Last Flag Flying

First Hit: This film may start out to mean more to "boomers" and veterans than other people, but it wonderfully explores a lot of topics and emotions.

We join two old veteran friends, Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Larry “Doc” Shepherd (Steve Carell) getting drunk in Sal’s bar. This scene sets up who they are perfectly. Doc is quiet, of heavy mind and Sal is full of quips, pointed sarcasm and likes to drink, a lot.

They became friends when they met fighting together in the Vietnam war. But as many vets know, sometimes when thrust together in crisis, the bond that is created crosses time. In the early bar scene, who they are, what they were, and the commitment to the bond is brought to light by how easily Sal leaves his bar by turning over the keys to someone else and goes out on an unannounced road trip with his friend Doc.

The trip is to a church where Reverend Richard Muller (Laurence Fishburne) is preaching. The moment Sal and Doc walk in, Sal bursts into a broad grin. Their third friend from Vietnam is now a preacher. Sal is beside himself at the change in “Muller the Mauler.” According to Sal, Muller was one of the most raucous men he knew and hung out with. Now a preacher? Sal cannot believe it.

Muller is reticent about meeting his old buddies because he’s now a man of God and to meet again the guys because of their history. They knew him as a man who did a lot of non-Christian things. And them knowing this is tough. The reason for Doc bringing these guys together is because he wants these men help him honor his son whom was a Marine and was just killed in Iraq.

After some funny dinner and desert scenes, Muller agrees to join Sal on Docs mission to honor his son. The body is coming to Dover AFB and will be buried, with honors, at Arlington. Sal is told his son was a hero and died protecting his men. However, as the story unfolds the men discover that the boy was shot in the back of the head when he was buying a soft drink for his buddies.

They learn this from Larry’s sons best Marine friend, Washington (J. Quinton Johnson) who accompanied the body back home. When Doc learns about how the government lied about his boy’s death, he doesn’t want him buried at Arlington but wants to take him home to New Hampshire.

This decision brings on a whole host of arguments, agreements, and an uncovering of the depth of the men's friendship, Washington’s friendship with Doc’s son, how the government lies, and the importance of truth.

The film shows these discoveries while they eat together, drive together, sit on the train together and buy cell phones together. One of the most fun scenes, showing the depth of each character, is when the four of them are sitting in the luggage car of the train next to the coffin. The dialogue was sublime, real and on target for each of the characters.

This film is about friendship and how it surpasses time. It is about how men become brothers. It is about how the government will lie to parents of dead soldiers. It is about honor. It is about truth. The sets and scenes were exquisitely created and it kept the audience’s attention through each segment.

Cranston was killer. His quips, jabs, self-effacing comments, and drive created a character worth watching. I kept wondering what would come out of his mouth next. Carell was perfect as the quiet one who spoke loudly with his trust in his fellow vets. The breadth of emotions, partially bottled up by the role, was perfectly expressed. Fishburne was outstanding. His voice perfect for being a holier than thou voice as a preacher, then switching to his foul mouth Marine voice was perfect. Johnson was amazing as the Doc’s sons best friend. While lying on Doc’s couch looking up at pictures of his lost friend and the family was so touching. Yul Vazquez as Colonel Wilits was great. He exemplified the role of holding on to the governments pride of service. Richard Linklater and Darryl Ponicsan wrote a fabulous screenplay. Under Linklater’s direction this film was amazingly full-bodied and pointed. Its focus on the characters and how they unfolded through the film was spot-on perfect.

Overall:  This is a very full-bodied film and embraces both life and death equally.

Everybody Wants Some!!

First Hit:  The music was to die for and the story grew on me as it evolved.

This film takes place over 3 – 4 days by following Jake (Blake Jenner) arriving on a Friday afternoon at an unnamed Texas University to take up residency in the baseball team’s campus home provided by a school sponsor and ending on the following Monday.

As with most Richard Linklater films, dialog and time period is clearly identified. When Jake gets in his car and drives off to the university he turns up the stereo in the vintage Oldsmobile 442 to blast out The Knack’s “My Sharona”. This perfectly sets the tone for the film.

Other music includes Blondie, Van Halen, The Cars, and Cheap Trick. As a jock hanging out with other jocks there is a perception about his intellectual capabilities. However, as the film points out a couple of times, each sub-group of people have their own ranges of intelligence and abilities. It reflects what is true in society. In other words, jocks are not all stupid.

That said, without any structure to their lives over the weekend they attend multiple parties, go to multiple nightclubs, and because they’re in college multiple types of pranks are pulled on each other. But in the end, you see these disparate personalities coming together in cohesive groups on their way to learning more about who they are.

Jenner was well cast as the young freshman baseball jock who is thoughtful. His quiet and inclusive ways made him very likeable. Justin Street (as Jay), Ryan Guzman (as Roper), Tyler Hoechlin (as McReynolds), Wyatt Russell (as Willoughby), Glen Powell (as Finnegan), Temple Baker (as Plummer), J. Quinton Johnson (as Dale), and Will Brittain (as Beuter) we’re all wonderful as the primary members of the baseball team. Each brought a strong and unique personality. Zoey Deutch as Beverly, Jay’s love interest, was very strong and an interesting character. Linklater wrote a very strong script with dialogue that really worked and his direction was spot on, especially the detail of in the scenes.

Overall:  This was a wonderful slice of life film that has deeper meaning.

The A-Team

First Hit: Overly long, failed to be interestingly complex, but the characters and explosions were fun to watch.

I admired that this film didn’t fall into the trap of trying to be its namesake television show.

To set up the characters and their relationship there is a long (Okay real long) opening segment prior to the film title appearing on the screen.

This set up tells us that B.A. Baracus (played by Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson) is the newest member of the group and that included Hannibal (played by Liam Neeson), Faceman (played by Bradley Cooper), and Murdock (played by Sharlto Copley).

Each team member has a special skill and we get to experience their skills as the film moves along. After the opening segment, there is a short interlude where the team works together in Iraq. After distinguishing themselves as the only team to deliver in Iraq, they get themselves involved in a job to steal back some US currency printing plates.

However, this job is a partial setup between the CIA, top Army intelligence, the regular Army and a group of private security people.

This is the main story for the film; however the writers don’t believe we think they're capable enough so we’re shown their will, strength, and skills again, by being wrongly thrown in prison so that we can see them escape.

The film drags on with a bunch of effects, like surviving their plane being blown up by parachuting down inside a tank which was in the cargo area and as it falls to earth it loses two of its three chutes, therefore to slow their descent they fire the tank gun at the ground while they fall. Who thought of that for the script?

BTW: Best shot, the aerial view of the wreckage of the container ship after being blown up.

Neeson, plays smart rugged and gruff well. Cooper plays I’m pretty and tough reasonably well. Jackson plays brutish and compassionate adequately, Copley plays psychopathic really well. Jessica Biel plays Army intelligence in a way that wasn’t believable. Patrick Wilson plays a CIA honcho like he had earned his stripes through years of good work but it appears on the screen as simplistic arrogance.

Overall: Some of the characters were amusing and there were occasional out loud guffaws, but you’ll have to sit through a lot to get them.