The Gauntlet (1977) * * *

Directed by:  Clint Eastwood

Starring:  Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince

Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet is an action film full of bullets, chases, and even some depth.    Eastwood plays a cop who is assigned to escort a witness from Nevada to Phoenix to testify at a mob trial.    The mob wants her dead, as do other people whose motives are made clear later.    Unlike Eastwood's other cop roles, his Ben Shockley is a drunken underachiever who pulls it together to try and get the job done.    The witness is a hooker named Gus Malley (Locke), who we learn graduated college and possesses a fierce intelligence.    She is more than a match not only for Shockley, but any other male who dare underestimates her.    It is refreshing to see that in a female role which could have been typical, but is made special.

Shockley is under the gun right from the beginning.    Upon picking up Gus from jail, he learns Vegas has placed odds on her getting to Phoenix alive.    Determined, Shockley survives a hail of bullets, explosions, and traps.    He is slow to catch on that he is being set up.    Shockley and Gus survive the onslaught and manage to get to Phoenix in a bus which is shot at by most of the Phoenix police force.    It is not made clear why Shockley informs anyone what his route will be.    It is also not made clear why the police stop firing at him when he runs the bus up the city hall steps.    While we're at it:   Why did the police idly stand by as the ending played out like it did?

Up until the final 15 minutes, which despite being considerably tense is the tipping point where the film flies off the rails, The Gauntlet is a well-paced, well-constructed action film.     It also shows Eastwood playing a somewhat vulnerable character which is a derivative of his usual macho characters played until that point.     Eastwood doesn't even shoot the bad guy at the end, although he does punch a biker woman in the face.    She was attempting to kill him and rape Gus, so he isn't totally unjustified in punching her.     I enjoyed Locke as well, who takes what seems to be a simple character and adds complexity.   

The Gauntlet wouldn't break records for originality even back in 1977, but it is one more example of Eastwood's evolution as an actor and director.    If they just did something different with the finale, we would've had close to a classic here. 

A Civil Action (1998) * * * 1/2

 

 

 

Directed by:  Steven Zaillian

Starring:  John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, John Lithgow, James Gandolfini, Dan Hedaya, Kathleen Quinlan

We witness in A Civil Action an attorney who goes against all of his instincts and sinks his fortune and career because he becomes too emotionally involved in a case.    The attorney, Jan Schlictmann (Travolta), narrates throughout and explains how the litigation process works.    He knows lawsuits are created so settlements can be reached.    Only 1.5% of lawsuits filed in the U.S. ever reach a verdict.    He explains how pride and emotional attachment to a case are as useful as "a doctor who recoils at the sight of blood."     Yet, throughout A Civil Action, we see him break all of his own rules and we can only helplessly stand by as it costs him.

Schlictmann is a successful personal injury lawyer who has a nose for cases that will pay off.     His strategy is to sink his firm's money into the case in order to win a huge settlement later.     This strategy works until his partners present him with a class action lawsuit filed by residents of a small Massachusetts town.     Numerous town children died from various illnesses caused by illegal chemical dumping by local factories, which contaminated the town's water supply.     Schlictmann's initial instinct is to drop the case, but after meeting with grieving families and discovering the factories are run by two multi-billion dollar corporations, he decides to take the case.    His reluctance at first is based on his experience that children pay the least in the hierarchy of personal injury, but he allows himself to be moved, which goes against his belief in emotional detachment.

The antithesis of Schlictmann is Jerome Facher (Duvall), the veteran attorney for one of the co-defendants.   He is a skilled tactician.    He understands what will happen and why, correctly foreseeing how the case will play out.    At one critical point, he offers Jan a settlement (which Jan rejects) knowing full well that his client will ultimately be exonerated.    In a way, Facher sees Jan as we do...a smart lawyer whose judgment is clouded and legal strategy compromised by emotion.    He knows the settlement will not be accepted, but he intuits, "The case will come down to people as it always does."   He is right to assume that a jury would be unpredictable because years of experience tells him that.

Adding considerable tension is his firm falling deeper and deeper into debt while trying to win the case.    They accrue millions in debt and unpaid taxes.    The firm's accountant (Macy) pleads with Jan to settle in order to avoid further financial woes.    "We are floating on credit.   Every dollar we spend is a dollar we don't have."    All of the external factors scream for Jan to settle, but he doesn't, believing foolishly he will win a big figure settlement.  

A Civil Action is not a courtroom drama in the sense we usually think of courtroom dramas.    It is about the grueling process of maneuvering through the treacherous legal system.     Jan thinks he is searching for the truth.    Facher advises him differently, "If you are searching for truth, you will find it at the bottom of a bottomless pit."    He is not cynical, just knowing.    A Civil Action creates an almost insider's view of the justice system, which in the case of personal injury is less about justice and more about the big payday.    Jan's clients want an apology.    Jan replies, "Corporations apologize with their checkbooks."   

Travolta's performance is all the more captivating because we see him make wrong decision after wrong decision while being confident he is making the right ones.   Duvall, in an Oscar-nominated performance, is not simply wise, but turns Facher into an likable eccentric who continually totes around a raggedy briefcase and finds joy in conference room pens.    His superstitions may fool people, but he reveals calculation in his legal strategy after deposing the parents.  "These people can never testify."   They never do, which stuns Jan, whose biggest flaw is his faith in a legal system he knows full well is compromised.  




   

The Angriest Man In Brooklyn (2014) *

Directed by:  Phil Alden Robinson

Starring:  Robin Williams, Mila Kunis, Peter Dinklage, Melissa Leo, Bob Dishy, Hamish Linklater, Richard Kind, Louis CK

Robin Williams' recent death casts a morbid shadow over The Angriest Man In Brooklyn, which even without Williams' death hanging over it is a rudderless, tone-deaf film.    I've rarely seen a film in such a rush only to go absolutely nowhere, like being on an express train that suddenly breaks down and you wonder helplessly if you will be stuck on the tracks all night.    It is a waste of plenty of notable talent.

Phil Alden Robinson wrote and directed Field Of Dreams, which is a great movie.    His 1992 Sneakers was a decent crime caper.    He hasn't directed a film since 2002's The Sum Of All Fears.   I can only speculate on the reasons he chose this film as his return to directing.     Perhaps on paper, it seemed like a challenging idea.   I won't be tracking Robinson down to find out.

The Angriest Man in question is Henry Altmann (Williams), a Brooklyn lawyer who is having a very bad day.    His car is run into by a taxi, he waits hours at a hospital for his appointment to see his regular doctor, who has taken an impromptu vacation and is replaced by the burnt-out Dr. Sharon Gill (Kunis).   She has the unfortunate job of breaking the news to Henry that he is dying from a brain aneurysm.    When Williams flips out demanding to know how long he has to live, she blurts out 90 minutes.    Henry storms out believing that he only has 90 minutes to live and chooses to use that time to make amends to those he has hurt.    If Henry didn't naively believe he only had 90 minutes to live, then we would've been spared a lot of what happens in this movie.  

The wheels are in motion, but the film stays stuck in the mud.    The remainder of the film involves Henry running around Brooklyn trying to reconcile with his loved ones, including his son Tommy (Linklater), who eschewed a partnership in his father's firm to open a ballroom dancing school.   This choice pissed off Henry so much that the two have been estranged for two years.    Henry's other son was killed two years earlier, transforming Henry from happy family man to the Angriest Man.    Henry's marriage also wound up on the rocks, causing his wife (Leo) to cheat on him with their next door neighbor (Dishy).    Meanwhile, Dr. Gill chases Henry around town hoping to tell him that her prognosis was wrong....not the aneurysm part but the 90 minutes to live part.    Kunis plays Dr. Gill as The Angriest Woman In Brooklyn.    In another film, she and Henry could have married and lived miserably ever after.      

The Angriest Man In Brooklyn is a film of could haves,    It could have been touching, sentimental, or at least funny.    It is none of those things.    Robin Williams' character undergoes so many quick transformations that he could sue for whiplash.   First, he is angry, then seething, then screaming, then thoughtful, then intuitive, then sad, etc. etc.    If you thought it was difficult keeping up with Williams' manic pace in his stand-up act, wait until you see Henry Altmann.    Leo, Dinklage, Dishy, and even Richard Kind show up in little more than cameos.    Their job is to be upset with or chase Henry down and just miss him as he leaves a place or hails a cab.     By my recollection,  Henry is able to travel from the hospital, to his office, to his home, and even to the Brooklyn Bridge all within 90 minutes on a Friday afternoon.    This includes all of the conversations he engages others in while he is present at these places.    It is surprising how little traffic there is at rush hour.  

Watching Henry's failed suicide attempt will no doubt evoke the fresh memory of Williams' own suicide.     The filmmakers of course could not have foreseen such a thing, but it only adds to the other issues The Angriest Man In Brooklyn suffers from.    James Earl Jones (who played a pivotal role in Robinson's Field Of Dreams) shows up as a stuttering shop owner, adding to Henry's already taxed patience.    This must be an inside joke, considering Jones had to overcome a debilitating stammer early in life to become an actor.    But in this film, it is just one more contrived roadblock in the way of Henry's path to happiness.   

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014) * * 1/2

Directed by:  James Gunn

Starring:  Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, (voices of) Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker

Guardians Of The Galaxy represents the lesser known members of the Marvel universe (lesser known to me anyway), however, the film made about them isn't too bad.    The action scenes generally didn't do much for me.    They seem perfunctory, with characters firing giant bazookas and killing of massive amounts of nameless, faceless extras.    We have seen them plenty and there is nothing to differentiate the Guardians battles with any of the others.     The characters, however, are unique, with quirky personalities and fun dialogue.    They nearly elevate the film all by themselves.     Nearly.

The guardians in question include a cocky intergalactic thief named Peter Quill aka Star Lord (Pratt), a green woman named Gamora (Saldana) whose adoptive father is an evil ruler named Ronin with designs on destroying a planet, a hulking monster (Bautista) who eyes revenge on Ronin, and then there are Groot, a creature that resembles a walking tree and Rocket (Cooper), a wise guy who is part raccoon and part other animal.    Groot and Rocket get laughs with their byplay.    All Groot is capable of saying is "I Am Groot," and Rocket is somehow able to interpret that statement to mean any number of things.    This reminds me of Chewbacca and Han Solo, with Solo forever interpreting Chewbacca's loud, indistinguishable groans as something meaningful.  

The five come together after all are imprisoned for attempting to steal or steal away a small orb which, if put in the wrong hands, would cause the destruction of any planet it comes in contact with.    Drax is already in prison, but agrees to join the others to destroy Ronin, who apparently is the guy who wants the orb and should never, ever be allowed to possess it.     The five escape prison, which reminded me all too much of the dingy facility in Escape Plan, and go on a mission to keep the orb away from Ronin and save the galaxy at the same time.

The characters are given their own special touches.    Star Lord likes to play 70s soft rock on his walkman while robbing things.    Drax is awfully literate for a brute.    Rocket is a little creature who packs a big wallop and has a heart after all, especially when it comes to his friend Groot.    Groot is pretty sensitive too for a tree.    Gamora is the guardian with the least personality.    Her function is to passionately inform the rest of the guys what needs to be done next and be a standard love interest for Star Lord.

Guardians of the Galaxy is low rent Star Wars and somewhat fun.   Star Wars became a classic because it elevated its standard storyline with emotion and depth.    Guardians doesn't approach that, but I would like to see these characters in a movie with a more significant plot. 

Up In The Air (2009) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Jason Reitman
Starring:  George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Sam Elliott, JK Simmons

Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is a man at peace with himself.    He is a road warrior, traveling 300 days a year as a "Termination Facilitator", or in other words he fires people on behalf of companies who don't want to do it themselves.    He enjoys his job and his world of hotels, rental cars, and flights that take him all over the country.    He is friendly, but no one can really call him a friend.    When he is not firing people, he conducts seminars about how personal relationships are a drain on people's lives.    He uses a backpack as a prop, explaining how he fits everything he needs into that one backpack.    The rest is superfluous.

Bingham is a loner, but not without charm and social skills.    He seems like a good guy to hang with, but he wouldn't rank high on a list of people you would want to share your most intimate secrets with.    He wouldn't have it any other way.    The closest things he has to personal connections are with Alex (Farmiga), a fellow road warrior with whom he has a casual relationship (i.e. sex when they happen to be in the same city at the same time) and Natalie (Kendrick), a perky newcomer at Ryan's company who travels with him and learns the ropes.  

Ryan's world receives a jolt when his company pulls him off the road in favor of "termination facilitators" firing someone via video conferencing.    It isn't very personal, but it sure does save on travel expenses.     Ryan's apartment looks unlived in.    The only things in his fridge are alcohol and condiments.   He dreads being home.   Ryan has a goal in his life, which is to earn 10,000,000 frequent flier miles, which is something only six other people have ever reached.   "More people have walked on the moon," he tells Natalie as he joyously instructs Natalie on travel tips and racking up frequent flier miles.    He doesn't want to travel anywhere on vacation with the miles, mind you.    "The miles is the goal," he explains.    We don't know whether to see that as admirable or pathetic.

Up In The Air doesn't relegate itself to formulas.   It is part comedy, part drama, part documentary of a man whose life is his job.    It doesn't pay off the way you would expect.    Director and co-writer Jason Reitman handles things gently and doesn't beat us over the head with satire.    Things maintain an even tone.  Some of the people whom Ryan or Natalie fire are real people who have been on the chopping block, giving those scenes an extra realistic edge.    Clooney received an Oscar nomination, as did Farmiga and Kendrick.    His performance is comfortable, confident, sly, and knowing, even after he undergoes some unexpected transitions.    The women in his life (including his two sisters we meet later) provide some semblance of stability and yes, those personal relationships he finds he doesn't dread so much after all.    





 

Noah (2014) * *

Directed by:  Darren Aronofsky

Starring:  Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ray Winstone, Douglas Booth

I admit I have never seen an adaptation of the story of Noah's Ark quite like this.    It is baffling how certain members of the religious right chastised the film for not being true to the original story.    What original story?    About a man who lived to be 900 years old who built a massive ark which housed two of every species of animal on Earth so they could survive a flood caused by 40 days and 40 nights of rains?    At risk of offending the religious right, the story is not believable nor is it supposed to be.   It isn't meant to taken as fact.    It, like many stories in the Bible, are either allegories or fables.     Darren Aronofsky decided to spruce things up by turning Noah into an action hero and then a borderline psychopath.    Giant walking rock monsters are introduced which are similar to the giant walking trees in The Lord Of The Rings.    There is also the introduction of a villainous Cain, the son of Adam and Eve who killed his brother Abel and went on to overtake the Earth with his legions of followers.    Well, at least that is Noah's version.

Noah is not boring, just daffy.    It introduces Noah (Crowe) as a family man haunted by visions of a planet immersed in water.    He determines that the Creator is going to destroy the Earth and he must build the ark in order to protect the innocent (meaning the animals) from destruction.    This takes several years, as his young children grow up and his wife (Connelly) doesn't age a day.    Crowe keeps his beard, but now sports a crew cut.    As the day of reckoning approaches, Noah intervenes on his children's behalf so they can secure wives and thus repopulate humankind.    A young girl they found and adopted when she was a child has grown up to be Emma Watson (of Harry Potter), but she can not bear children until she seeks out Noah's grandfather Meshuselah (Hopkins), who is part patriarch and part witch doctor.    Suddenly, she can bear children, which makes her the likely partner of Shem (Lerman), Noah's oldest son.    In the miracle business, Methuselah would give Jesus a run for his money.

Arriving on the scene is Noah's uncle Cain (Winstone), who with his army of followers threaten to storm the ark so they can be saved.    In the meantime, the species of animals find their way to the ark.   Only two of each are permitted, so how was it decided amongst the particular animal species which two go?    I understand logic isn't welcomed in a story like this, but still...   Cain's job is to be a snarling villain, which Winstone plays to a tee with his gruff cockney accent.    You may remember Winstone as Mr. French in The Departed.    

Noah borrows plenty from The Lord Of The Rings, including the rock monsters, an epic battle, and long tales about said characters.    The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, however, grew wearisome quickly.    Noah is ambitious, but ultimately collapses under its ridiculousness.    It is a ground rule that a certain amount of ridiculousness is to be expected with this story, but Aronofsky added filler and lots of it which triples the amount of horsefeathers we are expected to accept.

After the rains end (I'm not giving away a spoiler by telling you that they do), Noah believes that all of humankind is expected to be eradicated, which includes he and his family.    Noah's family's response is tantamount to "What do you mean we, white man?"    It is here where Noah becomes an unsympathetic monster who threatens to kill his daughter-in-law's children when they are born in order to carry out the Creator's will.    He has a look not unlike Charles Manson's.     Even after this ordeal ends as expected, can his family really trust him again?

I almost feel a certain affection for Noah despite its inanities.    Crowe undergoes so many transformations in his character that it is astounding he can keep up with them.     He goes from Maximus to Pearlie (his character in Winter's Tale) all in one movie.    The film is epic in scope and is well-made, although the Earth Noah inhabits in the beginning could use a little rain.    And flowers.   And trees.    There isn't a whole lot for the Creator to wipe out anyway.     The best thing I can say about Noah is that I watched it with dislike, but not disinterest.    Hearing Russell Crowe scream, "Nothing will stop me," as he carries a knife meant to kill his grandchild borders almost on self-parody.    Darren Aronofsky is a skilled director who also made Black Swan and The Wrestler.   He swung for the fences taking on this epic.    He wound up with a long fly ball which was ultimately caught for an out, but at least gave a jolt of excitement to the crowd.

Winter's Tale (2014) * * *

Winter's Tale succeeds in large part due to the conviction of the actors and also because it is surprisingly touching.    Does it make perfect sense?   No, but it is a film which caters to the heart more than to logic.   The two naturally rarely coincide.

The film opens in today's New York.   A young man named Peter (Farrell) sneaks up to a room above Union Station and locates the belongings of a baby who lived a long time ago.    Who is the child?   What significance does the child have to Peter?   We then flash back to 1895, when the child was left up to adoption by her immigrant parents who were disallowed entry in the US due to pulmonary disease.    The child is raised by rich Isaac Penn (Hurt), who fears for her health because she is a sickly child who grows to be a sickly, but beautiful adult.  

The woman, named Beverly (Findlay), grows to be a beautiful young woman dying from tuberculosis who meets Peter in a curious way.    He attempts to rob her home, but stumbles across her and winds up having tea and talking with her.    They fall in love instantly, causing Peter to leave his boss Pearlie (Crowe), a nasty guy who is also a demon employed by Lucifer.

While Pearlie searches for Peter seeking revenge, Beverly dies after making love to Peter, yet Peter lives on despite Pearlie throwing him into the East River and leaving him for dead.    Peter not only lives on, he doesn't age a day.   Why?    I won't spoil too much, but suffice it to say, he has unfinished business on Earth, involving miracles and saving a redheaded stepchild. 

The plot is, by its nature, pure fantasy and thus we allow a little leeway to let it unfold.    Farrell approaches Winter's Tale as the epitome of earnestness and love.    He is a capable romantic lead.    Crowe looks menacing it every scene he is in.    His scenes with an unbilled Will Smith (who plays his underworld boss I suppose) somehow descend into near-comedy.    They play awkwardly, so thank goodness there are only two of them.  

Once all of the subplots and mysteries are sorted out, Winter's Tale ends satisfyingly enough with a moving score that helps us buy into this unabashedly fantasical film.    Winter's Tale understands the notion that there are people out there who simply don't mind suspending disbelief (in this film, you have to suspend a lot of it) to see a romance which defies time itself.    I especially enjoyed the scene where Peter reunites with Beverly's sister, played by Eva Marie-Saint and herself must be well over 120 years old.   Yet, she runs the New York Sun.   And I thought a flying horse and ghastly demons would be the only disbelief I would have to leave at the door.

Starring:  Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Russell Crowe, Will Smith, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Eva Marie-Saint