquestioning, performance renders her witless. 

That shouldn’t be too surprising as the movie has an equal amount of contempt for the audience. The plot of Angel Has Fallen could not be more predictable if they had handed out laminated copies of the script, color coded with notes about which characters are good and trustworthy and which ones are duplicitous baddies. If you can’t identify the two big villains of this movie within the first 5 minutes of the movie starting, you might want to check into a hospital to have your faculties checked. 

Then, there is Gerard Butler, arguably the most charm-free and talentless of our modern action heroes. While some might seek to compare Butler to the Stallone’s and Schwarzenegger’s of the 80’s action genre, a better correlative would be Steven Seagal. Both are lunkheads with an arrogance that far surpasses their talent and a doughy, gormless quality to their appearance that betrays their over abundance of confidence.

Butler’s Banning, like every one of the characters Seagal played, is invincible, indestructible and due to some unspoken supernatural force, always capable of outsmarting people clearly smarter than they are. Butler, at the very least, hasn't tried to bring the ponytail back and is actually capable of running where Seagal's heroes were more stationary than your average couch, but the two share far more in common with their utter lack of genuine talent. 

The screenwriters of the Fallen movies sacrifice the dignity and self-respect of every other character in these movies in their vain attempt to convince us that the sweaty, grunting, lummox that is Mike Banning, is the most cunning and crafty character on screen. It’s a failing effort from the start and that becomes an almost poignant source of campy laughs as these movies where on.

I genuinely began to feel sorry for Angel Has Fallen screenwriter Mark Robert Kamen as this movie wore on. Kamen's blood, sweat and tears must be all over these pages as he violates basic screenwriting ethics and general good taste just to try to make this one character remotely believable in the hands of this lunk headed star. 

Angel Has Fallen is thus far the worst movie of 2019.

Movie Review: Feast of Love

Feast of Love (2007) 

Directed by Robert Benton 

Written by Allison Burnett, Charles Baxter

Starring Morgan Freeman, Alexa Davalos, Greg Kinnear, Selma Blair

Release Date September 27th, 2007

Published October 14th, 2007

Frustrating, maddening, endlessly watchable. These are my impressions of the movie Feast of Love from director Robert Benton. Watching this trainwreck of romantic goofiness, supernatural hooey and a whole lot of nudity, is both a pain and a pleasure. Great characters mix with bad characters in a script that is a maddening mix of foibles and quirks.

Professor Harry Stevenson (Morgan Freeman) has that qulaity that draws people to him. They reveal to him things they might not reveal to anyone else. His sage wisdom and reassuring gaze mask a personal pain he doesn't share but that does give him an insightful sadness that aides him in seeing things others may have missed.

That is what happens when he joins his friend Bradley (Greg Kinnear) and Bradley's wife Kathryn (Selma Blair) for a drink. While Bradley yammers away about nothing, Kathryn locks eyes with Jenny (Stana Katic) and it's love at first sight. Harry see's it right away, though he doesn't feel it's his place to explain it to Bradley. Atleast, when Bradley does find out, Harry is there with more sage advice.

Bradley unfortunately, is not someone for whom advice is all that helpful. When he meets Diana (Radha Mitchell), it's clear she's not in his league but he pursues anyway. Diana encourages Bradley's affection but she's also sleeping with David (Billy Burke). Bradley might notice this if he weren't a pathetic puppy dog, desperate to be loved.

Also hovering in Harry's sphere are Oscar (Toby Hemingway) and Chloe (Alexa Davalos). Oscar works in Bradley's coffee shop and when the flakey, beautiful Chloe, pronounced by her as Chlo-ah, wanders in wanting a job, despite a lack of experience or even vague knowlege of coffee, he practically climbs over the counter to tackle Bradley to get her hired. Harry see's it right away, love at first sight strikes again.

Feast of Love was directed by Robert Benton whose best remembered as the director of Kramer Vs Kramer. That cultural touchstone was the last time Benton was relevant. Since then his career has meandered from one forgettable film to the next. That career track is oddly like Feast of Love which meanders from one slightly interesting character to the next uncovering truths here and there but failing  to become relevant.

Obsessed with sex, Benton stuffs the screen with female nudity and simulated coitus. There is certainly nothing wrong with sex on screen. The problem with Feast of Love is Benton's obsession with showing it at the most inopportune or unnecessary moments. There is a lovely scene between Toby Hemingway and Alexa Davalos that features a very erotic sex scene and evolves into this lovely emotional moment and then it's undone by Benton's need to include one last shot of the young couple having sex.

That is part of a maddening pattern that unfolds in Feast of Love. Nice moments undone by Benton's lust for his female cast members. I won't argue that Alexa Davalos, Radha Mitchell, Selma Blair and Stan Katic are great to look at but at some point I want more information than how great they look during sex or just standing around nude.

I don't want to create the impression that Feast of Love is of porno quality. My issue is not with the amount of nudity but the context of the nudity and the distractive quality of it. There are some lovely moments of romance and insight hidden within this odd duck of a movie. Those scene however get lost in the naked flesh and under explored characters of Feast of Love.

The cast of Feast of Love is for the most part terrific; especially Morgan Freeman. Admittedly, the role of the sage, grandfatherly old friend is becoming something of a cliche. Freeman however, is so good you can easily forget how familiar this character is. Freeman is such a reassuring and warm presence that you forgive him and through him forgive the movie, many transgressions.

Freeman does elegant, romantic work with Jane Alexander who plays his wife. The only character who understands his deep inner pain, because she shares it, Alexander is patient but concerned as she watches her husband bide his time observing the lives of others without turning that insightful eye on his own life; slowly passing him by.

Greg Kinnear on the other hand suffers at the hands of a character so wishy washy and walked upon that you can't believe one woman, let alone the three women in the film, would be willing to be with him. First there is Selma Blair's Kathryn who, after several years of marriage, finds she is attracted to women. This is not unprecedented however as it plays in Feast of Love her decision is predicated more on the aesthetically pleasing girl/girl sex scene than on a truthful understanding of character.

Then there is Radha Mitchell's Diana. Clearly out of Charlie's league, she is busily sleeping with a married man and takes to Kinnear's Charlie out of spite for her married paramour played by Billy Burke. So, she's a conniving bitch and Charlie is a dunderheaded fool. Not much fun about this relationship and very poorly explored and played in Feast of Love.

That Mitchell plays this role well is a compliment to her talent. She plays this role in much more interesting and challenging fashion however in Woody Allen's underrated Melinda and Melinda.

There is yet a third woman thrown at Kinnear in Feast of Love but the less said about her, the better.

Feast of Love is not a terrible movie just a misguided one. There is insight, humor and romance in the mix it's just lost in the malaise of an unformed idea. Director Robert Benton has something to say about life, love, loss and other such L words, he just isn't quite sure what he wants to say or how to say it. Benton remains a skilled director but his skills are at a loss to match whatever his ambitions were in Feast of Love.

Movie Review The Bucket List

The Bucket List (2007)

Directed by Rob Reiner 

Written by Justin Zackham

Starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Rob Morrow 

Release Date December 25th, 2007

Published December 24th, 2007

"Dying is easy, Comedy is hard" the alleged dying words of British actor Sir Donald Wolfitt are somewhat ironic when related to the new to DVD movie, The Bucket List. Directed by Rob Reiner, The Bucket List is a comedy about dying. It's also a comedy that proves just how hard comedy is as a pair of old pros, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, fail to get hardly any laughs at all in this desperate comedy.

Jack Nicholson is Edward Cole and Morgan Freeman is Carter Chambers. Aside from age, Edward and Carter have nothing in common except that they are both dying from cancer. After digging through the perfunctory getting to know you scenes, Edward, a millionaire who actually owns the hospital the two men are in, and Carter, a middle class mechanic, bond and decide not to spend their last days in bed.

Together they will blow off their families and friends in favor of a round the world jaunt that will help each accomplish all of the things on their 'bucket list', the list of things they wished to do before they 'kicked the bucket'. For Carter just leaving the country is one thing, Edward on the other hand wants to climb Kilimanjaro.

So what about their families? Edward is a loner who hasn't seen his only daughter in over a decade (no points for guessing that we will meet the daughter before the film ends). Carter's wife, played by Beverly Todd, is rightfully indignant until Carter plays the 'I'm dying, I'll do what I want' card.' It's a jerk thing to do to the person you supposedly love, leaving them right before you actually die to travel around the world with a virtual stranger, but nothing about these characters is all that likable anyway. 

The around the world journey is filled with charm even as it is slightly offensive in nature. Really, how many people really dying of cancer could just pick up and go around the world? Granted, movies are all about wish fulfillment, but there is something unseemly about the carefree attitude of The Bucket List in relation to cancer and the honest suffering of so many real people.

That aside, from a strictly filmmaking standpoint The Bucket List is a mixed bag. There are laughs, mostly from the two stars bantering off of one another, but The Bucket List is arguably the laziest movie Rob Reiner has ever made. The film moves from one expected scene to the next with little more than the charm of Nicholson and the sturdy presence of Freeman to carry us past the predictability.

Eventually, even these two awesome talents can't prevent us from getting bored with the progression from one expected scene to the next. There is an inevitability to the story, of course it's about two guys dying of cancer, but Reiner makes little attempt to mix up the journey with something we don't expect or that he doesn't tip his hand to several scenes ahead of time.

The dull predictability combined with the overall morbidity of the central story can't entirely dim the charm of these two stars but not even the talents of Freeman and Nicholson can overcome the rote anticipation of The Bucket List.

Movie Review Lucky Number Slevin

Lucky Number Slevin (2006) 

Directed by Paul McGuigan

Written by Jason Smilovic

Starring Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Ben Kinglsey, Morgan Freeman, Lucy Liu

Release Date April 7th, 2007

Published November 14th, 2007

Director Paul McGuigan is a rising star amongst hipster film critics like myself. His style is witty, ironic, romantic, referential and just plain hip. Most important to his hipster fans, McGuigan's films aren't all that popular at the box office which allows us the opportunity to claim him as our own and say that the masses simply don't get it.

We love it when we can do that, anyone who's heard me talk about the unpopular horror film The Descent knows that. So, I'm sure, that element plays at least a small role in my appreciation of the hip hitman flick Lucky Number Slevin, a comic, romantic modern noir with plenty of bodies, bullets and dark humor. A combination that always warms my heart.

Slevin Kellevra (Josh Hartnett) is having a bad couple of days. After losing his job he found his apartment building condemned. Going to stay at his girlfriend's place he finds her in bed with his best friend. Now having made his way to New York to stay with his pal Nick, Slevin finds himself mistaken for Nick by a pair of mob bosses each claiming Nick owes them large sums of money.

Morgan Freeman plays the Boss, head of a predominantly African American mafia who remains at all times locked away in his penthouse behind panes of bullet proof glass. His nemesis is the rabbi (Ben Kingsley) who lives directly across the street also in a penthouse, also behind bullet proof glass. The two have lived in harmony and fear of one another since ending their partnership some twenty years earlier.

Now both mobsters have competing interests in this kid Nick who is actually Slevin. Nick/Slevin owes The Boss 93,000 dollars and the rabbi somewhere in the 30 to 32,000 dollar range. The boss however, is the only one to offer a way out of debt that doesn't involve large sums of cash. If Slevin will kill the Rabbi's son, known to everyone but the Rabbi as The Fairy (go ahead and guess why he's called The Fairy), his debt will be wiped clean.

What Slevin doesn't know is that the man really pulling the strings on these dueling debt scenarios is a world renowned hitman named Goodkat (Bruce Willis). The hitman is targeting Slevin but the reasons why are unclear to either the Boss or the Rabbi and to us in the audience until the clever twists begin.

To give away too much, as recent commercials for the DVD release of Slevin have, would be a crime. Part of the fun of Lucky Number Slevin are the ways in which director McGuigan and writer Jason Smilovic twist and turn audience expectations, distracting us one way with clever dialogue and turning us the other way with unexpected bursts of violence or even romance.

While staying at Nick's apartment, Slevin strikes up an unexpected flirtation with Nick's neighbor played by Lucy Liu. Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu spark exceptional chemistry that is at first quite reminiscent of old school, fast talking, 1940's romantic comedy. As the relationship develops it becomes quite heated and becomes one of the more winning aspects of Lucky Number Slevin.

Josh Hartnett is becoming one of my favorite actors. I like the choices he makes as an actor. First with the offbeat romantic thriller Wicker Park, also directed by Paul McGuigan, in which he turned a typical thriller character into a curiously straight edge hero. Now with Lucky Number Slevin, Hartnett delivers another slightly offbeat performance.

Slevin is a character with a big mouth and no fear. He even has invented a little term for his inability to show fear, he calls it Ataraxia, it's fake don't bother looking it up. It means he simply has no fear whether it's facing down giant thugs or looking down the barrel of a shotgun or being told he has to kill another man. Hartnett plays this lack of fear to terrific comic effect and is aided greatly by a very witty and slightly off kilter script.

Bruce Willis is the rock of Lucky Number Slevin, always lurking in the background, occasionally filling in the holes of the plot but never revealing anything till it's necessary. Like his hitman character, Willis is efficient and expert in his performance. His description of a Kansas City Shuffle, a kind of con game, in the film's opening scene, is something Christopher Walken might have really enjoyed playing.

There are many pleasures to behold in this smart, hip and humorous hitman/mobster flick. Josh Hartnett is a star of the future and surrounded by Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley and romantically paired with Lucy Liu, Hartnett's starpower and charisma get the perfect showcase. Director Paul McGuigan, like his star, is also on the rise. With Lucky Number Slevin and Wicker Park as his first two Hollywood pictures he is stoking the fire of hipster imaginations. I for one cannot wait to see what McGuigan, the hipster's director of the moment, will do next.

Movie Review Lean on Me

Lean on Me (1989) 

Directed by John G. Avildsen 

Written by Michael Schiffer 

Starring Morgan Freeman, Beverly Todd, Robert Guillaume, Tony Todd 

Release Date March 3rd, 1989 

Published August 7th, 2002 

Morgan Freeman is one of the most commanding screen presences in film history. In great movies like Glory and Seven and even bad movies like Along Came A Spider and Deep Impact, Freeman's sharp intense stare gave his characters the respect and dignity that most characters have to earn.

In 1989's Lean On Me, Freeman took on the role of another commanding presence, that of the principle of New Jersey's ugliest High School, Eastside High. Crazy Joe Clark made national headlines with his promise too carry a baseball bat in the halls of the school and chain the schools exits to keep out the drug-dealers.

For over 10 years, Joe Clark was an elementary school principal chafing at his ineffectual position when school superintendent Dr. Napier (Robert "Benson" Guilliaume)offers Joe his dream job as principal at the school where he got his start, Paterson New Jersey's Eastside High School. Oh but things have changed a lot in the near 20 years since Joe had been at Eastside. Drug dealers now run the halls selling their product locker to locker. Gang members fought in class and teachers hid in the teacher’s lounge, too afraid to go to class.

While Eastside's staff is terrified by the students around them, there is no intimidating Joe Clark whose first act as principal is to expel the students who caused the most trouble. The expulsions touch off a firestorm of criticisms lead by Leona Barrett (Lynn Thigpen), the mother of one of the expelled students.

Clark's unusual tactics using bullhorns, baseball bats, and chains on the doors made national headlines in the mid 1980's. Those headlines are what inspired this film and may be the reason why the film feels disjointed at times. The editing of the film jumps the timelines ahead so quick that entire subplots are introduced and quickly discarded.

That criticism aside, Lean On Me is all about Freeman and his perfectly pitched performance. Using his unique vocal cadence, constantly annoyed and always near screaming, his voice and soul crushing gaze create an intimidating but charismatic character that makes you wonder what the real Joe Clark is like.

Joe Clark left Eastside in the early 1990's to accept a position at New Jersey's Essex County Youth Facility where once again his disciplinary style made national headlines. We will have to wait and see if that will be good enough for a sequel.

Movie Review: The Big Bounce

The Big Bounce (2004) 

Directed by George Armitage 

Written by Sebastian Guttierez 

Starring Owen Wilson, Sara Foster, Charlie Sheen, Gary Sinise, Vinnie Jones, Morgan Freeman 

Release Date January 30th, 2004

Published February 3rd, 2004 

The books of Elmore Leonard have been adapted for the screen more than John Grisham’s have and almost as often as Stephen King’s have. And like Grisham and King’s adaptations, they are extremely hit and miss. When they're good, like Out Of Sight, Jackie Brown, or Get Shorty, they are very good. When they are bad they are very bad like 1997's Touch starring Skeet Ulrich. Or bad like the first time Leonard's novel The Big Bounce was brought to the screen in 1969--a humorless, dull caper flick with Ryan O'Neal and Leigh Taylor Young. The latest adaptation of The Big Bounce at least brings a little light humor to its throwaway caper plot, but it is just as inconsequential as the original and yet another letdown of it's source material.

The Big Bounce stars Owen Wilson as small time criminal Jack Ryan, a con man looking to lay low on the big island of Hawaii. Unfortunately, Jack is the type who can't avoid trouble and while working a construction gig, he can't help but draw the ire of his bosses, evil land developers played by Gary Sinise, Charlie Sheen and Vinnie Jones. Jack's one friend, Frank (Gregory Sporleder), isn't much help either, encouraging Jack to get back into the breaking and entering racket to help Frank pay off his numerous debts.

Then Jack meets real trouble in the form of his former boss's mistress Nancy (Sara Foster), a sun-baked surf goddess with a penchant for those unfortunate criminal types like Jack. Nancy is working an angle to steal money from Sinise's evil land developer and enlists Jack to help her pull it off. This begins a fun little romance plot with the very sexy Foster getting Wilson's surfer dude con-man into all sorts of trouble. All of which leads to a major twist involving a local judge played by Morgan Freeman and Sinise's drunkard wife played by Bebe Neuwirth.

In the Elmore Leonard universe of hip lingo and languid humor, The Big Bounce is a fun, if forgettable little story, sexy and surprising and always cool. In the film however every bit of humor is strained for and the coolness that Leonard has always injected through dialogue and setting is replaced by Wilson's charming surfer attitude. Wilson is charming and funny but out of place. His character is so laid back and care free that there never seems to be anything at stake.

For his part Sinise would seem to be pivotal in the plot but he is merely a cameo in the film. Instead, the bad guy slack is picked up by Sheen in a role that is badly miscalculated and mind blowingly out of place. Sheen's dunderheaded character is never a threat to anyone and thus has no weight in scenes where he is seemingly the heavy. His character's relationship with Wilson's character is confusing; are they friends? He did bail jack out of jail. They fight, but why they are fighting and why does nothing of consequence happen after the fight? It all just adds to the confounding dynamic between Wilson and Sheen.

For his part, Owen Wilson is the film’s best asset. His laid back charm is fun and enjoyable but it has little context. The romance with Foster is fun and sexy, Foster is unbelievably gorgeous, but the plot is Byzantine in explaining whether they have feelings for one another or not and is noncommittal about those feelings all the way to the films unsatisfying conclusion.

On the bright side, when it's freezing cold and there is a foot of snow on the ground it is nice to escape for ninety or so minutes of fun in the sun on the beaches of Hawaii. But that is not nearly enough for me to recommend The Big Bounce. 

Movie Review: Bruce Almighty

Bruce Almighty (2003) 

Directed by Tom Shadyac

Written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe, Steve Oedekirk 

Starring Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Phillip Baker Hall

Release Date May 23rd, 2003 

Published May 22nd, 2003 

The concept must have seemed like a home run even without a script. Jim Carrey as a regular guy who takes on God's powers. Heck do you even need a script for that? Simply turn on the camera, let Carrey contort himself, add a catchphrase, special effects and you’re done. Thankfully the producers of Bruce Almighty decided to put together a script to go with their concept and star. It also helps to have a top notch supporting cast including Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Aniston who make Bruce Almighty rise above your usual Jim Carrey flick.

In Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey is Bruce Nolan, a TV reporter who longs to move up to the news anchor position. His current job as a feature reporter covering stories like a record breaking chocolate chip cookie aren't exactly what Bruce had in mind when he got into journalism. At least things are good at home where Bruce has a great girlfriend, Grace (Aniston), though her sister Debbie (Lisa Ann Walter) hates him. Bruce doesn't realize Grace wants to get married, he's too wrapped up in his problems to notice.

Bad things keep happening to Bruce. Mostly it's little things like his dog not being house broken, or traffic making him late to work. But when Bruce finds out that he has lost the Anchor job to rival co-worker Evan (Steve Corell), Bruce really flips, and worse he does it on live TV while covering a story. His on air outburst gets him fired, which leads to a fight with hoodlums in the station parking lot and a fight with Grace at home.

With all that's happened to him it's easy to understand why Bruce would lash out at the almighty, and God responds. Sending message through Bruce's busted pager, God (Morgan Freeman) summons Bruce to an empty warehouse. After convincing a naturally skeptical Bruce that he is indeed God, he proceeds to give Bruce all of his powers, saying “let's see if you can do any better.”

Bruce's idea of better is a little different than God's. Mostly it's settling scores with his rivals at work, impressing his girlfriend and teaching his dog to use the toilet. Bruce also enjoys a little revenge on the hoods that beat him up. Is there anything funnier than a monkey crawling out of a guys butt? See this film and judge for yourself.

There are also prayers to deal with. Prayers that come to Bruce in the form of millions of voices in his head. His brilliant plan for dealing with the prayers leads to couple of pretty good sight gags and the potential for some real chaos that doesn't quite live up to expectation. You would think a gag where Bruce makes everyone’s prayers come true might do a little more than have everyone win the lottery on the same day.

There is an obvious in-joke in Bruce Almighty, a joke that relates Bruce's problems at work mirror Carrey's real life problems. Like his character’s longing to move from funny features reporter to serious news anchorman is an exact corollary to Carrey's longing to be a serious actor. The joke isn't overplayed and has a nice payoff that gives the audience insight into the actor’s psyche in real life.

Director Tom Shadyac still has some growing up to do, but he is beginning to mature a little as a competent comedy director. He has learned that the setup of a joke is as important as it's punchline. He has learned more about telling a coherent story that unfolds with a logical progression to a believable conclusion.

However, Shadyac still needs to curb his affection for schmaltz. If you saw his attempt at pathos and dramedy in Patch Adams, you know what I'm talking about. There are moments near the end of Bruce Almighty where the film threatens to drown in syrupy sweetness. Thank heaven for Morgan Freeman who keeps the sweetness from becoming cavity inducing with his charm, wit and calming influence. His mere presence relaxes both audience and star and makes Bruce Almighty a much better film for having cast him.

Bruce Almighty marks a return to Jim Carrey's strength, making people laugh. Not that he can't do drama, I am one of a small group who thought he was sensational in Man on the Moon. I believe he has the potential to something truly fantastic as a dramatic leading man, but much like Jerry Lewis and Charlie Chaplin before him Carrey's strength lies in making people smile and in Bruce Almighty he does it just enough to leave you with a smile as you leave the theater. That makes it an easy film to recommend. -

Movie Review: Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher (2003) 

Directed by Lawrence Kasden

Written by William Goldman 

Starring Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Donnie Wahlberg

Release Date March 21st, 2003

Published March 20th, 2003 

For once Stephen King is publicly saying he likes a movie made from one of his books. Always his work’s harshest critic, King claims to never have been fully satisfied with any screen adaptation. However, the newest King adaptation, Dreamcatcher, has earned his seal of approval. That is likely because it is the most too-the-word adaptation of any of King's work. Dreamcatcher seems to go out of it's way to be faithful to King's vision, some might say that’s a good thing, some like myself disagree.

In Dreamcatcher we meet four guys, friends since childhood, who share the unique ability to communicate telepathically and read people’s minds. This ability stems from a childhood incident when they saved a retarded boy nicknamed Duddits from a group of bullies. Now adults, the four friends, Henry (Thomas Jane), Jonesy (Daniel Lewis), Beaver (Jason Lee) and Pete (Timothy Olyphant) planning a trip to a shared cabin in the woods. The trip is called off when Jonesy is nearly killed in a sick looking car accident.

Cut to six months later and the friends finally make it to the cabin. Jonesy, having survived the accident, seems normal but tells his friends that the accident was caused by a vision of their childhood friend Duddits. He doesn't blame Duddits for the accident but cannot explain the strange vision and especially how he survived the horrific accident.

This setup is very intriguing with good chemistry among the four actors and the character development and the use of the telepathy is very engaging. It entices the audience into what one hopes is an examination of these characters and theie abilities. Unfortunately, this is where Dreamcatcher flies off the rails and turns into yet another sci-fi/ horror schlockfest.

It is at this point that we meet Morgan Freeman and his insane General Kurtz. Kurtz is tracking the crash of an alien ship that contains aliens intent on spreading a virus that could wipe out humanity. As Kurtz searches for the ship, our four friends are witnesses to some freaky stuff. While Henry and Pete go on a beer run, Jonesy and Beaver take in a hunter who was lost in the woods. The hunter is very ill, as the number of loud farts coming out of him attest. It's not long before Jonesy and Beaver find out what's wrong with the guy, in a scene that makes John Hurt's ET indigestion in Alien look tame.

Now with Morgan Freeman in the film it would seem impervious to being bad, but oh how wrong you are. In fact, it is Freeman who provides many of the unintentionally funny moments of the film. Woefully miscast as a crazy man, Freeman should be playing the good guy role that went to Tom Sizemore. After all, who could possibly play crazy opposite Tom Sizemore? It’s worth noting that naming Freeman's General Kurtz is a cute little allusion to Apocolypse Now.

I mentioned just how faithful Dreamcatcher is to it's source material and though I haven't read it, I'm sure it is. What so many people don't realize about Stephen King's writing is, is how blatantly uncommercial it is. Oh sure it sells millions of copies, but that doesn't tell you how many people bought the book and were unable to make it all the way through it. This is the problem in faithfully adapting a King novel because most of his novels are far more gruesome than anyone would ever want to film.

Dreamcatcher, in being faithful to the original, took a risk that the disgusting elements of the writing and the outrageous plot twists would cause audiences to turn away or even walk out. Props for taking the risk, however it failed miserably.

Apparently Dreamcatcher isn't one of King's best because if this is a faithful adaptation it's an absolute mess. From ridiculous looking rejects from the Alien movies, to the cringe inducing dialogue, Dreamcatcher is at times a painful moviegoing experience. Schlocky sci-fi/horror on par with Resident Evil and Jason Goes to Space, or whatever the hell they called that Friday the 13th dud.

It's a real shame because the opening 35-40 minutes are pretty good and Director Lawrence Kasdan does a good job of building suspense throughout the beginning of the film. Why he drifted into horror movie cliches and sci-fi nastiness at a certain point in the film is maddening. It's a shame Kasdan decided to remain faithful to King when a director of his skill could have taken the strong start and taken the story in a more interesting direction.

Movie Review High Crimes

High Crimes (2002)

Directed by Carl Franklin 

Written by Yuri Zetser

Starring Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, James Caviezel, Adam Scott, Amanda Peet, Michael Shannon

Release Date April 5th, 2002 

Published April 5th, 2002 

The team of Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman is a strong one. In Kiss the Girls their chemistry made what could have been a mundane suspense thriller into an entertaining suspense thriller. Thankfully. Judd and Freeman bring that same chemistry to High Crimes.

As we join the story Claire Kubik (Judd), is rolling out of bed and searching for her husband Tom (Jim Caviezel). The two are trying to have a baby. Claire is a lawyer; her most recent case has gotten her on TV and dangerously raised her profile. After getting her client off on a technicality her house is broken into. The next night as she and her husband are walking home and the FBI jumps out of nowhere and arrests them. It seems that as the police were investigating the break in her husband’s fingerprints came up as a match with a man wanted by military justice for the execution-style killings that took place during a military raid in El Salvador.

Claire wants to defend her husband but finds military courts to be far different than the court she is used to. So Claire employs the help of an ex-military lawyer named Charlie Grimes (Freeman). Also on the team is a naive young military lawyer played by Adam Scott and Claire's sister played by Amanda Peet.

Ashley Judd is very strong in High Crimes, her character through most of the film is never predictable. Though at the end she has one of those rather obvious but necessary scenes that you must have in average clockwork thrillers. Judd is better than the material she's given, which you could say about most of the films she has made. One of these days she will get a script as strong as she is.

Not that this script is bad, writer Yuri Zeltser takes what isn't very original and twists it just enough to make it interesting. Though the trailer gives away too much (I rented it already knowing the ending intuitively), there is just enough suspense to make the film entertaining. Of course the film is blessed to have such a sensational cast to carry out its clockwork plot.

High Crimes is indeed another by the book suspense thriller, set apart only by the great acting. Director Carl Franklin wrings just enough good dialogue and suspense out of the thin script to make an entertaining Friday night rental.

Movie Review: Evan Almighty

Evan Almighty (2007) 

Directed by Tom Shadyac 

Written by Steve Oedekirk 

Starring Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, Wanda Sykes

Release Date June 22nd, 2007

Published June 21st, 2007 

I found Bruce Almighty a little puzzling. Was Jim Carrey God for the entire world or just for the city of Buffalo where the film is set? Who knows, I guess the real question is why I am dragging such a logical question in to a discussion of a movie where logic is the least important thing imaginable? Bruce Almighty wasn't really a movie, in the sense of a series of scenes that coalesce into a story. Rather, Bruce Almighty was a concept blown up to movie length. Director Tom Shadyac and writer Steve Oedekirk simply thought of a one line pitch, Jim Carrey as God, and worked from there. The same creative bankruptcy plagues the even more logic free pseudo-sequel Evan Almighty. This film emerged from yet another one line pitch, Steve Carell as Noah.

Evan Baxter (Carell) was Buffalo's number 1 newscaster. Now he is Buffalo's representative in Congress having recently won election. Moving with his family, including his wife Joan (Lauren Graham) and their three sons, to Washington D.C; Evan has promised voters that he is going to change the world. God (Morgan Freeman) likes Evan's ambition and decides to offer Evan the opportunity to really change the world.

Dropping wood and tools on Evan's lawn, God tasks the former newsman to build an ark. The flood is coming and Evan will have to have the boat built in time if he is going to change the world and save a few lives. Evan is naturally skeptical but when animals begin following him wherever he goes, and he sprouts facial hair that Charlton Heston in The 10 Commandments would envy, he can no longer fight what God has asked him to do.

Directed by Tom Shadyac, who also directed Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty is a spirited but lunkheaded comedy. Star Steve Carell does everything short of roll over and beg for laughs as he tries to wring some humor out the muck of Evan Almighty. It's a tribute to his talent and that of his picking up a paycheck co-star Morgan Freeman, that Evan Almighty does have a happy vibe throughout.

Unfortunately for both performers, director Tom Shadyac simply cannot get ahold of this material. Every plot strand seems to run off in a different direction and he simply lacks the ability to coax it all back into a cohesive whole. Meanwhile, as the story drifts away, the special effects, from CGI condors, tigers and bears to the abysmal, Ed Wood gone computerized, flood, all are strictly amateur efforts.

There are numerous things wrong with Evan Almighty aside from Tom Shadyac's ability to bring it all together as a cohesive whole. A glaring problem is the films gutlessness. This is a biblical tale, God is one of the stars, and yet real religion is scarce. We never learn what denomination Evan is nor do we see him in church. Piety is not entirely necessary but the film never takes a stance on just how religious Evan is aside from a brief, begrudging prayer.

This is also a film in which politics are involved and yet the filmmakers seem to have no concept of how politics or democracy works. As Evan gets into his ark building, robe wearing, shaggy bearded business he worries that he may be fired from his job. Evan is a Congressman. To fire him, the voters have to vote him out; yet he acts as if John Goodman's evil elder congressman is his boss with the ability to banish him if he feels like it.

(Side note, I am aware that Congress can expel a member of Congress, however, one single Congressman cannot fire another Congressman.) 

Of the glaring political misnomers, where is the President? The alternate universe of Evan Almighty has no President. He's not even referred to. One would think that if a nutty Congressman started dressing like Noah and building a giant ark and bringing animals, two by two, from across the globe, the President of the United States just might notice it and have a comment or two.

And in case you were wondering where Evan stands politically, the film does not assign him a political party. Fearing they might turn off potential moviegoers, Evan's politics are mysterious at best. He drives a Hummer which some would see as being Republican-ish, but that is not a great indicator. This might not matter if Evan were something of a political dupe who got elected by chance thanks to a welcoming smile and positive demeanor but the story establishes quickly that Evan is neither incompetent or incapable.

As with all things in mainstream Hollywood, this is a box office calculation. The movie must appear as all things to all people so as not to offend any potential audience. Hence, no religious affiliation for Evan nor a political party. This, of course, only serves to muddy the waters of the films comic intentions. It can't be a satire of anything because that would require a perspective. There is a muddled pro-environment message. John Goodman's evil congressman is trying to push through an environmentally unsound bill, but the details of this plot are too confused for any useful context.

So why did I walk out of Evan Almighty smiling? I'm not exactly sure. There is a big dance sequence over the credits with a lot of behind the scenes footage that is a whole lot of fun. There is also the quick witted performance of comedian Wanda Sykes who seems to be reprising her role from another awful movie, the Jane Fonda-Jennifer Lopez pseudo-comedy Monster In Law.

As she did in Monster In Law, Sykes performs the service of comic fixer. When scenes lack humor, as so many scenes in Evan Almighty seem to, director Shadyac simply cuts to Sykes for yet another of her quick witted quips and put downs. You can sense even when the quips were scripted and when they weren't, the likely ad-libs of Ms. Sykes are far funnier than the scripted ones.

There is a scene where Evan confronts congress in his full Noah garb and Sykes provides comic commentary from an entirely different location, speaking to no one but us in the audience. Intentional or not, this scene seems cobbled together as if it simply weren't working and the editors cut in clips of Sykes to make the scenes funny.

Steve Carell does what he can with this inelegant script and gamely throws his body into as much slapstick as he can endure. His attempts are kind of funny in that classic three stooges, laugh at someone else's pain sort of way, but when not throwing himself to the ground or hitting himself with a hammer, Carell is left at the mercy of this ludicrous script and left only a little dance to try and bring some life to scenes. The dance gets old quick.

Cowardly, confused and amateurish, Evan Almighty is a terrifically bad movie. And yet, I feel bad trashing it too much. Steve Carell is so talented and likable that I want to cut this film all the slack I can. That isn't much. Wanda Sykes is a real scene stealer but there is no need to waste your time seeking her out in this film when DVD's of her stand up material are readily available and free of the yoke of pulling this movie behind it.

Evan Almighty is the most expensive comedy ever made and one of the biggest wastes of money Hollywood has brought to the screen in a long while.

Movie Review Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone (2007) 

Directed by Ben Affleck 

Written by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard 

Starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan, Titus Welliver 

Release Date October 19th, 2007

Published October 18th, 2007 

Ben Affleck has long been unfairly maligned as an actor. Yes, he made Gigli and Paycheck and Reindeer Games and they are no picnic, fair. But those movies do not define his talent. The vitriol aimed at Ben Affleck has long seemed like over the top piling on and more than a little jealousy, from my perspective. Now, with the release of his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, Affleck haters will have to eat their words. In a season of Oscar shortfalls, Gone Baby Gone is the fall season's first film to exceed the awards hype.

Casey Affleck stars in the moody, noirish Gone Baby Gone, based on the Dennis LeHane of the same name. Casey plays Patrick Kenzie, a small-time detective in the slums of Boston. Along with his girlfriend Angie (Michelle Monaghan), Patrick usually handles missing person cases involving bail jumpers and child support deadbeats.

Imagine Patrick's surprise when a family involved in a high profile kidnapping seeks his help in finding a missing four year old girl. Amy Madigan plays the child's concerned aunt who hopes that Patrick can use his familiarity in the neighborhood to get better leads than the cops can get. Needless to say, the cops aren't entirely happy for the help.

Morgan Freeman is Jack Doyle, the local police chief in charge of missing children cases. Ed Harris and John Ashton are the two detectives leading the case who accept Patrick's help grudgingly and quite skeptically. Soon witnesses and suspects begin to pile up and so do a few bodies and Patrick finds himself wrapped in a very dangerous mystery and a moral crisis.

Gone Baby Gone plays like a police procedural but there is so much more to it. As the movie goes on Casey Affleck's Patrick is forced to make choices that no one would want to make. Choices that require an examination of his morals and ethics and his sense of right and wrong. The script by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard doesn't make the decisions easy or overly dramatic. The plot elements of Gone Baby Gone develop organically, natural to the story being told.

It's a rare modern movie that gives characters time to make moral decisions that aren't forced or pathetic. Patrick will be haunted by his choices, right and wrong. The consequences are aired and examined and smartly dispatched in one of the best scripts of the year.

Casey Affleck comes to life in Gone Baby Gone. Long known as Ben's little brother, Casey steps out of big brother's shadow with a performance that combines toughness, street smarts and sadness. Never angsty or overly dramatic, Casey's Patrick reveals himself slowly as just a good man turned into a reluctant crusader by some ugly circumstances and a promise he made to a grieving mother.

Affleck is matched grit for grit with Michelle Monaghan who nails the south Boston accent and the neighborhood's tomboy chic. Sexy with just a touch of naivete, Monaghan is the perfect dramatic and romantic foil for Casey Affleck's street smart tough guy detective. Together they spark with terrific romantic chemistry that gives the perfect impression of a relationship begun long before we meet them.

The third lead character in Gone Baby Gone is South Boston, a hard knocks area of one of America's most well known city's. Ben and Casey Affleck are quite familiar with these streets and this neighborhood having grown up there and as a director Ben Affleck gives gritty life to these downtrodden, drug and crime ridden streets.

That familiar turf is likely what drew Ben Affleck to the work of Dennis LeHane on whose series of novels Gone Baby Gone is based. Like Affleck, LeHane is from Boston and knows these streets, these crimes and these people. The naturalistic dialogue comes from a very knowing place in both Affleck and LeHane and while they are unafraid to expose the dark side of Boston even as you can sense a certain loyalty and love in the way they draw these characters.

Gone Baby Gone is the first film of the fall of 2007 that, for me, exceeds the awards expectations. Casey Affleck's confident and concise performance and the terrific adapted screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard seem like locks come Oscar nomination time. And here's hoping that the long time, unwarranted public disdain for Ben Affleck doesn't affect his chances of being nominated for directing Gone Baby Gone.

Ben Affleck's work here is as gritty and hard boiled as a young Scorsese with the polish of modern Hollywood production. Gone Baby Gone is Ben's baby and it succeeds on his talent. This one is a must see.

Movie Review: An Unfinished Life

An Unfinished Life (2005) 

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom 

Written by Virginia Korus Spragg 

Starring Robert Redford, Jennifer Lopez, Morgan Freeman, Josh Lucas, Damien Lewis 

Release Date September 9th, 2005 

Published September 8th, 2005 

Director Lasse Hallstrom is hailed by many as a genius. I do not share this sentiment. I find Mr. Hallstrom's inveterate brand of gooey, feel good, hokum to be excruciating. Credit for the success of both Chocolat and The Cider House Rules is owed far more to the creative marketing execs at Miramax than to the artistic credibility that Lasse Hallstrom allegedly brought to them. For me, the bland, soupy, emotionally manipulative style of Hallstrom turns my stomach. 

So you can imagine my shock at watching Lasse Hallstrom's latest effort, An Unfinished Life starring Robert Redford, and finding myself honestly moved. Stripping away his stock melodramatics, Lasse Hallstrom crafts a quiet, unassuming examination of grief and four uniquely fascinating characters that succeed without Hallstrom's usual heavy handedness.

Robert Redford stars in An Unfinished Life as Einar Gilkyson, a crusty old cowboy living set in his ways in the mountains of Wyoming. Milking cows and riding horses are Einar's daily pursuits. What you would not expect is the care with which this curmudgeonly character takes care of his oldest friend, Mitch (Morgan Freeman), the victim of a bear attack for which Einar feels responsible. Dropping any pretense of cowboy toughness Einar is genuinely caring for his old friend.

Then, into the daily routine of Einar and Mitch's walks Einar's former daughter-in-law, Jean (Jennifer Lopez). Having just escaped with her 12 year old daughter Griff (Becca Gardener) from an abusive boyfriend, Jean is turning to the only family she has left. Einar, however, is not happy to see her. Einar blames Jean for the death of his son Griffin, her husband. Having disappeared immediately after Griffin's funeral, Jean never told Einar about his granddaughter.

This premise sets up for a number of possible melodramatic flourishes and opportunities abound for grand thematic gestures. However, what makes An Unfinished Life so fascinating is the number of times those grand gestures are passed over in favor of a quieter more realistic approach to the characters. Oftentimes directors like Lasse Hallstrom overwhelm dramas with grandiose turns of plot, traumatic, almost Job-ian, pitfalls that are meant to create further drama but more often take away realism in favor of jerking tears out of the eyes of moviegoers.

Here, much to my surprise, Lasse Hallstrom stays so far away from this method that An Unfinished Life threatens to become so real as to mirror mundane everyday life. That is only avoided by the terrifically talented cast lead by Robert Redford. In what is a return to form after a series of forgettable films, Mr. Redford digs in and delivers a wonderful portrait of a grieving father, an aging cowboy ,and an extraordinary friend. Redford and Morgan Freeman make a wonderful team onscreen and they seem to relish playing old cowboys reminiscing about a way of life that is now almost nonexistent.

The script was adapted for the screen by the writers of the book of the same name, Mike Spragg and Virginia Korus Spragg. The husband and wife team living in the mountains of California crafted the story character by character, giving each a backstory that they only later linked to the other characters as the story progressed. This unique approach helped in creating wonderfully fleshed out characters whose depth and soul are communicated by this great cast.

Naturally not every element of the book could make it into the film. Some of the lost items include a little of Jean's backstory, that of her jealous and dangerous ex-boyfriend Gary (Damian Lewis), and much of Jean's romance with the local Wyoming sheriff played by Josh Lucas. At some point these stories were left undone in favor of making the movie more about Einar.  Everything flows from him in this version and this is not a bad approach, especially since Robert Redford delivers such a terrific performance.

I love the idea that characters like the ones played by Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman really exist. It's charming to think that somewhere in the mountains of Wyoming there are these rough and tumble cowboy types of bygone days who have deeply philosophical conversations and poetic musings about dreams. The location is romantic and the characters give context to that romantic air by acting as if they really exist, somewhere out there away from society.

The focus on Einar and Mitch's close friendship is also a source of humor in the film. The old friends have an old married couple that quite funny. And then there is a more overt question of their closeness from the granddaughter who in her precocious 12 year old way asks outright if the two old cowboys are gay. This could have been a cheap joke but in execution it's a very sweet funny moment and a necessary moment of levity breaking into the underlying and ponderous sadness at the film's core.

In the end, An Unfinished Life is about grief and forgiveness. Einar has never forgiven Jean for the car accident that took his son's life. By the same token, Jean has never forgiven herself which led her into a series of abusive relationships. The film emphasizes the point with expository dialogue from Jean saying exactly what we in the audience already knew.  She feels she deserves the abuse because she holds herself responsible for the death of her husband.

That tendency in the dialogue to over-explain a point is one of a few minor flaws in the film. Another is the budding romance between Jean and the local sheriff played by Josh Lucas. The two actors look good together but the sparks never really ignite, probably because both characters' stories are cut back to make more room for Einar and Mitch's stories. Thankfully Einar and Mitch are so interesting you can forgive the inconsistencies.

Another issue that might annoy observant moviegoers is a small number of editing problems. Scenes that do not connect with the rest of the story, seemingly added to give supporting characters more screen time. Lopez is the subject of most of these extraneous scenes, such as a scene in a diner, where she has taken a job, in which she confronts a pair of rednecks warning them not to mess with her. The scene shows Jean can stand up for herself when she wants to but that point is repeated more compellingly and necessarily later when she has a final confrontation with Einar.

Regardless of these minor problems, An Unfinished Life is a lovely dramatic piece. Lyrical, prosaic at times, but always involving. Director Lasse Hallstrom has never crafted a more enjoyable film. It's a real shame that the film was yet another casualty of the Miramax-Disney war. After sitting on the shelf for a year the film has the stench of failure attached to it. This is quite unfair, especially for a film that marks the return to form of the legendary Robert Redford. Given the proper care An Unfinished Life could have been an Oscar nominated coda for Mr. Redford's extraordinary career.

Movie Review: The Sum of All Fears

The Sum of All Fears (2002) 

Directed by Phil Alden Robinson

Written by Paul Attanasio, Daniel Pyne 

Starring Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Bridget Moynihan, James Cromwell, Liev Schreiber 

Release Date May 31st, 2002 

Published May 29th, 2002 

SPOILER WARNING!!! 

The City of Baltimore gets blown up by a nuclear in the new Jack Ryan adventure, The Sum of All Fears, during the Super Bowl in Baltimore, and no one cares. That's the spoiler. Aside from this truly bizarre occurrence, The Sum of All Fears is a serviceable action movie with the wrong leading man. It's a fine action thriller bogged down by a performance by Ben Affleck that simply doesn't work. 

Tom Clancy's signature character Jack Ryan has become a sort of everyman version of Batman. He's your average, workaday CIA agent who, on occasion, is called upon to single-handedly prevent catastrophic world tragedies. The parallels extend off the big screen as well with the Ryan character having the same revolving door casting. The role originated with Alec Baldwin and then to its iconic image, Harrison Ford, and now to Ben Affleck. Sadly, Affleck's Ryan is reminiscent of George Clooney's Batman.

Trying to make sense of how Jack has actually gotten younger since his last adventure is a waste of time, just suspend disbelief and absorb yourself in the intrigue of espionage and politics. After the death of the Russian President, CIA analyst Jack Ryan is called upon to profile the new president named Nemarov, well played by the heretofore-unknown Ciaran Hinds. Ryan is an expert on Nemarov, having predicted his ascendancy to the presidency years before. 

CIA head Cabot (Morgan Freeman) has Jack accompany him on a trip to Russia to meet the president and inspect a nuclear weapons plant. While inspecting the plant Ryan notices three scientists are missing. The disappearance of the scientists leads to the discovery of a plot to smuggle a black market nuclear weapon into the U.S. Ryan is then teamed with an undercover operative named John Clark (Liev Schreiber, surprisingly effective). While Clark tracks the weapon, Ryan must convince his superiors that the Russians aren't involved in the plot.

Ryan and Clark are too late and the bomb explodes in the middle of the Super bowl, killing millions and nearly killing President Fowler, played by James Cromwell. Once the bomb explodes, our worst fears are nearly realized as the two super powers amp up their arsenals for worldwide nuclear war. The films nuclear explosion and its aftermath are jarringly realistic in wake of real life events, but the producers bow to political correctness making the terrorists Nazi's instead of Clancy's use of Arabs. I can see the producers point, that maybe Arab terrorists might be insensitive, but then blowing up the city of Baltimore in the middle of the Super Bowl isn't exactly comforting.

Jack Ryan not only has explosions and terrorists to deal with, he is also saddled with a lame subplot romance with Bridget Moynihan, playing the role once held by Anne Archer. In the previous films, Ryan is married to her. In Sum of All Fears it's a burgeoning relationship that lacks depth and purpose. Moynihan's character is entirely unnecessary, she adds nothing to the film except lead to the joke in the trailer where Freeman tells Ben to tell her why he has to cancel their date and she doesn't believe him. 

She also participates in the films tacked on happy ending where evil is punished and our hero picnics in the park across from the White House. The scene is rather casual considering the City of Baltimore was erased from the planet just days before traumatizing the entire country amid The Super Bowl. Despite those problems, director Phil Alden Robinson deftly handles action and suspense and does an admirable job of translating Clancy's mixture of military fact and dramatic fiction. Paul Attanasio no doubt helped the adapted screenplay along with a rewrite by Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman.

The weakest link in Sum Of All Fears is Ben Affleck, one of my favorite actors. Ben just doesn't carry the dramatic weight to be taken seriously as a guy consulting the President of the United States and the President of Russia. Harrison Ford benefited from his past action hero glory as iconic characters Han Solo and Indiana Jones, those roles gave Ford credibility as a guy who could be trusted to save the world and scream at the President, the iconic retort, 'How dare you, Sir!' 

The fact of the matter is there is no reason for Affleck's character to be called Jack Ryan. The name is merely a marketing tool. Just a way to put butts in the seats via something they find familiar. With the character growing younger and Affleck's lack of Ford-like credibility, the film might have been better served by giving him a different name. Keep the title and call him Jim Taylor or some other bland name and keep Jack Ryan for some other story. 

The Sum Of All Fears is a suspenseful action ride that suffers only for it's poor choice in leading man. Though again I must point out that Affleck is one of my favorites, he is just not right for Jack Ryan. Affleck is best known as a smartass romantic from Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy and as the deeply flawed but likable character’s from Bounce, Good Will Hunting and Changing Lanes. In Sum Of All Fears he's called upon to do things that just don't fit what we know of him. The passion for the part is there but not the “save the world” credibility of Ford.

The Sum Of All Fears with Harrison Ford could have been an exciting summer blockbuster but with Affleck it's a rentable movie if you have nothing else to do.