The Old Man and a Gun - Review

The Old Man and a Gun

Robert Redford won an Oscar as Best Director in 1980 for the Best Picture “Ordinary People” in his directorial debut. And while he is more noted for his acting in films such “Barefoot in the Park”, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, “All the President’s Men” and “All is Lost” he also has been a highly successful businessman and producer including creating in 1978 The Sundance film Festival, a now much coveted film prize for small independent film makers.

This past Summer Redford announced he was retiring from acting but not necessarily from making films. In his last performance, Redford plays in a true story about an old man with a gun named Forrest Tucker. A career bank robber and prison escapee who always committed crimes with politeness and smile, but never using his gun.

The film title is called “The Old Man & the Gun”. And with the film taking place in the early 1980’s we see Forrest at the age of 70 making an audacious escape from San Quentin to start conducting an unprecedented string of heists that confound authorities in Texas but enchanted the public. Wrapped up in the pursuit of Forrest is a young detective and happily married man named John Hunt (Casey Affleck), who becomes unusually captivated with Forrest's commitment to his banking robbing craft. 

Also there was a woman named Jewel (Actress Sissy Spacek) who while one day evading police he randomly meets her on the side of the road. Jewel eventually starts to fall in love with the charming Forrest in spite of his chosen profession.

PLOT: Running at 1:33 minutes the story is light, warm, personable and full of nostalgic charm. And while it never has any one moment  that can be described as having any real dramatic tension or consequential heft, it still moves with a romantic sweetness to it.  Almost moving with seamlessness from beginning to end of an old fashion tale of an old fashion couple and an old era when people were just naturally more kind, chivalrous and polite to one another……………..even sometimes under the rare circumstances when they were committing a crime. But more than this enduring technical quality, the film does offer us the viewing audience the last chance to see what perfect acting is as well as a truly fitting acting performance by Redford as his farewell from the big screen.

You can almost see Redford having fun in the role being sly in one minute and dashing and debonair in the next. Smart, shrewd and calculating when being chased by the police and yet a very earnest and humble man who at the end of the day wished never to harm anyone in his many criminal pursuits.

“The Old Man and a Gun”, an absolute perfect ending to a major Hollywood star’s acting career………….I bid him fondly adieu.

3.50 Stars  

Oscar Nominations Frontrunners - Updated: Friday October 19th, 2018

Oscar Nominations Frontrunners

Updated – Friday October 19^th, 2018
Top Three Favorites to Win  - FTW (ranked)

Best Picture Frontrunners:

“BlacKkKlansman” (Spike Lee)

“Black Panther” (Ryan Coogler)

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” (Marielle Heller)

“The Favourite” (Yorgos Lanthimos)

“First Man” (Damien Chazelle) FTW -  3

“Green Book” (Peter Farrelly)

“If Beale Street Could Talk” (Barry Jenkins)

 “Roma” (Alfonso Cuaron) FTW - 2

“A Star is Born” (Bradley Cooper) FTW - 1

Best Director Frontrunners

Damien Chazelle (“First Man”) FTW - 3

Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”)

Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) FTW - 1 

Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”)

Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”)

Bradley Cooper (“A Star is Born”) FTW - 2 

Best Actress Frontrunners:

Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma”)

Glenn Close (“The Wife”) FTW - Tied 1

Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) FTW - 3

Lady Gaga (“A Star is Born”)  FTW - Tied 1

Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) 

Felicity Jones (“On the Basis of Sex”)

Keira Knightley (“Colette”)

Saiorse Ronan (“Mary, Queen of Scots”)

Best Supporting Actress Frontrunners:

Amy Adams ("Vice") FTW - 3

Claire Foy (“First Man”) FTW - 2

Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) FTW - 1 

Emma Stone (“The Favourite”)

Rachel Weisz (“The Favourite”)

Nicole Kidman (“Boy Erased”)

Natalie Portman (“Vox Lux”)

Margot Robbie (“Mary, Queen of Scots”)

Sissy Spacek (“The Old Man & The Gun”)

Best Actor Frontrunners:

Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born”) FTW - 1

Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”)

Ryan Gosling (“First Man”) 

Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”) FTW - 3

Christian Bale (“Vice”) FTW - 2 

Clint Eastwood (“The Mule”)

Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) 

Robert Redford (“The Old Man & the Gun”) 

Best Supporting Actor Frontrunners:

Mahershala Ali (“Green Book”) FTW - 2

Timothée Chalamet (“Beautiful Boy”) FTW - 1

Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”)

Steve Carell (“Vice”)

Adam Driver (“BlacKkKlansman”) 

Sam Elliott (“A Star is Born”) FTW - 3

Daniel Kaluuya (“Widows”)

Sam Rockwell (“Vice”)

Bad Times At the El Royale - Review

Bad Times At the El Royale

Seven times Academy Award Nominated actor Jeff Bridges, who won an Oscar as Best Actor in the film “Crazy Heart”, along with Chris Hemsworth (aka Thor) and Dakota Johnson (the series of “Shades of Grey” films) team up to compile a group of seven strangers who coincidentally arrive at a hardly occupied hotel in 1959 called ‘The El Royale”.

Upon their respective arrivals the strangers discover that the physical structure of the hotel itself is literally divided right down the middle. One wing of available rooms off the lobby resides in the state of California and the other wing of rooms off the lobby resides in the state of Nevada. The only discernable difference is California charges higher taxes on the same rooms than the Nevada.

While they collectively gather in the lobby waiting for the desk clerk to appear to check them room in, this odd assortment of seemingly out of place guest grow more and more suspicious of the other with night falling and a terrible thunder storm quickly approaching. Translation, are they who they say there are? Well, lets see who they say there are in the first place.

First, actor Jeff Bridges plays a Priest named Father Flynn who seems to have both an unquenchable thirst for booze and yet seems to  a bit forgettable and confused about the nature of why he is there. Secondly there is actress Cynthia Erivo who plays Darlene Sweet a backup singer for big-name acts who has never been able to break through is looking for a work to eventually break through as a solo act. Third there is actress Dakota Johnson who plays Emily a foul-mouthed moody hippie chick with her odd ball younger sister in tow named Rose (fourth) played by actress Cailee Spaeny. Fifth is a slick-talking traveling salesman with a southern drawl named Laramie Seymour Sullivan played by actor Jon Hamm who insists he has first dibs on what room he wants. Sixth is the hotel sole employee and desk clerk played by actor Lewis Pullman as Miles who is deeply troubled  and  who has a  very emotional soul. And finally the seventh with actor Chris Hemsworth who plays perpetual odd ball Billy Lee, a complete sociopath cult leader who dances like half Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison with his shirt always open or totally bare chested while talking repetitively about odd ball religious suicide cult leader Jim Jones.

So, what happens next? Well, we find out very shortly not everyone above is exactly who they said there were ……………..NOW WHAT A SHOCK.!!!

REVIEW: A mix of sexy drama, sexual voyeuristic, Forrest Gump and old fashion cops and robbers, "Bad Times At the El Royale", is a 100% homage tribute to Quentin Tarantino, especially his earlier works “Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction”. And while some of the moments are a tad too drawn out being overly"wordy"  in an attempt to being deeply serious and introspective with a mix of QT's style in conversational nuance, the others moments were brilliantly executed and smart with one in particular being where you see Darlene Sweet singing to herself in a mirror and a hammer being used. 

Ultimately the film holds up just enough to be fun; even funny and wickedly slick …………here and there. Filled with genuine surprises both emotionally and violently the full scope of the film does work in the end with some plausible twist and turns that will amuse you and a few others that will "Tarantino-esque" shock you.

"Bad Times at the El Royale" is pulp-ish light fun.

3.25 Stars

First Man - Review

First Man

Director Damien Chazelle has the unique distinction of being the youngest person to ever win the Oscar for Best Director (La La Land). In the short span of three films to his credit, two of "Whiplash" and "La La Land" have together garnered a total of 18 Oscar nominations, two of which included Best Picture nominations.  Its my opinion he is certain to add more Oscar Academy Award Nominations accolades to his resume in the biopic story of Astronaut Neil Armstrong starring Ryan Gosling as Armstrong in the film "First Man".

Now, unless you have been in a cave for the past half century or refuse to learn any elementary basic American history or just take some illogical pride in being willfully ignorant, Neil Armstrong was a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the United States Navy when he was selected by NASA in the late 1960’s to command a space mission to the first landing on the moon.

On July 16th, 1969 three Astronauts Neil, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins left earth in a fiery blast off in their orbiter spacecraft named "Apollo 11"  to fly 240,000 miles to hopefully land on the moon. Three and half days later they arrive to orbit the Moon where they fired the main rocket of their command orbiter to slow down to obtain a stable lunar orbit. Shortly there after Neil (Pilot) and Co-pilot Buzz Aldrin crawled inside the attached - separating lunar lander named “American Eagle”  that had the metal strength and thickness of a typical soda can to slowly descend to landing on the moon's surface. Once there both men (Neil first) walked on the surface taking picture and picking of samples of lunar rocks. After only 21 hours, 36 minutes on the lunar surface they re-launch the upper accent stage of the "American Eagle" lander to re-dock with the orbiting command module "Apollo 11" . Again  they fired the main engine rocket of the command orbiter only to regain enough velocity speed to escaping the moon’s gravity for their 240,000 miles 3 day return flight home. Eight days after leaving earth the three astronauts have returned in their remaining pyramid shaped Apollo 11 capsule reentering the earth's atmosphere at 17,500 mph with the ships outer surface temperature reaching 3000 degrees Fahrenheit to safely parachuting in the Pacific Ocean.

Think of it. Commander Neil Armstrong was only 39 years old when he accomplished this amazing feat using calculations with only pencil and paper, in the moment human ingenuity and an on-board computer system that by today's standard had less software capability than a $10 drugs store calculator.

The story of “First Man” tells the riveting story of that NASA’s mission noted above to landing a man on the moon, focusing primarily on Neil Armstrong and his NASA years from 1961 to 1969. A visceral first-person account, based on the book by James R. Hansen that taps into the extraordinary personal sacrifices, costs and deep fears that for its time was singularly the most dangerous mission of human exploration in history.

REVIEW:  "First Man" is a powerfully poignant and harrowing film that both exhilarates and also at times teeters on the fringe of horrifying in the life and death struggles of many brave individuals and their families, at great personal sacrifice for their collective, single minded and dogged determination to landing on the moon.  BUT TO BE CLEAR - MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, the entire film is in fact an introspective examination of Neil Armstrong; the man, the husband, the father, the astronaut and reluctant American icon and hero.

Ryan Gosling is perfectly cast as Neil, surprisingly capturing a personality trait that I do not make light of here to the fictional “Star Trek Mr. Spock”.  Specifically, both Neil and Spock seem to eerily share similar stoic exactness in their interactions with other people, of always having a concise need for discipline in everything and their surroundings and ultimately having an unfettered reliance for logic as the only absolute in life.

This real life harden impassive trait of Neil’s made similar to the fictional Spock in that they both chose “not to feel”  even while emotional turmoil raged underneath. This real life aspect to Armstrong's personality was probably the result two events seen early in the film. First being where we see Neil narrowly escaping death flying the experimental X-15 rocket that accidentally went sub-orbital. And secondly the sudden tragic loss of his infant daughter. Both experiences not only transformed an already highly intelligent, skilled and focused pilot, it clearly transfixed him. Transfixed him to the point of Neil seemingly operated almost non-human with steely human calmness and human respect.

Director Damien Chazelle directing is simply phenomenal here (I have used that word two weeks in a row) now. And just like James Cameron’s "Titanic", he doesn’t just want the viewer to see the events of his story on the screen, he wants you to live it with some amazing special effects that literally was like being a fly on the wall (inside movie joke here).  You get to experience what it must have been like first hand early space flight. From his near death experience with the X -15 spacecraft. The almost disastrous breakup of his Gemini 8. The loud sounds of metal stretching and screeching from stress. The dizzying launching and moon landing itself, through all of it you see just how exceptionally brave these people were to climb in the raw bare bones constructed equipment they flew in.  Looking retrospectively here, their ships looked more like two metal bath tubs held together by barbwire, Elmer's glue, gray packing tape and way too many not so secured metal rivets perpetually almost shaking lose. It is beyond astonishing to me that there were not many more lives lost in the early years of the NASA program. One side note you can tell the film used real antique mock versions of the original ships in that the switches in the film, the walls and numerous levers looked slightly rusted and worn.

"First Man" captures the many nauseating, relentless shaking, nerve racking and rattling sensations of some unknown catastrophe that was on the precipice of happening "right now".  But what was made even more abundantly clear was during these many dangerous moments the uncanny discipline of Neil Armstrong to almost will himself past those circumstance, devoid of having any human fear. He seemed less to look at death in the eye and more inclined to look ignorantly around. To the point I believe 99% of any other well trained pilots back then would have predictably passed out from the G forces levels Neil experienced..............He did not. He simply refuse to.

Structurally, while the film has a somber, melancholy and quiet feel about it, it also l has the resonance of an action film as well, all the while building up to the historical crescendo of the actual landing on the moon. And while I know factually how close Astronauts Neil and Buzz came to crashing on July 20^th 1969,  watching  Director Damien Chazelle astonishingly re-imagine both visually and technically that famous accomplishment gave me a real tense knot in my stomach with chills on my arms during the landing sequence.

Shot in digital black and white the way you see the lunar landscape slowly coming into horizontal view while Armstrong simultaneously goes about flying the lander, looking out the window, reading computer data and pushing buttons. Responding back to Mission Control on the flight status with technically coded wording. You seeing him seeing quickly the pre-programmed landing site filled with hazardous boulders and jagged crates. Seeing him making that split second decision to manually fly the ship elsewhere. The endless flashing lights going on and off. A large red signal display showing rapidly depleting fuel. Multiple loud alarms going off,  “1201” and “1202” that the on board computers are overloaded, crashing because they unable to process all of the speed, pitch and yaw, altitude telemetry flight data ............"time to abort"  …………..AND YET, AND YET, you see up close, very intimately, to the point of almost being inside Neil’s protective visor itself, Armstrong eyes confidently dancing back and forth, processing all of this activity; again "transfixed” with a heighten determination to remaining calm, remaining focused to his eventual safe and soft landing on the moon………………….With only 15 seconds of fuel left to spare. This scene alone is climatically amazing with real white knuckled spine tingling direction and acting from both Chazelle and Gosling here.  It literally is worth the price of admission alone in its 2:20 minute running time.

“First Man” is an absolute in the theater experience. Brilliantly told and stunning to look at, it claustrophobically puts you in the cold sometimes noisy and sometimes quiet confining front seat of dangerous space travel. Its also singularly showcases an extraordinarily brave man and his extraordinary achievement. A sweeping, mature, sober and contemplative look at a truly reluctant American hero. 

"First Man" is a serious nip and tuck contender with " A Star is Born" as the best film for 2018.

4.00 Stars

  

A Star is Born - Review

A Star is Born

Actor Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers, The Hangover, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, American Sniper and Guardians of the Galaxy) expands his range by directing himself and singing in the combination musical - romantic drama story “A Star is Born”.

Cooper has had a rather successful 10 year run, He has taken on both diverse and challenging roles that has resulted in him having the rare acting distinction of being nominated for an Academy Award Oscar three consecutive years in a row for Best Actor. Now he has put another new challenge on his resume with first time titles of Producer and Director in the 2018 adaption - remake of “A Star is Born”, also starring Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta better known professionally as singer “Lady Gaga”.

Cooper wrote this 2018 screenplay along with writers Will Fetters and Eric Roth. It also is the fourth remake of this now American classic starting with the original 1937 film of the same name starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March. The 1954 version starring Judy Garland and James Mason. And the last successful remake in 1976 starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.

In this latest "A Star is Born" we see Cooper and Lady Gaga as the central subjects of the story with a cast rounded out with Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, Eddie Griffin and the always reliably great, baritone voice actor Sam Elliott (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Roadhouse, Tombstone and We Were Soldiers).

As with all of the previous films before the story follows a hard-drinking seasoned musician this time named "Jackson Maine" (Cooper) who discovers and falls in love with a struggling artist named "Ally" (Gaga). When we first see "Ally" she has just about all given up on her lifelong dream of becoming a big time singer until "Jackson" charmingly coaxes her into a bigger and brighter spotlight. But when "Ally's career really starts to take off, the personal side of their deeply loving relationship starts to break down as Jackson fights a much bigger ongoing battle with internal demons of his own.

REVIEW: We all have experienced at least one rare event in our lives; something that left you star gazed by its intricacy, that manages to both nurture and sooth and yet overwhelm you as well. You become unknowingly motionless from just staring, no eye movement or blinking. Something that simply touches the mind and soul indelibly even if it for a brief period of time. Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born” (2018) is such a moment. In the very first 60 seconds of the film, I knew..............I just simply and instinctively knew I was going to see something phenomenal for 2:15 minutes...............I just knew.

Standard superlatives like “terrific, honest, electric and tremendous” share equally billing with more contemporary forms of praise such as “generationally relevant, culturally significant, in the moment and authentically real”. This film had me by my throat for its music and acting, never ever let me go. 

Its a bold and aggressive, subtle and sweet film. Brash and whimsical, touching and tender. Romantic and dreamy, kind and personable. Director Cooper has made a very intricate and intimate portrait of a fractured man who is both very talented and also out of control. Who's  garbled voice is a by product of way too many alcohol cigarette infused late night road trips and drug abuse. A voice that sounds almost like a poetic fog in its affect that will have you totally charmed by his presence on one hand and a bit worrisome on the other. A voice that belies and misleads the audience briefly from  something potentially negative to a more lasting conclusion that "Jackson Maine" the singer, the friend and brother is simply a very likable man with a real heart of gold. You just don't watch this movie with Cooper and Gaga in it, you inhabit their performances like being in the room with them every single frame. And with a story itself that is so fabulously written and so well executed I found myself literally hanging on every single word they said from beginning to end. 

On the technical side the film editing and the music were great. To an interesting point I discovered that Cooper made a specific point of not filming the many musical numbers and scenes with himself and Gaga performing in some relegated artificially constructed movie studio set. Instead, he went directly to live clubs and real music venues to film every scene. To open up the performances to appear being natural in the moment from all angles and thereby also incorporating live audiences giving the entire film a real sense of nervous tension of being isolated all alone on a stage while at the same time having an actual listening audience offer back their honest reactions and emotions in the way of thunderous applause, joyous laughter and heartfelt cheering and clapping. This was a masterful directing subtle touch.

I simply refuse to say much more about any aspect of the film’s plot or subplot. I will though offer my sincere opinion that Bradley Cooper has to get an Oscar nomination for both his directing and acting here. The film itself in my estimation should also receive a whole host of other Oscars nominations in all of the major categories including for Lady Gaga and for Sam Elliott who plays Cooper’s “Jackson” much older brother “Bobby”, who is both his manager, his personal confidant and who routinely keeps Jackson’s career from careening into flames any further than it already has.

I sincerely doubt over the next 90 days this adaptation of “A Star is Born” will be supplanted by another film...........its clearly my number one film for 2018 hands down. And I will be rooting for it hard to get as many nominations and to win as many Oscars as it can. This is the kind of film I grew up watching and loving as kid. It takes me back to that very time, posing a question in my mind today………. “Why in the hell can’t they,…… why don’t they,………. make movies like this anymore?” 

Be clear there is nothing new or ground breaking in the development of  the romantic story line here. But what is does have is an abundant heartfelt "living in the moment" quality that comes over you warmly and gently like a draped silk blanket. And when it does you will probably find yourself thinking, even mumbling as I did ………."Damn I'm glad I am watching this".

Actor turned Director and Producer Bradley Cooper truly has  broaden his range and it is on full display here in this film. He's proven to me with this first time directing effort he has the prowess, the thoughtful maturity, the genuine passion, the vision and the full range of imagination to create many more of these kind of spectacular films (as this is) with magically richness (as this is) ............ again and again and again.

“A Star is Born”, is absolutely the best film of 2018. See it on the big screen and you will discover as I did a phenomenal acting, writing, producing and directing star is truly born and his name is Bradley Cooper.

4.00 Stars