Runner Runner

First Hit: Great actors in a weak and poorly conceived story.

An enterprising college student Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) gets his peers to go to a gambling site where they lose money. He gets paid to refer people to this site.

This is how he is paying for school because he lost his previous job as a broker and what he wants his MBA. Because one of his student clients loses a bunch of money, school officials tell Richie he can’t continue in his business. With few options left, he bets all he has on a poker gambling website. His quick mind, and with a friends computer help, he figures out that the site cheated.

He decides to go meet the owner of the site – Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). Block is not allowed back into the United States because of his business behavior of not paying taxes etc. The FBI is after him as well, but cannot touch him because he’s in Belize.

Block convinces Richie to work for him and but Richie doesn’t know he’s being played, again. In the end Richie is smart enough and finds a way to turn the tides against Block. The story is weak, parts of the idea are strong. The actors are strong, but in a weak script and under poor direction this film fails in many ways.

Timberlake is OK but only because the script he’s given. He makes it work well enough to keep the audience engaged, but overall the film falls flat. Affleck does great in great roles and under decent direction and under poor direction with a mediocre script, he looks lost. Gemma Arterton played Affleck’s and Timberlake’s lover is only OK, but again this is probably because of the script and direction. Brian Koppelman and David Levien wrote a weak script. The idea was good but the execution was really poor. Brad Furman didn’t have a lot to work with but some of the sequencing of scenes was awkward and poorly done.

Overall:  This was a mediocre film but the idea was OK.

Prisoners

First Hit:  Intense, beautifully shot, and engaged acting.

The opening scenes show a darkened winter climate, truck in the driveway, one family walking over to another family’s home for holiday cheer.

The Dover family’s patriarch Keller (Hugh Jackman) is somewhat of a survivalist, intense, appearing to have a quick angry trigger. However it is apparent he loves his family – deeply.

The Birch family’s patriarch Franklin (Terrence Howard) is mellow and somewhat thoughtful. Their wives are different as well. Grace Dover (Maria Bello) seems to be on the edge of falling apart while Nancy Birch (Viola Davis) appears to have more of hardened and strong background. Their daughters all of a sudden go missing.

Police Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned to the case and he’s got a 100% crime solving record. He is methodical and follows his own path despite questioned interference from his boss Captain O’Mally (Wayne Duvall). The initial suspect Alex Jones (Paul Dano) is a grownup with a 6 year olds understanding of things. Loki doesn’t think Alex knows, or can articulate, enough about the missing girls to be really helpful. Keller thinks differently and imprisons Alex so that he can torture him to give up information about the missing daughters.

This film is hard to watch at times because the torture scenes are graphically displayed. The ending wasn’t suspected, but the pieces do come together and while walking out, I felt I’d been through a wringer.

Jackman was intensely focused and fully engaged his role. Howard was great as a man who was being led to do things he felt wrong. Bello showed a perfect weakness in her character, which isn’t her normal role. Davis was solid and showed a subtle rage against Dano’s character which was perfect. Gyllenhaal was sublime as the intense loner detective who prides himself on getting the answer right. Dano was beyond amazing. He embodied the character all the way and his eyes told the whole story. Melissa Leo was fantastic as Jones’ aunt and matriarch of a sick family life. Aaron Guzikowski wrote a powerful interesting script. Denis Villeneuve did an outstanding job of directing this deep dark script with both light and dark muted scenes.

Overall:  This was a very good and disturbing film.

The Family

  First Hit:  There were amusing moments but it was more of a drama than dark comedy and in this realm it was unexceptional.

Frank Blake (AKA Giovanni Manzoni played by Robert De Niro) is hiding out in France with his family; wife Maggie Blake (Michelle Pfeiffer), daughter Belle Blake (Dianna Agron) and son Warren Blake (John D’Leo). Blake/Manzoni is hiding out in France because he’s in a witness protection program headed by Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones).

His whole family cannot seem to hide out innocuously therefore Stansfeld has been moving them every 60 days. They just can't seem to stop causing trouble and bring attention to themselves wherever they move. Because Manzoni ratted on another Mafia boss thereby sending him to prison, he and his family are the active targets for assassination by the boss’s henchmen.

Where this film is fun and interesting is when either child is leading the scene or when Maggie is working her magic. Maggie gets pissed that a French store owner demeans her behind her back, so she blows up the store. Daughter Belle brutally takes care of French boys who have no manners, while son Warren sizes up everything and everyone and then arranges things to his advantage.

This is where the comedy comes and then goes. Maggie’s attitude toward each scene, showing her softer side or her hard New York City wasp side is fabulous. When the kids come together to save the family, the action part of this film comes together.

De Niro, although the primary male role, didn’t steal this film, his family did. Pfeiffer was fabulous. Her accent, attitude and actions were fully engaging and kept me interested in her scenes. Agron was really great. I enjoyed her strength and softness and felt she did a great job of embodying them. D’Leo was very strong as the young son who has embodied his dad’s wiliness, street smarts and the ability to put two and two together quickly. Jones seemed tired and uninterested in this role. Luc Besson and Michael Caleo wrote a confused script. If it was to be more of a black comedy, they needed more humor, if they were going strictly action, they needed better setups. Luc Besson directed this without a clear focus of the type/genre it was to be.

Overall:  Although the film didn’t really know its focus, many of the scenes were very enjoyable.

Closed Circuit

First Hit:  An interesting education of the English court system.

Terrorism, spying, closed circuit cameras, and English law are featured in this film. Martin Rose (Eric Bana) is a hard nosed independent English Barrister. He’s divorced, his former wife despises and controls when he can see his son and for how long – we guess for good reason.

This part of the film sets up the type of guy he is. Above all he’s independent. He’s had an affair with Claudia Simmons-Howe (Rebecca Hall) another Barrister who has a long tradition of strong independence. They must both lie to be assigned to defend a perceived terrorist from prosecution by the government.

Briefly, in cases such as this, there is a public defender (Rose) and a private advocate (Simmons-Howe). When assigned, neither person can have contact with each other nor can they have had a past conflicted relationship with each other.

Because they were lovers, this means they couldn’t legally take these roles. However they both want to try this case, they lie to the judge and say there is no reason why they cannot work on this case. The interesting part of this film is that the evidence that each Barrister collects cannot be shared with the other. The worst part is that is that all secret evidence obtained by Simmons-Howe cannot be made public.

As the respective Barristers learn more about what really happened, they discover that it was the government’s own MI5 that was pulling the strings and that they don’t want to be embarrassed.

Bana is very effective as the smart, bull-headed, independent Barrister that wants the truth and really has a heart. Hall is wonderful as the Advocate and some of her interactions with a particular MI5 agent are priceless. Jim Broadbent, in a very limited role as the Attorney General, is sublime and cements the way the government deals with issues like this. Steven Knight wrote a good script in that it was also educational besides entertaining. John Crowley made effective use of portraying how spying and government control gets in the way of the truth.

Overall:  Not a great film but certainly worth a look some Sunday evening.

The Millers

First Hit:  Although not great, I enjoyed this film and many laughs came easily.

I was in the mood for something lighthearted and maybe with some substance. “The Millers” came through really well.

The substance is about learning about selflessness – movement away from selfishness. David (Jason Sudeikis) is a small time dime-bag marijuana dealer. He’s doing the same thing he’s been doing all his life. He only cares about himself and making the required sales. He’s worked for Brad (Ed Helms) for a very long time.

Brad is wealthy (he collects whales not cars) and is a jerk. David gets robbed trying to stop his neighbor Kenny (Will Poulter) from breaking up a street robbery of Casey (Emma Roberts) by some street punks. It’s Kenny’s good heart that put him in danger. When David decides to help and this kindness backfires on him.

Losing a lot of Brad’s money and pot, Brad gives David the option of picking up a bunch of pot in Mexico and bring it across the Mexican/US border OR be can be killed. If he does the smuggling job, he’s promised money, relief from his indebtedness to Brad, and maybe a little more freedom.

To make this happens, David hatches the idea that if he looked like a family man in a RV then the likelihood of being stopped at the boarder would be less. So he recruits Kenny, then Casey - who is homeless, and his neighbor Rose (Jennifer Aniston) to become his family on this adventure. He offers them some money. Rose is a stripper, hates her job and has been stilted both financially and emotionally by her past boyfriend.

With the promise of a payoff, this motley crew becomes “The Millers” and they trek off to Mexico to collect some pot and to make some money. But the situations that happen on the way drive them all to see that being part of a family has meaning for all of them.

What makes the story and funny situations work is excellent acting on all their parts.

Sudeikis is very good as a slacker, just selfishly going on with his life and slowly and sporadically finding that he cares about the family he put together for his profit.  Helms is great as the jerky drug dealer. Aniston is fabulous as a stripper, pretend mother, and as the grounding force of this film. Roberts is a delight and, like Aniston, segues from hardened loaner, to a girl wanting to be heard, seen and loved. Poulter was amazing and a real prize. His innocence and bravery was perfect. Nick Offerman and Kathryn Hahn as Don and Edie Fitzgerald fellow RV travelers were a great addition to the story. Bob Fisher and Steve Farber wrote a witty screenplay. Rawson Marshall Thurber provided a deft touch directing this ensemble cast of strong actors.

Overall:  This was every entertaining and definitely worth the price of admission.