The Gunman

First Hit:  This film tries to be interesting and fails.

Using the politics of forced mining in the Congo as a backdrop, what the story is about is how a man slowly comes to grips with his killing past. What is unfortunate is that using this and his redemptive actions of drilling for clean water to make Terrier (Sean Penn) someone we care about failed.

I did not care one iota about Terrier’s self-redemption. Walking into the theater I expected to sit through a bunch of scenes of people shooting (and missing) at each other but for it to be so poorly done was disappointing. True to Penn’s own publicly pushed political stance – there are scenes where he’s the good guy, however, he’ll do anything to keep himself and his girlfriend Annie (Jasmine Trinca) alive and shooting people is what he resorts to doing. He continues to state that he's got no choice.

Javier Bardem, as Terrier's co-worker Felix, was a poorly created and acted character. He’s required to be extremely jealous and a drunk, and neither of these were done well. At least 3 times during the film, I was sat there thinking, I just wanted this movie to be over.

The best part of Penn’s performance was that he was in great physical shape but to have him smoking in so many scenes is downright stupid. His character didn’t need it. Trinca was OK and although she exemplified being a good person in love with someone who has a history of killing people for money, she rose above the stupidity of this film and delivered what she could. Bardem was a wasted talent in this role. Ray Winstone as Stanley, Terrier’s only true friend, was strong in his supporting role. He was the only bright light in this film. Don MacPherson wrote this mess and Pierre Morel did his best to shoot this film in an interesting way.

Overall:  Poor story, poor acting, and lousy characters make for a waste of time.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

First Hit:  Uneven, partially compelling and entertaining enough to keep me engaged.

Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) is an anonymous film librarian for a major magazine. He daydreams about taking and having adventures in his life especially when they include co-worker Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig) whom he likes but cannot seem to connect with. An example the film uses is when he cannot even leave her a wink on a dating site because his profile is so boring and lacking information.

The magazine is going to be going digital and therefore his and most of his co-workers’ jobs will be eliminated. Leading the change in the magazine is Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott). But for the last issue, famous photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn) sends a negative (#25) for the magazine to use.

However, Mitty and his co-worker Hernando (Adrian Martinez) cannot find it in the role that was sent by O’Connell. Where this negative actually resides was no surprise and easily deduced. However because Hendricks is pushing to see the negative and Mitty doesn’t have it, he decides to find O’Connell. This trip takes him to explore many frozen north countries and towns.

Some of these scenes and cinematography are magnificent and make one want to go visit them. However, the drunken Icelandic helicopter pilot scenes weren’t necessary and put in for comedy relief. Another one of many writing and direction errors. Yes, there is enough going for the film it is watchable.

Stiller was, at times, fun to watch and does his role as well as he can do it. However, other scenes seemed to just move the plot along. These poorly conceived scenes are part acting issues but poor directing - by Stiller. Penn was fun to watch and to see his natural aging bringing out a deeper character was good. Scott was both good and poor in his role. The beard was a poor wardrobe and character choice. Wiig is one of the better and more consistent parts of this film. Steve Conrad wrote an over ambitious script by trying to put too many twists into it. Stiller, as previously mentioned, tried to do too much with the film (think – diving from Subway platform into a window) and at other times didn’t do enough.

Overall:  This was entertaining enough to watch and stay with it.

Gangster Squad

First Hit:  Violent and overdone.

This film is loosely based on the take down of Mickey Cohen as the gangster supreme in LA. Cohen (played by Sean Penn) came from the East to run LA for the mob.

The Chicago syndicate is finding Cohen to be unruly and not following their orders. The reality is that Cohen wants it all for himself. At a meeting with a Chicago representative he tells him that he’s old and will not follow Chicago’s rules. The funny thing is that Penn looked older than the guy he was talking to. Then there was Nick Nolte playing Chief Parker and quite frankly they needed to pick someone else.

To rein in Cohen, Parker gives Sargent John O’Mara (played by Josh Brolin) the freedom to pull together other cops who will leave their badges at home and stop Cohen any way they want. Sergeant Jerry Wooters (played by Ryan Gosling) is one of the people he chooses. He’s chosen because he’s smart and has a similar history as O’Mara.

One of the more difficult things is that Wooters has fallen in love with Cohen’s girlfriend Grace Faraday (played by Emma Stone). The film’s plot isn’t that interesting and the amount of overt violence by both the police and Cohen’s crew is uninteresting. Maybe the taking back of LA from Cohen went just as the film suggested, but it is not worth making a film about.

Penn is good at times and overdone at other times as Cohen. This is not his crowning role or film. Nolte is a waste and fully uninteresting as Parker. He didn’t bring anything of value to the role. Gosling is good, has some wonderful touching moments as only he can. Stone is OK as Cohen’s girlfriend but there lacked a depth of history as to how she became his girlfriend in the first place that made the whole thing unrealistic. Will Beall wrote a very mediocre script and Ruben Fleischer’s direction was at the same level.

Overall:  This film is not worth seeing and is forgettable within hours after watching it.

The Tree Of Life

First Hit: Parts of this film were amazing; the visuals were beautiful and occasionally brilliant but in the end it was unsatisfying and longer than needed.

Sitting in the theater I was incredibly impressed with the visuals put together by Terrence Malick to represent the largeness of life, the universe, nature, the human spirit and human beings.

A comparison of what this film was about would be Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey". I can and do occasionally watch that film again and again, I will not watch Malick's film again. Why? I think the point of the film got lost along the way.

I put the pieces of this film together as I watched but I realized that I could also take sections out and still have it make sense because they seemed needless. Mr. O’Brian (played by Brad Pitt) is married to Mrs. O’Brien (played by Jessica Chastain).

It is the 1950s and the rule of the day is spare the rod, spoil the child. They live in Waco Texas and have three boys. The film begins with a quote from The Book of Job, when God asks, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation… while the morning stars sang together and all the angles shouted for joy?”

This is the theme of the entire film. Are we connected? Is there a beginning and end? Is there God? The quote is quickly followed by one of many colorful visual flames which are book markers throughout the film. While there is a whispering narrator asking the large insightful questions of the film, we enter a house and see Mrs. O’Brien reading a telegraph indicating her son has died.

There is anguish, the questions persist. Why would you (God) let him die? We bullet through time and see the older son Jack (played by Sean Penn) now an architect looking at a tree, asking questions, remembering his brother. We jump back and see young Jack (played by Hunter McCracken) as a troubled young man who struggles with his father and wondering why his father is so hard on him.

In the end, it comes together where the family is together in spirit and of Love. The film does a lot of communication without dialogue and is impressive this way.

Malick uses photos from the Hubble Telescope, and film clips of the Sun, Mercury passing by it, Jupiter, Saturn and other galaxies.

Penn is good as the oldest son and architect who brings the memories together. Pitt is amazing as a 1950’s father who works hard, never seems to find his way, and believes that the world is a difficult place to make your mark. He also knows that he doesn’t work at what he loves, which is music. Chastain, is etherically beautiful and outstanding as the stay at home 50’s mother who is subservient to her husband. McCracken is outstanding as the troubled older son growing up feeling unseen, misunderstood, and sad. Malick wrote and directed this with a focus on creativity but it lacks a pacing to keep the audience fully engaged the entire time. A sharper eye on editing and snipping celluloid would have made this unforgettable.

Overall: A good and interesting film, but it needed to be more crisp in its execution.

Fair Game

First Hit: A very strong political drama based on the true experiences of Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame.

I don’t think there could have been two better actors selected for the parts of Joseph Wilson (played by Sean Penn) and Valerie Plame (played by Naomi Watts). Both are very accomplished actors and have strong political views which they get to act out in this film.

The well-known premise is that Plame, an 18 year veteran in covert activities with the CIA was publicly outed by the Bush White House staff to save their own skin from fabricating evidence to raid Iraq with their shock and awe bombing.

Joseph had written a report that discounted the belief that 500 tons of yellowcake material had been mined in Niger and sent to Iraq for the development of weapons of mass destruction. Because Plame and Wilson knew the truth they destroyed them publicly.

Eventually they were exonerated and the truth was heard. Penn, as Wilson, was his glorious self, standing in front of audiences tearing apart the governments’ ideas of the truth.

The director (Doug Liman) and his team did a remarkable job of interlacing real clips of Bush’s administration making their case to the public and the international community along with their filmed scenes.

Penn was fabulous and while watching him lambast the Bush Administration I couldn’t help but see the distance and nearness of this character and Jeff Spicoli. He embodies the idea and the truth of the person he is playing. Watts was spectacular. I loved the way she carried her strength not only when she was interviewing a possible ally, speaking to an enemy or working with her counterparts. David Andrews plays Scooter Libby with the manipulative tenacity I would have expected. Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth did a great job with Joseph Wilson’s book “The Politics of Truth” and Valerie Plame’s book “Fair Game”. Liman did a great job of directing this film with full story clarity.

Overall: A very strong film which also can be a bit scary when one realizes how some government officials can bend their truth in a way that can cost thousands of lives – look what happen in Iraq.