Cool Hand Luke (1967) * * *

Directed by: Stuart Rosenberg

Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin

Paul Newman plays Lucas Jackson, a prisoner on a chain gang who brings beatings upon himself after numerous escape attempts and running afoul of the prison's warden. Cool Hand Luke is violent and downbeat and its hero is more masochistic than the guards are sadistic. They give him beatings indeed, but in the beginning of the film, they seem to be rather accomodating to him and the other prisoners given the circumstances. Even the warden, played by Strother Martin, doesn't appear to be altogether unforgiving or sadistic until being pushed one too many times by Luke. He is the one who utters the famous line, "What we have here is failure to communicate." He is trying to get Luke's "head right" but it doesn't ever seem to work out that way. Mostly because Luke seems to have a death wish or a wish to get beaten savagely.

Not much is mentioned about why Luke thinks the way he does. He was imprisoned for knocking the tops off of mailboxes, as if he couldn't think of any other way to get himself into trouble, but get in trouble he does. What makes Cool Hand Luke unique is that there is no great injustice foisted upon its hero that he didn't practically beg for. He attempts to escape three times, but without any real plan of what to do next and halfway expecting to be brought back to prison. In the climactic scene in an old church, Luke talks to God and explains that he wasn't given much by God, but my guess is that even if he were given gifts, he would squander them.

Cool Hand Luke is not a film that really ever hits an emotional high note. It is steady in its pacing and doesn't make Luke out to be a misunderstood hero or a martyr to the unjust legal system. I understood him plenty and although I didn't side with the guards in their treatment of him, I can at least understand their motives. How much can one be pushed before pushing back? And I'm not talking about Luke either. He is the one doing the pushing, which is most unusual.

The film mostly works because Newman is able to play the antihero well, while George Kennedy (who won an Oscar for his performance here), first comes off as a yard bully but after beating the snot out of Luke in a fight (if that's what you want to call Kennedy knocking Luke down and Luke repeatedly getting up only to be knocked down again), he admires the toughness and resiliency of the man he terms, "Cool Hand Luke". The trouble is, these traits are hardly used for anything constructive by Luke.

The A-Team (2010) * 1/2

Directed by: Joe Carnahan

Starring: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Rampage Jackson, Jessica Biel

The 1980's NBC series "The A-Team" capitalized on Mr. T's wild popularity at the time and its cartoonish action to become a huge hit.   It was only a matter of time before the creatively bankrupt folks in Hollywood targeted it for a movie makeover.  I can't imagine that there will be a TV series that won't get the Hollywood treatment.    Silver Spoons fans don't worry, your day will come.

The movie is loud, cartoonish, and full of CGI.   There is in fact so much going on and being hurled at you that your mind eventually shuts off from overload.  The A-Team is a relentless barrage on your senses that wears itself out well before the conclusion.    CGI makes almost anything appear plausible, but you know it simply isn't.    Such as the scene in which the plane the A guys are flying blows up and they escape in a tank which the crew can seemingly steer in mid-air.   Or such as the mass explosions during the final showdown in which large things are being blown up and shrapnel flies everywhere, yet never seems to hit anybody.

And how do explosions know to stop their flames just short of the heroes so they don't get injured? Let's also not forget the falls from great heights that the good guys can shrug off with hardly a scratch while the bad guys of course die from those same falls.

I could go on and on and I understand that many movies are made to be cartoonish exercises and action-packed, but mind-numbingly so like The A-Team?  There are good actors here who do what they can with very limited characterizations, although Jackson's Mr. T impersonations fall short.  Say what you will about Mr. T, but his style is inimitable.  Neeson doesn't even bother to hide his Irish brogue, but he is convincing anyway.  Cooper is a cool Faceman while Sharlto Copley manages to switch between his native South African accent and a Southern one.  Sure his Murdock is crazy, but can't he at least keep one accent?

The plot is similar to the TV show's, in which these former Army rangers are framed, jailed, and break out of jail to prove their innocence.  Whether innocent or not, they should know that causing untold property damage and mayhem while trying to prove innocence will still put them back in the joint for a little while longer.  And wouldn't you know it, Neeson's Hannibal Smith chomps on cigars and declares, "I love it when a plan comes together."  If you were expecting anything less, you would be watching the wrong movie.