Classic Movie Review The Paper

The Paper (1994) 

Directed by Ron Howard 

Written by David Koepp, Steven Koepp

Starring Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid, Glen Close, Robert Duvall

Release Date March 18th, 1994 

Published 

The Paper stars Michael Keaton as Henry Hackett, Metro Editor for a New York City tabloid perpetually on the brink of closing. With a baby on the way, with his reporter wife, Martha (Marisa Tomei), Henry is plotting an exit from the paper. On this day, as we join the story, Henry has an interview with a Wall Street Journal style, internationally respected newspaper. Henry doesn't want the job. He wants the money but he'd much rather stay at his current employer where he can get his hands dirty. Instead of being behind a desk with a fat paycheck, Henry needs the excitement of the metro page. 

Making Henry's choice to stay or go at his current gig difficult is his rival, Alicia (Glenn Close). Alicia is a former reporter and editor who is now a bean counter. She makes big decisions based on budgets instead of journalism and Henry resents her for switching sides. Henry doesn't want to end up working under Alicia and her penny pinching, thus another reason he's considering leaving. Holding him in place is his current boss, Bernie (Robert Duvall), a legendary editor and the final word at the paper. As long as Bernie is there, Alicia is mostly neutralized. But how much longer does Bernie have? 

These questions roil beneath the surface creating tension while the bigger story begins to unfold. The paper has missed a big story. Last night, a pair of businessmen were gunned down and every other newspaper in town ran with the story. The paper is playing catch up and Henry is determined not to get scooped for a second day in a row. He wants to know the moment an arrest is made so they can get the picture and the story on the front page that night. But first, what if the story is wrong? What if the eventual arrest of two black teenagers for the crime is wrong? 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review The Pale Blue Eye

The Pale Blue Eye (2022) 

Directed by Scott Cooper

Written by Scott Cooper 

Starring Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Robert Duvall 

Release Date December 23rd, 2022 

Netflix Release Date January 6th, 2022 

Pale Blue Eye stars Christian Bale as Detective Augustus Landor. Detective Landor lives in upstate New York, not far from the famed campus of the West Point Military Academy. It's 1830 and as we join the story, Detective Landor has received guests at his cottage. The visitor is Captain Hitchcock (Simon McBurney) and he has distressing news. There has been a murder on the campus and the leadership at West Point, headed up by Superintendent Player (Tim Spall) wishes to hire Landor to investigate. 

At the scene of the crime a West Point cadet is hanging from a tree. One might assume a suicide but one important detail removes that possibility. The young victims heart has been cut from his chest. Stranger still, a young cadet who found the body claimed that the body had been hanging there when he arrived but the victim's heart hadn't yet been removed. Landor accepts the job of investigating the death and sets to work with minor aid from a West Point physician, Dr. Daniel Marquis (Toby Jones) who performs a perfunctory autopsy. 

The case takes a strange detour when Landor meets an odd young cadet named E.A Poe, Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling). The awkward and melancholy Poe has a theory that the murderer must be a poet as the cutting out of the heart could only be symbolic. Landor is dubious about Poe's theory but keeps the young man around, hiring him as a junior investigator. It will be Poe's task to do the investigating that Landor cannot do himself, get close to the cadets who knew the victim, and report back to Landor. 

This leads to a surprising supernatural connection to the death that brings Landor in contact with an old friend. An almost unrecognizable Robert Duvall plays Jean-Pepe, a Professor with a taste for the supernatural and the macabre. He theorizes that the taking of the heart and an occult symbol found in a barn near the murder may indicate a ritual killing, an attempt by someone to communicate with the dead via a sacrifice and a human heart. 

Meanwhile, Poe begins to fall in love. Lucy Boynton stars as Lea, the daughter of Dr. Marquis, and Dr Marquis's imperious wife, Julia (Gillian Anderson). Lea has a disease that is slowly killing her but that doesn't stop Poe from falling deeply in love with her. This came as he investigated Dr. Marquis' son, Artemus (Harry Lawley) who appears to have connections to the supernatural. The Marquis Family, Poe and Detective Landor are all at the center of the mystery at the heart of Pale Blue Eye. 

Pale Blue Eye is not based on a real story. Rather, it's based on a legend that Edgar Allen Poe helped to spread around the time he began his famed writing career. It's a story that Writer-Director Scott Cooper has been eager to tell since he broke through with his debut feature, Crazy Heart. You can sense the care Cooper is taking to tell this story and he is a skilled storyteller. That said, Pale Blue Eye doesn't quite live up to Cooper's passionate presentation. 

The film is absorbing and the mystery is quite intriguing. That said, the final act of Pale Blue Eye goes just a step too far. A bizarre twist unfolds that makes you look back at the rest of the movie with confusion. Character decisions that seemed logical earlier in the story become weirdly questionable after the twist is revealed and since the twist isn't satisfying enough on its own  to justify all that it corrupts in the rest of the telling of the story. 

Christian Bale cuts a strong figure as Detective Landor. His chemistry with Harry Melling's Poe is the strongest aspect of Pale Blue Eye. The amused way Landor takes in the oddball Poe is quite entertaining and Melling's broad theatrical performance bounces wonderfully off of Bale's more naturalistic performance. Melling might be overly broad if not for the way Bale's Landor grounds him and makes him appear more human, drawing him out from his theatricality toward more genuine, honest moments. t's a good dynamic. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: A Shot at Glory

A Shot at Glory (2002) 

Directed by Michael Corrente 

Written by Denis O'Neill 

Starring Robert Duvall, Ally McCoist, Brian Cox, Kristy Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Michael Keaton 

Release Date May 3rd, 2002 

Published August 5th, 2002

Robert Duvall may be the most under-appreciated actor in the business. Despite his awesome resume, Duvall is not offered the roles that go to the actors of his age and class such as Deniro, Eastwood, Pacino and the like. The reason is likely his lack of leading man looks, but what he doesn't have in looks he makes up for with pure acting chops.

Easily one of the best actors going today Duvall still has a hard time getting a movie greenlighted, struggling with the film The Apostle for nearly 20 years. The soccer movie A Shot At Glory is another of Duvall's passion features, co-written and financed by Duvall himself. Though the film isn't as good as The Apostle the film once again showcases Duvall's amazing talent.

A Shot At Glory tells the story of a tiny Scottish soccer team trying to compete with the big boys. Duvall is the teams coach Gordon McLeod, a former player with the major league team The Rangers whom he now feuds with over incidents not fully explained. Michael Keaton is the owner of Duvall's team, Peter Cameron, a brash American who wants to move the tiny team to the bigtime by taking the team and it's players from it's home in Kilknockie, Scotland to Dublin, Ireland. Cameron thinks he can make the team more marketable to the Irish investors by acquiring past-his-prime soccer star Jackie McQuillan, played by real Scottish soccer legend Ally McCoist.

McQuillan is an egocentric jerk, overcoming a drinking problem, but also Gordon's son in law, though Jackie and his wife are separated. Parallel to the main story is that of Gordon's daughter, British stunner Kirsty Mitchell as Kate McQuillan. Gordon doesn't speak to his daughter since she married Jackie. It has little to do with Jackie's being a jerk, though, it is because Gordon is Protestant and Jackie is Catholic and the marriage took place outside of either church. The rivalry of Protestants and Catholics is vicious at times, even resulting in violent feuds that often spill over onto the soccer field.

Cole Hauser rounds out the cast as a rookie American goalie who is pressed into duty as the team surprisingly advances through Scotland's biggest soccer tournament.

No doubt about it A Shot At Glory is a sports movie bound by that genre’s many clichés. The aforementioned Hauser only plays after the starting goalie is injured and, wouldn't you know it, the rookie is forced to play in the two biggest games of the season. As for Gordon, what a shock when he is forced to play his former team, The Rangers, in the big game and face his hated rival Martin Smith (Brian Cox).

Though the film is steeped in sports movie clichés, the soccer scenes are well presented thanks to cinematographer Alex Thomson who makes his living as a soccer cameraman. Thomson knows how to film the action and given the tools of a handheld cameras and super 16 film, Thomson gives the film a realistically gritty look.

Duvall is excellent, his mere presence elevates even the film’s most leaden moments to passably interesting. Saddled with a difficult Scottish accent and some very dull and obvious dialogue, Duvall still manages to be entertaining and engaging. The real surprise though is Scottish soccer star Ally McCoist who really holds his own against Duvall and comes off very natural.

A Shot At Glory almost never got made. Duvall had set the film up with a Hollywood studio with Russell Crowe attached to play the soccer star. Crowe however pulled out at the last minute and Duvall was forced to make the film independently. Nevertheless, Duvall has crafted an above average sport movie that rises above genre convention to be an entertaining little movie.

Movie Review: Widows

Widows (2018) 

Directed by Steve McQueen

Written by Steven McQueen, Gillian Flynn 

Starring Viola Davis, Elizabeth DeBicki, Brian Tyree Henry, Colin Farrell, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall 

Release Date November 16th, 2018 

Published November 15th, 2018

Widows is one heck of a great movie. This firecracker of a suspense thriller isn’t just a rare occasion for women to stand at the front of such a genre flick, it’s just, as a movie, a really, really great movie. Writer-director Steve McQueen, whose 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture in 2012, says he’s been nursing a version of Widows for nearly a decade but finally felt that now was the right time to launch a mainstream feature after having established himself as an indie darling. 

Widows stars Viola Davis as Veronica, the wife of a criminal named Harry Rawlings who's just been killed during a heist. In the heist two million dollars burned up along with Harry’s corpse, two million dollars that belong to a gangster named Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) who has decided that Veronica needs to be the one to pay him back. She has 30 days to raise two million dollars or something bad will happen. 

Harry has left Veronica one thing that might help her out of this situation. It’s a book length description of a five million dollar heist that appears fool proof. Veronica certainly thinks show as she begins to believe that she can pull off this heist if she can recruit some help. With the help of one of Harry’s few friends that didn’t die with him in his fatal job, Veronica approaches the wives of the men who died with Harry and tells them that Manning will be coming after them if she can’t pay him. 

The other women who lost their husbands are Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Alice (Elizabeth Debicki). Linda lost her clothing store when her husband died deeply in debt. Elizabeth meanwhile is being pushed toward high end prostitution by her domineering mother (Jackie Weaver) now that her meal ticket husband is dead. Both are responding to Veronica’s threat but their circumstances are playing a role here as well. 

In the background of the heist is a battle for political power, also involving Jamal Manning. You see, the missing two million was intended to help Manning buy his way into respectability as the new Alderman of Chicago’s 18th Ward, a seat held by the Mulligan family for decades. Robert Duvall plays the aged Tom Mulligan who had planned on essentially gifting his ward to his lawyer son Jack but a political mistake has led to the redrawing of the Ward lines and left Jack with a contentious race against Manning. 

How the race for Alderman plays into the plot I will leave you to see for yourself. You can assume it’s about power and corruption but McQueen’s story is even more inspired than that. This a movie with strong plot mechanics and no wasted time or space. Widows is a movie that wastes little time on the extraneous even as it has a sprawling cast that also has room for Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya and Cynthia Eriivo as the final member of Veronica’s gang. 

The tight plotting also still has room for strong commentary on the state of politics and economics. One incredible scene transitions from Colin Farrell’s wannabe political scion holding a press conference in a rundown neighborhood and being questioned about missing money to Farrell and his campaign manager in his limo. This is an unbroken take where the camera doesn’t get into the limo, it remains outside on the front of the limo. 

We listen as Farrell complains about how he doesn’t get the respect he deserves, how he can’t stand the media and the situation his father created for him by not working with the Mayor. The visual is fantastic and the scene lasts about 3 minutes and in that time we go from a rundown neighborhood to Farrell’s well appointed mansion. The visual is powerful and evocative and the message of the movie could be contained entirely in this moment. 

Viola Davis is a goddess but the performance I want to highlight from Widows is Elizabeth Debicki. Debicki isn’t well known yet but this is a star making performance. She’s no mere pretty face, Debicki’s Alice is a victim of an abusive husband and a domineering mother who really finds her strength in going along with this seemingly insane heist plot. Debicki brilliantly inhabits a young woman finding herself in a bitterly smart performance. 

Widows is one of the best movies of 2018. It’s smart, exciting, and exceptionally well made. Steve McQueen is a masterful director who makes brilliant decisions in keeping his narrative tight and the pace quick but never too quick. Widows is a suspense thriller with brains and guts, blood, sweat and tears. It’s gritty with a touch of glamour. Widows is a movie for adults with a strong respect for the wit and intelligence of adult audiences. 

Widows is a must see movie.  

Movie Review Lucky You

Lucky You (2007) 

Directed by Curtis Hansen

Written by Curtis Hansen, Eric Roth

Starring Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall 

Release Date May 4th, 2007

Published May 5th, 2007

We all have things we are passionate about. Filmmakers are lucky enough and talented enough that they can expose their passion to the world. For writer-director Curtis Hanson, that passion is for the world series of poker where he sets his latest work Lucky You. Focusing on the intricate ways in which the compulsive poker player assesses the table and bets on the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents, Hanson often creates great tension and rooting interest.

Unfortunately, we could get the same involvement watching Texas Hold'em tournaments on ESPN 2 and without the laconic Eric Bana and miscast Drew Barrymore interrupting the action with clichéd banter that incorporates the lingo of poker into a lame romantic aphorism. 

Eric Bana stars in Lucky You as Huck Cheever, a professional gambler who has won and lost fortunes without flinching. Prowling the Vegas strip on his motorcycle, the one thing he refuses to hock for gambling cash, Huck will do anything to find a game; even if it means hocking his mother's wedding ring for a quarter of what it's worth and then betting the pawn recovery slip when the ante is beyond his means.

Huck's father L.C (Robert Duvall) is also a gambler and they have traded this priceless heirloom a few times since Huck's mother passed away, which was not long after L.C left to become a gambler himself. L.C is the one man Huck can't seem to beat and has lost fortunes to the old man; beyond just the ring. He will, in the course of Lucky You, continue losing to his old man, even when he has the better hand.

Huck's personal life is non-existent until he meets Billie Offer (Drew Barrymore) a tourist in Vegas, visiting her sister (Debra Messing), who falls for Huck's gamblers charm. Billie quickly learns that Huck can't be trusted, he steals from her after they spent the night together, but all too soon she is giving him another chance and then another.

These characters are messy and realistic, something writer-director Curtis Hanson is good at writing. However, when compared to the indelible characters that Hanson has had a hand in creating in the past, the characters in Lucky You are just forgettable. Hanson adapted Wonder Boys with Michael Douglas's career best performance. He directed Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in a pair of winning performances in In Her Shoes and let us not forget the brilliance of his Oscar nominated L.A Confidential.

Those films were lively and intelligent. Lucky You is laconic and messy and while that may relate well to these characters, that doesn't make you want to spend any time watching it. It also doesn't help that Eric Bana's lead performance is lazy and incomprehensible or that Drew Barrymore is woefully miscast as a wannabe Vegas chanteuse.

Only the great Robert Duvall is able to elevate things to a watchable level but he is only a supporting character. When Duvall is off-screen the film loses the beat and we wait patiently for him to come back or at least for another card game to begin.

When Robert Altman directed The Company I described it as a masturbatory exercise in directorial self indulgence. Altman loved the ballet and wanted the opportunity to film it. He assembled a cast and a semblance of a story and then restlessly waded around the obstacles of his plot to get back to the stage and the ballet.

Curtis Hanson does his best Altman impression in Lucky You, taking the opportunity to indulge his love of Texas Hold'em Poker. Though ostensibly a romance, Lucky You only becomes vital and engaging when the action is on the tables. Hanson sets the film around the World Series of Poker and blatantly abandons his dull romance in favor of a solid thirty minutes of nothing but bluffs, antes and folds.

The poker scenes are involving and dramatic as Huck gets the opportunity to face off with his dad at the final table. However, aside from the father-son showdown, there really is nothing in Lucky You that you couldn't get by staying home and watching poker on ESPN 2.

Curtis Hanson's passions seem to run hot and cold. He was passionate about the corruption and deceit of L.A cops in the forties and fifties and that led to L.A Confidential. He was passionate about Michael Chabon's terrifically unique characters in the book Wonder Boys and that led to, arguably, the best work of his career.

Then again, he was also passionate about the art of rapper Eminem and that led to the lead, un-hip, hip hop movie 8 Mile. In Lucky You, Hanson's passion for Texas Hold'em has led him to another slow-witted melodrama. Let's hope that Curtis Hanson's next passion is more inspiring than that on display in Lucky You.

Movie Review Thank You For Smoking

Thank You for Smoking (2006) 

Directed by Jason Reitman

Written by Jason Reitman 

Starring Aaron Eckhart, David Koechner, Maria Bello, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, J.K Simmons, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy

Release Date March 17th, 2006 

Published April 20th, 2006 

Whether you call him "Yuppie Mephistopheles'', "Goebbels In Gucci" or simply "Death Merchant" you cannot say Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is not a charming assassin. In his role as lobbyist for the tobacco industry Naylor's job is to charm, cajole and if necessary deceive whomever is in front of him into seeing his industry as the underdog in an unfair and unjust war on personal freedom. Never before has anyone been more charmingly full of shit.

Adapted from a novel by Christopher Buckley, son of the unctuous conservative pundit William F. Buckley, Thank You For Smoking is an amiable and amoral look inside the life of Washington's most sinister and charming lobbyist. Like him or not Nick Naylor could convince you the sky was green while standing outside.

Thank You For Smoking directed by another prominent scion Jason Reitman son of  director Ivan Reitman (Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Ghostbusters). But do not expect anything as gentle as his father's fun loving mainstream blockbusters. Jason Reitman's talent, it would seem, is sharp satire of the most un-P.C kind.

Thank You For Smoking is shockingly not about making the tobacco industry look any more demonic than they already do. Rather it's about this character, Nick Naylor, and his insidiously powerful charms. That his charms are employed by the tobacco companies is merely part of the deep dark fun. Listening to someone convince you that a product that kills more Americans than any other product in existence, a statistic Nick prides while discussing with fellow merchants of death Polly (Maria Bello), lobbyist for the alcohol industry, and Bobby (David Koechner), lobbyist for guns, lends a black humor to Nick's charm. He knows what he's doing is wrong, that the science he misrepresents is complete B.S but being charming and winning seemingly unwinnable arguments is what pays the bills. He also happens to be really good at it.

Darker still is Nick's relationship with his son Joey (Cameron Bright). His attempts to get closer to his son, he is divorced from Joey's mother, include attending a career day at Joey's school where he essentially convinces the children that they should make up their own minds about smoking rather than listen to mom and dad, especially if mom says smoking is bad for you.

Nick takes his son on a business trip to Los Angeles where with the help of an equally amoral superagent played by Rob Lowe, he hopes to restore the cigarrette's good standing in film. Nick's hope is that he can get the cigarette into a big time blockbuster movie in the hands of real movie stars rather than the modern norm that has cigarettes mostly in the hands of villains or europeans.

Also while in Los Angeles Nick is to meet with Lorne Lutch (Sam Elliott) the original Marlboro Man who, now dying of cancer, has become a vocal anti-smoking advocate. In a scene so disarming in its honesty and dark humor, Nick essentially bribes Lutch with a suitcase full of cash and yet convinces him and us that the money is not a bribe, but a gift that it would be rude or hypocritical to complain about publicly. Nick's son is witness to this scene and yet does not lose the esteem of his father. In fact he is convinced he would like to be more like his father.

Nick's near downfall, as it is with most men, is a beautiful woman, a reporter named Heather Holloway, who has her own unique opinion off and on the record. Heather's arc is likely the weakest in the film as her triumph over Nick is too easily overcome and the comic possibilities of the relationship are not fully discovered.

Thank You For Smoking is as nihilistic in its point of view of the dangers of smoking as Nick is. The film is not about condemning smoking, the tobacco industry, or its protagonist. In that perspective it's fair to say that film is not as sharp as it could be. A precise perspective would be welcome. However as a dark hearted satirical character study the film is whip smart and very, very funny. Thank You For Smoking is a must see.

Movie Review Secondhand Lions

Secondhand Lions (2003) 

Directed by Tim McCanlies 

Written by Tim McCanlies 

Starring Haley Joel Osment, Kyra Sedgwick, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall 

Release Date September 19th, 2003 

Published September 18th, 2003 

Director Tim McCanlies may be best known for his terrific script for the animated film Iron Giant. Now for his latest effort he remains a little animated with a story rumored to be cribbed from the background of comic strip writer Bill Watterson and his comic Calvin & Hobbes, about a young boy and his friendly lion. In Secondhand Lions, however, the lion is just a metaphor for a pair of aging adventurers who find a new adventure, life raising their ten-year-old nephew and adjusting to old age.

Secondhand Lions stars Haley Joel Osment as Walter, who is being dumped by his irresponsible mother, Mae (Kyra Sedgwick), with his heretofore unknown great uncles. Hub (Robert Duvall) and Garth (Michael Caine) have been missing for some forty years. The rumors of their exploits are innumerous, working for the mob, roaming around Europe, fighting with the foreign legion in Africa, etc. Whatever they were doing they are said to have become quite wealthy because of their adventures.

That's one reason why Mae leaves Walter with his great uncles, to try and get them into the will or at least into their wallets. Hub and Garth aren't stupid and are in fact used to this sort of invasion from other family members who make their greed much more obvious. Young Walter however isn't interested in their money, he would prefer to stay with his mom, but eventually he begins to bond with his uncles and their many eccentricities. Much to the dismay of his money-grubbing relatives.

As Hub and Garth become more comfortable with Walter, Garth opens up about their past and their fortunes. In the best scenes of the film Garth weaves a tale of romance and adventure that Director McCanlies films in the style of classic Hollywood serials. Fabulous foreign locales, grand heroic battles and grand romance. Christian Kane, well known as a bad guy on the WB's Angel, plays young Hub in flashback and is a terrific hero.

Duvall and Caine are terrific in roles they could have performed in their sleep. It is not at all hard to believe that Duvall and Caine once had grand adventures in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Duvall is especially terrific in the slightly more difficult role of the aging hero who has returned home without a purpose. Until Walter arrives, Hub is simply waiting out his life. He takes longer to come around to the kid because he's still wrapped in his past and searching for some reason to stay alive.

Walter helps his uncles by convincing them to spend their fortune, as seen in the trailer of the film they don't take kindly to salesmen. Once Walter convinces them to talk to them instead of shooting at them, they find new ways to enjoy life and their treasure.

The Calvin & Hobbes connection comes when Hub & Garth buy a lion to hunt and kill like they did years ago. Instead, they get an aged zoo-dweller that's too tired for a hunt. Making its home in their cornfield, the lion becomes Walter's pet. The lion is one among many obvious metaphors for the two old men who come to terms with their age and as obvious as they are, they do work in context.

Tim McCanlies directed and wrote the script for Secondhand Lions and along with his obvious metaphors there are some family movie cliches and some sappy sentimentalism. But there is also a terrific story. The flashback scenes, which in many movies are the weakest points, are really strong in this film. Shot in the fashion of a silent movie with Garth narrating everything, it is a wonderful adventure and a mystery. Walter's greatest conflict in the film is whether or not he can believe these terrific tales.

Few non-animated family films are worth the ticket price, which makes Secondhand Lions that much more impressive. It's a rare family movie that won't put adults to sleep. Watching legendary actors like Robert Duvall and Michael Caine in roles that are perfectly crafted to them is a real joy and the two veterans elevate the movie above its genre and story.

Movie Review John Q

John Q (2002) 

Directed by Nick Cassavetes 

Written by James Kearns 

Starring Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, James Woods, Anne Heche, Kimberly Elise, Laura Harring 

Release Date February 15th, 2002 

Published February 14th, 2002 

Is it me? Do I not watch the news enough? I'm asking because I've only seen one hostage situation in my life.

This guy barricaded himself in his parent's house and held his mom hostage after his step-dad tried to kick him out. It ended in one hour after the guy accidentally shot himself in the leg. Yet Hollywood would have us believe these things happen all the time. Either its some good guy wronged by the "system" or it's a showcase for some slick talking hostage negotiator who makes his own rules despite always being suspended for his out of control behavior.

The new Denzel movie, John Q., falls into the first category. And though it's everything you've seen before it's saved to a point by Denzel's dignified professional performance.

John Q is the story of John Archibald, a factory worker who's struggling to provide for his family after his hours are cut. The story really begins when, during a little league game, John's son falls ill and is rushed to the hospital where we're informed he has a heart problem and needs a heart transplant. Well, needless to say, hearts don't grow on trees. 

There are forms to fill out and once you find a heart, the surgery itself is prohibitively expensive. Cost means nothing to John who will do anything to save his son including taking the hospital emergency room hostage with all it's patients, including colorful characters played by comedian Eddie Griffin and Shawn Hatosy. It is from here that John Q. dissolves from a moving family crisis film to a stock cliched hostage movie.

The hostage scene setups are strong because of Denzel Washington. As an audience member I automatically cheer for him to succeed. But once in the hostage situation director Nick Cassevetes begins piling on the cliches. Robert Duvall stars as the calm and understanding negotiator trying not to hurt anyone and Ray Liotta is the pigheaded lout who gets to yell the classic hostage movie line, "Take the shot" as the sniper slips precariously close to our hero. 

,Considering we're only one hour in and Denzel is the lead, I seriously doubt he will be killed at this point. And of course, John bonds with his captives, he even let's a couple go, and punishes the standard jerk of the captive crowd (there is always one jerk). It's like an episode of Fear Factor, there is an element of suspense but it's network TV so no one is in any real danger.

The actors involved do all they can with their roles with Denzel doing most of the heavy lifting and James Woods helping a good deal. As the big-time heart surgeon, Anne Heche has the thankless villain role for most of the film as the head of the hospital that denies John's son's treatment. Hospital-HMO bureaucracy is supposed to be the film's main story arc but it's so overdone that by the end, the director and screenwriter are beating you over the head with the "HMO is evil" message. Who already doesn't know HMO's are evil?

Despite Denzel's best effort, John Q. is a lame parable about the evils of hospital politics buried in cliches and stock been-there-done-that situations. 

Movie Review: Crazy Heart

Crazy Heart (2009) 

Directed by Scott Cooper

Written by Scott Cooper

Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall 

Release Date December 16th, 2009 

Published by December 15th, 2009 

Very often the Oscars turn into the Hollywood Lifetime Achievement Awards. That will likely be the case with the Oscars this year as one of Hollywood's most beloved actors, Jeff Bridges,is the front-runner for one of Hollywood's biggest prizes, Best Actor in a Leading Role. Now, to be clear, I love Jeff Bridges. “The Big Lebowski” is my favorite film of all time. However, Jeff Bridges' work in “Crazy Heart” is solid but not spectacular and certainly not the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. 

For one thing, George Clooney delivers a far more complex, thoughtful and engaging performance in Jason Reitman's wonderful drama, “Up in the Air.” For another example Jeremy Renner's intensity and focus in The Hurt Locker would be a winner in any other year. Bridges' performance is authentically battered, broken, and genial but there is little depth to his drunken country singer, Bad Blake, in “Crazy Heart.”

Bad Blake was once a pretty big star in the world of Country Music but alcohol and a lack of a good accountant have laid him low. These days ol' Bad can be found playing rundown taverns and in an early scene, a bowling alley. There is still hope for Bad but he will have to clean up and swallow his pride a little. Bad's former back up band member Tommy (Colin Farrell) is now a huge star and he's willing to give Bad a break if he'll take it.

While Bad's busy fending off Tommy and his second chance, a trip to New Mexico brings Blake into the life of Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a wannabe music journalist. Jean wants and gets an interview with Bad Blake that she believes could be her big break. Bad, meanwhile is quickly smitten with the much younger and very beautiful writer. His music charms her into his bed and soon Bad is bonding with her very young son.

Where the story goes from there is for you to discover. Jeff Bridges makes all the minor melodramatic turns affable and helps avoid most cliches of this kind of redemption drama but there is nothing particularly special about Crazy Heart. Director Scott Cooper doesn't reinvent the wheel with his dusty, slightly battered shooting style that, though it does well to match Bad Blake's boozy and beat up lifestyle. it lacks insight and the drama is relatively inert in its predictability. 

Movie Review Get Low

Get Low (2009) 

Directed by Aaron Schneider 

Written by Chris Provenzano, C Gaby Mitchell, Scott Seeke 

Starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Lee Cobb

Release Date July 30th, 2009 

Published July 29th, 2009 

“Get Low” is some kind of miracle of modern movie-making. No, the film doesn't change the way you look at movies. Rather, “Get Low” is a throwback to a time before bombast took over cinema. “Get Low” reaches back to a time when acting and storytelling dominated over the urge to constantly goose the audience with effects. In this day and age, that qualifies as a miracle.

”Get Low” stars Robert Duvall as Felix Bush, a hermit living in some unknown, early 1900's wilderness on the edge of a small town. Within that town are residents who believe Felix is just a crazy old hermit and everyone seems to have a story about being threatened by the crazy old man with the wild eyes and ratty beard.

After being informed of the death of a former friend, Felix decides that his time is drawing near as well. Felix decides that it's time to get low but before he goes he wants to attend his own funeral. Carrying out Felix's final wishes are the local funeral home proprietor Mr. Quinn (Bill Murray) and his young assistant Buddy (Lucas Black).

While Quinn is eager for the old hermit's wad of balled up money, Buddy is worried for Felix and wants to know why he is so eager to get busy dying. Buddy is the stand in for those of us who find Felix's motivations morbid yet oddly fascinating. Felix is even more intriguing than his final wishes imply; he carries a deep dark secret that relates somehow to an old flame, Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek).

I will leave you to discover Felix's secret and I will only say that it is a stunner of a payoff and yet not a thrilling shock but rather a resigned, unfortunate tale related with such skill by Duvall that you will struggle to hold back tears. Duvall has long been an actor of awesome, earnest strength but “Get Low” is the first time, arguably, since his Oscar winning turn in “Tender Mercies” that he has been this moving.

When Duvall shares the screen with Sissy Spacek “Get Low” takes on an effortlessly romantic air that never plays ironic or creepy. Yes, these are two older people but there is no joking about sex or winking about their romantic prospects being that they are old. Instead, “Get Low” offers scenes of such tenderness most modern movies featuring the young beautiful cannot hope to match.

The revelation of “Get Low” is Lucas Black. To this point in his short career Black's biggest credit had been the “Fast and the Furious” pseudo sequel “Tokyo Drift.” Needless to say, that performance said little about Black's ability as an actor, other than his ability to look blandly handsome. In “Get Low” Black demonstrates earnest vulnerability, humor and caring that never lapses.

Bill Murray is, well, Bill Murray. The former SNL and “Ghostbusters'' star has become one of the most consistently ingenious actors working today. Whether he is playing himself for laughs in “Zombieland” or playing romantic, longing, drama in the little seen but utterly glorious “Broken Flowers,” Murray finds new beats to play within what we expect of Billy Murray. In “Get Low” Murray may be expected to be a huckster, and he kind of is, but by the end of Get Low Murray's Mr. Quinn is as steady and good-hearted as anyone.

Don't let me mislead you, Murray and the rest in “Get Low” do earn laughs. The film has a great sense of humor, one that offers laughs that come organically from characters who aren't trying to be funny, they just are. Robert Duvall gets laughs from his temperamental performance that seems coiled for an explosion of crazy and then surprises with gentility and soul. Sissy Spacek is magical with her wide smile and big eyes, she exudes warmth and then when hurt she changes the temperature of the film and you feel everything she feels.

This is what great actors do, they draw you in, surprise you, move you and can devastate and restore you all in the space of three acts. Given a great script as these actors are given in “Get Low,” by writers Chris Provenzano and Gaby Mitchell, this wondrous ensemble does all of the above and more. 

”Get Low” is directed with a shambling good nature by Aaron Schneider who also edited the film. He is not the most likely of directors, his training was as a cinematographer for little seen TV shows. Yet, Mr. Schneider delivers in “Get Low” a pro level performance. Schneider's low watt direction and great eye for deteriorating, period scenery plays perfectly to the story of decrepit yet feisty Felix preparing for his grave. 

Most importantly, Schneider knows just when to get out of the way and let his superior cast carry the day. Watch in particular a scene between Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek set at night in Felix's hermit hovel. There is no need for flourish, no need for directorial histrionics, Schneider just sets his camera on these two actors and the warmth rises and the romance comes effortlessly as if evoked from a nonexistent yet fully shared memory. What a scene. 

”Get Low” is wonderful. Romantic, sad, funny and very moving, it is undoubtedly among this year's best films, an honest to goodness miracle of modesty in an era of often ugly, insipid bombast.

Movie Review: The Road

The Road (2009) 

Directed by John Hillcoat 

Written by Joe Penhall 

Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit McPhee, Robert Duvall, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce 

Release Date November 25th, 2009 

Published November 24th, 2009 

I had to suffer through The Road on two separate occasions just to reach the end. Director John Hillcoat's bleak vision of the end of the world is so overwrought, ugly and cynical that the first time I had to walk out and get some air. The second time I suffered the whole of The Road and then needed a long shower to forget it. In some unspecified future the world simply begins to consume itself. Whether what happened was environmental, nuclear war, or some kind of biblical apocalypse we are not to know. What we do know is that inhabiting this world are The Man (Viggo Mortenson) and The Boy (Codi Smit McPhee).

Together they are making their way to the coast where rumors of a colony of some kind near the ocean give them some kind of hope for the future. More likely, however, is the idea that The Man has invented this idea to give them something to do so that The Boy won't lose hope. That is pretty well it for plot. The film is more or less a series of dank, gloomy scenes of sadness and degrading landscape. Things are so awful that even the trees seem to take a sentient stance and decide to simply topple to the ground. The journey along the road for The Man and The Boy is a slow, repetitive journey toward death.

Is The Road well realized? Yes, Director John Hillcoat can certainly suck the life out of landscape and star Viggo Mortenson is exceptional at becoming the physical embodiment of decay but don't ask either what the point of it all is. I tried imagining that the point of The Road was to have no point at all, that went nowhere and I was left really not caring. I have not read Cormac McCarthy's much praised novel on which the film is based but I am familiar enough with McCarthy and have read enough about the novel to know that the point in McCarthy's book is as much about his words as it about anything else. It seems The Road the novel was more about the way McCarthy wrote it than about any vision of the apocalypse.

What may have been at the heart of the movie The Road is a misunderstanding. Director Hillcoat and screenwriter Joe Penhall seem to have assumed that Cormac McCarthy was offering a vicious and unyielingly bitter judgement on humanity and offering a vision of the end of the world. The reality may be, again not having read the book, that McCarthy was working in prose and that this is where his vision and wordplay took him.

However the movie The Road came about, whether it is true to McCarthy's vision or not, it is far too depressing, vile and gloomy for me to recommend. Again, I respect the technical work of John Hillcoat who could suck the life out of even the most scenic locales and the work of Mr. Mortenson who immerses himself wonderfully in every role. I just cannot abide such a dark vision without some point. I don't want to live in a world where I cannot find meaning somewhere. There seems to be no meaning, point or purpose anywhere in the ugly cynicism of The Road.

Movie Review Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals (2003) 

Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell 

Written by Ronald F. Maxwell 

Starring Robert Duvall, Stephen Lang, Jeff Daniels, Mira Sorvino, Frankie Faison

Release Date February 21st, 2003 

Published February 20th, 2003 

The Civil War isn't quite the blockbuster story that popcorn-loving audiences seek out in search of escapist fare. So I must credit Ted Turner and the makers of Gods & Generals for attempting such a bold, non-commercial effort. That said, at well over three hours in length and with a decidedly pro-South approach, Gods & Generals is not only non-commercial, it's non-watchable.

A dramatic retelling of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Gods & Generals stars Stephen Lang as Southern Colonel Stonewall Jackson and Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee. On the Northern side it's Jeff Daniels reprising his role from Gettysburg as Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, though since Fredericksburg is chronologically before Gettysburg, Chamberlain has just joined the Maine contingent of the Northern army on his way to becoming a Colonel. Duvall inherited the role of Robert E. Lee from Martin Sheen who held the role in Gettysburg. 

Of course I'm getting well ahead of myself. Gods & Generals details the beginning of a three part film series that again actually began with it's middle segment, Gettysburg, in 1993. This first installment is about how Virginia was drawn into the war on the side of the South. Representatives of President Lincoln offered General Robert E. Lee the command of all Northern armies to fight the secessionist South. Feeling sympathy for the South's states rights stance Lee declined and began to organize a Virginia regiment to fight on the side of the South. A Virginia Military Institute professor, Thomas Jackson, whose students are quick to join in, also joins Lee. Jackson joins up telling friends that his priorities are God, family, Virginia and country.

Looking for a quick end to the war, President Lincoln is prepared to fight Lee's Virginia troops and the supporting armies from the South in Fredericksburg, with the feeling that without Virginia, the South would fall quickly. Sensing a moral imperative to the end of slavery and reuniting of the country, a philosophy professor from Maine named Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain joined the Northern army over the objection of his wife Fanny (Mira Sorvino, in a cameo role). Chamberlain is joined by his less idealistic brother Thomas (C. Thomas Howell), who doesn't believe in the cause as much as he believes in helping his brother.

Those are the recognizable characters, but like the classic Hollywood epics of the 1930's and 40's, there really is a cast of thousands. Thousands of actors and committed Civil War re-enactors came together under the direction of Ronald F. Maxwell, who also directed Gettysburg, to recreate The Battle of Fredericksburg with nearly flawless detail. From strategy to historic legend, right down to the costuming, Gods & Generals is as faithful as a movie could be to it's subject matter.

The accuracy and precision involved in the recreation of the battle is truly commendable. Unfortunately, all that surrounds it is snooze inducing. Speech after speech after speech drone on and on and on. When Lang, Duvall or Daniels isn't on screen, it's nearly impossible to tell the Northern and Southern armies apart, even as the recreation of the battle is extraordinarily detailed . In the awesome confusion of muskets and cannon fire, telling them apart becomes an entirely futile and exhausting effort and audiences are left out of the film until after the battle when the major characters are back upfront explaining who won the day and why.

That confusion however isn't the film’s biggest problem. The biggest problem is the script, which paints the army from Virginia as the noblest army ever to walk on to a battlefield. To watch Gods & Generals as pure history would lead one to believe that Stonewall Jackson was a combination of Superman and Ghandi. That's not to criticize Stephen Lang, who has a few very effective scenes. It would be difficult for any actor to portray Stonewall Jackson as the second coming of Christ but he does the best he can with the role. We can argue forever, and historians have, why the Civil War was fought, but in the end neither side could live up to the way they are portrayed in the script, written by the director Ronald Maxwell.

The film’s length at just under 7,200 hours is deathly. Actually it was just under 4 hours but it feels a lot longer. Though the battle scenes may hold your attention, the scenes that don't include massive explosions are tremendously dull and filled with pious speeches from characters that Maxwell seems to want to put up for sainthood. I don't mind long movies, I own the nearly five hour versions of Lord Of The Rings and Apocalypse Now Redux, but Gods & Generals has some obvious segments that even junior editors could easily clip out without hurting the film’s narrative in the least. One less interminable speech by Stonewall Jackson about God's judgment and the film would be half as long. 

What Gods and Generals needs more than anything iss an editor, a good one. An editor who could reign in the visionary director and hip him to the necessity for brevity in modern cinema. Gods and Generals would play better as a television movie, broken up over two or three days. There, the commitment to accuracy could be appreciated more while not taxing the backside of everyone watching it.