Life of Crime

First Hit:  Pretty much a waste of time.

This film was lifeless from the beginning. Mos Def playing Ordell Robbie (as Yasiin Bey) has a smile and attitude that belie his role, kidnapper.

Yes it was supposed to be a comedy but it wasn’t funny and his sly grin didn’t make it so. Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston) was the person Ordell and Louis (John Hawkes) were going to kidnap. Why her? Her husband Frank (Tim Robbins) was stealing money from the city of Detroit and putting it in an offshore account. They believed he loved his wife and by kidnapping her they could extract the money from him.

What they didn’t know was that Frank was in the process of divorcing Mickey so he didn’t care that she was kidnapped. Frank was also having an affair with Melanie (Isla Fisher) with whom he wanted to marry just as soon as his divorce was settled. With a few mishaps; like a double cross, some misgivings, and newly found freedom, the audience was expected to be engaged with the characters I found it hard to care about any of them, let alone the story.

Aniston is a good actress, however her entire performance here seemed pained and phoned it. It was like she didn’t want to be there. Def was fun to watch but he seemed miscast or the film forgot it was supposed to funny as well. Hawkes was OK but again, when a film doesn’t work it is hard for actors to perform well. Robbins was OK but seemed to carry a level of aloofness throughout. Fisher was the best part of the film. She was really trying to make something of her character. Daniel Schechter wrote and directed this and it appears he’s got work to do to make a film that works because this one didn’t.

Overall:  This film just never clicked and didn’t work.

Begin Again

First Hit:  Thoroughly enjoyed Keira Knightly’s role and character – she made this film work.

There are a number of scenes in this film in which Knightley shines, one is when she sings the first song in the alley way. Another is when she connects with Dan’s (Mark Ruffalo) daughter Violet (Hailee Steinfeld). There is an infectiousness light that exudes from her.

Basically, Gretta (Knightly) is in New York to support her singer boyfriend Dave (Adam Levine). She is also a songwriter and has penned and partially penned some of Dave’s hits. He gets caught up in being famous and cheats on Gretta. Dan, who is a down on his luck alcoholic record producer walks into a bar and hears her sing a song.

What I loved about this scene, and others in the film, is that the audience gets different views of the same scene, which show a different perspective – wonderful direction. Dan hears her song fully produced and even through his drunk state, you get this is a great song. Their relationship helps them both grow as people and in their professions. Another wonderful relationship in the film is Gretta’s with her old friend from London - Steve (James Cordon). He’s in New York trying to make a living with music and the way he openly reaches out to Gretta is beautiful.

I felt the direction; especially the use of seeing the same scenes from a different point of view was excellent. This technique wasn’t over used and added to the “setup” of the characters.

Knightly shines in this role and her singing was delicately very good. Ruffalo was good, and as the film progressed his engagement with making the music was really strong and I grew to care about his character – which was the point. Steinfeld in her limited role was very good. Cordon was very good in his supporting role. Levine was OK as the character and better when he sang. Mos Def as Ruffalo’s business partner was a great casting because he embodied the role he knows so well – producer. Ceelo Green as a friend of Dan’s was also a great casting because he brought an amusing yet sound viability of Dan’s role in the film. John Carney wrote and directed this film and some of his scenes were really wonderfully shot.

Overall:  This was a really nice film to watch.