Patriots Day

First Hit:  This was an interesting perspective of a very tragic event in Boston and America’s history.

This dramatization of a horrific event was both; interesting from a historical perspective and not very engaging from a character standpoint. The film took a very broad perspective of the people to be included as characters. It included the various law enforcement agencies including; the Boston Police Department, the FBI, Watertown Police Department, MIT Police Department and a couple of other US Government agencies. From a citizen perspective, there were both students and citizens from various neighborhoods.

The filmmakers made attempts to provide backstories, or history per se, of certain characters, however despite being helpful at a small level it was difficult to engage with anyone at an emotional level. For example; Police Officer Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) was the lead character and we learn early on he’s got a history with the department and is on probation. Why? We never really find out but there are multiple references to alcohol and there are a couple scenes where he drinks when it might have been better if he didn’t.

But this isn’t the story, but it nagged at me that we didn’t have this history. The story is about how Boston and others captured the brothers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Alex Wolff and Themo Melikidze respectively), who become radicalized Muslim bombers and exploded two bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

The film tries to track a lot of people including: the Tsarnaev brothers, Tamerlan’s wife Katherine Russell (Melissa Benoist), Officer Saunders, bomb injured married couple Patrick Downes (Christopher O’Shea) and Jessica Kensky (Rachel Brosnahan), MIT Officer Sean Collier (Jake Picking), car jacked Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang), Boston Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman), Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (Vincent Curatola), FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon), Watertown Police Sergeant Jeffery Pugliese (J. K. Simmons), Carol Saunders (Michelle Monaghan), Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (Michael Beach), and a host of others. It begins the evening before the bombing and goes to when they were captured (Dzhokhar) and killed (Tamerlan). One thing that was interesting was that this film had one of the largest credited and uncredited casts for any film in recent memory.

The filmmakers used some archival footage as well as re-enacted scenes in following the brothers, law enforcement, and citizens over subsequent week as the brothers tried to escape, go to New York to place another bomb, and how they were captured through the use of technology, law enforcement officers, and the bravery of citizens.

Wahlberg was very good as the film’s key focal point. I wanted to know more of why he was being punished, but from a character point of view he was very strong. Wolff and Melikidze were both very solid as the brothers who brought this havoc to Boston. I think they did a great job of emoting the attitude as affected Muslim radicals. Bacon was wonderful as the FBI agent trying to get the bombers identified and captured quickly. O’Shea and Brosnahan were wonderful as the married couple that lost limbs, survived, and made it back to a subsequent race. Yang was really good as the young man whose car was hijacked by the brothers during their escape. Simmons was OK as the Watertown Sergeant. Goodman was strong as the Commissioner. Picking was wonderful as the caring officer that was shot by the brothers. Monaghan was engaging as Officer Saunders’ wife. Peter Berg, Matt Cook, and Joshua Zetumer wrote a very ambitious screenplay that attempted to cover numerous stories around this very tragic event. In this ambitious effort, it lost a little heart and focus. Peter Berg did his best to cover this expansive story.

Overall:  This is an amazing story to tell and it does honor the affected people.

R.I.P.D.

First Hit:  Just didn’t work.

Nick (Ryan Reynolds) is in love with his wife.

He’s a Boston Police Detective and gets tempted to steal some gold they find on a drug bust. He confronts his partner Hayes (Kevin Bacon) about the “rightness” of this. Hayes doesn’t want Nick to turn in the gold so he shoots his partner. Nick dies but ends up with other dead law enforcement officers who are living in this “other sort of world”.

In charge of this group of these dead officers is Proctor (Mary-Louise Parker). Why does this group of R.I.P.D. officers exist? To fight crime of people who really haven’t died and who attempt to make havoc on the world as it is.

Nick gets assigned to a new partner named Roy (Jeff Bridges) who has such a forced accent that it is nauseating. He was wronged just like Nick so there are here to work together to fight the undead. What makes it even worse is that people in the real world see Nick as a old Asian man and Roy as a voluptuous blond.

This story is such a reach and then to add that Hayes is one of these characters who are collecting enough gold to reign havoc on the world is simply an out-of-bounds reach. It is a stupid story although amusing at times.

Bridges is mediocre in this role and his accent is horrible. Bacon is the most amusing and interesting character in the film – his darkness prevails. Reynolds is stuck between a rock and hard place in this role and my guess he wishes he never took it. Parker is the best part of the film; her tongue in cheek approach was fun. Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi wrote this mindless script and Robert Schwentke directed it, and I’m not sure why.

Overall:  A couple of laughs but overall a real waste of talented actors.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

First Hit: This film had some very funny, sad, thoughtful moments, but wasn’t memorable.

Cal (played by Steve Carell) is married to Emily (played by Julianne Moore) and they’ve been married for a long time. They were each other’s soul mates but they’ve grown apart.

Emily has an affair with David Lindhagen (played by Kevin Bacon) and it devastates Cal. He moves out. They have three children one is grown and gone while the other two are younger. The boy Robbie (played by Jonah Bobo) is smart, wise and in love with the babysitter Jessica (played by Analeigh Tipton) who is 5 years older than Robbie but she has a crush on Cal.

Cal goes to a singles bar to drown his sorrows and watches as Jacob (played by Ryan Gosling) picks up woman after woman each and every night. Jacob, in turn, watches Cal telling tales in the bar about how his wife did him wrong and decides to help him out. He invites Cal on a shopping trip and then lets him listen to how he picks up women. One night Cal picks up Kate (played by Marisa Tomei) who likes his honesty and charm. He learns that Kate is a “5 years sober” teacher.

In the meantime we watch Hannah (played by Emma Stone) get shut down by a guy who offers her a job when she thought she was going to be proposed to. In a fit of upset, she finds Jacob, whom she turned down on an earlier encounter and makes him take her to his house for sex.

However, they end up in a long conversation and begin to fall in love. As they fall in love, Cal is busy picking up a string of women but missing Emily. Emily dates David but misses Cal. Robbie is making Jessica feel uncomfortable with his ever present text messages outlining his undying love.

This is the setup for what I think was the funniest and most interesting scene in the film. I won’t spoil it, and it has to do with people meeting people and the police having to separate all the men fighting each other.

Carell is good as a heart broken man and good as the newly coiffed player. However the word I used was good, not great as I continued to feel separateness from and not an embodiment of of the character he was playing. Moore was very good as the woman who was searching for femininity and inner glow again. Bacon was perfect for the short but important part as the “other man”. Bobo was very good, although some of his lines and actions seemed more than what a 12 year old would say or do. Tipton was wonderful and perfect as the babysitter who is beautiful, doesn’t know it, and feeling the pressure of her first crush. Tomei was outstanding as the teacher who finds out she slept with, yet another man, who lied to her. Gosling was fully engaging as the guy with the photo-shopped body and used his charms to pick up women but then was able to meet someone whom he really cared about. Dan Fogelman wrote a strong and, at times, surprising script although I think the 12 year old lines were overly adult at times. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa directed the film with skill in many places including the little surprises that lead to a nice climax. However, it was longer than needed and there could have been some pruning of a number of scenes (including lawn raking and bar pickup bits).

Overall: The film was enjoyable and surprising moments that were really funny.

My One and Only

First Hit: This is a pleasantly nice film with a relatively interesting story about someone who is relatively well known but that most people know little about; George Hamilton.

Logan Lerman plays a young George Hamilton in his high school years recalling an important time when his mother Anne Deveraux (played by Renee Zellweger) decided to leave his philandering father Dan Deveraux (played by Kevin Bacon) an orchestra leader of the 40’s and 50’s.

The film begins when Anne returns from a brief trip to find Dan having another affair. She has had it, gathers the boys, buys a Cadillac Eldorado and heads to Boston looking for another husband to pay her way and give her the life she is looking for.

Anne is quite charming and has a way with her charm but her quest connects her with men who are not quite up to snuff. Her oldest son Robbie (played by Mark Rendall), who is gay, and George follow along with their mom hoping she finds what she is looking for and they finally get a home. With each failed attempt at meeting a new “step dad” they become poorer and their circumstances more desperate.

Out of money and hope, they land at her sister’s house where there is no love lost but there is stability for the boys. A couple of miss adventures and they end up with enough money to head to California, where both George and Robbie find their calling.

Zellweger is outstanding as a confused, headstrong, loving mother who does her best to do what is right. Her charm in this film is her perky and optimistic outlook regardless of the pickle they find themselves in ('never look in the rear view mirror, that’s what's behind us, always look forward and into the future'). Lerman is strong in his role as a very young man thrust into the role of head of household and responsible enough to drive (although not legally old enough) the three of them to each new city and adventure. Bacon’s plays a minor but significant character and is a driving force in the film. He is good in this role and plays the philandering father as; this is what band leaders do sort of way. Bacon’s voice is quick witted, gravely and husky and it worked. Richard Loncraine directed this film in a way that let the characters play out who they were and created something that was fun, interesting and well acted.

Overall: This isn’t one of the best films of the year, but there is some outstanding acting which made this film well worth watching.

Frost / Nixon

First Hit: Although it had more fantasy drama built into the story than what was true, when it came to the goods of the film (the power of interview itself), it was incredibly strong and an extremely compelling story.

I didn’t get a chance or opportunity to watch the interviews when they were actually aired in 1977 so I was extremely pleased that this story came to the big screen in the capable hands of Director Ron Howard and Producer Brian Grazer.

The beginning of the film initially highlights the well publicized resignation of Richard Nixon but then begins to build the counter story of David Frost as a lighthearted talk show host who has more an eye for women than creating interesting and compelling television shows.

This is where some of the fantasy comes in. Yes, it is true he headed some light weight variety and talk shows but he had also interviewed other heads of state and therefore did have some chops.

But the film focused on his light side more than these other aspects as a way to build tension for the battle royal, sort of speak. Regardless, this view helps the film set up the two combatants who will meet in the ring of the interview.

Supporting the ex-President are strong seasoned intellectuals that are media savvy and strong Nixon loyal pragmatics who believe Nixon can be exonerated and come back into power. Also there is Nixon, and although he may have had lapses of judgment and a staff with devious intentions, he was a smart and driven man.

On the other side of the coin there was Frost and his team of researchers with one focus, to lay open Nixon’s poor judgment and lack of contriteness for his crimes and dishonesty towards the American people. They wanted blood, they wanted a confession.

The battle takes place in a nondescript location but this adds to the story and is wonderfully compelling.

The casting was spot on perfect. Frank Langella performance, as Nixon, could easily get an Oscar nod. Michael Seen as Frost is equally strong. The close up facial expressions of both these men made me fully believe they were the people they were representing. Kevin Bacon as Nixon’s protector Jack Brennan was a perfect fit. In fact everyone cast in this film was wonderful. Ron Howard is skilled at pulling out great performances while staying true to his craft of finding the path in telling a great cohesive story.

Overall: I grew up in this time period, a Vietnam veteran and was directly impacted by Nixon’s decisions. Therefore I felt nothing but anger for this man who lied to us all while being in our country’s highest office. However, this film was so good that I actually gained a level of compassion for Nixon the man, and although compassion doesn’t mean condoning behavior, I saw and felt the difficult life Nixon created for himself.