Today's Movie: Casino Jack

Casino Jack was released in 2010, and it tells the story of the lead-up-to and eventual fall of former Washington D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Directed by George Hinkenlooper (who died before the film's release) the movie stars Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper, Jon Lovitz, Kelly Preston. and Rachelle Lefevre.

For anyone already familiar with the story, this is a comedic-dramatization of events. One of the problems that sometimes arises when making a Hollywood version of a story like that of Abramoff is that there is no good guy to root for. While Spacey (his own future scandals aside) plays Abramoff as likeable as possible, everyone related to this story is at fault. The lobbyist, the Senators who take money from the lobbyist, the people paying the lobbyists to sway the Senator's vote in their favor... it's a story of fraud, greed and corruption and leads to the movie being a bit of a mess tonally. That being said, I do like the film overall. I think that the acting is pretty solid throughout, and I'm a bit of a sucker for true crime stories. It's also not a particularly long movie, only about 1hr 45mins, but it packs a lot into that time and keeps the story moving. 

Casino Jack wasn't a critical or box-office hit but, I think there is enough good stuff in the film to make it worthwhile. 

I give it a 3 out of 5.

The Irishman

Now available on Netflix, The Irishman is the latest film by Martin Scorsese. The movie is based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses which is about the life of mafia hitman Frank Sheeran. It's also is a reteaming of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci who had previously starred in two other Scorsese crime films (which happen to be two of my favorite movies); Goodfellas in 1990 and Casino in 1995.

This is a good movie. A very good movie in fact, although that shouldn't be much of a surprise as Scorsese is one of the all-time great filmmakers and mafia stories are kind of his sweet spot. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Goodfellas or Casino but, it did surpass my expectations. I guess because it was a Netflix movie I thought it might be a lesser Scorsese film and also, to be fair, Pesci was retired and De Niro has been phoning it in the past few years. Alongside those two, the film also features the likes of Al Pacino, Bobby Cannavale, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Ramano who's surprisingly really in good in this movie. 

One thing that may turn a few people away is the runtime. It's long, like three and half hours long. However, I think it earns just about every minute of that runtime. I didn't read the Charles Brandt book I Heard You Paint Houses but, I did read up a bit on Frank Sheeran in the lead up to this movie's release. This is a lot of story to condense, and I think the film nailed it. It's well-written, expertly directed, and all of the actors brought their A-game. I highly recommend checking this one out, especially if you're a fan of films about organized crime. 

It's easily one of my favorites of 2019, and I give it 4.5 out of 5.

Today's Movie: Hot Pursuit

2015's Hot Pursuit is a cop and crook on-the-run comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara. In the film Witherspoon plays the part of Rose Cooper, a by-the-book, yet bumbling police officer assigned to transport the wife of a drug dealer to Dallas so she and her husband can testify against the leader of a cartel. After the husband is ambushed and murdered, Cooper and the wife Daniella Riva (played by Sofia Vergara) flee. With them on the run, and two dirty police officers on their tail, Cooper and Riva must get to Dallas in time for the trial and to clear Copper's name.

Now, I like Reese Witherspoon and I like odd-couple comedies, but I found this movie to be surprisingly unfunny. I'd say a good 95% of the comedy relates to one of following gags: 1) Reese Witherspoon is short. 2) The character of Cooper is uptight. 3) Mrs. Riva is a shrill, overdramatic, caricature of a Latina woman. There is no subtlety to either lead performance, and pretty much none of it landed for me. The basic police officer and criminal having to work together premise has been done a million times but, I think with these two actresses there was the potential here to make a fun comedy. Unfortunately, whether it was Director Anne Fletcher (who is known for making lackluster-at-best films), or a bad screenplay, or likely both, Hot Pursuit just isn't a good movie. As for a few positives; I think the total runtime is less than 90 minutes, and there is a cameo by Mike Birbiglia.

Overall, I'm going to give this one a 1 out of 5.

The Hawk is Dying

Starring Paul Giamatti, Michael Pitt, and Michelle Williams, The Hawk is Dying is a 2006 drama directed by Julian Goldberger. In the film, Paul Giamatti plays a vehical upholster named George whos true passion and obsession is falconry. His goal is to train a hawk with the help of his autistic nephew Fred (played by Michael Pitt). Although all of their attempts thus far have failed, they capture a red-tailed hawk and George thinks that this is going to be the one. Unfortunatly, after Fred drowns in a freak accident, George starts to spiral out of control becoming more obsessed with training the new hawk.

Giamatti is one of my favorite actors working today, so the movie gets a little extra bump in my book for simply having him in it. With that being said, it's not a great movie. I found it fairly interesting and didn't once consider switching to something else but, it's really only worth checking out for the lead performance. It's a slow paced and morose film, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just falls a little flat. 

Overall, not bad. Not great. Just an OK movie. 
2.5 out of 5

Midway (2019)

Last night my wife and I went to see the new Roland Emmerich film Midway. Now, Emmerich doesn't have the best track record as a director but, this one looked pretty good from the trailers. The film, as the title would suggest, is about the Battle of Midway in 1942 and it stars Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, and Tadanobu Asano.

The movie covers a lot of ground: It starts out before the United States got involved in WWII, takes us through the attack on Pearl Harbor, and of course the lead-up to and eventual Battle of Midway. The movie crams a lot into it's 2hr and 18min runtime which means it was never boring but, by contrast, it did feel a bit clunky at times. However, even with the occasionally odd pacing I feel that, outside of 1996's Independence Day, this is probably Emmerich's best film. It's a slick production and, although none of the acting is great but, its good enough.

I'm generally a fan of war movies and I think if given the choice between the two, I prefer the 1976 Midway film starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda over this one. That being said, I still had a pretty good time watching this film. Overall, I liked it but didn't love it. So consider this a light-recommend.

3 out of 5

Beat the Devil

Beat the Devil is a 1953 adventure-comedy directed by John Huston. The film stars Humphrey Bogart, who had previously starred in a number of notable Huston films like 1941's The Maltese Falcon, 1948's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and 1951's The African Queen. Alongside Bogart is a pretty solid cast of  Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre and Bernard Lee. 

The plot involves a group of questionable characters who are all headed to Africa and looking to acquire some valuable, uranium-rich land. Along the way thier boat sinks and, upon reaching shore, they are taken captive suspected of being spies. Story-wise it's nothing special for a movie like this, with many of the characters trying to smooth-talk their way out of situations and willing to doublecross each other if it means advancing their own self-interest. Where the film shines is with the cast, and the bander between the characters is really the main selling point here. Overall, It's not a great movie but, it's fun and good for a couple of laughs.

I give it a 2.5 out of 5.

Today's Movie: Moon

Released in 2009 and directed by Duncan Jones, Moon is easily one of my all-time favorite sci-fi films.

In the movie Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) works alone at a mining station on the far side of the moon, with only the station's artificial intelligence system named GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey) to keep him company. The station exists as a way to mine a fuel source known as helium-3 from the moon's soil by Lunar Industries. Sam is nearing the end of his three-year contract with Lunar and is all set to return home to his wife and daughter back on Earth. One day when making a routine visit to one of the remote helium-3 harvesters, Sam becomes distracted and crashes his rover. He wakes up in the stations infirmary unclear as to how he got there. Curious to find some answers, Sam eventually decides to head back to the crash site. When he opens up the rover and climbs inside, he finds that there is someone inside... himself!

Without giving away the other twists and turns of the plot, I'll just say this; I think Moon is a fantastic movie and I and even placed it on my Top 100 Favorite Films list. Sam Rockwell, who I think is a phenomenal actor, turns in one of the best performances of his career in this one. It's also a very well written, well directed, and engaging film. I'm a bit surprised that I never hear anyone talk about it, as it currently holds a score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.9/10 on the IMDb. If you've never seen Moon, I highly recommend checking it out. 

5 out of 5.