Killing Them Softly: My Review

Business is everything no matter what kind of work your involved in .... Plumber, Doctor, Gangster it all boils down to hard cash or the lack thereof. I'm not sure if i believe this to be completely true but Director Andrew Dominik most certainly does. The Australian on his third feature after the originality and brutality of Chopper and then the somber brilliance of  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford the director reunites with his Jesse James leading man Brad Pitt to film Killing Them Softly.

Dominik's third feature is set in New Orleans in 2008 during Obama's election. This piece of information is very important because the whole film is basically a metaphor for America's own political system, this is where all the problems with the film lie because Dominik does not just make the point but he hammers it home until it feels so blatantly obvious that it becomes more irritating then insightful. Throughout the film TV's and Radios blast out speeches from Obama and Bush and it all starts to grate your patience.

This all sounds quite negative but don't worry the films positives outweigh its problems. This is most evident in the acting, Dominik has knack for getting terrific performance and this feature is no different. Brad Pitt is on fantastic form here as Jackie, a hitman who prefers to take his targets out from a distance to avoid all the touchy-feelings of murder. Then there's Scoot McNairy and Scott Mendelsohn who play two degenerates looking to make a quick buck by robbing Ray Liotta's underground card game. This is why Jackie gets called to sort out the who and why of the robbery.

The film is gorgeously shot which is in contrast to drab and dreary location its set. Dominik is known for his inventive and often genius use of visuals and Killing Them Softly is no exception. One scene involving McNairy and Mendelsohn having a conversation while both being out of their mins on heroin is superbly directed and written, while another scene that involves a brutal murder taking place between two cars with heavy rain pouring down is one of the most memorable of the year, Dominik's use of slow motion, editing and sound design is masterful stuff.

 Killing Them Softly is a great third feature from Dominik, he compliments his fantastic cast with his own exceptional directing skills to film this slow-burning, engrossing crime drama with a political message that's too on the nose to be truly effective when all the need is Jackie's final  lines to tell the viewer all that needs to be said. 

Seven Psychopaths: My Review

Seven Psychopaths starts very simply, two hitmen,  Michael Pitt and Michael Stuhlbarg to be exact are having a conversation about how the infamous bank-robber John Dillinger died. As this conservation continues we begin to make out a figure approaching the two men. What happens next perfectly establishes the brutally bloody and always funny tone of Seven Psychopaths.

Psychopaths is Martin McDonagh's second feature as a writer-director. His first stab into the medium was 2008's instant cult classic 'In Bruges' a film which reignited star Colin Farrell's career and introduced to the world a completely original and exciting new directorial voice. Bruges had everything, memorable characters, bloody violence,  laugh out loud comedy and some of the best writing to be seen since Tarantino first introduced us to Mr Pink.

Bruges is a tough act to follow but McDonagh gives it a damn good shot. Colin Farrell is once again the central character in this piece, he plays Marty, an alcoholic-writer who has the title Seven Psychopaths but not one word on a page. His intention is to write a film with psychopaths but make it about peace and love. This is a problem for his best friend Billy played by Sam Rockwell, Billy's in the dog kidnapping business and wants to co-write the screenplay with Marty.Billy wants to see a movie about psychopaths killing each other that ends with a shoot-out in his own way.  

The story seems quite simple so far but trust me its not, Billy steals dogs with his partner in crime Han's played by the brilliant Christopher Walken, they have made quite a lucrative business out of their partnership but when Billy steals local gangster Charlie's(Woody Harrellson) beloved Shih Tzu things go from bad to worse.

Its after these events that Psychopaths really takes off. McDonagh does not restrict himself to telling you're ordinary crime-comedy, no he has too much imagination for that. He makes every character memorable, they all come with their own niches. He constructs and deconstructs the tropes of a run of the mill crime movie by making sure his own is anything but.

This is very much a 21's century, post-modernist film with one scene involving Hans telling Marty he writes awful female characters, Marty's response is that its a tough world for women, but this no excuse. We know as watchers that McDonagh inserted this conversation to cover his tracks as his screenplay mirroring Marty's   own also has completely redundant females. But its hard to excuse McDonagh when you know he can do better then that.

Psychopath's seems to have it all but is missing the key ingredient which made Bruges such a masterpiece..... heart. Psychopaths is more shallow then its predecessor, its comedy is more broad and its violence less affecting, played for laughs rather then drama. Seven Psychopaths is a surreal, violent, entertaining ride, its just a shame its not a personal one.

Lawless: My Review

The Bondurant brothers of  Franklin County, Virginia. Famous for their Moonshine and infamous for their brutality. Three men who became legends among bootleggers for being willing to go further then anyone else to achieve their goals. The brothers are Jack(Shia LaBeouf) the youngest of the three, Howard(Jason Clarke) the oldest and a drunk who drinks more then his fair share of the supply, and finally Forrest(Tom Hardy) the muscle of the group, a hulking beast of a man who walks slowly and mumbles his words but when it comes to violence you see he is just a tightly wrapped spring ready to pounce at any minute.

The brothers have a very successful business in producing and selling Moonshine during the prohibition era, this all changes when Charlie Rakes(Guy Pierce) of Chicago comes to put a stop to the brothers lucrative business. He is a special deputy (a point which he makes clear several times throughout the film) and he too wants a cut of the towns illegal gains, unlike the rest of the towns bootleggers Forrest refuses to conform to Rakes demands because of the principal. 
This starts a chain reaction which results in the spilling of much blood on either side of the law.

This is director John Hillcoat's third film and his second with singer-songwriter Nick Cave on script duties after their 2005 western masterpiece 'The Proposition'. Hillcoat is a very talented director, he brings a rough, physical edge to all his features and has gotten together another great cast to film 'Lawless'.

All of these positives point to Hillcoat going three for three in terms of his filmography, but 'Lawless' never reaches the stunning heights of 'The Proposition' or 'The Road', most of the blame for this has to go to Cave who spends to much time on the cliche ridden romance between Jack and local girl Bertha(Mia Wasikowska), these portions feel like the type of film we've seen thousands of times before. Cave should instead have focused on the complicated but always interesting relationship between Jack and Forrest, with the former wanting his brothers admiration and the older worried he will fall into the same cycle of violence that he has.

Jessica Chastain is brought into the film as a mediator and a potential love interest but is severely underused, an actress of her considerable talents should not be given such light-weight materiel when we have seen her in tough but brilliant roles like 'Take Shelter', but the most shocking use of any actor of the whole year has to be Gary Oldman who shows up for a pitiful two scenes in the first half and is never seen again.

'Lawless' does have a several good performances, especially notable are Shia LaBeouf who gives his best performance in years and reminds us that he can actually act, another star here is Tom Hardy an actor who has yet to disappoint  and proves himself once again to be one of the most compelling actors of his generation with his performance as Forrest, a conflicted, tortured man who see's violence as the only way to resolve his problems. The real star of the show here is Pierce who plays Rakes to perfection by not overstepping the line and falling into pantomime. Rakes is a despicable creature, with his shaved eyebrows and parted hair he always keeps up a tangible air of creepiness, you know this a man who is willing to commit horrible deeds in order to satisfy himself.

'Lawless' is a brutally violent, well acted western. A film which is quite similar in style to HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire' but does not match up in substance. Its let down by a week ending which serves to undo all the good work which came before it. A good but flawed third feature from Hillcoat.    

END OF WATCH: My Review

'End Of Watch' is David Ayer's third feature as a director and most definitely his best. After cutting his teeth writing tough cop films like 'Training  Day' he finally made his way behind the camera with the interesting but not very memorable 'Harsh Time's' a film which is best known for its great performance from Christian Bale in the lead role.

'Watch' is a very different beast to Ayers first two films, it follows the lives of two cops working the beat in mean streets of South Central, California. The two cops are officer Taylor  and officer Zavala, the former is played by Jake Gyllenhaal and the latter is played by Michael Peña.

 The two men are best friends and feel like they have known each other for decades. Their relationship is key to the success of the movie because their fantastic chemistry helps them perform some of the funniest dialogue of the year which helps this to be funnier then any big-studio comedy out this year. This chemistry is also crucial in the films more dramatic scenes.

In most cop movies along these lines  the main driving force of the plot is the grey area which exists   were police officers are forced to act like criminals in order to fulfill their duties. In 'Watch' the line is split down the middle CopsVSCriminals is GoodVSBad. There is never any doubt about whether our antagonists actions are honorable our not, they are simply doing their job in the best of their ability, in the worst environment imaginable.

The only blunder Ayer has made is by choosing to shoot all of the film in the style of found footage, this is explained at the start by Taylor proclaiming to the camera that he is taking a film studies and that is why he is documenting everything. That is fine as an explanation but it falls apart when the same POV style is used in shots would be impossible for Taylor to film. This style can become irritating when all you is a viewer want do is watch the performances and not be distracted by the consistently changing point of view.

The movie also spends too much time on a gang of wannabe gangsters who develop an unhealthy interest in our two anti-heroes. These are the only parts of the feature that fall into the land of stereo-types and detract from the grittily-realistic tone of the rest of the film.

'End Of Watch' is the type of cop film we don't get anymore, it manages to combine sections of genuine humor with moments of scarily real humanity. Its gut punch of an ending is heartbreaking cinema that will leave you stunned and satisfied. Ayer has made fantastic film with this and has gotten two of the years best performance out of his leads and despite a few niggles has created a mini-masterpiece.      

Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.d City: My Review

Kendrick Lamar is different, that's simply a fact.He started pretty normally, free-styling with his friends then moving on to recording his first mixtape.Then last year he dropped "Section 80", an "ITunes" only release which generated plenty of buzz for the 25 year old.In the same year he signed with "Dr Dre's" "Aftermath" records and started to gain the attention of big names in the industry.

Fast forward to 2012 and the Compton-born rapper is releasing his full length debut album, and its a keeper.Lamar has made a rap record different to any other this year, this is concept album through and through.In an age where the paying public dismiss any record that doesn't satisfy them on a completely superficial level. The southern rapper "2Chainz" also released his debut this year, and by putting the albums side-by-side you really start to notice a difference.

Where "2Chainz" is a all about the image, Kendrick is all about the storytelling.The former relies upon immature punchlines while the latter builds a three-dimensional living breathing world around the listener."2Chainz" is stuck in the dinosaur age of rap, his three most common topics are 'Money,Weed and Bitches' but enough about him.

This is Kendrick's show he deserves every five-star review he gets because G.K.M.C. is simply a masterpiece, be it sonically or lyrically, he excels at both. He can make a song featuring "Drake" not sound commercial and a 12 minute epic approachable.He writes realistic characters doing sometimes painfully realistic things.

This is a Hip-Hop album at its most interesting, fantastic production backed up by even better lyrics.Lamar is the listeners eyes and ears as he paints a disturbingly real portrait of Compton, a place where Kendrick and his friends ride around in his moms beat up Mini-Van, looking for houses to rob and girls to screw. They live there lives in the constant haze of weed and alcohol, and only worry about their next blunt.

This is where Lamar excels, describing himself as the one good kid caught up in a very "Maad" city.He constantly changes the tone of his voice and speed of his rapping to give the listener a better understanding of the emotions.

With G.K.M.C, Kendrick has done the impossible,  he created a  genuinely interesting Hip-Hop record in year saturated with crushingly shallow records by half-assed so called artists.Make no mistake, if you only pick up one rap record this year, make it this.     

Margin Call: My Review

In 2008 everything went wrong, the stock market crashed and all hell broke loose. It was the first the first time people started to hear the dreaded "R" word ... Recession but it was most certainly not the last. Jobs were lost and so were many lives as the shockwaves of the crash started to infest each country like a cancer. Prices skyrocketed as banks shut their doors on the millions of people who had entrusted them with their money.

The 24 hours leading up to this meltdown is where debut director  J.C.Chandor has decided to set his first feature. The film opens with the gutting of an office that will soon be inexorably linked with the collapse. One of the employees being let go is Eric Dale played by Stanley Tucci, hes the risk assessment manager of the firm and is deemed to be no longer necessary to the running of the company. On his way out the door he hands a USB key to his subordinate Peter Sullivan played by Star Treks Zachary Quinto. He leaves Sullivan with the short warning of "be careful".

  When Quinto plugs in the USB key he discovers something that will change his firm and America forever. He then informs his boss played by Paul Bettany of his findings and from there the news begins to travel up the pipeline until its reaches the head honcho of the company John Tuld played by the wonderful Jeremy Irons. The firm is then put to the task of selling all of its stock before anyone realizes how worthless it really is.

Kevin Spacey is then introduced as the moral compass of the film knowing what him and his firm are doing and trying to explain that it will save them now but it will destroy the company in the long run.

 The film is a great ensemble piece with everyone putting in some of there finest work of the decade. The script is superb with killer lines of dialogue being traded throughout, especially great are Paul Bettanys and Jeremy Irons performances with the former making us wonder why he wasted his time on big-budget, CGI- filled nonsense when he is obviously more suited and interested in this type of work, and the former reminding us why he is one of England's finest exports and one the most intelligent actors working today.

The film manages to humanize the type of people who are demonized in the press day in and day out, it exists   in a grey area giving enough character moments to make us at least understand why they did what they did. The film is boosted by some excellent cinematography which helps to further the ominous tone that urrounds the film. This culminates in the third act which shows the level of deception that was going on behind the scenes. Once Paul Bettany utters the line "My loss is your gain" you know immediately what devastation is about to follow.

It is a timely feature which would work as a great companion piece 'Wall Street' as they both show the opposite ends of the spectrum in the business world. These are the people who's job it is to predict outcomes and the film shows what can happen when they get it wrong.

Margin Call is a near-perfect film with superb performances all round, great direction and a brilliant screenplay. This is intelligent film-making at its very finest.

ARGO: MY REVIEW

Argo is Ben Afflecks third feature as a director, and with it he establishes himself as one of the most consistent mainstream drama directors working in America today. His other two features 'Gone Baby Gone' and 'The Town' were both set in his hometown of Boston, a place he knows like the back of his hand and had a much simpler time shooting there compared to his latest film.

With Argo Affleck gives himself his biggest challenge yet with story that has so much more scope and ambition then his last films. Argo is based on a true story, and that information is vital to know before going in . If you viewed it without prior knowledge you could simply pass it off as biased pro-American nonsense, but every important scene in this film did happen. You only have to type it into your search box to read it yourself.

Argo starts off with an unnamed narrator filling in the backstory  on all the events that you are going to witness in its two hour running time. Its very simple, 6 american fugitives have taken refuge in a Canadian embassy while Iran is under siege from its citizens who are baying for the blood of their ex-president who has fled the country, and its up to the CIA to get them out.

Ben Affleck is Tony Mendez, a CIA operative who's job it is is to get the fugitives out of the country. His 'Best Bad Idea' is to pretend that him and the fugitives are a Canadian film crew scouting locations for a science-fiction epic called Argo. Along the way he recruits the great double act of John Goodman and Alan Arkin as two Hollywood insiders to help him make his fake movie seem believable.

There's also excellent support from Bryan Cranston and Chris Messina who lead up the CIA strand of the plot. Affleck has rounded up a great cast and there all on top form with no one letting themselves down. The movie shifts tonally several times wit starting out as hostage drama-then comic relief in Hollywood-and finally a tense thriller in the final stretch.

However the film is not perfect, it doesn't always grip you in the way a movie like this should and it never feels like the stakes are that high. If you find yourself not caring about certain characters you will start to lose interest.

Overall Affleck has managed to make a highly enjoyable, always entertaining but not always perfect thriller.