Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

First Hit:  A bittersweet story about war hero Billy Lynn figuring out who he is, what's important to him, and where he belongs.

In the context of being a soldier, doing what he was taught to do and being part of a team of men whom he cares about; he ends up with a Silver Star and Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn) is surprised by the attention of all this.

Billy has been a screw-up most of his life and while protecting the honor of his sister Katheryn (Kristen Stewart), he gets caught by the police. As done in many places in the USA, courts often let convicted criminals choose to join the military instead of jail time in hopes that the structure teaches young men responsibility. The structure helps him to be more responsible as does the close camaraderie between the diverse backgrounds of the men in his squad. He’s particularly taken by Squad leader "Shroom" (Vin Diesel) who pontificates about spirit and the spirituality behind all things.

The film begins with Billy coming home and getting ready to be honored for bravery with a victory tour and a half-time celebration at a Dallas Cowboys football game. Director Ang Lee uses flashbacks to give the audience the harrowing story of “Bravo” squad, as they engage in an intense fire fight in Iraq.

The best thing about the film is the juxtaposition between the fans, workers, cheerleaders, and football team owner Norm’s (Steve Martin) attitude and perception of the war and the men who fight it and what it means to be a hero. The film does this really well by cutting back and forth between the gun battle and the half-time celebration.

I related to the nervousness of the squad as loud noise and fireworks had them, in a nervous reflex, ducking for cover. I remember coming home from Vietnam and ducking and covering at every backfire from a car or startling loud noise.

Along with the celebration, all through the film there is a promoter Albert (Chris Tucker) who is attempting to get a deal for a film about the bravery of the squad. He makes it urgent because he can only get them big money while they are “hot” property. When Norm states that he's willing to fund their film, but only offers the men $5,500 each, Billy and Dime (Garrett Hedlund) take a firm stand. The story is not America’s but theirs and it cannot be bought for this very low price.

A film like this would need a love interest and here Billy runs into a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader Faison (Makenzie Leigh) who admires the hero in Billy but does she even really see him? The idea of being close to a hero is effectively shared in their brief encounters and belies a real relationship.

Alwyn is very good in this role of naïve, yet worldly in the ways of life and death, young man. Martin is very effective as “America’s Football Team” owner. He is the personification of someone looking for an edge, notoriety, while taking advantage of situations for his own benefit. Diesel is strong as the philosophy spouting leader. Nice to see Diesel in a softer role. Hedlund is perfect as the toe the line new squad leader keeping his team together. Stewart is wonderful as the caring sister who feels responsible for her brother’s predicament. Leigh is great as the cheerleader who is more in love with a hero than the hero himself. Tucker is very believable as a promoter. Jean-Chrisophe Castelli wrote an interesting screenplay which takes on the challenge of showing the public's disconnect from the realities of war and yet wanting to own the heroes for their work. Lee effectively shows half-time pageantry, the behind the scenes of how the pageantry gets put together, and the battle scenes. His use of color is exquisite. This isn’t an easy story to tell but in Lee’s hands it works very well.

Overall:  I was surprised by how much I ended up liking the film because the title actually put me off.

The Big Year

First Hit:  Moderately funny and insightful as to the phenomena of bird watching.

Bird watching may be a passive pursuit but Americans will make a competition out of anything and here we witness the competition at its finest, worst, and funniest.

Brad Harris (played by Jack Black) is working at an IT job he doesn’t enjoy. His real love is bird watching and one day he wants to do a “Big Year”. Stu Preissler (played by Steve Martin) is an extremely successful businessman, loves bird watching, and itches to get out of his CEO role and into doing a “Big Year.”

Kenny Bostick (played by Owen Wilson) is the record holder for “The Big Year” with 732 different North American bird sightings in one year. Birders do not tell each other that they are doing a “Big Year” because they don’t want someone else to know they are trying for the most sightings in a year.

The focus of this film is relationship building and understanding priorities. Brad’s dad thinks Brad is wasting his life being interested in birds. The scene when his dad and he find an owl, the sighting brings reconciliation and resolves years of pain. Stu keeps getting called back by his lieutenants to fix their incompetence but he learns that his supportive wife and new grandchild mean more than his work.

Bostick is obsessive about his record and he is good at counting birds. The issues are that he puts his record over his wife’s wanting to have a baby. The scenes around his decisions reflect cruelty, obsessiveness, and thoughtlessness.

There is humor along the way but I found the film more dramatic than of comedic based. The strongest aspects of this film are informing the audience about how various weather phenomena affect bird migration behavior.

This film has education built into it and during the credits we get to see slides of all the 755 Bostick gets in this new “Big Year.”

Black was good as the guy who is stuck doing a job he doesn’t like but trying to find a way to do what he wants. Martin really fits the role as a cool rich business tycoon who realizes that life is more than his work. Wilson is perfect as the guy who can argue and reason his abhorrent behavior with wit and in the end feel his sadness. Howard Franklin wrote a smart screenplay that was moderately funny. David Frankel’s direction was clear and crisp enough to make this perceived boring subject exciting.

Overall: This was a good, educational and fun film to watch.

It's Complicated

First Hit: Although funny, even laugh out loud funny at times, it could have been stronger about its subject matter.

It’s Complicated isn’t complicated at all. The premise could be complicated but as it is presented in this film it becomes a rather simple story attempting to be complicated.

The story: Ten years after their divorce Jane and Jake (played by Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin respectively) rekindle their love and romance for each other after spending an evening drinking and eating in a New York Hotel bar.

Complication 1) they hide this event from their three children. Complication 2) they hide if from Jake’s new wife Agness (played by Lake Bell). Complication 3) Jane meets and becomes attracted to Adam (played by Steve Martin) who is her architect, a very straight up sensitive guy, and looking for a solid partner.

What drives Jake to look back to Jane is that he is unhappy with his new wife who is bossy and also wants him to become a new father at 57 years old. What he enjoys with his liaison with Jane is their familiarity and history. He also sees her as accomplished in business and interestingly sexy.

This new vision drives him to want to have afternoon quickies and steamy meetings. Yes, this could have been a complicated story if the script called on all the participants to be strong players, but this didn’t happen. What did happen were scenes which created situational laughs which were effectively done but lacked depth.

Some of these scenes were the hotel scenes where the future son-in-law sees them kiss, Jane’s woman’s group meetings, and when Adam and Jane and high on pot at a party given by her daughter.

There is a palpable chemistry between Baldwin and Streep. This makes the film work. The idyllic family, Streep and Baldwin’s three children, was a stretch. They just seemed too perfect and not realistic in their relationships with each other and their parents. I didn’t pick up much chemistry between Streep and Martin, but it wasn’t the main part of the film.

Overall: I laughed often and appreciated this aspect of the film but it isn’t a complicated film nor is the depiction of their relationship.

The Pink Pannther 2

First Hit: Better than Steve Martin’s first attempt at being Inspector Clouseau and although there are funny bits, it isn’t any better than the original Pink Panthers starring Peter Sellers.

I’m not sure why Steve Martin decided to do remakes of the Pink Panther series. Maybe it is because he admired Peter Sellers so much, I don’t know. Lord knows Martin has enough writing talent to create something better (“Shopgirl” or even better his play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”), however he’s chosen to redo the Pink Panther films.

His first attempt was an obvious attempt to recreate Peter Sellers’ version of the character. However, in this attempt Steve is more relaxed and plays to his own strengths (the flamenco dance was perfect Martin). As Clouseau, he is part of “The Dream Team” of top police inspectors who work on big international cases. As soon as he leave France the Pink Panther diamond is stolen from a French museum.

Clouseau and the dream team then make attempts to solve the crime. Having a group of other good inspectors on the case helps this film and gives Martin foils to expand his type of humor.

Martin is much better and more relaxed as Clouseau in this film. The story line is expanded with the addition of Andy Garcia as Vicenzo, Alfred Molina as Pepperidge, and Yuki Matsuzaki as Kenji who make up “The Dream Team”. Garcia was funny as a suave inspector from Italy. Lily Tomlin played Mrs. Berenger an officer who helps officers be socially correct and on their best behavior. I couldn’t help but think this was an added on part to boost up the comedic aspects for Martin.

Overall: This film had some funny bits and was overall somewhat enjoyable but comes nowhere near the films he is complementing.