American Hustle (2013) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  David O. Russell

Starring:  Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner, Robert DeNiro, Louis CK

American Hustle is a movie in which characters are either conning or being conned (and perhaps both at once).    Based very loosely on the late 70s and early 80s Abscam sting operations, American Hustle elevates its people and their situations to high comedy.    Writer-director Russell takes the right approach with humor.    Being a con artist and scammer must be a lonely, pressure cooker lifestyle to lead.    One has to wonder if working for a living can possibly be as rough.    Russell sees the absurdity in this and plays straight to it.

The film centers around Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), who in the opening scene is carefully placing his toupee atop his ever-balding head.    He and his partner/lover Sydney Prosser (Adams) are assisting FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper) in nabbing congressmen and other dignitaries taking bribes.    Working with a showoff hothead like Richie is wearing on them, mostly because he threatens to send the two to jail if they don't cooperate.    Things were much simpler for them when they were conning well-off, but desperate people with promises of big-time loans for a "small" non-refundable fee.    The loans rarely materialized, but they kept out of trouble until the FBI caught up to them.

Irving is also married to chain-smoking, hard-drinking, pill-popping Rosalyn (Lawrence), whose child Irving adopted and adores.     The mother, not so much.     Rosalyn keeps Irving on the line by threatening to take their child from him if he tries to divorce her.    Life was wearying enough for Irving even before the FBI came into his life.    Things only become much more complicated from there.

The FBI targets Camden mayor Carmine Polito (Renner), who is looking to build up Atlantic City's fledgling casino business and needs funding to do it.    Polito is a family man with a big heart who knows the only way to get things done is to grease the palms of those who can makes things happen.    Irving gets close to Carmine to ensure he will take an unwitting part in the sting operation.    Trouble is, Irving begins to like his target and undergoes serious inner conflict as it becomes more apparent that Carmine will go to jail for his role in bribing public officials.    Carmine is oddly the most honest person in the film, who does what he does because he loves people and wants to restore New Jersey to prominence.

The plot has further complications, as you would expect, and trying to explain those will not only spoil the fun, but will likely drive me mad.     Besides, enjoyment of American Hustle is based more on these characters and Russell's approach to them.     You may not necessarily recognize Christian Bale under the bad toupee, beard, and ever-bulging waistline.    His suits are ill-fitting and he is sloppy-looking, but he's smart and cunning.    He is able to weave his way through this maze of stress and pressure because of his street-honed instincts.     We sympathize with him because even though he makes his living out of scamming people, how did he ever suspect he would have to put up with so much?    It is a great piece of acting from Bale.   

Sydney adopts the persona of Lady Edith for the scams, but she also does it to escape being an ordinary woman from New Mexico with few prospects of success in life.    Adams is terrific here as well, mostly because she is at her heart the most conflicted of the group.     She loves Irving, but may even be falling for Richie, or is she?    Being a con artist means having to deny your true feelings in order to make the con work.    Doing that wears on Sydney, who really is only looking for safety and love, both of which are in short supply in her world.

The other extreme is Richie, a loud hothead who is using the scams to launch his FBI career.    Cooper has a blast playing him in all of his over-the-top glory.    He seems eternally frustrated, mostly because failing would ruin him, and also because he is sweet on Sydney/Lady Edith.    Richie is a morass of frustrated ambitions and bad temper under a bad perm which he lovingly tends to in his cramped apartment shared by his mother and fiancée.    He thinks he can control things, but he finds too late that he is way out of his league.    This is a trait he shares with Rosalyn, who really only wants to stay home, avoid people, and create a home with Irving.    Jennifer Lawrence creates a desperate, love-starved Rosalyn whose true feelings for Irving come out in a verbal showdown with Sydney.     We pity her, even though she blows up the microwave oven and starts fires.

Russell's gift is allowing us to care for this hodgepodge of desperate, needy people while moving the plot along to a satisfying conclusion where everyone gets what they want or gets what's coming to them.     Most of American Hustle is funny and at times outrageous, but it has to be.    We laugh so we may not cry for these people who only want to safely love someone without being conned.  









 

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Jean-Marc Vallee

Starring:  Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Griffin Dunne

Ron Woodroof was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and given about 30 days to live.    As a straight, skirt-chasing, beer-swilling redneck, this diagnosis comes as quite a shock to him.    AIDS and HIV were considered "gay diseases" in 1985 and a death sentence also.     How could this be?    After mulling over the doctor's prognosis and research at the library, Ron comes to the realization how and why he contracted the disease.    One word signifies his feelings and it's a powerful moment in the film.

Desperate to prolong his life, Ron receives word of a new drug called AZT and works out a deal with a hospital orderly to buy a daily supply.    Once the supply dries up, Ron makes his way to Mexico, where anti-HIV drugs are prescribed and sold under the table.    After improving his health somewhat with a different medication cocktail, Ron smuggles the drugs back to Texas and begins selling them out of a motel room.     He spreads word about a "buyers club", where for $400, AIDS and HIV patients can have access to drugs not approved by the FDA.   

Ron is aided in his new business venture by Rayon (Leto), a pre-op transsexual whom Ron meets in the hospital.     Prior to Ron's diagnosis, he never would've associated with a person like Rayon, but illness makes strange bedfellows.     They not only become business partners, but friends, opening up Ron to a whole new level of understanding and compassion for his fellow AIDS sufferers.     Long outlasting his original 30-day death prognosis, Ron becomes an unwitting advocate for better, safer access to drugs which help other AIDS patients.     He doesn't do so by standing on a soapbox and holding meetings, but through legal battles with the FDA, which is forever trying to shut down his operation.    Ron is not above making deals and bending the law to ensure he and his customers get the best treatment available.   

The buyers club not only gives Ron access to better medications, but also a purpose in life which likely led to his living with AIDS for 7 years before succumbing to the disease in 1992.    In that time, Ron not only develops friendships and business relationships with those he would've shunned earlier, but he also feels the sting of exclusion and prejudice by his friends.     To his friends, Ron must be gay because, well, he has AIDS and any other conclusion would not make sense.    When his former best friend meets Rayon in a supermarket and refuses to shake his hand, Ron stands up for Rayon in a poignant way (and the application of a chicken wing armbar).   

Another intriguing friendship Ron makes is with hosptial doctor Eve Saks (Garner), who at first defends hospital policy on AZT, but then quits and joins Ron's cause.     Ron's relationship with Eve is the first relationship Ron has with a female which doesn't involve sex.    With Eve, Ron learns that women can be good for things other than the occasional pickle tickle.

Dallas Buyers Club is about Ron's growth as a human being while he fights for his life and others.    He is flawed, troubled, prideful, stubborn, and compassionate.    In other words, he's human.     McConaughey lost a significant amount of weight to give Ron his gaunt appearance, but he becomes someone we care about despite his flaws.     Leto's Rayon may appear on the outside as a stereotypical drag queen, but his loyalty to Ron is touching, especially in a scene where he begs his estranged banker father for money to keep the buyers club going.     Garner is the picture of earnestness as a doctor who realizes that she can't live with herself by blindly following hospital policy.   

Thank goodness Ron Woodroof doesn't become a hero by taking to the streets with a megaphone and organizing rallies like Abbie Hoffman.    He takes on the system in a quieter, yet no less important way.    Ron believes that a person with a terminal illness should have easy, affordable access to any treatment that could improve and prolong his/her life.     Sounds like a sensible idea, but it's not practiced.     With the dawn of Obamacare and attempts to improve this nation's healthcare system, Ron Woodroof's ideas are as timely and spot-on today as they were 25 years ago.     In a way, we're all still fighting the same fight. 

Land Of The Lost (2009) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Brad Silberling

Starring:  Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny McBride, Matt Lauer

Anyone who ever saw an episode of the 70's TV series Land Of The Lost knows full well what to expect in the film version.     I vaguely remember the series, except that the visual effects and sets were cheesy and it was camp.     Land Of The Lost has better effects, but it is still campy fun.     I'm quite certain anyone associated with the film knew their names weren't going to be called the morning the Oscar nominations were announced and slept peacefully the night before.    

The film opens with a funny sequence involving Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell) coming on the Today show and being grilled by Matt Lauer over his book on time travel.     Dr. Marshall has spent $50 million in research on the possibility that portals exist which allow for time travel.     Host Matt Lauer openly scoffs Rick and this leads to a near brawl on set.     Three years pass, and Rick is now teaching science to grade schoolers to his chagrin.    A scientist kicked out of Cambridge for buying into Rick's theories approaches him and says that they could work, if he could just finish building the "tachyon meter".    The whole tachyon thing left me puzzled, but no matter.    The fact that the scientist is a fetching woman named Holly (Friel) probably inspires Rick to action more than anything else.

Soon enough, with the tachyon meter built, the two make their way to New Mexico where they believe one of the portals exists on the property of Will (McBride).     All three are transported in time (or is it an alternate dimension?) where dinosaurs roam and nearby are ruins of a motel with a pool still full of water.     How does this happen?   I couldn't explain it, but I went along with it.   

The plot, of course, becomes more cheerfully ridiculous as the movie wears on.    I cared somewhat, but I wasn't pulled along, perhaps because after a while it seemed that anything goes and there weren't any rules to play by.    Characters like Chaka, a neanderthal, inexplicably can speak English in some cases and other modern technology like a phonograph appear out of nowhere.    I'm not certain if even the screenwriters can explain that.     Since Danny McBride is in the film, there has to be an obligatory scene in which characters get high on whatever chemical is around.     Must be written into his contract. 

But despite it all, the actors are having fun and know not to take things too seriously.    We know it will all turn out all right in the end, whatever that may be.   But any movie where a book is titled, "Matt Lauer Can Suck It" can't be all bad.   

Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (2004) * * *

Directed by:  Adam McKay

Starring:  Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, David Koechner, Vince Vaughn, Christina Applegate

Anchorman tells the funny story of a 1970's San Diego TV news anchorman whose professional and personal lives are turned upside down by the introduction of workplace diversity.    Or more specifically, the introduction of a female co-anchor.     Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) is the leader of an all-male news team, which include a macho sportscaster Champ Kind (Koechner), clueless weatherman Brick Tamland (Carrell), and ladies' man wannabe Brian Fantana (Rudd).    Unable to accept Veronica (Applegate) as an equal, they interact with her in ways that would be construed as sexual harassment today.    Despite this, Veronica and Ron fall in love while the #2 news station in town, led by egotistical Wes Mantooth (Vaughn), is trying to topple them in the ratings.

Many scenes in Anchorman are funny, including the guys' lame pick-up lines on Veronica.   ("I have a party in my pants, would you like to come?")    Brian's use of a cologne so strong "it is banned in eighteen countries" causes the workplace to evacuate due to the smell.   "It smells like Bigfoot's dick," someone observes as he's fleeing the office holding his nose.   Ron, while secretly liking Veronica, tries to impress her with his biceps and weightlifting in his office.     Champ doesn't have much success either, but how could he?    He may be half in-love with Ron.   Also funny is that Burgundy reads anything that is put on the teleprompter, which gets him in plenty of hot water.

Ferrell plays Burgundy with a porn-star mustache and a huge ego.    He is in love with himself and Ferrell has a ball playing him.     However, he isn't such a bad guy.   You can even forgive his habit of trying to impress people with the books on his shelves that he surely never read.   When Ferrell first transitioned to movies, I wasn't impressed by his comedic style, but he has grown on me.  He excels when he plays someone putting on a false front of sophistication and decorum with monstrous passions lurking underneath.   The more absurd the character, the more joy Ferrell brings to it.  

The first half of Anchorman is much funnier than the second, but there are enough laughs here to recommend it.    The characters are goofy, but likable.    There is even a quasi-violent gangland style showdown between rival TV stations where rules such as "Don't hit the face" are unwritten laws.     If you don't have a pretty face, how can expect anyone to believe you when you say things like "You stay classy San Diego."?    The satire here is scarcely ahead of the truth. 

 

Bewitched (2005) * *

Directed by:  Nora Ephron

Starring:  Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine, Kristen Chenoweth, Jason Schwartzman

Bewitched is sort of based on the late 60's TV series which starred Elizabeth Montgomery as a witch who marries a normal guy and tries to live a normal life in the suburbs.     Nora Ephron's Bewitched is about a real witch who is hired to play a witch on a reboot of the original series.     It has some laughs and charming performances, but it never ascends to anything wonderful in particular.    We're left with some cleverness, but it seems many great comic opportunities were left on the table.

The witch in question is Isabel (Kidman), who wants to leave her witchdom behind and start life as a normal woman.    Her father (Caine), doesn't approve, but she is determined to try to get things done without simply having to snap her fingers.     Meanwhile, movie star Jack Wyatt (Ferrell) is reeling from recent box-office flops and is approached to star in a remake of Bewitched.     The egomaniacal Jack agrees and behaves on set with a whole lot of star attitude.     He even sets up a cappuccino machine just for himself.      He discovers Isabel in a Hollywood cafe and convinces her to join the show as the witch Samantha, not knowing of course that Isabel is a real witch.     He does this because an unknown actress wouldn't be a threat to his star power and gives her practically no lines even know she has a lead role.

Once Isabel discovers that Jack's ploy, she decides to forego the original plan of giving up witchcraft and humiliating Jack at every turn.     This includes putting spells on him, some of which don't work as well as others.     But mysteriously, probably because the script requires them to, the two fall in love.     The love angle follows the familiar pattern of "Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, misunderstanding, temporary break-up, and then they're back together as the end credits roll."     Despite Kidman's and Ferrell's easy likability, they don't generate much chemistry.   

Ferrell manages to be likable even when he playing a complete narcissist, while Kidman is beautiful and has a smile to die for.    She also is able to wrinkle her nose better than all of the other actresses who audition for her part.     But I wasn't able to get a strong feeling one way or another about Bewitched.     There are some amusing scenes involving some knocks on Hollywood and with MacLaine as a glory-hogging co-star who may also be a witch, but after it was all said and done I felt that we've seen it all before...and better.    Especially from Nora Ephron.  

The Heat (2013) *

Directed by:  Paul Feig

Starring:  Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demian Bichir, Michael McDonald

The Heat is a laughless comedy filled with people I didn't like in a plot I couldn't care less about.    We spend almost two hours with these people, which makes the whole thing even less tolerable.     Formula cop/buddy movies aren't anything new, but they can work if the right energy is applied and the characters are at least halfway likable.     (See Rush Hour, 48 Hrs, Midnight Run, Starsky & Hutch).      Neither applies to The Heat.

Sandra Bullock plays Sarah Ashburn, a by-the-book FBI agent who rubs everyone the wrong way, including her boss (Bichir), who sends her to Boston to track down a big-time drug dealer named Larkin.     Sarah crosses paths with Boston undercover detective Shannon Mullins (McCarthy), who is sociopathic in her treatment of suspected criminals and acts nastily to everyone she comes in contact with.     Mullins screams loudly, is unpleasant, obnoxious, and swears every other word, including using the 12-letter variety, which makes one wonder how she even passed the psychological exam they surely must give to police candidates.     Or at least I hope they do.
One thing Mullins isn't is funny.    Same goes with Ashburn, who behaves with decorum and doesn't swear, saying "s" and "f" instead of the associated curse words.   

The mismatched pair are after the same dealer and reluctantly team up.    You know they will hate each other at first, then after a truce will become best buds.     That's ok if the people were even slightly likable.    But because Shannon is so over-the-top mean and Sarah is over-the-top prissy that we simply can't believe their partnership.     It's also custom in movies like this that the do-gooder will learn to loosen up via getting drunk or high with his new friend.    I'd love to see one movie where the do-gooder actually gets the slob to straighten up.     If there ever was a slob that needed straightening up, it's Shannon.

Another woeful miscalculation is the introduction of Shannon's family.    We see how Shannon learned to be profane and rude from being around these people, since they are presented as such grating loudmouths.     I actually would've preferred Shannon to be an orphan since her family adds so little except to make things even more unpleasant.  

The Heat plods toward its conclusion and contains no laughs.    It's a dead zone, forcing its actors to inhabit thoroughly uninteresting and nasty characters in thoroughly uninteresting situations.    There is nothing funny about a female cop who pounds on people and screams obscenities.    There is nothing funny about a stiff FBI agent who tries to do everything diplomatically in contrast.     There is nothing funny about bad guys getting shot in the groin, or even threatened to be shot in the groin.  
In fact, finding anything amusing about The Heat is more fruitless than trying to find Larkin. 

Little Nikita (1988) * 1/2

Directed by:  Richard Benjamin

Starring:  Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Richard Jenkins, Caroline Kava, Richard Bradford, Richard Lynch

Little Nikita was released as the Cold War was beginning to lose steam.    There is a Soviet villain in this film, but also a Soviet who says, "Russians don't kill their children."    And we thought all Russians were soulless monsters.    Within three years, the USSR ceased to exist and Hollywood was looking for a new country that exports villains.

This film, directed by Richard Benjamin, stars Sidney Poitier as an FBI agent tracking a rogue Soviet agent named "Scuba" (Lynch), who wears sandals everywhere and knocks off Soviet sleeper agents.     Scuba demands money from the Soviets and in exchange will spare the remaining agents, while Poitier wants to capture Scuba for more personal reasons.     Enter Jeff Grant (Phoenix), a teen who applies to the Air Force Academy near San Diego and whose application raises a serious red flag with Poitier. 

Jeffrey lists his parents as "Richard and Elizabeth Grant" and the computer returns a message stating "deceased 1891".    Hmm, that's peculiar.    Not that the Grants seemingly died in 1891, but that the computer would think that there were no other Richard or Elizabeth Grants anywhere since.     I'll bet Poitier could've flipped open a phone book and found 20 Richard Grants and 20 Elizabeth Grants in just San Diego alone.   

Poitier (whose character's name is Roy Paramenter) discovers that Jeff's parents are really Soviet sleeper agents themselves.     For those unaware, sleeper agents are agents whose mission is to pose as Americans until they are contacted by their superiors to carry out an assignment.      In the case of the Grants, they had lived in America for twenty years and ran their own nursery.   Twenty years?    Their superior Karpov (Bradford) shouldn't have been too surprised that the Grants were less than willing to give up their happy life to help him kill Scuba.    After all, twenty years is an awfully long time to be on call.     Nights at the opera are much more favorable than chasing around a killer. 

Things get progressively sillier and we kinda sorta know the only person who stands to lose in this whole thing is Scuba, who has upset the FBI and the KGB in one fell swoop.      After chases and many scenes in which people are holding guns to other people's heads, the film ends happily except for Scuba.      There are many veteran character actors here who know how to put their head down and plow forward even when faced with an absurd plot.     The box-office focus was likely on Phoenix, who at the time was a rising teen film star.     He shows none of the poise and ability here like he did in Running On Empty, released later in 1988 and which garnered him his only Oscar nomination.   

And what's with the name Roy Paramenter?   Couldn't the screenwriters have at least come up with a less laborious name than that for Poitier's character?     And how did the filmmakers shoehorn in Poitier's affair with one of Jeffrey's teachers?     Those scenes play like they were dropped in from another movie.    

Metro (1997) * * *

Directed by:  Thomas Carter

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Carmen Ejogo, Michael Rappaport, Michael Wincott, Paul Ben-Victor

What happened to Eddie Murphy?    He's one of the most talented and funniest of comedians, yet hasn't made a movie near worthy of his talent in nearly 15 years.    (Yes, I'm even counting Dreamgirls and I'm not counting Shrek and Shrek 2).     But prior to his current drought, he stretched himself starring in movies like Metro, a formula action thriller made fresh by Murphy's energy.    He jumps headlong into it and makes Metro work.

Murphy is Scott Roper, a San Francisco police hostage negotiator who is smart, seasoned, and keeps his cool.     One robbery involving millions of dollars in jewels proves to be especially tricky, since the thief, Mike Korda (Wincott), doesn't have any wish to negotiate.    Roper asks Korda for a hostage in good faith, Korda hands him a package with a severed ear from one of the hostages.    Korda's escape leads to an extended chase sequence involving Roper, Korda, a trolley, and numerous smashed up cars.    That is only the setup for a cat-and-mouse game between Korda and Roper.    Oh, and Korda also killed Roper's partner earlier in the film.   

Korda is played by Michael Wincott, an actor who has specialized in portraying nasty villains over the years.   I've seen him in Talk Radio, Robin Hood: Prince Of Theives, The Three Musketeers, The Crow, and Along Came A Spider.     Each time, he was creepily effective.     He's been in non-creepy roles in films like The Doors, but even then I was halfway expecting him to start offing people.     I don't see as much of him these days, however, and it's a shame.

Murphy's role isn't played for laughs much, but he is still very much enjoying himself while being convincing as an action star.    His girlfriend Ronnie (Ejogo) is around long enough to be kidnapped by Korda and held for ransom in a particularly inventive way.     Despite her thankless role, she is enchanting, even though we know her primary function is to be in peril so Roper can save her.   

Perhaps Eddie Murphy should've hired himself out for movies like Metro instead of family-friendly films which all but muted him.     He is an actor who works better with an edge.     In movies like A Thousand Words, The Haunted Mansion, Daddy Day Care, Norbit, etc., he is caught in dull, nowhere roles which don't allow him to be funny.     Metro proves that Murphy, even in a formula action picture, still possesses the stuff that made him one of the biggest box-office draws of all time.      

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (2013) * 1/2 (Shown on HBO)

Directed by:  Philip Marcus

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth is the filmed version of Tyson's one-man Broadway show in which he narrates his own life story.     Hitting the highlights and many of the lowlights of his life, Tyson pulls no punches and is unflinchingly honest and self-deprecating.     The issue is that Tyson is not an eloquent speaker and hard to understand in many spots, which is crippling in any public speaking event, let alone a one-man Broadway show.    He rattles off words so fast in some spots that I thought he was trying to imitate the "world's fastest speaker" from the 1980's FedEx commercials. 

Dressed in an ill-fitting white suit, Tyson takes the audience through his troubled life with images and film projected on the backdrop behind him.    These provide some much-needed visual cues during the many instances in which I was completely lost trying to understand Tyson.    His face and brow are drenched in sweat (which he wipes often).     I'm wondering if the heat from the spotlights plus the suit made him uncomfortably hot.   

Tyson also makes the mistake often of trying to talk over audience applause and reactions.     Instead of using this as a natural break from speaking, he continues plowing through his monologue.    In other instances, the background music is playing so loud that it drowns Tyson out completely.     Tyson devotes a lot of time to describing an out-of-ring altercation with Mitch Green,  a journeyman fighter whom Tyson also defeated in the ring.     There is plenty of profanity, racial slurs, and homophobic remarks used in this segment, which are really the only words I was able to comprehend.     This lengthy story goes nowhere. 

There are stories Tyson tells that have a "I guess you had to be there" feel to them, such as a story in which former wife Robin Givens was dating a then-unknown Brad Pitt.     If there was a payoff to this story, I missed it.    Others lack a payoff too.     Tyson also proclaims his innocence over his 1992 rape conviction which put him in prison for 3 years, but instead of plumbing this period of his life for insight, he instead focuses on a visit by Florence Henderson that never came to fruition.  

Tyson simply lacks the verbal grace to effectively communicate.     Certainly Tyson's life is an interesting one and needed to be told, but I wish Morgan Freeman was nearby to narrate.     Tyson's story is better told than someone other than himself.    In a moment of candor, Tyson confesses that Spike Lee told him that when he speaks he needs an interpreter.    How right he was.