Movie Review Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) 

Directed by Martin Scorsese 

Written by Martin Scorsese, Eric Roth

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro

Release Date October 20th, 2023

Published October 20th, 2023 

To say that Martin Scorsese is a master of the cinematic form is an understatement. The man has directed epic master works; some of the most iconic works of cinema in last 50 years. He's the Pope of Hollywood, the director that other directors look to for guidance and inspiration. As years pass, Scorsese's mastery of form only seems to grow and gain depth. With age has come patience and maturity that has taken his work from some of the most gut-wrenching and visceral to some of the most thoughtful, elegant, and instructive films ever made. It's an evolution but not a particularly overt one. Scorsese is no longer a Hollywood rebel eager to shake up the world with his cynical vision of urban violence and gritty inter-personal connections. In place of rebellion, Scorsese has embraced his place as one of Hollywood's foremost thinkers, a conscei

For his latest film, Martin Scorsese is not taking it easy but his restraint, patience, and graceful, thoughtful direction is on full display. Taking on the case that provided the foundation of the modern FBI, Scorsese takes us to the heart of Osage Country in Oklahoma. Here, a group of Native Americans happened to strike oil and as the money flowed, the Osage thrived. Then came a group of leeches, con artists and hardened criminals with a taste for both blood and money. As much as racism has a major part to play in what came next, greed is also at the rotting, curdled core of what happened to the Osage people. 

We open on a ceremony. A group of Native Americans are in a tent and delivering exposition in a rather unique way. Via this ceremony, we are drawn into the time period, just after the discovery of oil rich land and just before murderers, thieves, and parasites came looking to rob the Osage people of their newfound wealth. In this ceremony, the elders share a peace pipe that they are laying to rest, it's taught them all it can teach and it is to be symbolically buried. This is at once a warning of the violence that is coming as well as a symbol of the end of the old ways and the birth of a new, unpredictable and reasonably frightening new way of life. 

It's a brilliant opening and it sets the stage for everything that we will see going forward in Killers of the Flower Moon. From there we leap ahead to a train where a man is coming home from the first world war. Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio), could not possibly have a more appropriate name. With his lack of education and naïve willingness to take things at face value, Ernest is earnestness personified. Ernest has come to the Osage country on the invitation of his Uncle Bill (Robert De Niro, though he know him as King. Ernest's Uncle welcomes him with open arms and immediately sets about manipulating the simple young man in the ways of his con. 

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Amsterdam

Amsterdam (2022) 

Directed by David O. Russell 

Written by David O. Russell 

Starring Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Robert De Niro, Rami Malek

Release Date October 7th, 2022 

Published October 11th, 2022 

I'm late to the party on the new David O. Russell film Amsterdam. I didn't get an early preview of the movie and that gave me time to soak in some of what other critics have said. That also means I can look at the current discourse around the film, following its opening weekend at the box office, and offer a fair parsing of the movie as headlines in the online sphere hail Amsterdam as a bomb and a box office debacle and calling for the head of David O. Russell for daring to lose money for a Hollywood studio. 

Yes, Amsterdam is projected to lose around $100 million dollars once the box office dust settles. This means nothing more than the marketing campaign for the film was a flop and doesn't reflect anything about the movie itself. I think Amsterdam has some significant flaws but it is a well accomplished movie, perfectly on brand for David O. Russell and featuring several big stars delivering terrific performances amid a very clever, very funny, and wildly absurd and rage inducingly true story. 

Why is it that the movie as a whole takes the blame when the marketing fails? Let's be clear, the marketing of Amsterdam was a failure. The marketing failed to capture the best and most widely appealing aspects of the movie. For instance, the marketing fails completely at taking advantage of the romance between John David Washington and Margot Robbie and that is arguably the best element of Amsterdam, certainly its the most relatable and tangible element of this quirky tonally awkward absurdist comedy. 

Another reasonable question that is not being asked is why a studio spent so much on a story that was going to be a hard sell no matter how many movie stars are in the cast. Amsterdam is a film that succeeds or fails based on your taste for absurdly wordy dialogue, quirky characters, and other unconventional forms of satire. The studio behind Amsterdam have no excuses to hide behind, they could not have approved this script and this director without seeing the tough sell they had on their hands. 

For me, Amsterdam is a tough sell that I was sold on while experiencing it. I had little idea what I was getting myself into when I saw it, because the marketing campaign does little to prepare you for the movie, and I was won over in the end by the odd yet earnest and passionate film that David O. Russell and his team put together. The film is often mystifying and occasionally frustratingly obtuse but it works thanks to this incredible cast and a story so wild you will have a hard time believing it is true. 

Fans of The Dollop Podcast might recognize the story being told in Amsterdam. General Smedley Butler is a little remembered American hero. General Butler was a bit of an oddball but he proved himself as a leader on the bloody battlefields of World War 1. He, in fact, fought in five wars for his country over the years prior to World War 2. In the 1920s he became a hero of his fellow veterans when he supported the so-called Bonus Army, soldiers who simply asked the government for the money they were promised to go and fight World War 1. 

Butler's passionate defense of veterans made him a leader who could command his own army of former soldiers if he chose to do so. This was the opening that many in the business community, high end CEO's slowly carving up early 20th century America among themselves. They targeted Butler as a man who could displace President Roosevelt whose New Deal politics were taking money from the pockets of the wealthy to bring the poor out of poverty. 

These wealthy men preferred the approach Germany and Italy were taking wherein power was being concentrated at the top and dictators gave favorable deals to those they felt were worthy. Smedley Butler was their choice for puppet dictator of the United States and it is genuinely terrifying just how close to a fascist dictatorship America came. Had it not been for the integrity of General Smedley Butler our country couldd have been changed forever in the worst possible ways. 

Amsterdam is not exactly about what came to be known as The Business Plot. Rather, Russell approaches the true life story through the fictional and comic lens of these three oddballs who met and became life long friends in Amsterdam, in the wake of World War 1. Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) is a doctor who was urged to join the army and fight in World War 1 by his rich in-laws who felt that a war hero would befit the ideal of the family in the public imagination. Harold (John David Washington) is a lawyer who was conscripted into the military and fought to be treated as equals with white soldiers. 

Burt and Henry are brought together by General Meeker (Ed Begley Jr.) who places Burt in charge the mostly black regimen where Harold is sequestered. Together, they make a pact to watch each other's back. If Burt proves to be a leader who takes care of his black soldiers, Henry will assure Burt that those same soldiers won't shoot him in the back. Burt accepts this as a fair trade and they go to war where they are severely injured. In Paris, the two are treated by Valerie, a volunteer medical worker on the run from her past. 

When the war ends, the three head off to Amsterdam to live the lives of hedonists and friends. In Amsterdam, Burt and Henry are introduced to a pair of secretive men whose work stands firmly between stopping the spread of fascism and the somewhat shady tactics of spy services. Mike Myers ad Michael Shannon play a pair of bird obsessed secret agents who use birdwatching as a cover for what we presume is spy activity. Myers and Shannon's characters protect our trio of friends in Amsterdam in exchange for an unspecified favor in the future. 

After 6 months of partying in Amsterdam and recovering from their wounds, Burt, who was badly scarred and lost an eye in the war, decides to return to America. With his newfound knowledge of European medicine and types of treatments, Burt hopes to help treat soldiers struggling to fit back into society after the war. Henry wishes to stay in Amsterdam with Valerie, the two clearly fall in love at first sight, but she soon vanishes and leaves Henry to return to New York alone to work alongside Burt. 

When the duo are hired to investigate the murder of their former General, General Meeker, the conspiracy plot begins to unfold. Robert De Niro stands at the center of the plot as a General caught between doing the right thing and the wealthy men who hope to use him as their puppet dictator to install a fascist government in the place of President Roosevelt. With the veterans who trust and follow him, De Niro's General has a standing army ready to fight with him and he must decide if he's for sale to sell out his country or if the truth and his integrity is more important. 

Realistically, yes, Robert De Niro has by far the most interesting character in Amsterdam. The characters portrayed by Christian Bale, John David Washington and Margot Robbie are all fine but it is De Niro as the General who recognizes what the underdogs are up against and his place within that conflict. And that is a complicated and lengthy description of a complicated plot. Do you now have a better sense of the marketing challenge of Amsterdam? Exactly how do you reduce this idea to 30 second commercials? I feel it can be done but the marketing team behind Amsterdam appears to have given up far too quickly. 

Click here for my full length review of Amsterdam. 

Movie Review: Everybody's Fine

Everybody's Fine (2009) 

Directed by Kirk Jones

Written by Kirk Jones

Starring Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell

Release Date December 4th, 2009 

Published December 3rd, 2009

Filial relations get a thorough going over in Everybody’s Fine in which Robert De Niro stars as the sad, widowed patriarch of a family scattered to the very edges of the continent. Years ago Frank Goode worked extra shifts, overtime, any hours he could to give his wife and children every possible advantage. He was a firm but loving father but work kept him at a distance. Now, retired and mourning the loss of his wife, Frank looks desperately forward to a holiday visit from his four kids. He was destined for disappointment.

One by one Frank’s kids call to cancel. First up is Amy (Kate Beckinsale) who claims work and a sick child will keep her from visiting. She sends along Brother David’s wishes as well, he can’t bother to blow dad off on his own time. Rosie (Drew Barrymore) claims that her Las Vegas review has been called into a last minute performance that will keep her away. Finally, Robert (Sam Rockwell) claims that his duties as Conductor of the Denver Orchestra will prevent him from coming as well.

Since his kids won’t come to him, stubborn and lonely Frank decides to hop a train across the country to visit each of the kids. This is against the wishes of his doctor who tells him he is too sick to travel.Frank’s medical issues are left vague so that they can be employed later in the story.

The first visit is to David whose artwork hangs in a gallery just up the street from his New York City apartment.David isn’t home and after waiting for several hours Frank dashes off to his next location leaving behind an envelope. Next up is Amy, a high powered ad exec. Her troubles are evident right away as the sick kid, Jack (Lucian Maisel) is clearly in fine health. Amy’s husband appears oddly disheveled upon his arrival and a hastily organized family dinner is filled with tension.

Frank is shoved out the door the following morning and headed for Denver to see Robert.

Though warned by Amy of his father’s arrival, Robert doesn’t bother to try and hide his lies; not that he could. Robert is not a conductor in the orchestra but plays the drum. He has some harsh words for Frank about his childhood but little evidence to back up his claims. Robert, like Amy, gives dad the quick brush off and soon Frank is riding the rails again, on his way to Vegas to see Rosie. You cannot possibly be surprised when Rosie’s lies are slowly revealed; the story does little to hide them aside from portraying Frank as dotty and clueless.

Director Kirk Jones’ storytelling choices require not just Frank to be clueless but the audience as well. Every story twist in Everybody’s Fine is as predictable as a sunrise in the east. Poor Robert De Niro is stranded within this morass of slow-witted predictability and does yeoman’s work to keep the audience engaged and not rolling their eyes.

It’s a remarkably subtle piece of work from Mr. De Niro whose work has always been marked by a towering presence well beyond his physical stature. In Everybody’s Fine he is called on to be warm and cuddly and clueless and credit him for giving it all he’s got, it really is a complement to his talent that we don’t buy it for a second. 

We know Mr. De Niro is superior to the material from the first sad, pathetic minutes of Everybody’s Fine all the way to its soporific conclusion. It’s not only Mr. De Niro who is let down by Everybody’s Fine, a terrific supporting cast is set adrift as well. Ms. Beckinsale, Ms. Barrymore and Mr. Rockwell are all talented performers, far more interesting than the whiny, cookie cutter characters they are given to play in Everybody’s Fine.

Each is assigned a particular emotion to play and each does their best with it but they are working at odds with the story. Was De Niro’s Frank a distant slave driver as he is sometimes portrayed or is he a doddering old fool who needs to be taken care of? Each of the supporting performances treats him differently and the picture grows muddier throughout.

That said my biggest complaint about Everybody’s Fine is not in fact predictable storytelling or misguided character work. Rather, my biggest issue comes in a cameo by Oscar nominee Melissa Leo who plays a kindly trucker who gives Frank a lift. There’s nothing wrong with her performance, it’s just not long enough to justify the casting.

Ms. Leo is on screen for less than 4 minutes and leaves you wanting more. Why cast someone this talented and then not make proper use of her? I was left wanting a movie starring her and Mr. De Niro and forgot a good portion of the third act of Everybody’s Fine thinking about the potential of that nonexistent project.

Everybody’s Fine is, for the most part, as benign as its title. Dull and forgettable, the film strands a top flight cast amid a storytelling malaise. If you’re a Robert De Niro fan rent This Boy’s Life or A Bronx Tale to get the true paternal De Niro and forget about Everybody’s Fine.

Movie Review Limitless

Limitless (2011) 

Directed by Neil Burger

Written by Leslie Dixon 

Starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Anna Friel 

Release Date March 8th, 2011

Published March 7th, 2011

"Limitless" might have been more aptly titled 'Plot Device: The Movie.' The little clear pill that drives the film's star Bradley Cooper infuses him with whatever ability is needed at any given moment in the movie. At one point, when Cooper is assaulted by thugs in the subway, the pill lends him the ability to tap his memory for some Kung Fu he saw on TV years ago and the agility to employ it with force.

Now, as fun as it would be to be able to recall a little Bruce Lee and employ it viciously and at will this bit of wish fulfillment is all there is to "Limitless," a threadbare pseudo-thriller that relies on this limitless device for all of it's narrative force.

Wish Fulfillment

Eddie Morra (Cooper) is a loser, plain and simple. He lives in a dump of an apartment and while he has a contract to write a novel, he hasn't written a word. His girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) sees him for what he is and as we meet her she is dumping him. Things are looking very bleak when Eddie bumps into an old friend with a secret.

Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) is a drug dealer who Eddie knows through his very brief marriage years earlier. Vernon's secret is a new drug he is pushing that he claims is legitimate, even FDA approved. The clear pill with no marketable name allows the user to access portions of his brain not usually accessed.

God in the Machine

After a brief bout of worry, Eddie indeed takes the pill and the effect turns him into a superman of intuition, charm and motivation. Naturally, he will need more of this but to maintain his fix will take him into Eddie's dangerous world of drug dealers, loan sharks and into another, even more untamed frontier, Wall Street; where traders rob each other in ways somehow deemed legal.

I want this pill, I really do, and that identification with Eddie is enticing but it doesn't change the fact that director Brad Furman and screenwriter Leslie Dixon are working with the ultimate 'God in the Machine,' better known in Latin as 'Deus Ex Machina.' The pill allows Eddie and eventually Lindy, an easy escape from any danger and that removes a great deal of the story tension.

A Distinct Lack of Tension

Why worry about characters that can just take a pill and have all of their problems become easy to solve. There is a distinct lack of tension that plagues "Limitless" right to the very end. To be fair, there is one scene; one in which Cooper loses his magic pill, which has significant tension as Eddie is forced to do something unthinkable and entirely unpredictable.

One scene however does not excuse an entire film so blatantly based on a cheap device. Limitless is simply too easy going about it all. Star Bradley Cooper is too comfortable in the confines of this plot cheat, wielding it all with a confidence that only magnifies how shabby it all is.

If you're someone who doesn't like to think when you are at the movies, "Limitless" might just be the movie for you. The pill doesn't just help Eddie do anything; it helps the audience as well taking away all of that pesky sifting of plot details or deciphering of mysteries and especially all of that scary anxiety that comes when a movie challenges an audience.

Movie Review Machete

Machete (2010) 

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Written by Robert Rodriguez

Starring Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan

Release Date September 3rd, 2010 

Published September 4th, 2010

“Machete” is a film that is impervious to criticism. One cannot critique the filmmaking; it's supposed to be grungy and low budget to evoke its 70's influences. One cannot critique the acting, everyone in the film is supposed to be over the top and utterly ludicrous to match the unfortunate amateurs who played these roles back in the original Grindhouse days. You cannot criticize the storyline because really, what story is there? And since you are not supposed to treat any of this with seriousness as that would undermine the audacious, humorous homage to trash, one really can’t then take seriously anything in the film's take on the immigration issue?

“Machete” is basically Robert Rodriguez masturbating on screen. Yes, masturbation seems to be the foremost concern of “Machete” or rather director Robert Rodriguez who puts his deepest carnal desires on screen, revealing himself in both brave and disturbing fashion. Like his cohorts Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino, Rodriguez gets off on guns and blood but unlike Roth and with slightly less awe than Tarantino, Rodriguez throws a few near naked girls in the mix.

Is it strange to watch a grown man put his teenage boy sex fantasies on screen? Oh yeah, a big part of me has absolutely no want to know what it is that gets Robert Rodriguez off. But, there is also a part of me that is sickly entertained because some of his fantasies, Ms. Alba in particular, are my fantasies as well. I, however, do not get off on violence the way Rodriguez does. I don't mind the skillful demonstration of violence on screen but the ways in which Rodriguez and his man/boy directing brethren enjoy the violence is disturbing and makes me worry a little for their collective mental health.

In a review of “Hostel” for another website years ago I wondered; if Eli Roth were not a filmmaker capable of demonstrating his sickest fantasies on screen would he have become a serial murderer? I have the same concerns with Mr. Rodriguez after watching “Machete” but to a slightly lesser extent.

The difference between the two is Rodriguez has an interest in women, even if only a puerile one, Mr. Roth only seems to enjoy torture, maiming and death. Dragging their mentor Mr. Tarantino into this conversation is unnecessary, his interest seems to be purely cinema and what his camera's eye is capable of, what the camera captures serves a very particular and highly cinematic vision. Rodriguez and Roth are teenage boys using the camera as a masturbatory device for their incurable twisted fantasies.

“Machete” boils down to a demonstration of what 13 year old Robert Rodriguez found on a VHS tape years ago and got off to. Whether it was Gordon Parks or Melvin Van Peebles, William Girdler (look him up, I did) or Arthur Marx, Rodriguez found tapes of Foxy Brown or Sweet Sweetback or Shaft and it got him off. Now he’s making the movies that get him off.

I’m not a prude, I have the same male urge for self gratification that every other red blooded American male has. I merely prefer to confine my fantasies to my bedroom. Mr. Rodriguez places his fantasies in giant multiplex theaters and I find that awkward and disturbing.

I mean, if this were a true homage to Grindhouse, one would have to stumble upon it in some woebegone, out of the way second hand shop. Not in the gleaming, popcorn scented world in which the theater next door is showing Toy Story 3. “Machete” belongs on a store shelf next to Faster Pussycat Kill Kill or anything by Herschel Gordon Lewis. There it could be discovered and passed around from friend to friend.

That’s my issue, that’s what has been nagging at me about “Machete.” Treating this like any other major movie release just feels wrong. It’s supposed to be underground where some teenager can dust it off, slip into his jacket pocket and steal it out of the store while the manager is helping a customer buy porn.

The kid should sneak “Machete” home, wait for his parents to go to bed and slip it in and enjoy it as it should be enjoyed. The next day he takes it to school and passes it from friend to friend until one of them gets caught with it and it spends the next decade in a school filing cabinet waiting to be rediscovered or sold at some teacher’s garage sale.

Placing “Machete” in theater taints the true experience. The bloody, gory, twisted violence, the childish over the top sex, simply does not belong in the same building where Jennifer Aniston is starring in The Switch. The milieu degrades and depraves the experience and makes “Machete” impossible to enjoy without feeling more than a little creepy and weird.

Movie Review Little Fockers

Little Fockers (2010) 

Directed by Paul Weitz

Written by John Hamburg, Larry Stuckey

Starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Owen Wilson, Teri Polo

Release Date December 22nd, 2010 

Published December 23rd, 2010 

What a difference a good director makes. Director Jay Roach took the thin concept of a man meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time and mined it for bigger laughs than were likely in the script. Stretching that thin concept for a sequel about meeting the boyfriend's parents, Roach again found laughs that other directors might not have found.

Unfortunately, for fans of “Meet the Parents” and “Meet the Fockers,” Jay Roach could see that the premise was played out and while producers pushed for “Little Fockers,” aka ‘Meet the Kids,’ the one director who might have been able to find the funny in this idea dropped out. Picking up the scraps is director Paul Weitz (American Pie) who, though not untalented, fails in every way to find something funny in vomit, booger and erectile dysfunction jokes.

When last we left the Byrnes Family Circle of Trust Gaylord 'Greg' Focker (Ben Stiller) had married Pam Byrnes and the two were expecting a child. Well, it turns out they were expecting twins and five years later, Grandpa Jack (Robert De Niro), Grandma Dina (Blythe Danner) and Focker grandparents Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and Roz (Barbra Streisand) are coming to Chicago for a birthday party.

Meanwhile, at work Greg has been promoted to head of nursing, a gig that comes with the added bonus of a sexy drug rep named Andi (Jessica Alba) who wants to pay Greg big bucks to be a paid medical spokesman for a new erectile dysfunction drug. Andi, last name Garcia, yes that joke gets old real fast, also has a huge crush on Greg that plays out with humiliating complications and misunderstandings.

Also back for this third outing is Kevin (Owen Wilson), Pam's ex who still carries a torch for her as evidenced by a tattoo on his lower back that is one of the few gags that actually plays to big laughs in “Little Fockers.” And speaking of Little Fockers, this movie is supposed to be about the newest additions to the Focker clan. Sadly, the twins played by Daisy Tahan and Colin Baiocchi are poorly used characters who don't really become part of the action.

The Little Fockers are merely set pieces in Paul Weitz's poorly conceived plot which is  just a series of tasteless jokes and dopey misunderstandings that sometimes payoff and sometimes don't. Take Alba's drug rep for instance. One minute she is seducing Greg, in arguably the saddest moment of Jessica Alba's career, yes likely even worse than “Good Luck Chuck,” the next minute she is out of the movie with little explanation or payoff.

Two other well known actors are also marched out on screen for a moment and can consider themselves lucky to have narrowly escaped the humiliation heaped upon Ms. Alba. Harvey Keitel plays the desperately underwritten role of Greg's crooked home contractor and he plays the role solely so he and Mr. De Niro, his longtime friend and “Mean Streets” co-star can have one meaningless stare down.

Poor Laura Dern is dropped into an even less interesting and poorly fleshed out role as the head of an exclusive private school. The school is called the Little Human Academy and apparently director Paul Weitz thought that the phrase ‘Little Humans’ was funny enough that he didn't bother to include any other notable jokes for Dern, Stiller or De Niro to play in the school scenes.

Dustin Hoffman meanwhile, did not want to return for “Little Fockers.” In fact, according to sources, shooting on “Little Fockers” was five days from complete when a deal was struck for the Oscar winner to reprise his role as Bernie Focker with re-shoots needed to shoehorn Bernie into the story with embarrassing results for the poor editing team tasked with forcing Hoffman into the movie.

Embarrassing is the operative word for all of “Little Fockers” even stars Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. Though they remain a terrific comic team with a strong instinct for each other's brand of comedy, Stiller and De Niro aren't given much good to play and thus fall back, often as possible, on the things they've done before in a fit of desperate recycling.

The few new gags the duo is given are just unfortunate, especially the erectile dysfunction bit that producers thought was hilarious enough to include in ads for the film and thus destroyed as a gag in the film. 

Little Fockers is a disaster and should have been aborted the moment Jay Roach turned down the chance to direct. Stiller and De Niro are the faces of this franchise but the talent was clearly Mr. Roach without whom everything falls to pieces. Without Roach's guiding hand “Little Fockers” plays as a series of lowbrow gags instead of being what the first two movies were, family stories that happened to include a number of lowbrow gags.

Movie Review Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill (2008) 

Directed by Jon Avnet

Written by Russell Gewirtz 

Starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Curtis Jackson Carla Gugino

Release Date September 12th, 2008

Published September 11th, 2008

20 years ago people buzzed about the idea of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino working together. 20 years ago, people would have lined up around the block and Oscar voters would salivate over the chance to vote for a Pacino-DeNiro teaming. 20 Years is a long time ago. DeNiro and Pacino did tease fans a little in their brief scenes together in Michael Mann's Heat but one could argue, with the length and breadth of that film. even with one scene together, they are barely in the same movie.

Thus Righteous Kill really is the first time Pacino and DeNiro, two of the finest actors of the last 50 years have teamed up. 20 since the teaming would have had relevance and buzz, Righteous Kill arrives after DeNiro has begun to lower his profile and work less and less and after Pacino has stumbled through a series of failures.

In Righteous Kill Robert DeNiro is Turk, a detective on the beat for years. Al Pacino is his partner Rooster and together they have done questionable things to get the bad guys. Lately, someone has been doing Turk and Rooster's job for them, hunting down and killing New York's worst of the worst. A series of murders where the killer leaves behind a poem referring to the crimes committed by the deceased.

Bodies pile up like cordwood and the evidence begins to point to a cop. In fact, the evidence seems to lead right to Turk. Rooster backs his partner, but even Turk's girlfriend (Carla Gugino) , a forensics expert, seems suspicious. John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg play a pair of fellow cops who also caught one of the poetry murders and come to suspect Turk.

I would love to tell you that director Jon Avnett takes this premise and uses it to keep you on the edge of your seat. I would love to be able to tell you that the plot is tight and lean and to the point but I can't. The fact is Righteous Kill is one of the sloppiest thrillers of the last decade. Though slightly better than Avnet's last teaming with Pacino, the abysmal 88 Minutes, Righteous Kill is as incomprehensible and ludicrous as any movie of the last decade.

Scenes pile up and go nowhere. Scenes of suspense and misdirection turn confusing and messy. Even as we are baffled by scenes that don't seem to make any sense, we still somehow are not the least bit surprised when the end arrives and the killer is revealed. Such is the botched effort of Righteous Kill, it's not even confusing enough to engender suspense from its own muddled nature.

As bad as Righteous Kill is, I cannot deny being compelled, ever so briefly, by DeNiro and Pacino. These two veterans, even far from the tops of their game, are still so charismatic that their talent can shine through the morass of something as awful and convoluted as this. As the film devolves and the two begin stagey speeches that go nowhere, you can't help admire the skill and commitment of these two legends.

Righteous Kill is a sloppy, slipshod effort that tries and fails to capitalize on the presence of two exceptional actors. It goes to show that no matter how good the actor, no one can overcome bad direction, bad plotting and bad editing. Really, Righteous Kill is just bad everything. Even bad DeNiro and Pacino who need to be called out for indulging such an incomprehensible mess.

Movie Review Joker

Joker (2019) 

Directed by Tod Phillips

Written by Tod Phillips

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy

Release Date October 4th, 2019

Published October 3rd 2019

Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix as the sad, damaged, mama's boy Arthur Fleck, who will one day in the near future snap and become the deranged criminal mastermind known as Joker. When we meet Arthur however, he's working as a sign twirling clown and it appears the world has it out for him. Not only is Arthur robbed of his twirling sign, he winds up beaten silly by the thieves and then told that he needs to pay for the broken sign. 

At home, Arthur's mother, Penny (Frances Conroy), insists that he check the mail incessantly for a response from Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), her former employer whom she insists will come to their rescue and get them out of their impoverished hovel of an apartment. That letter never comes, while Thomas Wayne appears to be entering the political arena, running for Mayor of Gotham City and promising to rid the streets of the criminals and the trash. 

Arthur doesn't care much for politics, everyday life is a challenge enough for Arthur whose dreams of becoming a stand up comic are made poignant and tragic by his long term neurological issue. Arthur has a condition, likely developed from a head trauma, that causes him to laugh inappropriately and uncontrollably and rarely when called for. His condition renders his dream of becoming a stand up comedian darkly ironic and eventually humiliating. 

Arthur is obsessed with many things but one that stands out is the Murray Franklin Show. Murray Franklin (Robert DeNiro) is the Johnny Carson of Gotham City, a television lifer who uses Sinatra's That's Life as a catchphrase and calling card. The two cross paths in person when Murray begins showing a video of Arthur's failed stand up gig and poking fun at Arthur. At this point, Arthur has lost his job, has murdered three men on a subway car after they attempted to beat him to death, and has gone off the medications that keep his delusions in check. 

This is what Murray does not know when he decides to book Arthur on his talk show and let the kid show he's a good sport by taking Murray's jibes in stride and in person. This is the final set piece of Joker and by far the strongest and most shocking element of the movie. If the rest of Joker had the power and fierceness of this moment, which fuses Joaquin Phoenix's real life talk show persona with the spiraling terror of the Joker persona for an extra kick of discomforting energy. 

Unfortunately, it's all downhill from here. Joker is an empty exercise in nihilism and troll culture. As directed by Todd Phillips, Joker mocks the audience by being all things to all audiences while not having a meaning of its own. The film uses a structure involving an unreliable narrator and the device is so clumsy that by the end, the filmmakers can use that unreliable narrator as a gimmick to deflect any reading of the movie, rendering the whole an empty shell and robbing the power from Joaquin Phoenix's performance. 

If you want to see Joker as a call to violent uprising against the rich, you can read it that way. If you want to see Joker as a critique of what is lacking in American healthcare, you can read it that way. If you want to read Joker as a critique of the policies of the Trump administration or as the ballad of the incel community or the most savage take-down of the policies of Elizabeth Warren, you can probably find all of that in Joker as well because the movie has no meaning of its own. 

I get that perhaps the movie intends to pose Joker as a mirror held up to society to reflect whatever society wants to see but I can't see what is intended to be entertaining or even interesting about such a taunting and trolling of the audience. Most people probably won't mind because the movie, and especially Joaquin Phoenix, looks cool while all that is going on, but the cool factor wore out pretty quickly for me once the cop out of an ending arrived and the unreliable narrator wiped most of the movie away in one fell swoop. 

I don't hate Joker, much like another nihilistic and childish swipe at those who choose to believe in things, Team America World Police, I just don't care. I find such intellectual dishonesty and trolling exhausting and thus I find Joker and the discourse surrounding it wearying. I no longer care. I suffered this movie and its arrogant, aggrandized taunting and I am glad its over.

Movie Review Stardust

Stardust (2007) 

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Written by Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman

Starring Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michele Pfeiffer, Mark Strong, Sienna Miller

Release Date August 10th, 2007

Published August 10th, 2007

From the wildly inventive mind of Neil Gaiman comes Stardust. The fantasy of Stardust combines science fiction and romance with some wondrous takes on literary legends. On the surface; director Matthew Vaughn may not seem the ideal choice for such light hearted romantic notions. A protégé of Britain's maestro of violence Guy Richie, Vaughn's first outing as a director was the Richie influenced Layer Cake, a mob story with a pre-Bond Daniel Craig.

Nevertheless, Vaughn pulls off a near masterpiece of genre fiction in Stardust.

Tristan (Charlie Cox) is a fool for romance. He has fallen in love with the most beautiful woman in all of the town of Wall, Victoria (Sienna Miller) and will go to any length to win her heart, even if it means crossing the wall. The Wall that gives Tristan's hometown its name is a magical barrier between the real world and the realm of Faerie, a kingdom ruled by kings and witches and ghosts and flying pirates.

Most citizens are unaware of what is beyond the wall, only knowing that they are never to cross that wall. Tristan however, must cross the wall when he sees a falling star crash beyond the city limits and he promises that star to Victoria in exchange for her hand. Now Tristan will cross that wall and embark on a life altering adventure.

Opposing Tristan, without knowing it, is a trio of witches led by oldest sister Lamia (Michele Pfeiffer). She needs the star in order to replenish her and her sister's powers. Also on the trail of the star is Septimus (Mark Strong). He needs the star in order to finally inherit the throne of Faerie; ahead of his brothers, four of whom have met with an ugly fate, something that the others may meet as well if Septimus is to become king.

Meanwhile, the star is actually on earth in human form. Her name is Yvaine (Claire Danes) and when she is found by Tristan, the real love story and a truly grand adventure begins.

My description of Stardust makes it sound like a trifle, however, thanks no doubt to the hard boiled influences of director Matthew Vaughn, Stardust is a good deal more tart than I let on. The early scenes between Tristan and Yvaine crackle with conflict, as any good romantic match often does. She is aware that she has been sought as a gift for another, and though he finds her striking, Tristan longs for Victoria.

The film doesn't let this torturous banter go on to long and indeed doesn't play many of the typical romantic games in order to place roadblocks in the lovers path. Matthew Vaughn and co- writer Jane Goldman do a terrific job of allowing the romance to develop naturally and create roadblocks organically rather than by what is often dictated by the history of Hollywood romance.

With a light hearted take on some rather dark materials, Stardust is classically English in wit. Take for example Prince Septimus and his brothers. As they seek the crown, four have already been disposed of in ghastly fashion, even before we meet them. Each brother sticks around after his demise; left in the final pose of their passing. This provides a number of big laughs throughout the picture as the ghosts poke about.

The film also mines laughs from an unexpected source. Robert De Niro plays Captain Shakespeare, a blood thirsty air pirate who sails the sky stealing lightning and toughening up on anyone who dares board his ship unwelcome. When the Captain encounters Tristan and Yvaine, high in the clouds, the scene is strange not just for its location but for the wit of De Niro playing against type.

Who doesn't love a great romance? Stardust has a really good one in the story of Tristan and Yvaine. It's a story rife with conflicting emotions and grand romantic gestures and a good deal of suspense. The conclusion is not shocking but it's not predictable either, Yvaine is a star and must one day return to the sky. How that is resolved is a clever bit of romantic engineering, and don't forget that the lovely Sienna Miller plays Victoria.

Stardust also has a grand adventure as we take to the skies with pirates who harvest lightning and do battle with kings and witches. It's a wonderfully literate tale that will delight readers and non-readers alike. For the literate; nods to Tolkien and Shakespeare are a treat, while never distracting from the adventure and romance familiar to everyone. This is an artful yet still populist picture that can dazzle the film buff and the parents dragged to the theater by his teenagers, all in the same scene.

Stardust is a big step forward for director Matthew Vaughn. His leap in genre from hard boiled crime to light as a feather romance and broad science fiction; is a leap most directors could not make. His range is only a small example of his talent. Watching Stardust you sense a director of great confidence, poise and imagination. Beneath the surface of sometimes surly dialogue, is the soul of a poet and a big heart. All of which will serve Vaughn well as he strives for his first masterpiece.

Stardust is almost there. A terrific example of a talent on the rise, Stardust is a crowd pleasing romantic adventure for any audience.

Movie Review Silver Linings Playbook

Silver Linings Playlist (2012) 

Directed by David O. Russell

Written by David O. Russell

Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver, Chris Tucker

Release Date November 16th, 2012 

Published November 15th, 2012 

Manic people can change the temperature of any room they are in with their mood. Not literally of course, but anyone who's been in a room with a manic personality has experienced the unbelievable warmth and good humor that moments later becomes an icy cold stare based on something only the manic personality is aware of.

The dramatic comedy "Silver Linings Playbook," written and directed by David O. Russell is the rare film to capture this unique change in temperature. Bradley Cooper's Patrick is a manic personality whose mood swings seem to control the very atmosphere of any room he inhabits.

White Knuckle Determination

Pat was once just a chubby Philadelphia schoolteacher with a struggling marriage and a mental illness he kept in check through white-knuckle determination. That determination was not enough to keep Pat from nearly murdering the man whom he caught having sex with his wife in his own home when he came home from work early one day.

Cut to eight months later and Pat is being released from a mental institution. Pat's mother Dolores has, against doctor's orders, decided to take legal responsibility for him and bring him home. Unfortunately for Dolores, Pat has no interest in following the rules of his release, including taking his meds and seeing a shrink. Instead, Pat intends to get in shape and win back his wife; regardless of the restraining order she has against him.

Manic, Filter-less, Motormouth

Pat's plan is altered greatly by the introduction of Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a manic personality in her own right, though not nearly as volatile as Pat. Tiffany's manic nature comes from the sudden death of her husband. Months of having people step lightly around her and her problems, Tiffany finds Pat's manic, filter-less motor-mouth refreshing.

Tiffany then sets her heart on winning Pat over. Here is where writer-director David O. Russell really begins to get comfortable with this story. The first 30 to 35 minutes of the film he establishes Pat's nature via his relationship with his parents, Dolores, the cheerleader and his father Pat Sr. (Robert DeNiro), who's own anxieties are a clear influence on Pat's nature.

A Lively, Strange Romance

Once Pat and Tiffany become the center of the story "Silver Linings Playbook" becomes a lively, strange romance with the off-beat rhythm of Russell's under-appreciated "I Heart Huckabees" and the rom-com warmth of his oddball romance "Flirting with Disaster." One can also see the commercial influence of Russell's greatest hit, the Academy Award nominated "The Fighter," in the late moments of "Silver Linings Playbook" and the combination is thrilling to watch.

"Silver Linings Playbook" is the perfect David O. Russell movie. The characters are a reflection of his interests, flawed, struggling human beings striving to be better while often standing in their own way. Pat strives toward what he calls a 'Silver Lining' and it is a credit to Russell that this aphorism is never really explained and only means something to Pat.

Appealing and Entertaining

Bradley Cooper's performance in "Silver Linings Playbook" can easily be overlooked. Much of Pat's manic personality is expressed through Russell's camerawork and the brilliant classic rock score that feels as if it is emerging from Pat's fevered mind. That said, it's Cooper who has to convince you fully of Pat's volatile qualities as wells as his relatable, lovable qualities and he does that in a most appealing and entertaining way.

Cooper is aided greatly by a generous performance by Academy Award nominee Jennifer Lawrence. We find a strange sort of balance in Pat when he's with Tiffany and while we recognize it immediately, it's exciting to watch Pat slowly realize it throughout the rest of the movie. These two damaged souls are perfect together and unlike so many romantic comedy pairings, that perfection isn't forced into being but allowed time to breath and build.

The Return of Robert DeNiro

Add Robert DeNiro's finest work in years and you have quite a remarkable movie. Over the last decade, I had come to believe that DeNiro was coasting on his own legend. Watching some of DeNiro's recent work you see an actor not fully engaged, an old man too tired to do the work needed to transcend the way he did as a younger, fresher and more committed performer.

Something in the direction of David O. Russell lit a fire under DeNiro in "Silver Linings Playbook" and for the first time since maybe "Goodfellas" that twinkle in DeNiro's eye is more than just the memory of his past greatness. The passion and energy that DeNiro brings to Pat Sr. matches the volatility and sadness of Cooper's manic character and the father son dynamic they create is both awkward and illuminating.

Director and Character Unite

It's easy to suggest that "Silver Linings Playbook" comes from a very personal place for David O. Russell. Outside of his writing and directing Russell is known for his volatility with actors and critics. It's easy to speculate that Russell finds something of himself in the character of Pat and it gives him an insight into the character that others may not have. It would be foolish to diagnose Russell manic or bi-polar from afar but the evidence presented in "Silver Linings Playbook" indicates an insight others don't have.

Were Russell to share a degree of Pat's illness it would only serve to deepen the film's final act. As Pat finds something akin to peace, maturity and perspective, so has Russell seemed to gain something similar over the arc of his career. "Spanking the Monkey," "Flirting with Disaster,"Three Kings" and "I Heart Huckabees" were made by an uncompromising artist committed to a very specific vision and willing to physically defend that vision. Then, after reaching his most volatile with 'Huckabees,' a new perspective and maturity took hold and led to "The Fighter," his greatest success.

"Silver Linings Playbook" has the best of both of David O. Russell's worlds. The vision that made Russell an artist and the maturity that made him successful. The parallel journey of director and character in "Silver Linings Playbook" is remarkable to watch and part of what makes this one of the best movies of 2012.