Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Steven Spielberg

Starring:  Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone

The fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series is only able to sparingly recapture the essence and exciting spirit of the first three films.    It has the look, but not the feel of an Indiana Jones adventure.  Perhaps it isn't possible to sustain that energy for a fourth film.   We have action, but the scenes are kicked off in the same fashion actors in a musical would burst into song.   In between the chases and fights, Indiana Jones spends an inordinate amount of time explaining the plot to his younger sidekick Mutt (LaBeouf).   This is likely for our benefit as well.  

Crystal Skull begins in 1957 with Dr. Jones racing the Soviets (the new villain du jour now that the Nazis were defeated) to find missing archaeologist Dr. Harold Oxley (Hurt), who was last seen in the Amazon jungle locating a crystal skull which may prove the existence of an alien race which landed on Earth hundreds of years ago.   According to the villain, Dr. Spalko (Blanchett), whomever reunites the skull with its race will grant that lucky person unlimited powers.   

Indy and Mutt are soon joined by Mutt's mother Marion Ravenwood (Allen), whom series fans will recall was Indy's feisty girlfriend in Raiders.   She is every bit a firecracker here.   It shouldn't come as much of a stretch that Mutt is actually Indy's son whose existence he wasn't aware of until now.   Dr. Oxley is found, but possession of the skull has rendered him muttering incoherently.   Meanwhile, Spalko is not far behind in her quest to gain whatever powers the skulls promise.  

The action scenes are well-choreographed but missing the hair-raising fun of similar scenes in the first three films.   Harrison Ford, of course, is indefatigable despite his advancing age.   The movie has some amusing scenes which show Indy can't necessarily do everything he used to.   But as a whole, Crystal Skull isn't exactly "been there, done that", but it sure feels that way through most of it.  

Halloween Kills (2021) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  David Gordon Green

Starring:  Jamie Lee Curtis, Anthony Michael Hall, Judy Greer, Will Patton, Thomas Mann, Charles Cyphers, Nick Castle, Kyle Richards, Nancy Stephens, Andi Matichak

The sequel to the Halloween reboot (or direct sequel to the 1978 horror classic actually) has its share of grisly killings which are par for the course.   I'm learning quickly that criticizing movies like Halloween Kills for its blood and gore is like chastising a dog for not picking up on geometry.   However, Halloween Kills has other issues.   The Halloween series and reboots have forgotten what made the 1978 original such a horror masterwork.   It was an excellent work of suspense; the stuff nightmares are made of.   A movie like Halloween Kills forgoes shock for gory violence.   The killings aren't entertaining or provocative.  

Halloween Kills picks up right after Michael Myers is seemingly incinerated in Laurie Strode's basement which was transformed into a quasi-crematorium.  Not only does Michael survive, he thrashes a group of firefighters trying to fight the blaze.   In the meantime, Laurie and her daughter and granddaughter arrive at the local hospital (the same one that was infamously near-vacant in 1981's Halloween II, which we are supposed to forget ever happened) thinking Michael is dead.   They should know better.   It's a laugh when other characters try to beat Michael to death with a baseball bat.  This guy survived an inferno, being shot more than a dozen times, and falling off a balcony way back in 1978.   Do they think a few bats are going to do him in?   Apparently so.  

While Laurie and her family are transported to the hospital, a group of survivors from Michael's 1978 spree reunite each year at a local bar.   The group led by Tommy Doyle (Hall), whom Laurie babysat on that fateful Halloween night, is seemingly unaware of Michael's latest spree.   No one in the bar, or in Haddonfield, Illinois for that matter, uses Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or even seems to own a cell phone in 2018.   This is especially helpful when one character has to break bad news to Laurie, such as "Michael Myers is alive".   I believe the phrase "haven't you heard?" is uttered at least three times in this movie.

Once Tommy learns Michael is alive, he organizes a mob which for inexplicable reasons makes it way to the hospital.   If the hospital was damn near empty in 1978, it is packed now with nearly every town resident.   Michael Myers may be a lot of things, but he doesn't seem stupid, so he wisely avoids being at a place where everyone is looking for him.   "Evil Dies Tonight" is the mob's rallying cry, which we hear more often than "Haven't you heard?"  

On top of all of this silliness, Laurie spouts profundities about Michael's nature and how she will ultimately kill him or at least remove his mask.  Good luck with that.  The only modicum of suspense left in this franchise is what Michael looks like without a mask.   It's amusing how the camera avoids capturing his entire face once his mask is briefly removed.   Or how the picture of Michael is blurred out when the local TV news provides updates on the night's events.   I'm reminded of the contrived pains Sex and the City took not to reveal Mr. Big's actual name.   

The Last Duel (2021) * *

 

Directed by:  Ridley Scott

Starring:  Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Ben Affleck, Zeljko Ivanek

The Last Duel subjects us to this listless, lifeless story not once, but three times.   The tale of how France's last sanctioned duel came to pass is told first from Jean de Carrouges' (Damon) point of view, then through Jacques Le Gris' (Driver), and then from Marguerite de Carrouges' (Comer) viewpoint.  Aside from some slight differences in character perceptions, there is little to distinguish between them.  Because of that, The Last Duel plays at a bloated 153 minutes instead of a taut and tense 100 minutes if it hadn't decided to go all clever on us.  

Asking us to spend this much time with these people truly overestimates our goodwill.   The Last Duel has zero scenes which aren't played to overcast skies and a gray pall pressing down on everything.  It is a nasty piece of business; brutal, bloody, and without anyone to care about.   Marguerite has the unfortunate fate of being coveted by these two men who began as friends but soon grew to be blood enemies fighting to the death when Marguerite accuses Jacques of rape.   The only dispute is whether Jacques committed sexual assault or consensual rough sex.   Upon further review, if it looks like rape, it likely is rape.

The Last Duel could have been told without all of the extra subplots involving Count Pierre de Alencon (a blonde Affleck) and even all of the business about land bequeathed to Jean but soon usurped by Pierre and given to Jacques as payment of debt.   The friendship was already torn apart by the time Jacques decided to chase Marguerite all over her home in hopes of assaulting her.   There could have been more captivating dramatic possibilities if the two men weren't already at each other's throats before Marguerite appeared on the scene.   These guys were itching to fight anyway.

Directed by Ridley Scott, The Last Duel's high-quality technical elements are overshadowed by the ugliness of the violence and the characters' unlikability.   Mind you, characters don't have to be loved, but we should at least care about them.   The movie takes so long to arrive at the duel that we forget there is one.   The duel happens, one of the fighters is killed in a particularly gruesome way, and then the happy ending occurs when we read about another character's fate in the epilogue.   We wait all this time to have to read our happy ending on the screen.   

The Guilty (2021) * *

Directed by:  Antoine Fuqua

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough (voice), Ethan Hawke (voice)

Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) is a Los Angeles cop on suspension awaiting a trial.   We don't learn until later in The Guilty exactly why Joe is facing charges, but he is hoping to work his last shift as a 911 emergency responder until he receives a call from a woman who may have been kidnapped.  She speaks in a hushed tone and in vague terms about her dilemma.   Joe has to ascertain what's happening and piece together the gravity of the situation through limited evidence.    The woman's daughter is soon involved and potentially in danger.   Joe grows obsessively determined to save the woman and her daughter from what seems like an unhinged ex-husband.

The Guilty takes place (except in slivers) within the confines of the emergency response center with 911 operators working frantically to save lives in the midst of deadly wild fires overtaking the city.   Unlike 2013's The Call, the center doesn't look like it belongs in NASA, but the movie itself draws comparisons to the forgettable 2013 film, which isn't a good thing.   The Guilty centers on a capable and nuanced performance by Gyllenhaal as a man under intense pressure and ready to snap.   He has more burdens on him (mostly caused by his anger) than most, but the character isn't enough to carry the day.   

As much as Fuqua attempts to ratchet up suspense in a limited milieu, there isn't much to be had.   The puzzle involving the kidnapping and Joe's past come into focus, and how much do we find ourselves moved or caring?   Despite the tense Gyllenhaal performance, The Guilty is all for naught. 

Psycho (1960) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Alfred Hitchcock

Starring:  Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, Vera Miles

Yes, Psycho's shower scene will live for all time as the definitive moment for the film and a watershed moment in movie history.   Please don't read further if anything I write going forward could be construed as a spoiler.   Marion Crane (Leigh) is the movie's protagonist and up until her untimely stabbing death while taking a shower, Psycho was about her attempts to get away with stealing a suitcase full of ill-gotten money.  She pulls into the run-down Bates Motel in the middle of nowhere, chats with the motel's owner Norman Bates (Perkins), and plots her next move.   She won't get very far, as Norman (dressed as his mother), stabs her to death while she showers.   

Janet Leigh receives top billing and was indeed the "star" of Psycho, until she disappears halfway through the movie in one of many twists Psycho offers.   Hitchcock delighted in pulling the rug out from under moviegoers.    Once Leigh leaves the scene, Psycho becomes Anthony Perkins' movie.  His iconic Norman Bates is then fully seen.   At first, Norman is a shy, awkward presence who looks at the ground, stumbles over words, and seems harmless.   We then learn how wounded and disturbed he is.  He is clearly under his mother's thumb, who lives (maybe) in the ominous, spooky house on the hill overlooking and dwarfing the motel.  

Psycho isn't simply a movie about a killer.   The murders are not the story, but why Norman Bates commits them.   He is haunted and tortured by a mother who may not even be alive.   The violence is in response to his inner torment.   He must lash out at someone and soon the unfortunate victims pile up.  The brilliance in the Perkins performance is that we identify and even somewhat pity a tormented soul who can't be at peace.  If Perkins played Norman as pure evil, then Psycho becomes a Halloween sequel made twenty years earlier. 

Psycho relies on pure Hitchcock themes of guilt and how a past taints the present.   The icy blonde, the fear of being caught, and with the Bernard Hermann score ratcheting up the suspense; Psycho is almost the definitive Hitchcock.   The question is:  What is the bigger surprise?   Killing off the star halfway through the movie or establishing her killer as the more sympathetic of the two?   

The French Connection (1971) * * * *

 

Directed by:  William Friedkin

Starring:  Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony LoBianco

Aside from one of the most famous chase scenes in movie history, The French Connection boasts a cold, stark realism about police work.   The chases and gunfights punctuate the hours upon hours of surveillance, dead-end leads, and grunt work which are all part of the game.   Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman) is a veteran on the hunt for a multi-million dollar drug shipment coming into New York from France.   He's not a heroic cop; just flawed, dogged, possibly racist, and determined. 

Doyle is as ruthless in his attempts to break the French Connection as the smugglers are in moving their shipments.   If you think about it, the famed chase in which Popeye tries to chase down an elevated train in his car is the Law of Diminishing Returns writ large.   The risks far outweigh the rewards, but not to Doyle, whose single-mindedness borders on obsession.   If you witness his life outside of the job, you see how the job is his life.   What else is there to live for?  

At Doyle's side is loyal partner Buddy Russo (Scheider), whose best scene involves the tearing apart of one of the smuggler's impounded Lincoln Continental.   It is torn to shreds in hopes of locating the heroin stash, with Buddy insisting it has to be in there somewhere.   He approaches Doyle's zeal for nailing the dealers, but not quite because he has some semblance of sanity left.  Hackman won his first Oscar for The French Connection in a take-no-prisoners performance full of relentless indefatigability.  What defines Popeye Doyle is action.   You can see it during the train chase scene how he simply won't quit, and perhaps occasionally he should. 

The French Connection, directed by Oscar-winner William Friedkin, takes place in the coldest, grayest of New York winters contrasted with the Marseilles sun of the south of France.   The characters in New York are in bleak surroundings while the drug lords live it up in expensive suits and large, flashy cars.  A critical scene which reflects the power imbalance between the cops and crooks is a scene where Charnier (Rey) eats with his friends in a fancy restaurant while Doyle surveils him while eating in a pizza joint across the street.   Is this what drives Doyle to take down Charnier and his gang?  Or is it something which Doyle doesn't know himself?   It doesn't much matter, because The French Connection is a taut, exciting thriller make all the more engrossing by its flawed hero.  

No Time to Die (2021) * *

Directed by:  Cary Joji Fukunaga

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Lea Seydoux, Rami Malek, Ralph Fiennes, Christoph Waltz, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas

No Time to Die is Daniel Craig's final James Bond film, but it is not a wise idea to reboot the franchise yet again a few years from now with a different Bond.   It makes no difference who is playing the iconic 007, the series is years past its sell-by date.   Attempting to restart the Bond franchise is akin to placing a bottle of spoiled milk back in the refrigerator in the hopes it will be fresh tomorrow.   

From a production and technical standpoint, No Time to Die receives high marks.   Craig allows himself to have more joy with the role this time around, but No Time to Die has "been there, done that" written all over it, from the car chases to the invasion of the impregnable villain's lair.   I won't recheck my past Bond movie reviews, but I'm almost certain I've echoed similar sentiments or even used the phrase "been there, done that."  As much as it tries, No Time to Die can't escape the shadow of the previous twenty-four Bond films.  If you've seen one car chase, fistfight, shootout, or a Bond villain explain ad nauseum how and why he plans to destroy the world, then you've seen them all.

No Time to Die picks up on the heels of the dismal Spectre (2015) with Bond and his love interest Madeleine Swann (Seydoux) vacationing in Italy (can Bond every truly "vacation"?).  Something Is Coming Between Them, however, and Bond attempts to put his past behind him by visiting the grave of Vesper Lynd (from Casino Royale).  Soon enough, Spectre agents are making attempts on his life.  After dispatching the thugs, Bond puts Madeleine on a train and promises they won't see each other again.  

Fast forward five years later, Bond is off the grid and retired from espionage but is lured out of retirement at the request of old friend CIA agent Felix Leiter (Wright).   Leiter needs Bond's help in finding a DNA-altering program called Hericles which has fallen into the hands of megalomaniac named Lyutsifer Safin (Malek), who naturally plans to use the program in ways in which it was not intended.   Safin has ties to Madeleine's past, based on the movie's opening scenes in which he murdered her mother and spared her.  It turns out Madeleine is the daughter of another villain from Bond's past, making any levels of trust between she and Bond difficult.   Madeleine also has a young daughter who has Bond's blue eyes, but...nah.

Another agent has replaced Bond in the time he was gone, a confident young woman named Nomi (Lynch) who is the new 007.   Anyone expecting Nomi to flex any sort of meaningful muscle will be sorely disappointed, as she is mostly relegated to the sidelines once Bond comes back full-time.   Ralph Fiennes has moments in which his M is allowed to expand as a character and not just play Bond's humorless boss.  Craig and Seydoux do what they can in a chemistry-free rekindled romance, but like the rest of No Time to Die, it's lifeless.   No Time to Die takes us to exotic locales and different cities, but no matter where the series goes, there Bond is.   In a series in which we used to eagerly anticipate how Bond would topple the latest villain and scuttle his attempts to rule the world, Malek's Safin isn't drawn out enough for us to care about him.  

And then there is the 163-minute running time which is extraordinarily long even by Bond standards.  The time isn't used wisely.   Much of No Time to Die feels bloated and tries to cover too much ground.  Three returning characters from previous Bond films meet their maker in this film.   After now twenty-five Bond movies spanning nearly sixty years, it is time for the series to go off into retirement.   We've seen reboots, six different actors play Bond in their unique style, and just about every creative avenue in the series taken.  Bond has been wrung as dry as his shaken, not stirred martinis.   

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) * * *

Directed by:  Andy Serkis

Starring:  Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Naomie Harris, Michelle Williams, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu

Venom and Eddie Brock (Hardy) find a way to bicker and fight their way into our hearts in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, a sequel I enjoyed as much as I disliked the original film.   The original was an ungainly film which introduced us to the "cross between a piranha and an oil spill" as I characterized Venom in my review, but just like the creature has grown on and in Eddie Brock, it has also grown on me.  Yes he wants to eat human brains and settles for chickens and chocolate to curb his appetite, but Venom also loves Eddie just as any pet would warm up to its owner.   He just wants to feast on bad guys every now and then.  Is that asking too much?   Venom and Eddie have learned to at least make the most of a relationship in which Venom lives inside Eddie.  

Eddie, the wayward investigative journalist, has now rediscovered stardom and credibility with his coverage of death row inmate Cletus Kasady (Harrelson).   Cletus is a serial killer with a taste for blood and a long-lost love named Shriek (Harris) who was presumed to have been killed by a cop but is in fact an asylum resident.   Hours before his execution, Cletus grants a last interview to Eddie but bites him instead, allowing some DNA of the Venom symbiote into Cletus.  Cletus soon transforms into Carnage, identical to Venom in every way except he is red.   Cletus goes on a rampage while searching for Shriek, with Eddie trying to stop him.   

Eddie and Venom have a breakup in the interim, in which Venom flees from Eddie's body only to try and find a more suitable host.   Venom shows up at a rave and is applauded for his costume, but laments that Eddie isn't around.   It is then where I found I cared and the movie had me in its grasp.   Venom and Eddie find they need each other, especially if they are going to defeat Cletus/Carnage.  In the mix is Anne (Williams), Eddie's former fiancee who is now engaged to Dr. Dan Lewis (Scott), who in a twist is not a supercilious prick, but someone who cares enough about Anne to help Eddie and Venom fight the villains.   Heck, he even seems to like Eddie and Venom, even though Venom would prefer to see Eddie back with Anne.   It's complicated.

Running at a taut ninety-seven minutes, Venom: Let There Be Carnage does not follow tradition by having Venom and Carnage battle several times during the movie.  There is one epic showdown which is relatively easy to follow as these CGI spectacles go, despite taking place in the gloom of night.  Hardy and the cast are clearly having a ball, although upon reflection I wonder how necessary Shriek is and how having her around wouldn't be beneficial to Carnage considering her love of making high-pitched noises and squeals which are Carnage's (and Venom's) downfall.  

Casualties of War (1989) * * *

 

Directed by:  Brian DePalma

Starring:  Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey, John C. Reilly, Dale Dye, John Leguizamo, Thuy Thu Le, Ving Rhames, Sam Robards

Pvt. Eriksson (Fox) finds himself in the unenviable position of having scruples in an unscrupulous Vietnam War.   When his squad leader Sgt. Meserve (Penn) kidnaps a young Vietnamese woman from a remote village and brings her along to be raped and later murdered by himself and the rest of the squad, Eriksson is alone in his unwillingness to commit the atrocities.   But what can he really do to stop them?  He is outnumbered, outgunned, and tries his best to save the woman, but he finds his moral objections simply aren't enough to sway Meserve and the rest from committing crimes against this innocent bystander.

Based on a true story, Casualties of War is a story of how difficult it is to keep your morals intact when up against a hostile group who not only want you to agree with their crimes, but to commit them yourself.  In Meserve's world, you are either with him or against him.   Failure to rape the Vietnamese woman means you are probably Viet Cong yourself.   What drives Meserve?   What made him decide to kidnap, torment, rape, and kill a civilian?    Did the war make him snap or was this his pathology all along?   Does he hate this woman as a symbol of all of Vietnam, or does he just hate in general?  

Eriksson and Meserve have tense showdowns, with Eriksson holding his ground amidst threats, insults to his manhood, and the possibility of being killed by "friendly fire" or even the enemy.   When Eriksson returns to base, he survives attempts on his life as he presses his superiors to bring charges against Meserve and his crew.   The superiors would rather keep it quiet, with one tacitly siding with Meserve,  ("I've heard a lot of screaming, most of it from wounded American soldiers")

Casualties of War isn't just a good vs. evil story.   Michael J. Fox plays the everyman Erkisson whom most of us can relate to.   We think we would react as he does to Meserve's crimes, but trying to decipher the multiple dimensions of Penn's Meserve is where we find ourselves in a quandary.   He is a dedicated soldier and an influential leader, certainly enough to sway his troops into raping and pillaging.  Without people who follow, it isn't possible to lead.   Without a war, would Meserve even consider such actions?    Penn has a Noo Yawk accent and wild eyes, and we can't help but wonder what makes him tick even as we are repelled by his actions.   Fox's role is steadier and with fewer question marks about his character.   

Casualties of War trips up with a prologue and epilogue which doesn't fit and robs some of the suspense.   There isn't a happy ending which would naturally fit this material, but the movie tries as it is told in flashback with Eriksson crossing paths with a Vietnamese woman who looks just like the one who was killed in Vietnam.   I guess DePalma figures it's worth a try, since Vietnam itself did not allow for any sort of hopeful feeling when it was over. 

Biloxi Blues (1988) * * 1/2

 

Directed by: Mike Nichols

Starring:  Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Matt Mulhern, Corey Parker, Casey Siemaszko, Michael Dolan, Penelope Ann Miller

I watched Biloxi Blues for the first time in many years on the day my nephew was to report to his U.S. Army post.   Biloxi Blues is light enough fare to make the World War II army seem palatable.   Neil Simon's play transmuted into a movie isn't designed to see the big picture.  It uses the World War II U.S. Army as a backdrop for his customary supply of one-liners and jokes.  There is no room for stark realism in Neil Simon's world and sometimes that's just fine.  Even when the movie grows serious, you're waiting for the next joke right around the corner.   

The character representing Simon in Biloxi Blues is Eugene Jerome (Broderick), the Brooklyn kid from Brighton Beach Memoirs who is now on a train destined for basic training in "Africa hot" Biloxi, Mississippi at the tail end of World War II.   Eugene isn't liking his army experience already.   The train is packed with sweaty soldiers who haven't showered in days.   When the train arrives at the base, Eugene and the company are treated to their drill sergeant, the off-kilter Sgt. Toomey (Walken) who disarms his platoon with cordial greetings.   As played by Walken, Toomey isn't your standard screaming drill instructor, but a mild-mannered lunatic with a steel plate in his head and his own methods of instilling discipline in the men.

Eugene finds himself at odds at first with the platoon bully (Mulhern) and a fellow New Yorker named Arnold Epstein (Parker), who takes on Toomey and anyone else with razor sharp logic and observations.   Eugene writes down his thoughts in his diary, and it is Arnold who tells him to stand by his words regardless of how they make anyone, including him, feel.   "If you compromise your thoughts, you are a candidate for mediocrity," he tells Eugene.  

Eugene, along with fellow platoon mates on a weekend pass, visit a local prostitute before heading to the local USO dance where Eugene falls in love with Daisy (Miller) at first sight.   These scenes drag on without sufficient payoff to make them worth our while.   The most intriguing person in Biloxi Blues is Toomey, mostly because Walken is the type of actor we watch simply to see what weird thing he'll say or do next.   

It is unintentionally amusing to observe the movie's anachronistic World War II timeline.   The movie takes place in July 1945 with the soldiers viewing newsreels of Allied forces beating the Germans in Sicily and cheering wildly.   Toomey swears to send Epstein straight to Berlin following basic training, but these characters should know that Germany surrendered in May 1945 and the war in Europe was long over by summer.   Even the Japanese were teetering on the edge of capitulation in July.   

But Biloxi Blues wasn't made for any deep thought or to invite introspection.   Eugene expresses in voiceover narration that his army stint was the best time of his life, despite all evidence to the contrary.  In the army barracks of Neil Simon's world, perhaps such sentiments are understandable.  

Donnie Brasco (1997) * * *

Directed by:  Mike Newell

Starring:  Johnny Depp, Al Pacino, Anne Heche, Michael Madsen, Zeljko Ivanek

For FBI agent Joseph Pistone, life as low-level mobster Donnie Brasco wears on him.   It isn't the lack of contact with his wife and kids for weeks or months at a time that troubles him as much as he must eventually break the heart and trust of the man he befriended in order to infiltrate the mob.  The man Pistone uses to gain access to a New York crime family is Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero (Pacino), a hard-working mid-level mafia lifer who lives in a dingy apartment with his drug-addicted son and his beloved wife.   He has killed twenty-six people at the behest of his superiors, but frets because he will never be promoted beyond what he is.   The mob, like anything else, has a hierarchy in which even the bosses must kick $50,000 a month upstairs to his boss or face dire consequences.   Everyone answers to someone, much like a regular job.

One of the strengths of Donnie Brasco is how it breaks the Mafia down into an organizational structure based on profits, losses, and blood.   Mobsters don't get fired for failing to make payments or if a business goes belly-up, they get whacked.    A mob family is a corporation without the legal filings, and every bit as heartless.   Pistone/Brasco (Depp) infiltrates this family and wins Ruggiero's trust, but then must realize one day he will have to betray the man who has essentially laid his life on the line vouching for him.   His wife Maggie (Heche) treats Joe like he's dead in order to make it through each day.   His kids only see him rarely and have no idea what he does for a living.   Even Pistone's bosses aren't much sympathetic.   They keep Pistone in there until he's swallowed up and not much use to them anymore.

At the heart of Donnie Brasco is the friendship between Donnie and Lefty which is based on deception.  Lefty, the mobster, is 100% percent honest and forthright.   He grows to love the younger Donnie like another son, while Donnie must keep his secret in order for he and Lefty not to be killed.   Many of the facts of Pistone's real story are tabled in favor of artistic license, but that's to be expected when adapting a true story to the screen.  Michael Madsen, as the new boss Sonny Red, is smart and ruthless to be sure, but even he is under intense pressure to deliver the goods to his superiors.   If he is implicated because he employs Lefty who in turn unwittingly allowed Donnie to infiltrate their business, then there is hell to pay for him also.  

When Donnie's stock rises in Sonny Red's eyes, Lefty feels left out in the cold.   His reaction and body language during a meeting with Florida mob bigwigs in which Donnie elevates himself to superstar status are both pathetic and touching.   Lefty's frustration is obvious.   Another mentee of his will bypass him on the way to the top, much like Sonny Red.  That's life in the mob, much like life in any other business.

Depp and Pacino handle the familiar ground as a touching study of a makeshift father/son relationship.  The violence in Donnie Brasco, as expected, is bloody and brutal.   The movie doesn't have the energy of a Goodfellas or The Departed but it isn't meant to either.   There are moral conflicts which weigh on Lefty and Donnie, which in turn gives Donnie Brasco its story of how lonely it can be in the middle, whether you're on the side of the law or the side of crime.  

The Many Saints of Newark (2021) * 1/2

Directed by:  Alan Taylor

Starring:  Allesandro Nivola, Ray Liotta, Jon Bernthal, Michael Gandolfini, Vera Farmiga, Corey Stoll, Leslie Odom, Jr., Michela De Rossi

The Many Saints of Newark was made for Sopranos fans to nod in recognition when a younger Paulie Walnuts or Silvio is introduced.   For the poor schlub like me who didn't watch The Sopranos religiously, I am a stranger in a strange land when viewing The Many Saints of Newark.   I'm superficially familiar with this world, mind you.   I at least am aware that characters like Tony Soprano, Paulie Walnuts, and Uncle Junior exist, but The Many Saints of Newark is the prequel (excuse me, origin story) which we never realized we didn't need.   The characters are presented and just languish on the screen.   Events happen, but is all rather dull and uninspired, as if the characters learned how to act by watching mob movies.  

The teenage Tony Soprano (played by James Gandolfini's son Michael) doesn't appear in the lumbering The Many Saints of Newark until halfway through the film.   He looks like his father and has a way with a mischievous grin, but there isn't much else here to suggest Tony's future ruthlessness.   No matter, while we're waiting for the inevitable debut of teenage Tony, The Many Saints...gives us a lackluster story of Tony's uncle Dickie Moltisanti (Nivola) who helps run the numbers rackets in late 1960's Newark, a story told from beyond the grave by Tony's cousin Christopher (Michael Imperioli) whom Tony killed at some point in The Sopranos when I wasn't actively watching it.

Dickie's loathsome father "Hollywood" (Liotta) returns from Italy with a much younger wife (De Rossi) in tow.   Dickie is attracted to her, and she to him, but hey that's his dad's wife and he has to at least wait until he kills his dad during a fight to make his move.  There are rules to these things, don't you know?  Dickie feels bad about killing his pop by bashing his head repeatedly into a steering wheel, so he visits Dickie's twin brother Sal (also played by Liotta) in prison asking how he could "do a good thing" without actually admitting to killing his old man.   What do these scenes accomplish?  Not much. 

Then, we have the Soprano side of the family, led by Johnny (Bernthal) who serves a four-year prison stretch while his exasperated wife Livia (Farmiga) takes care of their three kids while taking solace in pills (Tony helpfully sings a line from "Mother's Little Helper" to nail the point home).   While Johnny is away, Tony's Uncle Junior (Stoll) takes care of things, but Tony clearly idolizes Dickie, who as played by Nivola carries a certain swagger.   

The Many Saints also covers the bubbling-over racial tensions of late 60's Newark led by Dickie's former underling Harold (Odom) who eventually forms his own rackets and makes an enemy of his former boss.  For those who love nasty, blood soaked violence, The Many Saints is punctuated with enough such scenes to keep you engaged, including one where Dickie uses a power tool on one of Harold's associate's mouth.  

If The Many Saints of Newark could stand on its own as an engrossing movie, then maybe I would've been nudged into catching on Sopranos episodes I've missed or forgotten about.   However, it seems like it was made for the fans, a Sopranos Episode I-The Phantom Menace, if you will.   This doesn't do much for Sopranos novices like me, who knows just enough about the HBO series to know The Many Saints won't entice me into caring about the next chapter, or the one I just saw.