THE GRAY MAN

 Ryan Gosling     Chris Evans     Ana de Armas     Rege-Jean Page     Billy Bob Thornton

 

           How to get the attending audience not to see your movie.  Make scenes so dark viewers can’t tell what’s going on or who the characters are, especially in the fight scenes.  Make it so loud that dialog can’t be heard above the din of sound effects.  Include characters that are so sadistic it’s unbearable to watch (e.g., pulling out fingernails one by one) and forces you to look away.  Write the plot so it contains implausible situations, such as the wounded continuing to fight long after they would most likely have succumbed, have a character with a heart condition be terrified time and again without having a heart attack.  And finally, mixing up the time frames by going backward and forward.

            The CIA must be grumbling about how it’s portrayed in The Gray Man (largely written, directed, and produced by Russo brothers Anthony and Joe), showing two leaders in the upper echelons of the CIA who are completely illegal and immoral.  Movies are notorious among professionals for portraying their disciplines unrealistically, and (at least I hope) this is another instance.  Of course, we know of real situations where the CIA used bad judgment, but I hate to see even those instances glorified in media.

            The star of this production is one of my favorites, Ryan Gosling, as an unfairly discredited agent being recruited to perform special jobs that are top-secret by their nature of bordering on the illegal.  Six, as he is called, does not even have a file.  Gosling is up to his usual fine performance of being extraordinarily gifted/trained in combat, and still gentle with a heart of gold.  Chris Evans is good as well as a fiendish, sadistic evil man, and it’s hard for me to believe that “Captain America” would take on such a role, but he is believably bad here.  Ana de Armas likewise plays a strong role demonstrating her fighting skills against much stronger men.  She is certainly convincing as a very bold driver.

            On the whole, the cast and its skills are the best feature of this production that looks and feels like a video game, more intent on the craft of special effects than the art of story and character.  The Russo brothers have become famous perhaps primarily for their success in the Marvel world of film, which I have enjoyed from time to time.  Here, I think they go over the top in so many ways, with no recognizable artistry.  The craft as they see it takes over the film.  The erratic editing simply provides more evidence of the film’s lack.

            

I can’t think of any reason anyone would want to see this film.

 

Grade:  D                              By Donna R. Copeland

BAD SANTA 2

Billy Bob Thornton     Kathy Bates     Tony Cox     Christina Hendricks     Brett Kelly     Ryan Hanson

          The perverse filmmakers must have had an uproarious time indulging themselves in a buffet of non-PC barbs, images, and insults in Bad Santa 2.  If all the obscenities and lewd remarks were removed from the dialog, there would hardly be a script—except, of course, for dear Thurman’s (Kelly) lines.  He manages to give even the crusty, hardened Willie (Thornton) pause, and the possibility for redemption.

       Filmgoers should be aware that this is a justifiably R-rated film showing risky sex, violence, crime, and alcoholism—and does not necessarily speak against it.  Willie’s mother-from-hell (Bates), whom he despises, has manipulated him back into her sphere by using Marcus (Cox) to tempt him with a $2million job.  Of course, these three cannot be in the same room together more than five minutes before they’re at each other’s throats and spouting every obscene threat that comes into their pathetic minds. 

       The setting for their non-PC operations is a Christmas charity run by the Hastings (Hendricks and Hanson), where they are dressed in Santa costumes.  It is true that the Hastings are not really admirable, but c’mon, a robbery of a charity with Santa drinking alcohol and using offensive language with the kids??  This makes me want to limit the Constitutional Amendment for free speech.

        Bad Santa 2 is meaningless, without any scrap of redeeming quality.  Even the one cheery character, Thurman, is portrayed as dimwitted, and persists even after plain good sense should tell him not to continue his pursuit of Willie as “family.”  We see no cleverness in the jokes or in the plans for the robbery (turn out the lights, open the safe, escape through the garbage chute—which is fitting).  We see the expected end result, including a slightly sheepish Willie making a turn…oh no, not making a turn.  

Tell me you don’t want to see this movie.

Grade:  F                 By Donna R. Copeland

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

Tina Fey     Martin Freeman     Alfred Molina     Billy Bob Thornton     Margot Robbie

          It’s not really clear to me what this film is about, since it switches focus so many times.  At first, it appears to be about a young woman needing a more challenging life and taking off to Afghanistan, trading her behind-the-scenes news production for investigative reporting.  Suddenly, it’s culture shock both in terms of U.S. Marine life and of being in a Moslem country where Western women create sensation simply by walking down the street.  Kim (Fey) is green and has much to learn to do her job and she’s a fast study.  She makes good connections—with the General, Hollanek (Thornton) and with a government official, Sadiq (Molina)—as well as other reporters like Tanya (Robbie) and Iain (Freeman), although with the latter it’s a bumpy road. 

          In my opinion, the film dwells far too long on these events, which are often deafening, the dialog is unintelligible, and men are constantly objectifying women. 

        Then intrigue begins to settle in, and the story becomes much more interesting.  We see the arc of the Kim-Tanya friendship, Kim’s break-up with a comfortable love, the start of a romance, and—probably most importantly—the seduction of exciting war times.  In this, I was reminded of the Erik Poppe film, A Thousand Times Goodnight with Juliette Binoche and Kathryn Bigelow’s film, The Hurt Locker with Jeremy Renner.  As noted in these and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, war can produce an adrenaline rush as powerful as heroin, and not everyone resolves the issue in the same way.

          During the last third of the film, it became so much more real and meaningful because it was about female relationships, circumstances that influence personal relationships about which the subjects are often unaware, and the successful, sometimes necessary, cunning in achieving one’s goals.  A tender episode toward the end illustrates the healing power of talking about life-changing events and the gratifying discovery that there is nothing to be forgiven. 

      One of the best things about the film—along with Fey’s, Molina’s, and Thornton’s dramatic performances—is Nick Urata’s music.  The pairing of the music with the cinematography by Xavier Grobet in some final scenes is truly poetic.

WTF—a film that takes a while, but eventually grabs you.

Grade:  C+                                      By Donna R. Copeland

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS

Sandra Bullock     Billy Bob Thornton     Anthony Mackie     Ann Dowd     

Scoot McNairy     Zoe Kazan     Joaquim de Almeida

          Crisis is the key word here in this picture showing the seamier (realistic?) side of politics.  The setting is Bolivia where a race for president is going on, the screenplay (Peter Straughan) of which is inspired by a documentary (same title) directed by the talented Rachel Boynton (Big Men http://texasartfilm.com/bigmen.html) about a political race for president of Bolivia in 2002.  Candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozado hired an American political firm that consulted all over the world to run his campaign:  Greenberg Carville Shrum.  (That’s Carville, as in James Carville.)  Since I haven’t seen the documentary, I don’t know how much the movie reflects events in that work.

          Our Brand is Crisis the movie begins with two political strategists, Nell (Dowd) and Ben (Mackie) driving through the snow to Jane Bodine’s (Bullock) isolated cabin to talk her into joining their team in Bolivia.  Hurt by political machinations in her work as a crack strategist in the past, she has developed new interests and a new life.  Somehow, though, the thrill of a campaign is seductive, and she decides to join them. 

        Unfortunately, after arriving in Bolivia with altitude sickness and feeling rotten in general, she realizes that her prior nemesis Pat Candy (Thornton) is on the scene.  Bad news.  The movie takes a neutral stance about their past, so it is unclear who actually was responsible for the most heinous dirty tricks in previous campaigns, although, I think they want us to believe that it was Candy, who comes across as slimy as the snake in the Garden of Eden. 

        The campaign proceeds and the two teams end up going for the jugular.  It is a fascinating (at least to me) look at how political campaign strategists think and reason.  In Jane’s case, she deftly sizes up the psychology of her candidate Castillo (de Almeida) and figures out how to turn his weaknesses into strengths—clearly going against the advice he is currently receiving from his own consultant and the American team.  In view of this perceptive cogency, the filmmakers’ showing her clumsy and neurotic for comic effect was silly and an unnecessary distraction.  They should have dispensed with the “comedy” altogether and gone for dramatic effect and political illumination.

          Although we learn how the election turns out, the film ends with an ambiguity that I see as a strength.  Beneath Jane’s many “masks” (alternately crazy, tender, calculating, insightful, and—above all—perceptive), she is a thoughtful and sincere woman with convictions who will continually surprise.

       We know Sandra Bullock is a phenomenal actor, and I think she portrayed this character to a T.  Such a talent actor can make the character come alive so forcefully you forget the actor.  She was strongest in this film when Candy is speaking to her in a taunting, seductive, goading manner and she simply stares into space (and you know exactly what she is thinking) or—in contrast—when she forcefully confronts her team or the candidate with hard truths; or at the end when she is mulling over in her mind the comments of the young campaign worker and all that has just transpired.  Billy Bob Thornton is masterful in portraying a truly evil person, all while talking in the most civil and seductive manner.  His idea of coming into the filming looking exactly like James Carville was a brilliant move.

          David Gordon Green does the quiet, personally revolutionary films that I am inevitably drawn to (e.g., Prince Avalanche, George Washington).  I imagine he smiles as he thinks about the issues he has brought up in Our Brand is Crisis that will spark controversy and differences of opinion.  In discussions about this film, I expect many will have strong opinions about political consultants, political processes (particularly elections), and the marketing of candidates.

An insightful look at the underside of political campaigns.

Grade:  B                        By Donna R. Copeland