"Triple 9" Review
“Triple 9” is an adrenaline rush from start to ten minutes from the finish! That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that this cop procedural, heist film with an all-star cast fell short of a homerun.
The film starts off at the beginning of a heist by a five man crew comprised of cops and former military: Michael Atwood (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Marcus Belmont (Anthony Mackie), Russell Welch (Norman Reedus), Gabe Welch (Aaron Paul), and Franco Rodriguez (Clifton Collins Jr.). By all means, it’s not a new way of kicking off a film, but the performances of the cast draw you in to their situation. As things take an unexpected turn, they have to adapt, showing their skills and technical precision.
We soon learn that Atwood has ties to the Russian mob in the form of his son’s mother Elena (Gal Gadot). Elena’s sister, Irina (Kate Winslet), runs the mob outfit while her husband is in prison. Irina has ice in her veins. She lures Atwood in for one more heist by hurting someone close to him and insinuating it could happen to his son. Atwood feels that the only way to pull off the heist is to create a 999, cop code for “officer down”, which will draw out all the cops in the city in response. Enter Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), Belmont’s new partner, and just the mark they need.
The film has a stellar cast, who truly do great work with the script they were provided. Director John Hillcoat immerses the viewer in the streets of Atlanta and creates a steady tension and sense of urgency throughout the film. The settings are gritty, the gang members don’t seem to be comprised of actors, and that realism makes the film that much more suspenseful.
“Triple 9” suffers from two big issues: the plot is overly complicated, and the film has no likeable characters except for Affleck’s Allen. It’s like watching three card monte; there are so many storylines to follow that if you check a text message in the midst of the film you may be confused as to what’s going on. Everyone is flawed and dirty accept Allen. Which makes it hard to root for any of the main characters.
It’s a shame that all the drama and tension leads up to an unsatisfying ending. It feels as though writer Matt Cook had to finish the film under deadline and decided to try to wrap things up quickly and cut off loose ends. But in a film where everyone’s dirty, a nicely tied ribbon on the end just doesn’t make sense or do the film and its cast justice.
Rating: C
"The Night Before" Review
Deck the halls with weed and mushrooms, Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la cocaine.
That’s pretty much the mindset that this film occupies. Combine a Christmas movie with a stoner movie and you’ll get The Night Before, the latest comedy starring Seth Rogen. Those who have seen Rogen’s past efforts (This is the End, Neighbors, The Interview) are well aware of what to expect by this point: vulgar humor, pop culture references, and a laid-back, improvisational approach to storytelling. The Night Before is no exception, and whether that’s a good or bad thing is entirely dependent upon the viewer’s tolerance for that sort of thing.
Me? I laughed when I saw it, in spite of myself. The Night Before is equal parts naughty and nice, relishing its raunchiness while pausing for sobering, heartfelt moments as well. This is a film about friendship, forgiveness, growing up, and the spirit of Christmas… that also features a scene in which Rogen, wearing a sweater bearing the Star of David, vomits in the middle of a church during Christmas Eve service.
The film concerns three childhood friends—Ethan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Chris (Anthony Mackie), and Isaac (Rogen)—who are on the cusp of some big changes in their lives. Before adulthood claims their freedom to party forever, they gather on Christmas Eve for one last night of bacchanalian shenanigans. On a quest to find the Christmas party to end all Christmas parties, they traverse from one outrageous set piece to the next. This is not so much a story as it is a collection of things that happen.
Like with all Rogen comedies, the sheer level of talent assembled is impressive. In addition to the believable chemistry and snappy banter of the three leads, there are also hysterical supporting turns from actresses Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street) and Mindy Kaling (The Office), who often overshadow their male costars with their radiant comedic timing. But the most brilliant—and surprising—comic performance of the film comes from Michael Shannon (yes, General Zod from Man of Steel) as the mysterious marijuana dealer Mr. Green. He runs away with the film.
But too often the humor relies on lazy pop culture references and random celebrity cameos that will date the movie instantly. Miley Cyrus appears in one scene. What’s the joke? I guess it’s meant to be funny because she’s there. Or is there irony in the way the characters lay the praise on thick by saying things like “Miley Cyrus is so amazing! Isn’t her song ‘Wrecking Ball’ timeless?”
It’s unnecessary detours like these that take precious screen time away from our heroes and grind the film’s momentum to a halt. Had the script stayed focused a bit more on its central characters, I would have found myself caring if Ethan gets the girl or if Isaac learns to be a responsible father or if Chris becomes less of an egotistical jerk.
But perhaps I’m being a bit of a Scrooge. People don’t go to a film like The Night Before looking for well-developed characters or a polished script. They go to laugh. And when Christmas brings us such lumps of coal as Jingle All the Way, Deck the Halls, and Christmas with the Kranks, we can be thankful that The Night Before is as funny and warmhearted as it is. After all, isn’t being thankful what the holidays are all about?
Grade: B-
Cap's Got His Groove Back!
Practice makes perfect. That saying is definitely true for the latest installment for the Cap! “Captain America: Winter Soldier” benefits from the films that have come before it in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). As the ninth installment in the franchise, the writing and direction has a formula that made me a fan of Captain America! (He used to be my least favorite in the Avengers...Thor has taken his place.)
More than likely if you’re reading this it’s not because you’re not planning on seeing the film. It’s probably because you want to know if it’s awesome or not. It is! The film starts with Steve Rodgers/Captain America (Chris Evans) trying to find his way in the modern world. He runs into Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) or should I say runs past him a few times on his morning run. The two have some friendly banter that comes back later in the movie. Comedy in the MCU is something we’ve come to expect, but for the Cap it used to be a bit on the nose. Not anymore. The world feels more realistic and the dialogue is genuinely funny.
To summarize as quickly as possible, Cap and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) lead a mission on a hijacked S.H.I.E.L.D. ship. During the operation, Black Widow goes off mission and recovers some intel for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Fury isn’t able to get into the intel but learns that he’s a target after agents attack him. He hands the info off to Cap and tells him to trust no one before another attack on his life is carried out. It’s this command that leads Captain America and us as viewers throughout the majority of the rest of the movie. Who do we trust? Is everyone dirty? What intel is on the flash drive? These questions help root the film and push each scene forward.
As S.H.I.E.L.D. prepares to launch three huge warships to police Earth, led by Alexander Pierce (a nicely cast Robert Redford), Captain America also becomes a target of S.H.I.E.L.D. after not stating why Nick Fury visited him. With this putting Cap on the run, he has a short list of people he can trust. Enlisting the help of Black Widow and the Falcon (Mackie), the group tries to get to the bottom of the mystery and fight the mysterious Winter Soldier who stands in their way.
The key to this film being great (amongst the MCU) is that it is grounded in realism. Rather than Captain America being a symbol of morality and a previous era, he just is. He is who he is as he navigates through the modern world. He stands for something and rather than the writing team beating us over the head with reminders, Cap just faces each situation with internal conviction rather than overt statements (that were made clear in the past). The action sequences in this film highlight Cap’s abilities with great choreographed scenes that allow him to physically shine as a juiced up human being. Samuel L. Jackson finally gets used in such a way to showcase his acting ability as well as comedic timing! Even Scarlett Johannson is more than a pretty face in this film, bringing a little more depth to her character. Mackie as The Falcon is a decent edition to the cast, and the graphics really make him look like a high flying falcon! These upgrades work for the movie in a positive way.
Marvel has the super hero movie business on lock right now. “Captain America: Winter Soldier” is another solid notch in a MCU belt that extends to the year 2028. The film is grounded in reality, and doesn’t rely on parlor tricks and extras to keep you hooked. The direction, writing, and acting are all on point in building Cap’s character, his slice in the Marvel Universe, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. I don’t think you need to see it in 3D or IMAX. 2D does the job just fine. If you’re planning on seeing the film, you won’t be disappointed!
Rating: B+
"Pain & Gain" Review
I’m perplexed by “Pain & Gain”. It was a pain to sit through at times during those two hours and nine minutes, but it made some profound statements on the American Dream and greed that I don’t think it even knew it made. Or did it? So therefore I may have gained appreciation for Michael Bay in that he used his stylistic direction to take an unbelievable real life crime story and show us how stupid criminal activity can be.
Mark Wahlberg is Daniel Lugo, the brains of the criminal operation, and that’s not saying he has much brain power. All of his heroes are self made, and he believes in working hard to make something of himself. Tired of being where he is in life, Lugo comes up with a plan to relieve millionaire Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) of all of his assets through a kidnapping scheme. In order to do this, he has to recruit other people in his plan.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is Paul Doyle, a former coke addict inmate turned to Christianity, and Anthony Mackie is a wanna be muscle man with an impotency problem as Adrian Doorbal. The three men have two common bonds, a love of fitness and the desire to achieve their own version of the American Dream. To them, the goal of having what they see on TV, in movies, and other forms of media is worth having to the point that they’re willing to kidnap and eventually kill for it.
Every major character gets their own voiceover and tells their side of the story as it’s unfolding. Lugo is envious of Victor but when Victor tells his story he had equal tenacity and desire to be where he is in his economic status. As much of a rich snob that Victor is, he worked extra hard to get there. While Lugo’s hero Scarface inspires him to take, and as the movie’s one liner goes, “be a doer!” The parallels to Lugo and company’s rise and fall is very similar to that of Scarface in that their pride and lust for more becomes their downfall.
The fine line in society between thinking about major crimes and acting it out is for a small percentage of people (I’d like to think). So how do you show the insanity of crossing that line? Give Michael Bay the director’s seat and let him use every tool in his bag of low angle, slow motion, spinning camera moves to make these three men look as dumb as their plans. Bay is known for his larger then life filmmaking and something about his slick style and this stupid/sad but true story does a great job of showing the glamour of the American Dream and the pitfalls of achieving it illegally. Whether he’s using the camera to objectify women in this film’s world, give the zeros their hero shot, or emphasize their stupidity, Bay does it well. While this may not be one of his best films, it does seem like one of his most- dare I say- thought provoking.
Wahlberg leads his cast of merry men as you’d expect with the usual solid performance. Mackie, who undoubtedly has acting talent, was poorly cast in a role that should have gone to a loud mouth comedian. Yet it’s Johnson who gives one of his better performances taking the role of a dumb jock man-child to new heights. He’s aware of his physical stature and uses it to his advantage with subtlety in his acting decisions to make his character a comical but complex “weak link” as he’s called in the trio.
Overall I wasn’t expecting to have my mind blown in seeing this film and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s one of those films that you walk out of the theater, greeted by the light of day, and everyone is collectively in silence thinking about what’s for dinner, or what’s next on their plate for the day. An unmemorable film with a few profound statements on society.
Rating C-