Gambit

First Hit:  Mildly entertaining in very few places.

Harry (played by Colin Firth) feels unappreciated as a lowly art appraiser and employee of egoist Lionel Shahbandar (played by Alan Rickman).

To get his boss back he thinks of a plan to duplicate a Monet piece where the original is currently in Texas and owned by PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz). Harry gets PJ to be part of the plan by telling her she will get a $500,000 if she pretends to sell her Monet to Shahbandar for $12 M.

What will really happen is that they will sell a forgery made by Major Wingate (played by Tom Courtenay). In this very lame comedy things go array with their plan but, as expected, come together in the end. Wading through the wasted screen time for the few real funny bits (Harry in an old woman’s hotel room with no pants) is painful.

Firth is occasionally funny but more time is spent on being in no-man’s land. It is like we have to wade through a lot of junk to get to any good stuff. Rickman is simply not a good comedic film villain. Diaz is OK, occasionally funny, but mostly seems pressed to make this film work. Ethan and Joel Coen didn’t create much of a screenplay and it was probably made worse by the lazy and unfocused direction of Michael Hoffman. 

Overall:  This was a time waste.

Seven Psychopaths

First Hit:  A very oddly violent funny film.

Like many people I watched the funny and odd previews for this film and the result of going to see this film is that it is more violent and funnier than I anticipated.

The concept of a film being written about the film the audience is watching is not new, but the way this was done was inventive in that the scenes were near the edge of believable. They were bizarrely constructed and well executed.

The actors were the glue that made these stories work. Billy (played by Sam Rockwell) is the main character whose has a best friend named Marty (played by Colin Farrell). Marty is struggling to write a new screenplay based on a name he thinks he came up with, “Seven Psychopaths”.

But as the film moves along we see that is Billy who is coaxing this story along and Marty's job is to coalesce it into a viable screenplay. Billy also has another job, he steals dogs with Hans (played by Christopher Walken) and then when the owner posts a reward for the dog, Hans returns the dog, collects the reward.

Hans is married to Myra who has cancer and Hans gives her the money for her treatment. Billy steals a mob bosses’ Shih Tzu named Bonny. The mob boss named Charlie (played by Woody Harrelson) is very attached to his dog and he and his band of thugs are out to find and kill the thieves.

There are other oddly outstanding characters including a Vietnamese Priest (played by Long Nguyen) who is out for revenge. The downside of the film for me was that there was a whole host of gratuitous violence.

Rockwell was expertly cast. He’s great at looking and acting normal but psychopathic at the same time. Farrell is good here as well. He’s the sane one. Walken is a trip. He does this role effortlessly – great job. Harrelson is strong in this part as a gangster. It is slightly different than “Natural Born Killers” and his turn as Larry Flynt in “The People vs. Larry Flynt gave him the wherewithal to do another turn in a wheelchair in a small scene. Martin McDonagh put together a very oddly constructed and engaging script in which he directed the same way.

Overall:  Even days after watching the film I smile and chuckle with the memory playback of some of the scenes.

End of Watch

First Hit:  Very well acted film about the bond between two police officers in South Central LA.

One of the very best things about this film was that it wasn’t about a huge crime event, or the solving of a particular crime.

This film is about the relationship of two very different people, Officer Brian Taylor (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) and Officer Mike Zavala (played by Michael Pena) and the trust they have with each other.

The film walks us through the antics of the officer’s headquarters meetings, the different personalities on the force, and their dialog in the car as they cruse South Central. Officer Taylor is a bachelor, has identified his dating process from beginning to end and that it seems endless.

Officer Zavala has married his high school sweetheart and he is completely happy in his home life. Zavala has a child on the way, while Taylor only wishes about having a meaningful conversation with a woman after the third date.

Together they complement each other in how they do their job, their special skills, and how they can accept and embrace each other. When Officer Taylor meets the woman of his dreams Janet (played by Anna Kendrick), it is great to see and watch his subtle shifts as he realizes much of what Officer Zavala has told him about what love and marriage is really about.

As Police Officers, they are heroic (house on fire scene), ballsy (walking into the large party scene), and brave (as they work themselves out of a fire fight scene).

The best thing about this movie is that they show these things as to demonstrate their characters as people and police officers, not as crime solvers and preventers.

Gyllenhaal was very very good as the officer who learns what is really important in his life. Pena was excellent as the officer who knew his place and what was important in his life. Natalie Martinez (as Gabby) was wonderful as Pena’s wife and support system. Kendrick was really very good as Taylor’s girlfriend and wife. Her scene in the bedroom with the video camera was excellent. Dominique (as Wicked) was strongly wicked and took over her scenes. David Ayer wrote a very strong script which highlighted the characters differences in a very natural way. His direction was spot on and using Officer Taylors hand-held camera for some of his shots was a good choice.

Overall:  What I liked about this film is that it put the crime in perspective to their lives and not the other way around.

Lawless

First Hit:  Violent and a well-acted film about bootlegging and the perceived invincibility of a family.

Forrest Bondurant (played by Tom Hardy) is a quiet and focused leader of the Bondurant family bootlegging operation.

His Howard (played by Jason Clarke) is a hard drinking, quick tempered, and the more obvious strong arm of Bondurant boys. Jack (played by Shia LaBeouf) is the “runt” of the boys. Jack is afraid of killing and violence, has wondrous ideas, and likes some of the trappings of the money they make through bootlegging.

The government sends in Chicago Special Officer Charlie Rakes (played by Guy Pearce) to work with local officers to clean up the bootlegging operations. The government is willing to make a deal with the bootleggers and all the local bootleggers do except the Bondurant’s.

This starts a war between the family and law enforcement officers. This is a mano-a-mano film mixed in with a bit of romance. The anxious romance of Jack with preacher’s daughter Bertha Minnix (played by Mia Wasikowska) was one of the more lighthearted aspects of the film.

This romance was juxtaposed by the smoldering slow build up of drifter Maggie Beauford (played by Jessica Chastain) who works for the Bondurant’s in their roadside café.

The violent aspects of the film are not necessarily easy to watch and that humans can do this to one another it is sad. Despite this violence I did like this dark film about a piece of Americana.

Hardy is beyond powerful and excellent in his role as the solid, immortal, Forrest Bondurant. Clarke is less evocative, yet his critical supportive role is well acted. LaBeouf is very good as the young man that shies away from the violence but tries to prove himself in other ways. Pearce is superb as the very twisted Rakes. Wasikowska is excellent as the preacher’s daughter who is hooked on the wilder Bondurant boy. Chastain is very good as the woman who’s seen it all and will do anything to find a home for herself. Dane DeHaan was outstanding as the rickets laden genius who assists the Bondurant’s in their business. Nick Cave wrote an excellent script from Matt Bondurant’s book about his family. John Hillcoat did a wonderful job of giving the audience a feel for this way of life.

Overall: If you can get by the violence, this is a very good film.

Killer Joe

First Hit:  A film that rides the edge of powerful, violent and absurd.

Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) lives with his mom but, unseen, he throws her up against a refrigerator. He hates her and he wants to killer her for her insurance money which will go to his sister Dottie (Juno Temple).

Chris doesn't think anything thing through and the results of his actions surprise him. He needs money because he owes $8,000 on a gambling debt and they are out to kill him.

Dottie is oddly brilliant because she actually sees what is going on but everyone else thinks she is too sensitive and slow. Chris’ father Ansel (played by Thomas Haden Church) is even more stupid than Chris.

His responses at the end of the film to questions by Killer Joe (played by Matthew McConaughey) are priceless. Ansel is married Sharla (Gina Gershon) who cheats on Ansel and has fights with Chris. Chris and Ansel hire Killer Joe Cooper to kill Chris and Dottie’s mother for the insurance money.

The plan is to pay Joe his fee and split the remaining amongst the four of them. However, Joe requires his money up front, but decides to change his terms and to take Dottie as a retainer.

Their sensual and sexual scenes are very intensely shot. When the plot fails, Joe takes charge of the family and the scene of making Sharla suck a KFC chicken leg is grossly engaging.

Hirsch is wildly good because he moves from being foolhardy and protective with the same vigor. Temple is very strong as a girl wanting to stay innocent and grownup at the same time. Church is exceptional as a low IQ guy who just doesn’t fully see what really going on and, when lost, takes direction from others well. Gershon is good as a woman who fights for what she wants and is probably the smartest one in the family. McConaughey is fantastic as Joe. He is suave, partially sick in his actions, clear and concise in his instructions to the group as things begin to unfold. Tracy Letts wrote an interesting script. William Friedkin got a lot out of his actors and he made it edgy and oddly funny.

Overall: This is bizarre film, but its absurdity, oddly different script and powerful performances were entertaining.