Movie Reviews

Gone Baby Gone

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Gone Baby Gone
  • IMDB: link

“If we don’t catch the abductor by day one only about 10% are ever solved.  This is day three.”

Tough choices and consequences
The story begins with the disappearance of a young girl (Madeline O’Brien) from her home.  Two private investigators, Patrick Kezie (Casey Affleck) and Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), are hired by the girl’s aunt (Amy Madigan) and her husband (Titus Welliver) to find her.

Ben Affleck, who does double duty here by co-writing the film, his first since Good Will Hunting (he adapted the tale from Dennis Lehane‘s novel), and directing his first feature, produces a pretty good flick.  Centered around the poorer section of Boston each character feels real.  It may not be a pretty view of America, but, sadly, it’s a far more realistic one than most of us are willing to admit.

For the first hour the film slowly unfolds as the investigation by John Ashton (Sgt. Taggart!!) and Ed Harris and led by Morgan Freeman uncovers only dead ends and false leads.  The case is complicated by the mother’s (Amy Ryan) drug addiction, her recent decisions, and the people surrounding her that may have a reason to hurt her, or possibly her child.

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We Own the Night

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  • Title: We Own the Night
  • IMDb: link

Studio execs love to take a film and change it in some way to make a different film which can play to the same audiences.  Die Hard is a classic example as studios rushed to make Die Hard on a boat (Under Siege), Die-Hard on a plane (Passenger 57, Con Air, Executive Decision), Die-Hard on a train (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) and many others.  The only other thing execs love more (than easy sequel or adaptations) is to combine two different films.  Now I don’t know for sure that this is how this film came about but I think it went something like this…
“Hey, I got a great idea for a movie.  It came to me as I was watching The Departed”
“I don’t know, I mean Scorsese just did that.”
“No man listen to this.  When I finished the movie and popped out the DVD I turned the cable on and there was that Studio 54 flick with Austin Powers.”
“Yeah?”
“We combine the two films!”
“That’s a great idea!”
“Yeah, we can even cast some of the stars of The Departed.”
“Not Nicholson, he’s way too expensive.  Hmm, what about Marky-Mark?”

We Own the Night

The film’s story centers around nightclub manager Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) whose lifestyle is at odds with his father (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg) who are hard-nosed NY cops.  When his brother is put in charge of a taskforce to clean up the drugs in the city Bobby is forced to examine his life and choose between his family and his friends and business partners.

What you expect is what you get.  Phoenix acts moody, crazy, and looks like he needs a good night sleep.  Wahlberg is a tough and stand-up guy (sadly without the humor of his Departed character), Duvall is the hardboiled but loving father, and Eva Mendes is the girlfriend (or more accurate – the whining eye-candy).

The story is good though not great and the incident that forces Bobby to help his father and brother is well executed (although I would have liked to have seen more time spent on the fallout).  The film also includes several sequences which are both engaging and compelling including a most memorable car chase and a tour and an escape from a drug house.

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Elizabeth, Take Two

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  • Title: Elizabeth: The Golden Age
  • IMDb: link

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Director Shekhar Kapur‘s follow-up to 1998’s Elizabeth is something of a train wreck, a lush and well acted train wreck to be sure, but a train wreck none the less.

Where the first movie chronicled Elizabeth’s (Cate Blanchett) rise to the throne this film splits in focus in many directions including the Queen’s fascination and friendship with the explorer Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen), court intrigue and her relationship with one of her ladies in waiting, the “other” Elizabeth (Abbie Cornish), Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) investigating and torturing traitors, the plot to assassinate the Queen and to put Mary Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton) on the throne, the machinations of King Phillip II of Spain (Jordi Molla), and the war between England and Spain.  If that’s not enough we also get subplots including Elizabeth’s (Cornish) brother (Steven Robertson), Walsingham’s son (Adam Godley), a burgeoning relationship between Elizabeth (Cornish) and Raleigh.

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Across the Universe

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  • Title: Across the Universe
  • IMDb: link

“All you need is love.”

Across the Universe

The film begins with an English dock worker named Jude (Jim Sturgess) who travels to America to find his father.  His journey takes him to a college where he befriends a screw-up named Max (Joe Anderson) and falls head-over-heels for Max’s sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood).

Traveling to NY with Max Jude finds himself living with a nightclub singer (Dana Fuchs), a guitar player (Martin Luther), and a young lesbian named Prudence (T.V. Carpio) struggling with her place in the world.  Making a living as an artist and designer Jude enjoys his new world until the terrors of war fracture the group’s fragile peace.

What follows is an exploration of love against the backdrop of the 1960’s, Vietnam, civil unrest, violence, and change.  Max is drafted, Lucy becomes a civil activist, fame and glory strain the relationship between Sadie and JoJo.  The world changes and each struggles once again to find their place in it, stay true to themselves, and grow and change with the times.

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A Coward and an Outlaw

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  • Title: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
  • IMDb: link

“He was born Jesse Woodson James on September 5th, 1847, and was named after his mother’s brother, a man who committed suicide.  He stood five feet eight inches tall, weighed one hundred fifty-five pounds, and was vain about his physique…he was missing the nub of his left middle finger and was cautious lest that mutilation be seen…he had a condition that was referred to as granulated eyelids and it caused him to blink more than usual, as if he found creation slightly more than he could accept…he could be reckless or serene, rational or lunatic, from one minute to the next.  If he made an entrance, heads turned into his direction; if he strode down an aisle store clerks backed away; if he neared animals they retreated.  Rooms seemed hotter when he was in them, rains fell straighter, clocks slowed, sounds were amplified.”

 

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Based on the novel by Ron Hansen the film tells the story of the famous outlaw Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and his friend who shot him in the back, Bob Ford (Casey Affleck).  The film is filled with supporting characters and events too numerous to mention here.  Plot divergences, threads, and events that work both with and against the main tale.  But at its core this is a film about two men and how their destinies became intertwined during their lives and long after their deaths.

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