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Review- Seven Psychopaths

At the Theater - Seven Psychopaths - The buildup's much, much better than the payoff in Writer/Director Martin McDonagh's (In Bruges) offbeat, dark, ensemble comedy about two dog-nappers (Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken) and a struggling screen-writer (Colin Farrell) tangling with a vicious gangster (Woody Harrelson) hell-bent on retrieving his beloved Shih-Tzu.  The film is frequently very funny and occasionally extremely bloody- it's not for the squeamish and recommended for those with a twisted sense of humor who appreciate great dialogue.  I wish a little more thought had been invested in the ending, but it's still well worth a watch for those interested.

Although Colin Farrell (S.W.A.T.) headlines the flick, it's the energetic Sam Rockwell that steals the show outright- the actor's putting in great work in pretty much everything he's been in for quite some time now, whether it's as a bit-part character actor (Cowboys & Aliens) or as leading man (Moon- highly recommended).  His "Billy" is very funny, quite likeable and decidedly insane here, delivering the vast majority of the film's best lines. His input regarding the screenplay that Farrell's "Marty" is trying to write is often hilarious.

Christopher Walken, as "Hans", is very good here, though I wasn't too keen on how his character "played out"- he has a few of the more poignant, touching scenes in the first two acts and I was disappointed with how the script utilized him in the conclusion. A great opportunity was either missed or ignored...

Woody Harrelson makes a solid bad-guy, though, again, there's a bit of a misfire as far as the comeuppance that audiences might expect (or desire) involving his character. 

There's a scene in the film in which a character points out how underwritten all the females are in "Marty's" screenplay - one could say the same for all of the female roles in this film, with Olga Kurylenko (Quantum Of Solace) and Abbie Cornish (Limitless) wholly misrepresented by the ensemble character posters circulating about and having less than 4 minutes screen-time combined.  That may be by design as an in-joke, but it's disappointing, nonetheless.

Other supporting appearances include: Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), Musician Tom Waits, Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man) Zeljko Ivanek (HBO's Oz), Michael Pitt (HBO's Boardwalk Empire) Kevin Corrigan (Pineapple Express)  and Harry Dean Stanton in an extended cameo.  Bonny the Shih Tzu is a helluva cute dog, but doesn't have much of a personality- she's a rather subdued pooch (that's not necessarily a complaint as I've witnessed some rather annoying Shihts...).

McDonagh needs to polish up his endings- where I'd give this film's conclusion a close, but no cigar triple, it's much better than the absolute strikeout conclusion featured in his previous film, In Bruges. I felt Seven Psychopaths lost quite a bit of momentum at or around the time our three protagonists take refuge in the desert, and it never fully recovered.

Seven Psychopaths is for those who enjoy their films with a mix of quirky humor and shocking violence- it's similar in tone to the likes of Get Shorty, Snatch, Jackie Brown, Fargo, Lucky Number Sleven, Payback, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Barton Fink and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang- but much, much bloodier than all of those films.  Fans of the films of Tarantino, The Coen Brothers and Guy Ritchie should check it out.

7.5 out of 10

***Of Note*** This film's Writer/Director is the brother of John Michael McDonagh- the Writer/Director of a fantastic little gem entitled The Guard- it's highly recommended.

Review- Argo

 At the Theater - Argo - "The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States in which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian Revolution... On the day the hostages were seized, six American diplomats evaded capture and remained in hiding at the Swedish and Canadian embassies. In 1979, the Canadian Parliament held a secret session for the first time since World War II in order to pass special legislation allowing Canadian passports to be issued to some American citizens so that they could escape. In cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency who used the cover story of a film project, the six American diplomats boarded a flight to Zürich, Switzerland, on January 28, 1980. Their escape and rescue from Iran by Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor has come to be known as the "Canadian Caper". The subject of the six escapees and what went into the planning and execution was also covered in the 2012 film Argo, directed by Ben Affleck." - Taken from Wikipedia.org

Argo depicts the true-life account of the six American diplomats who evaded capture and eventually escaped the country as the result of a joint effort with the CIA and Canadian Parliament during the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979. The mission played out under the guise of a film production crew scouting locations for a  fake film.  That established, there's one scene depicting a stateside script-reading involving costumed actors- don't go in expecting an elaborate fake film production playing out or a large film crew traveling around Iran.  Some may feel misled by the trailers...

Although Director/Star Ben Affleck does an efficient job of covering the events (with a few notable inaccuracies) and providing an air of authenticity with an impressive time capsule feel (have fun pointing out the props/product placement/movie memorabilia of the late 70's), I came away from this Drama/Thriller feeling underwhelmed.  The film is rather topical in nature- it's missing that one shocking moment that would have established the deadly-seriousness of the matter in a story where tension-building and suspense should have been top priority.  Furthermore, none of the characters are fleshed out  to the degree where I would even begin to mention any performance therein as highly-memorable or "award-worthy" in a film that has that "built-for-awards" type of feel.  Maybe I missed the point, maybe I wanted a story about the 52 individuals who were held captive for 444 days as opposed to the 6 who were in hiding (in relative lavish surroundings) for somewhere around 80 days***...

Ben Affleck stars as covert CIA specialist Tony Mendez- the actor's performance is solid yet subdued. Most of his screen-time is spent looking somewhat concerned, with relatively little dialogue and very little physical demand to speak of. Don't expect to see his character running around toting a gun as the character never even touches one (that's not a complaint, just establishing the nature of the character- Tony Mendez's life was quite interesting, and I would suggest that those interested should spend 5 minutes and look him up on Wikipedia). With that, I believe Affleck (as a Director) fails to capture a full character arc involving the lead role - there's nothing really dynamic with the Tony Mendez portrayed/presented here that anyone should find particularly memorable.  I felt it was the one role that should have outright powered the film yet ended up as an underwritten missed opportunity.

Alan Arkin is pretty much the comic relief here as a gruff (would you have Alan Arkin any other way?) producer who is approached to act as a stateside cover for the CIA's mission- he's likable in what appears to be a fictional role, at least as far as his character's name is concerned.  John Goodman portrays John Chambers, the makeup effects artist who's best known for his work on the Planet Of The Apes franchise of the 70's.  Goodman's serviceable in screen-time that probably clocks in at less than 4 minutes.

Bryan Cranston (AMC's Breaking Bad) occasionally pops up as a CIA Supervisor, while Kyle Chandler (Super 8) makes a couple of brief appearances as Hamilton Jordan, President Jimmy Carter's Chief of Staff. 

Clea DuVall (Identity), Tate Donovan (Memphis Belle), Kerry Bishé (Scrubs) and Rory Cochrane (Dazed and Confused) are the faces you may recognize as 4 of the six in hiding, while Victor Garber (Alias) is Ken Taylor, the Canadian Ambassador to Iran who helped hide them.

Taylor Schilling appears for a mere several seconds as Tony Mendez's wife while Michael Parks (Kill Bill) has a cameo as comic book artist Jack Kirby.  Richard Kind (Spin City) makes an appearance as a producer while Adreinne Barbeau passes by to essentially wink at the camera. 

It's an interesting story (for those who are uninitiated) but a rather forgettable film that has that safe, "made as an A&E original" feel...

***The film only briefly touches upon the ineptitude of President Jimmy Carter during the 444 days the 52 hostages were held while failing to mention Iran's peculiar decision to release them on the very day that President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office...

Rated R for language

7.0 out of 10

Review - End Of Watch

At the Theater - End Of Watch - Although this film has a few notable flaws (most movies do), this might just be the best "Uniformed Officers on Patrol" buddy movie ever made (for the record, Riggs and Murtaugh were plain-clothed...).  The natural dialogue and undeniable, brotherly chemistry between leads Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena (Crash) powers the film.  Pena should garner quite a bit of talk come Oscar time and deservedly so.   It's about as funny, tense, involving and altogether entertaining as a smaller-budgeted Drama/Thriller could be. 

I'll comfortably say that End Of Watch is Writer/Director David Ayer's (Training Day, Harsh Times, Street Kings, Dark Blue and SWAT) most complete effort to date- shot entirely in Los Angeles, it's obvious that the filmmaker (who grew up there) is familiar with the city's rougher element.  The majority of the movie covers the daily lives of two police officers, on and off duty, and Ayer does an excellent job of showcasing the daily drama, conflict and outright horrors involved with policing such a crime infested area.  The trailers for the film, which were somewhat misleading, established that the two officers featured therein stumble upon something which makes them marked men by a powerful Mexican Cartel- that particular plot turn doesn't really come into play until the final 20 minutes or so of the film.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are gold while onscreen together- I actually felt that I was watching some kind of reality travel-log featuring lifelong friends. The give-and-take performances between the two rank up there with the best of them.  Although Gyllenhaal is very good, and does nothing but solidify his growing status as a leading man, Michael Pena seems more comfortable and far more likable without becoming the cartoonish, wise-cracking sidekick- It's really one of the better performances from a Latino actor in film history.  You actually care about these guys- that's quite an accomplishment given the overall lack of foundation, depth and layers given to most of today's leading characters in films of this nature and genre.

Anna Kendrick (Up In The Air) and Natalie Martinez (Death Race) portray the love interests of the two Officers- Kendrick is given more screen time and does the most with it to provide one of the actress's more personal performances, while Martinez is very good- there's far more to her here than the obligatory eye candy roles I've seen from her in the past.

Frank Grillo (Warrior) plays the understanding "Sarge" while David Harbour (The Green Hornet) is the burn-out, "Van-Hauser."  America Ferrerra (ABC's Ugly Betty) and Cody Horn (Magic Mike) make a few appearances as fellow patrol officers- I have a strange feeling we may see them featured in a spin-off or sequel of sorts...

Complaints- I'm certain that the plot and filming gimmick of a patrol officer carrying a handheld camera around on a disturbance call would never fly- it's dangerous (I would want a free hand in a life-or-death situation, especially with my weapon drawn) and wholly unnecessary as far as the structure and story is concerned.  The vast majority of the film is from a third-person perspective- so what function does the "cop with a camera" footage really serve here?  All of the inherent dangers of the officer's exploits are well served without the "found footage" gimmick that Hollywood seems so infatuated with at the moment.

An opening shootout feels a bit too quick and staged for my tastes- I've never seen dash-cam evidence of Police officers calmly walking directly into fully automatic gunfire when there's perfectly suitable cover about.  I also wasn't buying the segment when one of the two officers removes his badge and weapon in a perpetrator's house and enters into an "off the books" fist fight.  I've listed the issues above because I believe they are ignorant and highly unrealistic lapses in a otherwise well-written and structured film. 

Check it out for the performances of Gyllenhaal and Pena- those who are interested in the general subject matter should find plenty to appreciate.  It's one of the better films of the year.

Rated R for violence, profanity and gore

8.5 out of 10

A Photo List - All Time Favorite Films - #26 through #50

26. Red River
27. The Professional
28. True Lies
29. Fright Night
30. Amelie
31. Tarzan and His Mate
32. Drive
33. Tombstone
34. Saving Private Ryan
35. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
36. The Longest Day
37. The Blues Brothers
38. The Big Lebowski
39. As Good As It Gets
40. THEM!
41. Silverado
42. Yojimbo
43. The Road Warrior
44. The Train
45. Young Frankenstein
46. The Usual Suspects
47. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
48. The Wild Bunch
49. Zulu
50. An American Werewolf In London

A Photo List - Top 25 Favorite Films of All Time...

Top 25 Favorite Films Of All Time:

1. Jaws
2. Die Hard
3. John Carpenter's The Thing
4. Braveheart
5. The Bear
6. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
7. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
8. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939
9. Aliens
10. Once Upon A Time In The West
11. Seven Samurai
12. Roman Holiday
13. Predator
14. The Empire Strikes Back
15. King Kong 1933
16. Gunga Din
17. Star Wars
18. Blood Simple
19. Unforgiven
20. Curse of The Demon
21. Halloween
22. Robocop
23. Last Of The Mohicans
24. Beau Geste
25. Lethal Weapon

#'s 26 through 50 will be coming soon...