Knee Deep and Surely Drowning
February 29, 2016
Triple 9 (2016).
D: John Hillcoat. DP: Nicolas Karakatsanis. W: Matt Cook. Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor/Casey Affleck/Woody Harrelson/Anthony Mackie/Aaron Paul/Norman Reedus/Kate Winslet/Gal Gadot/Clifton Collins Jr./Teresa Palmer/Michelle Ang.
The award season frenzy still has many enraptured, but in the meantime movies are still being released! Among those is a new film, Triple 9, from director John Hillcoat about a strategic group of military con men and dirty cops who rob a bank only to be forced to do a follow up job. None other than Oscar winner Kate Winslet steps up to that plate in Russian accented stilettos. But she is better in Triple 9 than a single frame of Steve Jobs.
Hillcoat’s last film, 2012’s Lawless, was a favorite of mine. Its development struggle with this one was similar, it came together and fell apart multiple times. But unlike Lawless (as well as Hillcoat’s The Road and The Proposition) Triple 9 is not a bleak frontier set story. Its urban sweaty Atlanta landscape surely feels alive, but its core group of men are so selfish you hardly want to root for them. Hillcoat gets the setting right, but can never really pull you into a tale probably better suited to crime fiction.
The vagabond group is led by Chiwetel Ejiofor as Michael whose child with Irina’s (Winslet) sister Elena (new Wonder Woman Gal Gadot) is the wretch in everyone’s plan. Michael gets his group together of fellow military man Russell (Norman Reedus) and dirty detectives Marcus (Anthony Mackie) and Franco (Clifton Collins Jr.). Russell’s former cop brother Gabe (Aaron Paul) tags along and nearly botches the first job. The group is forced to proceed with the second job and concoct the Triple 9 plan, as 999 stands for the code for a police officer down. With the city responding to that crisis for ten to fifteen minutes the other robbery can occur.
New gang unit cop Chris (Casey Affleck) becomes their target as he is partnered up with Marcus. Affleck’s Chris and Mackie’s Marcus may have competing concepts of their job, but a sequence where Chris leads the gang unit into a project after a suspect is gripping and the best part of the film. Triple 9 is able to show the different objectives of departments like homicide and gang units and how each group has its own ecosystem tenderly balanced. Circling around the group is Woody Harrelson as Chris’ uncle Jeff, also a detective, who smells something isn’t right early on. Looking like he walked from his True Detective set onto this one, Jeff is nothing we wouldn’t expect from Harrelson, grass included.
Every actor does well here, each man stands their own with Ejiofer playing his paternal role well. Winslet’s accent is even and it’s a bit fun to see her play dirty. Yet ultimately the film cannot compete with say a good read of a Dennis Lehane novel. One needs a character you know well when all the violence, betrayals and deaths rain down. Without it you are left walking out the cinema asking, who cares? We have to root for someone knee deep in all that crap! That is what Sicario did earlier this year and what I wish Triple 9 could have done.
One Man Compass
November 19, 2015
Steve Jobs (2015).
D: Danny Boyle. DP: Alwin H. Küchler. W: Aaron Sorkin. Starring: Michael Fassbender/Kate Winslet/Seth Rogen/Jeff Daniels/Michael Stuhlbarg/Katherine Waterston/Sarah Snook/John Oritz. (NOTE: Based on Walter Isaacson’s book ‘Steve Jobs’)
Forgive me for never making time for the Ashton Kutcher staring 2013 film, Jobs. Now with this newer, fancier, somewhat biopic film, Steve Jobs, I am curious about how bad the other might be. Or if they manage a different side of this character study entirely. I shall make a date with netflix to discover.
Cut into three different chapters based around different product launches in 1984, 1988, and 1998 Aaron Sorkin’s script is precise. Sorkin is the famed creator of the TV series The West Wing as well as an Oscar winner for his screenplay of The Social Network. The Sorkin pace and quick dialogue is on the nose tonally with this characterization of the non-emotional asshole and eventual CEO of Apple. Everything we learn is in the dialogue despite this film being about the selling of home computing and Jobs’ own obsession with the look of his products.
Michael Fassbender whose slimmed down considerably since Macbeth is fraught and scheming here, but cannot abandon his looks for the character entirely. His Jobs is a bit Howard Hughes for me. The main emotional arc of the story is centered on his relationship with his daughter Lisa whom he vehemently denies is not his for most of the film. This strained relationship is the backboard for Sorkin to explore Jobs’ history, which is dolled out, as I said, only in dialogue. A refreshing device, leaning the film away from biopic tendencies, but nevertheless does not provide clarity to anything.
One of the weirdest aspects of the film is Kate Winslet. She gives a good performance as Joanna Hoffman, being the emotional compass for Jobs’ stunted antics. However, after the first chapter of the film she suddenly acquires an Eastern European accent. It is frankly jarring and nothing in the film can really explain it. I spent the majority of the 1988 section confused and pitching myself as if I must have been asleep before to have missed this accent. Trust me, I was not. Seth Rogen and Michael Stuhlbarg give solid supporting performances and are great screen partners for Fassbender.
Ultimately, director Danny Boyle is not able to entrance you. Steve Jobs runs too long especially as it is the same crop of characters who just reemerge at different launches. We see very little of the creative process behind any of the products so there is little satisfaction in what reveal we do see. As Jobs hardly changes throughout the film Boyle’s focus of the camera on his face merely acts to remind us that this character is not on a journey, even if he has softer moments. The discussion of the closed versus open systems of the computers is probably the most fascinating technical element explained, why apple products are they way they are. But this is lost in a film obsessed with one man’s compass and not the ship’s voyage.
Second Portion Disappointment
March 26, 2015
Insurgent (2015).
D: Robert Schwentke. DP: Florian Ballhaus. W: Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman & Mark Bomback. Starring: Shailene Woodley/Theo James/Miles Teller/Ansel Elgort/Kate Winslet/Naomi Watts/Jai Courtney/Mekhi Phifer/Zoe Kravitz/Octavia Spencer/Ashley Judd/Maggie Q/Daniel Dae Kim. (Based on Veronica Roth’s novel of the same name)
In a market saturated with young adult adaptations, it is difficult to standout and stand alone within your series of films. The Divergent Series, written by 20-something Veronica Roth, chronicles Beatrice/Tris Pryor (Shailene Woodley) as she lives in a city built around factions defined by personality traits. Last year’s Divergent covered Tris leaving Abnegation (selflessness) to join the Dauntless (fearless) when she came of age. This year’s adaption of the second novel, Insurgent, picks the story up again with Tris on the run as the Erudite faction leader Joanna (Kate Winslet) continues to seek out and destroy anyone classified as divergent. Yes, that’s a lot of names. And no they aren’t all necessary.
Insurgent is the weaker of the two films, but for a variety of reasons that also have to do with the strength of Roth’s series to begin with. Now out of the faction training world, Insurgent must cover massive amounts of ground as Tris and her group of Dauntless go into hiding and then on the run. A beautiful overhead tracking shot opens the film, but is sadly used again and again. Joseph Trapanese’s score pulsates way too frequently, actually detracting from the drama and action onscreen. This simply is the more difficult book to tackle well.
What is probably the saving grace of the series is Woodley. Sporting her cropped hair needed for last year’s The Fault In Our Stars, Woodley does provide some realism and access to the heaviness of the choices Tris must make. However, unlike the previous film the audience gets so sense about the progression of her personal life. Not to gripe, but the decision to have sex with her boyfriend Four (Theo James) is a weighty and complex one. Here it is brushed past like it’s just plausibly acceptable, like the three male screenwriters simply did not know how to handle writing that scene. James is still all beef cake thunder as Four and the couple do have chemistry even if the age discrepancy from what Roth wrote gives me the giggles.
Insurgent certainly moves at a clip as it spatially must cover lots of ground and no one is given many chances to breathe. Sadly this means that certain characters are removed and plot beats changed. If the film were better this wouldn’t be a bother. What surprisingly doesn’t elevate the series is Winslet as the baddie, despite her best efforts. Her cold is just not cold enough. But she’s better off that Naomi Watts who appears as the factionless leader who doesn’t look powerful enough to have ever been in Dauntless, no matter how much metallic eye shadow is slathered on her face. I think it’s a diservice to audience by Summit to have us try to believe this dystopian reality is crumbling, but the potential new leader has time for a full face of make up? While they live in a warehouse…
Ultimately, Insurgent is able to handle its violence realistically with the tole, like in the novels, weighing heavy on its characters. Yet the end seems surprisingly upbeat, which makes me wonder what else might be changed down the road. The special effects during the simulations are also beautiful, but did not warrant a 3D release. Lastly, what can be taken away from the film is the humor and charm of Miles Teller. An actor not to miss from last year’s Whiplash, watch out for him and go back to see his film The Spectacular Now with Woodley, just might change your viewing of this series.
I’m Just a Teenage Dystopian Story, Baby
March 29, 2014
Divergent (2014).
D: Neil Burger. W: Evan Daugherty & Vanessa Taylor. DP: Alwin H. Kuchler. Starring: Shailene Woodley/Theo James/Kate Winslet/Jai Courtney/Ashley Judd/Tony Goldwyn/Miles Teller/Zoe Kravitz/Ansel Elgort/Maggie Q/Ray Stevenson/Mekhi Phifer/Ben Lloyd-Hughes/Christian Madsen. (Based on Veronica Roth’s YA novel.)
Another addition to the YA film adaptation catalog, Divergent joins fellow Liongsate/Summit owned Twilight and The Hunger Games as the surge to bring profitable YA book series to the screen continues. Concluded in three books, Veronica Roth’s series has had the chance to sit back and scope out its franchise predecessors (and natural box office comparisons). Director Neil Burger did just that and was able to create a look that feels independent of previous franchises.
Lacking the sappiness of spineless Bella in Twilight and gaining the active strength of Katniss in The Hunger Games, Divergent centers on Tris Prior whose grown up in a post-apocalyptic/post-epic big battle world where citizens are categorized around basic human personality traits and values. Honesty (Candor), selflessness (Abnegation), bravery (Dauntless), harmony (Amnity) and intelligence (Erudite) groups attempt to coexist with each faction taking on certain community responsibilities. At the age of sixteen members of each faction take a test to guide them into picking their adult faction. And of course this is where the heroine is to be found. Discovering she might not fit in any one faction, Shailene Woodley’s Tris makes a choice. And despite it’s derivative nature the basic fact that author Veronica Roth has our female protagonist make choices allows the series to be compelling to read and to watch. Tris is not a reactor like Bella, she is not a victim of circumstance, rather she forges her own future. Much like The Hunger Games‘ Katniss, Tris is a female character not defined by trite romance, but her convictions and choices she makes.
On critics and audiences’ radar since 2011’s Oscar winning film The Descendants, Shailene Woodley adds this film to her canon of young adult themed work. Last summer’s The Spectacular Now was a festival darling that put Woodley back on the map and will be joined by this summer’s adaption of John Green’s novel, The Fault in Our Stars. Woodley is all limbs, hair and eyes here, lending a softness to Tris that nicely expresses her selfless upbringing. Her chemistry with Four (Theo James) works and is paced well against the accelerating backdrop of the film’s main plot (intelligence is power to overcome human nature? snooze). Although neither performance are deeply complex or genre breaking, James and Woodley build enough layers with what’s given to them. It is still young adult fair, right?
Striding in and out of Tris’ way is Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews, emphasizing the boring bits of the script and clear breeze for the Oscar winner, she’ll at least have more to do in the next film. Ashley Judd is remarkably resurrected as Tris’ mother although both her and Woodley wear far too much movie makeup to be living in a selfless and no mirrors allowed community. Menacing and the most memorable though is Jai Courtney as Eric, the dauntless leader and James’ Four’s rival. Pierced and tattooed, Courtney exudes the true nature of his faction and adds weight to the impending darkness and death in the plot. Both Judd and Courtney will remind audiences that ultimately this is more an action movie than anything else.
Although not tackling the sequel, Insurgent, director Neil Burger creates a rustic world that visually blends the new with the decrepit. However, at certain points music cues provide silly breaks in the flow of the film and as quickly as Woodley’s bruises seem to disappear the trappings of the genre seem to reappear (cue the concluding voiceover). Yet, Divergent is engrossing and evokes less eye rolling than is normally expected. Remaining mostly faithful to its source novel, a few less people die and certain events and characters are condensed, it surely is a decent addition to the YA canon.
Don’t Get Up During It. Don’t Miss Out.
September 15, 2011
Contagion (2011).
D/DP: Steven Soderberg. W: Scott Z. Burns. Starring: Laurence Fishburne/Kate Winslet/Matt Damon/Gwyneth Paltrow/Jude Law/Marion Cotillard/Jennifer Ehle/Demetri Martin/Elliot Gould/Bryan Cranston/John Hawkes/Anna Jacoby-Heron.
And so the fall film season begins. For those of us who braved the summers ups and downs, it is now time to gorge ourselves on the films that have been hoarded until the fall for award season. This season begins with Contagion, helmed by Steven Soderberg, who not only directed the film, but also acted as the director of photography. This is incredibly significant for this film as it allows such a synthesis between image and story. And although the film sports an impressive cast, the cast is especially secondary to the construct and visuals Soderberg creates.
His film is organized by day as an outbreak of a highly infectious disease (it is transmitted by touch) wrecks havoc in our modern world. As the American Center for Disease Control battles politics, scientists battle deconstructing the disease and coming up with an antidote, journalists tackled the information highway and how people are being helped and, of course on the ground, relief effort is being organized. Clearly there is a lot to be balanced. Yet, Soderberg never allows the film to run away with him or become sentimental. He keeps everything crisp, clean and compartmentalized in his story. There is not some grand cute way that every one is connected. Rather the audience is drawn into the realism of the disease, its ease at claiming life, and how fast reality changes. Certain images still haunt me, the looting of stores will remind some of Katrina (and maybe the recent riots in London) and the mass graves of bodies hearkens back to many a famous genocides of history. It is these images, pacing, and the distance of the camera from it’s actors at key moments that truly makes the film work.
Contagion ultimately works because it’s topical and has a clear story to tell. However, certain details are only explained on a debriefing after the film has concluded. As an audience member you must rack your brain to figure out where certain story lines went or why they were abandoned. Unfortunately, this wins over any true memory of an important performance. Matt Damon’s new thicker dad look works well here as the first man to experience the tragedy of the disease’s power. Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays his wife, convincingly dies in the beginning of the film and that moment is probably the most memorable of all. Everyone else does their best, but Contagion is ultimately not about them, but rather how they fit into the story of the epidemic.